(Bai Zi-Ming's Probe)
"Who exactly are you?"
Bai Zi-Ming's gaze was probing, his fingertips lightly tapping on the table, as if weighing the trustworthiness of the man claiming familiarity with Zhang Huan-An.
Yu Yong-An didn't rush to answer. Instead, he calmly replied, "I want to know where Zhang Huan-An went."
"How do you know that name?" Bai Zi-Ming's tone remained steady, though subtly cautious.
"That's not important," Yu said quietly. "What matters is, you also want to know what happened to him, don't you?"
Silence enveloped the room momentarily, only the low hum of electronic data streams within LUOYEH filling the pause.
Then Bai Zi-Ming moved.
He reached into his pocket and carefully placed an object onto the table.
A cross.
Yu Yong-An's pupils contracted slightly.
"He left this behind," Bai Zi-Ming stated solemnly. "At his last known location, this was the only thing left."
Zhang Huan-An's Disappearance and the Cross
Yu Yong-An stared at the cross, feeling a slight chill in his palm. Gingerly, he picked it up, carefully examining its details.
It was indeed a "triple-layered cross," but unlike the one he possessed, there was a tiny inscription on it.
Holding his breath, Yu peered closely and saw a set of numbers:
"2025.2.19"
His heart skipped—this date…
—It matched Li An-Qing's death in this alternate world.
This couldn't be coincidence.
"Where did you find this?" he asked, voice slightly hoarse.
Bai Zi-Ming maintained his composed demeanor, though a shadow of ambiguity lingered deep within his eyes. "In his last known location, an abandoned facility in District X."
"Did he simply vanish?"
"No," Bai said slowly. "Someone… saw him alive after that date."
Yu Yong-An's heart fluttered slightly. "Are you sure?"
"Do you think I'd lie to you?" Bai Zi-Ming smiled faintly, clearly testing Yu.
The implications were profound.
—If Zhang Huan-An was alive after Li An-Qing's death, why did all records insist he'd "disappeared"?
—Did this cross signify some farewell message or trigger mechanism?
Bai didn't elaborate further, observing Yu as though waiting for him to connect the dots himself.
"You know more," Yu's voice deepened, "but you're not going to tell me everything, are you?"
Bai Zi-Ming neither confirmed nor denied, simply offering a vague smile. "Information can't be given all at once… You need to prove you're worthy first."
"Worthy?" Yu scoffed lightly. "I don't have time for your psychological games."
"Then show me you're serious," Bai stood, casually patting Yu's shoulder.
"You've already noticed, haven't you? The cross contains more secrets."
"The old facilities in District X aren't fully dismantled yet. If you move quickly, you might find more clues."
"But be careful," he added quietly, his tone cautious, "this world isn't the one you once knew."
"District X is a place of no return." Bai Zi-Ming's voice was restrained,
carrying hidden pain from memories he wished to avoid.
He had refused to discuss the true significance of the cross and had tried
preventing Yu from venturing into District X. Yet now, cracks appeared in his composed expression, hinting at hidden truths emerging.
"Li An-Qing's death is linked to District X, isn't it?" Yu pressed quietly.
The room fell unnaturally silent.
Bai Zi-Ming's fingers halted on the tabletop, leaning slightly forward, his gaze flickering briefly without responding immediately.
"So…she died there?" Yu continued softly, testing Bai's limits.
Without answering directly, Bai sighed deeply, stood, and retrieved a small terminal device from a hidden drawer. The screen illuminated, displaying surveillance footage:
District X · February 19, 2025 · Surveillance Footage
The shaky footage revealed a derelict area with flickering lights and abandoned buildings—seemingly deliberately erased from existence. Two figures appeared: Li An-Qing and Zhang Huan-An.
Their expressions were grave, discussing something critical, but strangely—the video had no audio.
"Where's the audio?" Yu frowned deeply.
"Intentionally removed," Bai murmured. "This wasn't ordinary censorship; someone altered this footage deliberately."
Yu watched closely as Li An-Qing handed Zhang a second cross, different from the one Yu held.
"That's not yours, is it?" Yu asked sharply.
"No," Bai confirmed gravely. "Mine was found after Zhang vanished."
Suddenly, interference shook the footage. Li An-Qing collapsed silently into Zhang Huan-An's arms, her final words inaudible. The video froze at this tragic moment.
"Who provided this footage?" Yu asked softly.
"Unknown," Bai said neutrally. "Its existence itself is a warning."
"A warning?"
"After Zhang disappeared, all records were erased, and Li's cause of death was never disclosed," Bai explained cryptically. "This footage should never have survived."
"Then how did you obtain it?"
"I can't reveal that," Bai said firmly.
"But you know more."
"True," Bai admitted, "but you're not qualified yet."
"How do I qualify?"
Bai's smile was faintly bitter. "Go to District X. Everything lies hidden there."
Yu stared intently at the frozen image, noticing an anomaly. He replayed the footage slowly, detecting a subtle distortion—a time anomaly, distorting reality itself.
"This isn't a glitch," Yu murmured, his voice tense. "It's a temporal disruption."
Bai remained silent, contemplation darkening his eyes.
"Zhang didn't just disappear," Yu realized. "Time took him, didn't it?"
"That's one possibility," Bai finally responded ambiguously. "But whatever happened, District X is a core of temporal distortions."
"Time distortions?" Yu pressed urgently. "What exactly is this place?"
"District X exists beyond the AI's control," Bai explained slowly. "It's an anomaly, a point where time itself can reshape reality—and anyone caught within it."
"Including Zhang Huan-An," Yu concluded softly.
"Perhaps," Bai whispered. "He might have known he would be taken by time."
She saw a scene without sound.
In the flickering footage, the girl fell to her knees, lips trembling, eyes filled with a quiet finality. Her body seemed to split in two—one collapsing into Zhang Huan-An's arms, the other walking slowly toward something deeper than time.
"I can't hear what she said," Yang An-Ting whispered.
She sat in the corner of her room, staring at a screen she didn't remember activating.The same surveillance footage now played before her, inexplicably synced across worlds.
She knew, without doubt—That girl was Li An-Qing.
"This memory… doesn't belong to me," she murmured. "So why does it hurt?"
Li An-Qing's voice surfaced again—not from the room, but from within. Soft, unburdened by sorrow:
"Because you were there, too."
"Not as who you are now, but as who he remembered me to be."
Yang An-Ting tightened her hand into a fist. Nothing lay inside, and yet—it felt like she was holding a shattered moment of time.
"We were torn apart by sequence… and stitched together by memory."
"He won't remember my final words," Li An-Qing said gently, "but he will remember that night. That it turned dark—and I didn't leave."
The mirror flickered faintly again.This time, Yang An-Ting saw Li An-Qing's face.
"Go to District X," she whispered. "It's where we all left something behind."