Volume One: The Beginning of the Future

Chapter One: The Beginning

Brian Clark frantically scrambled up the stairs. In his panic, he missed a step, and one of his expensive brand-name leather shoes, worth several thousand yuan, slipped off. This man, usually calm and collected, no longer cared about his shoes. He stumbled and climbed upward, while voices echoed from below, as if dozens of people were chasing him up the stairs.

As he ran, Brian Clark kept glancing downward. This was the building’s emergency exit—a narrow stairwell meant only for emergencies. Normally, people used the elevator, but Brian Clark dared not take it. Because... because he had failed. The other side already knew his identity and location. If he dared to stop, they would kill him instantly!

"I didn’t fail! I didn’t fail! I was just a step away from uncovering your identity... I was so close to knowing who you are! 'Doctor', you are the countercurrent, I am the downstream! How could time and space let me fail... I refuse to accept this!"

Brian Clark shouted as he ran, his voice echoing through the stairwell. The voices below paused for a moment, then grew even more chaotic.

Just like that, Brian Clark seemed tireless as he reached the top floor, over thirty stories up. At the end of the stairs was a door locked with an iron padlock. Without hesitation, Brian Clark drew his pistol from his waist. Two gunshots rang out, and the lock was blasted apart. Then Brian Clark kicked the door open and charged onto the rooftop like a madman.

"Doctor! I know you’re watching me, or maybe in the future you’ll be able to watch me..."

As soon as he reached the rooftop, Brian Clark shouted loudly. But after yelling these two sentences, he realized how disheveled he looked. This handsome young man, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, actually began to tidy himself up—straightening his hair and brushing dust off his clothes. Only then did he notice he was left with just one shoe. He frowned, then simply kicked off the remaining shoe. Only at this point did he shout into the empty air: "I lost, and I admit it wholeheartedly. I never thought you’d use this method to force me out. Indeed, this was my only weakness, and you seized it, so I admit my defeat... But I refuse to accept this ending! You are clearly the countercurrent, so why would time and space let me lose? I refuse to accept it!"

"So... this can only mean one thing: I am not the one destined by time and space to defeat you. The one, or those, who will smooth out the turbulence of time and space are not me!"

As Brian Clark said this, he slowly pulled out half a newspaper from his coat—a paper with two pages, front and back. The edge was torn, clearly indicating there was another half somewhere.

"You really want this, don’t you?"

Holding the half newspaper, Brian Clark laughed loudly: "If you get this, you’ll have all four pages. Then, nothing in this world will be able to limit your power, and even the force that smooths out the turbulence of time and space will be useless. Tell me, don’t you want it badly? Hahaha..."

As he spoke, Brian Clark suddenly grabbed the newspaper and tore it twice, splitting the two pages into four pieces. Each piece was a quarter of a page, front and back—together, half a page. After doing this, Brian Clark held the four scraps in his hand and said, "Human desire is truly disgusting... Doctor, do you know? This thing gave me everything, but it also destroyed my world. If... if I hadn’t been the one to get it back then, maybe I could have quietly stayed with her..."

As he spoke, Brian Clark had already walked to the edge of the rooftop. He clenched the four scraps in his hand, then extended his hand out over the edge. The moment he opened his hand, the four scraps would fly out. At this height, dozens of stories up, once the scraps were released, no one would ever be able to find them again.

"Doctor, right now the power of the downstream is still protecting me, but as soon as I let go, that power will disappear... I’ve already lost, so nothing matters anymore. But Doctor, this time you faced only me. Next time, your opponents might be four people... hahaha..."