The hologram's disappearance left a suffocating silence in its wake. Xu Yuan held Lin Xiaoxia close, her body trembling against his, her usually bright eyes now hollow—drained of color.
"It was just a hallucination," he murmured, stroking her hair, though his own voice wavered. The scene had felt too real, too visceral to dismiss.
But Xiaoxia didn’t respond. The future’s screams still echoed in her skull. Xu Yuan’s missing birthmark. That wasn’t an illusion. Something was unraveling.
The days blurred. Xiaoxia moved through life like a ghost. Xu Yuan stayed by her side, cracking jokes, bringing her tea, his touch gentle—but nothing reached her.
Memories flooded her mind, vivid and cruel:
The first time they met—his clumsy apology after spilling her coffee, his ears turning red. The way his sincerity had felt like sunlight breaking through her loneliness.
Him covered in flour, grinning sheepishly after a failed attempt at baking her favorite cake. The kitchen a disaster. His love so earnest it ached.
But every sweet recollection was shadowed by her—Future Xiaoxia’s grief-stricken face, a specter whispering: This doesn’t last.
One night, alone, Xiaoxia scrolled through photos on her phone. Xu Yuan’s smile glowed back at her—warm, alive. Her chest tightened.
Then—
A flicker. A translucent text box materialized on-screen, glitching with garbled symbols. A familiar voice, weary and soft, whispered directly into her mind:
"Xiaoxia... can you hear me?"
She jerked upright. The room was empty.
"Future me?" Her voice shook.
"Yes." The voice was faint, strained. "The timeline’s destabilizing. I don’t have long."
"What’s happening? Xu Yuan—"
"I can’t say much. Paradox risks are too high." A staticky pause. "Trust your instincts. And... trust how much you love him."
"But you told me to leave him—!"
"I was wrong." The admission was raw. "Grief blinded me. Some things... are inevitable. But the how—that’s what we can change."
Xiaoxia’s breath caught. On her left hand, a childhood scar—a faint coffee-colored mark—was fading, its edges blurring like ink in water.
"My scar—it’s disappearing!"
"No time..." The voice frayed. "Follow your heart. And—beware the man with the silver ring."
Then—silence.
The screen went dark.
Xiaoxia sat frozen, staring at her half-erased scar.
Follow her heart? But her heart was split—love for Xu Yuan warring with terror of the future.
And that warning...
Who the hell was the man with the silver ring?
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