Light Fortress
Chapter 121 - 109: Old Dreams

Chapter 121: Chapter 109: Old Dreams

"That office must be expensive, right?"

Gu Shen took a deep breath and smiled, "I will come back often."

In fact, he had grown accustomed to the days of interning at the Judgement Institute.

This time he came back to say goodbye, he actually wanted to tell Sister Xiao Xin that if he had time, he would be happy to come help at the Judgement Institute... With the lady’s arrival, there would be more and more guests at the Judgement Institute, and Zhou Yexin would probably be very busy by herself.

"The price of the office...is not too bad. Actually, the rent hasn’t gone up much," Zhou Yexin said, looking at Tang Qingquan who was coming over after finishing his cigarette, and gave a slight cough of embarrassment.

"Because that shop is also mine."

He heard their farewell from far away and the Grand Judge spoke succinctly, "Now that the business is picking up, I’ll help her change the storefront and raised the rent symbolically a little."

"???"

Gu Shen was stunned.

"Actually... that one, and that one, and that one... they’re all mine."

Tang Qingquan slowly extended his hand, pointing one by one down the street, from start to finish.

"This entire Lipu Street is yours?"

Gu Shen felt disheveled in the wind, the wisp of sorrow he had been brewing in his heart mercilessly shattered.

He recalled what Tang Qingquan said on the plane.

["I have some houses on Lipu Street."]

You call this some?

"More or less. I helped Mr. Zhao with a favor, and he gave me this street."

Tang Qingquan admitted with a calm expression, and then quietly reflected, "Today is rent collection day. Although the accounts have been settled online, it feels very good to see these shops on the day of rent collection, no matter how bad the mood."

"..."

Gu Shen silently watched Judge Tang, thinking did you take a bullet for Mr. Zhao?

"Xiao Xin, after you finish moving, please invite us to your home for a visit," Tang Qingquan said calmly.

Gu Shen looked at the Grand Judge with an odd expression, realizing only after spending a long time with Tang Qingquan that in some ways he was different from ordinary people, saying things like please invite me to your home for a visit with an unchanging face as if he were the real master.

...

...

Zhou Yexin’s home was not big.

A one-bedroom apartment.

She was from a single-parent family to begin with, and after her father, Zhou Yu, passed away, only she remained.

Alone, everywhere was home.

In reality... for her, being alone, studying in Central Continent, then returning to East Continent, moving from one house to another, there was only one home, which remained in her long, long childhood memories and could never be found again.

"Please have a seat... I haven’t cleaned up much, please excuse me."

Gu Shen silently held his teacup, taking in the surroundings of the one-bedroom apartment.

He came to Zhou Yexin’s home for the investigation... to investigate the rabbit doll he saw in the dream.

The Grand Judge said indifferently, "Have you noticed anything?"

It was because he believed in Gu Shen that he was willing to come along... If it had been someone else who said they had discovered something suspicious about the Zhou Yu case in Zhou Yexin’s dream, Tang Qingquan would have probably been too indifferent to care. Over the years, he had invested a lot of effort into the Zhou Yu case, which eventually even led to some developments contrary to his intentions.

An almost S-rank Transcendent, died in an explosion.

This was considered a disgrace—

Indeed, those Transcendents who are above the rules are not necessarily immortal like gods... Under the rules of nature, their physical bodies are still fragile, even Transcendents of the Deep Sea Eleventh Layer cannot withstand the blast of high-grade explosives, will still be melted by lava, drowned by deep sea, frozen by heavy snow.

Of course... a Transcendent of the twelfth layer is another form of "life."

"Zhou Yu carried the hopes of many people back then, and his death was a big blow to the newly established Judgement Institute," Tang Qingquan said softly. "Following that came doubts about the capabilities of the Judgement Institute. The Judgement Institute was an organization established following the will of Gu Changzhi; it had a particularly difficult start, with many important figures in the council skeptical... The death of Zhou Yu then sparked a great controversy. In the end, the case was buried in the dust of history."

"Because there were no clues..."

Gu Shen felt somewhat powerless.

He suddenly understood the anger and helplessness of Tang Qingquan.

Tang Qingquan and Zhou Yu were fellow disciples back in the day, with a deep friendship between them, and he knew full well Zhou Yu’s capabilities; he shouldn’t have died so easily, but the facts were right in front of him...

"I have also doubted the truth of this incident, how could Zhou Yu, with his exceptional talent, die in just an explosion? But the explosion was too powerful, the roar swept through an entire street block... Yet in the end, there were zero casualties. The violent explosion was contained within an extremely small area, and Zhou Yu did not even leave behind remains; he was incinerated cleanly," said Judge Tang, his eyes lowered, looking at his lonely reflection in the cup. "I had to accept the ’truth’: he sacrificed himself to stop the explosion. Being talented doesn’t mean being omnipotent, my little junior brother Zhou Yu, he also had things he couldn’t do."

For example, when choosing between saving himself and saving all beings.

Gu Shen silently looked at the photo on the table.

Moving through many places, alone for many years, the photo of her father was always carried with Zhou Yexin... It was a picture of the two together, the adult cradling the child in arms, squatting on the grass.

In the dream, the face he couldn’t see was now finally revealed.

The young Zhou Yu, with a faint smile on his face, had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes.

"Wait a second..."

Gu Shen’s expression became intense; the Zhou Yexin in this photo was not much older than the one he had seen in his dream.

Where was Dora?

Dora wasn’t in the photo frame... The girl wasn’t holding a doll in her hands, but she was holding a leash.

"Woof!"

The bedroom door opened.

A white Samoyed dog cheerfully sprinted out from behind the door, showing no fear of strangers. It curiously stuck out its tongue and circled around Gu Shen and Tang Qingquan, sniffing vigorously.

Gu Shen and Tang Qingquan both noticed details from the photograph, and exchanged glances.

Is this...?

"Su Xi!"

Zhou Yexin called out softly as she jogged out from the bedroom. Upon hearing her call, the white dog stretched its tongue out and merrily ran back to her.

Tang Qingquan felt somewhat disappointed and sipped his tea, asking, "You have a dog... named Su Xi?"

What a pity.

He had thought... this was the Dora that Gu Shen had seen in his dream.

The large dog was full of energy but not rowdy, its smiling face endearing.

"Yes," Zhou Yexin said with a touch of tenderness in her eyes. She stroked the dog’s head and whispered, "It’s thanks to Su Xi that the days after returning to Da Du weren’t so hard to endure."

"May I... pet it?"

Gu Shen made a small request.

"Of course," Zhou Yexin smiled. "She’s very friendly."

Gu Shen cautiously extended his hand, and Su Xi responded by sticking out her tongue, raising her head with a smile, pressing her nose against the palm of this unfamiliar young man. Reassured by the warm petting, she blissfully closed her eyes and lay down on her side on the floor.

She really is a little angel...

Gu Shen asked softly, "How old is Su Xi?"

"Almost three," Zhou Yexin replied with a smile.

Three years old?

No... the timing doesn’t match for Su Xi.

That was after Zhou Yexin had returned from studying abroad in Central Continent.

"In that photograph... I saw that you used to have another dog," Gu Shen continued to ask. "Is that dog still around?"

"You mean... Dora?"

Zhou Yexin paused, her eyes turned downcast as she smiled faintly, "Dora was Su Xi’s mother. She grew up with me from a young age, until I left East Continent to study in Central Continent. But she was really old, and not long after giving birth to Su Xi, she passed away."

There it was—

The key phrase, Dora!

Gu Shen’s eyes sharpened, and he turned his head slightly to see Tang Qingquan’s solemn expression.

The clues obtained from the dream weren’t useless!

The Grand Judge sat upright, slowly saying, "Would it be convenient for you to tell us Dora’s story?"

"The story of Dora..."

Zhou Yexin appeared somewhat perplexed, not understanding why the teacher would suddenly ask about this. She ran her fingers through her hair, tried hard to recall, and eventually said with a bitter smile, "Actually, there’s not much of a story... Dora was a gift from my father, and after he passed away, she accompanied me through my childhood."

She suddenly stopped.

"...And that’s all."

No.

That’s not it.

It’s not just that...

Watching Zhou Yexin’s silence, Gu Shen thought to himself.

This matter isn’t that simple!

After seeing that dream... and after confirming the identity of Duolan, the truth reflected in the dream was nearly coming to light.

The rabbit doll named Dora symbolized this dog.

In the dream, the girl lost Dora, and Zhou Yu encountered an accident while searching for her... yet why did the investigation by the Judgement Institute ultimately conclude that Zhou Yexin was unrelated to the explosion?

At the very least, she should have received corresponding attention as a person directly involved.

Moreover.

If the rabbit doll, dissected in the villa, corresponded to the beloved dog from Zhou Yexin’s childhood, then how did it come back to life after "dying"?

The dead cannot be resurrected, this is an iron law that no Transcendent can overstep!

"Speak out what you’ve gone through,"

Gu Shen silently muttered to himself in his heart while a wisp of Chi Huo slowly drifted out, gathering at Zhou Yexin’s brow.

He imposed a very gentle suggestion.

Something akin to encouragement.

"Actually... even if I speak out, you probably won’t believe me."

Zhou Yexin lowered her eyes, struggling internally for a long time, until she suddenly felt a mysterious force.

She started speaking with some difficulty.

"In the days when my father left, I fell seriously ill and had a high fever... I felt like I saw many figures, coming and going, but in the end, none stayed."

"For many years, I’ve been questioning whether that was just a dream... or something that really happened..."

Sister Xiao Xin said gently, "Because that dream was too real... I once told people about it, and they thought I was insane..."

She massaged her brow, sorting through her fragmented thoughts, and spoke tiredly.

"In my dream, I saw that my father died because of me."