Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Hunter of Time and Space

“Hey, Little Sis? What are you up to?” A man standing by the roadside called out to the young woman watching the noodle chef. Her lower half was clad in denim shorts, her shoulders bare under a strappy top, and her jet-black hair flowed down to her waist, a striking contrast to her pale skin. Her curves rose and fell, alluring and captivating many gazes. She possessed a deceptive beauty much like Lingmei’s, but her demeanor was calm and reserved. At this moment, it seemed half the crowd was here for the noodles, while the other half watched her.

“What do you want? I’m waiting for my noodles!” The sultry young woman answered impatiently, her words colored by a strong Sichuan dialect. “Leave me alone! So annoying!” The crowd marveled, “Spicy girl!” Her name was Qin Qing.

“I’m here for the noodles!” The speaker was her classmate, Liu Lang. Using their shared hometown as an excuse, he always tried to get close to her, but Qin Qing disliked him and constantly avoided his advances.

“Fine, I won’t eat then! So annoying!” Qin Qing turned to leave.

“Wait, wait… Oh, alright, go then.” Liu Lang was about to chase after her, but the noodle chef’s wife caught his attention. Truly, the hunger of youth knows no bounds.

“Ugh, pervert! Don’t bother me from now on,” Qin Qing muttered, annoyed that such a person was her fellow townsman and classmate. “Ah… such is fate! No, I must teach him a lesson!” Qin Qing thought to herself, and acted at once.

From a distance, Qin Qing flashed a mischievous smile. Meanwhile, something strange happened—each noodle, after falling into the pot, bounced directly onto Liu Lang’s head, as if skipping stones across a lake, splashing him with water.

“Ah!… Help!” Even the chef, Lei Ming, was baffled. He hadn’t used any force, and the mist in his hand hadn’t changed. He realized something was wrong with the pot; most of his mist was evaporating with the noodles.

“Be careful, everyone. Please sit in your seats; your noodles might fall into the pot. Look at this student!” The chef’s wife was angry, though not overly so—perhaps because she noticed Lei Ming’s muscular build.

“Hey, hey, could you stay back a bit? You’re dropping everything in the pot! Hahaha!” The chef’s wife scolded Liu Lang, and the crowd burst into laughter. Lei Ming was genuinely puzzled, but with the chef’s wife defending him, he felt quite pleased.

“What? I’m falling into the pot? I… I…” Liu Lang seemed ready to erupt like a volcano. But as he stepped forward to argue, he tripped over his shoelaces and fell flat on his face, humiliating and infuriating him, while the crowd laughed so hard some clutched their stomachs, exclaiming, “My stomach hurts, my stomach hurts, oh my, it hurts!”

Qin Qing, watching from afar, stomped her foot. “You got off easy today. Next time, I’ll torment you!” Then she sighed and shook her head. “Brother Ming, it’s been so long since I last saw you. What have you been busy with all these years? I want to tell you everything, but I’m afraid you’ll be scared. Oh, it’s so troubling!” Qin Qing picked up her phone, wanting to dial, but pressed the lock button instead. Was she unsure what to say, or had she simply grown used to being alone? These years, she had become accustomed to solitude.

Qin Qing walked on, sighing, gradually sinking into her memories.

It was during her first semester of college. She loved watching stars and the blue moon. Once, she cleverly avoided the fierce dorm manager’s surveillance, carrying her telescope bought online for fifteen hundred yuan, happily climbing to the rooftop, hoping her month’s savings would let her see Saturn. Disappointment struck; she stamped her feet in frustration. “Why can’t I see anything? Was I cheated? Why?” Alone on the rooftop, a girl with no experience, thinking it would be foolproof, found out she needed to calibrate the telescope.

“Brother Ming, if only you were here. You always helped me growing up! Oh…” Qin Qing worked the telescope miserably. “Ah! I see it! I see it! Is this the moon? This time, I’ll take a beautiful picture for Brother Ming.” She was thrilled. But the next moment, confusion clouded her mind.

She saw a flawless white disk, from whose crater emerged a tiny red spot, rapidly expanding until the entire moon was dyed crimson. “What is this? Blood-red moon!” Terrified, Qin Qing dared not look through the telescope again, instinctively gazing up at the night sky. She saw the true blood moon. “What’s happening?” she wondered.

“Student! Up to the rooftop again? It’s dangerous, get down now! Or tomorrow I’ll report you to the department head!” The fierce dorm manager threatened Qin Qing.

“Ah… Fine.” Qin Qing packed up her telescope. Luckily, she had managed to take a picture, intending to print it and send it to Brother Ming.

“Can you hurry up? I’ll give you ten seconds or I’m locking the door!” the dorm manager snapped. Winter nights made her irritable with students running up to the rooftop.

“Wait a bit longer, I haven’t finished packing!” Qin Qing begged pitifully. The dorm manager, furious, slammed the door, locking Qin Qing out on the rooftop in her pajamas. The winter wind chilled her to the bone. “Wretched manager! Always bullying me! Hmph…” Qin Qing cursed her repeatedly.

Who knows how much time passed—perhaps she was half frozen. Red orbs of light floated toward her, as if they were the blood moon’s children. She reached to touch them, and as they made contact, they entered her body, absorbed by her. She felt warmth and lightness. The surrounding walls seemed transparent; she saw distant train drivers, lunar dust, and even memories of Brother Ming flying kites with her as a child.

“What’s happening to me? Am I dreaming? Am I dead?” Qin Qing wondered, recalling tales of seeing strange things after death.

She stood up shakily, touched her head, and looked at the locked rooftop door—she could pass straight through it.

“What’s this? Am I dead? Brother Ming, I’m scared,” Qin Qing thought herself a spirit. “Wait… ghosts don’t cast shadows, do they? Why do I have one?” She stopped crying. Turning, she saw the fierce dorm manager, and stepped back in fright.

“Student, are you coming or not? Fine, I’ll open the door!” The dorm manager opened up, letting Qin Qing inside, perhaps worried about being held responsible for an accident. “Hey… Are you alright? Don’t scare me!” The manager, seeing Qin Qing’s blank stare, was terrified.

“I… I…” Qin Qing managed, then collapsed.

“Help! Call an ambulance!” The dorm manager realized she was in trouble, sweat beading on her brow.

The blare of a car horn jolted Qin Qing from her reverie. “Trying to get yourself killed? If you weren’t pretty, I’d…” a domineering driver shouted, likely suffering from road rage.

“Sorry!!!!” Qin Qing, initially frightened, was provoked by his words, her tone souring and her pure appearance marred.

“Brother Ming, where are you? I wish I could show you. Then you wouldn’t have to steal milk, fruit, and ice cream from the supermarket for me anymore!” Qin Qing lowered her head in regret, sighing all the way.

Since that strange night on the rooftop, she could go anywhere at will. Most importantly, after losing her wallet and phone, she found she could retrieve them by simply wishing for it—following herself through the streets. At first, she was anxious, then realized she was the one stalking herself, laughing at her own confusion.

Once, someone stole her phone containing photos and memories for Brother Ming. The thief refused to return it, threatening her if she reported him. Qin Qing was troubled for days, and spent ten days jumping through moments in time, confronting the thief when he was still a child committing his first crime. When she returned to her timeline, she finally got her phone back, as the theft never happened. From then on, she called herself the Time Hunter.

Whenever she missed Brother Ming, she would visit various points in time to secretly watch him. She often went on dates with herself, watched movies, had meals together, leading classmates to believe they were twin sisters.

Turning around, Qin Qing saw herself again, knowing something odd was happening—it meant she was overlapping in time. The two exchanged smiles, then walked hand in hand, chatting. Suddenly, a voice interrupted.

“Hey, you two sisters again? Hmm, I still like Little Sis. Big Sis, do you agree to us dating?” It was Liu Lang, shameless as ever.

“Persistent ghost! No way!” Qin Qing was exasperated, but her “sister” said, “Don’t worry, soon he’ll stop following us.” Qin Qing stared at her, guessing what was about to happen.

“Stop right there!” A group, steel pipes in hand, chased after them.

“Oh no! Little Sis, I’m outta here, mwah… bye!” Liu Lang ran in terror.

“Disgusting, but haha! See?” her “sister” laughed.

“What happened?” Qin Qing asked. Her identical “sister” whispered in her ear, and both burst out laughing.

It turned out Liu Lang had caused a scene at the restaurant, knocking over a customer’s noodles. The customer’s friends demanded compensation, and Liu Lang fled.

“Want to go see what happened?” her sister asked.

“You know I never will. Every time you ask, you know I won’t go,” Qin Qing replied, resigned to her own dullness. The two walked together toward the school.