Chapter One: She's Crossed Over!
Pain...such agony...
Ruth Walker's heavy eyelids fluttered, her consciousness foggy, yet she could vividly feel John's movement on her body. He was strangling her neck, almost crushing her frail body to dust.
This strange sensation...could it be...
Her eyes snapped open at that moment, and when she discerned the scene before her, her bloodshot eyes were filled with astonishment!
Where was this? Wasn't she conducting an experiment in the lab? Why was she suddenly lying in a strange room, with a man...
Ruth roused herself fully, but John did not let go of her. Instead, after sensing her resistance, he harshly held her down, growling in her ear, "Go ahead, scream! You're so wretched that you even tried to drug me, pretending to be a dead fish, are you?"
In the dim light, Ruth locked eyes with John. His glare was as that of a bloodthirsty wolf. Drops of sweat dripped down his delicate face, signifying the prolonged struggle.
However, who was he? She had never seen him before, yet his face felt so familiar, as if it was etched into her very bones, sending shocking waves through her.
As Ruth's eyes widened, memories that didn't belong to her came rushing in, blooming in her mind within an instant...
At the age of 23, Ruth, the mistress of Walker family, created a scandal at her classmate's birthday party three years ago with John Walker, the second son of the Walker family. To avoid public disgrace, the Walker and Murray families forced John to break up with his fiancée, Susan Murray, and married Ruth instead...
And the man on top of her was John, the man she deeply despised.
"Let...let me go..." Ruth's voice was faint as she lifted her hand to push John, who ignored her feeble resistance. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, he finally stopped and rolled off her, towering over her with a cold sidelong glance.
"Ruth, you've gotten what you wanted. From now on, we're nothing to each other. If you don't want to leave, then I'll consider it as the Walker family keeping a dog."
His voice was cold to the extreme, like a sudden thunder on a chilly winter's day.
After John left, Ruth, who was lying on the bed like a corpse, finally stirred. She strained to sit up, but could scarcely move without an agonizing pain piercing her heart.
A deep wound on her wrist that can reach the bone was hastily bandaged with gauze. It was torn open at an unknown time, and the bright red blood soaked through the bedding beneath her...
Such blood loss could easily be fatal to any normal person.
Ruth... her name too was Ruth, but she was not that Ruth!
She looked around at the unfamiliar layout and environment which left her dumbfounded, unable to connect the things that had happened before she lost consciousness with her current situation.
She was gifted with high intelligence since childhood, especially sensitive to numbers unlike the average person. From the age of three, she started coding and became a genius scientist of the 23rd century. Before she fainted, she was testing the first generation of the time travel chamber that she had been dedicated to for 10 years. She had just lain down in the machine when a blinding light flashed, and suddenly, she was right here.
Ruth rubbed her throbbing temples, the consequences of severe blood loss making her incredibly dizzy. She turned the lights on, the room filling with light immediately and her vision gradually clearing. From the corner of her eye, she saw the black and gold calendar on the bedside table, revealing neatly printed Arabic numbers—
The year 2008 AD, December 28.
She had time-travelled!
From the year 2208 to 2008!
Realizing this, Ruth was dumbstruck. Without paying mind to her own pain, she rolled off the bed and staggered to the full-length mirror.
Seeing the frail figure and the utterly unfamiliar face in the mirror, Ruth was rooted to the spot.
She was certain now: she had indeed time-travelled.
The years of scientific research had paid off – but her program was clearly designed to bring her a few minutes back from the moment she entered the time travel chamber, so why did her consciousness end up alone in the body of a girl with the same name from two hundred years ago?
Turning to look at the shocking bloodstain on the bed, Ruth involuntarily recalled a scene - the original Ruth cut her own wrist in despair but was rescued. Before she could recover, John, who had been drugged, broke into her room…
She must have torn open her wound again in the struggle with John. In the process, the real Ruth died from excessive blood loss, but her soul from another world, by some strange coincidence, intruded into her body.
However, before she could fully understand her situation, panicked footstep noises came from outside, followed by the disordered screams of the other women.
"The John has had an accident; call someone over to help quickly!"
Ruth picked up the clothes on the ground and put them on, holding onto the wall as she walked out.
Their house was located on the Western Mountains of Maryland City. A big snowstorm had frozen the mountain road, and John's car had skidded on the ice, hitting a tree. The car spun around and the rear end was heading towards a cliff on the other side!
The vehicle's operating system had completely failed at this point, and he was trapped by the airbag, unable to move.
Unable to open the car door or roll down the windows, John, who was not yet fully awakened due to the effect of the drug and had received a head injury, was completely unable to save himself.
The place where John had his accident was not far from the house and chaos soon ensued. The housekeeper, Margaret, sobbed while she dialed 911 for a rescue vehicle. However, due to the heavy snowstorm, outside help could not make it up to them.
Ruth didn't care about the cold,walking into the crowd.
"What are you doing here? Do you think your false kindness is needed?" Margaret saw her after ending the call, immediately grabbing her.
Despite only being 25, Margaret had been John's housekeeper for three years, and she detests the hypocritical and pretentious lady of the house.
"The car has an intelligent system..." Although she was far away, Ruth noticed that this model of the car had an automatic driving feature, "Give me a computer... I can save him."
