Chapter 59

Complete darkness, not a sliver of light.
Qiu Li could see nothing. He leaned against a corner, facing the darkness as if it were a giant beast, terrified. As time passed, his fear grew. He tried shouting for help, but all he got was the echo of the narrow space. That echo soon turned into mockery.
Boundless, infinite, mocking him.
He curled up, shivering in the elevator corner, trembling for a long time. Eventually, he broke down, crawling and groping along the elevator walls.
The buttons still didn’t respond. He felt along the elevator door seam, scratching and clawing with all his strength…
By the end, his fingers were covered in blood, yet the door remained unmoved.
Still, he didn’t stop.
He was too afraid.
He feared that if he stopped, the beast in the darkness would swallow him.
Tears ran down his face to his chin, dropping with a plop.
He didn’t care about anything else, only lifting a hand to wipe his face when he paused to breathe, then continued clawing.
The Qiu family’s elevator was of excellent quality, soundproof too.
He shouted until he lost his voice, scratched until his nails broke, yet nothing changed.
Exhausted, he finally squatted in a corner, holding his head, too tired even to cry. His overworked fingers convulsed uncontrollably in the pitch-black darkness…
Watching this scene, Qiu Li felt strange.
At that time, he hadn’t experienced anything like this. He hadn’t been trapped for more than an hour in the elevator. Yet the pain, the hysteria, the helpless terror, he felt it clearly through his fingertips, as if it were attached to his bones, surging through every limb and sinew.
Standing there, watching the trembling child before him, Qiu Li suddenly realized: he had experienced this.
These were memories of his past.
The omnipresent mechanical voice in his mind confirmed it: yes, this was supposed to be his past.
Supposed to be?
He didn’t understand. Supposed to be?
The mechanical voice explained: due to certain unstable factors, this part of the past had been rewritten.
Rewritten?
Meaning, if Xiao-xiao hadn’t come to save her, he would have spent the whole night trapped in the elevator?
The thought that Xiao-xiao hadn’t come filled him with despair and suffocating fear again, pain almost unbearable. He screamed…
“Ah!”
Qiu Li shot upright, pale and sweating.
His mind went blank for a moment. Seeing the scene clearly, he quickly turned,
Empty.
She was gone.
The terror from the dream still lingered in his heart, even more panicked than during the dream. He grabbed his phone to call Yan Xiao, but then saw a note attached:
“I’m in the 2nd-floor RO conference hall. Once I wake, I’ll eat first. mwah”
That short line instantly calmed him.
He sat for a while, then got up to freshen up.
He didn’t go to the hotel buffet but headed straight to the 2nd-floor conference hall.
Yan Xiao was engrossed in discussion with her senior classmates, completely unaware of his arrival. He slid along the wall and sat in a nearby chair, quietly observing.
Whatever she said, he heard every word, yet it passed through the other ear without sticking. In his eyes, ears, heart, and mind, the only thing he wanted to keep was Yan Xiao.
She was serious.
She was earnest.
Whenever she got serious, she shined.
Yan Xiao only noticed Qiu Li during the break when she went to get some water.
Her eyes lit up, and she walked toward him.
“Awake?” Yan Xiao smiled just like she had when they were kids, her eyebrows curved, only now the little girl had grown into a young woman, even more beautiful.
Qiu Li nodded: “Tired?”
Yan Xiao shook her head and sat beside him: “Have you eaten?”
Qiu Li was about to nod when his ear was tugged: “You haven’t eaten, right?”
Qiu Li: “…”
He laughed.
Yan Xiao glared at him: “Still laughing?”
Qiu Li laughed even more cheerfully.
Yan Xiao had no choice but to release his ear, grabbing his arm: “Let’s go!”
Qiu Li stood up with her and asked curiously: “Where? Isn’t the conference still going?”
It was an international academic exchange, lasting seven days, with top experts and teams in the field. It was a rare opportunity for learning, discussion, and collaboration.
He was here to accompany her, but after drinking the local water yesterday, he had been knocked out by the change of environment, so he had rested in his room.
“Food,” Yan Xiao said, greeting her senior classmates briefly, and pulled him out: “We’ll come back after eating, it won’t take long.”
Qiu Li smiled, letting her drag him into the elevator.
As the doors closed, he suddenly recalled that dream, or rather, a version of himself from some historical timeline.
“Xiao-xiao,” he pondered, “on Christmas Eve when we were three, why did you suddenly think of coming to Qiu’s house to find me?”
That Christmas Eve, unforgettable for Qiu Li, was also special for Yan Xiao. She didn’t even need to recall consciously; the scene automatically appeared in her mind: Qiu Li’s eyes, filled with both hatred and helplessness, she could never forget them.
007 had told her that the values were negative, and occasionally she wondered what would have happened to Qiu Li if she hadn’t gone that night.
She realized she couldn’t imagine it.
Or rather, she dared not imagine it.
Just thinking about it made her ache with concern.
Hearing Qiu Li suddenly ask, she smiled: “You haven’t been to school for a long time, and we couldn’t meet during the holidays. I missed you, so I went to find you on the way.”
Qiu Li held her hand, a smile curling his lips: “Is that so.”
Yan Xiao found his words a bit strange. She looked up at him, wanting to ask why he suddenly asked that, but as she raised her head, he leaned down, taking advantage of his height, and kissed her on the lips.
After the kiss, he playfully said: “That really is a special fate. I missed you too that day.”
He had missed her very much.
Just like now, even when you’re right in front of me, I still miss you.