Ch69 - Sealed for Safekeeping (2/2)

Yu Hao said, “But……don’t you think, since it chose you……”

“No.” Zhou Sheng said, “Don’t try to persuade me anymore.”

Yu Hao was a bit bewildered, “I never thought that you would make such a decision.”

“I thought about it before.” Zhou Sheng said earnestly, “I thought about it more than once. I’ve thought about it ever since the first day I discovered what it could do.”

Yu Hao said, “But you can’t throw it away.”

Zhou Sheng was about to respond when Fu Liqun returned, so the two of them had to stop discussing this topic. Zhou Sheng said, “Revise ba, it’ll be our finals soon.”

“Let’s study.” Fu Liqun said, “There’s so much to memorise, it’s horrible. Please don’t let me fail, I still want to go to Japan with your sis-in-law during the summer vacation!”

So Yu Hao could only close the laptop while he was halfway through his translations and revise with them. Fu Liqun memorised the contents of his common course while Zhou Sheng taught Yu Hao mathematics. Yu Hao was a bit absent-minded and looked at Zhou Sheng.

“That’s it.” Zhou Sheng said, “You’ll understand after you do this question.”

Yu Hao actually didn’t understand and could only say, “Okay.”

The three of them wore their earphones and listened to music as they revised. When Yu Hao was looking for songs, Zhou Sheng sent him a WeChat message.

【You want to hear the truth?】

Yu Hao:【Yes, why?】

Zhou Sheng:【After I tell you, can you promise not to nag me about it anymore in the future?】

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Yu Hao thought about it for a bit, then said:【Ok.】

Zhou Sheng:【Promise me.】

Yu Hao:【I promise you.】

There was no more activity on Zhou Sheng’s side. Yu Hao looked at him. Zhou Sheng was typing on his phone; he would type out a paragraph, then delete a paragraph, and it seemed he was thinking about how to word his reply. As he was glancing at him, Zhou Sheng raised one hand to point at Yu Hao’s paper to signal to him to stop looking at him and study.

Yu Hao’s head spun from studying Higher Mathematics. After a whole half an hour, Zhou Sheng finally sent a long message.

【Because if we continue living this kind of life, it’s very likely that we’ll run into dangers that are out of our control again. Especially you; that day in Kaikai’s Chichén Itzá dreamscape, in order to save me, you suffered such a serious injury in my place, and we were nearly trapped in there forever. You can heal me, but I can’t heal you. Unless the sun rises, and the sun shines down in x’s dreamscape, only then would you be able to recover. We were lucky in Chichén Itzá, but what about next time? It really is interesting to have the Golden Crow Wheel and be able to travel about freely in dreams, but who can pat their chest and say that we wouldn’t seize someone else’s dream because of some things that we can’t bear to see? You’re a kind person; you won’t be willing to sit back and watch things happen. And of course, you know I won’t either. It feels pretty good to be a hero who fights for justice, but for me, staying alive comes before anything else. I can’t let you be in any danger. Even if we were to save a thousand or ten thousand people, it still wouldn’t be worth paying the price of losing you. For me, nothing else matters. It doesn’t even matter if I don’t get to be a hero, but no harm must come to you. A true understanding of ourselves is the source of all our beliefs and strength. Moreover, I’ve always had a hunch that a time would come when we would let our hot-bloodedness rush to our heads and become arrogant, which would inevitably lead to tragedy. By then, what use would regret be? You usually see me throwing my fists around whenever I want to, right? But I assess the situation and make my judgments before doing so. If I can’t win, then I definitely won’t insist on fighting. The one and only time I didn’t have time to consider the risks was when I climbed up to Shi Liang’s house.】

When Yu Hao saw this message, he didn’t know how to respond to Zhou Sheng for a long time.

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Yu Hao:【There was still one more time, when you entered Liang Laoshi’s subconscious.】

Zhou Sheng:【Yes, and that proves my point. Did I have a choice? If I did, I wouldn’t have gone, and I wouldn’t have let you worry. But I had no choice. That’s why I think that if we continue like this, there will come a day where we will once again encounter a situation where we can’t make a choice. So, I must give up the Golden Crow Wheel.】

【I’ve discussed it with Kaikai too, and he agrees with what I think, but he suggested that I give him the Golden Crow Wheel. He will get it appraised at a laboratory in Beijing through the connections Liang Laoshi has and hand it over to them for research purposes. He won’t say that he got it from me. But I haven’t thought that through yet. After handing it over, we’ll be ordinary people and resume our ordinary lives, wouldn’t that be good?】

【Everyone in this world is ordinary. No one has a golden finger, and our lives can’t depend on a golden finger to resolve it.】

Yu Hao took off his earphones and gave Zhou Sheng a sidelong look. Zhou Sheng looked up from his phone to glance at him.

【Yu Hao, I know you won’t want to do that.】

【No, Zhou Sheng, you’re right.】

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Zhou Sheng stopped and nodded at Yu Hao.

Yu Hao:【You’ve convinced me, Zhou Sheng, you’re right. I was actually really conflicted about it too, let me think about how I should say this……】

Zhou Sheng:【You don’t need to say it, I understand how you feel, because I once felt that conflict too. Okay, this topic ends here.】

“Are you done?” Zhou Sheng asked.

“I think I did it wrong.” Yu Hao said somewhat angrily.

Zhou Sheng said, “You weren’t listening to me properly in the first place.”

Zhou Sheng came over with his chair and repeated his explanation for Yu Hao. But Yu Hao couldn’t help but think about the Golden Crow Wheel. When he first obtained the Golden Crow Wheel’s recognition, he had also thought about whether the Golden Crow Wheel existed to make the world a better place. Did it bestow upon them the ability to travel through dreams so that they could save more people and eliminate the darkness in their conscious worlds?

With great power comes great responsibility. Possessing the Golden Crow Wheel with unknown origins……Yu Hao really didn’t know how to describe it. With his understanding of it, it seemed like an instrument? It could be called a precision instrument for the time being. There must be some significance behind its existence. After that day, Yu Hao and Zhou Sheng had also discussed some of the messages that the Golden Crow Wheel had conveyed to him, but they never reached a clear conclusion in the end. Because of this, Zhou Sheng especially went to communicate with the Golden Crow Wheel for a long time. It’s just that the effects of a communication purely through consciousness weren’t very obvious. He always felt that there were a lot of messages in his mind, yet he couldn’t extract its contents clearly for a period of time.

At that time, Zhou Sheng said something that left a very deep impression on Yu Hao, “I keep feeling that this was something left behind by aliens. It’s definitely not for my usage; I was just lucky and inadvertently obtained something that doesn’t belong to me.” But there was no way to verify this. After all, Liang Jinmin’s case at that time was extremely unique. They wouldn’t be able to find a suitable subconscious and enter the path of Hearing within the six senses to verify it again.

Besides, unless it was a unique situation where the conscious world in the upper layer collapsed and all memories turned into fragments that fell into the Forgotten Ruins, a normal subconscious wouldn’t have the path of Hearing as memories would take on real forms in one’s dreamscape. That day, Yu Hao had even specifically asked Zhou Sheng how he had managed to set up a passageway into Liang Jinmin’s subconscious from Chen Yekai’s dream.

Zhou Sheng answered him with, ‘the Golden Crow Wheel taught me’. He and Chen Yekai had discussed it for a long time. Chen Yekai was extremely smart, and had deduced that the “sun” in every dreamscape was a pivotal point. They were all under Zhou Sheng’s control, and he could also build passages through these suns.

Zhou Sheng, “Do you understand?”

Yu Hao, “……”

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Zhou Sheng, “……”

Yu Hao, “I’m sorry General, I got distracted again.”

Zhou Sheng held his forehead with one hand, “I’m a little confused myself.”

Fu Liqun moved over and said, “General? That’s a nice nickname. Explain the next question for me bei, Yu Hao.”

“Don’t think about it anymore.” Zhou Sheng casually patted Yu Hao on the back of his head.

Ok then. Yu Hao decided to stop thinking about it. No matter how smart he was, he couldn’t be smarter than Zhou Sheng. Since Zhou Sheng had already considered it, then he wouldn’t need to worry too much about it anymore.

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It was nearing the end of June. Aside from revising with Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun, Yu Hao spent the rest of his time translating nonstop.

Chen Yekai invited them out a few times, and Zhou Sheng’s reason for rejection was, “I’m busy right now, I need to compete and study for my exams, I have no time! We’ll talk when they’re all over!”

At the same time, Yu Hao had even less time because he also had to work; he still had over two hundred reports that were crushing him. Chen Yekai would occasionally visit their dormitory unannounced, but he would always do so only when Zhou Sheng was absent. He would bring some cakes or other desserts to their dormitory, sit for five minutes or so, and chat idly for awhile before tactfully leaving.

During lunch, as long as Zhou Sheng didn’t come, Chen Yekai would carry his tray in the canteen and sit opposite Yu Hao to eat lunch with him. They would also casually chat about the progress of his part-time job and Yu Hao’s grades. Chen Yekai had a very keen sense of propriety and never mentioned the previous incident. Most of the things they talked about focused on the topic of Lin Xun.

Lin Xun was waiting for his hearing, and the time of the hearing depended on the official notice from the prosecutors.

“Did you go see him?” Yu Hao couldn’t help but ask.

“No.” Chen Yekai said, “Did you think he would tell me about the conversation he had with Ryuusei that afternoon? I think that’s impossible.”

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Yu Hao also felt that Lin Xun wouldn’t tell Chen Yekai the truth, or else it would just add on to his crimes.

“Then his motive for killing Liang Laoshi……” Yu Hao whispered.

Chen Yekai said, “At present, the reason he gave the police was that after he eavesdropped on our conversation, he learned that Liang Laoshi had gathered evidence of his embezzlement and affairs and wanted to get a divorce. Because of their altercation after they got home, a conflict broke out, and he lost control, so he ended up beating her until she got a concussion. And since things had already gone that far, he thought that he might as well kill her to silence her as well.”

Yu Hao said, “How many years would he get in that case?”

“Attempted murder, we’ll try for a life imprisonment sentence.” Chen Yekai said, “The nature of the case is extremely vile, but the specifics depend on the defense lawyer. But no matter what, his social status, reputation, and benefits are all gone.”

Yu Hao stared at Chen Yekai quietly. He thought that if Chen Yekai never figured out the truth behind Ryuusei’s death, then it may never truly be over for him.

Chen Yekai knew what Yu Hao was thinking. He smiled and said, “Sometimes, one needs to wait patiently for the truth to come to light. At the very least, I will always remember this matter in my heart.”