Ruan Chen felt a bit cold, so he put his hands in his pockets to warm them, staring at the spiraling staircase in front of him that seemed to have no end in sight.
She felt her claustrophobia was about to flare up again. Ruan Chen bit her tongue, a sweet, metallic taste rising in her mouth. She restrained herself from falling headfirst into the water and gradually calmed herself down.
She hesitated for half a minute between going down and not going down, then slowly went down.
Since we're already here...
To reiterate, her life is already in such a mess, what difference would it make if it gets any worse?
Although Fu Jianzhi said that the Crescent Bay training base could give her everything she wanted, Ruan Chen thought that the base couldn't help her kill people; if she had the chance, she would still have to do those things herself.
Ruan Chen knew she was a genius, but in the years before... she was controlled and didn't know how to break free.
Later... as time went on, I guess I got used to it.
Before she knew it, Ruan Chen had reached the bottom of the stairs. In fact, it wasn't as long as she had imagined; it was just that the angle at the turn of the stairs created the illusion that it was endless.
Ruan Chen stepped onto the ground at the bottom of the step. In that instant, she felt a slight dizziness, heard a cacophony of sounds, and saw a blurry spot of light flash before her eyes.
Before me stood an old ancestral hall.
The roof was made of bluish-gray bricks and tiles, and wind chimes made of broken tiles hung under the eaves. Ruan Chen had never seen this style before, so he couldn't help but take a second look. The patterns on the broken tiles were also very unique.
The air was filled with the dampness and earthy smell characteristic of an approaching storm. A sudden gust of wind blew, and the wind chimes on the broken tiles jingled.
The presence of a shrine in the basement is already eerie, let alone the wind blowing and the sound of wind chimes.
Ruan Chen seemed oblivious to this. She stood somewhat bewildered at the entrance of the ancestral hall, hesitating about where to go and unable to remember where she came from.
Surprisingly, she didn't panic.
She looked around and saw that the surroundings seemed to be a wilderness, but there were also scattered buildings with similar blue bricks and gray tiles. However, when she tried to take a closer look, all that remained was an endless desolation.
Ruan Chen circled the ancestral hall but couldn't find any useful clues. There was nowhere else to go, and with the wind getting stronger, she decided to go into the ancestral hall to take shelter.
As Ruan Chen turned the corner, the wind suddenly picked up again. She instinctively raised her hand to shield her face and jogged into the ancestral hall.
As soon as they entered the ancestral hall, the strong wind stopped abruptly. Ruan Chen felt a burning pain on the back of his hand. Looking down, he saw that the exposed skin of the arm that had been shielding him from the wind was covered with small, bloody cuts.
A faint scent of sandalwood filled the ancestral hall. Rows of memorial tablets were placed on the offering table. Without thinking, Ruan Chen leaned forward to get a better look; she needed to figure out where she was.
"The spirit tablet of our ancestor Fu..."
She glanced at it; it was densely packed with "Fu..."
It seems I've mistakenly entered the Fu family's ancestral hall, but why am I here?
Also, the surname "Fu" is very familiar. It seems that there is someone who is very important to me who also has the surname Fu, but who is he?
Ruan Chen subconsciously tried to recall where she was going, but she couldn't remember anything. Was she lost? Where was she supposed to go? How did she get out of there?
The wind was still blowing outside, and it must have been pouring rain. Ruan Chen decided to stop thinking about it and wandered aimlessly around the ancestral hall.
She felt unusually relaxed.
She wandered through the empty conference room, made herself a cup of tea, and then explored the side rooms where she could rest.
She walked around the offering table and went inside, but suddenly stopped in front of a half-open door.
There was a rustling sound inside, like some small animal—but the sound was too faint to be made by a person.
Ruan Chen thought that it would be nice to pick up a kitten or puppy and keep it by her side. She felt like she was a person with no attachments, and she wanted to experience what it felt like to be tied to another life.
She raised her hand and gently pushed open the slightly ajar door, afraid of startling the little one inside.
A little boy with tear-streaked face was reflected in her eyes.
She saw a somewhat weary version of herself reflected in the little boy's eyes.
"Hey, you... why are you here all alone?" Ruan Chen crouched down, making herself level with the little boy, or even slightly lower, and looked up at him. "Why are you crying?"
She took a protein bar out of her pocket, opened it, and handed it to her, saying, "It's delicious, strawberry flavored."
The little boy sobbed as he reached out to take it. He wasn't shy, or perhaps he was starving. He practically snatched the protein bar from Ruan Chen's hand and wolfed it down, dropping the packaging on the ground.
Ruan Chen picked up the packaging bag, sat down next to the little boy, and planned to ask him where it came from after he finished eating.
During the wait, Ruan Chen casually flipped through the packaging bag in her hand.
Her gaze suddenly froze as she saw five small characters printed in the corner of the packaging bag.
"Exclusively for Crescent Bay"
It was as if a lightning bolt had struck her mind, and the memories she had inexplicably lost earlier surged back in an instant.
She escaped from the Ruan family, was humiliated in Meicheng, got lost and came to Crescent Bay, where she met a man named Fu Jianzhi.
He said he would get what he wanted if he stayed, so he joined Crescent Bay and participated in the trial. He should be in... the basement that doesn't exist in the second level of the rules.
What's the story behind that ancestral hall?
Who exactly is this little boy next to me?
She heard her own voice trembling as she asked, "What's your name?"
After finishing the protein bar, the little boy was much calmer. He licked the crumbs off his hands and replied in a voice somewhere between a child's and a voice about to change, "My name is Fu Chengrong, but you can also call me Fu Jianzhi. I prefer the second name."
Fu Jianzhi.
Upon hearing this name, Ruan Chen felt a strange sense of peace, even in the bizarre and inexplicable environment. She asked, "Why do you like the second name?"
“This is a name given to me by my older sister whom I like very much,” Fu Chengrong—no, Fu Jianzhi, there was a hint of melancholy in the child’s eyes. “But I haven’t dreamed about her in a long time. The last time I dreamed about my sister, she said she was going to do something important.”
Ruan Chen didn't take it seriously. Children always imagine friends for themselves, and Ruan Chen did the same when she was a child.
"But that older sister looks a bit like you, though she's a little younger than you." The child didn't seem to know how to use the word "young."
"Jianzhi, do you know where we are right now?"
The miniature version of Fu Jianzhi said matter-of-factly, "This is our Fu family's residence. This is our Fu family ancestral hall. Sister, who are you, and why are you here?"
"Isn't this the basement of Crescent Bay?"
Fu Jianzhi looked puzzled and reached out her small hand to touch Ruan Chen's forehead. "Sister, are you sick?"
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