Chapter 77 The Mastermind
As Lu Ran had expected, An Yinyou was admitted to the ICU and was currently unconscious. Although he was also admitted to the hospital, he only suffered minor injuries.
However, after the initial frenzy of excitement, Lu Ran felt a rare sense of bewilderment, helplessness, and even...
panic.
But……
Why do I feel lost?
And why do you feel helpless?
Even panic?
It's just An Eun-woo.
What is the source of this panic?
Lu Ran truly didn't understand, but this complex feeling made him restless and uneasy. He had never been the type to hesitate or be indecisive; once he did something, he did it. Why was this feeling haunting him?
He really didn't understand. He stared at the closed door for a long time, and after confirming that the person wouldn't come, he lay down on the bed in disappointment. Well, I'll be fine after lying down for a while.
Um.
You'll feel better after lying down for a while.
He lay there all night, but he didn't sleep well. He tossed and turned, as if he was having nightmares, one after another, his dreams fragmented. When he woke up, he couldn't remember what he had dreamt about, only a nameless fear and trepidation.
Fear? Cowardice?
This was another emotion he had never experienced before.
Has the condition worsened again?
Lu Ran was secretly guessing, but before he could figure it out, Pei Ci arrived.
Pei Ci came to visit him?!
Damn it, it's all those nightmares' fault for keeping him so distracted that he didn't have time to clean himself up. He was so careless. He was secretly furious, but his face remained stiff, unsure of what expression to make.
"You were in a car accident." Pei Ci was the first to speak.
Lu Ran then dared to raise his eyes. A Ci was dressed very simply today, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms, which made her look even more vibrant. He was momentarily stunned, but quickly regained his composure and hurriedly replied, "Mmm... mmm."
Pei Ci placed the flowers on the table beside her. She kept a three-step distance from Lu Ran, looking at him expressionlessly. After a while, a hint of inquiry appeared in her expression. "Aren't you scared?"
Fear?
Lu Ran's mind went blank for a moment, overwhelmed by a strange sense of bewilderment and helplessness. He was speechless for a moment, and it took him a while to come to his senses, "...Huh?"
"You were in a car accident before, weren't you?"
Lu Ran blinked.
“There will always be some psychological trauma after a car accident.” Pei Ci lowered her eyelids and handed Lu Ran an apple from the table. “You should get some rest.”
So, is that feeling of helplessness and panic because you were in a car accident?
After Pei Ci left, Lu Ran seemed to be deep in thought.
But if it's a psychological trauma, why...?
He didn't even know when he had been in a car accident.
This was clearly just a trivial matter.
Even after finding the answer to his panic, Lu Ran's fear did not dissipate. He even began to have frequent nightmares, in which there was light, blood, his own face contorted in a ferocious manner, his own face pale, and even his own fragmented form.
This nightmare keeps spreading...
It is devouring him.
Lu Ran gradually realized that something was wrong.
"doctor!"
"doctor!!"
"I need to see a doctor!!!"
For the first time, Lu Ran was so excited and eager to get treatment for his illness.
"Okay, tell me, what's going on?" The doctor in the white coat looked gently at the young master in front of him.
This young master had clearly suffered from illness for more than a month; his handsome face was even thinner, and his eyes were slightly sunken, giving him a uniquely gaunt appearance.
"I always have nightmares."
"Nightmare?"
"Yes."
"What nightmare?"
“Many nightmares.” Lu Ran pressed his palm to his face, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. “I dreamt that I was hitting someone.”
Why did you hit him?
"I don't know." Lu Ran rubbed his forehead. "But I hate him so much, I hate him so much that I wish I were dead. But even though I hate him so much, I can't see his face clearly."
"Then what."
"Dead."
"Dead?" The doctor paused. "How did he die?"
“Various ways to die.” Lu Ran lowered his eyes, and as he spoke, a primal joy even crept onto his lips. “Diving into the water, taking pills, smashing your head against a wall—these are all methods of suicide. I just stood there silently watching, and I felt a sense of joy. But slowly…”
Lu Ran's face gradually turned pale. "I'm starting to panic."
"I feel immense pain over her death, especially the moment she jumped from the building; I felt—"
Lu Ran suddenly clutched his chest, his face covered in a fine layer of sweat. Even the memory itself caused him excruciating pain. He struggled to speak, "I...I feel like I..."
"It feels like I've lost the whole world."
The doctor frowned. "Can you see his face clearly?"
"who is he?"
Lu Ran's eyes widened in surprise, and after a five-minute silence, he shook his head.
"I don't know who he is."
“Okay.” The doctor, who was sitting and taking notes, stopped writing. “Young Master Lu, your most urgent task now is to figure out who she is.”
"Perhaps once you know who she is, your feelings of helplessness and fear will be answered."
"But why am I having these nightmares?" Lu Ran frowned. "Am I sick?"
"I don't know for sure yet," the doctor said with a smile. "Medically, your condition is defined as a mental disorder, but perhaps it's something that happened to you in the past, something you've forgotten but are now remembering. Who knows? Maybe our world is just restarting itself."
"It seems you're quite ill too." Lu Ran looked at his head of silver-white hair, as white as frost.
The doctor smiled without saying a word.
Even after leaving the psychologist's office, Lu Ran was still having nightmares. However, he agreed with one thing the doctor said: he really should think carefully about who that person was.
Why did his initial aversion turn into fear?
Unfortunately, he was never able to find a solution.
Unable to find a solution or simply wait around, Lu Ran tried to numb himself by doing something. He liked to secretly drive to the vicinity of A Ci's house. Even though he couldn't get in or see A Ci, just looking at her made him feel a little more at ease.
However, gradually, even this small sense of reassurance disappeared.
After An Yinyou fell into a coma, Pei Ci and Jing Lin's relationship improved again.
"Oh dear, Brother Lu, calm down." Jing Lin smiled, trying to soothe Lu Ran, who had rushed at him with a dark expression, as if he wanted to kill him. "I...I absolutely didn't mean to seduce your sister-in-law!!"
"My sister-in-law needed to talk to me, so I had no choice. I couldn't just refuse her, or she would think you instructed her to do it and then she would hate you."
"Don't worry, I absolutely have no improper thoughts about my sister-in-law."
"Don't you know me?"
It took Jing Lin several explanations for Lu Ran to barely suppress his anger. It wasn't that he believed Jing Lin's words, but he still wanted to know more about Pei Ci.
"What is it?" he asked coldly. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't asked him for help.
"Well..." Jinglin smiled, "Of course I could tell Brother Lu, but my wife said she wouldn't tell you, so I..."
Jinglin looked very troubled.
Lu Ran's expression changed drastically.
He finally understood where his panic came from.
With this in mind, he hurriedly arrived at the Pei residence. It was a quiet night, and the vast Pei residence, nestled in the darkness, exuded a retro and noble air.
Lu Ran stood at the entrance for a while. Although there weren't many security guards at the entrance, he gave up on rushing in and instead found a secluded corner before climbing over the wall to enter.
Ah, porcelain, ah, porcelain, ah, porcelain, ah, porcelain, ah, porcelain...
He anxiously called out Pei Ci's name in his heart. If those nightmares foretold that he would lose A-Ci, he wouldn't allow it, he absolutely wouldn't allow it, he absolutely couldn't!!!
Thinking this, he quickly ran towards Pei Ci's room. Whatever the reason, he had to explain things clearly to Pei Ci!
Lu Ran quickly arrived at the door. He took a deep breath and was about to open the door when it suddenly opened from the inside.
"Ah..."
Lu Ran's expression suddenly changed drastically.
He saw Ye Qingyu in Pei Ci's room.
*
"Did anyone come over last night?" Pei Ci asked as she got out of bed.
This happened two months after Lu Ran crashed into An Yin You's car. A lot had happened in those two months, but for Pei Ci, the most important thing was to confirm the identity of the person behind the scenes.
In fact, things went incredibly smoothly when we were looking for the person behind it all.
She first identified the family of the person behind the scenes through An Eun-woo.
Then they asked Zhou Jiyue to treat Ye Zhaoxue. The reason for asking Zhou Jiyue was that Zhou Jiyue had told her he liked her before the reboot. Zhou Jiyue did indeed find out what illness Ye Zhaoxue had and was able to concoct an antidote.
Finding her identity wasn't enough; they also needed to track her down. That's when the Jing family, who owned the world's largest media network, came into the picture. This led to Jing Lin being brought into the picture. Jing Lin happened to like her too, so he could entrust the task to her without worry.
It's going too smoothly, everything is going too smoothly, unbelievably smoothly.
She was missing three key elements to find someone, and then, coincidentally, three people who liked her appeared.
And something happens that, whether by coincidence or not, these three people happen to be the three male supporting characters in the novel, belonging to the F4 group, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them the second male leads.
Is it really reasonable that all three male supporting characters fell in love with her?
Pei Ci had even asked the system about this. The system also said it didn't know. However, the system reassured her:
As long as the male and female leads love each other, that's enough.
Pei Ci was taken aback.
She suddenly thought of something—
Lu Ran also likes her.
She felt inexplicably absurd.
However, her intuition told her that she shouldn't give up this time. So she continued her investigation.
The medicine has now been successfully produced.
They were just waiting for Ye Zhaoxue to take the medicine and recover before revealing the person's name.
See if this person matches the clues given by An Yinyou and Jing Lin.
“No, Miss,” Ye Qingyu said.
"Oh." Pei Ci didn't pay much attention. The most important thing today was to take Ye Zhaoxue to take her medicine. So after washing up and eating, Pei Ci took the initiative to suggest that Ye Zhaoxue take her somewhere.
Ye Zhaoxue is still trapped in Ye Qingyu's shell, thinking like Ye Qingyu. So she was brought out quite smoothly.
Zhou Jiyue was waiting in the private room.
He received a message from Pei Ci a month ago, instructing him to treat someone and observe if there was anything unusual about the person. His superb medical skills did indeed uncover something strange.
This disease is more like what the Miao people call "Gu," a kind of poison that, when planted in a person's body, turns them into a puppet following a predetermined pattern. And coincidentally, among the medical techniques he developed for treating intractable diseases, there is a solution for this ailment.
"Alright, let's begin." After the person arrived, Zhou Jiyue glanced at Pei Ci and said calmly.
This was Pei Ci's most nerve-wracking moment.
After a long and arduous investigation, they have finally been able to uncover the mastermind behind it all.
"Ye Zhaoxue." After Ye Qingyu's eyes gradually regained their clarity, Pei Ci suppressed her inner turmoil, took a deep breath, and asked in a dry voice:
"Ye Zhaoxue, who exactly is the one who turned you into Ye Qingyu?"
"..."
Ye Zhaoxue blinked, his mind clearer than ever before. Those long-sealed memories gradually unfolded, those gray-brown eyes, that lifeless, pale face, and the chilling feeling of being completely controlled and turned into a pawn were also awakening.
Ye Zhaoxue broke out in a cold sweat, his fingers clenched tightly. Even though he was awake, that sense of control remained. Perhaps, this was yet another move by him?
That madman.
That damn lunatic!!!
But since she wants to know...
Ye Zhaoxue closed his eyes and finally called out that person's name.
"His...his name is..."
"Zhou Songyin".
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