The smoke and dust rose as shells rained down relentlessly.
The mysterious island near the Bermuda Triangle suffered a barrage of bombardment, and half of it sank into the sea after the final blow. The magnificent yet dangerous castle filled with countless evil deeds also sank along with that half of the island, disappearing from this world completely.
The headquarters of the notorious assassin organization Shadow, as well as the leader of the Shadow organization who considered himself the Grim Reaper and wantonly harvested lives while standing atop the world, were both buried here.
This evil organization that called itself the god of death and arbitrarily took lives was overturned in a short day.
Yet almost no one knew that the one who had overturned it was that genius assassin who was said to have failed his mission and perished in the South China Sea long ago.
At the same time, many Shadow bases were destroyed.
Several simultaneous indiscriminate explosions occurred around the world, causing widespread concern. Aside from the participants and Shadow's survivors, no one knew what exactly had happened.
For a period of time in the future, this would cause panic among the people of many countries.
Half a month later,
Beijing,
Qin Household.
It was still very cold in Beijing at the end of April.
The mirror-like lake surface in front of the villa was calm without waves. Occasionally a light breeze would blow by and stir up a few ripples, but it would quickly regain its tranquility.
Influenced by the villa's owner, the villa had been serenely quiet and deserted for many years, lacking vitality all year round. This made the servants become taciturn as well, barely making any sound throughout the day.
After the servants finished their chores, they silently withdrew, leaving not a single figure visible in the enormous villa at a glance.
On the second floor,
Qin Hanyue came out of a room, holding some documents in his hand.
His tall, somewhat weary figure passed through the long corridor and headed straight for the study. This was the first time he had gone to the study after returning home.
In fact, he had only returned home two days ago.
Not having gone to work, he was no longer dressed in a suit but instead wore casual clothes with cotton slippers on his feet.
He pulled out the chair and sat down at the desk, then picked up a fountain pen to review and sign the documents.
The study curtains weren't drawn, and he didn't turn on the lights either. He sat in the dim lighting, his face haggard and worn, with the stubble on his chin not cleanly shaven and his hair left unkempt.
The business genius Young Master Qin, who held the lifeline of the entire Chinese economy in his hands and commanded the winds and clouds in the business world, had lost his former spirit. The tremendous mental stress and psychological trauma seemed to have crushed his shoulders.
Qin Hanyue turned on the computer to handle urgent files.
The screen suddenly flashed, and an email titled "Qiao Ying" popped up, asking whether to open it or not.
Seeing the name, Qin Hanyue's heart gave a violent thump.
He froze slightly, reacting somewhat sluggishly.
He gently dragged the mouse and clicked "Open."
It was a video.
When he saw Qiao Ying appear on the screen, Qin Hanyue's fingertips went numb.
This was a video Qiao Ying had recorded.
The instant he heard her voice, Qin Hanyue's eyes reddened in a flash.
[I set this video to send automatically to prevent the possibility that I wouldn't be able to withdraw it in time due to my injuries being too severe. I set the time for half a month later. And now you've received it,] she said calmly. [It seems my fate is sealed.]
She sat on the sofa. The video background was her room in the villa in Chile, if he wasn't wrong, right after she had seen him off to Poland, when she recorded this.
She had made preparations for the worst outcome, and accepted it with equanimity.
So...was this video a farewell to him? A last will?
With one foot she had promised him not to disappoint his mother, and with the other foot she had recorded this video...Qin Hanyue found it hard to accept.
Qiao Ying looked into the camera, as if peering through the screen at him. At a loss for words for a time, after quite a while, she finally spoke again lightly upturning her lips.
She told him:
[I already said, this deal of yours would be a losing one.]
A sour sensation rose from Qin Hanyue's throat, inundating his chest and rushing straight to his brain. His eyes grew moist, filled with complicated emotions of sadness and joy.
With just this simple sentence, without speaking of love, Qin Hanyue nevertheless felt her unspoken affection.
[Travel safely.]
[Also...] Her eyes flickered slightly. [I wish you a fulfilling life.]
A fulfilling life? Qin Hanyue knew what she meant. But her blessing angered him instead.
Who did she want him to have a fulfilling life with?
It was as if he had been abandoned. He immediately got up and strode out of the study, walking faster and faster, as if in a hurry to do something.
Very soon, he was back at the door.
Qin Hanyue opened the door and entered the room, crossing the living room into the bedroom. Although anxious at heart, he still remembered to soften his footsteps.
He was afraid of disturbing the girl lying in the big bed.
The girl's eyes were tightly shut, her face devoid of color. Her frail body was tucked under the quilt, an IV stand beside the bed. A faint smell of disinfectant and medicine lingered in the air.
If not for those faint breaths indicating she still showed vital signs, one might have thought she was already gone.
Qiao Ying wasn't dead.
When JOKER had pounced at Qiao Ying, wanting to take her down with him,
with nowhere to hide, Qiao Ying had chosen to escape from the jaws of death by doing a forward roll off the cliff.
JOKER had exploded into smithereens in midair.
Qiao Ying had avoided the blast and fallen into the sea.
Fortunately she hadn't crashed onto the rocks.
And Qin Hanyue had rushed over and resolutely leapt off after her.
Qin Hanyue sat down by the bedside, looking at her nearly lifeless little face now, then thinking back to her chatting and smiling appearance in the video earlier, feeling stifled in his heart like it would explode.
Half a month had passed, and she had been lying here like this the entire time, never waking up even once. This morning he had just seen off two renowned neurologists with prestigious reputations in medical circles, and their diagnosis was the same.
Qin Hanyue lifted the quilt and gently pulled out one of her hands.
He rolled down her sleeve to cover the gauze on her arm, his fingertip gently caressing the needle puncture and bruising on the back of her hand from the IV.
Qin Hanyue said softly, "I saw the video. It should have been a farewell letter, but since you're fine, to me it's become a love letter confessing your feelings." His lips curved up slightly.
Although it was just one sentence.
Recalling Qiao Ying's words—[Qin, this time you were the greatest surprise in my reincarnation]—
After listening to bad news for half a month in the hospital, at this moment Qin Hanyue felt comforted by her words, as if his whole being had come alive again.
"I said before, aside from you, I would never share my life with anyone else, even if on the island you..." Qin Hanyue didn't dare say it out loud. "I could never be with someone else."
"I never actually believed in that fortune-telling anyway. It was because of you that I blindly believed it. Before this, I had decided to remain single all my life."
"You promised me to meet my parents for dinner. They haven't formally met you yet. Going back on your word isn't like you."
