Confess or the World Will Be Destroyed

I like him.

I like him.

I like him.

Liking him is the alarm before the midday exercises. The third step behind the school building. The second I lose my train of thought because he passes by. The pale morning light, capturing the boy's clear, handsome features in a still frame.

Liking him is the bus stop by the school gate. The school bus arriving late. A white shirt bathed in the glow of the setting sun. The bus strap his hand has held. Through the fogged-up window, you watch his slender figure cross the crosswalk, and you never get off early. You won't chase after him. You don't dare.

-

Ten years later, ordinary office worker He Weiqing is walking down the street.

She's been working for 30 hours straight, frantically coordinating with someone on the 19th draft of a proposal. In five minutes, she'll die suddenly of a heart attack.

Suddenly, she's seized by a robot that drops from the sky.

With brisk efficiency, the robot shoves three fast-acting heart pills into her mouth, then removes its titanium alloy helmet with a cold steel arm, revealing a face He Weiqing sees in the mirror every day.

"I'm you from a parallel universe," the other He Weiqing says. "The 228 universes we came from have all been destroyed. You're the last survivor. According to my calculations, there's one thing you need to do to stay alive."

He Weiqing stares in shock. "K-kill the client?"

The other woman shakes her head and mysteriously takes out He Weiqing's long-lost diary.

The diary had once recounted in detail a high school crush that had gone nowhere.

"Go back ten years and confess to that boy."

Screenshot taken as proof on 2024.5.3

Theme: Taking initiative makes a story. And if you don't, someone from a parallel universe will come help you have one.