Chapter 203: Su Yuqing on a Stormy Night

At this point, there was no more use in keeping Lin Ranhai. Chen Mo put the phone back in his pocket and untied the bindings on his hands.

"After listening to what you said and checking the chat history on your phone, it seems you have nothing to do with the person who picked up what we lost that night. You can go. Remember, don’t look back, or you know the consequences."

Chen Mo casually took off Lin Ranhai’s blindfold as well. Since he was in disguise and wearing a mask, he wasn’t afraid of Lin Ranhai looking back.

Lin Ranhai felt like he had just survived a catastrophe. He wouldn’t dare take a second look; he just turned tail and ran for his life.

He stared at the empty, unfinished building, listening to the sound of the raging storm outside.

Chen Mo’s mind was in turmoil.

’It feels like I’m so close to the truth, yet at the same time, it feels like I’ll never be able to grasp it.’

He slowly walked towards the roof of the unfinished building.

He enjoyed the feeling of being drenched by the downpour.

Only in the rain could his thoughts gradually become clear.

As he let the icy rain pour down on him, Chen Mo’s mind began to clear.

With his constitution, getting soaked by cold water was nothing. His previous fever was purely from a viral infection caused by the filthy river water.

As Chen Mo felt the icy rain drenching his body, his thoughts grew clearer and clearer.

Now that the investigation had progressed this far, there was only one person of interest left: Lin Shiyu.

There was no other way to uncover the whole truth except through her.

’But do I really need to dig any deeper?’

’Didn’t I come back for two reasons? First, to find the real culprit. Second, to make sure Su Yuqing wouldn’t be harmed again.’

Right now, Su Yuqing was safe at his place, and everything was fine. The only source of conflict between her and Lin Shiyu was the matter of visiting her father’s house.

If they didn’t see each other often in the future, then the risk of Lin Shiyu harming Su Yuqing would naturally disappear.

’Looking at the outcome, having investigated this far is already enough to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion.’

’The real culprit is Lin Shiyu.’

’I know the motive.’

’If I can just avoid those two things, then we won’t have to live on edge, worrying about the potential danger anymore.’

As his mind grew clearer, Chen Mo finally thought everything through.

’I can consider this matter closed. I’ll just focus on living a good life with Su Yuqing, making sure she’s happy forever. That’s all that matters.’

In that instant, a great weight seemed to lift from Chen Mo’s mind. At that very moment, K-KRAACK! A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

The next moment, Chen Mo’s vision went black, followed by a bizarre, shifting dance of light and shadow.

When Chen Mo came to his senses, he found that Su Yuqing was somehow standing right beside him.

No, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t standing, she was floating.

"Am I dreaming again?" Chen Mo wondered, staring at the scene in astonishment.

The Su Yuqing before him now was identical to the one Chen Mo used to see back in his days as a police detective.

She wore a faint, almost imperceptible smile, but her face held an expression of pity for him. She just watched him quietly, not saying a word.

Seeing this familiar version of Su Yuqing, Chen Mo almost thought he had time-traveled again. He immediately scanned his surroundings.

He realized he hadn’t returned to the police station rooftop; instead, he was somewhere near his own house.

Just as he was wondering what was happening, a soaking-wet girl began walking slowly toward them.

Water droplets trickled from the ends of Su Yuqing’s hair into her collar. A light-blue lace bra was faintly visible beneath her drenched white shirt. Hugging her arms to her chest, she slowly made her way to Chen Mo’s front door.

Chen Mo was standing right beside her, and he was startled to realize that this newly appeared Su Yuqing couldn’t see him.

Confused, Chen Mo turned to look at the floating Su Yuqing beside him. She glanced at him, her face still impassive, then turned her gaze back to her other self.

Seeing this, Chen Mo turned his head back to look at the rain-soaked Su Yuqing in front of him.

She stood at the door but didn’t immediately ring the doorbell.

Instead, she stood there quietly, lost in thought. After a moment, she slowly reached out a hand but stopped just before pressing the button.

After hesitating once more and taking a deep breath, she finally mustered the courage to press the doorbell.

As the DING-DONG of the bell sounded, her body gave a sudden shudder. She quickly snatched her hand back and hugged herself again, looking both shy and anxious.

After a short while, the door was opened.

The one who opened it was none other than Chen Mo.

This was the first time Chen Mo had ever seen himself from a third-person perspective.

He didn’t know if he was dreaming or what was happening, but he was standing right there, and neither his past self nor Su Yuqing could see him.

He didn’t dwell on it and just continued to watch quietly.

Just as he remembered, Su Yuqing asked if she could stay the night. But his younger self was too naive and afraid of being scolded by his parents. He didn’t dare let a girl stay over, especially one whose shirt was practically transparent.

The younger Chen Mo figured Su Yuqing had run into some trouble and didn’t have money to get home, so he offered to walk her. He then turned to grab a raincoat and an umbrella.

But just as he turned around, Su Yuqing’s expression grew conflicted for a moment, and then she turned and walked away.

Seeing this, the observing Chen Mo paid no mind to what his past self was doing and immediately chased after her.

After all, he knew perfectly well what his past self had been up to.

But he had no idea what Su Yuqing did after that. He desperately wanted to know exactly what she experienced that night.

Even if this was all just a dream.

’But I can’t just have a lucid dream like this whenever I want.’

Even if it was only a dream, he wanted to see how it would depict what Su Yuqing went through that night.

As Chen Mo caught up to her, he saw Su Yuqing looking utterly lost, with no idea where to go.

She didn’t want Chen Mo to find out about her family situation, so she couldn’t let him walk her home.

But now that she had refused his kind offer, she herself was at a complete loss as to where to go.

The world was so vast, yet there seemed to be no place for her in it.

In her heart, there were three places she felt she belonged: with her mother, with her father, and with Chen Mo.

But right now, it seemed there was no room for her in any of them.

In a daze, Su Yuqing found herself in front of a convenience store.

Just then, her stomach suddenly RUMBLED.

Realizing she hadn’t eaten since that afternoon, she pulled out the last of her money and went into the convenience store to buy a bread roll and a carton of milk for dinner.

Seeing how miserably soaked Su Yuqing was, the young woman working at the convenience store kindly brought her a towel to dry off. As Su Yuqing was about to leave, the clerk even handed her an umbrella.

"Just bring it back the next time you’re here," she said. "The rain’s coming down so hard. A girl shouldn’t get soaked like this; it’s bad for your health."