Love Lock

Chapter 365 I just want to go back
For the past few months, Han Lei has been living like a lost soul.

I'm often absent-minded at work, my mind filled with all sorts of bizarre and fantastical time-travel fantasies.

She amassed countless books about time travel, ranging from online novels to obscure quantum physics theories, piling them up on her bedside table.

As soon as she got off work, she locked herself in her dormitory and quickly browsed through the text, trying to find a possible clue between the lines.

Her phone's notepad was also filled with all sorts of seemingly absurd methods of time travel: lightning strikes, car accidents, specific astronomical phenomena, resonance with ancient artifacts, and even near-death experiences...

Like a devout believer, she tried them one by one, only to face failure time and time again, feeling both ridiculous and pathetic.

In just two or three months, the once spirited and physically outstanding special forces medic rapidly lost weight, her eyes became sunken, her cheekbones became prominent, and the oversized hospital gown made her look even more emaciated.

She dared not tell anyone, fearing that people would think she was a mentally unstable lunatic.

However, this state of mind was undeniable. She frequently lost focus at work, almost made mistakes in prescribing medication dosages, reacted slowly during emergency drills, and, not to mention repeatedly used the unit's ambulance without authorization. As a result, criticism from her superiors fell on her time and again.

Faced with criticism, she was extremely sincere and quickly admitted her mistakes. Deep down, she knew better than anyone how heavy the responsibility was for a military doctor, and that some mistakes were bottom lines that could never be crossed.

But rational knowledge is one thing, while emotions and that intense longing are another.

The brief existence of the system and space was etched into her consciousness like a brand, making her acutely aware that the Great Jing Dynasty was real, Zhao Zun was real, and her children were real!

She couldn't imagine how anxious Zhao Zun would be when he discovered her sudden disappearance. Would the man who loved her so deeply go crazy? These thoughts burned in her heart day and night like a raging fire, making it impossible for her to give up. Even if there was only a one in ten thousand or a one in a million chance, she had to try.

"Luo Min, I'm fine." Han Lei's voice was hoarse and weak from not speaking for a long time. She avoided Luo Min's concerned gaze and made up a reason on the spot, "It's just... I haven't been sleeping well at night lately. I toss and turn and can't fall asleep, so I took a sleeping pill to try and get a good night's sleep."

"A sleeping pill?" Luo Min's voice suddenly rose, filled with obvious disbelief and reproach. "Han Lei, you're kidding me! Do you know how long you slept? Three whole days and three nights! Team leaders and comrades took turns visiting you, and the doctor even issued a critical condition notice! Look at what they gave you!"

As she spoke, she pointed to the IV bag hanging by the bed and the catheter connected to Han Lei, "Fluid resuscitation, diuretics, urine alkalization... we've used all these emergency measures, and you're telling me it's just the effect of a sleeping pill?"

Han Lei turned her head and belatedly realized the discomfort in her body and the presence of the urinary catheter.

She was silent!

I realized I had been unconscious for so long that the team had even used emergency treatment.

Luo Min and Han Lei were college classmates and had always been very close. Because Han Lei was a genius who skipped grades and achieved academic success at a young age, she joined this elite special forces team three years earlier than Luo Min, who followed the conventional path.

Luo Min later worked hard and was also transferred in, and the two became roommates, their friendship deepening. At this moment, Luo Min's concern and anxiety were genuine.

"I'm really... fine now." Han Lei struggled to sit up, but felt dizzy and weak all over.

Luo Min quickly stepped forward to support her, placing a pillow behind her back to make her more comfortable.

She looked at Han Lei's pale, haggard, and bloodless face, her brows furrowed, her tone softening slightly, yet carrying an undeniable firmness.

"Han Lei, how many years have we known each other? Your behavior lately is absolutely out of the question! You were distracted at work and almost caused a medical accident; you're constantly driving the ambulance, claiming it's to relax—who believes that? Now you've even overdosed on sleeping pills and needed emergency treatment! This is nothing like the calm, rational Han Lei I know, who always knows what she wants! Tell me, there's no one else here, what exactly happened? Even if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up, there's still me!"

Han Lei looked up and met Luo Min's eyes, which were filled with worry and sincerity. The high wall of defense that she had built in her heart seemed to crack open.

The long-term repression and the pain of being misunderstood by no one are about to burst their banks at this moment.

She took a deep breath, as if making some kind of decision, her voice so soft it seemed it might break: "If I said it... would you think I'm crazy?"

Luo Min paused for a moment, then shrugged, trying to make her expression look relaxed and natural.

"Crazy? But apart from being a little weak, you seem perfectly normal!" Luo Min sat down on the chair by the bed, leaning forward slightly as if listening intently. "Tell me, what's the big deal that could torment our genius military doctor like this? Tell me, I might not be able to help much, but it's better to share the burden than to keep it all bottled up inside."

Her friend's gentle encouragement was like a warm current, melting away some of the frost in Han Lei's heart.

She hesitated for a moment before finally speaking slowly, her voice carrying a sense of ethereal longing: "Luo Min, every word I'm about to say is true, even though it sounds... so unbelievable."

She paused, organizing her thoughts, as if carefully bringing out that beautiful yet painful memory: "Last time... when I was on a mission, I drove along the winding mountain road in Xishan and fell off a cliff, ending up in another place."

"Fall off a cliff?" Luo Min's eyes widened. How come she didn't know about this?

As Luo Min's gaze grew increasingly astonished, Han Lei began to recount that bizarre experience.

She described how she arrived in the Great Jing Dynasty, how she encountered an ancient prince being chased, and how, in a moment of desperation, she drew a modern pistol, killed the pursuers, and saved him.

She talked about the mysterious "system" that was activated when she traveled through time, and the "space" on her wrist that could store items.

She also recounted how she and Zhao Zun went from acquaintance to falling in love, experiencing court intrigues and border wars together, and finally getting married and having two lovely children.

Her tone sometimes carried the sweetness of being deeply in love, sometimes the excitement of fighting side by side, and sometimes overflowing with the tenderness of being a mother.

“…His name was Zhao Zun, a prince enfeoffed by the Great Jing Dynasty, and later…he became emperor.” Han Lei’s voice choked as she mentioned Zhao Zun, tears welling in her eyes, which she forcefully held back. “He gave me a jade pendant, saying it was his keepsake. But…just a few months ago, a cold arrow struck, hitting the jade pendant…it shattered, and then…I knew nothing more. When I woke up, I found myself still on that winding mountain road on my way to a mission…”

She raised her trembling hand and pointed to her empty chest, where a warm, ancient jade had once hung: "That's it, I'm back. I'm back for no reason. They left me here all alone, and left them all over there..."

Han Lei's voice grew softer and softer, filled with helplessness and pain: "Luo Min, I'm not trying to kill myself. I took those pills because I read in some random books that near-death experiences could trigger time travel... I just... I just want to go back, to go back to him, to go back to my child... I have to go back, he'll go crazy if he can't find me! I can feel it!"

As Luo Min listened to this unbelievable story, the expression on her face gradually changed from initial worry to surprise, then to disbelief, and finally, the corner of her mouth twitched involuntarily.

She glanced subconsciously at the stack of neatly arranged, flashy time-travel novels on Han Lei's bedside table, then reached out and felt Han Lei's forehead to make sure she wasn't delirious with fever.

"Han Lei..." Luo Min's voice carried a helpless attempt to soothe her, "To say you're mentally ill isn't quite accurate. Your descriptions are very clear and detailed, but..." She emphasized, "I advise you to read less of these mindless time-travel novels! Could it be that you're under too much work pressure lately and are hallucinating? Or... have you become addicted to these novels?"

As she spoke, she seemed to remember something, picked up a small, individually wrapped cake from the cabinet next to her, tore it open, and handed it to Han Lei: "You've slept for so long, you must be starving. Eat something to fill your stomach and replenish your blood sugar. Look at you, you've become so thin."

Looking at the cake handed to her, and listening to Luo Min's words—clearly disbelieving and trying to "awaken" her with science and reality—the slight flush of excitement that had just appeared on Han Lei's face due to her outpouring of emotion quickly faded, replaced by a deep sense of powerlessness.

Her shoulders slumped down, as if all her strength had been drained away.

"See..." She laughed self-deprecatingly, her smile bitter. "I knew you wouldn't believe me even if I told you." She took the cake, but had no appetite, just mechanically holding it in her hand.

Luo Min raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and made a "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just too outrageous" expression: "It's not that I don't believe you, Xiao Lei. It's just... this is too illogical. Okay, let's assume you're telling the truth..."

At this point, she paused, stroking her chin thoughtfully, trying to approach the topic from a different angle, "Didn't you say you shot and killed those who were chasing you and saved that prince?"

Hearing that Luo Min seemed willing to "hypothesize," Han Lei's dim eyes instantly lit up.

She nodded quickly, eager to prove it: "Yes, yes, yes! I was using my sidearm at the time. It was an emergency. I fired several shots and hit a few of the people chasing me!"

She thought Luo Min was finally starting to try to understand her.

However, Luo Min suddenly asked, "Okay, when you returned to the team after completing that mission and handed over your gun, according to the gun control regulations, the gunman checked the magazines. Were your bullets missing?"

"..."

Han Lei froze, her fingers tightening involuntarily, deforming the cake.

Yes! She definitely overlooked that.

The team had gun management regulations, and there were strict rules for taking out and returning the gun. She remembered that when she returned the gun after completing a mission, it was returned smoothly and the bullets were all full.

Luo Min only asked her this one question, and it stumped her.

Han Lei scratched her head, clearly confused by the question. Had she actually time-traveled?

Full ammunition?!
How could it be complete? She clearly remembered pulling the trigger, even though it had a silencer, she saw the enemy fall after the bullet was fired! The feeling was so real, completely imprinted in her memory!

But... if the bullets weren't missing... then what about her experience of firing a gun in the Great Jing Dynasty? Was it really just an illusion?

Seeing Han Lei's instantly blank and shocked expression, Luo Min understood.

She sighed, her tone gentle: "Look, here's the problem. You said you woke up on your way to a mission, and no time had passed, which corresponds to several years in that 'Great Jing Dynasty'? That doesn't make sense. The bullets in the magazine weren't missing, and there's no evidence in reality that you fired a gun. So, apart from the possibility that you might have been under too much pressure or developed some kind of cognitive impairment that we don't yet understand, creating an extremely realistic and detailed dream or hallucination, I can hardly find a more reasonable explanation."

“But the system and the space…” Han Lei murmured, as if grasping at the last straw, “they’ve appeared before…”

"Where is the system? What does the space look like? Can you show it to me now?" Luo Min asked patiently.

Han Lei tried to concentrate, to sense the system interface in her mind, and to communicate with the spatial watch on her wrist. However, all she heard was silence.

Since rescuing the injured in the car accident on the way back to the city, the system briefly appeared and then became completely unresponsive. The watch on my wrist is still the same watch, but the space inside seems to be completely locked, undetectable and unopenable.

Han Lei shook her head dejectedly, her face even paler than before: "I can't get in touch with them, it seems... they've disappeared."

“Xiao Lei,” Luo Min held her cold hand, speaking earnestly, “I know you’re feeling terrible and anxious. That feeling is very real. But we need to face reality. Maybe you’re just too eager for an unusual experience, too desperate to escape some kind of pressure… Listen to me, get some rest, cooperate with the doctor’s treatment, and take good care of your health. Stop torturing yourself, and stop reading those time-travel novels, okay? The team cares about you, everyone is worried about you.”

Han Lei sat there in a daze, Luo Min's words like heavy hammer blows striking her once unbreakable beliefs.

No bullets were missing...

The time doesn't match...

The system has disappeared...

The space is inaccessible...

Could it be... could it all really just be a dream of hers? A dream, woven from excessive pressure or subconscious desires, an incredibly long and incredibly real... illusion?
What about Zhao Zun's deep eyes and warm embrace?

What about the children's soft, loud cries and their peaceful, adorable sleeping faces?
What about the perilous steps within the palace walls, and the clash of swords and the thunder of horses on the battlefield?

Was that unforgettable love, that heart-wrenching longing... all just a lie?
Do not!impossible!
The feeling was so real, so intense, it almost became a part of her soul! She couldn't accept that it was all for nothing!

But... she couldn't explain the question Luo Min raised.

A tremendous vortex of contradictions and confusion enveloped Han Lei, suffocating her. Had she truly traveled through time? Did her anxiety, anticipation, heartache, and longing originate from reality or from illusion?
She was lost on the boundary between reality and fantasy, unable to find the answer.

Seeing Han Lei fall silent, her eyes empty and lost, Luo Min knew that her words had had some effect, but she was more worried.

She gently patted Han Lei's hand: "Don't think about it. Eat something first, then take your medicine. Get a good night's sleep, and everything will be alright."

Han Lei did not respond, but just sat there blankly, as if her soul had been detached and gone to a distant place that no one could reach.

Outside the window, spring is in full bloom, vibrant with life. But inside the ward, a heart is immersed in a winter-like confusion and pain, desperately searching for a way home, only to find it shrouded in mist.

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