CH 35

Chapter 35: Can’t go back!

It was already late into the night, and several rooms in the laboratory were still brightly lit, indicating that someone was planning to work through the night. For the researchers working here, it was already routine.

Once, a long time ago, Bian Yi had stormed into the laboratory in a fit of anger one late night to catch the man who had been so engrossed in his research that he forgot to go home.

But now, as Bian Yi followed Kou Li step by step towards the last room at the end of the corridor, his heart began to beat loudly like it had finally realized what was happening.

He couldn’t quite hear what Kou Li was saying to him in a low voice as they walked, it sounded like he was asking if Bian Yi was cold.

But the temperature in the laboratory was just right, and every pathway was brightly lit. With the insertion of an access card, the temperature and lighting would be adjusted to the most suitable levels in a short period of time.

There would never be darkness or coldness in this laboratory, even if there was a sudden power outage.

Kou Li’s access card was inserted into the slot outside the laboratory door, and the door opened automatically. The lights inside the laboratory also came on at the same moment.

Standing by the door, Kou Li reached out his hand to Bian Yi, and behind him was a bright light.

It seemed as if once Bian Yi placed his hand on Kou Li’s, he would no longer see darkness or feel cold.

It was as if once he stepped through the door, everything cold and dark that he had felt in that black room before would be dispelled by something inside this room.

Bian Yi’s hand was trembling, and his fingertips were cold.

Only now that he had arrived here did he snap out of his daze. His mind was calm when he asked Kou Li his question, but perhaps it was only because he hadn’t quite processed everything yet.

He was so close now, just one step away from the answer he had been seeking countless times.

But because they were so close, he couldn’t help but feel scared.

Bian Yi began to feel his whole body stiffening up. He wanted to lift his hand, but it felt completely numb, as if it weighed a thousand pounds and he couldn’t lift it up.

Kou Li was waiting for Bian Yi at the door. His gaze fell on Bian Yi’s trembling hand, which moved slightly before stopping midway.

Kou Li walked over and took Bian Yi’s hand.

He wrapped Bian Yi’s cold fingertips in his own hand, then held on tight and led him into the laboratory.

The door closed automatically.

Compared to before their trip to the snow-capped mountains, there were many more things in this laboratory.

But Bian Yi’s gaze still fell on the semi-elliptical machine that Kou Li had said was successfully researched, but was temporarily useless.

Bian Yi asked Kou Li if he was the one who rescued him from the system.

Kou Li didn’t answer directly, but instead brought him here.

The answer was already obvious.

But Bian Yi still wanted to know – he didn’t need to be told the complete and full answer, just one simple answer would suffice.

Those processes he didn’t know would be troublesome to tell him little by little in the future.

Because he knew that the process was the most painful and that it was also the hardest for him to bear.

Kou Li brought two chairs over, motioning for Bian Yi to sit down, then crouched down at the bottom of the machine, rummaging through something.

He agreed and said, “It will take some time for it to start up.”

Bian Yi sat on the chair and listened.

Kou Li continued, “I was supposed to go back to the lab that day. I kept remembering that I had two programs to set up, and I thought it didn’t succeed.”

Bian Yi looked at the golden ball in the center of the instrument as it began to flicker with light. It took him a moment to realize that when Kou Li said “that day,” he meant the day he escaped from the system’s space and returned home.

Kou Li said he “kept remembering.”

Bian Yi exhaled lightly, not delving into how Kou Li could forget which step his research had reached.

Opening the machine was simpler than Bian Yi had imagined, as it only needed an energy source to be connected to it.

Kou Li stepped back and sat beside Bian Yi, his gaze also fixed on the golden ball, reassuring Bian Yi not to be anxious, “It’ll wake up in a minute.”

Bian Yi made a sound of agreement and unconsciously squeezed his leg, which turned into a pinch in his own nervousness.

Kou Li lowered his eyes and easily noticed Bian Yi’s tension.

He reached out and took Bian Yi’s hand that was pinching his own leg, opened his coat, and placed Bian Yi’s hand on his waist, where it was warmer.

He couldn’t think of anything to say to ease Bian Yi’s tension.

In fact, he was equally nervous, nervous about Bian Yi’s every reaction to what was to come.

It seemed that it was easier to be straightforward and without any burden.

One minute.

Bian Yi tried to count his own heartbeat to pass the time, which was a method he often used to relieve nervousness when he won awards in the past. Unfortunately, his heartbeat was very irregular at the moment, and he couldn’t count it in a rhythmic way, so he couldn’t achieve the effect of calming himself down.

The golden ball lit up completely. It was like a star that Bian Yi saw by chance when he went out, very bright and beautiful. Then, Bian Yi heard the ball make a sound.

“Father.”

Bian Yi’s hand suddenly tightened around Kou Li’s hand, his nails seemed to scratch Kou Li’s hand, and two fingers hung on Kou Li’s sweater. His heart stopped beating and his mind went blank. All his senses seemed to disappear in that moment.

Until the voice sounded again.

It was a clear, clean voice of a boy, which Bian Yi had found very pleasant when he heard it for the first time.

“Did dad eat on time today?”

Kou Li replied to it, “Yes, I did.”

The ball blinked twice as if analyzing whether his answer contained any lies.

After a moment, the voice sounded somewhat happy: “Did dad exercise today?”

Kou Li replied again.

Then it asked a few ordinary questions. When Kou Li answered all of them, it asked the last one.

“Did daddy come back?”

Kou Li squeezed Bian Yi’s trembling hand tightly and replied, “He’s back.”

It analyzed it again, but this time there was no response.

It seemed that the person who designed this question-and-answer function had forgotten to include the necessary program.

There was no one else in the laboratory, and there was no other mechanical noise, so whoever spoke could be heard clearly.

Bian Yi’s lips moved several times before he finally spoke in the silence.

He asked Kou Li, “Is it Xiao Shu?”

Kou Li replied, “Yes.”

Bian Yi took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. “I haven’t heard his voice since Xiao Shu was seven years old,” he said.

“After that, the system never showed me any images or videos of Xiao Shu. I don’t know if it’s his voice.”

“I don’t know… I don’t know how much you and Xiao Shu have done while I was struggling in despair.”

“I heard it!” Bian Yi suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed Kou Li’s arm, and his eyes turned red. “I heard it, but I… I couldn’t do anything at that time.”

Kou Li’s movements were sudden, and the chair legs made a very loud, scraping sound against the ground.

He tightly embraced Bian Yi, extremely anxious to hold him, to interrupt him, and to prevent him from saying anything else.

He knew what Bian Yi was going to say.

He didn’t want to hear it.

He didn’t want to listen.

Bian Yi leaned his head against Kou Li’s chest.

He wanted to speak, but just like when he heard Xiao Shu’s voice, he couldn’t make a sound in his throat.

He heard it.

At the end of his previous life, someone who called himself the “Revenge System” found Bian Yi.

It said it could help him escape.

Bian Yi really wanted to agree, even if it was a demon who would exact an expensive price from him, no matter what he had to pay, he wanted to go back.

He wanted to agree, he wanted to comply.

But, he died right away.

He couldn’t answer it.

He couldn’t go back!

Clearly, he had waited until the end, until the person he loved most came to save him. They didn’t mistake him for someone else, didn’t forget him, and certainly didn’t abandon him.

They had clearly persisted longer than he had.

Bian Yi held tightly onto Kou Li’s clothes, the water-absorbent material, which after a while, would make the person wearing it feel damp.

He burst into tears in his embrace.

The area of the sweater soaked by tears became larger and larger, and the temperature changed from hot to cold.

But its owner did not loosen their grip because of this culprit.

The quiet laboratory could only hear Bian Yi’s crying.

It was as if he used all his strength to vent, as if he were tearing his heart out.

The soundproofing of the laboratory was very good, fortunately, the people who were still working in the laboratory were not disturbed.

Kou Li’s hand was on Bian Yi’s back, patting him up and down, helping him to breathe.

It’s unclear how long it lasted.

Bian Yi emerged from Kou Li’s embrace, Kou Li wanted to loosen his grip a bit, but Bian Yi hugged his neck.

Bian Yi leaned on Kou Li’s shoulder, his lips close to Kou Li’s ear.

“…I’m sorry.” Bian Yi’s voice was very hoarse, he was still crying, and his words were unclear.

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have given up. I should have persisted a little longer.

Kou Li heard it clearly.

His breathing became heavier, and he hugged Bian Yi tighter, wishing he could merge him into his bone marrow.

But he couldn’t do that, so he just buried his head in Bian Yi’s neck and took a deep breath.

Of course, Kou Li hated Bian Yi.

He hated his disappearance and the length of time he was gone.

Most of all, he hated that when he found him and was happy again, he lost him when he was just starting to breathe.

How cruel.

Even though it was not Bian Yi’s intention, it was still too cruel for Kou Li.

Therefore, even though he had returned to seventeen years ago and spent a year restoring his and Xiao Shu’s research from the previous life.

Even though the machine had already started running, he still subconsciously thought he hadn’t finished yet.

He was running away and afraid, afraid that it would tell him again, “The life form has lost consciousness; the life form has been confirmed dead.”

So, when he saw Bian Yi on the stairs that day.

The first thing that surged up was not joy, but intense hatred.

He just wanted to bite Bian Yi’s throat and fall into hell with him.

However, when he tasted Bian Yi’s blood, he miraculously became sober again.

At that moment, he realized.

His Ah-yi seemed to have returned.

Kou Li loosened his grip on Bian Yi, backed away a bit, and brushed away the tears on his face.

He wiped away Bian Yi’s tears and kissed his forehead, saying, “It’s okay, as long as you’re back.”

T/N: Since reading this novel I have never been able to read transmigration novels quite the same way anymore… Anyways sorry for the late update! I was very busy with work. I will also be changing my schedule to posting on Wednesdays and Saturdays.