Liqianyu slid a fish onto a wooden skewer and set it by the fire, her eyes hollow like a drained well.

In this place, sun and moon trade shifts strangely; time frays like a thread you can’t count.

She lifted her face and shaded that heat-shedding orb, a small sun hung in a kiln-blue sky.

She’d seen it before— a sun shrunk a thousandfold, weak in bite, meant only to feed this island power.

How long had she been here? The question blew like wind across an empty field; she didn’t know.

The Abyss had flung her here at the last breath, promising Eli and the others would meet her.

She combed the island like a tide sweeping shorelines; no Eli, no footprints, only an old wooden cabin.

Sometimes she sprawled by its door, staring at the sparse furnishings, silence settling like silt.

Her inner energy kept pooling and settling, breath sealed like winter water; her aura was a veiled lake.

To a stranger, she’d look harmless, a blade sheathed so deep it seemed like no blade at all.

By now, her strength brushed close to Li Gongxuan’s shadow.

Still, she lived quietly, a lone lantern in a wrong era, waiting for two lights like her.

She bit into the charred fish, her gaze glassy, hunger more habit than taste.

Food without salt or spice had been her weather for too long, she thought, a dry season on the tongue.

When she finished, she packed up as always, then sat by the fire pit to breathe like a slow tide.

“Sorry. Kept you waiting.”

A voice drifted in like warm wind through reeds, thick with apology and hurt.

Liqianyu tipped her head; his face fell into her vision like the moon into a lake.

She frowned, closed her eyes, and rubbed her brow. “Am I dreaming again?”

“Not this time.” Eli sighed, his hand settling on her head, ruffling her storm-tangled blue hair.

Liqianyu froze, her face blank, words caught like fish under ice.

Eli let out another sigh, the sound a tired wave.

Zero had told him Liqianyu had slipped into his current timeline, and he should go back to see.

That was obvious as sunrise, but Zero refused to send him, only left a faint trail to chase.

Eli flew alone, following that thread through dark years, wings stronger but not yet at Zero’s tier.

He was climbing toward the peak, but not fast enough to fold distance like Zero’s strange lightning.

By the time he set foot on this island again, five hundred years had washed over its stones.

Which meant this girl had lived here alone, a single fire in a long winter, for at least five centuries.

The thought sank in his chest like a stone dropped in deep water.

Liqianyu just stared at him, her silence a held breath.

“Sorry. I’m too weak.” Eli crouched, meeting her eyes, guilt shading his voice.

She blinked, a thaw moving through her, color wading back into those hollow pupils.

“Oh… ah… it’s… you… thank goodness.” She turned aside and wiped a thin tear, quick as rain.

“You… finally found me… finally it isn’t just me anymore.”

“Alright, alright, don’t cry.” Eli smiled and rubbed her head again, gentle as moss.

Liqianyu suddenly dove into his arms, a bird finding a branch; Eli stiffened, then sighed and held her.

“Ah… sorry. I lost it.” She wriggled free and brushed the wet from her lashes.

He saw her cheeks blooming red; he smiled, knew the shyness, and kept his words soft.

“It’s alright…”

“Right, it’s been forever. What were you doing? Where’s Edlyn? Wasn’t she with you?

Where is this? Did we jump into some other era?” Her questions burst like shells from a gun.

“Uh… it’s complicated.” Eli rubbed his temples. “One at a time, alright?”

“Mmm, fine. You talk.” She fussed with her clothes; her hair refused the comb, and she scratched it, irritated.

Eli sighed, stepped behind her, and set his palm to a nearby tree; a pale wooden comb bloomed from the bark.

“No rush. We’ve got time. The Three Gods War is still far off.” He smiled. “We have ages. I’ll tell you slowly.”

“You’ll suffocate any impatient soul talking like that.” Liqianyu let out a small laugh, bright as chimes.

Step by step, she was trying to walk back into the girl she used to be.

...

“Ah. You finally came. I’ve been waiting forever.” Zero grinned, wearing a researcher’s coat like a borrowed skin.

Liqianyu roamed her eyes over the buildings, curiosity fluttering like swallows.

Eli looked Zero up and down with open disdain, a cold breeze across stone.

“Where’d you even get that outfit?” Eli rolled his eyes, speech flat as a board.

“Oh? This? In your old world, those gifted people who study everything wear these each day.

I thought it was fun, so I tried one on.” Zero laughed, light as sparks.

“I can’t even be bothered to roast you.” Eli sighed, his patience a worn rope.

Zero’s nonsense came too often; fatigue pooled, and he felt a sudden apology for all he’d once annoyed.

“Huh?” Zero eyed Liqianyu, curiosity pricking like needles.

“What is it?” they both asked, voices crossing like paths.

“No… little one, you don’t seem to be one of my creations.” Zero’s smile turned playful, like a cat’s.

“Isn’t the Far East Secret Realm yours?” Eli’s words dropped like stones.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Zero stared, blank as fresh snow.

Eli frowned at Liqianyu; she frowned back, then faced Zero. “That’s my homeland, it…”

She spoke at length, her memories unfolding like paper fans; Zero tilted his head, amusement deepening.

“Oh-ho. I think I know what you are.”

“How?” Eli leaned in, curiosity a spark in dry grass.

“She’s not one of mine. She belongs to the creator of your original world, one of their works.”

“Uh?” Eli stood stunned, mind stuttering like a lantern in wind.

“Her life-source carries the same ripple as yours. You’re from the same place. That’s all.” Zero shrugged.

Eli thought of his first world, an era of racing steel and light, engines like thunder.

But Liqianyu felt older, more like carved wood and rain-washed stone; his brow knotted in doubt.

“Eh, don’t dig too hard. Who knows what twist you’ll stir.” Zero shrugged, grin wicked as a crescent.

“And who said a universe has only one cradle for thinking life?” Zero tossed it off like a pebble.

Eli’s brows tightened, loosened, then he sighed, air leaving like steam. “Fine. Not my business.

Any schemes aren’t mine. The Far East Secret Realm is closed.”

“Heh. That senior’s gameboard is wider than mine.” Zero murmured, a whisper tucked under breath.

“Anyway, you’re idle. Stay with me until I sleep. You can tour the cosmos. Where d’you want to go?” Zero smiled.

Eli nodded and drew out a small thing from his coat. “Zero. Do you know this?

Can you send us to wherever it is?”

Zero’s laughter snapped off; he stared at the tiny sapling, frozen like a clock at midnight.

“Holy—”

“Eh? What’s wrong?”

...

“You really can’t locate the World Tree?” Eli’s stare was three hard lines.

“That thing sits at my level. If it doesn’t want me to find it, I won’t.” Zero shrugged, palms up.

“But lucky you. For some reason, it agreed to give you this.” He pointed at the sapling, green as spring.

“…Feels like it chopped a piece off its crown and handed it to me. Is it some big deal?” Eli asked.

“Well… big deal, not exactly… at least not useful to you.” Zero scratched his head, hair a tousled cloud.

“It uses this to save itself. Basically its offspring. Why would it just pass it on?” Zero sounded baffled.

“You ask me, who should I ask?” Eli spread his hands, a helpless shrug, storm spent.

“Well… I have a proposal. See what you think.” Zero leaned in, sly as a fox behind bamboo.

“Go on.”

“If this turns into a weapon, it’d be insanely OP.” Zero snickered, stoking fire like a bellows.

“…Huh?”