After a moment of silence, Liu Mengran slowly withdrew her hand. She sat on the edge of the bed, looked at Han Feng, and asked in a deep voice:

"Why?" she asked again, her voice soft yet carrying an undeniable force, "Why did you risk your life to save me?"

A hint of unease flashed across Han Feng's face, and his hand unconsciously caressed the snow-white sheets. This was the third time she had asked him this question. The first two times, he had brushed it off with the excuse of his duty as a soldier, but her eyes seemed to see right through his lies.

"I've already said it, protecting the people is..."

"Han Feng." Liu Mengran interrupted him, her brows furrowing slightly. "Don't treat me like a three-year-old. My brother is your subordinate; I know very well what kind of unit he's in." She leaned forward, a strand of black hair slipping behind her ear. "No special forces team would pay such a high price for a hostage, especially..." Her voice suddenly lowered, "The way you look at me never seems like you're looking at a civilian in need of protection; it's more like you're looking at a lost treasure that has been found."

The monitor's electronic beeping sounded particularly loud in the silence. Han Feng stared at the tiny scar on her wrist. The pain of three bone spurs piercing his body paled in comparison to this moment. She was sitting right in front of him, yet he didn't know how to tell her the truth.

"Liu Mengran," Han Feng finally sighed, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

This question was clearly unexpected. Liu Mengran blinked, her long eyelashes casting small shadows on her face. "What?"

"Or rather, do you believe that someone can be reborn with memories of their past life?" Han Feng's voice became very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

Liu Mengran's expression shifted from confusion to worry. She even reached out to touch Han Feng's forehead, checking if he had a fever. "Have you injured your brain? Why are you talking nonsense?"

Han Feng gently grasped her wrist and moved it away from his forehead. "Let me tell you a story."

Outside the window, a sycamore leaf drifted down onto the windowsill with a soft "tap." Han Feng's gaze passed over Liu Mengran and looked into the distance, as if there was a scene there that only he could see.

"Once upon a time, there was a man who fell in love with the wrong woman." Han Feng's voice suddenly seemed distant. "He was a devoted admirer for ten years, working tirelessly for her, until he finally owned his own company and his life improved steadily. He and that woman got engaged and were preparing for their wedding..."

As the story unfolded, Han Feng's eyes gradually became unfocused. He described how the man was framed by his fiancée and her high school sweetheart, how he signed a fatal insurance policy, and how he was brutally murdered by them in a hotel room. As he recounted these events, his fingers unconsciously clenched the bedsheets, his knuckles turning white.

Liu Mengran initially frowned, but her expression softened as the story unfolded. When Han Feng spoke of the man's soul wandering at the site of his death, witnessing an almost complete stranger avenging him, she gasped softly.

"That woman was just a transfer student in his high school class," Han Feng's Adam's apple bobbed. "Back then, I saw that her family was poor and she was often bullied. The man had helped her a few times, and to her, she was like a ray of light in her world."

A tear slid unexpectedly from Han Feng's eye, but he didn't wipe it away. "After she graduated, she silently watched over him until she discovered he had been murdered. And then..." His voice choked, "By then, she had returned to her family. It turned out she didn't come from a bad family; she was just a little princess who had been raised away. When she learned of the man's murder, she spared no effort in searching for clues, even mobilizing the power of her family, finally leading her to the treacherous couple who had killed him."

Liu Mengran's eyes widened, a strange, indescribable emotion flickering within them. Her lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.

Han Feng continued, "She tricked the couple into going to the hotel, drugged them, and took them to the room where the man had died. She then planted bombs throughout the room, intending to appease the man's spirit in heaven. Before she died, she said that if there was an afterlife, she hoped the man would take the initiative, and she would take the initiative as well. And so, amidst the flames of the explosion, she departed with a smile."

Seeing that Liu Mengran's gaze was blank, Han Feng continued.

"The story isn't over yet." Han Feng forced a smile.

"And then?" she asked softly, her voice barely audible.

"Perhaps Heaven was moved..." Han Feng wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "The man was reborn. His first act was to take revenge on those who killed him, but his true purpose was to find the woman who died for him."

He paused deliberately, letting Liu Mengran piece together the clues herself. Her brows furrowed, her gaze sweeping back and forth across Han Feng's face, as if deciphering some kind of code.

"Because the timeline is messed up, he didn't meet her in high school..." Han Feng added softly, "but he remembers which university she attended in her previous life..."

"That's why he got into Kyoto University," Liu Mengran suddenly interjected, her voice unusually calm. Her eyes were fixed on Han Feng.

"Yes, all he wanted in this life was to prevent tragedy from happening and to protect the woman who had sacrificed so much for him in the previous life."

A deathly silence fell over the ward. The sound of a trolley rolling down the corridor drifted from afar, and a television in one of the rooms was playing the midday news—everything seemed so ordinary, so real. Yet, their conversation revolved around the surreal themes of rebirth and destiny.

Han Feng continued speaking, simply watching Liu Mengran quietly. The sunlight was shining directly on her profile, making her earlobes almost transparent.

“So the man in this story is you,” Liu Mengran said softly.

"Um."

"That transfer student...was me?" Liu Mengran asked cautiously and uncertainly.

“That’s right. As for that pair of adulterers, they are Mu Xiaoxiao, who arrested you this time, and Zhou Zihao, but I already put him in jail.”

"Oh..." Liu Mengran's thoughts were a bit confused. This story was too unbelievable. Although she could roughly understand why Han Feng treated her this way, or even as if he cared for her, she found it hard to accept.

Seeing this, Han Feng didn't say anything more. He was also waiting for Liu Mengran to process this information. It was hard for anyone to believe that someone could be reborn.

After a long silence, Liu Mengran asked, "Since you've been reborn and have already punished Zhou Zihao, why did you let Mu Xiaoxiao go? Could it be that you...?"