Returning to school, Lin Shilan went directly to find Tan Jin.

His class was in self-study.

Tan Jin was lowering his head, scribbling randomly on scratch paper. A “Report” pulled him back from his wandering thoughts. The familiar voice made him immediately look toward the classroom door.

Lin Shilan stood there.

Her expression was serious. The teacher walked outside and spoke with her.

Lin Shilan’s volume was neither too loud nor too soft, just right for him to hear: “Teacher, Tan Jin’s family needs him to go home for a bit. I came to help him request leave. He’ll give you the leave slip later.”

The teacher nodded and called for Tan Jin to pack his bag and come out.

As soon as he reached the hallway, he immediately asked her: “What happened to my family?”

“Nothing happened. I’m looking for you.” She lowered her voice. Some classmates in the class were curiously watching them. Expressionless, she pulled him away: “I came to take you to skip class. Studying is useless anyway—we can’t take anything from here.”

Coming to find him during class, skipping class, lying to the teacher… these were all things Lin Shilan would absolutely never have done before.

“I skipped class earlier and took you to the flower and bird market, and you scolded me. How did you suddenly have this realization?”

Tan Jin couldn’t help glancing at the sky: “Let me check—is the sun rising from the north today?”

Walking outside the school, to a place with no people.

Lin Shilan pulled out half a book from her schoolbag and tossed it to him: “Read this.”

She herself took out a brand new copy of the same book and unwrapped the plastic seal.

“What’s this?” Tan Jin flipped two pages of the book in his hand and another page fell out: “Have you switched to collecting trash?”

“This is the answer Su Ge delivered.”

Lin Shilan briefly summarized for him: “The place we’re staying now isn’t our past. Our crossing over each year actually takes us to another new parallel world.”

Tan Jin was no longer grinning and fooling around—he became serious too.

“How does Su Ge know? Can she cross over like us?”

“She can’t, but she seems able to perceive different existences. The Su Ge of each parallel spacetime records her story, and the content corresponds with my crossings each year. Those records, for some reason, can be preserved and cross through different spacetimes.”

“The records I’m talking about are that piece of trash in your hand…”

While listening to her words, he opened the book in his hand.

Lin Shilan also began opening the newly bought book: “The fourth spacetime is our crossing from last year. I didn’t participate much—it was mainly you who participated. I still have Chapter Four left to read. In a bit, you can supplement and tell me what happened then.”

Tan Jin was speed-reading, already looking through it: “Wait a sec, I’ll tell you after I finish reading.”

Seeing that he was reading the book from back to front, she found it a bit strange: “You participated in the fourth spacetime, right?”

“Not necessarily.” He said.

Lin Shilan frowned: “What do you mean, not necessarily?”

He raised his head: “Why doesn’t this book have Chapter Four?”

Her doubts deepened: “The new one has it.”

“You should have said so earlier.” He wanted to take the new book from her hand.

Lin Shilan didn’t let him take it, hiding the book behind her back: “I’ll read it first, then let you see it.”

Finding a step in a shady spot, she sat down on the step to read. He sat helplessly beside her.

She read the book carefully, but he would interrupt every few lines to say something to her.

“I didn’t expect Su Ge’s background to be so tragic.”

“This first spacetime is our spacetime. Look at what she wrote above—it’s the same as the information I told you.”

“Su Ge killed someone. I vaguely knew about this. Later, the incident of someone falling into the well in town spread far and wide, and I knew the timing of the accident—Su Ge was there. So I told you that after I rejected her confession, she was in very bad shape… Looking at it this way, her father must be your Uncle Tang, right? He was the one who fell into the well at that time.”

Lin Shilan had already finished reading Chapter Four and closed the book, her brow furrowed: “I guessed the same thing. Keep reading Chapter Two. My Uncle Tang seems to be her stepfather.”

Tan Jin could see that the content she read was heavy, so after reading it, she was weighed down with worries.

Chapter Four must have something fishy about it.

Feeling a bit panicked inside, not knowing what she’d read, he did as she said and continued reading Chapter Two, while also maintaining conversation with her, doing his utmost to liven the atmosphere.

“The Tan Jin in this spacetime isn’t me!”

“Hey! Big problem—how does it say here that I like you?”

“Hahaha, how am I such a loser there? Watching you spread news of the flood in public, but unable to help, just watching from the side; watching you get close to my brother, but not daring to speak? Could this be a mute?”

“I’m discovering that you’re quite popular with losers, hahaha… The me in the next spacetime won’t also like you, will he?”

His laughter was dry, unnatural from head to toe. A strand of hair on top of his head stuck up—he’d scratched it into that state himself. His face was red as a tomato, yet he still tried to act relaxed.

“Right, but he had a change of heart.”

She lazily glanced at him and handed him the new book: “Chapter Three. Read it.”

“I don’t need to read this to know it’s not me. Impossible.”

Before he’d even started reading, he was already working hard to clear his name, his posture exactly like a little dog showing loyalty.

Reading Chapter Three, Tan Jin shook his head like a rattle drum: “This isn’t me! This isn’t me!”

After finishing that chapter, he angrily closed the book and said loudly: “I absolutely could never be won over by another girl!”

“Really?” The sour Lin Shilan smiled eerily: “You kept rejecting her. Maybe you and her are quite possible.”

“Possible my ass!”

Tan Jin howled so loudly her ears hurt: “That’s completely not me. I was somewhere else at the time! Just because he’s using my name doesn’t mean he’s me!”

He defended himself vigorously, but her expression didn’t change.

Tan Jin straightened his back and said something shocking: “If you say I might be with her, then I’ll say maybe in the next world, Su Ge will like you!”

“Mm, the next world,” he brought it up himself, and Lin Shilan followed along: “Chapter Four—are you sure you have no story with Su Ge? Come tell me, what did you do when you crossed over last year? What did you see?”

“I don’t care what Su Ge writes next. The Tan Jin in the fourth world in her book isn’t me.”

Lin Shilan’s bitter and resentful appearance after reading Chapter Four had scared him.

This posture of hers was like she’d caught him red-handed.

Tan Jin was too anxious, so anxious his heart was in chaos.

Without time to consider, just wanting to win back her trust, he told her the truth.

“I lied to you before. I didn’t cross over last year. I started crossing over this year.”

This sentence was like a stone of doubt dropping into a deep well.

Huge waves stirred in her heart, layers of echoes spreading outward—the water’s surface could no longer be calm.

Lin Shilan had blown Tan Jin’s cover.

Actually, it was only when Tan Jin said those three words “not necessarily” just now and urgently looked for Chapter Four that she began to suspect him.

The little earth dog put on a simple and innocent appearance, but was actually a lying expert.

She’d known early on that he’d lied to her about some things.

But this matter was too big.

What did their fellow townspeople reunion at the hospital count for?

Was their alliance of companions sharing the same misfortune real?

What was his purpose in lying?

Lin Shilan couldn’t figure it out, but she wouldn’t ask him anymore. Before she could trust him again, she didn’t know if what he said was true or false—even if she got answers, they might still be lies.

And at this moment, Tan Jin, in order to know the reason for her heavy expression, hurriedly opened the book and began reading Chapter Four.

【”Shining Parallel Universes”

/Author: Anonymous

(IV)

I picked up this diary when I was riding the bus.

Inside are the stories left by three parallel spacetime versions of “me.”

Their life trajectories are so similar to mine, yet have many subtle differences. But to be honest, reading what they wrote, I don’t have much sense of identification… especially the third spacetime. That version of me was very powerful, living her days freely and thoroughly.

Her life and my current life are too different.

During my second year of high school, because Grandmother died and staying at school being bullied was meaningless, I chose to drop out and work odd jobs around the small town every day. That Xiao Jin from class and I had no intersection.

My life has no substance.

I hesitated about whether to write down my story. Ultimately, I still picked up my pen to do so because today I lost a dog.

On the way home, I saw that little dog get hit by a car. The car didn’t stop. The dog was a worthless breed, probably born to strays. The little earth dog was only a few weeks old, its leg covered in blood.

Not wanting it to continue lying there to be crushed to death by cars, I picked it up and threw it in the trash can.

Injured so badly, it definitely won’t survive.

I put it there because… it and I are the same—unable to be raised, with no confidence in growing up.

Not one spacetime version of me described anything about this little dog. Did they encounter this dog? Or perhaps, I guess they, like me, had no confidence they could save it.

Then let me record the matter of the little dog.

This way, in the universe, someone will be able to remember that this little dog existed.

The town hasn’t been peaceful lately.

All sorts of messy news is spreading wildly: The petrochemical plant had a chemical leak; a flood is coming; a murderer escaped into town…

People are uneasy. These past few months, many people have been leaving one after another.

Because of the diary’s existence, I know the flood matter is real.

Was it that girl named Xiao Lan spreading false information to save people? If it’s her, then she’s really remarkable, saving so many people.

I should leave too.

On July 17th, I saw on TV news that Yan County indeed had a flood.

Although I still haven’t figured out what to do while alive… I survived.

September—summer is about to pass.

From June to September, disasters occurred frequently, with numerous extreme events and extreme climates appearing around the world.

I found work in another city.

Tonight, my heart is uneasy. I picked up the diary.

I’m surrounded by a massive fear. I want to write something more.

So many people outside are screaming.

Standing by the window, I see heaven and earth twisting, the ground split in half, the entire world collapsing.

The end of the world has come. I can’t tell if someone is speaking or if I’m saying this myself.

The world is in chaos!

The world shouldn’t be like this!

Water, so much water is leaking down from the sky!

The flood has returned?

Was our fate always sealed? The water has caught up!

Everything has collapsed! Everyone is going to die!

The pitch-black water has swept away people outside!!!

I’m going to die.

Writing to this sentence, I suddenly feel calm.

Everyone in the whole world, accompanying me together】

“Shining Parallel Universes” ended here, abruptly without beginning or end.

Tan Jin flipped through the entire book but didn’t see any other text.

He was thinking about how to talk to Lin Shilan.

She’d been staring woodenly at the floor since just now, not acknowledging him.

Tan Jin touched the schoolbag resting on her leg, wanting her to look at him once: “No matter what you’re thinking… it’s all my fault. What Su Ge wrote at the very end has nothing to do with you. Don’t overthink it.”

Lin Shilan still didn’t look at him.

The high wall that had once existed between them was erected again, isolating him outside.

“Tan Jin, have you heard a term called the butterfly effect? Tiny changes cause a series of chain reactions, ultimately brewing into incalculable consequences… Looking at it this way, if a world is changed too much, it might cause a parallel world to directly collapse.”

She sighed and said: “You didn’t cross over, so I can only blame myself. I was the one who spread the information.”

In reality.

Last year, the third year of seeing strange phenomena.

Before the rainy season arrived, Lin Shilan, unable to bear the disturbance, processed a leave of absence from university midway through.

She hid in a city that rarely rained, frequently moving, dodging rain everywhere.

Doing freelance work online, she saved some money and got a certification.

From April to the end of July, there were six times it rained that she couldn’t avoid.

When it rained in reality, Lin Shilan briefly returned to Yan County.

She still chose to save people, and more bravely than ever before.

During these six opportunities to return, she slipped flyers into townspeople’s homes at night, posted notices in places people frequently visited, and published messages on the town forum.

She didn’t know if this would work—releasing true and false information together, as long as it could create panic, that was enough.

The last time she returned, she found herself squatting in the police station.

The rain in reality stopped. After staying less than twenty minutes, she went back again.

And last year, from July 17th to 26th when the flood occurred, it didn’t rain in the city. Therefore, Lin Shilan didn’t return to Yan County and didn’t know how useful what she’d done was.

Later, Lin Shilan used the money she earned to see a psychologist, started taking medication, gained weight…

Facts proved that in an information-isolated small town, rumors and gossip might be more useful than a real living person standing up and earnestly advising everyone.

Many people left the small town.

Their departure meant that many people and events that shouldn’t have existed came into existence. This meant that parallel world would undergo drastic changes accordingly.

After domino tiles toppled one after another, they affected the towering edifice.

Finally, everything became different from the original. The world fell into chaos and completely collapsed.

Lin Shilan couldn’t tell whether she had saved people or caused the death of everyone there.