neragufetta

[neragufetta]

Kiss

[neragufetta]

post-431 conversation

[neragufetta]

“In Blackwater Woods” by Mary Oliver

[neragufetta]

Link Click is hilarious because all the main characters all think they're in drastically different genres of story.

Cheng Xiaoshi thinks he's in a buddy cop movie. There's a bit of comedy, a bit of suspense, some romance, but everything turns out all right at the end of the day.

Lu Guang is standing somewhere between Shakespearean Tradgedy and a psychological horror. Nothing is ever okay, and he cannot escape but he also can't ask for help because how would he even start.

Qiao Ling thinks her life is like a mystery novel. People are clearly hiding things from her and people she loves keep getting hurt but by god is she going to get to the bottom of this no matter what.

Xia Fei (as far as we've seen so far) is trapped in a coming of age story. He's just lost his mentor and is going to have to go off and figure the world out on his own. But he's making friends and learning the error of his ways.

Vein thinks this is a romance. Do not deny it. He's trying to live out his dark romance fantasy, and it's so bad for everyone involved.

Liu Xiao is a mystery to me. He's been playing Tetris on set. Honestly, he probably thinks he's the narrator, smug bastard.

[neragufetta]

It's always been 2019

Soooo....I'm rewatching the whole Link Click experience, since I was able to trick convince a friend of mine to fall into the Link Click rabbit hole aaaand....I've just noticed this:

This is from season 1, episode 7, roughly at minute 20:30, when Xiao Li discover Cheng Xiaoshi in the footage of DouDou's kidnapping.

Well, on the upper left corner of each screen you can see a timestamp, the clearest been:

It is clearly 2019, don't you think? The date isn't perfectly clear but my bet is on 2019-06-23 20:32.

If we think that in Bridon Arc we can see Lu Guang watch's time 2019-06-24 11:30, I think this sets everythink!

Sooo, the "three years ago" has always referred to June 2019, which kinda makes sense, since June 2019 is roughly 2 years and half before when this episode is setted, somwhere between October 14th and 21st.

I don't know, maybe I'm the last noticing this detail, but it's still nice to see that the authors had always had a precise plan, it gives me hope!

[neragufetta]

When I rewatched the Bridon Arc, I noticed that each time Lu Guang has a nightmare (once in episode 3, and again in episode 4), his watch is stuck on the exact time and date that he chose to abandon his original timeline to try to save Cheng Xiaoshi. More specifically, it's the date and time that he associates with Cheng Xiaoshi’s death: September 13, at 00:05.

[neragufetta]

Stepping by, ignoring the season 3 trailer because I don’t want any spoilers whatsoever.

I simply wanted to share this awesome AMV/DMV made by strangewastoid that I’m obsessed with since I found it. I’ve rewatched it a million times already.

Even though it contains some scene from Bridon Arc, I think it is safe to watch.

Share the love for LC!

[neragufetta]

Some of my observations about Link Click: Yingdu Chapter

⚠️Spoilers for S1, S2, & Yingdu Chapter, but mostly the Yingdu Chapter⚠️

Now that the final episode has aired and finished with a bang, I can properly start another observation and theory post without the threat of immediately being proven wrong💀As per usual, feel free to correct me on anything and add your own info should I not include it.

A post-Bridon interview between director Li Haoling and Hui Xiao Hui revealed that Xia Fei held onto the cat ears hat the whole time and returned it to Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang.

That same interview also had the director hinting at the possibility of Liu Xiao having more than one power, along with the fact that Liu Xiao has planned everything early on and that S3 will reveal his motives.

Considering Li Haoling's comment about the three ways someone could inherit powers (1: genetics, 2: passed through death, and 3: killing to steal), this could mean Liu Xiao has either received a power by having it passed to him from someone on their death bed, killed someone for their power, or is genuinely adopted, chat did y'all manifest this—

One major reveal from the interview was the confirmation of Lu Guang having looped through one timeline, not branching off and jumping to new timelines as many (including myself) grew to believe. A.k.a., there are no parallel universes or multiple timelines. I went over this in the notes, but imagine overwriting a cassette tape or hitting the reset button on a device.

Though there are still a number of discrepancies this fact fails to explain or clear up, Shao Yuanyuan telling Cheng Xiaoshi to not concern himself with investigating her and his father lends credence to him not knowing where they are or when they're coming back in S1.

The person Vein speaks to over the phone certainly isn't Liu Xiao, namely because Liu Xiao spends half of the episode playing faux Tetris on his phone, but also because Vein strictly uses English while on the phone with this mystery person. Perhaps he was in contact with someone associated with Yingdu's Chinese Chamber of Commerce (Vein is the leader after all), or simply an unknown figure that he has ties with and was informed by that person that Wang Qing has possession of the notebook.

Late addition: the show speaks for itself, but Vein needed Wang Qing's student ID, along with any other bits of information Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi discovered about her, to track her down with the help of whoever he remained in contact with.

Another late addition: It's been confirmed in the interview that Vein wants Cheng Weimin's book for himself, just like Liu Xiao.

Wang Qing's power involves faking death, something that's been hinted at by her student ID number translating to "fake death ability user."

The information of Wang Qing's classmates has been blurred out, but it's all unique text and some of it can even be made out. The pages for Amy and Blair (the girls that bullied Wang Qing) appear briefly, and though Amy's information is harder to make out, Blair's is somewhat discernable.

The kid that used his power during the test also appears, but the most that can be made out from his page is a middle initial. It should also be noted that Wang Qing had the most absences among the students we saw pages for, and that Cheng Weimin wrote, "Intervention needed," on her page.

We finally know the fates of Cheng Xiaoshi's parents. While Cheng Weimin is certainly dead from the fire at Bahati (confirmed by the ISBN number of the Sonnet Shakespeare book), Shao Yuanyuan is still alive somewhere.

Shao Yuanyuan's use of possession through a photo confirms that Cheng Xiaoshi received his ability through genetics. While we don't know if she is the original holder of the power or if she gained the power from Cheng Weimin after he died, it's clear Cheng Xiaoshi gained his power from either of his parents.

Li Haoling confirmed that death results in the passing of one's power, meaning there's a chance Lu Guang can still possess someone through a photo they took. But while it certainly appears that Lu Guang possessed Wang Qing and used her fake death power on Vein, it doesn't explain how he could've possessed her without having a photo she'd taken in that very moment (Shao Yuanyuan received the photo she took of Cheng Xiaoshi and possesed her that way). Edit two days later: a new video of an interview had Liu Haoling confirming that Lu Guang did not possess Wang Qing

One user on Twitter pointed out a detail on Liu Xiao's phone: the date on his phone is not the current date in Yingdu (June 2019). They also stated, "This is the evening, probably around 5 pm, which would be the same time as 00:05 September 13 in China."

While the above point could be an error, it should be noted that a box of text appeared during Bilibili's and seemingly only Bilibili's version of the episode: "Three years later, after the Li twins case." This whole thread is interesting actually, give it a go.

Speaking of errors, Li Haoling stated that Cheng Xiaoshi's eyes being yellow as he and Lu Guang run from Vivian's situation in EP1 was an animation error. The entire season, particularly the earlier episodes, are riddled with errors like these, most likely due to the schedule changes (this season was originally set to premiere in April of 2025 at the latest but was rushed to Dec of 2024).

On the topic of dates, Lu Guang came to the reset timeline on April 11th and passes the 12 hour mark once the clock hits 5:32AM (meaning he possibly and originally met Cheng Xiaoshi four days prior to the guy's birthday).

Vein interestingly uses darts on Cheng Xiaoshi and Wang Qing rather than real bullets as he's done in the EP1 opener. It's also unknown if he's aware of powers, let alone that Shao Yuanyuan was in control of Wang Qing as they fought.

This is another late additon, but a fan on Twitter compiled a full timeline of S1, S2 and Yingdu, also heavily detailing a lot of the inconsistencies that's been plaguing the fandom in a concise manner.

It's implied that Wang Qing needs a person's real name in order to use her fake death power on them, though it's unclear how she knows Vein's real name.

For once we ended the season without a death, though we have no idea what happened to Xia Fei and his former colleague Jack, who were both reported to have recently gone missing after we cut back to Lu Guang in present day China.

CHENG XIAOSHI GOT THAT DUMPHY

Vein's real name is Xiao Weiying

Back to the book with the eye (the same book Cheng Weimin had in his desk), it's being heavily speculated that the book contains either classified information on the students of Bahati (particularly the ones with powers), or something deeper. Either way, Shao Yuanyuan's statement about the fire being started on purpose supports the idea of someone starting the fire in the hopes of grabbing the book while Cheng Weimin leaves it behind or dies.

The idea of it holding information on the students' powers, or simply being a catalogue of all of the powers Cheng Weimin has crossed paths with, seems likely with Liu Xiao potentially being another seeker of the notebook.

Liu Xiao was the one seen unzipping Vein's body bag in the post credits scene.

Qiao Ling asks why Cheng Xiaoshi changed the studio's name from "Hero Photo Studio" to "Time Photo Studio," and while he gives his indirect answer of being connected through time, we can infer that changing the name is his way of keeping his promise with his mother after leaving Bridon. To make things clearer, a flashback in S1E10 confirms that the name of the studio hadn't changed while Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling were renovating (which is also when Qiao Ling first meets Lu Guang).

Lu Guang hasn't blushed once in the Yingdu Chapter, but Cheng Xiaoshi has (which makes for a grand total of two blushes from Cheng Xiaoshi and a stagnant five for Lu Guang).

Li Haoling stated in the interview that Cheng Xiaoshi will die in 2022.

When asked if Xia Fei was a survivor of the Bahati fire, Li Haoling dodged the question.

Soon after the fire at Bahati took place, Shao Yuanyuan tasked Wang Qing with allowing her to speak with her son through her someday. Since Wang Qing was still a student and in the hospital at the time, this means she's remained in contact with Shao Yuanyuan for 10 years.

Li Haoling commented during the interview that Lu Guang doesn't know about Vein having come back to life.

He also stated that Shao Yuanyuan would have interactions with Lu Guang in S3.

Actually, here's a full thread of translations for the interview, and a slight summarization of what was said.

The artwork Bilibili released to commemorate the series reaching 700 million followers on their site has this message in the tweet: "The game between "Hunter" and "Mastermind" continues, turning over the cards in the mystery and throwing the final chip." We can infer from past context clues that Liu Xiao is the hunter and Lu Guang is the mastermind.

Cheng Xiaoshi volunteered to play the flower fairy in the third grade despite the role calling for a girl (among other embarrassing stories Shao Yuanyuan told to make Cheng Xiaoshi believe it's her in Wang Qing, she's quite the charcter).

Shao Yuanyuan's speech about saving Cheng Weimin implies she's on a similar journey as Lu Guang (they're both desperately trying to save someone they're close to by resetting the timeline).

Wang Qing goes by the alias "Chris" for her psychiatry business, though it's unknown if her business is still continuing after she disappeared with Cheng Weimin's book.

Considering Shao Yuanyuan's lines when she finds Cheng Weimin in the fire, she was likely not meant to be there at the time, and possibly confused Cheng Weimin. That would explain how blasé he appeared to be about leaving Cheng Xiaoshi in China, if we're to believe that Shao Yuanyuan would usually be in China with their kid while he's in Bridon at the language school.

Cheng Xiaoshi changed the background of his conversation with Xia Fei to a picture he took with him during their modeling gig.

Aight, my well has run dry, and once again I'm certain I'm forgetting something (definitely forgot to go more in depth with the two pieces of artwork that dropped around EP6's premiere), but I hope this is satisfactory in some regards. Again, correct me or add anything I may have missed, time for me to hunker down for the long 2+ year wait until S3 arrives😭

[neragufetta]

This last episode just left me astonished. There are so many questions and so many discrepancies that I start to have doubts about the consistency of the plot. I hope S3 will prove me wrong.

My theories about BAe6 are the following:

- Lu Guang's answer to the forest's test might be: "since there is no way to find out the truth I'd kill them all", because this would explain LG's resolution regarding CXS's death.

- I wonder if Shao YuanYuan's and Lu Guang's plans interfere with one another: what if saving Cheng Weiming would cause Xioshi's death and viceversa? But this only works if YuanYuan does not know that Xiaoshi is going to die.

- In order to avoid inconsistencies with the plot, I want to believe that Bridon Arc was not set in S1/S2 timeline but in all of them. BAe1 and BAe2 have proofs of different timelines being merged with one another, therefore, whatever happened in BA that does not work with S1 and S2 I can pretend belongs to a previous timeline.

- for as much as I love the idea of Lu Guang going around killing whoever is a threat to CXS, I much prefer him move around the events just enough to 'let things happen' without him actively kill. I don't want him to become a murderer, honestly, or he'll be too doomed for CXS to accept.

[neragufetta]

link click ep 6

all I have to say is

what the fuckkkkk

[neragufetta]

Some minor detail worth mentioning about Bridon Arc episode 1

BAe1 was massive, to this point the major source of information we gained from any other episode of link click, so far. Many of you have already analyzed it to the core and I don't have much to add to the discussion.

Apart from 2 details.

Vivian's investments

Bad authors, bad! Why Vivian's investments are dated September 2024?? You, nasty authors.

2. Chen Xiaoshi's jump in Bridon

We still don't have an explanation for what happened here, it's not like CXS used his power to jump in the past, right? He didn't clap his hands, so exactly what happened? Has someone else infuse their power in the photo, so that anyone touching it would trigger a memory? And why did Liu Xiao reacted immediately?

[neragufetta]

@friedwizardwhispers in this post helped me realize that, during the dream, CXS mentions Dou Dou, which means that either Lu Giant has, at some point, lived through October 2021, or Dou Dou’s case happened sooner, in a previous timeline. And both possibilities are…. Overwhelming.

All I cried about in episode 4

I have a lot to say about this episode, there are so many details that just shout "sus!" all over.

Chronologically:

No, seriously, how could they have escaped from the alley without being noticed? Ok, there was a fight going on but still? I suppose this is a minor detail and yet it triggered my brain.

Ok, so meeting Liu Xiao was also a divergence from the original timeline, apparently. I wonder if Lu Guang calling him "Liu Xiao" instead of a generic "him" means that LG knows the guy damn well or it is just culturally normal to address people by their name (like in japanese, where you don't say "you" but call people by their name when talking to them). Not sure.

Nice of the authors giving us a proper day/time in full view. So we are in June 2019, which again feels quite wrong compared with what we knew from season 1, regarding their trip: according to Qiao Ling, the trip should last till the end of summer but we are barelly at the beginning. About the year issue, on the other hand, I do have an idea.

Here, we clearly hear the click of a camera, and Lu Guang is there hiding, so it was probably him who took a photo. Why would he do that? I have a theory but I will explain it later.

Sure, they don't know him a bit. Of course, I'm totally buying it. Also, why showing this random park scene while talking about the survivor? Do we all agree that the survivor is the blond woman?

Easter egg: I'm not fully convinced but there could be some timeline divergence hidden in this scene:

Ok, something is wrong here: Lu Guang is using his power, probably on the photo he took in the alley, but how? According to what we know about his power, he should be able to see what happens in the next 12 hours to the one person taking the photo and only if the photo is older than 12 hours, how is he using it to control what's happening to Cheng Xiaoshi in real time? Is my theory about Lu Guang being able to see the future correct?

Ok, this is just the author being naughty, now, aren't thay? Liu Xiao's tattoo in this screenshot is completely different from any other version. Does it have a meaning? Is his power connected to that tattoo? Also, this scene might confirm that Liu Xiao's power is simply good hearing but, yeah, I still don't buy it.

Also, Xia Fei followed Cheng Xiaoshi by mistake, in fact when Liu Xiao met the boys, it was Lu Guang who was wearing the cat-ear cap, so Xia Fei's assigned task was to follow Lu Guang from the beginning, why is Liu Xiao now asking to follow ‘also’ Lu Guang? Doesn't he want to let Xia Fei know about his mistake?

And finally this. At first it seems Lu Guang knows what's going to happen, but then he is utterly scared by the outcome. Had they dived together in the beginning? Xiaoshi clap his hands preying for Lu Guang's help, did they have a different relationship in a different timeline, where Xiaoshi didn't feel like asking for Lu Guang's help this way??

Is this when Cheng Xiaoshi changed the past or is this like S1e3?

In any case, this episode was a rollercoaster, I loved it.

NG, out.

[neragufetta]

Bridon Arc might actually be three years before season one

When BAe1 came out we were all wondering how the timeline could work: Dou Dou's kidnap happened three years prior October 2021, according to S1e6, but Bridon Arc it's happening in June 2019, they are roughly 2 years and 5-6 months apart. Shouldn't it be two years prior? Apparently, CXS and LG didn't met until April 2019, there is no chance that another trip happened in summer 2018.

Well, it is true that, in general, western culture tends to count years at completion but eastern culture count years at the beginning. For example, a kid born in June 2019 would be 2 years old in October 2021, according to western method, but they would be three 3 old according to eastern method. If this way of counting years apply to addressing events in the past, it could explain why Dou Dou's kidnap during the summer of 2019 was three years before S1e6.

This, or some timeline shenanigans, or the authors changed their mind.

[neragufetta]

All I cried about in episode 4

I have a lot to say about this episode, there are so many details that just shout "sus!" all over.

Chronologically:

No, seriously, how could they have escaped from the alley without being noticed? Ok, there was a fight going on but still? I suppose this is a minor detail and yet it triggered my brain.

Ok, so meeting Liu Xiao was also a divergence from the original timeline, apparently. I wonder if Lu Guang calling him "Liu Xiao" instead of a generic "him" means that LG knows the guy damn well or it is just culturally normal to address people by their name (like in japanese, where you don't say "you" but call people by their name when talking to them). Not sure.

Nice of the authors giving us a proper day/time in full view. So we are in June 2019, which again feels quite wrong compared with what we knew from season 1, regarding their trip: according to Qiao Ling, the trip should last till the end of summer but we are barelly at the beginning. About the year issue, on the other hand, I do have an idea.

Here, we clearly hear the click of a camera, and Lu Guang is there hiding, so it was probably him who took a photo. Why would he do that? I have a theory but I will explain it later.

Sure, they don't know him a bit. Of course, I'm totally buying it. Also, why showing this random park scene while talking about the survivor? Do we all agree that the survivor is the blond woman?

Easter egg: I'm not fully convinced but there could be some timeline divergence hidden in this scene:

Ok, something is wrong here: Lu Guang is using his power, probably on the photo he took in the alley, but how? According to what we know about his power, he should be able to see what happens in the next 12 hours to the one person taking the photo and only if the photo is older than 12 hours, how is he using it to control what's happening to Cheng Xiaoshi in real time? Is my theory about Lu Guang being able to see the future correct?

Ok, this is just the author being naughty, now, aren't thay? Liu Xiao's tattoo in this screenshot is completely different from any other version. Does it have a meaning? Is his power connected to that tattoo? Also, this scene might confirm that Liu Xiao's power is simply good hearing but, yeah, I still don't buy it.

Also, Xia Fei followed Cheng Xiaoshi by mistake, in fact when Liu Xiao met the boys, it was Lu Guang who was wearing the cat-ear cap, so Xia Fei's assigned task was to follow Lu Guang from the beginning, why is Liu Xiao now asking to follow ‘also’ Lu Guang? Doesn't he want to let Xia Fei know about his mistake?

And finally this. At first it seems Lu Guang knows what's going to happen, but then he is utterly scared by the outcome. Had they dived together in the beginning? Xiaoshi clap his hands preying for Lu Guang's help, did they have a different relationship in a different timeline, where Xiaoshi didn't feel like asking for Lu Guang's help this way??

Is this when Cheng Xiaoshi changed the past or is this like S1e3?

In any case, this episode was a rollercoaster, I loved it.

NG, out.

[neragufetta]

It will be very funny if CXS goes around telling people "you look tasty" because he genuinely thinks it means ni hao 😭

[neragufetta]

What a peculiar way to approach someone

[neragufetta]

Photo in a photo (and a rant)

Episode BAe3 is out and I don't have much to comment about it, except for a couple (triple) things.

The most interesting question to me: why is the picture of the library inside the memory of the picture itself?

Lu Guang should be able to see 12 hours max after the picture was taken: is this enough time to print it? If it is, why would the author of the photo (Cheng Wei Min or whoever they are) take a picture of a library, immediately print it and then go to the library itself to consult a book? This feels higly deliberate.

On the other hand, if the picture could not be printed in less than twelve hours, how could it be there? Did the author traveled to the future when the picture had been already printed? Or was the picture brought back from the future? Is this possible?

A marginal topic that still bothers me: how could Xia Fei hear what those girl were saying inside the lift? They were two floors apart!

Could normal hearing explain that or has Xia Fei a supernatural hearing power? Sir, I don't trust you.

Finally, I know people are generally excited about the ISBN code's revelation but I hate it: why would the authors give away such a spoiler out of nowhere?!?! I know Link Click has become a treasure hunt, I myself enjoyed decrypting the codes from the opening, but using a code to write "don't trust him" behind Liu Xiao (which, yes, thanks you, we had figured it out already) is one thing, revealing the fate of a character is another and whatever this code is going to be, a spoiler, a red herring, a different timeline or a prank, it's still going to be awful and hateful: this code has taken away from me the surprise of discovering this information in the story. It is as if Darth Vader's identity were revealed in episode IV's credits.