Yin Lie woke up twice.
The problem was, he only remembered opening his eyes once.
1. The First Sign: Time Skips
He was sitting against the fractured stone, Qin Mian still holding onto him, her breathing uneven but real.
Then—
He was on the ground.
Flat on his back.
The sky above him was different.
Not rotated.
Not moved.
Different.
"…Lie?"
Qin Mian's voice came from the left.
Then again—from the right.
He blinked hard.
"I'm here," he said automatically.
His own voice sounded wrong.
Too slow.
2. His Body Acts Before His Mind
He tried to sit up.
His body obeyed.
Before he decided to move.
Pain followed a moment later, slamming into him like delayed lightning.
He gasped.
"…That wasn't right," he muttered.
Qin Mian leaned over him, panic flashing across her face.
"What?"
"I moved," he said slowly,
"before I chose to."
3. The Delay Reverses
She grabbed his hand.
He felt her touch.
Then—half a second later—he saw her fingers close.
His stomach dropped.
"…Qin Mian," he said quietly.
"Yes?"
"…Don't let go."
Her grip tightened instantly.
Fear hit her eyes.
"You're scaring me."
"Good," he replied.
"That means you're still ahead of me."
4. Memory Desynchronization
Fragments of the last minutes overlapped strangely.
He remembered screaming.
Then laughing.
Then nothing.
Then blood on his hands that he did not remember touching.
He tried to recall when he had collapsed.
The memory refused to line up.
"…I lost pieces," he whispered.
Qin Mian shook her head.
"No. You were here the whole time."
He looked at her.
"…Then why don't I remember it that way?"
5. The Ice No Longer Responds Correctly
Instinctively, he reached for ice.
The response came—
wrong.
The ice formed after his hand moved.
Then cracked before it fully existed.
He cried out as pain tore through his arm.
"…It's out of order," he said through clenched teeth.
"The signal and the response swapped places."
Qin Mian stared at his arm, terrified.
"You're glitching."
He gave a weak smile.
"That's one word for it."
6. Permanent Damage Confirmed
He tried to stand.
His legs locked.
Not from weakness.
From confusion.
His body didn't know which moment it was standing in.
He collapsed again.
Hard.
This time, the pain arrived first.
Then the fall.
He screamed.
Qin Mian screamed with him.
"Lie! Stop moving!"
He lay there shaking, vision splitting into overlapping frames.
"…It's not healing," he said hoarsely.
"This isn't recovery lag."
7. He Understands What He Broke
When he had forced resonance, he hadn't just torn into the Anchor.
He had crossed layers.
Touched temporal ordering—the sequence that told his body what came next.
The ice had been holding that structure together.
Now the ice was burned.
"…I didn't just pay with my body," he whispered.
"I paid with when."
8. Qin Mian Tries to Anchor Him
She pressed her forehead to his, eyes squeezed shut, emotion surging chaotically.
"Stay," she begged.
"Please stay with me."
Her Anchor flared.
For a moment—
clarity.
The world snapped into alignment.
Yin Lie's breathing stabilized.
His vision sharpened.
He smiled weakly.
"…That works," he said.
Then it vanished.
The misalignment returned twice as strong.
He screamed as time stuttered violently around him.
"Stop!" he gasped.
"You'll tear yourself apart!"
She pulled back, sobbing.
"I don't know how to help!"
9. The Most Dangerous Symptom Appears
Yin Lie went still.
Too still.
Qin Mian froze.
"…Lie?"
No response.
His eyes were open—but unfocused.
Then he spoke.
"Did we win?"
Her heart shattered.
"That was hours ago," she whispered.
He frowned.
"…Then why does it feel like it hasn't happened yet?"
10. He Slips Backward
Without warning, he screamed again.
Not in pain.
In confusion.
"I already did this!" he shouted.
"I already chose—why am I still choosing?!"
Qin Mian grabbed his shoulders.
"You're here! You're now!"
His eyes darted wildly.
"I can see other moments," he gasped.
"They're stacked—on top of each other!"
Blood ran from his nose.
Ice burst involuntarily from his chest, freezing the ground in jagged patterns.
The world shuddered.
11. The Anchor Reacts Differently to Him Now
The Anchor did not comfort him.
It avoided him.
It rerouted stabilization away from his position.
Qin Mian felt it instantly.
"…It's scared of you," she whispered.
Yin Lie laughed weakly.
"Good."
Then his laughter cut off abruptly.
"…No," he corrected.
"That's bad."
12. Qin Mian Realizes the Truth
She stared at him in horror.
"This isn't something that will pass," she said.
He met her gaze steadily—finally aligned.
"No," he agreed.
"This is permanent."
Her voice broke.
"…How bad?"
He hesitated.
Then told the truth.
"One day," he said softly,
"I won't know which moment is real."
13. He Makes a Request
He grabbed her wrist suddenly.
The movement came early.
The grip came late.
Still—strong.
"If that happens," he said urgently,
"don't try to pull me back."
Tears streamed down her face.
"No."
"If I start looping," he continued,
"or repeating choices—"
"No!" she sobbed.
"Promise me," he said.
She shook her head violently.
"I won't!"
He closed his eyes.
"…Then this will kill you too."
14. The World Watches Closely
Far above them, beyond the fractured sky, something recalculated.
Not the hunt.
Not the scavengers.
A system that governed continuity itself.
Yin Lie's condition registered as an anomaly.
Unstable.
Irreversible.
Dangerous.
Containment protocols updated.
15. End of the Chapter
Yin Lie lay shaking in Qin Mian's arms, consciousness slipping unpredictably between moments.
Sometimes he recognized her.
Sometimes he didn't.
Sometimes he answered questions she hadn't asked yet.
Sometimes he reacted to pain that hadn't arrived.
He was still alive.
Still fighting.
But time itself no longer trusted him.
And Qin Mian understood, with crushing clarity:
She had gotten her emotions back—
at the cost of losing
the man who had forced the world
to let her feel them.
And whatever came next,
it would not be about survival.
It would be about
how long she could keep him in the same moment with her
before time tore him away completely.