A crimson arc of sword light shattered the silence inside the apartment.
Chen Huijie hurriedly stepped back and twisted aside, narrowly evading the sharp strike. Yet the familiar sword qi made him frown.
That was Quickdraw, one of the Seven Forms of the Chi Xiao Sword Arts.
And in Lungmen, only he and his uncle should know that set.
At that moment, the woman—one hand clutching her towel, the other gripping her blade—charged out of the shower room, eyes blazing murderously as they locked onto his.
Then—
"Who are you? Why are you in my house?!" Chen Huijie demanded.
"Who are you? Why are you in my house?!" the woman demanded.
Chen Huijie: ???
Chen Huijie: ???
"This is my home!"
"This is my home!"
Like a mirror, the two shouted the exact same words at the exact same time. Then, because the other sounded so utterly certain, each of them suddenly began doubting themselves.
Together, they swept their eyes over the layout of the room.
After looking around, the woman withdrew her gaze and nodded firmly.
That's right. This is definitely my room.
After looking around, Chen Huijie withdrew his gaze and nodded firmly.
…Right. This actually doesn't look like my room.
Though the general arrangement resembled his own, that was all it was—similar.
He really had walked into the wrong place?
Chen Huijie said nothing, but his momentum had already quietly weakened. Noticing that, the woman's expression grew darker. Pointing her saber at him where he stood atop the chair, she barked:
"Get the hell down! Surrender immediately! Or you'll face the consequences!"
"Understood."
…Huh?
Chen Huijie had already prepared herself: the moment this trespassing lunatic showed the slightest sign of resistance, she would rush in and beat him half to death.
Well—not necessarily to death, but not far from it.
And yet this man was being so cooperative that it felt like punching a sack of cotton.
Bang!
Right as Chen Huijie was hesitating over whether to grab handcuffs first or beat him first, her vision blurred. A cold gust swept over her bare skin, making her shiver.
She turned blankly to look at the still-vibrating door.
There was no question about it.
That illegal intruder, with astonishing agility, had gone out exactly the way he came in.
Only then did Chen Huijie realize—
"I understand" ≠ "I'll cooperate."
You bastard! Just you wait!
Leaving aside Chen Huijie, who was now seething hard enough to set the room on fire, Chen Huijie was busy congratulating himself that he hadn't taken off the raincoat. Otherwise he would've left evidence behind in someone else's apartment.
Standing in a dark corner, he silently counted floors and room numbers, folding his arms with a troubled expression.
No, that's definitely my room. I didn't open the wrong door. So could it be…
He suddenly understood.
Though he usually got off work on time every day, "getting off work on time" and "being called back for emergency overtime" were not mutually exclusive. Because of that, he hadn't actually stayed in this rented apartment for nearly three months.
Naturally, he hadn't renewed the rent either.
Still, the landlord should know my circumstances. I even told him he could go directly to the Guard Department finance office and collect the money there—have it deducted from my salary later. Don't tell me he was too scared to go?
…Actually, the landlord probably really was too scared.
After all, he was a former gang boss. If he ran over to the Guard Department asking for rent money right after a massive anti-crime sweep, that would look suspiciously like delivering himself to the authorities.
Forget it. I'll talk to the landlord tomorrow. Tonight, I'll just keep wandering.
There were only a few sets of spare clothes in that room anyway. Even if they were gone, it was nothing worth caring about.
So Chen Huijie no longer spared it much thought and kept moving through the dark streets, looking for any "lucky" criminal who might happen to run into him.
Even so, his thoughts kept circling back to the woman he had just seen.
Not because of the accidental glimpse of her bare skin, but because—
Blue hair. Red eyes. Dragon horns. Dragon tail.
She looked exactly like him.
If his own body hadn't been missing certain features after the chaos in Lungmen, the two of them standing side by side would've looked practically like family.
And then there was the Chi Xiao Sword Arts…
Could she be blood-related to me?
His first instinct was denial.
But then again, his uncle really had hidden many things from him. The man was like an ever-updating game plotline, tossing out new settings and new surprises every so often.
That said, I still don't know what's really going on with Uncle's condition…
Chen Huijie let out a faint sigh.
At some point in the past, his uncle had left Lungmen with the Black Cloaks for reasons unknown. When he came back, he had been covered in wounds. Then, while recuperating, he heard that Uncle Lin had passed away. The shock and grief hit him so hard he collapsed, and afterward his condition fluctuated between good and bad.
That was the reason Chen Huijie had ended his travels as Yuanyan and hurried back to Lungmen.
Only after he returned, the city never settled down.
Enemy infiltration, riots by unlawful elements, internal unrest in Lungmen… all of it, one way or another, dragged the Guard Department into the center of things. Chen Huijie had precious little free time left.
He had, of course, ordered people to investigate the truth behind past events, but the results had been pitiful. Scattered clues, none enough to piece the full story together.
And his uncle kept repeating one line: once Chen Huijie took the position of Chief of the Guard Department, he would naturally learn the whole truth.
Worse, even the jianghu friends Chen Huijie knew had somehow all agreed to maintain the same front and refused to help him look into it.
This world is sick. Absolutely sick… something something, the rest forgotten. Whatever. I won't be stuck in that position much longer. Once I'm free of it, if Uncle still won't talk, I'll investigate it myself.
But before that—
Can someone explain why this district is inhabited?
Chen Huijie stared grimly at the buildings ahead.
If he remembered correctly, this area had been struck by a Catastrophe. All residents had been evacuated, and survey operators were supposed to be determining whether it was still fit for habitation.
Has that assessment already finished? Why didn't I get a report?
And more importantly—what is this population density?
Every household was lit up.
He didn't remember this district originally having this many living people. If something went wrong here, the Guard Department manpower assigned to the area would never be enough.
Damn it. At a time like this, they're still making this kind of mistake?
With anger rising, Chen Huijie pulled out his phone, intending to contact the relevant person in charge and demand an explanation.
That was when he noticed the message displayed on the screen:
Memo reminder: March 11th, 9:10 PM. Who eats hotpot by eating only the chilies? (Expired)
Wasn't that from years ago? Why today—
His movements froze.
His eyes shot back toward the buildings ahead.
The stairwell walls looked new. There were no traces of battle or Catastrophe damage.
In that instant, realization slammed into him.
He leapt upward in a streak of red light, landing atop the tallest nearby rooftop. From there he looked out over the city.
A thousand, ten thousand lights.
Not a single ruined structure in sight.
He pinched his own cheek.
It hurt.
Not a dream.
Which meant—
I transmigrated back into the past?!
-------
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