3 Interview

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At 2 a.m., Shi Nian stepped out into the darkness. She hadn't even changed her clothes—still in pajamas, wearing cotton slippers. The entire neighborhood was so silent that the only sounds were her footsteps and her increasingly rapid breathing.

She finally reached the bottom of the building. Outside, the night was deep and dark. A row of trees stood before the building, their shadows swaying in the night breeze. Her eyes searched carefully and indeed, she spotted a black SUV quietly parked in front of the flowerbed.

Shi Nian stared blankly for several seconds, then closed her eyes and muttered, "Damn, it really is here!"

She took two steps back, seemingly wanting to retreat, but a figure emerged from the shadows on one side.

It was a young woman, about twenty years old, dressed in a beige off-shoulder sweater paired with a pale blue long skirt. Her skin was fair, her eyebrows long and elegant, her features delicate. Her long hair was gathered at the back of her head, exuding a calm, scholarly aura.

The woman walked straight up to Shi Nian and smiled, "Hello."

Shi Nian asked, "You are…?"

"My name is Su Geng. We spoke on the phone just now."

Shi Nian froze, staring at her without blinking. Su Geng seemed to have anticipated this reaction and continued to smile quietly, waiting patiently.

After a moment, Shi Nian grit her teeth and hissed, "Who exactly are you?!"

Although Su Geng had already introduced herself both on the phone and just now, Shi Nian’s question made it clear to both of them what she truly meant.

After a brief silence, Su Geng smiled and said, "It’s two in the morning, and Miss Shi still dares to come down. You must have some idea now, right?"

A dim white street lamp cast its light in front of the building. The surroundings were silent; the whole neighborhood was asleep. To come alone at such a late hour because of a call from a stranger was extremely dangerous. Yet, she had no choice but to come.

The girl's words from the phone still echoed in her ears: "Cui Luhua’s pipa, and those long-standing troubles that have plagued you—Miss Shi, don’t you want answers? We can give you answers."

At that moment, she almost jumped out of bed.

Shi Nian took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice calm. "You said you are called… the Seventh Temporal Management Division? What is that?"

"Don’t make it sound so mysterious. You can think of us as an agency or a company, just that the work we do is a bit unusual."

Shi Nian remained silent, waiting for her to explain exactly how it was "unusual."

"We are responsible for balancing time and space, ensuring temporal order isn’t disrupted. Of course, as you’ve already guessed, this isn’t a job for ordinary people—it requires those with special abilities."

After a pause, she added, "Today, one of my colleagues met you and was surprised to discover that you are one of us too."

Hearing this fantastical, almost fantasy-novel-like explanation, Shi Nian fell silent for a moment. "The special ability you mentioned… you mean my…"

Su Geng looked her straight in the eyes. "The ability to see history that has already passed, to know information that shouldn’t belong to your memory—these are your special abilities. You should understand this better than anyone, right?"

Even though she had prepared herself mentally, Shi Nian’s eyes widened in shock at her words.

She knew—she really knew!

It was as if a storm swept through her mind. Her greatest secret, which she had told no one, was revealed so easily!

She stared blankly, locking eyes with Su Geng. After a long moment, she whispered, "So, you really… we really…"

Those suspicions, those secret hopes of a teenage girl—were they not just wild fantasies?

There really were others like her, and now, they had found her…

Suddenly, she grabbed Su Geng’s hand eagerly. "What kind of system is this? The Avengers? How exactly do you work? Where’s headquarters?!"

Su Geng paused for a second, then chuckled. She looked toward the parked SUV. "This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s get in the car first."

Shi Nian, excited, followed her without hesitation. When the rear door opened, she was surprised to find someone already seated by the window.

A young man, dressed in a light gray shirt and black suit pants, his tie loosely knotted. Broad shoulders, slim waist, long legs—his good figure was evident even sitting down. A small light inside the car cast an orange glow on his face as he looked down at some documents, his long fingers flipping through the pages gently.

"It’s you?" Shi Nian exclaimed. The man before her was none other than the handsome, black-haired guy from the museum earlier that day!

Su Geng said, "This is Nie Cheng, our team leader. He was the one who discovered you today."

Shi Nian was taken aback. Team leader? That annoying man was the team leader?

Suddenly, she recalled his meaningful farewell, "Goodbye," from earlier. So that’s what it meant—he had already planned to contact her again...

Nie Cheng looked up from the documents and said calmly, "Miss Shi Nian, hello. My name is Nie Cheng."

Su Geng added, "Nie Cheng isn’t just the team leader; he’s also your interviewer. He will decide whether you can truly join us and become a member of the Seventh Division."

An interview? Right, she remembered the phone call mentioning it, but she thought it was just a pretense!

Lost in thought, she looked at Nie Cheng instinctively and found that he was looking at her too. His expression was calm, but his gaze was sharp, fixed right between her eyebrows. Shi Nian shivered, feeling that it wasn’t just casual observation, but more like a sniper sizing up his target.

But the feeling lasted only a moment before he looked down again and resumed reading the documents.

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Shi Nian’s heart raced wildly. Once she calmed down, a tinge of irritation crept in. What the heck? During the day he treated her like some gold-digging scammer, acting so arrogant. Now that he knew she was connected to him, he acted this way—trying to kill her with his eyes?

She muttered softly, "Is that so? Then I should think about whether I want to let you…"

Not knowing if anyone heard her, Su Geng’s smile remained unchanged. "Get in the car. We need to hurry."

Now fully alert, Shi Nian asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Coming downstairs was one thing; getting into the car was another. A sense of caution stirred in her heart. Though her intuition told her these people were probably not scammers—after all, it would be an incredible coincidence if they guessed the truth about her—but that didn’t mean it was completely safe.

Her hand slipped into her pajama pocket, touching something round. Suddenly, she felt confident—she hadn’t forgotten her personal safety; she’d brought her stun gun. She admired herself for that.

Without looking up, Nie Cheng flipped a page and said casually, "You asked about headquarters. Well, now we’re taking you there."

At 3:30 a.m., the car entered an alley within the Second Ring Road. After winding through two turns, it stopped in front of a courtyard.

Su Geng got out, "We’re here."

Shi Nian also stepped out, looking up at the vermilion gate uncertainly. "Here?"

"Yes, what’s wrong?"

What’s wrong? You tell me!

Shi Nian recognized the place instantly. Two years ago, a famous courtyard in Beijing was put up for sale online. It attracted attention because it had once belonged to a Qing dynasty royal family member and was previously a paid tourist site. The online buzz was intense, and the final price did not disappoint the onlookers—it reached nine figures!

At that time, Shi Nian thought she’d probably never get inside.

And now, they’d brought her to that very renowned courtyard.

This was their headquarters?!

Still in a daze, Shi Nian followed Nie Cheng and Su Geng inside. The path was lined with tall buildings, pavilions, and towers—fit for a Qing dynasty royal garden. After walking for what felt like ages, they stopped at a garden.

The garden was large but had no buildings around it, only a tall artificial rock formation in the center. It seemed the garden was built specifically for it.

A young man stood in front of the rock. Hearing their arrival, he turned around excitedly and waved. "Captain, Sister Geng, you’re finally back!"

He had a baby face, handsome and pretty but looked very young—Shi Nian couldn’t guess his age. Seeing her, his smile dimmed slightly and his eyes appraised her. "You must be the newcomer the captain and Bris mentioned?"

Shi Nian nodded hesitantly, "I guess so…"

The young man pouted, sounding disappointed. "The profile wasn’t great, but I didn’t expect the real person to be even more…"

More what? Say it if you dare!

Just as Shi Nian raised an eyebrow to ask, Nie Cheng interrupted, "How are things on your end?"

"The old man called last night. I told him you went to the Miyun training base and didn’t mention the newcomer."

Nie Cheng nodded, "You did the right thing."

The young man’s lips twitched under the praise, as if telling himself not to gloat. He cleared his throat. "Oh, and there’s something else."

"What’s that?"

"After you left, the strings moved again."

At this, Su Geng’s expression changed, while Nie Cheng remained calm. "The range?"

"Current positioning indicates it’s between 140 and 130 BC."

Su Geng calculated quickly, "That’s the Han dynasty, Emperor Wu’s reign."

"Exactly."

Su Geng frowned. "Han dynasty? We haven’t been there before…"

Nie Cheng asked, "What about the others?"

"Bris went to Shanghai for an important guest. Brother Ke and Sister Xiaxia are on other missions and won’t be back until the day after tomorrow."

"Then it’s just us."

They continued talking among themselves, leaving Shi Nian confused. She had many questions on the way here, but Su Geng focused on driving and didn’t explain. She didn’t want to talk to Nie Cheng either, so she held back until now.

But hearing the hints in their conversation, she finally couldn’t help herself. "Um…"

The three of them looked her way, her heart skipping a beat. She asked, "Su Geng said our job is to balance temporal order. But specifically… how do we balance it?"

Nie Cheng, who had been quiet all evening, suddenly smiled. Looking at her with interest, he said, "Can’t you guess?"

It was a gentle spring night. Carved railings and jade steps, artificial rocks and bamboo all bathed in the deep night’s gloom. This two-hundred-year-old ancient residence was peacefully asleep.

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Shi Nian took half a step back, a sudden wave of unease rising in her heart.

A very familiar unease.

"I just remembered, I don’t have my resume. This kind of interview won’t work, right? I should go back and prepare it properly. Let’s reschedule…"

She turned to run but was grabbed abruptly. Without thinking, she thrust the object in her hand forward—the man dodged just in time, and the object barely grazed his side.

A crackling electric sound—her stun gun!

Nie Cheng grabbed her arm with one hand. "I was about to say, it’s good to be cautious, but don’t let people see it beforehand."

Shi Nian’s attack missed, and she shouted, "Let go of me!"

As they struggled, Su Geng’s anxious voice called out, "Nie Cheng!"

Suddenly, the dark clouds parted in the night sky, revealing a bright moon behind. Moonlight poured down like a pillar, slanting onto the artificial rock. It was as if a switch had been flipped. Suddenly, a fierce wind swept through the garden, shaking the trees violently, rustling leaves, and blowing everyone’s hair wildly. It was almost impossible to stand.

Unprepared, Shi Nian was nearly blown away, but a hand gripped her tightly.

Nie Cheng pulled her in front of him, shielding her from most of the wind, then turned his head and asked, "What’s going on?!"

The baby-faced young man looked devastated. "I don’t know! Normally, the string array shouldn’t activate without anyone triggering it… Did any of you touch it?!"

No time for explanations now. Nie Cheng glanced down at the girl, who was struggling to keep her eyes open against the wind. He thought for a moment, then leaned closer. "Look ahead."

Shi Nian forced her eyes open. Before them, amid the raging wind, the artificial rock glowed a shimmering green. Rings of bright waves, like tangled strings, washed over it, as if it stood in the center of a lake.

The Cardcaptor Sakura magic array?!

She clutched Nie Cheng’s clothes tightly. "What do we do? Should we chant spells? Hurry and transform!"

Clearly a girl poisoned by manga, Nie Cheng said, "It’s not that complicated."

Shi Nian stared at him nervously. Nie Cheng pulled her hand away and clenched it in his palm. Though she didn’t know why, with the string array activated, there was no way to escape from within.

Now, there was only one path…

"I hadn’t planned to move this fast, but since you can’t get out either, then so be it."

Shi Nian stammered, "So, so what? What do you want to do?!"

The young man shouted, "Captain, you’re going to—"

Nie Cheng suddenly smiled. Amid the howling wind, his voice was carried away like it came from a distant place. "I mean, your interview starts now!"

He finished speaking, then pressed her shoulder and pushed her forward. A gust of wind behind them sent Shi Nian flying like a leaf straight toward the artificial rock.

As she got closer, she saw an oval-shaped opening in front of the rock, like a door. And she was headed right for it!

The green light flared brightly. Shi Nian shut her eyes in fright!

Instead of the expected collision, after a moment of weightlessness, she landed on something. Dizzy and sore all over, she lay still for a while, unable to move.

The wind seemed to have stopped, and relief washed over her. That bastard Nie Cheng—she had been touched when he protected her earlier, but now he just shoved her out like that!

Just wait until she settled the score with him!

Complaining to herself, she tried to stand but slipped, nearly falling. She grabbed the nearest object, finally steadying herself. Looking up, she was stunned.

Above her hung the same bright moon. The night was quiet, with no sound at all. Shi Nian clearly remembered being thrown inside the artificial rock, but now, all she saw was open void—no chaotic stones inside the rock.

She hadn’t landed on the ground but on a rooftop. Two slopes inclined forward and backward, and she sat right on the ridge where they met. Just earlier, stepping on the slope had almost caused her to lose her balance and fall!

Still in pajamas and slippers, she sat astride the high rooftop ridge, staring blankly ahead.

A wide, orderly street stretched out before her. The houses stood neatly in rows, extending as far as the eye could see, with towering, imposing black city walls. Under the bright moonlight, this once prosperous city by day looked like a slumbering giant beast, with night watchmen carrying lanterns—small flames moving through the giant’s belly.

She didn’t know where she was. She had never been here before. Yet, in the next moment, a name surfaced in her mind as clearly as if she had always known it.

Chang’an.

Over two thousand years ago, a magnificent city renowned for its splendor.

She had arrived in Chang’an—more than two millennia in the past.