Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 831: Future and Dreams

In a state of fear and anxiety, time seemed to move incredibly slowly—especially when there weren’t many activities to pass the time. It felt like a snail was crawling. In the university dormitory, a TV drama was set up, and Caroline had flipped through dozens of channels repeatedly. Even so, only half an hour had passed. Arnold wasn’t here; he said he still needed to go to class, or he would probably fail to earn enough credits to graduate—Caroline had just learned that Arnold was simultaneously pursuing three different degrees. The dormitory was adorned with certificates and awards, all belonging to Arnold. This guy was probably a genius, right? Although Caroline didn’t know what a true genius should be like, there was no doubt that Arnold was the smartest person she knew... well, when it came to academics. The university campus was very quiet and exceptionally clean. Young faces filled the area, full of vitality. Groups of young men and women walked past on the paths. Caroline leaned by the window, feeling as if she had entered a zoo called "university"—she was watching a world she had never been exposed to. Suddenly, Caroline thought of Nia. It had been several days since she heard from her, and she didn't know if Lawyer Carlo had sold Nia's property—perhaps it had already been sold, and then two million had been divided among Boss Boston's people. She felt more desperate lying in bed than ever before, because Lawyer Carlo had probably disappeared, and even Caroline herself had faded from Nia's life at its end. Every time she thought of this, Caroline felt immense sadness and guilt. Perhaps true bitches should be more ruthless... After thinking for a long time, Caroline finally found a reason to calm herself down. She told herself to avoid thinking about Nia any longer—besides, she couldn’t even guarantee her own safety right now. She continuously changed the TV channels, hoping to catch any news about Livia's murder case. However, to Caroline's disappointment, the various channels aired either useless programs or all sorts of strange news and political affairs. Caroline suddenly found it somewhat ridiculous, as she realized that a small and almost insignificant sex worker like Livia wouldn’t attract much attention even if she lay dead in the street—police would even be worried about the extra workload. The death of a life was thus obscured in a society where information changed rapidly... Rubbish, trash—at that moment, Caroline even subconsciously labeled herself similarly. Thus, she looked at the boys and girls on campus and suddenly found them somewhat repulsive. She knew this was purely her own misdirected anger. But if she didn’t misdirect her anger... what could someone like her do? Someone like me? Caroline suddenly rushed out of the dormitory without caring about anything. She remembered Arnold’s advice to not leave this place casually. But at this moment, she just wanted to find a place to breathe—even just a stroll around the dorm building would suffice. Of course, she would still take some protective measures. For example, she put on a hooded outfit and then grabbed a pair of glasses from Arnold's desk—she discovered that these glasses had no lenses, just the frames. Caroline didn’t think too much about everything; she felt very confused and couldn’t sort out the events that had happened. Gradually, she made her way through the path by the boys' dormitory and arrived at an artificial lake on campus. Caroline tossed a few stones into the lake—she even played a few rounds of skipping stones, but ultimately still felt bored. When she turned around, she saw an old man sitting alone on a bench not far away. The old man stared blankly at the artificial lake, and Caroline thought that he clearly wasn’t having a leisurely afternoon... he must have something on his mind. Maybe chatting with a stranger for a bit would make the time pass more quickly... Caroline instinctively walked over to the old man sitting on the bench. “May I sit here?” Caroline asked. The old man looked up at her but said nothing and didn’t continue to pay attention. Caroline shrugged and sat down on the other side of the bench. “What’s this?” Caroline noticed a black card lying next to the old man. The old man didn’t respond; he just quickly stuffed the card into his pocket. Caroline didn’t mind much. Suddenly, she pulled out a few pieces of chocolate from her pocket. “Want some? I heard that eating something sweet can make you feel better when you're down. It seems to be because chocolate contains some special ingredients.” “Phenylethylamine,” the old man said casually. Caroline was curious. “What’s that?” The old man glanced at Caroline, frowned, and said, “Phenylethylamine is an endogenous amphetamine-like substance that can bind to opioid receptors in our brains, promoting the production of dopamine. Dopamine can give people feelings of pleasure and relaxation... This is the biochemistry department, and you must be a student in biochemistry, right? How do you not know such basic things?” Caroline rolled her eyes. “Just because I'm here doesn't mean I'm a student, does it? You’re not a student here either, are you, old man?” Of course, the old man couldn’t possibly be a student; it was just Caroline making small talk. “Don’t you know who I am?” The old man looked at Caroline in surprise. “Are you famous?” Caroline retorted. “Not really,” the old man replied calmly. “I’m just an old guy who had to retire and was sent here to spend his old age.” “Retirement… isn’t it good?” Caroline asked curiously. “After working hard your whole life, isn’t retirement the goal? You seem quite wealthy; this should be your time to enjoy life. Why are you still here looking so gloomy?” The old man said, “My life has long been over.” Seeing that the old man wasn’t going to touch the chocolate she offered, Caroline took it back and started eating it herself. Suddenly, she said, “Maybe, but it’s still better than some people waiting despairingly for death in a hospital bed. At least you can still sit here and space out. Others might not see the sun tomorrow.” The old man looked at Caroline in surprise; his intuition told him that this girl possessed a sense of weariness that ordinary students did not have. He instinctively asked, “You have worries too?” Caroline kicked her legs, feeling a bit better, and said, “Old man, you just said ‘too,’ right? You go first!” The old man shook his head. Caroline decided to sit cross-legged and positioned herself facing the old man’s side. “Isn’t it perfect? I have my worries, and you have yours. We’re both feeling down, and we probably won’t meet again, so why not share our thoughts? I’ve heard that listening to others’ tragic experiences can make you feel happier.” “What kind of logic is that?” The old man frowned. Caroline shrugged. “There’s no logic to it, but isn’t that how it works? For example, you have a really bad afternoon, and you think it couldn’t get any worse. But then in the evening, someone tells you your neighbor had a terrible car accident and died. You might feel sad, but wouldn’t you also feel ‘thankful’ in a way? Because someone is worse off than you.” “Building your happiness on someone else’s misfortune?” The old man shook his head. “Not interested.” Caroline shrugged again. “That depends on who it is. Maybe the other person is also deriving happiness from your situation... Anyway, let me go first? We can each share one thing. We don’t have to discuss any reasons, just listen, how about that?” Seeing that the old man didn’t respond, Caroline thought for a moment and began, “Right now, I’m being chased by a few bad guys, and I can’t go anywhere; I have to hide. All the money I had was taken by those bad people, so I’m basically in a state where I don’t know when my next meal will come.” “Well, you should go to the police,” the old man replied indifferently. Caroline said, “Didn’t we agree not to talk about the actual issues, just listen? Now it’s your turn, old man.” The old man furrowed his brows, hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, “I can still work, but I’ve run into some problems at work. This will greatly affect my son. So, he privately fired me and brought me here. If I don’t agree, I’ll end up in a nursing home.” Caroline said, “One of my friends unfortunately died not long ago, and I somehow ended up at the crime scene, and they all took me for the murderer.” The old man’s gaze narrowed slightly as he looked at the young girl’s delicate face, and his expression darkened. Caroline was prepared to run away at any moment, but unexpectedly, the old man just stared blankly at the surface of the lake. “I... I’ve caused a lot of deaths too. Long ago, because of my stubbornness, an accident happened at work, and all my colleagues died in the incident. This included one of my most admired students, who was also my son’s wife.” “No wonder your son treats you poorly...” Caroline said in surprise. The old man frowned. “Didn’t we agree not to discuss this?” “Sorry.” Caroline shrugged, then looked up into the distance. “I deceived someone. Even though I don’t know if she was good to me, she still wanted to share her last bit of something with me. But I deceived her, along with others... I took away her hope.” The old man said, “I’ve also been deceiving, deceiving my loved ones, deceiving my grandson... I’m afraid to tell him the truth from years ago, trying hard to maintain this family. But we all know that the longer the deception lasts, the more intense the pain will be when the truth finally comes out.” Caroline fell silent. The old man was silent too. After a long while, Caroline suddenly said, “I have no future.” The old man slowly said, “My dreams are dead.” After a long while, Caroline sighed, stood up, and shook her head. “So it turns out you can’t feel happy at all.” The old man gave a bitter smile. “I’m leaving.” Caroline shook her head and lightly patted the old man’s shoulder, a simple gesture of comfort. However, at the moment her palm made contact with his shoulder, Caroline’s mind suddenly exploded, and strange images flashed before her eyes. A white bed, covered with white sheets, and there was the old man’s figure. He seemed to have died right there in the hospital room... Beside him were a middle-aged man with a complex expression and a little boy who was crying. “You... you will die,” Caroline muttered. She suddenly jolted awake, seeing the old man staring at her in shock. Caroline quickly said, “I didn’t mean that; I just... just...” “Maybe,” the old man shook his head, seemingly deep in thought. “Maybe if I had died back then...” “I mean, you later...” Caroline ultimately swallowed her words. The old man stood up, put on his hat, and turned to leave. Caroline called out to his back, “Why don’t you come home more often?” The old man waved his hand behind him, as a farewell. --- Caroline watched as the old man left completely before she dejectedly made her way back, hoping to return to the dormitory before Arnold came back from class. She didn’t stop along the way, but when she was almost downstairs at the dormitory, she entered a convenience store and bought a bottle of beer—she took some loose change from the table in the dorm, just enough to buy one bottle. As Caroline walked out of the convenience store, she saw Arnold with his head down walking past. She intended to call out to him, but he quickly turned and went around the back of the convenience store. Caroline frowned but didn’t make a sound; instead, she quietly followed him. Arnold stopped in an alley behind the convenience store, where several young men were already waiting... They appeared to be students; Caroline noticed that one of them even had a backpack. Arnold seemed particularly cautious as they were talking about something. Suddenly, those students pulled out some money and handed it to Arnold. After he nodded, he took something from his body and handed it to the students. Caroline opened her mouth in shock and quickly turned away, her eyes filled with fear... Her face suddenly turned pale. She instinctively covered her mouth, but her fingers brushed against her glasses. Caroline suddenly ripped off her glasses—there were no lenses. Arnold was nearsighted, but these glasses... This person... is not Arnold! --- In the evening, an old man arrived at the staircase. He was holding a strange black card in his hand, his face marked by a look of confusion... It seemed he was searching for something, his eyes constantly scanning the surroundings. The old man appeared clean and neat, wearing clothing that seemed to be of high quality. This attracted some greedy glances from those nearby—though there was a rule against robbing locals, in reality, not many people truly cared about such rules. Unbeknownst to the old man, two individuals had quietly followed him from behind. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he walked toward a grocery store that was situated on the staircase—indeed, from the eyes of those two who wanted to rob him, the old man was heading in that direction. “Where is he?” “Wasn’t he just here? How did he suddenly disappear?” “Quick, look around…” --- At the Club. The old man looked up at the front of the ancient shop and then reached out to push open the softwood door. Seeing such a lavishly decorated yet tasteful shop in the slums surprised the old man immensely. He couldn't quite tell where the light was coming from, but the lobby was illuminated by a warm, soft glow that was not harsh on the eyes. “Can I help you with anything?” The old man heard a voice and turned to see a woman in a black-and-white maid outfit, quietly sitting in a chair in the corner. “I...” The old man instinctively raised the black card in his hand. “It seems... it brought me here. But I can’t remember when this thing appeared in my hand... Have we met somewhere before?” “May I ask if there’s anything I can assist you with, Dr. Francis?” the maid asked again. Her voice was soft yet clear, reaching the old man’s ears and penetrating his heart, as if it held endless magic... Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. The old man, Dr. Francis, was not surprised that the other party could suddenly call his name; he simply felt a surge of impulse within himself. “I want to…”