"These two timelines..."

  She said these two timelines.

  Suddenly, a white light flashed quickly in my mind.

  These two timelines.

  These two timelines, moving in opposite directions.

  These past few days, I've been constantly on the go, experiencing great sorrow and great joy, with huge ups and downs, occupying almost all of my attention, and yet I overlooked a possibility that was hiding in plain sight. I should have discovered it long ago.

  I lifted my head and looked at the paper in Zhang Yu's hand, the one that Tan Jiao had drawn. Those two timelines facing each other.

  If one keeps retreating and another advances normally, what will be the final outcome?

  Zhuang Yu thought it was obviously the same as me, her eyes flashing with a certain excitement, pulling Tan Jiao and saying: "You see, those two people from July 2017, time is going backwards, right? But when they return to the boat, time is normally moving forward, although it's slower..."

  Tan Jiao let out an "ah" and apparently also thought of something.

  The fish lowered its head and quickly drew two lines on the paper, one from left to right and one from right to left. "The retrograde line is accelerating and crossing over," it said. "If this continues, what will happen?" It made the front ends of both lines dotted, pointing to the same origin.

  "They will intersect," I said. "Two timelines, they will cross, converge at some point."

  Zhuang Yu gave me a look of approval and said in a low voice, "Dazhu, your man isn't stupid... He's right, so what will happen after the intersection?"

  I and Tan Jiao were both silent. Her eyes were also trembling at the possibility that we had just guessed.

  Zhuang Yu took a deep breath and said, "Although I don't know what will happen either, from the perspective of physical logic, at that point in time, time will have nowhere to advance or retreat, which means everything will come to an end! Otherwise, it would violate the most basic principles of physics, and the time system would collapse.

  That moment holds all the secrets, including the mysterious cosmic power and the reason why those two people are shuttling through time and space. It will be the end, but also a new beginning. Everything will be revealed!

  ——

  In the afternoon, the warm sunshine and rising temperature caused the snow on the branches to melt, forming droplets that fell down. I was smoking on the balcony while two women were still whispering in the room. In my heart, I was already very confident about my previous inference. The two timelines must intersect, and after intersection, there will be an end and a new beginning.

  Only I don't know where I and Tan Jiao were at that time?

  The balcony door was pulled open and Tan Jiao poked her head out: "Zhuang Yu is going back. I've already asked her to help us find the detailed information about that lake."

  I and Tan Jiao sent the strong fish to the Qiche station, this girl still had a deep and thoughtful look, Zheng nodded and said: "Don't worry, all engineering dogs in the world are one family. I will ask my classmates who study meteorology, geology, and physics to bring over all the data about that lake."

  I said: "Thank you."

  Tan Jiao hugged Zhuang Yu tightly for a while, and the two girls held each other for a bit too long. I felt that Zhuang Yu had already guessed something. She said to Tan Jiao: "Hey, take care of yourself. If anything happens, call me anytime." Then she looked at me again, with a questioning gaze. I nodded, indicating that I would take good care of Tan Jiao myself. She understood and also nodded slightly.

  Tan Jiao said in a low voice: "Fish, I don't know when we'll meet again..."