April 5, 1999, 17.59 p.m.

The square in front of the Tsuoocho tram stop, the public bench closest to the exit of the station.

With an ink-stained paintbrush in his hand and a sketchbook on his lap, he sat upright on this ordinary-looking bench.

His gaze on the drawing paper was full of concentration, and under the concentration there was a faint obsession with art.

At this moment, a few passing young fans are chattering with the big cartoonist.

There was no trace of impatience on the face of the shore dew.

He coped with the greetings of the little fans with a gentle face, and at the same time traced intently on the drawing paper.

At the same time, he was still silently counting in his heart:

"59 points, 05, 06, 07, 08...."

"It's here, 17:59:09."

The man from the future told him carefully:

He will accidentally touch Diablo at 17:59:09 and then successfully activate Heaven's Gate at 17:59:50.

Not a second is wrong, and not a second is missing.

Sure enough, as the "prophecy" said:

At this moment, at the moment when 17:59:09 arrived...

There was a pink-haired middle-aged foreigner who appeared in front of the shore as if it was fate.

That's Diablo, the villain protagonist of this story.

An indescribable excitement quietly welled up in the heart of the shore dew companion, but he did not show anything on the surface.

He was still finishing his paintings with a calm look, and at the same time sending the overly enthusiastic little fans away.

Soon, the little fans who passed by were far away in the eyes of their companions on the shore.

The shore companion still didn't pay attention to Diablo, he just lowered his head with a serious expression, and concentrated on the painting that was about to be completed.

Finally, the painting was created.

The shore dew breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his hand and put down his paintbrush, and then looked up and said to Diablo:

"This gentleman... You seem to have been watching me for almost half a minute. ”

"Are you interested in my paintings?"

"If that's the case, I'd like to have someone taste it."

As he spoke, he gently picked up the ink on the painting, as if expecting Diablo's answer.

"Hmm..."

Diablo hesitated.

He was now busy meeting with Kira Yoshikage, and his vigilance seemed to be at its maximum.

So, with suspicion of the dewy companions on the shore, he quietly began to probe the temptation.

And just like that, after a series of temptations...

Diablo finally dispelled his suspicions, believing that the other party was just an artist who happened to be sketching here.

"Well... Thank you. ”

"I was just trying to see what you're drawing."

He continued to play the role of an art lover, and perfunctorily agreed to the words of the shore dew.

"Then I would like you to review and appreciate it."

The shore dew companion calmly handed out the sketchbook, and there was a faint excitement under the flat expression.

Diablo took the sketchbook lightly and looked at it pretendedly:

"It's really a painting that makes people shine."

This is not entirely perfunctory.

Although the structure of the painting looks like a random graffiti at first glance, a closer look reveals that the lines are simple and clear, and the details are rich and rich.

It seems to be a few brushstrokes, but the simple pattern is vividly depicted with the most delicate brushstrokes.

Merely...

Diablo hadn't yet understood what the painting depicted was.

Obviously, the other party is sketching at the entrance of the station, but the content of the painting is not the scenery of the people coming and going at the station, but...

A snake.

A snake connected from head to tail.

It's like a ring with no beginning and no end.

"This is supposed to be..."

Diablo hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

"It's a occult symbol that has been passed down from time immemorial to the present day."

"I'm sure you'll be interested in it too."

With a smile on his face, he introduced to Diablo:

"And its name is—"

"Ouroboros."

.................................

Naples, in a warehouse in the port where an explosion just occurred.

"Ouroboros..."

Another lost memory resurfaced in my mind.

It turned out that before he had awakened his final ability, he had already seen the "Ouroboros" in the painting of Lu Companion on the shore.

An unspeakable fear welled up in his heart, and Diablo completely collapsed:

"Shore dew companions..."

"So I was a complete failure at that time?!"

He roared hysterically in madness.

And Li Qing smiled with relief:

Indeed, shore defences are the key to all this.

Since coming to Duwang Town, Li Qing has been holding back a bunch of questions that make him uneasy:

That is, he has never been to Duwang Town, why does he have a teammate in Duwang Town that he has never met?

Why was the shore partner able to grasp his information in advance?

What method did the shore show use to defeat Diablo, who could predict the future, and capture this guy who was too cautious in one fell swoop.

These questions have remained unanswered.

However, after knowing that Diablo's ultimate ability is to "travel through time"...

Li Qing vaguely guessed the answer:

It must have been back in time too!

Back in the past, he will definitely contact the shore to show his companions.

And this big cartoonist with a strange personality will definitely believe his statement and become his companion.

Because these are both the future and the past that has already happened.

The past cannot be changed, and the future will surely come as fate has written.

So, after the previous crash ...

The first thing Li Qing did was to look for his mobile phone everywhere, and wanted to contact the shore by phone directly.

The phone was found, but no one answered the phone at the beginning-

This is actually quite normal:

Because of the time difference, it should be around 1 o'clock in the middle of the night.

The great cartoonist may be sleeping, or he may be concentrating on creation, and it is not surprising that he did not answer the phone.

And just when Li Qing came to the door of the warehouse and squatted, and planned to continue to bombard the big cartoonist with phone calls...

Diablo had already arrived on a motorcycle.

But Li Qing did not panic because of Diablo's sudden arrival.

Because this gave him a big reassurance pill again:

Before the call could be made, Diablo had already arrived.

What does this mean?

This means that Li Qing won the battle 100%.

Otherwise, if he loses this battle...

He can't contact the shore buddy, and the shore buddy can't become his teammate when he "never met".

And the past that has happened is absolutely [unchangeable], so the shore partner will definitely be his teammate, and he will definitely be able to contact the shore partner smoothly.

"I'm going to win."

It's not flag-setting.

Because Li Qing has already understood the script in advance:

"Everything has already been written."

"The future is the past that has already happened, and the past is absolutely immutable."

"So we're really just repeating the time loop."

"And in this immutable time loop, I am doomed to win, and you are doomed to fail!"

Li Qing paused slightly, and then said in a deep tone:

"Diablo, don't you get it yet?"

"Think about it..."

"Who the hell beat you?"

Diablo was shocked, as if he had suddenly fallen into an endless abyss:

yes, who beat him?

Is it Li Qing?

Or shore dew?

No, it's neither.

The reason why the shore dew companion was able to bypass the epitaph and let Diablo get hit was because Li Qing told him the exact time of the shot in advance.

And Li Qing was able to tell the shore partner the exact time of the shot, and it was because the shore partner told him this information in the past.

Here's just the simplest example:

It proves that time is a cycle.

I don't know where to start and where to end.

Whether it is Li Qing or the shore dew companion, they are actually just following the established trajectory of the time loop.

So, what really defeated Diablo was:

"It's fate..."

"It's the fate that has been predestined for a long time!"

Diablo collapsed, despaired, and went crazy.

In principle, he was not fighting an equal enemy at all.

His enemy is God, it is fate, it is the whole world, it is the script that has been written long ago.

At this moment, a flash of lightning exploded in Diablo's mind.

A long-lost memory suddenly came flooding back to my mind.

That memory is not very long.

If you count the time by "now", it was only about 2 hours ago.

At that time, in the gloomy alleys of Naples, a certain sculptor told him with his life:

"It's fate."

"All of us are nothing but slaves to fate."

“.......”

"No... No! ”

"I'm not reconciled!!"

Diablo roared hysterically:

"I have the power to overcome fate..."

"I don't want to die, I don't want to lose to this ridiculous fate!"

"Yes, Ouroboros... I've turned on Ouroboros! ”

He looked at his body, which was gradually becoming invisible, and shouted incoherently:

"I'm invincible in a state of infiguration."

"And when the blur is completely completed, I can go back in time through the long river of time, yes, back to the past!"

"I'm going to keep going back and forth between the past, the past—"

"I can have enough time in the past to live forever on a journey through time and never come back!"

Diablo completely lost the courage to face Li Qing.

Or rather, he never dared to face that desperate fate again.

He even wanted to hide in the past and "spend his old age in peace" in the infinite time that was superimposed by one hour and one hour.

"Are you still rebelling against fate..."

"Looks like you still don't understand at all, Diablo."

"It's useless for you to do anything - because now you're defeated."

"Just now, after that big explosion, you've provoked an extremely dangerous being."

Li Qing sighed helplessly.

Then he reached out and pointed out a direction for Diablo:

"See for yourself."

"There are some forgotten memories, it's time to remember."

"W-What?"

Diablo's madness suddenly stopped.

With an indescribable horror, he looked in the direction of Li Qing's finger.

The first thing that catches my eye is a ruined wall, and there is a little fire that has not yet dissipated.

The powerful explosion shattered one of the walls of the warehouse, allowing the scene outside the warehouse to penetrate unhindered.

Therefore, Diablo can clearly see at this moment:

Outside the warehouse, a familiar car was parked.

In that car, sat a familiar teenager.

Diablo saw the boy with bright pink hair.

Through the roaring firelight, the pink-haired boy saw him too.