Chapter 5
Edward Quan ·
The next instant, I knocked the humanoid's head off.
More precisely...
It wasn't a head.
It was a hood.
Beneath it was a painfully familiar face.
Mine.
I stumbled back.
“How... how is this possible...”
Exposed, the “me” disguised as the humanoid wore a complicated expression.
“In the end... you found out after all.”
I couldn't believe my eyes.
“The glowing humanoid... it was you all along?”
“Aren't I you?”
He sighed softly.
“The one impersonating the humanoid has always been you.”
My thoughts tangled hopelessly.
Fortunately, the “me” before me was patient. He began telling me what he'd experienced.
According to him, everything I'd been through, he'd already lived.
This attempt would end in failure.
The next time, after using the Causality Machine and returning to June 8, 2016, I'd disguise myself as the humanoid to stop Song Yuan going to Mount Tianfeng.
But ironically, she was obsessed with mysterious phenomena.
Learning that a “being from another civilization” had appeared would excite her so much she'd refuse to listen and insist on going.
I'd fail again.
On the attempt after that, I'd learn my lesson.
I'd start with Wu Wei and use her to stop Song Yuan.
He smiled bitterly.
“There. You ruined the plan before I could even put it into action.”
I tried to piece it together, but the more I thought, the more confused I became.
“If the humanoid is me, then... what's the motive of the ‘me’ aboard the silver spacecraft?”
He'd told me Song Yuan was in danger.
Why hadn't he stopped it himself instead of making me act?
The “me” in front of me looked at me darkly.
“I didn't understand before either. But the moment you appeared... I did.”
“Why?”
“Because another Song Qian is trying to save Song Yuan too.”
Despair filled his voice.
“Cause and effect keep changing. The effect of one attempt becomes the cause of the next. Over and over... it will never end.”
I still didn't understand.
“Explain.”
He shook his head and summed it all up in a single thought.
“Haven't you noticed? Your efforts to save Yuanyuan keep moving forward... but the point at which ‘you’ appear keeps getting earlier.”
Forward.
Backward.
The realization struck like thunder, leaving me frozen.
Yes.
From the “me” in the woods, to the “me” who asked Wu Wei to stop himself, to the “me” disguised as the humanoid...
As events developed, the point at which I appeared kept moving earlier.
Cause and effect had formed a closed circuit.
It would never end.
I'd never save Yuanyuan!
Unable to accept that, I rushed out.
There had to be another way.
If cause and effect kept repeating, would doing nothing produce an unexpected outcome?
Reality always leaves people in despair.
Even if I did nothing, another identical “me” would appear and do what I'd intended.
Everything had descended into chaos.
By then, I had only a little willpower left. I wanted to see whether I could break the causal loop.
With the help of the “me” disguised as the humanoid, I returned to 2016.
This time, earlier than ever.
June 7.
And I adopted a disguise.
Using methods brought by the other versions of myself, I made myself look like my daughter, Song Yuan.
If I couldn't save her...
I'd take her place.
June 8, 2016.
I waited at the school and abducted Song Yuan in advance.
Then, using a special method to disguise myself as her, I went home.
The moment I walked in, I took Song Qian's hand and said I wanted to go hiking.
He looked out the window and hesitated.
“Yuanyuan, it's nearly dark. How about tomorrow?”
Panic rose in me.
If I didn't go up Mount Tianfeng, how could I take her place?
How could I end it all?
Unease appeared in my eyes.
“No! I have to go up Mount Tianfeng today!” I said urgently.
A strange feeling of familiarity swept over me.
Wait.
That sentence...
Hadn't I heard it before?
I frantically searched my memories and finally found the answer.
In the very first 2016, after finishing her entrance exams, Yuanyuan had said exactly that.
“No! I have to go up Mount Tianfeng today!”
“No! I have to go up Mount Tianfeng today!”
“No! I have to go up Mount Tianfeng today!”
...
Had Song Yuan said it?
Or... had I?
Now, disguised as her, I'd said those very words without thinking.
Could it be...
That from the beginning...
Song Yuan had been me?
The horrifying thought spread through my mind like weeds.
The certainty I'd held so firmly collapsed.
In despair, I rushed onto the balcony...
And jumped.
“Wrong... it's all wrong... ha ha ha ha...”
In four-dimensional space.
Inside a classroom.
The teacher looked at the students before him.
“The four-dimensional spacetime we inhabit is entirely different from humanity's three-dimensional universe.
“In addition to length, width, and height, there is another dimension: direction.
“Song Qian was the first human to come into contact with four-dimensional space, and accidentally activated the Causality Machine.
“That's enough about his case for today. Any questions?”
After a brief silence, a student raised a hand.
“Sir, was Song Qian's experience a closed loop?”
The teacher smiled and shook his head.
“You don't seem to have been listening carefully. Song Qian's experience was never a loop.
“It has no beginning.
“And no end.
“Or you could understand it this way...
“The beginning is the end.”
The student lowered his head in thought.
A few seconds later, another asked, “Sir, what role did Wu Wei play in Song Qian's whole story? Why wasn't she mentioned at the end?”
The teacher corrected him with a smile.
“One correction. The events aren't over, so we can't call it ‘the end.’”
Then he nodded approvingly.
“But that's an excellent question. In my account, Song Yuan was Song Qian, correct?”
The student nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
At that answer, the teacher smiled meaningfully.
“Then... is it possible...
“That Wu Wei was another Song Qian too...
“Who, after enough transformations of cause and effect...
“Finally returned?”
The End