Feng Lingtian stood still, his gaze fixed on the blank area, and waited for a few moments.
He didn't know what would happen next, but judging from the previous scene, this should be a key turning point in another past life.
As he was thinking, the white space in front of him began to ripple, like the surface of water being rippled by the wind, with fine lines spreading outwards from the center. A new scene emerged from it.
The scene gradually came into focus. It was a cramped rented room, with yellowed old newspapers pasted on the four walls, and several stacks of books piled unevenly in the corner.
On the table lay a desk lamp, several worn-out pens, and a workbook turned to the middle, its pages curled up at the edges.
A young man sat at the table, wearing a faded old coat, holding a pen in his hand, which hovered above the paper, but he didn't write anything.
The night outside the window was a hazy gray, with no stars in sight. The rented room was quiet, with only the faint hum of the desk lamp.
When Feng Lingtian saw the image, he instantly recognized it—it was from the most difficult time of his university years, when he was attending classes and working part-time, and studying until the early hours of the morning.
Moreover, his grandfather's health began to deteriorate during that period. He didn't have enough money to take his grandfather for a check-up, so he could only calculate his living expenses, part-time income, and remaining days over and over again at night.
He remembered that during that time his grandfather's cough became more and more frequent, and he would start to pant after walking a few steps, but the old man never said anything in front of him. Every time he went back, his grandfather would be sitting in that dilapidated house waiting for him, smiling and asking him if he had eaten.
He knew his grandfather's health was deteriorating, but he couldn't bring himself to say "You're sick" because he couldn't face the reality of it.
The scene remained in the white space for a few breaths, then Feng Lingtian felt a pulling sensation in his body. He didn't resist, but was eager to go back and do something. The next moment, he was no longer in the white space.
Feng Lingtian returned to the rented room.
My body felt heavy, my fingertips were cold, and the desk lamp cast a dim yellow light, illuminating the messy handwriting on the exercise book.
Feng Lingtian looked down at his hands, confirming that he had returned to his young body from his previous life, but his consciousness was still complete and clear.
He knew he was Feng Lingtian, knew everything he had experienced in the Douluo Continent, and roughly knew what would happen at this point in his past life.
He heard his neighbor's footsteps in the hallway outside his door, the sound gradually fading into the distance before returning to silence. He put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and remained silent for a while.
His soul is now that of a visionary, knowing what will happen in the next few years—the stock market, market trends, and emerging opportunities. If he can capitalize on any one of these, he can make a fortune in a short period.
That money is enough for Grandpa's checkups and treatment, allowing for intervention before his condition worsens. He can easily access the money without any subsequent trouble.
He knew that money could save his grandfather. He had even figured out how to do it—enter a few strings of information, transfer a sum of money, and everything would be as if nothing had happened.
If he gets up now and does this, his grandfather's illness won't have progressed to that later stage; he will live a few more years and won't have passed away so early.
The idea swirled in his mind several times, clear, concrete, and feasible. His hand paused on the table, moved a few inches toward the phone, and then stopped.
He withdrew his hand, remained silent for a long time, and then leaned back in his chair.
He was thinking about something else—would his grandfather feel even worse than if he were sick himself if he knew he was raising money this way?
Grandpa didn't live a wealthy life, but he never did anything wrong and taught Feng Lingtian not to do anything wrong either.
If I used this information to make money today, Grandpa wouldn't say anything, but he would definitely feel guilty and remorseful.
As a child raised by his grandfather, Feng Lingtian knew his grandfather's personality well. If he really did that, his grandfather would definitely be heartbroken.
Moreover, Feng Lingtian himself knew that this method was using something that did not belong to him to fill a void that he should have borne himself. If he used this method, his conscience would not be at peace.
After a long while, Feng Lingtian finally gave up on the idea and didn't touch the phone. He reached for the part-time job schedule on the corner of the table, looked at it carefully, and then drew another square in the weekend column.
He knew that this would make him even more tired and give him less sleep, but he was willing to do it.
He progressed slowly along this path, but every penny he earned was his own, and he had a clear conscience when he spent it on his grandfather.
After finishing that section, he picked up his pen again, opened the workbook, and continued reading from where he had left off. Without hesitation, without looking back, it was as if the struggle he had just faced had never happened.
The image then froze at that moment before slowly fading away.
Feng Lingtian stood on the ground of the white space again, looked down at his hands, and confirmed that he had returned to his original body.
The lights in the rented room had gone out, and the warmth of the desk lamp had dissipated, but he could still remember how he felt sitting there.
He made a different choice than before, but he faced that gap in his own way, instead of taking a path that wasn't his own.
Feng Lingtian raised his head and looked at the empty area in front of him. He didn't speak, nor did he look away. He was waiting. He knew that he hadn't left this place, which meant that something else was waiting for him.