After regaining her memories, Ruan Chen initially thought that Crescent Bay was behind this, having built a structure in the basement.
This child was probably also raised in Crescent Bay, but I don't know why he was also named Fu Jianzhi. His eyebrows and eyes do look quite similar to the real Fu Jianzhi.
But now this child says... this is the Fu family's residence?
Her hands trembled slightly as she pulled the child up and stumbled towards the exit of the ancestral hall. The child was still asking, "Sister, who are you? How did you get into our Fu family ancestral hall? Are you a guest of the elders?"
Ruan Chen was completely flustered.
She pulled the child out of the ancestral hall and stood under the eaves.
Ruan Chen stepped out of the ancestral hall first. She could clearly see that the surrounding wilderness was still hazy. But as Fu Jianzhi followed closely behind and stood beside her, the scenery around her suddenly became clear!
It was indeed a building with blue bricks and gray tiles, arranged in a staggered manner around the ancestral hall. Ruan Chen could even see shadowy figures moving around inside.
She subconsciously let go of Fu Jianzhi's hand and walked quickly toward the main building at the front. But as soon as she was a few steps away from Fu Jianzhi, the buildings suddenly disappeared in front of her as if by magic, leaving only emptiness.
“Look…”
Ruan Chen turned around and her hand was taken by a soft little hand. The young version of Fu Jianzhi seemed not to sense anything unusual. "Sister, this is my home. Isn't it beautiful?"
Ruan Chen saw those haunted houses reappear!
She suddenly had a splitting headache. What was going on? Where was she?
She tried to lead Fu Jianzhi forward, but the child was frightened and refused to go any further. "If the elders find out I snuck out, I'll be punished, but my brother and I both made a mistake, so why should I be the only one punished?"
He let go of Ruan Chen's hand, turned around and ran towards the ancestral hall, looking genuinely frightened.
Ruan Chen reached out to grab Fu Jianzhi, but the sharp, cutting wind suddenly rose again, blocking the two of them. Ruan Chen saw a bloody cut on her hand and instinctively withdrew her hand.
The child ran away right before her eyes.
As he disappeared into the distance, an endless black hole appeared above the scenery in front of Ruan Chen, sucking in all the collapsing "Fu family mansions," and even swallowing the running figure of the child.
Ruan Chen's consciousness began to waver again, but this time she steadied herself and pinched her left wrist so hard that it turned blue and even bled.
She was so dizzy that she could barely stand, and she half-knelt on the ground. Her stomach was churning. After the dizziness subsided, Ruan Chen struggled to stand up and saw the newly appeared scenery around her.
Just like before, it was a wilderness, with nothing but the building in front of it.
This looks like... a school?
Jingzhou No.1 High School
She knew about this school. After being taken back to Jingzhou by the Ruan family, she really wanted to study here, but she was beaten by Ruan Luo and hospitalized before the high school entrance exam, and only managed to complete two exams.
The Ruan family wouldn't pay a high school selection fee for her, so Ruan Chen had to contact the worst high school in Jingzhou herself, where she spent her three years of high school.
Standing under the brightly lit sign of Jin Yi Middle School, she first sorted out her thoughts to make sure she hadn't lost her memory this time, and then walked into the school.
Could it be that everything happening here is really, as the rules on the second floor say, a technical malfunction that projected an illusion that shouldn't exist in the so-called "basement."
But... Ruan Chen raised her hand, and the sandalwood scent from the Fu family ancestral hall still lingered on her fingertips, along with the little boy who looked exactly like Fu Jianzhi. Was this really just an illusion?
She walked into the No. 1 Middle School. It should have been the afternoon dismissal time. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the tall buildings and flowed down through the glass windows, spreading a golden yellow across the playground.
As Ruan Chen looked at the scenery, those youthful fantasies and unattainable desires burst forth from the depths of her memories like a madman. She felt a surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm her, but she couldn't quite distinguish whether those emotions were hatred, regret, or sorrow.
She should have finished her studies here, instead of going to a place like the Third High School and being bullied by thugs hired by Ruan Yunhan every day.
Ruan Chen didn't pay attention to her direction and wandered around the campus for a while before finally entering the laboratory building.
She had always admired the researchers who wore white coats and worked busily in the laboratory. When she was a child, she would fantasize about becoming one of them. This fantasy reached its peak after the Ruan family sent people to Meicheng to pick her up.
But it was quickly torn to shreds by the bloody reality.
At just twelve years old, the education she received daily in the Nguyen family was how to become a virtuous wife and loving mother—and not only her, but also her younger sister, Nguyen Ngoc Nghi. At first, she wanted to please Nguyen Chinh Duc, so she studied very hard, but she soon couldn't stand it anymore.
When Ruan Zhengde discovered that she had developed rebellious thoughts, he did not beat or punish her. Instead, he called her over and told twelve-year-old Ruan Chen that with the Ruan family's power, it would be easy to kill a woman in the slums of Meicheng.
Ruan Chen understood that he was threatening her with his own mother's life.
She also understood why, when the Ruan family came to take her away, her mother, who usually had a bad attitude towards her, frantically protected her and begged them not to take her to that cannibalistic place. Ruan Chen thought to herself, "That's the Ruan family, the richest family in the world. How could it be a cannibalistic place?"
But Cong Rao couldn't resist the bodyguards from the Ruan family. They threw down a check and took Ruan Chen away. For the next ten years or so, she never had a moment of freedom.
It's nice to have a chance to see the lab here now.
Ruan Chen wandered around floor by floor, but didn't encounter a single person until she heard the sound of glassware clattering on the third floor.
She walked toward the laboratory from which the sound came, wondering if she was going to run into Fu Jianzhi, who was in high school, here.
From a distance, through the glass window, Ruan Chen saw a figure in the laboratory. The person was wearing a large school uniform and standing in front of an instrument, intently recording the data.
Is it a girl based on her back view?
Ruan Chen felt that the face looked somewhat familiar.
The girl seemed to sense the gaze from behind, turned around, still holding her notebook in her arms.
A moon-white pendant hung around her neck, reflecting a cold light that accentuated the girl's aura of unapproachability.
The moment Ruan Chen saw that face clearly, she covered her mouth, took two steps back, and screamed.
This face... it's me from ten years ago!
The girl saw her too, but she wasn't alarmed. She calmly looked at herself ten years later, put down her notebook, and walked out of the laboratory.
She gazed silently at herself ten years in the future, her eyes filled with complex emotions, as if pity, sympathy, or perhaps anger.
She patiently waited for her future self from ten years in the future to calm down before speaking, her voice clear and cold, "Let me introduce myself. I am Ruan Chen from another timeline."
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