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Thinking back to those nights spent with Big Cat Face and CC, trying to crack passwords, brings back funny, warm, and nostalgic memories. But who would’ve thought that today, I would be setting the password for a safe myself. Whatever I set it to now will be the password for the safe 600 years from now. It’s all up to me.

The original password doesn’t matter anymore; it will forever remain a mystery. Even the item originally stored in the safe will disappear, replaced by a little note that will also become a mystery. However, a few months ago, when I told VV about this, VV had a different perspective.

VV said back then, “Lin Xian, maybe there never was an original item or an original password… That safe has always had the same password and the same item inside it. You don’t know the truth yet because history hasn’t come full circle.”

“What I mean is, when you finally need to use the safe and set the password, you’ll realize that from the moment you first saw the safe until you open it 600 years later, nothing ever changed.”

“No matter how history and future events twist and turn, the item you put in the safe and the password will always be the same.”

VV’s words had a hint of fatalism. What it meant was:

The safe in the first dream, the second dream, and even future dreams, all have the same password and the same item inside.

“If you end up putting a note inside, then the safe in the first dream also contained that note.”

“If the safe doesn’t contain a note, then don’t worry. Even if you firmly intend to put a note inside now, when the time comes to actually place something in the safe, you won’t put a note in there. What you end up putting inside will be what was in the safe from the start.”

VV had analyzed it like this: “Lin Xian, this is called a closed loop.”

Although it sounded a bit mystical, Lin Xian didn’t doubt it. It made sense. Earlier, when he saw the aluminum alloy safe in the second dream, he wrote a letter to his future self, reminding and warning him to set the safe’s password to 29990203 when the time came, and to remember they were all on the same side. Now, a few months later, the letter had arrived through the “time-space mailbox” like a postman.

My future self. Isn’t that me right now? The letter was written by me a year ago, for me now, who is currently on the phone with Brother Wang.

So… Will I obediently set the password to 29990203 as my past self instructed?

After three seconds of hesitation, I shook my head. No.

Not because I betrayed my past self. But… if the moment hasn’t arrived where I truly need to use this 600-year-old safe, what’s the point of opening it prematurely? I had thought about it. I could have Brother Wang put a Rhine Cat plush in the safe with my name on it and set the password to 19990320, my most commonly used password. That way, when I first meet Big Cat Face and CC, I could open the safe right away.

But… What’s the point? Opening it to find a Rhine Cat, or one that looks like the mask on Big Cat Face, or even when it was still called Coco Cat. What’s the meaning of that? It would just be ridiculous.

Besides, CC risked her life to find and open the safe, meaning the item inside must be extremely important to her. It was also important to the bearded man. This clearly indicates that the safe can’t just contain a Rhine Cat.

So… What’s inside the safe with my name on it?

Now that I can decide what to put in it, I feel conflicted. It seems like placing something in the safe should be very important. But the only thing I can think of to put in there is a little note, and I haven’t even decided what to write on it.

Forget it. I’ll deal with it later. Once I’m done with my current tasks, I’ll set the password and put something in the safe when I return to Donghai, around the end of March or early April.

By then… We’ll see if VV’s “historical closed loop” theory holds true. If it does, I’ll have an epiphany at that moment. Just like Zhao Ying Jun’s Pomeranian, VV… It would indeed be fate, destined. It’s a strange feeling.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Lin Xian said over the phone. “I’ll let you know when I’m back in Donghai.”

“Got it!” Brother Wang laughed. “Then on March 20th, your birthday, wait for the good news about Time Bank’s soft opening!”

With that, he hung up.

“So many things to do…” Lin Xian plugged his phone into the charger and placed it on the table. He felt overwhelmed with tasks, but at least it wasn’t as life-threatening as dealing with the Seven Deadly Sins.

“One step at a time.” He pulled up the covers, turned over, and went to sleep.

….

The next day, the group’s training entered the second phase. Now that everyone had met the physical requirements, overload adaptation, and low-gravity activities, it was time to learn to operate the spacecraft’s equipment.

Gao Yang, breathing heavily, was raring to go! “Where’s my mechanical arm! I’ve been waiting forever!”

The group followed Yellow Finch to the equipment simulation training room. Inside, there was a full-scale replica of the spacecraft’s mechanical arm, modified with a device resembling a rice cooker… no, a time-space particle capture device. Using the control panel’s joysticks, one could move the mechanical arm up, down, left, right, tilt it, and extend or retract its segments.

The control panel had three joysticks, one on the right; three pedals below, and a bunch of red and green buttons on the panel. It looked complicated.

“Can you really handle it?” Coach Wei Cheng looked at Gao Yang skeptically.

“Why don’t you ever trust me!” Gao Yang pounded his chest confidently. “Everyone has their strengths, okay? Don’t judge people with a narrow perspective!”

“That’s right.” Lin Xian, Gao Yang’s childhood friend, felt the need to support him and himself… He couldn’t let Coach Wei Cheng think they were all the same. “Talent is hard to measure. The more complex the operation, the more it requires talent.”

“Like that world-famous gaming prodigy, the eSports champion. Not only are they fast and skilled, but they also have sharp eyes, switching screens quickly to monitor every corner of the battlefield, missing no detail. They’re unbeatable, a true genius.”

Coach Wei Cheng, in his thirties, had played many games in his younger days and knew the eSports scene. He turned to Lin Xian. “You mean…”

“Yes.” Gao Yang gave a thumbs-up. “That’s me!”

“…”

“…”

Lin Xian and Coach Wei Cheng were speechless.

“Anyway.” Lin Xian pointed to the control panel. “Since we’re here, let him try.”

Coach Wei Cheng carefully explained the function of each joystick, lever, pedal, and button, then demonstrated several times how to control the mechanical arm. After the hands-on tutorial, Coach Wei Cheng got up from the operator’s chair and gestured for Gao Yang to take over.

“Try it out yourself, get familiar with it. I’ll train Lin Xian and An Qing and check on you later.”

He then led Lin Xian and Chu An Qing away.

Two hours later, the three returned. They found Gao Yang sitting in the chair, pushing and pulling, hands and feet moving as if performing Wing Chun.

Seeing them return, Gao Yang grinned. “Not much different from operating an excavator, just a few more axes.”

“Hmm.” Coach Wei Cheng chuckled and started giving commands. “Down left, forward, up right, pull back, reach, oh…”

His smile faded, puzzled by Gao Yang’s skill. “Have you operated an excavator before?”

“No.”

“Learning pretty fast…” Coach Wei Cheng was skeptical. He took a balloon, inflated it with a helium tank, tied it tightly, and walked to the mechanical arm. “Grab this balloon.”

He tossed it. The balloon spun and drifted, rising diagonally.

Gao Yang, quick-eyed, adjusted the rice cooker’s position with the pedals, making it look like a hungry Pac-Man with its lid open. Then, with a flurry of joystick movements, the mechanical arm snaked around, tracking the rising balloon.

Predict! Aim!

“Ha-sake!” Gao Yang yelled. He pushed two joysticks forward, then pressed the button on the right joystick!

The unassuming rice cooker, like a cobra striking, lunged forward, and the lid snapped shut with a thud! The balloon, tossed by Coach Wei Cheng, was captured inside the rice cooker.

“Whoa!” Chu An Qing was stunned.

Coach Wei Cheng’s eye twitched…

He knocked on the rice cooker. “Open it, let’s do it again.”

The lid slowly opened, and Coach Wei Cheng took out the grapefruit-sized balloon, tossing it in another unexpected direction.

Thump! The mechanical arm, under Gao Yang’s control, moved like a dragon, its big mouth capturing the drifting balloon.

“What the…” Coach Wei Cheng was genuinely surprised.

He tried different throws, eight times in total. Gao Yang’s eight different maneuvers, all hit the mark!

Clap, clap, clap! Chu An Qing enthusiastically applauded!

Lin Xian turned, speaking into his Bluetooth earpiece. “VV, was that you?”

“No! I did nothing!” VV sounded confused. “I thought your motley crew was just a bunch of jokers… But I never expected each of you to have your own unique talents!”

Lin Xian now truly admired Gao Yang… It seemed, indeed, there were no useless people, only untapped potential.

He glanced at Chu An Qing. A natural astronaut, her talent was wasted on dancing. And Gao Yang. If these two hadn’t come to the astronaut training base, they might never have discovered their true talents.

Both thought they were ordinary, yet in this specific, constrained field, they shone.

Lin Xian recalled a saying from Professor Zhang Yang’s general education class at Donghai University. “You are all miracles of the universe. The atoms that make you traveled from the depths of the cosmos billions of years ago, just to form you billions of years later. How can you be ordinary or useless? Supernovas exploded for you, traveled for billions of years… So, my students, be proud, be confident!”

“Ahem,” VV’s cough in the Bluetooth earpiece pulled Lin Xian back to reality.

“By the way, it seems the most useless person in the team is you.”

“Ugh…” Lin Xian had to admit. It was true.

A few days later, Liu Feng officially joined the training. He told Lin Xian that the simple time-space particle tracker was ready, and he was here for the gravity overload training.

“Now, the time-space particles have passed through the asteroid belt, just crossed Mars’ orbit, and are heading toward Earth. Their speed hasn’t decreased, so our predicted arrival time remains late March.”

After another intense two weeks of training, they boarded a special plane, leaving the Astronaut Training Base, bidding farewell to the place they had trained for two months, and flew to Gansu where the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was located.

“Next, it’s time for real-world training.”

Yellow Finch led Lin Xian, Gao Yang, Chu An Qing, Liu Feng, and Coach Wei Cheng into a massive hangar. Pressing a button, the hangar lit up.

A pearl-white space shuttle stood majestically in the center, surrounded by ladders and supports.

Except for Wei Cheng, the four others looked up… Staring at this national treasure, one of only two new generational space shuttles in the world…

Though smaller than a commercial plane, the technological impact and inherent grandeur made the four of them watch in awe at the spacecraft.

“This space shuttle, we call it Little White.” As the pilot of this space shuttle’s maiden flight last year, Wei Cheng led them around it, detailing it with pride. “It’s small and cute, but it depends on what you compare it to. Compared to commercial planes, yes, it’s smaller. Because this space shuttle can’t take off by itself, it has to be launched in the nose cone of a rocket and released after launch, so its size is restricted.”

“But it’s about twice as large as America’s X-37B. The X-37B is an unmanned space shuttle with limited capabilities. Our space shuttle, Little White, can carry people and has two special cabins, making it far more advanced and functional than the X-37B that was designed years ago.”

Wei Cheng pointed to the front of the space shuttle. “This is the passenger cabin and cockpit. The cockpit is where Liu Feng and I will be, and the passenger cabin is where you’ll be. Space is tight because every inch is precious, and the passenger cabin is only for rocket launch and landing. Most work happens in the equipment cabin.”

He gestured to the midsection of the space shuttle. “Most functions and operations are here, including Gao Yang’s mechanical arm control station. Look, there’s the arm’s exit point.”

He pointed to a folded door on the space shuttle’s top. “The mechanical arm is folded inside and only extends when needed. Liu Feng’s rice cooker… I mean, the time-space particle capture device is stored there. The name is too long; the purpose of language is convenience, right?”

Clap, clap!

Wei Cheng clapped, drawing everyone’s attention. “In the coming days, Liu Feng continues gravity overload training, with additional observation tasks assigned by Director Huang. Gao Yang, you’ll stay here to operate the space shuttle’s mechanical arm. Remember, real-space operation is different from simulation. Your view won’t be as good as in person; you’ll have to use the monitor, making it much harder. But I now believe in your skills.”

He turned to Lin Xian and Chu An Qing. “You two will learn all the equipment operations in the equipment cabin. Most of the time, you won’t use them, but you have to learn. As I told Gao Yang, 99.99% of our training is for 0.01% of emergencies… Understood?”

“Yes.” They replied in unison.

Wei Cheng was pleased, nodding. The team was gelling well, a unified effort, and he was proud.

The following days continued with intense training, training, training. As the time-space particles approached Earth, urgency increased, and everyone trained overtime voluntarily. Even without pressure, they held themselves to high standards.

Lin Xian was no exception. He and Chu An Qing put in the same effort they did for college entrance exams, pushing their limits.

Every night, Lin Xian would enter his dreams, observing the sky with its dozens of glowing airships, displaying Time Bank’s 600th-anniversary ads. The frustration of being surrounded by soldiers with the airships just a few hundred meters away…

When will I get rid of Kevin Walker in reality? Stuck in the fourth dream for so long, with Time Bank in sight but unable to open the safe. It’s a terrible feeling. Like a carrot on a stick, always out of reach.

And another troubling thought, what should be written on that note to deceive the world and make me realize the dream’s reality?

Lin Xian admitted he had overplayed his hand with VV. He had thought of many plans but couldn’t meet such strict conditions.

Theoretically, even if the enemy couldn’t read his mind, they could crack the aluminum alloy safe by brute force in just over three years. Those who built this elaborate virtual world for him surely knew the password, what was inside, and what the note said.

After all, for him, it might seem like a quick one-minute password setup and entering the dream. But for the enemy… That one minute was 600 years. If they could create such a convincing virtual world, cracking a safe password in 600 years would be easy.

600 years… Such a long span, this battle is indeed tough.

But, it must be fought! It must be won!

“So…” That night, a tired Lin Xian lay in bed, yawning, his mind exhausted. “What should the note say… Only words can fully, subtly, directly, and indirectly convey meaning, making them the best medium for a password.”

He yawned again. Getting ready to sleep.

“Huh?” VV, in the form of a digital clock, looked at Lin Xian with wide eyes. “You’re going to sleep?”

“Yes.” Lin Xian turned over.

“Why? Stay up a bit! Let’s have some fun!” VV shouted, starting to play the song “Feel So Good” on the TV.

“Just this feel~ Feel so good! Feel so good! Feel so good!” VV sang along.

“What’s wrong with you?” Lin Xian frowned at VV. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Stay up a bit longer!” The digital clock laughed. “How about a bedtime ghost story? Once, there was a corpse…”

“Scaring me benefits you how?” Lin Xian looked suspiciously at the obviously abnormal super AI. “What do you want? Just say it.”

“Feel so good~ Feel so good!” VV howled.

“Don’t sing.”

“I apologize for being human…”

“Don’t go emo!”

“Lin Xian, Lin Xian, I want Disney!”

“Are you done?” Lin Xian was exasperated. He sat up in bed. “What do you want? I’m very tired today.”

“Stay up a bit longer! Play with me!” VV pleaded.

Ding dong~

Suddenly, a WeChat notification sounded. The digital clock’s expression turned into a smiley face and then turned off, showing just the time.

“What’s going on…” Lin Xian grumbled, picking up his phone.

“Senior, are you asleep?” It was a message from Chu An Qing.

Lin Xian replied. “Not yet.”

“Can you come to the training room?” She sent a cat bowing emoji.

Lin Xian squinted… Suspicious! This looks fishy, probably VV’s doing. If I don’t go, VV will likely continue messing around.

Lin Xian recalled spending the whole day with Chu An Qing, practicing equipment operation under Coach Wei Cheng. Could she want to practice more tonight?

He didn’t change out of his pajamas, just threw on his astronaut jacket, and walked to the training room. From a distance, he saw the lights were off.

Isn’t she here? He walked into the dark training room, looking around. “An Qing?”

Whoosh— The lights suddenly came on!

“Ta-da~~” By the light switch, Chu An Qing jumped out!

Lin Xian turned to see her cheerful face, dimples and all. And… She held a small round cake. She smiled and lifted the cake high.

“Senior Lin Xian~ Happy Birthday!” Her delicate voice echoed in the empty training room, clear and bright.

Lin Xian was slightly stunned. He looked at his wristwatch… March 20, 2024, 00:01

It turned out… Today was his birthday.

With all the busy training, the endless puzzles in his mind, and generally not caring about birthdays, he had completely forgotten. Not just this year, but last year too.

Guys his age, especially those busy with work, often forget their birthdays. Even if they remember, it’s just an “oh” and nothing special.

What surprised Lin Xian more was how did Chu An Qing remember his birthday?

“Thank you.” He smiled, then asked. “How did you know my birthday?”

“Last year, you told me! At the police station when I brought you food!”

“Oh~ That time…” Lin Xian remembered now. No wonder he forgot. Because back then, Chu An Qing enthusiastically asked for his and Ji Lin’s birthdays to celebrate, while he and Ji Lin… Were probably considering each other’s death anniversaries.

“Thanks again for remembering.” Lin Xian smiled, taking the cake.

“Of course~” Chu An Qing proudly patted her chest. “We agreed, remember? We’ll exchange gifts on each other’s birthdays, until our last birthdays!”

“Hehe, since we agreed, we have to keep our word!”

Lin Xian looked at this cheerful girl. He felt genuinely touched. He looked down at the cake.

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, being remote and a secure location, had no cake shops or delivery services. The slightly rough cake in his hands looked like Chu An Qing made it herself.

“Didn’t turn out great, huh?” Chu An Qing, hands behind her back, smiled shyly. “It’s my first time making a cake. I thought about asking Yellow Finch to bring a nicer one, but I felt everyone’s been so exhausted from training, calling them here late at night to celebrate might disrupt their rest. And… as the mission approaches, everyone’s super tense. I decided not to trouble others.”

“So I talked to the cook here, and she taught me how to whip cream, make the cake base, and frost it this afternoon… Hehe, it’s not great, but! But it’s a cake!”

“This place is so remote, we can’t go shopping… I have no proper gift for you. So… if you don’t mind, take this cake as your birthday gift. I’m keeping our agreement!”

Lin Xian chuckled, saying nothing. Looking at the not-so-round, slightly collapsed, unevenly frosted “imperfect cake”…

“Of course, it’s fine. I haven’t received a birthday gift in ages.” He pointed to a nearby table. “Want to share it?”

“Yes! I brought plates, knives, and forks!”

In the empty, quiet training room, they cut the cake. The cake was small, and they finished it quickly.

“Tasty?” Chu An Qing blinked, genuinely curious.

“Tasty.” Lin Xian nodded. “That’s the truth. You’ve improved a lot. I remember last year when you brought me food at the police station, you were just washing vegetables and setting the table. Now you can make cakes.”

“Aww~ I want to become more capable!” Pleased by the compliment, Chu An Qing smiled, her eyes crescent-shaped. “As long as you’re happy eating it! Because… you’ve seemed troubled recently. Not the usual kind, but preoccupied. I know space missions make everyone nervous, but you’ve looked particularly worried. So… I wanted to do something for you.”

Chu An Qing bit her lip, determined, and looked up. “Senior Lin Xian, do you have something on your mind?”

Lin Xian nodded slightly. Indeed. He had been racking his brain on what to write on that note to achieve the goal of deceiving everyone yet making him realize the dream’s reality… It was a tough problem. Too tough.

Chu An Qing looked at Lin Xian. “My dad once told me… you’re all very smart, too smart. You think about things beyond my understanding.”

“But he also said, the smarter people are, the more they overthink simple issues, complicate them, and end up taking detours… Sometimes, those who are less smart, single-minded, and only see the surface, find the answers more easily.”

“That’s what he told me when reading his favorite sci-fi book, Ball Lightning. He said—”

“Many times, we can’t find the answer not because we think too simply, but because we don’t think simply enough.”

“So… Senior Lin Xian.” Chu An Qing smiled slightly. “I’m not very smart, I think simply, and see only the surface.”

“If you’re pondering a very complex problem and can’t figure it out…” She blinked, the training room’s white light reflecting in her pupils. “Want to hear a simple answer?”