Cheng Cheng and the Cicada
Huang Que Extra: The Story of Your Life
Warning: If you haven't finished reading Volume 5, please don't read this extra chapter in advance.
Warning: If you haven't finished reading Volume 5, please don't read this extra chapter in advance.
The following is the main text.
"How many times have you time-traveled?"
Liu Feng scratched his graying hair, looking at the woman who was quietly lying in the time machine, in the cylindrical shuttle pod.
"Ninth time."
Huang Que said:
"How many more times can my body withstand?"
"This is the last time."
Liu Feng coughed lightly, massaging his aching spine:
"Does that mean we've met eight times before?"
"Not quite that many."
Huang Que sighed:
"You don't always live to be this old, Liu Feng. Sometimes you die even earlier than Lin Xian."
Speaking of the name Lin Xian.
A silence fell between the two.
Liu Feng closed his eyes, feeling a pang in his heart.
Not long ago, Lin Xian passed away, he failed.
They failed completely.
But Lin Xian shouldered everything, without exposing them.
According to Huang Que,
This time, she came back too late, many things were left undone.
Too many people sacrificed in this battle.
Faced with this world that no longer held hope.
Huang Que.
She was about to embark on her journey again.
"This time, cough cough."
Liu Feng was also old, his body very weak.
He paused for a moment before softly saying:
"Which era do you want to go to this time?"
Huang Que took a deep breath:
"Since I can only withstand this one last time, then let's go to a more distant era, to the earliest time I can meet Lin Xian."
Liu Feng swiped the screen on the time machine, watching the constantly changing numbers, and said softly:
"There are two options, one is the end of 2022, where there was a world line jump, and there is a tiny space-time rift, but this rift is too small, and the energy you have left is unlikely to break through successfully. I don't recommend taking the risk."
"Then a little earlier."
Huang Que said softly:
"I don't mind waiting for him a few more years, I'm already used to waiting for him."
"Then..."
Liu Feng narrowed his eyes:
"Then there's only around January 2000, when Zhang Yuqian turned into blue stardust and disintegrated, creating many space-time rifts when she erected the Millennium Stake."
"Crossing over at this riddled node is definitely foolproof, with a 100% success rate, but the timing is impossible to grasp."
"But it doesn't matter, it'll only be off by ten or fifteen days at most, which won't have much of an impact. But the biggest problem is that Lin Xian in 2000 isn't even one year old yet! How long are you going to wait for him to grow up? Are you going to wait for him for more than 20 years in that unfamiliar world?"
"Why not?"
Huang Que chuckled:
"I haven't seen him as a child yet."
"Sigh."
Liu Feng shook his head and pressed the set time:
"If only we also had an entangled space-time particle, then you wouldn't have to worry about the energy being exhausted and dissipating. With an entangled space-time particle, you can come back whenever you want."
"Come back for what?"
Huang Que said softly:
"Lin Xian is gone, what's the point of me coming back? I'm going to find him anyway. If I really turn into stardust and dissipate, I want to dissipate in a space-time where he is."
"Besides, ordinary space-time particles also have their advantages."
Huang Que smiled:
"Ordinary space-time particles are a one-way ticket to becoming a space-time anomaly, abandoning one's own existence. From then on, there's no home, no origin, everything is fixed."
"So I'll never get old, I'll always be this age."
"If I really used entangled space-time particles to travel back, waited 20 years, waited for Lin Xian to grow up, I'd be an old woman in my fifties, I wouldn't dare to see him."
"Tch."
Liu Feng scoffed:
"At this point, you're still worried about whether you look old or not."
"Hehe."
Huang Que opened her azure eyes, her bright pupils looking at Liu Feng:
"Lin Xian always told me that you understand women very well. He said that if you put the energy you spend on studying women into mathematics, you would have figured out the universal constant long ago."
"Which, which Lin Xian?"
"Every one of them."
Huang Que said softly:
"Every one of them said that, which led me to always think that you understand women's hearts very well, but now I find that you still don't understand enough."
"It's not that I don't understand, it's that you're too strange!"
Liu Feng retorted:
"No matter how you look at it, entangled space-time particles are far better than ordinary space-time particles, how did it completely reverse when it came to you?"
"Isn't the answer very simple?"
Huang Que closed her eyes and lay quietly in the shuttle pod:
"Because..."
"I don't want him to see me grow old."
January 27, 2000, Qufu, Shandong.
A burst of intense blue arcs in the jungle startled the stray cats huddled under the heating pipes, and they scurried away.
Huang Que, wearing a special black spacesuit, walked out, looked around at the silent street scene, and exhaled a white breath:
"It's so cold."
She came to the building next to her, used the one-way glass as a mirror, looking at the unfamiliar face inside.
Touching her cheeks:
"How did I become a round-faced person?"
She looked around again, not liking the face of this space-time rejection very much:
"It's really becoming less and less like me."
More than ten days later.
In a large shopping mall in the capital, Huang Que, dressed in expensive clothes, came to the city's most luxurious jewelry store.
"Miss, what kind of jewelry would you like to see?"
The salesperson immediately greeted her.
"Sapphire earrings."
Huang Que asked, wearing sunglasses:
"Do you have them?"
"Yes, we do! This way, please!"
In the end, she chose a pair of simple sapphire earrings and put them on her ears.
Taking off her sunglasses.
Azure pupils looked at the azure earrings in the mirror:
"Hmm, not bad."
March 23, 2000, Chun'an County, Hangzhou, a park.
A young father, holding his just one-year-old son's hand, was teaching him to walk on the lawn:
"Come on, son! Don't be afraid! Come, come to daddy, you're doing great!"
The young mother sat on the bench next to her, watching her son walking and stumbling on the lawn, revealing a happy smile.
"Is this your son?"
Suddenly.
A beautiful woman wearing sunglasses, blue earrings, and a fashionable trench coat walked over.
"Yes."
The young mother smiled:
"He's just turned one, look, he can already walk!"
"That's great."
The woman wearing sunglasses smiled:
"When he grows up, he will definitely be a smart child."
The child was praised.
That was the mother's greatest pride, and the young mother smiled happily.
At this time.
The young father picked up his son who was learning to walk on the lawn and walked towards the bench:
"Have you played enough, son? Let's go home!"
The father and son came here.
A ray of blue reflection caught the little baby's eye, he stared at it, and stretched out his right hand:
"Ya!"
Seeing this, the young father smiled at the woman in sunglasses, and looked at the baby in his arms:
"Lin Xian, this is Auntie, can you call Auntie?"
"Ya!"
Little Lin Xian obviously couldn't speak yet, kicking his legs, as if he wanted to get down and walk by himself.
The young father put him down.
Little Lin Xian actually staggered and walked straight towards the woman in sunglasses.
The woman in sunglasses smiled and squatted down, reaching out to protect him, preventing him from falling.
However.
Little Lin Xian was quick-witted and directly grabbed the blue earring on the woman's ear!
"You! Let go!" "You can't be so rude!"
The young parents were frightened and hurriedly pulled Little Lin Xian back.
The woman in sunglasses didn't care, turned her head, the swaying sapphire earrings reflected a more colorful prismatic light.
"Is it pretty?"
She asked with a smile.
"Ya!"
Little Lin Xian blinked and grinned.
Obviously.
He liked this blue color very much.
June 2004, Hangzhou, police station, household registration office.
Huang Que placed her first-generation ID card on the counter:
"Hello, I'd like to replace it with a second-generation ID card."
Her first-generation ID card was actually forged, but it was specially approved by the state, so it was considered real.
Some time ago, she contacted the state organs and provided some superficial, cryptic hints on many key intelligence matters.
However, this level of hint was extremely important and critical to the state.
She also established a relationship with the official side because of this.
As long as it was within the scope of space-time elasticity, she would periodically share intelligence with the country.
The household registration office staff took the ID card and looked at the number in front:
"Oh, you're from the same hometown as me, which part of Chun'an are you from?"
"Qiandao Lake," Huang Que replied.
"What a coincidence! I'm also from Qiandao Lake!"
The household registration office staff chuckled, looking at Huang Que:
"But your accent doesn't sound like someone from here."
"Oh?"
Huang Que blinked:
"Then what does my accent sound like?"
"It sounds like it's from the capital, some tones, you can tell it's from the capital just by listening."
Huang Que smiled without saying a word.
It seemed that she had been seen through, so she patched it up and said:
"I just have a household registration here, I grew up in the capital since I was a child."
"Oh, oh."
The household registration staff began to process the procedures and asked casually:
"Then do you have any relatives here?"
"Yes."
Huang Que replied:
"My husband is here."
"Living in two different places?" The household registration staff was very gossipy:
"Then this relationship is not very good, you should either come back, or let your husband go to the capital with you to develop."
"His family won't agree."
"Tch."
The household registration staff scoffed:
"He's such a big man, and he still listens to his family, he has no responsibility!"
"That's not really the case."
Huang Que spread her hands and smiled:
"My husband is very young."
"How young can he be!"
*Pa*.
The staff slapped a notice that needed to be signed on the counter:
"He's not a three-year-old kid!"
August 2017, Hangzhou Youth Parkour League, competition venue.
"Lin Xian! Come on! Lin Xian! Come on!!"
The little fatty with his belly exposed shouted at the top of his lungs, many male and female students stood behind him, waving their hands rhythmically with him.
A tall woman with sunglasses and blue earrings walked to the front of the crowd, looking at the teenage athletes who were warming up in the competition venue.
"Is this already the final?"
She turned her head and looked at the little fatty who had been shouting loudly just now.
"Yes!"
The little fatty replied.
But suddenly revealed a vigilant gaze, staring at the woman:
"Who, who are you cheering for? You're definitely not here to cheer for Lin Xian!"
The little fatty and Lin Xian were childhood friends and neighbors.
He knew every relative of Lin Xian's family, so he naturally knew that this woman was not a relative of Lin Xian's family, so she must be here to cheer for the competitors!
Gao Yang began to wave his hands to drive her away:
"Hey, lady, this area has been taken over by our Class 17! Please step aside!"
"Okay, okay."
The woman in sunglasses moved a few steps to the side and chuckled at Gao Yang:
"You've been so annoying since you were a kid."
"Hey! You!"
Gao Yang was very unconvinced:
"I don't even know you!"
At this time, the girl next to him pulled him:
"Class monitor! Don't be distracted! It's Lin Xian's turn, quickly cheer him on!"
Lin Xian, wearing black and white sportswear, a cool headband, and fingerless gloves, rushed out like a cannonball with a whistle from the referee.
Jumping left and right, climbing over mountains and ridges, as if walking on flat ground!
All the spectators could see that this young man's level was completely different from the other contestants, it was simply a dimensional reduction strike!
That high wall, he flipped over it with two bounce jumps; that distant pillar, he jumped over it without hesitation.
All the movements were smooth, easy, and effortless.
Even more outrageous was that
After he brilliantly completed a series of challenges, he even yawned, with an expression of "that's all there is to it."
"Hehe."
Huang Que couldn't help but laugh when she saw this smug expression.
As the timer stopped, the scoreboard lifted up.
All perfect scores!
It was directly announced that Lin Xian had locked in the championship in advance!
"Aooo Aooo Aooo Aooo Aooo!!"
Gao Yang hammered his chest like a baboon, howling like a ghost:
"Right, right, quickly take a photo and send it to the QQ group."
He skillfully took out his phone, took a few photos of Lin Xian posing coolly in the field, and sent them to the Forever Class 17! QQ group, and added the text:
"Lin Xian is awesome 666! Consecutive Hangzhou Youth Parkour Champion!"
Awards ceremony.
The students and parkour enthusiasts in the audience gave warm applause to the champion.
Huang Que stood in the crowd and clapped along.
Then the meeting ended.
Lin Xian walked towards Gao Yang holding the trophy.
"Quick! Let me touch it!"
Gao Yang rushed to grab the trophy, rubbed it twice, and said dissatisfied:
"Isn't this exactly the same as the one last year! Is it leftover stock!"
"Hey, it doesn't matter." Lin Xian didn't care, looked left and right:
"When I was warming up just now, I saw you arguing with a woman here? Why are you yelling at people?"
"Your eyes are pretty sharp!"
Gao Yang snorted:
"She's not here to cheer for you anyway, so I have to drive her away, what if she's another contestant's sister and comes here to make trouble?"
He turned his head left and right and looked around:
"Huh? Where are they? They were just here."
Lin Xian looked around and didn't see her either.
September 2021, Donghai University, Freshman Gala.
"Wow, senior Lin Xian is really handsome."
"Yeah, but he's graduating next year, sigh, there's no chance."
"Tch! As if you'd have a chance even if he didn't graduate!"
Huang Que, wearing sunglasses, sat in the audience, listening to the chattering of the female college students next to her.
Just now was the opening ceremony, Lin Xian and another female host appeared to announce the program, attracting this group of little girls around them.
Huang Que turned back and looked at these little girls from the Academy of Art:
"What year are you in?"
"We're just sophomores," one of the little girls replied.
"Oh, oh."
Huang Que nodded:
"That male host just now, is the senior Lin Xian you were calling."
"Yes, yes!"
The girl was very proud:
"He's senior Lin Xian from our academy! Isn't he very handsome!"
Huang Que chuckled:
"He's quite handsome, I see you all like him very much, why don't you take the initiative?"
"Oh, we don't have a chance."
The little girl had a regretful look on her face:
"Senior Lin Xian doesn't usually go out much, it's said that he's always sleeping, sometimes he starts sleeping from noon and sleeps until night, who spends their college life just sleeping in the dormitory!"
"Senior Lin Xian doesn't seem to be interested in women."
Another junior next to her said seriously:
"I heard that in the social dance elective course, a group of seniors took turns dancing with Lin Xian, but he had a look of being worse than dead, and was criticized by the teacher for not paying attention to his facial expressions."
"Oh? There's such a thing?"
Huang Que perked up her gossiping ears, listening attentively to the chattering of the little girls.
January 2022, Zhao Yingjun's residential complex, the door to the apartment.
"Woof!"
The Pomeranian VV heard the familiar sound of high heels and began to roar.
But then
"Woof?"
Its doggy brain sensed two things that were wrong:
1. Why didn't the owner come up in the entrance elevator today, but took the stairs?
2. It's daytime, not yet off-work hours, why did she suddenly come back?
*Di Di*.
The sound of the fingerprint lock opening, identifying the correct identity, the door opened.
The Pomeranian VV looked at the woman outside the door with blue pupils, and was so scared that its fur stood on end:
"Woof woof woof woof woof!!"
Madly chained roar! 110! Save my dog life!
"What's all the noise."
The strange woman outside the door was actually as calm as if she were in her own home, and even taught it a lesson:
"You really can't raise you to be loyal, I've been waiting for so long, just to wait for her to bring you back from abroad, I came to see you the first time VV, look at your attitude."
"V?"
The Pomeranian VV widened its doggy eyes.
This strange woman
How did she suddenly become the host?
Whose home is this anyway!
The strange woman picked up the dog food bag next to her, skillfully poured it into the dog bowl, *shua la shua la*:
"Eat, I'll let you secretly eat an extra meal today."
"V!"
The Pomeranian VV decided to eat its fill first, and then think about who this woman was.
Because
It was also confused.
It's not that it wasn't faithfully guarding the house.
But this woman gave it a very strange feeling.
Clearly not its own owner, but very similar to its own owner.
No.
Not just similar.
All kinds of smells, including the faint fragrance on her body, were exactly the same!
What's going on?
After VV ate its fill.
It approached the woman with blue eyes again, sniffing, carefully smelling.
Mmm, mmm.
It was indeed its own owner.
Although it didn't know why she changed her appearance, but the smell, for dogs, wouldn't lie.
"V."
It stuck close.
The owner who feeds the dog food on time is the best!
The blue-eyed woman smiled and picked it up, held it in her arms and rubbed it:
"That's right, that's a good boy! You have to be obedient, if you're a good boy, I'll come to give you extra meals often in the future."
"V."
VV was very happy.
It suddenly thought that it would be great if the owner could split into a few more.
One in the morning, one at noon, one in the afternoon, and then the real owner would come back at night, it would definitely be able to eat several extra meals!
After petting the dog for a while.
Huang Que was satisfied, got up and left:
"I'm leaving VV, I'll come see you next time."
Before leaving, she poured another bowl of dog food for VV.
"V."
The Pomeranian VV made a festive sound like it was the New Year, wagging its tail at the woman who was closing the door.
It's a promise!
You have to come often in the future!
If you lie, and don't come again
I'll!
I'll cry for you to see!
Cry all night! The kind that can't be coaxed!
January 14, 2023, under the overpass.
The moon today is round and round, especially with the clear night sky without clouds behind it, the moon looks particularly huge.
"Excuse me, beauty!"
Behind her, a group of couples was taking pictures, the boy holding the phone waved at Huang Que:
"Excuse me, can you move aside a little? I want to take a night scene photo of my girlfriend."
Huang Que smiled.
Her right index finger hooked the hair on her cheek and hung it behind her ear:
"Of course."
Having said that.
She stepped on her high heels and walked behind the boy, watching him take pictures of his girlfriend.
He kept adjusting the angle and focus, exclaiming:
"The moonlight is so beautiful today."
"Yeah."
Huang Que looked up, looking at the huge full moon hanging in the middle of the overpass, and said softly:
"There will be something even more beautiful in a while."
*Boom*
In the distance, suddenly a blue Bentley car flew up from the left overpass!
A spectacular and violent scene, the car flew in a beautiful parabola.
*Ka-cha*.
The boy next to him pressed the shutter button.
"Huh?"
He widened his eyes, looking incredulously at the photo he had just taken
Under the black night, a convertible car flew up from one side of the overpass, straight to the other side of the overpass, with a man and a woman sitting in the car.
The man was holding the steering wheel tightly, and the woman covered her eyes.
At the moment of the snapshot, their car just happened to jump to the center of the full moon, turning this good moonlight into a romantic foil, wild and spectacular.
"James Bond?"
The boy scratched his head, looking up at the convertible sports car that had already flown over the moon and smashed towards the other side of the overpass:
"Donghai 007?"
Next to him.
Huang Que was amused and turned to look at the boy who had accidentally taken the wonderful photo.
So, that's where this nickname came from
"Where, where? What?"
The girl who was being photographed was also very curious, ran over, and watched the Apple phone's unique Live Photo function with the boy.
That is, a live photo.
Press and hold the photo to watch a few seconds of video before the shot.
The girl stared at it twice in stunned silence:
"I'm going! This is so cool! Quick! Quick, post it on Douyin! It's going to be a hit!"
The boy was also very excited.
Opened the Douyin app:
"I, I, I'm going to gain fans! What caption should we add?"
"How about the man who drives the best in Donghai."
Huang Que suggested next to him:
"Anyway, that's what I think."
*Di Di*.
At this time, the electronic watch on her wrist made a faint timekeeping sound.
Lifted her wrist to take a look.
The time had passed 0 o'clock, so the electronic watch automatically told the time.
It was now, January 15, 2023, 00:00.
She faced the moon.
Raised her right hand.
Like raising a bouquet of flowers, holding the moon in her hand, she said softly to herself:
"Happy birthday."
March 2023, outside a western restaurant, parking lot.
The fiery red Ferrari LaFerrari rolled down the window, Huang Que turned her head to look at the second floor of the restaurant, the front exterior wall of the second floor was all clear glass, you could clearly see the scene inside.
Lin Xian and Zhao Yingjun were chatting and laughing inside, on the first floor, a lightly dressed woman was angrily striding upstairs.
"Hehe."
Huang Que smiled like a melon-eating crowd:
"The good show is about to begin."
"Lin Xian, you are really popular."
She just watched quietly, the lightly dressed woman went up to the second floor to question him, and then Zhao Yingjun stubbornly refused to leave, tit-for-tat.
Two women and one man occupied the entire second floor of the restaurant, the silent and solemn atmosphere made the store manager not dare to go upstairs easily.
Not long after.
A red McLaren crazily rushed onto the overpass, speeding in the opposite direction of Lin Xian's home.
Huang Que also opened the door of the Ferrari LaFerrari and sat in.
*Boom!!!!!!*
The accelerator was floored.
The roar of the V12 engine was like a ferocious beast, and it quickly caught up with the McLaren, paused briefly, and then weaved and drifted all the way.
This kind of driving skill was too easy for Huang Que, just like eating and drinking water.
"You still taught well."
Huang Que turned her head, looking at the Donghai University Affiliated Hospital on the right side in front, turned on the right turn signal, and prepared to exit the overpass:
"Can you still find Zheng Chenhe this time? If you find him, maybe you can win a little more beautifully, without paying so much of a price."
January 2024, the capital, astronaut secret training center.
"Cough cough! Cough cough..."
The sudden weakness and exhaustion made her kneel on the floor of the washroom in an instant.
This was already
This had already been this time
Several times.
More and more frequent, more and more serious.
Time.
Time.
Could she still hold on?
"Sister Huang Que!"
Suddenly, the doors of the washroom were pushed open, and Chu Anqing rushed in.
Huang Que quickly covered her head, not letting Chu Anqing see her extinguished eyes:
"Don't call others! I'll be fine soon, soon..."
After a while.
Her symptoms finally disappeared, and she came to the practice room with Chu Anqing, telling her some details of the plan to capture space-time particles, as well as specialized terms.
"Don't tell Lin Xian about what happened just now."
Huang Que instructed:
"Everyone is training hard every day, I don't want to distract everyone, and I don't want everyone to worry about me because of it."
Chu Anqing nodded.
Hesitated to speak.
But in the end, she opened her mouth:
"Sister Huang Que, can I really help in this operation, like you said?"
"I've never known what I can do, but when you came to school to find me, you said that in this operation, I was a crucial link, to be honest, I've always been very afraid that I would drag everyone down."
Huang Que looked at Chu Anqing.
She didn't speak for a long time.
She slowly approached, rubbed her head, and pulled her into her arms:
"Sorry."
"Huh?"
Chu Anqing, who was being hugged, was a little surprised:
"Sister Huang Que, why, why are you apologizing to me?"
Huang Que didn't answer.
She hugged her tightly.
Closed her eyes:
"Sorry..."
April 2024, Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid statue.
The tide at night was as dark as ink, constantly beating the beach.
Huang Que was held in Lin Xian's arms, her vision gradually blurring.
She felt her body was very light.
Light as a bubble.
Being blown by the evening breeze, blown into the air, rising into the sky, further and further away.
The Little Mermaid statue in the shallow water raised her head, looking at her turning into a bubble, flying into the sky:
"Do you regret it?"
"No."
She shook her head in the haze and nothingness:
"For him, I never regret it; if I didn't come, I would regret it."
In the sky.
A ray of light came:
"Are you sad?"
Sad.
Huang Que felt her whole body was light and fluttering, as if drifting in the wind:
"It's not really a pity."
She closed her eyes and smiled:
"I've seen him old, I've seen him middle-aged, I've seen him young, and I've seen him as a teenager, I even hugged him when he was just one year old."
"So I'm satisfied, although I didn't get to grow old with him, but at least..."
"I've seen the story of his whole life."