CH 63

Around five in the afternoon.

Gu Zhongyi parked the car in front of Lin Yuxing’s dormitory building.

Though April weather hadn’t fully warmed up, he felt stifled and time seemed to crawl. The words he had heard that day made his head ache, and he couldn’t help feeling a little restless. He unbuttoned one of his shirt buttons to ease the heat.

It was already the agreed-upon time, but Lin Yuxing, who was usually punctual, hadn’t come out of the dormitory.

Gu Zhongyi got out of the car and waited directly, leaning his slender figure against the car. Inadvertently, he became a scene on the campus.

The Omega students in that dormitory building seemed to have gotten used to Gu Zhongyi’s presence. They no longer curiously gathered around him like the first time they saw him, nor did they frequent online forums to discuss him. Anyway, anyone speaking ill of Lin Yuxing would be deleted, which was rather boring.

Gu Zhongyi sent a message to Lin Yuxing but received no reply.

He waited for about ten minutes and then called him.

Lin Yuxing hung up the call.

Shortly after, a message appeared.

Lin Yuxing: [Wait!]

Gu Zhongyi was taken aback. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he vaguely felt a hint of unnamed anger in those two words.

So he didn’t reply to inquire but silently waited.

In the meantime, he used his phone to search for information about the car accident that Lin Yuxing miraculously survived years ago. As “Liao Yan” said, a journalist had written an article about it on his blog.

The title read: “[The Hidden Truth Behind the 20XX Car Accident in D City].”

Gu Zhongyi opened the page, and a dense block of text quickly appeared before his eyes.

He carefully read it, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

A while ago…

“Liao Yan,” also known as Lin Yuheng, had finally calmed down and continued explaining to Gu Zhongyi.

“Two years ago, the driver responsible for the accident that caused multiple deaths on the pedestrian walkway and the driver who knocked me off the overpass are the same person.”

Gu Zhongyi knew about this: “There were news reports, and I later searched for it.”

Lin Yuheng subtly moved his lips and asked Gu Zhongyi a question, “So, do you think a drunk driver causing such a major accident is random in hitting people?”

“From the casualties on the pedestrian walkway, it appears to be random.”

After all, the driver had no idea who would be on that sidewalk that day.

“But from his actions on the overpass, it seems more like… he had a grudge against you?”

“Yes,” Lin Yuheng confirmed. He had been in Liao Yan’s body for less than half a year and still vividly remembered his past life. He continued, “It was my fifth day back in the country. In order to prevent the accident, I observed Lin Yuxing’s life every day. I noticed that every day at noon, he would go out to deliver take-out, passing by that pedestrian walkway. There was a hair salon across the street, and they would almost always order take-out at that time.”

The boss would usually let diligent Lin Yuxing handle those nearby orders to save delivery costs.

Lin Yuheng paused for a moment and confessed hesitantly, “I felt too confused about being reborn and felt too guilty about Lin Yuxing… so I didn’t dare to immediately reveal my identity to him.”

He lowered his eyes and recollected, “After preventing Lin Yuxing from crossing the road, my hands were trembling. Perhaps it was because I changed this part of history, I felt a little scared afterward. I couldn’t breathe, so I took off my mask and sunglasses.”

On that day,Lin Yeheng aimlessly walked on the road to calm his emotions.

It was raining, and he held an umbrella, feeling the low pressure pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

Just when he wanted to find a place to take shelter from the rain, it stopped.

The pedestrian walkways on both sides of the overpass were sparsely populated, so he put away the umbrella and wanted to catch some fresh air.

The time then was about 20 minutes after he stopped Lin Yuxing from crossing the road.

He only remembered someone yelling at him to be careful of the car coming toward him.

“When that car first came towards me, I was warned by someone and luckily avoided it. The car also hit the railing of the overpass and stopped. Because of fear, my legs went weak, and I couldn’t move. In that situation, he should have started the car again to escape, not…”

He recalled the pain when his bones were crushed that day, frowning deeply, “Not backing up and hitting me again. that car… it seemed to be aiming at me.”

Gu Zhongyi’s expression gradually turned serious.

Lin Yuheng continued, “After being hit, my whole body flew up, and all my bones felt broken. Then, I fell into the water, unable to breathe, and my whole body was in excruciating pain, unable to move. I couldn’t tell if I died from being hit or drowned. I seemed to lose consciousness quickly. When I opened my eyes again, I became ‘Liao Yan.'”

Lin Yuheng had investigated the outcome of the accident.

The driver was driving under the influence and admitted to being unclear due to drunkenness, causing the accident However, due to the high number of casualties in the first accident and the two targeted hits in the second accident, which had a malicious intent, he was sentenced to death.

“Maybe everyone sees it as a severe accidental traffic accident, but…” Lin Yuheng looked up, fear deeply in his eyes, “The driver, who had been working as a taxi driver for a long time, should not have been drinking heavily during working hours.”

Lin Yuheng continued, “As far as I know, his son has leukemia, and their family spent all their savings to treat the child. He worked very hard to earn money; how could he be drinking during working hours? But after he was sentenced to death, his wife immediately moved to C City with their child without any financial burden.”

Gu Zhongyi instantly understood his meaning, “You suspect that someone paid him to commit premeditated murder?”

“Yes.”

“Wait—”

“Listen to me! After they moved to C City, an anonymous person quickly covered all the child’s medical expenses and was even lucky enough to undergo a bone marrow transplant. After that, she moved with the recovering child to M City and settled in a well-located community. Although the house they lived in wasn’t in her name, she couldn’t afford the rent there.”

Everything was too coincidental.

Gu Zhongyi’s heart tightened, and his fingertips tingled as he asked, “How did you know all of this?”

“There was a report recently.”

“Recently?”

“It was posted by an unscrupulous journalist who specifically attracted attention and gained traffic by digging up such stories. His appearance made the driver’s wife very resistant, and they even had conflicts several times. Strangely, the woman didn’t report it to the police; it seemed more like she dared not report it.”

Afterward, the journalist posted everything he knew online. Terrifyingly, this report hadn’t sparked public debate and was swiftly deleted to suppress its popularity. After that, no matter where the journalist posted it, the post was taken down.

The journalist also received threats at home and became more certain that this was a murder case, so he didn’t dare to act rashly.

Eventually, the impact of the accident gradually faded.

Two years later, which was recent, the journalist posted this story on his small blog instead of a mainstream media platform.

Since the accident had happened a long time ago, only someone with a deliberate search would find that low-traffic blog post.

Lin Yuheng took out his phone, added Gu Zhongyi as a friend, and sent the name of the blog to him. He asked Gu Zhongyi to check that report when he had time because there was too much content and many doubts.

At the moment, as “Liao Yan,” he had too many limitations, both in capabilities and resources, preventing him from investigating those doubts.

He urgently needed Gu Zhongyi’s help.

“Gu Zhongyi, I mean if… if I’m just a cover.”

“…”

“The person the driver was originally going to hit was Star. My appearance made the driver confused, and that’s why he acted so irrationally. Of course! All of this is just my speculation…”

The tea on the table had turned cold.

Lin Yuheng stared at Gu Zhongyi firmly, as if grabbing a lifeline. He pleaded weakly, “I can’t do this, I can’t. But you can.”

If it was an accident, then verify it and prove that it was indeed an accident.

If it was intentional murder, then Gu Zhongyi should find the real culprit.

Otherwise, no one could ensure that history wouldn’t repeat itself.

In addition, Lin Yuheng had another request for Gu Zhongyi: “Please don’t call me ‘Qu Xing’ anymore. That name has taken away too much from me and brought back too many bad memories. Before, it was because I was already an adult, and changing my name would be too troublesome. But now, no matter who I am, I won’t be ‘Qu Xing’ again.”

He seemed relieved.

Recalling this, Gu Zhongyi took a deep breath.

He pondered, repeatedly recalling the words Lin Yuheng said in his mind.

A crisp voice interrupted his thoughts, “Gu Zhongyi!”

Gu Zhongyi quickly turned around, holding his phone tightly, and locked the screen.

He saw Lin Yuxing holding a flower basket, with a serious or rather blushing face, standing in front of him. “What were you doing? I called you so many times, and you ignored me.”

Lin Yuxing had to call his full name for him to react.

Gu Zhongyi opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Lin Yuxing directly handed the flower basket to him, clearly angry.

Gu Zhongyi was taken aback. He thought carefully and realized that Lin Yuxing had never been angry with him before, and it was impossible that it was because of his absent-mindedness just now.

At that moment, seeing Lin Yuxing’s annoyed look, he found it both intriguing and incomprehensible.

“I was just replying to work messages,” Gu Zhongyi said, “it’s about restaurant matters.”

He wasn’t lying. Manager Zhang did send him a new menu for the restaurant, and he hadn’t replied yet.

Lin Yuxing directly sat in the passenger seat, buckled his seatbelt, and stared at Gu Zhongyi without saying a word. It seemed like he was going to settle the score once they got home.

Gu Zhongyi, holding the flower basket, circled around the car and sat in the driver’s seat.

Closing the door, Gu Zhongyi asked, “What’s wrong? Are you in a bad mood?”

Lin Yuxing didn’t say anything, and Gu Zhongyi asked “What should we have for dinner tonight?”

Lin Yuxing responded quickly, “Scallion oil noodles with two eggs.”

The previous week, Gu Zhongyi’s scallion oil noodles completely captured Lin Yuxing’s taste buds. Not to mention adding two eggs, even if he served Lin Yuxing two large bowls of noodles, he might be able to finish them.

Gu Zhongyi happily said, “I’ll make more sauce this time. Next week, you can bring some to school for lunch.”

Lin Yuxing’s anger subsided a bit. He pursed his lips and faced Gu Zhongyi. He regretted being angry with Gu Zhongyi over such a small matter.

How could he give Gu Zhongyi a cold shoulder just because of this?

Lin Yuxing rubbed his pants with his fingers and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be angry.” Hesitating, he slowly continued, “It’s just that your message was too much this time… Well, this time you were really in the wrong.”

“?”

What message?

Gu Zhongyi’s hand on the steering wheel stiffened, and he froze for two seconds. “Are you talking about the message I sent about buying condoms?”

Lin Yuxing covered his mouth, and his ears turned red as his face blushed.

The car in front started moving, and Lin Yuxing’s action undoubtedly would obstruct Gu Zhongyi from driving. He quickly withdrew his hand, murmuring in frustration, ‘Su Li saw everything, what should I do…’

Finally, Gu Zhongyi understood the problem – Lin Yuxing was embarrassed.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Yuxing began to seriously discuss some rules with Gu Zhongyi. From now on, to be on the safe side during their time at school, Gu Zhongyi couldn’t send him such explicit messages.

But Gu Zhongyi’s focus was elsewhere, ‘Can I send them when you’re not at school?’

‘Of course not!’

‘I still have to ask you before buying.’

Lin Yuxing couldn’t cover his mouth, thinking that Gu Zhongyi was doing it on purpose, he anxiously said, ‘Why do you have to ask me? It’s not like I use them’

Taking advantage of another traffic jam, Gu Zhongyi reached for the storage box on the passenger side. It was filled with two sizes of condoms, clearly visible.

Gu Zhongyi earnestly informed Lin Yuxing, ‘I bought some for you too.’

‘Me? Me?!’

Lin Yuxing realized what was wrong and cast a strange look at the handsome Gu Zhongyi. Then, as his mind wandered to improper places, Gu Zhongyi brought him back to reality.

‘It’s been raining a lot lately, and we don’t have enough bedsheets.’

‘…’

Gu Zhongyi stared at him attentively.

Lin Yuxing contemplated for about a minute, and for the second time that day, he called his boyfriend by his full name, ‘Gu Zhongyi, you have no shame.’ He decided to remain silent, avoiding any increase in anger and innocent casualties.

But on second thought, there were no innocents in this car.

The journey from the school to the apartment took much longer due to the traffic jam.

Cars honked from behind while the one in front remained stationary. Raindrops fell gently from the April sky.

Lin Yuxing leaned back in his seat, feeling annoyed, and couldn’t help but yawn. In that comfortable temperature, he dozed off without realizing it.