The base's lights were soft and dim, like the sun on a cloudy day, languishing and unproductive.

The hotel lights, as always, were bright enough to see everyone's micro-expressions.

Xia Chuhe pondered many things on the way. She wondered: Was the car accident an accident? Why did she time travel? Was her birth a premeditated plan? As her parents, did they truly love her?

However, when Xia Chuhe actually saw those two familiar people, all he remembered was rushing into Xia Qingxue's arms and crying out, "Mom! I missed you, I'm so tired."

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Mom and Dad are here. We'll protect you from now on," Xia Qingxue comforted her, while Lu Xingyi patted Xia Chuhe's shoulder from the side.

Xia Chuhe cried her heart out, and once the pent-up resentment had subsided, she wiped away her tears and asked, "Was the car accident something you deliberately arranged?"

“No, who would give up a comfortable life to come to a place like this?” Lu Xingyi said.

"Then why did I time travel?"

Xia Qingxue and Lu Xingyi exchanged a glance: "It's a long story."

"Then get to the point, I have plenty of time now."

“Your dad and I are planning to buy a house nearby, and the three of us will live together. If you don’t like living downstairs, we can look into ways to move upstairs,” Xia Qingxue changed the subject.

Xia Chuhe always had the right to be willful in front of her parents: "Mom~ I don't want to hear this now, I want to know why I time-traveled."

Xia Chuhe, who had just cried, spoke with a slightly nasal tone, and her willfulness was also a form of coquetry.

"What's the point of knowing this? There's no going back now," Xia Qingxue said helplessly.

Xia Chuhe asked, "Are you still leaving?"

Xia Qingxue, puzzled, said, "I'm not leaving."

"Oh." Xia Chuhe defiantly challenged them, "If you don't let me know, then I'm leaving."

Xia Chuhe made a move to leave, and she mentally counted down the seconds, thinking to herself that he would give in in less than three seconds.

One, two, three, four, five...

Sulking, which had always worked in the past, didn't have the desired effect this time.

It wasn't until Xia Chuhe opened the hotel door that Xia Qingxue said, "Daughter, don't be angry, I'll tell you."

Xia Chuhe gripped the doorknob tightly; something was wrong.

Her parents only called her "Baby", "Sweetie", "Xiaxia", "Little Cotton-padded Jacket", "Leaky Little Cotton-padded Jacket"...

Xia Qingxue insisted on calling her "daughter".

Xia Chuhe turned and went back to her room. She suddenly remembered the "Xia Chuhe" who had once existed in the wasteland. If someone looked almost exactly like her, then... it wasn't impossible for a pair of people who looked exactly like her parents to appear.

The thought of doubt is like a small blade of grass; once it sprouts, it begins to grow wildly.

Xia Qingxue and Lu Xingyi's appearance was too coincidental; they appeared just as Xia Chuhe was about to leave the base.

The appearance of her parents was the base's blatant attempt to keep her there.

Xia Chuhe sat opposite Xia Qingxue, scrutinizing her.

Xia Chuhe's small mole on the bridge of his nose was inherited from Xia Qingxue.

Small mole, yes.

When she was a child, Xia Qingxue once shielded Xia Chuhe from a bowl of boiling water. That burn left a faint white scar on Xia Qingxue's right wrist.

Yes, there are scars.

Xia Qingxue had undergone a lymph node biopsy before the car accident.

Yes, there is a surgical scar.

"Mom, you have gray hairs, let me pluck them for you," Xia Chuhe said.

"Where?" Xia Qingxue turned her head and moved closer to Xia Chuhe.

Xia Qingxue has a healed ear piercing on her earlobe, just like Xia Chuhe's mother.

Judging from her appearance, the person in front of her was her mother.

However, Xia Chuhe could not suppress her sadness. She opened her eyes as wide as possible, but she still could not hold back the tears that overflowed.

Xia Qingxue wouldn't let her pluck her gray hairs; she would only say, "Don't pluck them. If you pluck one, it'll scare you so much your hair will turn white."

Xia Chuhe's tears dripped onto Xia Qingxue's hand.

Xia Qingxue asked, "Why are you crying again?"

"Seeing your gray hair makes me a little sad," Xia Chuhe made up an excuse.

With teary eyes, Xia Chuhe tentatively asked Lu Xingyi, "It hurts to think about how you all are getting older every day. I still remember when I was a child, I would deliver goods with my father and ride around in the open-top truck. I was so happy. It feels like these things just happened yesterday."

Lu Xingyi smiled and said, "The air quality up there is pretty good. If you like, Dad will take you for a drive up there sometime."

Xia Chuhe forced a smile: "Okay."

fraud.

The delivery truck's trunk was almost entirely filled with poultry, and it stank horribly, so she wouldn't stand inside.

Xia Chuhe sat on the bed in the hotel, listening to Xia Qingxue's fabricated nonsense: "You were originally a wastelander who ended up in another world by accident. Now that your time limit has expired, you have to come back."

Xia Chuhe listened patiently, told them to get some rest, and after exchanging contact information, they agreed to go see the house some time later.

Xia Chuhe reluctantly said goodbye to his parents and left the hotel.

Her fake smile lasted until she left the base.

The person who could replicate such a small detail as a surgical scar must have seen her parents in the wasteland after the car accident.

We must not alert the enemy.

While pondering, Xia Chuhe received a message from Wang Yan: Sister Xia, who are those two middle-aged men?

Xia Chuhe: My parents

Wang Yan: Oh

Wang Yan: Ah

Wang Yan: Are we still leaving? Do you still want to buy the things you asked me to buy?

Previously, Xia Chuhe had assigned part of the shopping to Wang Yan. Now, the shopping still needs to be done.

Xia Chuhe: Buy it, buy it secretly, don't let anyone else know.

The timing of the fake parents' arrival was so coincidental that Xia Chuhe couldn't help but believe they were there to stop him from leaving the base.

So, who "notified" them to come?

It must be someone who knew she was leaving the base.

The number of people who knew about this was not large—his own teammates and Li Yue.

If Bao'er accidentally reveals this, then another nobody will be added to the list.

Xia Chuhe opened the follower handbook. Those with a loyalty level of 80 or higher would never betray her, and those with a loyalty level of 60 or higher would prioritize her orders...

So now, apart from those with a loyalty rating of 80 or higher, no one else can be trusted.

Xia Chuhe didn't plan to immediately separate the two clumsy actors; she wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

Through these two, she could find the person who leaked the information and, when the time was right, force her to reveal the true whereabouts of Xia Qingxue and Lu Xingyi.