# 1958
Chapter 1948: Reminder
"Perhaps others couldn't, but for you, Lin Qiye, nothing is impossible... You've always been like this." An Qingyu said calmly.
"Crossing the river of time to strike—it's not a good thing for either of us. I'm not here to fight you. I just want to remind you of something."
As expected, this seed of a temporal encounter, long since laid in ambush, had been actively triggered by An Qingyu.
Lin Qiye frowned slightly.
"What?"
"You and I haven't finished our chess game." An Qingyu said slowly.
Chess game?
Lin Qiye seemed to have thought of something. He turned to look at the chessboard behind him—a black surgical blade was embedded in the center of the board, shattering it into countless fragments. The black and white pieces had been scattered outside the board, a complete mess.
The pieces on the board had been a precise recreation of the chess match Lin Qiye had played with An Qingyu at the Cthulhu Faction's old base. Now, An Qingyu's single strike had destroyed the entire game...
Lin Qiye's gaze kept shifting between the shattered board and the scattered pieces, his brow furrowed, as if lost in deep thought.
What was An Qingyu trying to convey by going to such lengths to connect across time and say these few words?
The game isn't finished, and then what?
An Qingyu's words were too cryptic. Several possible implications flashed through Lin Qiye's mind, but he couldn't determine which was his true intent...
To be honest, Lin Qiye wasn't entirely clear about the relationship between An Qingyu and the Key to the Gate. However, judging from An Qingyu's actions, the time deception probably wasn't his doing. If An Qingyu were the mastermind behind Great Xia's destruction, there would have been no need for him to appear before Lin Qiye now.
After some consideration, Lin Qiye still had no clear answer. His gaze swept to the time displayed on the wall, and his expression gradually grew grave.
He couldn't waste any more time here...
Lin Qiye flicked his wrist, and the Kingly Laws of Finale that had sustained both rivers of time gradually dissipated beneath his feet. The hellish scene before him faded. Through the temporal river, he gazed at An Qingyu's silhouette on the opposite side and spoke calmly:
"This mess here should be easier for you to handle."
As the Lin Qiye above the cross vanished, An Qingyu's eyes narrowed slightly. His gaze swept across the valley below and the distant Six-Winged Seraph. He pulled his black hood up, his form gradually dissolving into the mist. With a casual grip of his hand through the air—
"Extinguish."
BOOM—!!
Uriel and every Cthulhu Faction creature in the valley shattered simultaneously into blood mist. The two youths bound to the crosses struggled to their feet, supporting each other as they fled toward the valley's exit...
...
Cangnan City,
Shelter 007.
"Mom, I'm going out for a walk."
Zhao Zhengbin, bread dangling from his mouth and a carton of milk in one hand, walked out of the dormitory at an unhurried pace, heading toward the main hall with practiced ease.
But for Zhao Zhengbin, a college student, life here was still a bit dull... Besides going online and watching livestreams in the hall, there didn't seem to be any other entertainment options.
He walked through the corridor and found a seat at the edge of the main hall. A commotion drifted up from below the screen—it seemed like yet another dispute over what to cast on the display. This kind of thing had been happening frequently these past few days.
Sure enough, Su Zhe was standing between the two arguing parties, wearing a red armband, earnestly saying something, as if mediating.
Zhao Zhengbin was too far away to hear what Su Zhe was saying... But from the looks of it, the two people who'd been arguing were growing increasingly agitated after Su Zhe's "mediation." They were even fixing Su Zhe with angry glares, while Su Zhe himself continued talking non-stop.
Wow, he really has a way with words.
Zhao Zhengbin silently ate his bread. Over the past two days, he'd gotten quite familiar with Su Zhe, and he'd come to deeply appreciate the latter's inability to keep his mouth shut...
Just as Zhao Zhengbin was quietly watching the show, a figure beside him caught his attention—a dark-haired girl wearing a mask, her eyes also fixed on the distant Su Zhe with a complicated expression.
Zhao Zhengbin couldn't see her full face, but from the contours of her brow, she bore a striking resemblance to Su Zhe...
Before Zhao Zhengbin could process this, a crisp ringtone sounded. The girl beside him immediately answered her phone.
"Hello? Captain?"
"..."
"What? Moved up??" The girl froze, her tone suddenly turning grave. "I'm still at the Cangnan shelter. I'll head over right away..."
"..."
"My brother's situation... is pretty good." The girl glanced at Su Zhe. "He seems to have fully adapted here. I think... we don't need to worry about him anymore. He's found a life that suits him."
"..."
"Mm, I'm on my way."
With that, the girl hung up. She cast one final, deep look at the distant Su Zhe, then turned and walked toward the shelter's exit.
Watching the girl's retreating figure, confusion appeared on Zhao Zhengbin's face.
Brother?
Is she Su Zhe's sister?
And from the way she was talking... is Su Zhe's sister also a Night Watch?
In those few short sentences, Zhao Zhengbin caught a whiff of something unusual... He was almost certain that Su Zhe's identity was far from that of an ordinary Night Watch. Could he possibly be some hidden expert? The kind who could go toe-to-toe with deities?
Though as he watched her hurried expression, the situation outside seemed dire. What on earth had been moved up?
Lost in thought, Zhao Zhengbin noticed the commotion ahead growing more intense. The two people who'd been arguing had simultaneously grabbed Su Zhe by the collar, looking ready to throw a punch at any moment, clearly furious.
Seeing this, Zhao Zhengbin immediately stepped forward to help Su Zhe out of the situation. After much persuasion, he finally calmed the two people's anger and led Su Zhe away from the dispute.
"I say, you're not much of a security administrator, are you? How did you get yourself into a fight while trying to break one up?"
Zhao Zhengbin dragged him to the edge of the main hall and couldn't help but ask.
Su Zhe awkwardly shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know either... One of them wanted to watch a comedy, the other said they were tired of comedies and wanted a thriller, and then they just started going at each other, hurling curses right out of the gate.
You know me, Xiaobin—I'm a civilized person. I hate this kind of foul language the most... So I said, why don't you guys watch children's educational programming? There are fun skits for哄小朋友, there are subtraction and addition problems that could pass as thrillers, and it could even teach you how to speak like human beings... Then they started laying hands on me."
"..."
Are you f***ing kidding me?! Is your talent for mockery maxed out or something?!
"Both of them hit you. Why didn't you hit back?"
"Hey, I'm a Night Watch." Su Zhe rubbed the bruise on his cheek, wincing in pain. "A Night Watch doesn't go around fighting ordinary people... I'm not going to stoop to their level."