Chapter 4

On Qiao Daguo’s side, he only briefly explained how his younger sister got to know Zhao the Educated Youth. As for the incident of hitting someone, he truly didn’t know anything about it.

Of course, even if he did know why his sister hit someone, he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t speak recklessly. His stance was simple—he didn’t know, period.

The rest would depend on how his younger sister explained it.

Since both sides’ statements matched up, there was naturally no issue.

Zhao the Educated Youth gave the same reason for how they met.

As for human trafficking, the police weren’t going to jump the gun and alert the suspects too soon.

About half an hour later, the door to Qiao Xiazhi’s interrogation room opened once again.

But this time, a soldier in uniform entered along with the others.

The soldier looked about the same age as the police officers—early twenties—with tanned skin, likely from long-term field duties and exposure to the sun and rain. A darker complexion was perfectly normal.

Still, his defined and handsome features weren’t affected in the slightest. In fact, it made him look healthier.

He stood about 189 cm tall, his build not too thin or too heavy—just right. You could even say his figure was perfectly proportioned.

There was no doubt those abs of his were flawless too.

Just the sight of his broad chest made people feel safe.

Even someone like Qiao Xiazhi, who didn’t usually care about appearances, couldn’t help but take another look at him.

Men like this must be quite popular with the ladies.

Judging by the epaulets on his shoulders, his rank wasn’t low either.

Su Fang, seeing that Qiao Xiazhi might be nervous, quickly reassured her:

“Don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. We’ve already begun verifying the case you reported. This is Deputy Commander Jiang Yunchen, who specializes in human trafficking cases. You can talk to him about anything related to that.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Xiazhi looked at Jiang Yunchen and asked, “Can I trust you completely?”

Although Jiang Yunchen normally had a cold demeanor and rarely smiled, upon seeing Qiao Xiazhi’s tear-streaked face, his voice softened involuntarily. He nodded and said gently:

“Of course. You can absolutely trust me. Tell me everything you know. Don’t worry—we’ll protect you, your older brother, and your family.”

“Then… I…” Qiao Xiazhi said as she pulled two lists she had copied the day before out of her cloth bag and handed them to Jiang Yunchen.

“These are lists I found from that scumbag Zhao. This one is of people who have already been trafficked. The other one lists the people they plan to target next. I don’t know if they’re real, but you can investigate them.”

Jiang Yunchen took the lists and scanned them briefly. From the names alone, he could tell they weren’t fake.

“Besides this, what else do you know?” Jiang Yunchen asked, looking at her.

Qiao Xiazhi shook her head. “That’s all I copied secretly from a notebook of his. He definitely wouldn’t have told me any of this willingly. He doesn’t know I saw them, so you have to keep this secret for me.”

Jiang Yunchen replied, “Don’t worry. We follow strict rules. A whistleblower’s identity will never be revealed—only those of us in this room know.”

Qiao Xiazhi asked, “Then… what about me hitting him? I already explained it to the police. That scumbag Zhao tried to trick me into being trafficked too, so I struck first. If I hadn’t… who knows what might’ve happened to me.”

Jiang Yunchen asked, “Now you’re afraid, but why didn’t you call the police earlier?”

Qiao Xiazhi said, “I… I didn’t understand what to do. At first, I wasn’t even sure if what I found was real. I was afraid if it turned out to be fake and he found out I was snooping, he’d retaliate.”

“People like us from the countryside don’t really understand the whole reporting-to-the-police thing. It was my brother who brought me here. After I hit Zhao, he was the one who called the police.”

Su Fang nodded in agreement: “She’s telling the truth. She hit that scumbag Zhao. After that, he was the one who called someone to report it.”

Seeing how scared Qiao Xiazhi looked, Jiang Yunchen softened his tone. “Next time something happens, report it. Hitting someone is illegal, understand?”

Qiao Xiazhi nodded rapidly, “Mm-hmm, I understand now. I won’t do it again. So… can I go now?”

Jiang Yunchen replied, “Wait a little longer.”

“What about my brother?”

“When everything’s cleared up on his end, we’ll let you meet.”

After the police and Jiang Yunchen left, the room fell silent again.

Qiao Xiazhi’s stomach growled with hunger, but since she was in a police station, she didn’t dare sneak food out of her storage space to eat.

It was truly torture.

Ever since she’d woken up starving yesterday, she hadn’t really felt full. That night, she had only a bowl of watery porridge. By midnight, her stomach was rumbling again.

Thankfully, her space had food. She snuck out half a roast chicken and finally went to bed full.

But this morning, it was more watery porridge. By the time she got in the car, she was already hungry again. Sleeping through the ride helped a little.

Now though, her hunger was making her dizzy. She was seriously afraid she might starve herself into another time-travel episode.

Not even a reincarnated hungry ghost would get hungry as easily as she did.

Gurgle, gurgle~~~

Her stomach loudly protested.

“Stop growling already! I want to go eat too, but the situation isn’t resolved yet—just hang in there,” she muttered weakly, slumping over the interrogation chair.

Slumped over like that, she slowly began to doze off.

Spring really was a sleepy season.

Just as she was about to drift off…

Creak—

The door opened again.

“Let’s go, it’s lunchtime. I’ll take you and your brother to get something to eat first.”

It was the young officer, Su Fang, who returned.

The moment Qiao Xiazhi heard about lunch, she perked up and sprang toward the door.

But seeing only Su Fang, she asked without thinking, “Why is it just you? Where’s that Deputy Commander Jiang?”

Su Fang joked, “What? You already have a crush on him?”

Qiao Xiazhi was flustered, and for some reason, it felt like something had pounded against her chest.

But she brushed it off. She wasn’t the type to fall for looks at first sight. She just cared about those two lists.

“I’m not interested in him. You know what I mean.”

Su Fang laughed. “He went home—to eat lunch with his grandma. He’ll be back this afternoon.”

Qiao Xiazhi thought for a second and asked, “Then can I go home this afternoon?”

Su Fang: “Probably not. Don’t worry, we’ll arrange a place for you to stay. Even if we don’t, someone else will.”

Qiao Xiazhi looked puzzled. “Someone else? Who?”

Su Fang: “Deputy Commander Jiang, of course. You helped him a lot with this case. Making sure you and your family are safe is part of his job now.”

“Oh, that’s fine then. I’m relieved.”

Soon, Qiao Daguo was brought over to meet with Qiao Xiazhi. Su Fang took them to lunch, and afterward, the siblings were arranged to rest in an empty room—not locked in the interrogation room anymore.

Once alone, Qiao Daguo finally asked the question that had been weighing on him: “Xiazhi, what exactly happened today?”

Qiao Xiazhi made up an excuse. “We’re still outside; it’s inconvenient to explain. I’ll tell you everything when we’re home.”

“What about you hitting that guy?” he asked.

Qiao Xiazhi replied, “He deserved it. I already explained it to the police. I believe they’ll judge fairly. If we were really in trouble, they wouldn’t let us rest in a spare room—they’d lock us up.”

Qiao Daguo asked, “But I heard that Zhao scumbag was locked up?”

Qiao Xiazhi said, “I’ll explain that to you and our parents when we get home.”

There was no hiding this from the family, and after being scolded by her sister-in-law yesterday, she was already determined to change.

This incident would be the perfect turning point. After such a shock, her change would make sense to her family.

At noon, she ate her fill and now had no reason to resist sleep. With a yawn, she asked, “I’m sleepy. Aren’t you? Do you want to rest too?”

But Qiao Daguo shook his head. “I’m not tired. You sleep—I’ll keep watch.”

That simple “I’ll keep watch” warmed Qiao Xiazhi’s heart.

In her past life, she became an orphan in her teens. After inheriting billions, she lived a lazy, carefree life.

Then the apocalypse hit. Because she liked staying home and had money, she stockpiled food and survived for a while.

Just as she was making a name for herself in a survivor base, a zombie horde hit, and she died—only to be reborn and transported here.

She never really knew what family love was in her last life.

No one had ever said to her, “Go ahead and sleep, I’ll watch over you.”

They always had to take turns resting.

Now, she’d taken over the original host’s life—what a huge win.

She would treasure this second chance and the warmth of family.

Qiao Xiazhi pushed two chairs together and lay down to sleep.

As soon as she did, Qiao Daguo sat beside her to keep her from falling off.

Even with her eyes closed, she could feel her brother’s care.

She turned slightly and drifted off to sleep.

Not long after she fell asleep, Deputy Commander Jiang Yunchen—whom she had met earlier that day—appeared in her dream.

It was a wedding. She seemed to be attending someone’s ceremony, and somehow, Jiang Yunchen was the groom.

But why was this man—whom she barely knew—suddenly trying to kiss her in her dream?

Smack—

A loud slap.

“You’re already married, and you still try to kiss me? You scoundrel!”

In the next instant, Qiao Xiazhi jolted awake and sat up straight in her chair.

And then—she saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face before her.

The man standing there had a clear slap mark on the side of his face.