Ji Chu didn't dare move, his nails nearly digging into his flesh, unable to regain clarity.
He even imagined her body heat. Warm and vivid, transferring distinctly to his body.
Jiang Yan hugged him for quite a while before letting go, mumbling, "I opened my eyes and found myself here. I didn't even know whose car this was. Thank goodness it's you! I was so scared!"
Ji Chu looked at her for a moment, as if discovering something impossible. After a long pause, convinced he was deeply ill, he both accepted it and stroked her hair, muttering to himself, "It can even speak."
"Are you alright? You're the one who's not speaking. How did you grow up so much? I almost didn't recognize you just now..." Jiang Yan chattered away.
Ji Chu quietly observed his hallucination, thinking this reunion was a bit different from what he had imagined before. It seemed she was talking more than usual.
But it was lively.
Ji Chu was now certain his illness was severe. He had been debating whether to go to the hospital to recover and return to normal life, or to resign and go home to spend the rest of his life in this hallucination.
But the moment Jiang Yan threw herself at him, he immediately abandoned the first option. His only thought was to remember to contact the housekeeper and arrange for his grave to be next to Jiang Yan's.
After chattering for a while, Jiang Yan suddenly remembered the key question she couldn't figure out. She looked up at Ji Chu in confusion and asked, "Wasn't I... already dead?"
Ji Chu made a swallowing motion, as if gulping down all the bitter memories.
Then, trying to remain calm, he attempted to skirt around the topic: "No, no, you're mistaken. You've just woken up again, that's all."
Jiang Yan had suddenly appeared in this completely unfamiliar environment, her mind a bit foggy, unable to fully understand what Ji Chu was saying. But she still remembered the System she couldn't contact, thinking it must be behind this.
By the time Jiang Yan figured things out, Ji Chu was already leading her down the street.
"Why aren't we driving?" Jiang Yan asked curiously.
Ji Chu pursed his lips, explaining weakly, "Don't want to drive. Let's walk back." He was already so ill, what if he couldn't see the road clearly while driving?
"Why don't we take a taxi?" Jiang Yan suggested.
Ji Chu said, "It's not safe." He didn't know how long he could remain lucid. What if he went mad due to her sudden disappearance?
Walking back seemed to be the safest option.
However, his residence was quite far from the school, which was why he had driven there in the first place.
Halfway through the walk, Jiang Yan couldn't stand it anymore and yanked her hand out of Ji Chu's grasp. "I'm not walking anymore! I'm exhausted! There's a bus stop here, I want to take the bus."
Ji Chu stared at her, suddenly realizing in shock that this "hallucination" had never once acted according to his thoughts. It even rebelled against him.
But logically, her every move should have been a product of his imagination.
Jiang Yan was thoroughly annoyed. She had woken up inexplicably, waited for ages in a closed car, only for Ji Chu to finally show up.
But when Ji Chu saw her, he didn't seem particularly happy or concerned, just leading her who-knows-where.
Jiang Yan's temper finally caught up with her, and she said to Ji Chu, "If you don't like me anymore, just say so. Where are you trying to take me? What, did my sudden appearance disrupt your life? You keep making me walk and walk, I'm about to collapse from exhaustion. What are you trying to do..."
As Jiang Yan rattled on, she saw Ji Chu's expression slowly change. It seemed he finally dared to confirm something. His eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and he frantically embraced her tightly, choking out the words, "You're real."
Jiang Yan wanted to ask what he meant by real or not. But Ji Chu's head was pressed against her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her, trembling uncontrollably as if her very bones might shake.
A cool teardrop fell onto Jiang Yan's neck, as if imbued with some emotion-transmitting magic.
Held by Ji Chu, who had been living in this world like a walking corpse, Jiang Yan felt a heart-wrenching pain.
But for Ji Chu, this moment brought healing.
All the intense longing in the dead of night, the careful search for and preservation of memories in the villa, the countless painful recollections to avoid forgetting – all became meaningless past.
With Jiang Yan here, Ji Chu's soul could truly live again.
