The mutant eradication industry in the civilian district under the Second Branch’s jurisdiction had recently taken a massive hit.
The reason was simple: one overachiever had just left, only for another to take his place.
The first overachiever was a man of few words. He worked so hard that the others drove him away after only two or three days. Those who had been in the industry for years breathed a sigh of relief, expecting the professional ecosystem to return to normal.
The second overachiever, however, always wore a smile. He completely ignored everyone’s sarcasm and maintained his relentless pace for an entire week. Just as the others were on the verge of being worked to death by the competition, the overachiever quit on his own.
His predecessor had come to pick him up.
A low-level lackey working at the studio happened to be hiding in a corner and was fortunate enough to overhear the conversation between the two overachievers as they left.
The first-generation overachiever said, "I told you there was no need for this. Why did you even come..."
The second-generation overachiever replied, "Huh? Didn't you tell me about what happened the last two weeks because you wanted me to get revenge for you?"
The first-generation overachiever: "...Whatever makes you happy."
Xin Ye was indeed very happy.
He had earned money and avenged the bullying the Mirror had endured. How could he not be happy?
With that settled, he and the Mirror headed straight for the clinic to discuss employment with the doctor.
During the interview phase, Xin Ye put it like this:
"My younger brother told me you're an Awakened. Now I'm telling you that I'm one too. Since we both have dirt on each other now, care to offer me a job?"
The doctor felt a sudden, moody urge to smoke. Xin Ye handed him a biscuit stick. The doctor looked at it, realized it was from the stash he had provided, and felt even moodier.
He had thought he’d picked up a useful laborer from the studio street next door, but who knew this gullible one came with a much sharper companion?
He’d been swindled.
In any case, the job situation was smoothly resolved through a bit of bluffing and deception. The neighbors also readily accepted the fact that "Xin Ye" had an older brother. Since his own name was already being used by the Mirror, Xin Ye casually adopted the name he had seen in the space: Xin Yan.
Xun Yin reconnected after Xin Ye returned from the space, seemingly completely unaware of what Xin Ye had experienced there.
Mindful of his conjectures from the space, Xin Ye asked him, "Are you familiar with the name 'Xin Yan'?"
Xun Yin: 【...】
He was more than familiar with it.
It was his real name.
The two tacitly skipped the topic. Xun Yin wasn't in a hurry to ask about the specifics of what had happened; he had urgent matters to discuss with Xin Ye.
【I found the reason why the Mutation Core couldn't be controlled,】 Xun Yin said. Because time flowed differently for Xin Ye inside the space, two weeks had passed for Xun Yin by the time Xin Ye returned. During those two weeks, Xun Yin had spent long hours at his computer searching for the glitch, and his dark circles had grown significantly heavier. 【Seriously, I went through two computers and five keyboards, and I couldn't even type those four words. Finally, when I opened the main story document and the side story document at the same time, a prompt popped up when I tried to edit.】
【It said the contents of the two documents are incompatible.】
【I thought about where the incompatibility lay for a long time... and then I had a sudden epiphany.】
At that moment, Xin Ye was returning with the Mirror after buying new clothes. He couldn't wear the headquarters uniform anymore. It didn't feel bad to wear civilian clothes again after several years, though the white shirt felt a bit eyesore-ish right now.
"Is it because of me?" He folded the white shirt and tucked it into the corner of the wardrobe. He had replayed the scene at the bottom of the sea hundreds of times in his mind. "Because I don't belong to this timeline, so..."
In the main story timeline, the Core had already been consumed by Leng Xianye.
However, the only certainty was that the Core had been placed into the Black Box space and detached from the world, not destroyed.
Leng Xianye’s "Black Box" and his own "Mirror Self" were both keys, and they opened the same space. Xin Ye was certain the mirror fragment had touched Gu Shaolou’s coat. If the space had opened at that exact moment...
Xin Ye sat on the edge of the bed and took off his multi-functional watch.
It was now just a piece of junk disconnected from the network. The contact information stored inside was useless. He looked at the greyed-out names on the screen and recited his answer like a machine reading a script: "My space connects to your world, Author."
Xun Yin gave a soft "Mhm."
"A novel can have countless chapters and many side stories. I can start over countless times. But for you, time can't be reversed. There's only one chance, right?"
"Right."
"So, carrying the key to the space, there was no way for me to eliminate the Core. Instead, because the Core of this world conflicted with the Core of the main timeline, it vanished," Xin Ye tossed the watch aside and looked up at the ceiling. "The Core is gone. How is the apocalypse supposed to end now? Did I do something wrong?"
He felt that his arrival had doomed everyone in this timeline.
Xun Yin bit into a biscuit: 【Why don't you just blame me? If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have come back at all.】
【...Don't worry, I have a way. This time, I'll make sure no one gets hurt again.】
Including you, Xin Ye.
If he couldn't fix the ending, it would be quite embarrassing for him as the author.
...
The only instruction Xun Yin gave was for Xin Ye to work diligently under the doctor.
Being out on his own, Xin Ye couldn't help but worry about his teammates. "It's really hard for me to trust you. Your promises are so cheap. Forget everything else for a moment—can you at least get my teammates to escape from the headquarters?"
Xun Yin condemned his useless worrying: 【They're grown adults. They have legs; they can run. Why are you fussing over them?】
Xin Ye: "What do you mean? They've already escaped?"
Xun Yin: 【Classified.】
Xin Ye: "I've seen characters who won't talk, but I've never seen an author who won't talk. This is no fun."
Xun Yin: 【?】
The fragment had returned to normal, and the Mirror could enter and exit the space at will again. However, no matter what they tried, the specific space Xin Ye had fallen into could not be summoned again.
The doctor was a high-level Awakened whose rank was impossible to discern. He sensed that the unpleasant aura on the mirror fragment had vanished, so he naturally didn't care if Xin Ye and the Mirror brought it to work. This made Xin Ye increasingly curious about what the doctor’s ability actually was.
Xun Yin would only say it was "classified," so asking him was useless.
Work at the clinic was quiet. They didn't get a big case even once in half a year. The doctor complained that he was so idle his life-saving skills were going to decline. As it turned out, his words carried weight; a few days later, an overachiever heavily injured by a mutant was brought to the nearest facility—theirs.
The doctor opened the operating room door with remarkable speed, kicking it open and ushering the patient inside.
Xin Ye and the Mirror discussed it and decided that the Mirror would assist the doctor while Xin Ye went to clear out the mutant that had caused the injury.
The second-generation overachiever returned to the field. Before he even made a move, the crowd was already trembling with fear.
Having rested for a while, Xin Ye wasn't rusty. The biggest obstacle to this cleanup was actually that the mutant was too ugly; he didn't really want to get close to it.
The people nearby acted as a hype squad, applauding for Xin Ye as he left the scene.
By the time the Mirror finished his task, it was already late. The two agreed to meet at the intersection. They had recently bought simple communicators—basic devices that could only make calls and send texts, similar to old-school feature phones. Aside from each other, the only contact they had added was their boss, the doctor.
"First time being a surgical assistant, how was it?" The Mirror was about to walk straight across the intersection, but Xin Ye pulled him back, suggesting they visit a convenience store first.
The Mirror knew he wanted to buy something to feed the cats in the neighborhood, so he followed him toward the store. "To be honest, I wasn't really needed. Dr. Chen handled everything himself."
"That impressive? The boss is a real dark horse."
"He used his ability."
Xin Ye walked into the shop. Hearing this, his gaze paused as he searched for cat food.
"What is his ability?"
"Restoration. Whether it's a living being or an inanimate object, he can restore it to its state at a certain point in time. I felt it from a close distance when he activated it, but I still couldn't determine his exact rank," the Mirror picked up a small pack of cheese. "Will this work?"
Hearing "restore to a certain point in time," Xin Ye’s heart stirred. The Mirror actually waited for a long time until Xin Ye snapped out of it before they went to check out together.
Walking out of the store, Xin Ye asked Xun Yin, "...Is it what I think it is? Returning to a certain point in time?"
If he had never come... if this side story had never existed.
Xun Yin checked his thoughts and quickly denied it: 【No.】
【If you think the experiences of this period can be completely erased by a single ability, then perhaps you are looking down on yourself.】
【There will be a better solution.】
The civilian district was built underground. Neither sunlight nor moonlight could reach it. In their place, giant energy lamps were installed at intervals across the ceiling.
As 6:00 PM approached, the energy lamps automatically switched from white light to a warm yellow glow.
Xin Ye and the Mirror walked to the revolving door where the neighborhood strays usually gathered, but they didn't see a single cat shadow. They waited patiently for five minutes, but still, nothing appeared.
Xin Ye projected his worry for his teammates onto the cats. "Nothing happened to them, right? Even if no one owns them, everyone treats non-mutated small animals well these days. Nothing should have happened."
Hearing this, the Mirror couldn't help but have grim thoughts as well. "...It's hard to be sure. Should we look for them?"
Xin Ye thought about it. They had nothing to do tonight anyway, so they might as well do a good deed and find the cats.
The neighborhood wasn't large, and they could circle it quickly. A few residents they had spoken to before even asked what they were looking for and offered to help, but Xin Ye politely declined.
Finally, the two found several shivering kittens in the recreation corner where the fitness equipment was located.
The strays weren't injured, but they were terrified, as if they had seen something truly horrific. Over the past few days, they had become familiar with the two men, and seeing Xin Ye and the Mirror, they tried to huddle close for comfort.
A tabby crawled out from the corner, running over to rub against their legs. Before it could get close, another cat’s cry rang out nearby, scaring it right back.
A pure black cat stepped slowly from behind a stone bench. First, it threatened the strays in the corner once more, then it ran to Xin Ye’s side, tail held high, rubbing back and forth against him.
Xin Ye recognized the gesture as a declaration of territory.
The Mirror, who usually attracted cats just as much as Xin Ye, didn't receive a single glance.
Xin Ye crouched down and stroked the back of the cat’s neck. "Is this a new cat in the neighborhood? I haven't seen it before."
The Mirror hadn't seen it either. He sensed an ability coming from this cat. After exchanging a look with Xin Ye, he stepped back.
【Do you see it now?】 Xun Yin asked, knowing the answer.
Xin Ye cupped the cat’s face. The black-furred, yellow-eyed cat didn't get angry; it happily nuzzled his palm. "Of course. I’d recognize a cat I raised myself, no matter what color it turns."
He tossed the cheese to the Mirror, letting him distribute it to the strays, while he picked up the black cat that was acting like the neighborhood bully.
"I'm taking this one back with me, otherwise it'll just keep bullying the others."
【See? I told you your teammates would be fine.】
【You've rested long enough. Can you start 'working' tomorrow?】
Xin Ye knew what he meant by "working" and nodded.
The black cat in his arms shifted into a lazy position, but its eyes remained fixed on Xin Ye’s chin, unblinking.
***
**Glossary**
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