Alternate World · December 28, 2026 · Boundary of District X
Wind drifted through the cracks of ruined buildings, gently brushing sand across Yu Yong-An's face. He stood at the edge of District X, a faded, forgotten warning sign swaying in the breeze, its blurred letters barely reading, "Unknown Risk / Do Not Enter."
Beneath his feet, the cracked concrete released twisting trails of dust with each step. District X lay beyond city surveillance, belonging to no administrative area. As Bai Zi-Ming had said—it was a place "that should not exist."
Yu tightly gripped the cross in his pocket, left behind by Zhang Yi-An and passed by Li An-Qing before her death. Its cold, heavy weight felt as if it would pull him into an unseen abyss.
Temporal Boundary · Entering the Core
At the heart of District X, time had lost its usual order.
Walls varied from ancient moss-covered surfaces to unnaturally pristine textures; shadows and cracks clashed as though from different eras. His devices failed—no GPS, no network—only the cross remained, suddenly warm in his palm.
He halted abruptly. A glowing countdown appeared upon the cross:
—5
—4
—3…
Recurrence of Temporal Distortion
When "1" appeared, silence consumed everything, even the wind vanished. His vision blurred briefly as the surroundings trembled, damaged pipes reformed, glass fragments floated back into place, as though time reversed.
Then he saw—two figures appearing at the abandoned corridor's intersection:
Zhang Yi-An and Li An-Qing.
Yu stood motionless, watching. This wasn't an image, but a residual reality. He heard nothing, felt nothing, but knew—this was the truth of that day.
Fragments of Truth
Li An-Qing's lips moved silently. This time, Yu wasn't merely an observer; the cross vibrated gently, resonating with unheard words.
Then a voice emerged, source unknown: "It's not your fault... but you must remember everything."
Li's form fractured into multiple overlapping images, each from different timelines forcibly merging.
Temporal distortion surged violently. Yu involuntarily stepped back, surroundings stretching and collapsing like a dream.
Zhang Yi-An looked directly at him—just for a brief moment, unmistakably real.
Awakening
Yu Yong-An awoke sharply, lying on a cold, abandoned floor as dusk approached. Uncertain of how long he'd been unconscious, the cross was cold again, the countdown gone—as if nothing had occurred.
He sat up slowly, the voice and gaze lingering vividly.
Zhang Yi-An awaited him in another time, and Yu had just glimpsed the edge of truth.
The Promise of Four Fallen Leaves – Alternate World, December 28, 2026 · Depths of District X
After Temporal Distortion · Awakening
The icy concrete numbed Yu's back as he struggled awake, his vision foggy, mind chaotic.
The words echoed: "You must remember everything."
He trembled, retrieving the cross from his jacket, now ordinary yet undeniably real.
This wasn't a dream.
Physical Anomalies
Standing up, his body ached as if torn between dreams and reality. Dizziness forced him to steady himself. Memory fragments overlapped or vanished inexplicably—he knew this phenomenon: memory displacement.
Residual Phenomena
Examining the surroundings, small details revealed anomalies—tiles mysteriously cracked, rust colored differently across timelines. Near a window, reflections briefly showed Zhang Yi-An and Li An-Qing.
Approaching, the figures vanished—a residual memory overlapping with reality.
Residual Signal in the Cross
Yu inspected the cross, noticing a newly formed gap. Carefully prying it open, a thin nano-chip emerged, inscribed:
"Tuesday 04:11 / Reverse Axis"
He inhaled sharply. This confirmed cyclical distortions—Zhang Yi-An knew it. But what was "Reverse Axis"—reversed time or another coordinate?
He looked into District X's shadows, sensing an unnamed force still active.
Internal Shift and Psychological Displacement
Before leaving, he revisited the distortion's origin, hearing a whisper—not hallucination, but his future self:
"You've activated the first point. The next lies where you thought you'd left. Remember Friday."
His heart skipped. His last memory before entering this world was Friday, May 17, 2024. The distortion alternated between Tuesdays and Fridays.
He pocketed the cross and chip, resolve solidified.
Outside the Base: The Fated Moment
Alternate World, December 28, 2026, late night · Outside LUOYEH Base
District X faded behind him, a silent shadow extending deeper through temporal fissures. Yu's steps were steady yet heavier. He carried only the cross, chip, and memories foreign to his past.
Cycle Calculation and Self-Assessment
At a small inn beyond AI surveillance, Yu secured himself inside, logging observations offline:
First distortion: May 17, 2024 (Friday) / Tamsui exploration.
Second distortion: December 22, 2026 (Tuesday) / Triggered at District X.
Cycle interval: mirrored Tuesdays and Fridays.
Inserting the chip into a modified terminal, decoding succeeded on the third attempt:
Countdown: 3 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes.
This wasn't a fixed event countdown—it marked the next distortion.
Reverse Axis Thought and Displacement
The chip revealed: "Observation: Reverse Axis0004 / Partial Time Rewrite"
After pondering all night, Yu concluded "Reverse Axis" could mean reversed temporal coordinates or forced identity replacement.
As dusk descended in utter silence, a forgotten audio recorder beneath the railway began to activate.
It was an old recording, long since converted into a digital wave format. But one fragment remained intact—perfectly preserved:
"I'm not you. But I know who you are."
At that exact moment, a crystal buried under the rail began to glow faintly. Its spiral light pattern didn't conform to anything known in this world.
An unexpected signal.A voice without a source.And a scene that shattered the moment the audio stopped playing.
As though, in another time and another self, someone was softly saying:
"There is still another you, already walking this path.
He noted:
"If memories repeat, don't resist."
"On Friday, I will face that unfamiliar temporal fracture again."
Self-Monitoring Amidst Displacement
Yu started "time status monitoring," recording: "December 22, 03:05 am. Memory intact. Identity: Yu Yong-An. No overlapping visuals or auditory disturbances."
Logs scheduled every six hours with questions:
Who am I?
What am I remembering?
Am I seeing inconsistencies with reality?
This protected the existence of "which version" of himself.
Silent Determination · Preparation for Friday
In the modest room, he gazed at a worn mirror until dawn.
If Zhang Yi-An vanished through time and Yu was chosen as "another him," this wasn't merely seeking truth—but a full replacement.
The chip's words echoed:
"You must remember everything."
Countdown: 2 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes.
Friday approached again.
This time, he was ready.
January 1, 2027 (Friday)
At that moment, all the light rain stopped.
Raindrops hung frozen in midair. Light stood still, suspended in vertical silence.
Local time-space coordinates had ceased functioning. Every visible display read the same line:
2027.01.01 // 00:00:00
The timestamp appeared across mirrors, skylights, phone screens.In several places, people stood immobile.In others—they were simply gone.
But one figure remained.He stood before a mirror.And in his eyes, that same timecode appeared:
00:00:00
It was you.
A silver arc of time suddenly unfolded before them.
Li An-Qing stood at the edge of that unstable rail. Her eyes no longer seemed like physical organs but flickered like layered code—scrolling between systems, ages, and archives.
"Do you still remember me?"
There was no space between them, and yet, they could not reach each other.
"When he discovered Reverse Axis, did he still remember you—the version of you that looked into his eyes?"
Yang An-Ting took a step forward.That single step lit up the edge of time.
Li An-Qing's outline blurred and bent. She became a prism of overlapping timelines, her presence glitching softly like corrupted memory.
"But you're still here."
"And I still remember you."
"Then that's enough."