Echoes

The world flickered.

Lin Wei's breath came ragged and uneven as he staggered through the remains of the abandoned factory. His body felt like it had been shattered and hastily pieced back together, but his mind—his mind was worse.

The distortion had changed something. The moment he activated Time Manipulation Lv.2 to escape the enforcers, reality had twisted. His vision still swam with echoes of the past, like fragmented film reels overlapping. One moment, the factory was intact, machinery humming; the next, it was a ruin, hollowed out by years of decay.

His status screen pulsed erratically in the corner of his vision.

[System Error Detected]

[Timeflow Integrity Compromised]

[Recalibrating...]

Lin Wei pressed a hand to his temple. He had pushed his ability too far. The first time he slowed time, it had lasted only seconds. This time, it had nearly ripped him apart.

The sound of footsteps echoed behind him.

He spun, fists clenched, but what he saw was impossible.

Two versions of the same person stepped into the dim light—himself.

One Lin Wei looked the same, bloodied but determined. The other was... off. The second figure wore an older version of his jacket, tattered and burned, his eyes hollow with exhaustion. But the resemblance was undeniable.

"You're seeing it, aren't you?" the older version spoke first, voice rough like he hadn't used it in years.

Lin Wei swallowed, his throat dry. "Seeing what?"

"The fractures."

Before he could react, a new System alert blared across his vision.

[New Status Alert: Timeline Anomaly Detected]

[Cause: User's Temporal Disruption]

[Solution: Eliminate the Duplicate or Face Erasure]

Lin Wei's stomach twisted.

"What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

The older version sighed. "This is what happens when you push time beyond its limits. I told myself I wouldn't interfere, but… here we are."

Lin Wei took a step back, muscles tensed. "You're saying you're me. From the future?"

"Not exactly," the older version muttered. "I'm a failed iteration. One where I made the wrong choice."

Lin Wei's blood ran cold. He had no reason to believe him—no reason to trust this impossible apparition. But the weight in his voice, the way he carried himself, it was all too real.

The alert flickered again.

[Eliminate the Duplicate or Face Erasure]

[Time Remaining: 00:57]

Lin Wei clenched his jaw. "If I don't do anything?"

His older self let out a hollow laugh. "You and I get erased together."

The enforcers were one thing. But this? This was something far worse.

Lin Wei's heartbeat pounded as the seconds ticked down. There had to be another way. There was always another way.

"You hesitated," his future self said, stepping forward. "That's your problem. You think you can always cheat fate. That's what got me—got you—killed."

Lin Wei ignored him, forcing his brain to work through the pain. Could he manipulate time again? Could he push it just enough to reset this choice?

The moment he thought it, the System reacted.

[New Ability Unlocked: Temporal Divergence Lv.1]

[Create a Branching Timeline at the Cost of System Stability]

Lin Wei barely had time to process the notification before the factory around them began to distort. The walls shuddered, metal groaning as time itself warped. The countdown dropped to ten seconds.

The older Lin Wei's eyes widened in shock. "You—no, you shouldn't be able to do that yet!"

Lin Wei didn't wait to hear more. He focused, letting the new ability take hold.

The world rippled—

And then there were two choices.

One reality fractured into two distinct paths, hanging in the air like twin possibilities waiting to solidify.

In the first path, Lin Wei raised his fist, ready to strike down the older version of himself.

In the second, he stepped back, rejecting the choice entirely.

He chose neither.

Instead, he reached into the fracture itself.

The world shattered.

Blinding light consumed his vision, a whirlwind of colors and sound surging through his mind. His body felt like it was being torn apart at the seams, stretching across time itself.

The last thing he heard before the world blinked out was his older self's voice, panicked.

"You don't understand what you've just done!"

Then—darkness.