Unusual Fate Records

Chapter 416, Section 108: The True Story (Part 5)

The narrow stairwell was filled with smoke and fumes.

The ventilation in old-style residential buildings is poor, and at mealtimes, the smell of cooking oil from each household spreads through the stairwells. You can tell which family is stir-frying today, and which family is using scallions, ginger, and garlic just by smelling them.

This had become a daily routine for Chen Ruolan during her sixteen years of high school. Jin Ziyue watched the girl slowly walk upstairs and brushed past her.

He was currently only a soul, positioned a few meters away from Chen Ruolan, roughly within her line of sight as she remembered. He was like a spectator, witnessing her painful memories from that time.

When Jin Ziyue was "Tracing the Origins", he went to Chen Ruolan's house that day. At that time, Chen's mother was not at home. She was still buying groceries at the market. He took advantage of this opportunity to lie in ambush in Chen Ruolan's house on the third floor, waiting for the Otherworldly ghost on the second floor to give itself away.

Unfortunately, Jin Jun was not there this time. If it weren't for the butterfly effect caused by Jin Ziyue's change, Jin Jun wouldn't have been called out to buy groceries by his mother, and naturally wouldn't have been able to detect the presence of the Others immediately.

Therefore, Jin Ziyue already knew what was about to happen.

He followed Chen Ruolan back to Ruolan's home.

Space is limited in the old-style residential building; the shoe cabinet is right at the entrance, and a narrow corridor leads directly to the living room. As usual, Chen Ruolan put down her schoolbag and planned to go back to her room to do her homework.

About twenty minutes later, the rusty iron gate creaked open.

Then a woman carrying groceries appeared, the plastic bags rustling.

But today was clearly unusual. The woman threw the ingredients into the sink and walked straight toward Chen Ruolan's room, her panic written all over her face.

"Ruolan, pack your bags and come out with your mother." Chen's mother spoke quickly.

Jin Ziyue studied Chen's mother's expression and realized that he seemed to have overlooked her all along, and that she might also be a key factor.

"What's wrong? Why are you packing your luggage?" Chen Ruolan, who was still doing her homework, seemed a little confused.

Chen's mother urged, "Listen to your mother, there's no time to explain, let's go."

Chen Ruolan had never seen her mother like this before, and immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. She got up and started to tidy up.

"Where are we going?" Chen Ruolan immediately pulled out her suitcase and started putting on clothes.

"Let's go to a safe place." Chen's mother also began packing her clothes. She seemed to feel that she wasn't packing fast enough. Fear gripped her heart, so she simply put down her luggage, grabbed her handbag, and said, "No, stop packing. Let's go right now."

Chen Ruolan's father passed away before she could even remember. It is said that during his work in District 16, an accident occurred that resulted in the deaths of a large number of researchers, including Chen Ruolan's father. Since then, the mother and daughter have relied on each other for survival.

My mother is a simple office worker, but judging from her behavior at this moment, she is not as ordinary as I had imagined.

"Mom, don't worry, what's wrong?" Chen Ruolan tried to comfort her mother, but the mother's anxiety only intensified.

She looked at Chen Ruolan and gently advised, "Listen to your mother. There are bad people chasing us. Now is not the time to hesitate. I don't know when they will come knocking. We must leave immediately."

Chen Ruolan said, "We can call the police, can't we?"

“They can’t be dealt with by calling the police.” Chen’s mother took a deep breath. “Ruolan, listen to your mother, we are facing very terrible bad people. They are also the real culprits who killed your father back then.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Ruolan also began to feel nervous.

Jin Ziyue's expression shifted. It turned out that Chen's mother had already been investigating the cause of Chen's father's death, and it seemed that she had made some progress, otherwise she wouldn't have been targeted by the Otherworlders and hunted down.

It is very possible that the White Walkers that roamed the 16th district back then were indeed after her.

"Boom, boom."

Just as she put on her handbag and was about to step out of the room, there was a sudden knock on the iron gate at the door.

Chen's mother fell silent instantly, her face drained of all color.

She rushed back into the house and told Chen Ruolan, "It's too late, they might be coming. Ruolan, take this and climb out onto the balcony from the windowsill."

The old-fashioned balcony security curtains were quite rudimentary; the residents had simply pasted a piece of wire mesh onto the fence. Chen's mother seemed to have been prepared; the spare bolt on the security railing was already open. By lifting and sliding the bolt on the door, a small opening could be revealed. "This is the third floor..." Chen Ruolan hesitated.

In the chaos, Chen Ruolan took a small, test-tube-shaped column of glass from her mother's hand; it shimmered with a faint purple light. Her mother instructed her, "This is your father's life's work. Keep it safe. I'll cover for you. You go quickly."

"But Mom, I..."

"Swoosh, swoosh..."

Suddenly, a strange scratching sound came from the ground.

It was as if there were naughty children downstairs, constantly holding something long and sticking it against the ceiling.

Upon hearing this sound, Chen's mother disregarded everything else and immediately climbed over the balcony, unfastening the safety bars on the window: "Quick, there's a buffer below, you need to get out of here quickly."

"I understand." Chen Ruolan crouched down and climbed onto the balcony.

"boom--"

A hand suddenly emerged from the floor beside the bed without warning.

In an instant, Chen Ruolan's hair stood on end. It was a bluish arm covered in fine scales, and its sharp claws were not human fingernails, but rather the fleshy claws of a wild beast.

Chen's mother went berserk and grabbed a chair to smash it over her head.

The other party seemed to have not expected to be attacked, and paused for a moment, but was unharmed.

Soon, the other party realized that they had probably come to the right place. The blue hand withdrew again.

In her panic, Chen's mother found a lighter and some alcohol, and tried to throw them in.

Just as she approached the cave entrance, suddenly, an eye appeared at the entrance, staring straight at her.

"I've found you." (Japanese)

The other person's tone seemed to take a playful turn.

Terrified, Chen's mother splashed alcohol directly on the wound, then lit a wad of tissues in her hand and threw it at the wound.

"Wow—"

Flames shot up and instantly seeped along the penetrated ground into the ceiling of the residential building below.

"boom--"

The monster's claws pierced the floor again; clearly, the sparks on its body only enraged it, but did not cause any real damage.

Chen's mother looked on in despair and turned to look at Chen Ruolan.

The girl had already climbed over the safety railing, but the height of the third floor still made her feel apprehensive.

"Run!" Chen's mother shouted.

With tears in her eyes, the girl closed them and jumped.

Jin Ziyue's perspective also changed at the speed of light as Chen Ruolan jumped down.

The girl first approached a nearby tree trunk, and in the chaos, she was scratched in several places by the branches. After breaking several branches, she was stopped by the corrugated iron sheet of an old house downstairs before rolling to the ground.

"boom--"

It fell onto the open ground in front of the mailbox.