Sorry, when I say “if” I actually mean when, and this scene from the 1st s3 trailer is just one out of the several reasons I have for why.

I remember the first time that I saw this, and of course my mind went to it being a suicide attempt- hey, this is Link Click, I wouldn’t necessarily put it past the show to do something like that! I did rewatch the scene a few times over however and I realised that there was no train, all that there was was lil Lu Guang and lil Cheng Xiaoshi balancing on the train tracks for what hopefully seemed like fun…? Then Lu Guang started to overbalance, and he would’ve fallen if Cheng Xiaoshi hadn’t caught up and saved him before that happened.

I will say that I don’t think that they were childhood friends, maybe they knew each other a little while before going their separate ways and then meeting each other again in university like they did, and Cheng Xiaoshi forgot not because Lu Guang messing with the past caused him to but because he just forgot considering how much time had passed and he hadn’t known him for that long in the first place, but that moment must’ve been important to Lu Guang for some reason.

Cheng Xiaoshi saved Lu Guang from falling all those years ago, and then again many years later when he quite literally took the bullet for him, and now? Lu Guang will be the one to save him, not from falling but from death.

And don’t think I’d forget about Qiao Ling, I know that the show has so far only been focused on him saving Cheng Xiaoshi, but he has been trying to alter both of their deaths after all, and at first I thought… how would that work with my “life for a life” theory I had? Because if he’s already gonna have to trade his life for one of them then surely someone else would also have to willingly trade their life for the other, right?? Well I think I figured it out, if the time traveler, the lawbreaker dies then all would be right with the universe.

This is where the time sickness comes in, he’s not meant to have stayed so long in this timeline, and he’s most certainly NOT meant to alter a death node let alone 2 of them, the timeline’s been trying to kill Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling, whether it’s the day of or before then doesn’t really seem to matter as long as they die, seeing as they’ve already had some close calls, and assuming that s3 is approaching upon the day they got murdered, if they manage to survive then Lu Guang will practically be handing over his own life as compensation.

And he hasn’t realised this yet.

“The future may not change due to a ripple in the past, but I don’t care. I don’t believe I can truly change anything by coming back, all I want is to be with them, and head into a new future together. Because I know that this is the last time.”, this quote came from the near end of the Bridon Arc, he says that he knows this is the last time, I’m sure there’s a double meaning here because I think what he meant when he said that was that he will get it right, there will be no more failed attempts… and he will in fact get it right this time, and they will head into a new future together… but he’s not going to get out of this mess scot-free.

I did say that Lu Guang hasn’t fully realised this yet right? Well he will and when he does, he’s going to try to make sure that they don’t find out, especially Cheng Xiaoshi, at least not the full thing- because if he found out what the cost for saving them is then Lu Guang’s plan would probably end in failure, I do think Qiao Ling will end up not only knowing the bits and pieces about what he’s seen and what his plan is as I’ve mentioned before but knowing everything, and she would know and understand the gravity of the situation, unlike Cheng Xiaoshi, who wouldn’t see the full picture, because in the moment he’d only be thinking about how much of a toll it’s taken on his best friend.

And when Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling are finally out of the woods, this is when it’ll all hit Lu Guang at once… and unfortunately there is no way in hell that he’ll survive.

Which reminds me, I’ve yet to discuss why Cheng Xiaoshi is the one who will live, and I cannot think of a better time to talk about it than now!

In one of the recent-ish chibi shorts, Li Haoling was asked to describe season 3 in 3 phrases and one of those phrases was “Cowherd”, I hadn’t heard of the myth before, although I did read a handful of comments saying that “we’re cooked” so uhm- I will admit that did concern me just a bit! So I thought I’d do some reading.

Now in the myth, the Cowherd Niulang and the Weaving Maid Zhinu fall in love, and for a while the Queen Mother of the West didn’t know but after eventually finding out, she orders her troops to abduct Zhinu, and due to not wanting to take any chances on the possibility that Niulang were to save her, the Queen Mother of the West drew her hairpin and blew on it, creating the heavenly river thus permanently separating them.

Oh, and we also got this.

Lu Guang is the Cowherd, Cheng Xiaoshi is the Weaving Maid, and that’s not all! I’m certain that the Queen Mother of the West is the timeline itself, and those who are after Cheng Xiaoshi are the equivalent of her troops while the hairpin is the time sickness and then we have the heavenly river, which is the price.

Ya may be wondering “Why so sure that it’s Lu Guang? What about Cheng Xiaoshi?”, and so I want to push aside all that I’ve talked about so far for just a second to explain.

CXS is the immortal one, immortality essentially means to “live forever”, obviously he isn’t literally immortal, my point is that immortality doesn’t equal mortality and vice versa, he’s the one whose death node will be altered by LG, who has broken the laws of time, the one who the timeline is fighting against, his death is the final measure to ensure they’re separated.

So, Lu Guang will save Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling, and once their death nodes have been successfully altered, the timeline will go straight from the punishment which is the time sickness, to the price aka Lu Guang’s life.

But I doubt that he would drop dead instantly, if anything it’s more likely that he’d collapse, only just having long enough to talk to Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling one last time before he succumbs to the time sickness… and hey, that’s alright, because he’s finally succeeded in what he’s been trying to do this whole damn time, Lu Guang saved his found family, he’s with them and he knows that they’re safe.

I think I’ve talked about Cheng Xiaoshi’s feelings regarding this enough already so I want to focus on Qiao Ling’s for a second, she’s like a big sister to the both of them, so her losing one of her brothers like this? Heartbreaking, like seriously though what the frick? None of them can ever catch a break it seems.

And with their last chat, I do think that Lu Guang will also get Cheng Xiaoshi to promise not to go back in time and change things, and Cheng Xiaoshi will do exactly that, he knows it all now and he isn’t about to throw away everything that Lu Guang has done to save them for the chance that he might be able to stop him from dying since it would be pretty much impossible.

Unfortunately this means that their time travelling gig will have to come to an end since Cheng Xiaoshi would no longer have Lu Guang to guide him, meaning any dives he does would be extremely dangerous and could seriously screw up the timeline.

At first, I was just using the word “key” to refer to the thing that is “the most important.” I thought of Xia Fei as the key puzzle piece that, if put on the right spot, would complete the picture in Lick Click that is currently full of blank spots.

He’s just so full of mysteries.

Xia Fei and Fire

He is not revealed to have any abilities, nor was he documented as a survivor even though he was at the abilities-school Bahati—which was burned down.

His song lyrics are heavily associated with fire.

And he also has this particular frame in Burning Palace that looks like an eye with flames for the iris:

The lore drop from the PAIN MV also includes this info on Xia Fei:

A great fire consumed his memories. He has no kin, no place to return to.

And a staff member who worked on Xia Fei’s script even said this:

Natural diamonds may dazzle, but what truly endures is wild grass, which no fire can extinguish.

Xia Fei is somehow very much associated with fire. And fire is an important element in Link Click.

For one, although the title of Liu Xiao’s song with the Li Twins is officially translated as Prometheus (written as 普罗米修斯 in cn), in Chinese, the song’s title is explicitly written as 盗火者, meaning “fire thief.” So, there is a clear emphasis on the fire here.

Two, fire has been used many times to depict a character’s death, such as Li Tianxi’s fall and Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes going out like a flame:

The meaning of Fire in this show warrants its own long meta, but I’m going to summarize it here as simply: Fire is Power. Specifically, their eye abilities. And going by the Prometheus myth, Fire originally belongs to the gods. Those who are able to awaken their own abilities are thus akin to gods in Link Click, unlike those who had to take it from someone else.

Given all the fire imagery surrounding Xia Fei, he becomes even more strongly associated with the god metaphor (and also the dead flags… but let’s not talk about that).

Xia Fei is Green and Yellow

He may have been Blue and Yellow throughout Yingdu, but his MOD album portrayal and all his official art since then have been Green and Yellow. I reckon those will be his s3 colors too.

If you’ve read my previous posts, then you’d understand the significance of Green in Link Click. But TLDR to those who haven’t: Green is the color associated with the Down direction, which, in Chinese, is associated with the Future.

As for what Yellow means—

Cheng Xiaoshi’s eye power is yellow, and it’s what allows him (and Lu Guang) to dive back in time and affect the timeline. Shao Yuanyuan also shares that power.

Cheng Xiaoshi’s MOD art also shows him winning through a Yellow mahjong tile:

All the other tiles in this image are Green, but he won because of the sole Yellow tile. CXS’s reaction to winning also suggest that he won out of sheer dumb luck.

Yellow as Opportunity? Luck?

I thought long and hard about what Yellow could represent in the visual language of Link Click, and finally I’ve settled on Light. Yellow should be the Light that’s captured in a photograph—the key element for a photo to develop.

Without Yellow/Light, nothing happens; there is no photography.

Throwback to this title card in Xia Fei’s Rent a Shell PV:

The text are colored Red (Past) and Green (Future). It looks fine as the Yellow light passes it, but at the brief moment the light is withdrawn, the text cracks.

This leads us to the next most important point...

Xia Fei and his Image

As a model, Xia Fei is naturally in a lot of photos, but Link Click goes beyond photographs to highlight how important his image is:

Like photos, a reflection also requires Light. But unlike photos, which can only ever show an image of the past, a reflection is a live image of the present.

In the Pain MV, Xia Fei’s reflection is highlighted even more through the use of mirrors:

Translation by qhqfeihuo

Furthermore, in this AU, Xia Fei is a vampire, which is commonly depicted as having no reflection. His profile here also says that he cannot see himself in the mirror. All these stand contrary to what’s in canon, bringing more attention to his reflection.

This frame in YE3 also stands out:

While being the most Yellow in that raincoat of his, Xia Fei faces a poster that reads “Secure your Future today!” while a Red (Past) bus passes behind him. Note also how the top part of the poster is Blue and Xia Fei’s eyes are right over the word ‘Future.’ Blue + Yellow = Green (Future).

Xia Fei, as Light/Yellow, is indeed “securing his future” in this frame. He’s turning the Blue Present into the Green Future, through his Yellow, while he stands at the intersection between the Red Past and the Blue+Yellow (Green) Future.

And this won’t be the only time he does this (more on this later).

Xia Fei and Videos

Videos are essentially just multiple photos played one after another fast enough, which is why ShiGuang can still use security camera footage to dive back in time. However, despite this precedence, we’ve never actually seen them use personal videos for a dive. Is it because videos recorded by a person will just result in them diving into the recorder’s body? Then, that would make it no different from just using a photo.

And yet, Xia Fei is specifically portrayed as a vlogger in his MV:

When he went missing in YE6, the news also explicitly stated his identity as influencer, not model.

It’s not subbed, but the term used on the headline at the bottom is 网红—literally meaning “net red,” and it’s the Chinese equivalent of “influencer.”

Is him being a model in multiple photographs not enough to make him a live target for ShiGuang’s diving shenanigans? Why add another layer of videos to that?

The emphasis on Xia Fei’s reflection, coupled with his identity as a vlogger, all suggest that there is some significance to Xia Fei’s live image. Or in other words, just Xia Fei himself as a person.

Although I don’t think Link Click is going for this parallel, I can’t help but think of The Truman Show in regard to this point. Like Truman, being in front of the camera is Xia Fei’s whole thing. When the first Yingdu trailer dropped, a big part of the beginning was even Xia Fei just doing different poses in front of the camera.

If Xia Fei is the “protagonist” in this “show,” then any changes involving him would drastically alter the story.

As such, any minute changes on the past would reflect heavily on him.

Xia Fei and Timeline Discrepancies

Timeline discrepancies are not unique to Xia Fei, but on him it shows up in a grand scale even when he is so far removed from the source.

Take the billboard above, for example. (Although a part of me thinks the billboard change was simply because Link Click wanted to retcon some stuff, let’s just roll with it since it’s included in canon.)

Now, a professional billboard photo isn’t something you take on a whim and can just take down whenever. It’s something that has to be discussed by a whole team, and once installed, is seen by millions of people. It’s no surprise that Lu Guang was so shocked when the billboard photo was changed. That’s a Big thing.

In S1, the changes around Emma can be attributed to ShiGuang who were messing around with her photo. In YE2, ShiGuang’s conversation being interrupted by a notification of Xiang’s arrest can be traced back to Liu Xiao’s manipulation behind the scenes. In both scenarios, the agent of change (person with abilities) has purposefully interacted with the victim of the effects.

But what about Xia Fei’s billboard above? Why was it changed? If he’s the victim of the effects, then who is the corresponding agent of change responsible for it? The billboard photo being the one changed, of all things, also suggests that an ability user is messing around with Xia Fei’s photoshoot—but the point of which, I honestly can’t see.

So, instead of there being someone in the past who tried to mess with Xia Fei specifically, it’s more like any minute changes wherever in the world would just show up on him in the next timeline.

Another timeline discrepancy surrounding Xia Fei is this scene in YE3:

CXS, LG, and XF were supposed to escape from the Right, but it was changed in this timeline. They went to the Left instead, where a Yellow lamp stands at the intersection. (Light/Yellow is once again at the Intersection)

Lu Guang didn’t try to change anything here, and I doubt Liu Xiao would try to manipulate them into a dead-end when the three of them are of more use to him alive. The one responsible for the changes here should be Shao Yuanyuan. Li Haoling has also confirmed in an interview with Hui Xiao Hui that key timeline changes were caused by her.

But then again, SYY’s target for the changes should not be Xia Fei (and especially not her son and his friend who were both with him). It was more likely Vein, who was called to the scene by Xia Fei. Vein’s disappearance from wherever he was before must be beneficial to SYY in some way. Xia Fei, and by extension ShiGuang, were just affected by the changes on Vein.

If small changes on the timeline unrelated to Xia Fei already reflect on him in a Big way, then how much more the big changes on the things that are more closely related to him?

Because of Vein’s “death,” Xia Fei disappears years later and ends up on the global news. His disappearance then becomes the catalyst of the events in s3:

Full Chinese s3 summary for reference (taken from Bilibili):

李天辰事件告一段落后，时光照相馆恢复了表面的平静，然而夏斐失踪的消息再次将众人卷入了命运的交叉点。随着Vein的回归与乔苓超能力的觉醒，程小时和陆光逐步触及到Bahati火灾案的秘密，而程小时的父亲程伟民和母亲邵媛媛似乎也与之有千丝万缕的联系。随着调查深入，来自某个神秘组织的刘枭开始了他的行动，而英都警察Jae的干预也使这场追寻真相的行动充满变数……

The intersection/crossroads of fate...

Xia Fei and Doubles

Xia Fei always comes in two’s or caught between two things:

His hair has been duo-toned since birth

He’s ambidextrous

Cheng Xiaoshi says he looks like a mixed-race man

Both red and green traffic lights in the ED are on while his ad plays in the background

His character color is the liminal traffic light color

He's the second survivor in a fire that was said to have only one survivor

And now this:

This is from the Pain MV. Note how the elevator buttons are at his Right while the door is closing to the Left*, and how XF is holding a Red apple Up while the camera angle is from Above.

Remember, in Left is Up; Right is Down, we have established that:

Past = Left/Behind = Up

Future = Right/Ahead = Down

Elevator #1 is thus an elevator to leading to the Past.

*the Past is considered “past” from the POV of those in the Future

Then, look at this:

Elevator #2 is a mirror image of Elevator #1. Buttons on the Right, door closes to the Left*.

And Xia Fei stands in the middle of these two elevators, with his Green cape draping Down while the camera angle is Below.

Elevator #2 is an elevator that leads to the Future.

*Those in the Past head towards a Future

More importantly, regardless of how far or near this XF art is from the viewer, he is always aligned with the Light in the Middle.

Yellow. Light. Intersection.

Interestingly, the caption on Wang Qing’s Yingdu poster says this:

枪口指向的她，是过去与未来的交界点

Source: SGDLR official Twitter

translation by qhqfeihuo:

The gun is aimed at her—the point where the past and future converge

(And Wang Qing is also Yellow and looks a lot like Xia Fei)

Summary

Yellow is Light. It stands at the intersection of the Past and Future and is the Key element needed to develop a photo/video—a permanent record of an event. Without Light, there is no Past or Future, and time shatters like a mirror.

Xia Fei is that Light.

Whoever wants to take control of the timeline needs to control the Light. They need to control Xia Fei.

And that’s why—