November 30, 2024, Saturday, 6:00 AM.
A light drizzle fell over the old district of Yaocheng, the sky a blanket of misty gray.
The temperature was so low that the roads were nearly empty, the doors and windows of shops lining the streets tightly shut. A breakfast shop was open, a sliver of light spilling from its slightly ajar door.
The owner yawned and complained, "Who'd come out for breakfast on such a cold day?"
"Wife, maybe we shouldn't open on weekends anymore."
"Yeah, not a soul in sight this early..."
Before the words fully faded, the beam of a powerful flashlight hit the rolling shutter door. Through the steady patter of rain came the sound of several orderly footsteps.
"Boss, is there anything to eat?"
A figure appeared at the door, dressed in a raincoat, carrying a backpack, and kitted out as if for a mountain hike.
"Whoa! You scared me!" The owner nearly jumped out of his seat. "How many of you? What'll you have?"
"Five people. Let's start with a few steamers of buns and some congee."
"No problem, come on in, it's freezing out there."
The person stepped through the small doorway, pushed back the hood of the raincoat, and brushed aside the damp hair clinging to their forehead.
"Tong Yang?" the boss lady exclaimed in surprise.
"Tong Yang? What are you doing back? Aren't you at university in the capital?" The owner and his wife, recognizing her, wore expressions of astonishment.
"Uncle, Auntie, long time no see. I'm back for something." Tong Yang took off her raincoat and placed it on a chair near the door. She had worked part-time at the breakfast shop a few years ago, so the family knew her.
"Brrr... so cold!"
"A rainy winter day is pure torture, unbearable."
"President Ye, are you okay? With your poor health, wouldn't it be better to just stay put? It'd be terrible if you kicked the bucket halfway."
"I'm freezing to death!"
"Oh dear! Come in, come in, you poor kids. Get inside, there's a stove, it's warm." The owner ushered them all in.
Chu Shiyu and the other three filed into the breakfast shop one after another, shed their raincoats, and huddled around the stove, shivering.
They were dressed similarly, mostly in mountaineering outfits of varying colors, carrying quite a bit of gear, looking every bit like a mountaineering team.
"Where are you all off to climb? Those matching jackets look pretty sharp," the owner joked.
Tong Yang said, "Just wandering around. This is more convenient."
Once they had warmed up a bit, the buns and congee were served.
They ordered a few other things, and after filling their stomachs, planned to rest a while before heading out again.
Tang Shuyan, probably exhausted, was already fast asleep with her head on the table.
Yesterday, they had rushed to Ningping Prefecture to administer the antidote to Tong Yang. While waiting for her to recover, the others rested and recuperated. Only Tang Shuyan refueled the helicopter, first delivered the antidote to Police Officer Lin, then took another dose back to the research base, and finally returned to pick them up and bring them back to the old district—barely any rest in between.
"You and Ye Huai find a place to rest. We can go on our own," Tong Yang suggested.
Tang Shuyan said, "I have no objections."
After the day-and-night reversal and the back-and-forth bumps, Ye Huai looked somewhat pale and weary.
It seemed that the conditioning from the previous period had allowed his body to hold up.
"Alright," Ye Huai nodded.
He was, after all, a bit of a sickly fellow. Pushing any further might really be too much.
After resting for about ten minutes, Tong Yang took them to a nearby hotel.
She no longer had a place to stay in the old district. Dongyang Residential Area, where she used to live, had officially begun its demolition plan not long after she left and was now mostly empty.
Once they checked into the hotel, there were still nearly three hours until 9:30 AM.
"Aren't you going home to take a look?" Tong Yang asked.
Chu Shiyu snorted, "You know perfectly well. After graduation, my parents started traveling the world. They were in Norway just a couple of days ago! They probably aren't back yet."
Xu Junyue asked curiously, "What do your parents do?"
"Investments."
"Wouldn't that keep them very busy?"
“Busy with what? They do it with my uncle-in-law. Now they're just hands-off partners, collecting dividends every year.”
"So they make money lying down?"
"Not exactly. They have other ventures too, so they're occasionally busy."
After a short rest, the three of them set off for the Third Middle School.
The rain grew heavier, pattering down on the ground. As the time approached 7:00 AM, the sky still showed no sign of brightening.
Tong Yang navigated the streets with ease—after all, this was a place she had lived for over a decade, filled with familiar sights and smells.
Arriving at the Third Middle School, she saw the familiar school gates. Due to the weekend, the security booth was empty, with only a small side gate left open.
Treading through the puddles on the ground, Tong Yang returned to the Third Middle School for the first time in months.
Stepping onto the steps inside the gate, she saw the red banner still hanging on the bulletin board, bearing the names Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu. Tong Yang's photo was pasted there, alongside a description of her hard work and struggle, meant to inspire other students of the Third Middle School.
The school lights were off, leaving everything in darkness.
The teachers at Third Middle School had separate dormitories, located diagonally across from the cafeteria.
Back in this familiar place, Chu Shiyu sighed, "So nostalgic. This is where Tong Yang and I first entered the parallel world."
"Huh?" Xu Junyue was surprised. "When was that?"
“During the two days of the college entrance examination, didn't we ever tell you?”
"No," Xu Junyue shook her head. "That parallel world is really damn it. Causing trouble during the college entrance examination, no wonder the boss holds such a grudge against them."
"Yeah, if it weren't for Tong Yang, we'd have died long ago."
"Were you two close back then?"
"Not really..." Chu Shiyu mumbled.
Tong Yang looked back at the two through the curtain of rain. "Because of that muscle idiot, she often gave me a hard time."
"Who says it was because of him!" Chu Shiyu's eyes widened. "I wasn't even close to him! I just handed him a cup of water during the sports meet!"
"When he confessed to you, I was just passing by! Passing by, you know? The very next day, the whole school was saying I got dumped because my love was unrequited. I was speechless too, okay!"
"Then why were you always picking on me? Were you really doing charity work?"
Chu Shiyu rolled her eyes. "I just thought you were strange. What do you mean 'really bullied you'? And every time they gave you a hard time, why did you only settle scores with me?"
"You had money," Tong Yang stated matter-of-factly. "If I settled scores with them, I probably couldn't even get fifty bucks out of them."
Xu Junyue said, "Your high school life sounds really interesting. Not like mine—either fighting or on the way to a fight."
Reaching the foot of the teachers' dormitory building, Tong Yang stopped and looked up.
All the lights upstairs were off; at this hour, people were still resting.
"Do you know which room Teacher Pan is in?"
"Yeah, I know."
Pan Yu was her teacher from junior high, the one who had wanted to adopt Tong Yang back then.
She was in her forties, her family home was in the new district, and the commute was too long, so she lived in the teachers' dorm, only going back occasionally on holidays. There was a period when Tong Yang often went to her room to study.
Checking the time—not yet 7:30 AM—the things from the parallel world wouldn't appear until at least after 9:30.
Tong Yang did not want to alert the enemy, planning to act only after the people from the parallel world appeared, ensuring they could be captured or killed, preventing them from having the chance to inject others with the flawed serum, thereby stopping the virus from spreading further.
"Let's wait in the hallway first."
Not knowing where those things would appear, Tong Yang also didn't want to disturb Teacher Pan's normal life because of this.
Teacher Pan's dorm room was the first room on the right side of the fourth-floor hallway, making it easy to spot any abnormalities from the corridor.
The teacher dormitory only had four floors, with the rooftop above. Tong Yang and the other two sat on the stairs leading to the rooftop, where they wouldn't be discovered by others.
She took a blanket from her backpack, intending to rest on the spot for a while.
Tong Yang told them to rest assured, as she would keep watch.
After the virus flare-up, she had mostly been sleeping. Now, with the physical discomfort gone, she was in excellent spirits.
Entering the gossip group chat, Hu Yigou had @'ed her with a message.
[@Study to Earn Money Sister Tong, Police Officer Lin asked me to relay that you can ask her any questions you have]
Looking at the message, Tong Yang fell into thought.
Apart from the locations and times of the deaths of those killed by the parallel world in the incidents, Tong Yang hadn't asked about anything else.
In her view, before the time dislocation ended, nothing in the future was set in stone. Knowing too much could actually affect present judgment.
Like the deal with that old fox Wu Pingxue.
At least for now, Tong Yang considered it very necessary.
Moreover, there was a misconception that Tong Yang only figured out later.
In the original 2026 timeline, no cure was developed, and she betrayed the real world. However, through cooperation with Wu Pingxue, they had already successfully obtained the cure. Replicating it shouldn't be difficult, certainly not requiring two years.
That is to say, in the current timeline, a virus cure would definitely be developed by 2026, changing what happened in the original timeline.
Yet, obtaining the virus was related to her cooperation with Wu Pingxue. The fact that no cure was developed in the original timeline suggests they did not cooperate then, meaning her reason for betraying the real world wasn't working for Wu Pingxue.
Perhaps there were other reasons.
Study to Earn Money: [I see, thanks]
After replying, Tong Yang clicked into the conversation with her academic advisor, telling her about her plan to self-study and take the exams at an irregular schedule.
Actually, there was another important reason why Tong Yang chose to cooperate with Wu Pingxue.
The time dislocation was shortening, and the difference in the flow of time between the two worlds was continuously increasing.
Tong Yang had calculated the frequency of this increase. If it continued like this, by 2028, Tong Yang's time would catch up with the others in the gossip group—assuming the rate of increase remained constant. If the time flow difference accelerated, the time dislocation might disappear even earlier.
They were about to enter 2025. Tong Yang's time-loop ability could last at most three more years. If the parallel world issue couldn't be resolved within that period, things would spiral out of control.
Tong Yang looked at her phone for a while as time ticked by.
The sky gradually brightened, with rain pouring down. The school was nearly deserted, and the teacher dormitory was also mostly silent.
Chu Shiyu and Xu Junyue huddled together, sleeping uncomfortably.
The rain pounding on the eaves was incredibly noisy. If one listened carefully, the sound of a running faucet could also be heard.
Tong Yang checked the time: 9:10 AM. Only twenty-one minutes left until the time of death from the previous corpses.
Tong Yang woke the other two and told them to get ready.
Based on the previous two experiences, people from the parallel world most likely wouldn't act alone.
"What time is it?"
"Nine-eleven."
"That fast?"
"Yeah."
They put away the blanket, took their weapons, and left their backpacks in the corner to avoid being cumbersome.
Before coming, Police Officer Lin had given them the handguns they carried in the First District, with the instruction not to fire unless absolutely necessary.
"Be careful," Tong Yang cautioned.
She felt that those participating in this incident and entering the real world were not ordinary people.
Worried they might come up from the other staircase, Tong Yang put on an earpiece, connected a call with Chu Shiyu and the other, then went alone across the corridor to the other staircase, hiding in the corner of the stairs leading to the rooftop.
Rainwater dripped from the windowsill, wetting the floor.
"Drip—"
"Drip—"
The time had passed 9:30.
"Thud—"
"Thud—"
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Tong Yang held her breath and walked to the railing to look down.
Through the gaps between the stairs, a person holding a red umbrella walked in.
The umbrella blocked their body from view; nothing could be seen.
"They're here," Tong Yang whispered.
"We can't rule out the possibility it's an ordinary person. Proceed with caution."
The school only had one teacher dormitory building. Tong Yang needed to confirm before acting.
"Tong Yang, there's someone on our side too," Chu Shiyu's hushed voice came through the earpiece.
They really didn't act alone.
"Be careful."
"You too."
"Knock knock—"
After entering the dorm building, the person didn't put away the umbrella and knocked on a first-floor dorm room door.
"Tong Yang, they're knocking. What do we do?"
Tong Yang softened her breathing. "Don't act rashly."
Without intervention, the person who died in the original timeline was Teacher Pan. As long as they did nothing before the intruders reached the fourth floor, others shouldn't be drawn in.
Not long after the knocking started, silence fell in the dorm building. No one opened the door.
Then, a corner of a red umbrella flashed through the gaps in the stairs as they moved to the next dorm room.
"Knock knock—"
The person stepped through the puddles on the floor, leaving footprints.
Tong Yang was at the fifth-floor stair landing and couldn't see clearly.
"Knock knock—"
"Who is it?"
Suddenly, a voice rang out, making all three of their hearts leap into their throats.
"Knock knock—"
The person didn't speak, just kept knocking.
"Who is it? Say something."
"Knock knock—"
The response was still knocking.
"Who are you? I'll call the police if you keep knocking!"
The knocking paused for a moment, followed by footsteps moving to the next room.
That teacher, being alert, didn't open the door and avoided disaster.
But not everyone had such high vigilance.
Soon after, the person with the red umbrella returned to the stairwell and slowly began ascending the stairs from the first floor.
Finally, as they passed the landing, Tong Yang caught a glimpse of their body.
It was a man.
In his right hand, hanging by his side, he held a snow-white short knife.
"Knock knock—"
"Knock knock—"
"Tong Yang, they're on the next floor up."
"Same here."
Not many teachers stayed at school during the break. Apart from the highly vigilant teacher, no one else made a sound.
The successive knocking sounds, like a rapid heartbeat, combined with the rain, created an inexplicable tension.
Tong Yang seemed to think of something. She silently entered the corridor and looked at the locks on the dorm room doors.
The doors of the Third Middle School teacher dormitory mostly used padlocks. Tong Yang asked, "Xu Junyue, can you pick locks?"
Xu Junyue asked, "What kind of lock?"
"Padlocks."
"This isn't too difficult."
Tong Yang tried using the tip of her knife to unscrew the bolts beside the door, finding they quickly loosened. She said, "Xu Junyue, open the door to the dorm room next to Teacher Pan's. If you can't open it, unscrew the bolts. Wait for them to come knocking."
"They probably have weapons. Be careful."
"Chu Shiyu, you should know Teacher Pan. I'll send you her number. Find a way to get her to open the door and stay inside, to prevent a third person from getting in through the window."
Even though Teacher Pan's dorm was on the fourth floor, there was no guarantee those guys from the parallel world wouldn't find another way in.
"Okay."
"Be careful."
Tong Yang unscrewed several bolts, removed the metal plate covering the lock, and opened the door. The room was empty.
At this very moment, the people from the parallel world were still on the first floor.
Slipping smoothly into the room, Tong Yang replaced the lock plate and gently closed the door.
"I got it open," Xu Junyue whispered.
"Good, hide inside."
The rooms they hid in were both before Teacher Pan's dorm. Whichever group came up from either staircase would have to pass their rooms first.
Chu Shiyu called Pan Yu, identified herself, and after a brief exchange, the other woman opened the door and let her in.
"Tong Yang, I'm inside now,"
Chu Shiyu said.
"Okay."
"Tong Yang? She's back too?" Pan Yu's voice held a laugh. "Wasn't she at university? What brought her back suddenly?"
Chu Shiyu explained, "Teacher Pan, she came back for some business."
Pan Yu chuckled and said, "That child Tong Yang has really made something of herself. You're at the same university, right? Tell me how she's been lately."
"Sure."
After graduating from middle school, being in different buildings, Tong Yang didn't see her often. Before leaving for the capital after high school graduation, she had made a special trip to see Teacher Pan.
She thought she might never come back, so she wanted to say a proper goodbye.
If she hadn't connected with Police Officer Lin from 2026, Teacher Pan would have died at the hands of the parallel world, turning into one of those monsters after death.
Listening to the conversation in her earphones, Tong Yang leaned against the door, her feelings complicated.
"Tong Yang's personality is much better than before. Did you know? She used to be very extreme, very aggressive, like a little wolf cub. Because she didn't want to be bullied, she was covered in thorns, got into plenty of fights with classmates. When I first met her... at the start of seventh grade? Such a small child, going to school during the day, helping at the convenience store at night to earn money, and taking care of her little brother. How old was Tong Le back then?"
"Fortunately, Tong Le was easygoing, never gave Tong Yang any trouble, did whatever he was told, obedient as could be."
Chu Shiyu asked curiously, "What happened later? When I met Tong Yang, she just seemed a bit withdrawn."
Pan Yu said with a smile, "They were all still young back then. Classmates ostracized her, isolated her. Every day after school, I'd have her come stay with me. Gradually, her temperament softened a bit. Things got better in high school; classmates were willing to accept her. But then she went and isolated the entire class by herself!"
At this point, Pan Yu sighed. "I really wanted to adopt her back then."
"Unfortunately, I didn't have the means to adopt two children, and I couldn't possibly separate them."
"She's done well for herself now, got into Peking University, become the pride of our entire old neighborhood! Her future is bound to get better and better!"
Teacher Pan was genuinely happy for her.
Tong Yang leaned against the door, straining to pinpoint the location of the knocking. It had reached the third floor, not far from the fourth.
She didn't find the chatter in her earphones distracting or hindering her from listening for important clues.
She remembered her former life, the one she had been desperate to escape at all costs.
Now she had done it, completely left behind that life like a rat in a filthy gutter.
Even though it was painful to recall, there had been moments of respite too.
Teacher Pan in the original timeline would surely be heartbroken upon hearing news of her death.
"They'll be on the fourth floor soon," Tong Yang reminded.
Xu Junyue responded, "Got it."
Footsteps, neither hurried nor slow, ascended the stairs to the fourth floor.
A raindrop slid down a rib of an umbrella with a soft "drip."
The sound of wet soles on dusty floorboards was faintly sticky.
"Knock, knock—"
The knocking came from Tong Yang's left, very close.
Tong Yang pressed her back tightly against the door, removed her earphones to listen to the sounds outside.
At the same time, from the other staircase of the teacher's dormitory building, a woman emerged and knocked on the door closest to the stairwell—the room where Xu Junyue was hiding.
Confirming the footsteps outside were heading her way, Tong Yang put her earphones back on, gripped the doorknob, tightened her hold on her weapon, and prepared to ambush.
"Knock, knock—"
The sound and vibration transmitted through the door to Tong Yang.
She held her breath, not opening the door.
"Go to hell!" Xu Junyue cursed loudly, acting a bit more impatiently than Tong Yang.
Immediately after, sounds of a struggle echoed in the corridor.
Tong Yang frowned. "Be careful."
The person outside her door seemed unaffected. After pausing briefly in front of it, they turned and headed towards another door.
One step, two steps...
The distance between dorm rooms was about four steps for an average adult.
In that instant, Tong Yang pulled the door open and lunged out.
A man holding a red umbrella stood with his back to her. Tong Yang, holding her knife in a reverse grip, swiftly aimed for his throat.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, the man turned his head to look at her.
Tong Yang's blade was already there. The man tilted the umbrella surface behind him, blocking her view for a moment as he retracted the shaft, thrusting the umbrella's tip towards Tong Yang's chest.
Tong Yang had no choice but to retreat two steps to dodge, raising her hands into a defensive stance as she watched the man.
The people from the parallel world involved in this incident were indeed different from those Tong Yang had encountered before. Her move just now had been very fast, and it was a sneak attack from behind. An ordinary person would have had their throat slit by now.
"Tong... Yang?"
The man had an unfamiliar face, his expression eerily mechanical. The umbrella tip pointed at the ground as he slowly, calmly uttered her name.
"It seems I'm quite a notable figure in the parallel world," Tong Yang sneered.
Looking past the man, she saw the other end of the corridor where Xu Junyue was locked in a fierce struggle with a woman.
The woman had Xu Junyue pinned, tearing at her hair. Xu Junyue arched her back, using the chance to wrap her legs around the woman's neck, reaching for the weapon that had fallen on the floor.
The woman reacted swiftly, grabbing the weapon before her and stabbing towards Xu Junyue's face.
"Damn it!"
Xu Junyue immediately released the woman, rolling away to dodge.
"Don't you know you shouldn't aim for the face?"
She kicked at the woman's ankle, flipped over, grabbed her hair, and slammed her head towards the floor. The woman stabbed backwards with the knife, but Xu Junyue dodged nimbly and let go.
The two were locked in a stalemate, neither gaining the upper hand, both bearing various minor injuries.
"How did you know we would be here?" The man showed no urgency to attack Tong Yang, asking calmly.
"You guess," Tong Yang said.
"Why haven't you been infected by the virus?"
"You guess."
Tong Yang wouldn't answer his questions. The man faced her directly, showing no openings, no weaknesses.
Uncertain of this man's skills, Tong Yang couldn't act recklessly. She would use the gun only if absolutely necessary.
"It doesn't make sense."
The man tilted his head, his eyes wide. "Why aren't you infected with the virus?"
"Impossible."
"Why... why..."
"You look like you really want to know. I could tell you."
The man paused, then said, "Please tell me."
"Show a little more sincerity."
"Sincerity?"
The man seemed not to understand the meaning of the word.
Tong Yang kindly explained, "It means, you beg me."
"I beg you," the man said without hesitation.
Tong Yang sneered, "Begging while standing won't do. You have to kneel."
The man stared straight at Tong Yang, trying hard to comprehend her words.
A moment later, the man bent over, bent his knees, and slowly knelt down.
Tong Yang stared at him, narrowing her eyes.
People from the parallel world are all lunatics.
"She won't tell you, can't you see that?" the woman grappling with Xu Junyue shouted.
"Huh?" Xu Junyue gripped the woman's neck. "You still have energy to mind others while fighting me? Are you looking down on me?"
The woman seized her hand, baring her teeth as she cursed, "What do you think you are?"
"I'm your mother!"
"You won't tell me?" The man's face was blank.
"No."
"Why?"
"You guess."
The man straightened up, spitting out a few cold, sharp words: "Then please die."
"I refuse."
The man's eyes bulged, as if enraged. He flung away the red umbrella in his hand and strode quickly toward her.
Tong Yang was prepared. She pushed off the wall, using the force to leap up, launching a flying kick at his head.
"Thud—"
Tong Yang used considerable force. The man's head snapped to the side from the kick, a trickle of blood sliding from his nostril.
His expression numb, he grabbed Tong Yang's leg and slammed her toward the ground.
Tong Yang couldn't dodge in time. Her back slammed violently against the floor, nearly causing her to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Gritting her teeth, she swallowed back the metallic taste in her throat. Before she could stand up, the man's foot came stomping down.
Tong Yang swiftly rolled away, her blade slicing across the man's calf, leaving a bright red mark.
The man, seemingly feeling no pain, immediately pursued her.
Tong Yang, agile, pressed against the base of the wall and quickly stood up. She pulled a dagger hidden in her sleeve and threw it at the man.
With a thwip, the dagger embedded itself in the man's shoulder, blood oozing out.
Seizing the chance, Tong Yang snatched up the red umbrella from the ground and thrust it hard toward the man's chest.
The man abruptly quickened his pace, grabbed the umbrella ribs, and crushed them with brute force, wrenching the umbrella from Tong Yang's grasp. He pulled out a metal rod from it, gripping it in his palm.
Tong Yang delivered another flying kick, sending the man stumbling backward several steps, but he still didn't give up, stubbornly closing in on her.
This couldn't go on.
After several exchanges, Tong Yang had fully grasped how strong the man was. Maintaining the status quo would lead to her stamina giving out first.
Against ordinary people, her skills were passable, but in a straightforward one-on-one fight, she probably couldn't even beat Xu Junyue.
Moreover, Tong Yang's consistent philosophy was to achieve the greatest result at the smallest cost.
She needed to think of a way.
"Wait, I'll tell you."
The man's movements halted. "What?"
Seeing him stop, Tong Yang let out a sigh of relief. Leaning against the wall, she adjusted her breathing and pulled down the zipper of her windbreaker.
"I was poisoned."
The man tilted his head. "Doesn't look like it."
"But I injected the antidote."
"Impossible. You couldn't have developed an antidote this quickly."
Tong Yang spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. Her back burned with pain. "I didn't say it was developed."
"Wha...t."
Tong Yang wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. "I got it from Wu Pingxue."
"Wu Pingxue... Wu Pingxue..." the man murmured.
"He really did betray the parallel world."
Tong Yang said, "I don't know about that."
"Actually, me knowing you'd be here today is also related to him."
The man's eyes bulged. "Damn traitor."
Tong Yang fished the phone from her pocket and tossed it to him. "Take a look. There's something Wu Pingxue wanted to say on it."
The man caught the phone, suspecting nothing, muttering the word "traitor" under his breath as he lowered his head and opened the phone.
Unlocking it, the screen showed a call interface.
Just as he felt puzzled, a shadow fell over him.
He instinctively looked up, only to be met by a rush of wind. A figure leaped into the air, driving a knee hard into his jaw.
"Pfft—"
The man spat out a mouthful of blood, his head spinning, his body losing balance as he toppled toward the ground.
Before he hit the floor, Tong Yang snatched back the phone and returned it to her pocket.
"Idiot." Tong Yang stood over him, delivering a fierce kick to his temple.
The man vomited blood, his consciousness blurry, his eyes gazing dazedly at Tong Yang.
Tong Yang pulled the dagger from his body and plunged it into his throat. Observing the wound, she saw it was already healing.
These guys had probably all been injected with that inferior gene serum.
"Whoa? Boss, you finished that fast?" Xu Junyue glanced in their direction during a lull in her fight, surprised to see the man already down.
Xu Junyue had been planning to finish off the woman quickly to go help.
Tong Yang said, "Be careful. They've been injected with gene serum."
"Got it."
Tong Yang slit the man's throat and jammed the broken umbrella into the wound to slow down the healing process.
"Need help?" Tong Yang asked.
"Nope."
"Good."
Tong Yang sat down leaning against the wall, dragging the man's body in front of her.
The man wasn't dead yet. His lips moved with difficulty, as if trying to say something.
Tong Yang's back had hit the ground hard earlier, the pain intense. Fortunately, she had protected her head in time, or she'd be dead.
While searching the man's body for vials of the defective injection, she simultaneously created more wounds on him to prevent him from regaining mobility.
"Smack—" Xu Junyue, having expended tremendous effort, finally pinned the woman beneath her and slapped her hard.
"That hurt, you idiot," Xu Junyue cursed.
She had suffered quite a few injuries herself; it wasn't a clean victory.
"Don't drag it out. If you can't kill her, disable her first."
"Got it."
Xu Junyue stabbed her knife into the woman's neck, opened the hallway fire hydrant cabinet, took out a fire extinguisher, and proceeded to bash the woman's head with a series of clanging blows until it was a bloody mess. Still not satisfied, she stomped on it a few more times.
"Check her body for vials of the defective injection."
"Okay."
Tong Yang found several syringes on the man's body containing a clear liquid, likely the defective injection.
Xu Junyue said, "I found a few syringes."
"That should be it."
Though they had won, both were exhausted, sitting on the floor catching their breath. The hallway fell quiet again.
"Chu Shiyu, what's the situation on your end?" Tong Yang asked.
Chu Shiyu replied, "You're finished? Everything's fine here."
"But Teacher Pan heard the commotion outside and found out from the teachers' group chat that some teachers heard knocking and have already called the police."
"The police might arrive any minute now."
Tong Yang was taken aback for a moment. She looked at the chaotic state of the corridor and said, "I'll hang up first."
The police in the old city district certainly wouldn't know about the parallel world. It would be terrible if she were mistaken for a murderer.
Tong Yang scrolled through her phone's contact list, found a number, and dialed it.
The phone rang a few times before being answered.
"Hello." A man's steady voice came through.
"Hello, Uncle. This is Tong Yang."
"Tong Yang?"
"You said I could trust you. Does that still stand?"
The man on the other end of the line was the old police officer who had given Tong Yang his phone number after the Nameless Slope incident.
The old officer's tone was serious. "It stands."
"Where are you? What have you done?"
"I'm in the teacher's dormitory building at Third Middle School. I've encountered a tricky situation. I hear the police are already on their way. I hope you can ask them not to come up for now."
The old officer said, "The bureau has received the message. The local police will cooperate with your actions as much as possible. All matters related to you are now being handled by the military."
Tong Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Mr. Du must have made arrangements in advance.
In that case, things became much easier.
"Uncle, could you please have them come over? Make sure no one else enters."
The old officer said, "Alright, I understand."
"Thank you."
After hanging up, Tong Yang leaned against the wall, let out a relieved sigh, and reconnected the call with Chu Shiyu and the others.
"Chu Shiyu, you and Teacher Pan stay hidden inside. Don't come out."
"Okay, I understand."
Ten minutes later, several men dressed in ordinary clothes, yet with a demeanor completely different from regular people, came upstairs.
The secrecy of this operation was extremely high. To avoid drawing attention, the military personnel were not in uniform.
The leading man had hawk-like eyes. He swept his gaze over the chaotic corridor without changing expression, finally fixing his eyes on Tong Yang.
"Tong Yang?"
"Yes."
Tong Yang said, "Arrest them and clean up the scene."
"Understood."
The man asked no further questions and instructed his subordinates to proceed accordingly.
Tong Yang stood up from the floor and said, "Their wounds can heal. You absolutely must not let them regain mobility. Then, contact Mr. Du to have them taken away."
"Alright."
"Are you injured?" The man, seeing her move with difficulty, stepped forward to support her.
"I'm fine."
The two walked over to Xu Junyue.
"Are you okay?"
Xu Junyue pushed herself up from the wall and shook her head. "No major issue."
"Boss, I noticed these two bastards are different from the people we've encountered before."
Tong Yang nodded. "Indeed they are different. We'll probably encounter more people like them in the future."
Xu Junyue shrugged. "A bit more troublesome, but a little more interesting than before."
Tong Yang looked at the bruises and bloodstains on Xu Junyue's face and body and rolled her eyes. "So interesting."
"Well, it is interesting."
The man looked at them and said gravely, "You've worked hard. We'll cooperate with you as much as possible on any matters."
Tong Yang said, "This place should be safe for now. Please contact Mr. Du and have these medications sent along with these two individuals."
"Alright."
After securing the two individuals from the parallel world and cleaning the blood from the corridor, the officer said they would explain things to the school administration and teachers, and that all surveillance footage would be taken away, putting their minds at ease.
Once everything was settled, Tong Yang called the people from "Spider."
Tong Yang and her group were heading to the old city district of Yaocheng, while they were going to another death location in Haicheng.
Before parting ways, they exchanged contact information for easier communication.
"How are things on your end?"
The one answering the phone was the boy with the tiger-tooth smile. "Three people, handled easily. What about you?"
Tong Yang said, "Handled."
"Not easy? I thought they were pretty useless."
Tong Yang gave a cold laugh. "Easy."
With that, she hung up.
"All settled?" Xu Junyue asked.
Tong Yang moved her shoulder. "Yeah, settled."
The third cycle of magnetic field energy was resolved.
This time, no one was injected with defective products.
Tong Yang walked to the dormitory door and knocked.
"Who is it?" Pan Yu asked warily.
"Teacher Pan, it's me, Tong Yang."
"Tong Yang? It really is you!"
The dormitory door was pulled open. The woman looked at her, overjoyed.
"What happened? You're so dirty."
"Nothing, I just fell on the way here."
"The teachers' chat group said someone's been knocking on doors. Did you see who it was?"
"I did. Looked like a few thieves. The police have already taken them away."
"That's good."
...
By the time they left Third Middle School, it was almost eleven o'clock.
After a brief rest, they would head to the next location.
Tracking the people from the parallel world who entered each cycle was a task divided between their group and the remaining members of "Spider," with assistance from the police and military.
Because they were all people who understood the inside story.
To prevent future changes, Tong Yang planned to return to the hotel and get more information from the future Police Officer Lin.
"I'm so hungry."
"Me too."
The heavy rain was still falling. The three of them were starving.
The streets were mostly empty, with accumulated water almost covering the soles of their shoes. Passing by a clinic, Tong Yang took Xu Junyue inside to treat her wounds. Fortunately, neither of them was seriously injured.
While getting her wounds treated, Tong Yang suddenly received a message from Meng Xiao: "1."
She knew what it meant and called immediately.
"Is something wrong?" Tong Yang asked.
Meng Xiao said, "Be careful lately."
"They've collaborated with people from the black market in the real world to take your life."
"And they've already provided your location."
