Chapter 84
When Qin Zhou came in, Lin Yi was already obediently lying down on the bed.
Qin Zhou: “…”
There was no light in the room. Although his night vision wasn’t as good as Lin Yi’s and Lin Yi was just a vague outline in his field of vision, Qin Zhou could feel Lin Yi’s, um, complete lack of desire.
Or asceticism.
Or maybe simple minded purity.
In Lin Yi’s eyes, he was just forced to sleep with Qin Zhou because of his mission. They were both men and no one would suffer by sleeping with the other.
Qin Zhou withered.
Qin Zhou suppressed the thoughts in his heart and lay down next to Lin Yi in the dark. Lin Yi was very thoughtful. As there was only one pillow, Lin Yi gave up the pillow to Qin Zhou and folded the quilt into a square, using it as a makeshift pillow.
Little genius directly broke Qin Zhou’s fantasy built from the words “sleep together on the same bed”.
“Senior…”
Lin Yi’s soft voice wafted into his ears. The bed was very narrow and even though they didn’t share the same pillow, Qin Zhou could still feel the warm breath tickle his ear.
“Aren’t you going to hold this?” Lin Yi asked.
Qin Zhou knew that Lin Yi was talking about the press release in his hand. So Qin Zhou raised his hand and fumbled for it without thinking too much.
What he caught was Lin Yi’s hand.
In fact, Qin Zhou had noticed a long time ago that Lin Yi’s hands were very beautiful; narrow and slender with distinct joints, like bamboos that still stood tall and straight after the spring rain. But he didn’t know that the Lin Yi’s hands would be so cool; it was as though he were touching a piece of ivory jade.
Lin Yi wanted to withdraw his hand but Qin Zhou had his hand trapped.
“I’ll give you the pillow.” Qin Zhou said, “Put the quilt over your body.”
“Oh.” Lin Yi unfurled the quilt with his other hand and after Qin Zhou handed him the pillow, Lin Yi carefully moved his hand that had Qin Zhou held. “Senior, you… ”
Lin Yi reminded indirectly, “You touched the wrong one.”
Five fingers grasped and raised the press release, making a sound to remind Qin Zhou of what he should actually hold.
Unexpectedly, Qin Zhou said, “I know.”
Lin Yi was momentarily silent, thinking of Qin Zhou’s sexual orientation and thoughts, he said righteously, “Senior, if you take advantage, I’ll have to charge you.”
Lin Yi heard a soft chuckle beside his ear. “How much?”
This made Lin Yi consider it seriously, “At least a thousand per second.”
“Senior, you’ve been holding my hand for more than a minute but I’ll round it down to a minute. You owe me 60,000 yuan.”
Qin Zhou said, “Then, better round it up.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lin Yi: “What?”
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Olc Tl: “…”
Ciatbeut Hlc Itbe rjlv atja, tf ralii ifa ub bo tlw jcv atlr alwf tf jmmegjafis ugjrqfv atf qgfrr gfifjrf.
Olc Tl wbnfv tlr olcufg. Ktfgf kjr j ilcufglcu kjgwat bc atf yjmx bo tlr tjcv ktfgf Hlc Itbe tjv abemtfv. Coafg atf kjgwat vlrrlqjafv, Olc Tl mjiifv bea ab Hlc Itbe, “Vfclbg, joafg kf ifjnf atf 4-4 Eeif Qbgiv…”
Qin Zhou listened attentively.
Lin Yi: “Remember to pay me.”
Qin Zhou: “…”
The sky outside was so dark. There weren’t many stars.
After Lin Yi heard Qin Zhou’s breathing gradually become even, he closed his eyes and recalled the audio recording in his mind. It was already difficult for him to fall asleep without the MP4 player by his side. Now, knowing that there was a task waiting once he falls asleep and that Qin Zhou was right beside him, Lin Yi was a little anxious.
At least half the night was wasted getting himself ready to fall asleep. After an unknown amount of time, Lin Yi finally saw a strong light surging from the bottom of the door. He turned over, got up and opened the door.
White light instantly overwhelmed him.
Before he could adapt to the light, he felt his arm being pulled. He was being forced to squat down.
“Senior?”
“En.”
After Lin Yi adjusted to the lack of light, he opened his eyes and found that they were hiding behind a garbage bin.
Qin Zhou was pushing against his back so that the garbage bin could block sight of him.
It wasn’t the first time Lin Yi was pushed down by Qin Zhou. This kind of situation also happened in the 16-8 Rule World. At that time, it was to avoid being seen by the patients.
Thus, Lin Yi immediately sensed that something was wrong, Qin Zhou gestured with his chin, signaling Lin Yi to look out at the small alley opposite them.
It was nighttime in this time rewind.
Although Lin Yi had strong night vision, the alley was long and it wasn’t quite directly in front of them. Lin Yi couldn’t see clearly what was going on inside the alley.
Qin Zhou lowered his voice and said, “Zhou Qi was chased into that alley.”
Lin Yi’s heart tightened. “Who’s chasing him? Shunxi?”
Because no one has ever seen ‘Shunxi’, Qin Zhou said, “It should be.”
Qin Zhou had fallen asleep earlier than Lin Yi so he managed to enter the time rewind earlier. When he arrived, he didn’t see Lin Yi and guessed that Lin Yi still hadn’t fallen asleep. Lin Yi wouldn’t have run around without waiting for him to arrive first.
Even had there been an emergency, based on Qin Zhou’s understanding of Lin Yi, Lin Yi would have left him a signal.
So Qin Zhou didn’t dare wander around. He simply hunkered down and waited for Lin Yi to come.
Then he saw Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi rounded the corner in a panic, press article in hand. The time rewind made them time travelers, coming from the ‘now’ to the ‘past’, leaving their traces in the ‘past’ with their current appearance.
The Zhou Qi of this moment was already a part of the ‘past’.
Zhou Qi looked desperate, he was trembling all over and his face was pale, as if he had bumped into a ghost.
Based on human stereotypes, ghosts often play the role of a killer, something that existed to harm. There were no ghosts in the 4-4 Rule World, but there was the serial killed, Shunxi.
The ghost that Zhou Qi bumped into was most likely ‘Shunxi’.
In a flash, Qin Zhou jumped over the garbage bin and hid behind the only cover along the road.
He then turned his sights to Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi was now running. The moment Qin Zhou hid behind the garbage bin, another figure had appeared behind Zhou Qi.
He was wearing a wide black cloak with a deep hood. His face was completely hidden by the hood, not even shadowy contours could be seen.
The more panicky Zhou Qi was, the calmer the person seemed.
Qin Zhou watched as he took out a knife, the width of the blade was as wide as the piercings on Zhou Qi’s corpse.
The person who took out the knife then sped up. The sound of running footsteps turned into a killing curse, forcing Zhou Qi, who was already out of breath, to run into this alley.
If he’d taken the main road, Zhou Qi knew that he would have been immediately overtaken. His only hope was that this would lead to a maze of narrow alleys, giving him a chance to lose the killer.
Zhou Qi’s figure disappeared into the dark alley, Qin Zhou propped his palms on the ground, making himself even smaller so as not to be spotted by the one chasing after Zhou Qi.
Qin Zhou had no choice but to simply listen to the movements beyond his garbage bin cover.
The sound of chasing footsteps stopped in front of the garbage bin. Qin Zhou peered at the shadow not far away. He instinctively slowed his breathing.
After a while, the footsteps resumed but this time, it wasn’t running. Rather, it was walking calmly, following Zhou Qi into the pitch dark alley.
Qin Zhou wanted to check the situation again but at this moment, he caught sight of Lin Yi who’d just suddenly appeared. The chasing footsteps hadn’t gone far. If he turned around, he’d immediately catch sight of Lin Yi. Qin Zhou grabbed Lin Yi’s arm and pulled him behind the garbage bin.
Sure enough, the person in the alley suddenly turned around to look outside.
The evening wind blew and outside the alley, everything was quiet.
Lin Yi and Qin Zhou, as people from the ‘present’, knew very well what would be Zhou Qi’s ultimate end. He would be caught up and stabbed seventeen times.
Sure enough, Zhou Qi’s scream came from the alley. It was very short, stopping abruptly after only uttering one syllable.
Lin Yi had arrived late. He asked Qin Zhou, “Senior, where is Cen Qian?”
Qin Zhou said, “I haven’t seen him.”
Lin Yi lowered his eyes in thought. Both he and Qin Zhou believed that Cen Qian was the form of the 4-4 Monster, making the time rewinds Cen Qian’s obsession. If Cen Qian doesn’t appear here, then it would make their hypothesis that Cen Qian is the protagonist of the 4-4 Rule World untenable.
Qin Zhou said, “Let’s wait a little longer.”
The pursuer still hadn’t come out of the alley and the two of them couldn’t go in there to check on the actual situation.
After waiting for a while, Lin Yi finally saw a figure coming out of the alley. Because his head was lowered, the hood blocked Lin Yi’s full view of his face.
The figure left in a hurry.
Lin Yi kept his eye on him as he walked past the street corner, until his figure completely disappeared from sight. Still, Lin Yi couldn’t be sure that the cloaked man had been Shunxi.
The editor-in-chief had shown them a photo of ‘Shunxi’ and in the photo it Shunxi had a height of 182cm. But this ‘Shunxi’ hadn’t been so tall. He was actually a lot shorter.
This made Lin Yi want to follow after him and take a closer look. In any case, Qin Zhou was by his side. If he was accidentally discovered by the cloaked man, he and Qin Zhou would have the upper hand in a two-on-one fight.
Qin Zhou saw through what Lin Yi was thinking and just as he was about to nod, a meow came from the alley.
They both paused and then immediately crouched, hiding once again behind the garbage bin.
A stray cat jumped out of the alley. Then came the sound of rolling wheels. Lin Yi looked up from his dark corner and saw Cen Qian in his wheelchair.
By this time, Cen Qian had grown up a bit. Lin Yi estimated that he was now between 12 to 14 years old.
Cen Qian looked in the direction where the cloaked man left. He then took out his mobile phone and pressed three numbers. However, for some reason, Cen Qian didn’t go through with the call. He instead continued turning the wheels of his wheelchair, quickly abandoning the scene.
Lin Yi and Qin Zhou glanced at each other. They wouldn’t be able to catch up with the cloaked man after such a delay. They could either go into the alley to see how Zhou Qi died or followed Cen Qian to see if they could get any more clues.
“Zhou Qi.” Qin Zhou said.
Cen Qian’s appearance here basically proved that he was the protagonist, the form of the 4-4 Monster. However, right now, there were more urgent things than finding the main plot of the 4-4 Rule World.
They had to find Rule of Death that was threatening the lives of all the participants.
“Okay.” Lin Yi nodded.
However, just as they were about to walk out from behind the garbage bin, the white light that brought them here reappeared…
–
Lin Yi opened his eyes and so did Qin Zhou who was lying beside him.
Even though the windows of this bedroom were pasted with newspapers, the morning sun still came through.
They went to bed too late and had lost some time.
When dawn comes to the ‘present’, they would be forcibly pulled away from the ‘past’.
“Let’s talk once we leave.” Qin Zhou got out of bed first and opened the door of the room. Lin Yi also left the room.
Ren Li had already gotten up and when Qin Zhou opened the door, he was looking towards Lin Yi and Qin Zhou. Although Ren Li was curious about what had happened to them last night, Cen Qian was also an occupant of this three-bedroom apartment. For now, he decided not to ask any questions.
After a quick wash, the three left.
Once they were out of range of Cen Qian’s apartment, Qin Zhou briefed Ren Li on what they had experienced last night.
Like Qin Zhou and Lin Yi, Ren Li had his doubts. “Why did he appear there?”
As the protagonist of the 4-4 Rule World, the time rewind must be related to Cen Qian. The reason why Ren Li asked this was because although Cen Qian’s appearance at the scene itself wasn’t questionable, what was, was why he had appeared at the scene of the crime at that very moment.
Calling it now, Lin Yi(fake) is Shunxi and CQ is indebted to him for saving his life so he won’t report him to the police even though he knows. That’s why we have two protags this time.
Ooooo that would make sense, I like this theory!!
EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING it could also be “it” and not Lin Yi
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Don’t be so quick to assume Cen Qian is the protagonist, Lin Yi. Cats have appeared in both rewinds too. Maybe the orange cat it the protagonist.
This comment is made so much better by your username and pic xD
thank u for the quick update. that ” QZ could feel LI’s complete um, lack of desire” 😂🤣
This is my favourite novel this year. None of the chapters was boring, I am happy to wait for the new chapters.
…….i wonder who this shunxi will be…..