A perfect life begins with changing the timeline.

"Repeat what exactly happened to me. Oh, and right, find a safe place to stay right now, away from the accident site!"

"good……"

Li Mu looked around, chose an alleyway near a low-rise building, hid inside, and spoke into the phone:

"It's like this, Brother Bie..."

He quickly recounted everything from the first plane he encountered while eating tacos, to the second, and the current situation.

"These two planes... you mean they were less than ten minutes apart?"

"Yes, absolutely not! And it was definitely intentional!"

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, Bie Yan said, as if talking to himself:

"This already falls into the category of an 'attack'... otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?"

"Huh? What? Brother Bie?"

Li Mu didn't quite catch it, but Bie Yan, who had been in the industry for over a decade, had calmed down and spoke directly to Li Mu:

"Xiao Li, do you have any photos of the attack? How many?"

"I have both videos and photos, quite a lot. And I used a digital camera, so as long as I have a computer, I can transfer them back."

Following Li Mu's words, Bie Yan, who had already gotten into a taxi in Macau, immediately gave the order:

"Then send the photos to my email right now, and I'll contact my unit immediately. Keep your phone on at all times, and... stay calm, and be prepared to face the cameras. As a reporter at the scene, many people will want to know what happened. Don't be unable to find me later, understand?"

"Uh... okay."

Hearing Li Mu's response, Bie Yan urged again:

"Go back to the hotel and find your computer now, don't linger around there."

"Okay! I'll take a few more photos and then leave!"

"Um."

With the guidance of his elder brother as his pillar of support, Li Mu immediately understood what he should do most at this stage.

So, after taking a few more photos, he quickly walked away into the distance as more fire trucks arrived.

But at this moment, the entire area around the Twin Towers was in complete chaos. People in various office buildings were rushing out like headless flies, seemingly afraid that their building would be the next target of a plane crash. There were no taxis, not even buses.

He could only follow the crowd and continue running further away from the Twin Towers. As he ran, he dialed Wang Hai's number, thinking of asking how Hai-ge and the others were doing. But as soon as he took out his phone, Wang Hai called him instead.

"Hey, Li, are you alright?"

Wang Hai asked hurriedly as soon as he arrived.

"Hai-ge? I'm fine, I've already left the Petronas Towers. How about you, have you arrived at the hotel yet?"

"Don't even mention it, everyone from the hotel has come out too."

"Huh? Why?"

"Everyone's afraid of being hit by a plane, so they've all come out. Your brother Wei is picking me up to go to his house, are you coming?"

"Um...would it be convenient for you to pick me up?"

"No problem, where are you? Can you go back to where we ate tacos? We're heading that way now."

Li Mu immediately perked up, looked at the original site of TACO not far away, and said:

"Okay, I'll wait at TACO."

"Okay, I'm hanging up."

Li Mu quickened his pace and arrived at the deserted roadside, where he finally breathed a sigh of relief and had time to check the photos he had taken.

One, one, and another.

When he saw the image captured by the camera—a person helplessly falling through the air—his finger suddenly stopped moving.

For no apparent reason, sadness welled up inside me.

The Twin Towers are so tall, how desperate must this person have been to choose such a way to die...

And this attack...

The image of the person hit by debris from a high-rise building suddenly reappeared before his eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a chill spreading from my fingers... or rather, from my limbs.

And a lingering sense of fear...

If I had gone earlier today... what would have happened to me?

……

"Xiao Li, hurry up, get in the car."

He didn't know how long he had been lost in thought, but when he heard Wang Hai's voice, he immediately snapped out of it and quickly opened the door of the Cadillac in front of him.

As soon as he got in the car, before he could even settle in, the Cadillac started moving quickly.

It's like this place is going to explode any second.

"...Brother Wei, Brother Hai, thank you."

Upon hearing Li Mu's thanks, the two middle-aged men simply shook their heads.

Wang Hai's thoughts were simple. He remembered clearly when the accident happened that Xiao Li had run ahead, but then turned back to help him.

The bond forged in the face of life and death is enough for him to come back and fetch her.

Chu Jiwei, however, thought it was simpler.

We're all compatriots. When you're traveling abroad, it's better not to know each other... But since we do know each other, we should definitely help each other out if we can.

Let's get out of this awful place as soon as possible.

Just then, the three of them suddenly heard a rumbling sound behind them.

Li Mu instinctively turned his head and saw a huge plume of thick smoke rising into the sky.

"Holy crap! Another one?"

Wang Hai cursed, and Chu Jiwei simply floored the accelerator.

But Li Mu saw it clearly:

"Brother Hai, it wasn't the third one. It was... the Twin Towers collapsed."

"..."

"..."

For a moment, the two fell silent.

As Li Mu opened the car window and leaned out to take pictures, a gust of wind rushed in through the window.

The wind chilled them to the bone.

……

Traffic jams, fire trucks, sirens, and... a clown holding a sign outside a restaurant to attract customers, including those hurrying by or chatting and laughing together...

Everything left Li Mu completely stunned.

It was like stepping into an exaggerated ukiyo-e painting.

Manhattan is in complete chaos, but... why does it look like nothing's happening here?

Even the sunshine was quite bright; you could tell at a glance it was a good day.

It's simply magical.

"Don't these people go home?"

Li Mu muttered to himself unconsciously, but Wang Hai didn't respond. Instead, he looked at Chu Jiwei:

"Awei, did they say anything on the radio?"

"..."

Chu Jiwei remained silent, pressing buttons repeatedly. The car's stereo played hip-hop music one moment and conversations the next.

But he would change the channel after listening for a while.

Finally said:

"The announcement didn't mention anything about the Twin Towers... WTF? Such a big thing, and they didn't even make an announcement to let people go home?"

Li Mu and Wang Hai were not fluent in English, but listening to his words and looking at the pedestrians outside the window, they were momentarily at a loss for words.

Is this place... really that magical?

However, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I felt that there were far fewer pedestrians on the Chinatown we passed as the car entered Queens.

In short, the Cadillac arrived at Chugiway's home again.

Li Mu jumped out of the car and asked Li Li:

"Sister-in-law, is Linlin back?"

"I just picked them up; their school hasn't started its summer break yet."

After Li Li finished speaking, Chu Jiwei quickly asked again:

"Where's Sissi? Did you answer her?"

"They've brought her back, Sister Li is coming over right away... Old Chu, what happened? Is it serious?"

Clearly, Li Li only knew that the plane crashed into the building, but she didn't know what exactly happened.

Chu Jiwei shook his head solemnly:

"I won't be going to school for the next few days. Xiao Li, come with me. You need to use the computer, right? You can use mine."

Li Mu nodded:

"Okay, Wei-ge."