Xiao Qiu is naturally dead.
A few hours earlier, Ruan Chen had seen the photos Su Ze had sent her—the water in the bathtub was stained deep red with blood.
But she had no interest in it whatsoever. She closed all the web pages, found an old movie, and watched it while trying to fall asleep.
Perhaps due to jet lag, Ruan Chen didn't sleep very soundly. When she woke up from her bizarre dream, it was just past five o'clock.
Ruan Chen's heart was pounding, and she was covered in cold sweat. She sat up blankly and looked out at the foggy darkness.
She dreamed of those scenes again.
Ruan Chen casually opened the refrigerator, opened a can of ice-cold sparkling water and drank it, then sat down by the easel.
She held the pen, and after a moment took down the drawing Yu Lei wanted, replaced it with new drawing paper, picked up a carbon pencil, and began to sketch the scenes in her dream.
The faces of the grinning men surrounding him in the alley; Cao Dexin's wife and children; the address of Cao Dexin's home he saw in his dream; the intricate control panels inside the warship...
When it was fully light, Ruan Chen finally stopped drawing, with sheets of paper scattered all around him.
She was convinced that these things had truly happened in some time and space.
This is definitely not a simple dream.
In dreams, there are no things beyond one's own perception, nor are there such clear faces of strangers.
However, Chi Xiao said that there are no parallel universes, nor is there such a thing as rebirth.
Ruan Chen bent down and silently gathered up the scattered drawing papers on the ground, clipped them together, and stuffed them into the innermost compartment of her suitcase.
She logged into the Prism Club, which she hadn't bothered to browse in a long time, and anonymously posted a question.
Is time truly irreversible?
After posting the question, she went offline immediately.
Lin Fengzi was waiting for her downstairs. When she saw Ruan Chen's expression, Lin Fengzi was startled.
"Didn't sleep all night? Is there a young male ghost in the hotel?"
Ruan Chen's eyes were a faint bluish-gray, her complexion was not good, and her lips were pale. She sighed wearily, "Dream too much, can Doctor Lin take a look?"
"I'll get you some calming medicine on the way to the hospital," Lin Fengzi said, opening the car door and gesturing for Ruan Chen to get in. "Have you had breakfast?"
"Eat it."
Ruan Chen only drank a bottle of sparkling water, which is definitely not enough to make a meal.
But she didn't sleep well. The sun was blazing, her brain was throbbing with pain, and her stomach was churning with nausea, so she couldn't eat anything substantial.
Lin Fengzi glanced at her expression in the rearview mirror but didn't say anything.
Near the hospital, he had the driver stop the car and pulled Ruan Chen out.
It's a restaurant.
"I really ate it."
Lin Fengzi, without even glancing at Ruan Chen, marked up the menu and asked, "Oh, what did you eat?"
"I drank a bottle of water," Ruan Chen said honestly.
Lin Fengzi looked up at her and exclaimed from the bottom of her heart, "Drinking water is good, really good."
Ruan Chen smiled, propping her head up with her hand.
"What would you like to drink? Milk, orange juice, coffee, or lemon tea?"
Without hesitation, Ruan Chen replied, "Iced Americano."
"This option is not available."
"Lemon black tea is fine too, extra iced."
"We're out of caffeine and ice, but here'll have a hot milk with a sugar cube," Lin Fengzi ordered. "I'm going to pick up Jiaojiao. You eat here and don't wander off, okay?"
Ruan Chen smiled and said, "I understand."
She did indeed have a headache and blurred vision.
After Lin Fengzi left, Ruan Chen endured the nausea rising in her stomach due to her headache and drank milk in small sips.
Strangely enough, as the warm, slightly sweet milk went down her throat, the palpitations that had been lingering in her heart gradually disappeared, and as her stomach filled up, even her headache seemed to be relieved quite a bit.
After finishing her milk, she began to deal with the sandwich Lin Fengzi had ordered for her. She barely managed to take a bite when someone sat down opposite her.
I came uninvited.
It is Ruan Qin.
Ruan Chen raised an eyebrow slightly. She noticed that Ruan Qin was actually wearing the standard military uniform of a certain organization in the United States.
"Are you really not planning to go back?" she asked, putting down her sandwich.
Ruan Qin seemed to have already let go of this matter, and smiled nonchalantly, "There's no going back. The Ruan family and I have nothing to do with each other anymore."
Ruan Chen didn't really care and cut straight to the point, "Are you here to stand up for her again? She caused the trouble on Figuland Street herself. I didn't even appear on camera. Stop trying to pin the blame on me."
“It has nothing to do with me,” Ruan Qin said calmly.
Ruan Chen suspected she had misheard.
Ruan Qin repeated, "I know about this, but it has nothing to do with me. Dad is already handling it."
Actually, if Ruan Yunhan hadn't stirred things up, Ruan Qin and Ruan Chen wouldn't have had any entanglement.
So, given that Ruan Qin's attitude was relatively friendly, Ruan Chen didn't mind chatting with him casually.
"So what were you doing following me all this way here?"
Ruan Chen knew that she and Lin Fengzi had been followed as soon as they went out.
"Let's find an opportunity to talk alone for a bit. I'm going to serve in Crescent Bay today for seven months. I can't and don't want to get involved in Yunhan and the Ruan family's affairs. I'm here for you."
Crescent Bay?
Ruan Chen's heart beat a little faster.
Jinghua University of Technology, that guy with the weird face and body said he came from there, and that's where he turned into this ghostly figure.
"Crescent Bay? Where is that? Is it far?"
Ruan Qin remained silent for a few seconds, as if he was considering his words.
"It's very far away, neither in the US nor in China."
Ruan Chen casually replied, "Why don't you just say you're not on this planet?"
Ruan Qin did not speak.
Ruan Chen: It seems like you guessed right?
But is human technology really that advanced now?
Ruan Chen looked up at the vast sky with suspicion.
The next second, Ruan Qin ruthlessly shattered her illusion, "Stop guessing. You can think of Crescent Bay as another dimension. Just like the Trial Grounds back then, it requires a special method to reach it. But the difference is that in Crescent Bay we can exist in physical form, unlike in the Trial Grounds where we are just projections of our spiritual bodies."
“The Ten Famous Swords come from Crescent Bay,” Ruan Qin continued. “They are China’s trump card and deadly weapon. You probably haven’t heard of them yet, but with your talent, you’ll come into contact with them sooner or later. When you do, you’ll discover that there’s an insurmountable gap between the technology of the Ten Famous Swords and existing human technology, just like between Crescent Bay and the human world…”
Ruan Qin suddenly sighed, looked at the bustling traffic outside, and fell silent.
"You came here for the Ten Famous Swords, didn't you?"
“Not entirely, but close enough. In short, I’m really not interested in the Ruan family, and I know you feel the same way,” Ruan Qin finished his rambling and finally told Ruan Chen his true purpose. “Yunhan is my twin sister, so I hope that in the future… you can go easy on her.”
Ruan Chen smiled faintly, "Many of the things you just told me were probably confidential, but you said them as if they were casual conversation, just for your sister who wants to squeeze every last bit of value out of you?"
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