Time flowed like a quiet river, its gentle current imperceptibly eroding the banks of memory. Though gaps lingered in Xu Yuan's recollections, their lives had gradually settled into familiar rhythms. Lin Xiaoxia tried not to dwell on Li Mingzhe or the temporal storm—she focused only on cherishing each day with Xu Yuan.
Yet fate often hides its designs in the most unexpected corners.
While sorting through Xu Yuan's old belongings, Lin Xiaoxia discovered a carefully stored wooden box. Its material and carvings bore an uncanny resemblance to the one that had held the pocket watch.
Her pulse quickened. Inside lay no watch, but a peculiar silver ring—antique in design, its inner surface etched with faint runes.
The silver ring.
Future Lin Xiaoxia's warning flashed through her mind: Beware the man who wears silver. Now here it was, nestled among Xu Yuan's possessions.
She studied the runes, their patterns tugging at some half-remembered dream. When she asked Xu Yuan about it, he seemed genuinely perplexed, insisting he'd never seen it before.
Was he lying? Or had time stolen this memory too?
Secretly photographing the ring, she sent the images to Xiaoya for research. The findings chilled her:
The ring traced to an ancient lineage obsessed with mastering time—a family whose sigil was a silver band engraved with specific runes.
The Silver Family.
Grandfather's diary entries flickered through her mind. Had Li Mingzhe merely been one thread in this vast web? And Xu Yuan... what ties did he have to them?
A new fear took root. Just when she thought the storm had passed, shadows gathered once more.
Watching Xu Yuan sleep peacefully beside her, his face untroubled by the looming tempest, Lin Xiaoxia clenched the ring in her palm.
She would venture back into time's labyrinth—for the truth, for him.
Even if it meant losing herself in the mist.
ns3.144.84.11da2
