Return to before death

“But even if she comes back to life, the two of you might not end up together.” Yan Ran wasn’t sure what she was thinking either; she blurted it out almost as if she didn’t want Sheng Xuanling to reunite with his first love at all.

Sheng Xuanling remained silent...

After a long silence, he finally spoke with a frown: "I just hope she survives. Being together isn't important. This is what I owe her."

His voice was very low at the end, and Yan Ran couldn't hear it clearly, but just by looking at the man's expression, she could clearly see that it was a very sincere sense of guilt, and that he really thought so.

Yan Ran had no reason to refuse.

After a brief conversation, the two entered the interior of the small white building.

The scene inside the building was much as Yan Ran had guessed; it was an old residential building that had been uninhabited for a long time, with a thin layer of dust in the corridors.

Sheng Xuanling led the way up to the second floor before opening a security door on the right.

It's not very big inside, just one bedroom and one living room, about forty square meters by my estimate. The furnishings are old but warm, full of life, as if a happy family once lived there.

Yan Ran vaguely sensed that what she was seeing now was probably very important to Sheng Xuanling.

His face held a faint trace of nostalgia and sadness, but even more so, hatred—a deep-seated hatred.

"Just stay here, wait a moment, I'll go get something." Sheng Xuanling gestured for Yan Ran to sit on the sofa, took out a talisman from his chest pocket and handed it to her, then went into the innermost room.

Soon, he came out carrying a blood-stained crimson bandage and a gray-blue notebook with a yellowed cover.

"Is there anything I need to bring?" Yan Ran asked.

Sheng Xuanling shook her head.

"No need, she was receiving treatment at Zong's Hospital at that time."

"You can't travel through time, right?"

"It should be that there is no one else but you, and the amulet only recognizes you as its master."

The two did not speak again.

Sheng Xuanling saw Yan Ran at his most disheveled, and Yan Ran was no exception. She sensitively noticed that the man seemed to have taken off his mask, and many soft or vulnerable emotions were showing on his face.

She could only lower her head, clutching the bandaged notebook and amulet, and softly chant, "All things arise from causes and conditions."

A blinding white light burst forth from the amulet, and Yan Ran felt her body lighten. As the scene slowly appeared before her eyes, she suddenly plummeted to the ground.

This was the fourth time already, and she was used to it. She simply adjusted her posture slightly and stood on the porcelain white brick floor.

There was a door in front of her, which she assumed was the woman's room, so Yan Ran knocked on the door.

There was complete silence inside.

“I am…” Yan Ran hesitated for a moment before saying, “Sheng Xuanling’s friend. He asked me to come and visit.”

A weak female voice came from inside the door.

"come in."

Yan Ran pushed open the door, and inside was an ordinary hospital room. A pale-faced woman lay on the pure white bed, the blanket covering her up to her collarbone, only revealing a bit of her shoulder covered by a hospital gown.

Yan Ran looked at the frail woman and hesitated before saying, "Sheng Xuanling asked me to come and see you."

The woman's face showed obvious surprise and a hint of relief, and her eyes were full of love.

“He sent him. That’s great. I didn’t expect him to remember me.”

Yan Ran looked at the undisguised wounds on her body, her eyes flashing with anger. Just looking at those wounds, one could imagine the kind of abuse the woman had suffered. Her eyes were bruised, her lips were swollen, and her neck was covered with wounds.

Faced with such a woman, she unconsciously softened her tone.

"Yes, he asked me to tell you that he loves you."

The woman was stunned.

Yan Ran had expected to see expressions of anger, sadness, or emotion, but she never imagined that the woman's face would show disbelief. It was as if Yan Ran had told a very funny joke, and the smile on her face was full of sarcasm.

"Impossible." She shook her head with a smile.

Just as Yan Ran was about to continue persuading him, she heard the faint footsteps of a group of people coming from the corridor.

"Quick, hide! Hurry!"

The woman spoke warily, and Yan Ran looked around before having no choice but to hide under the bed.

Just before going in, Yan Ran turned back. The woman's face was full of despair and pleading. She said, "The church at the intersection of Celine Road and Fourth Avenue, basement level. Remember, you must remember this address."

Yan Ran nodded.

The footsteps outside the door stopped.

Yan Ran didn't dare to breathe loudly, quietly listening as the door was pushed open and a group of people swaggered in. Through the gap under the bed, she could see that there were seven people.

"Where's the CD?"

The man's voice was cold, authoritarian, and somewhat faintly familiar.

Yan Ran was puzzled, when she heard the woman say in a similarly indifferent voice, "I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, Sheng Xuanhao, you're dreaming."

what!

When Yan Ran heard this name, she vaguely sensed something was wrong; this was definitely not something Sheng Xuanling had told her.

The man lunged forward, and she heard the sounds of fists colliding with flesh and a woman's dying sobs.

"What else can you do besides violence, you useless thing, ha ha ha..." the woman laughed wildly.

Sheng Xuanhao became agitated. He stood in front of the bed and cursed angrily: "You bitch! You stinking woman! You drove my mother to her death. I haven't killed you yet, which is already showing you mercy. If you know what's good for you, you'd better tell me the whereabouts of the CD quickly, and I'll let you die a quick death."

"Cough cough." The woman coughed violently.

Yan Ran hid under the bed, her heart filled with torment. She had realized that this was all a conspiracy, and that this woman was probably not deeply loved by Sheng Xuanling at all.

Or perhaps she was simply being used willingly because she loved Sheng Xuanling.

"I drove your mother to her death? What a joke you're talking about! Cough cough, I only seduced your father and made you a cuckold, didn't I? As for your mother, she couldn't stand her father and son sharing a woman, so what does her suicide have to do with me!" the woman hysterically mocked in a hoarse voice.

Then there was a sound of things being overturned, and the hospital bed suddenly began to shake violently.

The woman's words came in fits and starts.

"Your mother... no one called her a slut when she drove the eldest son's mother to her death. I'm just... just..."

It slowly turned into a strange, guttural sound.

Sheng Xuanhao roared angrily.

"So you were sent here by Sheng Xuanling? You bitch, even if you've done all that, he's just using you."

The woman just laughed intermittently.

Until it turned into a suffocating sound like an asthma attack.

Yan Ran was then jolted awake from the shocking secret she had just heard. She could tell that the woman was probably being choked and was having difficulty breathing.

Three minutes have passed.

She actually only had one minute left, and Yan Ran did nothing; she was unable to accomplish anything.

The woman let out a bloodcurdling scream, as if she were dying.

Yan Ran suddenly rolled out from under the bed and kicked Sheng Xuanhao hard. Just as the man screamed in pain, she quickly stepped in front of the woman and pressed the call button to summon a nurse.