Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years: The First Voluntary Reset, a Desperate Dash!

Welcome to Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years, written by Sang Ze and narrated by Wang Xiaomo. Wu Chen knew he was in trouble. He had never considered the consequences of his actions before. Even killing someone hadn't mattered, because time would reset.

But this time, time had started moving forward.

Yesterday, Wu Chen had gouged out one man's eye and slit another man's throat. He didn't know whether the second man had survived. He had also used a powerful man's name to put on a show before driving off in Wang Zhuangyuan's stolen car. Trouble was piling up.

He could still reset time, and could even choose when to do it. But July 7 was over. It was now July 8, and Wu Chen couldn't reset yesterday.

If he handled the fallout badly, he might be beaten to death by underworld thugs or executed for murder. Either was possible.

At the thought, Wu Chen smiled. This was what made life interesting.

He looked out the window again. Wang Zhuangyuan hadn't come in person yet; he was probably still on his way. But dozens of his men had arrived. Wu Chen didn't know whether Liu Huzi had told Wang Zhuangyuan, who had arrived later, what he knew.

If Liu Huzi had revealed Wu Chen's supposed identity, Wang Zhuangyuan wouldn't dare touch him for now. He would only try to find him first.

If Liu Huzi hadn't said anything, Wang Zhuangyuan would probably order his men to attack.

Someone had dared to take Wang Zhuangyuan's beloved car here in East Sea. That was practically a death wish.

Wang Zhuangyuan's real name was Wang Zhe. Fifteen years ago, he had been East Sea's top science-track scorer on the college entrance exam. He should have become an outstanding student with a bright future.

But that summer, his parents had been beaten over a demolition dispute, leaving his father paralyzed. In a rage, Wang Zhe had stabbed someone.

The top scorer's stabbing had made headlines. Wang Zhe spent three years in prison, then entered the underworld after his release and made a name for himself.

He had no power, connections, or money, but he possessed an intelligence most people in the underworld lacked.

Now Wang Zhuangyuan was a major figure in East Sea's underworld, with considerable influence.

Wu Chen knew how to deal with Wang Zhuangyuan, but the timing was wrong this time.

Wang Zhuangyuan was actually the smaller problem. The bigger one was that Wu Chen had borrowed Young Master Li's name yesterday to throw his weight around.

If word of that got out, he would be in serious trouble. Everyone in the East China Region's underworld might come after him.

How exciting. The men outside were still ramming the door, and from the noise, several of them were at it. What should I do?

Frightened, Mu Qingqing took two quick steps toward Wu Chen, then cried out and fell. Tears welled in her eyes from the pain.

She was weak and sore right now. She couldn't run at all.

Wu Chen hurried over and helped Mu Qianqian up. Her elbow was already bruised. Mu Qingqing was in no shape to move easily, and she was wrapped in a blanket without any clothes on.

Wu Chen's hands were injured too.

They were trapped inside, and the door looked ready to give way. What could they do?

"I'm scared."

Mu Qianqian began to cry.

"It's all right. Let's try this again."

Wu Chen stroked her hair and smiled.

Space-time reset. The host has reset July 8, 2020, for the first time. This reset consumed one space-time point. Remaining space-time points: 364,999.

7:00 a.m., July 8, 2020.

Wu Chen opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling, and smiled from the bottom of his heart.

Seven in the morning was both the daily cutoff and the reset point.

If he reset before seven, he would return to the previous day. After seven, he would return to the start of the current one.

"Hey! Didn't you say July 7 kept repeating?"

"You reset every day, but today's July 8. How do you explain that?"

A girl's accusing voice came from beside him.

Wu Chen turned. Mu Qingqing stood there wrapped in a blanket, gripping a baseball bat with both hands and glaring at him with a pout.

"Didn't you already know I was a liar?"

"When did you ever believe anything I said?"

Smiling, Wu Chen reached out, took the bat from her, and set it on the table.

"Hmph. You're no fun. You won't even play along!"

Mu Qianqian huffed. Wu Chen held out a hand to her.

"You're awful." Mu Qingqing smacked his arm, then obediently lay down beside him and kissed his cheek.

"Do you regret it?" Wu Chen asked.

"Regret what?" Mu Qingqing asked, puzzled.

"Coming home with me?"

"Yeah, I regret it. So hurry up and reset time. Go on!"

"Hmph!"

Mu Qianqian was clearly teasing him, not expressing real regret.

"I'm a man who's slept with ten thousand women. You don't regret it?" Wu Chen asked with a sidelong grin.

"Does that matter?"

"It's not like I said I wanted to date you."

Mu Qingqing rolled her eyes at Wu Chen. "I'm worried you'll fall in love with me."

"Yeah, right. Dream on!"

"And remember, I slept with you last night. You didn't sleep with me."

"Fine."

Wu Chen sat up and fetched their clothes from the bathroom.

He tossed the clothes over. "Get dressed. We need to go."

"Where?"

"Can't we sleep a little longer?"

Mu Qingqing pulled the covers over her head and refused to budge.

"We got ourselves into serious trouble yesterday. You know I was lying to you. I'm not all that capable."

"Given Wang Zhuangyuan's influence, I bet he'll find us soon. If we don't run, we're in trouble."

Wu Chen spoke with a faint smile.

Mu Qingqing sat up at once and quickly got dressed.

"You really don't know how to be gentle. You knew yesterday was my first time, but you just kept going. Doesn't it hurt?"

After getting dressed, Mu Qianqian threw a piece of tissue at Wu Chen. "Quit talking. If we don't leave now, we'll get beaten up."

Wu Chen smiled, walked over, and picked Mu Qianqian up. "Let's go."

He carried Mu Qianqian out and through the alley. A few older residents returning from their morning grocery shopping saw them, but Mu Qingqing didn't care about their stares. She had always been outgoing.

The white Lamborghini was parked outside the alley. Wang Zhuangyuan's men hadn't arrived yet, but they probably would soon.

The two got in.

"Where are we going?" Mu Qianqian asked after fastening her seat belt. Then she lowered her voice. "Are we driving somewhere deserted to dump the car?"

"Guess."

Wu Chen smiled at her. "Ugh. You're always sweet-talking me and acting mysterious. Fine, I won't ask."

"All you do is make up stories."

Mu Qianqian gave Wu Chen the finger. In truth, she found that side of him interesting.

Of course, she hadn't gone home with him just because he was interesting. He had saved her.

Girls her age liked to imagine princes on white horses, heroes rescuing them, or a passionate romance while they were young.

But Mu Qingqing's rebellious streak meant she would never admit most of that out loud.

Vroom!

Wu Chen had only just started the car when an engine revved behind them.

He checked the rearview mirror. Several SUVs were approaching, led by a Mercedes G-Class. One glance at the license plate told him they belonged to Wang Zhuangyuan's men.

They had arrived, and they had spotted the white Lamborghini parked by the road.

Interesting!

Wu Chen murmured the word with a broad smile. "Hold on." He switched modes, shifted gears, and floored the accelerator in one smooth motion. The Lamborghini shot forward. Once it reached the main road, he pushed it to its limits.

"Are you insane? It's morning! The roads are full of cars!" Mu Qingqing screamed.

"Look behind us. They're chasing us. It'll be ugly if they catch us!" Wu Chen said, tilting his head.

Mu Qingqing glanced in the mirror. Several cars were indeed racing after them, but the Lamborghini was faster, and the gap kept widening.

"Don't talk. I need to make a call."

Wu Chen took out his phone and dialed a number. The call connected quickly.

A woman's cold, brisk voice came through the phone.

Wu Chen's phone contained only numbers belonging to people he had known before July 7, 2020.

Anyone he met on July 7 would disappear from his contacts after a reset, along with their number.

But Wu Chen had memorized the phone numbers of everyone he had met during his thousand years in the loop.

Memorizing more than a hundred thousand numbers had been one of the ways he entertained himself and passed the time.

Memory was the only thing that never reset. Wu Chen had made full use of his.

"There's a traitor close to you. They've been there for two years. Besides watching your every move, they've been ordered to steal the research data for your company's latest product."

Wu Chen spoke into the phone while speeding down the road.

"Who are you?"

A trace of suspicion entered the woman's icy voice.

"How did you get this number?"

She had assumed a subordinate was calling her private number with something urgent.

She hadn't thought much of the unfamiliar number on the display, but Wu Chen's words made her reconsider.

Someone who spoke to her in that tone had to be a stranger.

He seemed to know something, but she was more concerned about who he was.

"I think we should meet and talk," Wu Chen said.

"Who are you?" the woman repeated, her voice sharper.

"You'll know when we meet."

"There's a traitor close to you. I'm warning you out of kindness. You don't want to lose the bet, do you?"

"You know about the bet? Who exactly are you?"

"I'm warning you. If you know this number, you should know who I am. I'll find you."

"Come on, I just said we could meet. Why go looking for me?"

"Don't threaten me, all right?"

"Don't you want to know who the traitor is?"

"I don't even know who you are. Why should I believe you?"

"Because you say there's a traitor, there is one?"

"I'm a good person who happens to know a few things, so I thought I'd give you a warning."

"If you're willing to pay me a substantial intelligence fee, I can tell you more. About your younger brother, for instance."

"I'll find out who you are."

The woman hung up.

Wu Chen wasn't surprised. He knew that was how she behaved.

"Wu Chen, aren't we going too fast?"

Wu Chen had just put down his phone and gripped the steering wheel with both hands when Mu Qianqian spoke up fearfully beside him.

The Lamborghini was moving so fast that the acceleration pressed Mu Qianqian against her seat. She clutched both sides of it, her face pale as she stared outside.

It was morning rush hour. More and more cars filled the road after they entered the main thoroughfare. At this speed, driving the Lamborghini was beyond reckless.

Mu Qingqing had wanted to warn him earlier. He had been driving this fast while talking on the phone, and her heart had nearly leaped out of her chest. But she had been afraid that speaking up suddenly would distract him further.

Mu Qingqing liked the thrill of racing and had done it herself, but only at night on empty mountain roads. Doing it in broad daylight was asking to die.

"Don't worry. Once we shake them, I'll slow down."

Wu Chen pressed the accelerator harder.

"Haven't we shaken them already?" Mu Qianqian asked.

She checked the rearview mirror. The SUVs were no longer behind them. They had vanished long ago.

SUVs couldn't match a sports car's speed, and their drivers didn't dare risk their lives the way Wu Chen did.

"More or less," Wu Chen said. "I'll slow down after the next intersection."

Then he glanced ahead and accelerated again. The speedometer was nearing 240 kilometers per hour.

"Do you really have to do this?" Mu Qianqian felt as if she were about to die.

"If I don't speed up, we'll miss the green light at the next intersection," Wu Chen explained.

Ten seconds later, the white Lamborghini reached the intersection of Jianshe Road and Fumin Street. It swept through a spectacular drift across the wide junction and turned right onto Jianshe Road.

The moment the white Lamborghini turned onto Jianshe Road, the traffic light at the intersection changed from green to red.

Wu Chen knew every road in Donghai City. He knew the timing of every traffic light, and where traffic would and wouldn't back up at any given hour.

He had planned his route in his head. Despite the morning rush, he had avoided every road likely to be congested. The sports car's low chassis ruled out rough roads, but he had accounted for that too. He eased off the accelerator until he was holding steady at around eighty kilometers per hour. That was still fast for a city street, but no longer terrifying.

Mu Qingqing let out a breath. She raised her fist to thump Wu Chen on the shoulder, then stopped herself and merely made the gesture, afraid she might distract him while he drove.

"You scared me to death, you jerk." "It was an emergency. Someone was chasing us. It's not like I wanted to drive that way."

Wu Chen smiled. "Weren't you afraid we'd crash?"

"And we could end up on the news, you know."

"Then the whole country would know about it, and you'd be finished."

"We won't crash, and we won't be on the news."

"This car has smuggled plates. Wang Zhuangyuan would never report it to the police."

"And if it shows up in an online news story, he'll pull strings to bury it. It'll be wiped clean in minutes."

"Wang Zhuangyuan has that much influence?"

"Of course!"

"Then aren't you doomed?"

"Why did you have to steal his car?"

"Couldn't you have just left yesterday?"

Wu Chen smiled but offered no explanation.

A little over ten minutes later, the white Lamborghini stopped at an intersection near Qinghe Park in Donghai City's southern district.

"Get out and go home."

Wu Chen said.

Mu Qingqing, whose attention had been fixed on Wu Chen, only then realized they had stopped near her home. She lived in the Qinghe Courtyard villa complex beside Qinghe Park.

"You really know where I live?"

Mu Qianqian sounded surprised.

"Mm."

Wu Chen smiled and nodded. "How many times have I told you? I've known you for ages." "Oh, right, right! I get it now."

Mu Qianqian sounded as though she had just worked it out.

"My dog told you, didn't he?"

"That rotten dog tells people everything." "Get out," Wu Chen urged.

"Where are you going?"

"Take me with you. I don't want to go home." "People are after me. You want them after you too?"

"If they catch you, they'll do one thing to you and then another. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Wu Chen was trying to scare her.

"All right, then."

Mu Qianqian climbed out, frightened. She leaned down against the open car door. "Be careful, okay?"

Wu Chen gave her an OK sign. "Call Mu Qingqing."

Only then did she close the door.

Wu Chen floored the accelerator and sped away.

Mu Qingqing turned toward home, but after a single step she seemed to remember something. She spun around and waved at the receding Lamborghini. It was already too far away; she couldn't call him back.

"Oh, come on." Mu Qianqian slapped her forehead, almost ready to cry at her own stupidity.

She had remembered something very, very important: she had no way to contact Wu Chen. No phone number, no WeChat, nothing. After spending the whole night with him, she hadn't even gotten his number.

Wait. Mu Qianqian hurriedly pulled out her phone and called her best friend.

She had always assumed her best friend had sent Wu Chen. What happened afterward was unexpected, but that first approach had to have been her friend's idea. She needed to ask her.

Half an hour later, Wu Chen drove the white Lamborghini into an office building's underground garage. He turned off the engine, reclined the seat and lay back with his eyes closed, waiting for a call.

He knew that woman would call him herself.

Of all the trouble facing him, Zhao Guai and Wang Zhuangyuan were minor problems. The real problem was Young Master Li. If Wu Chen could handle him, he could handle everything.

So the first connection Wu Chen chose to make was with a woman he had even taken the initiative to call.

She was strikingly beautiful, almost irresistibly charming, powerful and domineering.

Wu Chen had slept with her, of course. In fact, across countless repetitions, he had met her and slept with her on the very same day many times.

Her name was Li Ruobing. She was the older sister of Young Master Li, the man who could wield enormous influence across the East Sea.

To outsiders, Young Master Li seemed untouchable. At home, though, he was afraid of his sister. Wu Chen wouldn't mind becoming his brother-in-law.

His phone rang. Wu Chen sat up, looked at the screen and smiled. She was calling.