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  There is a door like this. Once you walk out, there will be no chance to come back in. Don't think that everything behind the door remains the same. When you open it again, it may be another world.

  Time, this is the only substance that cannot be dominated by humans. It can't be seen or touched, but it's there, quietly flowing second by second, going nowhere and staying nowhere. Countless times, I stood at the crossroads of time, but this time no one would have thought that the person who got caught up in it was me.

  Many people have played with a toy called the Rubik's Cube. The simplest Rubik's Cube is 3x3, also known as three-stage, with six faces up and down, left and right, front and back, and six colors. Before it was scrambled, the Rubik's Cube was like time now, from one side to the other, there were fixed blocks, this is what we call a timeline. But suddenly, something changed, the original arrangement of the cube was disrupted, you still start from the original corresponding point, go through the middle of the original route, and find that everything on the opposite side is no longer the familiar block.

  Can time be scrambled like a Rubik's Cube? I don't know, but someone thinks it can, and that person is Zhenbin Chen.

  Many years later, there was a person named Zha Wenbin who once told me that fate is fixed, but the good and bad in fate can be rearranged. This is the Taoist theory of destiny. In a person's life, there are always some ups and downs, more or less, which the Taoists call "auspicious", "inauspicious" and "flat", symbolizing the state of fate.

  "Life is predetermined and can't be changed, if it's meant to happen then it will, if not then don't force it." This was something he often said to me, but I would counter with: "Then isn't fortune-telling just deceiving people?"

  "How can one cheat fate? Destiny cannot be changed, but its order can be altered." Who likes to have their fortune told? Often it is those who are not content with their fate, unaware that the alternation of destiny is like the waxing and waning of the moon, overflowing when full, and diminishing when empty.

  He told me this: "Extreme yin must become yang, extreme yang must become yin. We just have some methods to put his originally bad luck behind him and bring the good luck that was originally behind him to the front. In the end, you can't escape that one line."

  I am a person who does not believe in fate, I think that one's destiny should be controlled by oneself, this is also the biggest difference between him and me.

  One day, he told me that time can be reshaped, countless times intertwined together, so there will be countless worlds existing, and there will also be countless you and me existing in those countless worlds. I asked him, which world are you and I in? He said, in the present.

  The Taoist mysticism is originally mysterious, if I, as an ordinary person, understand it, then I won't be an ordinary person anymore.

  The moment I stepped out, I regretted it. The rope was still empty, and by the time I came to my senses and wanted to go back and find him again, everything was too late. Two people brushed past each other, but what they opened up were different spaces and times. This might be the greatest secret of the abacus stone.

  Now the world is empty, only I am left, solitary and alone in this dark world, fumbling and searching. Turning back to enter, that cauldron is still there, it remains as resplendent as before, with exquisite carvings, majestic shape, and only my own breathing echoes in the emptiness.

  I am powerless, leaving them is like a fledgling bird leaving its flock. Here, everything of mine is blank, perhaps waiting is my best choice.

  Lowering my head in thought, I'll disappear just like Fatty?

  A voice suddenly rose up in her heart, "No! Xiao Yi, you can't just give up like this!"

  I stood up, got it! I thought of the most stupid method, which is also probably the best method for me at the moment. Looking at that pile of stones at the door, it was indeed in the position where I had put it before, and the result was indeed so.

  "Don't trust your eyes, sometimes they deceive you." This is what Cha Wenbin said to me after entering the door. Alright, then I'll close my eyes and feel it again with my heart!

  I took a detour around the stone gate, changed my breath, and re-entered. "No, I've never been here before." I quickly retreated, went around again and entered. My method was simple: since entering and exiting this gate might not be in the same world, I would enter and exit multiple times. Who knows, maybe I'll circle back to that world or coincidentally return to the world where Cha Wenbin is?

  This is a last resort measure, the simplest and currently I think the most effective way.

  I don't know how many times I've gone in and out of that stone gate, but every time, after entering, my feeling is to walk with care, and every time it seems like my heart is denying.

  "Xiao Yi!" I've also forgotten how many times it's been, anyway the last time, I heard someone calling me like that. I opened my eyes and in front of me not far away there were two people, one fat and one tall and thin.

  "Fatso?" I stared at him incredulously, looking closely at him. Beside him was Ye Qiu. These two people looked so real. Fatso's clothes were already a dark brown color, his body slightly thinner than before, but the outline was still there. His hair was messy and unkempt, his beard covering half of his face, yet I could still recognize him.

  "Halt!" I raised my rifle, aiming at the two people. I had no idea who they were, but my instincts told me something was off. My eyes, however, refused to believe it! I trained the black muzzle of my gun on one of them, a man who had once been my comrade.

  "Nobody move, don't ask me what's going on, I don't know either. If you want to blame someone, blame your previous answer for being wrong!"

  "Are you out of your mind?!" The fatty was holding a stone, making a throwing motion in my direction. I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, "Bang", the bullet grazed past his head, and suddenly there was a flash of fire on the rocks behind him. The fatty immediately withdrew his head, muttering curses: "What's wrong with this guy, is he possessed?!"

  "He is the one you are looking for." Ye Qiu stood up from the stone he was leaning against and took two steps forward, saying: "Where's Cha Wenbin?"

  "Stop trying to get on my good side." I shook the gun barrel and said: "Tell me, what does my dog like to eat most?"

  He was clearly uninterested in my question, lazily leaning back and not making a sound, as if I had become air. This time I really couldn't hold it in anymore, and loudly shouted: "Speak! What does our dog like to eat the most? Don't force me, next time I guarantee I won't miss!"

  "Come on, say it if you know!" Fatso Lala Ye Qiu's pant leg said, "This kid is probably crazy, hurry up!" There was a hint of tension in Fatso's voice, I could hear it, and this might really be Fatso, but I had already strung my bow, I couldn't relax, I was afraid that if I relaxed, the two man-eating devils on the other side would charge out, my spirit was already at its limit.

  "Speak!" I aimed the gun at Ye Qiu again, shouting: "I'll count to three. If you don't answer, it's one bullet per person. If I'm wrong, no big deal, I'll come after my brother later and save a bullet for myself!"

  "One!" I shouted, "Two!"

  My hands are shaking again, no one has taught me how to deal with this situation, my heart is struggling, but my brain tells me that I must not make a mistake, even the slightest bit, I am praying, praying for Ye Qiu to speak up, but he just won't open his mouth.

  "If I don't say it, I'll really shoot!" I shouted at them like a madman.

  "Put down your gun!" The fat man also shouted at me, but he was afraid of me and only yelled without standing up.

  "It's you who forced me, damn it, it's you who forced me!" My finger slowly pulled the trigger, my throat choked, and I roared: "I gave you a chance, gave! Three!"

  In the blink of an eye, I vaguely felt something black flying towards me from the opposite side. With a "slap", my wrist hurt and I instantly lost strength. In five or six tenths of a second, I fell to the ground with a thud. The bullet misfired, and the tall, thin man on the opposite side squatted down, covering his ankle with his hand. The fat guy charged towards me like a tiger, kicking me in the chest with one foot, and I flew backwards, heavily slamming into the ground.

  "Damn it!" The fat guy picked up the gun on the ground, aimed at my head and said: "You're crazy to shoot at me, I was playing with guns when you were still playing slingshots!"

  "Halt!" The crouching man shouted: "He didn't mean it, I told you."

  The fatty glared at me fiercely and turned back, the tall and thin one's hand was bleeding again, he waved his hand and said: "It's okay, just a scratch."

  I was kicked by this foot and didn't feel light, but fell to the ground and looked at them sideways. Looking at that appearance, it didn't seem like they wanted to harm me either, so I said: "Are you really Fatty?"

  Fatso turned around and picked me up from the ground with one hand, slapping me left and right "slap slap" with two loud slaps: "Your grandfather's Xia Laoliu, open your dog eyes wide and take a good look, this underwear has been worn for years without changing, you take a closer look, isn't it exactly the same style as yours!"

  After that, he took off his tattered and worn-out long pants. The inside of the military green underwear was filled with a strong smell that hit me in the face. I actually recognized this pair of pants. Fatso's waistline is two sizes bigger than mine. This was bought during our trip to the south that year, with Donald Duck printed on it, which was very popular at that time. Mine had Mickey Mouse...

  "Fat boy!" I threw my arms around his neck, and I couldn't help but cry. I held him tightly: "Where the hell did you go? I thought you were dead!"

  While bandaging Ye Qiu's ankle, Pangzi started talking about the past. Once he got going, it was like a kid without a mother - there was no end to what he had to say...

  ...