My dream connects to three thousand years later.

Chapter 44 Better or Worse

"I don't know how to say it!" Lin Xia rubbed her fingers against the lottery ticket. "There's good news and bad news."

"What a coincidence, I also have good news and bad news!" Chu Zhu cracked her knuckles and said half-jokingly, "The good news is that if you tell me, everything will be fine; the bad news is that if you keep me in suspense, I'm going to beat you up."

"Oh!" Lin Xia shrank her neck and sighed, "The bad news is, I won the lottery, but it's only the third prize!"

"Looks like they changed the number at the last minute!" Chu Zhu nodded. Makes sense, perfectly makes sense!

But soon, he sensed something was wrong, and his gaze sharpened: "What kind of bad news is this? What's the good news then!"

"The good news is, I bought fifty tickets!" Lin Xia suddenly grinned, leaning back in his gaming chair. "So I can redeem 150,000..."

Chu Zhu: "?"

Chu Zhu's eye twitched slightly as she stared silently at Lin Xia. Fifty bets? Are you planning to empty the jackpot?!

To be fair, if one simply wants to win five million, Chu Zhu thinks it's still possible—after all, fishing requires baiting. Anglers occasionally show mercy.

But hoping to win the entire prize pool... well, that's wishful thinking.

“Of course,” Lin Xia said with a worried look, pulling out her phone. “I’m checking the tax rate because I have to pay taxes…”

"That's alright. I remember that there's no tax if the single bet is under 10,000, which means you can get the full 150,000." Chu Zhu thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, congratulations!"

"...Congratulations my ass! I'm still working for you, aren't I?" Lin Xia rolled his eyes, but still breathed a sigh of relief. At least his financial burden had indeed eased considerably!

"I'm going to claim my prize tomorrow. By the way, do you want to come with me?"

"Not interested." Chu Zhu waved her hand. Lin Xia wasn't surprised and nodded frankly, then asked, "Are we going back to the dorm? Or are we going to the new apartment?"

"Since we have a choice, we definitely want to choose a place where we can sleep soundly!" Chu Zhu paused briefly, took out her phone, first communicated with the dormitory head, and then mentioned it to the counselor.

Then he saw messages from his two coach friends, with unread messages marked with a striking 27+ and 46+.

"It's a wonder they said so much even though I didn't reply to a single word!" Chu Zhu sighed, but still clicked in and glanced at it briefly before her expression turned strange.

"What's wrong?" Lin Xia had been paying close attention to Chu Zhu's reaction.

"They want to talk to my parents and try to persuade them!" Chu Zhu laughed out loud and finally replied to the two of them, "Go ahead and do it! But let me warn you beforehand, it won't work."

Ignoring the instant replies from the two, Chu Zhu chatted with her counselor and dorm leader for a few more minutes, then turned off the screen, put her phone in her pocket, and got up to walk out of the internet cafe.

Lin Xia naturally followed along and paid the bill on the way.

"Your family situation... well, your uncle and aunt... indeed." Lin Xia's expression was somewhat subtle. He knew that because of Chu Zhu's strange dreams since childhood, Chu Zhu's family's attitude towards her was different from that of ordinary families.

High emotional intelligence: relaxed and free.

Low emotional intelligence: He dares not interfere, fearing that he might actually drive Chu Zhu to the brink of mental illness.

"Let's go! Wait a minute." Chu Zhu realized, "Let's go back to the dorm first, there are some things we need to get." "The bedding is all prepared! Hmm, judging from your expression, it's probably not these we need, but it doesn't matter anyway, I'm going back to the dorm to sleep tonight, and we can take a walk on the way." Lin Xia raised an eyebrow.

"Is there only one bed in the apartment you rented?" Chu Zhu asked, intrigued. "If there are several rooms, I have no objection to sharing!"

"Big brother!" Lin Xia's face twisted in pain. "Listen to your cultivation method—nuclear radiation! Even if you agreed, I wouldn't dare live with you! Besides, you definitely have some secrets that even I can't reveal..."

Chu Zhu did not speak.

Lin Xia took a deep breath, rubbed her face, and said in an unprecedentedly serious voice, "Bamboo! No, Chu Zhu! I want you to take this seriously."

"Although I already know enough, there are certain extremely sensitive things... I hope you won't tell me. Whatever you tell me, you must understand that if it's exposed, there will be consequences, but those consequences won't be irreversible!"

"I don't know what you'll experience or do in the future, but I have a feeling it might be an experience beyond imagination! Maybe I'll be implicated by you and get arrested... and severely tortured!"

"Let me make it clear beforehand, I definitely can't withstand this kind of torture! Before they even have a chance to use their feminine wiles, just seeing them pull out the pliers, I reckon I'll confess right away... You should be prepared."

Chu Zhu paused, gave Lin Xia a deep look, and nodded noncommittally, "I understand."

Of course, Chu Zhu wasn't actually too worried about Lin Xia getting into trouble. Or rather, if even he, who could travel to the future and knew part of the history recorded in the future, and could take preventative measures in advance, couldn't protect his best friend... then he was really useless.

……

"Baron! I'll take the hit."

As soon as Chu Zhu returned to the dorm, he heard his roommates calling out to him. He rolled his eyes, ignored them, climbed onto the top bunk to get his laptop, then took out a notebook from the drawer, and packed some toiletries and personal belongings…

"Then I'll be going now! See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Lin Xia waved.

……

Lin Xia rented an apartment next to the school.

It's a classic layout with one bedroom, one living room, and one bathroom. Although the space isn't large, it's fully equipped and has a cozy feel.

"It definitely feels much more reassuring!" Chu Zhu lay down on the large, soft bed, yawned, closed his eyes for a moment, and muttered, "However, I've gotten so used to the sound of my roommates playing games... it's actually a little strange at first!"

Patting her cheeks, Chu Zhu went to the table, took out her notebook, and kept flipping through it, looking at the scattered words on it.

“Next, it’s time to conduct an experiment!” Chu Zhu turned to a completely blank page and wrote a line on it with a serious expression.

"Tomorrow, I will communicate with Principal Li Quanyuan, frankly disclose everything about my situation, and start running again, this time with all my might! I will break the human record completely, and then use this record to prove that my situation is true! After that, I will hand over the formula for purifying nuclear radiation to the country, and try my best to use the country's power to guide the future and avoid that post-disaster future!"

Then, Chu Zhu tore the paper from the book, lit it on fire with a lighter without hesitation, crushed the ashes into powder, and flushed it down the toilet—he certainly didn't really intend to hand it in directly. He just wanted to test whether doing so would have a butterfly effect on the future. If so…

After washing up, Chu Zhu lay on the bed, closed her eyes, and said, "Let me see if doing this will make the future better... or worse!"

(End of this chapter)