Damn it.
Important reminder! Double male leads! The background is a parallel universe, please do not over-analyze it to avoid making things difficult for yourself and for me. Written on a whim, it might gradually become absurd.
“Young Master, Grandfather’s death has already spread, and our movements here have been exposed.”
“What?!” An Chutang’s hand gripping his phone tightened abruptly.
“There is no time. I am on my way to the villa right now, and I have already booked a flight for you to Bangladesh. Pack your luggage, turn off all the lights, and wait for me to come pick you up.”
“Okay.”
Flustered, An Chutang hung up the phone and quickly packed a few changes of clothing. Remembering something, he also tucked the family photo from his bedside table into the suitcase.
After packing his belongings, he carefully placed the card holding his entire net worth close to his body. Then, turning off every light in the villa, he sat quietly in the living room, waiting for someone to come collect him.
As the An family was one of the top elite aristocratic conglomerates domestically and globally, An Chutang had been born and raised wrapped in boundless pampering and affection.
Usually, anyone who saw him would treat him with utmost care and keep their distance, not daring to act presumptuously in the slightest.
Unfortunately, by his generation, the direct lineage of the An family was left with only him, and he had just turned twenty years old.
Thinking over everything that had happened over the past half month, An Chutang felt a deep sense of powerlessness and unwillingness.
His parents had died in a car crash when he was ten, leaving him fortunate enough to have a grandfather who could control the overall situation to protect him.
Who could have known that half a month ago, Grandfather would suffer a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and pass away on the same day?
With no time to grieve deeply, Uncle Li, Grandfather’s personal secretary and bodyguard, immediately sealed off news of his death according to Grandfather’s last words.
For safety’s sake, even the other bodyguards and home servants were dismissed one by one; after all, who knew which of them might have been planted by other members of the family.
Such things happened every year. In the past, with Grandfather around, people didn’t dare push too far, but now things were different.
Following that, the two of them silently handled Grandfather’s funeral.
Then, consolidating all their assets, they contacted several major shareholders they could still trust and cooperative enterprises interested in the An Group, directly liquidating all shares and real estate they held.
Even with the utmost caution, such massive movements could not avoid being noticed by his several uncles and aunts.
Grandfather’s worries had been correct; having never interfered in the company before, it would be extremely difficult for him alone to safeguard this family estate.
Not to mention the wolves circling outside, even the restless people within the family would not let him go.
Men die for wealth, birds die for food.
An Chutang reached into his pocket to stroke that card; it held a staggering two hundred and sixty billion US dollars.
While he was spacing out in the silent, spacious living room, the sound of entering an electronic lock password suddenly rang out at the front door.
Thinking it was Uncle Li, who had arrived to pick him up, An Chutang immediately stood up, wanting to go greet him. Just as he approached the entrance, however, murmuring voices drifted vaguely from outside.
“Strange, the password is wrong. This is the password Second Uncle An gave, right?”
“Hurry up, think carefully, did you remember it wrong? There isn’t a speck of light in here, and we don’t even know if anyone is still inside. If not, let’s just break the door down.”
“No, the sound of breaking the door will alert the security guards. Make another phone call to ask.”
An Chutang paused abruptly. Realizing the people outside belonged to his cousin-uncle, his heart tightened, and he spun around and bolted upstairs.
His heart hammered wildly against his ribs, and only at this moment did he acutely realize that no one left in the world would ever fear him or show him consideration again.
He had to buy time until Uncle Li arrived.
Before he even reached the bedroom, the electronic locking sound rang out again, immediately followed by the soft click of the door opening.
With no time to overthink, An Chutang darted directly into his grandfather’s study beside him.
The room was pitch black, though under the moonlight, the general outline of the interior furniture could still be vaguely discerned.
Finished, there’s nowhere to hide at all!
An Chutang’s gaze darkened. He hadn’t expected the very first person trying to claim his life to be An Qihao, his father’s cousin.
He had actually thought it would be his aunt, given that woman’s sphere of influence was considerably larger.
Thinking of these people who usually showered him with fake warmth and concern, an inevitable wave of desolation washed over him.
Suddenly, he grew completely calm. If he ended up alienated from everyone and lived a hidden-identity life in some obscure corner of an unknown country, would he truly be willing, truly be happy?
Furthermore, right now… he let out a self-deprecating laugh, sliding toward despair.
As footsteps outside drew closer, a flash of white light suddenly cut across the windowpane.
Stunned for a mere second, An Chutang immediately strode quickly to the window.
Through the glass pane, he finally spotted Uncle Li’s car parked right at the front gate.
Growing anxious, An Chutang was terrified the other party might burst in completely unprepared; he had no wish to drag Uncle Li into danger as well.
His phone was left downstairs in the living room, and he couldn’t afford to worry about that now. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the window open directly, checking the distance to the ground. Fortunately, the second floor wasn’t terribly high, and there was a lawn underneath.
Watching Uncle Li draw closer and closer to the front gate, he took a deep breath and shouted, “Uncle Li! Don’t come in! There are people inside the house, I’m jumping down right now!”
Li Rui’s footsteps halted abruptly, his head snapping instantly toward An Chutang’s direction.
The exact moment An Chutang finished shouting and planted his foot onto the windowsill, the door to the study was kicked open from the outside.
The lights flipped on, and the sudden blinding glare made him instinctively glance back.
In the next instant, An Chutang felt a sharp pain pierce his chest, and his entire body lost all its strength.
Accompanied by the roaring sound of wind as he fell, An Chutang vaguely heard an urgent cry from downstairs: “Young Master!”
“Ah!” An Chutang snapped his eyes wide open, his hands clutching his aching chest as he gasped heavily for breath.
The night breeze felt somewhat cool. In a panic, he looked around his surroundings; the completely unfamiliar environment left him momentarily unable to react.
Instinctively, he looked down at his chest. There wasn’t a single tear or stain of blood on the white sweater beneath his light brown coat.
What is going on?
He should have been shot just moments ago!
His heart thumped wildly as he surveyed the surroundings, absolute stillness.
There were no dazzling neon lights of the past, nor could he see towering high-rises in the distance.
Just as he found himself completely at a loss, a crisp female voice rang out abruptly inside his head.
“Ding! Welcome to the parallel universe of 1978. I am your sugar-shipping system, Seventy-Eight.”
An Chutang froze. So cliché? This is time travel?
“You’re called Seventy-Eight?” An Chutang said with a complicated expression.
After a few seconds of silence, the voice turned irritable. “Seventy-Eight! It’s Seven and Eight!”
Unable to stop himself, An Chutang dug his finger into his ear, feeling a vague sense of relief in his heart.
Then, borrowing the dim street lighting to look around again, the excessive desolation of the surroundings made him stand up abruptly.
“Money! My money! That’s a staggering two hundred billion plus US dollars! And I happen to know how poor this era is! How am I supposed to survive?
Most importantly, I don’t want to let the people hunting me down benefit!”
Inside his mind, Seventy-Eight’s voice regained its crisp tone. “Rest assured, Host, your physical body traveled through time, and your money is still intact. Your current status is a legal overseas Chinese compatriot, and the funds have been successfully transferred back to a domestic bank via foreign exchange, with the card also converted into a passbook.”
An Chutang hurriedly felt inside the inner pocket of his coat. Sure enough, a paper passbook rested right there.
He let out a sigh of relief and muttered, “Good thing the money is still here. As long as I have money, everything else is manageable. At least this place is much safer than my original world.”
Moreover, his fatal wound had actually vanished as well. It was just a pity he hadn’t been able to bring his luggage along; his family photo was still inside it.
Seeing him begin to sink into his own world, Seventy-Eight had no choice but to offer a reminder.
“Your life has only half an hour remaining. Please head to the next intersection to find a man named Li Yan, and make physical contact with him to renew your life…”
“Wait! What do you mean?”
“You were shot and killed in your original world. You can only prolong your life by touching Li Yan, the son of destiny in this world.”
He knew it! Things wouldn’t be that simple!
“How, how do we make contact?”
“Skin-to-skin contact adds half an hour of life; holding hands adds one hour; hugging adds three hours; kissing adds ten hours…”
“Stop, stop, stop! This is getting too absurd, are you certain you’re a proper system?” This was utterly unacceptable to An Chutang.
Judging by the name “Li Yan,” it sounded male. Although he was indeed gay, his standards were exceptionally picky.
To this day, he had yet to encounter a single man he felt willing to grow close to!
Choked up by his retort, Seventy-Eight put on a cold face even though she had no face.
“You have 25 minutes of life remaining.”