Rong Qian never imagined that in her second chance at this moment, she would escape one catastrophe only to see the accident fall upon Mu Chaoxue instead.

Witnessing the sight of Mu Chaoxue being thrown by the truck, Rong Qian was struck by a wave of shock and disbelief. The sounds of the world around her seemed to fall away all at once — she felt a ringing in her ears, unable to hear a thing.

Then, as her senses returned to her, she found herself already kneeling beside Mu Chaoxue.

The crowd had automatically parted into a wide circle. Inside it stood only Rong Qian and the old man lying on the ground. The truck had come to a stop not far away, and the driver had already seized the chaos to flee.

Mu Chaoxue could not move a single part of his body. He looked at that moment like a shattered porcelain doll — utterly destroyed. Blood seeped from his ears and nostrils. When he saw Rong Qian approaching, he tried to open his mouth to speak, but instead a large mouthful of blood spilled from his lips.

“Mu Chaoxue, hold on a little longer. I’m calling an ambulance right now!”

Rong Qian quickly assessed his condition. She had been struck by a truck herself once before, and she knew all too well the force of that kind of impact. If anyone present could feel the depth of Mu Chaoxue’s suffering, it was no one but her.

Even knowing that Mu Chaoxue could not survive, Rong Qian still hoped he could hold on for just a little while longer.

She calmly took out her phone to call emergency services. At that moment, Zhang Hao, Xu Yang, and the others came running out as well. At the sight before them, all of them were visibly shaken.

After ending the call, Rong Qian immediately said to Zhang Hao, “Don’t just stand there! Call the police and keep the scene secure!”

“Got it!” Zhang Hao’s reflexes kicked in quickly. He immediately dialed to report it.

Xu Yang and Lu Huaiyi both crouched down beside Mu Chaoxue, assuming at first that it was simply an ordinary traffic accident. Taking in the severity of the old man’s condition, Xu Yang frowned and said to Rong Qian, “This is very serious. It’s best we don’t move him and wait for the ambulance.”

“I know.” Rong Qian remained calm. At that moment, Mu Chaoxue suddenly gripped her hand. His voice, low and hoarse, rasped out her name: “Rong Qian…”

Hearing this, Lu Huaiyi turned to Rong Qian with wide eyes. “Officer Sister, you two know each other? Was the person you were chasing just now…this grandfather?”

When Rong Qian had called out to Mu Chaoxue, the others hadn’t yet registered what was happening — they had only seen her vault over the railing and dash away.

By the time they had caught up, they’d found Rong Qian crouching beside an old man who had been in a traffic accident. No matter how hard they tried to piece it together, they could never have imagined that this was the very person Rong Qian had called out to and been chasing.

Zhang Hao recognized him at this point as well. He said in astonishment, “He — he’s Mu Chaoxue!”

Rong Qian had no time to answer any of them right now. Hearing Mu Chaoxue call out her name, she immediately asked him, “Mu Chaoxue, you’ve seen me before, haven’t you? Tell me — when was it that you saw me?”

But Mu Chaoxue said nothing. His eyes remained fixed, unmoving, on the lock screen of her phone.

Rong Qian noticed. She looked down and found that her lock screen was a photo of herself and Shen Yi — even she was caught off guard for a moment. It had come back with her?

Xu Yang saw it too. He froze. That man in the photograph — he had seen him somewhere before.

“Like a lifetime ago…” Mu Chaoxue murmured softly, and then released the hand gripping Rong Qian’s, letting it fall slowly to his side.

“I can finally… be free…”

But no sooner had the words left his lips than Rong Qian reached out and clasped his hand in return. She held it tightly. Those clear, bright eyes of hers held not a trace of hatred toward him, not a flicker of contempt — only worried concern.

As though he were someone deeply important to her.

A bittersweet warmth surged through Mu Chaoxue’s heart. After so many years, he hadn’t expected to see that look from her again.

If he had listened to her back then… would things have turned out differently?

At the thought, Mu Chaoxue laughed softly at himself. No. Once a person takes a wrong step in life, there is no road back.

But to someone who had once given him warmth, who had offered him a brief glimpse of light — Mu Chaoxue wished to repay that person before he drew his last breath.

And so, Mu Chaoxue told Rong Qian: “Even though you already know that I’m not Shen Yi, I still want to tell you — the person who had me impersonate him… was Shen Fengren.”

“Why did he do it? Or let me put it this way — what was his purpose?” Rong Qian asked urgently.

Mu Chaoxue raised one withered, bony finger and pointed at her. “You.”

Though she had suspected as much before, now that she had the answer confirmed, Rong Qian’s expression changed slightly.

“Let me tell you something else…” Mu Chaoxue looked into Rong Qian’s eyes, his voice faint and faltering. “Shen Yi… he died by his own hand…”

“That’s impossible!”

The words left Rong Qian’s lips almost without thought. Mu Chaoxue didn’t rush her. He said slowly, “The one who made Wei Long vanish from the pages of history was no one else — it was himself.”

Rong Qian’s expression was one of pure shock. Shen Yi himself? Why? Why would he do that?

Mu Chaoxue continued: “Including that day — the banquet held aboard the ocean liner — that was also Shen Yi’s idea. He wasn’t murdered. It was a plan he had prepared long in advance.”

“But until the very moment of his death, no one knew whether his plan had ultimately succeeded.”

Rong Qian’s face went ashen. She had never anticipated hearing a conclusion like this. Shen Yi had taken his own life? The truth she had been chasing all this time had, in the end, been orchestrated entirely by Shen Yi’s own hand?

Shocking as it was, Rong Qian reminded herself to stay composed. She absolutely could not let her emotions drive her actions.

“Take this key.” Mu Chaoxue drew a key from his pocket and held it out to her. “I was held captive by Shen Fengren for many years. This is a place I had secretly been staying in — even Shen Fengren doesn’t know about it. Go there, and you’ll understand everything…”

Rong Qian took the key. An address was engraved on it: Longjing Garden, Unit 807.

“Rong Qian… everything I owed you, I’ve now returned. I can die in peace…”

Mu Chaoxue smiled — a look of true release.

Tears welled in his eyes. In those last moments, a glimmer of light flickered in those dim, clouded eyes.

As his eyelids fell shut, a single tear slid slowly from the corner of his eye — as though it carried the weight of his sorrowful life, falling endlessly into a deep abyss, with no one to stop it, no one able to save him…

But just then, Rong Qian reached out and caught that tear in her hand.

And gently, tenderly, she wiped it away — not letting it fall to the dust-covered ground below.

Rong Qian closed her own eyes. All along this road she had walked, so many people had died around her. Just those she had witnessed with her own eyes: Yan Qingyao, Lin Jie, and now Mu Chaoxue — not to mention Jessie from the past, and Lin Feng…

There were likely others who had died that she still didn’t know about. Who was the root cause of all this tragedy? Was it Shen Fengren? Was it Shen Yi?

Or was it… herself?

Or perhaps — simply the workings of fate?