Chapter 314 – Please Help Us Contact Tu Ran
[I understand what you mean.]
[It’s very likely.]
[In most cases, to avoid causing public unrest, they would do something like this.]
[Was the blogger taken away?]
[If nothing unexpected happened, yes. Our collective efforts worked.]
[Great, we’ve contributed our part.]
……
……
Xiang Sheng, who was taken to the Academy of Sciences, was first placed in a very clean room to rest. Since she appeared to be in poor mental condition, although Guo Changming had many questions for her, he held back.
Before entering the room, Xiang Sheng handed Guo Changming a large comb she had been holding. “This is what I used to comb the fur of my pets in the Beast Master World. The fur on it might be helpful to you.”
Guo Changming took it solemnly and nodded. “It will definitely be very useful. Thank you for your hard work. Rest well, and we’ll talk tomorrow morning if there’s anything else.” After a pause, he added, “You’re home now.”
Xiang Sheng’s eyes reddened slightly. She nodded and entered the room to rest.
She was so tired that she practically fell asleep right away.
The next morning, while many people rushed to the cemetery where Tu Ran had appeared to seek the truth, Xiang Sheng was woken up.
A young female police officer, smiling, entered with a plate of food. “I’m sorry to wake you, but this matter is a bit too unusual. The higher-ups are very anxious, and I had no choice but to do this. I hope you can forgive me.”
Xiang Sheng rubbed her messy hair and shook her head. “It’s okay.”
“Please eat something. You’ve got a busy day ahead.”
“Okay.” Xiang Sheng took the tray from her and ate an egg and drank a bowl of porridge.
After quickly tidying up, she was escorted to a conference room.
The conference room was already filled with people, all dressed in outfits Xiang Sheng had only seen on television. Each person sat upright, their faces serious and solemn.
Their presence exuded an intense aura, and as soon as Xiang Sheng entered, every one of them turned their gaze toward her. The pressure on Xiang Sheng suddenly grew immense, and her steps became heavier.
At that moment, Guo Changming walked up behind her, guiding her to a seat on the left side of the first row. He then sat next to her.
Guo Changming noticed Xiang Sheng’s nervousness and spoke gently to ease her anxiety. “Don’t worry. They’re just like you—they want our world to become stronger. Just tell them everything you know. Be as detailed as possible and don’t leave anything out.”
Xiang Sheng bit her lip, her hands nervously clasped together on her lap. She raised her eyes to glance at everyone in the room before lowering her gaze to the cup of water on the table in front of her.
“I’m a third-year student at the Sports College of Wenjing University. My roommates, Li Rui and Song Bai, and I went to…”
Xiang Sheng recounted nearly a month’s worth of experiences in intricate detail. She spoke for over an hour, only getting to the part where she saw the “door” and returned to this world.
No one interrupted her, and no one asked questions. The entire room listened quietly, with the occasional sound of pens scratching on paper.
Once she finished, Xiang Sheng looked up at Guo Changming, who smiled and nodded, giving her a look of approval.
“Drink some water to soothe your throat,” Guo Changming said. He handed the water cup to the young female officer who had been standing in the back. She poured some pre-prepared warm water into the cup, which Guo Changming took and handed to Xiang Sheng.
Xiang Sheng took a few sips, easing the dryness in her throat.
Next came the question-and-answer session, led by three people sitting across from Xiang Sheng—two men and one woman, all wearing suits. They asked her to elaborate on various aspects of the story she had shared and repeatedly questioned her to ensure the accuracy of what she had said.
Their questions were sharp, but Xiang Sheng answered them all accurately, with her responses aligning with the logic of the story and no suspicious details emerging.
After two hours, the three of them stopped asking questions and sent a message to everyone’s computer. The message contained just two words: Reliable.
The three people had merely judged the reliability of Xiang Sheng’s account, but the ones who truly held the deciding power over the matter were the others who had remained silent throughout.
The female officer in military uniform, whom Xiang Sheng had seen the night before, stood up from her seat, holding a notebook. She walked to the front of the conference table.
The screen in the conference room was turned on, displaying a photo.
It was a blurry image, likely taken from surveillance footage.
In the photo, the six of them could be seen getting into a car and driving away. Not far from where they had left, a person appeared.
The person was wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and a mask, and was staring in the direction they had left.
“Do you recognize her?” the female officer asked.
Xiang Sheng stared at the figure for over a minute before shaking her head. “I’m not sure if it’s her.”
She had never seen Tu Ran in a hoodie. In the world she was in, Tu Ran had always worn combat gear, and her figure was hard to make out. Since the person in the photo had their face obscured, Xiang Sheng couldn’t be certain.
“How about this one?” The female officer switched to another photo.
This one was taken from the cemetery’s surveillance footage, and it had zoomed in on the person’s face. But even so, the features were still unclear.
Xiang Sheng shook her head again.
“Can’t you even tell from her build?” the officer asked.
Xiang Sheng shook her head once more.
“She can run very fast, which matches your previous description. She appeared at the cemetery yesterday afternoon, and the name on the tombstone she visited is also Tu Ran.”
Xiang Sheng paused for a moment. “Are you saying she’s dead?”
The female officer nodded. “Her body was discovered six months ago, and the autopsy report confirmed it was a sudden death. The director of the orphanage she grew up in collected her body and had her buried in that cemetery.
After our investigation yesterday, we confirmed that before going to the cemetery, she visited the orphanage director and donated a sum of money. The source of that money is this.”
The female officer switched to another photo. On the left was the exterior of a jade store, and on the right was a glowing stone.
“She used this stone to exchange for 100,000 in cash. Our specialized technicians examined the stone and found that its composition is quite complex, and it contains elements not yet discovered in our world.”
Xiang Sheng listened to her words and looked at the image of the stone.
So, was that person really Sister Tu Ran? Did she come back too?!
“Based on this series of evidence, we deduce that the person who appeared at the jade store, at the cemetery, and at the hotel you stayed at is Tu Ran. Her situation is different from yours. While your physical bodies entered the other world, her soul entered the other world. Her body is already dead.”
Xiang Sheng was stunned, her mouth unconsciously opening. So, Sister Tu Ran is… what people call a transmigrator?
“From your account, we’ve gained a basic understanding of the other world, but that’s still not enough. To properly prepare for potential attacks from other worlds, we need Tu Ran’s help,” the female officer said seriously.
Xiang Sheng replied, “Sister Tu Ran would probably be very willing to help you.”
“But she hasn’t come to find us,” the female officer said. “She’s been wandering around today. Every time we find her trace and send someone to look for her, she appears somewhere else. She took the initiative to come to the hotel to find you, which means you’re special to her. So, I hope you can contact her on our behalf.”
“I don’t have her contact information,” Xiang Sheng looked at the female officer, saying helplessly.
“That’s not a problem. We can help you contact her.”
Xiang Sheng nodded in agreement.
Guo Changming stood up and brought a phone from outside.
He dialed a number, pressed the speakerphone button, and handed the phone to Xiang Sheng.
Xiang Sheng placed the phone on the table and waited for the call to connect.
She felt a little uneasy. She didn’t really understand what Tu Ran was thinking right now.
The beeping sound of the phone waiting to be connected echoed through the conference room. Everyone was waiting eagerly for the person on the other end to pick up. However, after only two beeps, the call was hung up.
Xiang Sheng was stunned. She raised her head to look at the female officer, whose eyelid also twitched. She looked at Guo Changming.
Guo Changming looked a little awkward but dialed the number again.
This time, the phone rang only once before being hung up.
It was clear that the person on the other end was getting impatient.
In fact, it was Tu Ran who was impatient.
What kind of lousy phone number was this? So many scam calls kept coming in—one minute it was a real estate sales pitch, the next minute it was someone asking her to repay a debt. Didn’t they see she was busy? The phone barely had any charge left, and now another call came in from out of province. Without thinking, she just hung up.
Guo Changming, feeling the weight of everyone’s gaze, gritted his teeth and dialed a third time.
He silently prayed that this time, she would pick up.
The phone rang once, and then it was answered.
As Guo Changming let out a breath of relief, a cold, harsh voice came from the other end.
“Who is this?”
The voice was filled with such anger that if sound could kill, the people in the room would have no doubt already been knocked to the ground.
Xiang Sheng didn’t know how to respond at that moment. She felt that Tu Ran’s resentment was strong. The image of Tu Ran swiftly killing the alien species flashed before her eyes, and she couldn’t help but shiver.
Just as it seemed Tu Ran was about to hang up out of impatience, Guo Changming immediately spoke up, “Hello, Ms. Tu, this is the Academy of Sciences. Please don’t hang up just yet. We need your help. You can set any conditions, and we will try our best to fulfill them.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, and Guo Changming thought the call had been hung up. He looked at the screen, only to realize the call was still ongoing.
