Chapter 35 The Truth "I know you also traveled from the future..."
"Luo Yin, why haven't you been answering my calls lately?"
"Luo Yin, you're so disobedient! I waited for you for so long at the auditorium entrance, and you not only didn't greet me when you saw me, but you also turned around and ran away."
"Luo Yin, stop making a scene. Apologize to me properly, and then let's go home together. Our family is waiting for us."
"..."
As Zhou Luoyin ran forward, guided by the dim yellow light of the street lamps in the alley, avoiding stepping on unknown obstacles ahead, she kept glancing behind her, her mind still replaying Zhou Luoyi's words and actions.
Zhou Luoyi and Zhou Luoyin—just hearing these two names with similar formats makes it easy to associate them with a sibling relationship.
Zhou Luoyi is Zhou Luoyin's half-brother. She has known him since she was adopted by her current mother when she was four years old.
Yes, Zhou Luoyin has been an orphan since she was a child. She was only adopted by her current mother and gradually became a member of this blended family. However, the "relatives" around her now are not actually related by blood. Therefore, the relationship between the two people represented by these two names is not as simple as it sounds.
The person who adopted Zhou Luoyin many years ago is her current mother, who is a successful female entrepreneur in the local area.
According to Zhou Luoyin, she didn't have her own children, but because she wanted to present a complete image of a businesswoman, she not only adopted her, but also quickly found a man after adopting her to consolidate her economic power, namely the Zhou family, which is Zhou Luoyi's family.
Zhou Luoyin has no memory of her biological parents. She took the director's surname and was given a name by the director in the orphanage. Her name was Chen Yin. She changed her name to Zhou Luoyin after her current mother married Zhou Luoyi's father.
And so, this family of four was officially formed.
"Cough, cough, cough..." The sudden, rapid movement in the cold winter quickly left Zhou Luoyin breathless, but thinking of the people chasing after her, she had no choice but to keep going.
Zhou Luoyi is two years older than Zhou Luoyin. Zhou Luoyin still remembers that when they were little, Zhou Luoyi was a gentle older brother who cared a lot for her, even though she was a complete stranger and a stepsister who had suddenly arrived. In addition, her stepfather also often cared about her studies. So, after about a year of living in the Zhou family, she gradually began to feel that she could also integrate into the family.
Zhou Luoyin's mother had a lukewarm attitude towards her since childhood, only telling her to "know your place and not cause trouble for the family." So, she thought it was more appropriate to call it a sponsorship relationship than a mother-daughter relationship.
In short, no matter what, before Zhou Luoyin went to high school, even if it was just an illusion, she felt that she was doing pretty well.
Not only are they well-fed and clothed, but they also have three family members who symbolically care for them on a daily basis, even if their initial motivations are all self-interest.
But it doesn't matter. For Zhou Luoyin, who has been bullied by the children in the orphanage since she was a child, this is more than enough. She is filled with gratitude and thinks that she will do her best to repay their kindness when she grows up.
The years passed peacefully, but when Zhou Luoyi entered high school, she found that things around her were getting increasingly strange.
For some reason, Zhou Luoyin always unconsciously felt that someone was "watching" her, even when no one was home.
At the same time, Zhou Luoyin increasingly failed to understand her stepbrother Zhou Luoyi's behavior.
From a young age, Zhou Luoyi had always followed her parents' arrangements and driven Zhou Luoyin to and from school.
This is understandable, since children occasionally went missing in previous years. The two children were close in age and attended the same school, which was a good fit and put the parents at ease.
To avoid drawing too much attention at school, the two rarely asked their family to drive them home, and usually walked home on their own.
This continued for more than ten years until Zhou Luoyin went to high school and her stepbrother Zhou Luoyi went to a local university.
Logically, since Zhou Luoyi went to university, Zhou Luoyin should have started going to and from school alone. After all, she is a high school student in her teens now. There are many surveillance cameras on the road now, and the way home is on main roads, so there is basically no danger. However, Zhou Luoyi disagreed. Every day after Zhou Luoyin finished her evening self-study, he would still wait for her at the gate of No. 1 High School, pick her up and take her home, and then go back to her university dormitory.
These are not the key points. After all, there are also brothers who have doted on their younger sisters since they were little, and who have picked them up and dropped them off since they were little. Zhou Luoyin has seen such cases in TV dramas before.
However, the problem arose from Zhou Luoyi's gaze, words, and actions. Zhou Luoyin felt increasingly uncomfortable, but at the time she hadn't realized exactly what was making her uncomfortable.
Much later, Zhou Luoyin realized that the source of her discomfort was the "excessive" contact.
Sometimes, when Zhou Luoyin is playing on her phone with one hand and eating snacks with the other, Zhou Luoyi will suddenly move close to her face and touch her cheek.
Sometimes Zhou Luoyi would pick up Zhou Luoyin at the school gate. If he saw Zhou Luoyin chatting with her classmates for a long time, he would question the classmates on the way back, asking who they were and whether they were good people.
Sometimes, during Zhou Luoyin's vacation, after she accidentally fell asleep while doing her homework and then suddenly woke up, Zhou Luoyi would inexplicably appear behind her, and she wouldn't know when he came in.
When Zhou Luoyin asked about these behaviors that she found uncomfortable, Zhou Luoyi would always show that ambiguous smile and say things like, "Why can't I go into my sister's room? We grew up together when we were little. Even your name was changed because of me..."
Whenever this happens, Zhou Luoyin remembers what her adoptive mother told her, "You need to know your place and not cause trouble for this family," and she no longer argues with Zhou Luoyi.
All of that aside, the key issue is that Zhou Luoyin accidentally discovered that one of the birthday gifts Zhou Luoyi had given her, a digital watch, actually had a GPS tracking function.
When Zhou Luoyi gave it to Zhou Luoyin, she only said it was an ordinary watch. And indeed, the watch looked no different from an ordinary watch, so she didn't take it seriously. However, after entering high school, there were more exams, and not every classroom had a clock, so she often needed a watch to check the time.
It's because of this GPS watch that Zhou Luoyi always seems to appear nearby, no matter where Zhou Luoyin goes.
When Zhou Luoyin learned the truth, combined with her long-term observation of Zhou Luoyi's behavior, her first thought was that she was being "monitored".
Zhou Luoyin still remembers the time she confronted Zhou Luoyi and his increasingly chilling smile, which woke her up in fear on many nights afterward.
Zhou Luoyin originally intended to treat this as just an accident. As long as Zhou Luoyi did not exhibit any more "strange" behavior, she could wipe the slate clean and pretend that nothing had happened.
However, Zhou Luoyi became increasingly brazen, even secretly checking Zhou Luoyin's phone to see if she was chatting with any boys when Zhou Luoyin wasn't home. She had no idea when Zhou Luoyi found out her phone password.
Zhou Luoyin was able to discover this because one day at school she suddenly felt unwell. Without telling any of her family members to avoid causing them unnecessary worry, she asked for leave to go home. When she opened her room, she happened to see Zhou Luoyi looking at her phone.
...
Everything is irreversible, and even the superficial facade can no longer be concealed.
As for now, Zhou Luoyi blocked her way at the entrance of the auditorium, forcing her to get into the car. Then, in the car, she made contact with Zhou Luoyi in a way that made her feel very uncomfortable. Finally, she gritted her teeth and shoved Zhou Luoyi's steering wheel into the roadside railing, managing to escape before Zhou Luoyi could react.
No matter what her adoptive mother and stepfather might think of Zhou Luoyin, she was determined to escape from this family. Everything would be alright once she graduated, and she would try her best to repay the money and favors she owed them.
"Where is the police station? Or anywhere else would be fine too..." Zhou Luoyin muttered to herself.
The biting winter wind still relentlessly whipped at people's faces. The heavy clothes and the fear in her heart made Zhou Luoyin, who was not good at running, even more breathless than before.
Zhou Luoyin's phone had just been taken by Zhou Luoyi, and she had also left the GPS-enabled watch on the road.
Whether Zhou Luoyi intentionally led her to such a remote place or not, Zhou Luoyin walked and walked. There were quiet alleys everywhere, and because the school's New Year's Eve party was going on late, almost all the houses were closed. She didn't know the way, so she was like a headless fly running around aimlessly.
"Luo Yin, I've finally found you! You're so fast!" Hearing someone call her name, Zhou Luo Yin instinctively wanted to keep walking forward, but found there was no way to go ahead.
"Luo Yin, it's me. What are you doing here?"
Wait, it's a girl's voice, and it sounds kind of familiar. Zhou Luoyin mustered up her courage and turned around to see Ning Yanzhao holding a cell phone flashlight.
"It's you." After confirming that it was Ning Yanzhao behind her, Zhou Luoyin's tense body finally relaxed a little, and she dared to start "breathing" properly, aside from the physical sense of breathing.
"Are you alright?" Ning Yanzhao had never seen Zhou Luoyin like this before. She wanted to pat her back and help her catch her breath.
"Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me. Is there something you need here?" Ning Yanzhao looked at Zhou Luoyin and saw that she didn't seem to be alright, but rather that she had been greatly frightened.
"I...I'm fine, but I don't know where this is, or...why you came here?"
"Oh, that's alright. If you don't know the way, just follow me. I live nearby and I know the area very well. Let's go." Ning Yanzhao extended her hand to Zhou Luoyin.
Seeing Ning Yanzhao's outstretched hands, her gentle smile, and the "light" that seemed to "descend from the sky," Zhou Luoyin hesitated to reach out and hold her hands.
"I know you also traveled from the future, so I'm sorry about An Nianyu."
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