They manage to pass the bend of the road before they hear the first shots being fired. Xue Yang, who is now riding shotgun, which he prefers to sitting in the back as it doesn't make him as carsick, is fixing his gaze on the rear-view mirror, waiting for any police vehicles to follow them.
Meanwhile he's inwardly cursing Song Lan, because the man's stupid reluctance to enter their van cost them some precious time, putting all of them in an even bigger danger than they already were.
What the fuck, really?
Not only did they stage a jailbreak for this guy, they also came to pick him right at the gate and he had the gall to run away from them?! They almost had to chase him through the woods, together with the police.
Only when more than ten minutes pass without any other cars appearing behind them does Xue Yang's fuming somehow subside as he allows himself to think that possibly, maybe, the jail guards were too busy trying to catch all those other prisoners escaping on foot to go after them. If they were really lucky, their car might've gone completely unnoticed; if not, the prison staff would at some point alert the Suzhou police force to wait for their car at the foot of the mountain, but fortunately they were not headed there, instead using the little used, unkempt winding road leading across the mountain ridge.
Xue Yang keeps looking in the rear-view mirror, but shifts his focus on the occupants of the backseat. Lan Wangji, who originally wanted to drive but Wei Wuxian didn't let him, is sitting ramrod straight yet with his eyes closed, either meditating or sleeping. He's hard to read even under normal conditions and the dim light inside the car certainly doesn't help in this respect.
His actions today left Xue Yang, Xiao Xingchen and even the man's own husband totally baffled. Wei Wuxian will undoubtedly have a lot of questions for him later. Xue Yang, on the other hand, doesn't really care why Lan Wangji acted the way he did, pushing Xiao Xingchen away and flying solo. He's just really grateful that Little Starfish was spared further risk. He went through enough anxiety while watching over Xiao Xingchen's motionless body, which might look immersed in slumber at first glance but was actually still in an unnerving, unnatural way. It was much worse than when he waited for the outcome of Xiao Xingchen's surgery, even though it was over in the matter of minutes; for Xue Yang it felt like hours, if not days.
So when Lan Wangji pushed Xiao Xingchen away, Xue Yang was relieved, especially because Little Starfish didn't look at his best after his futile paper man stunt. Xue Yang actually felt a twinge of vindication as he hated that particular idea from the start, but even he wasn't as insensitive as to tell the obviously distraught Xiao Xingchen I told you so to his face.
Xue Yang resolves to thank Lan Wangji for this later.
Next to the guqin master, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are slumped against each other, with Song Lan once again unconscious and Xiao Xingchen apparently succumbing to fatigue, because right after he brought Song Lan into the van, Xue Yang saw him holding his friend's wrist and doing his energy feeding thing, which probably made him reach his limit.
Xue Yang shakes his head in bewilderment when he remembers how carelessly Xiao Xingchen transferred some of his spiritual energy to him to help Xue Yang with his dumb motion sickness, of all things.
Must be an instinct to always be the good guy or something. It's like giving away your own blood, isn't it? You can only give out so much before you bleed yourself dry.
Little Starfish should be more careful with his good deeds, or they might turn against him.
They already did once, Xue Yang realizes with a chill running down his spine. Despite doing literally nothing during the rescue mission, he feels exhausted, but he's also all hyped-up from their stunt. And when he looks at Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan leaning against each other, he remembers bits and pieces of the conversation he and Xiao Xingchen had right after he brought the cultivator back home when the man tried to run away on him.
How Xue Yang hurt Song Lan to get to Xiao Xingchen. How Xiao Xingchen gave Song Lan his own eyes to make up for it. And then he – left on his own, just like that. Even though the two of them used to travel together.
Xue Yang frowns. When Xiao Xingchen first told him this, he didn't originally find it in any way strange, focusing on his past self's part in that series of unfortunate events, but now he wonders. Did Xiao Xingchen leave out of some misplaced guilt over Xue Yang's actions against his friend? Or did something else happen for him to run away like that?
Whatever transpired between the two, Song Lan came looking for his friend. But he never got to say what he wanted to, because Xue Yang cut out his tongue, and then made Xiao Xingchen kill him.
Even though he doesn't remember this particular scene playing out in any of his nightmares, the memory of Xiao Xingchen's forcefully collected voice laying down these events for him is enough to make Xue Yang shudder.
Who could've done such a fucked-up thing? The past me, apparently.
Today, after so many years apart, Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze and Distant Snow and Cold Frost, the two prodigies of the ancient cultivation world, finally reunited. Right now, huddling together in the backseat of the van, Xue Yang notes that they look rather like two college kids returning home after a night of heavy drinking, which makes him snort in dry amusement.
Still, some masochistic part of him focuses on the way the two of them fit against each other, on the sense of unity they somehow project, even like this. A passage from Refined Tales of Jade Sword Masters from Dragon Mountains comes to his mind, unbidden.
After Song Lan had dealt the villainous scoundrel Xue Yang the final blow, he and Xiao Xingchen left the bleak place behind them, setting out for more adventures. And everything was as it should be.
It was the ending of Song Lan's and Xiao Xingchen's story. And obviously Xue Yang's story, too.
The two righteous cultivators didn't even deign to bury him, leaving him to rot in a gloomy wasteland.
Xue Yang shakes off this unsettling thought and finally averts his eyes from the rear-view mirror when his stomach begins to feel upset again, which is no wonder, as their ride back is considerably faster than the one there.
Right. If everything goes well, they're going to be back in Cloud Recesses in about an hour and a half. And Song Lan will need medical help. Xiao Xingchen might need some as well. A check-up for his eyes, at the very least.
They should contact Lan Xichen tomorrow and schedule a proper examination. But as for Song Lan, they can't exactly take him to the hospital.
Xue Yang sighs in exasperation, because he has been in this exact situation before, with Xiao Xingchen.
"I don't suppose any of you two has medical training?" he asks Wei Wuxian.
"Not really; Lan Zhan's actually a certified vet, but humans are a bit different from rabbits."
"No shit," Xue Yang mutters.
"I'm afraid neither me nor Lan Zhan can do much more than basic first aid," Wei Wuxian says apologetically as he forces the van into another sharp curve, and Xue Yang has to focus on keeping the contents of his stomach inside for a while.
When his queasiness somehow subsides, he realizes that as the situation is the same as the one he went through last month, he might as well try the same solution, and fishes out his phone. It's almost eleven in the evening, but Jin Guangyao is often burning the midnight oil, as he likes to say.
"Hello, Chengmei," the doctor greets him with a hint of surprise. "Is something the matter? Is Xiao Xingchen experiencing any trouble with the transplants?"
"I hope not, even though he could do with a check-up. But he's not the reason I'm calling. It's Song Lan. We found him, and he's not exactly in mint condition."
"I can imagine. Are you in Cloud Recesses?"
"No, but we're on our way there. It'd take another hour or so. Right now he's unconscious, but breathing. What should we do with him when we get to the retreat?"
"I'm in Suzhou right now, so I can meet you there," Jin Guangyao says curtly.
"What–"
Xue Yang doesn't even finish his question before he gets the dial tone. He has no idea why his friend is not in Yi City, but he's very glad for it. He counted on his advice, but this is of course much better.
…
Thanks to Wei Wuxian's total disregard for any speed limits, they actually make it back to Cloud Recesses under an hour. Song Lan is still unconscious, and presents a heavy weight as Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen drag him inside. By the time they manage to put him on the bed in the room adjacent to the one the two of them occupy, they can hear footsteps in the courtyard.
Soon afterwards, Jin Guangyao enters the room. To Xue Yang's surprise, he is followed by Lan Xichen. Well, he did mention that Xiao Xingchen's eyes needed a check-up, although he didn't expect the other doctor to come here right away, in the middle of night. But he guesses it makes sense, with Xiao Xingchen being the first person to ever receive functional eye transplants, for Lan Xichen to be concerned for his patient.
"Do you need anything?" Xue Yang asks as he watches the two doctors unpack their supplies.
"Your friend Song Lan seems a bit dehydrated. Could you bring us some water, Chengmei?" Jin Guangyao requests.
He's not my friend, Xue Yang thinks disgruntledly, but now when he's seen Song Lan in proper light, he can't really summon any real anger at him because the man does look kind of pitiful, with his face all bruised and swollen, and his body in not much better condition.
When he comes back with a pitcher of water and a glass, it is to the sight of Lan Xichen using some kind of torch-like tool to examine Xiao Xingchen's eyes.
"Everything seems to be in order, but they are a little red," the doctor comments. "Are you feeling any pain?"
"No pain. Just… a slight itch. I – missed one eye-dropping session," Xiao Xingchen admits guiltily.
Of course he did, Xue Yang realizes with dismal. Xiao Xingchen uses the eye drops three times a day, morning, midday and evening. Xue Yang neglected to apply the midday dose because he was too caught up in preparations for their rescue mission. And now it is well past the time for the evening dose, too.
"Come on, Little Starfish, eye drops time," he says, taking Xiao Xingchen's arm. The cultivator sends a lingering look towards his friend, who is lying still on the bed while Jin Guangyao examines him, but lets himself be led away. Xue Yang is glad that Xiao Xingchen doesn't insist on keeping a vigil by Song Lan's bedside, because even after his nap in the car he still looks quite ashen.
…
When Xue Yang wakes up the next day, Xiao Xingchen is already gone. He is struck by a moment of sheer panic – Little Starfish never wakes before him – before he remembers what happened.
Right. Fucking Song Lan, that's what happened. And Xue Yang himself helped to make it happen, because he promised Xiao Xingchen as much.
What a dumb thing to do, Xue Yang thinks disgustedly as he gets up and dresses himself. He notices that even though he slept for more than eight hours, he doesn't feel exactly well rested. He's in fact strangely jittery, and keeps looking over his shoulder, half expecting something to come and get him. He tries to rationalize this feeling as the lingering nerves from last night, or the apprehension that the PKP could trace them to Cloud Recesses, but somewhere deep inside he knows that's not the case.
The last time he felt like this, Xiao Xingchen appeared in his apartment. For him to feel like that now… Xue Yang tries his best not to dwell on that thought.
A cup of coffee and several donuts he helps himself to in the kitchen do nothing to soothe his frayed nerves. If anything, he now feels even more on edge; he guesses he shouldn't be surprised, as caffeine and sugar are not exactly known for their tranquilizing quality. But that's what he has for breakfast every day, and he's never felt like this before.
Speaking of breakfast, he wonders whether Xiao Xingchen had any. Probably not; Xue Yang bets he rushed to Song Lan's side right after he woke up.
Even though he feels his own face twist in an ugly grimace at this thought, he goes on to prepare the bland porridge Xiao Xingchen usually makes for himself. On his way back to the lodging area, he stops to pick up Xiao Xingchen's eye drops, because he's pretty sure Little Starfish didn't apply them either.
When he enters the room that has been given to Song Lan, he finds the freed prisoner looking much the same as he did yesterday – lying motionless on the bed, either unconscious or simply asleep. Xiao Xingchen is sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed in a lotus pose, meditating.
Xue Yang clears his throat. Xiao Xingchen opens his eyes, and blinks in surprise at the bowl in Xue Yang's hand.
"Breakfast. Did you have any?" Xue Yang inquires as he sets the bowl on the desk in the corner.
Xiao Xingchen shakes his head.
"Figures. And what about this?" Xue Yang asks, pulling the eye drops from his pocket and raising them for the cultivator to see.
"I would've imposed on you later," Xiao Xingchen replies after a beat.
"Sure you would," Xue Yang scoffs, already dropping on his knees next to Xiao Xingchen, who is angling his head back in what has by now become a routine pose. Xue Yang lifts his hand in an automatic gesture; they have done this several dozen times already.
In spite of that, this particular time is different because impossibly enough, Xue Yang misses. The drop of clear liquid falls on the curve of Xiao Xingchen's sharp cheekbone, sliding over it like a tear.
As he numbly stares at it rolling down, Xue Yang realizes that his hands are shaking.
"Sorry," he mumbles, forcing himself to steady his movements and remedy his mistake, "there you go."
Xiao Xingchen's brows crease.
"Are you–" he starts to say, but at that moment there is a cough from the bed.
Xiao Xingchen immediately springs to his feet and moves toward the reclining man.
"Zichen?" he calls softly. There is no answer; Song Lan's eyes remain closed. Xiao Xingchen doesn't return to his original place, however. He remains standing by the sleeping man's side, gazing down at him with an expression that mixes anxiety, care and… tenderness, Xue Yang thinks with a sick lurch in his stomach.
He remembers that not so long ago, when Xiao Xingchen first looked at him in the hospital, he regarded Xue Yang with a similar emotion. Or so Xue Yang thought.
He must've been mistaken; it really was just wishful thinking on his part.
…
By the time he leaves the room, he's no longer jittery but full-on shaking; the muscles of his legs and arms are spasming, and there is something twitching under his eye.
He goes to the bathroom, splashes some water onto his face. When he catches his reflection in a mirror, he wryly notes that he looks like a badly animated corpse.
What the fuck is wrong with me, he asks himself, torn between irritation and numbness. He suddenly finds being inside suffocating and hurries to the courtyard.
It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and there is not a single cloud in the clear blue sky. It's so perfect that it looks almost fake, like if Xue Yang stared at it long enough, cracks would appear in the azure expanse and the whole thing would come crashing down on him.
He blinks against the bright sunshine, momentarily blinded, while his feet move on their own accord, taking him down the well-trodden path to the bunny barn. He passes the building and continues uphill to the waterfall.
When he reaches the summit, he's not panting for breath, but the hike has made him much more exhausted than it did two days ago. At least the shaking has stopped, he notes with some relief, just when a voice calls, "Hey!"
Unsurprisingly, it's Wei Wuxian, standing by the side of the waterfall and giving him a friendly wave. "Wanna see my tech cave?"
"Sure, man," Xue Yang replies, as this was the vague hope he entertained on the way there. Under different circumstances – namely, if Xue Yang hasn't just seen Xiao Xingchen looking at Song Lan as though the man was his whole world – he'd probably be more enthusiastic about getting to see the legendary suibian's lair. As it stands, it's still a welcome distraction.
…
"Holy shit. Your tech cave is an actual cave. With fucking icicles," Xue Yang says in awe as he looks around himself, admiring all the cutting edge equipment on view. Maybe he should have expected the place being a cave, given that it's hidden behind a waterfall, but he sure as hell didn't expect the icicles. Especially in the middle of June.
"Yep. It's a natural ice cave. Cool, huh?" Wei Wuxian says, sniggering at his own pun. "The ice helps to keep my servers from overheating."
"What if it thaws though?" Xue Yang asks skeptically, "Ain't you afraid of getting electrocuted?"
"Nah, everything's insulated," Wei Wuxian says with a dismissive wave of his hand, and Xue Yang doesn't press the issue. Suibian must know what he's doing here, right?
The hum of said ice-cooled servers is so soothing that some part of Xue Yang wants to curl into a ball and let it lull him to sleep. But the rest of him is too restless for that, throbbing with that strange anxiety he's felt since he woke up this morning. Plus he has questions, of course.
"Want a beer?" Wei Wuxian shoots over his shoulder as he opens a mini fridge.
"I don't drink. Also, it's like… ten in the morning?" Xue Yang asks a bit incredulously.
"Never stopped me," Wei Wuxian says with a shrug. True to his word, he gets himself a can of Tsingtao and hands Xue Yang a coke.
"How didya gain access to the jail network?" Xue Yang asks, leaning against a desk with two huge monitors while Wei Wuxian lounges in a swivel chair.
"A rubber ducky," Wei Wuxian says succinctly.
"That simple, really?" Xue Yang raises his eyebrows. Leaving a flash drive with a pre-programmed password breaking script lying around the target is one of the oldest tricks in the book. "What was on it? Porn?"
"Nah, cat pics."
Xue Yang laughs.
"That's a good one."
"It was more than a year ago. I was just biding my time since then, 'cause Lan Zhan never allowed me to actually do anything about it. Kinda expected they'd discover the mole by now. The truth is, we got lucky. That facility's high-security, sure, but it could be even better. Their funding's not as good as they'd like. That's because the PKP was only established like five years ago, and some government factions were strongly against it," Wei Wuxian explains.
"Our government has factions?" Xue Yang asks, surprised. "I mean, there's just that one party, right?"
Wei Wuxian gives him a pitying look.
"I dunno shit 'bout politics," Xue Yang confesses with a shrug.
"You don't say," Wei Wuxian snorts. "But you're far from the exception, comrade," he adds with a frown, indicating he considers it a problem.
"Unlike you," Xue Yang points out the obvious. "Which reminds me. The great banking hack. You're really behind it?" he asks in confirmation.
"Yep. Took away money from the world's hundred richest people, a billion dollar from each of them. Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk and the likes. Speaking of Musk – when his son was born a few weeks ago and I heard how he and his girlfriend named the poor kid, I wished I'd taken all his money," Wei Wuxian says with a snort.
Xue Yang has a faint memory of reading about this online.
"How did he name him again? R2D2?"
"That'd be actually cool, in comparison. I don't remember exactly but it went like, an ampersand ex alfa something? Or was it an at sign? Whatever it was, it made me wanna hack the US citizen register and change his name to John Smith."
Xue Yang sniggers at this, feeling a bit better than when he woke up in the morning. Suibian has turned out to be quite a funny guy.
"Will you tell me how didya do it? The hack, I mean," he asks, not really expecting an honest reply.
"Why the hell not," Wei Wuxian surprises him by answering. "I don't think you're gonna tell anyone, are you?"
Xue Yang shakes his head. He and Xiao Xingchen are in the man's debt; of course he won't go around spilling his secrets.
So Wei Wuxian tells him. It involves a proof of the Reimann hypothesis, which is considered one of the greatest unsolved mathematical problems of all time, and an algorithm based on it able to break through the encryption of bank transfers protected by large prime numbers.
"You're really, really cool, man," Xue Yang says in an awe-filled voice when Wei Wuxian is done, raising his coke can towards the man in a toast. "I hack a bit on the side, too, but I'm like, a mosquito and you're a dragon or something. I help people get on fucking Facebook, while you — most of the time, I just make dumb games for Nie Huaisang, really. He's a friend of yours, right?"
"Yeah. He's much more clever than he wants people to think," Wei Wuxian says fondly, which is an opinion Xue Yang happens to share. "But don't sell yourself short. I play Tortoise Traversing myself, and I wouldn't call it dumb."
Xue Yang stares at him in surprise.
"Really?"
"Really," Wei Wuxian nods. "It's very… wholesome. Building your own little house, getting friendly with your community. Nice."
"Yeah," Xue Yang agrees with a sigh, "I guess being a lowly game developer beats whatever I did in my past life. I used to be – how did the book put it? A villainous scoundrel."
When they provided Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji with necessary explanations in order to rescue Song Lan, Xiao Xingchen only conceded that Xue Yang was someone he knew in his past life, choosing not to mention the atrocities Xue Yang committed. But Wei Wuxian seemed to know more than he let on. He basically said as much, telling them it was not the time to discuss it.
Now, with Song Lan safe in Cloud Recesses, the time might have come. That's why Xue Yang decided to breach this topic.
"The book?" Wei Wuxian echoes with a flash of interest.
"Yeah. It's called Refined Tales of Jade Sword Masters from Dragon Mountains. There are several stories about cultivators, and one of them tells the adventures of two just warriors, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. Among other things, they fight a villain named Xue Yang. You know, the funny thing is that I'm pretty sure that the name of the villain wasn't the same as mine when I first read it, back when I was like twelve. Not even when I reread it a month ago or something, right before Xiao Xingchen appeared in my apartment. But when I showed it to him, I noticed that the villain's name changed into Xue Yang, written with the same characters as my name."
"And you didn't think it weird?"
"Of course I did, but it got kinda overshadowed by everything else that happened. You know, the zombies and shit?"
"I get it, comrade. What was the name of the book again? Refined Tales of Dragon–"
"Refined Tales of Jade Sword Masters from Dragon Mountains. Dʼya know it?"
"Do I know it?" Wei Wuxian asks with his eyebrows arched. "I wrote it."
Xue Yang gapes at him.
"You… what? But I read it like, fifteen years ago, and it already looked worn! Didya write it as a toddler?!"
"I guess it'd be more precise to say that I wrote the idea of it," Wei Wuxian corrects himself.
"What," Xue Yang says dumbly. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's kinda hard to explain… especially since my memories of that life are all scattered and hazy. But I – first of all, I also lived in the same timeline as your past self."
"Little Starfish told me," Xue Yang says with a nod, "he said you were the biggest criminal of his time. Worse than me, even."
Wei Wuxian winces at this.
"I suppose that's true," he admits after a moment of silence. "I used resentful energy, thought I could control it. Turned out I couldn't, not really. I ended up doing horrible things, and for many years, I was the most hated and feared figure of the cultivation world. Wanting to fix those things was actually the reason why I wrote the book – or, it'd be more precise to say, I created something like a book template. It would become an actual book only after someone used the pendulum."
"What pendulum?" Xue Yang asks in incomprehension.
"Oh. Right. This one," Wei Wuxian says, and pulls something out of his pocket. It's a silver, intricately crafted object and it seems strangely familiar.
"You see, the book and the pendulum are parts of a two-fold spell, complementing each other. The pendulum sends a person forward in time, to the point that meets certain conditions."
"What conditions?"
"As I said, my memories are hazy. Especially towards the end, when I was really losing it. It was – I made terrible mistakes, and my sister died because of it. Because of me. Even before that, she was mad with grief because I caused the death of her husband. And Jiang Cheng hated me…" Wei Wuxian's voice trails off, and he has a wistful look in his eyes.
He stays like this for a moment, before throwing away the empty beer can and grabbing himself a new one from the fridge. He takes a deep gulp and resumes his speech.
"I was obsessed with the idea of fixing it all somehow. I thought of going back in time to prevent it from happening, but there was no spell for that. After some experimenting, I discovered I could go… forward. With an Einstein-Rosen bridge, but of course I didn't know that it was called like this at the time."
"It isn't; everybody just calls it a wormhole," Xue Yang mutters, but then he has a flashback of Wei Wuxian saying this word in a very different context, and wants to slap himself.
Wei Wuxian fortunately ignores him, carrying on as if Xue Yang hasn't spoken.
"You might ask – what purpose would going forward serve, if my sister and her husband were already dead, but remember I lived in a society where reincarnation wasn't wishful thinking but rather a fact of life. So I just aimed to remove myself from my timeline and jump to a time when my sister is reborn and happy. But she would inevitably go through hundreds of reincarnations, live many different lives. Some of them not even human, possibly. And of course I didn't want a reality where my sister was a happy robin bird. And her husband a literal peacock." Wei Wuxian lets out a weak chuckle. Xue Yang doesn't get the joke, but that is the last of his worries.
"I know it sounds nuts, but I really wasn't thinking clearly near the end. I just wanted everything the way it used to be. Or rather, the way it should be. That's where the book comes in."
"You wrote Refined Tales in your past life?" Xue Yang asks, incredulous. "I know I said it looks worn, but there's no way it could be a thousand years old! It's written in simplified characters, for one."
"No; I already said that what I created was the idea of it. It couldn't have been an actual book, because what if it wouldn't survive? A book is a rather fragile object. Splash it with water and it becomes illegible, strike a match and it's a pile of ashes. So I put a spell on the pendulum, one that would create a book after I – or well, actually you – appear in the future. The point of the book was that when I – the spell-caster touches it, everyone whose destiny was closely entwined with them would become as close to their former selves as possible, and at same time also the best version of themselves. I wanted to fix things," Wei Wuxian repeats.
Xue Yang tries to digest this.
"This sounds way too complicated," is what he finally says.
"It does, doesn't it?" Wei Wuxian agrees with him, and strokes his own chin in a pensive manner.
"I wasn't thinking straight. You could say that demonic cultivation clouded my mind. I don't even know what I ended up creating, because in the end I didn't have time to use it on myself as I planned. The attack came too soon. I was protecting my people, and then I just didn't have any life force left… You, on the other hand, seem to have managed it. But it didn't work the way I intended it to."
"You're right. If I used it, as you say, it didn't send my past self to the future. Instead, it sent Xiao Xingchen. Who was moreover dead at the time," Xue Yang says, shuddering a little.
"I was there when you died," Wei Wuxian tells him. "At that time, you had the remains of Xiao Xingchen's soul with you. Maybe… what was the last thing you thought of?"
"How would I know?" Xue Yang asks in turn. "I don't remember my past life at all."
"Do you want to?" Wei Wuxian asks him bluntly.
Xue Yang considers it. He already knows about most of the things he committed. Dreamed about them many times. At this point, having full firsthand knowledge can be only beneficial, filling in all the frustrating gaps.
"Sure."
"Then touch the pendulum. I can't guarantee the effect, but that's how it worked for me. I didn't get all of my past memories, but the most important bits were there."
Xue Yang reaches for the silver object.
In the next moment, his entire world shatters.