Elysia: Time Traveler / Qianqi: The Gifted Hacker's Talent

Mei gazed at the smiling girl, pondered for a moment, and said, "I still have a question for you. What's the deal with that Lin? Is he an imposter?"

Speaking of hypnosis, what about the helmeted man who attacked her before? Wasn't he Lin, who was hypnotized by the girl?

"No, he is Lin." The girl's meaningful smile only lasted for half a second before disappearing. "I didn't control him either. You see, I couldn't command him at all back then, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you for help now, right?"

"Then what exactly is he..."

"I don't know either~ He was already like that when I met him, cold and hard like a block of ice, and he forcibly restricted my range and time of activity, sob sob~ Even if he's too possessive, he shouldn't treat a cute girl like that..."

The girl put on a pitiful look, as if she was about to cry, Mei watched her performance indifferently, without feeling anything at all.

"If it were Elysia, she would definitely say that Lin's actions are cute, like a child clinging to a toy. Your acting skills still need improvement."

"Hmm? Is that so?" The girl immediately dropped her expression, a slightly wicked smile appearing at the corner of her mouth. "Then let's try it when we get back. Maybe we can trick him into bed."

Such explicit words made it difficult for Mei to maintain her icy composure, especially since they came from a girl who looked exactly like Elysia. It was hard to imagine that Elysia would say such a thing.

"What's wrong, Mei? Are you feeling unwell?"

The girl smiled knowingly at Mei, whose face was pale.

"Shameless!" Mei glared at her through gritted teeth.

"What's shameless about a girl expressing her affection? Besides, I was just joking~ Don't be nervous, after all, Elysia herself didn't win Lin over."

This topic can't be continued, but it has to be said that Mei has become interested in what happened between Lin and Elysia. She snorted and walked ahead of the girl, continuing to explore Lin's past.

The girl behind her had a smile that was strangely cold and eerie.

"Dream?"

Lin stood under the light of the ice cream shop's signboard, inserted a straw into the lemonade, and responded to Elysia's words.

"Yeah, I've been having some really realistic dreams lately." Elysia was also holding a cold drink, her delicate fingers rubbing against the packaging. Seeing the white mist on the surface, she rubbed it up and down with amusement. "It feels just like experiencing it firsthand!"

"... You might actually do some ridiculous things that you only do in your dreams."

"Hmph, you have no idea what I dreamed about."

"..."

"Hehe, Lin, you're even cuter than I imagined." Elysia leaned closer, her smile playful as she touched Lin's face. "Are you curious about what I dreamt about? Here's a hint: it's related to a cold, aloof person~"

"The Snow King?"

"...What?"

Lin pointed behind Elysia.

She turned around and saw a mascot dressed in a white mascot costume standing at the entrance of the ice cream shop, waving at her.

The mascot was called the Snow King.

"Also, I think you're more likable during the day than you are now," Lin said calmly, taking a sip of his cold drink.

"What? I'm cute during the day, and I'm cute at night too." Elysia pretended to be sulky, but then suddenly chuckled. "But Lin must be saying he likes me during the day, right, Master?"

Come to think of it, it was in my dreams too...

Chapter 46 Elysia: The Time Traveler

"How far has the disaster spread?"

"A radius of fifty kilometers."

"..."

The man silently accepted the report, and even his usually expressionless, icy face softened at that moment.

"There's a new mission."

"Go get ready." The man picked up his helmet and was about to put it on when the pink-haired girl walked in.

"You already have a mission? I wanted to talk to you more." The pink-haired girl understood his expression and walked towards him with a smile.

"... Let's talk about it when we get back." The man exhaled softly, his expression softening slightly upon seeing the girl. "There will be plenty of time later, and we can talk about whatever we want."

"In the future...?"

The man, who should have been perceptive, was preoccupied with his mission and reports at the crucial moment, missing the fleeting shadow of gloom that shouldn't have been present in the girl's expression.

When the most dramatic coincidences occur, the people in the story are unaware of when the Threads of Fate has been broken.

"Two more times, then it will be over..."

The man murmured, the gentleness in his eyes turning into coldness under his self-hypnotic words.

Don't you want to know what I'm going to tell you?

The girl's smile seemed like an unreal fantasy. The man was momentarily stunned and blurted out, "What?"

"Actually, it's..."

"Bang!"

The unspoken words vanished from the girl's bewildered eyes and from the man's pierced wound.

In the moment before his consciousness faded, he saw the girl's smile vanish in an instant.

"I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but the bells have already rung, and the Cross of Sinners is about to descend upon the earth."

A hoarse voice rang out from beneath the white mask, and scarlet eyes stared at the man who was slowly falling.

I had that dream again.

Elysia, her hair disheveled, climbed out of bed. She squinted at the light streaming through the gap in the curtains, and after a moment of blank staring, she got up and folded the blankets neatly.

Even though she had only known Lin for a few days, she kept having dreams about him, and in the dreams, their relationship seemed to be quite good.

Sure enough, cute children always pique her interest, let alone someone as unique as Lin.

Speaking of which, it was her day off from her shift, Elysia was thinking about where to go. After she finished making her bed and washing up, she suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Or... should we go find Lin?

When Lin took her around earlier, they happened to pass by Lin and Kevin's school, which she remembered as... Chienyu Academy, or something like that.

Moreover, Elysia wasn't initially concerned about the helmeted man saying that Lin wanted to kill her, but she'd been having these dreams so frequently these past few nights that she couldn't help but care.

"Then let's go to the Chienyu Academy."

With her phone's navigation app open, Elysia embarked on her "prison visit" journey.

Elysia doesn't have the attribute of being bad at directions, so she easily found Chienyu Academy. She looked around the campus with great curiosity, which looked no different from other schools.

How could someone like Lin appear here?

Elysia traveled the world, visiting many places, some peaceful, some chaotic, some happy, some tragic. She met different people, became friends with them, and deeply understood that different places give rise to different kinds of people.

Even in war-torn regions where bullets fly, in such hellish places, there will be people as warm as the sun.

In a prosperous and affluent world, are there really people who are so cold-hearted that they don't even allow expressions to show on their faces?

She sensed a contradiction.

Lin's behavior and words are not much different from those of ordinary people, except that he has a more perverse sense of humor, but his temperament is inconsistent with his actions and words.

It felt like... being on edge, ready to fight at any moment.

"Speaking of which, I didn't ask Lin which class he's in." Elysia stood at the school gate, at a loss, wondering whether she should ask the gatekeeper if he knew Lin, when she caught a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye.

Forest?

In the shadow of a building not far away, a dark-haired man with his back to her seemed to be talking to someone.

She approached him with a grin, ready to give him a surprise.

One step into the shadows.

"The feasibility of modifying memories is not high, as it would create a conflict between the original and the memories."

Elysia stopped in her tracks.

Modify memory?

There was no one in front of the man, and he wasn't using any communication devices like communicators or cell phones. So, who was he talking to?

She felt a strong Déjà vu at that moment, and she quickly hid behind a nearby building, listening intently to the man's mutterings.

"To circumvent 'watching', one cannot express oneself through 'language' or 'writing.' It is unknown whether other methods will be discovered." The man's voice was calm and indifferent. Although it was the same as Lin's voice, Elysia felt that the person in front of her seemed even more aloof.

"..."

"... No, the connection between human consciousness and memory is too great. If memories are significantly modified, it could very likely cause damage to consciousness. Memories that are difficult for them to adapt to will appear as 'dreams,' and overly realistic dreams can directly lead to personality problems."

Dream?!

Elysia immediately recalled those dreams that were so real they seemed like she had experienced them herself.

"It's unrealistic to try and turn them into another person this way. The consequences of splitting one person's consciousness into two are still unknown... Vill-V? Who is she?"

"..."

"I only know the 'future' now, but..."

Future.

What is he saying?

At that moment, Elysia stared at the man's back, and suddenly, his back overlapped with that of the helmeted man who had saved her earlier.

No wonder Lin's back view looks so much like his...

Who exactly is this person?

"The price we paid to come from the 'future' to the present was too high."

Elysia covered her mouth, her eyes widened completely, and her pupils throbbed in their sockets.

Future... Present...

He is...

"There's only one last time left, so I'll have Elysia kill him; it's the safest thing to do."

"..."

"There's no room for maneuver. I can't just watch Elysia and Qianqi die here."

"..."

"Your name is Su, right? I'm counting on you from now on."

The footsteps faded into the distance.

The pink-haired girl peeked out; the shadows were empty. If it weren't for the footprints still visible, she might have thought she was hallucinating.

What's going on?

Was that Lin from the future? He saved her before, and then... wanted her to kill the present Lin?

Besides...

"I can't bear to watch Elysia and Qianqi die here."

Again...

Chapter 47 Qianqi: The Talent of a Genius Hacker

So, where should we begin our investigation?

As the school bell rang, the gray-haired girl stood in the usual peaceful schoolyard. As the only student not in the classroom for morning reading, she stood out from the crowd by the wall, her eyes filled with bewilderment.

Everything she once loathed was now being told that it was an illusion that did not belong to her.

The ordinariness I once hated is now the most unreal thing; my dream has come true.

But for some reason, she just couldn't feel happy.

Is it because the world is about to be destroyed? Or because that man died tragically in front of her?

Qianqi pulled up her hood, covering half her face. Ever since MSA-079 died, Qianqi had felt a constant sense of insecurity, so she chose to cover her face, even though she knew it was just for psychological comfort.