Chapter 31: Lin Ruoxuan's Confession

Lin Ruoxuan walked to the front of the painting and raised her head, like the most pious believer looking up at the only deity.

She extended a slightly trembling hand and gently caressed the face on the canvas, as if touching a warm and real embrace.

She muttered to herself, her voice as low as sleep talk, full of endless loss:

"Tyrant... back then on Jinli Ancient Street, that little boy who stared at the sugar painting and refused to leave... the way he looks after growing up is exactly the same as you..."

Her fingertips rested on the brows and eyes of the person in the painting. There was only an outline there, but it ultimately couldn't replicate that unique soul.

"But as expected... it's not you."

A drop of scalding tear finally couldn't be restrained and quietly slid down from the corner of her eye, without a sound.

"I'm sorry..."

Her voice carried a choke,

"Please forgive me... these past few days, like a despicable peeping tom, I couldn't help but pay attention to his everything, trying to find your shadow on him..."

"Jinxuan's call today was like a basin of cold water that finally woke me up. My Tyrant, how could he go to war over an ex-girlfriend's colleague? How could he fall into that kind of intolerably vulgar love triangle entanglement, tossing and turning struggling in romantic love?"

"My Tyrant is an existence above all this, an existence that calmly looks down on the disturbances of all living beings like a god. And that Xu Yunzhou..."

She paused, her tone carrying a trace of clear, painful contempt,

"He's just a... ordinary man with a similar skin, rolling around in the mortal world, and who could even be easily played with in the palm of someone's hand. He is even, somewhat stupid."

She confessed to the person in the painting, her voice carrying a tremble like surviving a disaster:

"I almost... sullied your existence, confusing the boundary between a deity and a mortal."

That most secret, craziest thought was laid out bloodily in front of herself at this moment:

"I actually despicably thought of using technological methods to have an offspring with him, in order to continue my obsession with you... I really am... crazy."

She looked at those eyes in the painting that seemed able to see through all her unbearable delusions,

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have treated him as your substitute, much less produced such an absurd thought."

Her forehead rested against the canvas, drawing on that non-existent warmth,

"I'm just... too lonely. A world without you, no matter how great the success, no matter how much wealth, is just like a desert."

"You said you wanted me to walk forward, to enjoy the life belonging to me... I tried, I really tried. I possess wealth and status that ordinary people couldn't hope to reach in several lifetimes, I have traveled to every corner of the world... But without you by my side, what meaning does all this have?"

Her shoulders trembled slightly. She took a deep breath, as if needing to use all her strength to continue narrating:

"These years, like a paranoid traveler, I have traveled to all the places we once walked together."

"I sat withered alone under the starry sky of Dunhuang until dawn, hoping that a certain shooting star could bring a few words from you."

"I almost froze stiff in the deep snow of the Alps, fantasizing that you would suddenly appear, scold me calling me an 'idiot,' and then use your hand of light to give me illusory warmth."

"I knelt for a long time without getting up in front of the huge statue of Ramesses II at the Abu Simbel temples, praying to those gods in legends who could communicate across spacetime to send down even the slightest miracle..."

"I even bought that old shop in Kyoto where we 'ate' matcha ice cream together, stubbornly maintaining its original appearance, yet I could never again... taste that flavor from my memory that carried your companionship, sweet with a hint of astringency..."

Her voice grew lower and lower, ultimately turning into a heartbroken murmur:

"But, after searching through every corner of the entire world... knocking on every door that might exist... I still couldn't... find you."

"Tyrant..."

Facing that painting that would never respond, she offered her final prayer,

"If you truly existed, even if only in another dimension I cannot touch... Please, occasionally... just occasionally, think of me."

...

Lin Ruoxuan dragged her heavy steps out of the bedroom. Her phone blinked, indicating a new message.

She swiped open the screen somewhat exhaustedly. It was sent by that senior blockchain analyst she hired:

"Sister Lin, that ancient Bitcoin address (1A1zP1...) you asked me to observe long-term has had movement. Just last night, the 1000 BTC in the address was entirely transferred out and scattered to dozens of new addresses. The operations were very cautious, but the volume is too large, it still left obvious traces on the chain."

The fingers Lin Ruoxuan used to grip the phone abruptly tightened.

She froze in place, not because those one thousand Bitcoins were now worth over a hundred million US dollars, but because a more crucial detail exploded in her mind like thunder—

That USB drive she stuffed into the hands of the little boy Xu Yunzhou, who looked exactly like the "Tyrant," back in Jinli with a complex and indescribable mood!

She clearly remembered that inside were one thousand Bitcoins, stored as a gift from the "future."

But she remembered even more... she forgot to tell that little boy the password.

That password was 0803.

That date belonging uniquely to her and the "Tyrant"—the day he first appeared in her life.

How could he know the password?

In this world, there shouldn't be a third person who knows this number!

Could he... Xu Yunzhou... he is...?

Impossible!

This thought only existed for an instant before being almost cruelly forced down by her using stronger rationality.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to analyze calmly, finding a seemingly reasonable explanation for herself:

"Early Bitcoin wallets had relatively simple password mechanisms. A four-digit brute-force crack is not an obstacle for a programmer."

"Moreover, professional Bitcoin wallet cracking services have long existed on the market. As long as you're willing to spend money, there is always someone who can handle this kind of old, aged wallet."

"He must have cracked it through technical means... it must be like this."

"It's me... I'm letting my imagination run wild again, almost falling into that pathetic fantasy again."

She muttered to herself, as if persuading herself, and also as if mocking the momentary resurgence of her dead ashes.

However, emotions can be suppressed, but rational analysis cannot be stopped.

Regardless of the process, the result had already happened—Xu Yunzhou got that money.

Her gaze became somewhat distant, carrying a trace of indescribable complex emotion, muttering softly to herself:

"Xu Yunzhou, you've gotten rich overnight."

"This windfall, just consider it... the karmic reward for you growing with that face."

"I only hope that this wealth falling from the sky brings you... freedom and happiness, and not... getting lost and disaster, because I don't want to see a pained expression appear on that face."

She put down her phone, walked to the window, and looked at the silent night of Huzhou.

She knew that from this moment on, that Xu Yunzhou who once needed her secret "looking after" and struggled in the secular world had disappeared.

Replaced by a stranger holding a massive amount of capital, his life trajectory completely changed.

"Heh, I am somewhat interested in your future life now."