The shadowless lamp on the operating table left the last spot of light on the retina, and Gu Mingcheng heard the sharp beep of the ECG monitor. Warm blood was gushing out from the penetrating wound between the ribs, just like the blood flowers that bloomed when Su Yuqing curled up in his arms on that rainy night three years ago.
"The patient is in ventricular fibrillation! Prepare for defibrillation!"
Memories surged in his near-death dizziness. He remembered how he drank the glass of cyanide-laced champagne at the Wall Street celebration party, the sneer of his fiancée Lin Xueluo as she walked into the hotel with his partner Zhou Ziyang, and the sinister eyes of Zhou Ziyang in the rearview mirror when the out-of-control truck smashed the windshield.
"200 joules, first time—"
The moment the electric current penetrated his chest, Gu Mingcheng suddenly saw countless golden runes flowing in the void. Those ancient characters were entwined into a ring like living things, and a jade-carved pocket watch was suspended in the center. On the dial, the hour hand was rotating alternately clockwise and counterclockwise.
"Bang!"
The sharp pain was accompanied by the touch of chalk hitting his forehead. Gu Mingcheng opened his eyes suddenly. The afternoon sun shone through the classroom window, casting a diamond-shaped spot of light on the yellowed mock test paper. English teacher Li Hongmei was tapping the blackboard with a triangle ruler, and chalk dust fell on the blue and white school uniforms of the students in the front row.
"If some students could use the energy they put into sleeping to do reading comprehension..." Li Hongmei's ridicule got stuck in her throat because Gu Mingcheng suddenly stood up. His fingers dug deep into the edge of the wooden desk, and the smell of disinfectant from the operating room still lingered between his palm lines.
There were snickers from the back of the classroom. Zhao Zixuan, wearing a Givenchy shirt, was spinning a Montblanc pen, a birthday gift his father brought back from Switzerland last year. Gu Mingcheng's temples were throbbing - he was too familiar with this scene. April 17, 2013, 51 days before the college entrance examination, was also the first turning point in his life.
"Gu Mingcheng!" Li Hongmei slammed her triangle ruler on the podium. "Now that you're awake, translate the third reading passage."
There were gasps in the classroom. Everyone knew that this repeater who had always been at the bottom of the class couldn't even recognize all the vocabulary for the Level 4 exam. But at this moment, Gu Mingcheng's eyes swept over the test paper, and those originally obscure English words suddenly automatically arranged and combined in his mind. He could even hear the BBC anchor's clear and melodious pronunciation.
"This article explores the early applications of blockchain technology in the financial sector." His voice was a little hoarse, "The concept of Bitcoin proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 is subverting the traditional banking system..."
The chalk broke into two pieces and fell to the ground. Li Hongmei adjusted her glasses. This was an advanced question type that she had specially prepared for the open class. In the front right of the classroom, Lin Wanqiu, who was sorting out her notes, suddenly turned her head, and her ponytail drew a beautiful arc in the air. This iceberg beauty who was always in the top three in the grade had ripples of surprise in her eyes at this moment.
Gu Mingcheng's back was covered in cold sweat. He clearly remembered that the word Bitcoin would not appear in the university elective course until six years later. When he looked out the window, next to the bright red slogan "51 days to college entrance examination" on the bulletin board, there was a poster for fundraising for the Ya'an earthquake - the date was indeed April 17, 2013.
When the bell rang, Zhao Zixuan deliberately knocked over his desk. "Why are you pretending?" The rich second generation lowered his voice, "Don't forget that your mother is still cleaning the toilet in my hotel." Black Nike shoes rolled over the scattered test papers, leaving gray shoe prints.
Gu Mingcheng bent down to pick up the fountain pen. The initials "ZY" engraved on the inside of the metal pen cap stung his pupils. In his previous life, it was this pen that mysteriously appeared in his stationery bag on the day of the college entrance examination. When the invigilator poured out the micro-receiver from the pen core, the new teaching building donated by Zhao Zixuan's father had just been cut.
The setting sun dyed the corridor blood red. Gu Mingcheng walked into the bathroom, and when cold water splashed on his face, he noticed that the boy in the mirror didn't have the scar at the corner of his eye yet. But when his fingers touched the jade pocket watch left by his grandmother, the dial suddenly burst into a faint green light, and the dates from 2013 to 2023 rotated rapidly on the dial.
There was a dull thud of something heavy falling to the ground in the locker room. Gu Mingcheng tightly grasped the fire extinguisher he had taken from the fire box. The blood seeping from under the door of the cubicle was slowly spreading - exactly the same as in his memory, the afternoon that changed Lin Wanqiu's fate.