As she swallowed the token, the venomous snakes wrapped around Changqing tightened even further.
Changqing felt as if countless venomous snakes were about to constrict and crush his body, and his vision went black.
“This madwoman, what did I do to provoke her…?”
“Damn it… the difference in strength is too great. Am I going to end this life so inexplicably and frustratingly…?”
Changqing felt the world slowly plunge into darkness, the last image in his sight being Liu Lu, fallen into a frenzy, like a demon.
His vision went black, and his consciousness seemed to sink into the boundless depths of the ocean.
...
“Hey, Changqing, wake up, class is over.”
“Hm?”
Changqing opened his eyes. Ye Qinghe, dressed in a white dress, stood gracefully before him.
“Pfft, sleepyhead, get up quickly, or there won’t be any seats left in the cafeteria.”
Saying that, she took out a tissue and wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
“Qinghe? Why am I here…?”
Changqing rubbed his eyes, groggily getting up from the table.
“What are you talking about? Are you still half-asleep? Of course you’re here for class.”
“Class? This isn’t…?”
Changqing was startled. He stood up and looked around. Before him was a clean, bright lecture hall, and most of the students had already left.
Before long, only he and Ye Qinghe remained in the classroom.
Seeing Changqing’s shocked expression, Ye Qinghe hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and touched his forehead.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell? Are you sick?”
The girl’s slightly cool palm brought Changqing back to his senses a bit. He quickly took out his phone and looked at the date on it.
The date on the phone was clearly January 18th.
“January 18th… not January 8th. This is ten days later. I… I’m back? I’m back from the loop?”
Ye Qinghe helplessly reached out and rubbed Changqing’s face, making a funny face.
“You, have you been under too much stress recently and haven’t recovered? It was just a misdiagnosis at the hospital. You’re acting as if you narrowly escaped death, and now you’re talking nonsense.”
“Misdiagnosis? What misdiagnosis?”
Ye Qinghe tilted her head, a bit confused.
“Are you really still half-asleep? Didn’t you get misdiagnosed with brain cancer at the hospital before, and you looked like you didn’t have long to live? It scared me so much back then.”
Changqing was somewhat incredulous.
“You’re saying my brain cancer was a misdiagnosis?”
“Of course. Didn’t I go with you to the hospital for a check-up two days ago?”
Changqing pinched his thigh hard. Feeling the pain, he pulled the girl in front of him into his arms.
“Ow, what are you doing?”
Ye Qinghe was startled by his sudden embrace.
But feeling the usually strong young man trembling slightly, after a brief surprise, Ye Qinghe’s expression softened.
She gently patted Changqing’s back and said softly,
“You’ve been hiding this secret in your heart all this time, you must have been very scared and very upset.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, it was all fake. I’m here with you. My Changqing will definitely live a long life, it’s okay…”
Changqing let out a long sigh, holding the girl in his arms even tighter.
He buried his head deep in Ye Qinghe’s hair, greedily sniffing her scent, this unique scent of reality.
Changqing opened his eyes. The girl’s thick hair covered his eyes.
Layer upon layer, it made him feel suffocated.
A strange sense of fear assailed his heart. Changqing hastily looked up at the girl in front of him.
But he couldn’t see the girl’s face clearly, and the clean, bright classroom became distorted and blurry.
“No, no, no, no, no!”
He cried out in horror, reaching out to touch her face.
But the girl, who was clearly within reach, now seemed to be thousands of miles away from him. Changqing’s hand hung in mid-air, unable to touch her.
“No, Qinghe, no!” He was completely panicked. The neat and bright classroom now became dim again.
He even felt the cold and damp air of a cave. He desperately reached out, wanting to grab the girl in front of him, as if that would allow him to stay in this real and beautiful world.
But Ye Qinghe’s face became increasingly blurred, until it finally slowly transformed into an exquisite wooden mask.
The scene before him finally became clear. In the dim cave, Changqing lay on the bed, his arms stiffly suspended in mid-air like a zombie.
Luo Hongyan was sitting by the bed. The feeling of suffocation just now came from the blanket she had placed over his mouth.
“Idiot, don’t shout.” She said indignantly.
Feeling the unique coldness of the cave, Changqing slowly regained his composure.
He recalled that he had been choked to unconsciousness by Liu Lu in her rage.
Before he fainted, the strange clock in his mind had not appeared, meaning he had not experienced Rebirth.
It turned out to be just a dream.
“If this continues, over time, I’m afraid I’ll no longer be able to distinguish between dreams and reality.”
Seeing Changqing’s eyes regain their clarity, Luo Hongyan removed the blanket from his mouth.
“Shh, don’t speak. Do you remember me, Luo Hongyan?”
Her voice was very soft. Changqing followed her gaze and saw Liu Lu sitting cross-legged, facing them, in another corner of the cave.
At this moment, she had returned to her previous elegant and noble appearance, seemingly in meditation, completely unaware of the situation here.
“Master is in meditation. Speak softly, and whatever you do, don’t wake her.”
Changqing nodded. He was also curious about what Luo Hongyan wanted to tell him, so he obediently followed her instructions and spoke softly.
“I know.”
“You were unconscious for three whole days, and most of your bones were shattered. I’m the one who woke you up.”
After speaking, Luo Hongyan changed the subject.
“I know you’re unwilling to end your life in this demonic den. If you want to escape, I can help you. But you have to tell me what Master asked you to look at in the Dan Room before, was it to recognize Wen Character Branch?”
Luo Hongyan’s words made Changqing fall into deep thought.
What did she mean by asking these questions? Was she also coveting that Possession method? How should he answer?
While he was still pondering, Luo Hongyan spoke again.
“If you want to leave here, tell me honestly, Lingyu Changqing.”
Changqing’s heart jolted, and his eyes widened.
“How do you know that name?”
“It’s written right here.”
She confidently took out the black token from her bosom and handed it back to Changqing. It was his personal token.
“You recognize the Wen Character Branch on it?”
“Of course, otherwise why would I ask you?”
Changqing’s thoughts raced. Luo Hongyan actually recognized the Wen Character Branch from Earth? What did this mean? Was she also a Transmigration practitioner?
“Odd change, even no change?” He blurted out almost instinctively.
However, Luo Hongyan did not respond with the expected “symbol depends on quadrant” but instead asked, somewhat confused,
“What is ‘odd change, even no change’? Is it a spell? Is this the Wen Character Branch Master asked you to recognize?”
“Which excavator technology is the best?”
“What chicken? What on earth are you talking about?”