[Wuuuuu what a good knife…]
[Huh, where’s my head? Oh, it got sliced off by this boomerang blade (holding severed head with silly grin jpg.)]
[Shi-ge wuuuu I thought I’d never get another chance to see him QAQ Shi baby’s almost finished watching all those green stars, when are you going to make him some more?]
[Shi-ge hurry back and check on your two kids, another one’s about to die wuuuu]
[Be bolder—can Xiao Deng even survive?]
[Hello everyone, please tune in weekly for 《Time Paradox: And Then There Were None》. Stay tuned.]
[Damn, commenter above you—]
[So it was destined from the very beginning. What does it matter if sunflowers bloom perpetually, defying time? What does it matter how deep the bonds run? In the end, it all amounts to nothing.]
[…]
***
The figure hidden behind the beaded curtain in the flower shop gradually disappeared. Shi Deng reappeared on Yellow Springs’ shores once more.
The incompletely woven straw hat he’d been wearing reverted to its original form, and the black misty veils that had shrouded his body like a canopy also vanished without a trace.
Shi Deng’s expression still carried traces of dazed confusion. The dull ache in his chest hadn’t subsided yet.
After a moment, he suppressed all his emotions, raised his hand to wipe away his tears, and removed the hat from his head, intending to return it to the kind Two Worlds person who’d helped him earlier.
But when he looked around, they were nowhere to be found.
This time, he’d only been testing the feasibility of his method, so he’d employed merely the simplified ability formation. If he used the complete formation, he could entirely bypass Yellow Springs’ restrictions and perform reversals within it.
Moreover, this final reversal he planned to execute would be different from all previous ones.
So when officially implementing his plan, he wouldn’t need this straw hat. Uncertain what consequences a Two Worlds person might suffer from losing their hat for an extended period, Shi Deng asked, “Where did they go?”
The Voice: [They went to another time within Yellow Springs.]
Yellow Springs’ time was disordered.
That Two Worlds person had shown him kindness. Shi Deng asked, “When can they be freed?”
The Voice: [They are waiting for someone. When the person they await recognizes them, they may leave Yellow Springs’ shores.]
Shi Deng offered, “Perhaps I can help them.”
The Voice: [You must leave now.]
Feeling Yellow Springs’ expulsion force, Shi Deng looked down at the reed straw hat in his hands. The hat was nearly complete—just missing a little.
Shi Deng plucked reeds from nearby and began weaving by hand. At the end, he wove a small flower that vaguely resembled a sunflower—rather ugly, honestly.
After finishing, he placed it in a conspicuous position on the shore.
The blood river’s waters rolled endlessly. The small flower at the woven hat’s tail was lifted by the wind, producing the rustling sound of the Two Worlds Song.
The youth departed.
This completed straw hat was the only thing he could offer in return.
***
When Shi Deng returned from Yellow Springs and his feet touched solid ground, weakness from nearly depleted abilities struck him. His hands and feet stabbed with pain, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.
Chi Yu and the others rushed to support him, helping him into his wheelchair.
Xiao Deng stood several steps away watching him, uncharacteristically not approaching.
Shi Deng’s complexion was slightly pale. After recovering somewhat, he beckoned to the child.
Right now, with his abilities severely depleted, his limbs crippled, and so many people surrounding them, he posed no threat to Xiao Deng whatsoever. Of course they could be close.
Xiao Deng shuffled over hesitantly.
Shi Deng wiped away the tear stains on his face. “You saw everything?”
Chi Yu answered on Xiao Deng’s behalf from the side. “Yes. After you entered, we could all see what happened.”
For Xiao Deng, both Shi-ge and Shi Deng were tremendously important existences. But comparatively speaking, Shi Deng mattered more to him.
Shi-ge was like a parent figure. But the person sitting in this wheelchair was the one he couldn’t bear to part with—the one who’d rescued him from the past, his most important person.
The child looked at Shi Deng.
He didn’t actually know how to act spoiled, but following his two futures around, he seemed to have learned it naturally without instruction.
He gently grasped Shi Deng’s hand, wanting to say something to make Shi Deng angry—
Shi Deng’s will to live was terribly weak. Only when angry did he become somewhat vibrant and alive.
But just as he lifted his head, he collided with those beautiful heterochromatic eyes.
Those eyes were looking directly at him, their depths holding struggle, conflict, and barely perceptible sorrow.
The child froze.
But in the blink of an eye, the complex emotions he’d accidentally glimpsed dissipated completely, like a confused dream filled with fog.
He tilted his head. “Shi Deng?”
But the youth no longer looked at him, only gently pushing him toward Uncle Fu. “Let’s go. We need to prepare the complete ability formation.”
***
Tiangu.
Preparations for the ability formation had been placed on the agenda.
Shi Deng had already informed everyone of his plan—
Return to three hundred years in the past, bring Yuan back to when Yuan Marrow was at its peak, and destroy Yuan.
“I find this method rather unstable. Though Yuan is detestable, it represents part of the cause. If we return to the past and change the cause, can the present effect still exist?”
Tiangu’s leadership sighed heavily. “That’s precisely my concern as well.”
Cause and effect—pull one thread and the whole tapestry unravels.
Changing the past meant changing the future. If Yuan vanished, would Yuan Guang still exist in later years? Would Tiangu still exist?
But if Yuan wasn’t eliminated, the world would never know peace.
Chi Yu added, “Shi Deng said this ability formation differs from his time retrograde ability, but he hasn’t told me the specific details.”
“…Forget it, just prepare it,” Tiangu’s leader sighed almost imperceptibly. “After all, he wouldn’t have malicious intent.”
***
These preparations continued until July summer.
Yuan grew increasingly powerful.
Meanwhile, ability users arriving from all across the Northern Yu Domain grew more numerous. With Shenhu City as its foundation, a massive ability formation gradually took shape.
Yuan seemed to sense the threatening aura as well. It cursed incessantly throughout each day, frantically absorbing contamination qi, desperate to break free from its shackles as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Shi Deng remained at Yuan Guang, finding himself with leisure time.
In the sunflower field beneath Yuan Guang’s rear cliff, beside the wooden cabin, he dug a grave with his own hands.
Because he didn’t employ his abilities, this grave took him an extremely long time to complete. By the time the ability formation was fully finished, the tomb had only just been constructed.
It couldn’t be called particularly impressive. Shi Deng erected a gravestone, though he left the stone nameless.
Not because he didn’t want to inscribe a name—he simply didn’t know what to write.
Both he and Shi-ge were “Shi Deng.” Yet in his private heart, he didn’t want to define Shi-ge as merely ‘Shi Deng.’
The glass jar the youth held contained one-third of the remaining green stars. But he never opened them to watch again. Instead, he buried these stars around the gravestone.
His body had grown even more emaciated. After completing all this, he sat in his wheelchair, staring at the gravestone in a daze.
Sunset light spilled onto the wooden cabin. The brilliant golden sunflowers bloomed in radiant splendor.
He thought—if only Xiao Deng could forget him and Shi-ge, and grow up healthy and happy in the ‘present.’
***
“Uncle Xiao Fu, Shi Deng hasn’t spoken to me in so long. Please help me figure out what to do.” The child stood on a stool, chin propped dejectedly on the bar counter.
In the kitchen, Uncle Fu prepared dinner with methodical precision. “The Leader is afraid.”
“It’s different. I think he’s not afraid—he’s just deliberately ignoring me.”
Ever since that ability formation was developed, Shi Deng had barely spoken a word to him. Even when he eagerly approached, all he received in return were nearly indifferent glances.
This was different from his previous behavior when he’d feared hurting him.
Uncle Fu chuckled teasingly. “If he won’t acknowledge you, don’t keep pestering him. What’s there to worry about?”
“No, no, that won’t work. He shuts himself in the flower field all day. I don’t even know what he’s doing in there.”
Xiao Deng jumped down from the stool, his small face serious. “Besides, I need to indulge him.”
Uncle Fu found this amusing. “What kind of logic is that? Aren’t you the younger one?”
Xiao Deng explained earnestly, “I’m young—only six years old. I’ve suffered less. In Yuan Guang, I only learned how to play dead and guard against others. But Shi Deng is older than me, so he’s suffered more.”
“Isn’t it perfectly natural that I should indulge him and accommodate him?”
Uncle Fu shook his head with a smile. “That’s twisted reasoning. Just stop bothering him so much.”
Xiao Deng countered, “He barely has any vitality left.”
The child watched Uncle Fu preparing dinner, his eyes brightening slightly. He grabbed a plate himself and began imitating the process with serious dedication.
Six o’clock in the evening.
Dinner time.
Today, Yuan Ting’s three were also eating here. Shi Deng had rarely emerged from the flower field, sitting at the head of the table.
Shi Deng asked, “How much longer until the ability formation in Shenhu City is complete?”
“Instructor Chi has been supervising it continuously. Probably needs another seven or eight days,” Zhi Ze calculated. “By the end of July. Tiangu’s thinking is that when the time comes, a few extra people should enter the ability formation with you to prevent any accidents.”
“Each additional person means additional danger and uncertainty. Though I’ve tested this once before, it was only a single trial. I can’t guarantee everyone’s safety.” The youth’s brows furrowed.
Delicious dinner dishes were laid across the long table, but no one had much appetite.
Cen Le looked at him directly. “If all goes according to plan, this time it’ll still be the four of us from the elite team operating together. Shi Deng—for this most difficult mission, not one of us four should be missing.”
Shi Deng fell silent for a while. “I…”
In the distance, a small cart wobbled toward them. The sound of its wheels immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Yuan Ting focused his gaze and instantly spotted the child behind the cart. He laughed. “What’s Xiao Deng doing?”
The small cart bumped gently against the table beside Shi Deng with a soft thud.
The child peeked out, smiling with his hands clasped behind his back as he walked to stand before Shi Deng. His blue eyes brimmed with anticipation. “I prepared dinner for you~”
Shi Deng’s gaze swept across to the cart, landing on the covered dish. He couldn’t see what dinner had been prepared.
He pressed his lips together without speaking.
Xiao Deng’s spirits deflated briefly, then he rallied himself. “Just take a look.”
He tilted his head up slightly, tugging at the youth’s sleeve. His eyes were full of dependence and subtle expectation, mixed with a trace of clumsy, childish eagerness to please.
These entirely pure emotions stabbed painfully at Shi Deng’s heart.
Just before Shi-ge left, it had been his birthday. Joy and happiness had barely passed before eternal separation arrived—like a tiny bit of sweetness dissolving away, leaving only bitterness behind.
He’d tasted that desperate flavor once. He didn’t want Xiao Deng to taste it again and again.
Xiao Deng was still waiting for Shi Deng to open and look at his dinner. But Shi Deng set down his chopsticks, neither cold nor warm, not looking at him. “Don’t you have anything else to do each day?”
Xiao Deng replied hastily, “Yes, yes I do! I also massaged Uncle Xiao Fu’s shoulders, planted some sunflowers outside, and wrote letters to Shi-ge and burned them…”
He counted on his fingers, listing them one by one for Shi Deng to hear.
The child cautiously glanced at the youth’s expression, only to discover it hadn’t improved whatsoever. Somewhat dejected, his voice grew even smaller.
Silently placing the dish on Shi Deng’s table, Xiao Deng muttered, “Just try it. It’s really good.”
He was trying so hard to make Shi Deng happy.
Cen Le and the others watching felt their hearts ache.
But Shi Deng turned his wheelchair, preparing to leave.
Before the wheelchair had rolled even half a rotation, Xiao Deng suddenly clenched his fists. His nose stung as he shouted loudly, “Shi Deng! You don’t want me anymore, do you?!”
Shi Deng froze.
Xiao Deng’s grievances came flooding out all at once. Choking with tears, he accused, “…You just don’t want me anymore. You want to send me back, don’t you?”
“Because I’m not as strong as Shi-ge. All I know is how to play dead. I’m weak like an ant that anyone could easily crush. I’m completely useless, and I make you waste energy taking care of me…”
“I don’t want to go back. I’m scared.”
“I don’t want to eat dead rats from cages anymore. Those people all bullied me. If I go back to the past, I probably won’t remember you or Shi-ge anymore…”
The child’s tears fell patter-patter as his grievance-filled accusations brought both Shi Deng and Xiao Deng’s memories flooding back to that time.
These ‘gu’—at first, they’d lived in cages.
Food was scarce. When starving, they’d eat rats and dried grass. Deaths from illness were commonplace.
Every day, they had to survive under countless people’s hands.
Yuan Guang had been his childhood nightmare.
He had no intention of sending Xiao Deng back. It was impossible he’d let him return.
He knew exactly how terrifying that place was. How could he possibly send Xiao Deng back to the hell he’d spent so many years crawling out of?
He was only distancing himself now, hoping that when they separated, perhaps there would be less pain.
Shi Deng’s throat felt blocked. He closed his eyes briefly and raised his hand.
Uncle Fu nodded, using his threads to restrain Xiao Deng and carry the child away.
Xiao Deng thought Shi Deng truly didn’t want him anymore. He cried until he hiccupped. “I hate adults like you the most. How could I ever grow up to become an adult like you…”
“Shi Deng, you jerk!”
“You big bully! I’m writing Shi-ge a letter to tell him you’re being mean to me! You always bully me, always bullying me…”
Shi Deng’s lips curved faintly.
The feeling in his heart was indescribable.
Xiao Deng was quite good at cursing him—and also quite good at cursing himself. It was simultaneously amusing and heartbreaking.
But what could a six-year-old child really understand? He remembered that at that age, he’d still been utterly confused about life and death.
The crying and wailing faded into the distance. Cen Le followed to comfort the child. Shi Deng turned his wheelchair around to face the dinner Xiao Deng had prepared for him on the table.
This feeling was wonderful in a peculiar way.
He somewhat understood how parents must feel when their children grow up and give them their first homemade gift.
Shi Deng lifted the lid.
His fingers froze.
The plate contained a picture made from food—crooked and uneven, like a child’s scribbles, brimming with innocent charm.
In the upper right corner was a sun. The lower left had a tree. Below that, fruits and vegetables had been carved into sunflowers.
Beside the sunflowers stood four stick figures holding hands. From left to right: Little Uncle Fu, himself, Xiao Deng, and Shi-ge.
He and Shi-ge held Xiao Deng’s hands between them. Xiao Deng was smiling, radiantly happy.
Uncle Fu leaned on his cane, also smiling as he watched them.
Written across the top in pale pink sauce was a single sentence:
The happiest family in the whole world.
***
**
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1