Hidden Dead Ends

Chapter 3

“Why are you late today?” Chen Xudong asked. He stopped running one meter in front of Li Chengyi but was still jumping and moving his body.

“I woke up a little late. I had a nightmare last night and didn’t sleep well.” Li Chengyi sighed.

“You’ve been having nightmares every day recently. That won’t do... A while ago, you were out of breath after running a few laps. Aren’t you too weak?” Chen Xudong played with his index finger and revealed a lewd smile.

“Heh, no matter how weak I am, can I be as weak as you? You, a fitness coach, hit on your students all day long. How do you still have the cheek to criticize me?” Information about his good friend in front of him kept pouring out of Li Chengyi’s mind, and he began to speak naturally.

“How am I hitting on them? Do you know what business ability is? Do you know what emotional value is? Not only can you obtain a good body by attending my class, but you can even feel care and long-lost love!” Chen Xudong replied shamelessly while flexing his knuckles.

“Your skin is so thick that it’s unbearable to see. Where is Lin Sang?” Li Chengyi asked.

According to the memories of his predecessor, the three of them had always exercised together, and this hadn’t changed much in the past ten years.

“Over there, chatting with people.” Chen Xudong pointed into the distance. “She told us to run first and that she’ll be back soon.”

Under the shade of a tree, a young girl in light green, slim-fitting sportswear was chatting with a few men and women of similar age.

The girl had a high ponytail, glossy black hair, and fair skin. Her occasional smile when she spoke made her look sunny and outgoing.

“Oh.” Li Chengyi retracted his gaze. “Run?”

“Okay.”

The two of them slowly moved along the red running track in the park.

“Didn’t you say that you were submitting your resume? How’s the job search going?” Chen Xudong asked casually.

“It’s difficult.” Li Chengyi was happy to chat more so that the blurry memories gushing out of his mind would become clearer.

“What’s so difficult? Don’t you have your sister? Why don’t you ask her for help? She definitely has a way to get you a job,” Chen Xudong said indifferently.

“I don’t want to ask her.” Li Chengyi shook his head lightly. “You know I don’t have a good relationship with her.”

“No matter how bad your relationship with her is, you’re still biological siblings. If you swallow your pride and lower your head, you’ll get many more opportunities than others. What’s wrong with that?” Chen Xudong disapproved.

“I’ll consider it later. I don’t think it’s a problem for me to rely on myself.” Li Chengyi smiled. “I’m a person with no ambitions. You know that I don’t seek glory and wealth. I just want to live a peaceful life.”

“Naive.” Chen Xudong sneered. “I think you’ve been oppressed silly by your sister. In this day and age, there’s actually someone who doesn’t want to climb up. If others hear, they’ll laugh at you.”

“I’m not a competitive person. This has to do with personality.” As Li Chengyi spoke, the memories in his mind gradually merged with himself.

The many emotions, feelings, and values of his two lifetimes also faintly merged with this sentence.

Chen Xudong lowered his voice. “What about Lin Sang? Haven’t you always been interested in her?”

“Really? I was joking in the past.” Li Chengyi shook his head. The person who was interested was his predecessor, not him.

The three of them had been together for at least ten years.

Lin Sang was not good-looking, but she was energetic and youthful. Most importantly, she had a good figure.

When they were young, Li Chengyi and Chen Xudong more or less had youthful vitality. But as they grew older, their focus was more on graduation and finding employment.

His feelings for Lin Sang had gradually faded away.

“If things don’t work out, you might as well come help me. My family’s gym still needs someone at the front desk,” Chen Xudong joked with a grin.

“Okay. You said it yourself. Remember to leave a seat for me.” Li Chengyi smiled.

Among the three of them, his predecessor had always had a good temper and was very gentle. He wasn’t competitive and often avoided quarreling with others and arousing dislike.

So Chen Xudong knew that Li Chengyi wouldn’t be angry at his joke.@@@@

“Hey, Little Yi, Dong’zi, help me.” Lin Sang waved at the two of them from afar.

Lin Sang’s facial features were very distinctive. She had sharp eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose, and a small mouth. Her facial features alone were fine, but when combined, they gave people a stiff feeling. Even her smile gave people a cold feeling.

When Li Chengyi saw the name, the good mentor he had encountered in university quickly appeared in his mind.

He was once an outstanding student that the other party thought highly of, but unfortunately... Later, his mentor had recommended him to a better university to participate in a further studies course. On a stronger platform, during a collective training session, he had truly seen the limit of his intelligence.

His comprehension ability, thinking speed, and reaction speed couldn’t keep up with the rhythm of the group. He had even ranked at the bottom among the participants.

Coupled with the escalation of the arguments with his sister, Li Chengjiu, at the time, both events made his predecessor feel gloomy about the future of his major, and he couldn’t see any hope.

Ever since then, Li Chengyi suffered a hard setback and couldn’t recover. In the end, he graduated from university as an ordinary undergraduate and didn’t even take the postgraduate examination.

Looking at the memo on his phone, Li Chengyi composed himself. From yesterday to today, he finally had some time to truly understand the situation of this world.

And in the Information Age, the best way to understand it was the item in his hand.

After closing the calendar, he opened the phone’s browser and immediately searched: world map.

Tap! A large row of all kinds of titles appeared on the screen.

[The latest world map.]

[High-definition download of a global satellite map.]

[Super Large HD Map of the world.]

[Premium HD global map.]

Rows of messy advertisements mixed with pictures of beautiful women appeared.

The black background was so densely packed with white characters that he didn’t know what to choose.

I’ll just pick one. Li Chengyi clicked on the simplest and plainest link without any decorations.

The phone screen turned white.

Three words slowly appeared in the center: Culture Heart Tower.

In the lower right corner was the system used: Yi Country’s Spirit Dragon Satellite Positioning System.

Yi Country? Li Chengyi’s heart skipped a beat.

Soon, the white on the phone screen faded away and was replaced by a huge light blue planet.

There were land tectonic plates and ocean areas on the planet, but what surprised Li Chengyi the most was the large words marked in the middle of the planet.

Earthmoon.

Not Earth!

It was Earthmoon?!

Relevant memories quickly surfaced in his mind.

Immediately afterward, the screen seemed to refresh. On one side of this huge planet named Earthmoon, a much smaller grayish-white planet slowly appeared—White Star.

The two planets were strangely next to each other, and the distance between them was like that of the Earth and the moon in his previous life.

However, White Star was significantly larger than the moon.

Buzz!

At this moment, an important news window automatically popped up on the top of the phone screen.

[The private airplane of White Star’s Secretary of Defense, Theresa Ousli, has officially arrived in the capital of Hildistan, Oga, for the planned the fifteen-day global security conference.]

[In response to the aging and collapse of small areas of buildings in the original urban area, the Ministry of Housing and Construction of Yi Country has issued an important notice. They will carry out engineering repairs and replacements for houses that have reached the level five danger zone to ensure that the residents of the urban area have normal accommodations.]

[Suiyang City has begun a new round of water and electricity reconstruction planning. The city leaders have visited the site in person to extend their warm condolences to the families in need and provided the corresponding relief fund to a few extremely difficult households.]

[It is understood that after this planned reconstruction, there will be more than 1,300 beneficiary households. It will play an important role in improving the appearance of Suiyang City...]