While Lin Ge was examining that jade pendant.

  Xia Li was also carefully observing the pendant in the Third Elder's hands. He roughly understood what it was.

  Just like when he'd previously asked the Heavenly Dao Computer a question, the Computer had given him a "light quantum."

  A light quantum that could change his fate and let him meet his sister ahead of time.

  It seemed this world also had similar methods—able to comprehend Heaven's Dao causality and find what others sought.

  But what Xia Li never expected was that he himself would become what someone else sought.

  Perhaps this was fate.

  Fate arising and fading—perhaps behind all coincidences lay predestination. Should he believe in fate?

  What was fate?

  Xia Li asked himself. Because he'd been in contact with the Heavenly Dao Computer, Xia Li could now reach a relatively rational conclusion.

  It was the objectively calculable, observable, changeable future.

  【Notification: Your understanding of Heaven's Dao +1】

  Just as Xia Li was lost in thought, Heaven Chip suddenly notified him that his understanding of Heaven's Dao had deepened by one degree.

  "Alright, I'll take this jade pendant for now. You two young people take your time chatting."

  After accomplishing his purpose, the Third Elder waved his sleeve and vanished on the spot, leaving Lin Ge staring at Xia Li with a strange expression.

  Her grandfather had appreciated other young people before—like Lin Yu, that number one genius of the Lin Family. Her grandfather was quite invested in him.

  But in terms of attitude...

  Her grandfather's attitude toward Xia Li was incomparably better than toward Lin Yu. Lin Yu, this blood relative, practically wasn't worthy of even carrying Xia Li's shoes.

  "So, what exactly did you two talk about?"

  Lin Ge was extremely curious. She vaguely sensed that what Xia Li and her grandfather discussed was definitely directly related to her.

  Perhaps...

  Related to her memories from before age five, and the culprit who killed her parents.

  Her grandfather had only told her that her parents were killed by enemies. She didn't even know who the enemies were. Before age ten, she'd even been deceived that her parents had gone somewhere far away and couldn't return.

  "You should be able to guess."

  Xia Li played the riddler. Some things were indeed hard to explain to Lin Ge.

  For instance, that her mother wasn't from this world, and even in her mother's world, her mother wasn't considered a person with human rights.

  On Lin Ge's mother's hand...

  Before the flesh fell away, Xia Li had seen it.

  He'd seen a barcode.

  That was the symbol of being merchandise. Lin Ge's mother was a biological weapon, quite possibly a weapon Corporate Union had sold to Shushan Sword Sect.

  And the answers to all of this were perhaps in Zhiyuan City.

  "Related to my parents? After all, my constitution was mentioned."

  "Mm."

  Xia Li nodded.

  Lin Ge hesitated a moment, turned her head to look around. No one was nearby, and her grandfather seemed to have really left.

  "Ahem... um, can I hug you?"

  "Why?"

  "I want to hear the sound of your heartbeat. I feel... inexplicably familiar."

  "Mm."

  Xia Li nodded. After understanding Lin Ge's past, he suddenly didn't dislike Lin Ge so much. Perhaps because Lin Ge's mother, like him, had once been an object.

  They had both come to this world through twist of fate, but their fates were completely different.

  Lin Ge's mother could never return, but he could go back and freely travel between both worlds.

  "Thanks!"

  Lin Ge walked forward openly, bowing her head and pressing her ear to Xia Li's chest.

  Besides the thump-thump of his heartbeat, there was also a click-click sound, a crisp alien tone keeping rhythm with his heartbeat.

  This sound was very familiar to her—like returning to her mother's embrace. Hearing this sound gave her an indescribable peace.

  A blurry figure emerged in her mind.

  The figure gently held her and hummed a little tune. She too hummed along from memory.

  But... the memory was too fuzzy to hum completely.

  Yet just as she paused for a second or two...

  Xia Li hummed the continuation, and she recalled more memories related to her mother.

  Until the song ended, her eyes were already brimming with tears, her face buried deep in Xia Li's chest as she wept softly.

  "What's this song... called?"

  "Für Elise. I haven't heard it in a long time either. The last time I heard it was..."

  When was the last time he'd heard it?

  The class bell in high school?

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Or a street sprinkler truck passing by?

  Or...

  The self-recording video at the research facility right before being frozen?

  It was her!!!

  Xia Li suddenly thought of someone.

  A girl who'd been frozen before him—her video recording for her family was of her playing piano, and it was this very Für Elise.

  Her face...

  What did she look like?

  【Heaven Chip, stimulate the brain, conduct memory search and awakening!】

  【Please specify approximate time point...】

  【Year 2030, May 1st】

  【Please try to recall memories from that day. The search process may cause some mild pain】

  Then...

  Xia Li felt past memories surge like tides in his mind, memories flashing back rapidly like a revolving lantern.

  Soon, he arrived at May 1st.

  As if experiencing it firsthand, Xia Li once again returned to the day of freezing.

  Outside a room in the research facility.

  Xia Li waited for the previous person to finish recording, thinking about what to say in his message to family. Should he pretend to be brave and say things like "we'll definitely meet again"?

  Suddenly...

  Piano music played—that very Für Elise.

  When the piano music ended, a sickly girl pushed open the door and walked out. Xia Li smiled at her.

  "Beautifully played!"

  "Thank you..."

  "A shame about your musical talent."

  "I just didn't know what else to leave behind. Since childhood I've never had freedom—I could only keep practicing piano as my family arranged..."

  "Sorry."

  Xia Li felt embarrassed.

  "It's fine. Perhaps leaving like this is for the best. If I can wake up someday, I'd actually hope my so-called family is already gone. Then I'd be free."

  "What do you want to do in the future?"

  "Travel, I suppose. If I can wake up someday, I definitely want to travel the world. Do you think technology will be very advanced by then? Will we have a chance to go to space?"

  "There really might be that chance!"

  Hearing this, Xia Li also became curious about the future, began to anticipate it, and for the first time started yearning for his incomplete life to bloom again.

  "Then let's go together when the time comes? I made a complete travel plan while bedridden. I wanted to use being cured as an excuse to go out and relax, but a terminal illness is a terminal illness..."

  "It's only terminal now. For the future, it might just be a minor illness. If we can wake up then, I'll definitely travel with you! We fellow patients will probably wake up in the same batch anyway."

  "Then it's a deal. I'm Ning Ge. And you?"

  Ning Ge extended her right hand toward Xia Li, indicating a handshake to become friends.

  "Xia Li."

  "By the way, why are you shaking with your left hand?"

  "The tumor in my right lung spread severely and affected my right shoulder. Raising my arm hurts a lot."

  "Sorry. Wishing you recovery. May all pain be far from us when we wake."

  "Mm, wishing you recovery too. May all pain be far from us when we wake."

  The two smiled as they shook hands, planting a seed of comfort in their hearts, no longer so afraid of being frozen, instead beginning to anticipate their new lives after awakening.

  From that moment on, they became friends.

  The memory ended there.

  "Xia Li? Xia Li, what are you spacing out about?"

  "Hey!!"

  Lin Ge waved her hand in front of Xia Li, having noticed he'd suddenly gone dazed.

  Being frozen would cause some damage to the brain, losing some memories, but they could be recovered through Heaven Chip.

  Through this incident, Xia Li had recovered a friend. He'd thought nothing worth caring about had happened before he was frozen.

  "Nothing..."

  Xia Li forced an ugly smile. The old memories recalled during this daze had kindled a fire in his heart that couldn't be extinguished.

  It even reignited the embers of rage he'd suppressed back in Wind Crane City.

  If only she were still alive.

  If they could meet in this world, perhaps they could fulfill that old promise—accompany her on a journey through this world.

  But why!

  Why did nothing go as he wished?

  In this moment, Xia Li deeply recognized his own insignificance, his own powerlessness. He didn't even dare shout his anger aloud—the cowardly flames of rage could only form dying embers.

  What was cultivating truth?

  Cultivating until all was as he wished.

  【Notification: You are developing a Dao Heart】

  【Congratulations, you have taken a crucial step】