Zhou Lin

Jim Becker was a very popular man.

At Kitchener's Distant Hills High School, if you mention his name, no one will say they don't know him.

Of course, you all already know him at this moment.

Therefore, I don’t need to introduce him in more detail.

In our lives, we occasionally encounter such a situation - when you see something or experience something, you will have a subtle "sense of déjà vu" and you will feel...this Something seems familiar, but your memory tells you it didn't happen.

You think it's an illusion, but in fact... it's probably because in a certain timeline that has disappeared, or in another parallel universe, there is "another you" who has had a similar experience, which makes you also was affected.

On this Friday afternoon, this "sense of déjà vu" visited everyone on the planet.

However, most people will not notice this subtle and subtle feeling, because for most people, what they do on this day has been what they have been doing for the past few years...going to school and going to work. , doing housework, drinking afternoon tea, etc. Things like these have been done countless times. Even if someone does notice a sense of déjà vu, they will feel that there is nothing strange about it.

And what about those who happen to be doing something they’ve never done before? They may find it easier to discover the existence of déjà vu, but for this kind of "illusion" that cannot be explained, people basically choose to ignore it.

It was on such an afternoon that a fight was going on in an alley.

You all know that the two sides fighting...are Becker and Adams.

The development of things was no different from the "last time". When Adams was already unsteady on his feet, Becker punched Adams in the face.

In Becker's view, this was the punch that "ended" the opponent; of course, at this time, he only wanted to end the fight, and did not expect that this punch would end Adams' life.

At that moment, Adams rolled his eyes and stumbled back with weak feet.

Just as he was about to fall backward onto the road, a figure suddenly appeared from the sidewalk next to the alley, blocking Adams, a high school student who was over 1.8 meters tall, with one arm.

It was at the same time that the man stopped Adams that a school bus passed on the street behind them.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The passerby who supported Adams first looked at the man next to him, then looked at Becker in the alley, and said in an uncle's tone, "Young man" Guys, it’s okay for young people to fight, but you should also look at the situation and pay attention to proportion..."

"Bang..." Becker spat, adjusting his clothes, "Whatever, he has already lost anyway." After that, he turned around and left.

Adams, who was rescued by a passerby, took a moment of rest and recovered from the punch just now. He immediately broke away from the uncle who was supporting him, chased after him, and shouted to Becker: " Don’t go! Speak clearly..."

"Get out of here! You loser!" Before the other party could finish shouting, Becker turned around and kicked him away. He pressed the sole of his foot against the approaching Adams and pushed him away. "I have nothing to say to you. Do you still want to be beaten?" ?”

Adams already had little strength, but the opponent's kick caused him to fall to the ground. The last remaining strength he had gained also dissipated, and he fell limply to the ground.

The passerby uncle standing at the end of the alley, or rather...Uncle Xue, after seeing this, didn't say or do anything else, he just left silently.

This was Uncle Xue's plan; he just wanted to prevent the accident that would happen next, and thereby stop the catastrophic killings caused by that accident.

As for the cause and effect of the accident, the grudges between the parties involved, and what the monster in the school bus was... he didn't want to know, let alone take care of it.

"Don't delve into any aspect of the Butterfly Effect, let alone put any personal feelings into it" - this is Uncle Xue's most valuable experience as a person with the ability to "time back".

This experience is undoubtedly brought to him by practice...

A long time ago, Uncle Xue was also a person who wanted to "do things right", but when he started to use his ability to help others, he found... that was impossible.

You go back in time and save a person, but the survival of this person leads to the death of several other people; you go back in time and save those few people again, and later find out that those people were murderers and criminals; and when you Looking back again, after allowing those people to die, you may realize that these people also had extenuating circumstances and could not help themselves...

Destiny is like a canvas made of countless intertwined threads. The most magical thing about this canvas is... no matter how you ink, what will eventually appear on it will be a work called "Cruel Joke" .

Uncle Xue has seen too many such things, and slowly... his understanding of "right" and "wrong" changed.

What’s the “right” thing to do? For those who cannot "do it over again", this problem is actually simple. As long as they have a clear conscience, even if the result is not good, it can be said to be a trick of fate.

But Uncle Xue... can "do it over". For him, there is no such thing as "doing your best and obeying fate". Theoretically speaking, he can try countless different decisions to make something reach the point he thinks is the best. "Perfect" results.

Just...try that and he'll die.

There is no doubt that Uncle Xue's ability comes at a price; every time he "goes back in time", he will consume an equal amount of his life: if he goes back one day, his lifespan will be reduced by one day, and if he goes back one year, his lifespan will be reduced by one year... Of course, His current ability is only to level up, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't go back as far as a year (the limit of leveling back ability is about twenty hours).

To sum up, considering his lifespan, Uncle Xue rarely takes action; he will only take action when necessary...for example, if some kind of major incident with a large number of deaths occurs within the scope of his actions. The ability will be used only when...

Moreover, he will not pursue any "perfect" results, nor will he think about doing the "right" thing, nor will he put too much personal emotion into those he comes into contact with or delve into their motives for acting. .

Or it can be summed up as - treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

It's not that Uncle Xue doesn't want to "treat the root cause," it's just that he has seen through that in this world, "people" can only "treat the symptoms." To "treat the root cause," he has to seek "a higher power or existence," which he can't do anyway. .

Therefore, he also handled today's matter in the same way.

Uncle Xue was mentally prepared. Even if he saw the high school student he saved killing another one on the news tomorrow, he would not have any objections.

He is the person holding the control lever in the classic "rail problem", the person who must "make a choice", and his standard is also very clear: it is better to die alone than to die in a group.

Therefore, after rescuing Adams, what Uncle Xue had to do was completed.

But... there was still an anomaly that made him feel a little uneasy - on this "second" Friday the 13th, it should have come from the opposite lane at the time of the accident. The black SUV... didn't come.