Chapter 11: The Butterfly Effect? (Revised)

Chapter 11: The Butterfly Effect? (Revised)

Ye Qing looked at the mountain fruits at her feet, feeling utterly helpless.

The day before, she had destroyed the love nest of two squirrels, and though she genuinely felt bad about it, the victims had run off and disappeared. Even if she wanted to make amends, she couldn’t find them.

It was her fault to begin with, but to her surprise, not only did the squirrels not blame her, they even brought her a thank-you gift because she had rescued the trapped female squirrel.

Although it was almost autumn, most of the nuts in the forest had not yet matured.

This meant that the nuts brought by the squirrel couple were from last year’s stored stock.

With the new harvest season for nuts approaching soon, the couple probably didn’t have much left in reserve. Yet, even in this situation, they had given her such a generous gift. Ye Qing was deeply touched but also felt unworthy.

In return, Ye Qing, who was not a stingy person, looked at the wild peanut in her hand, her eyes flickered, and casually pressed the peanut into the soil beneath her feet.

She then quickly injected a thread of wood-type energy into the peanut shell.

In an instant, the seed sprouted and rapidly grew into a green seedling. The seedling shot up half a meter before wildly blossoming. As the flowers fell, peanuts quickly formed and swelled in the soil. By the time the peanut plant turned yellow, the peanuts underneath were almost ready to break through the soil.

The entire process took just two minutes, leaving the two little squirrels dumbfounded.

Ye Qing smiled as she pulled the peanut plant out by the roots, revealing clusters of tender peanuts.

Although it was just one seed, the peanut plant, catalyzed by Ye Qing’s energy, grew exceptionally strong, and the fruits it bore were large and plump.

Ye Qing helped to pick the peanuts and even dug up those buried in the soil. In the end, she gathered at least five to six jin (pounds) of peanuts.

Ye Qing took only one peanut for herself and pushed the rest towards the two little squirrels.

The two little squirrels hadn’t figured out what was going on yet and stared blankly at Ye Qing, seemingly not quite understanding her intention.

Ye Qing chuckled softly:

“Consider this my gift to you by way of apology. Hurry and take them back to your hole to store them. If other small animals come by, they might steal the peanuts.”

The two squirrels obviously couldn’t understand her words.

But Ye Qing didn’t care whether they understood. As long as she didn’t take the peanuts, the squirrels would eventually carry them back to their tree hole.

Five to six jin of peanuts might not seem like much to a human, but to the little squirrels, it was almost half their winter food supply.

Sure enough, after Ye Qing turned and left, the two squirrels behind her jumped and squeaked, anxiously reminding her that she had left something behind.

But Ye Qing didn’t look back and soon disappeared into the dense forest.

The two little squirrels, looking at the pile of peanuts, vaguely seemed to understand Ye Qing’s intention. After exchanging a glance, the couple quickly stuffed the remaining peanuts into their mouths, their cheeks bulging almost to the bursting point. Then, cleverly, they covered the remaining peanuts with fallen leaves, hiding them thoroughly before leaving with peace of mind.

Ye Qing paid no attention to the squirrels’ peanut transport operation. She continued to work in the forest for another hour or two, until the sun was setting and she realized it was getting late, before preparing to head down the mountain and return home.

However, considering the morning’s incident, she didn’t dare to descend the mountain openly. Instead, she used her energy to quickly weave a basket with vines and filled it with the wild mushrooms and wild fruits she had found in the mountains before heading down.

This was mainly because she was worried that after the two spies were sent to the police station, the local police might come to investigate the Shan area. If she were to go down the mountain empty-handed and happened to be spotted, it might arouse suspicion from the police.

It had to be said that Ye Qing’s caution was quite necessary. After descending the mountain with the basket on her back, she indeed saw several uniformed police officers at the spot where she had blocked the path with some vines earlier. They were probably there to inspect the scene.

As soon as they saw Ye Qing coming down from the mountain, a sharp-eyed officer called out to her:

“Hey girl, wait a moment!”

Ye Qing’s heart skipped a beat, but she obediently walked over.

Fortunately, her unremarkable attire, combined with the fact that she had been in the forest for two days and was covered in dirt and sweat, made her look no different from the village girls nearby. The officer didn’t pay much attention to her and only asked when she had entered the mountain and if she had seen any suspicious people.

After Ye Qing pretended to be nervous and confused in her response, the officer nodded, jotted down a few notes, and let her go without further questioning.

Having successfully slipped through, Ye Qing didn’t dare to linger at the foot of the mountain. She quickly made her escape.

Originally, she was going to take a bus back to the city from the foot of Shan Mountain, but seeing the situation, if she waited for the bus nearby, she might be noticed by the police again. So, she decided to walk a bit further to get out of the range of the police’s investigation and surveillance before stopping.

---

Shanghai People’s Hospital.

Gu Weidong slowly opened his eyes.

“Boss, you’re awake? Do you recognize this number?”

Noticing the movement on the bed, a burly man with a broad face immediately rushed over, his face close to Gu Weidong’s, anxiously holding up two fingers.

Seeing the familiar yet strange face, Gu Weidong’s emotions surged, and his eyes instantly turned red.

He quickly lowered his eyelids, hiding his near-loss of composure.

“I only injured my leg, not my brain.”

Gu Weidong’s tone was cold, his words sharp enough to choke someone.

The big guy who had been rebuffed didn’t get angry. Instead, he laughed heartily, scratching the back of his head as he explained good-naturedly:

“The doctor said there was a risk of not waking up after the anesthesia. I was just worried you might have some aftereffects.”

Gu Weidong didn’t take the bait.

More than the aftereffects, he was concerned about how he had ended up in the hospital.

In his previous life, he had been trapped in a trap on Shan Mountain for two whole days. In the end, a farmer who had gone into the mountain to cut firewood discovered him, nearly dead, and rescued him from the trap.

Although he had luckily survived, due to the delayed treatment, his gunshot wound left his left leg crippled, forcing him to retire from the military.

So, after realizing that he had actually been reborn eighteen years into the past, at a critical turning point in his fate, he was determined not to let history repeat itself.

Even though he knew full well that the two spies he had been pursuing were lying in wait outside the trap to ambush him, he still had to crawl out of the trap with all his remaining strength before he completely lost his energy.

But to Gu Weidong's surprise, after he finally crawled out and was mentally prepared for a deadly struggle with the spies, what awaited him outside the trap was not the two cunning spies, but a strange, skinny, yellow-haired young girl.

After confirming that the young girl was harmless, he fainted from blood loss and didn’t wake up until he was in the hospital.

"Was it a teenage girl who sent me to the hospital?" Gu Weidong asked.

Gao Fusheng was taken aback and shook his head:

"No, it was the comrades from the public security bureau who brought you there."

"Apparently, a bus driver and the ticket seller from the suburban line passed by Shen Mountain and found you and the two spies unconscious by the roadside. They sent you to the public security bureau."

"The city public security bureau responded immediately after receiving the report and sent you to the People's Hospital."

"Luckily, the driver and the ticket seller were quick-witted. The doctor said if you had arrived any later, you might have lost your knee."

"But now you don't have to worry. The bullet has been removed, and the doctor said that with proper rest, you'll be back to normal in three months!"

After listening to Gao Fusheng's explanation, Gu Weidong was confused.

How could it have been the bus driver and the ticket seller who brought him to the hospital?

He clearly remembered that before he fainted, he saw a young village girl with a childlike face.

And what did it mean that he and the two spies were found unconscious in the grass? How were the two spies already caught? How could this be possible?!

In his previous life, the capture of those two spies hadn’t gone so smoothly. One of them had tried to counterattack after he fell into the trap, but Gu Weidong outsmarted him and shot him dead on the spot. The other spy, under the cover of his companion, managed to escape successfully, only to be caught years later after hiding in the city.

But now, Gao Fusheng was telling him that both spies had already been caught, and they were found unconscious on the roadside before being taken to the police station together. This was too strange!

Not to mention how or by whom the spies were caught, but how did the driver and the ticket seller figure out that there were spies among them?

Gu Weidong was full of questions after listening to Gao Fusheng.

But human emotions don’t always align.

While Gu Weidong was anxious and frustrated, Gao Fusheng, that big simpleton, was grinning from ear to ear, so happy he was nearly losing his sense of direction:

"Boss, you're really amazing! Catching two spies in one go, this mission was definitely over-fulfilled. Maybe we can follow the leads and catch all the spies' subordinates, maybe even their superiors!"

"They say you're the ace of our unit. Among all the battalion commanders and deputy commanders, you're the best. This mission was tight on time and highly dangerous. Which of the other commanders or deputy commanders would dare to take it on? Only you, Boss, dared to step up and nabbed them effortlessly!"

"To catch two spies in one go, which of the other commanders has that kind of skill?"

"Boss, you've made a name for yourself this time. You've earned such a big merit, the unit will definitely commend you. Maybe you'll even get promoted from deputy battalion commander!"

"Hey, come on, quickly tell me, how did you manage to catch those two spies?"

Gao Fusheng stared at Gu Weidong with an admiring look, as if he were an idol.

Obviously, this guy had pieced together a thrilling scene of capture from the few words exchanged at the police station and naturally assumed that Gu Weidong had caught the two spies himself.

It wasn't strange that Gao Fusheng thought this way.

He didn’t know the full details. He only knew that when the driver found Gu Weidong, there were three people lying in the grass, and the two spies were bound with vines.

So, Gao Fusheng assumed that Gu Weidong had caught the spies, knocked them out, and tied them up before he himself fainted from blood loss while preparing to take them to the police station.

But Gu Weidong's eyes were filled with confusion.

Although this mission had been assigned to him by the unit, the capture of the two spies had nothing to do with him.

He didn’t even know who had rescued him or why he had fainted at the foot of Shen Mountain.

There were too many suspicious points, and he would definitely report them to the unit's leadership.

Gu Weidong wouldn’t dare claim undeserved credit. He wasn’t someone who would stoop to such behavior, nor did he care to.

What he couldn’t figure out was why, according to his experiences from his previous life, the original course of events shouldn’t have been like this.

But now the outcome was completely different. He had been rescued earlier, and both spies were caught. This was just too strange.

It couldn’t be because of his rebirth, could it? Had his rebirth caused a butterfly effect?

Gu Weidong's lips pressed tightly together as his mind raced, sifting through memories from eighteen years ago and the brief moments of clarity he had after being reborn, trying to find any clues.

But in the end, he found it was futile.

The memories from the past were too distant and blurry, and the time he had been clear after being reborn was too short. Apart from the little girl who mysteriously appeared in the mountains that night, he couldn’t find any leads.

The only solution was to find the driver and the ticket seller and ask them what had happened, to see if he could get any useful information from them.

But just as he was about to get out of bed, Gao Fusheng immediately panicked and reached out to stop him:

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you trying to do, Boss? You can't move around in this condition, or you'll end up as a cripple!"

At the mention of the word "cripple," a look of deep pain and gloom flashed across Gu Weidong's eyes.

In his previous life, it was because of his crippled leg that his earlier life had turned into a joke. His career had been lackluster, his marriage on the rocks, and even his child—

Thinking of this, Gu Weidong couldn't help but take a deep breath and force himself to calm down.

Having been given a chance to rewrite his fate, he didn’t dare act rashly this time. If he wasn’t careful and ended up crippling the leg he had just managed to save, he would really have no one to cry to.

Unable to get out of bed, Gu Weidong could only think of other solutions. He was just about to ask Gao Fusheng to go to the public security bureau to inquire about the situation and see if they could find the driver and the ticket seller who had brought him to the hospital.

Unexpectedly, at that very moment, his gaze inadvertently swept past the foot of the bed and suddenly landed on the pants lying across the end of the bed.

Those were the pants he had been wearing during the mission. They must have been taken off by the hospital nurses after he was brought in.

The pants were a bit dirty and had several tears, but Gu Weidong, who had always been particular about cleanliness and tidiness, couldn't care less about that at the moment.

Because his attention was completely drawn to the small white piece of paper that was faintly visible sticking out of the pocket.