#cheng xiao details

[morweneledhwen]

More costume design in Fangs of Fortune (part 1)

[aurieeeeeenyx]

time travel mechanics in link click — intentional inconsistencies? closed loops and parallel timelines (theory)

Back in 2021 or so, I wanted to make a post about the time travel mechanics in Season 1, and how they seemed to be inconsistent in certain episodes. I never ended up making that post, and the idea slowly faded from my mind, but I want to make that post now (armed with all the new information we've received since then) before Bridon/Yingdu arc episode 4 comes out because of the episode preview when Lu Guang says this:

In Season 1, the time travel seems to operate on the principle of a closed loop. This is especially evident in the Doudou arc, when Cheng Xiaoshi sees himself in the past (while he's in Doudou's body) and realizes that he was always there; the "changes" he inflicted weren't really changes, because by the time he dives back from the future his actions in the past have already happened. This is also demonstrated when Xu Shanshan walks into the photo studio and interacts with Cheng Xiaoshi in S1E8, and we later find out that it was in fact Cheng Xiaoshi in Xu Shanshan's body interacting with himself. And again, with the ploy to use Xu Shanshan in order to lure Liu Min/Red Eyes to the photo studio. We also see this closed loop phenomenon happen in Season 2, for example when Cheng Xiaoshi possesses Lu Guang's body to go save himself in the past.

So I've always been a little bothered by the earthquake arc in Season 1. If the dives into the past have already happened, why does Chen Xiao come to the photo studio in the first place? If Cheng Xiaoshi (in Chen Xiao's body) won the basketball game and gave those kind words to Chen Xiao's loved ones, why does Chen Xiao remember otherwise?

I've wondered before what happens to the clients when Cheng Xiaoshi is possessing them—do they just not remember anything? Are they even aware of themselves being possessed? Why is no one concerned about missing memories for hours at a time or not being in control of their own body? Emma sort of skirts around this when she tells Cheng Xiaoshi, "So you were the one who sent that message" in S1E11, implying she's aware it wasn't her who sent it. For the sake of argument, though, I'm going to pass the general non-reaction of the clients to being possessed as a handwavey "the brain justifies it somehow later" thing and ignore it.**

That brings us again to the question: Why does Chen Xiao remember the past differently to the one Cheng Xiaoshi experienced/changed? Maybe the past isn't set in stone after all? Maybe, instead of just being a closed loop, the time travel in Link Click is operating on multiple systems?

In 2021, right after I watched Season 1, I was going to dismiss this as just an error. The writers slipped up and bungled their time travel mechanics a bit, and therefore the earthquake arc is different on accident. But we've learned since then that nothing is unintentional in this show, so why is that arc different from the others? (Also, I want to note, there is that moment in S1E4 where Lu Guang's face does that weird warping thing; coincidence? Maybe, but maybe not...)

My theory is: the time travel abilities that Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang have operate differently.

DISCLAIMER: My knowledge of photography and film is extremely limited, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

There's always been a lot of film imagery in this show—obviously, since the whole premise is based in photography—but as early as the Season 1 OP, "Dive Back In Time," we can see the repeated use of rewinding film rolls as a metaphor for going back in time.

Note also: Lu Guang dropping the photo and it transitioning into a film roll, and Cheng Xiaoshi being tangled up in film rolls and being "inside" the film in the background/trapped in the frame. I'll get to this later.

The thing is, once you record something on film, you can't change it; you can only rewind and play it again. This tracks with the closed loop theory: no real changes can be made, because they have already happened. So how is it possible that "changes are still happening," as Lu Guang says in the YE4 preview? It's likely that Vein (and Liu Xiao and Xia Fei) are involved, but I don't believe that's the root of the issue. And, I don't think it's just the ever-nebulous "butterfly effect," because in YE1 Lu Guang says this:

I used to think that even a flap of a butterfly might cause a hurricane strong enough to ruin the world. I was wrong. The power of time is still far beyond our imagination. The future may not change due to a ripple of the past. Not at all...

(Yes, Lu Guang is a notoriously unreliable narrator, but I've decided to trust him on this one. Not to mention, butterfly effect shouldn't exist in a closed loop system.)

I've seen lots of excellent analyses illustrating the discrepancies this season, from the very first scene of YE1 (different furniture positioning, cracks in photo frame glass, bloodstains, presence of curtain, etc) to the changing positions of clothing, buildings, time of day, food, and so on in YE2 (go check out hyperfaexation's excellent YouTube video on their Shattered Memories theory for more details). The fandom is constantly theorizing about how many timelines there are. But while we've been asking ourselves how many timelines exist (five, ten, more?), we forgot to stop and ask: why do they exist?

The existence of multiple timelines doesn't fit into Season 1's time travel premise. In Season 1, it was always Cheng Xiaoshi that we were watching. Whereas Cheng Xiaoshi could be said to live "in" the film when he dives, perhaps Lu Guang is cutting the roll short at the point which he dives back to and splicing a new roll onto it. This could explain the scene from "Dive Back In Time" that I referenced earlier, with Lu Guang outside the film and Cheng Xiaoshi in it. It's not exactly that Lu Guang is diving back in time; it's more like he's diving out of time, into a parallel timeline and leaving this one behind. Maybe this season, we'll get to see more complicated time travel mechanics that result from the intersection of different powers. (And, while we're at it, maybe we can get an answer to why Cheng Xiaoshi has golden eyes for a few frames in YE1 when they're running away, because seriously what's up with that?)

**Another explanation for the non-reaction to the clients' possession could be the interaction of different timelines, but I'm not really sure how this would pan out so I'm not going to elaborate too much.

What does this have to do with the earthquake arc? Why would Lu Guang have a (slightly) different power than Cheng Xiaoshi, if he inherited it from Cheng Xiaoshi as we are led to believe? What happens to the discarded film, the abandoned timelines, when Lu Guang casts them away? Can Cheng Xiaoshi ever be saved? I don't have answers to any of these questions, and maybe I'm overthinking (ha) all of this and it really is just a writing inconsistency after all, but I want to believe Link Click's writers know what they're doing with this and all we can do is wait for the reveal.

[thedreamerstoryteller]

So, it's a Cheng Yi thing. 🤭

[alipeeps]

Ahhh there's full MV of the ending theme dancing. It's fucking adorable and it's breaking my heart.

[egoitsharu]

¿Did you know that LC characters are represented with flowers?

Checking the wiki I noticed that detail, the characters of Bridon Arc represent a flower

Cheng Xiaoshi is associated with the flower "Bellis". In the language of flowers, Bellis perennis, commonly known as the common daisy or bellis, symbolizes innocence, purity and loyal love. It can also represent new beginnings and love that overcomes difficulties. Additionally, in some cultures, they can also be associated with youth and joy.

Lu Guang is associated with the flower "Forget-Me-Not". It symbolizes eternal memory, true love and fidelity. It is associated with memory and affection towards someone special, even from a distance or after their departure. It also has a meaning in friendship and unwavering loyalty.

Qiao Ling with the "Hyacinth" flower. Hyacinth has different meanings depending on its color, but in general it symbolizes play, joy and rebirth. The hyacinth is a flower with many nuances in its symbolism, depending on the context and color.

Liu Xiao is associated with the "Spiderwort" flower. The Spiderwort (Tradescantia) symbolizes adaptability, resilience, and long-lasting love. It is associated with the ability to overcome challenges due to its resilient nature and ability to flourish in different conditions. It also represents ephemeral beauty, as its flowers typically last only a day before wilting. In some cultures, this flower is believed to have spiritual significance related to renewal and connection with nature.

Xia Fei is associated with the "Sunflower". The Sunflower symbolizes worship, happiness, energy, and loyalty. Because of its ability to follow the sun (heliotropism), it represents the search for light, positivity, and devotion. It is also associated with strength and longevity, as it is a resilient and vibrant flower.

Vein is associated with the flower "Dahlia". The Dahlia symbolizes elegance, strength, creativity and commitment. In the language of flowers, it is associated with dignity and determination, reflecting the ability to face changes with grace. It can also represent passion and the eternal bond in love, which is why it is common in weddings and romantic events.

Wang Qing is represented with the flower "Datura". Datura, also known as devil's trumpet or thorn apple flower, has an ambiguous and mysterious symbolism. Because of its exotic beauty and its connection to the forbidden, Datura represents both temptation and enlightenment.

[psychopomp-namine]

YE6's butterfly effect. AKA: how did vein "die"?

I'm trying to puzzle out the butterfly effect in YE6, and here is my interpretation so far. if this theory is correct, it would also answer the question of who has the faking death ability and what exactly was liu xiao doing during the whole arc.

of course, feel free to correct me if I got this wrong. I could be missing some key information. I'm just writing this in an attempt to figure it out myself. also, this is gonna be a long post, sorry.

a lot of people are speculating that lu guang directly killed vein somehow through an ability, but I don't think that's what actually happened (although I wish that was the case). I also don't think the situation is as simple as "lu guang wanted vein dead" because I also think that liu xiao is interfering with the same events. there are two puppeteers in YE6, imho.

let's start with lu guang. for one thing, we know he can't directly kill vein with any of the abilities he has, since both scanning 12 hours of photo history and diving into the past require, well, a photo, which lu guang did not have. yingdu even stressed the rules of how both abilities work. if lu guang directly killed vein through ability use, this would imply he has another ability up his sleeve, and I really don't think we've been given enough evidence that points to that. if he always had this ability, why hasn't he used it before on vein in other timelines?

remember that yingdu has a lot of visual metaphors in its storytelling compared to other seasons. I believe lu guang caused the chain of events to happen in such a way that vein would die, but he was not the one to kill him, and that's why there's the animation of him orchestrating vein's death through wang qing, like a ventriloquist would control a puppet. in fact, I would go even further: lu guang and wang qing never got the chance to kill vein, although lu guang certainly thinks he did. we will circle back to this under the cut later, once we've built up the evidence to reach this conclusion.

another thing is the info we learned from an interview with director li. it is unfortunate, imo, that we had to learn this through an interview and not from the show itself (I feel this is yingdu's biggest writing flaw), but whatever. here are the key points to know though:

vein doesn't have an ability during yingdu arc

liu xiao has more than one ability (we know one of them already, which is interestingly enough, heartbeat related)

(not from the interview, but hinted in the show) someone has a "faking death" ability

before we go into the butterfly effect and how vein died, let's go over the details of his death:

from the autopsy report: vein's cause of death is myocardial infarction. aka a heart attack

xia fei later says there were no external injuries and no signs of poison

also, tiny detail, but vein was holding something like a tranquilizer gun in the clinic. the "bullets" he fired on both wang qing and cheng xiaoshi were meant to put them to sleep, not to kill them.

finally, let's lay out some character motivations. this will be important later.

liu xiao wants to get the notebook that belonged to cheng weimin. vein is working with him on this.

lu guang wants to avoid cheng xiaoshi's death node, and he plans to do it by killing vein

now, for the analysis. how did vein "die"?

let's establish something first. since xia fei doesn't know what happened to vein and is looking for the true culprit, we can rule out his involvement. he probably doesn't have the faking death ability, since it was used on vein. and vein doesn't have an ability. so the most likely person to have this ability would be liu xiao. he is also most likely the one to open the body bag with vein in it.

so we can now assume that liu xiao has two abilities:

he can sense someone's emotions and intentions through hearing their heartbeats

he can "fake death" (it is unclear how this works)

well. what an interesting combination! let's put a pin on that for now. remember this for later.

okay. now. let's switch over to lu guang. the big important question here is this: how did lu guang know that delaying vein from entering the clinic would lead to his death through a butterfly effect?

for full context, let's look at what lu guang says in his conversation with vein (I'm using ani-mi's translation, but I watched the bilibili one first and there aren't any drastic changes imo):

do you know the butterfly effect? in a dynamic system, event the smallest changes in initial conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. I've been wondering, how do you alter a destined ending? what would happen if, before the conclusion, we added another fixed point? another unchangeable node? instead of avoiding deviations, why not let it deviate completely? I know I can't stop you. but I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in.

two things here. first, the mention of an unchangeable node. aka a death node. lu guang for sure wanted vein to die. because if vein dies first, he can't kill cheng xiaoshi. simple logic; great plan.

next, from this speech, we can infer that lu guang planned to create a small change (a butterfly effect) that will lead to a big consequence (vein's death).

it's the second part that should clue us in. he said, "I can make you stay a bit longer. now, you can go in." he knows he can't stop vein from entering the clinic. but he can stall him. he can add a small bit of delay, long enough that it actually matters that vein went into the clinic later than usual.

lu guang knows the effect he wants (vein's death) so how does he know what event (stalling him) would cause the domino effect that leads to it? why does that small delay matter?

let's look at what that extra bit of time actually changed. by delaying vein, another important event happens: cheng xiaoshi has extra time with wang qing, long enough for him to meet his mom, shao yuanyuan. cheng xiaoshi then learns that shao yuanyuan is trying to save cheng weimin. he promises to wait for them and to stop investigating. it is after he makes this promise that vein enters.

we can now infer one more thing here: cheng xiaoshi did not meet his mom through wang qing in the original order of events. this event only happens because lu guang stalled vein.

most likely, in the original order of events, vein incapacitated wang qing too early for her to do anything to him. we don't know what her ability is, but it doesn't matter for this post. all we need to know is that lu guang believes wang qing could kill vein if she was never put to sleep. that is the point of stalling vein from entering the clinic early.

so here's part one of my theory. from lu guang's perspective, this is the plan to kill vein:

stall vein from entering the clinic

because vein entered late, wang qing was possessed by someone with better fighting abilities, allowing her to hold out during the fight

she is then freed from possession, and is still awake when vein tries to leave with the notebook

I don't think we have enough information to really explain what happens next, but what's supposed to happen, imo, is that wang qing kills vein, either through her own ability or someone else uses her to do it. it doesn't really matter how, but this is what is supposed to happen. this is what lu guang wanted to happen. for the sake of this post, we will assume wang qing has an ability to kill vein

vein dies, therefore he can't go to the time photo studio in the future to kill cheng xiaoshi

that's lu guang's butterfly effect. stall vein -> vein dies -> cheng xiaoshi lives.

simple? not quite. I did mention there's another person interfering with these events.

everything I mentioned above is from lu guang's perspective, and that this is what's supposed to happen. but let's look at the actual order of events.

wang qing wakes up (is freed from possession), notices the notebook on vein, and calls his name (interesting point: she knows his full chinese name). at this point, her eyes have NOT changed color yet.

vein gets a heart attack

only after that does wang qing's eyes change color

we know that changing eye colors is not diegetic, meaning this is more for the audience's benefit. their eyes don't really change color in-universe. sometimes they don't even show us eye colors changing. but when they do show us, we have to pay attention.

therefore, I believe that the timing of the shift in eye color matters.

so here's part two of my theory. liu xiao knew lu guang is going to interfere, so he already arranged a "fake death" for vein in advance (which he doesn't tell vein about lmao, but he seems to have figured it out when he gets the heart attack)

this is how, I believe, yingdu happened from liu xiao's perspective:

he wants cheng weimin's notebook. wang qing has it, but would never give it to him. but she might for cheng weimin's son

he baits cheng xiaoshi into going to bridon

he heard lu guang's heartbeat in the airport, which tipped him off that he's someone he should watch out for

he confirmed that cheng xiaoshi and lu guang are investigating cheng weimin

he assigns xia fei to keep an eye on their progress

he planned to use cheng xiaoshi to bait wang qing into giving up information about the notebook. this is why when xia fei told him that cheng xiaoshi was about to meet her, liu xiao reacts like this is the expected outcome

he assigns vein to get the notebook because wang qing is about to reveal the location. but he also knows that lu guang is kinda shady, so when lu guang stalls vein (and tells him! bro don't tell your plans to your victims! don't tell him you're trying to make a butterfly effect!), liu xiao either just knew this would happen or vein tipped him off before going in

now, notice that vein gets a heart attack before wang qing uses an ability (or is used, whatever) to kill vein. and what have we established before at the beginning of this post? liu xiao has a heartbeat related ability and can fake a death. we don't know the mechanics of the second ability, but we know that compatible abilities can combo with each other. it's not far-fetched to think that liu xiao can fake death with a heart attack

later, we see vein wake up after someone (most likely liu xiao) opens his body bag

so now who's fooled? the police arrives and even does an autopsy. they declare vein dead. lu guang is relieved, and for years he believes this. vein doesn't even visit the studio in 2021 (though li tianchen does, through liu min, but that's neither here nor there). he avoided a death node by creating another one. we can let him believe this lie for a little while...

TL;DR lu guang created a butterfly effect by stalling vein, and that creates a domino effect that should have led to vein's death. except he's not the only one interfering with the timeline. while this is happening, liu xiao orchestrates a fake death for vein before his supposed death actually happens, allowing him to act dead during the autopsy and "revive" later

EDIT: this post was written before the interview translation came out, though I don't think this it contradicts anything here; if anything, this post is in line with the interview.

if you're interested, additional thoughts on vein's death can be found in the following links:

reblog of this post: the fake death ability might be wang qing's, or an effect of a combination of wang qing and liu xiao's ability. I posit in this post that I think liu xiao has the ability; in hindsight, it probably relates to wang qing, though I still think that the "heart attack" is related to liu xiao

thematic analysis (as opposed to plot analysis) on vein's death. I am a huge believer that link click is best analyzed through themes than plot tbh

additional thoughts on lu guang's characterization throughout all of this

[mysterialistic]

Random thoughts from Yingdu episode 3:

-Lu Guang definitely has PTSD. Nightmares, hallucinations, triggers. It’s all there. That scene with Cheng Xiaoshi’s corpse was genuinely disturbing.

-Cheng Xiaoshi sleeping on Lu Guang’s shoulder and LG almost touching his head?? I’m DECEASED.

-Okay, so the timeline from the first Yingdu PV isn’t the same as the current timeline. Does that mean that the one from the PV was the original one? Such a cool little detail.

-I can’t tell if Lu Guang knows Liu Xiao or not. He seemed to recognize him)? I mean, they probably did met at the airport on the original timeline given how the first PV included LX. Guess we’ll have to wait.

-Xia Fei is… interesting. He’s a liar that never shows his true face to anyone (except Vein and LX, maybe). I don’t trust him, definitely not. He’s obviously not only a model, he also does some shady jobs for Vein and Liu Xiao, including befriending a couple of strangers to keep an eye on them.

-Related to the previous point, I can bet that the Xia Fei/Vein shippers are happy with the outcome of this relationship lol. Even I’m surprised at how close they are! Let’s just hope that Vein doesn’t kill him when he deems him useless.

-Also, Xia Fei was studying physics)? That’s so cool. My quick theory is that he’s actually VERY smart and has a small obsession with powers since in his music video he mentioned them.

-It seems like everything that is happening in Yingdu is completely set up by someone who knows exactly how it all must go down (Liu Xiao or Vein?) The airport fight, the library guy keeping and eye out for someone coming to look for that specific book, Xia Fei meeting them, Vein appearing right on time. There’s no way this is how it happened on the original timeline, back then it probably was spontaneous, but now? They’re manipulating the outcomes and that’s why Lu Guang is so confused with all the changes.

[pastorfutureletthembe]

Checkmate ♚

Apparently a temporary AR (Otome) game is coming soon and the artwork for it is just breathtaking! It is also full of details I want to explore OF COURSE. My brain is doing tetris things again, oops.

Looking for a senseless meta about chess pieces? You're in the right place, come on in~

>> Chess Theme

White vs Black

The first topic is obviously the chess theme. Of course, this part is to be taken with a grain of salt since the pieces aren't correctly disposed on the board. However, the characters themselves are walking on their respective squares except for Vein (because he's all powerful and he's above your stupid rules. Probably). Notably, Liu Xiao himself seems to be leaving a white square. And if there is any meaning to it, I'd like to believe it makes a gray character out of him.

Now, what can we say about the chess pieces themselves?

White: rook, pawn, knight

Black: rook, mystery piece, king

Each character is paired with a chess piece.

The most reassuring clue to me is that a white piece has been given to Xia Fei. Which, there is a fat chance this makes an ally out of him. He might be only a Pawn ♙ for now. For those who are not familiar with chess, a Pawn can only move ahead, never back, one square at a time. It has some cool moves too but it depends on the game you want to play. If the path is open, a Pawn can reach the other side of the board, turning it into a Queen ♕. If a Pawn can only move ahead in small range, a Queen literally rules over the whole board. She's quick, vicious and dangerous once she has enough space to move as she pleases. Of course, he can also be a mere Pawn, a tool to manipulate Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi.

[Edit: since I always turn mine into Queens because I like to inspire fear and admiration from my brother, a Pawn can also turn into a Rook, a Bishop, or a Knight. I like to think of Xia Fei as a Queen but it's very interesting that he could turn into either Vein/CXS, Liu Xiao or Lu Guang by the end of Yingdu Chapter. ]

Cheng Xiaoshi and Vein both getting paired with a ♖ Rook ♜ could mean they use the same kind of power or are equivalent in some ways. Rooks have a large range, can move horizontally and vertically, ahead or back. They are better used when paired with other pieces, though, cause a lonely Rook ♖ is an easy pray. I think the main focus here is the similarity more than the piece itself. Lu Guang seems to be the one being punished and haunted, but Vein probably offered his power to Cheng Xiaoshi (or Lu Guang, according to the last Yingdu Chapter PV). My personal theory is that Vein mirrors or shadows Cheng Xiaoshi's shape because he is the source of his power. Vein's position, if there is any relevance to it, keeps Lu Guang's Knight ♘ from moving at the center, his natural and most efficient position.

Toppled King

Liu Xiao has two pieces by his side, a King ♔ and a mystery piece. The merch revealed the later to be a Bishop ♝.

Note that only amateurs tend to topple the King. It is regarded as some kind of pop culture-only approach to chess. Because of this, let's take a look a what an actual checkmate is (where we don't get to step on the vainquished).

Checkmate is any game position in chess in which a player's king is threatened with capture and there is no possible escape. In chess, the king is never actually captured. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. The player loses as soon as their king is checkmated. In formal games, it is usually considered good etiquette to resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated. (cf. wikipedia)

If Vein, the current character we might recognize as the ultimate villain of the season, is only a Rook ♜, equivalent to Cheng Xiaoshi, who does the King ♔ represent? My personal opinion is Time, Fate itself. The song "Mastermind" supports this theory, and Lu Guang himself really is defying the natural order to save Cheng Xiaoshi, after all. It would make perfect sense. Stopping the clocks at a tournament is the sign of surrender. So basically, the game is over when one gives up and stops when the King has nowhere to go.

The character of Liu Xiao is given a lot of care in this specific artwork. He actually always stood out, since his very first appearance in the season 2 artworks, walking past Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi's portrait, looking away from us. Here, again, he's not interested in the audience, focuses on the photograph of what fans reckon as Lu Guang from "Dive Back in Time".

The truth is, he's playing the long game, he has no time to spare, and he regards people as puppets. There has been theories about him having a hidden agenda, independently of Vein, using/working with Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi for his plan. His intervention in "Trial Train" speaks volume of his strategic mind, "they wanted to escape but didn't realize I blocked the exit a long time ago". Also, one hundred years wouldn't be enough to escape.

This merciless sharpness makes the Bishop perfect for Liu Xiao. Funny story, the Bishop ♝ is not actually a priest, but it represents a war elephant. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. That's fitting.

Another possibility regarding the toppled King could be that it refers to Liu Xiao's background. The fallen piece could be a resolved situation but the motivation behind Liu Xiao's intent to manipulate the timelines. Perhaps he played this game before and lost. Does Lu Guang know him or is Liu Xiao a mere stalker? Did they play this same game together or against each other?

There's a lot that can be speculated but it is hard to say what these pieces represent for now. As I said before, this read is based on popular imagery of what chess is, not on the actual strategy on the board itself. Secondly, these three new characters we have yet to meet, they don't have a defined role in the canon, not until Yingdu Chapter finally aires.

>> Tokens

Each character is giving a object. I guess it might be relevant to the type of gameplay the AR game will offer but for the sake of this meta, we're still gonna try to understand why those in particular.

Cheng Xiaoshi has a camera. I don't think it deserve further analysis, his powers exist through the lens after all.

Xia Fei has a clock. Guess the time? 10:10. For those unaware, it is a very recurrent time. Put the promotional poster aside, I recommend you pay attention to the time on the clock in the Studio, above Lu Guang's head, right before the gang gets a ominous call from Xu Shanshan's phone at the end of 1x09. If it should mean anything about Xia Fei himself: I won't say it enough but, really: DO NOT TRUST HIM. Or, you know, perhaps he's doomed: it is worth mentioning that except for Xia Fei's Pawn ♙, each character is affiliated to a piece which can move forward and backward on the board.

Liu Xiao has a gear. I find this one intriguing because, so far, this object has belonged to Cheng Xiaoshi's imagery (cf. "BREAK!"). For someone on an ambitious project such as controlling timelines, he is giving a small tool that cannot be used on its own, is part of a machine. Could be relevant to the way he does things, never getting his own hands dirty, working through others. Or it could be that he's himself just another player, played by Fate. Or perhaps, he has the missing piece that Lu Guang needs to save Cheng Xiaoshi, who knows?

Vein is already using his own item: the pipe. He's the only one owning his object and aware of it.

>> The Case Study of Lu Guang

Because of course, our favorite character is actually the shadiest of all, I will dedicate a whole section about him specifically. Why do I insist on calling Lu Guang shady? We know and we see his chess piece is white. But you have to take a closer look to make out the White Knight ♘. The value of a Knight ♘ is equivalent to the Bishop's ♝. But ultimately, its worth less than Cheng Xiaoshi's Rook ♖.

L shaped path

Moving only in an 'L' shaped path, Knights ♘ are the most effective from the center of the board. This is because they get a broader reach in all directions from the central part.

Now, this is very important. Why should it be a mystery that Lu Guang's piece is a knight? What is a Knight ♘? The answer resides in the mechanism of his maneuver.

Part of the idea of the knight maneuver is to flank. And since the Knight is not a horse but a man on a horse, the odd maneuver reflects the knight's ability to guide the horse he's riding (to an extent). In other words, since the Knight comprises two entities (the man riding the horse), the move should sensibly consist of two parts as well, to reflect the added agility of the athletic horse. Conversely, the Knight has access to a maximum of 8 squares (as opposed to the "equal" Bishop's maximum of 13) because the horse is still an animal with a mind of its own.

Note that if you place a Knight ♘ somewhere on the margins, its efficacy will diminish exponentially. Additionally, if he only moved two squares, straight or diagonally, the Knight ♘ would always be restricted to the color squares that he started the game on.

Lu Guang being the Knight ♘ doesn't only means that he moves unconventionally. It is reflective of his duality. Perhaps, the fact he's using his power and Cheng Xiaoshi's. There is another aspect of him we could address here:

Burning Palace

For one thing, "BURNING PALACE" brings back the theme of strategy board game with the checkers this time (you see black pieces falling). It also introduce the Four Heads from playing cards. The fact they bothered to mention it implies a Fourth character.

Xia Fei: ♠

Liu Xiao: ♣

Vein: ♦

The fourth color ♥ is missing and I'm secretly convinced that it's Lu Guang's color.

Enygmatic Tokens

The portrait behind Lu Guang is Lu Guang himself, from "Overthink". This image appears in the first bridge, when the lyrics goes "how did my sight got stolen once more?", superposing Lu Guang's face with mysterious shapes, erasing his eyes/power. This particular line comes to confirm what we already know: Yingdu Chapter isn't a resolution, let alone a happy ending, but a repeat of a tragic event in an unchangeable node. The end is the same, once again. Lu Guang's hope and happy ending has been stolen once more. And STOLEN also implies that there is an intent behind this failure.

A portray is still a photograph though, and it can be used to dive back in time.

What is the most curious to me is the familiar eagle on Lu Guang's chest. Eagles belongs to Cheng Xiaoshi's imagery so why does Lu Guang is wearing them here?

An interesting take would be that Yingdu Chapter isn't actually from Lu Guang's perspective, but from Cheng Xiaoshi's, diving in a picture taken by Lu Guang. This would be some kind of plot twist and would definetely makes the big reveal easier but not less painful.

I'll probably make a whole meta about this symbol at some point but in the meantime, I'll let you know the eagle is associated with strength, power, wisdom, and freedom. The eagle's ability to soar high in the sky was believed to be a symbol of divine protection and spiritual guidance. Additionally, eagles are tied to the sun. Some people see them as signs of a bright future on the horizon. As a symbol of light, they embody both the intensity and heat of the sun as a fearsome force of nature, as well as the warmth and benevolence of the heavens.

This positive symbolisms are deeply rooted in Cheng Xiaoshi's nature, but if Yingdu Chapter actually brings us back to one earlier repeat, we can assume that Lu Guang had initially a brighter outlook on his mission.

The glasses are back and I'll say it again: once is weird, twice is a coincidence and thrice it's a pattern. The portrait shows Lu Guang without eyes but his item is a pair of glasses. Might be a subtile hint of denial there. As far as glasses go, pink is a peculiar color. It helps to 'voir la vie en rose', as the french says: "look at the world through rose-coloured glasses." Meaning, being delusional.

Might it be the eagle or the glasses, I'd say they're both representative of Lu Guang's state of mind at the time: hopeful.

~

[Edit: I recommend you take a look to these threads regarding this very same artwork: | X | X | X | I don't agree with everything but it's always cool to have other perspectives.]

[sillygoofyqueer]

CROWYUAN PEAK LORD REACTIONS PART TWO!! (part one heree) My workload was surprisingly brutal from learning today, so I've been slogging through it just to talk to all of you <3 LET'S DO THIS SHIT: Liu Qingge: Okay, come on, we know this guy. He will just register the demonic features and pull out Cheng Luan with NO hesitation, only to be held back by no less than three of his martial siblings as they try and say "nah, nah, he chill he chill, goddamn it!!!" He almost refuses to believe this because holy shit they've been manipulated by this DEMON and he's immune to it because he's been in contact with so many demons. Then he has a conversation with the demon and is bombarded with many questions about his hunts and SOMEHOW gets roped into promising to bring SY the carcass of the next beasts he hunts so that SY can explain their weaknesses in incredible detail to him. (He still thinks that maybe he too has been manipulated and bewitched, but that's at the back of his mind when SY SMILES at him) Shen Qingqiu: God, he hates this little demon thing - everyone else is drawn in by his weak charms, but NOT Shen Qingqiu. Oh, he sees past the disguise, he knows that this little...creature is plotting, is waiting for them all to let down their guards - but he WON'T. Just because his martial siblings are utter, blithering idiots, doesn't mean HE is. He will remain resilient and strong and-- what do you mean Shen Yuan is making himself comfy on Qing Jing Peak??? What. What do you MEAN he feels safe enough to be alone with SQQ and doesn't care about the rumours surrounding him because "they're tame in comparison to the things he hears about other demons"????!?!?!?! That's it. This demon is too silly to be wandering around by himself, who knows who would take advantage of his stupidity - ATTIC WIFE TIME (/j/j/j) Yue Qingyuan: This demon likes Xiao-Jiu, therefore he's chill- HOLD ON WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHEN JIU SMILES AT HIM ALL THE TIME?!?!? Yue Qingyuan is very pleased that Shen Jiu has a....*through gritted teeth* friend, at least he has someone to talk to - ALL of the peak lords like Shen Yuan??!? All of them?? HOW. SY has to teach YQY his ways because it has been impossible for him to get his shidi all in one place without them killing each other, and now they're all just...chilling with SY? With minimal arguments?? Damn it. (This is a joke, I think he'd be pretty pleasant with SY, but I wanted to make a funny read on the guy's reaction) ((I think Shang Qinghua is an enigma because they're both transmigrators and he'd just be like "YOOOOO, YOU'RE THE IDEA I DROPPED!!"))

[hyog-blog]

I love how in this scene we see more of the wish-granting, but this time it is performed by Zhao Yuanzhou, free of charge, in his selfless manner that doesn't need anyone's sacrifices or murders or even someone else's energy - only their wish, and intent, the willingness.

And he grants Pei Siheng's last wish just like that, a stark contrast to Cheng Huang who was fooling around with humans collecting their energy trying to change his own narrative, to bring back the past that was no longer there, the goddess who has already died, because he couldn't let go of her even after his own death.

And we can talk as much as we want about Zhao Yuanzhou evading whatever he's done and not atoning for his sins in a grander scheme of things, but he actually does it all the time - but it's in the smaller details. In the kindness of his heart, in the attention to the people around them, in that little bit of help that usually either goes unnoticed or he simply doesn't even talk about it - he just carefully and casually does something good and only we as viewers can see and appreciate it (all those small instances of helping Bai Jiu or giving his cloak to Wen Xiao and Xiao Zhuo or taking the blow so the others don't get hurt).

His companions come a long way before acknowledging his true beauty and kind-hearted nature, and I believe that yes, some of it might stem from guilt over the things he has done in the past, but ultimately it doesn't matter why you do good things - you just do them and they become a part of you and they slowly change you, turning you into someone better, someone more than you were before. And what may have started as atonement for the wrongs he had done, effortlessly became part of nature because of how empathetic he has always been (I suspect, for a long while having to deal with malicious energy on a regular basis).

I love how his kindness is merely a whisper in the dark, a hidden secret not many people know about or even notice, but once they do - everything changes, and they give him all that love that he has never asked from them, but was probably yearning for, as well as absolution.

He didn't even know A-Heng personally, but he knows Pei Sijing and he knows and probably feels just in how much pain she is. So he creates this little bit of happiness for them, just like that, using his own energy. And it's so beautiful, and it tells volumes about his character.

[mademoiselle-red]

People have been very focused on analyzing Lu Guang’s involvement in Vein’s “death” but there is one detail that I haven’t seen much discussion on.

Wang Qing hates Vein.

Lu Guang looks at Vein with coldly murderous eyes. Mrs. Shao is alarmed by Vein’s attempt to take the notebook but she doesn’t know who he is, and she doesn’t seem to have a personal grudge against him. But once Wang Qing is back in her own body and sees Vein taking the notebook, she recognizes him and is furious. Her facial expression and eyes go batshit and she screams his name with such anger and hatred.

But! When Vein entered the room and saw Wang Qing, he didn’t seem to know her. She is just the target he was supposed to find in order to retrieve an object for his client (presumably Liu Xiao). He didn’t even have a name or photo for her, just a burnt student ID, and had to rely on CXS and Lu Guang to give him her name when asking him to help them find her.

So why does Wang Qing know Vein but he doesn’t know her?

Why does she hate him so much?

(Sure, any person would be mad if they woke up battered and beaten by some random stranger, but she seems to really hate his guts)

So I have a theory:

What if the notebook was supposed to be a trap?

Here is Wang Qing’s (possible) POV: She survives the fire with her teacher’s notebook in her possession. Her teacher is presumed dead. She is visited in the hospital by her teacher’s widow, Ms. Shao . She tells Wang Qing to take a photo of CXS if he ever visits her. Wang Qing does what she is told and at some point in the future, gives Mrs. Shao the photo so she can dive back to possess her.

Mrs. Shao knows exactly where Cheng Weimin’s notebook is kept in Wang Qing’s office. So they must have both agreed at an earlier time for Wang Qing to hide it there in her office in Yingdu instead of letting Mrs Shao keep it with her, wherever she is.

So why is Mrs. Shao taking out the notebook now, right after Vein shows up asking for it?

Two possible reasons:

1) Mrs. Shao doesn’t know Vein, but knows he wants the notebook and has found his way to Wang Qing, so she wants to take it with her now and transfer it to a safer location

2) Mrs. Shao is trying to save her husband and Wang Qing is trying to find the culprit behind the fire. They team up because their goals are somewhat aligned. They suspect the culprit was after Cheng Weimin’s secrets and will try to track down Cheng Weimin’s notebook via the only survivor of the fire. So Wang Qing decides to use herself as bait.

I like possibility #2 because this partially explains why Vein does not appear to know Wang Qing, but Wang Qing knows him and looks at him with even more intense hatred than Lu Guang. Because if the notebook is a bait for the culprit, then Wang Qing has reason to believe whoever comes for the notebook is the culprit, and when she sees someone she knows come for the notebook, she thinks she has her answer now and is ready for revenge.

And this also aligns with what she says to CXS before she gets possessed by Mrs. Shao: “You are the detective, CXS.” Because he is the one who is supposed to find the culprit for her. And what happens as soon as she opens her eyes in her own body again? The “culprit” caught red handed with the notebook.

(But this is very probably a big misunderstanding because Vein was hired by his client —presumably Liu Xiao —to find the notebook. So far, there are no indications that he was involved in the fire. And my theory still doesn’t explain how Wang Qing knows and recognizes him but he doesn’t know her)

[sleepysupernovax]

Link Click Theory Time!

Alright, I’ve been thinking about the ending of the Bridon Arc for a while, so it’s theory time. Let’s go over what we saw and, more importantly, what we didn’t see. I have multiple different theories, but here is perhaps one of the more far-fetched ones that I don’t think I’ve seen voiced yet.

For this theory, I want to focus on Liu Xiao, Xia Fei, and Vein, and then tie everything back to the first two seasons. We know that Liu Xiao is the hidden mastermind of everything that happens, given his PV and title as Manipulator. We don’t actually see a lot of him in the Bridon Arc, which is to be expected. We’re led to believe that Vein is and will be the main antagonist, the one who kills Cheng Xiaoshi, and that perfectly fits the hidden mastermind theme. We’re not shown anything that directly antagonizes Liu Xiao, and we’re only given small signs that he’s working against the other two: having Xia Fei track them, gaining information about Cheng Xiaoshi’s dad, stealing the note left in the book by said dad, etc. Much smaller things in comparison to Vein shooting at the two. But it’s important to note that Vein will likely be manipulated and used by Liu Xiao the same way Xia Fei is.

Everything that happened at the end of Bridon Arc was in Liu Xiao’s favor, particularly Vein’s faked death. We know that Lu Guang took control of Wang Qing (how he gained the power to do so is an entirely different problem, for it’s not the ability he got from Cheng Xiaoshi; we do at least know that powers are inherited either through blood or death, so it’s very possible it came from a parent, especially since Lu Guang hints at having learned about abilities from someone else. It’s also important to note the difference in eye appearance from when he usually uses his powers.) and used her ability to fake Vein’s death. (Wang Qing can fake a death if she knows someone’s full name, hence why she called out Vein’s real name. Also a smaller detail, but I think it’s safe to say that Lu Guang wasn’t able to possess her sooner because he had to wait for Cheng Xiaoshi’s mom to stop possessing her.) Some people argue that he intended to kill Vein, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We know he’s done this all before, so it’s very likely he’d know exactly what her ability is. Not to mention that when he talks to Vein beforehand, he states that he knows he can’t stop Vein, but he can at least delay him. He knew he couldn’t kill Vein, but he could do something drastic—like temporarily kill him—to set him back. And that exact setback is what’s going to work against Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi.

Vein has been pronounced dead, which means he’s now an unknown player. There’s a certain level of freedom that comes with faking one’s death, and Liu Xiao is going to use that. In the post-credit scene, when we find out that Vein is alive, we see a hand open the bag. And that hand is Liu Xiao’s. We can tell from the rings. Liu Xiao knew exactly what happened, knew that Vein was still alive, and got ahold of his body bag to be there right when he woke up. It’s possible it has to do with his ability, and he heard Vein’s heart beating from inside the bag. Or it’s possible that Vein didn’t have a pulse at all until the moment the bag opened, and Liu Xiao simply knew ahead of time that he hadn’t really died. Either way, he now has ahold of a cannibalistic mafia boss who’s been pronounced dead and can get around unmonitored. Vein also now likely knows about abilities—assuming he didn’t before—and knows that Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are his enemies. And in the small chance he didn’t realize that, I’m sure Liu Xiao will tell him. We also know that Vein has a weakness Liu Xiao is fully aware of—a person Vein would drop everything for and show up to defend, a person he has saved countless times, the only person who truly seems to have a close bond with him.

Xia Fei might be the most overlooked piece of this puzzle. He’s not antagonized in the Bridon Arc—quite the opposite. He becomes friends with Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi and ends up wanting to help them out. He even quits his arrangement with Liu Xiao because he feels bad about tracking them. Cheng Xiaoshi trusts him completely, and while Lu Guang doesn’t seem pleased around him, there isn’t the same murderous intent or anxiety that we see around Liu Xiao and Vein. He’s caring, lovable, and generally not seen as a threat, which is exactly why he’s the perfect person for Liu Xiao to use. Yes, he quit his arrangement with Liu Xiao, but I doubt that’ll last long. At the end of the last episode, we see that he’s gone missing along with Jack, a model who leaked internal information and got fired as a result (also notably the model shown trying to drown Xia Fei). This happens after he learns that Vein has been killed. Xia Fei already has plenty of reasons to want Jack gone, even dead, and now he’s lost the only person in his life that appears to be close to him. It’s not a stretch to say that he killed Jack and went into hiding after. We don’t have enough clues to say why with certainty, but there are a few obvious possibilities: maybe Vein’s death pushed him over the edge and drove him to do what he’d wanted to for a while, maybe he needed to shut Jack up since Jack had information that could hurt Xia Fei and Vein, maybe he suspected that Jack had something to do with Vein’s death, or maybe Jack attacked him again and it was self-defense. Regardless, we know that the two are missing and Xia Fei is probably on the run or in hiding. We also know that Xia Fei will stop at nothing to find Vein’s killer.

His exchange with Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang at the end gave us several important details:

1. Xia Fei believes that Vein is dead.

2. Xia Fei already suspects that supernatural powers are at play.

3. Xia Fei plans to hunt down Vein’s killer, which was ultimately Lu Guang.

4. Xia Fei knows about Cheng Xiaoshi’s father and warns him to quit before things get too dangerous. In other words, he generally knows where the two might be going and looking in the future, and he knows what they might find.

5. Xia Fei is staying in contact with the two, hence “let me know when you land.”

6. Xia Fei now knows exactly where the two live, thanks to Cheng Xiaoshi.

The first point is perhaps the most important, and it plays a role in most of the others—or it will, in the future (past? Future of the past? You know what I mean). Xia Fei genuinely believes that Vein is dead. Liu Xiao knows that Vein is alive. Liu Xiao could very easily tell Xia Fei the truth, but he won’t. Instead, it’s likely he’ll either directly reveal the existence of supernatural abilities to Xia Fei or lead him to find it out for himself, then explain that Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi used their abilities to kill Vein. Vein’s death will remain a driving motivator for Xia Fei (he’d still probably be upset if he knew the truth, but it wouldn’t be nearly as effective and emotionally shattering), and it’ll hit even worse with the betrayal of his (now) only two friends. With Vein dead, his only friends the murderers, and his own career pretty much over after he goes missing alongside Jack, what does he have left to lose? (It’s also important to note that his theme song directly says “I’ve got nothing to lose.” Which may not have been true before since he had a solid career and a close relationship with Vein, but now, it certainly is. Additionally, the following line, “All I do is pursue,” which originally could be taken to reference his career, but now takes on an entirely different meaning. He’s pursuing Vein’s killers. He’s pursuing revenge. He’s pursuing Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi, and it’s all he can do.)

The reason he’s the perfect person to send after the two is because he’s trusted by them and knows exactly where they are. Cheng Xiaoshi told him the name of the photo studio, and even if they’re not there, he knows who the two are looking for (it’s important to remember that he was Cheng Weimin’s student and therefore likely also has ties to Wang Qing and anyone else the two might go to for information on the man). If he knows what they’re after, then he knows how to find them. And either way, since he’s staying in contact as a friend, he could always just ask Cheng Xiaoshi if he can stop by and meet with them. He has the easiest way to find and meet with the two without drawing suspicion. And with everything that happened, he could easily pretend that he’s going to them for help or safety. He could work up some story about how Jack attacked him, he fought back in self defense but went too far, now he’s hiding, etc. You get the idea. Cheng Xiaoshi would likely easily believe him and want to help.

Let’s look back at Liu Xiao for a second, for we need to explain how he’d get Xia Fei working for him in the first place. I think it’s possible that after Xia Fei and Jack go missing, Liu Xiao finds him and offers his help. It’s also possible that Xia Fei would go to Liu Xiao for help. Who better to turn to when you’re on the run for murder than the shady guy who’s obviously involved in something illegal and incredibly intelligent? One way or another, Xia Fei ends up relying on Liu Xiao’s help, which puts him back under Liu Xiao’s control. Liu Xiao makes sure Xia Fei doesn’t find out the truth about Vein (he’d have to ensure the two are always in different places), reveals the existence of supernatural powers to him, and leads him to the conclusion that Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi were responsible for Vein’s death. Even better if he explains the fact that he’d had Xia Fei track the two by saying that he knew they were dangerous, threats, murderers, etc. and was trying to keep tabs on them or stop them from hurting people. That would be a sure way to make himself more sympathetic and appealing. But he doesn’t even necessarily have to explain that. All he has to do is give Xia Fei information that turns him against the other two and then sit back and watch, quietly pulling the strings from behind the scenes like always.

Assuming this theory is correct (it’s all speculation so take this as you will), we now have Xia Fei working from the inside to take down Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi and Vein still with Liu Xiao. It seems likely that Liu Xiao would use Xia Fei to keep Vein under control and also offer his assistance in keeping Vein hidden. We know that Vein is ultimately the one who goes after Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi, at least in the (or one of the branches of the) original timeline. And it’s entirely possible that Vein would go after them to avenge his own death, but that’s not what he says in the clip in episode 1. He says that it’s punishment for changing the past. He also noticeably misses nearly every shot despite being trained in combat. Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are hardly dodging at all. It’s almost as if Vein is intentionally missing, and he even leaves before he can confirm that Cheng Xiaoshi is actually dead. He easily could’ve broken down the door and been sure to kill both of them. But he doesn’t, and he doesn’t look happy, either. We don’t see his eyes during this scene, which is also suspicious, for the show typically does that when someone is being controlled.

Which he probably is.

It would explain why he can’t shoot as well, why he’s focused on them changing the past instead of avenging the wrongs they’ve done (bonus points if he’s given more reason to hate them by making them have to hurt Xia Fei when they discover that he’s working against them, but that’s a whole other can of worms), and why he seems upset and leaves after Cheng Xiaoshi takes the bullet for Lu Guang. Lu Guang became insignificant the second Cheng Xiaoshi died, and this could be for one of two reasons 1. Cheng Xiaoshi was always the intended target or 2. The attack was meant to get Lu Guang out of the way so Cheng Xiaoshi could be used. If we go with the latter option, then Vein was not meant to kill Cheng Xiaoshi at all. Lu Guang was the only one he was supposed to kill, and Cheng Xiaoshi’s death was actually a huge mistake.

Because of course, under this assumption, the person controlling him would have to be Li Tianchen.

We don’t know exactly when Vein kills Cheng Xiaoshi, but we see the two wearing the same outfits they wore in seasons one and two, which means it took place around that same time. We also can’t be certain that it’s a different timeline than the season one and two timeline. The scene itself seems to span multiple timelines, considering the small changes to the background—blood splatters, pictures on the wall, minor inconsistencies—and if that’s the case, it’s entirely possible that it takes place after what we see in season two. We know that Li Tianchen is working with Liu Xiao by that time. If Vein, for some reason, discovers Liu Xiao’s secrets and manipulation and stops helping him, what’s stopping Liu Xiao from having Li Tianchen possess Vein and make him try to kill the two anyway?

And, if we’re following the theory that their intention was to remove Lu Guang and use Cheng Xiaoshi (which we already saw in season 2, so who’s to say Liu Xiao didn’t also play a hand in that?), then we know Li Tianchen has plenty to gain from the use of Cheng Xiaoshi’s powers. He wants his family back. He wants to change the past and save his dead mother (and now sister), which was established at the end of season 2. Liu Xiao could easily use that to talk Li Tianechen into killing Lu Guang and capturing Cheng Xiaoshi. It’s unclear what Liu Xiao’s own motives are in all of this, but we know that he has connections to Cheng Xiaoshi’s father, which gives him further reason to want to leave Cheng Xiaoshi alive and use him. Or kill him, depending on the nature of said connection, if we want to go back to the former theory. Either way, it seems likely that Vein was somehow possessed and forced to try and kill one of the two.

An argument could be made that Vein wasn’t possessed because he was shooting left-handed, as we see him do when he’s not being possessed. But it’s important to note that we also see Li Tianchen comfortably fighting with his left hand when possessing Qiao Ling and attacking Cheng Xiaoshi in the first episode of season two. He seems to be ambidextrous, so it wouldn’t be unlikely for him to continue having Vein shoot with his left hand, especially if that just comes more naturally to the body he’s possessing.

There are still a lot of gaps to fill and loose ends to tie up—Liu Xiao’s motivation, Xia Fei’s connection to Cheng Weimin and his full role as an antagonist, Vein’s relationship with Liu Xiao over time, who the other survivor of the fire is (taken from the ciphers in the intro), the mysteriously appearing sign in the elevator, and perhaps most importantly Qiao Ling (likely to be a central player with her newfound abilities, maybe even the one to get them out of this mess. I’m a fan of the theory that the Bridon Arc is at least partially seen through her eyes as she looks into Lu Guang’s past and pieces everything together across multiple timelines, which would account for the inconsistencies in the backgrounds of frames)—but I think this theory is fun and could have a lot of potential in tying together all three seasons so far. I’d also like to learn more about the importance of the recurring eye symbol. We see an eye or at least symbols and patterns that resemble eyes on the book Vein steals from Wang Qing’s office, above the door of the bookstore, on the rug at the entrance to Xia Fei’s apartment, on a book in the drawer of Cheng Weimin’s desk at school in the past (appears to be the same as the one Vein stole but we can’t be sure. If it was, it could contain more information on the school, the fire, and potentially lead to the other survivor), the whole title of the opening theme, and more places I’m sure that I missed. It’s interesting that the symbol is an eye, too, when we see eyes and eye color most notably tied to powers. Maybe the book and information Vein was after had something to do with supernatural abilities. This is all probably very wrong, but I’d like to see at least some elements of it come into play. I need the next season like yesterday.

[egoitsharu]

Theory: Lu Guang, the puppeteer in the shadows

Since the beginning of Link Click, Lu Guang has been presented as the more rational and calculating of the duo. While Cheng Xiaoshi is carried away by emotions when traveling in the photos, Lu Guang always insists on following the rules, as if he already knew the danger of altering them. However, what if he not only knew the risks, but was manipulating them for his own benefit?

1. Lu Guang's visions and his control of time

From the beginning, we know that Lu Guang can see the future of the photos and control Cheng Xiaoshi in them. But his ability has never been fully explained.

In Season 2, we discover that Vein can also control time, but his ability is different.

Lu Guang, on the other hand, not only sees what happens, but can decide how much he lets Cheng Xiaoshi see.

What if he's not just "reading" the future from the photos, but modifying it without Cheng Xiaoshi noticing? This would explain why they sometimes seem to get caught in time loops and how Lu Guang always knows too much.

2. His relationship with the villain of the Brindon arc (Liu Xiao)

In the Brindon arc, Liu Xiao plays a key role by being an antagonist with temporal abilities. But there's one curious detail:

Lu Guang never reacts with true amazement when faced with Liu Xiao and his powers.

When they interact, it seems more like a conversation between two people who know each other rather than two rivals.

What if Lu Guang and Liu Xiao had already interacted before? What if Lu Guang is not Liu Xiao's enemy, but someone who shares his goal?

3. The connection with the "First User" of the abilities

In Season 2, we are let in that there is someone else with powers who is behind the events. This original user of the ability may have influenced both Vein and Liu Xiao… what if Lu Guang is part of this too?Perhaps Lu Guang has been using Cheng Xiaoshi to gather information on how time manipulation works.

Perhaps the changes to the timeline aren't glitches, but part of a larger plan by Lu Guang to gain absolute control of the past and future.

4. The Lie About the "Rule of Not Changing the Past"

From the start, Lu Guang insists that events should not be changed. But, in the Brindon arc, we see that changes do affect reality and some memories disappear or are rewritten.

What if Lu Guang knew this all along, but hid it so Cheng Xiaoshi wouldn't experiment with his abilities?

What if, secretly, he's been altering events to his advantage and only lets Cheng Xiaoshi make changes when it suits him?

5. Lu Guang's death and his “return”

When Lu Guang is stabbed in Season 1, he appears to die… but he returns in a mysterious way.

Could it be that he had actually already altered the future before, ensuring that he would not die?Is it possible that he used someone else's power, or even returned from another timeline?

If Lu Guang is not as “good” as he seems, his return could have been planned long before.

Conclusion: Lu Guang, the real manipulator

If we put all these clues together, the picture that remains is disturbing. Lu Guang could be much more than just a “coworker” for Cheng Xiaoshi.

Perhaps, his coldness and his control of the situation are because he has already lived through this before in another timeline.

Or perhaps, he is pulling the strings to cause certain changes in time without Cheng Xiaoshi noticing.

It's even possible that Lu Guang is trying to gain greater power, hiding his true agenda until the perfect moment.

If in a potential Season 3 we find out that Lu Guang is the final villain, everything would fall into place: from his strange ability, his relationship with Liu Xiao, and his insistence on not changing the past… because in reality he has already changed it to his advantage.

[psychopomp-namine]

Ahhhhh your theory about how Vein died is sooooooooooo fucking real. Like I've seen people talk about how Lu Guang might have a secret power? But I feel like that's not the case cuz then we might have seen it play out in S1 and S2. Lg would surely would have used it in the fight with Qian Jin.

for context, anon is talking about this post where I theorize how vein "died." I go into it in more detail there, but the tl;dr version of it is: no lu guang did not kill him vein directly. he just delayed vein from entering the clinic early, thus creating a butterfly effect (hence his whole speech about it) that led to wang qing being awake when vein tries to leave with the notebook, thus creating an opportunity for her to "kill" vein which she wouldn't have had originally. but liu xiao interrupted this chain of events and that's why vein is alive using the faking death ability.

I am linking the reblog version here because other people have added their own thoughts since the creation of the post. I'm not sure if anon has seen it or just the original post, because in my original post I posit that liu xiao has the faking death ability. but after seeing other people's thoughts, I am now more leaning to the idea that wang qing has the faking death ability or perhaps, that a combination of wang qing and liu xiao is what made the "heart attack but fake death" happen. perhaps (unintentionally) they created a power combo-ing effect similar to how lu guang and cheng xiaoshi can create a mind link across time when combining their powers, or how li tianchen can possess people across space by proxy of li tianxi.

a power combo that works across "death" would be interesting, though this is merely speculative at this point. it would certainly provide another perspective to why they're paired up in the ed.

to now address anon: yeah, exactly. even if the addition of non-photo based powers is a recent change in writing direction (that they may not have had foresight on during the writing of previous seasons), it still would be too much of a drastic change for lu guang to be hiding another ability.

as I said in the post, it is unfortunate that we have to rely on information outside of the show to make sense of it, but yingdu really does make more sense when you've seen the recent interview with director li. in particular, it is heavily implied that liu xiao has more than one ability, and the process of gaining an ability (aside from inheritance from parents) is through death or stealing it from others.

while I am a believer in the idea that lu guang is willing to do morally questionable things for cheng xiaoshi, I don't think he would've had an opportunity to just get a new ability so soon after he just got the diving ability from cheng xiaoshi. on the flip side, if he always had multiple abilities since he was a kid, it would be bad writing lmao because then why has he never used it until now? especially when he's been timelooping for who knows how long to avoid a death node. I know link click is possibly retconning some details (2018 is now 2019, they changed the plans for red eyes, etc etc) but I don't think this would be a retcon they'd do because it would change too much of lu guang's character.

I am going to use this ask as a jumping off point to talk about yingdu's storytelling style, and how we should take this into account when analyzing this season. putting this under the cut now since this gets long and is kinda just a tangent now to the ask itself, though it does circle back to lu guang's role in vein's "death" in the end.

part of the reason vein's death is confusing is definitely because of the animation of lu guang puppeteering wang qing. I can totally see how people would come to the conclusion that lu guang was controlling her somehow. but we have to remember that yingdu is not like S1 and S2, for multiple reasons. one, it's a shorter season meant to introduce plot hooks, not plot; it's a setup for S3. two, it's a change in perspective from cheng xiaoshi's more grounded reality to lu guang who has been timelooping for forever. three, it was animated by a different studio than studio lan. fourth, it aims to provide a different story, and the storytelling style reflects that.

whereas S1 and S2 has a storytelling style that focused more on plot details and building up tension; yingdu focused more on relationships and emotions. it heavily uses visual metaphors in its storytelling compared to previous seasons.

in a way, although I have qualms about yingdu's writing, I do think visual metaphors is a valid solution to the problem of, "we only have six episodes to establish new plots and characters and motivations. how do we convey information efficiently in that amount of time without compromising artistry?"

I will mention one metaphor in detail that will be relevant for the lu guang discussion later. one example is glasses as a perception metaphor. this meta was written in YE5, and YE6 continues the metaphor as well because we see lu guang wear clear glasses for the first time, symbolizing that he is no longer stuck in his rose-tinted glasses era of looking into the past, and has decided to look into the future, solidified by his decision to remove vein from the situation and also because he reveals later that this is the last time he can loop.

there are, of course, more examples. idk if I have links for existing meta on this, but we have hands as a metaphor for relationships (hand holding, handshakes, fist bumps, etc) and the power balance of each relationship (with regards to secrets, deals, etc). we have various color theories floating around. we have theater/cinema and chess as metaphors for everyone's narrative roles. lu guang's imaginary clock as a metaphor for how he thinks the timeline should go, and how it's prevented from running by red strings forming the word BRIDON. we even see the clock fall apart in one of the later episodes (I forget which one atm). hell I could write a whole meta on liu xiao's tetris game as a metaphor for how he sees the "game" he's playing and the role xia fei plays into all of it.

side note: I think it's incredibly valid for people to feel that yingdu did not have enough space to properly establish characters, and I feel the same way too. but at the same time, I think a lot of characterization also gets missed in yingdu because it's a season that loves its metaphors and encodes character motivations through it instead of just showing it to us. I have conflicting feelings about this, but ultimately, they only had 6 episodes to tell a story, and I think that's something we should always keep in mind when managing expectations.

circling back to vein's "death" and lu guang's role in it... visual metaphors are gonna be confusing if people don't know this is what yingdu's storyelling heavily uses. I don't think we should be reading yingdu the same way we did S1/S2.

someone could watch lu guang puppetering wang qing and think, "oh he's using her to kill vein directly" but if we stick to yingdu's storytelling style, it is more likely a metaphor for him learning to manipulate the butterfly effect for his purposes (again also symbolized by the glasses metaphor, since he wears clear glasses in the same episode)

scenes should also not be taken out of context. there is a reason he made a whole speech about the butterfly effect first. a small change (delaying vein) results in a big change (killing vein). if lu guang was controlling wang qing or whatever, that is not a small change. that is not a butterfly effect. we literally had a butterfly land on lu guang's shoulder after he made this speech to vein. the point was to create a butterfly effect that would lead to a situation where vein dies.

and for my final tangent: this sets us up perfectly for S3 because I believe lu guang and liu xiao are supposed to be narrative foils.

they both have expressed wanting control over the timelines. liu xiao wants "to make uncertainties into certainties" (whatever this means) and lu guang wants "to make certainties (cheng xiaoshi's death node) uncertain." but as of S1 and S2, lu guang was not yet in a position to properly rival liu xiao over this theming, because we know he's been timelooping and failing over and over to save cheng xiaoshi, while liu xiao has been successfully manipulating people into doing things for him (getting li tianchen to retrieve liu min's phone for him; baiting cheng xiaoshi to go to bridon so he can use him to bait wang qing to revealing where she hid the location of cheng weimin's notebook so vein can steal it).

now, lu guang has shown some semblance of control. and we have seen the effects of it. cheng xiaoshi is still alive and well in a post-S2 post-yingdu timeline.

I mentioned this way back in YE2, but there's also a distinct change in the way we're moving from "closed loops" to "butterfly effects" as a theme in yingdu. yingdu has many objectives it wanted to do as a season, but the main one was lu guang learning to manipulate the timelines through creating a butterfly effect. in keeping with this theme and objective, it just does not make sense for him to kill vein by somehow directly controlling wang qing.

[mysterialistic]

Inconsistencies between the Yingdu timeline and the season 1 & 2 timeline

Okay, so the final episode of Yingdu is right around the corner, which means this will probably be my last analysis of this arc. I’ve made some posts before discussing the discrepancies between what has happened in Yingdu and what we’ve seen in seasons 1 and 2 (which I’m going to refer to as the current timeline), but I decided to write everything down in a single post.

1. Cheng Xiaoshi's parents

One thing I’ve noticed is that, throughout season 1, Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t seem to know anything about his parents’ whereabouts. The only thing we do know is that he believes they disappeared one day without explanation. At one point, he even considered the possibility that they had died in the earthquake. He has no idea where they are or any clue as to what happened to them.

On the other hand, in Yingdu, he has an important lead about his father’s whereabouts. He knows where his father went after abandoning him, he saw and spoke to him (even if it was through someone else’s body), but he interacted with him nonetheless. Now, Cheng Xiaoshi believes his father may have died in that fire—something he seems completely unaware of in the current timeline.

2. The basketball game

This is a smaller detail, but I think it’s worth pointing out: the way Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi met during their basketball game in Yingdu is not the same as the flashback we saw in season 1. This could be explained by saying that the flashback was from Lu Guang’s perspective, meaning it was his memory of the first/original timeline.

3. Cheng Xiaoshi’s death scene

Another significant change is Cheng Xiaoshi’s death scene. The flashback at the end of season 2 differs from what we saw in Yingdu. In the flashback, they were in some sort of forest(?), their positions were different, Lu Guang had his hand underneath Cheng Xiaoshi’s head, and only one of his hands was stained with blood—quite different from how it played out in Yingdu.

4. Liu Xiao and the Quede Games card

Another interesting detail is Liu Xiao and the card he gives them with the Quede Games name on it. Yes, Cheng Xiaoshi is the one who receives the card, and he might forget about this small detail in the future, but I find it really curious that the creators chose to include this here. We know that the Quede Games case is the first one in Link Click, and it’s not just any case—it’s the one that started the entire conflict of seasons 1 and 2. It’s a bit strange that Lu Guang doesn’t seem to connect LIU Xiao with LIU Min and the Quede Games incident, but this might just be a plot hole.

5. Cheng Xiaoshi awakening his powers

Now, the most significant detail, in my opinion, is the way Cheng Xiaoshi awakens his powers. In season 1 episode 8, we got a small flashback of Lu Guang explaining how their abilities work together. This happened at the studio—not in a hotel in Yingdu.

And, of course, there’s the fact that Cheng Xiaoshi has already discovered that he can dive on his own—something he didn’t seem aware of in the current timeline until after the Emma case, when he attempted to enter a photo on his own and succeeded. There’s no way he just forgot he could do this. He’s not that dense, come on.

Conclusion

Now, I don’t know if Yingdu is going to be another failed timeline, but honestly, I hope it is. Otherwise, there will be a bunch of inconsistencies and plot holes that won’t make much sense. If they confirm Yingdu as another failed timeline, it would actually reinforce Lu Guang’s dialogue from season 2: “I want to use this LAST chance”—implying that he has already repeated this several times. I guess we’ll just have to wait a few more hours to find out.