Ai.

Lin Xian sighed softly, holding the crumpled fake flowers to his chest, mimicking a gesture he had made 600 years ago. He smoothed out the wrinkled tin foil, one piece at a time, trying to neaten the time-worn bouquet.

Just like that night of Zhao Yingjun's 24th birthday, that extraordinary birthday gift.

She said she would remember it for a long time.

But he never imagined...that "long time" would be 600 years.

600 years.

A span of time stretching from the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty to the year 2023.

For him, it was just a yawn at night, a simple lie down, and those 600 years would flit by without a trace.

But for Zhao Yingjun...

Those 600 years, she hadn't missed a single second, enduring them bit by bit, minute by minute.

The loneliness was indescribable.

Lin Xian closed his eyes, recalling the look in Zhao Yingjun's eyes when she first entered the hibernation pod.

Waking up for half a year after every ten years of hibernation, what would it be like to see this strange and lonely world?

From the slideshow in the projection corridor, it seemed that side effects like becoming mentally disabled, intellectually impaired, or suffering brain atrophy, which were present when the first-generation hibernation pods were put into use in 2026, had been solved by the drugs Tang Xin researched.

But the memory loss that Xu Yun had mentioned from the start seemed unavoidable.

Because of this, Zhao Yingjun didn't want to forget the past, the memories, so she chose the harmful-but-not-beneficial plan of waking up every ten years of hibernation.

Constant hibernation and awakening placed a huge burden and toll on the body.

Even if her memories could be preserved, her physical condition would inevitably deteriorate, and she would probably endure a lot of pain in the process.

Lin Xian didn't understand, and he wasn't clear.

He didn't know if Zhao Yingjun's reason for not wanting him to see her old was related to the damage this method of hibernation caused to her body.

So...

He gripped the bouquet.

No matter how he failed in this future, no matter how Zhao Yingjun spent her 600 years of solitude.

He had to make this future a non-existent history!

He couldn't let down Zhao Yingjun's kindness, nor could he let down her painstaking efforts across 600 years.

He had to find what she left for him.

And then...change everything!

Looking back at everything in the exhibition hall, Lin Xian felt that the answer to the mirror puzzle Huang Que spoke of shouldn't be here.

From the perspective of spacetime logic, Huang Que couldn't possibly be Zhao Yingjun.

Because Zhao Yingjun had already died in the future, and everyone in Rhine Sky City had witnessed her death, witnessed her ashes being scattered in the winds that swept across the four seas.

So, Huang Que couldn't be Zhao Yingjun from the future.

Moreover, Zhao Yingjun had died more than once.

As early as in the future of the Second Dream, Zhao Yingjun died in an accidental shooting, but before that, Huang Que had already appeared in reality, delivering that fake Genius Club invitation to the MX company front desk.

This didn't conform to spacetime logic.

Since Zhao Yingjun had indeed died in the future, where did Huang Que travel from?

Anyway, no matter what, perhaps these two people were just similar in temperament, but actually had nothing to do with each other –

Huang Que was Huang Que, Zhao Yingjun was Zhao Yingjun.

Just like the relationship between CC and Chu Anqing.

Thinking of this.

Lin Xian couldn't help but think of CC again.

When he and Big-Faced Cat Azhuang prepared to take off in a helium balloon today, he had also asked them about Taim Bank and the hafnium alloy safe.

These two were completely unaware, saying they had never heard of such a bank.

This also troubled Lin Xian greatly.

It wasn't in Rhine Sky City, and it wasn't in the world on the ground, so where did this Taim Bank go?

If he couldn't find Taim Bank, then where was CC in this world?

It wasn't that Lin Xian absolutely had to see CC.

He just felt that CC's existence, for him, was like a sense of security, an anchor, an indispensable partner.

If he couldn't find her in this dream...

Then what about the next dream?

What about the dream after that?

Would she be further and further away from him, so far that he would never find her?

At this moment, Lin Xian truly realized that this world was too big.

He couldn't find CC at all.

Unless...

He had to find Taim Bank first.

Where was the problem?

Was it because of the massive changes in the world that Taim Bank was poorly managed and closed down early, disappearing into the dust of history?

Or...

Was it because this spacetime change was too drastic, so Taim Bank, which should have been established in the second half of 2023, wasn't established at all and completely disappeared from history?

What was the reason?

"Hey, hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey!"

Below his feet, the trash can robot VV was spinning around him irritably, its mechanical clamps constantly poking at his knees:

"Hurry up and say it! Don't keep me in suspense! You've piqued my curiosity, and now you're just standing here in a daze, pretending to be dead!"

"Say what?" Lin Xian looked down at it.

Whoosh.

The trash can robot VV stretched out its claws, pointing at the bouquet of fake roses in Lin Xian's hand:

"You just said that this place isn't completely without your traces, what exactly do you mean?"

"Ah, this."

Lin Xian smiled slightly, raising the bouquet in his hand:

"This bouquet is what Zhao Yingjun left for me."

"Ewwww——————" The trash can robot made a disdainful sound:

"Aren't you being too narcissistic?"

"Believe it or not." Lin Xian was too lazy to pay attention to it.

"However...there are indeed a lot of things on this car that are inexplicable." The trash can robot turned its treads, driving to the front wheel.

Then it raised its mechanical clamps, pointing at the delicate handwriting written on the front windshield:

"Ms. Zhao Yingjun wrote on the glass that this is the first car in human history to fly in the sky...but that's actually impossible, unrealistic."

"Because this antique car uses an old internal combustion engine and runs on fossil fuels that have long been phased out. At the same time, there are no flight device drive facilities, so...this antique car can only drive on the ground, and it's impossible to fly in the sky no matter what."

"But because of Ms. Zhao Yingjun's lofty position in Rhine Sky City, and because she really likes this car, everyone doesn't think Zhao Yingjun would lie about such an obvious thing. Therefore, all historians and critics still can't figure out...why did she say this car could fly in the sky?"

Heh.

Lin Xian chuckled:

"Want to know?"

The trash can robot VV nodded.

"Then send me a car." Lin Xian said.

He believed this was easy for VV.

Although VV called himself the King of Rhine to indulge in a medieval drama, he was actually the King of Rhine. The entire Rhine City, from the nuclear fusion engine to a cleaning robot, was under his control, omnipotent.

However...

The trash can robot VV tilted its head, obviously not understanding Lin Xian's meaning:

"What kind of car do you want?"

"The fastest car."

Lin Xian stroked the Bentley Continental GT that had once flown across the East China Sea Elevated Road:

"Give me...the fastest car in the entire Rhine Sky City."

......

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!!

The biting wind rushed past his ears.

A purple convertible sports car sped through the skyscrapers, so fast that afterimages almost appeared in his vision!

The trash can robot, tied to the passenger seat with safety belts crisscrossed, raised its mechanical clamps high:

"So this is what it feels like to sit in the passenger seat, no wonder Zhao Yingjun liked it the most! But...is it okay for you to drive so fast? I don't care if we crash into something, but you might die."

"I'm not that easy to die."

On the dashboard, the car's flight speed was displayed at a terrifying 400 kilometers per hour, a third of the speed of sound!

And this wasn't a professional track, it was in the intricate urban sky!

Even though VV had already made all automated intelligent vehicles in the sky give way to Lin Xian, those towering buildings couldn't be moved away.

But Lin Xian had his elbow on the car door frame, propping up his chin, looking completely at ease.

He first pulled the steering wheel, making the convertible fly to the highest point of Rhine Sky City, finding the location of the square where Zhao Yingjun's statue was located.

Then, he found the roof of a skyscraper, flat and wide.

Clang!

With a violent shock absorption, the high-end convertible flew crashed onto the roof, and then Lin Xian slammed the accelerator to the floor! The car's chassis rubbed against the roof surface, bursting out with intense sparks, but the speedometer kept moving to the right, and the speed continued to increase!

"Um...this car doesn't have ground driving functions, there are no wheels underneath."

The trash can robot turned its head, kindly reminding:

"And the button you just pressed turned off all automated programs, and turned off the flight function too."

"That's right."

Lin Xian didn't care, holding the steering wheel, aiming at the square where Zhao Yingjun's statue was in the distance:

"Otherwise, how can you call it flying?"

Swoosh————————

The sports car, its chassis already red hot from grinding, flew off the edge of the skyscraper, flying towards the memorial square, flying towards Zhao Yingjun in free fall.

The trash can robot was too slippery all over, just a pure cylinder. After the seat belt lost friction, half of its body flew out.

Bang.

Lin Xian freed his right hand and pressed down on its crown, forcibly holding it down on the passenger seat of the vehicle falling in a parabola:

"600 years ago, that Bentley flew like this."

"No wonder the inside of that car was a mess...and this kind of flying doesn't really count as the first one in history." VV complained.

Just like that night with the beautiful moonlight.

This powerless flying car slid across the sky with its most primitive inertia, slid across the moonlight, and slid into Rhine Memorial Square.

The moment it entered the no-fly zone, the dashboard went completely dark.

But in an instant, it lit up again. Naturally, VV canceled the car's no-fly restriction, allowing the vehicle to start the flight mode in time in the last few dozen meters before landing, stopping in a beautiful drift on the high platform where Zhao Yingjun's statue was located.

Lin Xian carried the trash can robot out of the car.

The two of them came to the white jade statue, one man and one trash can looking up at this respected and great woman.

Lin Xian looked at Zhao Yingjun's appearance at this time, which was also her appearance on the last photo where her face could be seen in the projection corridor.

Over thirty years old.

More mature than when she was at MX Company, but still beautiful and heroic.

"VV, you helped her delete all those old photos of Zhao Yingjun, right?"

"Yes."

The trash can robot VV replied:

"I can guarantee that you won't be able to find any photos of Zhao Yingjun's later years anywhere in Rhine Sky City. But because of the limitations of the underlying code, I can't leave Rhine City, and I can't interfere with or control any information from the outside world."

"So...if you want to find photos of Zhao Yingjun's later years, you should be able to find them in other Sky Cities."

"That's not necessary."

Lin Xian shook his head:

"She's always been like this. In my heart, Zhao Yingjun will always be this young and proud... She can't lose these things. If she loses them, she's not Zhao Yingjun."

"You seem to have said something hard to understand." VV also looked up, watching the tens of meters high white jade statue with Lin Xian.

Whether it was an illusion.

Today's statue... seemed to have a bit more tenderness, a bit more comfort than the solemnity of the past.

Lin Xian searched around the statue again, in every corner, but still didn't find anything related to the mirror, nor did he find other clues.

Now he basically recognized that he had guessed wrong about the mirror puzzle of Huang Que. It should have nothing to do with his dream, and nothing to do with Zhao Yingjun.

He could only wait until he returned to the real world to look for other clues.

Right now...

There was only one thing left to do.

"VV, I have the highest authority in Rhine Sky City, right?"

"That's right."

The trash can robot's eyes flickered with green light:

"Although calling you the King of Rhine is a joke, it's actually about the same. I will follow all your orders, even if it violates the Three Laws of Robotics. Because you're not a robot, you don't need to abide by them."

"That's good."

Lin Xian chuckled and turned around.

He wrapped his arms around himself, looking at the night sky that Zhao Yingjun's statue was facing, the increasing points of light gathering on the ground:

"Blow up all 6,000+ nuclear fusion engines below Sky City."

"Blow them up?"

The trash can robot's eyes flickered faster:

"If you just want to lower Sky City back to the ground, we just need to shut down those cold fusion engines. There's no need to blow them up at all."

"No, I want to blow them up."

Lin Xian walked to the edge of the high platform, looking at the place where they had set off below, where more and more white spots were gathering.

Presumably, the residents of the ground saw that the three of them had landed successfully, and were spreading the news, with more and more people gathering, waiting for a miracle to happen...

"I promised a little girl that I would blow up a city for her. But unfortunately, I broke my promise last time."

"But right now, I think this opportunity is pretty good too. The explosion of those 6,000+ nuclear fusion engines should be even more beautiful, right?"

Lin Xian turned his head, smiling at the trash can robot:

"Let's give that little girl...the most grand fireworks show in the world!"