Chapter Eight: The Door to Nowhere

1. A Step Beyond Reality

Lin Ge's fingers hovered over the door.

It looked ordinary. Painted white, smooth, unmarked by time.

But he knew better.

This was no ordinary door.

It had appeared without explanation, in a world that was supposed to be fixed.

A remnant of the past. A shadow of the loop.

A test.

Behind him, Qiu Qian was still watching, arms crossed. "Lin Ge, there's nothing there."

Her voice was laced with concern.

Lin Ge's throat tightened. "I see it."

Qiu Qian hesitated. "Then maybe…"

Maybe you're imagining it.

She didn't say it out loud, but Lin Ge could hear it in her silence.

He turned back to the door.

If he walked away, could he pretend this never happened?

Could he ignore the whispering voice beyond it, the static hum of something unfinished?

No.

Because deep down, he had always known—

The past never let go so easily.

He had to see what was on the other side.

Lin Ge's hand gripped the edge of the door.

And he pulled.

---

2. The Space Between Time

The door swung open without resistance.

And beyond it—

Darkness.

Not the absence of light, but something deeper.

A void. A space where time had unraveled.

Lin Ge's breath caught.

This wasn't just another loop.

It was the place between loops.

Where lost moments gathered. Where echoes of forgotten timelines drifted.

Where the pieces of people who had never escaped still remained.

And in the center of it all—

A single figure stood, waiting.

Lin Ge's pulse pounded.

Because he recognized them.

A man. Late twenties, dressed in familiar clothes.

A man who had been erased from the timeline long ago.

Lin Ge whispered his name.

"…Zhou Wen?"

The figure's head lifted.

And his eyes—empty, distant, hollow—locked onto Lin Ge's.

Lin Ge shivered.

Because this wasn't just a ghost of the past.

This was a man who had never made it out.

A man who had been trapped between time itself.

A man who should not exist.

---

3. The Ones Who Were Left Behind

Zhou Wen's voice was a whisper.

"You're still here."

Lin Ge swallowed. "I thought you—"

"Died?" Zhou Wen finished. "I did."

Lin Ge's chest tightened. "Then how—"

"I never made it out."

Lin Ge's breath caught.

Of all the people who had been part of the endless time loops, not everyone had survived.

When the loop had finally broken, some had simply vanished.

But now—

He realized they hadn't just disappeared.

They had fallen through the cracks.

Lin Ge's throat went dry. "How many of you are here?"

Zhou Wen's gaze darkened. "Too many."

Lin Ge's heart pounded.

This wasn't over.

The past wasn't done with them yet.

---

4. A Choice With No Right Answer

A whisper echoed through the void.

Low, distant. A voice with no owner.

"Fix it."

Lin Ge flinched. "What?"

The voice came again, like wind rushing through an empty corridor.

"Fix what is broken."

Lin Ge turned to Zhou Wen. "What does it mean?"

Zhou Wen's expression was grim.

"It means that the timeline isn't stable. That the people who were erased still exist—trapped in this place, unable to move forward."

Lin Ge felt a cold weight settle in his chest.

Zhou Wen took a slow step forward. "If we leave them here, they'll never be able to rest."

Lin Ge exhaled shakily. "Then what do we do?"

Zhou Wen's gaze was steady. "There's only one way."

Lin Ge hesitated. "You mean—"

Zhou Wen nodded.

"We have to undo the final reset."

Lin Ge's blood turned to ice.

Undo the reset.

Bring back the loop.

Everything they had fought to escape—

Every sacrifice, every loss, every moment of suffering—

Would begin again.

Lin Ge shook his head. "No. There has to be another way."

Zhou Wen's expression was unreadable. "Is there?"

Lin Ge turned, looking into the endless void.

The shadows stirred. Shapes began to take form—faces, voices, memories of people who had been lost.

A woman who had died in a past loop.

A child who had never grown up.

A man who had sacrificed himself for a future that no longer remembered him.

They were here, waiting.

Trapped in a moment that time refused to let go.

Lin Ge's hands trembled.

Was he really supposed to destroy everything they had built?

Or was he supposed to walk away and leave them behind?

There was no right answer.

No easy choice.

Only one final decision.

And Lin Ge knew—whatever he chose, he would have to live with it forever.

---

5. The Final Decision

A breath.

A heartbeat.

Then—

Lin Ge turned to Zhou Wen.

And he spoke the words that would change everything.

"I know what I have to do."

Zhou Wen's expression didn't change. "Are you sure?"

Lin Ge nodded.

He had spent lifetimes trapped in time.

And now, standing at the edge of existence itself, he finally understood.

This wasn't just about fixing the past.

It was about accepting the consequences of moving forward.

Lin Ge turned back to the void.

To the whispers calling his name.

To the door he had stepped through.

And then—

He reached for the reset switch one last time.

Because sometimes—

To truly break free of the past—

You had to let go of it completely.