The endless past, the limited future, the frozen present.
This sentence represented the essence of the Second Stage assessment.
The past was infinite, because they could use their Watches to subdivide it endlessly and travel to any point in the past. But the future was limited; only some people were destined to pass the Second Stage assessment.
To be honest, this was not good news.
Although he now knew this, Bai Zhi still had no clue how they were supposed to pass the Second Stage assessment.
The Watch, the signing pen, and the flashlight.
If the Watch represented the key to the First Stage assessment, then the signing pen should represent the Second Stage assessment. Yet he had tried several times already, and the pen remained unusable, much less capable of answering any questions.
"...Let's go. This time, we'll head to an earlier point in time."
Pulling his gaze away from the roiling green mist on the ground, Bai Zhi turned to look at Hakurei Reimu beside him.
This time was different from before. With the experience he had gained, Bai Zhi's attempt went off without incident.
The fat man was quite cooperative, while the shameless Poor Witch, after thinking it over for a moment, ultimately untied the three people on the ground with a look of disgust.
A few seconds later, they arrived on an entirely new platform.
—This time, Bai Zhi had directly set the Watch to one hour earlier.
Compared to before, there was still no major change on the platform. The entire environment remained exactly the same.
Perhaps by coincidence, they saw no one else within this slice of time.
"Let's go. We'll explore the surrounding rooms."
Glancing at the World's End Singer, who had quietly followed at his side the entire time, Bai Zhi spoke