Yu Ning was not only startled by the content of what was said, but she was also stunned into silence by Jin Miao’s actions.

She waited for a moment, saying nothing, allowing Jin Miao’s breathing to slow and for her to gradually calm down.

While her emotions seemed to have settled, her mind was still clearly drifting. It seemed the events of that lifetime had left a significant mark on her.

“Do you want to take a break?” Yu Ning asked.

Jin Miao kept her head bowed, shaking it, before straightening her back and looking up to offer a smile. “Let’s continue. I want to tell you everything I know.”

Yu Ning softened her tone unconsciously, carefully choosing her words to be more tactful. “From what you’ve said… I get the feeling that Ling Wangjin knows you’ve been reborn?”

“Yeah.” When this topic came up, Jin Miao seemed to have her energy drained away, looking quite dejected. “I think I was just too impatient. I went to the police right after being reborn and tried to pull you away… I must have tipped him off that something was wrong.”

“To think he could even guess about the rebirth,” Yu Ning said, leaning back in her chair. “Was the moment he committed suicide in front of you after I had died?”

“Yes,” Jin Miao replied.

From over twenty victims in Life A to three in Life B, the number of victims had certainly decreased.

“Having been reborn twice, what are your thoughts on it?” Yu Ning asked.

“Thoughts?” Jin Miao’s eyes were red. “Actually, there’s a lot I don’t quite understand…”

She still looked lost, so Yu Ning nudged her to think deeper. “Two rebirths, and fewer people dying each time. Have you compared the differences between the two, such as any major events that occurred?”

“Differences?” Jin Miao thought for a moment, then let out a small sound of realization. “It’s the timing of when you met him…”

“Huh?”

“In Life B, because I acted too obviously, it caused him to meet you earlier… I’m sorry, I was so stupid…”

“He met me earlier? The time we met was different in the two rebirths?”

“Right. In Life B, the time you two met was much earlier…”

“Then what about this Life C that we are currently experiencing?”

Jin Miao grew quiet again. Yu Ning didn’t rush her, waiting patiently for a while.

“It’s earlier than the previous two lifetimes,” Jin Miao said, pausing. “The time you two met.”

“Did you do something?”

“I… I was posting flyers around your neighborhood.”

“Why were you posting flyers? Whose advertisements?” Yu Ning was having trouble following her train of thought.

“It was for the clinic where Ling Wangjin works,” Jin Miao explained. “I saw online when you two were supposed to meet. When some media interviewed your relatives, they mentioned you were seeing a psychologist around that time.”

Jin Miao continued, “After I was reborn, I thought maybe it would be better if you met him earlier? So I posted a lot of ads around your neighborhood, praising his clinic to the high heavens… The advertising fees nearly wiped out all my savings.”

“…”

No wonder her parents hadn’t gone to the clinic they usually visited and had instead crossed districts to find the one where Ling Wangjin worked.

“You thought meeting him earlier would be better?”

“I did think so, but I wasn’t sure…” Jin Miao looked at her. “Toward the end of the time I spent with you in Life B, you told me, ‘If only I had met him sooner.’ And his attitude toward you was also one of absolute devotion. When I calm down and think about it carefully, during the time you were with him, he really did look like a normal person.”

“So sometimes I wonder… did I mess everything up?” She sighed repeatedly after speaking a long string of words. “Did I hinder your great mission of redemption, Big Shot?”

“Read fewer romance novels,” Yu Ning advised.

Combining this with their previous chats on WeChat, Yu Ning felt that Jin Miao’s attitude and thinking were a bit twisted.

“When I chatted with you on WeChat, I felt like you sometimes disapproved of me being with him, so why did you do so much in reality to push us together?”

“It’s contradictory, isn’t it?” Jin Miao frowned. “I know Ling Wangjin isn’t a good person, and I want to persuade you to stay far away from him. But after experiencing two lifetimes, I also feel that you seem to be the variable in all of this. You make him better, and fewer people die.”

Jin Miao sighed. “Sometimes, I really don’t know what to do.”

Yu Ning opened her mouth. She wanted to say that Jin Miao should wait until the police and experts had finished their investigations and had a full understanding of the events before jumping into a ventilation shaft to be reborn; that would be better than running around in the dark.

But looking at Jin Miao—with her red eyes, her ponytail, and her youthful, naive face—she didn’t look like she had even entered society yet.

“How old are you?”

Jin Miao was startled, looking confused, but answered honestly. “Nineteen.”

As expected, Yu Ning sighed inwardly. At nineteen, she was just a student with no life experience; expecting her to handle this was asking too much.

“How did you discover you could be reborn a second time?”

Jin Miao was stunned, her eyes widening.

“Don’t tell me you only just realized that you could be reborn repeatedly?”

“No, no, it’s just that I hadn’t thought about that question in detail before.”

“And you just jumped without thinking about anything?”

“I couldn’t think! I was having nightmares every day because your boyfriend slit my throat, and my conscience was so uneasy that I didn’t think about anything else…”

As she spoke, she began to get agitated again.

Yu Ning reached out. “Calm down, calm down. Since you didn’t even know if you could be reborn repeatedly, how did Ling Wangjin know?”

As she said this, Yu Ning paused. A flash of insight crossed her mind, and many guesses surfaced.

“You said Ling Wangjin originally wanted to kill you, but in the end, he didn’t, and he said that specific sentence… and after you were reborn again, you facilitated us meeting even earlier. Could that be considered you fulfilling his dying wish by bringing him to meet me?”

Yu Ning continued, “He didn’t need to be sure if you could be reborn repeatedly. Given your personality, you would eventually… try to be reborn.”

“My personality?” Jin Miao fell into deep thought.

Yu Ning kept her gaze fixed on her face, seeing the dazed expression slowly fade as Jin Miao began to mutter to herself.

“Why was he so sure I would try to be reborn again? Wasn’t I just calling the police and pestering you to keep you from having contact with him…”

Jin Miao stopped mid-sentence, staring blankly at Yu Ning.

Yu Ning sighed once more. “You are a truly good person.”

That was why she couldn’t sleep at night, doubting herself every day, wondering if she had done the wrong thing—all while being conflicted and tangled up in it.

“As long as you try to be reborn, if you succeed, he wins.”

Jin Miao murmured, finishing the sentence Yu Ning hadn’t spoken aloud.

“And even if I fail, jumping into the ventilation shaft means I die… which also fulfills the ending where he wanted to kill me.”

Yu Ning suddenly felt a tinge of guilt. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me…” Jin Miao waved her hand. “It wasn’t you who did it.”

“But the ending is okay, I suppose. My jump was worth it.” Jin Miao shrugged. The phone screen at her side lit up; it was an alarm.

Jin Miao pushed herself up from the table. “Let’s leave it at that for today. It’s almost time for my appointment with the psychologist.”

Yu Ning stood up as well. “Let me call a car for you.”

“Don’t!” Jin Miao waved her hands frantically. “Don’t leave too many records on your phone. Although I know he’ll find out about my existence sooner or later, please give me a bit of a buffer.”

“I need to go see the doctor.”

Jin Miao covered her heart and took a few deep breaths.

“Your boyfriend is truly terrifying.”

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