I exchanged a glance with Tan Jiao, and I saw her eyes dim again. She asked: "Second question, do you still remember Ou Yu and Zhuang Yu... no, Zhou Xiaoyu? Have you seen them?"

  Shen Shiyan fell silent for a moment before responding, "I still don't know the two people you're talking about. Tan Jiao, have you run into some kind of trouble?"

  Tan Jiao directly interrupted him: "Last question - after I dumped you, have we ever met again or been in contact?"

  This time Shen Shiyan was silent for a while before answering succinctly: "No."

  Tan Jiao said in a low voice: "Thank you for disturbing." Hung up the phone and looked at me.

  Shen Shiyan almost immediately called back, but Tan Jiao didn't answer. I remained silent.

  She seemed unwilling to give up: "I'll call Zhuang Yu again."

  The result of the conversation was exactly the same as Shen Shiyan's, Zhuang Yu was taking her final exam, she had never seen Shen Shiyan or me, and knew nothing about the Yan case. Xiao Hao? Xiao Hao is safe and sound with his grandparents, and has not encountered any danger yet.

  After finishing the two phone calls, Tan Jiao sat on the bed with a somewhat dazed expression, which was rarely seen. I poured her a glass of water. She said softly, "Thank you." I sat at the foot of the bed, about a foot away from her, quietly watching her.

  Her face gradually calmed down, and after a while, she asked: "Wu Yu, what are we going to do? If we tell others, no one will believe us. Are we going to become babies together? I don't want that, I still have a lot of youth that hasn't been spent yet."

  I took a moment to calm down, and I also found it hard to accept the absurd future she depicted. I said: "Let's take things one step at a time, follow me, and I'll do my best to protect you."

  She calmed down. I lifted my head and looked at her eyes, which were shining with a faint red glow. She shifted her gaze to somewhere else and said: "So only the two of us have our time flowing backwards? Everyone else doesn't remember anything. They're moving forward?"

  She hit the nail on the head.

  "It seems so," I said, "I wonder what will happen to others on the ship?"

  "But" she regained her composure, so clever and alert, pondered, "This reversal is not day by day, but from the 16th to the 30th, and then from the 1st to the 15th, it's segment by segment, just like editing film clips."

  "Yes, half a month is one cycle."

  She hesitated for a moment: "Cycle? You mean..."

  "My mood also fluctuated, and I ventured to make a bold conjecture: 'Tan Jiao, after we met half a month ago, the timeline bent and returned to the boat once. Now, exactly another half month has passed.'"

  "She exclaimed: 'You mean we might be able to get back on the boat tonight?!'"

  ——

  I am now more and more convinced that my decision is correct.

  Our fate has been torn apart like this, and no one would believe it if I told them. If I still love her recklessly and deeply, and lose her in the future, how will I face the day when time flows backwards and we forget each other? Tan Jiao is such a good girl, she shouldn't be let down by anyone.

  I don't want to lose anyone else either.

  I couldn't help but have feelings for her, and I couldn't let my emotions continue to grow. Moreover, Wu Miao hasn't been rescued yet, and Mother hasn't been rescued yet, where do I even have the right to fall in love? I might even die trying to save them.

  I don't want to be with Tan Jiao.