Rewind, triggered.
With intense astonishment, the entire world before his eyes trembled, turning into a black and white negative.
His consciousness went blank, as if it flew out of his body.
This was the phenomenon of "Rewind."
Zhang Shutong was all too familiar with it. When his consciousness returned, although his body had not regained sensation, his mind buzzed, and an alarm bell went off in an instant.
Someone was going to kill him!
He couldn't even stop to think about the reason for the Rewind. The time jump points are often very close, especially for a sudden attack.
Was it a few seconds ago? Or a few minutes?
Would he be back at the body of water called the Forbidden Zone, or on his way there, or had someone already been watching him at the hotel?
He tried to calm his breathing and quickly thought of a countermeasure.
He had to save himself first.
He rehearsed the next scene in his mind, and even had different contingency plans. Sensation finally returned. He took a deep breath, his hands and feet moved subconsciously, and then he suddenly opened his eyes—
But...
Where was this place?
The world in front of him did not match any of his imagined answers. That dark winter night had already gone far away;
He seemed to be in a classroom.
Scene after scene of unfamiliar sights came into view:
In front of him was a blackboard, from the corner of his eye he could see children in school uniforms, in front of him was a desk painted in black, and on the open workbook...
The surroundings were quiet, with only the rustling sound of a pen moving across paper.
Not a single thing was related to the attack... No, it should be said, related to his current situation.
Looking down again, even these hands weren't his own. They were a bit smaller, a bit whiter, and were holding a pen.
But the faint white mark on the web of his thumb was very familiar, a scar left from his childhood.
A certain guess suddenly surged in his chest.
Zhang Shutong turned his head in disbelief, and finally his gaze fixed on the electronic calendar at the back of the classroom.
The red pixels showed the current time:
December 5, 2012, Wednesday.
He... had actually returned to eight years ago!
...
It was probably a few minutes, or maybe longer. He didn't count the specific time. Maybe it was after his heart had thumped a few hundred times that Zhang Shutong slowly exhaled and confirmed the reality in front of him.
He had really come back.
Different from being reborn, it was by relying on the ability of Rewind, crossing eight years in one go.
He had also figured out the current time. He had used his fingers to confirm several times. It was the first semester of the fourth year of junior high.
It wasn't that he was bad at math. His life over the years had made him almost lose track of time;
When a specific year was brought up, he could at most vaguely remember what he was doing, such as being in junior high, but as for which grade he was in, he would have to think back carefully.
And the current situation:
This was probably a self-study class, so everyone around him was quietly doing their homework.
His deskmate looked unfamiliar, he couldn't remember the name. He wasn't the kind of person who would ask questions, and he preferred to think for himself when something unexpected happened.
What was most familiar was the workbook spread out in front of him. He flipped through it twice. It was an English one, with a blue cover, with "Five Years of High School Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulated Exams" written on it. He really couldn't forget it even if he wanted to.
He turned his head to look outside again. Through the iron barred windows, he could see the ground outside the academic building;
It probably snowed on this day eight years ago. The red was the plastic track field, and a ring of white snow covered the surroundings.
This was really not good weather. The clouds were very low and the light was dim. The lights in the classroom were all on, which was the only thing that was similar to eight years later.
But along with it came more questions:
Why did Rewind happen?
Why was it eight years ago?
And who wanted to kill him?
There was one more thing that was more concerning than all of these, even more than his own death—
Did he still have the ability of "Rewind"?
It was the first semester of the fourth year of junior high now. That accident happened in the summer vacation after the high school entrance exam.
He felt a subtle excitement as he remembered a famous paradox:
If a person travels through time and kills his grandfather before he is married and has children, the question is, can this person succeed?
Zhang Shutong didn't care whether his grandfather died or not. Anyway, he was back, which meant—
If he never went to that temple again and avoided that accident, he would have a normal life.
A normal life, the possibility of starting over...
This was a thought that had been buried in his heart for many years but he had never dared to hope for, and at this moment, it became a reality.
He pressed his lips together hard, but the smile at the corner of his mouth was uncontrollable and gradually widened. He simply buried his face in his arms, trying not to make a sound, but his body trembled slightly.
He thought that the sixteen-year-old Zhang Shutong would have sprinted out of the classroom, rushed to the rooftop, and released his uncontainable joy in the place closest to the sky;
But the twenty-four-year-old him just wanted to sit quietly in his seat, relishing the excitement of this moment, and recalling the face of his sixteen-year-old self.
Although there was no mirror nearby, he could still remember what he looked like then: a head of hair that was never tamed, a still-immature face, a straight nose bridge and clear lip line, and eyes that always had a bright sparkle.
He used to think that the future had countless possibilities. Although after many years he found that he had been walking in one direction from beginning to end, he had finally returned to the starting point, hadn't he?
He also remembered a passage, he forgot the source:
"A person, in the summer when he was thirteen or fourteen, picked up a real gun. Because he was young and ignorant, he pulled the trigger. No one died, and no one was hurt. He thought he had fired a blank. Later, when he was thirty or older, he was walking on the road and heard a faint sound of wind behind him. He stopped, turned around, and the bullet hit him right between the eyebrows."
A bullet from eight years ago hit him right between the eyebrows.
Zhang Shutong was truly grateful for this bullet.
After he had composed himself and looked up again, everything in front of him seemed lovely:
The oversized school uniform jacket was a symbol of youth, there was a puddle of clear water in the center of the snow-covered field, and even the "Five Years of High School Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulated Exams" spread out on the desk...
Okay, he looked at it twice and found that it was still not lovely.
Zhang Shutong had not experienced a small number of things, so after the initial excitement, he quickly calmed down.
Although he really wanted to enjoy his second chance at life without a care in the world, there were some things he had to figure out.
For example, what exactly was going on with this strange Rewind.
After thinking for a moment, he pretty much had a clue.
It was a known fact that he had been killed.
The trigger condition was that "something bad happened around you."
He had always thought that the ability could not affect himself.
But now he found that maybe it was just not a high enough degree.
Being injured, being in a bad mood... psychological or physical problems, were far from meeting the standard. Only his own death could trigger Rewind.
Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong didn't know what to say.
He hadn't died all these years, so he didn't discover that the ability had another use. He felt quite sorry about that.
The second question was thus easily solved:
Every time the time jumps, it returns to a critical point before the incident.
This means that his death can be traced back to eight years ago?
There was still some phantom pain in the back of his neck. The other party's move was both precise and ruthless, basically aimed straight at him.
But the time gap was too great, and even if he wanted to do something, he was at a loss.
Today was December 5th, and he died on December 12th, eight years later. To be precise, he had returned to eight years and eight days ago.
He couldn't help but be sensitive about this date.
"It has already spread everywhere. Now it's not a question of whether you know or not, but which version you believe..."
The conversation from a few hours ago was still in his ears, and a very absurd guess surfaced in his mind—
Could it be that he was silenced?
Zhang Shutong's mood was complicated.
He didn't like to make deductions on a whim, but if he took Du Kang's words seriously, everything would fall into place.
Assuming the killer killed that missing girl eight years ago;
For some reason, they then went after Lu Qinglian eight years later;
And then, the other party believed a few absurd rumors, such as Lu Qinglian relaying information about the killer, which was being spread around by a bunch of people as if it were true, and finally, they targeted him.
It seemed that only this could explain why he had returned to the point where the case had not yet occurred eight years ago.
He tore off a piece of scrap paper and wrote down his own name first, then filled in Lu Qinglian, and finally, the name of the deceased girl. He thought for a moment, and it seemed her name was Gu Qiumian.
He also drew some symbols, which served as aids to straighten out his thoughts. Only he could understand them, like a suspect relationship map in a case.
He connected the three names, forming a triangle. Zhang Shutong stared at the triangle for a while, thinking how unjustly he had died.
It is a well-known fact that a triangle is the most stable structure, so stable that his death was inevitable. The three of them were like grasshoppers on the same rope.
However, at least the result was good. He had a chance to live again and a chance to prevent two murder cases.
Thinking of this, he subconsciously looked for those two figures.
He couldn't find Lu Qinglian. There was an empty seat in the class, maybe she had gone out.
But he did find the other one. The beautiful girl named Gu Qiumian was sitting by the window, with medium-length hair and an oval face, wearing a thick scarf;
Her school uniform was draped over the back of her chair, and she was wearing a beige plaid sweater. The sweater was not a showy style, but on her, it looked so exquisite that it seemed out of place with the surroundings.
So much so that Zhang Shutong couldn't tell if she was cold or not.
If she was cold, she should have put on her jacket, and if she wasn't cold, why was she wearing a scarf?
Zhang Shutong couldn't remember her face anymore, but he could spot her at a glance, not only because she was beautiful but also because she was so conspicuous.
Everyone else was in self-study. She was idly breathing on the window, and her fingertips danced, drawing a bunch of messy lines. Anyway, after she finished drawing, Zhang Shutong couldn't tell what it was, a ghost face?
She was the only one in the entire classroom who wasn't doing her work... and maybe he should add himself, just the two of them.
Staring at the ghost face, he recalled more things.
Just as the girl's beautiful face and the ghost face she drew were not of the same style, Gu Qiumian was never of the same style as them, her classmates.
Qiumian, Qiumian. Literally, it means 'continuous autumn rain.' But she never had a gentle personality. On the contrary, she was more like a freezing rain at the turn of winter and spring;
She was fine when she was in a good mood, but if someone provoked her, they would be hit by ice-cold, biting rain.
Zhang Shutong knew that the term "young miss" was a bit far from this remote island, but in fact, she was indeed one.
Gu Qiumian's father was a wealthy businessman, one of the first people to get rich after the reform and opening up.
Mr. Gu's business was spread out wide, if not all over the country, at least it was well-known in the province;
He had originally developed in the neighboring provincial capital, and perhaps after he had achieved success in his life, he felt lonely and took a fancy to this small island. He was very optimistic about its potential to become a 5A scenic spot and was prepared to start from scratch.
When Zhang Shutong was in school, he heard that the resort and shopping mall to be built on the island were probably all Mr. Gu's work.
Even within the school campus, he could see traces of Mr. Gu:
If he went to the administrative building, on the long corridor, he would find the most prominent thing was a huge framed photo of him as an "outstanding alumnus";
Although her father had never attended a single day of school here, since the only plastic track field in the school was donated by him, that was that.
And if he went to the library—it was said that a school of their size had no business with a library. Next to the imposing gate was a string of gilded words, "Sincere thanks to Mr. Gu Jianhong for his generous donation."
The library was also named "Jianhong Hall" for this reason.
If not for the shortage of student enrollment, there would probably have been another "Jianhong Building."
And because his precious daughter was going to school here, he probably didn't want to be too flashy, so unfortunately, he didn't get to see a "Jianhong Statue" at the school gate.
As for meeting Gu Qiumian herself, it was on the first day she transferred.
That day, Zhang Shutong was riding his new bicycle, passing through the students who were walking, and saw a black sedan blocking the school gate;
Then the car door opened, and two pairs of round-toed small leather shoes came out. A girl got out, wearing a red and black plaid short skirt, and proudly flicked her hair, a pendant hanging from the end of her hair bouncing up and down.
As a child, he didn't know about cars, he only knew that the sedan had a very high-quality paint job. Of course, he still didn't understand cars now. His past experiences basically put an end to him getting a driver's license, but at least he knew that the one with four rings was an Audi.
At the time, he followed Gu Qiumian into the same classroom;
The girl first scanned the students around her with a scrutinizing gaze and then asked him who the class leader was.
He calmly replied that he didn't know either. The other party probably felt that he was not giving her face, and she stopped taking things out of her backpack and glared at him with her lively and beautiful eyes.
Only then did Zhang Shutong realize that they were both transfer students, and they had transferred on the same day;
That day, Miss Gu brought a whole backpack full of chocolates, intending to "tame the Pokémon."
That's right, in her eyes, everyone in the class was a Pokémon.
Later, the chocolates were handed out, but unfortunately, the effect was not very good. In the end, she didn't fit into any group and was met with a snub.
Gu Qiumian thus began her new school life, and it was clear that she was very unhappy.
Zhang Shutong at most missed the McDonald's in the city, but Miss Gu had always had an unhappy time getting along with her Pokémon friends.
Actually, no one ostracized her at the beginning. It was mainly that the students on the small island had never seen such an arrogant girl. They were a little timid and a little insecure, and they didn't know how to get along with her.
But soon, things took a turn:
One day, a few girls finally gathered up their courage and brought a bag of chocolate coins to share with her.
She glanced at them, said "oh," and then said faintly, "no need. This is cocoa butter substitute. It tastes too bad. I never eat it. But if you want to eat, I can bring you some good ones."
The atmosphere froze like that, and the girls were so embarrassed that they felt ashamed beyond measure. Their self-esteem was shattered, not only because they were rejected but also because they had no idea what "cocoa butter substitute" was.
For girls of that age, if they were craving some "dessert," chocolate coins were the most cost-effective choice. They could get a big bag from a small convenience store for a little over ten yuan.
And their monthly allowance was only worth a few bags of that.
They thought it was a scene where the young lady looked down on the people from a small town. But to their surprise, the next day Gu Qiumian really did bring a bag of Godiva—a Belgian brand. At the time, Zhang Shutong didn't recognize it, but he had bought a box once when he was courting the senior girl in high school. It cost several hundred yuan, and his heart bled from the pain.
Just as the kids on the island were used to cocoa butter substitute chocolates;
Miss Gu probably thought it was too silly to carry a gift box to school, and she was also used to putting chocolates worth several hundred yuan in a white plastic bag;
Then she smiled nonchalantly, as if yesterday's awkwardness had never happened, and said:
"You all come and have a taste, this one is delicious. My dad buys it for me all the time."
But no one took it, treating her as if she was invisible. Her outstretched hand just stayed there.
Thinking about it now, she was a bit spoiled and didn't know how to get along with people, but it was more clumsy than anything.
The matter didn't end there:
How could Miss Gu stand for this kind of treatment? That day, it was Zhang Shutong's turn to be on duty after school. Just as he was about to finish, a girl suddenly crashed through the front door, startling him.
The girl's eyes were red, and she came up to him with a clenched fist, and threw a white plastic bag at him, asking if he wanted to eat chocolate.
At the time, he hesitated—the meaning of her words wasn't whether he wanted to eat them or not;
It was that the leader of the girls who had a conflict with her, unfortunately named Feng Ruoping, was a member of their small group.
Zhang Shutong had never been a person who would put a girl before his friends, let alone Ruoping had just thrown a tantrum in front of them the night before. So he hesitated for a few seconds and flatly refused.
Then the whole bag of chocolates was thrown into the trash can. Gu Qiumian walked out without looking back. Zhang Shutong naturally wouldn't do something as pathetic as picking them up and taking them home to eat, but he also felt it was a pity to throw them away. The matter ended up in the hands of the class teacher.
But after this incident, they completely became enemies, of course, it was a one-sided thing.
Maybe in Gu Qiumian's eyes, a "traitor" was more hateful than an "enemy";
Although Zhang Shutong had never understood how he had become a traitor, or rather, why she considered him to be on the same side as her.
Maybe it was because they both transferred from the city?
Thinking about it this way, compared to the other classmates, she did talk to him more.
But he had been completely oblivious to it back then. Rather than being slow-witted, his mind was completely not on such matters.
His favorite after-school activity was fishing, and his favorite in-class activity was figuring out how to catch a bigger fish.
This led to the fact that over the years, when people talked about him as a child—he did have some social interactions, for example, a few hours ago, when he chatted with Du Kang—he would often get a cool and aloof image from others' eyes, which always surprised Zhang Shutong.
Cool and aloof, was he?
During his school days, except for the two years when his state was at its worst, he didn't remember ever giving anyone a cold shoulder. It was just that sometimes he wasn't interested in the topic, felt there was nothing to say, and so he would proactively shut up.
Anyway, that's how it was. He didn't think he was that aloof back then, so he didn't care about being seen as a "traitor" by Gu Qiumian. But he also wasn't going to go out of his way to get a cold shoulder.
However, another thing happened later. They had a more serious conflict. He forgot the specific reason. Anyway, it made him very angry back then, and from then on, they never spoke again.
And just when he had pretty much calmed down;
Then she was killed.
Gu Qiumian never made a decent friend in the end.
Zhang Shutong was thinking about this with a hint of sorrow, when a girl wearing glasses walked to the podium.
She cleared her throat:
"Don't forget to change seats during the break. Students who haven't packed up, hurry up."