Forbidden Land – CH 120

Zhang Chao received the text message, read it several times, and felt a chill run down his spine.

This…this looked like a scene from a movie, didn’t it?

A terrifying text message?

Who sent this message? Could it be Li Jiaming?

From this text message, he gleaned four pieces of information:

1. Someone orchestrated this and knew everything about him.
2. Will he receive a reward in the end?
3. The person who sent the message was a dying man, yet he claims to gain happiness and rebirth?
4. Will Zhu Xiaoyu be in trouble?

At the very least, this definitely wasn’t a message sent by a bored person. Because very few people knew about the black cat incident.

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Zhang Chao pondered for a few minutes, then quickly picked up his phone and called Zhu Xiaoyu.

On the other end of the phone, Zhu Xiaoyu said in a normal tone, “Zhang Chao, what’s up?”

Reassured that she was alright, Zhang Chao asked, “Where are you?”

Zhu Xiaoyu replied, “I’m in my dorm, of course. I’m about to go to sleep.”

Zhang Chao hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Have you… encountered any strange people lately?”

Zhu Xiaoyu asked curiously, “What strange people? I’m at school every day. Besides you, perverted guys, what strange people could I possibly encounter? Hey, Zhang Chao, didn’t you say you were all better? Why are you being so paranoid again?”

Zhang Chao laughed awkwardly. “Nothing, nothing. I just saw someone who looks like you walking with a perverted guy, so I asked.”

Zhu Xiaoyu laughed. “Looks like me, with a perverted guy? Haha, isn’t that what perverted guys are like?”

Zhang Chao was annoyed but forced a friendly attitude, saying, “By the way, do you have time lately? Let’s study together.”

Zhu Xiaoyu sneered, “Forget it, you should stay with your Sister Rong. There are plenty of guys who want to study with me, but I don’t care about any of them. Besides, if I study with you, people will definitely ask me, ‘Why are you with that creepy guy?'”

Zhang Chao cursed inwardly. This bitch really thought she was a goddess. If he hadn’t received that text message and been worried she’d be next, he wouldn’t have bothered with her at all.

But he was genuinely worried this was a premeditated murder game, so he patiently suppressed his temper and said, “I can’t find anyone to study with lately. How about we study together? I’ll treat you to meals every day; how about that?”

Zhu Xiaoyu was still unwilling. “Meals? Who cares? Honestly, you never seemed like a studious person before. Why do you want to study with me? What are you up to?”

Zhang Chao really wanted to strangle her, but he forced himself to speak. “Nothing, I want to study abroad, but my foreign language skills aren’t good enough. I want to find someone to study with.”

Zhu Xiaoyu smiled and said, “Fine, you told the truth. Okay, I’m also taking the civil service exam, so let’s study together. But you have to buy me snacks every day and serve me. Otherwise, I won’t agree!”

“Fine, fine.” Zhang Chao hung up the phone, cursing under his breath.

The next day was Saturday. Zhang Chao slept until noon. After eating at the cafeteria, he ran into Lin Yi’ang. Lin Yi’ang looked pale and tired. Zhang Chao casually asked what was wrong, and Lin Yi’ang said he’d stayed up late playing games and hadn’t slept well. Zhang Chao didn’t think much of it and went back to his dorm alone.

After everything that had happened the day before, he was extremely upset. Even during the day, he wasn’t worried about Zhu Xiaoyu’s safety and spent the afternoon playing games in his dorm to pass the time.

That evening, he met up with Zhu Xiaoyu for dinner, and the two walked to the East Campus for self-study. Halfway there, he saw Chen Rong walking towards him from the other side of the road, about twenty meters away.

He had just broken up with Chen Rong, and now he was going to self-study with Zhu Xiaoyu. No matter what Chen Rong had done in the past, this was wrong.

Zhang Chao felt he couldn’t face Chen Rong and quickly lowered his head, hoping she hadn’t seen him. But a glimpse out of the corner of his eye told him that Chen Rong had seen him. She lowered her head again and silently walked away.

Because they were separated by a street, Zhu Xiaoyu didn’t see Chen Rong, but she felt Zhang Chao was acting strangely and asked, “What’s wrong?”

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Zhang Chao kept his head down until Chen Rong was behind them, then he looked up, smiled, and said, “Nothing, I was just memorizing English words.”

Zhu Xiaoyu didn’t seem to accept his answer, saying, “If something’s bothering you, tell your sister. Maybe I can help you.”

Zhang Chao gave her a sullen look and shook his head.

The two studied until 9 PM, and Zhang Chao reluctantly spent several hours reading English. Suddenly, his phone vibrated. He picked it up and saw a message. “There’s a good show at the School of Medicine tonight; aren’t you coming?” The message displayed a long string of virtual numbers.

Zhang Chao instinctively jumped in surprise, then looked at Zhu Xiaoyu beside him; she seemed perfectly normal.

Could it be that the prediction that something was wrong with Zhu Xiaoyu was just a ruse, and that someone else was actually in trouble?

His first thought was, “Could something have happened to Chen Rong?”

Although he couldn’t accept Chen Rong’s past, he would find it even harder to accept if something had happened to her. He quickly pretended to be tired from studying and said, “Let’s call it a day.” He hurried to escort Zhu Xiaoyu back to her dorm, and before she went upstairs, he bought her a bag of snacks at her request. Then, he grabbed his bicycle as fast as he could and rode to the School of Medicine.