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In the passenger seat, Yu Xi opened her eyes and nodded. “The time-space assassin didn’t follow us. We should be safe at this distance. But we won’t be here long, just enough to patch up my wounds. I’ll need your help.”

“No problem,” Lin Xian replied.

He pulled the rugged SUV to the side of the road and got out with Yu Xi. Together, they moved to the back of the car and opened the trunk.

Yu Xi was well-prepared. The trunk wasn’t just stocked with a first-aid kit but also had bottles of water, some food, and blankets.

“Did you grab all this from the secretary’s house?” Lin Xian asked. “Earlier, everything was so rushed that I didn’t get the chance to ask… You’re so young, but you seem to know a lot about combat, survival skills, and driving techniques. Were you trained for this from a young age?”

Yu Xi nodded silently, taking out the first-aid kit.

Lin Xian watched her crouch down. “I’m just curious. If you can’t or don’t want to answer, that’s fine. But were you trained specifically for this mission, traveling back in time to protect me? Or is there an organization that trains people like you? You know, like in movies where they pick the best person to travel through time and complete a mission?”

Yu Xi opened the first-aid kit and took out alcohol, antiseptic, cotton swabs, and gauze. She looked up, her bright blue eyes meeting Lin Xian’s. “I can’t say.”

“Okay,” Lin Xian smiled, though he felt a bit helpless. He squatted down and took the bottles of antiseptic and alcohol, unscrewing their caps. He wasn’t upset. He understood the rules of time-space and knew Yu Xi’s difficulties. After all, she was injured while protecting him.

As he looked at the girl who should have been enjoying her youth in school, now bleeding from her arm with other minor injuries, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache.

Time travel was like a one-way ticket.

Yu Xi’s fate would likely be similar to Yellow Finch’s—disappearing into blue star dust in this time, which didn’t belong to her. It was a lonely feeling, knowing that she was destined to vanish, leaving nothing behind.

Especially when…

Lin Xian opened the alcohol bottle, the sharp smell stinging his nose, bringing a bitter taste to his heart.

Especially when both Yellow Finch and Yu Xi gave up their original lives, their original time, and their families and friends to come here and protect him.

Yu Xi, at just fifteen or sixteen years old…

She must have parents, right? She must be someone’s beloved daughter.

Lin Xian suddenly recalled something Professor Xu Yun had told him:

“It doesn’t matter if my daughter forgets me. If she starts a brand new life, it doesn’t matter if she remembers me or not… But I don’t want to forget her… I don’t want to forget Yi Yi. I only have a few years of memories of her being lively and full of energy. I cherish those memories so much… I’m not willing to lose even a bit of them.”

“So, I won’t go into hibernation. I’ll keep those memories of Yi Yi alive until my last breath, and I’ll use every last second of my life to research a better hibernation pod for her.”

“One day, you’ll be a father too. Then you’ll understand.”

Lin Xian had seen many fathers and their daughters: Big Cat Face and his daughter; Li Cheng and Li Ning Ning; Chu Shan He and Chu An Qing. Each daughter was her father’s precious gem, the very essence of his life.

Just like Professor Xu Yun had said so confidently:

“One day, you’ll be a father too. Then you’ll understand.”

“Hiss!”

The hydrogen peroxide stung Yu Xi’s arm wound, causing even someone as strong as her to frown and grit her teeth in pain.

“Does it hurt?” Lin Xian asked with concern.

“Yes,” Yu Xi replied, her lips tightly pressed together.

“Hang in there. I’m using the hydrogen peroxide to clean your wound.”

Lin Xian held Yu Xi’s upper arm, trying to reduce her pain, but he realized that she was stronger than he thought. Her muscles were firm, and he couldn’t even press down on them.

“It’s not too bad. The wound isn’t deep, just a bit more than a surface scratch, and it’s clean. It should heal in a few days,” Lin Xian said, as he continued applying medicine and preparing to bandage her arm.

“One day is enough.”

Yu Xi’s blue eyes looked at Lin Xian as she softly spoke. “Our bodies are strengthened in many ways, including our immune system and skin regeneration. This surface wound will heal in about a day, and even deeper wounds won’t take much longer.”

“Alright.” Lin Xian wiped the blood from her arm with medical gauze and then wrapped it neatly with a bandage. When he was done, he put the remaining bottles and containers back into the first-aid kit.

Yu Xi examined her perfectly treated arm, then shook her head slightly, causing her short, hamster-like ponytail to sway. She tilted her head, looking at Lin Xian. “You’re pretty good at bandaging. You did a great job.”

“I just learned it recently,” Lin Xian said, putting the first-aid kit back into the trunk. He turned around. “I’m just careful and thorough, that’s all.”

He paused, hesitating to speak. Finally, he asked the question that had just crossed his mind.

“Yu Xi.”

Lin Xian looked into her eyes. “Can you tell me about your parents?”

“I don’t have parents.”

Yu Xi met his gaze and spoke softly. “I don’t know who my parents are. I’ve been an orphan since I was little, and no one has ever told me who they were.”

Lin Xian didn’t respond immediately. Her straightforward answer was unexpected, and it left him puzzled.

If she had said, “I can’t tell you” or “I’m not allowed to talk about it,” that would have meant there was more to the story. But this straightforward denial…

Lin Xian’s mind raced, and a thought suddenly struck him—what if Yu Xi was Yellow Finch’s child?

If she was indeed Yellow Finch’s daughter, and if Yellow Finch was really Zhao Ying Jun, and in Yellow Finch’s timeline, he was most likely married to her…

That would mean…

Yu Xi could be his and Zhao Ying Jun’s daughter from another timeline?

The idea was so outrageous that even Lin Xian found it hard to believe. It was like something out of a fantasy novel.

They say every father is selfish when it comes to his daughter. Lin Xian could relate. He didn’t consider himself a saint, especially when it came to his hypothetical daughter. He wasn’t sure if he would become a doting father like Chu Shan He, but he knew one thing for certain—he would never let his teenage daughter be sent back in time on a dangerous mission.

Not even the initial training and selection process would pass his “iron hand” approach.

No father would willingly let his daughter grow up without a normal life, just training, only to travel back in time on a one-way mission, possibly dying far from home, never to return.

Nor would any mother accept that.

If his daughter were an adult, it might be different… She would have her own life and choices. But a girl Yu Xi’s age should be cherished and protected, not sent on a dangerous mission with no return.

That’s why…

It made sense that Yu Xi said she didn’t know her parents and was an orphan.

Children without anyone to care for them could be trained as agents.

Lin Xian’s earlier wild guess came back to him… Could Yu Xi really be Yellow Finch’s daughter?

From a time-space logic perspective, many things were difficult to explain.

Could Yu Xi be his daughter?

That was even harder for Lin Xian to grasp.

He would rather die in battle than drag his daughter into danger.

As the saying goes, dying with your father is the highest honor for a child, but dying with your child is the greatest shame for a father.

Lin Xian picked up the bloodstained gauze and cotton swabs from the ground, tidying up and throwing them into a roadside trash bin.

He still wanted to know the truth. Whether the answer was right or wrong, he needed to know the true relationship between himself and Yu Xi.

Because he remembered the look in Yellow Finch’s eyes when she said Yu Xi’s name before disappearing. That look was so tender, so reluctant, so full of longing, so full of pleading.

If Yu Xi was just an ordinary time-space bodyguard, Yellow Finch wouldn’t have shown such complex emotions, right?

“Lin Xian?”

Behind him, Yu Xi had already put her coat back on and stood up, looking in his direction. “What are you doing by the trash can? We need to keep moving. We have to get far enough away from the time-space assassin to be safe.”

Lin Xian snapped out of his thoughts, looked at Yu Xi, and nodded. “I’m coming.”

Forget it. He couldn’t figure out the answers just by thinking.

A DNA paternity test.

That was the most accurate and straightforward way.

When the opportunity arose, Lin Xian planned to risk finding out if he was really a dad… and uncover the truth about Yu Xi’s origins.

The two got back into the SUV and continued their journey. Lin Xian was still driving. He planned to drive through the night, heading back to Princeton, New Jersey.

He was still worried about Angelica.

She had specifically told him not to contact her. In this situation, it was best to follow her advice and not try to reach out by phone or text. Otherwise, it could make things worse.

But he couldn’t just leave it alone, either. So Lin Xian planned to return to Angelica’s villa in Princeton to see if there were any signs she had been home or if she had left any clues for him.

He yawned, not out of sleepiness but exhaustion. These past few days, although he hadn’t been flying on planes constantly like before, the level of fatigue had only increased. He and Yu Xi had been driving almost non-stop every day, from the East Coast of the United States to the southern border, and now they were headed back to the East Coast.

Luckily, the U.S. highways were straight and had little traffic, so long-distance driving wasn’t too tiring—as long as he didn’t fall asleep at the wheel.

Through the rearview mirror, Lin Xian looked at the back seat, where Yu Xi was curled up under a blanket, fast asleep. She was still dressed the same, not letting her guard down even while sleeping. The Smith & Wesson M500 revolver was in her jacket pocket, never leaving her side.

Her right arm was wrapped in a clean white bandage, and it was clear the wound had stopped bleeding.

Because she was sleeping with her back to Lin Xian, facing the seat, he could only see the back of her head and the small ponytail that kept bouncing with the car’s movements.

Yu Xi’s baby face suited her short ponytail. But her hair was too short, and the ponytail was so tiny it was almost comical.

However, considering Yu Xi’s role as a time-space agent on a special mission, she probably didn’t plan on growing her hair long, did she? It wouldn’t make sense. If she did grow a long ponytail or let her hair down, it would be like giving the enemy an easy target.

Lin Xian had witnessed Yu Xi’s duel with the time-space assassin in the moonlit schoolyard. It was breathtaking, like a dance on the edge of a knife. Every move was deadly, and any mistake would have been fatal.

A battle between gods, with no room for mortals.

“Uhh…” Lin Xian sighed softly inside the car, switching the headlights to high beam on the empty road.

He wished he could help Yu Xi more, so she wouldn’t have to fight alone.

Unfortunately, the time-space assassin was too mysterious, not bound by the rules of time-space, and even able to reverse the attacks aimed at her.

What was the reason behind this?

The next morning, as the sun began to rise, Yu Xi rubbed her eyes and woke up in the back seat. She sat up, looking at Lin Xian, who had been driving all night.

“Lin Xian, where are we now?”

“We’ve covered about half the distance,” Lin Xian replied. “It took us about a day and a night to drive from Princeton to Texas, and this time we started from Mississippi, which is closer to Princeton.”

“Let me drive now.”

Yu Xi sat up in the back seat, adjusting her short ponytail, which had loosened during sleep.

Lin Xian glanced at the car’s quartz clock. It was 10 AM, U.S. time. This was about the time for him to fall asleep, and he would probably be out for no more than three hours before waking up again. Given how far they had already traveled, the time-space assassin shouldn’t catch up for a while.

“Where’s the time-space assassin now? How far behind us?” Lin Xian asked.

“She hasn’t moved,” Yu Xi said, leaning over the seat to look at the sandy road ahead. “She’s probably still in the city, far from us. You can sleep without worrying.”

Lin Xian parked by the roadside, then got out and moved to the passenger seat, reclining it to sleep.

There was no other choice… Yu Xi’s height allowed her to curl up in the back seat and sleep, but Lin Xian couldn’t stretch out in the back, so he had to make do with the reclined passenger seat.

He closed his eyes, pulled the blanket over himself, and Yu Xi restarted the car, heading north.

The rocking of the car quickly made Lin Xian, already exhausted, feel even sleepier… until he drifted off to sleep.

…

…

Familiar summer breezes, familiar city noises.

Lin Xian hadn’t even opened his eyes yet, but he already sensed that something was wrong.

Slowly, he opened his eyes…

Sure enough.

He couldn’t help but curse inwardly. This fourth dream was just too stubborn! Too difficult to deal with!

He had been trapped in this nightmarish dream for nearly a year, unable to escape…

Even though so much had changed in the real world, and even after he killed Kevin Walker, why hadn’t the fourth dream changed at all?

He had anticipated this before falling asleep.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have delayed going to sleep until so late.

But even with mental preparation, when he opened his eyes and saw dozens of armed soldiers surrounding him… he couldn’t help but feel frustrated and disappointed.

What was the problem?

There was only one possibility:

The dream was fake, a fictional movie set, and the enemy had given up on even changing the set. But that didn’t make sense. If the enemy never intended to change the dream set, then why did the Time Bank’s advertising blimp suddenly appear one day? That showed the enemy was still modifying the dream’s details based on changes in the real world.

So, if that was the case…

Since he had already killed Kevin Walker, who were these soldiers supposed to take him to?

This question would be answered soon enough.

But in the meantime, Lin Xian thought of another possibility, something he had suspected before:

The mysterious old man wasn’t Kevin Walker at all! He only pretended to be Kevin Walker to mislead Lin Xian, making him target Kevin Walker as his enemy.

This led to the second possibility:

Kevin Walker’s death, just like VV’s appearance and disappearance, and the capture of time-space particles, was predetermined history, an unchangeable fact. So, everything that had happened since the fourth dream first appeared had followed the original historical trajectory… and since the historical track hadn’t changed, the fourth dream hadn’t changed either.

“Who’s deciding history here?” Lin Xian asked himself. “And who’s controlling it so precisely that it doesn’t deviate at all?”

There wasn’t much time to think.

One of the soldiers surrounding him, the one who seemed to be the captain, threw down an electronic arrest warrant.

“Lin Xian! You are under arrest for crimes against humanity, endangering Earth, and disrupting time-space!”

Lin Xian sighed. How many times had he heard those charges?

He was innocent.

He was the victim here, wasn’t he?

It felt like he wasn’t the criminal… but rather a group of people guilty of those crimes chasing after him relentlessly.

Szzzz—

The sharp sound of electricity, and Lin Xian’s vision went black as he lost consciousness.

…

…

Who knows how long later, he opened his eyes again.

He was still cuffed to a chair, still had a black hood over his head, unable to see what was outside.

In front of him, he heard the same dry laugh that he had grown tired of hearing. Then the sound of shuffling footsteps approaching.

Swish.

The old man yanked the hood off Lin Xian’s head, revealing that same familiar face, with those dry eyes glaring at him.

“Now…” the old man began.

“You’re not Kevin Walker,” Lin Xian interrupted.

It seemed his earlier thoughts were right. Kevin Walker’s death, as the digital lifeform Turing, who used to be Kevin, had said, was predetermined history, an unchangeable fact.

Since the moment Turing wanted to kill his former self, Kevin Walker’s death became inevitable.

This water had to be spilled, it was just a matter of who would spill it.

Turing had told him in that basement that even if Lin Xian hadn’t killed Kevin Walker, someone else would have, and it wouldn’t have taken long. Even if Lin Xian hadn’t gone after him last night, Kevin Walker wouldn’t have survived the month. At the very least, Elon Musk wouldn’t have let him live.

So Kevin Walker’s death wouldn’t change the future or cause a massive butterfly effect.

The mysterious old man’s script hadn’t changed because he didn’t know when Kevin Walker would die or who would kill him.

In a way, Lin Xian had been played by the old man.

But Lin Xian didn’t care. Even without the old man’s influence, his entanglement with Kevin Walker would have been enough to make him pull the trigger.

And having a hacker who could infiltrate any surveillance system was a threat Lin Xian couldn’t tolerate.

At least now, that danger was gone.

So it wasn’t the old man using him; their goals just happened to align.

Now that Kevin Walker’s situation was resolved…

Wasn’t it time to settle accounts with the mysterious old man?

“I hope I don’t guess who you are, old man,” Lin Xian said with a smile.

“I’ve already settled with Kevin Walker. Next, it’s your turn.”

The old man was taken aback for a moment, then he chuckled dryly again. He shook his head with amusement, his eyes narrowing into slits as he looked at Lin Xian.

“Foolish child…”

He laughed heartily.

“The true hunter never enters the hunting ground himself.”

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Blinding white light arrived on time, filling every crevice in his vision, burning everything to ashes.

…

…

…

Boca Chica, Texas, a two-story house.

In the bedroom, Angelica opened her eyes. She got out of bed, put on her slippers, and adjusted her nightgown before opening the bedroom door.

In the living room, two female bodyguards in black uniforms and sunglasses bowed to her.

“Miss Angelica, you’re awake. What would you like for lunch today? We’ll have the chef prepare it for you.”

But unfortunately, these weren’t her own bodyguards. They were hired by Elon Musk, officially to protect her… but really to monitor and confine her.

“The same as yesterday is fine,” Angelica said softly.

Ever since she had been caught impersonating Elon Musk’s secretary at the SpaceX starship launch center, he had locked her in this house. She wasn’t allowed to contact the outside world or leave the premises. She had been confined here ever since.

After that day, Elon Musk hadn’t come back, and Angelica hadn’t seen him again. In the past few days, she had no news from the outside world and had been unable to contact anyone.

Elon Musk had told her on that observation tower that Copernicus had used a tempting offer to buy her life:

“I don’t want to be criticized or become infamous like Copernicus, so of course, I’ll keep my word. I don’t need him spreading rumors about me.”

“So for now, stay here quietly. I’ll have people take good care of you. Apart from not being able to go out or contact the outside world, your life won’t be much different from usual.”

“When I’m sure Kevin Walker is dead, I’ll release you. But of course… Kevin Walker is incredibly cunning, so confirming his death won’t be quick. It’ll take until the morning of the first day of next month at least before I can be certain he’s dead.”

After that, Angelica had been confined here.

Elon Musk was indeed a man of his word. Even the bodyguards he sent were two women who met all her needs.

Books, food, DVDs, even small pets… whatever she asked for, her captors provided as quickly as possible.

But every day, she couldn’t help but worry…

How was Lin Xian?

Was he safe?

Was he still alive?

Angelica knew that Lin Xian had a grudge against Kevin Walker and that Elon Musk had given Lin Xian Kevin Walker’s address. It wasn’t hard to guess that Lin Xian would likely go to kill Kevin Walker.

On that note written to her, Kevin Walker’s name was near the top. That showed how high Lin Xian’s priority was on this most powerful young hacker, even higher than the blue-eyed girl chasing him.

“Good luck, boy,” Angelica murmured, shaking her head as she headed to the bathroom.

Just then, one of the female bodyguards spoke into her phone, then walked over and bowed to Angelica.

“Miss Angelica, Mr. Elon Musk is on his way over. He asks that you prepare yourself; he plans to take you out of the country.”

“Out of the country?” Angelica frowned. “Where to?”

“To X Country,” the bodyguard replied. “Mr. Elon Musk didn’t give details. He’ll explain when he arrives.”

…

An hour later.

Elon Musk, tall and imposing, knocked on the door and entered the living room.

Inside, Angelica was sitting on the couch, smoking with her legs crossed.

“Are you ready?” Elon Musk asked.

“Heh.” Angelica laughed dismissively, turning her head to exhale smoke. “Elon Musk, impersonating your secretary was wrong of me, I admit that. But you’ve kept me here for days; isn’t that enough payback?”

“The only reason I’ve been cooperative is that I still have things to accomplish in this life, unfinished business. It’s not because I’m clinging to my life.”

“So, you kept your word, and I’ve kept mine. I’ll wait until the morning of the first day of next month for you to confirm Kevin Walker’s death. After that, you can kill me or let me go, and I’ll have no complaints.”

“But as for accompanying you out of the country, forget it. The price for a Hollywood star to accompany you abroad is quite steep… Even if you can afford it, it still depends on whether I’m willing. And I’m not.”

“You will be, Angelica,” Elon Musk said with a smile. “This is a new deal. I’ll tell you what you want to know, in exchange for your company to X Country.”

Angelica took a drag from her cigarette, slowly exhaling.

“You think you know what I want?”

“I don’t know,” Elon Musk admitted, shrugging. “But the fact that you took the risk of impersonating my secretary to get close to me means there’s something you want to know. So, what is it?”

“I want to know everything about Copernicus,” Angelica said, still with her legs crossed, looking directly at Elon Musk. “The one who called you from my phone—tell me everything you know about him.”

“No problem,” Elon Musk said, unconcerned. “I’ll tell you after this is done. Copernicus isn’t my friend. I don’t know him personally, and from what I’ve heard… I actually dislike him.”

“But I don’t know much about him, just bits and pieces I’ve picked up here and there. So don’t expect too much.”

Angelica leaned forward, pressing her cigarette into the ashtray, twisting it to extinguish it. After a moment of silence, she looked up again.

“So, why do you want me to go to X Country with you?”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Elon Musk replied. “You just need to accompany me and meet Lin Xian.”

“Lin Xian?” Angelica narrowed her eyes. “Lin Xian is right here in the U.S. You can meet him anytime.”

Elon Musk rubbed his hands together, shaking his head with a smile. “But in the U.S., Lin Xian won’t dare to meet me, especially with the current misunderstanding between us… Whether I invite him or he invites me, we’d both see it as a trap and wouldn’t go.”

“Even if I released you now and let you contact him, it would be the same. Unless he’s a fool, he’d suspect it’s a trap I set up.”

“But it’s different in X Country. It’s a very safe country, both for me and for Lin Xian. And with my trip accompanied by X Country officials, that should be enough to earn Lin Xian’s trust.”

“I have a lot to clear up with Lin Xian. Some things I did, and I’ll own up to them. But for what I didn’t do, I won’t take the blame.”

Angelica scoffed. “You’re that confident Lin Xian will go to X Country to see you?”

“He will,” Elon Musk said, pulling a ticket from his pocket. It was a ticket to the moon, with the words “To the Moon” printed on it.

“This time in X Country, I’m going to visit a little girl in the hospital. And Lin Xian, he’ll definitely come.”

“Why?” Angelica was puzzled, almost amused.

“Because I’ve figured it out,” Elon Musk said, waving the ticket with a smile.

“This $12 million ticket to the moon… was a gift from Lin Xian to Zheng Xiang Yue!”