Chapter 305 - 132: "Clay Person

Chapter 305: Chapter 132: "Clay Person

"This is the first time I’ve seen that thing, too."

"Wait," Zhang Shutong interrupted her. "Let me process this..."

He didn’t stay in bed, neither lying on his back nor his side. He pushed himself up and got to his feet, his head buzzing.

Seeing someone who had been dead for years was already terrifying enough. But now, Lu Qinglian was telling him that thing wasn’t just not a living person—it wasn’t even remotely "human."

Zhang Shutong tugged at the collar of his hospital gown, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

To be honest, he hadn’t really thought these things through. From getting Gu Qiuyan out of the villa, to the dream, to opening Song’s diary, and then stopping that woman—all he’d been thinking about was how to avoid repeating his past mistakes.

After waking up, the time loop had triggered again. He’d been running a fever then, his mind groggy, and he’d only focused on why he’d returned and what had happened in this new timeline.

Once he confirmed he was in a hospital room, he started worrying about what he’d missed this week. This hospital stay was a pretty big deal, and figuring out how to explain it to everyone was another headache.

You could say his mind hadn’t stopped for a second. But after running for so long, he had never seriously considered what that woman’s existence truly meant.

He had long suspected there were unusual things on the island. Whether it was the folklore and legends he heard as a child or his experiences since the time loop began, he had confirmed long ago that the deaths of Gu Qiuyan, Lu Qinglian, and himself could not be explained away as a simple "serial murder case."

But these secrets had always been separated from him by a hazy veil.

Now, they had pulled back that veil themselves, appearing before him when he least expected it.

All that supernatural stuff—some of it you hear as stories, some of it you’re skeptical about, some of it is just you scaring yourself. Then there’s the stuff you subconsciously believe, but you’re so gripped by the fear of the unknown that you shove it into a corner of your mind, unwilling to think too deeply about it.

But things were different now.

It wasn’t a story, a ghost tale, or a legend anymore. Reality was forcing him to lift the veil and explore their naked truth.

Zhang Shutong vaguely remembered Lu Qinglian telling him that his questions could be broadly divided into four types.

One type was things she knew. Another was things she didn’t know.

There was also a type she knew but couldn’t talk about.

And the final type was things he was better off not knowing.

Zhang Shutong hadn’t paid it much mind before, thinking she was just being deliberately mysterious and vague.

But now he realized that, in a way, she was doing it for his own good.

’Maybe from her perspective, I really don’t need to know all this. Wouldn’t it be better to just be a student and go back to a normal life?’

As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. But it wasn’t just cats—it could kill people, too.

You stumble upon a door by chance. Curious, you open it and step through into a new world. You force yourself to take a few steps, but just as regret floods your mind, a gust of wind blows from behind. BANG. The door has already slammed shut. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

And you can never go back.

Night had fallen. The hallway outside was somewhat noisy, but the room was silent. The lights were off. Zhang Shutong gazed at Lu Qinglian’s back, bathed in the cold moonlight. It was as if they were in another world.

Lu Qinglian was waiting for his answer.

If he nodded, she would continue.

If he shook his head, Zhang Shutong had no doubt she would turn and leave.

He wouldn’t say something like, "Can you give me some time to think about it?" Zhang Shutong just thought wearily, ’This last time loop was so timely. Without it, I probably would have actually hesitated. My original wish was just to throw myself into a mundane life. I thought saving Gu Qiuyan meant my mission was complete.’

’But this time loop just had to happen. It placed the future right in front of him and said, "It’s far from over. You’re still miserable, Gu Qiuyan still leaves the island, and Lu Qinglian still dies."’

Humans are contradictory creatures.

In the "cold-blooded" timeline, everyone had abandoned him, so he was determined not to be so cold-hearted the next time around.

Now, he thought with a sense of helplessness, ’Come on, can’t you be a little more cold-blooded? You should just dust yourself off and walk away. Otherwise, you’ll live a life of constant struggle. Oh, an idea. Let’s just call this the "Stray Dog Timeline."’

Now, Zhang Shutong looked at Lu Qinglian. She had saved his life, after all. Just walking away wasn’t in his nature.

Besides, wouldn’t leaving be the same as living the life he had in the original timeline? Transferring to a school in the city or even farther away, slowly losing touch with his friends... That wasn’t the life Zhang Shutong wanted. To put it bluntly, it would be the same as fleeing the island.

And now, he might not have a choice. Zhang Shutong even suspected that if he didn’t resolve these matters completely, he would be trapped forever in a cycle centered around these eight years.

"You’ve been hesitating for quite a while," Lu Qinglian said slowly.

"I’m not really hesitating." Zhang Shutong let out a breath and started peeling a tangerine, too. ’I wanted to say, "Don’t you think I’m busy enough as it is?" but then I remembered that Lu Qinglian was the one who was truly always on the move, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it.’

’Better get straight to the point.’

"You said this is the first time you’ve seen it, too. Does that mean you also don’t know where this thing came from?"

Lu Qinglian nodded.

"Then how did you know it existed?"

"You should still remember those frozen snakes."

"Does she have any other characteristics? Or any clues?"