The boys fingers are fair long and neatly trimmed with rounded nails.
Tong Yang lowered her gaze to her palm, her expression calm, as if she wasn’t surprised at all.
Tong Le and the boy both raised their heads at the same time, revealing shocked and bewildered expressions.
The boy, perhaps acting on instinct, quickly withdrew his hand as if it had been burned, mumbling, “I’m sorry…”
Tong Le stared at the boy, her expression a mix of confusion and wariness, and asked, “Sister, is this brother your friend?”
Tong Yang retracted her hand and nodded, saying, “Yes, an old friend.”
“Oh…” Tong Le nodded, half-convinced, her eyes still fixed on the boy.
“You can go play now; I want to talk to him alone.”
“Okay, then I’ll leave.”
Tong Le didn’t know the boy next to her sister and didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, so she left the resting area, turning back every few steps.
Tong Yang leaned against the chair, her gaze deep, not the first to break the silence.
The boy nervously fiddled with his fingers, glancing at Tong Yang anxiously as she remained silent.
“I’m leaving,” the boy said tentatively.
“Sit,” Tong Yang replied.
“Oh…” the boy said gloomily.
Tong Yang was contemplating something.
She had seen Tong Le’s tombstone in the parallel world, and “Tong Yang” had also mentioned that Tong Le was dead, so it shouldn’t be wrong.
Even if he was the Tong Le from the parallel world, he should only be nine years old.
Tong Yang thought the only explanation that made sense was that he was a time traveler.
The future Tong Le had entered a time travel wormhole and arrived in 2024.
The “Water Friends Gossip 007” group chat was created in 2026, meaning the group owner was actually in 2026.
The time displacement and the anchor point that fell on her seemed to explain everything.
“Tong Le,” Tong Yang suddenly called out.
The boy looked up in a daze, revealing his moist, reddened eyes beneath the brim of his hat.
It is said that a person’s appearance may change, but their eyes will always remain the same.
Tong Yang couldn’t help but sigh and said, “You are Tong Le, who grew up after I died on May 28th, right?”
Before her death, the Peking University teachers had already had high hopes for Tong Le, wanting to cultivate him as a future pillar of the country. If she had died then, he should have entered the affiliated primary school of Peking University to study mathematics and physics.
Perhaps twelve years later, they had figured out the principles of wormholes and found a way to traverse time, using the gossip group as a medium to connect three different times, setting her death as the time anchor to avoid the incident that led to her death on May 28th.
The boy stared at her without blinking, tears wetting his eyelashes, causing him to blink, and the tears fell, soaking his mask.
“Um… Sister, long time no see.”
Indeed, it had been twelve years since she last saw Tong Le.
Just like the members of the gossip group, they were all in a state of time displacement, allowing them to remember events that had occurred in two different times.
Tong Le, as the only member from 2036, had spent twelve years without Tong Yang.
Even the Tong Le who grew up in 2024, even on this timeline, wouldn’t have the same memories as him.
“You’ve grown so much,” Tong Yang laughed lightly, “You’re even older than me.”
The boy’s eyes curved into a smile as he said, “I can be your older brother now.”
Tong Yang fell silent for a moment. She had never been very empathetic and couldn’t imagine what Tong Le had experienced in those twelve years, nor could she fathom what feelings he had for appearing before her.
“What will 2036 be like?”
The boy shook his head and said, “Sister, 2024 has already changed; the future is different.”
“Yesterday you said you couldn’t tell me those things, why?”
The boy replied, “I can’t interfere with past events; otherwise, time won’t form a closed loop.”
Tong Yang frowned, “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t die, and in the future, I won’t use the group chat to traverse time. The moment you entered the group chat, our time loop had already begun, and the time I am in is 2036, so I can’t enter the loop of other times.”
The Tong Le from 2036 formed the beginning of the time loop, but he was in 2036 while Tong Yang was in 2024.
The Tong Le from 2036 and the Tong Yang from 2024 were like two different curves in the river of time, extending forward simultaneously on different horizontal lines, unable to intersect until both completed their loops, becoming two completely independent circles.
“If I interfere with your timeline, 2024 will intersect with 2036, and a closed loop will never form. You will be forever trapped in the parallel world’s pursuit and loop.”
Tong Yang pondered for a moment and said, “Because 2024 has changed, your 2036 has become an independent timeline?”
“Yes.”
“But the time displacement between me and the group members is shortening; one day we will enter 2036.”
The boy said, “Sister, when your time overlaps with the group members from 2026, the closed loop will be completed.”
Tong Yang’s expression froze slightly, “Why?”
“My timeline has already completely separated, and the only ones left in time displacement are you and them. So when your time overlaps with theirs, the time displacement will disappear, completing the closed loop.”
Tong Le opened the loop in 2036, while Tong Yang and the others passively opened the loop in another timeline. As the time flow rate difference grew larger, Tong Yang could catch up with the others and end the time displacement on this timeline.
However, the Tong Le from 2036 would only exist in another timeline.
Because the Tong Le who grew up on the 2024 timeline wouldn’t go back to the past to see Tong Yang.
“What will you do?” Tong Yang asked.
The boy looked up at the 2024 Tong Le, who was with Yang Lin not far away but occasionally glancing at them, and said, “Aren’t I right there?”
Tong Yang remained silent, “If that’s the case, why come over if you can’t interfere with 2024’s events?”
The boy’s eyes curved as he said, “I just couldn’t wait; I wanted to come see you in advance.”
Tong Yang chuckled, “Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you doing well?”
“About the same as him. Yang’s mom and Yang Lin came to the capital; they often help me.”
“That’s good.”
The boy lowered his long eyelashes and said, “Sister, can I come see you occasionally?”
“Whatever you want.”
“Then I’ll come see you often.”
“Okay.”
The Tong Le from 2036 talked a lot with her, all about some trivial topics, tacitly avoiding mentioning anything related to the parallel world.
Tong Yang found this feeling quite wonderful; she never expected that her seventeen-year-old self could converse with the twenty-one-year-old Tong Le, getting a glimpse of the grown-up Tong Le.
“Twenty-one…” Tong Yang murmured, suddenly curious, “Are you an adult now? Have you had a girlfriend?”
Tong Le’s ears turned red, “Sister, I entered the national research base for studies in college when I was still under fifteen.”
“Skipped grades?”
“Yeah.”
“Sister, you skipped grades too.”
They chatted back and forth, and Tong Yang asked about his daily life; as long as it wasn’t related to the parallel world, he spoke freely.
Around five-thirty, the others had played enough and were ready to go eat with Tong Yang.
The boy looked at the few people walking together and lowered his voice, saying, “Sister, I’m leaving first.”
He clearly didn’t want to be discovered by the others, including Tong Le. Tong Yang didn’t try to keep him and nodded in agreement.
“Who was that?” Xu Junyue looked in the direction the boy had left, surprised.
Tong Yang’s expression was indifferent, “A friend.”
“Wow! Just from the back, you can tell he’s a little handsome.”
Tong Yang shot her a glance and said, “Let’s go; it’s time to eat.”
“Mm!” Tong Le walked to her side and took her hand.
That evening, they had Chinese food and discovered that a children’s movie had recently been released, so they watched the movie before heading home.
However, after the incident at Xili Mall, Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu were always worried that something might happen along the way, remaining vigilant and not paying much attention to the movie’s content. Xu Junyue, on the other hand, was completely absorbed, occasionally laughing at the movie’s plot.
Fortunately, the movie ended without any incidents.
After the movie, they dropped Tong Le and the others off at home, and then Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu returned to the school dormitory.
As the start of school approached, Tong Yang wanted to take this time to review her major knowledge.
For several consecutive days, life returned to normal.
During this time, Officer Lin called Tong Yang to discuss the collaboration with the Meng family.
“Tong Yang, Meng Ting has completed her bone marrow transplant surgery.”
Tong Yang sat at her desk, twirling a black pen between her fingers, and asked, “How is it?”
“Very successful! The rejection rate is zero. The Meng family will cooperate with our government and other countries to thoroughly investigate the black industry chain.”
“That’s good.”
“What about the Meng Ting from the parallel world?”
Officer Lin said, “She’s physically fine, but she has some mental issues. We’re watching her twenty-four hours a day.”
“Don’t waste too much energy on her; she and Meng Xiao won’t do anything harmful to the real world. Once the parallel world knows she’s still alive, they will undoubtedly die.”
“You’re right. We plan to bring her back to the country first and install a locator on her.”
“Okay.”
Officer Lin continued, “This matter is temporarily settled. You’re starting school soon, so don’t get distracted. Just leave it to us.”
“I understand.”
After hanging up the phone, Tong Yang finished her reading, rubbed her tired eyes, and planned to relax for a while.
The dormitory was empty; Chu Shiyu had gone out to eat with her cousins.
Pulling a chair to the balcony, the sky had already darkened.
Tong Yang opened her social media app. Over the past few days, the Tong Le from 2036 had often contacted her, but they hadn’t met again.
The gossip group was still lively, chatting about the entertainment gossip from 2026.
Tong Yang generally didn’t participate in gossip, so she exited the group chat and scrolled down the message list. The group chat for Exam Room 1209 had also sent some messages, but they were just ordinary small talk, and that incident hadn’t affected them much.
Scrolling further down, she saw a message from Yan Qing sent not long ago. Tong Yang paused her fingers and clicked on it.
[Tong Yang Jie, what are you doing?]
[Why aren’t you replying to me?]
[Ahhh, I feel like I just had a nightmare.]
Tong Yang replied: [Is it possible that it was just a dream?]
Yan Qing: [You’re talking nonsense!]
Yan Qing: [I don’t believe it.]
Yan Qing’s psychological resilience was a bit better than Tong Yang had imagined. After leaving the parallel world, she hadn’t left any shadows behind and had become more patient with her parents.
However, aside from some bloody scenes, Yan Qing hadn’t actually encountered any dangerous situations. After being locked in a safe, she hadn’t entered the loop with Tong Yang like the other four, so she was unaware of the time loop’s secret.
After a few days of classes, life had returned to normal.
Learning is for making money: [Are you with Liang Xi?]
During this time, Tong Yang had asked her to inquire about Liang Xi regarding the “Yan Qing” from the parallel world. Liang Xi had only said she didn’t know much.
[I’m here; we’re having a meal together.]
Learning is for making money: [Is it convenient for a video call?]
As soon as the message was sent, Yan Qing’s video call came in.
“Tong Yang Jie!” Yan Qing waved at the camera.
“Have you finished eating?”
“Yeah, I’m resting now.”
“What about Liang Xi?”
“She’s next to me.”
Yan Qing turned the camera, and Liang Xi’s face appeared on the screen.
“Tong Laoshi.”
Tong Yang asked, “Has the Yan Qing from the parallel world contacted you during this time?”
Liang Xi lowered her eyes and shook her head, saying, “No, she hasn’t reached out to me again.”
Tong Yang nodded and asked, “How did you know her?”
“Just like I told you before, we met when we were very young.”
“Did she ever hurt you?”
Liang Xi’s expression was complicated as she shook her head, “No, she is very much like Yan Qing; she never hurt me…”
Yan Qing’s face was filled with resistance as she said, “I’m nothing like her; their whole family is twisted.”
“Be careful; if you notice anything wrong, report it immediately. It’s best to stay in crowded places. If ‘Yan Qing’ appears again, tell me right away.”
“We know.”
“Tong Laoshi, I understand.”
After being pestered by Yan Qing for over ten minutes, Tong Yang hung up the phone.
She leaned back in her chair, squinting her eyes. The situation was much clearer than at the beginning. With the police and Bureau 749 secretly investigating, and the Meng family assisting them, Tong Yang only needed to deal with the events happening around her, which made things much easier for her.
On September 13th, new students reported to Peking University, and Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu went to their respective colleges to register.
The weather was hot, and the playground was crowded.
Tong Yang only needed to fill out the registration card and hand it to the registration office.
As she left the playground, amidst the dizzying crowd, she suddenly saw a familiar face.
The girl was sitting in the audience, her oversized clothes enveloping her body, with a noticeable scar on her forehead. In a playground where everyone was sweating profusely, the temperature around her seemed to be at freezing point, giving off a chilling aura.
Tong Yang paused her steps and walked toward the audience.
Due to the girl’s expression that seemed to say “no entry,” there wasn’t a single student around her seat.
“You caused quite a ruckus in District One,” Meng Xiao said.
Tong Yang sat down beside her and replied with a “mm.”
“The central satellite receiver in District One was shut down, which caused us to be unable to detect what was happening. After the self-destruction program was activated, the entire District One was flattened, and no one survived.”
Tong Yang said, “We left before the self-destruction program was activated.”
“I thought so too.”
“Meng Ting’s surgery has been completed and was very successful. Your sister will be brought back to the country for monitoring.”
“That’s good.”
After a pause, Meng Xiao said, “They’ve pinned the complete destruction of District One on you, and the people coming to kill you will only increase in the future.”
“I understand.”
Tong Yang wasn’t surprised; she had felt that the person who set up the self-destruction program in District One was using her name to kill everyone in District One.
Meng Xiao continued, “But I think you should be able to handle it.”
“Who knows?”
Although she wasn’t clear about the specific limitations of the time anchor, Tong Yang had never encountered a large-scale invasion of the real world by people from the parallel world. At other times, they either pulled her into the parallel world or entered the interlayer of the two worlds.
“Don’t harm my sister. I will try to tell you all the information I can share that you want to know.”
Tong Yang frowned and asked, “Are there things you can’t say? Why?”
Meng Xiao said, “Magnetic field power.”
Tong Yang fell silent for a few seconds. So far, the parallel worlds she had encountered were still at the bottom level. What kind of magnetic field power could issue commands to people in the entire parallel world?
Meng Xiao exchanged contact information with her, saying, “I will contact you briefly when necessary.”
“Okay.”
“After my sister returns, I want to talk to her. The code word is ‘1’; I will call when I reach the real world.”
Tong Yang nodded, “Okay.”
She thought for a moment and said, “Find a way to connect with the upper society. The help you can provide me in the safe zone is limited.”
Meng Xiao understood her meaning and replied, “I will do my best.”
“Mm, see you.”
Tong Yang didn’t linger any longer and got up to leave the audience.
Meng Xiao wanted to survive with her family, so she had to provide help to Tong Yang. Once she lost her value, Tong Yang could discard them at any time.
To prove her usefulness to Tong Yang, Meng Xiao had to climb up until she could get close to the upper society.
As for pushing the destruction of the first safe zone onto Tong Yang, she didn’t care.
Not to mention that this matter was originally related to her, the things from the parallel world would continuously cause her trouble. Even with the police and Bureau 749 investigating the parallel world, she definitely couldn’t avoid this.
She could only respond to the challenges and send those things to their demise.
Moreover, Tong Yang was no longer short on money. After coming out of the parallel world, she had received two million, and since this matter had nothing to do with the gossip group, she hadn’t shared any with them.
But even if she wasn’t short on money, she would still seize opportunities to make money. Tong Yang would never think there was such a thing as too much money.
The reporting period lasted for two days. Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu lived in a four-person dormitory, and the other two roommates gradually moved in, all from different majors.
On the evening before school started, all the new students were gathered on the playground.
Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu were considered tall among the girls, casually finding a team to stand in the last two rows, while their two roommates arrived later and stood in another team.
In the summer, it got dark late, and even at five or six o’clock, the sun hadn’t completely set.
“What are we doing here?”
“Organizing military training, I guess?”
“Military training? I thought there wouldn’t be any since we reported in mid-September!”
“Didn’t I hear that freshmen have military training during the summer?”
“Me too…”
“Who cares!”
“Please keep quiet, students.”
A voice came from the loudspeaker.
Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu almost reflexively looked up, alertly scanning their surroundings.
After realizing it was just the principal’s voice through the microphone, they exchanged glances and smiled in unison.
“Good thing you didn’t develop muscle memory; I was afraid you’d suddenly stab me,” Chu Shiyu teased.
Tong Yang helplessly said, “Hearing the announcement makes me feel like something bad is about to happen.”
The principal had indeed gathered them on the playground for military training.
After receiving their military training uniforms, they were told to wear them properly for the mobilization meeting at eight the next morning.
On September 15th, the mobilization meeting lasted nearly three hours, with no important content, mainly just listening to the school leaders speak.
After the meeting, the girls returned to prepare military training supplies, while the boys were taken to get haircuts.
On the morning of September 16th at six-thirty, they set off for the military training base, where they would spend the next fourteen days.
During this time, they were treated like new recruits, with strict schedules. However, Tong Yang was already very disciplined and had good physical fitness, easily adapting to the military training rhythm, often being singled out by the instructor for demonstrations.
During military training, they only had two hours of phone time before resting at night. Tong Yang saw this as a rare opportunity to let Tong Le call Chu Shiyu if there were any issues, while she herself sought out instructors for extra training in combat, showering and going to bed ten minutes before the water was turned off each day.
Tong Yang’s personality had always been either to do nothing or to do things to the extreme. Sometimes, Chu Shiyu felt like she didn’t treat herself like a human.
Everyone else was exhausted after training, but she continued to train, learning some combat techniques from one instructor and some martial arts from another. Those instructors happened to place a lot of trust in Tong Yang, seizing every opportunity to train her, believing she had great talent, even wanting to recruit her to serve in the military for a few years.
The teachers who came with the school were terrified when they heard they wanted Tong Yang to join the military. They originally never saw her all day, but now they stood in front of her every day. Whenever an instructor spoke a few more words to her, they would glare at the instructor with reproachful eyes.
The instructors, too, after Tong Yang clearly refused, would deliberately tease that teacher, always getting close to Tong Yang for no reason, and over time, the instructors and teachers began to exchange glances.
The other new students found this amusing, while Tong Yang remained oblivious to the outside world, completely unaffected. After training each day, she continued to seek out other instructors to learn physical techniques.
A few days before military training ended, after washing up, Chu Shiyu lay on her bed, and ten minutes before the water was turned off, Tong Yang returned to the dormitory.
“You’re back?” Chu Shiyu said weakly.
“Mm, I’m going to shower first.”
Tong Yang had tanned a bit, her hair tied in a low ponytail, sweat-soaked strands sticking to her temples, her whole body drenched in sweat.
“Go ahead.”
Tong Yang took her change of clothes and headed to the shower room.
“Shiyu, does your friend like training?” a girl from the next bed called out to Chu Shiyu, unable to help but ask.
Chu Shiyu replied, “I can’t say if she likes it or not; she just thinks it’s useful and doesn’t want to waste time.”
The girl sighed, “To be honest, in the first two days, I thought she was just trying to show off, that she had a thing for our instructors. I thought she was so pretty that she didn’t need to do that! Who knew she really wanted to train! One time, I passed by the playground on my way to the convenience store and saw the instructor from the next squad throw her down with a shoulder throw, and she stood up without a word and threw the instructor down too, leaving him stunned!”
Chu Shiyu’s expression darkened, “There are female instructors too; you don’t have to think of others so shallowly.”
Seeing Chu Shiyu getting angry, the girl clasped her hands together and said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Shiyu, is she good at studying?”
Another person from the other bed said, “What kind of stupid question is that? If she wasn’t good at studying, could she get into Peking University?”
“I was just asking!”
Chu Shiyu pursed her lips. During these days of training, because of Tong Yang’s outstanding and active performance, there were always people who couldn’t stand her, whispering that she was deliberately trying to please the instructors and liked to steal the spotlight.
Tong Yang was too busy to notice these voices, while Chu Shiyu was extremely annoyed by them but didn’t know how to deal with them, so she could only hold it in.
“Is she good at studying? Is she a special student? I see her physical fitness is good; she can’t be a sports special student, right?”
“Hiss! You don’t know?”
A girl who walked in while eating ice cream looked shocked.
“What do you know?”
“Don’t you play on your phone?”
“What’s up?”
“She’s Tong Yang!”
“Tong Yang? I know her; I was asking about her grades…”
“You didn’t know?! Tong Yang! The science top scorer from Bei Wang Province, over seven hundred forty points, first in the national college entrance examination!”
The girl widened her eyes in disbelief, “Over seven hundred forty points?! No way?!”
“Haven’t you checked the school forum? She was invited to our Peking University by the admissions teacher after three visits! She was in fierce competition with Qinghua and Renmin University, and I heard that after she came to school, the principal’s daughter personally went to pick her up.”
“No way? She’s so good at studying and still trains so hard?”
“What are you talking about? It’s precisely because she works so hard that her grades are so good! Don’t overlook others’ efforts just because of talent!”
“No way…”
Tong Yang stood by the door with a bowl, uninterested in their conversation, and knocked on the door, signaling that they could stop talking.
However, she didn’t know that one of the admissions teachers who came to pick her up was the principal’s daughter.
The next day, they were dismissed half an hour early, with forty minutes left until the cafeteria opened.
The weather was hot, and Tong Yang didn’t disturb the instructor, finding a place to train by herself.
The difference between professional and non-professional training was significant. In the past, Tong Yang had always chosen the fighting style that suited her best. After nearly half a month of training, the results were completely different from before.
No wonder sometimes she felt that Xu Junyue was a bit stronger than her; Tong Yang primarily used skill.
At noon, Tong Yang’s tray was filled with food. She had a high activity level, and only by eating properly could her body keep up. Passing by the soup station, she filled a bowl of soup.
She found a place to sit down, not noticing that she was surrounded by boys.
“She eats more than I do!”
“Is it normal for a girl to eat this much?”
“Hey! Stop talking! She can hear you!”
“So what? Isn’t it the truth?”
“With so many seats available, she just had to sit in a pile of boys; I’m dying of laughter.”
“Is she doing it on purpose? Looking at how handsome the guys are?”
There will always be a group of people in the world who are clueless, with no relation to their grades.
“Are you sick? Do you know what you look like? She did it on purpose? On purpose to sit next to you ugly guys? It’s just the closest seat to the food line! And she can sit wherever she wants; did you open the cafeteria?”
“Exactly! Crazy! Why do you care how much she eats? Just because you can’t eat that much doesn’t mean it’s because you’re a skinny dog?”
“Why do you care? Are you talking about me?”
“You’re sick!”
Everyone was a group of young and passionate students, and they started arguing over a trivial matter.
Tong Yang, at the center of the controversy, acted as if nothing was wrong, finishing her meal and sipping her soup.
Many people had been talking behind her back these days, and she couldn’t be bothered to waste time. As long as they didn’t dance in front of her, she would treat it as if she didn’t know.
“Training every night with the instructors; I wonder what she’s doing.”
“What’s all the noise? If you don’t want to eat, get out and train!”
An instructor ran in from outside, pointing at them and scolding.
“Some people should keep their mouths clean! Good grades don’t mean good character, and they aren’t your shield! Are you learning knowledge without using your brain? We have over a dozen female instructors, not just big guys! Your instructor is watching you every day!”
The cafeteria immediately fell silent, and the instructor shot them a glare before turning to leave.
At that moment, Tong Yang finished her last sip of soup.
She suddenly slammed the soup bowl down, creating a loud noise against the table.
The instructor by the door felt something and covered his ears, pulling another instructor beside him as they walked out without looking back. They knew all too well about Tong Yang’s vengeful nature.
Due to the cafeteria’s silence, the sudden noise immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Tong Yang grabbed her tray and slammed it into the boy’s face, yanking his collar and lifting him from his seat, executing a smooth shoulder throw that slammed him heavily to the ground.
“Ah!”
The change happened too quickly; the boy hadn’t even seen Tong Yang’s movements clearly before he was lying on the ground, covered in grease, groaning.
The boy, furious and ignoring the pain, scrambled to his feet, his face flushed, and shouted, “How dare you hit me?!”
Tong Yang was just about to test her training results, and most instructors would go easy on her in a spar.
Before the boy could get close, Tong Yang quickly stepped forward, delivering a spinning kick to his chest. The boy was sent staggering back, and before he could react, Tong Yang was already in front of him, her arm around his neck, her right foot pressing against his heel. With a forceful push, she pinned him to the ground.
“Wow! So cool!”
“Wow!!! Is this martial arts??? So awesome!!!”
“Sister! You’re amazing!!!”
“Beat this idiot up!”
“Still want to drink?” Tong Yang looked up and asked the new student beside her.
The person stared blankly and shook their head. The next second, Tong Yang grabbed the soup bowl and poured it all over the boy’s face.
“Ah!”
“Let me go!” The boy hadn’t expected Tong Yang to be so strong. When she had him in a chokehold, he even felt like he might lose his life at any moment.
Tong Yang stood up, crossing her arms over her chest, looking down at the boy on the ground, and said coolly, “Trash.”
“Tong Yang, do you want some water…” Chu Shiyu returned with two bottles of water from the convenience store and happened to see this scene, her eyes widening in surprise.
Tong Yang’s expression was indifferent as she stepped past him, taking the water from Chu Shiyu’s hands and saying, “Thanks, I’m leaving now.”
The late-arriving instructor walked to the door, coughed into his hand, and scolded, “What are you doing lying on the ground? If you want to sleep, go back to bed; is this a place for you to sleep?”
Everyone: “…”
“Ha ha ha…”
“The instructor is a talent!”
“Is this the result of Tong Yang’s training every night? So fierce!”
“I want to learn too! Next time I meet an idiot, I want to do this!”
“Wow! I thought she was just training, but I didn’t expect her to use it so coolly?”
“Instructor! I want to learn martial arts too!”
“I want to!”
“Me too!”
The instructor rolled his eyes, “Military training ends tomorrow; where were you all before?”
“Ah…”
“So soon?”
On September 29th, the fourteen-day military training came to an end.
At two in the afternoon, they left the military training base and returned to school.
After resting for half a day, on the morning of September 30th, Tong Yang saw the class division in the 2024 Physics College freshman group.
The Physics College included Physics, Atmospheric Science, Astronomy, etc. Chu Shiyu was in the same college as her but in a different major class.
In the end, Tong Yang found her name in Class One of the 2024 Physics, while Chu Shiyu was in Class Three of Astronomy.
In the afternoon, each class went to the teaching building to sign in, received some professional books, selected class leaders, and then began a seven-day National Day holiday.
That evening, the two of them returned to Yang Lin’s parents’ place.
After nearly twenty days without seeing each other, they walked to the community building and looked up, seeing two little heads peeking out from the living room window on the fifth floor, eagerly watching them.
When they saw them looking up, the two immediately stretched out their arms and waved.
By the time they took the elevator to the fifth floor, the door on the right had already opened, and Tong Le and Yang Lin stood behind the door, neatly placing two pairs of slippers on the ground, ready for them to wear.
“Sister! Shiyu Jie!”
“Shiyu Jie! Tong Yang Jie!”
“What are you blocking the door for?”
“Move aside.”
“Sister, was military training very hard? Every time I called Shiyu Jie, you weren’t there.”
Tong Yang replied, “It was okay.”
The two changed their shoes and walked into the living room, where the dining table was filled with steaming food. Yang’s dad, wearing an apron, walked out of the kitchen with a smile, saying, “You’re back? These two kids have been waiting for you! Go wash your hands; dinner will be ready soon.”
After dinner, they took Little Black to the park as usual.
During the holidays, the park was crowded, and worried that Little Black might run around and get stepped on, Tong Le held the leash and hugged it close.
Feeling bored during the military training base days, Chu Shiyu suggested calling Xu Junyue out to hang out together. Tong Yang didn’t refuse and made a call to her.
“Hello? Tong Yang, why are you calling me?” Xu Junyue’s nonchalant voice came through.
“Are you free? Come out to play.”
“Now?”
“Mm.”
“You guys finished military training? I couldn’t find you for days; I thought you were dead!”
Hearing her words, Tong Yang frowned, signaling Chu Shiyu to take the others ahead, then walked to a place away from the crowd and asked, “What’s going on? Who died?”
Xu Junyue replied in surprise, “You don’t know? Yan Qing didn’t tell you?”
Tong Yang’s heart sank as she said, “I haven’t checked my phone lately; what happened?”
Xu Junyue said, “Oh, you should know her friend, Liang Xi, right?”
“What happened to her?” Tong Yang’s frown deepened.
Noticing her seriousness, Xu Junyue explained, “Don’t panic; it has nothing to do with the parallel world. I heard her family was too strict. On the way home from school, she chatted with a male classmate for a moment, and her mom happened to see it. She dragged Liang Xi into the car and scolded her. In a moment of impulse, she jumped out of the car and was hit by a passing truck, dragged for over fifty meters, and died on the spot.”
Not to mention that she died on the spot; it was likely that even the body wasn’t intact.
“Were only Liang Xi and her mom in the car at that time?”
Xu Junyue said, “It seems so; I don’t know the specifics. Yan Qing called me to find you and told me about this. Otherwise, you can ask her.”
“Okay, I’ll hang up for now.”
“Where are you? I’m coming over now.”
“To Shigong Park.”
“Okay, wait for me.”
After hanging up, Tong Yang immediately called Yan Qing.
In a corner of the park, with no one around her, she opened her phone’s speaker and searched for related news in the browser, but there were no similar cases.
Then, she entered the gossip group to inquire.
Although Xu Junyue said it had nothing to do with the parallel world, Tong Yang still felt uneasy.
Finally, Yan Qing answered the phone.
“Tong Yang Jie…”
Tong Yang turned off the speaker and held the phone to her ear.
“What happened with Liang Xi? Why can’t I find any news?”
Yan Qing’s voice was slightly hoarse as she said, “Her mom was afraid of the impact being too great and affecting her work, so she kept the matter under wraps. Not many people know.”
Tong Yang asked, “Were they the only two in the car?”
Yan Qing replied quietly, “Yes, Liang’s mom slapped her, and she jumped out of the car. Even though Liang’s mom slowed down the car in time, there were other vehicles nearby, so…”
Tong Yang fell silent. If there were only the two of them in the car, this incident was likely unrelated to the parallel world.
Although she hadn’t interacted much with Liang Xi, it was clear that her family was very strict.
“Then why did you look for me?”
Yan Qing said in a muffled voice, “I thought you could loop back to save her.”
Tong Yang replied, “I won’t do that.”
To her, Liang Xi was just an inconsequential person.
Not to mention that she couldn’t loop back to just a few minutes before Liang Xi’s death; even if she could, she wouldn’t enter the loop for something like this.
Yan Qing said, “I thought about it; there are no such simple things in the world.”
“Tong Yang Jie, I know this is difficult, and I won’t tell anyone else the secret. I’m just… just frustrated. Do you know? Her body was crushed, and she just said a couple of words to a classmate; why did it have to end like this?”
At this point, she was already choking up.
At that moment, the phone vibrated, and the gossip group sent a message.
[Liang Xi? Her dad is a judge, and her mom is a lawyer? Wait a minute!]
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[Is it her? Tong Jie]
[Did she die in a car accident?]
[No way!]
[What date is it over there?]
[I checked; it wasn’t her who died; it was her parents.]
[She’s still alive.]
Seeing this message, Tong Yang’s expression darkened.
