An Ling let out a sigh of relief.
Having the memory fragment from the next day meant she had survived the fated death.
Then on the third day, she was hit by a runaway electric scooter on her way home from school and rushed to the hospital.
She hadn’t died—just spent a long time in the hospital.
When she saw this memory at the time, she had been overjoyed and treated Li Yang even better than usual those few days.
Then the memory fragments continued to update. After she was discharged, she slipped in her own bathroom at home.
The back of her head struck the tiles, and she never woke up.
Death had returned.
This time the Grim Reaper had granted her two extra months compared to before—like a reward for changing her fate, only to ruthlessly snatch away her hope once more.
An Ling started to lose her mind.
For several days she skipped school and refused to see anyone, including Li Yang.
Even so, strangely enough, the future had changed.
She did not die on the appointed day, though she could no longer see any further ahead.
She pulled out every memory fragment, piecing them together bit by bit and analyzing them carefully.
She discovered a terrifying pattern: as long as her future remained connected to Li Yang in any way, she would definitely die. Not “might.” Definitely.
She tried removing Li Yang as a key factor from those futures.
Slowly, many of the memory fragments faded from view, but on the day of her death she saw clearly that she had survived.
The future was no longer fixed.
Those few days, An Ling sat alone in her room and saw no one.
She hugged her big fluffy tail, staring at the room across the way, at the figure inside.
Whenever Li Yang looked over, she hid.
Her unusual behavior was reported to her parents by the teacher, and her mother rushed back overnight.
That day she told her mother she wanted to live and study in the big city, to stay with her mom and dad.
Her mother was surprised.
After all, An Ling had grown up in M City, where all her friends were.
In the past her mother had suggested taking her along several times, but An Ling had always refused.
An Ling simply smiled and said she wanted a change of environment and to experience life in a big city.
And so she left.
Before going, she gave Li Yang everything she could not take with her—the comics she used to love, the toys she could never bear to lend anyone—as a way to put a period on their ten-plus years together.
She remembered that on the day she left, Li Yang had sulked and refused to see her off, so she quietly departed with her mother.
In the blink of an eye, nearly six years had passed. It felt like a dream.
When she woke up she was still in this city, and all those bizarre experiences had been nothing but an absurd dream.
An Ling set the mirror down, turned over, and buried her face in her tail.
Her mother’s words still echoed in her ears.
“Returning to M City will naturally lead you to a solution.”
“So annoying!”
An Ling fiercely pinched her fluffy tail. Why on earth did I end up chatting with that guy again just now!
“Whatever…”
Anyway, they hadn’t had much contact. At worst she could just ignore him next time.
In the room across the facing windows, Li Yang sat at his desk with the computer on, a TV show playing. But his mind was not on it.
He had thought he would never see An Ling again before he grew up and started working.
Who would have guessed?
Back when they were kids, neither of them had a phone.
An Ling had a watch phone, but she could not save his number.
They lived so close, and before An Ling left he had never paid any attention to the problem.
It was only after he grew up and got his own phone that he started to regret it.
If he had gotten An Ling’s number back then, he would not have had such a hard time reaching her all these years.
An Ling’s departure had been so sudden.
He remembered how she had suddenly become extra nice to him—much nicer than before.
Then she suddenly “got sick,” hiding inside the house and refusing to see anyone.
At the time he had thought someone at school was bullying his timid childhood friend and had spent days interrogating people.
The next time he saw An Ling come out of her room was when Aunt An returned.
Strangely, An Ling had given him all the precious things she had once refused to lend.
He had not understood the meaning at the time and simply accepted them happily.
There were so many comic books he had wanted to read.
Those comics were still displayed in the most prominent spot on his bookshelf after all these years.
After that, Aunt An told him on An Ling’s behalf that she was leaving.
He never understood why she had to go, but he was furious and stayed silent as she prepared to leave.
On the day An Ling and Aunt An departed, he did not see her off.
He still did not know whether she had waited for him.
Over these years he had felt some regret, and maybe a little resentment, but mostly nostalgia.
Li Yang turned off the computer, and the room fell silent.
He lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
The light in the window across from him had already gone out.
An Ling must have really gone to sleep.
Of course—she had always been such a good, obedient kid, unlike him with his irregular schedule.
His mind was a mess, full of old memories and the image of their conversation through the windows just now.
An Ling had changed a lot, yet it also felt like she had not changed at all.
At least after all these years she still remembered the hand gestures they had settled on as children.
It was just that the current An Ling was much colder.
Six years ago, when An Ling smiled her eyes would curve into little crescents, and her voice had been soft and sweet.
But now?
In those few lines of conversation earlier, An Ling had not smiled once.
Her tone was indifferent, as if something stood between them.
Those gray wolf ears had only twitched now and then, and her tail had swished symbolically a couple of times—nothing like the enthusiastic wagging it used to do whenever she saw him as a child.
Six years could indeed change a great deal. Even the city was no longer the same as it had been in his memories from six years ago.
But some things remained unchanged—like those comics, which were still just as good after six years, and the memories of the past.
That’s right! Li Yang smacked his forehead.
He did not know what An Ling had gone through these years.
Maybe she had been bullied in the big city?
An Ling had always looked like a girl since she was little, with a soft personality and not good at refusing people.
Back in school, some kids had bullied her simply because she looked good.
At that time he had protected her as her big brother, but in other places there was no one.
The more Li Yang thought about it, the harder it was to sleep.
He turned over again and looked out the window.
Tomorrow An Ling would probably go to school to register, right?
Li Yang did not know which class she had been placed in.
It would be perfect if they ended up in the same class.
Even if not the same class, at least the same grade—so he could keep an eye on her.
He, Li Yang, might not bully others at school, but no one could bully him either.
Tomorrow he would take An Ling to school and find out which class she was in.
He would chat with her more, and their bond would slowly recover.
Then they could play games together, and he would show her around.
M City had changed a lot in the past two years.
There was still plenty of time. It should be more than enough.
As Li Yang thought about it, the corners of his mouth could not help but curl upward.