"I'm sorry, Mr. Li, Mrs. Fang. I still haven't recalled any new leads."

  "As you know, I was severely traumatized back then. I lost many memories, even my own name."

  "But please rest assured, I am seeing a therapist. I'm cooperating with hypnotherapy and the Security Bureau's inquiries."

  "If I remember anything, you will be the first to know."

  Passing by the grieving couple, Han Su only managed to force out these few sentences before quickly moving on.

  "Let's go!"

  His friend Xu Ji tugged at him, feeling a hint of discontent.

  The kidnapping case was so long ago. Shouldn't Old Han be allowed to live his own life by now?

  Even the Security Bureau had declared him innocent and warned the victims' families not to disturb his life.

  Yet, some families simply refused to give up, coming to look for him time and again. This couple was among them.

  "Old Han, if it's too much, I could have my dad talk to them?"

  "They miss their daughter, but that doesn't mean they can disrupt your life, right?"

  "No need. I understand why they are so heartbroken."

  "Then why the long face?"

  "Understanding them doesn't mean I'm not annoyed!"

  "..."

  Talking as they walked, they soon reached the main university gate.

  In the distance, several sports cars were parked just outside.

  A group of young people, dressed in a manner that was luxurious yet somewhat flamboyant in the eyes of ordinary folks, were waving their hands.

  The security guard at the gate looked at the sports cars and the ostentatiously dressed individuals blocking student traffic with clear displeasure.

  But he didn't dare to shoo them away. When he occasionally made eye contact, he even had to force a polite smile.

  In this massively inflated metropolis, privilege had expanded in equal proportion.

  Within this endless prosperity, the status and position of the wealthy had reached a startling level.

  Even a centuries-old prestigious institution like Qinggang University couldn't refuse the entry of these scions of major conglomerates and powerful families.

  Among them were current Qinggang University students, as well as some wealthy dropouts.

  They gathered every weekend to seek amusement, and how could such a gathering of the rich be complete without the truly affluent Young Master Xu Ji?

  Thus, they often congregated, driving up to the school gate to fetch him.

  Of course, sometimes they came for more than just Xu Ji.

  Some female students would often climb into their cars with shy smiles, deftly tying their hair up as they did so.

  "Coming?"

  Seeing them, Xu Ji changed his tone, grinning as he grabbed Han Su's arm.

  "Come see my driving skills today?"

  Noticing Xu Ji's enthusiastic invitation to Han Su, the expressions of the other rich kids turned slightly awkward.

  Every time Xu Ji went out to have fun, he insisted on dragging Han Su along.

  Logically, they were willing to give Xu Ji face and show the requisite friendliness to Han Su.

  Yet, it was this poor student who never quite meshed with their crowd.

  So inconsiderate...

  Han Su glanced at the group of wealthy young men and shook his head.

  "I'll pass. I'm heading to the library."

  Xu Ji was momentarily speechless. "Damn, why so diligent? It's useless, I'm telling you. You think my family's fortune came from hard work?"

  "..."

  Han Su just smiled and waved, hoisting his backpack onto his shoulders before quickly walking away from the school gate.

  The rich kids watching nearby found the scene utterly bizarre.

  Just who was Xu Ji? He was the top young master in all of Qinggang City.

  People like them had to constantly flatter and fawn over him, striving to keep the young master happy without appearing too obvious, lest they become a laughingstock in their circle. It was more exhausting than chasing girls.

  And here was this wealthy young master, inviting a poor student who needed to work part-time, only to be brushed off so disrespectfully?

  Xu Ji watched Han Su's departing figure without voicing any complaint, but he couldn't help muttering to himself, "Why has Old Han been acting so strange lately?"

  "First he's checking himself in the mirror, now he's off to the library..."

  "Is he finally hitting that restless age, starting to think about girls?"

  "..."

  He didn't really care how Han Su treated him; after all, this was his sworn brother.

  If it weren't for his parents' disapproval at home, he might have even asked them to adopt Han Su officially. Of course, even if they refused, he had already decided to take charge sooner or later.

  When the time came, he could adopt Han Su himself.

  He immediately turned to the people around him and asked, "Does anyone know any girls who are genuine, beautiful, wealthy, kind-hearted, not superficial, and considerate?"

  "I want to set my brother up!"

  The people beside him were stunned by this and said, "With standards that perfect, you'd have to change your own gender, Young Master Xu."

  Hearing this, Xu Ji grew worried. "My mom might be okay with it, but my dad would never agree!"

  Hearing him say this, the group of fair-weather friends scattered around him.

  Their expressions were perplexed: Does this guy have some kind of fatal secret on you? Why are you so good to him?

  Han Su left alone, walking a few hundred meters before swiping his card and entering the subway station.

  Holding his backpack in his arms, he silently watched the train shuttle through this highly urbanized concrete jungle.

  The neon lights and the glow of various advertisements streamed into the carriage, making everything seem surreal.

  The world felt unnervingly quiet.

  The display screen showed the current date: June 13, 2724, New Calendar.

  Han Su kept staring at that number, as if he couldn't get enough of it, or perhaps as if he was afraid, worried that the number might suddenly start flickering and change to 2714.

  The kidnapping that had affected his entire life, from which he still hadn't truly escaped, had happened back then.

  He was only ten years old at the time.

  A routine school trip had suddenly plunged him into a dark and dilapidated castle.

  There, he and the other clueless children witnessed many mysterious and bizarre monsters—things that shouldn't even exist in the real world.

  He never understood why they were kidnapped or what those monsters truly were. But Han Su, being the cleverest, knew the moment he saw those creatures that this was no safe place. Seizing the chaos of a commotion, he slipped out silently through a hole under the rose-covered wall.

  He ran, ran as hard as he could, even losing a shoe in the process.

  When he finally reached a safe place, he was met with countless flashing camera lights, the Security Bureau, and countless grieving, anguished parents and family members.

  They desperately pressed him for answers: who had kidnapped them, and where were the other children now?

  Han Su pointed out the path he had escaped from and identified the place where the children were held captive, but there was nothing there—only an empty, deserted industrial area.

  The Security Bureau turned the place upside down but found nothing.

  Later, countless experts and scholars questioned him repeatedly, even conducting lie detector tests and hypnosis, trying to uncover the truth behind the kidnapping and find the whereabouts of the other children.

  But in the end, they found nothing.

  Even the Security Bureau detectives could only speculate that he had been traumatized and misremembered the location, suggesting they wait for his memory to gradually return.

  After that, he was sent to an orphanage, where he lived, studied, and grew up to who he is now.

  Over these ten years, he had woken from countless nightmares, thinking of that eerie, terrifying place and feeling incredibly lucky to have escaped such a bizarre and sinister location.

  But it was only later that he realized he hadn't truly escaped.

  Starting three years ago, those monsters had set their sights on him once again.

  The surroundings began to flicker.

  Uncanny whispers materialized in his ears.

  An intangible force seized him.

  Once again, he was dragged back to that kidnapping case from ten years ago.

  He found himself in the body of a ten-year-old child, facing those indescribable monsters.

  Disoriented, he relied on instinct and managed to escape once more.

  Waking up in his seventeen-year-old self's bed, he found crumpled tissues scattered beside him.

  On the TV, the fighting scene was still playing.

  Everything around him seemed perfectly normal, so he convinced himself it had just been a dream.

  But to his shock, less than three months later, he was dragged back again.

  That time, he broke his leg during the escape.

  When he woke up afterward, he was utterly bewildered.

  He finally realized it was never a dream, because in reality, he had become lame.

  Countless new memories flooded his mind—across that entire timeline, he was now a lame person.

  "Three years. Seventeen times…"

  Han Su thought of this number and sighed inwardly.

  Over and over, he was captured by those monsters and pulled back ten years.

  Over and over, he escaped back to the present.

  It was a nightmare.

  But what made it more terrifying than a nightmare was that injuries sustained in the castle directly affected his present life.

  For instance, after his last escape, having injured his eye in the castle, he was now a person with only one functional eye.

  "The Dark Fortress is constantly self-repairing. The bugs I can exploit are becoming fewer."

  "But trying to save all those people…"

  "It's too difficult."

  "…"

  A dull ache began in his right eye, pulling Han Su out of his memories.

  He sat in silence for a long time, then took out his phone.

  He found a dialog with a black rose avatar and slowly typed:

  "So, is it truly only if everyone escapes that I can be free from this curse?"

  After a few seconds, the black rose avatar began to pulse, indicating a new message:

  "Have you been kidnapped by those monsters back into the past again?"

  Han Su paused for a moment before replying:

  "Yes. I just escaped back."

  "To others, it seemed like I just dozed off."

  "But this time, I was there for a full four days."

  "Before, I always escaped alone. That was easier."

  "But escaping alone is useless. I always get captured again."

  "So this time, following your suggestion, I tried to lead the others out too."

  "I still failed."

  "They were obedient, and I successfully led them to find the key and the door."

  "But in the end, everyone died at the hands of the monsters before we could escape."

  "Now, I've even lost an eye."

  "…"

  The black rose avatar took a long time to reply:

  "So, for you, the timeline has changed once again?"