Chapter Four: The Person in the Dark
The moment the door closed, Lin Ye heard his own heartbeat.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The darkness wasn't as quiet as he'd imagined.
A low sound came from somewhere far away.
Like machinery running.
Or some enormous creature breathing in its sleep.
Lin Ye stood where he was, not moving forward right away.
He reached out.
The metal door behind him was cold and hard.
He felt around for the control panel on the door.
Nothing happened.
There were no buttons.
No device of any kind that could open it.
"Damn it."
Lin Ye cursed under his breath.
His phone still had forty-seven percent battery left.
Its screen was the only source of light.
He raised the phone.
The light illuminated about ten feet ahead.
The floor was black metal.
The walls on both sides were black, too.
He couldn't see the ceiling.
He couldn't see the end of the passage, either.
The time on his phone was still frozen in the countdown.
【31 days 22 hours 38 minutes 52 seconds】
Lin Ye stared at the numbers.
Suddenly, he realized something.
The countdown seemed to decrease only when the world was operating normally.
After he'd entered this room just now,
the countdown had slowed down.
It wasn't that time itself had slowed.
It was that...
time here was different from the outside.
He raised his head.
"Dad?"
There was no answer.
Lin Ye started forward.
The first step.
No sound.
The second step.
Still no sound.
Not until the third step.
A thin white line suddenly lit up on the floor.
The white line extended forward from beneath his feet.
Three feet.
Six feet.
Thirty feet.
At last,
it stretched all the way into the depths of the darkness.
Lin Ye stopped.
"Are you trying to lead me somewhere?"
The white line didn't answer.
It simply remained lit.
He stood there for a while.
In the end, he stepped onto it.
Not because he trusted it.
But because he knew
he had no other choice.
He followed the white line forward.
After walking for about three minutes,
a door appeared ahead.
The door had no handle.
There was only a circular indentation in the center.
A line of text was engraved beside it.
【Please enter a memory.】
Lin Ye frowned.
"A memory?"
He reached out and touched it.
In an instant,
everything before his eyes went black.
The next second,
he was eighteen again.
It was a sunny day.
There was no rain.
No alarms.
No darkness.
It was simply four in the afternoon.
Sunlight streamed through the living-room window.
Lin Ye sat on the couch,
a glass of cola in his hand.
His father sat across from him.
A black box rested on the table.
Lin Ye stared at it.
"What's this?"
His father didn't answer.
"Dad?"
"Something you must not open."
Lin Ye laughed.
"Then why'd you put it in front of me?"
His father smiled, too,
but the smile looked strained.
"Because one day, you might forget that you've seen it."
"Then don't let me see it."
"It's already too late."
Lin Ye froze.
His father picked up the black box.
"Little Ye."
"Yeah?"
"If one day you discover that the people around you aren't the same as they used to be..."
"Don't rush to trust yourself."
"What does that mean?"
"You might think you've remembered wrong."
"You might start doubting your own memories."
"You might even wonder if you're going crazy."
His father looked at him.
"When that happens, remember one thing."
"What?"
"Memories aren't necessarily real."
"But anything you remember has to have a reason."
The scene began to shake.
Lin Ye watched as his father handed him the black box.
"Hide it."
"Where?"
"You'll know."
"When?"
His father glanced at the wall clock.
"At midnight."
The scene suddenly went black.
Lin Ye's eyes flew open.
He was still standing in the black corridor.
The door remained in front of him.
But the words on it had changed.
【Memory confirmed.】
【First layer cleared.】
Lin Ye stood there, stunned.
"So that's how it is."
He looked at his hands.
That memory just now...
It was real.
At least, he was sure of that.
Because he had never remembered it before.
And yet now it had suddenly come back to him.
His father had once handed him a black box.
But...
Where was the black box?
Lin Ye closed his eyes.
He searched through his memory again.
His father had said:
"You'll know."
Where had the box ultimately gone?
He couldn't remember.
Just then,
the door opened.
Beyond it was a circular room.
A chair stood in the center.
Someone was sitting in it.
Lin Ye stopped.
The person had his back to him.
A white research coat.
Hair gone gray.
Shoulders slightly hunched.
Lin Ye's breathing slowly stopped.
"Dad?"
The man didn't turn around.
"You came after all."
Lin Ye's eyes instantly reddened.
"Is that you?"
"It is."
Lin Ye moved closer, one step at a time.
"You're still alive?"
"For now."
"What does that mean?"
"No one can truly be alive here."
Lin Ye stopped behind him.
"Turn around."
The man didn't move.
"I want to see you."
"Little Ye."
"Turn around."
"If you see me..."
His father's voice began to tremble.
"You'll know why you've been having the same dream over and over."
Lin Ye frowned.
"What dream?"
His father slowly turned his head.
Lin Ye saw his face.
In that instant,
he froze completely.
The right side of his father's face
was covered by a massive scar,
stretching from his forehead all the way to his chin.
It looked as if he'd once been burned by extreme heat.
His left eye was cloudy.
But his right eye still held the familiar look Lin Ye knew so well.
"Dad..."
Lin Ye's voice was hoarse.
"It really is you."
His father reached out.
Lin Ye stepped forward.
Their hands finally touched.
Cold.
There was no warmth at all.
"You've grown up."
Those words
made Lin Ye's eyes instantly fill with tears.
Three years.
He had waited three years.
On countless nights,
he had dreamed of his father coming home.
Dreamed of his father standing at the door.
Dreamed of his father calling his name.
But after waking up,
all that remained was an empty living room.
And now,
his father was really standing in front of him.
Lin Ye clenched his teeth.
"Why didn't you come home?"
His father was silent.
"Why didn't you contact me?"
"I did."
"When?"
"Many times."
"I never received anything."
"Because your world couldn't receive it."
Lin Ye frowned.
"What does that mean?"
His father gestured around them.
"This isn't a basement."
"This is midnight."
Lin Ye froze.
"Midnight?"
"More precisely..."
His father looked at him.
"This is what's left after all time has been deleted."
Lin Ye didn't understand.
His father stood up.
"Do you know why humans can know what happened yesterday?"
"Because of memory."
"Wrong."
His father shook his head.
"Because everyone agrees that yesterday existed."
Lin Ye frowned.
"What's the difference?"
"There is a difference."
His father walked toward the wall.
An image appeared across it.
A city.
Taipei.
Three years ago.
August 15.
Eleven at night.
"If only one person remembers that something happened,"
his father said,
"does that thing still count as having existed?"
In the image,
a little girl stood at an intersection.
She was holding a balloon.
A car came speeding through.
The girl disappeared.
The next second,
the street returned to normal.
No one saw it.
There were no security cameras.
No news reports.
Only the little girl's mother remembered.
His father asked:
"To everyone else, did she ever exist?"
Lin Ye was silent.
"No."
"Right,"
his father said.
"That's how cruel time is."
"It doesn't need to kill you."
"It only needs to make everyone forget you."
Lin Ye stared at the image.
"So ZERO can delete people?"
"No."
His father shook his head.
"ZERO doesn't delete anything."
"It takes a vote."
Lin Ye frowned.
"A vote?"
"Every person's memory is one vote."
"When enough people remember something, time preserves it."
"When the number of people who remember it falls below a certain point,"
"time categorizes it as an error."
His father looked at Lin Ye.
"And you..."
"are the biggest error of all."
Lin Ye was silent.
"Why?"
"Because you remember three worlds."
Lin Ye suddenly looked up.
"Three?"
His father nodded.
"The first time."
"You were eighteen."
"The second time."
"You were still eighteen."
"The third time..."
His father looked at him.
"You're twenty-one now."
Lin Ye stared blankly.
"Then..."
He suddenly realized.
"I'm not twenty-one this year?"
"How old do you think you are?"
"Twenty-one."
His father shook his head.
"In the first world,"
"you only lived to eighteen."
"In the second world,"
"you lived to nineteen."
"And in the third..."
"you've only made it this far."
Lin Ye's mind was a complete mess.
"But my birthday..."
"Memories can be rearranged."
"Then what about my life?"
His father didn't answer.
Lin Ye grabbed his father's arm.
"Tell me."
"How many times have I actually lived?"
His father closed his eyes.
"Three."
"What about everyone else?"
"Most people have only lived once."
"Some have lived twice."
"Only you..."
"Three times."
Lin Ye suddenly laughed.
"So I'm not human."
His father looked at him.
"You are human."
"Then why only me?"
"Because of your mother."
Lin Ye's smile vanished instantly.
"Mom?"
His father nodded.
"She was the first person to discover ZERO."
Lin Ye stood frozen.
He had never known
that his mother was connected to this, too.
"Her death wasn't an accident,"
his father said.
"What?"
"Seven years ago,"
"she discovered the first time rift."
"She tried to close it."
"She failed."
Lin Ye's breathing began to tremble.
"So that's why she died?"
"No."
His father spoke in a low voice:
"She didn't die."
Lin Ye's pupils contracted.
"What did you say?"
"She's still here."
"Where?"
His father looked toward the deepest part of the room.
A black door stood there.
"In midnight."
Lin Ye hurried toward it.
"Mom!"
His father immediately grabbed him.
"Don't!"
"Let go of me!"
"She's not the mother you know anymore."
Lin Ye looked back.
"What does that mean?"
"She's been here for seven years."
"Seven years outside of time."
"Her body doesn't grow old."
"But her memories are rewritten every day."
Lin Ye's eyes reddened.
"I have to see her."
His father didn't stop him.
He released his arm.
"Go."
Lin Ye walked toward the door.
There was no lock.
He reached out.
The door opened by itself.
Inside was a room.
In the center of the room
stood a woman.
Her back was to him.
Long black hair.
White clothes.
Lin Ye stopped.
"Mom?"
The woman didn't answer.
Lin Ye slowly moved closer.
"Mom, it's me."
The woman's shoulders trembled slightly.
"Little Ye?"
Lin Ye's tears instantly spilled over.
"It's me."
The woman slowly turned around.
Her face
was exactly as Lin Ye remembered it.
She hadn't aged.
Not at all in seven years.
She looked at Lin Ye.
Her expression was first confused,
then surprised,
and finally,
terrified.
"You shouldn't be here."
Lin Ye stepped toward her.
"I came to find you."
His mother shook her head.
"Go back."
"I won't."
"Little Ye, go back!"
She suddenly shouted.
Lin Ye froze.
His mother rushed over and grabbed his shoulders.
"Go back right now!"
"Why?"
"Because it's watching you."
Lin Ye shot his head up.
There was nothing in the room.
But the next second,
a sound came from the ceiling.
Click.
Like some kind of camera turning.
Lin Ye looked up.
On the ceiling,
a massive black eye
was opening.
His mother's face instantly went white.
"Run!"
Boom!
The entire room suddenly shook.
Cracks began spreading across the walls.
Black fissures crawled up from the floor and over the walls.
His father rushed in.
"It's awake!"
Lin Ye asked,
"What's awake?"
His father didn't answer.
His mother grabbed his hand.
"Little Ye."
"Remember this."
"No matter what you see next,"
"don't believe the second you."
Lin Ye froze.
"The second me?"
Tears streamed down his mother's face.
"He's not your clone."
"He's..."
Boom!
A massive black shadow burst through the wall.
His mother's voice was swallowed up.
Lin Ye only saw the last three words she mouthed.
"Your brother."
Lin Ye's pupils widened instantly.
The darkness swallowed everything.
He woke up again.
He was lying on the cold floor.
The sound of dripping water reached his ears.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
He opened his eyes.
His father was gone.
His mother was gone, too.
The black room had disappeared.
Only a long corridor remained.
Lin Ye slowly sat up.
"Dad?"
There was no answer.
"Mom?"
There was no answer.
He stood up.
His phone was still in his hand.
The countdown read:
【31 days 21 hours 03 minutes 27 seconds】
But something was wrong.
The date on his phone
wasn't August 15.
It was:
August 16.
Lin Ye stared at the date.
"It's already past midnight?"
He raised his head.
At the end of the corridor
stood a person.
A gray raincoat.
Lin Ye's face.
That "other Lin Ye."
The other person didn't come closer.
He simply watched him.
"You saw them."
Lin Ye clenched his fists.
"You knew?"
"I know everything."
"You're my brother?"
The other Lin Ye fell silent.
For a long time,
he didn't answer.
Finally, he said:
"If that's what your mother told you,"
"then you'd better believe her."
"Are you my brother?"
The other person didn't answer.
"Answer me!"
The other Lin Ye raised his head.
For the first time,
sadness appeared in his eyes.
"I am you."
"And I'm your brother."
Lin Ye froze.
"What does that mean?"
"We're not two people."
"We're one person."
"Just split into two halves."
Lin Ye stared at him.
"Who split us apart?"
The other Lin Ye raised a hand
and pointed behind Lin Ye.
Lin Ye slowly turned around.
At the other end of the corridor,
a massive black number lit up on the wall.
0.
Beneath it was a line of text.
【Fourth reboot preparation beginning.】
Lin Ye's face instantly went pale.
"The fourth time?"
The other Lin Ye said:
"That's right."
"You thought it wouldn't end until thirty-one days from now?"
He smiled faintly.
"No."
"Thirty-one days from now..."
"is when it begins."
In the distance,
an alarm began to sound.
Red lights came on one after another.
The other Lin Ye turned around.
"Hurry."
"Where?"
"Go find the first person."
"Who?"
He looked back.
"Your mother."
Lin Ye watched him disappear at the end of the corridor.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
Sender:
【Mom】
The message contained only one sentence.
【Little Ye, if you're seeing this message, it means I've already died three times.】
Lin Ye's hand began to tremble.
The next line appeared.
【But this time, I won't die again.】
The final line.
【Because this time, it will be the world that dies.】
Lin Ye raised his head.
From the depths of the darkness
came the first toll of a bell.
Thump.
The entire ZERO base began to shake.
The second toll.
Thump.
The ground split open.
The third toll.
Thump.
All the lights went out at once.
The fourth toll.
Thump.
A completely new countdown appeared on his phone screen.
【Fourth reboot: 00:00:00】
Lin Ye stared at the numbers.
Then...
they began to count down.
【00:00:09】
【00:00:08】
【00:00:07】
【00:00:06】
Lin Ye suddenly understood.
The real midnight
had never been twelve o'clock at night.
It was—
the moment everyone forgot that they had ever been alive.
【00:00:05】
【00:00:04】
【00:00:03】
In the darkness,
someone whispered into his ear:
"Little Ye."
"Don't forget me."
【00:00:02】
Lin Ye whipped around.
His mother stood behind him.
Tears streaked her face.
She reached out.
"This time..."
"let me save you."
【00:00:01】
Lin Ye grabbed her hand.
The world
returned to zero once again.
End of Chapter Four