New Times, New Hell

Chapter 68 - The Future That Got Seen Ahead of Time

The sudden reawakening of the youth, Fan Li, shocked the entire hospital. All the hospital’s medical professionals and doctors held a consultation. In the end, they determined that Fan Li truly was fine now. Though his body was still a bit weak, the sudden illness that had previously occurred was noticeably gone, no longer a risk for his health.

The chief physician was incredibly perplexed, but given the situation that no errors could be discovered in the vitals, he could only declare Fan Li’s previous condition as a state of “fake death”. Such occurrences were extremely rare, but had been recorded before.

To Fan Li’s parents, the general reason wasn’t important. What was important was that Fan Li had come back to life after dying. That was the best news.

Another symptom that appeared, though, was Fan Li’s muddled state of mind in the first few days after he woke up. He continuously mentioned the strange dreams he had experienced when ill to his parents. Unfortunately, he didn’t have very clear memories of them, only some images that were hard to describe. Sometimes, he would also do weird things: for example, try to pop out his eyeballs.

A medical reason couldn’t be found for this situation either. The doctor could only guess that this was a nervous system malfunction that had appeared after his recovery. He also suggested to Fan Li’s parents to observe him carefully in order to prevent him from actually popping his eyeballs out or doing other self-destructive things.

Because Fan Li’s situation was very special, even though there were no anomalies found in his full body checkup, the hospital still kept him under observation for a period of time.

A few days later, after Fan Li’s mind had completely cleared up, he finally left under the guidance of his parents.

Only now did the Fan parents completely recover. They relaxed and had the energy to go over the events that had occurred during Fan Li’s sickness.

With this, they discovered something strange.

“Oh right, Xiao Li. When you were sick, two people who said they were your friends came to visit you. Remember to say thanks to them,” Mother Fan said.

Father Fan made a noise of suspicion. “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I remember too. How come those two young men disappeared later on? Shouldn’t they have stayed around since Xiao Li came back to life?”

“You’re right.” With this reminder, Mother Fan remembered something even stranger. “Speaking of, Xiao Li fell ill quite suddenly. We didn’t even have time to tell anybody else. How did those two young men find out?”

The two of them exchanged glances and saw brimming doubt in each other’s eyes.

Father Fan especially couldn’t stop thinking about it. Those two people had seemed out of the ordinary. If they were really Fan Li’s friends, how come he didn’t ever remember meeting them? Additionally, the timing of their appearance was too coincidental. Even more coincidentally, mere moments after they appeared, Fan Li mysteriously came back to life.

These events seemed to suggest that perhaps those two people’s identities weren’t normal.

Father Fan felt more and more frightful as he reasoned to himself. Then, he heard Mother Fan asked Fan Li, “Xiao Li, were those two people really your friends?”

Fan Li was confused. “Who are you talking about?”

“We forgot to ask for their names,” Mother Fan said. “But they looked like this……”

Mother Fan used all of her language skills to describe Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que’s appearances. It was fortunate that their looks were truly above average; consequently, though they hadn’t spent much time together, Mother Fan could still describe them perfectly. In between, she added several subjective descriptors such as “too good looking”, “too handsome”, “such wonderful auras”, etc.

Father Fan: “……”

“……Just like that. Say, how come you never mentioned that you had such good looking friends?” Mother Fan concluded.

“Emmm.” Fan Li rubbed his chin and fell deep into thought.

Upon seeing this, Father Fan felt that half of his theories had been confirmed. He nervously asked, “What is it? You don’t know them?”

“No, I’ve seen them before.” Fan Li scratched his head and said, “I remembered as soon as Mom described them. I know them and even met up with them recently, I think. But I can’t remember who they are. My memory seems to have become subpar since my illness……”

“Ah……” Father Fan froze. “Is that so.”

So they really were Fan Li’s friends? He had been completely overthinking things just now?

Only to see Mother Fan forcefully hit Fan Li’s arm twice. “Aiyo, you rascal. How could you forget such handsome friends just like that?!!”

Father Fan: “&#k2026;&#k2026;”

It was understandable if their son had truly forgotten his two friends, but it seemed like his wife probably wouldn’t forget them!

As they spoke, they reached their neighborhood. Coincidentally, they encountered a few neighbors chatting in the activity area downstairs.

After seeing that they were back, the neighbors immediately greeted, “Lao Fan, you guys are finally back. How’s Xiao Li?”

“Fine, fine. See, he’s alive and kicking,” Father Fan replied with a smile. He then asked curiously, “What are you guys all gathered here talking about?”

“Ey, you haven’t been home for a long time so probably don’t know yet, right? Something big happened.” A neighbor walked closer and dramatically announced, “Something happened in Lao Jin’s place, the one downstairs of you guys.”

“Lao Jin’s apartment?” Father Fan thought about it. “Didn’t it get rented out by a property agent?”

The neighbor: “Exactly, something happened to the renter. Apparently, a few days ago, the renter had a sudden heart attack at the hospital. They tried to save him on the spot, but to no avail. He died that same day. The property agent only heard this news two days ago and finally got in contact with Lao Jin……”

Father Fan was shocked. “Such an event is possible?”

“I know right.” The neighbor sighed. “Quite fortunate he didn’t have his heart attack in Lao Jin’s apartment. Otherwise, Lao Jin would have it real bad.”

The group chatted a bit more. Mother Fan couldn’t help reminding from off to the side, “Alright, have your conversation another day. Xiao Li just got out of the hospital. He needs to get back home and rest.”

The neighbor hurriedly nodded. “Right right right. Xiao Li’s rest is more important.”

The Fan family of three walked into the elevator. Mother Fan couldn’t keep herself from muttering, “Ey, is there some fengshui problem with our building? How come the renter downstairs had a heart attack too……”

It was necessary to mention that the severe illness that had almost killed Fan Li was also a sudden heart attack.

Father Fan’s expression was slightly dark. “Alright, stop talking about it. Might bring misfortune.”

On the other hand, Fan Li was quite unbothered. Uncaringly, he said, “Aren’t you guys overthinking it? We’ve already lived here for over a decade. If there was anything wrong with the fengshui, something bad would’ve happened long ago!”

Fan Li’s words allowed his parents to relax a little. He was right. Fengshui issues couldn’t appear out of the blue. It was probably all just a coincidence.

The three of them reached their floor. As soon as they exited the elevator, they noticed a girl standing in front of their door. She was in the middle of poking something into their keyhole.

Fan Li instantly widened his eyes. He shouted, “Who are you? Why are you opening my door? Are you trying to rob me?!”

The girl jumped in fright. She turned around. The thing in her hand fell on the ground with a clink. It was a key.

The girl looked at their family, perplexed. “Isn’t this my apartment?”

Fan Li: “……I think you have the wrong place.”

Upon hearing this, the girl looked up at the number placard, then made a sound of realization. She hurriedly apologized, “My apologies. I got the floor wrong. My apartment is downstairs.”

Father Fan asked after hearing this, “Downstairs? You’re the new renter?”

“No, I’m the owner.” The girl nodded towards Mother and Father Fan and explained, “I’m the Jin family’s daughter. I just returned from overseas for work and was originally going to take the apartment back to stay in myself. I hadn’t expected for something to happen to the renter, so after dealing with that issue over these past few days, I finally have time to clean up the place today.”

“Oh oh, so you’re Lao Jin’s daughter,” Mother Fan instantly greeted with a smile. “You’ve gotten so big!”

The daughter of their neighbor downstairs, Lao Jin, had been sent abroad at a very young age to get a foreign education. A few years ago, Lao Jin’s whole family had moved out of the country too. Because of this, many of their neighbors didn’t know what Lao Jin’s daughter looked like.

Fan Li thought about how he had scared the other. He hurriedly introduced himself, “So sorry about just now. We’re your upstairs neighbors. I’m Fan Li.”

“Hello.” The girl shook hands with him and said, “I’m Jin Yue.”

“Jin Yue?!” Only to see Fan Li’s eyes instantly widen. He reflexively said, “Isn’t that the name of my future wife?”

Jin Yue: “……”

Fan Li’s parents: “……”

Father Fan looked extremely embarrassed. He scolded, “Rascal! Where did you learn such pick up lines?!”

Mother Fan was angry too. She smacked him and said, “I normally urge you to get a girlfriend but you always say you don’t know how. How come you can act like a hooligan with Lao Jin’s daughter, huh?”

Fan Li dodged while innocently saying, “I’m telling the truth ah. I remember I saw somewhere before that my future wife’s name is Jin Yue……”

Mother Fan was so embarrassed she couldn’t bear to keep listening. She grabbed him by the ear and towed him back, all the while furiously apologizing to Jin Yue. “Xiao Jin, my apologies. Our rascal of a son has never had a girlfriend before. He’s dumb to an extreme. When he sees pretty girls, he forgets how to speak……”

Jin Yue hurriedly mediated, “It’s not an issue. I know he’s only joking……”

Upon finishing their apologies, the Fan parents immediately unlocked their door. Father Fan said, “Since Xiao Jin’s going to be living here again in the future, we’re all neighbors. Come in and sit.”

As he spoke, Father Fan pushed Fan Li. “Hurry and get in, you. So embarrassing.”

Fan Li was still feeling wronged about how he had told the truth but had been misunderstood by everyone. After being pushed out of the blue, he lost his balance and crashed into the door, only to hear a loud peng. The big door shook and a yellow piece of paper drifted down from above.

“What is this?” Mother Fan picked up the yellow piece of paper. The texture of the paper was extremely strange. She couldn’t tell what material it was made out of. There were also bizarre designs drawn onto it with red ink.

“I think this is a talisman?” Mother Fan asked with furrowed brows.

Fan Li glanced at it, unbothered. “You think talismans as weird as this one exist?”

Everyone crowded around the piece of paper, observing it, but no one could make heads or tails of it. Fan Li scratched his head. “It probably got blown in from somewhere?”

This type of paper was incredibly light. It could’ve travelled here from anywhere.

Father Fan still felt a bit wary. He couldn’t describe exactly why, though. After some thought, he said, “So unusual and strange. I’d better burn it to be safe.”

The Fan parents walked in first with the yellow paper. They set out to find a lighter to burn it. This left Fan Li and Jin Yue alone.

Now, Fan Li finally realized that his words previously had been quite impolite. Thus, he softly apologized to Jin Yue, “Xiao Jin ah, I didn’t say that your name is the same as the name of my future wife on purpose. I just really have such a memory…… Ey, don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t teasing you, I just……”

“No worries.” Jin Yue waved her hands. “There are too many coincidences in this world. I understand.”

She pondered a bit before scooting closer to Fan Li. She whispered, “Just now, I felt too shy to say this aloud and was also scared that your parents would be unhappy. But actually, I got shocked after hearing your name too.”

Fan Li’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help the corners of his lips from quirking up in excitement. “What? Could it be that your future husband has the same name as mine?”

“No,” Jin Yue rubbed her hands together. She felt slightly embarrassed. “Your name is the same as the renter for our apartment’s. The one who just died because of a heart attack.”

Fan Li: “……”

Jin Yue observed his speechless expression and said, “You’re not angry, right?”

“No no, of course not.” Fan Li scratched his head. He only had an indescribable feeling; everything he was experiencing now seemed extremely familiar, almost as if he had read about a similar plot somewhere. But everything was muddled, making it impossible for him to understand clearly.

Thankfully, he was a very nonchalant person. He couldn’t straighten out his thoughts, so simply gave up. He generously told Jin Yue, “Now we’ve gotten even with each other. From this moment on, neither of us should mention anything about names.”

“Okay,” Jin Yue smiled. She stated as well, “Actually, I think you’re a pretty good person.”

Fan Li blinked. He didn’t know if this was an illusion, but he kept feeling like he and this Jin Yue had quite a lot of fate.

Luofeng headquarters. Yu Zhengdu was also asking Shang Que about Fan Li’s situation. “Boss, as a ghost, Fan Li saw three years of his life in advance. Is that going to affect him?”

After Fan Li returned to life, the ability to check his app’s information had automatically shut down too. Even Yu Zhengdu couldn’t look into it. Because of this, he had no way of knowing if the other’s future had changed or not.

“Not sure,” Shang Que shook his head. “Theoretically, probably not. Since he became a death replacement, the moment he saw what he shouldn’t have, his fate had already changed. So, I’m more inclined to believe that the things he saw were all things that occurred because of this incident.……”

Yu Zhengdu had on a serious expression. “Does that mean that only because of this incident, he’s going to marry a woman named Jin Yue?”

Shang Que side-eyed him. “Why are you so invested in his wife?”

Yu Zhengdu painfully said, “I don’t want to be either. It’s because Fan Li kept asking this question. I can’t forget even though I want to.”

Shang Que thought about Fan Li’s personality. He couldn’t help but admit that Yu Zhengdu was right.

Yu Zhengdu fell into deep thought. “Say, if I could open the app, would I also be able to see who my significant other would be in the future?”

Shang Que sounded slightly tense, “You’re very eager to know?”

“Of course! Which programmer doesn’t want to have love?” Yu Zhengdu suddenly grabbed onto Shang Que’s hand and sincerely asked, “Boss, don’t you want to?”

Shang Que looked at his hand that was trapped between Yu Zhengdu’s hands. “……Un.”

The author has something to say:

Shang Que: Yes yes yes.