I quietly watched Rachel Lan lying on the bed. Her belly was so swollen that it didn’t look like she was carrying just one child, but two—a pair of boy-girl twins, Sylvia Zhang and Seven.
"Why do you want to kill Seven?"
I asked. Future Ethan Zhang sat at the edge of the bed, hands clasped, head bowed, silent.
After a long while, I kept waiting—waiting for Future Ethan Zhang to give me a reasonable explanation. As the father, he wanted to kill his own son. This was something I couldn’t understand, and I was furious.
Finally, Future Ethan Zhang spoke.
"Because if Seven doesn’t die, the one who will disappear is Rachel Lan. Not just me—you won’t remember Rachel Lan either. She won’t exist in this world. Haven’t you reached the end of the past? That memory was tampered with by Lady Meng for now, but I can help you recall it temporarily."
As Future Ethan Zhang spoke, he suddenly placed a hand on my forehead. Instantly, I cried out in shock—all the memories from that world at the end of the past flooded back into my mind.
After a long while, I looked at Past Ethan Zhang, trembling. He gave a bitter smile.
"The reason I tried to stop it was because I didn’t want Rachel Lan to vanish from my memory. Maybe it’s unreasonable, but even just a little—Sylvia Zhang and I, in the future we exist in, have memories of Rachel Lan. They may not be happy memories, but to us as father and daughter, they matter... I don’t want to forget Rachel Lan."
I pressed a hand to my chest. My heart was pounding wildly, and my body trembled uncontrollably.
"And then there’s you, Ethan Zhang. In your correct timeline—what we call the present—Rachel Lan will also disappear. Once you understand everything, maybe you won’t think it’s wrong for me to want to kill Seven."
The scene began to move again. Future Ethan Zhang helped Rachel Lan sit up. She clutched her belly, wracked with pain, gasping for breath.
"Ethan, maybe..."
Future Ethan Zhang pressed his lips together and shook his head, squatting at the bedside. He held Rachel Lan’s hands, his throat choked with sobs. Rachel Lan’s face was pale, frozen by pain, her expression stiff—but the gentle smile on her face never faded.
"It’s alright, Ethan. Our children want to come into the world—don’t you want to see them?"
Future Ethan Zhang kept shaking his head.
"Ethan, how long have we been in a world like this?"
Future Ethan Zhang pressed a hand to his cheek, as if wiping away tears. His voice trembled as he spoke.
"It’s been so long, I can’t remember anymore."
"Last night, Genesis Instinct told me my strength is almost gone. In other words..."
In an instant, Future Ethan Zhang stood up, looking around in a panic, his face etched with grief and helplessness.
"It’s not your fault, Ethan. I’ve been with you for so long, and I don’t regret it. Even if this world has become like this, it’s not your fault, Ethan, you..."
"It is my fault, Rachel Lan. If not for my words, this world would never have been destroyed. Everyone would have been safe and sound, because of me..."
Rachel Lan smiled gently, placing both hands on Future Ethan Zhang’s forehead.
"There’s no more time, Ethan. The children are about to be born. I’m counting on you."
Future Ethan Zhang was still shaking his head, while Rachel Lan bit her lip, clutching her abdomen in unbearable pain. Her belly began to move, her body emitting waves of pale light. Future Ethan Zhang anxiously clenched his fists, standing behind Rachel Lan, crying out in anguish.
"The children... are coming, Ethan..."
Rachel Lan’s voice became sharp and low, the pain making her nearly speechless. Future Ethan Zhang hurriedly soothed her back, but Rachel Lan kept shaking her head, her bitten lips already torn, yet no blood flowed.
"I can’t go on, Ethan..."
"No, you’ll be fine. I’ll find a way. Right, with the Jiuchen Stone, I can send you directly back to the past. Maybe you..."
Suddenly, Rachel Lan turned her head, staring at Future Ethan Zhang, pressing a hand to his cheek, shaking her head again and again.
"A moment’s delay can be won, but not a lifetime. Ethan, when will you finally face reality? If I die, these two children will die too. Even in such a world, isn’t it because you’re here? Take good care of them. You are... their father!"
In that instant, Future Ethan Zhang’s eyes widened. Rachel Lan’s belly gently flattened, her expression relaxed, her gaze lost as she stared at the ceiling.
"Genesis Instinct... I’m counting on you. With all my strength, protect our daughter."
In that instant, Future Ethan Zhang’s eyes widened. He reached out, wanting to touch Rachel Lan, but only brushed against her fading silhouette. He bowed his head, sobbing, shaking uncontrollably. Rachel Lan’s body was turning into particles of light. On the bed, two infants appeared, a boy and a girl. The light particles frantically surged toward the girl, gradually forming a crystalline layer around her, completely enveloping her.
Rachel Lan’s body was nearly gone. She looked at Future Ethan Zhang, her eyes filled with joy.
“For now...”
Future Ethan Zhang kept shaking his head. Suddenly, a mutation occurred—the boy’s body on the bed gradually began to darken, turning into black particles and fading away.
"Hurry, Ethan, think of something."
Rachel Lan’s voice was weak. Future Ethan Zhang immediately reached out, trying to hold the boy, but the boy kept vanishing rapidly.
“What should I do? What can I do?”
Future Ethan Zhang frantically unleashed all kinds of power, but still couldn’t stop the boy from fading away.
"It’s okay, Ethan. Maybe I have a way."
At that moment, Rachel Lan suddenly spoke up, startling Future Ethan Zhang.
"Don’t do that, Rachel Lan. If you really do that..."
“Use all my time, the time named Rachel Lan, to protect our child.”
In that instant, a half-black, half-white stone appeared in front of the boy—it was the Jiuchen Stone, emitting a muffled sound. The Jiuchen Stone slowly cracked open, and the boy’s body turned into black particles, gradually merging into the stone. Rachel Lan glanced at Future Ethan Zhang and smiled faintly.
"Ethan, tell them I love them. And that you are..."
With a bang, white particles drifted throughout the room, slowly disappearing. Future Ethan Zhang sat on the ground, trembling, tears streaming down his face. On the bed, the girl was completely sealed within a crystal, looking peaceful.
At that moment, the scene before my eyes plunged into darkness. My eyes widened, tears already soaking my face. Beside me, Future Ethan Zhang was silent.
"She used all her strength, including her own body, to trade for Sylvia Zhang’s life. Then, with all her remaining time—the time called Rachel Lan, past, future, and present—she traded for Seven’s survival. The price was her disappearance, vanishing within all of time. That’s why, at the ending point of the past you visited, you didn’t see Rachel Lan—because of the flow of time. It wasn’t a single use of Rachel Lan’s time to let Seven live, but within Rachel Lan’s personal time, as Seven slowly absorbed it, he gained a soul, eventually a body. When Seven had consumed all of Rachel Lan’s time, he could truly survive."
I crouched on the ground, clutching my head. Maybe it really was as Future Ethan Zhang said: after learning all this, I could no longer make a choice. Should I follow Rachel Lan’s wishes and save Seven, or kill Seven to prevent Rachel Lan’s disappearance?
“A cruel decision, isn’t it, Ethan Zhang? Not caring about my feelings at all, sacrificing everything for the children, even her own disappearance—this is exactly what Rachel Lan would do!”
I nodded, silent, my heart in turmoil. I didn’t know what to do. The surrounding darkness slowly faded, and we returned once again to the Ghost Domain.
I looked over—Seven was still sobbing, and Sylvia Zhang sat quietly to one side, her face streaked with tears, her eyes red as if she had just cried.
“None of this can be stopped anymore. He’s already consumed Rachel Lan’s past time, so he can appear in the dream realm as a memory. In the present, because of me, he can manifest physically, and soon he will consume Rachel Lan’s present time. Once he’s consumed all of Rachel Lan’s present time, then the future Rachel Lan will cease to exist. The existence called Rachel Lan will completely vanish.”
Suddenly, I looked at Seven.
“Seven, you said I’m the only one who can save Rachel Lan. What do you mean? Is there a way? Tell me.”
I stared firmly at Seven, as Sylvia Zhang slowly walked over.
“Thank you, Seven.”
Seven immediately stood up and shook his head.
"Sylvia, don’t say anything more. Now you should understand—Mother loves us. We exist because of her love, and our survival in this world is entirely due to her love, as well as..."
Seven glanced at Future Ethan Zhang, but didn’t finish his sentence. Still, I was certain that the look on Sylvia Blue’s face I’d seen before meant that, after Future Ethan Zhang finally found a way, she was able to emerge from the crystal and grow up normally.
“The reason I risked so much to come here is because only in this darkness could I save Rachel Lan, keep her from disappearing from the present timeline. And I only need to exist in the dream realm to be satisfied.”