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“EVA is absolutely out of the question! It’s like a death wish! Even if your balance and coordination skills are top-notch, conducting an EVA at 40,000 meters… No one has ever done it before! No astronaut or pilot has achieved this! Let alone on a space shuttle!”

“But! We have no other choice right now!” Chu An Qing’s voice trembled. “We… we can’t just stand by and watch the time-space particle disappear!”

Click. She raised her helmet visor and looked at the shocked faces inside the cabin. “We’ve all worked so hard and sacrificed so much to capture this time-space part5icle. But I haven’t done anything, haven’t been able to help… Now, I finally have a chance to be useful. This is the only thing I can do!”

Chu An Qing turned to Liu Feng. “Mr. Liu Feng, do you remember what you told me in the lab at Donghai University? You said… don’t easily deny your own value, that the time hasn’t come yet for you to make a difference; sometimes it’s okay to make mistakes all your life, as long as you get one crucial thing right.”

“You told me that in this world, there is definitely something that is meant for me, that only I can accomplish. No one else can do it but me.”

She looked at Liu Feng, who was at a loss for words. “Mr. Liu Feng, I think… now is the moment you talked about, when I realize my value and make a difference. Going out to capture that time-space particle is the one thing in this world that only I can do!”

With that, Chu An Qing turned to Lin Xian. “Sorry, Senior Lin Xian, I overheard your conversation with Sister Yellow Finch… You said that if we don’t capture this time-space particle, the world and everything will become a thousand, ten thousand times worse than it is now.”

“If… if this time-space particle is really that important, and I’m the only one on the space shuttle who can see it right now… then I should be the one to go. I can’t just hide behind you all, cheering you on and being a mascot, right?”

“Earlier, both you and Mr. Liu Feng were eager to handle the time-space particle. Isn’t that more dangerous than going out to capture it? But you weren’t afraid, so I’m not afraid either! Just because I’m young and a girl… doesn’t mean I can always hide behind you and do nothing, right?”

Finally, she turned to Yellow Finch. “Sister Yellow Finch…” She bit her lower lip, her expression complex as she looked at Yellow Finch. “Please, let me go. You called me here… for this moment, didn’t you?”

Yellow Finch closed her eyes tightly, frowning. Finally, she nodded. “Prepare for EVA!”

“Are you insane?” Gao Yang stood up from his chair, pointing at Yellow Finch. “I’ve always thought you were too cold-blooded! You don’t care about us! All you care about is the time-space particle!”

“Enough.” Lin Xian restrained Gao Yang from further outburst. It was true that Yellow Finch cared only about the time-space particle, and even VV’s disappearance had been calculated by her for this.

She had concealed many truths, lied to many people, and turned a blind eye to many things she knew were wrong. But…

In the end… I want the time-space particle for myself.

As Yellow Finch had said, everyone gathered here today was here for themselves, not for Yellow Finch… including Yellow Finch herself.

“I thought it over carefully,” Lin Xian said, looking back at Liu Feng and Gao Yang. “The space shuttle indeed isn’t equipped for spacewalks, but I’ve experienced… ah no, I mean I’ve learned about what it feels like to be exposed at 30,000 to 40,000 meters. It’s indeed dangerous, but not as terrifying as it sounds.”

“The stratospheric winds are generally calm and the airflow isn’t turbulent. We’re flying with the wind, so the wind speed outside the space shuttle isn’t that high. As for the ultra-low temperatures, we’re all wearing spacesuits with advanced technology to maintain temperature and pressure, so there’s no need to worry about that.”

“Besides, we’ve studied the mechanical arm compartment on the ground. It’s recessed and over a meter deep. As long as Wei Cheng flies steadily, standing in that compartment is like riding a hot air balloon to high altitude. Many people in the world have ascended to 30,000 or 40,000 meters in hot air balloons. We have safety ropes to secure ourselves to the inner cabin wall, making it safer than extreme sports.”

“Nonsense!” Wei Cheng, piloting the space shuttle, was furious. “Lin Xian, you’re just talking theory! Have you ever practiced it? Do you know what it’s like to operate at tens of thousands of meters?”

Lin Xian sighed internally. How could he not know?

In his third dream, he rode a helium balloon to 30,000 meters every day, then jumped down in a spacesuit to infiltrate the sky city. Although in the dream, he was braver and didn’t have to consider the consequences of failure.

But now, from what Yellow Finch said, and the actions of Elon Musk and Kevin Walker, it was clear that this time-space particle was no ordinary matter.

On the ground, they had studied the space shuttle’s equipment bay structure. The compartment housing the folded mechanical arm was connected to the equipment bay they were in, separated by a hatch.

According to the original plan: After Gao Yang captured the time-space particle with the rice cooker, the mechanical arm would retract and fold back into the compartment, the outer hatch would close. Then, they would balance the pressure and open the hatch connecting to the inner cabin, allowing them to retrieve the rice cooker from the equipment bay.

“I’ll go with An Qing,” Lin Xian said. “I’m not comfortable letting An Qing go alone. The mechanical arm compartment can hold two people. We’ll go together.”

“This way, I can support An Qing from behind, stabilizing her while she captures the time-space particle, making it safer.”

Despite Wei Cheng’s strong objections, Yellow Finch, as the chief commander, had the final say in the end.

“Close the door connecting the equipment bay and the passenger cabin. Everyone suit up and ensure the internal pressure is stable. Lock the helmet visors to avoid accidental opening.” Yellow Finch directed everyone to lock their helmet visors.

“Currently, the equipment bay has normal atmospheric pressure, but outside at 40,000 meters, the atmosphere is thin with extremely low pressure. If anything goes wrong, the pressure difference could suck us out of the space shuttle into the high altitude, which is dangerous.”

“So, from now on, activate all functions of your spacesuits. We’ll depressurize the equipment bay to match the outside atmosphere. This way, when Lin Xian and Chu An Qing exit, there won’t be a pressure imbalance causing turbulent airflow.”

“Of course, this is the worst-case scenario. These things may not happen, but we must be prepared. Secure all safety ropes to the cabin hooks.”

The compartment housing the mechanical arm was about two meters long, one meter wide, and 1.5 meters deep. For the mechanical arm, it could intermittently open the outer and inner hatches without causing a pressure imbalance. But now, Lin Xian and Chu An Qing were going out, taking up much more space than the mechanical arm. Plus, the arm was still folded in the compartment, occupying a lot of space. Therefore, the activity space for Lin Xian and Chu An Qing was limited.

They had to open both the inner and outer hatches simultaneously, connecting the inner and outer spaces, allowing Lin Xian and Chu An Qing to crawl out. If they didn’t balance the pressure beforehand, there would be serious problems. No wonder Wei Cheng was so against this plan…

Right now, every step they took was like licking blood off a knife’s edge.

Hiss—

The piercing sound of air releasing. The spacesuits on everyone slowly inflated like balloons, making them look like Michelin tire mascots. This was due to the depressurization of the equipment bay. Currently, the spacesuits maintained standard atmospheric pressure, but the equipment bay and the outside atmosphere at 40,000 meters had only 1% of that pressure, causing the spacesuits to inflate like balloons.

“Senior Lin Xian, let’s go.” Chu An Qing’s voice came through the radio in her tightly sealed helmet.

At that moment, Chu An Qing stood in front of Lin Xian. Two safety ropes locked their spacesuits together. Once they exited and stood atop the space shuttle, each would have two more ropes securing them to the mechanical arm compartment’s inner wall, ensuring relative safety.

“Alright, let’s go.” Their spacesuits pressed close together, one behind the other, they climbed the equipment bay steps, entered the inner hatch, and arrived at the mechanical arm compartment. Looking up… The sky was still the dark backdrop of space, dotted with stars.

In his third dream, Lin Xian reached the stratosphere at 35,000 meters in a helium balloon. Now, the space shuttle was at about 43,000 meters. It’s higher by a few thousand meters, but the feeling wasn’t much different.

Fortunately, the stratospheric wind was gentle. The space shuttle’s tailwind flight made the perceived wind speed only around ten meters per second, not too strong.

Click, click.

Lin Xian secured the safety ropes on their spacesuits to the inner wall hooks: “Alright, it’s safe now. We won’t fall. Let’s start capturing the time-space particle.”

Currently, Lin Xian and Chu An Qing stood one behind the other in the mechanical arm compartment. Lin Xian’s thighs and Chu An Qing’s lower body were inside the compartment, while their upper bodies were exposed to the atmosphere.

Chu An Qing held the open rice cooker, instructing Wei Cheng through the radio to maneuver the space shuttle closer to the time-space particle… Like a frog about to snap at a fly, poised and ready. Lin Xian supported Chu An Qing from behind.

At this moment, despite the inappropriateness of the thought, Lin Xian felt this scene resembled Jack and Rose standing at the bow of the Titanic in the movie. It was just like when they stood on the rooftop of the Aman Hotel in Manhattan, New York, and Chu An Qing shouted “You jump, I jump!” as VV sent a picture of that scene to his phone. VV had urged him to hug her from behind back then.

Unexpectedly, now, VV’s wish had come true in a high-altitude, space shuttle scenario… but VV wasn’t here to see it.

“Wei Cheng, a bit more to the left… more… over, to the right… good, altitude a bit higher… slower…” Chu An Qing, the only one who could see the time-space particle, was directing Wei Cheng to maneuver the space shuttle closer to it through the radio.

Lin Xian looked up at the empty sky. Though still dark, at this altitude, it’s far from space. Looking down, the view of Earth from 40,000 meters was different from space. The Earth’s curvature was barely visible, and the lights, mountains, and rivers below were faintly discernible. This turbulent journey. They had taken a rocket to Earth’s orbit and descended from 300 kilometers to just over 40,000 meters. It’s hard to believe.

“There! Hold this speed and direction!” Chu An Qing shouted, snapping Lin Xian back to attention as he tightened his grip on her waist for support.

“Hey!” Chu An Qing tiptoed forward with the rice cooker. To Lin Xian, it looked like she missed, as he couldn’t see the time-space particle: “Did you get it?”

“No, it’s still too far.” Chu An Qing gritted her teeth, glancing at the empty air on the left: “Wait a bit longer.”

Then— “Hey-ya!” She jumped forward, thrusting the rice cooker to the right. But again, she seemed to miss, her helmet bobbing left and right like a pecking chicken, clearly tracking the elusive time-space particle.

“There!” Chu An Qing confidently shouted! She saw it! This time, the time-space particle flashed perfectly above the rice cooker’s opening!

Yellow Finch had instructed that they only needed to trap the particle with the rice cooker. No need to cover it; even if the cooker fell, they could find it later!

A rare opportunity! Chu An Qing bit her lip, crouched, and jumped— “I got it!!”

But! The safety rope holding her to the inner wall tightened, pulling her down mid-air! She stumbled, the rice cooker that should have perfectly captured the time-space particle tilted, and the particle passed through her spacesuit covered hand!

“Damn it!” Chu An Qing gritted her teeth: “It was so close—”

Bang!

Her eyes widened!

Bang!

Her heartbeat pounded fiercely!

Chu An Qing felt like she’d been shot, causing her world to go spinning!

Bang!

Like a headshot, she lost balance, falling into Lin Xian’s arms!

At the moment her hand touched the time-space particle, countless images forced their way into her mind—

[Bridge, hat, clock tower, camellia, curtain, pencil, ring, little finger, podium, photo, pinky promise, cable, lollipop, car, white dress, maple leaf, cane, blue eyes, graffiti, tape, hairpin, train, ice cream, moon, sneakers, oil paint, carriage, banquet, navy, coffee, teacup, cinema, password, suitcase, scarf, mustache, fireworks, gun, old man, newspaper, telescope, painting, ship, violin, red wine, badge, candle—]

“An Qing!” Lin Xian held her.

Clatter, rolling…

Losing strength, she finally dropped the rice cooker. It hit the space shuttle’s hull, rolled several times, and fell. In an instant, it was gone.

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

“Lin Xian! What’s wrong with An Qing?”

Voices of concern came through the radio.

Lin Xian knelt, shaking the wide-eyed, trembling Chu An Qing. But there was no response.

“An Qing!” he called her name.

Suddenly, Chu An Qing seemed to snap back to reality, blood pouring from her nose, splattering her face! She shut her eyes tightly, her hands pounding her helmet.

“Ahhhhhhhhh—” she screamed, her expression one of extreme pain.

“Get back here!” Yellow Finch’s urgent shout echoed through the comms. “Open the inner hatch to the mechanical arm compartment! Now! Everyone hold on!”

Boom!

Following a muffled sound, the hatch connecting the mechanical arm compartment to the equipment bay opened, and Lin Xian and Chu An Qing fell, hanging by their safety ropes.

“Wei Cheng! Close the outer hatch! Pressurize the equipment bay! Air pressure!” Yellow Finch ordered.

Boom!

After another muffled sound, the outer hatch of the mechanical arm compartment closed, isolating the space shuttle from the high altitude.

Hiss—

Air rushed in, the equipment bay’s pressure rapidly increasing, causing their spacesuits to deflate. This indicated the spacesuits’ internal and external pressure was balanced, allowing them to safely open their helmets.

Click, click, click, click!

A series of helmet visor unlocking sounds echoed. Lin Xian, Gao Yang, Liu Feng, and Yellow Finch hurried to Chu An Qing, opening her visor.

“An Qing! Breathe deeply! Breathe!” Yellow Finch shouted, grabbing tissues to wipe the blood from Chu An Qing’s face.

Drip… Drip… Drip…

Everyone froze at the sight.

Chu An Qing had regained her senses, blinking regularly, but with each blink, tears streamed down her face. The tears fell like pearls. Silently, she wept bitterly.

“What’s going on?” Gao Yang asked Lin Xian.

Lin Xian was puzzled, kneeling. “An Qing… what’s wrong?”

However, Chu An Qing didn’t look at Lin Xian but gazed at Yellow Finch with a pleading, desperate look. Her vision blurred with tears.

“Sister Yellow Finch…” she cried, “Is this all true? Is this… all true?”

Yellow Finch hesitated. After biting her lip several times, her expression solemn, she asked, “You… you know everything?”

“Is this all true?” Chu An Qing’s eyes were full of pleading and despair. Gripping Yellow Finch’s arm, her lips trembled. “Sister Yellow Finch!!”

Yellow Finch gritted her teeth… finally, she nodded.

Chu An Qing couldn’t hold back, wailing loudly. She fell into Yellow Finch’s arms, crying uncontrollably. In return, the latter hugged the sobbing girl back, saying nothing, just holding her.

“What on earth happened?” Lin Xian was completely lost. What was going on? Why was everyone acting like they were in a mystery novel?

“An Qing,” he knelt beside Chu An Qing, “An Qing, what happened? What did you find out? What just happened?”

Chu An Qing looked up. Her tear-filled eyes met Lin Xian’s, her mouth slightly open.

“Senior Lin Xian! We—” Suddenly, she stopped crying. She froze, blinking rapidly, like she was choked up, words stuck in her throat.

Gradually, she closed her mouth. Her emotions calmed. After a few deep breaths, Chu An Qing took the tissue from Yellow Finch, wiping the blood and tears from her face.

Then, she turned to Lin Xian with a calm gaze. “Senior Lin Xian, do you remember the question you told me you couldn’t answer that night?”

“Huh?” The sudden shift caught Lin Xian off guard.

“The night of your birthday, in the training room,” Chu An Qing steadied her breath, sniffing. “You told me you wanted to write a note and put it in a safe.”

“You said that note wouldn’t matter if others saw it, copied it, or opened the safe before you… as long as you saw it, you’d immediately know if the world was real or fake.”

“You struggled for a long time, not knowing what to write on that note, what content could fool the enemy, the director, the whole world, but only you could understand.”

Lin Xian nodded. He remembered. But why was Chu An Qing bringing this up now?

“Give me a piece of paper and a pen,” Chu An Qing discarded the bloody tissue. Standing up, she looked down at Lin Xian. “Let me write it for you.”