Chapter 94: Saved By Poetry
"Poetry..."
A sudden realization flashed through Shen Yu’s mind.
Yun Han loves poetry...
Then what about her parents?
His lips parted instinctively.
"The thread in a loving mother’s hand,
Makes clothes for her wandering child.
Before the child leaves, she stitches tightly,
Fearing a delayed return..."
The instant the first verse left his mouth—
Bang!
The rattle drum in his uncontrollable right hand slowed.
Its frantic shaking became noticeably weaker.
Shen Yu’s eyes lit up.
"It worked!"
But before he could continue, the missing-person notices spread even faster across his body, swallowing his shoulders and neck.
"Shen Yu!"
Mo Han’s hoarse voice echoed through the room.
"If you don’t want to die, think of more poems!"
"Poems about fathers! About mothers!"
"Hurry!"
Shen Yu’s vision blurred.
The countless missing-person notices carried memories that didn’t belong to him.
They poured into his mind like a flood.
—
"Officer... please... please help us check the surveillance cameras..."
"Our daughter is afraid of the dark..."
"She’ll cry if she’s alone..."
"What if someone bullies her?"
"What if she’s hungry?"
"Please... help us find our daughter..."
—
The desperate voices of Yun Han’s parents echoed endlessly.
Every plea.
Every tear.
Every hopeless search.
Every sleepless night.
Their grief invaded Shen Yu’s consciousness.
The rattle drum suddenly accelerated again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Damn it!"
Mo Han coughed up blood while struggling in Taishan’s iron grip.
"Shen Yu!"
"You remember poetry, don’t you?"
"Stop showing off in front of me all the time!"
"I already told you—"
"I can recite better than you!"
"You thought I was bragging?"
Even with blood running from his ears and nose, Mo Han suddenly shouted,
"Father gave me life.
Mother nurtured me.
She raised me.
She protected me.
She carried me.
She taught me.
She watched over me..."
Without stopping, he continued reciting verse after verse.
Then came the final line.
"Who says the heart of a blade of grass
Can ever repay the warmth of the spring sun?"
Silence.
The effect was immediate.
The rattle drum stopped.
Completely.
At the same time—
Lucian froze.
Taishan’s blood-red eyes regained a trace of clarity.
The countless missing-person notices covering the room slowly began peeling away like autumn leaves.
Shen Yu finally forced his left hand over his right, completely suppressing the drum.
The twisted world started collapsing.
The park...
The missing posters...
The grieving parents...
Everything shattered into countless fragments.
A moment later—
Bang!
The scenery changed again.
The two of them found themselves inside another tiny room.
Moonlight filtered through a broken window, illuminating the filthy interior.
A rotten stench filled the air.
Shen Yu sat against the wall, covered in blood.
Across from him, Mo Han wiped the blood from his face before grinning.
"Haha..."
"I told you."
"The future never lies."
Shen Yu looked at him quietly.
Then he asked a question that instantly wiped the smile off Mo Han’s face.
"What if..."
"The future exists only because you believe in it?"
Mo Han blinked.
"What?"
Shen Yu continued calmly.
"If you hadn’t trusted your future echoes just now..."
"Would you have thought of those poems?"
Mo Han froze.
His pupils shrank.
"You mean..."
"My ability..."
"Created that future?"
Shen Yu shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
"But it’s possible."
"You heard the future..."
"So you acted according to it."
"And because you acted..."
"The future became exactly what you heard."
Mo Han immediately denied it.
"No."
"Impossible."
"The future already exists."
"Everything we do is already part of history."
He suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"...Wait."
"How do you know about my ability?"
Shen Yu shrugged casually.
"I guessed."
Then he smiled faintly.
"By the way..."
"What exactly did you hear me say in the future?"
"It’s just the two of us now."
"If we want to survive..."
"I need every clue you’ve got."
This time, Mo Han remained silent.
He stared at Shen Yu for a long moment.
Finally...
He closed his eyes.
A faint glow flickered around his ears.
His talent—
Future Echo.
Activated once again.
Soon, familiar voices drifted into his ears.
"Everyone..."
"Look at me."
"I have something to announce."
Then came the sentence he had heard countless times before.
"We’re all in the same boat."
Mo Han slowly opened his eyes.
His expression was unusually strange.
"...It’s that sentence again."
"The same one."
"The one I heard before entering this instance."
He looked at Shen Yu.
"In that future..."
"You seem to be speaking to a large group of people."
"You tell them..."
’We’re all in this together.’"
Shen Yu frowned.
A large group...?
Who survives until then?
And why would I be addressing them?
He couldn’t understand.
Neither could Mo Han.
"I don’t know."
"That’s all I heard."
He lay back against the wall.
"Lucian and Taishan are gone."
"I’m done taking risks."
"You do whatever you want."
Shen Yu merely glanced at him before standing up.
His attention shifted to the room.
Iron chains were bolted beneath the bed.
A rusty food bowl sat nearby—
The kind used for feeding dogs.
Beside it lay filthy straw soaked with dried blood.
His fists slowly clenched.
"...Beasts."
He didn’t need anyone to explain.
This had to be the place where Yun Han had been imprisoned after being abducted.
How long had she lived here?
How much had she suffered?
Suppressing the anger rising inside him, Shen Yu walked toward the wooden door.
He slowly pushed it open.
Buzz...
Beyond the doorway wasn’t another room.
It was endless darkness.
The void twisted like flowing water.
Within it, countless scenes flashed past at incredible speed.
Villagers mourning a dead son.
Women dragged into the village.
Children crying.
Wedding processions.
Funerals.
Deaths.
More kidnappings.
Years passed in seconds.
Shen Yu inhaled sharply.
"What..."
"What is that?"
Even Mo Han walked over.
He peeked outside before instinctively stepping back.
"The space outside..."
"It’s distorted."
Shen Yu slowly shook his head.
"No."
"It’s not space."
"It’s time."
"We’re moving through different timelines."
"And..."
"I don’t think this is the first time."
His gaze became increasingly solemn.
"If someone can survive until the final timeline..."
"They may be able to carry everyone back when the timeline resets."
"I think..."
"That’s exactly what happened before."
Mo Han looked completely confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"Time travel?"
"A reset?"
Shen Yu simply looked at him.
"I thought you didn’t want to take risks."
"Then stay here."
"If this room truly guarantees your survival..."
"Wait until the last timeline ends."
"As long as one of us survives..."
"The reset should bring everyone back."
Mo Han rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"...Sounds like a symbiotic instance."
"Either everyone survives..."
"Or everyone dies."
Without another word—
Shen Yu stepped into the distorted darkness.
Buzz...
His surroundings blurred.
After several seconds...
His vision became clear once again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunder roared overhead.
Rain poured relentlessly.
The courtyard had become a muddy swamp.
The front door of the main house stood wide open.
Inside the hall hung a framed photograph.
A gaunt young man stood beside Yun Han.
Both wore wedding clothes.
Beneath the photograph rested a memorial tablet.
Three sticks of incense burned quietly before it.
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"...So this..."
"...is the timeline after the joint burial."