Chapter 147 Orphan

"Almost there, let's park."

In the passenger seat, Yu Xi opened her eyes.

"That time-space assassin didn't follow. This distance is safe enough… Besides, we won't stop for too long, just to deal with the wounds. I need your help."

"No problem."

Lin Xian parked the rugged SUV on the side of the road and got out of the car with Yu Xi, went to the back, and manually opened the trunk.

It had to be said that Yu Xi was very well prepared.

In the trunk, there was not only a first-aid kit, but also some bottled water, food, blankets, and the like.

"Did you take all this from your secretary's house?"

Lin Xian asked,

"I was in such a hurry along the way that I didn't have a chance to ask you... You're so young, but you know so much about combat skills, wilderness survival skills, and driving techniques. Have you been receiving training in this area since you were a child?"

Yu Xi nodded without saying anything, and just reached out to take out the first-aid kit.

Lin Xian looked at the girl squatting on the ground.

"I'm just asking casually. If you can't answer or it's inconvenient to answer, just say so. I'm curious... The training you received since childhood, was it specifically for this time travel, to go back hundreds of years to protect me?"

"Or... do you have an organization that trains many agents like you? Like in the movies and cartoons... and finally selects the best one to travel back in time to carry out the mission?"

Yu Xi opened the first-aid kit.

She took out alcohol, disinfectant, cotton swabs, gauze, and the like.

Then she raised her head, her bright azure eyes looking at Lin Xian:

"I can't say."

"Okay."

Lin Xian smiled helplessly, squatted down, and took the bottles of disinfectant and alcohol, twisting them open.

If she couldn't say, she couldn't say. It's not like he didn't understand the laws of time and space, or didn't know Yu Xi's difficulties.

The other party was injured entirely to protect him.

Looking at this girl, who should have been laughing and playing in school, now with so much blood on her arm and some minor wounds elsewhere...

He couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Time travel is a one-way ticket.

So.

Yu Xi's final fate would probably be the same as Huang Que's, turning into blue stardust and dissipating in this time and space that didn't belong to them, right?

This feeling was really lonely.

Destined to disappear, leaving nothing behind.

Especially...

Lin Xian opened the alcohol bottle, smelling the pungent smell, and felt a little uncomfortable.

Especially.

Whether it was Huang Que or Yu Xi, they had given up their original lives, their original time and space, and their original family and friends to travel here for his sake.

All for him.

Yu Xi was only fifteen or sixteen years old...

She must have parents too, and be a daughter cherished by someone, right?

Suddenly.

Lin Xian recalled what Professor Xu Yun had once told him:

"Actually, it doesn't matter if my daughter forgets me. It doesn't matter if she forgets everything... She will start her new life, it doesn't matter whether she remembers her old father."

"But I don't want to forget her... I don't want to forget Yi Yi. Yi Yi's lively time was only those few years when she was a child, and my memories of her are only this little bit... I can't bear to lose even a little bit of these memories."

"So, I won't go into hibernation. I will preserve the memories of Yi Yi until the last second of my life, and I will use the last second of my life to develop a better hibernation pod for Yi Yi."

"One day, you will become a father, and then you will understand."

...

Lin Xian had seen many fathers of daughters, and also seen many daughters of fathers.

Big Face Cat and his daughter;

Li Cheng and Li Ningning;

Chu Shanhe and Chu Anqing;

Every daughter was the apple of her father's eye, the existence that her father regarded as life.

Just like Xu Yun's certain words...

[One day, you will become a father, and then you will understand.]

"Hiss!"

Hydrogen peroxide was splashed on Yu Xi's arm wound, and even Yu Xi, who was as strong as she was, couldn't help but frown, clench her teeth, and gasp.

"Does it hurt?" Lin Xian asked with concern.

"Yeah." Yu Xi pursed her lips tightly and nodded.

"Hold on, I'm using hydrogen peroxide to clean your wound."

Lin Xian helped Yu Xi pinch the upper arm of her right arm, wanting to help her reduce some pain.

But he found that...

Yu Xi was indeed stronger than he thought, her muscles were very hard, and he couldn't press them at all.

"Fortunately, the wound isn't deep, just a little deeper than a skin wound, and the wound is very clean. It will heal in a few days."

Lin Xian continued to apply medicine to Yu Xi, and then prepared to bandage her.

"One day is enough."

Yu Xi looked at Lin Xian with her blue eyes, and said softly:

"Our physical enhancements are multifaceted, including the immune system and skin activity. This kind of skin wound can heal in about a day. Deeper wounds may take a few more days... but it won't take too long."

"Okay."

Lin Xian wiped the blood stains from her arm with medical gauze, and then officially wrapped Yu Xi's arm with medical bandages, circle by circle.

After finishing the treatment, Lin Xian twisted the remaining bottles and jars, and put them back into the first-aid kit.

Yu Xi looked at her perfectly treated right arm, shook the short, hamster-like ponytail behind her head, and tilted her head to look at Lin Xian:

"You're pretty good at bandaging. You handled it so well."

"I learned it on the spot."

Lin Xian put the first-aid kit back into the trunk and turned around:

"Just being more serious and careful."

He paused.

He hesitated several times.

Finally...

He still opened his mouth and asked the question he had just thought of:

"Yu Xi."

Lin Xian looked at Yu Xi's raised eyes:

"Can you tell me... about your parents?"

"I don't have parents."

Yu Xi looked at Lin Xian, and said in a low voice:

"I don't know who my parents are. I've been an orphan since I was a child, and no one has ever told me who my parents are."

Lin Xian didn't say anything.

This was a direct negative answer.

On the contrary... it made Lin Xian a little confused.

If Yu Xi still answered "I can't say" or "I can't tell you", then it would mean that there must be something fishy.

Just now, the thought that flashed through Lin Xian's mind was--

Could Yu Xi be Huang Que's child?

And if she was really Huang Que's child.

Huang Que was Zhao Yingjun.

And in Huang Que's time and space, he and Huang Que were likely to be married.

These clues connected to everything...

Wouldn't that mean!

[Yu Xi, is the daughter of him and Zhao Yingjun in some time and space?]

This guess was too outrageous.

To the point that...

Lin Xian himself felt like he was watching a fantasy.

It is said that every father is selfish when facing his daughter.

Lin Xian also deeply felt this.

He didn't think he was a saint, especially when it came to his daughter... He wasn't sure if he would really become a daughter slave like Chu Shanhe if he had a daughter in the future; but at least from his current point of view, he would never allow his teenage daughter to be sent back to the past to carry out dangerous missions.

Not to mention sending her back to the past to carry out missions.

Just from the initial training and selection stages, Lin Xian's ruthless hand would directly pass.

No father could accept his daughter having no life from childhood, only training, and taking a one-way ticket to travel through time and space, dying in a foreign land, and never returning to his side, right?

No mother could accept this kind of thing either.

If it was a daughter after she was an adult, that would be fine... She has her own life, her own choices.

A little girl like Yu Xi should be spoiled in the palm of her hand. How could anyone be willing to let her carry out dangerous missions that have no return and could lead to death at any time?

Probably.

Only an orphan would do.

No wonder Yu Xi would say that she didn't know who her parents were and was an orphan.

A child who is not loved will be trained as an agent.

Lin Xian once again recalled the irresponsible guess just now...

Could Yu Xi be Huang Que's daughter?

In fact, from the perspective of time-space logic, many problems cannot be explained clearly.

Could Yu Xi be his daughter?

Lin Xian couldn't understand this even more.

He would definitely rather die in battle than involve his own daughter in danger.

There's a saying that goes well.

Dying in battle with one's father is the child's highest honor; dying in battle with one's child is the father's greatest shame.

Lin Xian picked up all the gauze and cotton swabs stained with blood on the ground, packed them up, and threw them into the trash can on the side of the road.

In fact, he still wanted to know the answer.

Whether it was the correct answer or the wrong answer, he wanted to know... the true relationship between himself and Yu Xi.

Because he thought of Huang Que's final gaze when she said Yu Xi's name before she disappeared.

That kind of gentleness,

That kind of reluctance,

That kind of longing,

That kind of plea.

If Yu Xi was really just an ordinary time-space bodyguard, Huang Que shouldn't have shown such a complicated expression, right?

"Lin Xian?"

Behind him, Yu Xi had already put on her jacket again, stood up, and looked over here:

"What are you doing standing at the trash can? Let's hurry up and leave. We must be far enough away from the time-space assassin to be safe enough."

Lin Xian turned around from his thoughts, looked at Yu Xi, and nodded:

"I'm coming."

Forget it.

You can't figure out the answer to this kind of thing just by thinking about it.

[DNA paternity test].

This is the most accurate and direct method.

When he has the chance.

Lin Xian plans to risk being a "father" to find out the truth about Yu Xi's background.

……

The two got back into the rugged SUV and set off again.

Lin Xian was still driving, and he planned to drive all night to return to Princeton, New Jersey.

He couldn't help but worry about Angelika's situation.

The other party specifically told him not to contact her.

In that case, he should honestly listen to the advice and not contact her by phone or text message.

Otherwise... it would be easy to ruin things.

But he couldn't just leave it alone like this, right?

Therefore, Lin Xian planned to go back to Angelika's villa in Princeton to see if there were any signs of her returning home and if she had left any clues for him.

He yawned.

Not sleepy.

But tired...

Although he hadn't been flying on planes every day like before these past few days.

But the level of fatigue had not decreased but increased. He and Yu Xi were almost driving, driving, and driving every day.

From the east coast of the United States, to the southern border, and now they were going to drive to the east coast again.

Fortunately, the highways in the United States were really straight and there were few cars, so long-distance driving wasn't very tiring, as long as he could resist falling asleep.

Through the rearview mirror.

Lin Xian looked at Yu Xi, who was asleep under a blanket in the wide back seat.

She was still dressed like that, and didn't relax even when she was sleeping. The Smith & Wesson M500 revolver was in her pocket, never leaving her side.

It's just that she had a circle of white bandages wrapped around her right arm, and the wound had obviously stopped bleeding and hadn't seeped out.

Because she was sleeping with her back to Lin Xian and facing the back of the seat.

So Lin Xian could only see the back of her head, and... the short ponytail that kept jumping up and down with the bumps of the vehicle.

Yu Xi's baby face was still very suitable for keeping a ponytail.

It's just that her hair was too short, and she couldn't tie up her ponytail. Sometimes this short, pitiful ponytail looked a little funny.

However...

Considering Yu Xi's identity as a time-space agent, and that she was on a special mission, she probably wouldn't consider growing her hair long, right?

Probably not. If she really tied a long ponytail or wore her hair long, it would be deliberately giving the other party an opening.

Lin Xian also saw Yu Xi and the time-space assassin's duel in the moonlight campus... it could really only be described as thrilling and licking blood from a knife's edge.

The battle between these two time-traveling girls could be said to be full of deadly moves and without any mercy. Any mistake would be caught by the other party, and then the sharp blade, coupled with exaggerated brute force, would directly cut them in half.

War of the Gods, mortals stay away.

"Sigh..."

Lin Xian sighed lightly in the car and switched the headlights to high beams on the deserted road.

He really wanted to help Yu Xi in some way, so that she wouldn't have to fight alone like this again.

It's just that the time-space assassin was too strange. Not only was she not restricted by the laws of time and space, but she also caused the people who attacked her to be attacked by the laws of time and space.

What was the reason?

……

The next day, when the sun gradually rose, Yu Xi in the back of the SUV also rubbed her eyes and woke up.

She sat up and looked at Lin Xian, who had been driving all night:

"Lin Xian, where are we?"

"We've driven about halfway." Lin Xian replied:

"Because when we drove from Princeton to Texas, it took us about a day and a night. This time we're starting from Mississippi, which is closer to Princeton."

"Let me take over."

Yu Xi sat up from the back seat, touched the short ponytail on the back of her head, and tightened it again... It had loosened a bit after sleeping all night.

Lin Xian glanced at the quartz clock in the car.

It was now ten o'clock in the morning US time.

Falling asleep at this time would be about right. He would only be unconscious for less than three hours at most, and then he would wake up.

Now that they had run so far, the time-space assassin shouldn't be able to catch up in a short time:

"Where is the time-space assassin now? How far away is she from us?"

"She hasn't moved."

Yu Xi leaned over from the seat gap and looked at the yellow sand filling the road ahead:

"She should still be in that city and hasn't left. She's very far away from us. You can sleep in peace."

Lin Xian parked by the side of the road, got out of the car, sat in the passenger seat, reclined the seat, and prepared to sleep in the passenger seat.

There was no way...

Yu Xi's height allowed her to use the back seat as a bed and curl up on it to sleep.

But Lin Xian's height didn't allow it. He couldn't fully stretch out in the back seat, so he could only make do with the reclined passenger seat.

He closed his eyes.

He covered himself with a blanket.

Yu Xi had already restarted the car and embarked on the road north.

The swaying car made Lin Xian, who was already tired, instantly become very sleepy, very sleepy, and gradually, he fell asleep...

……

……

Huff...

The familiar summer breeze, the familiar city noise.

Before Lin Xian even opened his eyes, he already sensed that something was wrong.

He slowly opened his eyes...

Sure enough.

He couldn't help but curse secretly. This fourth dreamscape was too resilient! Too difficult to deal with!

In this difficult and arduous dreamscape, he had been trapped for nearly a year...

Even though there had been so many changes in the real world, and he had already killed Kevin Walker, why hadn't the fourth dreamscape changed at all?

He had actually thought of this possibility before falling asleep.

Otherwise.

He wouldn't have deliberately delayed until so late to fall asleep.

But even though he was mentally prepared, when he opened his eyes and still saw dozens of soldiers with live ammunition surrounding him... he couldn't help but feel irritable and disappointed.

Where was the problem?

There was only one possibility:

1. The dreamscape was indeed fake, a fabricated studio. The enemy was even too lazy to change the scenery and chose to give up.

But this didn't make sense.

If the enemy never intended to change the dreamscape scenery from beginning to end, then why did the Thyme Bank advertising airship suddenly appear one day?

This showed that the enemy would still modify the details of the dreamscape based on changes in the real world.

In that case...

Now that he had killed Kevin Walker, who were these soldiers going to capture him, shock him, and take him to see?

This question would be answered in a moment.

But at the same time, Lin Xian also thought of the second possibility, which he had always suspected--

[The mysterious old man was not Kevin Walker at all! He deliberately said Kevin Walker's catchphrase, just to trick him... to make him put all the hostile targets and imaginary enemies on Kevin Walker.]

This was the second possibility:

2. Kevin Walker's death, like VV's appearance and disappearance, and the capture of time-space particles, were all predetermined history, facts that were certain to happen.

Therefore, everything that had happened since the appearance of the fourth dreamscape was proceeding as scheduled on the original track of history... Since the historical trajectory had not changed in any way, the fourth dreamscape would naturally not change in any way.

"Who decided on this history?"

Lin Xian couldn't help but ask himself:

"Who can manipulate history so precisely that it doesn't deviate from the track at all?"

He didn't give Lin Xian too much time to think.

Among the soldiers surrounding him, the one dressed as a captain threw out an electronic wanted order:

"Lin Xian! Now you are being legally arrested for the crimes of anti-humanity, endangering the earth, and disturbing time and space!"

Lin Xian sighed inexplicably.

He didn't know how many hundreds of times he had heard these charges.

It was a complete injustice.

He was the victim, okay?

Now he felt not like he was a criminal... but like a group of anti-human, earth-endangering, and time-space-disturbing culprits were chasing after him, relentlessly.

Tss--

The harsh sound of electricity, Lin Xian's vision went dark, and he passed out.

……

After an unknown amount of time.

He opened his eyes again.

He was still handcuffed to a chair, still wearing a black hood, unable to see the outside situation.

Directly in front of him, Lin Xian heard the dry laughter that he had long been tired of.

Then came the sound of slow footsteps approaching.

Swish.

The old man tore off the hood covering Lin Xian's head, still the familiar face, staring over with withered eyes:

"Now..."

"You're not Kevin Walker." Lin Xian interrupted him directly.

It seemed that, as he thought, Kevin Walker's death, just like what Kevin, who had become the Turing digital life, said...

Was predetermined history.

Was an unchangeable fact.

From the moment Turing had the intention to kill his former self.

Kevin Walker's death had already become an irreversible anchor point.

This water was always going to be spilled, it just depended on who spilled it.

Turing had told him in that basement that even if he didn't come to kill Kevin Walker, someone else would come, someone would always come, and the time difference wouldn't be too late.

Even if he hadn't gone to kill him last night, Lin Xian estimated that Kevin Walker wouldn't have lived past this month. At least... Jask wouldn't have let him go so easily.

Therefore, Kevin Walker's death would not change the future or trigger any strong butterfly effect.

The reason why this mysterious old man's lines hadn't changed was probably because he didn't know exactly when Kevin Walker would be killed, or who would kill him...

He seemed to have been used by him before.

But Lin Xian didn't care.

Even without this mysterious old man pushing the boat, the relationship between him and Kevin Walker was enough for him to return a bullet to him.

In addition, with such a hacker who could invade various monitoring systems, Lin Xian was always uneasy and worried.

Now, at least the hidden danger was eliminated.

So, now...

Now that the Kevin Walker matter had been resolved.

Should he settle the score with the mysterious old man?

"Don't let me guess who you are, old man."

Lin Xian smiled and looked at the old man in front of him:

"I've already settled the score with Kevin Walker, now... it's time to settle the score with you."

The old man was slightly stunned at first.

Then he laughed dryly again.

He shook his head with interest, his eyes narrowed into a slit, looking at Lin Xian:

"Silly child..."

He laughed very happily:

"The real hunter never enters the hunting ground himself."

Boom!!!!!!

Boom!!!!!!

Boom!!!!!!

The dazzling white light arrived on time, filling every crack in his vision, burning everything to ashes.

……

……

……

Boca Chica, Texas, a two-story building.

In the bedroom, Angelika opened her eyes.

She got out of bed, put on her slippers, straightened her pajamas, and opened the bedroom door.

In the living room.

Two black-uniformed, sunglasses-wearing female bodyguards bowed to her:

"Miss Angelika, you're awake. What lunch would you like to have today? We'll have the chef prepare it and send it to you."

But unfortunately.

These were not Angelika's own bodyguards, but were hired by Jask. In name, they were protecting her... in reality, they were monitoring and imprisoning her.

"The same as yesterday will do."

Angelika said softly.

Ever since Jask exposed her disguise as a secretary at the Space-T Starship Rocket Launch Center, Jask had locked her in this building. He didn't let her contact the outside world, nor did he let her go out. She was locked inside all day.

Since then, Jask had never been here again, and Angelika had never seen him. She didn't know the news from the outside world these past two days, and she hadn't been able to contact the outside world.

Jask had told her on that viewing tower that Copernicus had exchanged her life for a very tempting chip:

"I don't want to be criticized and become as bad as Copernicus in everyone's eyes. So, I will naturally keep my word, to save Copernicus from spreading rumors about me everywhere."

That's what Jask had told her at the time:

"During this time, you just stay here honestly. I will have people take good care of you. Except for not being able to go out or contact the outside world, it's no worse than your daily life."

"When I confirm Kevin Walker's death, I will naturally release you. Of course... Kevin Walker is extremely cunning. Whether he is dead or not cannot be verified in a short time. At least it will take until [1 AM on the 1st of next month] before I can really confirm whether he is dead."

After that, Angelika was locked in here.

Jask was indeed a man of his word.

Even the bodyguards he sent to monitor her were two women who were responsive to her requests.

Like books, food, discs, and even small pets... Everything she asked for, these people watching over her would fulfill and deliver as quickly as possible.

It's just.

She couldn't help but worry every day...

How was Lin Xian doing?

Was he still safe?

Was he still alive?

Angelika knew that Lin Xian and Kevin Walker had a feud, and Jask had also sent Kevin Walker's address to Lin Xian.

Without even thinking about it, she knew that Lin Xian would probably go and kill Kevin Walker.

On that keyword note written to herself, Kevin Walker's name was very high up. This was enough to show that Lin Xian's priority in focusing on this strongest young hacker on earth was even higher than that of the blue-eyed girl who was chasing him.

"I can only wish you good luck, boy."

Angelika shook her hair and prepared to enter the bathroom.

At this time.

One of the female bodyguards in the living room said something into the phone, and then walked over and bowed to her:

"Miss Angelika, Mr. Jask is about to come over. He said to please get ready as soon as possible. He's going to take you on a trip abroad."

"Go abroad?"

Angelika frowned slightly:

"Where to?"

"To Dragon Country." (China)

The female bodyguard shook her head and said:

"Mr. Jask didn't say in detail. He will come here to explain to you."

……

An hour later.

The tall Jask knocked on the door, opened it, and entered the living room.

In the living room, Angelika was sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, smoking.

"Are you ready?"

Jask asked.

"Heh."

Angelika laughed contemptuously, turned her head, and exhaled a puff of smoke:

"Jask, I did do wrong by impersonating your secretary. But you've locked me up here for so many days, so that's evened out, right?"

"The reason why I obeyed your words and was willing to be confined was just because I still have things to do in this life, and I still have unfulfilled wishes. It's not that I can't bear to lose this life."

"So, you kept your promise, and I kept my promise. I will honestly wait until 1 AM on the day you said next month, so that you can confirm whether Kevin Walker is really dead. At that time, if you want to kill me, you can kill me; if you want to release me, you can release me. I won't have any complaints."

"But please spare me from accompanying you abroad. It's very expensive to have a Hollywood actress accompany you abroad... Even if you can afford it, it depends on whether I'm willing or not. I'm sorry, I'm not willing."

"You will be willing, Angelika."

Jask smiled:

"This is a new deal. I'll tell you what you want to know. In exchange, you go to Dragon Country with me."

Angelika took a puff of her cigarette and slowly exhaled it:

"You know what I want to know?"

"I don't know."

Jask spread his hands:

"But since you took the risk and pretended to be my secretary to approach me... that means you do have something you want to know, so you came to pump me for information. Tell me, what do you want to know?"

"I want to know all the information about Copernicus."

Angelika still crossed her legs, turned her head, and looked at Jask:

"The Copernicus who used my phone to call you, tell me what you know about him."

"No problem."

Jask didn't care:

"After it's done, I will definitely tell you. Copernicus is not my friend, I don't know him, and even in hearsay... I hate him very much."

"It's just that I don't know much about him, only some words and phrases from other people. So in terms of information, you still have to be mentally prepared. It may not meet your expectations."

Angelika leaned forward.

She pressed the cigarette butt into the ashtray, twisted it, and extinguished it.

After a few seconds of silence, she raised her head again:

"Then why are you letting me go to Dragon Country? What do you want me to do?"

"You don't have to do anything."

Jask said:

"You just need to accompany me to see Lin Xian."

"Lin Xian?"

Angelika narrowed her eyes:

"Lin Xian is in the United States. You can see him anytime."

Jask rubbed his hands, shook his head, and smiled:

"But in the United States, Lin Xian doesn't dare to see me, especially under the current misunderstanding... Whether I invite him or he invites me, we will both think it's a trap and won't accept the invitation."

"Even if I let you go now and let you notify Lin Xian, it's the same. As long as he's not stupid, he will suspect that it's a trap designed by me."

"But it's different in Dragon Country. Dragon Country is a very safe country, both for me and for Lin Xian. Moreover, my itinerary has the Dragon Country official accompanying me, which is enough to make Lin Xian trust me."

"I still have a lot of things to explain to Lin Xian. Some things I did, so I naturally dare to take responsibility; but some things I didn't do, so I won't take the blame."

Angelika snorted lightly:

"You're so confident that Lin Xian will go to Dragon Country to see you?"

"He will."

Jask pulled out a ticket from his pocket with the words "Flying to the Moon" written on it:

"This time I'm going to Dragon Country, I'm going to visit a little girl in the hospital first, and Lin Xian, he will definitely come."

"Why?" Angelika felt inexplicable and laughed directly.

"Because I've already found out." Jask shook the ticket in his hand and smiled:

"This moon ticket worth 12 million US dollars..."

"Was given by Lin Xian to Zheng Xiangyue!"