An Ning silently looked at the big hands tightly clasping hers.

Clearly it’s one body.

Yet it seems completely different.

She suppressed her inner emotions and finally chose to be direct, "You weren’t dead back then?"

Fu Xingyi nodded, "I wasn’t dead."

An Ning suddenly laughed.

A laugh full of irony.

"Little Ning..." Fu Xingyi watched An Ning’s expression, gently calling to her.

"You weren’t dead, so why did you keep it from me? You know I..." An Ning didn’t want to continue.

The past pains, she didn’t want to bring up again.

But she desperately wanted to know why he hid it from her?!

If he hadn’t hidden it from her.

If she had known he was still alive.

Perhaps she wouldn’t have been bitten by zombies, she wouldn’t have traveled through the book to this place, and she wouldn’t have experienced everything with Xiao Jinxing...

Fu Xingyi watched An Ning’s emotional fluctuations.

He held her hand tighter, "Sorry, back then I was on a secret mission, couldn’t tell anyone, except my mentor, no one else knew I was alive."

"So what did you do?" An Ning asked him.

"Soul exchange experiment." Fu Xingyi replied.

An Ning’s eyes slightly moved.

Fu Xingyi explained, "You should know very well, our lab has been researching how to survive in the face of apocalypse extinction."

"I thought you were researching regenerative resources." An Ning couldn’t help saying.

"Yes, those experiments too, but the apocalypse environment makes it hard for life to continue surviving, and as the temperature of the apocalypse atmosphere keeps rising, even with regenerative resource research, it’s impossible for life to survive on Earth, hence the idea to let the remaining humans travel to other environments to continue living."

"Why have I never heard about it?"

"This research has actually existed for a long time, but it hasn’t been tested successfully, and this kind of research may not get public acceptance, so the higher-ups demanded complete secrecy until success, without leaking anything externally. Currently, only about ten people are involved in this project at our institute, all are monitored, I couldn’t tell you."

An Ning bit her lip.

She also knew some secrets can’t be leaked.

"Later, we succeeded through repeated animal experiments." Fu Xingyi continued, "So we needed someone to personally verify it."

"So they chose you." An Ning realized.

"Right. Because my mentor and I mainly spearhead this project, besides him, it was just me. You know my mentor has aged, his originary body might not survive the long ice-bound period, so it had to be me."

An Ning tightened her fingers.

So the supposed soul travel wasn’t a miracle.

It was long planned.

"To prevent anyone from finding out, they declared my death externally. Moreover, I didn’t know if I could return after traveling, if I couldn’t, then to the apocalypse me, it would be true death." Fu Xingyi looked at An Ning, "Sorry for worrying you."

An Ning lowered her eyes.

After knowing all the truths, she had no reason to blame him.

His actions were for humanity, what reason did she have to fault him?!

"So my travel wasn’t an accident either." An Ning murmured.

"Sort of, not really." Fu Xingyi said, "Initially, when you were bitten to death by zombies, your life was indeed over. But at that time, my mentor urgently sought your parents, proposing to try having your soul travel. Your parents agreed instantly, then chose a book you had recently read for the travel experiment. Fact is, because I hadn’t returned to the apocalypse, I didn’t know if the experiment succeeded, and since your soul travel happened posthumously, there’s no certainty of success. Fortunately, it worked."

Fu Xingyi spoke, as if relieved.

"Did you return to the apocalypse after completing the mission, then come to find me?" An Ning asked.

"After returning, I recuperated for a while. Actually, initially, no one told me you were alive, I fell into a period of depression, until my mentor couldn’t stand it and revealed the truth, though he couldn’t guarantee success." Fu Xingyi smiled slightly, "But I always felt you must be alive, so I asked my mentor to let me travel here to find you."

"Can you still go back?" An Ning blurted out.