Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 973: Lost (9)

If all losses could be restored,

If all regrets could be remedied,

If all remorse could be saved...

Would the outcome have been different?

And what is the future?

— I’ve always thought that the humblest aspect of life isn’t its present darkness but the inability to see the future.

— I once believed life was beautiful, the future was beautiful… shouldn’t everyone think this way?

— Fortunately, after graduation, I found a high-paying job that everyone around me envied.

— Yes, I always felt lucky… but why? Why did everything suddenly change?

— That night, I actually shouldn’t have gone back to the office… It was raining, wasn’t it? I think it was raining… I don’t want to remember that night.— Why did I leave my house keys at the office? Why did I have to go back?

— When I returned, I ran into my boss, who had come back from a drinking session. He was heavily drunk… I didn’t want anything to happen, but he lunged at me and tore my clothes apart.

— The thunder outside was deafening, and the weight of my boss pressing down on me felt overwhelming. My mind went blank.

— I always thought things like this only happened in TV dramas, novel plots, or news articles—never to me.

— I mustered up the courage to accuse this beast of a man, but he claimed I had seduced him.

— I lost the lawsuit because I couldn’t afford a good lawyer.

— Suddenly, labels like “slut,” “temptress,” and “shameless” stuck to me. And because of the lawsuit, I was countersued and had to pay compensation.

— Ironically, my boss claimed to be lenient because I was just a recent graduate who had lost her way trying to take shortcuts in life. He said he forgave me and wouldn’t demand compensation.

— Humiliated and ridiculed by everyone.

— Lost my sanity.

— Should I have thanked him? So, I gave him a special gift... I cut off the tool he used to ruin my life. When I did it, I didn’t feel vengeance, just that it somehow restored what he had taken from me.

— Life felt meaningless.

— So I ended it.

— I closed my eyes and jumped from the company rooftop.

— I thought everything would end... until I suddenly woke up.

— Until I met her.

— Until I met myself.

— She was just as shocked to see me as I was. She said it felt like watching a sci-fi movie. Honestly, I felt the same.

— She was more fortunate than I was, growing up in a loving family and being a true heiress. She had everything I ever dreamed of in this strange yet familiar world.

— Ironically, she told me she didn’t want any of it. She longed for freedom, not to be a puppet of her family.

— What a joke, right?

— What is the future anyway? Clearly, I couldn’t have her future in my past… but why does she get to have it?

— While I endured all that pain.

— Since we’re the same, the same, the same, the same…

— Why don’t you disappear? Let me become you in this world.

— Now, I’m Joan, this world’s Joan.

— I eventually discovered the secret of the Eye of Horus ring… the secret behind how I came to this strange yet familiar world.

— It can jump between different timelines, bringing me to myself.

— I feel like I’ve become the human in Eden who ate the forbidden fruit. I keep thinking there’s some unprecedented fortune waiting for me at the end of an unknown timeline—a truly perfect life.

...

“What is the future?”

The hoodie-wearing Joan descended the stairs step by step, dragging a fork along the rail, producing a grating sound.

As she slowly descended, she gazed at another version of herself—the white sweater-wearing Joan. This Joan was fumbling to open the storage room behind the cigarette counter. In her panic, she didn’t realize the door was already unlocked.

The storage room was tiny, with nowhere to hide. Yet, the white-sweater Joan couldn’t find Paul, who was supposed to be there—only the unconscious shopkeeper she had knocked out.

“What is the future?”

The voice of the hoodie-wearing Joan echoed behind her.

The white-sweater Joan turned around in panic. Paul’s disappearance had thrown her into chaos, and the presence of this feral, menacing version of herself only made matters worse.

She didn’t want to admit the hoodie-wearing Joan was another version of herself from a different timeline. This Joan resembled a beast, a demon who had unleashed all her darkest desires.

“That person was you, wasn’t it?” The hoodie-wearing Joan asked abruptly.

The white-sweater Joan’s lips parted slightly in response.

The hoodie-wearing Joan gently touched the sharp edges of the fork in her hand, smiling faintly. “The one who’s been following me, chasing me all this time. I’ve sensed your presence several times... Do you know why I haven’t dealt with you yet?”

The white-sweater Joan pressed herself against the wall, her eyes darting around for a way to escape. Though she had taken the Eye of Horus ring from the other Joan, without Paul, it was meaningless.

“You haven’t dealt with me because you’re afraid I’ll fight back, aren’t you?” The white-sweater Joan sneered, feigning composure. “If you know we’ve crossed paths several times, then you must know I can use the ring too.”

The hoodie-wearing Joan shook her head. “That might be a factor, but it’s not the main reason. The main reason is... we’re the same type.”

The white-sweater Joan scoffed. “Don’t lump me in with you! You’re a complete lunatic! In all the worlds I’ve visited, I’ve never harmed another version of myself. But you… how many have you killed?”

“How many?” The hoodie-wearing Joan pressed her lips together as if in deep thought. Then she smiled faintly. “Three? Five? Eight? Ten? Or more? I don’t remember—oh, right, I just killed two more. Want to know?”

Cold sweat dripped from the white-sweater Joan’s forehead. She couldn’t comprehend how different timelines could produce such a murderer.

“Two?” The white-sweater Joan tried to divert her attention. “How could there be two of us in this world?”

“Us?” The hoodie-wearing Joan’s voice turned icy. “I am me, and you are you. Even if our names are the same, we are independent individuals. To me, you and the others are just people with my face, enjoying what should have been mine. So, it’s not ‘us.’ It’s ‘you.’”

The white-sweater Joan took a deep breath. “I heard a skinned female corpse was found in a men’s restroom… That’s your doing, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” the hoodie-wearing Joan casually bit her fingernail. “She was unlucky. Somehow, she triggered the ring’s function. Even after coming here, she didn’t realize it. She even gushed about how amazing this world was and how wonderful her life had been. She brought Paul with her too… Such a happy person. I’ve never even tried being a mother, let alone had the joy of it. Makes you want to destroy it all, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t justify your cruelty!” The white-sweater Joan snapped coldly. “Killing her was one thing, but to...”

“It couldn’t be helped, could it?” The hoodie-wearing Joan said calmly. “It seems every world can only accommodate one Joan. Since I arrived, she couldn’t survive. Blame it on her taking too long to disappear... And in a crowded place like the airport, it would’ve been troublesome if someone else discovered her.”

The hoodie-wearing Joan smiled. “You know, skinning is quite an art. One wrong move, and you’ll mess it up.”

White-Sweatered Joan felt chills running down her spine. Despite the limited number of jumps where she encountered Hoodie Joan, each time, the latter seemed to grow increasingly ruthless.

Fallen? Or corrupted?

“Honestly, I kind of like this world... because its development is so similar to the last world I came from. Arriving here felt like reliving my life—who wouldn’t like that? It’s like returning to a point before regrets took over. And I was lucky enough to run into someone I hated in the last world. Han Bingjiang... I didn’t expect to meet him here, especially as a tabloid journalist. Still, a dog’s nature doesn’t change—he’s scum no matter where.”

“No matter what someone did in another timeline, they may not do the same here... You’re nothing but a demon!” White-Sweatered Joan gritted her teeth and then suddenly looked in shock behind Hoodie Joan. “Why is there another...?”

While others might not understand the meaning, Hoodie Joan did. Another one?

Counting the White-Sweatered Joan before her, Hoodie Joan had encountered three versions of herself in this timeline. One brought Paul along during the jump—no, judging by her defenselessness, she must’ve accidentally triggered the ring’s ability and gotten lost in this timeline.

The second was this world’s celebrity Joan, Hoodie Joan’s current target for replacement.

If there was yet another one... it wasn’t impossible!

Hoodie Joan instinctively turned around, but the staircase behind her was empty. In an instant, she felt a spinning sensation as if her world was turning upside down!

White-Sweatered Joan tackled her, pinning her to the cold floor. Gripping her face tightly, she pressed her down.

“Stay here forever! What kind of life you want has nothing to do with me!” White-Sweatered Joan hissed coldly. “I just want my Paul. As long as I can take him and leave, you’re irrelevant to me!”

“Hahaha!! And this is why I said, how are we fundamentally different... Look at yourself. Just look at yourself now.” Hoodie Joan laughed hysterically. “Don’t we look the same? The same? Now you can use the word ‘we’!”

“I’m not like you!!” White-Sweatered Joan roared.

Hoodie Joan sneered. “Your child is gone, isn’t he? I mean your child from your original world... also named Paul, right? Dead? Or lost? Because of you?”

“Liar! I found Paul! You’re lying! Liar! Liar!!! Ah—!!!”

Suddenly, a sharp pain.

Hoodie Joan had reversed their positions, stabbing the fork she held mercilessly into White-Sweatered Joan’s side.

The fork’s prongs sank entirely into her body. Taking advantage of the moment, Hoodie Joan flipped White-Sweatered Joan onto the ground, straddling her.

She grabbed her throat with one hand and formed a fist with the other, punching White-Sweatered Joan’s face repeatedly, each blow carrying her full strength.

Nobody knew how many punches it took before Hoodie Joan finally stopped, panting heavily. She stared at White-Sweatered Joan’s blood-covered face, then glanced at her own hand.

Her right hand had started to fade.

And so had White-Sweatered Joan’s body.

Hoodie Joan spat on her. “Tch, it’s starting, huh... The world’s correction. Seems like I’ll have to finish you off now.”

White-Sweatered Joan was barely breathing. Hoodie Joan pulled the fork out from her side.

The action elicited a scream of pain from White-Sweatered Joan.

Hoodie Joan raised the fork with both hands, aiming it directly at White-Sweatered Joan’s throat.

“Mommy!!!”

From above came the terrified cry of a child.

Hoodie Joan abruptly looked up. On the staircase landing stood a man and a woman, both unfamiliar to her. The woman stared wide-eyed, covering her mouth in shock, seemingly unable to speak. The man held a blond-haired child in his arms.

“Mommy! Mommy...”

The child cried out in terror, but the man quickly covered his mouth.

The man looked down, wearing a goofy smile. “Sorry to interrupt... Although I have a lot of questions for you two, I don’t think you’re in the mood to answer. So I’ll figure things out myself... um, want some gummy bears?”

He shook a pack of gummy bears in his hand and said awkwardly, “They seem to be from 2025.”

Hoodie Joan swiftly snatched the ring from White-Sweatered Joan’s hand, sliding it back onto her own finger. In an instant, she disappeared.

The man holding Paul—Song Haoran—paused, stunned.

“Die!”

The next moment, a murderous voice rang out behind him.

It was Hoodie Joan!

(End of Chapter)