After three days in the hospital, Xia Qingtian's fever had completely subsided. A blood test revealed no further issues, and Li Mengxiao helped her with the discharge procedures.
Upon her release, Xia Qingtian did not return to her previous hotel. Instead, she was escorted to the Lei family residence.
Xia Qingtian was somewhat bewildered by this sudden invitation.
After all, it wasn't even much of an invitation; she had been directly brought here with her luggage by an arranged car.
"Mobius, did something go wrong?" Xia Qingtian asked softly, holding her phone.
"The matter with the kidnappers hasn't been fully resolved yet," Mobius replied from the other end of the line. "Your temporary stay at the Lei family's is the most secure arrangement."
He paused before continuing, "This is also Mr. Gu's decision."
Hearing that it was Mr. Gu's decision, Xia Qingtian was a little surprised, but she didn't want to make things difficult for Mobius.
After all, no matter how capable Mobius was, he had to follow his boss's orders.
"Alright, please thank Mr. Gu for me," Xia Qingtian said, ending the call.
A servant had already taken Xia Qingtian's luggage to her guest room. Others then led Xia Qingtian on a brief tour of the Lei family's mansion, pointing out the locations of important areas.
On the way back to her room, Xia Qingtian encountered the Third Young Master Lei.
In an unfamiliar environment, meeting someone she had seen before gave Xia Qingtian a sense of security, so she proactively greeted him, "Third Young Master Lei, I still need to thank you for saving me."
This was according to Mobius, who said that the Third Young Master Lei had found her unconscious and brought her to the hospital.
"It's nothing," Third Young Master Lei said, instinctively stepping back a little upon seeing Xia Qingtian, a twitch in the corner of his eye.
Noticing the twitch, Xia Qingtian then observed the bruise near Third Young Master Lei's eye. "Your face... is that from..."
Seeing Xia Qingtian's innocent and bewildered expression, Third Young Master Lei mentally cursed her before retorting impatiently, "A bear did that."
"Wow..." Xia Qingtian, upon hearing his words, didn't know whether to admire the audacious bear or praise Third Young Master Lei's good fortune.
"Hmph," Third Young Master Lei said with even more annoyance seeing Xia Qingtian's reaction. "You'll be staying at the Lei residence for the next week. After a week, someone will take you to the airport to send you back to Z City."
"Thank you, Third Young Master Lei," Xia Qingtian said immediately. "I've caused you trouble."
"It's nothing. It's just out of consideration for that Mr. Gu, doing him a favor," Third Young Master Lei said coldly, looking away.
After all, it was because the traitor Qin Mei had manipulated the Lei family's client information that they were able to collude with outsiders and capture Xia Qingtian.
After saying this, Third Young Master Lei ignored Xia Qingtian any further and turned to leave.
Xia Qingtian merely blinked at this, saying nothing more, and allowed the servant beside her to escort her back to her room to rest.
Lying on the soft bed in the guest room, Xia Qingtian felt as though her trip to C City had been surreal, like a dream.
Yet, the aches and pains all over her body were all too real.
They constantly reminded her that she had almost lost her life.
The fear of being burned alive once again sent a shiver down her spine.
It also served as another reminder that even after rebirth, she would face various dangers, and she needed to be even more cautious.
She wanted revenge, to live her own life, and to make up for all the regrets of her past life.
With this thought, Xia Qingtian opened the system interface in her mind.
Upon opening it this time, Xia Qingtian was surprised to find that the system interface was clearly much more advanced than before. Although her points were a "0," the number of items she could redeem with points had increased. Even the destined lucky draw had an extra ring of bright light bulbs, flashing dazzlingly.
The item inventory below was empty, containing nothing at all.
To save her life, Xia Qingtian had used up her last reserves of adrenaline and x-ray vision.
"Sigh..." Xia Qingtian sighed heavily, feeling a sense of despair, as if she had returned to square one overnight.
As Xia Qingtian was feeling dejected, her phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, she sneered and answered, "Hello?"
"Qingtian, what's going on with you! You haven't answered my calls for so long!" Mo Jianing's anxious voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Didn't you know I wasn't in Z City?" Xia Qingtian's voice was lazy.
"You haven't returned yet?" Mo Jianing was surprised that Xia Qingtian hadn't returned to Z City so soon. No wonder she had tried to block her at Z University several times without success.
"Yes, it's too much fun here, so I decided to stay longer," Xia Qingtian said, looking at her fingernails.
"How can that be!" Mo Jianing exclaimed, her voice cracking in surprise.
"So loud," Xia Qingtian immediately moved the phone to a safe distance.
"Xia Qingtian, how can you be so irresponsible! What about the virtual idol project if you don't come back!" Mo Jianing couldn't help but scold loudly. "I gave you so much money! How can you..."
"How much money did you give me?" Xia Qingtian raised an eyebrow. "As I recall, that was you paying me back."
Mo Jianing's voice caught, and she immediately went quiet, her face flushing and paling.
If she hadn't wanted Xia Qingtian to agree to the virtual idol project, she would never have returned the money!
Now, she had spent all her signing fees, and Wancheng Entertainment was already arranging for her to record the voice library for the virtual idol. It wouldn't do for Xia Qingtian to back out!
If Wancheng Entertainment sued her for fraud, her life would be ruined!
Besides, even if it was fraud, it was Xia Qingtian committing fraud, not her. How was that her business? She was a victim too!
Xia Qingtian had gone back on her word and tricked her!
"If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up," Xia Qingtian said, about to end the call.
"Wait!" Mo Jianing quickly stopped her, her face darkening. "Qingtian, I apologize. My attitude was bad just now. I... I was just anxious because of our shared dream, and I lost control for a moment. Please don't be angry with me, okay? We're best friends!"
"So, the city you're visiting should have recording studios, right? I'll transfer you money for a recording studio. Can you record a few segments for me? Acapella is fine. I'll send you the things to record later, and you just need to record according to the requirements! This is all to help you achieve your dream, Qingtian, have you forgotten your dream!"
Xia Qingtian found Mo Jianing's words disgusting.
How could she have forgotten her dream?
Her biggest dream now was to see Mo Jianing suffer the consequences of her actions and never rise again in her life; and to see Song Junhan live in the lowest depths of society forever, unable to achieve what he desired, and to live a life of poverty!