Chapter 1: 1. Sea Fog

The azure sky was dotted with white clouds; looking toward the horizon, the feeling it gave one could be summed up in two words: clean!

Looking from here, the azure sky and the deep blue sea seemed to have melted into one, with neither distinguishable from the other.

Zhang Ran was currently traveling on a long-distance cruise ship, and as he watched this beautiful scenery, his mind and spirit could not help but relax.

At the same time, his heart began to yearn for the scene of bringing that girl here to watch this together; what a wonderful thing that would be.

Especially since he knew that twenty years from now, the sky would no longer be this clean, and the sea would no longer be this deep blue, so he wanted all the more to appreciate such beautiful scenery.

Zhang Ran had not expected that he would be able to live a second life, and even less did he expect that he would be able to meet such a heart-stirring woman in this world; what surprised him even more was that this woman was equally enamored with him.

Zhang Ran had previously lived in a parallel world similar to this one, only that world had already reached the year 2020, while he was born in this world in 1967.

Today is May 19, 1990, and he is currently taking this large luxury cruise ship to Huaxia.

For some time, he had been busy with various matters over in Europe and America, as well as preparing the engagement ring and various gifts for his beloved girl.

Originally, he had thought about taking a plane back to Huaxia, but he was afraid that if he returned too early, he would be unable to resist going directly to find that girl to propose.

He wanted to officially propose to the girl on May 20th; although this was not considered the most romantic day, Zhang Ran just wanted to give the girl every surprise he could.

At this moment, Zhang Ran could not help but begin to look forward to it, his eyes full of radiance, which made a middle-aged couple standing to the side smile knowingly.

"Young man, you're in a hurry to go back and see your sweetheart, aren't you?" the middle-aged man said with a smile, holding his wife's hand.

The middle-aged couple were also Chinese, and they were speaking in Chinese.

The expectant expression on Zhang Ran's face had never faded, and he admitted quite generously, "Yes, she is still at home waiting for me."

"Haha, how enviable; are you planning to go back and propose?" the middle-aged woman said with a smile as she looked at the box in Zhang Ran's hand.

Zhang Ran carried this pair of engagement rings with him, while the rest of his things were placed in his room.

Clearly, they had also noticed; Zhang Ran had just opened the box to admire them, and he had to say that they were worthy of a master's work—truly perfect.

The middle-aged couple had also been near Zhang Ran the whole time, so they had also seen the rings in the box.

Hearing the middle-aged woman's words, Zhang Ran said somewhat bashfully, "Yes."

"Then have you thought about how you're going to propose? You know, girls all like romance," the middle-aged woman kindly reminded him.

Zhang Ran scratched his hair; he really didn't know how to do this. Although he had lived two lives, this was his first time proposing. "I really don't know about this. How did you propose to your wife back then?" Zhang Ran asked.

"Haha, that is the thing I am most proud of in my life. Young man, let me tell you about it." The middle-aged man was clearly in a good mood and began to tell Zhang Ran about their past.

Zhang Ran just listened to the middle-aged couple's account, watching the sweet expressions on their faces, while his heart also looked forward to his reunion with the girl and fantasized about their future.

Just as the middle-aged man said, what Zhang Ran was most proud of was not the achievements he had made since his rebirth, but meeting that girl whose eyes were full of him, and he had grasped hold of this girl.

This was the first time Zhang Ran had wanted to give all his best to someone else, wanting to do anything for her regardless of the cost.

Such a feeling was so beautiful, so intoxicating!

An even more wonderful thing was that the girl loved Zhang Ran even more deeply!

At this moment, Zhang Ran felt that this life was worth it!

This middle-aged couple had gone abroad when they were young and were now settled in the UK; they were returning to their home country this time to visit relatives.

After the middle-aged couple finished their story, Zhang Ran could not help but say, "The two of you have the kind of love that makes people envious."

It was indeed enviable; although they had no life-and-death separations or earth-shattering events, that kind of plain, simple happiness was real, which could be seen from the look in their eyes.

"You are also enviable. This pair of rings of yours shouldn't be cheap, right? I believe your sweetheart will like them very much. Does this ring have a name?" the middle-aged woman said with a smile.

Women have very little resistance to jewelry; Zhang Ran had taken them out before, and the radiance emitted by those top-quality diamonds had occupied the woman's entire gaze in an instant—they were truly beautiful.

"This ring is called 'Stars and Moon Accompanying Each Other.' Would you like to appraise it?" Zhang Ran naturally saw the woman's fondness and said with a smile.

The woman's eyes lit up instantly, and she could not help but say, "May I?"

"Of course you may." As Zhang Ran spoke, he handed over the ring box. He was actually quite satisfied with this ring; for this ring, he had spent a significant amount of money to have it custom-made by a well-known master.

The woman carefully took the ring box, and after opening it, she began to admire it closely. She was not wearing gloves, so she did not take them out to admire them, but just looked at them while they were in the box.

At this moment, the woman's eyes were like those of a little girl, looking at this beautiful ring with sparkling eyes.

Seeing his wife in this state, the middle-aged man could not help but give a wry smile; it seemed he would have to bleed money once they returned.

However, just at this moment, a thick fog suddenly appeared on the sea, and the entire field of vision began to blur.

Although they did not know how this thick fog had appeared, no one panicked; it was a very common occurrence for heavy fog to appear on the sea.

It was just that this patch of thick fog had appeared somewhat suddenly.

Others did not pay it any mind, but Zhang Ran frowned, because at this moment he discovered that the energy bar in the little game in his mind was growing crazily.

When Zhang Ran was reborn into this world, he also brought his golden finger with him; this golden finger was a farm-style little game he had played in his previous life.

Although by the year 2020 in his previous life, farm-style little games had long since been phased out, there was still a small market for them.

Zhang Ran liked this kind of little game; it was a very good choice for leisure during his busy work.

However, this golden finger had no tasks, and even less of an intelligent system; it only had a simple interface.

When playing the game, one could sell the flowers, vegetables, or pets one had raised to accumulate energy.

But after it appeared in his mind, Zhang Ran discovered that he could only buy and not sell; in other words, the system would not recycle, nor could it recycle.

And the energy bar could only grow slowly over time, and the speed of growth was relatively slow, so this golden finger was not of much use to Zhang Ran.

Fortunately, although this world was not quite the same as his previous life, at the very least the general trend remained unchanged. Relying on the memories of his previous life and his grasp of the general trend, Zhang Ran was confident he did not need any golden finger.

This rather abnormal state lasted for nearly half an hour. During this period, because of the lighting, the middle-aged woman did not really admire the rings anymore and returned them to Zhang Ran.

By the time the cruise ship had completely left the fog bank, Zhang Ran discovered that the energy bar in his mind was already full.

He did not know what had happened, but he had a very bad premonition, and at the same time, a feeling of heart palpitations.