Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

More than just shocking.

Leaving aside Qi Zhimu, Han Ya was already very familiar with the name Ruan Mei.

She had seen Ruan Mei hundreds of years ago on that brutal battlefield, when Ruan Mei was accompanied by two other people.

At first, I was unaware of the identities of the three.

The judges of the Questioning Department also have the means to extract people's memories. Some time ago, they showed Qi Zhimu relevant memory fragments, and that's how they learned about these things.

I still remember that back then, Yu Qingtu, the only one who spoke, asked the two sisters: What is your relationship with Lord Zhimu?

No one answered, but their silent, despairing hearts conveyed the answer to Yu Qingtu.

Lord Zhi Mu had previously learned through the Black Swan that the Black Swan, Yu Qingtu, and Ruan Mei had come to him in his second life.

Unfortunately, it was too late. When I saw him for the last time, he had already turned to ashes.

Lord Zhimu also briefly mentioned his relationship with the three women, with the most complicated part being when he talked about Ruan Mei.

Han Ya could tell that Lord Zhi Mu had a fairly clear understanding of the future developments regarding the attitudes of Black Swan and Yu Qingtu.

The only thing I'm confused about is Ruan Mei.

When Ruan Mei was trying to regain her true memories of the past, she happened to leave the space station, missing the opportunity to try to reconcile at the first moment.

Unable to contact, and their whereabouts are unknown.

For thousands of years, even Yu Qingtu, who was closest to Ruan Mei, did not know where she went or what she was going to do.

But now, the friend entrusted by Lord Zhimu says that traces that may be related to Ruan Mei have been found at the site of Tingyun's accident.

Han Ya switched the Star Chariot to autopilot and looked at Qi Zhimu in the passenger seat.

Unsurprisingly, I saw a profile view that was full of complex emotions.

"Where are they? Why aren't they saying anything?"

After a long silence inside the Starship, the Undying Path on the other end couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Even a renowned genius wouldn't be stunned for so long after hearing this. Could it be...?

An answer that subconsciously popped into Undying Path's mind floated out, and he blurted it out—

"Hey Zhimu, you wouldn't happen to be Ruan Mei's biological son, would you?!"

When Undying asked why he wasn't speaking, Qi Zhimu had already come to his senses.

But I never expected to hear such a thunderous guess in the next second, and I was so startled that I coughed violently.

"Good heavens, I guessed right?" Undying Path exclaimed in surprise.

"You really don't have the talent to be a detective... Stop guessing, Prisoner, my relationship with... Ruan Mei isn't like that." Qi Zhimu breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nonsense! If I didn't have talent, how could I have found Tingyun's clues so quickly?"

When questioned by Qi Zhimu, Immortal Path initially retorted with considerable displeasure, but then quickly switched to a gossipy tone.

"You only denied that you and Ruan Mei were not mother and son, but didn't directly say you didn't know each other. That's interesting... Can you reveal some details about your relationship?"

"Let me tell you a secret, sir. What I'm about to tell you will surprise you..."

"Surprised? Not at all. Speak."

"Actually, Ruan Mei was my teacher in my past life. She has liked me for a very long time and is still pursuing me," Qi Zhimu said seriously.

"..."

Undying Path's lips twitched, and his eyes almost rolled to the sky.

"I'll also tell you a secret: there's more than one God of Pleasure. Actually, I just took office not long after I retired."

You brat, if you don't want to talk, just don't talk. Who are you trying to fool with that lame excuse?

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Qi Zhimu shrugged.

Look at this world, no one believes you when you tell the truth.

"You didn't ask either. Okay, let's leave this topic here for now. Although there's no direct evidence that Ruan Mei is involved in this incident, my detective's intuition tells me that we can't go wrong by finding her."

Immortal Path fell into deep thought, but unfortunately, no matter from any angle, he could not find any connection between the two.

"...I don't think it's necessary anymore," Qi Zhimu frankly expressed his thoughts.

He believes in the intuition of the path to immortality.

The problem is: if even he can't find Ruan Mei, how can Lao Da find her?

The universe is boundless. If a genius wants to isolate himself from all external contact, even fellow geniuses cannot easily find him.

"What do you mean 'unnecessary'? I don't quite understand what you mean." Undying Path was taken aback.

"No need to look for Ruan Mei, you won't find her. Finding the existing information is enough to complete the commission. I will transfer the commission to you later."

"That won't do!"

Immortal Path almost immediately refused, stating righteously:

"The other meaning of 'regardless of whether they are alive or dead' is simply 'we must see them alive or dead.'"

"If I hadn't found the genius's remaining pheromones, I might have closed the case. But there are no ifs. Even if a wolf has lost a leg, its nose is still sharp."

"What you said that day, that no body was found, doesn't fit Huanlong's style."

"I have carefully considered and re-collected information about Huanlong, and through extensive analysis, I have concluded that what you said is correct."

Qi Zhimu shook his head instead: "Correction, the statement that it does not conform to Huanlong's style was not made by me."

According to Xing, this was Walter's speculation.

He felt that those words were just meant to have a placebo effect.

Assuming Tingyun is not really dead, the reason Huanlong didn't kill her directly is more likely because she was useful to him, or because he had to keep her alive for some reason.

"I understand, leaving people with something to remember them by, something to hold onto." Undying Path sighed, turning to look beside him: "Old Bai, what do you think?"

"If we still can't find Ruan Mei before Mr. Zhi Mu sets off for Pinocchio, then we'll close the case, how about that?" Old Bai replied.

"I think it's feasible," Immortal nodded.

"Then I'll have to trouble you to travel around for a while longer." Qi Zhimu did not refuse.

After explaining some more matters, Bu Si Tu hung up the phone.

……

Qi Zhimu put away his phone, his gaze sweeping over the scenery of Luofu under the sky, his thoughts drifting away unconsciously.

During my time on the Black Tower space station, my understanding of Ruan Mei was limited to her being a partner of Black Tower and a genius in the field of life sciences, nothing more.

The former teacher and student are not truly reunited.

Because the student heeded the teacher's last words of instruction, he forgot about her, and it wasn't until the fourth incarnation that he retraced his steps and found everything again.

Even now, Qi Zhimu still doesn't know what to do or how to communicate with Ruan Mei if they were to truly reunite.

Can they directly recognize each other and inherit their previous relationship?

To be honest—it's impossible.

The reason is simple: Nguyen Mai's students died thousands of years ago.

She abandoned her students on her own initiative.

She clearly had countless ways to correct the behavior, such as keeping the misbehaving student by her side as punishment to teach him a lesson.

But in the end, she chose the simplest, most direct, and also the most ruthless option—

abandon.

For students, the world where teachers are is their hometown.

But in the end, even that hometown in their hearts was gone, abandoned by the whole world.

Without an anchor point that demonstrates its value, everything loses its meaning.

Thus, Qi Zhimu, as Ruan Mei's student, calmly faced the arrival of death.

No more overstepping the bounds, obediently listening to the teacher's instructions, forgetting her, and listening to her so that they owe each other nothing from now on.

It was the teachers who made the students spend 111 years severing the bond that should have been unbreakable.