Derailment Chinese Drama: Uncovering Some Clues Behind The Mystery

Christmas break starts today! But it looks like I will spend the break with a restless mind trying to decipher the mystery in Derailment, instead of having a relaxing holiday season. Hahaha!

Derailment is a time-travel type of drama currently airing on Youku. The plot is quite catchy and not like one of those cliche cheesy modern romance dramas I detested. 

As the plot thickens, the story builds tension and excitement which attracts me more to watch this drama. This is my genre - Mysterious and mind-bogging, it compels my brain to work hard. 

I love the fact that the story focuses more on the mission to uncover the mystery behind Xiaoyuan's real identity and not on the romance arc, it allows the story to progress smoothly without any unnecessary diversion.

This is my type of modern drama, so far my favorite among all the modern romance series from mainland China shown this year because it has a mystery to be resolved which draws me more to chase the episodes!

I love this drama more than Reset!

Here's the plot summary:

Jiang Xiaoyuan (played by Liu Hao Cun), who came from the year 2025, met a car accident and suddenly tossed back to the year, 2018. She became a homeless girl, trying to figure out how she could go back to her world.

Qi Lian (played by Lin Yi) came from the year 2012. He had a best friend Xu Jingyang (played by Li Tian Nuo) who suddenly disappeared from the hospital roof without a trace. But he did not stop from searching for his whereabouts.

Six years later in 2018, his search for his best friend became a mystery to the police because they could not locate any records related to Xu Jingyang. As if he did not exist at all.

One night outside a convenience store, Qi Lian parked his motorcycle when his phone rang. It was Jiang Xiaoyuan who was inside the convenience store, dialing the number of his father.

Succeeding events brought them together and it was revealed that they were classmates in high school but lost contact after graduation. However, Jiang Xiaoyuan refused to believe. She had no memory of Qi Lian or anyone in the current world. 

All she knew was her rich world where her father owned a company. She seemed so arrogant and rude in her world but her life was lonely. She had a boyfriend who cheated on her with her friend.

Uncovering the Mystery

Okay, so the story of Derailment is kinda mind-boggling and it's becoming more interesting as the plot progresses. So I can't wait to find out what's really this drama is all about.  

At first, I thought this was some kind of a time-travel drama because it's so impossible that Xiaoyuan lived in the year 2025 when we are still in the year 2023 haha! So she must be a time traveler who was put in a time capsule due to some accident. 

But after watching episode 18, it feels like this is a virtual reality story or an online gaming concept and not a mainstream time travel drama. Episodes 17 and 18 are shedding light on some clues of the story.

Personal Analysis of the Drama

This is my speculation of this drama. This is not a spoiler because this is just my personal analysis of the mystery behind the story and not facts. Derailment is still currently airing.

It feels like Xiaoyuan really came from the year 2018 and joined a simulation test of a neuroscience lab experiment (for money to pay the hospital bills of her grandmother) called the Lighthouse System which can alter or erase someone's memory and be replaced by a memory of an opposite world, a virtual world where people can live their dreams. 

So during the simulation/beta testing, Xiaoyuan's memory was replaced by events where she was a rich girl (when she was actually poor) and twisted parts of the reality. For instance, Huo Boyu was actually the boyfriend of Feng Rui Xue (Fan Shiran) in the real world and Xiaoyuan was his other girl. But this was altered in the virtual reality simulation, by switching the story of Xiaoyuan and Huo Boyu with Feng Rui Xue as her cheating friend.

In episode 1, when Xiaoyuan met a car accident and fell off the bridge, the Lighthouse Activation System noted that she had been logged in to the channel/system. But then something went off. Perhaps, an error or malfunction!

So I figured, perhaps, during the simulation/beta testing, a system malfunction occurred. So Xiaoyuan prematurely woke up but could not recover her memory of the real world.

But I've got a different theory after watching episode 18. It could be possible that Huo Boyu was telling the truth that they were still in the simulation phase and their minds working on the process of entering the virtual reality world where there were no regrets, and where they could live their dreams, but their memory refused to accept the simulation.

So Huo Boyu went crazy as his mind could no longer hold on to the pressure, while Xiaoyuan seemed in limbo - unable to figure out what world she gonna choose, whether the virtual reality world or her real life.

Mr. Xu in 2025 timeline

Qi Lian's friend, Xu Jingyang, who was revealed to be the creator of the Lighthouse System (episode 17), seems to be the same Mr. Xu, the personal assistant of Xiaoyuan, in the 2025 timeline. 

There was a mysterious woman shown in episode 18. She appeared to be the owner of the neuroscience laboratory and the head of the research (just speculation) haha! But looked like she was the mother of Qi Lian? In the previous episodes, Qi Lian revealed his mother worked in a laboratory.

So who is Qi Lian in the story? Is he a secret enemy or a savior?

Huo Boyu insisted Qi Lian was the virus that caused the system to malfunction during the simulation making him and Xiaoyuan to be trapped in the system and floated in limbo. 

Huo Boyu said he needed to kill Qi Lian (the virus) to restart the system and return to the current world (a.k.a recover their lost memory). Was Qi Lian also in the same experiment? 

But he seemed to be in the real world and did not know anything about the Lighthouse System capsule. It's safe to assume that Huo Boyu became disoriented after the experiment went wrong. I guess he also needed help to resolve the mystery.

So how would Xiaoyuan be able to come to reality and recover her memory? I guess, Qi Lian needed to locate the laboratory where the Lighthouse System was kept and disconnect the device to stop the simulation testing.

Well, this is just my personal speculation. The progress of the story might be different.

Can't wait to watch more episodes. The plot is becoming more interesting as the story moves forward. The development is good, some clues have started coming up. 

I also love the slow-burn romance between Qi Lian and Jiang Xiaoyuan, it's sweet but not too sugary, just the right amount of closeness and thoughtfulness. Lin Yi and Liu Hao Cun delivered strong performances here!

This is the type of modern romance story that I like. More story development than kisses, and more exciting plot twists than hugs. This is the only modern romance drama that I like this year, I love the dynamics of the main characters. I love how the conflict element builds up and how the story develops.