Chapter 210: The Time of Awakening, a Clear Sky After the Rain

Feeling the touch, Chen Mo turned his head in a daze.

There, he saw Su Yuqing, looking at him with an expression of gentle compassion.

"Let it end here."

Su Yuqing suddenly spoke, and that familiar, heart-stirring voice once again filled Chen Mo’s ears.

But her voice carried a sense of desolation.

"Am I dreaming right now, or..."

As Chen Mo spoke, Su Yuqing raised a delicate finger and quietly pressed it to his lips.

"It makes no difference. Everything is already in the past."

"Is it really over, just like that?" Chen Mo asked, unconvinced.

"You’ve placed a responsibility on yourself that you never should have, and you’ve shouldered a guilt that isn’t yours to bear. I’ve watched you every day, watched you torture yourself with this obsession for ten years. It’s time for it to end. You’ve already finished investigating everything you needed to.

The truth no longer matters, because before any of that, I was already dead."

Su Yuqing recalled her state of mind just before she died.

There is no greater sorrow than a heart that has already died. Back then, it no longer mattered to her whether her physical body was alive or dead. To her, that blade was more of a release.

But she never imagined that Chen Mo would carry such heavy guilt for so long because of it.

How could Su Yuqing bear to see him so hopelessly trapped in pain, self-blame, and guilt?

But she knew that if she didn’t let Chen Mo investigate things for himself, he would never be able to let it go. Now that his investigation had come this far, it was enough.

Hearing Su Yuqing’s words, Chen Mo finally understood her state of mind at that time.

"If you can let go, then I can finally leave in peace." Su Yuqing looked at Chen Mo with a gentle smile. "This guilt shouldn’t be on your shoulders, and you shouldn’t have to carry it. Cherish the present. She’s still waiting for you to come home. Don’t get so lost chasing old obsessions that you neglect the one right in front of you who you should cherish the most."

Chen Mo’s heart trembled, deeply moved by her words.

’I’ve been living in my past obsessions. The more clues I found, the deeper I sank.’

’I even started doing things that skirted the edge of the law.’

’If I keep going, I might really reach the point of no return.’

’Perhaps this is why Su Yuqing appeared before me.’

’But is this a dream, or is it real? Or has my own subconscious fabricated a fictional scene to comfort myself?’

’After all, that last part was about Su Yuqing herself. The real her doesn’t seem like the type to call herself the person who should be cherished most.’

Chen Mo was completely baffled.

This dreamlike scene, so real yet so illusory. This Su Yuqing before him, so real yet so illusory.

’Am I in reality, in a dream, or in some even stranger place?’

He could only make a promise to the Su Yuqing before him—whether she was real or fake—so that she could leave in peace.

"After what just happened, I’ve thought a lot of things through. This matter is more or less settled. You can rest easy. I won’t live in the past anymore."

Hearing Chen Mo say this, Su Yuqing finally revealed a joyous smile. The next moment, everything around them began to twist and dissolve.

When he startled awake, it was already the next morning. The torrential rain had long since stopped, and the sun hung high in the sky.

Chen Mo had been unconscious all night. At the moment of his awakening, the rain had passed and the sky was clear.

Everything around him looked exceptionally sharp.

Chen Mo looked around and found he was still on the roof of the abandoned building. Everything was soaked.

But Chen Mo himself was surprisingly dry.

He didn’t know if the strong wind on the rooftop had dried him or what.

Chen Mo didn’t dwell on it. He cleared his head and stood up.

He gazed into the distance and muttered to himself, "Whether it was a dream or real, so be it."

From that dreamlike scene, Chen Mo had deduced that Su Yuqing’s death was neither pure coincidence nor pure inevitability.

Re-examining all the key elements of the case revealed that her murder was the result of a series of compounding events.

As long as he was around, it would be absolutely impossible for such an outcome to ever happen again.

In that case, he no longer had a specific target to guard against, nor did he need to worry that Su Yuqing would be murdered by some unknown killer at some unforeseen moment.

After collecting his thoughts, Chen Mo took one last look around, as if searching for the figure of the girl who used to appear before him from time to time.

"It’s all in the past now," he murmured softly, then turned and headed downstairs.

When Chen Mo got home, he found Su Yuqing wrapped in a blanket, curled up on the living room sofa and sound asleep.

She wasn’t in her own room, but on the living room sofa. ’She must have been waiting for me to get home,’ he thought.

Touched by her affection, Chen Mo smiled as he walked over. He gently adjusted the blanket for her before turning back to his room.

Having been drenched in rain all night, he quickly showered, enjoyed a long, hot bath, and then emerged from his room, freshly dressed.

Su Yuqing was still fast asleep.

She had probably stayed up too late worrying about him last night and had only just fallen asleep.

Seeing her like this, Chen Mo didn’t have the heart to wake her. One blanket seemed too thin, so he found another and gently draped it over Su Yuqing, hoping she would sleep more soundly.

Once that was done, he turned and entered the kitchen to start making breakfast for both of them.

For some reason, he felt exceptionally refreshed and clear-headed today.

It was as if his mind was much clearer than usual.

Perhaps it was because the thoughts that had previously clogged his mind had been swept away. His thinking was now unobstructed and sharp, and everything seemed more beautiful.

A short while later, Chen Mo had finished making breakfast. Just then, Su Yuqing turned over.

Chen Mo crept closer to check on her. When he saw her eyelids flutter, he knew she was about to wake up.

Chen Mo gently patted the blanket covering her and said with a smile, "Hey, sleepyhead. Time to get up for breakfast."

Hearing his voice, Su Yuqing, who was still half-asleep, suddenly bolted upright.

When she saw it was really Chen Mo in front of her, she didn’t say a word, just threw her arms around him in a tight embrace.

Chen Mo felt two large, soft shapes pressing into his chest.

"What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" Feeling how tightly Su Yuqing was hugging him, as if trying to merge him into her very being, Chen Mo immediately hugged her back, gently patting her back to soothe her.

"You were gone for so long, and then last night the storm was so bad..." Su Yuqing didn’t finish.

But Chen Mo could hear the immense worry in her tone. She had clearly been worried sick, causing her emotions to overflow the moment she saw him, resulting in this fierce embrace.