#LOOK AT QIAO LING TOO

[spilledstars1234]

New Link Click Official Art for exceeding over 600 Million Views!

[doublxpresso]

joining the trend 📸

[juthemagicalclown]

shout-out to my queen qiao ling for that slap. iconic priceless heartfelt satisfying brave elegant strong beautiful graceful confident assertive dominating-

[mobtism]

hoooooollllyyyyy fuuuckk....... holy fucking SHIT Link Click was SO FUCKING GOOD

[anulithots]

We as a society need more Qiao LIng analysis. So here I am.

Qiao Ling and how she represents the present day in a time travel show

In terms of the trio in a time travel show, Qiao Ling represents the present day. She deals with clients to bring to the time photo studio (I hope I got the name right), comforts Li Tianxi (in comparison to CXS empathizing with her through diving into the past), and overall (especially in season two) is best with interacting with people in the present day, and remains the most levelheaded

(Lu Guang’s too overprotective to be the logical one here)

And this slotted nicely with each member of the trio representing past present and future (what they are most comfortable with/find comfort in)…

until this (s1ep7):

Which makes her seem like her internal conflict revolves around the past, yes?

Okay now partially because I want to draw attention to this screenshot:

(CXS is soooo sad here and Lu Guang can’t even look. I sob I cri)

Okay so part of the reason CXS looks like this is because it’s post episode 5 and more than anything else he UNDERSTANDS regretting the past

But here Qiao Ling isn’t regretting her life, she isn’t searching for some way to fix it and relive herself of the pain of the past like CXS does, she’s trying to escape it

THEREFORE! Qiao Ling is still ‘present day focused’. She shuns the past, attempts to avoid it, so that she can stay content in the present day.

Which directly parallels CXS (so siblings of them) in how they view the past and the pain that comes with it. CXS actively tries to fix it and give himself/those he possesses the solace and love he lost, whereas Qiao Ling tries to avoid her regret through keeping away the reminders of the past, so that she may be more useful/happier in the present day.

IN FACT! (see boba tea screenshots above) Qiao Ling does tend to look at any issues (usually resulting from the past) and look to present comforts and pleasures to keep everyone happy.

(Again paralleling both CXS and Lu Guang, who do this with the past and future respectively)

(also how CXS has Qiao Ling to comfort him and keep him going in both season two and here in episodes six and seven when she talks about Doudou

They are so siblings I can’ttttttt)

[pastorfutureletthembe]

I actually started this blog for one post only. The theory is that the story we are following is currently the 5th timeline.

I would need to watch the donghua again to find hints in the show itself but for now this post is exclusively about the content we keep getting served as fanservice. Now, people nowadays see this word as negative but in this particular case, we are evidently caught in an ARG (Alternative Reality Game), which is AWESOME.

For those who aren't familiar with the concept, it is basically a treasure hunt outside of the original media. For example, if you gather enough clues during your playthroughs of OXENFREE, you'll find the coordinates of an actual place where a real object, a gift FOR FANS was hidden. In the context of Link Click, I believe the rules and answers regarding the worldbuilding are hidden in plainsight for us to discover!

I will make different posts on the clues in lyrics, but for now we're gonna have a talk about VISUALS only. And boy, do we have THINGS to talk about

First things first, let's start with

>>>>> Promotional posters.

I'm opening this analysis with this particular one because it is the most relevant to current events. Black circles are V and white ones are IV. The huge clock is the background isn't supposed to be oriented this way for starters. One V is where XII should be, which could mean our journey starts here. The other V is between Cheng Xiaoshi and Li Tianxi, on the light side, while both VI are on the dark side. Every other VI on this artwork is a broken piece taken out of a quadrant except for the one on the right near Qiao Ling which is still part of the biggest piece.

It is interesting that we don't see any clockhands here, only the quadrant, and the only whole number is 5, ONLY on CXS's introduction.

Not so subtil, the mirror or "painting" is labeled 'V'. Lu Guang is also looking directly at US, viewers.

Probably five lines of five x but we only see 3, of which only the first one got 5x. Four diformed shapes can be seen at LG's left, under V/VI, which could be the four previous failed timelines. You might notice that LINK CLICK is written 5times. The clock says 00:05. Oh, familiar, isnt it?

As you can see, the V is a light in the darkess at Lu Guang's feet. it is a broken piece, though. The fact it is the enlighted one could mean two things. 1) It marks the spot, where we're currently at. 2) Hope. I would argue that until then Cheng Xiaoshi always died and now, at the end of season 2, Lu Guang is in the dark because he never went that far.

VI is there too, in complete darkness, blocked from view by a ring. There is something to say about VII being completely obliterated but I honeslty don't know how meaningful that could be.

>>> It is my understanding that if a character change the past, it breaks the timeline. Past changed, present and future cannot be the same ever again. It doesn't create a new timeline like in MARVEL, there is actually no going back from a changing node, it unravels this world. Either it already happened, allegedly because of Lu Guang, or will happen in the next season, we can suppose that Timeline VI is the actual doomed one. The fact Cheng Xiaoshi is trapped is relevant too. Destroying Present and Future would trapped him in the Past, hence Come back from the dive back in time.

>>>>> Dive Back in Time

There are many things to say about this one, but I'll keep it simple since it's already a long post. Let's start with something a bit out of topic: colors. Why? It actually indicates that LG isn't from the same timeline than CXS and QL. And I swear it would be useful at the end of this post.

Blue and Red are on the same plan, no matter if we're talking about RGB or CMYK, but Green and Magenta are not. It's like CXS and QL are anchoring LG in this reality, but Magenta is not supposed to be part of the mix. Primary colors in photography are Red, Blue and Green; not Magenta. Since we're talking about photography and this is not the original timeline, I think it is intended.

I'll leave the count of squares to you (spoiler: either 5 or 3 (I'll explain this one in another post) :D).

>>>>> Overthink

I recommend you read this glorious meta about this ending. I'll just "correct" mimicha on one point:

The way the hands are "cutting a piece" of the clock; just like in the promotional poster for Train Trail. It indicates 5. I'll also add this one:

If you look carefully, you'll see two words: TIME PARADOX. As said above, a paradox should NOT be possible with the rules LC gave us so far, but it could be related to the possible 6th doomed timeline. The "dark side" could try and make it happen. Just food for thoughts.

If you want more meta on OPs/ENDs, I recommend you also watch this glorious analysis. That's all I have to say for this one regarding the number 5.

>>>>> VORTEX

Not much to say, except for this "blink and you'll miss it" screenshot. If I missed anything, feel free to share with the class!

THE TIDES has, sadly, nothing to offer on this current topic!

>>>>> 3rd Anniversary: Surprising Click

Oh boy, do I have THINGS to say. Don't be surprised when I'll make another post about this Link Click monument haha. Note: 5 PVs were prepared for this anniversary. Coincidence? (I think not).

N O W A N D F O R E V E R

The only 5 clue I found is what looks like a clock with one hand going backwards, from X to IV, it appears while the chorus is playing. That might be a bit farfetched but I'd mention it for archives purpose anyway.

B R E A K

I won't be a smartass by pointing out BREAK is a five letters word but- okay that's infuriating of them if it is on purpose.

Most of it is obvious, the same logic applies, except for the cogs and hourglasses, we see four of each falling. Since LG's shadow/light goes from IV to V, it's safe to assume that those symbolize the four failed/achieved timelines. The ones left behind. I'll probably post something about cogs and hourglasses one day.

A last one, for the road:

S U R P R I S I N G C L I C K

You should take a look at this fan's brain! They did a wonderful work. I already had this part prepared so I'm still gonna share the obvious. Five mics ("time is like music"), and five letters (with photographs inside I'm guessing). Magenta and Green are very flashy in this one.

Oh, here are LG's five magenta squares from Dive Back in Time ;D

Four failed timelines/tasks, and... loading the first out of three chances. (Again, I can't address everything in one post, this one will have a long meta on his own, don't worry :D)

T R A I N T R I A L

Two occurances worth mentionning. Once again, V is the only timeline enlighted.

B U R N I N G P A L A C E

Many things are happening in this one but only one regarding our current meta. If you pay attention, you'll see it several times, while the chorus is playing:

x x x x x

Now, if you remember correctly, green is the exact chromatic opposite, the complementary color of magenta. They aren't on the same plan (primary vs secondary)/from the same timeline. Usually, they color Lu Guang but here, there is no magenta and no Lu Guang. With this in mind, could it be the paradox OVERTHINK warned us about? We can only assume Vein is from the same original timeline as LG. Red and Green are primary colors so yeah, we'll see.

That's all for today folks!

I had this brainworm eating at my life for weeks so I'm very happy that it is finally out there.

| Part 2 |

[anne-bsd-bibliophile]

Spoilers for Thousand Autumns Volumes 3 and 4!!!

I didn't pay attention to it the first time I read Thousand Autumns, but during my reread it's obvious that Xie Ling and A-Yan knew that Yan Wushi loved Shen Qiao from the start.

Art by @_Konia_; reposted with permission.

It's fairly obvious that Xie Ling is infatuated with Shen Qiao immediately because his gaze never leaves Shen Qiao and Xie Ling trusts him completely:

Yan Wushi only looked at him, his eyes filled entirely with Shen Qiao’s reflection. “I’ll be taking your pulse.” Shen Qiao lifted his wrist, and Yan Wushi didn’t respond to that either, letting Shen Qiao handle him as he wished. But his eyes remained fixed on Shen Qiao—whether Shen Qiao was hunched over or sitting upright, Yan Wushi’s gaze never left him. ...Just as Shen Qiao was furrowing his brows and pondering, Yan Wushi suddenly smiled at him. This smile was different from those faint half smiles from the past, and lacked any sense of sarcasm, ridicule, or unbridled arrogance. It was simply a smile, nothing more, as if it weren’t Shen Qiao in front of him, but a beautiful flower. (vol. 3, pg. 85-6)

A-Yan tells Shen Qiao, "...I understand why my previous self treated you the way he did. He’s a paranoid person at heart, someone who’d never trust anyone else. No matter how good you are, he’d always want to bring out the darkness hidden within you. But he doesn’t know that you are you. There may be hundreds of thousands of Chen Gongs in this world, but there is only one Shen Qiao." (vol. 3, pg. 135)

Yan Wushi notices that, "There was still a hint of remaining warmth within his chest, left there by Xie Ling and A-Yan, from their feelings whenever they thought about Shen Qiao. But at this moment, Yan Wushi forcefully wiped it away..." He doesn't consider the the thoughts and feelings from the other parts of his personality to be his own." (vol. 3, pg. 142)

There's also the scene where Xie Ling tries to kiss Shen Qiao:

...Yan Wushi abruptly seized Shen Qiao’s neck, then he threw himself closer and bit down on his lips! In pain, Shen Qiao snaked his arm around Yan Wushi’s neck and struck hard. The other man fell limply on top of him. It was finally quiet. Shen Qiao let out a sigh of relief. He picked up Yan Wushi’s wrist and felt it, then let out a gasp of surprise. If the man had just been in the throes of qi deviation earlier, then now, only a short time later, his pulse had completely calmed. In contrast, his life force even seemed to be thriving? (vol. 3, pg. 225)

When Yan Wushi is back to his normal personality, he commented on the unskilled kiss: "What, did Xie Ling even forget how to kiss someone after losing most of my memories? He was so impatient he even bit you?" (vol. 3, pg. 232) Yan Wushi knows immediately that Xie Ling has feelings for Shen Qiao, but he doesn't realize his own feelings yet.

Later, Yan Wushi admits to himself that Xie Ling and A-Yan's thoughts where his own as well, and that's what leads to the confession scene:

Yan Wushi smiled but didn’t speak. Before, he’d loathed “Xie Ling’s” influence, thinking that those thoughts weren’t his own. He’d tried to suppress that strange feeling numerous times, and he’d believed that the moment he repaired the flaw in the demonic core, that feeling would vanish with it. He hadn’t expected that Shen Qiao’s smile would reawaken everything. He was unwilling to admit that he, who’d looked down upon everyone in the world, would one day find that a name had wormed its way into his heart. Human hearts were filled with malice. Some people were traitors, turning their backs on all integrity; some were ingrates, repaying kindness with enmity. There were also those who’d abandon their spouses, who were willing to do anything for wealth and glory. Yan Wushi had seen many, and he’d thought nothing of them because he, too, was a selfish, callous human. He only categorized things based on whether they deserved his notice, and to him, there were no actions that fell beyond a line that could not be crossed. However, now Yan Wushi was forced to admit that Shen Qiao was unique and that he couldn’t change him. Though the world was vast, there was still only one Shen Qiao. “My venerable self suddenly thought of something amusing,” he said. “Would you like to listen?” “No,” said Shen Qiao. Yan Wushi turned a deaf ear and started talking anyway. “Once upon a time, there was a man who found a stone in a heap of gold and jewels.” Shen Qiao’s mouth twitched. Didn’t he just say that he didn’t want to listen? “But he couldn’t believe that it was only an ordinary stone. He thought that since it’d been piled together with the mass of treasures in that room, it must also be a treasure. So, he brought it everywhere with him, and even had it examined and polished by many. But every single person, without exception, told him that it was only an ordinary stone, that there was nothing special about it. Guess what happened in the end?” Shen Qiao’s face was both lost and bewildered. “In the end, he finally believed that it was indeed a worthless stone. But in his eyes, compared to the room full of gold and silver treasure, even if it was only a stone, it was still one of a kind—a stone out of a million.” Shen Qiao was silent. Why did this story sound so bizarre? It was indeed unusual to hear such a normal story from such an abnormal person. He couldn’t help but say, “Even thousands of gold pieces cannot purchase happiness. Some people care little for wealth—they only wish to seek out things that other people find worthless. In my opinion, that man already liked that stone more than the other jewels and treasures, but he was trapped by his preconceptions and unwilling to admit it.” Yan Wushi laughed. “That’s true, you’re very correct. Thousands of gold pieces cannot purchase happiness." There seemed to be a deep significance within these words. (vol. 4, pg. 58-60)

[g1ngerbeer]

"cheng xiaoshi fuckin dies incident" aka "photos taken 5 seconds before the nurse comes back and kills all of them" aka "captain xiao struggletweets" aka "world's normalest game of sheng ji"

sorry captain xiao i literally just wanted to draw qiao ling and cheng xiaoshi beating each other up while playing sheng ji so i thought to myself "hm, who's the funniest non-evil person they could possibly pull in as a fourth." truly they could have gotten literally anyone else whos actually a friend who hangs out with them regularly but nooo it's gotta be "captain xiao's been looking stressed recently" "it's probably because he has to arrest his former best friend and think about all the horrible things that guy has done and how he didn't realize qian jin was a terrible person until it was too late" "WE SHOULD INVITE HIM TO PLAY CARDS SO HE CAN GET TO RELAX A BIT" (spoiler alert. he did not get to relax.)

he isn't actually bad at the game it's simply that 1: he's had a really rough week and 2: he's playing with this group for the first time so he doesn't know how they think but unfortunately for him shiguangling are FAR too codependent and inside each others' heads to not be excessively familiar with each others' typical strategies and over-plan accordingly

[snalsupremacy]

Things I got from re-watching the s2 op way too many times

Spoilers for all of s2

ok, so the items inside the claw machine are an unintelligible photo, the pink bear, a Gameboy, and later a gun and a notebook can also be seen. Imma be so real I have no idea what the Gameboy and Notebook mean.

Though it's psychedelic, the liquid pouring out of cheng xiaoshi is def supposed to be blood

I have no idea which scene this photo is referring to. Could it be one of cheng xiaoshi's unseen deaths?

this frame drives me insane. WHY IS LU GUANG SMILING? IS HE SMILING? AM I READING TOO MUCH INTO IT? IT DEFINITELY LOOKS LIKE A SMILE BUT IDK MAYBE IM OVERTHINKING (pun intended)

The pink bear can actually be seen in xixi's hand! And since she was reaching for Cheng Xiaoshi, I can only assume that this op is saying that he and the plushie bear are symbolically the same

which makes this schene the more confusing to me. Is the horse skeleton thing supposed to symbolize death? Is the way it rips out of the plushie bear a way to represent how it is inevitable that cheng xiaoshi will die?

for some reason it took me a million rewatches to realize this giant metal thing is the claw from the claw machine, once again showing that the bear and him are the same

There's a very brief shot in which we can see Emma, Qiao Ling, Lu Guang, and Qian Jin all watching Cheng Xiaoshi fall.

Other stuff I noticed:

In the first half of the op the video is reversed while the song is normal, but once lg and cxs touch the video goes back to normal and the audio reverses. I think this is used to symbolize how they are experiencing time differently

Someone else pointed this out already, but while in the first op they are "diving" back in time, in this one they are straight-up drowning, showing how they lost control

The lyrics are 100% from Lu Guangs POV:

Take back all my regrets And camouflage it like your silhouette

^Lu Guang pretending that he doesn't know cxs is dead

Time is like music Play it 'til the end and then reset

^Lu Guang resetting the timeline every time cxs dies

Knowing it all, am I destined to fall? Like once you did for me

^ Despite knowing what will happen, Lu Guang continues to fail to stop his death

I think everyone noticed this but once Li Tianxi and Li Tianchen's identities are revealed, the hood comes off from the op and their faces are visible. Ops that change midway through to reflect the change in plot>>>>>>>

Conclusion

I'm really not that good in analysis and this op fascinates me just as much as it confuses me. Why is Qiao Ling turning her back on Cheng Xiaoshi's fall?? Why is Lu Guang's face not visible when they try to reach for each other?? What the hell is that notebookk😭what crime scene is in the photo?! So many questions and I genuinely don't know if they are supposed to be un-answered or if I'm just stupid(┬┬﹏┬┬)

Anyway this is my fave op ever. of all animated shows I've seen. and I've watched a lot man. yeah.

[spilledstars1234]

LINK CLICKERS WE WON

NEW ALBUM THIS MONTH???? MORE SONGS????

I CANNOT WAIT TO HEAR ALL THE NEW OFFICIAL SONGS!!! IM SO EXCITED RN

anyways, heres some of my (slightly unhinged) thoughts abt this pv...enjoy!

I do NOT like where this is heading...LOOK AT THEIR SHADOWS IS THAT DEMON LU GUANG??? WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON LIKE WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!?! IM GETTING VERY BAD FEELINGS ABT THIS-

BUT AHHHH QIAO LING SHES SO PRETTYYY I LOVE HER!!!

AND HER NAILS TOO!!! WE NEED TO TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE OUR QUEEN'S NAILS BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST SO GORGEOUS!!!

QIAO LING AND CXS' SIBLING BANTER IS EVERYTHING AHHHHH LOOK AT THEMMM !!! I LOVE THEM SM

I MISS THEM SOO SO MUCH AUWAHHH !!

LI TIANXI IN THE BACK AUGHH SHES SO ADORABLE (I can almost, almost forget abt what happened to her...sobs)

also the "game over" sign behind the twins is way, WAY too fitting... (sobs again)

...ANYWAYS, LET'S JUST NOT THINK ABT THAT RIGHT NOW! MOVING ON!

LOOK AT LI TIANCHEN SJHFK HES SO SILLY I CANT (i can almost forget abt all the stuff he's done in the show...)

LIU XIAO OML OML LIU XIAO DEAR GOD LIU XIAO ASJHDK!!! WOAH!!! HES SO FINE ??!?!?!?!?!? LIKE?!?!?!?!? HELLO????? HELLO MY GOOD SIR???!!?!?! (yes i AM in fact malfunctioning XD)

LOOK AT THEMMM I LOVE THIS TRIO SO MUCHHHH UGHHH THEYRE SO CUTEEEEE

ALSO THE RED HAIRED GUY GOT A FACE REVEAL??? OML HE IS SO FINE OHMYGOD

AND THE BLOND GUY FROM BEFORE IS BEHIND HIM, HES SO HANDSOME TOO GSJHKJFS

AND THEN LIU XIAO ON THE OTHER SIDE TO ADD ONTO IT-

UGH

ALL OF THEM

THEY ARE ALL SO FINE KJSFDGJ

AND THIS LOOKS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS I CANNOT WAIT

ALSO THIS BEING DURING PRIDE MONTH???? THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING OML THEY KNOW

[mykingdomforapen]

Remember how I said I'm not done yet with the world of 'courage of stars'?

I couldn't help but write about a little one's origin story from the fic...a little Cassini, shall we say.

Spoilers for stars below teehee.

-

Cheng Xiaoshi was hiding something, and Lu Guang took a little too long to realise that maybe he was trying to be obvious about it. 

He lay bundled up in his hospital bed, still attached to various tubes (albeit significantly fewer tubes and wires compared to a month ago), but he fidgeted clumsily with restless energy. In his hand was an oxygen clip on one finger and a birthday card in another, which he was eagerly shoving into Lu Guang’s hand. 

“Happy birthday, Lu Guang!” he sang. 

Lu Guang’s birthday had begun with Qiao Ling orchestrating an entire day out for him–breakfast with her parents, a morning at the art museum, a birthday lunch with Xu Shanshan and Dong Yi, and a nap back at the Qiao household before visiting Cheng Xiaoshi in the hospital. Qiao Ling was determined to spoil Lu Guang as if he was a ragdoll housecat, which meant that she let him use her precious fleece throw blanket during his nap, a privilege even Cheng Xiaoshi never earned. 

Lu Guang was never one to want fanfare for his birthday. In part, due to the fact that for several timelines it was neither his first nor his last time turning nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one. After getting stabbed on his birthday at one point, he found it even less enjoyable. But when September crisped and cooled into October, Lu Guang felt as if he had finally seen the other side of an ocean for the first time, after an Odyssey lost at sea. It was an October identical to any other–dipping temperatures, bank holidays, persimmons–but all of a sudden Lu Guang thought it was the most miraculous of months and seasons. It was October, and Cheng Xiaoshi was alive.

He began to look forward to his birthday. 

Although Cheng Xiaoshi was still bedridden in the hospital, he and Qiao Ling had apparently planned the day together. Qiao Ling had arranged the art museum tickets, and Cheng Xiaoshi had convinced her to let Lu Guang take a nap halfway through instead of going to a cafe (it was the most glorious nap that Lu Guang had taken that week), and now Lu Guang and Qiao Ling were stopping by the hospital to spend time with Cheng Xiaoshi, who quickly demanded to hear in full detail everything that had happened thus far. 

“What kind of art did you see?” Cheng Xiaoshi asked. “What food did you eat? How much money did Qiao Shushu and Auntie Qiao give you in red envelopes?”

QIao Ling flicked Cheng Xiaoshi on the nose (she had quickly learned to restrain herself from her typical, more violent acts of reprimand in this time). “You nosy brat! That’s none of your business.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi snickered. His voice was still breathy and he could only be out of bed for several minutes at a time as his body slowly got used to surviving. He looked a little worse for wear, admittedly–paler than he normally was, chronically drowsy, and was routinely struck with a painful tightness around the chest and shortness of breath that the doctors had yet to fully treat, but he was breathing and smiling and bantering with Qiao Ling. He was alive, and there were no more caveats. 

So Lu Guang regaled Cheng Xiaoshi with his day, as he often did whenever he visited. Cheng Xiaoshi had struggled in the first several weeks of recovery after awakening from his coma, stricken with pain when he wasn’t under the heavy fog of medication and haunted by the memory of being killed twice. Yet he smiled every time Lu Guang visited, tired but genuine, and when he did not have enough breath to ramble he eagerly listened to Lu Guang fill the void, something that Lu Guang was not entirely accustomed to but grew to appreciate as he talked about the shop and recent soap dramas and his petty feud with a neighbor. He ran the pad of his thumb over the hollow of Cheng Xiaosh’s pulse on his wrist absentmindedly, and Cheng Xiaoshi listened with a faint smile on his lips, and neither of them remembered their pain. 

“So, you’re heading home after this, right?” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “No other plans?”

He asked it in such an artificially casual way, like a helium balloon bouncing against the ceiling. As fairly decent he was at pretending to be other people in his dives, he was helplessly transparent when he was himself. 

“I think so,” Lu Guang said, looking to Qiao Ling for confirmation. “We don’t have anything too special planned after this. Probably dinner.” 

“Dinner sounds like a good idea,” Cheng Xiaoshi said lightly.

Lu Guang raised an eyebrow. Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes darted to the side nervously to Qiao Ling. 

“I would think so,” Lu Guang said. “We generally do it every day.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Cheng Xiaoshi said, waving a hand. “A birthday dinner…that will be special. You know, I think you should wear sandals for it.” 

Lu Guang stared at him.

“What?” he asked, aghast.

Cheng Xiaoshi shrugged innocently. 

“I’m just saying things,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “Just…might be a good idea!” 

“it’s the end of October.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi hummed. Qiao Ling, in lieu of slapping him in the back of the head, pinched her nose bridge instead. 

“Why should I wear sandals to dinner?” Lu Guang asked. 

“Aiyah, don’t pepper me with questions,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. He turned his head away from Lu Guang to sink lower into the pillow. “I’m vulnerable with painkillers! I’m talking nonsense!” 

“You’re such an idiot,” Qiao Ling muttered. 

Cheng Xiaoshi turned to her to grin. Lu Guang resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. 

“I told you,” Lu Guang said. “You didn’t have to get me anything for my birthday–” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cheng Xiaoshi said breezily. 

“Idiot,” Lu Guang said with relish. 

But he smiled, because Cheng Xiaoshi looked sheepish, mischievous, delighted, and above all else, he did not look in pain. He knew that underneath the hospital gown was a bandaged scar running down his sternum, twice opened–once to end his life and once to save it. But Lu Guang felt no compulsion to fix his eyes on it, like it were a beast or a rival he could not turn his back to. Cheng Xiaoshi’s laugh was enough. 

“Surely you’ll have noodles, won’t you?” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “And not those instant noodles, although I would commit crimes for some cup ramen right now. The food here is so flavorless. I feel myself turning into an old man!” 

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Qiao Ling said. “This is probably the most vegetables you’ve eaten than what you usually have in an entire year.” 

“Why are you nagging me when Lu Guang eats the exact same meals as I do every day?” 

Qiao Ling flashed a grin at Lu Guang.

“Because Lu Guang would just nod and say I’m right, and that’s not as fun,” she said saucily.

“What?” Lu Guang said, aghast. “I’m not a pushover!” 

“You are a little,” Cheng Xiaoshi said cheekily. 

Lu Guang huffed, but he didn’t know how to argue back when not that long ago, Cheng Xiaoshi had convinced Lu Guang to sneak a sesame ball into the hospital for him.

They spent the rest of the hour teasing and talking, with Qiao Ling perched on one side of the hospital bed and Lu Guang sitting cross legged on the foot of it. When visitation was over and Cheng Xiaoshi needed to rest, Cheng Xiaoshi beckoned Qiao Ling to come to his bedside and then, whispering loudly enough for Lu Guang to hear, said, “Don’t forget ot make sure he brings a soup spoon in his back pocket.”

“You’re an idiot,” Lu Guang said loudly, to which Cheng Xiaoshi sniggered. He squeezed Cheng Xiaoshi’s ankle. “Thanks for the card.” 

Here, Cheng Xiaoshi’s mirth softened to wistfulness. 

“I wish I could celebrate with you,” he said. 

“You did,” Lu Guang said assuringly. “Now get some rest.” 

“See you tomorrow?” Cheng Xiaoshi said hopefully. “Wait, no, no, you don’t have to. You might need some extra time at home.” 

“Extra time for what?” Lu Guang asked. 

This time, Cheng Xiaoshi’s sheepishness looked genuine. 

“Never mind what I said!” he said hastily. “Happy birthday, Lu Guang.” 

Lu Guang shook his head exasperatedly, bursting with gratitude. He and Qiao Ling bid Cheng Xiaoshi goodbye before heading back to the studio. 

Lu Guang didn’t actually know what sort of dinner plans they would have; Qiao Ling insisted that she would plan every minute of the day, which was very generous if not extremely intimidating, but she had not made any indication of what dinner might be. He did notice, however, that she had been almost entirely glued to her phone during the entire visitation with Cheng Xiaoshi, frantically texting someone until her wrist hurt. She spent the bus ride flexing her hand, wincing. 

“So,” Lu Guang said. “Do I really have to wear sandals and bring a soup spoon?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Qiao Ling said innocently. 

Lu Guang narrowed his eyes. 

“What is he planning?” he demanded. 

“Don’t listen to him,” she said. “He’s on heavy medication.” 

Her lips twitched into a muffled smile. Lu Guang let it slide with blossoming affection in his chest. 

When they made it back to the Photo Studio, the sun had already begun its autumnal routine. Daylight dimmed into dusk as streetlights twinkled on in preparation. The photo studio stood out on the street with its lights shining through the wide glass windows, which struck Lu Guang oddly because he didn’t remember turning the lights on when they left that morning. 

Beside him, Qiao Ling was starting a video call. 

“Qiao Ling,” Lu Guang said. “What’s going on?” 

“Hold on,” said Qiao Ling. “Gosh, what’s taking him so long–there we go!” 

Cheng Xiaoshi’s face brightened her phone screen, his excitement fighting past his drowsiness. 

“Are you there yet?” Cheng Xiaoshi said excitedly. “Are you home?” 

“Almost,” sang Qiao Ling as she pulled out her landlady key. Lu Guang could see through the glass window that QIao Shushu was in the sunroom, crouched over the coffee table to put some finishing last touches on something. It must have been a birthday cake, and Cheng Xiaoshi called in to sing–Lu Guang fought down the instinct to scold Cheng Xiaoshi for not resting as he as overwhelmed with a wave of love.

“Lu Guang, do you have your sandals?” teased Cheng Xiaoshi.

“You’re such a child,” Lu Guang said, wishing for nothing less. 

Cheng Xiaoshi beamed. Qiao Ling unlocked the front door and held it open for Lu Guang. Lu Guang walked inside as Qiao Shushu spun around quickly, shielding whatever was behind him from view with his proud grin. 

“Back already, you two?” he said. 

“Qiao Shushu, are you joining us for dinner?” asked Lu Guang. 

“We’ll bring dinner here,” said Qiao Ling. “I think you might be inclined to stay home for the rest of the day, after all.”

She was grinning with all her teeth, and Cheng Xiaoshi in her hand was practically bouncing despite being propped up in a hospital bed. 

“Happy birthday, Lu Guang!” Cheng Xiaoshi said again, as if he could never have enough of it. “This is my present to you–with the help of Qiao Shushu for setting it up and Qiao Ling for keeping you out of the house. Hurry, hurry, I want you to see!” 

“You really didn’t have to–” 

Qiao Ling hurried several paces ahead of Lu Guang so that she could turn the camera to face Lu Guang, just as Qiao Shushu stepped out of the way. 

Lu Guang stopped dead in his tracks in the sunroom as he stared down at a cozy, bedecked glass tank on top of the coffee table. A wetland biome fit itself neatly in the glass box, complete with water, mud, rocks, and greenery, with a sun lamp shining down into it. 

And in the middle of it all, content to mind its own business, and no bigger than a teacup, was a pale blue Amazon milk frog. 

“Surprise!” Cheng Xiaoshi squealed. 

Lu Guang didn’t realise his jaw was hanging until he noticed his tongue going dry. He knelt down so that he was eye level with the tank, his head buzzing into numbness with disbelief. The frog’s webbed feet were folded neatly underneath it, basking in the heating lamp’s ray with satisfaction. 

“Do you like him?” Cheng Xiaoshi asked, his light voice lifting slightly with nervousness. 

“You got him for me?” Lu Guang said quietly. 

“I spent weeks trying to find one,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “And Qiao Ling was helping me make phone calls to different shops all around China. Your yeye told me that you liked the milk frogs the best when you were little–”

“My yeye was in on this?” Lu Guang blurted out.

“Yep!” Cheng Xiaoshi said proudly. “He even got your dad to send me the name of the place you got the frog the first time–”

“My dad was in on this?” 

Incredulity heaped itself on Lu Guang with every turn, but he could hardly summit any of them as he stared at the frog in the tank. It looked just like Milk Toast had, all those years ago, when his childhood frog would patiently wait for him to come home from school. This frog was a little bit smaller, slightly fewer warts, but it looked healthy and happy and Lu Guang couldn’t believe that this was meant to be his. 

Emotion bundled itself in the middle of his throat. He blinked rapidly, moisture catching on his lashes. 

“Thank you,” Lu Guang whispered. “I really like him.” 

Cheng Xiaoshi pumped his fist on the screen. Qiao Ling was glowing with delight as she crouched next to Lu Guang to show Cheng Xiaoshi a closer view of the frog. Lu Guang leaned in so closely that the tip of his nose nearly touched the glass. 

“What are you going to name him?” Qiao Ling asked. 

Lu Guang had not regained his composure enough to make a decision such as that. He was fighting back the dampness on his cheeks and a laugh at himself that he, at twenty-two (twenty-two–it will take some time to get used to), would be weeping over a new pet frog like he did when he was a child. That seven-year-old boy, it turned out, was not as far behind him as he thought. 

“I don’t know,” he said in a watery voice. “What do you think, Cheng Xiaoshi?”

“Me?” Cheng Xiaoshi said, flabbergasted. 

Lu Guang nodded when his throat closed up with an overload of sentiment. Cheng Xiaoshi blinked before his lips stretched into a tentative, hopeful smile. 

“What about Cassini?” he asked. 

It came so naturally to the tip of his tongue that Lu Guang could only imagine how long it had already been sitting there before he had asked Cheng Xiaoshi for his opinion. It was a bold name, surprising in its grandeur, and somehow it seemed to fit neatly in this little frog. Lu Guang nodded, brushing his cheeks with a swipe of his thumb. 

“I like that,” he said. “Cassini.” 

-

It wasn’t until two months after Cheng Xiaoshi returned from the hospital did Lu Guang ask the question. By then, winter was already making room for spring, and a second Amazon milk frog had joined the glass tank. Cheng Xiaoshi had discovered that Amazon milk frogs were social creatures who needed friends. Lu Guang knew this about the frogs but kept that to himself, until Cheng Xiaoshi called him suddenly from the hospital sobbing. 

“I didn’t buy him a friend!” he wept inconsolably, which tipped Lu Guang off that he probably received a generous dose of painkillers. “I ruined his life!” 

“Cheng Xiaoshi, it’s fine,” Lu Guang said, but Cheng Xiaoshi cried over it until his heart monitor went up and the nurse had to check on him. After Cheng Xiaoshi went straight to sleep, Lu Guang thought that was the end of it. Naturally, when it came to Cheng Xiaoshi, it wasn’t, and after secretly selling some of his collectibles he purchased a second Amazon milk frog to the ecosystem. At this point, Lu Guang knew that it was less for him and more for Cassini’s sake, of whom Cheng Xiaoshi had requested daily photos of every day until he had been discharged. 

So Cassini and his new friend, Huygens (per Cheng Xiaoshi’s request), both became Time Photo Studios’ resident frogs. While they were not the sort of animal to play with each other in obvious, mammalian fashion, Lu Guang couldn’t help but get the sense that Cassini was happier with a tankmate. He wasn’t surprised, considering what he knew about frogs.

What he was surprised about was the choice in names. 

“Why’d you pick their names, by the way?” Lu Guang asked.

It was a lazy weekend evening, after dinner had been put away and Cheng Xiaoshi had taken all of his necessary medication. He was sprawled on their new sofa, playing a game on his phone while Lu Guang was snapping endless photos of the frogs on his phone as they politely sat on top of the log together. 

Cheng Xiaoshi turned his head towards Lu Guang, his hair flopped over his forehead carelessly.

“Because you asked me to,” he said.

“No, I mean, why did you pick those names?” 

Cheng Xiaoshi perked up. He set down his phone.

“You don’t know about the Cassini-Huygens probe?” he asked. 

Lu Guang furrowed his brow. 

“I don’t think so,” he said. “The names sounded familiar. I just thought they might have been one of your video game characters.” 

“No!” Cheng XIaoshi sat up sharply. “It was a space probe that took tons of photos of Saturn! All of its rings and its moons and it sent them back to Earth and scientists learned so much about Saturn and–” 

He stopped, suddenly pale, as the sudden rise of movement and energy was too much for his heart to take at once. He swayed on the sofa, and Lu Guang immediately beelined to the sofa to gently guide Cheng Xiaoshi back down to rest. 

“Idiot,” Lu Guang said. Cheng Xiaoshi’s sudden drop caused an equally sudden spike in Lu Guang’s blood pressure, one that he had not fully learnt to let go of just yet. He cradled Cheng Xiaoshi’s neck as he lay him back against the pillow while Cheng Xiaoshi’s grimace grew sloppy with dizziness. “You get so overexcited.” 

He sat by Cheng Xiaoshi’s side as Cheng Xiaoshi pressed a hand against his forehead, waiting for the dizziness to subside. Lu Guang unconsciously kept a hand on Cheng Xiaoshi’s other wrist, guarding his rapid pulse until it eased. Cheng Xiaoshi hid his eyes from Lu Guang, still not entirely used to this new state of being and thus self-conscious about it. Lu Guang said nothing else, instead running his hand gently over Cheng Xiaoshi’s forearm. It was, in some ways, more for himself than for his friend. 

“They taught humans so much about Saturn,” Cheng Xiaoshi mumbled again, after a stretch of silence. “And then–and then, after twenty years, they couldn’t bring the probe back to Earth, so it self-destructed in Saturn’s atmosphere so that it wouldn’t accidentally hurt any of the moons.” At this, Cheng Xiaoshi’s voice tightened. “I just really liked it. “

Lu Guang softened. He let his hand fall away from Cheng Xiaoshi. 

“I didn’t know that before,” he said. “That’s really interesting.”

Cheng Xiaoshi nodded. He went strangely quiet. Lu Guang teetered on the precipice of curiosity. 

“How’d you first hear of it?” Lu Guang asked. 

Cheng Xiaoshi hesitated.

“My mom,” he said. “She liked to read up on it, before…” Cheng Xiaoshi swallowed hard. “I don’t think she really knew what happened to it, though.” 

Lu Guang hummed. He had come to learn Cheng Xiaoshi and what he needed most when the topic of his parents came up, before their deaths. Cheng Xiaoshi preferred to bring them up on his own, because the moment anyone else did he couldn’t help but assume they meant so accusingly and would automatically get defensive. And perhaps that was fair of him–neighbors assumed the worst, Qiao Ling’s parents avoided talking about them, and Qiao Ling followed suit. Lu Guang learned to take their example.

But what about now, when the grief was finally defined? The day Cheng Xiaoshi finally saw Cheng Yinhe’s ashes for the first time, he wept without restraint, releasing all the tears he had denied himself for fifteen years. Nothing technically changed, and yet his grief was fresh and unfamiliar, now that death made their absence final. Lu Guang knew even less what to do to help, if anything would. But if there was something he knew about Cheng Xiaoshi, it was that his best friend always wanted to share the things he loved with others. 

“Did she tell you a lot about astronomy?” Lu Guang asked.

Cheng Xiaoshi sniffed heartily before nodding. 

“She always talked about the moon,” he said. He dragged his wrist over his eyes and blinked blearily at Lu Guang. “She told me all sorts of things about it.” 

“Like what?” asked Lu Guang.

“Like…did you know that the moon shakes?” 

Lu Guang blinked.

“It does?” he asked.

Cheng Xiaoshi cracked a smile. 

“Yeah,” he said. “It vibrates. Because it goes super hot and then super cold all of a sudden all the time, or something like that.” 

“Huh.” Lu Guang tilted his head so that he could look out the sunroom glass. The moon was rising early, its crescent arc peeking through the treeline. “I never knew that.” 

“Cool, right?” Cheng Xiaoshi said.

“Yeah,” Lu Guang said earnestly. “So the Cassini-Huygens, it studied Saturn’s moons?” 

“Yeah,” Cheng Xiaoshi said. “Saturn has tons of moons. Not as many as Jupiter, I think, but…I don’t remember how many.” 

“Let’s check,” Lu Guang said as he pulled out his phone. “I’d like to know more.”

Cheng Xiaoshi smiled wider. 

[juthemagicalclown]

thinking about captain xiao saying that lu guang treats cheng xiaoshi like a child and qiao ling replying that lu guang is more mature and about how xiaoshi was forced to grow up too fast for his age and take care of himself after his parents had left him so he never got to enjoy his childhood and now with lu guang he can finally allow himself to act childish and carefree without a worry because he trusts lu to always look out for him all the while for the same reasons surely loving the attention and care shown by lu whenever he 'babies' him or scolds him for his brat-ish behaviour

[brokenmachinemusings]

im rewatching the surprising click mvs rn. break is a whole beast to get into so i wont go into that rn, but heres a few points/observations about surprising click and train trial specifically

first of all. where the hell is this place? it has art and it has a 3d modelled room. 9th june, 12th june and 13th june. these dates don’t exactly make sense. i don’t remember when the first surprising click song came out, but it was probably around 9th june or close to that — so it could be applied. to add on, i just noticed they have “day 1, 2, 3” titles on, with june 15th being day 4. which is odd. bcz ur telling me june 12th is day 1, 13th is 2, 09th is 3, 15th is 4? but maybe this was just a typography error. because i know surprising click has, surprisingly, a few clipping errors (youre bound to notice them as an animator. the ones i remember are two on qiao ling, one on the final screen with the cart. i’m sad there wasn’t a quality checker or an edit or a reupload; it’d be quite easy to fix). but food for thought, god knows.

i also noticed that qiao ling has A LOT of li tianxi references in her surprising click outfit. her ring, her shirt, her necklace, as well as i’m pretty sure her hat. i might’ve missed something and might go into a deep dive of their outfit designs some day (wtf is that thing on lu guang that looks like bread?) (also cheng xiaoshi has an angel wing. haha, so funny, haha…)

and well, here’s the same li tianxi symbolism below again, this time in train trial. if you don’t get it, it’s the same as her hairclips, which are the main “defining” characteristic of hers. there was another more viney pattern in some of the lyrics, but this was most likely intentional.

lastly, in li tianchen’s part, i don’t think this happens with anyone else — there’s something that spells oht candy 030 in the top corner. which has me wondering what it is? first thought was a date, since 30 is a day, but the 0 doesn’t make sense. maybe march zeroeth? feburary 29th? i dont know, im spewing. it seems like such a random thing to add too.

these are just random things. i still havent rewatched now&forever as well as house of the hotheaded, mainly because i dont have them downloaded. also i zoned out in half of my watches, oops, i still might have missed something.

it’s really late in my time so, i might either add more things once i rewatch again or in the morning — i’m practically half asleep. hope some of this might be interesting, though.

small typography/design analysis of train trail, if you’re interested in reading it (kind of a continuation, but not exactly, as i wrote it right after this post)

[miryeismynumberone]

i hate to think how lu guang feels home with cheng xiaoshi's stupidity. there's this silly idea in me that believes cxs is lg's found family.

that when cxs makes more ramen than he can eat lu guang just sighs and tells him he'll eat the rest. that when cxs spills the coffee he obviously overfilled in the cup lu guang shakes his head and calls him stupid but still cleans it up after him. that when cxs forgets to take his towel every single time lu guang still hands it to him despite saying he won't every single day. that when cxs sleeps with the tv still on lu guang turns it off and gently smiles looking at his stupid best friend. that when cxs is getting scolded by qiao ling lu guang mentally nods to it but hopes it'd be over soon. that when cxs misses his mom lu guang is there hugging him in silence. that when cxs smiles lu guang is the happiest. that when cxs breathes lu guang lives. I'm stupid to believe all of this, but it's my only thread to life too. lu guang has cxs to live for and i only have them to live for.

[sarshles-cheescake-li]

The Chen Xiao dive makes my head hurt

This post was originally going to be about different hypotheticals as to how Cheng Xiaoshi's possessees feel after the fact. It was great! I had a nice little three-items list, a brief text-to-world connection about dissociation, and a solid two jokes in there. But then I got sucked into the problem called The Chen Xiao dive, and then it was over. So… let's get this started.

Chen Xiao's dive introduces two major pieces of evidence to us, which each support two different models of how Cheng Xiaoshi's possessions work. One supports the theory that the people he possesses don't remember the experience; the other one supports that they do. Let's start with the one that doesn't involve time paradoxes.

During episode five's ending, we see that Chen Xiao has a ring on during the train scene, and also a child to whom he sings the same lullaby as his mother does. If we go back to episode three, when he was approaching Qiao Ling, we notice that he didn't have the ring on, in either the close-up of his left hand or any of the wide shots, whereas in episode five he had it on in both. This, combined with the framing, heavily implies that the dive Cheng Xiaoshi performed granted him enough closure to get married, have a child, the whole nine yards. Now, since Cheng Xiaoshi's actions only really influenced his memories, we can conclude that Chen Xiao remembers everything that Cheng Xiaoshi said to the dead, proving that Cheng Xiaoshi's possesses remember the experience afterwards.

On the other hand, Chen Xiao's dive is unique in that the memories of the dive nullify itself. Let's call Cheng Xiaoshi's dive point A, and the day of the earthquake -- exactly the way it had gone without Cheng Xiaoshi's influence -- point B. Point A is caused by Chen Xiao seeking out the protagonists' services. He does so because of point B, which left a lot of regrets for him. But the moment point A occurs and Cheng Xiaoshi dives, point B no longer exists, because Cheng Xiaoshi has replaced it with his own version of events. But since point A only occurred because of point B, that means point A doesn't occur, so point B occurs, but then point A does occur… etcetera etcetera. Essentially, Chen Xiao can't both remember the day as Cheng Xiaoshi modified it and seeked him out to change the past; it's one or the other. If this paradox looks familiar, it's a version of the grandfather paradox.

This then presents a problem. The ring says that the dive must've changed Chen Xiao's life substantially enough that he spawned a whole child into existence. The concept of causality says that the dive must not have changed it enough to affect his decision to seek out Cheng Xiaoshi (or, more accurately, Qiao Ling). So he both remembers and doesn't remember the dive. That's wild, man.

So the simple solution to this is that the production team didn't think that hard about how possessions affect the clients' memories, or about time paradoxes, for that matter. I kind of doubt this one, just because of how… metaphysically rigorous Chinese media can get. Like, do y'all know how many times I've been randomly hit with a complex. internally consistent, metaphysical model of sentience or time or whatever while consuming Chinese media? A weird amount.

So we're going to assume either case, and try to find solutions to the paradox in either situation. The first assumption (because it's easier) is that we're going to assume Chen Xiao didn't keep Cheng Xiaoshi's memories, and still remembered the original day. Solutions include:

He wasn't wearing the ring when he approached Qiao Ling for whatever reason. We only see him wear the ring while he's in his own apartment and with his own child, and in all other cases post-dive his left hand is either covered or way too small to tell. So it's possible he wears his ring somewhere else -- like on his neck -- when he's out.

The dive changed something about his life which caused him to meet his fiancé. For example, Lu Guang says that in the original timeline, he had been at a noodles restaurant when the earthquake happened. Assuming Lu Guang wasn't lying, maybe being in his own house when it collapsed caused him to meet different people once rescued, and one of them was his fiancé.

Although Cheng Xiaoshi's memories didn't transfer, having Cheng Xiaoshi tank the day's trauma and also grant him some closure might've changed the way Chen Xiao was able to cope after the fact. Even if he still remembered the original day, the emotional shock might've been dampened enough to allow him to move on a bit more.

Production staff genuinely just forgot to animate the ring during episode three (I hope this isn't the case, because then this post would be embarrassing)

I'm leaning towards the third option, just because as a (hobbyist) writer, it makes the most sense to me. This is especially since it seems the show goes out of its way to demonstrate that the dive changed his life. So the lack of a ring during the opener wasn't a coincidence. With that in mind, unless it's a red herring, it wouldn't make sense to go with option 1. Option 2, though, remains fairly open.

Next, we'll assume the second case, that Chen Xiao did keep the memories of the dive. This one requires a lot more time-stuff, and it heavily depends on how Link Click handles its time travel.

Option 1: Photos themselves contain timelines, and Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang Don't Play By The Rules

The Chinese character introduction sheets refer to Cheng Xiaoshi diving not "into the past" but "into the world of photos". As far as I see, the English translation is less explicit but also refers to him "dive back into photos" and not "dive back in time through photos." This is… a fascinating way to phrase things. This implies the photos themselves have something to do with the past, beyond merely being an access point for Cheng Xiaoshi. Maybe, in cases like Chen Xiao's, where Cheng Xiaoshi dives back and technically causes the dive to not occur, there's no need for it to occur "again" in this new version of events -- the photo "has already" been changed, and contains the information to change Chen Xiao's life. This also makes sense with Cheng Xiaoshi's power's limitations -- once he's rewritten the world inside of a photo once, he can't do it again.

As for Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, we can already assume that, whenever their dives change something about their past -- like with Xu Shanshan, or Cheng Xiaoshi's dive into Lu Guang in season two -- they both remember the "original timeline" instead of the modified one. That's generally a given with time travel stories. In this hypothetical, then, Cheng Xiaoshi's dive does cause his dive to not occur. However, both him and Lu Guang still remember the request and remember performing it, since it was part of the original timeline. And since the change is stored in the photo, Chen Xiao's life is permanently altered despite the dive now "not occurring."

This is my favourite theory, because it is supported (or, at least, not contradicted) by two details from the show. One is when Lu Guang hands Cheng Xiaoshi the photo to dive into it, Cheng Xiaoshi remarks "hey, isn't this the photo that I developed a few days ago?" This seemed weird at the time, but it establishes something: that Chen Xiao had already visited the studio, even without the intention to request for a dive (assuming that wasn't part of the "research" he was doing on if the witch was real). This makes it so that when Chen Xiao comes back later to develop the old photos in the camera, it's not strange that he chose this studio in particular. He did already come here once, after all.

Second is when Lu Guang informs Qiao Ling that they won't be doing any more requests for a while. She says: (I'm going to use my own translation here, because I think the English translation doesn't get some of the implications across）

Qiao Ling: “What are you doing? You're quitting just like that?" (implication: quitting casually and without cause. The direct translation is literally "you say you're quitting, so you're quitting") Lu Guang: "We just want to rest. The normal operations of the photo studio will continue." Qiao Ling: "Cheng Xiaoshi. You also want this?" [awkward head tilt] Qiao Ling: "Ah, fine. We'll start again whenever you're adjusted."

Qiao Ling acts a little weird here. If I were her, and my surrogate little brother and his partner suddenly stopped wanting to fulfilling commisions, right after finishing a commission, I'd probably assume they wanted to stop because of something to do with the last commission. This isn't me hating on Qiao Ling, either. It's that her behaviour makes a bit more sense if we assume that, from her perspective, Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi just came up to her one day and went "we're not doing this anymore" out of nowhere. This supports the idea that to everyone else, the dive might as well have never happened -- only Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi remember it. Side note, tying the dive to the photo itself also works well with Lu Guang making sure the photo wasn't destroyed during the Xixi dive. I think that this is the most plausible theory, and the next two are more interesting hypotheticals than possible theories, so feel free to skip them.

Option 2: Dives are simply incapable of cancelling themselves out.

There's a few ways this can be achieved. One is that if a dive changes the past sufficiently enough to cancel out the original reason that led to it occurring, some sort of time-maintaining… thing gives it a new reason to happen. For example, maybe the version of Chen Xiao that remembered Cheng Xiaoshi's dive approached him to get him to try to save his mother, or not bother his crush's family, or something. This is somewhat conflicted by the fact that Lu Guang made an effort to make Cheng Xiaoshi pick up the photo during his dive into Li Tianxi -- one would think that, even if he hadn't, it'd be fairly easy for the timeline to go "heehee hoohoo Qian Jin picked it up later" or something like that. But -- no! Cheng Xiaoshi had to go pick it up! Lu Guang does say "If the photo is gone," though, so you could say that maybe the father would've destroyed the photo if Cheng Xiaoshi hadn't picked it up.

Overall, this theory is interesting and makes sense from the universe's perspective. Like, if I were a universe, I would preferably not give some random dude a power that could totally break causality and cause me to collapse. That seems a bit… excessive. However, while this works for niche cases, it really doesn't work for the more general possibilities of Cheng Xiaoshi's power. It just seems way too contrived, and require more and more contrivances the more you go through layers of dives and justifications. Because then Chen Xiao basically always needs a reason for Cheng Xiaoshi to dive, no matter how the day had went in the first place. It also would change what exactly Cheng Xiaoshi dives for, which is, again, messy…

Option 3: Causality has low RAM. This one really lays it on thick with time-physics, so, be warned.

Let's sit through a hypothetical together. You and I are gods. There is a switch with an on and an off state between us. I am the god of the Switch Being On. You are the god of the Switch Being Off. If the switch is On, you turn it off, but then I turn it back on. Then you turn it off. I turn it on. Ad nauseam towards infinity. My action causes your action, nullifying my own; your action causes my action, nullifying your own. Neither of us can be satisfied at the same time, so we keep on going back and forth, forcing the switch between these two states -- on, off -- forever.

Back to the time travel Donghuas featuring doomed men. Think of the timeline's two states as "Cheng Xiaoshi dives" and "Cheng Xiaoshi doesn't dive." The Gods pushing it back and forth between these two states are causality and… causality again. Except -- this is where the low RAM bit comes in -- causality isn't instantaneous.

Many of us are familiar with the concept of time being an extra dimension that we move through. But what if there was a fifth? What if time itself had time? If we treat a timeline as the same as any other simple object, we can think of the concept of causality, some force which makes it such that the timeline's events have logical order to them, as just like any other process: the melting of ice; the wilting of leaves; the erosion of rock. If this is the case, it's possible to have a paradox like this one. Below is a diagram:

Let state 1 represent the "original" timeline where Cheng Xiaoshi doesn't dive, and state 2 represent the one where he does. The black line represents the time that Cheng Xiaoshi dives at, and the "beginning" of the timeline represents the day of the earthquake. The end of the timeline goes into infinity We can see the changed version of events propagating through the timeline via causality. But the moment* it hits the black line -- Cheng Xiaoshi's dive -- it immediately changes the starting point of the timeline, which starts also propagating at (presumably the same) speed.

*"The moment" here referring to some point in fifth-dimensional time.

So then the timeline, or to be precise, the version of the timeline the protagonists exist in (as of episode five, season one) would be anywhere in between the fifth and the ninth timeline on this diagram. And depending on whether or not you assume there to be higher dimensions past the fifth, the laws of causality in those dimensions, how you assume memory to work -- and how the memories of time travelers work -- this model can… do a lot. In terms of plausibility, I'd rank it the lowest, just because it's functionally a truncated version of my personal pet theory of time (if versions of it exist in other media, I've never seen them), so it's pretty unlikely Link Click follows it. Also, the extended version of this theory does imply things which aren't evident in Link Click. So.

These are all the theories I'm gonna cover. If we get into all the different models of time and the likes, we'll be here for something like another couple thousand words. There are just some loose ends I want to wrap up:

Emma questions Cheng Xiaoshi if "you were the one who sent that text" (paraphrased because I don't want to go back to the episode to check phrasing), suggesting that she doesn't remember getting possessed by Cheng Xiaoshi. It supports the first assumption, that possessees don't remember what happened during the posession, and remember the original timeline. If possessees do remember the original timeline, it's possible that they might still feel somewhat dissociated from those memories, which may lead to them coming to the conclusion that someone else was in their body at the time, like Emma does.

Lu Guang makes a big deal of not changing the timeline when they dive. Assuming the universe hates time paradoxes, and doesn't allow them to exist, this could be him worried about the butterfly effect or, as he says, rendering their present future nonexistent. If the universe generally copes fine with time paradoxes, this could be him worried about the effects of "playing god" in a sense of the word, or about affecting the timeline in unpredictable and potentially negative ways.

[mimicha-arts]

Just a random post written after a sleepless night. Decided to collect a few thoughts and translate them into a single post for the future, as I'm wondering if the detail from the opening turns out to be what it seems. Mind you, this is all speculation and I'm just having fun.

Spoilers!

About Cheng Xiaoshi … Again. I'm still not convinced that the forest is a literal location. So far, this may be the actual location of the scene, but also a metaphor, similar to the foxes in the forest in the story of the twins.

Considering the theory where Cheng Xiaoshi is dead (or wounded) in some variation of events, although the injury visually seems to be at the same place as Lu Guang's wound, in my opinion, the circumstances were different.

It's still hard for me to guess how time goes by (I still have the idea in my head, given the characters' intros, that s1 and s2 are one long flashback). But whether it's a flashback that has already happened in some of the realities, or further events, in my opinion, the tragedy with Cheng Xiaoshi is connected with a gun. The presence of such a weapon seems to be a critical moment, it's kind of too obvious. 1. OP

Simple and clean. The gun will literally be one of the key items in the further plot, just like the star fox, as of yet unknown diary and 2 photos.

2. Qiao Ling's poster Qiao Ling's shadow (on the poster for s2) is one of the twins. If you look closely, there is a pistol in the right hand.

I'm not too sure which of the twins this is, as we have several diametrically opposed theories... and one of them is body-switching. For myself, I temporarily stopped with the thought that Xiao Hong from s1 is Li Tianchen himself (at least his body), and he is going to be the shooter from the future events. *There is still a room here if there are two time/reality lines, and a shot in "the past" may not match a shot in "the present". There is not enough information about the setting and facts. It could still be a metaphor for the destruction of time or something.

3. Qian Jin's profile As additional suspicious information, we know from Qian Jin's intro that he was an extremely skilled police officer, his profile information also specifically highlights his shooting skills. It seems that now he has ceased to act directly and relies on his people, but why was it necessary to highlight these words (用枪械)? I'll keep that in mind for the future.

So. Regardless of who else was involved in this situation, why do I think the one who was shot is Cheng Xiaoshi? Well, back to the Vortex (literally). When Cheng Xiaoshi (s1 design) enters the red space where two photos and a phone flicker, at the very last moment Cheng Xiaoshi flips over in a small flash of light. I think, with such a sharp penetrating gold line, the subsequent blue splashes, like blood, it is really a shot and a bullet passing through.

I think this is a very possible scenario due to such visual elements. The real question is when, in time and chronology, events occur. Maybe someone can get some new thoughts and insights from this~ Can't wait to see what really happened!