Chapter 314: Back to the Real World

At bedtime, Xie Huaizheng held Su Zhaozhao in his arms and said, “You must be exhausted today. Get some good sleep. Tomorrow, we can go to more fun places.”

“Okay,” Su Zhaozhao replied, smiling at Xie Huaizheng.

She leaned against Xie Huaizheng’s warm body. His frame was strong and broad, filling her with a sense of security. Su Zhaozhao felt blissful.

She quickly drifted off to sleep.

“Little Su, are you still on vacation? Can you come back as soon as possible? We’ve been watching a suspect, but he’s acting far too normal. We need your help with the investigation. Could you analyze him and see if he’s lying?”

Su Zhaozhao opened her eyes to find herself sitting on the sofa in her apartment. A large television in front of her was playing a TV drama.

Just then, her boss’s voice came from the earpiece of the phone she was holding.

Su Zhaozhao could barely process what was happening.

‘What’s going on? Why is this happening? Aren’t I supposed to be in the world of the novel?’

‘But why have I returned to the real world?’

Just then, her boss continued on the other end of the line, “Little Su, are you listening? Hello?”

Su Zhaozhao snapped back to reality and quickly said, “I’m listening.”

“I’m sending you the surveillance footage of the suspect’s interrogation now. Take a good look at his micro-expressions and analyze them.”

The call ended. Su Zhaozhao tossed her phone aside and stood up.

She looked around at the familiar, thoroughly modern scene, feeling dazed.

‘I’m back?’

‘If I’m back here, then where did everyone from the novel go?’

Su Zhaozhao sank back onto the seat, her expression dazed and vacant.

Then, she slapped herself across the face. The stinging pain that bloomed on her cheek told her one thing with absolute clarity: she wasn’t dreaming. She was really back.

‘But why did I come back?’

Su Zhaozhao glanced at the time on her phone. It was still the same day she had transmigrated into the book, as if all this time had been nothing more than a dream.

‘But was it really just a dream?’

‘Could the people in a dream feel so real?’

‘Could someone love and dote on me so much in a dream?’

‘Those vivid lives… they couldn’t have been just a simple dream.’

Su Zhaozhao poured herself a glass of water, then glanced at the file her boss had sent to her phone and opened it.

Although it felt like a long time since she had done this kind of work, back in the real world, the muscle memory and professional knowledge flooded back into her mind.

It allowed her to analyze the suspect’s micro-expressions with incredible speed, attach her notes, and report the results back to her boss.

By the time she finished, it was already evening. Su Zhaozhao stretched and went to the kitchen to make herself something to eat.

She had specifically chosen this rental for its pleasant, quiet environment and excellent soundproofing.

But now, the silence of the apartment was something Su Zhaozhao found hard to get used to.

It had been a long time since she’d been all alone in such silence.

Back when she was living in the military compound, she would hear the clear call of the bugle in the morning, and around noon, the noisy chatter of children and army wives downstairs.

She could even faintly smell the aroma when a neighbor was cooking.

But now, there was nothing.

This world was just too quiet, so quiet that she felt like an isolated island.

Su Zhaozhao couldn’t help but feel agitated. ‘Why haven’t I returned to the novel’s world?’

Just then, her phone rang. It was a video call from her mother, and she chatted with her parents for a little while.

Her parents were the same as always, completely unchanged. The longing she’d felt for them all this time made her want to rush right back to them.

But for her parents, it had only been a short time since they’d last seen her.

“Mom, Dad, I miss you so much,” Su Zhaozhao said.

“If you miss us, then come home,” her mother said with a warm smile. “Your father and I recently started raising some chickens and ducks. I can make you chicken soup when you get back.”

Her mother was as gentle and beautiful as ever. Su Zhaozhao sniffled, trying to compose herself.

“Okay, I’ll come home as soon as I have time.”

Her family home was just over two hundred kilometers away, so it would be easy to go back.

After hanging up, Su Zhaozhao lay down on her bed. ‘I returned to the real world for no reason… does that mean I can go back by sleeping?’

‘Well, I might as well try sleeping and see what happens.’

She wasn’t ready to leave that world completely. She often fantasized that it would be wonderful if the two worlds could somehow merge into one.

But now, it seemed she had just been wishful thinking.

Now, she had inexplicably been pulled back into the real world.

The thought frustrated her.

‘Why is it toying with me like this?’

‘First, I’m inexplicably sent into a book, and now I’m inexplicably pulled back out. Is it treating me like an idiot?’

She was furious, but she had no one to vent her anger on. All she could do was hope that falling asleep would transport her back to the world of the novel.

With that thought, Su Zhaozhao tried to soothe herself, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

“Zhaozhao, why are you sleeping in so late? Aren’t you getting up?”

A man’s low voice, tinged with worry, reached her ears.

Su Zhaozhao opened her eyes and saw Xie Huaizheng’s handsome face leaning in close, his eyes holding a hidden trace of anxiety and concern.

The moment she saw Xie Huaizheng, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

As she pulled him down from her lying position, Xie Huaizheng let out a sigh of relief that she was finally awake.

He had been calling her name, but she hadn’t responded. Her heartbeat and breathing were normal, so Xie Huaizheng had assumed she was just exhausted and let her sleep for an extra hour.

But when he called her again an hour later, she still hadn’t stirred.

Xie Huaizheng had been on the verge of calling a doctor. Thankfully, she was awake now.

But she had pulled him close the moment she woke up. Now, their foreheads were pressed together, so close they could hear each other breathe.

“Xie Huaizheng, thank goodness. I just had a nightmare.”

‘I dreamed that I returned to the real world, and I thought I would never see you again.’

‘Thank goodness, after I fell asleep, I came back.’

She didn’t know when it had changed, but her initial desperation to return to the real world had turned into a fear of going back.

It wasn’t that she was afraid to go back, exactly. She just didn’t want to be separated from Xie Huaizheng.

If returning to the real world meant being separated from Xie Huaizheng forever, that was a price she was unwilling to pay.

Seeing Su Zhaozhao’s frightened expression, Xie Huaizheng pulled her into his arms, rolling over to hold her tightly.

“Don’t be afraid, Zhaozhao,” he said. “I’m here. It was only a nightmare.”