teruki-inoue21

[teruki-inoue21]

Ep 2 season 2

When Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are talking In the hospital. Cxs talks about what QL told him (while possesed).

He tells them about how they want to steal his power. That's ,based on how LG reacts, the moment he realices Cxs life is in danger. Real danger.

Lg is asked if he knew if powers can be passed on, and his reply is, "i wasnt sure." But I guess here is where he realices the true danger in others knowing they have them.

And it's so sad to see his reaction. Knowing this isn't his first timeline and how much he is trying to avoid Cxs from dying.

Or maybe I'm just talking nonsense bc Link Click drives me insane

[teruki-inoue21]

Guys, I’m starting to doubt whether these two are Liu Xiao and the blonde woman or Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents.

In the episode 3 PV, they show a glimpse of what I assume is Cheng Xiaoshi’s dad, and in this previous picture, the hair and outfit look kind of similar.

Also, in this other scene, the dad is wearing the same coat.

These two strangers might actually be Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents.

[teruki-inoue21]

Warning for spoilers for Link Click.

Also Link Clicks timeline drives me insane. Because they're in the present, going to the past and changing things, but at the same time, in a lot of cases they already went back. Like they can't change anything in the past, but at the same time, he already had. Like in the child trafficking episode. CXS can't change anything in the past but at the same time he's already been in the past and was seen by Xiao Ling and that distracts her and stops her asking questions.

Like there's a certain inevitability there. No matter what CXS did Emma was always going to die, unless possibly he stops the Li siblings' mother dying. But the only way to really do that is kill the dad for the mum, and there's every chance the sister then dies instead I feel like. Like the way he can only change things that, in the end, aren't overly important?

Like a lot of stuff is inevitable. It's already happened. And yet, at the same time, because they haven't gone back in time yet, none of it has happened. There's a million identical timelines all with a couple small changes and yet, season 2 doesn't feel preventable. Qian Jin is always going to think his wife cheated and murder her. The Li siblings' dad is always gonna be abusive and think his wife is cheating. I feel like Li Tianchen losing one of his loved families is another inevitability, unless he physically himself in his own body kills his dad. The only other thing is if he controlled the dad instead and got him to kill himself. Either way he's gonna be the one to kill his dad. But that's not really something CXS can control since he's not Li Tianchen and, as far as I know, can't use their abilities. And Li Tianchen sends him out of his sister's body when he covers her eyes anyway, so after that point there is nothing he can do.

It's a complete spiral. Like the earthquake episode. Nothing he does is going to stop the earthquake. He's not gonna convince everyone to leave. Even if he said he's from the future they wouldn't believe him.

He always goes to look for answers about Emma and who killed her. At least as long as they take that job, but he doesn't control what job they take. He simultaneously holds all the cards and none of them. He has the power to change everything but at the same time can't change anything that actually matters, that would actually change things, for better or for worse

Get this man some therapy

[teruki-inoue21]

This shot from the OP makes me so unimaginably sad

Like ik I joke a lot about oh no who goofed the timeline this time lol but I can't even imagine all the weight Lu Guang carries each day. Not only does he have to balance these precarious cogs of events so this dive doesnt end up for nothing but he's effectively doing it alone bc nobody else remembers his dives and he cant very well tell them either bc it'll fuck up his timeline or bc that'll put them in danger or what have u

Then ofc u kno, there's the unimaginable trauma of watching someone u love die over and over knowing there's nothing u can rly do to stop it bc of the fuckin time police ig AKA that bitchass grell wannabe lookin mf AKA vein(?)

BUT THEN-

CXS BRINGS HIM BACK INTO THE LIGHT, GROUNDING HIM TO THEIR TIMELINE AND JUST-

I have very many feelings about them. I love Lu Guang. He's my current fav lil disaster man🫶

[teruki-inoue21]

Watching this again after watching Yingdu just hits different, man

Lu Guang must’ve almost had a heart attack

[teruki-inoue21]

Im rewatching ep 11 of link click.

Theres this moment where Lu Guang is watching Cheng Xiaoshi when he tries to change the destiny of Emma, who is about to commit.

He then says something like "this can't be, you cant change death" in a way that makes it sound impossible. Like 100% impossible. Now it makes me think, then why does he try so hard? I mean, if he is sure death is something inevitable, an unchangeable event, does he dive back just for the sake of spending more time with Cxs? Or is it just bc hope is the last thing you lose?

Then again he might have been saying it just bc if Cxs HAD changed Emma's death. Their present wouldnt exist.

Man Link Click maskes me insane.

[teruki-inoue21]

link click letter decoding with the bestie. if u even care.

thank you @courtjoxter my bitter ex (slash j) for the ceaser ciphering

"HE HEART OF THE FOREST A SUDDEN IC SPREAD AMONG THE ANIMALS FOX T RECTING ELEPHANT TO DOUSE THE FLAMES D WIFTLY SPREADING MESSAGES OF URGENCY RA HOWEVER ONLY CARED ABOUT FLEEING FOR SAFETY THE FOREST SUCCUMBED TO THE FIRES WRATH

DETERMINED TO PREVENT SUCH TRAGEDIES THE ANIMALS HIRED A DETECTIVE TO UNCOVER THE CULPRIT WHAT THEY DISCOVERED WAS BEYOND THEIR WILDEST IMAGINATIONS

HE BELIEVED THAT THE KEY TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM WAS TO ELIMINATE ALL POTENTIAL SPARKS THAT COULD IGNITE TROUBLE"

[teruki-inoue21]

I really like how power transfer works in Link Click.

Some people simplify it as “you gain a person’s power by holding them as they die,” but it goes much deeper than that. It feels more like a dying will—an intentional desire of the person to pass on their power to someone they trust (or at least I hope that’s how it works; imagine if one of the antagonists figures out that powers can be transferred just by touching the dying person). I personally like to believe that’s It’s also a demonstration love (not only romantic), as if the power—the most valuable gift the person possesses—can only be given to someone they deem worthy, someone they really care about. I see it as a kind of dying wish, especially in Cheng Xiaoshi’s case.

Li Tianxi’s situation with Qiao Ling is a bit trickier. I think it was more trust and gratitude, unless Li Tianxi specifically intended for Qiao Ling to use it for a good purpose. In that case it was more desperation)?

Either way, I find it beautiful how power transfer becomes such a meaningful link, a demonstration of trust from the one who dies, knowing that the person receiving their power will carry forward a part of their essence and their wishes.

[teruki-inoue21]

A study in timelines

Even though we know basically nothing about what is going to happen during this season, what timeline we are in et cetera, I still wish to put down an approximated list of timelines, as complete as we possibly can at the moment, because, maybe, if I take this stuff out of my mind and write it down, my head will relax a bit and I'll be able to stop thinking about Link Click for, like, a moment.

I need my life back, Link Click, please collaborate.

If someone has suggestions or hints to correct the list please share your ideas, they are more than welcome.

Just to clarify, what I call a timeline in this list is everything that happens between one of LG's dive and the next one after CXS's death. Also, please consider that timelines with different codes might in fact be the same one (for example, 1A, 1B, 1C and 2A could partially or totally be the same or they could happen one after another) but I don't want to take anything for granted, so I'd rather keep them separated.

Timeline 0 - the original

Where CXS and LG met for the first time, at least from Lu Guang perspective.

We know nothing about it, we don't know if the original timeline's events were close to those shown in Bridon Arc or if things were different. Were CXS's parents still around? Did CXS and LG randomly met at the Guidu's basketball court?

However things went in this timeline, we can only presume that these recurring events still happened:

Cheng Xiaoshi died, we don't know how, or when, if it was the result of some change in the past, because of an accident or killed by someone's hand;

Lu Guang (or whoever we know as Lu Guang) gained the power to dive back in time.

We know already that in Bridon Arc episode 1 (BAe1 from now on) we saw the fight happening in multiple timelines, at least three, but we don't know whether the first death was shown there, my bet is that none of them happened in the original timeline and the original CXS's death is the one shown in season two episode 1 and 12 (s2e1 and s2e12).

Timeline(s) 1A-1B-1C

The first time he did (1A), we do not know whether LG dived back wishing only to see CXS one last time, whether he actually inteded to overstay the 12-hour limit (implying that he already knew what staying would entail) but without changing the past (1B), or whether he actively wanted to change it (1C). We do not know when he dived back (as in, which photo he used). We do not know if a photo used in a previous timeline can be used again in the next one (although LG's words in S2e12 about a last chance suggest otherwise). We also do not know whether LG retains his acquired power to dive or loses it, once the 12-hour limit has passed.

So, yeah, basically we don't know a bloody thing, but we can presume that:

Lu Guang went back at some point in the past;

the past changed, by decision or by accident, so much so that Vein was triggered to go and kill;

Cheng Xiaoshi died again, most probably by Vein's hands;

Lu Guang dived back again.

This one could as well be when Lu Guang started to believe or understand that, even though the past changes, the future tends to stay the same.

Remaining in the past may have occurred in this timeline or in a subsequent one, which is why I'm calling this event timeline 1B.

Similarly, 1C is the code for when he decided to change the past and save CXS's life. Whatever happened in this timeline, it eventually lead to CXS's death all the same.

Since we still don't know how many times CXS died and when, I'm giving 1C and the following 2A two different codes to take into consideration the possibility that CXS died before the event we saw in BAe1, either in Bridon or sometime inbetween.

Timelines 2A-2B-2C

By what is our current understanding of BAe1, Lu Guang fought against Vein at least three times, everytime with the same result: Cheng Xiaoshi dies on September 12th, in the end. I considers these dives and timelines the failing ones, where 2A is the first, 2C is the last and 2B any inbetween. 2A might as well be timeline 1C, but 2A, 2B and 2C are definitely different timelines.

Timeline 3

This one is the timeline where, finally, Lu Guang succeeded in preventing Cheng Xiaoshi's death on september 12th. Since in all his deaths we see CXS wearing the clothes from season 1 and in season 2 those clothes got tossed out, I think is safe to say that this timeline definitely exists, it might be exactly the one we see in season 1 and 2 or an earlier one, bit it did happened. I say there might be two different versione of timeline 3 because there is a chance the gunshot CXS took in s2e12 by Qian Jin was fatal, CXS got again shot in the left lower abdomen like in timelines 2, I could he survive this one time?

Now, the question is: which one is Bridon Arc's timeline? Because I bet it cannot be timeline 3, in BAe1 and e2 Lu Guang appears to be still emotional, vulnerable, traumatised and uncertain, it feels more like early stages, 1C or 2A. If that is true, you know this season is going to be the saddest.

Be ready for the ride, we are going to suffer.

[teruki-inoue21]

Who, when, why and how did they wrote the diary?

I'm still thinking about the diary appeared in BAe1, since it's the one reveal which comes completely new, all the rest we had already known or at least conjectured. Who wrote it? For what reason? When? How could it be so accurate? Here's my hypothesys.

To be clear, in this post I'll consider "present" the date June 10th 2019, 03:55 PM.

Let's first start with what we know and what we can deduce: it is handwritten, in a mix of Chinese and Latin, which seems to show the intention to hide the diary from any potential reader or hacker; it details to the minute events that only CXS, LG and QL witnessed, and, the way the scene is edited, Lu Guang seems to be recalling the diary, which means it was written before present events.

There are different possible scenarios to explore but, without getting too lost in chatter, I want to start with one theory in particular, leaving the rest for later.

In my opinion, we should ask ourselves the question: ‘Who do we know that is aware the diary exists, knows the events transcribed in it, has a reason for transcribing them, and has the power to write them bofore happening?' I know it sounds trite to say but the most obvious answer is Lu Guang: Lu Guang has experienced the events personally, he intends to change the past but he needs to have perfect and maniacal control over every detail, which could explain the nees to to transcribe all the events in as much detail as possible in order to plan precisely what to leave unaltered, what to change and how.

The problem is that, if Lu Guang is the author of the diary, one has to wonder how he managed to write it down: Lu Guang experienced these events in one or more previous timelines, true, but how could he have transcribed the events with so much minutiae simply from memory? If he knew the events by heart, he would have no reason to transcribe them, and for the time being, I feel I can rule out the possibility that the diary has travelled through time.

As far as we know Lu Guang possesses at most two powers:

 - his original power, which, in his own words, allows him to know the twelve hours after a photo was taken, provided it was taken more than twelve hours earlier

 - the power to immerse himself in photos, obtained from CXS, which we do not know, however, whether or not he retains once immersed.

Writing down the diary with these powers seems impossible to me, so in order to explain how he succeded we have only two option: either Lu Guang lied about the nature of his powers (which is likely, ngl), or, and this is my guess, having both powers had an expected effect: the condition that the photo must be older than 12 hours in order to be used ceased to exist, allowing Lu Guang to take a photo and then use it to find out the next 12 hours in advance!

I know this sounds far-fetched but let me explain: from Lu Guang's point of view, coming from September 13th 2021, all photos prior to this date were taken well over 12 hours earlier, so even a photo just taken in 2019 for him is past and usable, nullifying the 12-hour restriction.

This way, by taking a photo he could know the future 12 hours in advance, transcribe them and then assess what to leave untouched and what to change.

I may have also spotted a possible faint piece of evidence to support my thesis, but since it is related to the kidnapping of CXS by Vivian's clique, and there are still a lot of unresolved details about that event, I won't go further.

Now, I know that this is just one possible explanation to part of the evidences, but it is also the one I wanted to focus on and share with you, without boring you too much. However, if you are very, very curious, the following section expand the other possible explanation I could come up.

-----------------------

THE BORING ANALYSIS

Let me repeat and expand some of the info I briefly shared before:

The events are written in Chinese, whereas the rest is in latin

This could be because the authors of Link Click didn't want to disclose the full content of the diary and decided to throw in a bunch of anonymous ipse lorum sentences, which mean we can ignore the latin content. However, if it was actually written in latin, it would mean that whoever wrote it put good effort into hide its content to the casual viewer, only to leave the most important details (like events and corresponding times) in clearsite. Not a wise choice, imo, but characters in fiction aren't always wise, tbh, so both option are in place.

2. It's handwritten

Whoever handwrote it spent their good amount of time doing it, considering that writing it on a computer would have taken him far less time. It makes me wonder what advantage manual writing might have had over digital writing and the only answer I can come up with is that a computer could be hacked and the author did not want to take the risk. That's shows proper dedication.

3. It contains details from an event known only by the trio

Whoever wrote it was either present when the events took place or had access to the memories of those who were present or had an insight into the future.

4. It is briefly displayed while LG thinks that everything is going the same way

The speach - video association seems to imply that Lu Guang had had previous access to the diary, he read it and possibly wrote it.

5. It contains a number of detailed events that had yet to happen

I can think of only two explanations: either the diary was written in the future and then transported in the past, which would require a complete new power, never seen in the show before, or it was written in the past, which suggests that either the author went from the future back to the past or had knowledge of present events before they occurred.

With this in my, let's proceed with the questions one by one:

WHO wrote it?

Someone who became aware of the facts, due to one of the following option: - they were present at the time of the facts - LG, CXS or QL - they foresaw the events thanks to some power - Such powers could be those of Xiang, Lu Guang, Li Tianxi, or someone we don't know yet  - the facts were reported to the author, by someone who experienced and/or foretold them - in this case they could be anyone.

WHEN was the diary written?

Either in the past or in in the future and then sent somehow back to the past

On behalf of WHO?

The author wrote it either for himself or for another recipient

WHY did the author write the diary?

So that someone, the author themself of a different recipient, could keep track or learns the events in advance and: - stick to the events as they happened - could intervene at the appropriate time and change the events - could intervene at the appropriate time and prevent someone else from changing the events, or at least adjust the course, should some change occur

Extra questions with a yes/no answer: if we assume that Lu Guang read the diary, was he an intended recipient? Is the diary safe?

What strikes me the most, again, is that the events are listed by the minute and, let's be honest, if the author had written the list of events based only on memory, they could not have been so accurate, therefore the scenarios I can imagine are the following:

 - the recipient of the diary is the author themself, and they cannot rely on memory only but have knowledge of future events thanks to some power or someone sharing the information

 - the recipient of the diary is the author themself, they have detailed memory of the events but still need to write them down for planning

 - the author and the recipient are different people, the author knows the events to the minute and wrote them down for the recipient's interest.

I hope it makes sense, explaining these past/future concepts is brainwrecking and I'm pretty tired at this point and not all that interested in exploring other possibilities,  such as that Lu Guang is not the author of the diary but stole it or received it from someone else. Feel free to explore the possible outcome yourselves.

Bye!

[teruki-inoue21]

They talk about the inconsistencies between the scenes in both ep 1 and 2!

[teruki-inoue21]

Ik the cosplay event is the only funny light-hearted moment we got from this trio in the otherwise traumatizing first episode but (I woke up in the morning and suddenly this came to my mind) - Lu Guang cosplaying may be a metaphor for something else too, it may have another significance.

Even if I don't talk about the meta-narrative of RanXi chronicles, Lu Guang cosplaying itself is a kind of 'meta-performance' of life. He impersonates someone who he may want to be (being together with a safe and sound Cheng Xiaoshi) not who he actually is. He is the coser of his own existence which got lost in the repeated loop of history, he performs, he conforms to the pre-written script BUT he is trying to re-write the history too. Let's take a look at the lyrics of Flash by Gorilla Attack :

Hmm, I can't believe that you were here I know I can't do it There's no chance to rewrite Our story ended long ago Trrr The time is coming now Blank I wake up blushing my- Just a loop A bored 'n loop Should I do this now 'til the end? Into the story As just an extra You are the reason I live But you don't remember me? Oh, can I be with you? It feels like comedy Contemporary dance Please lock me up with too many tasks to do Let me lose them off completely Always looking away Flash me, flash me Gotta get the power to rewrite I just wanna deny, I just wanna rewrite, yeah Clash it, clash it What a wondrous nightmare I just wanna deny, I just wanna rewrite The only thing that I got, just like a little lamp I gotta go in one-way smoke Resist the lifeless scenario Become the person The person I wished for that day The room like a coffin, too bright A groove that I lost faraway Blanket, I need a blanket Not a synthetic one Notice the regret engraved so hard Crying, don't let me go anywhere It is not 目に見え, fly out Babe, you don't see me Your shadow that only I got That only I got Flame out, flame out I don't care about it anymore Now I can fly Only I can fly Rush it, rush it You're just making sure I'm alone But I have the power It was undercover Flash me, flash me Gotta get the power to rewrite I just wanna deny, I just wanna rewrite, aye Clash it, clash it What a wondrous nightmare I just wanna deny, I just wanna rewrite The only thing that I got, just like a little lamp I gotta go in one-way smoke Resist the lifeless scenario Become the person The person I wished for that day Ah-ah That only I got That only I got

This is very tough for Ne to choose a single most favourite song from Link Click but Flash is a song that has an extremely special part in my heart. This song too is about someone who is desperate to re-write a history as someone who is constantly taking part in the history.

See how the first few verses actually start with the admission that "there is no chance to rewrite, our story ended long ago."

Then the denial strikes in with the raging desperation.

The only thing that I got, just like a little lamp / I gotta go in one-way smoke/ Resist the lifeless scenario/ Become the person/ The person I wished for that day

I know that the little lamp can be a general metaphor for hope but since it's our guang-guang I'm not gonna ignore the significance of his name here.

Also there is something about being and becoming. Even though it's a performance that's self-indulgent (!), there is an attempt to strike a delicate balance between hope, stubbornness and disaster. Now how successful that attempt is...

Idk man, it may be a side effect of reading too much Shakespeare and thinking too much about meta-theatricality and existentialism but anyway, I wanted to share this morning's enlightenment so yeah.

[teruki-inoue21]

That is a code, your honor, but better

I'm an idiot. I wrote part 1 immediately after I saw this moment

without realizing that, if I'd waited only an instant more, the teacup is removed and the message becomes visible almost entirely

I won't repeat how to solve the code (because yes, that is a code fully decipherable! :D), but the whole message is:

--the heart of the forest a sudde-- --ic spread among the animals. Fox-- --recting Elephant to douse the flames d-- --wiftly spreading messages of urgency ra-- (h)owever only cared about fleeing for safet-- the forest succumbed to the fire’s wrath.

Determined to prevent such tragedies, the animals hired a detective to uncover the culprit. What they discovered was beyond their wildest imaginations.

He believed that the key to solving the problem was to eliminate all potential sparks that could ignite troubles.

In the previous screenshot, due to some part missing, I totally missed the reference to Liu Xiao metaphor of the forest's animals, so let's start my blabbering from scratch.

The message implies the existence of different people:

the animals and, among them, Elephant and Fox are mentioned. I can't think of anything regarding Elephant but the twins were depicted as foxes in season 2. I don't see how Li Tianchen could be already involved at this stage but let's keep him in mind.

the detective (also referred as He in a following passage) hired by the animals. It could be Liu Xiao, Vein o someone else, depending on how we interpret the rest of the message.

the culprit, which is probably Lu Guang but it could also be Cheng Xiaoshi or, why not, Cheng Wei Ming.

The potential sparks, which probably include Qiao Ling, Xiao Li and the whole group.

Let's not forget the writer and recipient of the message, which could be Xiao Fei and the blond woman, respectively.

Focusing on the content itself, the forest might be a metaphor for the whole society, it could refer to a specific group of people, or it could be a phisical place, but I doubt that, at this point: the forest we see in Lu Guang's memory, back in season two, might not be a real place, I'm not sure yet. The fire is most certainly the moment the past changed, which created different timelines and is probably breaking the time, at this point; however we cannot exclude that an actual fire does happen, we see it multiple times in the opening sequence.

I'm a little less inclined to think that the phrase "Determined to prevent such tragedied" might allude to a person endowed with powers that enable him to see or act in the future, but nevertheless I do not rule it out yet.

And that's it, I hope it was useful.

[teruki-inoue21]

so i looked up “the eye” on tiktok to see if the intro was there and found this:

BOOKS ARRANGED IN MORSE CODE???

assuming black books are dashes and white books are dots, this is what it says,

STUDIO LAN DOES NOT FUCK AROUND WITH SYMBOLISM AND THE BOOKS ARE BEHIND LIU XIAO THIS MEANS SOMETHING

whoever spotted this first is a genius fr

[teruki-inoue21]

So what if I told you that Lu Guang has been living on "borrowed time" with Cheng Xiaoshi as far back as the very first episode in season 1?

Tl;dr thoughts and other sidetracks below the cut:

One: Xiaoshi lamenting to Lu Guang if "high-fiving" was the only way for them to maintain contact with each other when he dives.

If they had been at this gig for a long time, surely Xiaoshi would have already known this (or at the very least, have experimented other methods, maybe, if he suspected they could go about it another way?) That is not to say that the two of them hadn't been running a legit photo studio business prior to this (definitely feels longer), but the fact that Xiaoshi questions this did come across as being unusual to me, unless it was something "fairly recent" to him, and he was still slowly getting the hang of it. But a much stronger evidence would be:

Two: The rules set by Lu Guang as a condition of their partnership, specifically the second and third rule: to "change nothing", and "let the past and future be". Would Lu Guang have been so insistent on imposing such restrictions on Xiaoshi, had he not already experienced losing Xiaoshi once and wanted to rein Xiaoshi in from acting on his own? And why did Lu Guang feel the need to do so?

-------- Sidetrack thoughts #1: Was Xiaoshi even aware of his powers before Lu Guang came into the picture, or did it only manifest when Lu Guang entered his life? As evident in episodes involving the police, it suggests that in this universe, ability users are an abnormality and not public knowledge; they fall under urban lore and internet rumors, with whispers about a "photo studio run by a witch who can perform magic".

Did Xiaoshi accidentally jump into a photo one day and freak out, only for Lu Guang to assure him by outing his own abilities? (I can't see Lu Guang willingly volunteering that information to Xiaoshi unless something had forced his hand, esp given the above assumption it's not knowledge a layman should possess.) --------

I feel, the reason why Lu Guang holds Xiaoshi so vehemently to the rules would make sense if we consider that Lu Guang sees Xiaoshi as an "unpredictable node".

As far back as S1e3, we can tell that Lu Guang was able to "see" far ahead enough in the timeline that Xiaoshi had leaped into, to know if the future of that timeline had been altered or not. Example: little changes that Xiaoshi did (making a slam dunk) were inconsequential enough that Lu Guang could tell Xiaoshi it's fine, and the future remains relatively unaffected. But Xiaoshi changing a "key node" in that timeline (helping the losing team win), had drastically altered it to the point that Lu Guang tells Xiaoshi he doesn't know what's going to happen next. Why? Because the timeline had already branched out into a parallel universe, so to speak. And no longer holding on to the photo of the "right" universe - a new universe that Xiaoshi had inadvertently just created - meant Lu Guang no longer had the power of foresight.

Getting back to Lu Guang's real predicament, I suspect Lu Guang has been living in a timeline where he is unable to "see" Xiaoshi's future because he hasn't known a future where Xiaoshi has been alive for this long.

Just because Lu Guang is now in a timeline where Xiaoshi didn't die before 0913, it doesn't mean Xiaoshi is safe in the present universe - the same thing happened with Emma; while she didn't die in the hands of a kidnapper, she still died by falling off a building. And that's why Lu Guang has been rather protective of keeping Xiaoshi out of trouble, but I also speculate hard, that he doesn't want to further "destabilize" the current timeline and create more obvious time ripples that will draw attention to them, because... Lu Guang knows Xiaoshi should not have lived, and that they're being hunted.

Xiaoshi, the "abnormality" who is causing all the splits in time due to his unpredictable nature, would make the absolute antithesis to the new antagonist, who seeks to merge all the universes into one single unchanged ending. -------------------------- Sidetrack Thoughts #2: Since when was Lu Guang able to time travel on his own anyway?? My personal hunch: his time leap abilities were not his own, but from Cheng Xiaoshi of the parallel universe where he died. The scene before Lu Guang jumped back in time showed bloodstains on his shirt, suggesting that he had contact with Xiaoshi prior. This would mirror what we saw between Xixi and Qiao Ling, with Xixi's powers being transferred over to Qiao Ling through contact, and Qiao Ling briefly able to see all the memories of the people she had previously read.

If ^ proves to be true, what does that mean?

That Lu Guang is unable to time leap UNLESS Cheng Xiaoshi dies. He does not have the ability to do so on his own. This also means that for as long as Cheng Xiaoshi is alive, Lu Guang will not have the means to time leap on his own or dive back into the past. Which brings me to:

Sidetrack thoughts #3: This image makes me reallllllllly wonder if Lu Guang had already gone back in time to save Xiaoshi multiple times, which would make Lu Guang wanting to stabilize the current timeline even more valid and tragic. ---------------

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Frankly, such stories seem destined to head down the tragic/bittersweet end. Either: 1) Lu Guang dies so that Xiaoshi may live; 2) Xiaoshi dies anyway; (bonus 2.5: It's a combi of both; Guang tries to die to save Xiaoshi, but Xiaoshi pulls an "uno reverse" card on him and still dies as he was meant to, this time making Lu Guang promise not to try and save him again.) 3) Nobody dies, but they end up being apart. Lu Guang OR Xiaoshi discovers that in order for the both of them to survive, he would need to go further back in time to reset the past so that they never cross paths in the first place. This would mean one would likely forget the other entirely, and they would become nothing more than passing strangers. I kind of hope if it's headed for tragedy, that this option will be picked over the other two because I find death for melodrama too contrived a plot, but also FML. But what if... there is an option 4? A possibility for an actual good end where they can all be happy together and nobody dies? I'd like to think that if they could give others their happy end then surely they'd be able to find a way to happiness themselves! One such end-game could be them defeating the bad guy and branching out into a new universe yet again, but forever losing their abilities and stuck living in that timeline (where abilities do not exist) for the rest of their lives, no longer able to return to the time they had jumped from or knowing what their future will entail. But it's fine, they'll make it work because they have each other, 完结. cue ED and everybody claps, believing that perhaps they are now happily living in our universe.

And that's all the TL;DR for the day. Thanks for listening and enjoy your timeline!

[teruki-inoue21]

A few theories of the Yingdu episode 1

I know, there are multiple scenes (multiple death scenes maybe) but I think that the one we see, is the original timeline.

I presume that because this is the moment of diving power transfer. So, if we regress along this timeline to their freshman year, we may find their 'innocent non-composote' selves.

Composite self = There is a disparity between one's physicality and consciousness. When one dives (the diver) into their own host body, that body represents the composite self.

So, in that basketball scene, innocent Lu Guang and innocent Cheng Xiaoshi, both of them would have a non traumatic first encounter, their minds are not burdened by guilt or regret.

Now,

This is Lu Guang's first ever dive.

Lu Guang wakes up 12 hours later, and discovers he is still there. He got lost in the History that he is living in. And the immediate consequence of this kind of diving is that your existence gets erased from the world you belong to, you get stuck in a revision of history, you know things beforehand but somehow this heightens your lack of agency.

So what we are following in Yingdu from Lu Guang's pov, it is Lu Guang's first ever dive. And logically, this Cheng Xiaoshi whom we are seeing sound and alive now

when he reaches 13th September of season 1 (or whatever date he died), he will be this -

and

this is the Lu Guang we are accompanying in the main episode, this is that first diving Lu Guang. He is experiencing Cheng Xiaoshi's death for the second time and for the first time while diving.

I also theorise that

this is Lu Guang's last dive (up to the finale of season 2). The consequence of this dive is that Cheng Xiaoshi gets saved. Because this visual is played when Lu Guang in episode 12, season 2 says, " I'm sorry Cheng Xiaoshi..." and he dives into the past to save him. Also, there is a high possibility that Vein gets out of the picture during this time. So this is a major dive.

[teruki-inoue21]

Where the beginning lies…

Guys, I figured this out!

What if the “beginning” Lu Guang is talking about is actually the overseas trip that he and Cheng Xiaoshi went on? Like, it’s hinted thru a bunch of stuff (including the S2 ED, slight retcons in S1, and whatnot!) that or duo got their powers from that trip. Also, director Li Haoling has confirmed (pretty much?) that the overseas trip is important for the plot going forward. So….

All I’m saying is that - look forward to the overseas trip plot line guys! It’s gonna be a hell lotta fun , if u know what I mean…