LRAB Chapter 53 Alma Mater
Chapter 53 Alma Mater
"You're asking for it!"
"If you want to kill me, of course I can't resist. But I must remind you that if you kill me now, no one will lift the 'kill order' on Li Mengfei. Do you want to watch her perish someday in the future?"
"Who are you? Are you from the Tuibeilou? Why did you make me a time traveler?"
"Chen Qing, now is not the time to answer these questions."
"Not now? Then when is it?"
You'll find out then.
"Are you from Tuibeilou?"
"Still not leaving? Still lingering here asking all sorts of questions. It seems you still don't take my threats seriously enough." The sender raised his wrist, glanced at his watch, and began to count down: "Ten, nine, eight..."
boom!
After the sender finished counting down, a loud bang came from not far away. Chen Qing turned his head and saw a shop burning, the flames were very dazzling.
"You did this?!" Chen Qing grabbed the sender's collar.
"Don't be nervous, their shop is closed today, so there were no casualties in this explosion." The sender didn't resist, letting Chen Qing press him against a tree. "But I don't know how many people will die in the next explosion."
"Did you plan any other explosions?"
"Many, about once an hour. I'll have them cancel it as soon as you leave this timeline. If you had left when I told you to, I would have canceled this explosion too, but you didn't give me that chance. I really want to cancel the next explosion; will you give me that chance?"
"Fine, I'll leave this timeline. But if I leave and you don't keep your promise to cancel the explosion and stop hunting down Mengfei, I will find you and tear you to pieces, no matter where you are."
"You came from the future, three days from now. You didn't see the explosion, did you? You didn't see Li Mengfei die, did you? Isn't that enough to prove I kept my promise?"
Chen Qing pushed the sender away and buried the box in a corner outside Shuguang Hospital.
"Chen Qing, have you found the person who sent the letter?" As always, Fang Xiande came over to ask as soon as he returned to 2044.
"We found him, but that person is very difficult to deal with." Chen Qing recounted his brief exchange with the letter sender.
"With this kind of behavior, he's definitely one of the people from Tuibeilou," Fang Xiande said.
"But why would the people from Tuibeilou write to you?"
"I still don't understand this; more investigation is needed."
"The investigation into the explosion next to Shuguang Hospital can start from here."
Chen Qing returned to 2025 on August 2nd, about two weeks after meeting the sender on July 17th. He first bought newspapers from the past few days and, sure enough, found the news about the explosion.
According to news reports, it was an accident. On the day the business was closed, the gas valve was old and could not be completely closed, causing a gas leak. Then, the equally old refrigerator generated an electrical spark, which caused an explosion.
However, news reports are not always reliable, and it's possible that the bomb was described as an accident to avoid causing public panic.
"Uncle Li, please verify whether this incident was truly an accident." Chen Qing approached Li Qilin with a newspaper in hand.
Verifying such a minor matter was very simple. Li Qilin didn't even need to leave his office. He simply made a phone call to a friend in the police force and then told Chen Qing, "That's right, it was indeed an accident. The cause of the fire is exactly as reported in the news."
"So the explosion wasn't arranged by the sender; he's lying." Chen Qing pondered.
However, the fact that the explosion was fake does not mean that the sender's threat was fake. The other party possesses information about the future and is undoubtedly more cunning in using a genuine accident that will happen naturally in the future, because there is absolutely no human intervention and no clues that can be traced back to him.
"Did it not go smoothly when you went back to find the person who sent the letter last time?" Li Qilin asked.
"We can't go on July 17th anymore; we have to start somewhere else," Chen Qing said.
"Brother Qing, why can't we go on July 17th?" Li Mengfei asked curiously.
"That's a heartless madman. I can't risk so many lives." Chen Qing briefly mentioned the sender's bomb threat, but didn't mention that the sender had sent assassins to hunt down Li Mengfei, for fear of putting pressure on the other party.
However, he was still a little worried, so just to be on the safe side, he planned to stay and protect Li Mengfei for a while.
The letter writer was also a madman with a heart of stone; his promises could not be trusted.
Li Mengfei was overjoyed that Chen Qing stayed, as it meant she could spend more time with him.
Every day, she seemed to be on a high, dressing herself up beautifully and appearing in front of Chen Qing first thing in the morning.
She dragged Chen Qing to the zoo, the amusement park, the beach to watch the sunrise, the mountaintop to watch the sunset, and to the ancient-style streets of Jiangxin City to play the role of a princess.
Within a month, she and Chen Qing had covered Jiangxin, visiting almost every place that was worth visiting.
This past month became the most beautiful time of Chen Qing's life. Zombies, the apocalypse, and all conspiracies seemed to have been put on pause. For the first time, only one thing remained in his world—to protect the present moment.
"Brother Qing, let's go to the university today." Early that morning, Li Mengfei came to find Chen Qing again.
"University?"
"Brother Qing, didn't you say the other day that you didn't know what college life was like? Let's go and see for ourselves."
"Okay, let's go check out the university then."
Li Mengfei took Chen Qing to her alma mater, Jiangxin Conservatory of Music. The campus of this art school is not very large, but the atmosphere is quite unique. Upon entering the school gate, there is a wide tree-lined avenue with lush sycamore trees on both sides, casting large areas of shade on the ground.
Along the roadside stood several old-looking red brick buildings, their walls covered in ivy. From the windows, intermittent piano music or the melody of a student practicing vocalizations could be heard from time to time. Occasionally, students carrying violin cases or guitars would hurry past.
Like a little bird returning to its nest, Li Mengfei excitedly grabbed Chen Qing's arm and pointed out every building along the way.
"Brother Qing, look, that red brick building on the left is our library. Don't be fooled by its old appearance; it's huge inside, housing over eight thousand musical scores and music documents. I used to love spending all day there whenever I had free time."
"This sculpture is of Mr. Chen Huaiyin, the founder of our school and a famous conductor. Everyone says that if you stay here for a long time, you can occasionally hear his spirit conducting the band rehearsals in the middle of the night. Of course, it's just a rumor, and no one has ever really heard it."
"This magnificent new building is the Chuanyin Hall, our main concert hall. It was donated by an alumnus who wishes to remain anonymous, and it's said to have cost three small dollars. However, we privately call it the 'Crystal Coffin' because we're always so nervous when we take exams or perform in it that we feel like we're suffocating."