Chapter 70, the final chapter: The world is magnificent, the gloom is not...
"Tick-tock—"
"Tick-tock—"
The clock on the wall is ticking, with the hour and minute hands constantly chasing each other, signifying that time is passing by bit by bit.
“哢”
A mechanical creaking sound came, the pointers froze instantly, they trembled incessantly but could not move forward even an inch, and even the surrounding air seemed to freeze.
"Clang, clang—"
The hands started moving again, but this time, they were moving backward. Then they sped up faster and faster—!
The thick layer of dust that had covered the house began to settle and fade rapidly. The old furniture also began to change quickly, the faded paint on the surface was constantly being repaired, and the surfaces that had been eroded by insects began to recover quickly.
Everything around me began to regress, transforming from old to new, becoming as if—
Nothing happened.
On the sofa in the living room, a blurry figure gradually began to appear.
Countless light spots converged, making the figure appear even more solid: jeans, a turtleneck sweater, and long hair cascading down his shoulders.
The figure sat there, an open notebook on his lap. There seemed to be something written in the notebook, but the writing stopped abruptly, with no further text.
Around her were gifts from Jiang Zhihe and others: a blessing for peace, a jade bottle containing healing pills, a bone fan, and so on.
Gu Xiaozhu slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, paused for a moment, and then slowly lowered her eyes to look at the novel she had not yet finished writing on her lap.
Looking at the words that abruptly ended, she pursed her lips, a wave of bitterness welling up in her heart.
It's time.
She needs to finish this novel completely.
She placed the notebook on the table in front of her and got up to go inside to find a pen.
But when she entered the room and saw the calendar on the table, her gaze froze.
Because her mother is a very nostalgic person, she has been influenced by her and likes to write things in a notebook and use a desk calendar to record dates.
But at this moment, the days that have already passed on the calendar have been crossed out with a pen, and today—
It was February 16th.
The hand holding the pen suddenly clenched tightly.
She will never forget this day.
This was the day my mother went out, met my father, and then died.
"Perhaps, besides my world, you can save something else."
Jiang Zhihe's words came to mind.
Thinking of this, she immediately put the pen in her pocket, picked up her phone from the table, and glanced at it—
13:15
If she remembered correctly, her mother left home at 1:10 p.m., and it took her about 20 minutes to get there.
Only five minutes have passed, there's still time!
She quickly put on her coat and went to the door, reaching out to open it and leave, but paused the moment her hand touched the doorknob.
Turning around to look behind me, I saw the laptop on the sofa, placed alongside the other items on it.
After thinking for a moment, she turned around and went to the sofa, packed everything, including her notebook, into a canvas bag, slung it over her shoulder, and hurriedly left.
Because this event had such a profound impact on her, she remembers it very clearly. She remembers the way there very clearly, she remembers...
Remember……
What do you remember?
She left the residential compound and stood at the entrance, looking at the bustling street in front of her with a blank expression on her face.
She couldn't remember.
A wave of panic surged from the depths of her heart and quickly spread throughout her body, leaving her frozen in place.
For some reason, that memory is shrouded in a fog, and I can't recall it no matter what.
She took her phone out of her coat pocket and glanced at it again.
13:20
It's too late, it's really too late!
"You might need it someday?"
Zhu Songyun's words suddenly surfaced from the bottom of his heart.
She paused, reached into her canvas bag, and took out the three copper coins.
She closed her eyes and tossed it into the air.
This is our last hope.
"Ding-dong!"
The three copper coins landed, with the blackest one at the top, clearly pointing her in a direction.
She quickly picked up the copper coin and ran in that direction.
The cold air rushed into her mouth, and she used copper coins to calculate the way to her mother as she ran in that direction. Her strength was waning, her throat was starting to hurt, and she even had a faint sweet, metallic taste.
But she knew she couldn't stop.
If she can travel through time and be resurrected, then why can't there be one more miracle in this world?
Perhaps this is the meaning behind her returning to the time before her mother's death.
As the surrounding scenery changed, the veiled memory in my mind gradually became clearer. It was as if, knowing it couldn't stop her, it simply dispelled the fog.
It was at this moment that Gu Xiaozhu understood.
The laws are still interfering with her.
After everything that happened, Gu Xiaozhu realized that although the laws are powerful, they also have rules that must be followed.
for example--
Established facts cannot be changed.
Previously, her death, due to interference, had changed from being "predetermined" to "uncertain." Now, however, they have succeeded; her "death" has become a fact that did not occur, and the outcome of her living cannot be altered.
But her mother.
Her mother's original fate was also death, but due to the influence of time travel, she returned to the point in time before her mother's death. Therefore, at this moment, her mother's death has changed from "predetermined" to "uncertain".
That's why the law intervenes in her case.
He has already failed once.
We can't afford to fail again, can we?
She ran quickly to the entrance of the familiar alley, but when she entered, the scene before her made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
The bright red blood stained the pure white snow. The mother lay on the ground, her abdomen soaked in blood, while the man, that scum covered in blood, knelt on the ground, his expression crazed.
With bright red hands raised high, the murder weapon was plunged into the abdomen of the person lying on the ground, again and again.
Seeing this scene, anger surged within her, and for a moment, she seemed to hallucinate the scene of Jiang Zhihe and the others' deaths.
She wanted to rush over immediately, but after taking only a few steps, it was as if there was an invisible barrier in front of her, preventing her from passing.
Amazingly, despite her anger, her mind was still racing, calmly considering a solution.
The interference of the laws must still be there, and even if you get past this barrier, they will definitely do some other little tricks afterward.
If you want the laws to be unable to interfere with her during this period, you need something that can block the laws.
Wait, ...blocking?
She quickly took out the bone fan from the canvas bag. She examined it carefully and, sure enough, there was a small knot at the end of the bone fan.
This was a backup plan that Shangguan You had prepared in case he was seriously injured and unable to use his spiritual power.
Once this knot is fastened, the spiritual energy stored in the bone fan can automatically expand without activation and automatically form an array according to the master's pre-set formation.
She fastened the buttons without hesitation.
Spiritual energy burst forth from the bone fan, the blades quickly separated, and in an instant formed an array to conceal their presence.
The moment the formation took effect, the barrier in front of her vanished into thin air. She rushed into the barrier, picked up a brick, and smashed it hard against the man's head!
Caught off guard by the attack, the man dropped his knife and staggered a few steps, thus moving away from Gu's mother who was lying on the ground.
Gu Xiaozhu rushed forward and saw her mother covered in blood and on the verge of death. She couldn't hold back her tears.
With trembling hands, she took out the porcelain white bottle, poured out one pill, and carefully fed it into her mother's mouth.
The pill melted instantly upon entering her mouth, and the pure spiritual energy seeped into Gu's mother's body, causing her previously wandering consciousness to regroup. She slightly opened her eyelids and saw her daughter's tear-streaked face.
"Little... Bamboo..."
"I'm here, I'm here..." Gu Xiaozhu sobbed, kneeling on the ground, not daring to move her mother at all. As soon as she heard her mother call her, she hurriedly answered.
"Body...body..."
"What?"
"Behind...them..."
Having heard her mother's words clearly, she seemed to realize something and suddenly turned her head.
The man's face was contorted with rage, blood was streaming down his forehead, and his eyes were flashing with fury.
He raised the knife high, a gleeful smile playing on his lips: "Die!!!"
The knife in his hand suddenly swung down!
"clang!"
A patch of ice suddenly rose from the ground, blocking the attack and freezing the knife that was slashing at the girl, preventing the man from pulling it out.
This bizarre scene brought the crazed man to his senses. A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, and he strained, but he couldn't pull out the knife that was frozen in the ice.
Seeing this, Gu Xiaozhu took out the peace charm she had put in her pocket before leaving.
The peace and blessings emanated a slight warmth. Gu Xiaozhu's eyes were blurry with tears, but at this moment, she revealed a relieved smile.
She clutched the lucky charm in her hand, smiled at her mother, and said, "Don't worry about me, Mom."
"They are all protecting me."
"Yes, yes! Officer, this is it!"
"That guy looks terrifying! He's stabbing people with a knife!"
As the sirens grew louder, the man began to panic. Seeing that he couldn't pull the knife out no matter what, he simply gave up and turned to run in another direction.
But before she could run a few steps, a streak of light flew out from the canvas bag that Gu Xiaozhu was carrying and mercilessly pierced the man's thigh!
"Aaaaaah!"
The man screamed and collapsed onto the snow. He clutched his bleeding thigh, writhing in agony.
But that dagger didn't seem to be enough; it was itching to strike again, as if it wanted to give the man another blow.
"Crack—!"
A cracking sound rang out, and Gu Xiaozhu looked up in surprise. She saw the sun peeking out from behind layers of clouds, its warm rays shining on the earth.
At the same time, the array formed by the bone fan finally gave way and shattered. Perhaps the laws of nature had detected something, for [He] immediately reclaimed these items that should not have been there in the first place: daggers, bone fans, copper coins, pills…
One by one, these items disappeared. In the end, the only thing left was a red amulet in my hand that had lost its warmth and become an ordinary object.
A crowd surged forward, and police rushed in, pinning the man, who was still trying to escape, to the ground. The siren of an ambulance blared, and paramedics quickly placed Gu's mother on a stretcher and loaded her into the ambulance.
Gu Xiaozhu naturally went along. When they arrived at the hospital, Gu's mother was wheeled into the emergency room, while she waited anxiously outside.
After an unknown amount of time, the door to the emergency room finally opened, and the doctor came out.
He looked at Gu Xiaozhu and smiled: "The patient has been saved."
Gu Xiaozhu stared blankly at this scene for a long time. Then, the last tear slid down her cheek, and she smiled.
It was like breaking through the gloom and touching the dawn. Sunlight shone into her eyes, and that smile was so relaxed, allowing her to completely let go of the heavy burden she carried.
The ending changed.
… …
As winter fades and spring arrives, the snow on the ground gradually melts away with the warming weather. The warm spring sun hangs in the sky, its rays bathing the entire earth.
On the branches, new buds are hanging, signifying the revival of all things and a new beginning for everything.
The doctors who treated her were astonished when her mother was rescued that day. Given the severity of her injuries, the chances of survival were extremely slim, but during the rescue, they were surprised to discover that some force seemed to be constantly maintaining her life, keeping her on the verge of death and enabling her to persevere.
In the end, they successfully resuscitated Gu's mother. The doctors attributed this miraculous event to a mother's deep attachment to her daughter, which led her to cling to life.
After learning that her mother was out of danger, she went to the police station to give a statement, but she didn't even glance at the man, the man she once called her father.
That scumbag will face endless imprisonment.
The pen in her hand fell onto the paper, writing line after line of words. She sat by the hospital bed, her eyes lowered as she wrote intently, while her mother watched her with a smile, her eyes full of love.
With the final period, this novel finally came to an end.
The moment she finished it, she had a vague feeling.
The novel's completion signifies the complete perfection of this world. Once it becomes a complete world, it can stand alone, and the characters within it will no longer act according to its will.
—They are free.
"Our destiny has already been set, and the end of our destiny is also the beginning of a new life."
In the city of Dayan, the words that Zhu Songyun had said at the inn came to mind.
"So... that's what that sentence meant," she murmured, then chuckled softly.
He closed the notebook and placed it on the bedside table next to the hospital bed.
It was already noon. She looked at her mother on the hospital bed and said softly, "Mom, are you hungry? If you are, I can go buy some food."
Gu's mother blinked and said, "I want to eat spicy duck neck."
Gu Xiaozhu: "..."
She looked helpless: "Your injury hasn't fully healed yet, and the doctor advised you to only eat bland food."
Gu's mother also looked sad: "I've been eating bland food for months, and my mouth is so bland it's almost like a bird's nest."
Gu Xiaozhu rubbed her forehead.
Since her mother regained consciousness, especially after she told her that the man would spend the rest of his life in prison, her mental state has improved. She even laughs out loud sometimes, and her words are much more playful than before, as if she has returned to her youth.
But this is also a good thing.
She stood up and said, "You stay here and rest, okay? I'm going to buy you some food."
Mrs. Gu nodded, a smile on her face: "Of course, of course."
Gu Xiaozhu went out, entered the elevator and went downstairs, intending to buy food for her mother.
She was so preoccupied with what to buy for her mother that she didn't even notice when the keys had fallen out of her pocket.
A long, slender, fair hand reached out and picked up the key. The person looked at the key in their hand, then at the oblivious girl in front of them, and smiled.
"Hey!"
Gu Xiaozhu paused, her eyes widened, and she slowly turned around.
Behind them, a young man dressed in a bright red ancient costume stood, his long black hair tied up high. He held up the keys in his hand, his face beaming with a bright smile.
Just like when they first met.
"You've lost your keys?"
He stepped forward, took the stunned girl's hand, and placed the key in her palm.
Jiang Zhihe looked at her with a gentle smile on his face.
"I kept my promise and came to find you."
We will meet again in the spring when everything is rejuvenated.
From then on—
The world is vibrant, and the gloom has vanished.
The End.
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Author's Note: It's finished! Thank you all for your continued support! There will also be extra chapters coming soon, so please stay tuned!
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