Chapter 6

"Why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Answer me."

Perhaps sensing the seriousness in my tone, he deliberated for a moment and said, "I can't recall the exact details from ten years ago. That day, you... you originally wanted to borrow money from Terry, so you went to the hotel to find him. Unexpectedly, you ran into Wendy and her advisor..."

My pupils constricted. "And then?"

"Then, you couldn't take it anymore. You went up to the rooftop wanting to jump. Before jumping, you called Wendy, but Wendy lied to you on the phone. In your sorrow, you climbed onto the parapet wall. If I hadn't called you at that critical moment, you would have..."

"Oh, really?" I dragged out the end of my sentence. "That man did look familiar. So he's Wendy's advisor, huh... I didn't recognize him just now, so how did the future me know?"

"Ah, she'll tell you in the future." He clearly paused for a split second, but managed to regain his composure.

"Is that so? But didn't you just advise me not to bring this up with her? Did she bring it up herself?"

"Uh... yes, she did, she—"

I cut him off, saying, "Do you remember I used to take propofol to help me sleep?"

"Of course!" He sounded glad to hear me change the subject, "But don't worry, the future you has already kicked that bad habit. Now I sleep well every night."

"Hah." I laughed coldly. "Then you should also remember that before I stood on that wall, I originally planned to inject myself with a full syringe of propofol to kill myself. Jumping was just a spur-of-the-moment idea."

"..."

Before he could argue, I added, "Don't say you 'forgot'. I don't believe I'll ever forget such a crucial detail. You didn't mention the injection at all. Who are you?"

Silence fell on the other end of the line. A full minute passed without anyone speaking.

Just as I thought no one would answer, a woman suddenly snapped angrily, "You went up to the rooftop not to jump, but to inject yourself with drugs? Are you dumb?"

I was stunned by her scolding and was speechless for a moment. The woman, however, continued to speak to herself, "What is the investigation team doing? Do they still want their salaries?"

Then, a cacophony of voices came from the other end. They sounded like apologies.

"You... who exactly are you people?" I was getting more and more confused.

The woman said coldly, "I'll be frank, Mr. Sterling. I'm indeed calling from ten years in the future, but there's no 'future you' here. You actually jumped from the building and died ten years ago. We've investigated everything about you, including your family, friends, and the reason you jumped. I just didn't expect you to not even know who your girlfriend's lover was," she said mockingly.

"We know a bit about the propofol, but we didn't know you were carrying it that day... Sigh, it's not entirely the investigation team's fault. After all, this incident had a huge impact, so the authorities kept many details a secret."

"A huge impact?" Noticing her choice of words, I felt a bit puzzled.

"Yes. You might find it strange, thinking what huge impact could a cucked loser jumping off a building possibly have," her tone was very impolite, "but you absolutely shouldn't have chosen to jump at that specific time on that specific day."

"I don't understand..." I listened dumbfounded.