"So handsome! Even better looking than his photos!"

"Teacher Ji Lin, can we get your autograph?"

"Congratulations, Teacher Ji Lin! I really love your work, 'Broken Bridge'!"

"Can we take a picture with you, please?"

Ji Lin was immediately surrounded by the young crowd as soon as he got out of the car.

But he kept his eyes straight ahead and walked towards the funeral hall.

Behind him, several staff members from the funeral home quickly blocked the fans, trying to maintain order:

"Quiet, please be quiet... Please don't gather here."

"This is a memorial service; please be serious."

"Please respect the deceased and don't make a fuss here."

...

After Ji Lin entered the corridor of the funeral home, the commotion outside quieted down a lot.

He just stared straight at Lin Xian... hands in his pockets, back hunched, head raised, walking towards Lin Xian with a blank expression.

Lin Xian stared at him too...

As the fans said, he really was a beautiful young man.

Although Lin Xian hated such effeminate descriptions... at this moment, he really couldn't find a more appropriate word to describe the handsome boy walking slowly towards him.

He wasn't very tall, about 1.75 meters, and very thin. Because he was a bit hunchbacked, Lin Xian wasn't sure of his exact height.

The boy's skin was as white as snow, but without a healthy, rosy glow, as if he had been indoors for a long time, giving him a morbid and listless feeling. His hair was long, almost covering his eyes, very dark and shiny, slightly curly, and slightly messy.

He walked very slowly, expressionless.

But his eyes were constantly fixed on Lin Xian, half-open as if he hadn't woken up, making him look tired and lazy, without any vitality or energy.

Like a dying sea otter, gradually sinking into the sea.

Not just sinking into the sea himself.

Those staring, listless eyes, like an inescapable fishing net, also wanted to drag Lin Xian, whom he was staring at, into the dark abyss...

"Lin Xian?"

Zhao Yingjun's soft call pulled him back to reality.

He turned his head.

Zhao Yingjun, who had already walked a few steps away, looked at him:

"Don't be in a daze, we should go."

Lin Xian nodded and followed the steps of several vice presidents, leaving from the other side of the corridor.

Before turning the corner, he glanced back at Ji Lin again.

He found that he was still the same as before...

Slowly walking with his hands in his pockets, slightly hunchbacked, step by step towards the funeral hall.

Still with the same listless, unfocused eyes, staring straight ahead, not deviating at all.

"..."

Lin Xian understood.

This guy wasn't staring at him just now.

With that kind of look, he was either not awake or nearsighted; he was just being narcissistic.

...

Evening.

"Heave-ho!"

Gao Yang used all his strength to throw the empty beer can far into the Huangpu River.

Plop.

The aluminum beer can floated lightly on the water, causing a little splash, and drifted along with the current.

"How was that, Lin Xian! Hehe~ Give me your review!" Gao Yang laughed triumphantly.

"Review what?" Lin Xian shivered from the cold:

"Review your quality?"

"Review this dinner!!"

Gao Yang scoffed at this romantic illiterate, waving the fan at the small barbecue grill:

"Wasn't I afraid you were in a bad mood, so I specially arranged a small barbecue by the river for you to cheer you up?"

"It's winter, brother! Where were you in the summer!"

Lin Xian was really speechless. He zipped up his coat, spread his hands to approach the pitiful little stove, and competed with the half-cooked lamb skewers for heat:

"You said you were treating me to barbecue, so I especially didn't dare to wear thick clothes, for fear of getting the smell."

"Just tell me if this is barbecue or not!"

Gao Yang opened a can of beer and handed it to Lin Xian.

Lin Xian took it, but immediately put it down:

"It's still ice-cold... What good will it do you to kill me?"

"Hahahaha, drink something cold and forget your troubles!"

Gao Yang fanned a few times and grabbed a handful of lamb skewers to hand to Lin Xian:

"Are you feeling better these past two days?"

"Much better." Lin Xian took a bite:

"Xu Yun is dead after all. It's no use being sad. Taking the time to see his daughter more often is the best way to repay him."

"That's right!"

Gao Yang grabbed a handful of fish tofu and started grilling it:

"I don't know when the two murderers who killed Xu Yun will be caught. Those kinds of people deserve to die! Why did they have to kill such a great scientist!"

"I was originally thinking of taking a hibernation pod for a trip to the future. Now it's all over. I guess I won't see any hope."

"That won't happen." Lin Xian denied:

"Now, it doesn't really matter whether there is Xu Yun or not. The fire of hibernation technology has already been lit. Without Xu Yun, there will be Zhang Yun, Wang Yun, and Li Yun to take the torch and continue to carry out hibernation research. No one can stop this."

"Besides, what are you going to do in the future?"

Lin Xian finished the lamb skewers in his hand, rubbed his hands, and looked at Gao Yang:

"Hibernation pods aren't time machines. You won't be able to come back once you get to the future. There's no regret medicine."

"That's right. Actually, I was just saying it casually. If there really was a hibernation pod, I wouldn'd go sit in that thing."

Gao Yang flipped the fish tofu over, opened a bottle of beer, and leaned over:

"Come on, cheers! To Professor Xu Yun!"

Clink.

After the two clinked glasses, Gao Yang drained his beer in one gulp. Then he flattened the aluminum can and threw it hard towards the opposite bank of the Huangpu River—

Plop.

This time it was thrown much further, causing a splash and sinking to the bottom.

"Let's first pay respect to your quality."

...

The barbecue by the river ended very early.

Because Gao Yang was also freezing, he announced an early end.

Lin Xian returned home, feeling a little heavy-headed and with a runny nose.

"Shift..." Lin Xian cursed inwardly:

"Am I catching a cold?"

He quickly took a hot shower and drank two packets of Banlangen (a traditional Chinese medicine).

He turned off the lights and went to bed.

...

...

...

?

Lin Xian was a little confused.

Where was the hot summer wind that had been blowing for more than twenty years?

Where were the cicada songs that had been chirping for more than twenty years?

Where were the noisy children in the square that had been making noise for more than twenty years?

Why was it so quiet today!

He opened his eyes—

Brick walls, low houses, narrow roads, lanterns, stone tiles, moss...

All around were staggered, interwoven self-built small buildings!

Crowded, backward, silent, desolate...

The surrounding scenery was like a poor and backward small village!

"What's going on?"

Lin Xian looked around, looking at the windows with dim tungsten bulbs flickering, and couldn't help but take two steps back.

It had changed...

Everything had changed!

There was no square, no children playing, no bustling shops, no familiar electronic billboards and bright streetlights.

"Where am I?"

Lin Xian suddenly turned around, looking behind him...

Still a rugged stone road, with various self-built small, low buildings unevenly distributed on both sides.

Where was this?

"Where did I dream of going this time?"

This was the first time in his many years of dreaming... that he had encountered such a bizarre thing! He quickened his pace and ran forward—

No matter how he turned or how he twisted, the surroundings were all two or three-story brick and tile houses, even with mud walls.

The roads were terribly narrow, as if they had never considered the possibility of traffic. He looked left and right, his vision blocked by the chaotic layout of the low houses, unable to see anything!

"Could it be..."

His heart turned cold.

Could it be that he had traveled to another timeline?

Another world?

What year and day was it now?

Lin Xian turned around and looked around, and found a small shop with a large yellow light bulb hanging at the corner of the alley, just like the layout of the 1980s and 1990s in TV dramas.

He hurried towards the small shop.

Inside, there was an old man wearing a white vest, smiling and cracking melon seeds, fanning himself, and watching a bulky television.

"Dear viewers, evening news is telling you the time!"

In the low-resolution television...

A female host in formal attire, with a clear and round voice, looked at Lin Xian with a smile:

"Now it is—"

"August 28, 2624! 10 PM sharp!"