When Xu Xiaolan and the others arrived, Ruan Chen was soaking wet, wringing the water out of her school uniform bit by bit on the shore, with an unconscious man beside her.

The cordon was set up, and the island was filled with red and blue lights.

Xu Xiaolan quickly stepped forward, took off her coat, and draped it over Ruan Chen.

“This man has a taxi company ID,” Ruan Chen stated the known information without uttering a single unnecessary word.

"I went downstairs as planned, intending to take a taxi to South Taihu Lake. Coincidentally, this taxi was dropping off a passenger on the side of the road, so I got in without suspecting anything."

"There was a pungent smell when I got on the bus, and I slept almost the whole way. When I woke up, I was on Yuanyang Island."

Ruan Chen then repeated the fake driver's words verbatim, and concluded, "I think he intended to kill me from the beginning and frame the real driver. From the moment he mentioned South Taihu Lake, he planned to make Yuanyang Island my final resting place."

The young police officer beside Xu Xiaolan wrote down every single word Ruan Chen had said.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Ruan Chen asked calmly. "If not, I'd like to go home first."

Xu Xiaolan had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Ruan Chen's calm and rationality at this moment were like a volcano about to erupt.

But her mouth was honest: "No."

Then Xu Xiaolan waved to the person behind her, "Xiao Chen, come and take the witness home!"

Then Xu Xiaolan pulled Xiao Chen aside and whispered a few words of advice, her eyes looking in Ruan Chen's direction.

Ruan Chen followed obediently behind Xiao Chen. Before getting on the bus, she put her wrung-out school uniform on the seat and explained with a smile, "I was afraid of getting your chairs wet."

As the car carrying Ruan Chen drove away, a black car silently started up in the shadows of the trees not far away, changing direction and heading out of the island.

When she got home, Ruan Chen explained that she and her classmates were playing around on the fountain in front of the library when the fountain suddenly turned on, and she got soaked. Ruan Wenlou was heartbroken and made Ruan Chen ginger tea. He then helped Ruan Chen sit down and dried her hair little by little.

"Go to bed early. What do you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow? Grandpa will make it for you."

Looking at her own reflection and Ruan Wenlou's reflection in the mirror, Ruan Chen said, "Grandpa, I want to eat egg dumplings."

"Okay." Ruan Wenlou ruffled Ruan Chen's smooth hair. "Go and rest. The quilt was just aired out today."

However, Ruan Chen did not get up and go back to her room. Instead, she bent down, took out a black bank card with gold foil stamping from a small drawer under the TV cabinet in the living room, and quietly pushed it in front of Ruan Wenlou.

"The password is the day you came to pick me up from the orphanage, Grandpa."

As Ruan Chen softly uttered those words, she felt as if her heart was sinking into an abyss.

She didn't dare to look up at the old man, but just stared at the card. The gold foil embroidery stung her eyes, making her want to cry.

After what seemed like a long silence, the old man said in his usual kind voice, "Our little Ruan Chen has grown up."

Ruan Chen lowered her head, her voice slightly nasal, "Grandpa, I'll come to the countryside to visit you during my vacation."

"Okay, Grandpa will wait for you."

Ruan Chen knew from the beginning that she couldn't keep Ruan Wenlou by her side for too long, and she had been planning this farewell for a long time.

She understood after Ruan Zhengde stabbed Ruan Wenlou in revenge.

This old man was once her armor, but now he is her Achilles' heel.

She thought of Ruan Chen from the tragic world, where she was always bound by the living Cong Rao, compromising time and time again, and being hurt time and time again. But even so, she couldn't keep the only person who truly cared for her.

She started decorating Nguyen Van Lou's house in the countryside a year ago. Nguyen Van Lou's wife had passed away early, and his son also worked for the Nguyen Group. Usually, only his daughter-in-law and granddaughter lived there.

Ruan Chen installed the world's most advanced security system on that courtyard.

She thought that her grandfather was at the age where he could enjoy his grandchildren. He had his own family and relatives, and she couldn't selfishly keep him around for the rest of his life.

Ruan Chen made the decision to let Ruan Wenlou leave because she remembered whose face that was.

She was certain she had seen that masked man's face somewhere before.

That was when I was thirteen years old, at the Ruan family reunion party at the villa on the hillside.

The man smiled and bowed, standing at the entrance of the villa on the hillside like a dog, helping to greet the visitors.

The Ruan family has many distant relatives, and this man is one of them.

No wonder Xu Xiaolan refused to reveal the masked man's identity to her, and no wonder she told her to inform her in advance wherever she went.

When Ruan Chen recalled this incident, she was in the deep blue-black sea, mentally counting down the time she could hold her breath. She was rescuing the unconscious driver from the driver's seat.

The water pressure and lack of oxygen made her slightly dizzy, and the memories that she had slapped away rushed back to her.

It turns out the Ruan family was behind this whole affair.

A meticulously planned scheme: the main property owner of the island is actually controlled by the Ruan Group; the masked figure knows his surname is Ruan but doesn't care at all...

It turns out that he, me, and them are ultimately destined to be enemies.

The clock struck twelve, and a new day began.

The apartment was eerily quiet. Ruan Chen tiptoed out, picked up her shoes, and sat on the steps to change them.

She saw the city bureau's car parked on the roadside below from the window in the stairwell. She skillfully climbed over the wall from the second floor and disappeared into the night like a nimble cat.

"Hillside villas".

"Young lady, running around in the suburbs so late..."

The driver saw that it was a girl, alone in the middle of the night, and he thought his chance to rip her off had come. But before he said "I have to pay extra," he glanced back at the passenger who had gotten on in the middle of the night and instinctively felt a chill.

Strange, she's clearly an unbelievably beautiful girl.

She sat in the back seat, leaning back lazily, her eyes wandering aimlessly, but the driver felt... that this girl was so angry and sad at that moment.

“Miss, it’s only a few steps ahead. My car’s chassis is too low to go up, and besides, the security guards don’t allow taxis to go in.”

Ruan Chen took out his phone and scanned a number far exceeding the integer displayed on the meter. "Thank you for your hard work in the middle of the night."

After saying that, she pushed open the car door and stepped into the cold night.

Not far away is a cluster of dark villas, the one at the very front being the hillside villa of the former richest man, Ruan.

The driver was a little dizzy from the amount of money he received, and he began to regret asking for more. These rich kids never cared about money.

When Ruan Chen stepped into the villa on the hillside, Ruan Zhengde was waiting for her in the living room.

Not surprising, it must have been the security guard at the entrance of the villa area who notified them.

Ruan Chen walked to the minibar, took out a can of iced orange juice, and sat down on the sofa.

The two did not exchange pleasantries.

Ruan Zhengde looked at his daughter with an inscrutable expression, seemingly lost in thought.

“The Ruan family doesn’t have any experts with spiritual power. I don’t see the Ruan family gaining any benefit from getting involved in this matter,” Ruan Chen cut straight to the point. “Or is it that Mr. Ruan doesn’t even want to maintain the current situation and is preparing to drag the entire Ruan family to its death?”