Dominator of Time and Space Management Log (Revised)

The uproar online gradually died down. With no new incidents or videos to keep fueling it, and the three killers having vanished completely without even the police being able to find them,

Old news was always replaced by fresh headlines. Fang Xiu, too, was naturally forgotten like a tear shed by the times.

At first, police officers and criminal investigators often came knocking, asking about all sorts of things. Perhaps because all three men were dead and no further major cases erupted, Fang Xiu's place gradually became ignored as well.

This case, bizarre and incredible as it seemed, with no leads or clues to be found, eventually settled down little by little.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Fang Xiu retrieved the things he had hidden in the outskirts. The pistol and the like naturally remained hidden, but he brought back the Clown Mask, Giant Force Hand, blood vial, and his notebook.

Fang Xiu did not dare casually test those three extraordinary items either. They looked tempting and powerful, but they were dangerous as well.

Fang Xiu carefully stored the mask, Giant Force Hand, and blood vial in the wardrobe. Since he had secretly retrieved them in the dead of night, it was pitch-black outside now, and utterly silent beyond the window.

He had finally gotten his notebook back. Without carrying it on him during this period, Fang Xiu had always felt as if he had forgotten something. Whenever he reached into his pocket and failed to find it, he remembered that he had hidden it away with the other things.

Fang Xiu opened the palm-sized notebook. Half of it had already been used. He flipped to the later pages and crossed out all his conjectures about the Deep One Killer and the companions behind him, marking the end of the matter.

Then he turned to the final page, where he had written his conjectures regarding his own ability to be reborn.

"1. Silver Clock. It is suspected to be related to my ability to be reborn."

"2. Rebirth is triggered by death. Every death automatically activates the Silver Clock and returns me to roughly fifteen minutes earlier."

"3. With every death, a black, contaminating power seeps up from the bottom of the White Space and the Silver Clock, polluting my soul. The White Space and Silver Clock may be the price paid for death and rebirth. Therefore, death and rebirth are most likely not without limits. After reaching a certain number of times, I may die outright, or something dreadful, terrifying, and bizarre may happen."

"4. To be supplemented."

Fang Xiu immediately wrote beneath the fourth entry: "4. Initially determined that this ability comes from my identity as a Dominator of Time and Space."

But the instant Fang Xiu wrote the words "Dominator of Time and Space," he saw the writing beneath his pen suddenly twist like worms. The words across the entire notebook seemed to come alive, writhing madly.

"What's going on? What has appeared this time?"

Although Fang Xiu had become rather calm in the face of supernatural events, he remained extremely cautious. He watched as the letters kept wriggling, until they all vanished into the notebook and turned into blankness.

Fang Xiu carefully picked up the notebook and opened it, flipping page after page toward the front. In the end, he discovered that every word had disappeared.

"They're gone? Where did the words go?"

Fang Xiu was deeply puzzled. He was certain that this notebook was an utterly ordinary notebook, one he had bought at a supermarket for a little over ten yuan. It was not some extraordinary item.

Finally, Fang Xiu turned to the leather cover and suddenly found a vertical line of words on it.

"Dominator of Time and Space Management Log!"

Fang Xiu opened it again and suddenly discovered that a photograph of himself had been pasted onto the inside of the leather cover. It showed his current expression exactly, with a trace of shock on his face.

It read—

Name: Fang Xiu

Race: Dominator of Time and Space

Age: Twenty-two

Occupation: Dominator of Time and Space of Time and Space No. 22856

Address: Earth, the third planet of the Solar System in Time and Space No. 22856

Fang Xiu looked further down and saw the Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules.

Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules, Article One: As a Dominator of Time and Space, one must safeguard the spatial order of one's own time and space, resolutely strike against and eliminate every existence that destroys the stability of space-time order.

Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules, Article Two: As a Dominator of Time and Space, one may not casually travel to other times and spaces and destroy their order and stability.

Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules, Article Three: As a Dominator of Time and Space...

Fang Xiu continued reading and found that it was never-ending. Every time he finished one line, another emerged below it, as though he were scrolling down a phone screen. These damned Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules were long and tedious, like an old woman's foot-binding cloth.

Fang Xiu dragged his gaze downward and watched the rules continuously scroll until they reached the bottom.

"These Dominator of Time and Space Management Rules were jointly established by all Dominators of Time and Space at the 412,592nd Time-Space Management Conference of the Dominator of Time and Space Alliance."

The expression on Fang Xiu's face looked like an oversized embarrassed emoticon.

Yet Fang Xiu was not done being shocked. On the first page of the Dominator of Time and Space Management Log, a page of words emerged. The handwriting looked exactly like Fang Xiu's, as if he had personally written it there.

"Time and Space Wanted Order!"

"Names: Anderson (Deep One) / Black (Red Devil) / Jim (Deceitful Clown Demon)"

"Crime: Space-Time Smuggling (without permission from the Time and Space Administration, and without triplicate signed documents from a Dominator of Time and Space!)"

"Punishment: Erasure! (Already carried out by the Dominator of Time and Space of Time and Space No. 22856)"

Fang Xiu looked further down and found a lengthy introduction to the wanted order below.

Bang!

When he reached the end, a blood-red seal stamped itself onto the page, declaring the deaths of the three men. This wanted order had become invalid.

"So this means I completed this wanted order and carried out my first task as a Dominator of Time and Space, right?" Fang Xiu seemed to understand the purpose of this Dominator of Time and Space Management Log. It was probably meant to alert him whenever something appeared that affected the stability of time and space, then have him deal with it. Every action taken to maintain space-time stability would be recorded in this Dominator of Time and Space Management Log as an entry.

Yet at that moment, the Dominator of Time and Space Management Log turned its pages without wind and suddenly flipped open to the second page. A new wanted order appeared before Fang Xiu.

Name: Wang Hao

Crime: Unauthorized Time Travel (a native resident of this time and space, from the future; exact temporal coordinates unknown.)

Punishment: Undetermined (memory erasure and expulsion back to his original temporal coordinates recommended. The target may be apprehended, with execution carried out through the Space-Time Management Log.)

Fang Xiu looked at the wanted order, which showed a shut-in young man with drooping eyes and no light in them.

Lines of text slowly emerged below, recording some information about him and his criminal record. However, the Dominator of Time and Space Management Log only recorded the coordinates of his time travel. More specific information would require Fang Xiu to investigate and gather it himself.

Fang Xiu's eyes lit up. "Unauthorized time travel?"

"That definitely needs to be properly dealt with! If any random shut-in can travel back in time, become a winner in life, and destroy the order and stability of this time and space, how could that possibly be allowed?"

Fang Xiu decided to catch him. As for interrogating him before sending him back, that was a necessary procedure too.

"Who won the World Cup this year again? Lottery numbers? Major business opportunities and events? Stocks and futures would work too."

Fang Xiu felt that he might be able to find the opportunity to make his fortune from this time traveler.

Although Fang Xiu had gained a bit of power, he felt that he still could not do things that seriously violated the law and discipline. Using information from a time traveler to earn money legitimately and lawfully—wasn't that exactly what he wanted? And there would not be the slightest burden on his conscience.