Chapter 1

Ning Zhu’s father will die in three hours.

And right now, she knows nothing about it.

Ning Zhu couldn’t take it anymore.

After the middle school entrance exam ended summer vacation, why did she still have to attend cram school?

She secretly slipped out through the back door of the cram school, and with great momentum, crossed the blazing sun, heading toward the convenience store on the other side of the alley.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

A sudden burst of barking rang out.

In the alley, a wild dog was barking at a snow-white, plump cat.

The cat was round and full, its white fur shining faintly. Its four legs were short and stubby. At a glance, it clearly wasn’t a stray cat, but some kind of expensive pedigree cat.

The wild dog bared its teeth fiercely, saliva dripping nonstop, as if it had seen a white pastry, wanting to swallow the plump white cat in one bite.

Ning Zhu’s heart tightened at first—if she got bitten by a wild dog, would she get rabies?

She couldn’t back down!

Rabies has a vaccine, but this short-legged cat only has one life!

Ning Zhu’s eyes immediately landed on a nearby trash bin.

Next to the trash bin stood a large broom, probably left there temporarily by sanitation workers.

She grabbed the broom and thrust it straight at the wild dog.

The wild dog was startled.

Ning Zhu pressed her advantage, jabbing the broom head right into its face.

The broom head was fluffy, with many twig-like branches, still shedding bits and pieces as it struck. The dog’s mouth was already wide open, and now it got a mouthful, while the broom bristles also poked toward its eyes.

The wild dog backed down, let out a bluffing howl, and then slunk away in defeat.

Ning Zhu let out a sigh of relief. She dropped the broom, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and looked toward the white, plump cat.

“Eh? Where’s the cat?”

The plump white cat was gone, replaced by a card shimmering with a snow-white glow.

The cat turned into a card?

How was that possible!

Probably during her battle with the wild dog just now, the white cat took the chance to run away.

“You ungrateful little thing,” Ning Zhu said somewhat disappointed.

That white cat clearly had an owner. She hadn’t wanted to take it home—she just wanted to pet it. That snow-white fur must have felt amazing to touch.

Who would have thought she didn’t even get to touch a single strand of fur?

Ning Zhu bent down and picked up the card, thinking it might have been accidentally dropped there by some merch collector.

She glanced down at it—and suddenly her vision went white. A chill rushed toward her face, like stepping into an air-conditioned room. The heat around her vanished, leaving only a refreshing coolness that soothed her entire body.

A distant, melodious voice seemed to drift from very far away:

“The star guides the path, piercing the mist reveals truth.”

Ning Zhu heard it extremely clearly, as if every word had been written directly into her mind.

In the next moment, she felt the world spin violently.

After a while, Ning Zhu finally recovered. She looked around blankly.

The snow-white card was gone—just like that cat, it had disappeared into thin air.

What exactly was going on?

She was wondering—had she skipped breakfast in the morning and then stood under forty-degree heat, so she got heatstroke?

Five minutes later.

Ning Zhu walked into the convenience store. She bought a portion of oden, plus a grilled chicken rice ball. After that, she felt her sugar intake still wasn’t enough, so she added an Oreo ice mochi.

While eating, Ning Zhu was recalling what had just happened.

Illusion?

A dream?

Could it be that the pressure from the middle school entrance exam had been too great and her mental state was messed up?

How was that possible?

The exams were already over—what pressure was there left, for heaven’s sake.

As for everything else, her current life was honestly way too comfortable.

Ever since Old Ning started his own business, their family’s life had been getting better day by day.

They had moved into a large flat apartment. Sister Miao… cough, her mother, had also quit her job and now stayed at home doing beauty care, shopping, drinking afternoon tea, and occasionally supervising her studies.

Ning Zhu’s middle school entrance exam results were average, only enough to get into an ordinary high school.

Old Ning was very frustrated about this, but he never blamed the child. He only felt it was because he, as the father, hadn’t done well enough.

What mistake could his daughter have made?

You have to know, in first grade, his little Zhu had even scored full marks in every subject!

It was his fault!

These past few years, he had only been focused on making money and had neglected his daughter’s studies.

Old Ning’s decisiveness was beyond doubt. He immediately said: “Let’s go to an international high school!”

Ning Zhu jolted: “Dad, the tuition is expensive!”

Old Ning: “Only a few hundred thousand a year. Small money.”

Ning Zhu remembered that her father was now indeed not short of money, so she quickly added: “Dad, my foreign languages are bad!”

Old Ning: “I’ve already enrolled you in cram classes. If you work hard over the summer, it won’t be a big problem.”

Sister Miao also patted her daughter’s head like a dog, saying gently: “International high school is good. In the future, when little Zhu goes abroad to study, Mom will go with you to accompany you.”

Ning Zhu: “…………”

So “accompanying studies” is written as that, but actually means traveling and living abroad, right.

Ning Zhu didn’t want to go to international high school, and even less did she want to go abroad.

International high schools also had entrance exams. Her cram classes were specifically for intensive speaking training. She just wanted to slack off properly—being eliminated would actually be fine.

What’s wrong with an ordinary high school?

If she studied hard for three years, she could still get into a good university!

After eating her fill, Ning Zhu felt full of energy again, and that little incident from before was also completely thrown out of her mind.

Next was ranking-up time.

After Ning Zhu reached seven stars, the cram class time also ended.

She stretched and said to her teammates in voice chat: “I’m going home.”

On the other end, a boy yelled: “Sister Ning! You’re my real sister! Use Jing again and carry me one more match! Just one, I’m about to reach King!”

Ning Zhu coldly and ruthlessly exited the game.

Ning Zhu took a taxi home, but she hit rush hour traffic. The road was extremely congested. What should have been a ten-minute ride was forcibly turned into over thirty minutes.

She lazily leaned against the car window, and in her mind, the white cat and that card flashed by again.

——Star leads the path forward, piercing the mist to reveal truth.

What kind of nonsense was that? She hadn’t even stayed up late reading novels.

A sharp ringing sound came from the phone. Ning Zhu saw the caller ID on the screen—Sister Miao.

Normally, since she had just finished cram school, it would be normal for her mother to call and check on her.

But Ning Zhu’s heart suddenly started beating rapidly, and an inexplicable sense of foreboding rose within her.

She realized her fingers were trembling uncontrollably. Her heartbeat was fast, and her throat felt as if something was blocking it. Only after a full two or three seconds did she finally manage to answer the call.

“Mom…”

“Xiao Zhu, your dad he…” Miao Yun couldn’t finish her sentence and was already sobbing uncontrollably.

A man’s voice followed. Ning Zhu recognized it—it was her father’s secretary.

“Xiao Ning, I’m Uncle Sun. Your dad had a car accident. He… he’s not doing well. Come to the hospital quickly. He wants to see you.”

A dull thud.

The phone slipped from Ning Zhu’s hand and fell into the gap between the seat and the car door.

She hurriedly tried to pick it up, but no matter how she fumbled, she couldn’t retrieve it. Through the crack, she vaguely heard Uncle Sun’s voice: “…Z University Affiliated Hospital. I’ll wait for you at the hospital entrance.”

Ning Zhu didn’t have time to grab the phone. She quickly said to the driver in front: “Driver, sorry… please change the destination. To Z University Affiliated Hospital.”

The road home was terribly congested.

But the road to the hospital was surprisingly all green lights.

Her mind was completely in chaos, and she could only keep praying inwardly.

Old Ning will be fine, he will definitely be fine.

The road to the hospital isn’t congested, so Old Ning can definitely get treated in time.

Modern medicine is very advanced. As long as he gets there in time, then… then…

Ning Zhu didn’t know how she even got to the hospital.

Sun Qingwei’s eyes were red as he looked at her, his gaze full of sorrow.

Ning Zhu’s heart sank. Only when she spoke did she realize her voice had already turned into a sob: “Uncle Sun, my dad he…”

Sun Qingwei: “Come with me.”

Z University Affiliated Hospital was very large. The evening sun was still scorching hot.

The forty-degree heat made the whole world feel like it was burning. People hurrying along the road were like ants on a hot pan, restless and frantic. And Ning Zhu was undoubtedly the most disheveled one among them.

By the time she walked into the hospital room, even the soles of her feet still felt burning and stabbing pain, and her heart kept twitching painfully.

Ning Zhu saw Miao Yun.

She had never seen her mother like this before. Her usually elegant long hair was disheveled, strands sticking messily to her cheeks. Her makeup had long been ruined by tears. Her eyes were swollen, her face swollen, veins bulging on her slender neck as she screamed hoarsely:

“Ning Quanren, wake up! You can’t do this… you can’t just leave us like this!”

A pale bedsheet covered the overweight body of the middle-aged man.

Ning Quanren got married at thirty and only had Ning Zhu at thirty-five.

Ning Zhu was only sixteen this year, while he was already over fifty.

A man in his fifties, spending his days entertaining at drinking tables, ended up with limbs not fat, but a very large belly.

Ning Zhu often poked his stomach and said to him: “Old Ning, your fatty liver is really serious!”

Ning Quanren would always smile and say: “It’s fine. Once I’m done being busy for this period, Dad will play badminton with you.”

Badminton was taught to Ning Zhu by Ning Quanren.

Unfortunately, in the past three or four years, Ning Quanren hadn’t really played with her anymore.

Ning Zhu walked to the bedside and saw a face as pale as paper.

Just like she had never seen her mother lose her composure like that, she had also never seen her father so completely lifeless.

Her father was always smiling, always full of fighting spirit.

It was as if even if the sky collapsed, he would be the one holding it up, smiling as he said: “Xiao Zhu, don’t be afraid. It’s not a big problem.”

Ning Zhu wanted to say something, but she couldn’t say anything at all.

She touched her father’s cold fingers, and waves of chill surged like ice water pouring into her chest, transforming into uncontrollable tears that burst out wildly.

How could this happen?

He was clearly fine in the morning. How could it suddenly… suddenly…

A soft ding sound rang out.

Ning Zhu’s vision turned white again.

She once more felt the world spinning violently. When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the hospital room, but in a hot, stifling alley.

The evening sun had returned to the center of the sky.

She was standing in that alley leading to the convenience store, holding the card that emitted a snow-white glow.

The bone-chilling cold from the card made her tremble uncontrollably.

That white short-legged cat appeared again.

It was floating in midair, a pair of small wings flapping with difficulty behind it, barely supporting its round and plump body.

The white cat continued speaking in that distant, deep voice:

“You actually triggered 【Foreseeing the Future】.”

Ning Zhu stood there frozen.

She quickly came back to her senses and murmured: “Dad… my dad he…”

She didn’t care whether it was white cat or black cat anymore and quickly looked down at her watch.

The time on the watch showed 2 p.m.

She had gone to the hospital at around 5 p.m.… which meant…

With trembling hands, Ning Zhu opened her contacts, found Old Ning’s number, and dialed it.

It rang only once before the other side picked up.

Ning Zhu shouted urgently: “Dad, where are you!” Her heart jumped to her throat, terrified she would hear Uncle Sun’s voice, terrified he would tell her her father was already lying in the hospital.

Ning Quanren paused for a moment, then said: “What’s wrong? I just got off the plane and was about to go to the parking lot…”

Ning Zhu immediately shouted: “Don’t!”

Ning Quanren said blankly: “Huh?”

Ning Zhu said: “Don’t take the car!”

She couldn’t explain what she had seen, but for something like this—better to believe it exists than to ignore it.

Ning Zhu swallowed hard and said: “Dad, wait for me. You must wait for me. I’ll be at the airport right away. Don’t leave the terminal. Don’t go onto the roads. No—don’t even go to the parking lot!”

Ning Quanren hurriedly replied: “Don’t panic, don’t panic. I’ll wait for you. I promise I won’t go anywhere. I’ll just stay at the airport and wait for you.”

Ning Zhu quickly took a taxi to the airport.

The white cat floated beside her, swallowing back the words that were about to come out.

The effect of 【Foreseeing the Future】 was only to see it.

The future could not be changed. Going to the airport now would be useless.

However…

What 【Foreseeing the Future】 could not do—【Causal Reshaping】 could.

Bai Ze looked at the girl with great interest.

Could it be that she could also trigger 【Causal Reshaping】?