[Dear reader, if you click in and find this isn't to your taste, feel free to leave. There's no need to force yourself. This story is updated out of love, and is a personal work. Thank you to everyone willing to stop by.]
After her lover Yi Chang dies unexpectedly, Shen Cangzhu becomes obsessed and unhinged, spending years building a time machine.
To hold on to his only light, he willingly offers himself to time and space, traveling back to the past again and again.
Every journey is a torture that gnaws to the bone. The backlash of time and space tears his flesh apart and drains away his life. Burning patterns crawl over his body, his memories become jumbled, he ages at a terrifying pace, day and night fall into disarray, and his wounds never heal.
He tries every way he can think of: staying by her side, deliberately keeping his distance, cherishing their brief moments together, and desperately avoiding every deadly trap. But the fated loop has no solution. No matter how hard he struggles to save her, Yi Chang always dies on schedule. Every attempt is in vain, and every time his heart breaks anew.
After six cycles, all hope is gone. At the moment time freezes, a shocking truth crashes down.
In the end, all that remains of his life is an old dream, an illusion that had eluded him for half his life.
Beside the osmanthus-lined avenue,
"I like you."
The wind rustled, scattering osmanthus blossoms along the street, their fragrance drifting everywhere.
Yi Chang heard a heartbeat.
Shen Cangzhu remained bent slightly forward, listening. He had turned to stone.
I like you.
When Yi Chang was going through a hard time, someone held her.
"Can I hug you?"
"You already are."
Shen Cangzhu closed his eyes. Their heartbeats gradually fell into sync.
An unfinished letter still lay on his desk. It was the letter he had meant to give Yi Chang.
He still hadn't decided when to give it to her.
Now,
"Yi Chang. I like you too"
