“After realizing Xu Yi wanted to replace me, I could only first evade police pursuit before doing anything else. Ding Chenmo’s power is limited—he just provided me with some covert conveniences.”

“But there’s something I still can’t figure out,” Li Weiyi said. “What’s the point of him doing this? Tomorrow night at midnight, you’ll swap back. If he sends you to prison, isn’t he sending himself to prison?”

The lines of Zhang Jingchan’s profile tightened somewhat, his eyes as black as the brilliant light in an abyss. Li Weiyi’s heart skipped a beat. Perhaps her earlier suspicion was true…

“He knows I definitely won’t let myself go to prison.”

“Why?” This was another thing Li Weiyi couldn’t understand. If Zhang Jingchan turned himself into the police as “Xu Yi,” wouldn’t he just be waiting for Xu Yi to go to prison in three days?

“If I went to prison, Xu Yi could do whatever he wanted these few days with no one to stop him, no one to suspect him. Against an opponent like him, we absolutely can’t fall into a completely passive position. He could definitely ensure our entire family couldn’t turn things around, let all the criminals escape abroad, or even make you disappear again. I can’t risk bearing those consequences—and Xu Yi is very clear about this too.”

Only now did Li Weiyi realize she’d been thinking too simply. Wave after wave of fear came over her. “So you can only endure these three days while also working hard to protect all of us until the moment you swap back tomorrow night?”

Zhang Jingchan said, “That’s the result I want. But Xu Yi is also very clear about this, so he won’t let me achieve it.”

“…What do you mean?”

Zhang Jingchan glanced at the quiet parking garage outside the car. “These days, besides the police, another group has been looking for me. Although those three people are wanted, the thugs Liu Ying had raised before—the police haven’t gotten to them yet. If I fall into their hands, I fall into Xu Yi’s hands.”

Li Weiyi: “Then… what would happen?”

Zhang Jingchan intertwined his fingers with hers and placed them over his heart. “For Xu Yi, the optimal result is to find me before midnight tomorrow and kill me. Then what dies would be my soul and Xu Yi’s body.”

Tears flowed down Li Weiyi’s face.

What would remain would be Xu Yi’s soul and Zhang Jingchan’s body.

That way, they could never swap back.

So this was Xu Yi’s ultimate goal.

Zhang Jingchan had held her hand to comfort her, but she still cried from fear. He sighed, wiped away her tears, and said, “That’s why I didn’t want to see you today—I was afraid you’d worry. I’m not a block of wood just waiting for him to kill me, am I? Plus I have so many people helping me. At the beginning of this cycle, my situation was rather dire. But now, as one waxes and the other wanes, it’s hard to say whose position is more advantageous. He doesn’t know about the third copy of evidence, so he couldn’t possibly imagine I have Ding Chenmo as covert support. He thinks he’s kicking a dog when it’s down—aren’t we also waiting for an opportunity?”

Li Weiyi placed both her hands in his palm, as if this would give her more security. She asked, “You just said that’s the optimal result for him. What’s the second-best result?”

This time Zhang Jingchan’s silence lasted even longer before he answered, “The second-best result is he fails to kill me before midnight, or I’m caught by the police. If I were him, I’d choose to jump from a building at exactly midnight tomorrow night, landing a few seconds later. That way he could still kill me.”

Li Weiyi’s eyes reddened with anger. “What good does killing you do him? When he swaps back, he’ll still have to go to prison!”

Zhang Jingchan pulled at the corner of his mouth. “There are many ways to reduce or escape punishment. For instance, as ‘Zhang Jingchan,’ he could leave a confession letter saying he was the mastermind behind embezzling Fu Ming’s assets and murdering his parents out of hatred for his father—everyone knows my relationship with Dad has never been good. Although unreasonable, as long as he reveals enough crime details in the confession that even the police don’t know, and it’s confirmed as suicide, then Zhang Jingchan could very likely become the mastermind of a series of cases. Or perhaps he’s already arranged with Liu Ying for her to bear most of the responsibility, so he’d only be in prison for a few years. On this point, I’m not as good as him. He can choose to gamble everything and jump from the building—the worst result is I also jump and we perish together. But I can’t let him reach that step, because I definitely don’t want to die with him.”

Li Weiyi’s mouth fell slightly open.

Only now did she realize that in just two short days, while she was only beginning to glimpse the situation, the two men had already engaged in countless rounds of intrigue.

If before this time-travel, in 2022, the vegetative Zhang Jingchan with nothing could only use police power to pry open a crack from Xu Yi’s grasp and rescue her—

Then this round was the first true head-on confrontation between the two men. From the moment they woke up, they began scheming against each other. The two were evenly matched, both had heavy concerns, and both had their bodies held hostage by the other. Yet under these constraints, they deduced and predicted each other’s every intended move, responded quickly, and even counterattacked. They both calmly hid their ultimate objectives until the very end.

If she were in their place, with these two men’s minds and their layers upon layers of scheming, she’d probably be played to death in the first exchange.

But she still couldn’t help saying the other, simpler and more brutal method she’d thought of: “Can’t we just have Ding Chenmo restrain him, and when midnight tomorrow arrives, complete the swap?”

Zhang Jingchan gave a light snort and asked, “Have you watched the news these two days?”

“No.”

“Fu Ming paid off all debts, which means it resolved a major economic crisis for the entire city—a great achievement. This morning, city leaders met with him and showed their concern. He has several bodyguards following him everywhere. Ding Chenmo can’t do anything—no one would listen to that kind of order from him.”

Li Weiyi was frustrated. “This won’t work, that won’t work—so what are you going to do?”

But Zhang Jingchan changed the subject. “In 2022, when everything was going smoothly for Xu Yi, he still built a secret room for himself. A leopard can’t change its spots. Now it’s 2014, and he’s been committing serious crimes these years. Do you think he would have already found an escape route for himself and his accomplices? This is why, even after two days of manhunt, the police still haven’t caught them. I bet they have a secret hiding place and are waiting for an opportunity to flee abroad.

Xu Yi wants to kill me. The best defense is offense—I also want to find that place before midnight tomorrow night, see him, restrain him, swap with him, and catch all the others in one net. He wants to kill us all; we want to lure the tiger from the mountain. Now we just need an opportunity.”

Li Weiyi roughly understood. She didn’t ask deeper because she had decided to tell him about Zhang Moyun and his wife. They were in intensive care, their lives hanging in the balance. No matter how reluctant she was, Zhang Jingchan had the right to know.

“Do you know that your parents were poisoned? The person caught on surveillance is most likely Zhang Fengming. He was wearing the same black shirt and dress pants as you are today, trying to frame you. The two of them… are still unconscious and haven’t left the danger period.”

Zhang Jingchan looked at her. “Actually, I…”

From the parking garage entrance ahead, chaotic footsteps suddenly sounded, along with several flashlight beams. Someone shouted, “Who’s there?” Zhong Yi, who had been standing guard outside the car, tossed his cigarette and got in the driver’s seat. “Let’s go! Weiyi, you…”

Li Weiyi decisively pushed open the door and got out. “I’m going back. If you have a plan, don’t let him notice. I’ll continue staying there and won’t become a weak link.”

As soon as her feet hit the ground, her hand was firmly grasped again. Zhang Jingchan looked up at her. Li Weiyi leaned down, her face only a few centimeters from his, but stopped. He also simultaneously turned his head away. The next second, however, he reached out and held the back of her neck. Her eyes were clear and dark; his eyes were deep and misty.

He released his hand. She quickly returned upstairs. Zhong Yi hit the gas and burst out of the parking garage.

Li Weiyi went back upstairs and knocked directly on the door. When the two bodyguards opened the door and saw her, they were dumbfounded. Li Weiyi shouted, “Sis, I’m back. You can go.”

She sat down on the sofa and said to them, “I actually just went downstairs for a quick walk. I’ve been cooped up too long these days. This is a small matter. You can tell Zhang Jingchan if you want, but at most he’ll scold me a bit and then have to coax me afterward. But you’ll definitely lose your jobs. It’s up to you.”

“…”

“Going to my room to rest now. Oh, and tomorrow I’m borrowing your phone again to chat with my sister.”