NOVPUBRuka tenderly kissed her forehead, saying, "Don’t worry, they are fine, living with Zong Yan in the Federation. I sent Angsi to investigate, and Zong Yan hasn’t mistreated them."
Qiao Suisui, upon hearing this, suddenly thought of something. Then she took his arm, lifted the sleeve of his shirt, and saw there were no scars on his forearms or wrists.
Her eyes brimming with tears, she hugged him tightly.
After hearing all this, it was not hard to grasp why Ruka had persevered and waited for her.
On the previous two timelines, he had continuously attempted suicide to find a way to her world, yet on this timeline, Ruka hadn’t tried even once. It was because he knew that Zong Fang and Leberli were dead and Carl had disappeared; the children were unattended. If he were to commit suicide again, he would truly leave them orphaned.
This man always silently shouldered all responsibilities.
Qiao Suisui couldn’t describe how she felt at that moment, knowing about the ends of Zong Fang and Leberli; Ruka being alive was her only comfort now.
She rubbed the tears on her face against his shoulder, causing the man to show a tender smile due to this long-missed affectionate gesture.
Qiao Suisui asked, "Where do you think Carl might have gone?"
Upon hearing her question, Ruka looked a bit surprised, "I thought it was him who woke you up and brought you back. I suspect he might be at the Freedom Alliance, but over the years, every time I almost find him, he uses his Breakthrough ability to escape with you. Sang Yan seems to know his whereabouts, but he has been wandering since you fell asleep, and with the Dragon Clan always being mysterious, it’s rare for anyone to find him."
Qiao Suisui fell into deep thought, feeling confused in her mind.
Since the two Time Retrospects, she began to confuse the past and the present. New memories continuously emerged in her mind, and she was too eager to change everything, never stopping to think why the outcome was allays unsatisfactory each time.
At this moment, Qiao Suisui realized that even though she could return to the past, she didn’t completely control everything. Each person had their own individuality and consciousness, not rigidly following a scripted plot.
So far, she had initiated two Time Retrospects; each retrospect took her from the current timeline back to the past.
That is to say, including the original timeline, there were now three timelines.
She went back to the prison epoch from the first timeline, made changes, and then returned to the future, which was then the altered second timeline. On this timeline, even though she successfully saved Anubis, he returned to prison out of concern for his own safety and eventually died still.
Then she went back even further from the second timeline to the period of the Southern Battlefield. On this timeline, she helped herself obtain the Federation’s crime evidence, exposing everything. However, Anubis still died, and it was the kind of end foreseen by Lanze—murdered in a melee and his bones stripped and flesh flayed. This was the third timeline.
Simply put, if her original timeline was one, then she went back to one’s past and made a change to divide it into two. At the end of the retrospect, she already stood on the second timeline, and then she went from two back to one’s past and divided it into three. At the end of the retrospect, she stood on this present timeline, the third.
The only option for her now was to go back even earlier in the first timeline.
Because if she stood on the third and went back to the prison epoch, on this timeline there simply wasn’t that segment. Any events after each Time Retrospect node had already overwritten the original scenarios of one.
That is, she could only go back to a time earlier than the Southern Battlefield epoch to be on the first timeline.
Meanwhile, Qiao Suisui believed she had overlooked a very crucial point—
She had always thought that the time node was the most important. She thought that by changing the events at this time node, she could change the future. But the attempts had been very uncontrollable twice.
From Ruka’s description just now, she gleaned that Anubis had planned very meticulously, but failed in the end...
As she pondered this, a glimmer suddenly flashed in Qiao Suisui’s eyes.
"Still have a headache?"
Seeing her head lowered and silent, Ruka, somewhat concerned, gently lifted her chin, glanced at her tired face, and hugged her as they lay down.
He laid one arm under her neck and then lay on his side, holding her tightly. He patted her back over and over, just like the many nights he had lulled her to sleep.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Freedom Alliance.
Carl jumped down from a black hole in mid-air, holding a sealed box in his hand.
He walked through a thicket and came to a huge flower. To call it a flower, though, was a bit of a misrepresentation; it was more a set of overlapping buds, as big as a double bed.
He knelt before the bud, opened the sealed box, and as soon as he lifted the lid, smoke wafted from the box, instantly dropping the surrounding temperature by several degrees.
Wearing black leather gloves, Carl carefully lifted a stone as cold as ice from the box.
This was a nitrogen seal stone, capable of preserving all things’ moisture and freshness in an enclosed space. Carl scavenged for these stones regularly.
At that moment, he used his hand to part the overlapping petals, only to find that the person who should have been sleeping there had vanished. In a panic, Carl fiddled with the petals, but there was no trace of Qiao Suisui inside the entire bud. He dropped the nitrogen seal stone on the ground and immediately looked around, bending over to check the traces on the ground.
But no matter how carefully he checked, there were no signs that a second person had come or gone from the place.
The next second, Carl snapped his fingers, and a spinning black hole vortex suddenly appeared in the air; he strode angrily into it.
...
The next day.
Qiao Suisui woke up in Ruka’s arms.
She rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned her head to see Ruka watching her tenderly.
She leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth. "When did you wake up? Why didn’t you call me?"
In fact, he had not slept all night.
He dared not close his eyes, fearing she would not wake up, so he kept watching her breath.
"Just woke up," Ruka said.
His fingers threaded through her hair at the back of her head, combing through her long hair. His focused gaze was filled with affection and love.
"Suisui."
"Hmm?"
"Will you return to your world?"
Qiao Suisui was taken aback, not expecting him to ask that.
She remembered the Ruka from the last timeline who, knowing she did not belong to this world, had always sought a way to her world.
Qiao Suisui did not hide anything and said, "Even if I have to leave, it would be after making changes."
Ruka’s eyes dimmed, his face showing an undisguisable sense of melancholy. A few seconds later, his lips still curled into a gentle smile.
"Then, can I... go to your world?"
