DDT - Chapter 75
Chapter 75: Parallel World: Never Left
"Don't!! Luo Luo!" With a startled cry, Yi Shuhan woke from a dream. Her throat was terribly dry, as if she had been speaking for a long time, and now she couldn't utter a single word.
Yi Shuhan knew she had been terrified two days ago. The feeling of standing downstairs, screaming herself hoarse, was awful. In that moment, she had worried her voice wasn't loud enough to reach the rooftop, worried that her Luo Luo would leap off, afraid that her only friend would be gone just like that.
She had been having nightmares for two days. In her dreams, no matter how she screamed her throat raw, the young girl still leaped from the rooftop without a second thought, landing with a sickening thud right in front of her. Her mind, as if diseased, replayed the scene of that foot slipping into empty air, of the fall, slowed down countless times. She could only watch her plummet, utterly helpless.
Blood spread across the ground. From beneath the shattered skull, something else slowly oozed out. The girl who was usually such a commanding figure, the big boss of the school, lay twisted before her, her eyes bulging slightly, unable to rest in peace.
The air was filled with the terrified screams of parents and gawking students. The scene was so vivid it felt as if Yi Shuhan were truly there. The visual and olfactory assault of the blood was too much to bear. After waking from the first nightmare, she had clamped a hand over her mouth and run to the bathroom to dry heave, tears streaming from her eyes. Her heart ached as if it were being torn apart, a pain accompanied by an indescribable panic. The sense of loss in the dream was so real that she couldn't stop shaking.
During the day, she would call Chi Junluo's phone again and again. The phone would ring, and after a moment, the call would connect. "Hello, Shuhan."
The girl's gentle voice would come through the receiver.
Thank God, she's still alive. She's alive. She didn't jump, and she hasn't left me.
Only then could Yi Shuhan finally recover from the terrifyingly real nightmares.
The dream was so vivid, so real that Yi Shuhan could barely distinguish it from reality.
On the afternoon of the 8th, Chi Junluo finished her exam paper early, turning it in fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. She then ran to the small stairwell leading to the roof. The access hatch in the ceiling, more than three meters from the floor, had been welded shut with an iron plate, and the ladder leading up to it had been mostly dismantled. Chi Junluo leaped, grabbed hold of what was left of the ladder, and began to climb. As she neared the hatch, she fashioned the Power of the Heavenly Dao into a sharp blade and sliced through the thick iron plate, one cut at a time, before slipping onto the roof.
When the bell signaling the end of the exam rang, Chi Junluo walked to the edge of the rooftop, finally attracting the crowd's attention. She waited until that small figure, her face a mask of shock, appeared in her field of vision.
She watched the girl scream her heart out, begging her not to do something stupid. She listened as the girl pleaded with her, one sentence after another, to come down and talk things through. And then she heard the girl say through her tears that she was her only friend.
Chi Junluo wavered. The Heavenly Dao, seeming to sense her intentions, desperately urged her in her sea of consciousness to hurry up, form the contract with the soul fragment, and leave.
Chi Junluo raised her left hand. A second golden pattern faintly emerged; by comparison, the first one now looked somewhat dull.
Chi Junluo recalled asking the Heavenly Dao more than ten days ago, while she was packing her things, whether she could stay behind. This world held many things she had never possessed, and she felt a lingering attachment. Although the Heavenly Dao had rejected the idea, Chi Junluo remembered its split-second of hesitation with perfect clarity.
The Heavenly Dao was hiding something from her. Something related to whether she could stay.
"Heavenly Dao, I'm not leaving. I want to stay," Chi Junluo said, taking a small step back from the edge to avoid being blown off by the wind or slipping.
"This Deity has already said no, and no means no!" the Heavenly Dao replied, exasperated. They were at the final step, so why was Chi Junluo suddenly having these unnecessary ideas?
"Heavenly Dao…" Chi Junluo pressed.
"This Deity isn't listening! In any case, it's not possible this time! You cannot defy This Deity's will!" The Heavenly Dao covered its ears with its forelimbs, speaking without thinking.
"This time?" Chi Junluo was stunned. Not possible this time? Does that mean last time…?
Chi Junluo keenly caught the slip of the tongue. Hearing her repeat the word, the Heavenly Dao realized its mistake and immediately fell silent.
But Chi Junluo was already trying to recall what was wrong with the previous world. At the end of the last world, she had leaped from the city wall, right?
She had died, and she had left Yi Shuhan's parents safely in the RV…
No, something was definitely wrong! Since arriving in this world, she had never once tried to recall the events of the last one. Now that she suddenly did, she was horrified to discover that she couldn't clearly remember the ending. It was as if her memories had been overwritten by something else. The harder she tried to remember, the fuzzier the memories of the previous world became. It wasn't just the ending; it felt like many new things had been stuffed into her head.
Chi Junluo pressed a hand to her throbbing head and gave it a shake. A collective gasp rose from the crowd below. Yi Shuhan nearly had her soul scared out of her body. They saw Chi Junluo clutching her head, swaying on the rooftop as if she were about to fall.
"Heavenly Dao, you're hiding something from me. I remember now!" Chi Junluo questioned it, her voice low and serious.
"You really remember?" As expected, the Heavenly Dao fell right into her trap.
"I can stay behind," Chi Junluo stated with certainty.
"Ah… this is so troublesome. It's impossible. How could her memories return so quickly?" the Heavenly Dao muttered to itself, unaware that Chi Junluo heard every word.
This damn Heavenly Dao, she thought. It confessed after just a little trickery.
Chi Junluo took another step back. "I want to do the same thing as last time." Although she didn't know what had actually happened in the previous world, she remained perfectly calm. Her composure seemed to deflate the Heavenly Dao.
"Fine, fine. You can leave this sliver of your divine consciousness behind. This Deity will take your soul. But This Deity must kindly remind you: the more times you split your consciousness, the worse the side effects will be. Your memories will become increasingly chaotic, so don't blame This Deity for not warning you. Once a parallel world is formed, it plants the seeds for more karma. In the next world, while you have no memory of this, This Deity will be sure to keep its mouth shut. If you have a mental breakdown, what will happen to This Deity's heroine? Sob, sob, sob!"
By the end, the Heavenly Dao had devolved into a whiny mess again.
"Chi Chi, you're on your own now. This Deity is leaving. Go and spend some quality time with your heroine." The Heavenly Dao's voice faded. Chi Junluo felt a sudden lightness, as if something had been lifted from her. Only its faint muttering still echoed in her sea of consciousness. "How did she recover her memories so fast? It's completely illogical…"
The Heavenly Dao was gone, and Chi Junluo had been left behind.
Chi Junluo let out a long sigh of relief. She took a few steps back from the edge of the roof, then collapsed backward, unconscious.
When the crowd below saw the girl step back from the edge, most of them breathed a sigh of relief. Only a few people grumbled under their breath, "Damn it, why didn't she jump? The show's over."
The words had barely left his mouth when a fist slammed into his face. He turned, ready to unleash a string of curses, but when he saw it was a burly man standing one-point-nine meters tall, he was too frightened to make a sound and quickly scurried away.
Only then did the tall man let out a breath of relief. As long as Sister Chi is okay.
The security guards and teachers who had rushed to the scene hurried upstairs, called an ambulance, and had Chi Junluo taken to the hospital.
The parents downstairs dispersed, still shaken, all discussing the incident. They wondered whose child it was, speculating that she must have been overwhelmed by the stress of the college entrance exams and tried to jump because she did poorly. But who really knew the truth?
Yi Shuhan, identifying herself as Chi Junluo's best friend, climbed into the ambulance. Just as the doors were about to close, a middle-aged man, drenched in sweat, pushed his way on, claiming to be the patient's father.
Yi Shuhan couldn't help but study him for a few moments, quickly forming a conclusion: he looked presentable enough, but in reality, he was an abusive, alcoholic monster.
Chi Jingpeng had nearly fainted while watching from below. His daughter was so sensible, yet he had driven her to attempt suicide. He was truly a piece of scum. He struck his own head, filled with remorse.
After a thorough examination at the hospital, the doctor said there were no major issues, just malnutrition and the effects of a severe shock.
A few days of rest would be all she needed.
Chi Jingpeng and Yi Shuhan both let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.
Yi Shuhan stayed at the hospital all afternoon and was only persuaded to go home in the evening after much coaxing from Chi Jingpeng. Before she left, she shot him a distrustful glare. Leaving Chi Junluo in the care of her abusive father was not reassuring at all.
After returning home, Yi Shuhan began having nightmares again. This continued for two days, and she even developed a fever.
For two days, news of a student attempting suicide after the college entrance exams spread like wildfire through Qingyun City. But it was quickly drowned out by the overwhelming flood of information about exam scores and application guidance. Compared to another family's child attempting suicide, parents and students were far more concerned with their own results.
Yi Qinglang and Shu Ming, who had been staying with Yi Shuhan for the past two months, noticed her fever. They rushed her to the hospital that night for an IV drip. Yi Qinglang had seen that his daughter's spirits were low the past few days and had wanted to let her work through it on her own—after all, parents shouldn't pry into their children's private lives. But now that the doctor was saying she was mentally exhausted and had likely suffered a severe shock, Yi Qinglang couldn't help but wonder what had happened.
Half an hour later, his secretary sent a file to his phone. After a quick scan, Yi Qinglang felt a flicker of displeasure. It was this Chi Junluo again. Although she was Shuhan's best friend, her mental fortitude… He was initially annoyed, but then he considered Chi Junluo's family background and all the help she had given Shuhan since they became friends. He sighed.
Kids these days were really a handful.
Yi Shuhan had a high fever for two days. Thanks to the fever, she was in a daze for those two days and, finally, had no more nightmares.
Chi Junluo stayed in the hospital for two full days after the incident. She could have gone home after just one night, but Chi Jingpeng insisted she stay for observation. It wasn't until the third day, when a doctor reminded him that hospital beds were scarce and his daughter was perfectly fine, that he finally took Chi Junluo home.
She had expected to open the door to a floor littered with trash and filth, but to her surprise, the apartment was spotlessly clean. Chi Junluo was taken aback. When she saw Chi Jingpeng's face, which was practically begging for praise, her own expression darkened. Is this man finally going to change for the better?
Chi Junluo remained skeptical. After all, the bad temper and terrible habits he'd accumulated over so many years couldn't be fixed overnight. She felt it was a waste on behalf of the original owner of this body. Ignoring Chi Jingpeng, she went straight to her room. The door slammed shut with a bang, leaving a dejected Chi Jingpeng standing alone in the living room.
Inside her room, Chi Junluo stared at the thick envelope on her desk in surprise. Chi Jingpeng hadn't taken it. Did he really want to become a good father again?
In the blink of an eye, the day the exam scores were to be announced arrived. In the interim, Yi Shuhan had called Chi Junluo a few times, but on each occasion, Chi Junluo would only listen to a few words before hanging up. Yi Shuhan hadn't even come to see her in person. It seemed she had really frightened her this time. Chi Junluo felt a pang of guilt. She had scared her this badly without even jumping; if she had truly chosen to leave, she couldn't imagine what would have happened to Yi Shuhan.
Chi Junluo didn't know that she had entered a parallel world, and that for the past few days, Yi Shuhan had been suffering from the torment of its influence.
After checking her score, Chi Junluo wasn't excited. It was just her usual performance. Top ten in the province. That was acceptable.
After several days, Chi Junluo's phone finally rang again. It was Yi Shuhan.
First in the province, the top scorer of the college entrance exam. As expected of the heroine, she had a good head on her shoulders. Chi Junluo told Yi Shuhan her score, and to her surprise, Yi Shuhan's reaction was even more ecstatic than her own. "Aaaah! Luo Luo! We can go to the same university!"
Once her excitement subsided, she finally reacted and asked cautiously, "Luo Luo, would you be willing to go to the capital with me?"
Chi Junluo grinned. She had stayed behind for Yi Shuhan, so naturally, her answer was, "Of course!"
"We'll go to university together!"
University life was anything but dull. Yi Shuhan chose to study finance. Chi Junluo didn't have a preference, so in order to spend as much time with Yi Shuhan as possible, she enrolled in the same major. Since they were both from the same city, they were assigned to the same dormitory—and as luck would have it, it was a two-person room.
On the day they left for the airport, Chi Jingpeng came to see her off. He didn't look very happy; after all, a deep rift still existed between him and his daughter.
He watched Chi Junluo and Yi Shuhan's family enter the terminal before reluctantly departing. In order to save money for Chi Junluo's tuition, Chi Jingpeng had gone back to work. Though he was out of practice, it didn't dampen the fighting spirit that had been rekindled after so many years.
Both Chi Junluo and Yi Shuhan were beautiful girls. Chi Junluo leaned more towards androgyny, and after years of being the "boss," she had a cool aura that attracted the attention of many other girls, though she herself remained completely oblivious.
Yi Shuhan, with her petite frame and pretty face, was even more popular with the boys.
Not even two months into the semester, a boy showed up outside the girls' dormitory to corner Yi Shuhan and confess his feelings.
Chi Junluo was right beside Yi Shuhan. Watching the handsome, all-around excellent boy confess to her heroine, she felt, to be honest, a little uncomfortable. Men are all the same! Always trying to steal away my precious heroine. To her relief, Yi Shuhan politely rejected the boy on the spot. But her relief vanished the very next second when she heard Yi Shuhan say she already had someone she liked.
The boy walked away, dejected. For some reason, Chi Junluo's mood sank as well.
At lunch, Yi Shuhan seemed to be in high spirits. Chi Junluo guessed she was probably thinking about the boy she liked and sighed softly. "Shuhan, when did you start liking someone?"
Yi Shuhan looked up and saw Chi Junluo's displeased expression. She smiled to herself but put on a look of wistful longing. "Not too long ago."
"Do I know him?" Chi Junluo pressed.
"You do," Yi Shuhan nodded, saying no more, the very picture of a young girl in love.
If I know him, that means he's in our class or our major! In an instant, Chi Junluo mentally added every boy she knew at the university to her blacklist.
Chi Junluo: Damn it! I've lost my appetite!
The feeling lingered until that night, long after the lights were out and they were in bed. Chi Junluo was still brooding, not even realizing her own tone was laced with resentment and frustration. "Shuhan, what kind of person is he?"
The opposite bed was quiet for a moment before Yi Shuhan replied, "She's a little cool, gets good grades, is very gentle and considerate toward me, gets jealous easily, and is a little silly sometimes."
Chi: ?!!!
Without me knowing, my heroine has already gotten this close with some nameless boy?!
Gentle?! Pfft! Considerate? Pfft!
Gets jealous?! Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Hearing no response from Chi Junluo's bed for a long time, Yi Shuhan chuckled. "Luo Luo, get some sleep. I'll introduce you to her in a few days."
"Mm," came Chi Junluo's sullen grunt from the darkness, clearly deflated.
Yi Shuhan lay in her own bed, suppressing her laughter until her stomach ached and the bed frame shook slightly.
During class the next day, Chi Junluo was noticeably distracted. Her heroine had found her soulmate, so what was left for her to do?
Sob, sob, sob. She was redundant now.
Yi Shuhan secretly skipped the second half of their afternoon class, leaving Chi Junluo to bring back her bag. Walking back to the dorm, Chi Junluo felt a pang of bitterness. The heroine isn't a little bird anymore. Her wings have grown strong, and she has to fly off to find her own spring. Look at her! She's even skipping class to meet the boy she likes!
Clutching Yi Shuhan's bag, Chi Junluo felt increasingly miserable, and her steps grew slower.
Sigh. Yi Shuhan won't be in the dorm. I'm already an empty nester! I don't want to go back and face that empty, once-shared love nest!
Hmph!
That evening, Chi Junluo walked across the sports field alone, holding one bag and carrying another. Couples brushed past her one after another.
Maybe under these dim lights, one of those pairs is my Shuhan and some nameless jerk!
Just as Chi Junluo was wallowing in her misery, the phone in her pocket vibrated. She pulled it out; it was Shuhan.
"Hello? Shuhan?"
"Luo Luo, where did you go? I've been waiting for you in our room for ages."
"Ah, oh, I… I'm coming back right now."
"Hurry up. I've been waiting for you."
"Okay!"
After hanging up, Chi Junluo's mood suddenly lifted. Was it just because Shuhan wasn't among the throngs of lovey-dovey couples here?
On the way back, Chi Junluo reflected on her behavior. She had been acting too strangely these past two days. Shuhan was bound to start a family sooner or later; she should be supportive. More importantly, she needed to help screen the guy! She couldn't let Shuhan be deceived by some scumbag!
Having come to this realization, Chi Junluo's steps became lighter, though a trace of inexplicable reluctance still lingered in her heart.
Back in their room, just as she closed the door, Yi Shuhan leaped up from her chair. "Luo Luo, you're back!"
"Yeah."
"Didn't I say I wanted you to meet the person I like?" Yi Shuhan said. "Turn around!"
Chi Junluo was completely baffled. There's no way a guy could have snuck into the girls' dorm, right?
She turned around and saw a large, full-length mirror. Reflected in it was herself, her cheeks slightly flushed from her long walk.
Chi Junluo: ???
Seeing that Chi Junluo still hadn't caught on and was just standing there looking dumbfounded, Yi Shuhan pouted. She stepped forward, grabbed Chi Junluo's shirt, and turned her around to face her. "Luo Luo, do you still not understand?"
Seeing Chi Junluo's blank expression, Yi Shuhan tilted her head up slightly and leaned in. Their lips met, their breaths mingling.
Pushed back a few steps, Chi Junluo found her back against the wall beside the mirror. Her shoulder blade hit the light switch, plunging the room into darkness. Only then did Chi Junluo slowly come to her senses. She… she was just kissed by Yi Shuhan?
Recalling the reflection she had just seen in the mirror, she slowly began to understand. The person Yi Shuhan liked… was her.
When the kiss ended, Yi Shuhan took half a step back and gently wrapped her arms around her. "Luo Luo, the person I like has always, only ever, been you."
After confirming their relationship that night, it was as if a whole new world had opened up for Chi Junluo and Yi Shuhan. They were inseparable, quickly falling into a passionate romance.
At night, they even started sleeping in the same bed, alternating between the two. Fortunately, neither of them was particularly large, or the small bed wouldn't have been big enough.
After graduation, Yi Shuhan went to work at her family's company to learn how to take over the business. Chi Junluo, thinking of their future together, had started her own company back in her sophomore year. By the time she graduated, it was already a modest success. With a little more time, she was certain to carve out her own niche in the industry.
Once they were both settled in their careers, Yi Shuhan officially brought Chi Junluo home to meet her parents as her girlfriend. The chaotic drama they had imagined never materialized. Over the years, Yi Qinglang and his wife had come to know Chi Junluo quite well. Since their daughter was happy, they didn't feel the need to interfere. However, over dinner and drinks, Yi Qinglang had a very serious talk with Chi Junluo about Yi Shuhan, the underlying message of which was, "I'm entrusting my daughter to you. You'd better not let her down."
Yi Shuhan blushed in embarrassment as she listened, while Chi Junluo swore to the heavens that Yi Shuhan was the love of her life.
After a good deal of wine, Yi Qinglang and his wife began discussing a wedding date with Chi Junluo.
The wedding for a daughter of the Yi Family had to be a grand affair!
The wedding day arrived quickly. Chi Junluo wore an elegant white suit, and Yi Shuhan wore a stunning white couture wedding gown. The Yi family's wedding caused a sensation in the capital. Several major families were in attendance, and high-ranking officials and celebrities offered their blessings.
The wedding of the Yi family's daughter shot to the top of the trending charts and stayed there.
People everywhere were talking about the rare sight of a wedding between two women, one held so openly and blessed by so many officials and celebrities.
At the wedding, Chi Junluo gently slipped the ring onto Yi Shuhan's finger. Their eyes met.
Everything was said in that silent gaze.
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