The three members of the Lu family chatted casually for a bit, then said their goodbyes and went upstairs to their respective bedrooms.
Lu Luoluo had originally wanted to pull Lu Ran over to discuss some problems together, but seeing that Lu Ran had experienced dizziness earlier, she assumed he was a bit tired from being dragged around to try on clothes. Thoughtfully, she withdrew the suggestion, hugged her exercise book, and returned to her room, planning to look through it on her own.
The living room soon was left with only Zhao Jin… ah no, plus the orange cat, making a total of two cats.
Zhao Jin twitched his fluffy ears, his amber-colored eyes filled with contemplation.
From the intense surprise he had felt upon hearing how the Lu family addressed one another, to the brief panic when Lu Ran noticed him, everything had now turned into an irrepressible curiosity.
Zhao Jin shifted his gaze toward the orange cat that was also in the living room.
Dispelling the invisibility spell to reveal his form, then laying down a layer of isolation magic around the area, was something that took only an instant.
The orange cat was vigorously chewing imported cat food. Sensing the change in its surroundings, it lifted its head in surprise. A piece of kibble still clung to the corner of its mouth. It looked as though it did not understand why the chosen godson had suddenly appeared in front of it, appearing somewhat dazed.
Zhao Jin tiptoed over to the orange cat. His paw emitted a golden glow as it touched the orange cat’s forehead.
The orange cat’s head drooped. It quickly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over it, and it lay down and fell into sleep, slipping straight into a dream.
Zhao Jin was using the Dream-Entering Art. It allowed him, to a certain extent, to probe the recent memories of the spell’s target. It was harmless to both parties. The drawbacks were that it consumed magical power… and that it could only be used on animals other than humans, with no guarantee of obtaining useful information.
Dried fish is tasty, cat food is tasty, canned food is tasty, this family is too nice, even when spring comes I do not want to leave, so if I have to be neutered then so be it…
Four hours later, Zhao Jin finally found the information he wanted in a corner of memories classified as “useless information.”
Mm… they think this dumb cat is a divine cat?
Time-space traversal?
The golden glow of the spell gradually dimmed. The orange cat’s rumbling snores still echoed by his ears, yet Zhao Jin felt even more confused than before.
There was nothing extraordinary about that dumb cat. Zhao Jin was confident that his perception could not possibly be wrong. As for why that boy called Lu Ran thought otherwise… according to the dumb cat’s memories, it was because Lu Ran had seen through the escape spells he had used on the dumb cat time and time again.
However, clearly, even before that, Lu Ran had already concluded that extraordinary powers existed in this world, and firmly believed that an orange cat, yes, an orange cat called Da Ju, what an unbearably rustic name, that this orange cat possessed a certain amount of magical power and was capable of twisting time and space.
Twisting time and space… could it be that beings of his own kind still existed in this world, with cultivation so profound that they could accomplish something so inconceivable?
Lu Ran being able to briefly see through invisibility spells and escape techniques was more than enough to prove that he was anything but ordinary.
The Lu family would not casually acknowledge relatives either. Human society had methods for verifying kinship. If they believed the explanation of time-space travel, they must have conducted a paternity test.
Could he really be a visitor from another time and space?
No matter what, he would investigate first. The winter camp, right?
The orange kitten lifted its paws in silent steps and melted into the night.
……
Since entering the winter camp, Lu Ran had not discovered much in terms of clues about his mother and Lu Qingjia. Instead, he noticed that his five senses had improved even further, and he could often hear many extremely subtle sounds.
Thanks to this, Lu Ran had already grasped the patterns of sounds people made while solving problems.
For example, the student behind him would first let out a sharp intake of breath upon seeing the question. After a while came a very faint sigh. A few minutes later, there was the sound of straightening up in excitement, causing the chair to scrape against the floor. After another moment, the soft rustling sound of a pen tip moving across paper would follow.
As for the person beside him, it was the regular alternation of page-turning sounds, pauses, and the pen tip brushing against paper.
That’s right. Sitting next to Lu Ran was Lu Qingjia.
Originally, Lu Ran had enrolled in the basic class, just like his mother, Lu Luoluo.
It was just that on the very first day of the winter camp, there was a placement test. With the mindset of wanting to make his mom proud, Lu Ran performed at his true level.
…As a result, Lu Ran carried his backpack into the advanced class and once again became desk mates with Lu Qingjia.
Beside him, the sound of a page being turned stopped halfway, and a peculiar friction sound followed.
Lu Ran curiously turned his head to the side.
Lu Qingjia stared at the finger that had been cut by the edge of the page, his expression speechless.
“Don’t move.” Lu Ran’s eyes lit up ever so slightly, and he said seriously.
Lu Qingjia: ?
Lu Ran lowered his head and rummaged through his backpack, pulling out disinfectant cotton and a bandage.
“Press it with the cotton first, then put on the bandage.” Lu Ran handed them over, speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.
Lu Qingjia: ?
Lu Qingjia took the disinfectant cotton and pressed it against the cut, then tore open the bandage and stuck it over the wound.
The timing was impeccable. If it had not been this timely, the wound would probably have healed on its own in another ten minutes.
Lu Ran took out an empty plastic bag. “Put the medical waste in here. I’ll dispose of it later.”
Lu Qingjia kept a blank face as he placed the cotton with a bit of blood on it and the bandage wrapper into the plastic bag.
Was this really necessary?
“Is this really necessary?” a student beside them, who had been distracted and glanced over, muttered in a low voice.
Lu Ran turned his head and nodded at him seriously.
The student had not expected to be heard and immediately turned back around in embarrassment.
The tall tree beside the classroom was an evergreen. Even in winter, it still had lush, dense foliage.
Under the cover of the branches and leaves, Zhao Jin raised a paw and yawned.
Afraid that the invisibility spell might fail on Lu Ran again, Zhao Jin always took advantage of the natural environment for camouflage while using his spells. Sure enough, he was not discovered again.
After several days of staking out and observing, he had listened in for free to quite a few math classes at competition level difficulty, and the gains were substantial.
Lu Ran’s five senses were different from those of ordinary people, exceptionally so.
Lu Ran was especially fond of basking in the sun.
Lu Ran seemed to pay an unusually close amount of attention to the boy sitting next to him.
Zhao Jin decided to continue staking things out.
After all, patience and time were the things he lacked the least.
……
Having obtained the blood sample, Lu Ran was in an exceptionally good mood. After finishing one problem, he lifted his head to rub his eyes, then turned around to look behind him, giving an inquiring glance toward the middle-aged man who could almost be described as appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
The middle-aged man was the chief teacher in charge of the competition winter camp. He had a round face and wore cloth shoes. When he walked, he was always completely silent. He liked to sneak up behind students while they were working on problems, and at a certain moment, suddenly extend a plump finger and speak up to offer guidance.
Because of his heightened five senses, Lu Ran was always able to notice someone behind him at the very first moment.
The middle-aged teacher could only wave his hand awkwardly, then stroll away at an unhurried pace to look for another target.
Lu Ran continued working on his problems, yet he kept feeling as though something else was watching him.
It was not the teacher, nor was it the surveillance camera in the corner of the classroom. This feeling had been appearing frequently these past few days. Lu Ran lifted his gaze and glanced out the window.
The evergreen trees outside were lush with dense foliage. Two or three small birds perched on the branches, chirping as they used their beaks to preen each other’s feathers.
It could not be the birds, could it? Lu Ran chuckled softly and lowered his head once more to ponder the problem.
It was probably an illusion brought on by changes in his perception.
……
When the winter camp first began, Lu Luoluo felt a little lonely. She did not know the other classmates in her class, and her son had gone off to the advanced class hand in hand with Lu Qingjia, not really.
But very quickly, she plunged into the vast ocean of math problems, to the point that when she received a message from Ming Nan asking her out to travel, she was momentarily dazed.
After learning that Lu Luoluo was attending a competition winter camp and the circumstances behind it, Ming Nan expressed deep sympathy and complete helplessness, then kindly sent over a series of vacation photos as consolation.
This semester, Ming Nan’s grades had also improved greatly. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she acted coquettish toward her grandparents at home, and the two elderly people agreed to take her and her twin brother out on a vacation, allowing them to temporarily ignore the troublesome matters involving their parents at home.
After receiving the photos, Lu Luoluo returned the favor by sending back ten math problems, then swiftly said goodbye to her friend, telling her she was going to work on problems. She turned off her phone and embraced mathematics.
She had thought the response would be complaints or mockery. Unexpectedly, when Lu Luoluo opened her phone again at night, she found that Ming Nan had sent over a photo. On a blank A4 sheet of paper were neatly written answers to the problems.
At a glance, it was not her good friend’s handwriting. It must have come from the other party’s twin brother, Ming Bei.
Sure enough, after Lu Luoluo sent back a single 【？】, Ming Nan admitted that it was written by her brother, and then took another photo of a blank problem and sent it over.
【He’s working on this! I can’t even understand it!】
It looked like a complaint, but was actually a boast.
Lu Luoluo stared at the problem for a while and realized that she could understand it when she read it, but she did not really have any ideas on how to solve it.
After thinking it over, Lu Luoluo forwarded the photo to Lu Ran.
Her good friend had a brother. She had a son too!
Lu Ran replied very quickly.
【Mom, wait a moment. I’ll take a look at the problem.】
More than half an hour later, Lu Ran sent over a photo of an A4 sheet with the solution written on it.
Lu Luoluo looked it over and found that her son’s solution process was extremely detailed, with nothing she could not understand.
She moved her finger and forwarded the photo to Ming Nan.
Very soon, a new friend verification message appeared on Lu Luoluo’s phone.
The request came from Ming Bei, stating that he wanted to ask about a theorem used in the solution process.
Come to think of it, even though they had eaten lunch together so many times, the two of them had never even added each other as contacts.
Lu Luoluo happened to have studied that theorem, but her understanding of it was not deep. She decisively accepted the request and directed the other party to go ask Lu Ran instead.
After all, her fundamental goal was not to show off her own abilities, but to flaunt her son to her good friend.
As a result, Lu Luoluo received Ming Bei’s thanks and Ming Nan’s question mark.
On the other side, Lu Ran received an invitation from Ming Bei to discuss the problem.
Wait… what was going on? Wasn’t this problem sent to him by his mom?
In his single dorm room, Lu Ran, full of confusion, explained the theorem once through, then opened a Word document on his laptop and updated 《20271112 Investigation Notes》.
Investigator: Lu Ran;
Investigation target: the investigator’s immediate relative, biological father;
Key individual: the investigator’s immediate relative, mother, Lu Luoluo.
Investigation target:
Gender: male;
Age: unknown (tentatively estimated at 12 to 24 years old);
Appearance rating: A (the possibility of beauty being in the eye of the beholder cannot be ruled out).
Suspect No. 1: Shen Rong;
Identity: the investigator’s mother’s cousin with no blood relation;
Abnormal factors: unreasonable absence, unreasonable lack of future information; level of suspicion: eliminated (methods, paternity test).
Suspect No. 2: Ming Bei.
Identity: the older brother of the investigator’s mother’s close best friend;
Abnormal factors: unreasonable lack of future information;
Assessment of whether suspicion is established: under investigation;
Level of suspicion: Grade A (tentative, pending screening).
Suspect No. 3: Lu Qingjia.
Identity: the investigator’s mother’s desk mate at the back, friend;
Abnormal factors: suspected early romantic involvement with the investigator’s mother;
Assessment of whether suspicion is established: research worker, isolated from society; level of suspicion: Grade A (tentative, under screening).
After shutting down the computer, Lu Ran frowned. That feeling of being watched by something had appeared again.
He looked around. The curtains were drawn neatly, the door was locked, and the chain was fastened as well.
It was probably an illusion. Lu Ran shook his head and went to wash up.
On the ceiling light fixture, the orange kitten’s amber eyes were wide open.
The moment he noticed Lu Ran putting away the cotton stained with his desk mate’s blood, Zhao Jin sensed that something was off.
After reading Lu Ran’s investigation notes, he felt that he might have discovered something rather serious.
Returned from the future, investigating his biological father… what exactly was Lu Ran trying to do?