Tap-tap-tap!
Zhou Mingrui was so frightened by the scene before him that he took several steps back. It seemed that the person in the mirror was not himself, but a mummified corpse. How could someone with such severe wounds still be alive?
He turned his head to check the other side, even though the distance was longer and the light was blurry, he could still see the penetrating wound and the deep red bloodstains.
"This..."
Zhou Mingrui took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He reached out and pressed his left chest, feeling the vigorous and rapid beating of his heart. He then touched the exposed skin, and beneath the slight chill was the warmth of the blood flowing.
After squatting down to verify that his knees could still bend, Zhou Mingrui stood up again, no longer as panicked.
"What's going on?" He frowned and muttered, planning to carefully examine the wound on his head once more.
He took two steps forward but suddenly stopped. The blood moon outside the window was relatively dim, not enough to support a "careful examination."
A fragment of memory emerged, and Zhou Mingrui turned his head to look at the gray-white pipes and metal grilles surrounding the wall lamp next to his desk. This was the current mainstream gas lamp, with a stable flame and excellent lighting effect.
Originally, given the family situation of the Moretti family, not only should they not have a gas lamp, but even a kerosene lamp was a luxury. Using candles was more in line with their status and position. But four years ago, when he was staying up late to study for the entrance exam to Hoy University, his elder brother Benson believed this was an important matter for the family's future and was willing to borrow money to create good conditions for him.
Of course, Benson, who had been literate and worked for several years, was definitely not a rash, unskilled, or thoughtless person. He convinced the landlord to pay for the basic renovation by arguing that "installing gas pipes would improve the apartment's grade and be beneficial for future rentals." He then took advantage of his position in an import and export company to obtain a new gas lamp at a near-cost price. In the end, he only used his savings and didn't have to borrow money from others.
The memory fragment flashed by, and Zhou Mingrui returned to his desk, opened the pipe valve, and turned the gas lamp switch.
Tap-tap-tap! The sound of friction and ignition rang out, but the light did not come as Zhou Mingrui expected.
Tap-tap-tap! He turned it a few more times, but the gas lamp remained dim.
"Hmm..." He withdrew his hand, pressed his left temple, and extracted the memory fragment to find the reason for the problem.
After a few seconds, he turned around and walked towards the door, coming to the mechanical device also embedded in the wall and connected by gray-white pipes.
This was the gas meter!
He glanced at the slightly worn gears and bearings, then took out a coin from his pocket.
It was a dark yellow color, with a lustrous copper sheen. On the front was the head of a man wearing a crown, and behind it were ears of wheat surrounding the number "1."
Zhou Mingrui knew this was the most basic currency in the Kingdom of Loen, called a copper penny. One penny was roughly equivalent to three or four yuan in his previous life. There were also 5 pennies, half pennies, and quarter pennies, but they were still not very precise. In daily life, it was still necessary to round up when purchasing items.
After flipping the penny, which was issued when King George III ascended the throne, a few times in his fingers, Zhou Mingrui held it and inserted it into the long, vertical "mouth" of the gas meter.
Ding-ding-dong-dong!
As the penny fell to the bottom of the meter, the clicking sound of the gears turning immediately followed, playing a short and beautiful mechanical melody.
Zhou Mingrui stared for a few seconds, then returned to the wooden desk and reached out to turn the gas lamp switch.
Tap-tap-tap! Snap!
A flame burst forth, quickly growing larger. The bright light first filled the interior of the wall lamp, then passed through the transparent glass, bathing the room in a warm glow. The darkness suddenly receded, and the crimson light withdrew from the window. Zhou Mingrui felt inexplicably relieved and quickly walked to the dressing mirror. This time, he carefully examined the area around his temple, not missing any detail. After several comparisons, he found that apart from the initial bloodstains, the hideous wound had not leaked any more fluid. It seemed to have received the best possible treatment and bandaging. The slowly wriggling grayish-white brain and the flesh and blood of the wound growing at a visible speed indicated that healing was on the way. Maybe in thirty or forty minutes, or perhaps in two or three hours, there would only be a faint scar left.
"Is this the healing effect brought by the time travel?" Zhou Mingrui curled the corner of his right mouth and whispered to himself.
Then, he let out a long breath. No matter what the reason was, at least he was still alive!
Calmly, he pulled open the drawer, took out a small piece of soap, and picked up one of the old towels hanging beside the cabinet. Then, he opened the door and headed for the communal bathroom on the second floor.
Yes, the bloodstains on his head needed to be dealt with. He couldn't keep looking like a crime scene. It didn't matter if he scared himself, but if he scared his sister Melissa, who had to get up early the next day, that would be a big problem!
The corridor outside was pitch black, with only the faint crimson moonlight from the end window outlining the protruding objects, making them look like pairs of monster eyes silently watching the living in the deep night.
Zhou Mingrui walked towards the bathroom with light steps, feeling a bit nervous.
Once inside, the moonlight was even brighter, and everything became clear. Zhou Mingrui stood in front of the washbasin and turned on the tap.
The sound of running water filled his ears, and he suddenly thought of Mr. Frank, the landlord. Since the water bill was included in the rent, this short and thin gentleman, who wore a top hat, a waistcoat, and a black suit, always came to inspect the bathrooms and listen to the sound of running water inside.
If the sound was too loud, Mr. Frank would disregard his gentlemanly demeanor, furiously wave his cane, and bang on the bathroom door, shouting, "Damn thief!" "Wasting water is shameful!" "I'll remember you!" "If I catch you doing this again, I'll throw you out with your dirty luggage!" "Believe me, this is the most cost-effective apartment in all of Tingen City. You won't find a more generous landlord than me!"
Recalling his thoughts, Zhou Mingrui wet the towel and began to clean the bloodstains on his face, over and over again. When he looked in the broken mirror in the bathroom and confirmed that only the hideous wound and pale face remained, he felt much more relaxed. Then, he took off his linen shirt and used the soap to scrub the bloodstains.
Just then, he frowned, remembering that there might be other troubles:
The wound was exaggerated, and there was a lot of blood. Besides his body, there should be traces in the room!
After a few minutes, Zhou Mingrui finished cleaning his linen shirt and quickly returned home with the wet towel. He first wiped the bloodstains on the desk and then, relying on the light of the gas lamp, searched for other remnants. As soon as he started looking, he immediately found many splattered bloodstains on the floor and under the desk, and a golden bullet head by the left wall. "... "Used a revolver to shoot himself in the temple?" The clues before and after suddenly fell into place, and Zhou Mingrui roughly understood the cause of Klein's death.
He didn't rush to verify it. Instead, he carefully wiped away the bloodstains and tidied up the "scene". Then, he took the bullet and returned to the desk, opened the revolver's cylinder to the left, and emptied the bullets inside.
Click, click, click. Each bullet and each shell shone with a lustrous brass color.
"Indeed..." Zhou Mingrui glanced at the empty shell, nodding slightly as he reloaded the bullets into the cylinder one by one.
He shifted his gaze to the sentence "Everyone will die, including me" written on the spread-out notebook, and more doubts emerged in his mind.
Where did the gun come from?
Suicide or a staged suicide?
What kind of trouble could a history graduate from a common background get into?
Why did this suicide method leave so little blood? Was it because I crossed over in time and have a self-healing benefit?
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Mingrui changed into another linen shirt and sat down in the chair, thinking about more important matters.
Klein's fate was not his current concern. The real issue was to figure out why he had crossed over and if he could return!
Parents, relatives, best friends, friends, the colorful online world, all kinds of delicious food... These were all the urgent reasons to want to go back!
Click, click, click... Zhou Mingrui's right hand unconsciously spun the revolver's cylinder, then closed it again, over and over.
"Hmm, there's not much difference between this period and the past. I've just been a bit unlucky. How could I have crossed over out of the blue?"
"Unlucky... Right, I did a fortune-changing ritual before dinner tonight!"
A bolt of lightning flashed through Zhou Mingrui's mind, illuminating the memories obscured by the fog.
As a qualified keyboard politician, keyboard historian, keyboard economist, keyboard biologist, and keyboard folklorist, he always claimed to "know a little about everything", although his best friend often mocked him for "only knowing a little about everything".
And alchemy was one of them.
Last year, when he returned to his hometown, he found a vertically-bound, traditional Chinese book titled "Essential Records of Qin and Han Alchemy" at an old book stall. It looked quite interesting and he thought it would be helpful for showing off online, so he bought it. Unfortunately, his interest waned quickly. The vertical format made it difficult to read, and he only flipped through the beginning before putting it in a corner.
It wasn't until the last month, when he had a string of bad luck - losing his phone, clients running away, work mistakes, and bad things happening one after another - that he suddenly remembered there was a fortune-changing ritual at the beginning of "Essential Records of Qin and Han Alchemy", and it was extremely simple, requiring no prior knowledge:
Just take four portions of the main food in your region and place them in the four corners of the room, on a table, in a cabinet, or elsewhere. Then stand in the center of the room and walk counterclockwise in four steps to form a square. In the first step, sincerely recite "Fusheng Xuanhuang Xianzun", in the second step, recite "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianjun", in the third step, recite "Fusheng Xuanhuang Shangdi", and in the fourth step, recite "Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun". After completing the steps, close your eyes and wait in place for a while, and the ritual is considered successful.
With the mindset that it wouldn't cost anything, he took out the book and followed the instructions to perform the ritual before dinner. However, nothing happened at that time.
Who would have thought that in the middle of the night, he actually crossed over!
Crossed over!
"There's a possibility it was that fortune-changing ritual... Hmm, I'll try it here tomorrow. If it's really because of that, then I have hope of going back!" Zhou Mingrui stopped spinning the revolver and sat up straight.
No matter what, he had to give it a try!
Even if it's a dead horse, treat it as a live one!