The night market buzzed with life again as Liya and Ethan stepped out of the alley.
Lanterns swayed gently overhead.
The smell of grilled food filled the air.
People laughed, chatted, and moved between the crowded stalls.
But the peaceful atmosphere felt slightly different now.
Because far away…
Sirens wailed through the city.
Police.
Ambulances.
Fire trucks.
All rushing somewhere beyond the bright lights of the market.
Liya folded her arms nervously.
"That sound always meant trouble in the other loops."
Ethan glanced toward the distant flashing lights between buildings.
"Do you know what usually happens next?"
She shook her head.
"Not exactly."
"Helpful."
"In most loops, the disasters happened randomly."
"Truck crashes."
"Explosions."
"Buildings collapsing."
Ethan nodded thoughtfully.
"So this might be something new."
"That's what worries me."
They began walking slowly through the crowded street again.
Neither of them spoke for a moment.
Then Ethan suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
"What?"
He pointed toward a giant TV screen mounted above a small electronics shop.
A news broadcast had just appeared.
A reporter stood outside a tall office building surrounded by flashing emergency lights.
The headline on the screen read:
BREAKING NEWS
Liya's stomach tightened.
"Uh oh."
The reporter spoke quickly.
"We are receiving reports of a structural issue at the Riverside Tower construction site. Authorities are evacuating the area after workers reported a dangerous shift in the building's support structure."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Structural issue."
"That sounds bad."
The camera zoomed out.
The half-finished skyscraper loomed behind the reporter.
Steel beams.
Tower cranes.
Construction lights.
Liya's eyes widened suddenly.
"Oh no."
"What?"
"In loop twenty…"
"…that building collapsed."
Ethan looked back at the screen.
"You're serious?"
"Yes."
"And how did I die in that loop?"
She swallowed slowly.
"You were walking near the site when it happened."
He stared at the screen for a moment.
"Convenient."
The reporter continued speaking.
"Authorities are asking nearby pedestrians to avoid the construction zone while engineers assess the situation."
Liya checked the time on her phone.
9:11 PM.
"Three hours before midnight," she whispered.
Ethan crossed his arms.
"So fate is setting up another accident."
"Looks like it."
But something about the situation felt different.
Because this time…
They hadn't interfered.
They hadn't changed anything.
Yet the disaster was still approaching.
Ethan looked thoughtful.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"If the building collapses tonight…"
"…that means fate still wants the same ending."
Liya frowned.
"But the timeline already changed."
"Exactly."
"So maybe this event is the anchor point."
"The anchor?"
"The moment fate keeps pushing toward."
She glanced at the news screen again.
Emergency vehicles surrounded the construction site.
Workers hurried away from the building.
Something inside the structure groaned loudly as the camera microphone picked up a distant metallic creak.
Liya felt a chill.
"That collapse could kill a lot of people."
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Which means we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
He looked directly at her.
"In this loop…"
"…we promised not to interfere."
She stared at him.
"But if that building falls…"
"…people will die."
The market noise faded slightly as the two of them stood there thinking.
The sirens continued wailing in the distance.
And somewhere across the city…
A massive tower was beginning to fail.
Liya took a slow breath.
"So what do we do?"
Ethan watched the news broadcast quietly.
Then he spoke.
"Tonight…"
"…we find out if fate only wants me."
Or if it was willing to destroy everything else too. ⏳