Chapter 73 Twin Ashes "Isn't it... time to switch back...?"
73
After the dizziness subsided, a piercing whistling sound rang in my ears.
A vast expanse of blinding white spread out before her eyes, making it almost impossible for Ning Lu to open them wide.
She strained to squint her eyes, trying to adjust to the light.
When I came to my senses, I lost my footing and felt a sudden, agonizing fall. The wind whistled in my ears, and a chill ran down my spine.
This feeling is so familiar...
A sudden chill ran through her, and when she looked up again, she found herself standing steadily in a quiet, secluded corridor.
Underfoot are clean, shiny ceramic tiles, and on either side are walls painted in alternating green and white.
This kind of decor looks like it's from modern times.
She... came back?
Looking down at herself, she saw that she was still wearing the same clothes and her hands were still covered in calluses; she was still Liu Yunying's body.
She was just lying down next to Xie Qinghe's bed.
After parting ways with Yu Lanzhou, she suddenly missed him terribly and ran all the way back to his room, only to bump into him vomiting violently by the bedside.
The bowl of medicine that he drank with his head tilted back in front of her, mixed with blood, was vomited into the spittoon without leaving a trace.
Her hair fell over her shoulders, and she could only sit up with Wei Chun's help. Her chest heaved with every breath, a sight that was alarming to behold.
In this horrifying scene, their eyes met.
The person who was pale just a moment ago, clutching their chest in pain and unable to speak, immediately broke into a satisfied and docile smile.
Her heart was so soft that she couldn't say a word, and she held his hand so tightly that she cried.
The sick person, on the other hand, was at a loss for words, both laughing and crying. He stroked her hair and gently comforted her, repeatedly promising that he would be alright and would get better.
He said, "With you crying like this, how could I bear to have anything happen to you?"
Ning Lu scolded him for being a smooth talker and greasy.
Then……
Then he was exhausted and leaned against the bed, feeling drowsy, but due to heart discomfort, he felt tightness in his chest and shortness of breath, making it difficult to fall asleep.
She started telling him about what happened when she confronted Yu Lanzhou, and then told him about the stand-up comedy routines she had accumulated over the years.
As he was talking, he fell asleep, and she... also fell asleep by the bedside.
Familiar voices came from the end of the corridor, interrupting Ning Lu's memories. She reached out and braced herself against the wall, tentatively taking a step forward.
She stepped firmly onto the floor, the coldness of the tiles rising from her feet, running down her spine, and making her scalp tingle.
Everything before my eyes is real.
Suppressing her curiosity and forcing herself to remain calm, Ning Lu followed the voices and pushed open the door.
As the sunlight streamed in, a multitude of sounds and smells suddenly filled the senses.
A large hand suddenly exerted force from behind, causing Ning Lu to stagger two steps and fall again.
Beep—
Beep beep—
beep--
The piercing alarm of the monitoring equipment, the weeping and whispering of men, women, and children.
The dry, warm air from the air conditioner, mixed with the smell of disinfectant, enveloped her. As her vision gradually cleared, she finally recognized where she was.
In the ward, on the hospital bed...
The person lying in the hospital bed...
It's her?!
Her own face, Ning Lu's face.
She broke out in a cold sweat, looked around, and quickly stepped forward.
Suddenly, an invisible wall appeared out of nowhere, separating her from everyone else in the room. No matter how hard she pounded on it or called out, she couldn't attract anyone's attention.
Standing in the room were the people who were once closest to her: her parents, sisters, friends...
So close, yet so far away.
But at this moment, all the sounds and memories fill my ears.
All the memories of Liu Yunying after her time travel flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
After falling from the overpass, her body was swept away like a feather into the dense traffic.
After their souls were swapped, Liu Yunying, who entered her body, tried her best to escape, but her physical condition was too poor, and she was unable to escape.
He crashed into the front of the car, suffered a severe blow, and nearly lost his life.
Her friends rushed to the hospital to be with her, and her parents followed suit upon hearing the news. Her condition fluctuated, sometimes better and sometimes worse.
Despite his severe injuries, he managed to maintain his condition for three months with some improvement. However, a sudden drop in temperature after the onset of winter caused his condition to deteriorate rapidly again, and he was transferred back to the ICU a couple of days ago.
Inside the room, the lights on the monitors flickered, and the situation was chaotic.
Unable to see the road ahead, Ning Lu looked back, only to find that the path she had come from had vanished.
She stood in the void, unable to see where she was, with nothing to rely on and nowhere to land.
"Are you Ning Lu?"
A familiar female voice came from behind her, and Ning Lu quickly turned around.
Standing before her was herself, dressed in a hospital gown.
...
It's a bit of a stretch to say that it was her own doing.
Ning Lu, who was originally lively and unruly, now stood straight, with a solemn expression and a low, slow voice.
Whether in terms of temperament or soul, perhaps she should be called Liu Yunying.
The other person's eyes were calm, sharp, and astute, and they had already sized up Ning Lu from head to toe with a few quick glances.
Ning Lu straightened up and calmly accepted the examination of her soul by the body she had lived through in the past.
Noticing her movement, Liu Yunying silently turned her gaze away, took half a step forward and stood beside her, the two of them looking at the chaotic scene before them.
They've occupied each other's lives for so long that they've become familiar with each other's lives, their interpersonal relationships, and even their pasts.
But when they actually stood side by side, they felt awkward because of their unfamiliarity with each other.
"It must hurt a lot."
"Thank you."
Ning Lu and Liu Yunying spoke at the same time, then fell silent at the same time.
"You speak first," Liu Yunying said coldly, directly.
"Oh? Okay."
She never dreamed that the person who had been praised for her sweetness and liveliness over the years could now utter such a cold and composed voice.
"I mean, being hit by a car must have hurt a lot. It must have been very difficult to transfer to another hospital for treatment. I'm so sorry that you had to suffer these undeserved misfortunes."
Both of them fell from great heights, but she survived, leading her to believe that Liu Yunying would also continue living her life as if nothing had happened.
So it seems that the ban on supernatural beings after the founding of the People's Republic of China was indeed true.
Mystical protection is no longer possible in the 21st century.
Shaking her head, Ning Lu told herself that now was not the time to amass jokes. She whispered, "Isn't it... time to switch back?"
Liu Yunying lowered her eyes, furrowed her brows, and stood with her hands behind her back.
After a long pause, she changed the subject in a hoarse voice: "It's nothing. I should thank you."
"Thank me?"
"Thank you for cleaning up my mess and for... for keeping my promise to Lanzhou."
"I didn't do anything."
“You’ve done a lot.”
Liu Yunying spoke with certainty, turning to look directly into Ning Lu's eyes.
A hint of warmth shone in those calm eyes, making Ning Lu feel dazed.
That look was very similar to the way Xie Qinghe looked at her.
The last vestige of green after the wildfire spread.
A few moments of tenderness amidst extreme solitude.
Ning Lu then realized that if she had Liu Yunying's memories after she traveled through time, then Liu Yunying must also have her memories from ancient times.
"I just stumbled upon it by accident."
"Perhaps it really is a matter of fate."
Liu Yunying seemed not to hear, gazing wistfully into the ward.
Ning Lu's parents sat around the bed, comforting and caring for her unconscious body, their gazes gradually softening with affection.
"What will happen to us next? Will we switch back?"
Unlike her composure, Ning Lu felt a chill run down her spine amidst her confusion and asked the same question again.
In this strange world, she drifted like a duckweed, searching for a way home.
At this moment, Ning Lu's life was right before her eyes, and a new fear arose.
Fear of unknown pain and death.
It's even possible that... I'll never see Xie Qinghe again.
That Xie Qinghe who always acts coquettish and weak in front of her, but pretends to be calm when she's really in excruciating pain...
Noticing the tremor in her voice, Liu Yunying's eyes curved slightly.
"Perhaps we don't need to."
"Perhaps we don't need to?"
Ning Lu couldn't understand.
Based on her understanding of Liu Yunying's identity as an assassin, and her current demeanor and actions, she felt that uncertain words like "perhaps" and "maybes" were completely incompatible with her.
Moreover, the swapping of souls is essentially a disorder.
Now that we've come this far, shouldn't we get back on track?
"Or rather, I have already... made my choice..."
Liu Yunying smiled wryly and looked towards the ward.
The undulating line is flattening out, and the fog spreading from the oxygen mask is gradually thinning.
Ning Lu quickly took two steps forward, but still bumped into the opaque wall.
Her life was slipping away...
What does this mean?
A chill ran through the air. Ning Lu turned and grabbed Liu Yunying's wrist, but they passed through the void.
The two of them were like two white clouds that collided, intersected, and then reunited.
"I'm sorry, Ning Lu. I took it upon myself to make this decision."
Liu Yunying's gaze fell on her brows and eyes, trying her best to appear frank and sincere: "This body... can't hold on for much longer. So, I think it's over like this."
"Wait, I don't think I understood what you meant."
"You should already know. I am an orphan. I lost both my parents when I was very young and have been wandering the world alone. All my martial arts skills have been used for petty theft, assassination and other dirty things."
"During the time I was in your body, it was the first time I felt the care of my parents and the companionship of my relatives. I realized what it feels like to be loved and to wake up to a peaceful and secure tomorrow."
"Because I am so attached to this feeling, even though it is very painful and difficult, I am reluctant to switch back to your body."
“I know that all the love and care I receive in this body is because of you, and the person they love is you. I am more like a thief, an imposter who has taken your place in warmth. But all of this is too precious, and I can’t bear to give it up. So I made a wish to God, and in exchange, if I could keep all of this, I would be willing to give up something. Even my life.”
"No, no, no, Liu Yunying, that's not right, that's not correct."
“I was a person who deserved to die, and to receive such warmth is a mercy from God.”
“I know it’s rude of me to act on my own initiative. But Ning Lu, this is the best method I can think of.”
With tears in her eyes, Liu Yunying raised her voice and gestured for her to hear what she had to say: "That day I was already in dire straits. Before me was Prince Jing killing me to silence me, and after me was Xie Qinghe and his ambush. Xie Qinghe is a heartless man. If I were just myself, I would not have been able to escape."
"Xie Qinghe is deeply in love with you. If he discovers that I am not you, he will not kill me, but he will certainly not let me go either."
"Liu Yunying".
"If you were alive, at least... at least you could help me make Lanzhou and Hongyu's lives a little better. I'm so sorry to them."
"No, this is not right."
"This is wrong!"
Tears welled up in her eyes, but Liu Yunying still tried her best to keep her voice steady.
"You're most afraid of death and pain, aren't you?"
Ning Lu was stumped by her question and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Life and death are things that can't be avoided by being afraid."
“That day, when that enormous thing ran over you, you were destined to die. And that day, when I fell off the cliff, I had no way to survive either.”
Everything we have today is the result of our own efforts.
I finally fully understood what Liu Yunying meant.
She wanted to stay inside Ning Lu's body and die in her place...
Ning Lu's lips were half open, but she couldn't speak.
"There's someone waiting for you, Ning Lu."
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