After the voice on the broadcast disappeared. The basement fell silent again. Jin Feixun stood where she was, with only the final sentence left in her mind. “She was the beginning of it all.” She looked at Yan Chuxian. Yan Chuxian offered no explanation. She only stood there. Her face was pale. At that moment, Jin Feixun realized for the first time— The person she had searched for all this time really seemed to be hiding something. And it was something she had never told Jin Feixun. Outside the door. The footsteps drew closer and closer. Shen Wen raised a hand. Everyone behind her stopped. “Now you should know.” Jin Feixun looked at her. “Know what?” Shen Wen did not answer. She only looked at Yan Chuxian. “Let her tell you herself.” Everyone’s eyes fell on Yan Chuxian. Yan Chuxian lowered her head. After a long time. She finally spoke softly. “He was telling the truth.” Jin Feixun’s heart sank little by little. “Which part?” “I wasn’t the first person chosen by the Vanished Name Project.” “Then who was?” Yan Chuxian raised her eyes. She looked at Jin Feixun. “You.” The air in the basement seemed to freeze instantly. Jin Feixun said nothing. “Seventeen years ago.” Yan Chuxian slowly walked over to the long table. Her fingers brushed lightly over row after row of file boxes. “Your mother wasn’t the first person to discover B-17.” “You were.” Jin Feixun frowned. “Me?” “You were seventeen then.” “You found a recorder here.” “You heard a voice.” “Whose?” Yan Chuxian looked at her. “Mine.” Jin Feixun’s breath caught. “Impossible.” “We hadn’t even met back then.” “That’s right.” Yan Chuxian nodded. “That’s why you could never figure it out.” “Why, the first time you saw me, you felt…” She paused. “Like you’d known me for a very long time.” Jin Feixun’s hands slowly clenched. She remembered. The first time she saw Yan Chuxian. The rain. That cinema. She had been standing in the dim auditorium. Yan Chuxian took off her headphones. Then looked back at her. Her first words hadn’t been hello. They had been— “You finally came.” Jin Feixun had always thought Yan Chuxian had simply mistaken her for someone else. Only now did she understand. That wasn’t it. “When you were seventeen, you heard my voice.” Yan Chuxian continued. “You started looking for me.” “But I didn’t exist yet.” Jin Feixun looked at her. “How could a person who didn’t exist have a voice?” “That’s why they were afraid,” Yan Chuxian said. “They didn’t know why someone who had never been born would appear in a recording.” Jin Feixun froze. “Never been born?” Yan Chuxian nodded. “At least, not according to their records.” She took a sheet of paper from the fifth file box. Then handed it to Jin Feixun. There was only one line on it. Yan Chuxian—birth record: none. Below that was another line. Death record: none. And below that. Social existence record: none. Jin Feixun stared at the paper. Her fingers went cold. “So…” “So I’m not a real person?” Yan Chuxian did not answer. She only said softly: “I’ve been looking for the answer too.” A tremendous crash suddenly came from outside the door. Boom! The iron gate was knocked open a crack. Shen Wen turned around. “We’re out of time.” She looked at Jin Feixun. “You have to make a choice.” “What choice?” “Come with us.” Shen Wen pointed to the other side. “Or go with her.” Jin Feixun did not move. “What happens if I go with you?” “You’ll survive.” “What about with her?” Shen Wen fell silent. “You’ll both die.” Yan Chuxian said quietly: “Don’t listen to her.” Shen Wen looked at her. “How much longer are you going to lie to her?” Yan Chuxian’s eyes trembled faintly. Shen Wen continued: “Did you tell her?” “Did you tell her what happened the fifth time?” “Did you tell her why the sixth time has to begin with her?” Jin Feixun whipped around. “The fifth time?” Yan Chuxian closed her eyes. Shen Wen sneered. “Looks like she didn’t tell you.” Jin Feixun walked toward Yan Chuxian. “What exactly have you been hiding from me?” Yan Chuxian took a step back. “Feixun…” “Tell me.” “…” “Now.” Yan Chuxian was silent for a long time. Finally. She said: “The fifth time…” “It wasn’t you who killed me.” Jin Feixun froze. “It was me.” Her voice was barely audible. “I killed you.” Time seemed to stop for one second. Jin Feixun looked at her. “Impossible.” “It’s true.” “Why?” “Because that time…” Yan Chuxian’s eyes slowly reddened. “You were already close to death.” She looked at Jin Feixun. “They discovered that as long as you kept remembering me, your body would continue to malfunction.” “You would lose your hearing.” “Then your sight.” “And in the end, you wouldn’t even remember your own name.” “So I made a choice.” Jin Feixun’s voice began to tremble. “You chose to kill me?” Yan Chuxian did not answer. But her silence was already an answer. “You used my knife?” “Mm-hmm.” “And then?” “I had them erase all your memories.” Tears fell from Jin Feixun’s eyes. “So that’s why I’m still alive?” “Yes.” “And you?” Yan Chuxian said softly: “I died too.” “But…” She gave a small smile. “Then I woke up again.” Jin Feixun looked at her. “What are you?” Yan Chuxian raised her head. For the first time. She did not avoid the question. “I don’t know.” “All I know is—” “Every time you forget me, I reappear.” “Every time you remember me, I begin to disappear.” Jin Feixun stopped breathing. “So you’ve never let me remember you.” “Mm-hmm.” “Because if I remember you, you’ll die?” “Mm-hmm.” “Then why did you come looking for me this time?” Yan Chuxian finally began to cry. “Because I wanted to be selfish for once.” “I wanted to see you again.” The alarm in the basement grew more and more piercing. Red lights flashed continuously. 70:41:22 The countdown continued. Shen Wen suddenly spoke: “That’s enough.” She raised her hand. The people behind her began moving forward. Yan Chuxian immediately grabbed Jin Feixun. “Go!” The two of them sprinted toward the other side of the archive room. Shen Wen did not follow. She only stood there. Watching them disappear. Then she said quietly: “They’re still the same.” Someone behind her asked: “Should we intercept them?” Shen Wen shook her head. “No.” “Let them go.” “Why?” Shen Wen looked toward the black iron gate. “Because the real door to B-17…” “Hasn’t opened yet.” The underground passage was long. So long it seemed to have no end. Jin Feixun ran the whole way with Yan Chuxian pulling her along. Until a white door appeared ahead. Yan Chuxian stopped. “We’re here.” Jin Feixun gasped for breath. “What is this place?” “The memory room.” “What is it for?” “To see what you’ve forgotten.” The door opened. There were no machines inside. No files. Only a huge glass wall. Behind the wall. Was a space arranged like an ordinary room. There was a desk. A bed. A window. And an old recorder. Jin Feixun stood before the glass. A strange familiarity suddenly came over her. “This place…” Yan Chuxian nodded. “Your room.” “From when you were seventeen.” Jin Feixun stood stunned. She walked inside. A diary lay on the desk. Its cover had already yellowed. She opened to the first page. The handwriting was childish. It was hers. — November 3, 2017. Today, I heard a girl’s voice. She said her name was Yan Chuxian. The second page. She said she lived by the seaside. The third page. I asked her why she didn’t have a school. The fourth page. She said she had never been born. Jin Feixun’s hand stopped. She kept turning the pages. The fifth page. There was only one sentence. “She said I would fall in love with her someday.” Jin Feixun slammed the diary shut. Then turned to Yan Chuxian. “You knew back then?” “Knew what?” “You knew I would fall in love with you?” Yan Chuxian shook her head. “I didn’t write that.” “What?” “That diary…” She walked over. Then picked up the last page. “You didn’t write it.” Jin Feixun froze. Yan Chuxian flipped to the end. There was a line written in handwriting clearly different from the pages before it. “If you’re reading this, it means she has already fallen in love with you.” Below it. There was no signature. Only a date. November 3, 2026. Jin Feixun stared at the date. “This isn’t today.” “No.” Yan Chuxian said softly: “It’s the future.” The two of them fell silent at the same time. Their future selves. They had left behind a diary. Written for their present selves. Suddenly. The recorder lit up. It began playing automatically. A girl’s voice rang out. “If you’re together right now.” Jin Feixun froze. It was her own voice. But not her voice as she was now. The girl in the recording was crying. “That means the sixth time has begun.” “Don’t trust Shen Wen.” “And don’t trust me, either.” Yan Chuxian’s expression changed. The recording continued. “Because every person you see…” “May not be the person they originally were.” Jin Feixun slowly turned her head. “That includes you.” The voice of her recorded self continued. “If Yan Chuxian tells you she loves you.” “Don’t believe her.” Yan Chuxian closed her eyes. Jin Feixun looked at her. But the next sentence made them both go rigid. “Because the moment she loves you is the moment she truly begins to disappear.” The recording stopped. The only sound left in the room was their breathing. Jin Feixun asked softly: “What does that mean?” Yan Chuxian did not answer. She only stared at the glass window. Outside. Someone was standing there, though Jin Feixun didn’t know when she had appeared. A woman dressed in black. Long hair. A pale face. A camera in her hand. Jin Feixun saw her face clearly. Her pupils contracted sharply. That was— Another version of herself. Her sixth-time self. She looked at Jin Feixun through the glass. Then raised the camera. Click. The flash went off. The next second. Every light in the room went out. In the darkness. A woman’s voice rang out. “I found you.” Jin Feixun grabbed Yan Chuxian. “Who?” Yan Chuxian did not answer. Because she had already recognized the voice. That voice. It was her own. In the darkness. Another sentence rang out. “This time—” “I won’t let you take her away again.” A white light suddenly flared. Jin Feixun saw another version of herself standing in the doorway. She was holding a knife. And on the wall behind her. Countless names were written all over it. At the very top. Was the same name. Yan Chuxian. Once. Twice. Three times. … Until, at the very end. Only two words remained on the entire wall. The Vanished Name. That “Jin Feixun” raised her head. She looked at Jin Feixun. Then slowly smiled. “The sixth time.” “Finally, it’s your turn to remember.”