Time flowed forward like a river that never bothered to slow down for anyone, not even for grief, not even for memory, not even for the softest human heart that tried to hold it back with trembling hands.
Gao Yiye, who had long since fully adapted to modern life and had even changed into modern clothing without much resistance, sat quietly by the edge of the box. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her face was covered with tears that had already dried and been replaced by new ones, like rain refusing to stop on the same broken roof.
Li Dao Xuan had just returned from visiting Cai Xinzi. The moment he stepped into the room and saw her expression, he immediately felt his heart tighten.
He walked closer and asked softly, "What happened?"
Gao Yiye lifted her head with difficulty. Her voice was broken, trembling like a string about to snap.
"The village head grandfather… he is not going to make it…"
She could not hold it anymore.
All the emotions she had been suppressing alone exploded the moment she saw him. She threw herself into Li Dao Xuan's arms and cried out loud, completely unrestrained, like a child who had lost the only anchor she trusted.
"I called the clinic by phone. I described his symptoms to the doctor. The doctor said it is old age… there is no cure… there is nothing that can be done… he is going to die…"
Her voice collapsed into sobs again.
Li Dao Xuan fell silent.
His gaze slowly shifted toward the rotation dial on the edge of the box. It was set at X1.
He remembered clearly that last night it had been set to X180 when Gao Yiye went to sleep. She must have changed it back herself.
She wanted more time.
Even if only a little more time.
Even if that time would hurt her later.
Li Dao Xuan did not say anything immediately. He only held her tighter, letting her cry until her breath became uneven and exhausted.
Gao Yiye cried for a long time before finally whispering through tears, almost talking to herself.
"I know… I already know… the world inside the box is moving so fast now… I already knew this day would come… I knew it a long time ago…"
Her voice broke again.
"I know… everyone will leave me… they will all leave faster than me… one by one… they will all leave…"
Li Dao Xuan gently patted her back. His voice was quiet but steady.
"I also spent many years with them. I like them too. My feelings are the same as yours."
Gao Yiye cried again, louder this time, as if that shared feeling only made the pain more real.
Inside the box, the old village head spoke his final words with a weak voice surrounded by Gao family villagers.
"My money… take it… establish a fund called the Old Village Head Award… replace the scientific and technological reward system that Dao Xuan Tianzun once set up… whoever invents something important… use my money to reward them…"
"Village head uncle!"
"Grandfather!"
The villagers cried loudly, their voices shaking with grief.
The old village head slowly closed his eyes.
This time, he did not open them again.
Gao Yiye could not bear to look. She buried her face into Li Dao Xuan's chest, crying so hard that his clothes became completely soaked.
The days after that continued to rush forward without mercy.
The old village head's funds were quickly consumed. It seemed impossible to sustain it long term.
Fortunately, Gao Laba had already become skilled in business. He turned the remaining funds into a foundation and personally managed investments into new factories. Through dividends and returns, the fund surprisingly began to grow instead of shrink. The Old Village Head Award was preserved and even stabilized.
Gao Yiye clapped her hands when she saw this, genuinely happy for a brief moment.
But happiness did not last.
A few days later, she cried again.
Gao Laba passed away.
Then Gao Sanwa passed away.
Bai Yuan passed away.
Shan Shier passed away.
Tie Niao Fei passed away.
One by one.
Familiar faces returned to dust.
Gao Yiye no longer smiled.
Her days became filled with sadness.
She once recited softly, almost bitterly, like a poem that had lost its meaning.
"In the White Jade Capital above the clouds, twelve towers and five cities stand tall. Immortals stroke my head and grant me long life after tying my hair."
She suddenly shouted in tears.
"Long life. What is so good about long life."
Old friends continued to pass away.
Then even the younger generation began to leave.
Liu Maopao, Zheng Chenggong, Shi Lang, Li Dingguo, Ezhe, Gao Zhengjing, Zheng Xiaoniu, Nanhai.
Each name became another wound.
As time passed, Gao Yiye's emotions toward the world inside the box gradually cooled. It was no longer excitement or curiosity. It became observation. It became distance. It became something almost divine but empty.
The world inside the box grew unfamiliar.
New faces appeared. New nations rose. Even the atmosphere felt alien.
She finally asked softly one day, her voice calm but filled with sadness.
"Old husband, what made you so interested in a world full of strangers, full of people you did not know, and willing to help them?"
She shook her head slightly.
"I cannot do it anymore. I cannot feel anything toward them anymore."
Li Dao Xuan held her waist gently.
"It is because of you."
Gao Yiye looked up.
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
Li Dao Xuan leaned his face lightly against hers. Their warmth mixed together.
"Because you are here, I came to like Gao Village. Because you are here, I care about that world."
They embraced tightly in silence.
Outside, snow began to fall over Shuangqing City. It was rare for snow to appear there, and it fell softly like forgotten memories returning for a moment.
Gao Yiye had not looked at the box for a long time.
Neither had Li Dao Xuan.
The world inside it had become too distant. Too unfamiliar. Too painful.
The last time Li Dao Xuan glanced at it, the year inside had already reached New Ming Calendar 320. He saw memorial monuments for Gao Chuwu and Xing Honglang engraved with the words founding heroes and loyal martyrs.
He closed the box shortly after.
It made the heart uncomfortable to look at it.
For days afterward, neither of them touched it again.
Until one day, Gao Yiye spoke again.
"Yesterday the population census officers came. I hid and did not come out. But…"
She lowered her head and touched her abdomen slightly.
"We are planning to have a child. If we do not have legal identity, then the child…"
This question carried real weight.
Modern identity systems were strict. Documentation was not something easily obtained.
Li Dao Xuan thought for five seconds.
Then he said calmly.
"Let us find a solution inside the box."
Gao Yiye blinked.
"There is a solution inside the box?"
"Yes. The world inside the box has developed rapidly for hundreds of years. Their technology is far beyond ours. I will look for a method, some advanced technological system that can solve identity problems."
Gao Yiye nodded slowly.
"I understand."
Li Dao Xuan adjusted the rotation dial back to X1.
Time changed again.
Inside the box, the year became New Ming Calendar 332.
Shuangqing City, Ningyang Technology Building.
A group of programmers and engineers were working inside a massive futuristic office filled with glowing screens and mechanical hums.
One programmer named Zheng Ning stretched his arms.
"I am exhausted. This program is impossible to finish properly."
Another programmer named Xiao Zhen stopped typing and laughed.
"Take a break. By the way, academia is arguing again about whether Dao Xuan Tianzun was an alien. What do you think?"
Zheng Ning laughed.
"Is there even a need to think? Of course he is an alien. All the so called divine artifacts he gave us have been proven to be technology. Just extremely large scale technology."
Xiao Zhen shook his head.
"But scholars still cannot explain the giant plastic train. How does it not collapse under its own weight?"
Zheng Ning shrugged.
"Alien technology."
Xiao Zhen sighed.
"If it is alien technology, then it is also outdated compared to our current science. It does not explain everything. Recently researchers are studying the huge wheel system and electric motor under Gao Family Fortress. That system is so massive that theoretically it should not be able to support the fortress at all. No simulation model can explain it."
The discussion continued.
Outside the box, in silence, Gao Yiye watched this world that once belonged to her slowly turn into something she could no longer emotionally reach.
And far above everything, Li Dao Xuan began searching for a way to give her something the world could still recognize as identity, even if time itself refused to be kind.