As Tokyo Bay's dusk turned honey-gold, the Reverse Scale Squad's hovercar parked beneath the Glyph Tree. Lanye tilted his head to watch seven-color light dance through the branches, fingertips brushing his Reverse Scale Core—since purifying the contamination three days ago, the core had glowed with a warm, gentle light, as if cupped tenderly in someone's palm.
"Captain, look!" Xiaotao pointed to the treetop.
A silver leaf drifted down, its surface shimmering with a translucent image: a double-tailed 少女 (maiden) stood on an unfamiliar street, wearing a Glyph Core like the Reverse Scale's. She knelt to tuck a glowing star meteorite into a stray cat's collar.
"Is that..." Sakura's Cherry Glyph bloomed in her palm, pink light rippling in her eyes. "Xiaotao from three hundred years later?"
" Impossible." Xiaotao's ears reddened slightly. "I'm afraid of cat fur..."
"But she wears her star meteorite bracelet on her left hand, just like you." A Jiu's shadow crows peeked from her hair, golden tail feathers brushing the image's edge. "And that cat..." Her fingertip traced the collar's dark pattern. "It matches 'Coalball'—the stray we saved last week."
Lanye's pupils shrank. He recalled three nights ago, Xiaotao rushing into the training hall with a wounded black cat, sobbing that she wanted to "give it a home". Now named Coalball, the cat napped on the hovercar roof, tail still stained with cat treat.
"Is this... a timeline overlap?" Su Li's Time Glyph expanded, star tracks in her cocoon twisting subtly. "Future memories are seeping into the present."
"More than memories." The berserk guardian's phantom appeared behind the tree, his Core warm 而非 (not) frenzied. "The Glyph Tree is'speaking'—warning us that a forgotten 'node' is awakening."
"Node?"
"When Yue Kui sealed contamination three hundred years ago, she tied seven 'knots' in the timeline." The berserk guardian traced the trunk, where a faint star map emerged. "Each knot corresponds to a 'pivotal event'. When all seven loosen, sealed contamination will crawl back through the rifts."
"But we purified the contamination..."
" We purified the 'effect', not the 'cause'." His voice darkened. "Yue Kui said: 'Contamination's seeds hide in human obsession. Unless someone reties the knots with love, they will eventually burst'."
As he spoke, the Glyph Tree quaked. Its top branch snapped, revealing a half-piece of bronze embedded inside—the same fragment Lanye found in the abandoned attic!
"This is..."
"The key to Dragon-Locking Abyss." Ming Yuan's phantom appeared on Lanye's shoulder, rainbow light flaring on his ornament. "Yue Kui used it to lock contamination's source; now it's awakening."
Ancient characters on the bronze fragment flowed, forming blood words:
"The seventh knot will be untied by the Reverse Scaler at the bottom of Dragon-Locking Abyss on the night of the lunar eclipse."
On the eclipse night, Dragon-Locking Abyss's depths swirled with frost-like mist. Lanye stood at the altar's center, his Core's warm light merging with the bronze fragment's ancient glow to form a light bridge in his palm. A carpet of seven-color petals stretched into the abyss, ending at a black mist-shrouded sarcophagus.
"You came?"
A hoarse voice sounded from behind the sarcophagus. Lanye turned to see the white-haired chief scientist—who'd returned the diary under the Glyph Tree three days ago. His Core now glowed with Yue Kui's seven colors, free of black Reverse Glyphs.
"Why are you here?"
"To apologize." The old man took out a tin box, revealing a star meteorite inside. "Three hundred years ago, I stole Yue Kui's star meteorite to build the first contamination Controller. Later I learned it held her three hundred years of love..." He pressed the meteorite into Lanye's palm. "I've collected these all my life; each is etched with a moment awakened by love."
Lanye's fingertips trembled. Fragments of images surfaced: the scientist young, repairing the last star meteorite to save his dying wife; his wife smiling at him, saying, "You've given me the most precious gift"; the white-haired man demonstrating gentle glyphs to orphaned children.
"So you awakened long ago." Lanye whispered.
"Love is the antidote." The scientist's eyes reddened. "Yue Kui was right: contamination's seed is obsession, and the cure is—"
"Remembering."
A clear voice came from behind the sarcophagus. Yue Kui's phantom stood there, her Core resonating with the Reverse Scale Core, seven-color light purifying the sarcophagus's black mist.
"The seventh knot waits for the Reverse Scaler to retie it." Her gaze fell on the star meteorite in Lanye's palm. "Not with locks, but with 'sharing'."
"Sharing?"
"Sharing your love with others." Yue Kui's fingertip touched Lanye's chest. "Like Xiaotao sharing star meteorite with strays, Sakura guiding lost children with Cherry Glyphs, A Jiu protecting wounded friends with shadow crows—when you light your flame for another," her smile warmed, "contamination can no longer seep into time's rifts."
The sarcophagus rumbled. Black chains surged from the mist but shattered on touching Yue Kui's light. Lanye saw the "knot" was not a restraint, but a net of "love threads", each tied to a 平凡 (ordinary) warmth:
Xiaotao's first healing touch, a kitten nuzzling her palm;
Sakura leading a lost child, his milky voice calling "Jiejie";
A Jiu's crows shielding her, feathers brushing her face;
Su Li mending a time rift, her husband forming a heart across it;
Wu Wang awakening a survivor, their trembling "Thank you";
Ming Yuan blooming flowers from his bone ornament, warmth on Lanye's back;
Lanye finally understanding "Love isn't weakness" as Yue Kui blocked a fatal blow.
"So..." Lanye's voice choked. "The seventh knot is us."
Yue Kui's phantom nodded. Her Core burst with seven-color light, weaving all "love threads" into a new knot on the bronze fragment. The sarcophagus snapped shut, black mist vanishing to reveal inscribed words:
"Love is not an accessory to Glyphs; it is why Glyphs exist.
When you light your flame for another,
the entire world will make way."
On the way back, Xiaotao knelt beside Coalball, teasing it with her star meteorite bracelet. The cat leaped into her lap, nuzzling her palm—the same gesture from when she saved it three days ago.
"So it remembers." Xiaotao's eyes shone.
"Remembers what?" Sakura leaned in.
"Being loved." Xiaotao held Coalball to the moonlight. "Just like we do now."
Lanye looked at his Core's seven colors, recalling Yue Kui's final words: "Contamination never vanishes, for it is part of humanity—fear, greed, desire. But we can wrap it in love until it becomes warm light."
As the hovercar's glyph trail split the night, Tokyo Bay's Glyph Tree sprouted new buds, each leaf shimmering with stardust—precious, ordinary moments awakened by love.
Somewhere beyond sight, a dark vortex roared in defiance, but deep within, a faint light glowed—the new hope kindled by love.