A gentle night breeze rustled through the Star Dou Great Forest, and the campfire crackled. The hunt for the Thousand-Year Soul Beast had come to a successful end, and Jiang Nannan had successfully obtained the Invincible Golden Body as her fourth Soul Skill. At this moment, the three of them sat around the flickering flames, the air filled with the enticing aroma of grilled fish and meat.
"How is it, you two?" Huo Yuhao asked confidently, like a professional chef. "My grilled fish technique is a unique skill, one of a kind, there's no other like it."
Ice Empress remained silent, simply and gracefully and swiftly devouring the food in front of them, giving the highest praise through their actions.
Jiang Nannan took a small bite of the snow-white fish, her eyes flashing with amazement. "It's delicious, Yuhao..."
Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly froze. This smell... this scene...
" Yuhao," Jiang Nannan's voice trembled slightly, "Don't you feel... we've met somewhere before?"
Huo Yuhao nearly dropped the grilled fish in his hand. "Where have I seen this before? I don't know." He appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly, Surging Waves was brewing. "??? Where have I seen this before? I don't recognize it."
Jiang Nannan lowered her head dejectedly, the firelight casting shadows on her long eyelashes. "Really... you don't remember me at all? Don't you think I look familiar?"
"Uh... of course she looks familiar," Huo Yuhao hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. "From the first day I met Senior Sister, she felt so familiar and welcoming. But where have I seen her before..." His mind was in complete turmoil. "What's going on? Where have I seen her before? I don't know. What's happening? Does Senior Sister Nannan have memories of a past life? No, if she has memories of a past life, why would she like me? No, no, no..."
" Yuhao..." Jiang Nannan suddenly looked up, moonlight shimmering in her eyes, "Can... you call me Nannan? 'Senior' is too formal... I don't like you calling me 'Senior'."
Huo Yuhao was stunned. The girl before him had flushed cheeks, brighter than the campfire. He heard himself softly reply, "Okay... Nannan."
A sweet smile bloomed on Jiang Nannan's lips. She softly hummed in agreement, lowering her head to hide the tears welling in her eyes. At that moment, even the night breeze seemed to soften.
Ice Empress suddenly slammed down the fish bones in their hands. "I'm full."
[ Shrek Academy - Lakeside Path]
The setting sun cast Jiang Nannan's shadow long. She suddenly stopped, turned around, and stared at Huo Yuhao, her golden eyes filled with complex emotions.
" Yuhao..." Her fingertips trembled slightly, "Even if you really aren't him, I will always love you. In my heart... you've always been the most special person."
The evening breeze brushed against the stray hairs by her ears, carrying a slight chill. Huo Yuhao saw the glint of tears in her eyes, and his heart felt as if it were being clenched by an invisible hand.
"But why..." Jiang Nannan suddenly grabbed his sleeve with surprising force, "The smell of the grilled fish, the tone of your voice, even the way you frown... it's exactly the same as back then?" Her voice choked with sobs, "What exactly happened to you? Did you lose your memory? Or..."
Huo Yuhao opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He had never seen Jiang Nannan so distraught.
[Boys' Dormitory - Late Night]
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting dappled shadows on the floor. Huo Yuhao tossed and turned, Jiang Nannan's words replaying in his mind.
"Why... why did Jiang Nannan say that to me?" He irritably ruffled his hair. " The White Tiger Duke's Mansion period? No, absolutely not... I have no memory of that time at all." Memories flashed back like a revolving lantern, but he couldn't find any clues.
Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. "Wait—time!"
What if... your future self went back to that point in time?
He immediately sank into the Time Sea of Consciousness, where the river of time flowed slowly through his consciousness. Countless possibilities twinkled like stars as he gazed at the giant clock in the Time Sea of Consciousness and began his reasoning.
"A time paradox..." Huo Yuhao murmured to himself. He seemed to be gazing at an illusory river of time, and a startling deduction gradually took shape:
Someday in the future, I will inevitably travel through time back to the past and cross paths with Jiang Nannan. And Jiang Nannan's memories now are precisely that "past" that has not yet happened!
"A closed-loop cause and effect... that completely explains it." His pupils contracted slightly. It wasn't because Jiang Nannan brought it up that he wanted to time travel, but because he was destined to time travel, which is why Jiang Nannan was doing this now...
Huo Yuhao's fists clenched involuntarily. He recalled Jiang Nannan's occasional gloomy expression, those moments when she seemed to want to say something but couldn't.
"I see..." He gave a bitter smile. "How could I possibly turn a blind eye to other people's suffering?"
"If it can help a girl escape the shadows..." Huo Yuhao stood up, his eyes gleaming with determination, "Even if it means disrupting the timeline, so what? I can't stand by and watch a girl suffer. So, regardless of whether Jiang Nannan mentions this incident or not, I will go back in time to change everything."
He looked out the window at the bright moon, as if he could see Jiang Nannan waiting for "him" at some point in time and space.
"Because I am Huo Yuhao." The boy's voice was exceptionally clear in the quiet room, "Those pains that should never have existed... I will erase them."
Huo Yuhao suddenly sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, his ten fingers digging deep into his hair. Although the theory of time travel was valid, the actual operation had left him in a predicament.
"I remember that incident happened when I was fourteen..." He chewed on that number repeatedly, the taste of blood lingering in his mouth. He seemed to see Jiang Nannan as a young girl—a figure even thinner than she was now, yet burdened with such a heavy fate.
His knuckles unconsciously clenched the bedsheet, the fabric ripping under the weight of his palm. " Xuanming Sect..." As the three words were squeezed out between his teeth, the temperature in the room plummeted, and frost flowers instantly formed on the windowpane.
He forced himself to calm down, and as he took a deep breath, the white mist was clearly visible in the moonlight. Two possibilities clashed in his mind:
If it was voluntary... how desperate must that foolish girl have been to exchange her most precious possession for her mother's life?
If it was forced... then aren't the people of the Xuanming Sect considered evil cultivators?
"Beast." The word was so soft it was almost inaudible, yet it resonated loudly in the silent room. Huo Yuhao suddenly realized that his fingernails had dug into his palm, and blood dripped down his palm lines onto the sheets, blooming into dark red flowers.
He mechanically wiped away the bloodstains, but his thoughts became increasingly clear:
Either way, it would be hell for Jiang Nannan. But now, she might have the chance to rewrite history.
"Tomorrow..." Huo Yuhao looked out the window at the gradually brightening sky, his Adam's apple bobbing, "I must find out the details." This decision made his stomach ache—how cruel it was to personally tear open her scabbed wound.
But another thought cleaved through the hesitation like lightning:
If we miss the opportunity because of cowardice and allow the tragedy of that parallel world to become reality, that would be truly unforgivable.
Huo Yuhao suddenly stood up, startling the night birds roosting outside the window. His shadow stretched long in the morning light, like a drawn sword.
"Even if it means being a villain..." the boy whispered to the dawning sky, "I will stop that future."