Chapter 1
Lin Mo opened his eyes one second before his alarm went off.
Outside the window, morning light filtered through the half-drawn curtains, casting a slanted streak of light across the wooden floor.
He stared at the ceiling for a moment, a vague sense of unease gnawing at him, yet he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong.
“Must not have slept well last night,” he muttered, reaching out to silence the alarm.
His phone screen lit up, displaying the date: Monday, April 12th.
——An ordinary day, as unremarkable as any other.
He rolled out of bed, slipped on his slippers, and trundled into the bathroom.
As cold water splashed his face, he suddenly remembered his dream from the night before.
In it, there had been a clock tower. Its bells had rung dull and distant, as if coming from another world.
He shook his head, dismissing the strange thought.
7:30 AM | Downstairs at the Apartment Building
Lin Mo pushed open the glass door downstairs, and a gust of cold wind rushed in. He hunched his shoulders and quickened his pace toward the subway station.
The corner café was already lit up. The owner, Su Yuqing, was bending over to tidy the cups on the counter.
She looked up, saw him, and waved with a smile.
“The usual?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Lin Mo nodded, habitually pulling out his phone to scan the payment code.
Su Yuqing turned to operate the coffee machine, her movements light as if she were afraid of disturbing the morning’s tranquility.
Lin Mo’s gaze fell on a white coffee cup beside her hand—its rim had a tiny crack, as if it had been gently bumped by something.
“New cup?” he asked casually.
Su Yuqing froze for a second, glanced down at the cup, and frowned slightly. “That’s strange... I could have sworn it was intact...”
Her words trailed off as the subway station announcement suddenly blared, cutting through her train of thought.
“Attention passengers: Due to a signal failure, the Line 3 train will be delayed by 10 minutes...”
Lin Mo frowned.
Being late was never a good thing, especially today—there was an important project meeting at the company.
He hastily took the coffee, muttered a thanks, and hurried toward the subway station.
8:15 AM | Subway Carriage
The carriage was packed with people. Lin Mo barely managed to squeeze into a corner and stand steady.
He lowered his head and took a sip of coffee. The bitter liquid slid down his throat, clearing his head a little.
Just then, he noticed a young girl sitting on the opposite seat.
She was wearing a nurse’s uniform, holding a notebook, and writing furiously as if documenting something urgent.
Her pen moved quickly across the page, leaving a trail of words. Lin Mo’s eyes inadvertently scanned her notebook—it was filled with dense dates, times, and some symbols he couldn’t understand.
“What are you writing?” he couldn’t help but ask.
The girl looked up, her eyes a little dazed. “Huh? Oh... just my work schedule.” She closed the notebook and smiled at him, but there seemed to be something hidden in that smile.
Lin Mo was about to say something else when the subway suddenly jolted to a stop. The lights in the carriage flickered for a moment.
——In that split second, he could have sworn he saw a strange glint flash in the girl’s pupils.
9:00 AM | Company Building
Lin Mo barely rushed into the company just as the meeting was about to start.
His colleague A-Jie was already in the conference room adjusting the projector. Seeing him come in, he whistled. “Cutting it close, Lin the busy bee.”
“Subway breakdown,” Lin Mo sighed, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
Halfway through the meeting, his phone vibrated.
It was a text message from an unknown number:
“Have you noticed? The clock tower is seven minutes slow today.”
Lin Mo stared at the message, his finger hovering over the screen, unsure how to reply.
He looked up out the window—from the company’s floor-to-ceiling windows, he could see the city’s central clock tower in the distance.
The clock tower’s hands were indeed stuck at 8:53.
And his watch showed: 9:17.
12:30 PM | Company Rooftop
During his lunch break, Lin Mo went up to the rooftop alone.
He dialed the unknown number, but only a busy tone echoed from the other end.
“Strange...” he muttered to himself.
“What’s strange?” a voice suddenly came from behind him.
Lin Mo spun around sharply. A man in an old jacket was leaning against the railing, holding a cardboard covered in dates.
The man’s eyes were cloudy, but a faint smile played on his lips.
“Who are you?” Lin Mo asked warily.
“William,” the man shrugged. “Just someone who watches time.”
“Watches time?”
William didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed to the distant clock tower. “Do you know why it’s slow today?”
Lin Mo’s heart suddenly raced. “Why?”
“Because time is starting to go wrong,” William said in a low voice. “And you are the first to feel it.”
5:45 PM | Clock Tower Square
After work, Lin Mo found himself walking to Clock Tower Square as if possessed.
The setting sun’s afterglow spilled over the ancient clock tower, gilding it with a golden hue.
He looked up at the clock face. The hands were still stuck at 8:53.
“First time here?”
Lin Mo turned around. An elderly man with white hair was standing at the entrance to the clock tower, holding an ancient pocket watch in his hand.
“Who are you...?”
“Just call me the Old Watchmaker,” the old man smiled. “Come in, child. There are some things you need to know.”
Lin Mo hesitated for a moment, then followed the old man into the clock tower.
7:00 PM | Inside the Clock Tower
The interior of the clock tower was more spacious than he had imagined.
Gears and chains turned slowly in the darkness, emitting a deep, clicking sound.
The Old Watchmaker led him to the top floor, where there was a huge bronze mirror with a strange glow on its surface.
“Look,” the old man said, pointing at the mirror.
Lin Mo looked into it—
Instead of his own reflection, the mirror showed countless versions of “him,” doing different things at different times: drinking coffee, rushing for the subway, attending a meeting, standing in front of the clock tower...
“What is this...?”
“Fragments of time,” the Old Watchmaker whispered. “And you have already stood at the starting point of the cycle.”
Bells suddenly rang in Lin Mo’s ears.
——Deep, distant, as if coming from the end of the world.
His vision began to blur, and his consciousness gradually sank...
……
Monday, April 12th
Lin Mo opened his eyes one second before his alarm went off.
Outside the window, morning light filtered through the half-drawn curtains, casting a slanted streak of light across the wooden floor.
He stared at the ceiling. This time, he remembered clearly—
This was not the first time.
