The courtyard finally went quiet again.
Cold wind moved through the pine branches overhead. Broken glass still covered parts of the stone path from Qiū Huà Bǐ's earlier loss of control.
Somewhere nearby, water dripped steadily from a damaged roof pipe.
No one spoke for a while.
Yè Yī stood beneath the moonlight with one hand in his coat pocket, the gold plaque hanging loosely from his fingers. His expression had settled back into its usual calmness, but the silence around him felt colder now.
Qiū Huà Bǐ sat on the stone steps with both hands covering his face.
"…I seriously miss being normal."
"You were never normal," Yè Yī replied.
"That's not supportive."
"It wasn't meant to be."
Qiū Huà Bǐ clicked his tongue softly.
Cold guy.
Very cold guy.
Honestly exhausting to talk to sometimes.
---
Violet suddenly looked toward the darkest part of the courtyard.
"Come out."
Yè Yī's gaze shifted immediately.
Qiū Huà Bǐ straightened slightly.
There was someone else here?
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then footsteps echoed softly from the eastern corridor.
Slow.
Unhurried.
A girl stepped out from the darkness.
Long black hair swaying lightly behind her.
Pale skin.
Purple lining beneath a dark jacket.
And in her hands—
A family-sized bucket of fried chicken.
Crunch.
She calmly bit into another piece while walking over.
Qiū Huà Bǐ stared.
Yè Yī glanced once.
Then looked away.
Crunch.
The girl chewed thoughtfully.
Then swallowed.
Then casually bit straight through the bone.
Crunch.
Qiū Huà Bǐ felt his soul leave his body.
"…Did she just eat the whole bone?"
Crunch.
"…She definitely ate the bone."
The girl stopped beside Violet.
Steel-gray eyes briefly flicked toward them before returning to the chicken.
Completely calm.
Like hiding inside someone's ancestral residence at midnight while eating fried chicken was perfectly reasonable behavior.
Qiū Huà Bǐ narrowed his eyes slightly and listened in on her thoughts.
"…Does she want my chicken?"
Silence.
He gave up immediately.
"…Okay. Never mind."
---
Violet spoke first.
"Mù Xiāo Xiāo."
The girl lifted the bucket slightly.
"Hello."
Crunch.
Qiū Huà Bǐ looked mildly horrified.
"You sound way too calm for someone eating a skeleton."
Mù Xiāo Xiāo looked down at the chicken.
"…Calcium."
Qiū Huà Bǐ slowly turned toward Yè Yī.
"Why are we surrounded by insane people?"
"You're included in that group," Yè Yī replied calmly.
"That's hurtful."
"But accurate."
---
Mù Xiāo Xiāo quietly continued eating beside Violet.
Violet folded her arms.
"Ān Tiān Kuò asked her to watch over you."
Yè Yī's eyes frowned slightly.
"…Watch over me?"
Mù Xiāo Xiāo nodded once.
Crunch.
"He said ET's thinking has become unstable recently."
"You never know what they'll do next."
Qiū Huà Bǐ blinked.
"…That's one way to describe stalking."
"I was told transparency builds trust."
"…Who told you that?"
"Ān Shēn."
Qiū Huà Bǐ immediately looked at Violet.
"Was that the loud one or the quiet one?"
Before Violet answered, Yè Yī spoke first.
"The quiet one."
"Ah."
That somehow explained everything.
Mù Xiāo Xiāo thought for a moment.
"…Should I change my tone?"
Her voice suddenly became strangely soft and airy.
Qiū Huà Bǐ immediately stepped back.
"No. Nope. That's worse."
---
Violet's expression shifted slightly.
More serious now.
"Qiū Huà Bǐ."
He sighed instantly.
"…Whenever you say my full name, I feel my lifespan decreasing."
"Block external listening."
The sarcasm faded from his face almost immediately.
"How far?"
"The entire residence."
Qiū Huà Bǐ frowned.
"That's excessive."
"So is this conversation."
Fair enough.
He stood slowly and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out several small black devices.
Yè Yī glanced over.
"…You actually carry signal disruptors around?"
Qiū Huà Bǐ looked offended.
"You don't?"
"…No."
"That explains why your privacy is terrible."
He casually tossed the devices around the courtyard.
One landed beside the shattered windows.
Another beneath the stone lantern.
A third disappeared into the trees.
Then—
He snapped his fingers lightly.
A low hum spread outward.
The atmosphere distorted faintly.
Phones died instantly.
Nearby surveillance signals vanished.
Even the air somehow felt quieter.
Qiū Huà Bǐ sat back down.
"There."
"No cameras."
"No recordings."
"No remote listening."
Then he looked toward Violet carefully.
"…Okay."
"What exactly are you about to say?"
---
Mù Xiāo Xiāo quietly sat on the stone railing nearby.
Still eating.
Still listening.
Violet stayed silent for several seconds.
Not because she didn't know what to say.
Because she was deciding how much to say.
Then:
"The Time & Space Arm was never supposed to appear in this generation."
Qiū Huà Bǐ pointed immediately.
"See? That opening alone is terrifying."
Ignored.
Again.
Yè Yī stayed silent, fully focused now.
Violet continued calmly.
"Most generations only produce standard Arms."
"Ice. Fire & Lightning. Water. Earth. Air."
"Those appear regularly."
"Gold & Earth Arm? A little scarce."
"The higher classifications are different."
The wind moved softly through the courtyard.
"A Third Arm appearing is already rare."
"Actually surviving one is even rarer."
Qiū Huà Bǐ frowned slightly.
"…That sounded threatening."
"It was."
Violet continued:
"The last recorded Time & Space wielder existed around 302 AD."
"The Void Arm is even worse."
"There are records of it appearing."
"But the real issue was never obtaining it."
Her gaze shifted slightly toward the erased section of wall behind them.
"It's whether the body can survive containing it."
Silence.
Even Mù Xiāo Xiāo stopped chewing for a second.
---
"Most Arms are abilities," Violet continued.
"Extensions of the self."
"But Time & Space is different."
"It behaves more like a system."
Qiū Huà Bǐ blinked slowly.
"…That sounds significantly worse."
"Yes."
---
"The Time aspect doesn't simply manipulate time."
"It observes it."
"Records possibilities."
"Remembers failed outcomes."
"It retains fragments from futures that no longer exist."
Violet looked toward the moonlit sky above the courtyard.
"When most people experience time, they experience it once."
"Forward."
"Beginning to end."
"But the Time & Space Arm doesn't process reality that way."
Her tone stayed calm.
Matter-of-fact.
Qiū Huà Bǐ leaned back slowly.
"…That sentence felt illegal."
"It probably is."
---
Yè Yī finally spoke.
"So when you said you saw our endings…"
"You literally meant it."
"Yes."
No hesitation.
No mystery.
Just truth.
Qiū Huà Bǐ rubbed his face slowly.
"…That's horrifying."
"I got used to it."
That answer somehow felt worse.
---
Yè Yī thinks a while.
"…That should be impossible."
"Yes."
"And yet?"
Silence.
Because she was standing right there.
Living proof.
---
Qiū Huà Bǐ leaned back against the steps.
"…Okay."
"That's deeply disturbing."
Then quietly, mostly to himself:
"…I still kinda want to try it."
Mù Xiāo Xiāo nodded slightly.
"…Agreed."
Crunch.
Qiū Huà Bǐ pointed at her immediately.
"Please stop eating bones while we discuss cosmic horror."
She thought about it seriously.
Then lowered the bucket slightly.
"…Understood."
Three seconds later—
Crunch.
Qiū Huà Bǐ covered his face.
"I tried."
---
Yè Yī ignored them entirely.
Still watching Violet.
"…Then what exactly are you?"
The courtyard quieted again.
Violet looked toward the moonlit sky.
Then answered simply:
"Think of me as a prophet that remembers too much."
Yè Yī's voice stayed low.
"You remember worlds that both exist and no longer exist."
"I guess."
Mù Xiāo Xiāo quietly held the bucket toward Violet.
"…Do you want one?"
Qiū Huà Bǐ stared at her.
"…Why is fried chicken your emotional support solution for everything?"
Violet looked at the bucket for a second.
Then took one.
"…Thank you."
Mù Xiāo Xiāo nodded once.
"Mm."
Yè Yī watched the interaction silently.
Something about this group felt strange.
Not bad.
Just strange.
Like none of them were supposed to meet this early.
And yet somehow—
For the first time in years—
The ancestral residence no longer felt empty.
---
Yè Yī spoke again.
"…Are you struggling to control it?"
Violet looked at him like the question itself was odd.
"No."
Qiū Huà Bǐ blinked.
"…No?"
"I'm fully synchronized."
Silence.
That landed harder than expected.
Because every Specialist they knew of struggled with their Arm somehow.
Loss of control.
Mental instability.
Physical strain.
Emotional corruption.
Something.
But Violet said it so casually.
No arrogance.
No pride.
Just fact.
"I'm not fighting my Arm," she continued calmly.
"I understood it first."
Qiū Huà Bǐ stared at her.
"…That might actually be the scariest thing you've said tonight."
Mù Xiāo Xiāo nodded while chewing.
"…Agreed."
---
Yè Yī's gaze stayed fixed on Violet.
"…Why you?"
That was the real question.
Why her?
Why was she different?
Violet looked at the gold plaque in his hand.
Then toward the missing wall behind them.
Then finally back at him.
"Understanding the Arm was what made me a wielder of the Arm in the first place "
The wind moved softly through the courtyard.
Her voice remained calm.
"Haven't you wondered why someone like me could even have an Arm at all?"
Qiū Huà Bǐ looked at her carefully.
"…That sounds less like destiny and more like the start of a horror movie."
"That depends on perspective."
"That is absolutely something a horror movie character would say."