Chapter 295 - 127: The "Wild Dog" Line (Part 2)

Chapter 295: Chapter 127: The "Wild Dog" Line (Part 2)

"Find a chair and sit down. Ruoping and I will come find you after we pay our respects, then we can head back..."

With Du Kang’s words still echoing in his ears, Zhang Shutong moved through the crowd of mourners and found a seat in a corner.

He took out his phone again and opened the hidden photo album, hoping to find some clue as he had before. But this time, there was nothing.

Zhang Shutong remembered Song’s words again. The man had said that staying on the island for four years was bound to leave something behind. ’So what have these eight years left me?’

’Could it just be that memorial arch at the harbor?’

’Some joke.’

He ran his fingers through his hair, finally realizing what felt so wrong.

’Where did Song go?’

’Wasn’t he always at the funerals before?’

Just as Zhang Shutong was about to ask Ruoping for clarification, a sweet fragrance wafted past his face.

"Zhang Shutong? You are Zhang Shutong, aren’t you? Wow, senior, you’ve gotten so thin!"

"What are you doing here?"

Zhang Shutong looked up, stunned.

’It’s that young secretary... Gu Qiuyan’s best friend. Her name was Zhiruo, I think.’

’But what is she doing at Lu Qinglian’s funeral? Isn’t she a junior from the year below us?’

The young secretary, dressed in a pantsuit, smiled, revealing her canines.

"President Gu has been looking for you for years. We could never find you, but you’ve finally shown up."

’President Gu...’

’That’s a lot to take in.’

’Setting aside how she got involved with Father Gu, why would he be looking for me? And what does she mean I haven’t shown up all these years?’

"What does he want with me?"

The young secretary added,

"Who knows? Maybe there’s something she wanted to talk to you about. She didn’t know where you went either, so she had people come back to look for you. Sometimes she’d drive here herself. But it seems you haven’t been back at all since you graduated from junior high."

"I haven’t been back in eight years?"

Zhang Shutong was shocked all over again.

He’d assumed that even if his counterpart in this timeline was just scraping by, he would have at least come back to the island to visit.

"I guess so. President Gu even found your old homeroom teacher, but you seem to have vanished into thin air these past few years. He contacted your old classmates, too, but none of them knew where you went." She muttered, "I didn’t expect such a surprising find on this trip. I was just here to help deliver a sympathy gift. I’ll make a call right now..."

’Wait a minute,’ Zhang Shutong thought. ’I seem to be on great terms with my best friends, so I assumed we’d been together all these years. But from what she’s saying, I actually disappeared for a while, and no one knew where I was?’

Zhang Shutong had no idea what Father Gu wanted with him, much less why he’d searched for him so many times.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Because he had just realized something horrifying.

His senior had told him that Gu Qiuyan was killed to stop the island’s development.

Ever since this regression, his focus had been on whether Gu Qiuyan lived or died. But he was only now realizing that even though the girl’s fate had been changed, the island’s development had still been halted!

The so-called changes on the island were superficial—an extra cabin on the ferry, a memorial arch at the harbor, a movie theater in the mall—and these could have been part of the original plans all along.

What about the resort from the planning blueprint his mom had sent him? The five-star hotel? The shopping plaza?

None of it was there.

A careless remark from Du Kang replayed in his mind.

"It’s all just for show, nothing worth seeing..."

’That’s right. The changes were all just for show. The island’s development is still stalled, and Lu Qinglian still died eight years later.’

An urgent thought consumed him.

Zhang Shutong desperately wanted to find Ruoping and get some answers. What had he been doing all these years? What had he brought back with him? Why hadn’t he returned to the island once in eight years? And why had Father Gu moved his entire family to the provincial capital? He tried to stand up, his body surging with purpose, but immediately fell back into the chair, strengthless.

It wasn’t because his body was too weak to even walk.

It was because—

’Regression!’

’It’s been triggered!’

The world before him began to tremble, fading to black and white like a photographic negative. The last thing he saw was the young secretary’s hand, phone in it, her eyes still wide with surprise. The next second, his consciousness went blank. All he could hear was a familiar voice:

"Hey, wake up. Shutong, wake up..."

Zhang Shutong’s eyelids felt as heavy as lead, his consciousness shrouded in a thick fog. He wanted to say how utterly exhausted he was. The avalanche, everything he had just experienced... it all made him want to sink into a deep sleep. But an inner voice told him he had to wake up, and fast. He didn’t know if this still counted as "running," but he knew that if he fell asleep, he would miss something important and welcome only rot. ’So I have to keep running after all,’ he thought with a self-deprecating smile. Then, with his last ounce of strength, he broke through the fog.

Zhang Shutong’s eyes snapped open.

But before he could get a clear look at his surroundings, a profound exhaustion washed over him.

His chest ached, his arms ached... his entire body was in pain.

’Where am I now?’

Zhang Shutong struggled to lift his head.

He saw a calendar hanging on the peeling white wall.

December 9, Sunday.

Four o’clock on the dot.

"You’re finally awake, Shutong! Someone, come quick! Shutong is awake!"

In the pitch-black winter night, a younger Ruoping, her eyes swollen from crying, shouted out.