June 2002, Tainan.Juvenile Detention Center.
The world outside the walls was boiling over.Even through the towering perimeter walls, one could faintly hear the cheers and the clinking of beer bottles from the distance.It was the day of the Korea-Japan World Cup final. The whole world was going mad for Ronaldo and Kahn; everyone was immersed in the carnival brought by football.
"Hey, Cai Junjie, I heard Brazil won! 2-0!" The boy in the same cell shouted excitedly, leaning against the iron bars, mimicking a shooting motion with his hands.
Cai Junjie curled up alone in the shadows of the corner, turning a deaf ear to the heatwave outside the window.His hand tightly gripped a worn red Walkman. It was the only item left by Chen Yunru, passed to him by the lawyer.
On Little New Year's Eve two years ago (2000), she fell from that abandoned building.At that moment, Cai Junjie's time had stopped.What World Cup, what new millennium—it all meant nothing to him.A future without Chen Yunru was nothing but an extended sentence.
"Too strong! Now that's football!"The cheers outside the wall rose wave after wave, like a grand trial, mocking his loneliness.
Cai Junjie, his hands trembling, put on the earphones.He didn't want to hear the happy sounds of this world. He wanted to hide back in the old days, back in that year 2000 where only he and Chen Yunru existed.
He closed his eyes and pressed the play button.
*I've roamed the most colorful gardens, only seeking to be moved**Even if it's the end of the world, asking my heart, I want every second to be thrilling*
Faye Wong's lazy, spontaneous voice instantly filled his eardrums, shutting out the noise from beyond the wall.It was her favorite song, "Amusement Park."In that summer before everything fell apart, they had shared this melody countless times, one earphone each.
"Cai Junjie, if the end of the world really came, what would you want to do?""I want... to just keep listening to songs like this, until the very end."
A burst of static current came through the earphones, and the melody seemed to twist.
"Yunru..."Cai Junjie screamed silently in his heart."I don't want to go to a future without you. I want to see you... I really want to see you."
A strong sensation of dizziness struck in that instant.His body felt as if it were being sucked into a giant vortex; the weightlessness nearly suffocated him.The darkness before his eyes began to spin and distort, finally turning into a blinding white light.
...
"Quansheng! Quansheng, wake up!"
An anxious call came from beside his ear, accompanied by the pungent smell of disinfectant.Not the moldy smell of the detention center, nor the smell of summer sweat.
Cai Junjie opened his eyes abruptly.What came into view was a pristine white hospital ceiling, and a strange middle-aged woman with eyes red from crying.
He subconsciously raised his hand to take off the earphones, only to find his ears empty.Not only that, his left ear... that left ear which originally had normal hearing, was now hearing sounds with abnormal clarity. And his right ear, originally deaf, was actually picking up the clear chirping of birds from outside the window.
What was happening?Wasn't he in the detention center? Wasn't it the summer of 2002?
He struggled to sit up and rushed into the ward's bathroom.The mirror reflected a young, delicate face.
Cai Junjie held his breath sharply.This face...No hearing aid behind the right ear, skin fairer than his, eyes devoid of the despair from undergoing trial, but those facial contours were unmistakably his own!
It was like looking at himself in a parallel universe, one who had never been hurt, never lost his beloved.
Memories flooded into his mind like fragments.Wang Quansheng. 18 years old. 2010.Rescued after accidental drowning.
2010?He had actually crossed eight whole years?
Cai Junjie stared blankly at "himself" in the mirror.The cheers for the World Cup outside the walls seemed to still echo in his ears, yet he was already standing in a future eight years later.Through that Walkman, through that song "Amusement Park," he had borrowed the body of this boy named Wang Quansheng.
Why?Why did heaven make him experience such an absurd thing?
Until a few days later, he saw a photo on Wang Quansheng's computer.It was taken by Wang Quansheng. The background was a university playground, and in the corner stood a girl directing freshmen.
Although her hairstyle had changed, and her temperament had changed, that face...That was the appearance Chen Yunru had countless times longed to become in her dreams.That was Huang Yuxuan.
A bolt of lightning struck Cai Junjie.He remembered the descriptions of "another self" in Chen Yunru's diary.He remembered the beginning and end of it all.
The Walkman. The cassette tape. The time travel.And a Wang Quansheng who looked like him, and a Huang Yuxuan who looked like Chen Yunru.
So, none of this was accidental.His desperate prayer in 2002 had been answered.
Heaven let him come to 2010, let him become Wang Quansheng, not to let him escape his sentence.But to let him meet Huang Yuxuan.To make Huang Yuxuan fall in love with this Wang Quansheng who "looks like Cai Junjie."And then, through Huang Yuxuan's hand, using that Walkman, return to the year 2000.
To save Chen Yunru.
Cai Junjie looked at the familiar yet strange face in the mirror and slowly clenched his fists.Tears slid from the corners of his eyes, but he began to laugh.
"Yunru, I found the way to save you.""Since the world didn't end, I will build a new future for you in this new century.""Even if I have to spend a lifetime acting, I will make sure you survive."
He wiped his tears, his gaze becoming more determined than ever before.From today on, Cai Junjie is Wang Quansheng.He will carry this secret, walking alone in this time and space, until—
Until the day the loop is complete.Until he can change that tragic night with his own hands.