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On March 20, 2025, at 09:47, Su Wan woke up on the floor of the laboratory, still clutching half of the Sheep Fat Jade Pendant. The hum of the ventilation system overlapped with the chime of the Electronic Watch marking the hour. She staggered toward the control panel, where the holographic projection was frozen on the experimental data from before her journey—parameters regarding the resonance of spacetime particles.
"This is impossible..." She stared at the bronze fragments suspended under the microscope; they were clearly remnants of gilded pieces from Pei Yanzhi's Tiger Tally. Even more bizarrely, the surveillance footage from the lab showed that all equipment began to operate in reverse from the moment she disappeared, as if time itself had been twisted by some force.
Three days later, in Cave 17 of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, Su Wan carried a backpack containing a Quantum Computer as her flashlight beam swept over the faded murals. When the light fell upon the Guiding Bodhisattva Painting, her blood ran cold— the jewels adorning the bodhisattva's wrists were identical to those of the jade pendant Pei Yanzhi had given her.
"Zhenguan Seventeenth Year March," she murmured, recalling what she had shouted in the Time Rift. Suddenly, she heard a mechanism moving within the stone wall. As a hidden door opened, a cold fragrance mixed with that of Sandalwood Flower rushed toward her.
Pei Yanzhi leaned against a stone platform inside the chamber, his Moonlight White Robe hem stained with yellow sand from the Western Regions. He was polishing his Crossed Sword, and its blade reflected Su Wan's shocked face. When he noticed the leather medicine pouch at her waist, he suddenly coughed violently, blood staining his handkerchief.
"You’re injured?" Su Wan rushed over but was stopped by his grip on her wrist. Pei Yanzhi's fingertips were as cold as ice, yet his gaze burned with intensity.
"Three years after you disappeared, I encountered another you in Dunhuang." He pulled aside Inner Garment to reveal a gunshot wound on his left chest—exactly where Su Wan remembered him being injured during the Xuanwu Gate Incident. "Every Vernal Equinox, you appear with different 'beads.'"
Su Wan trembled as she opened the Quantum Computer. The holographic screen displayed energy fluctuations from the Time Rift spreading outwards from the Mogao Caves. When she input "Zhenguan Seventeenth Year," a warning suddenly popped up: this time node had been modified 23 times.
"Causal Loop." She recalled the Parallel Universe Model from the lab. "We are trapped in a time loop of our own making."
The stone chamber shook violently. The ribbons of Feitian in the mural twisted into a shape resembling a spacetime tunnel. Su Wan saw countless versions of herself pouring through cracks, each wearing different styles of Electronic Watches. Pei Yanzhi's image also overlapped—transforming from a young general to an elderly man and finally returning to his current form.
"Look!" Pei Yanzhi pointed to a corner where a Clay Pot contained twenty-three different Electronic Watches from various eras—including the Smart Bracelet that Su Wan was currently wearing. In the bottom glass jar lay her first aid kit from her initial journey through time.
"Each time I travel through time, I lose part of my memory." Su Wan touched her warm wristband. "But my feelings for you..."
Before she could finish, Pei Yanzhi suddenly pushed her against the mural. His kiss carried scents of Dragon's Blood Incense and Blood Rust Smell; Su Wan tasted salty tears. When they parted, a Three-Dimensional Star Map materialized in the center of the chamber, showing Dunhuang erupting with temporal singularities.
"We must close the rift." Su Wan connected her Quantum Computer to the dark patterns on the mural. "Use your Tiger Tally and my jade pendant as an Energy Source."
Pei Yanzhi's dagger sliced open his palm; blood dripped onto the Chilong Pattern of the pendant at that moment, enveloping all of Mogao Caves in blue light. Su Wan witnessed history rushing before her eyes: The Xuanwu Gate Incident altered because of her; during Zhenguan Era there was now a mysterious Female Physician; and within Dunhuang Murals remained an everlasting image of a bodhisattva in a white coat.
"Farewell, my Time Traveler." Pei Yanzhi's voice shattered in the dissipating blue mist.
When Su Wan opened her eyes again, she lay in a modern hospital's intensive care unit. The Electronic Clock by her bedside read: March 20, 2025, 10:00.
"Doctor Su!" A surprised intern nurse exclaimed. "You’ve been unconscious in the lab for three days; we thought..."
Su Wan looked down to find that her Electronic Watch had stopped at 09:47 on March 20, 2025. She reached for her neck; what should have vanished—the jade pendant—was still there, with tiny gilded fragments embedded within its Chilong Pattern—pieces belonging to Pei Yanzhi’s Tiger Tally.
Outside, thunder rumbled from the direction of Dunhuang. Su Wan gazed toward the horizon and seemed to see murals in Cave 17 being redrawn; suddenly, there were additional adornments resembling Electronic Watches among the bodhisattva’s jewels in the painting.
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