Lin Lan returned to his room and answered the phone, “Hello.”
The sound of pages turning came from the other end of the line. Xie Zilu relayed the information he had found, “I had someone verify the DNA between you and Tai Songshan. He is indeed your biological father.”
Lin Lan wasn’t very shocked upon hearing this. He accepted the fact more calmly than Xie Zilu had expected. “And then?”
“Tai Songshan is now in the late stages of liver cancer. He doesn’t have much time left. I looked into it, and he has made a will with a law firm the company collaborates with. The will states that his estate is to be temporarily managed by the Tai Zhen brothers. However, if his biological son is still alive, the Tai Zhen brothers will automatically lose their inheritance rights and be left with nothing. The person who helps him find his biological son will receive a 10% reward. A friend from the law firm told me that the confidentiality level of this matter was originally very high, but somehow it got leaked, and now nearly half the circle knows about it.”
No wonder Tai Zhen turned into a madman, willing to commit murder to eliminate him. It turns out Tai Songshan’s will had been leaked.
Xie Zilu flipped through the pages and suddenly chuckled, “Tai Songshan also added an interesting clause to the will. If his biological son dies after the will takes effect, by means other than suicide, natural causes, or accident, no matter who the murderer is or the reason, the Tai Zhen brothers will permanently lose their inheritance rights, and all his assets will be donated to public welfare organizations.”
It was clear that Tai Songshan originally intended to protect Lin Lan. But he didn’t anticipate that Tai Zhen would go to such insane lengths to fabricate an accident.
“As soon as Tai Songshan dies, this will is going to be made public. At that time, there will be tens of thousands of people looking for clues to earn the reward, which is why Tai Zhen is in such a hurry.”
He was even in such a hurry that he didn’t hesitate to harm a girl he once liked.
Lin Lan closed his eyes and carefully recalled the lives of people in both worlds, finally sorting out all the issues.
In his original world, although he was not adopted by Tai Songshan, for some reason Tai Zhen still managed to find him. So, Tai Zhen, along with Jiang Xi, orchestrated the stage light accident to kill him.
However, Jiang Xi had a moment of hesitation. She didn’t want to be charged with murder, so she moved the position of the light stand half a meter forward. By a stroke of luck, it hit Lin Lan’s hand instead.
This was Lin Lan’s first narrow escape.
Later, the authorities thoroughly investigated all the safety hazards at the venue, leaving Tai Zhen with no further opportunities to strike. Lin Lan’s life was busy and he rarely left his team, making it difficult for Tai Zhen to find another chance.
During this period, Tai Zhen must have organized other accidents, but they all failed. Until that year, the World Championship was held at the LPL venue. Lin Lan, exhausted both physically and mentally, was so annoyed by reporters that he left early without security escorting him, providing Tai Zhen with the perfect opportunity…
“Crash—boom—,” the huge impact sound echoed in Lin Lan’s ears, the scene spinning 360 degrees in his mind.
Lin Lan remembered that at the moment of the car accident, he hadn’t heard any braking sound; instead, he heard the sound of the accelerator being floored…
His eyelids twitched violently, and the post-traumatic stress from the car accident hadn’t fully disappeared. Even now, his hands and feet would tremble whenever he recalled it.
He also understood everything about the original owner.
The original owner was adopted by Tai Songshan and bullied by the Tai Zhen brothers. Later, for some reason, they discovered the original owner’s true identity and used some method to force him to take drugs and commit suicide.
The original owner indeed died that day. But Tai Zhen hadn’t expected Lin Lan from another world to come here, so they started creating a new series of “accidents”…
Both Lin Lans from the two worlds bore the fate of being killed by Tai Zhen. Lin Lan himself died in confusion, believing until his death that it was an accident. The original owner knew who the murderer was, but he lost the chance to speak out. So, he used all his strength to pull Lin Lan into this world, hoping that through him, the truth could be revealed to the public…
This was the true reason he was brought into this world.
It wasn’t just about seeking justice for the original owner, but also for himself. This was why he had such a strong determination to uncover the truth.
The feeling of being watched from the shadows at every moment made Lin Lan’s hair stand on end, as if an electric current surged from his feet to his head, numbing his entire body.
Tai Zhen’s “accident” was orchestrated so well that even the investigation only found the driver was drunk driving and didn’t trace anything back to him.
If it weren’t for the parallel world, Lin Lan would never have known the truth even in death.
But he couldn’t understand one thing: “How did Tai Zhen make me willingly take the drugs and commit suicide?”
Xie Zilu hadn’t figured that out yet, but he knew, “The day you took the drugs and committed suicide, Tai Zhen was at school attending a lecture. He even asked a question during it, so he has a solid alibi.”
A delinquent with no interest in studies, asking a question during a lecture? Lin Lan immediately raised a doubt, “It seems like he deliberately created an alibi.”
Xie Zilu chuckled, “I thought the same, so I had someone investigate his brother Tai Yuan. Guess what? His brother got into a fight and ended up in the police station that day, also having an alibi.”
Two alibis appearing simultaneously, with the original owner dying around the same time, was too bizarre. Could they have calculated the exact time the original owner would take the drugs and commit suicide?
“However…” Xie Zilu had found another piece of information. “The night before, there was a gathering at the Tai family. Tai Zhen and his brother rented a yacht and took some classmates out for a trip. They took you along as well.”
All signs pointed to Tai Zhen and his brother being involved. Lin Lan insisted, “It must be them.”
Xie Zilu agreed but was still puzzled, “Lin Lan, do you really not remember anything? No impressions about this part of the memory at all?”
In a flash of insight, Lin Lan thought of something. “Can you find out what type of sleeping pills I took that day? I want to see a picture.”
This wasn’t difficult for Xie Zilu. He hung up and immediately contacted Wu Ming to check the hospital records. Before long, he sent a photo to Lin Lan’s phone.
According to Wu Ming, he was the one who prescribed the medication to Lin Lan to help with sleep.
Lin Lan zoomed in on the photo, looking at the unfamiliar English letters on the bottle. His consciousness was vaguely drawn into another space, and the surroundings began to distort. He saw Wu Ming sitting opposite him, writing something down, then giving him the prescription. When he went downstairs to pick up the medication, the bottle of sleeping pills was among them.
The memory didn’t cut off there but suddenly shifted.
He saw the original owner as if encountering something terrifying, running and panting heavily, his heartbeat racing fearfully.
“Beep beep,” the phone rang. The original owner took out his phone and saw a message from Tai Zhen: “Do you think running will help? If I’m not mistaken, today is your birthday, right?”
The original owner’s breathing quickened. It seemed like he was suppressing some sort of sob in his throat, his steps unsteady, and his mental state teetering on the brink of collapse as if he had taken something he shouldn’t have.
Feeling unsafe, he instinctively walked towards what he thought was a safe place. On the way, Lu Shi noticed his distress, “Lin Lan, what’s wrong?”
The original owner was terrified of his touch, recoiling as if scared, and immediately locked himself in his room.
In the oppressive darkness of the unlit room, he was driven nearly mad. He rummaged around aimlessly, sometimes packing as if to flee, other times hiding under the table, sobbing. His hands trembled constantly, as if tormented by something horrifying, biting his arm desperately while crying softly.
Lin Lan could feel the mental torment the original owner endured, as if enveloped, drowned, and suffocated by despair. He had to muster all his strength just to focus.
The phone that was dropped on the floor kept ringing incessantly with messages coming one after another. The original owner, mentally unstable, tried to evade them in a frenzy, his sanity clearly faltering.
Lin Lan glanced at the messages, which were from Tai Zhen.
There were not only messages but also videos.
The original owner hadn’t opened those messages. Lin Lan saw snippets of the notifications, catching fragmented sentences.
[Hahaha… I recorded everything…]
[Lin Lan, it’s your birthday today, right? How do you like my birthday gift?]
[Video]
[Video]
[Hahaha Lin Lan, watch the videos. They’re so clear. I wonder how many years you’ll get for drug use + murder?]
[You’ll probably spend your life in prison, right? So pathetic… It might even affect your poor team, making them lose their qualification for the competition. I wonder what your captain will think of you when he sees you like this…]
Lin Lan was shocked. Drug use and murder?!
He felt the original owner’s body trembling violently. The original owner grabbed his phone with trembling hands and typed: You gave me the stuff. I didn’t know anything…
Tai Zhen: Hahaha, just watch the video. Who would believe you?
The original owner shakingly opened the first video. Tai Zhen filmed him from behind, “Lin Lan, what are you taking?”
The original owner, a bit scared of him, shrank back and hid the item behind him, looking somewhat dazed, “N-nothing.”
That evasive, dazed look was hard not to misinterpret.
Seeing this, the original owner broke down, crying with suppressed sobs, “I didn’t, I didn’t, it’s not me. I’m sick; those are just regular medications…”
But how could he explain his dazed state with just regular medications?
Suppressing his emotions, Lin Lan continued watching.
The original owner, still trembling, opened the second video. It started with a girl in a red dress standing by the edge of the yacht. Tai Zhen pushed the original owner towards her, “Go say hi. She’s your old classmate, right?”
The girl in the red dress turned and smiled at him, a seductive smile, “Hi, Lin Lan. Are you here to enjoy the view too?”
Tai Zhen kicked him, “Go on. What are you standing there for?”
The original owner had no choice but to go over, feeling a bit dazed and almost stumbling on the deck.
Then Tai Zhen pointed the camera at himself. His brother was also beside him, and they both started mocking, “Lin Lan is like a block of wood. He can’t even have a conversation.”
They laughed back and forth, and after a few minutes, they aimed the camera at Lin Lan again.
The original owner seemed to be arguing with the girl in the red dress. Both of them were holding a knife, and during the struggle, Lin Lan stabbed the knife into the girl’s stomach and then pushed her off the deck.
Tai Zhen stood up in shock, “Lin Lan, what are you doing!”
In the video, Lin Lan appeared mentally unstable, shaking his head continuously, “It’s not me, it’s not me…”
The video abruptly ended there.
Both videos were dated February 18th, the day Lin Lan came of age.
Lin Lan wasn’t a detective, but he knew these two videos were damning evidence against him.
The original owner hugged his knees, trembling with fear.
More messages from Tai Zhen came: Song Yuan’s family is so influential. They won’t let you off the hook. Even if you really are crazy, they’ll probably still send you to prison for life, right? Hahaha…
This seemed to be the final straw that broke the original owner’s fragile nerves.
He cried, terrified to the point of stomach spasms. His already dazed mind seemed to hallucinate. Sometimes he muttered to himself and sometimes he knelt down in madness to apologize. He kept slapping himself, unable to bear the dual torment of conscience and Tai Zhen’s mental pressure. Finally, unable to endure it any longer, he got up and fetched the sleeping pills prescribed by Wu Ming.
Tai Zhen kept messaging him: “If I were you, I’d find a quiet place to die alone. Maybe I’ll be generous and destroy the videos after your death, leaving your team with a good reputation.”
The original owner broke down in tears. After crying, he sat like a puppet, staring out of the window.
As the first light of dawn began to rise, he suddenly moved his stiff limbs and mechanically poured out the sleeping pills from the bottle, almost the entire bottle, without even using water, and swallowed them directly.
The dry and bitter pills stuck to the walls of his throat, and he forced them down with saliva, sweat of fear dripping down his hair.
With his last consciousness, trembling, he deleted and formatted all the messages in his phone, formatting it three times before finally stopping.
It seemed that in his mind, he also believed that he had killed Song Yuan in his dazed state, filled with guilt and despair in the last moments of consciousness.
But…
If Song Yuan’s family really had power and influence, why hadn’t he been sued during all the time he had been wandering here?
Unless…
His consciousness was twisted again, this time on the resuscitation table in the hospital, the scene frozen at the moment his life stopped. He was pulled back infinitely, back to the old Tai family mansion.
He saw Tai Zhen and Tai Yuan sitting on the sofa laughing heartily, seemingly celebrating something. Song Yuan, wearing a red dress, walked in from outside, complaining, “What kind of murderer game did we play yesterday? It wasn’t thrilling at all. Lin Lan acted like he was scared stiff and didn’t want to cooperate at all. I won’t play with him again next time…”
Tai Zhen got up and poured her a glass of wine, coaxing her, “Next time, I’ll play with you.”
That’s how it was.
The original owner hadn’t killed anyone at all. That day, he was in a daze, not remembering anything due to whatever he had ingested.
Tai Zhen had been tormenting the original owner mentally all these years, and Song Yuan’s “death” became the final straw that broke the original owner’s spirit, leading him to choose suicide in despair.
But just after his death, he saw the truth that Song Yuan was still alive. The powerful resentment kept him from dispersing even after death. Then, recalling his life, he uttered a desperate plea:
Save me—
Lin Lan, save me—
Lin Lan seemed to see a mirror.
In the mirror was another version of himself, crying out to him in despair.
The original owner suddenly broke free from the shattered mirror that had confined him and ran wildly, running into Lin Lan’s world.
Lin Lan saw him appearing on the body of his younger self at the orphanage. When Tai Songshan came here to adopt a child, the original owner used all his strength to run away, breaking free from the shackles of fate for him.
And then came Lin Lan’s entry into esports, his subsequent rise to fame…
So it was…
The dividing line between himself and the original owner lay in whether they were adopted by Tai Songshan!
After the original owner’s death, his lingering resentment led him to travel to another world, changing the fate of the other self in that world.
And the Lin Lan of that other world succeeded and became famous, then turned around to travel back to his world, to help him overcome his difficulties and uncover the truth…
Everything was drawn together at this moment. He and the original owner had never been in a relationship of savior and saved.
Instead, they saved each other!
At this moment, the mirror dividing the worlds shattered completely, and the fates of the two worlds intersected countless times. Each intersection point was a change in destiny.
This was their relentless resistance against fate…!
Lin Lan finally understood the truth of his travels. He fell from the shattered mirror into the world of the original owner, his consciousness returning to the room once again.
A flood of memories overwhelmed Lin Lan, making him feel nauseous. He gulped down a whole glass of water just to ease the discomfort.
His phone beeped. It was a message from Xie Zilu: Remembered everything yet?
He did remember. Everything came flooding back to him. But although he knew the entire process of Tai Zhen’s crimes, he found himself unable to pin the blame on him.
Tai Zhen was too meticulous in his actions. Every detail connected seamlessly, always appearing innocent.
Lin Lan could empathize with the original owner’s feelings. Faced with two such cunning enemies for years, it was indeed despairing.
Another beep. Another message from Xie Zilu: Why aren’t you replying?
Lin Lan took another sip of water to calm himself down, and then, after gathering his thoughts, he dialed Xie Zilu’s number and told him everything he remembered about the original owner.
Xie Zilu was incredulous after listening, “Tai Zhen acted like a fool at school. He has such a shrewd side?”
“He wouldn’t be able to keep a backup of your video if he wasn’t shrewd, would he?”
“Damn,” Xie Zilu couldn’t help but curse, “Is Jiang Xi so dumb that she couldn’t steal my video?”
“Not necessarily,” Lin Lan could sense that Tai Zhen treated Jiang Xi differently. His gaze towards her at school couldn’t deceive anyone. Moreover, he noticed something.
“Xie Zilu, if we remove the mole on Tai Zhen and Tai Yuan’s faces, can you still tell them apart?”
This question left Xie Zilu stunned. He had never thought about it before.
“I’ve noticed that Tai Zhen’s gaze towards Jiang Xi is sometimes gentle and sometimes cold. I suspect that one of them might not be the real Tai Zhen. If my guess is true, it means there’s also a rift between the brothers that cannot be touched. You can have Jiang Xi start from this angle to drive a wedge between the two brothers.”
Xie Zilu instantly understood. The “Tai Zhen” who sent Jiang Xi to her death might not be the real Tai Zhen after all.
In that case…
Xie Zilu chuckled, “This will be interesting.”
With this matter resolved, Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief.
Even if there was no evidence to send Tai Zhen and his brother to prison, Xie Zilu would never let them off the hook.
When the time came to expose the true faces of the two brothers and strip them of their Tai family identity, it would also be a way to vent the frustrations of both the original owner and himself.
With the major issue resolved, Lin Lan slept particularly soundly that night.
He seemed to have a dream, where the original owner sat beside him. The wind gently tousled their hair, and a rare relaxed smile on his face as he looked up at the sky.
Lin Lan couldn’t hear his voice, but he felt himself asking: “Do you still have any unfulfilled wishes?”
The original owner just smiled and lowered his head. Under the sunlight, he appeared shy and pure. Then he turned to Lin Lan and said: “Be good to him.”
Him? Did he mean Xiao Shengjing?
In the dream, Lin Lan didn’t ask. He simply sat beside the original owner, enjoying the peaceful moment together.
He remembered the place being high up, but he didn’t feel afraid of heights. Instead, he found the sunlight comforting, the breeze gentle, shining on both of them under the clear sky and white clouds.
It was so quiet, so peaceful.
In the final moments of the dream, the original owner asked him a question: “Which world do you want to stay in?”
Lin Lan wanted to ask, “Is there a choice?”
Suddenly, the sky darkened, the wind whipped through the original owner’s hair, and the dream gained sound. His body became transparent in the wind, his voice ethereal: “Lin Lan, which world do you want to stay in? You don’t have much time to make your choice…” Before he could finish speaking, he vanished completely into the wind.
The platform beneath him shattered suddenly, and Lin Lan plummeted from the heights, feeling weightless, as if he would be torn apart.
He fell heavily onto the hospital bed, surrounded by the sounds of doctors and nurses, chaotic instruments, and the defibrillator shocking his body repeatedly.
Lin Lan realized he could control this body, just by exerting a little force with his fingers, but…
He found himself hesitating.
As the desperate shocks continued to rain down, Lin Lan couldn’t remember how long the resuscitation had lasted.
From daytime to nighttime outside the window, he replayed his entire life in his mind, overwhelmed by weariness and fatigue to the point where he couldn’t even muster the strength to move a finger.
“Lin Lan, which world do you want to stay in?”
“If I could choose, I would like to stay in your world.”
With the final shock, his body had long gone cold.
The doctors shook their heads in resignation, while the nurses whispered to each other, “His heartbeat and breathing stopped last night. Young Master Xiao kept insisting we continue resuscitation…”
“He paid for it, so we resuscitated. What’s the fuss?”
“No, I think… maybe he was already aware of something. The machine’s been silent all night. Maybe he’s just pretending not to hear…”
In the very end, Lin Lan saw the doctor remove his mask and announce with resignation, “The patient’s breathing and heartbeat stopped completely last night. We did our best. Moreover, I mentioned three months ago that the patient’s condition was not optimistic, and death was inevitable. Young Master Xiao, please accept my condolences…”
From Lin Lan’s perspective, he couldn’t see Xiao Shengjing’s face, only his lonely figure sitting by the door.
He watched outside the door, seemingly accepting the fact calmly.
Amidst the complex gazes of the others, he suddenly muttered to himself, “If I had known it would end like this, why did I argue with you? I should have just let you have your way.”
Lin Lan listened quietly, scenes from the past flashing through his mind. He had always considered Silly Dog a good companion, despite their disagreements and differences. Ultimately, he would always stand by Silly Dog’s side.
But what Silly Dog wanted, he couldn’t give.
As the last glimmer faded away and everything returned to calmness, Lin Lan heard the sound of cicadas. He slowly opened his eyes, finding himself back in the familiar room.
Everything here was arranged by the captain according to his preferences, without imposing anything on him.
Feeling like he had been reborn, Lin Lan touched everything in the room. He listened to the cicadas outside and watched the breeze rustling the leaves. His senses became incredibly acute.
For the first time, he felt so clearly that he was alive.
“Knock, knock.” Lu Shi knocked on the door from outside. “Lin Lan, have you gotten up yet?”
Lin Lan opened the door to see Lu Shi still wearing slippers, holding a basin for washing his face, looking like he had just woken up. “You’re up so early?”
“Yeah. I’ve been busy with chores every day, so tired. Sleeping early and waking up early.” He scrutinized Lin Lan up and down as if he didn’t recognize him. “How come you suddenly look so energetic?”
Lin Lan subconsciously looked at the mirror on the wall, and the reflection finally resembled a lively person. The pale skin had a faint blush, and even the shadow under the eyes had completely disappeared.
It was as if he had been completely reborn in this world.
The end of fulfilling the wish for the original host was not disappearance, but rebirth.
Author’s note:
Finally, I’ve wrapped up this circle. It was tough! To write this far quickly, I had to keep writing non-stop, just like a donkey in a production team. [crying face]
Lin Lan is completely reborn in this world now. Next is the story of Lin Lan unraveling his inner conflicts and then going crazy in the summer split and the World Championship…
(ps: I won’t write about MSI to keep the pace. I will go directly from the summer split to the World Championship)
