363: Chapter 363: My Brother Left

Xiaoyu walked up the spiral staircase to the second floor and raised her hand to knock on the mahogany door of the master bedroom.

"Big Brother, are you there (Big Big Wolf)?"

She waited for a moment, but there was no response from inside.

"Big Brother?" Xiaoyu frowned slightly and knocked twice more, but there was still no sound.

She hesitated for a moment, then leaned down to look through the crack under the door; no light was coming from inside.

She grabbed the doorknob and gave it a gentle twist; the door was unlocked.

Jiang Zhe's Room

"What is Big Brother doing?"

She scanned the large master bedroom and found that all of her brother's personal belongings and clothes had vanished. Even the bedding was folded very neatly!

"How come Big Brother's things are all gone?"

As she entered the room, a black watch on the nightstand suddenly lit up.

Ding-ling-ling~~

The black watch floated up from the nightstand into thin air.

Without any support or cables, it hovered quietly in mid-air, a blue light flashing across the watch face.

Xiaoyu's pupils suddenly constricted.

The watch floated, slowly rising to eye level—about 1.7 meters high—and then flew toward Xiaoyu.

Immediately after!

Sci-fi blue light points overflowed from the watch face, condensing in the air and quickly turning into a pet that looked like a black fur-ball.

The pet was round and chibi-style; a pair of adorable large eyes appeared on the round black ball, and it grinned to reveal a set of white teeth.

It smiled and waved its hand at Xiaoyu.

"Hi! Hello Xiaoyu, I'm Xiaohei, Host Jiang Zhe's high-tech watch!"

Xiaohei's voice was that of a three-year-old boy, which was very endearing.

Xiaoyu stared at it, her mouth hanging open.

She had seen Xiaohei before; during her brother's tutoring sessions, this watch had once reminded him that he had explained something incorrectly.

At the time, she only thought it was her brother's voice assistant. She never imagined it could actually talk, fly, and transform into a little animal that didn't exist in reality.

"You... you are Big Brother's watch?"

"That's right! To be precise, I'm a black-tech watch from five hundred years in the future."

Xiaohei did a mid-air spin and extended two small black arms. Its right arm shimmered with pink light, and a pink inflatable hammer appeared out of nowhere. It took the hammer and gave Xiaoyu a playful bonk on the head.

"O young Xiaoyu!"

"That's not important. Why don't you first see what your brother left for you!"

As soon as it finished speaking, its entire body suddenly dispersed into countless white light points, forming a thin line that pulled a kraft paper envelope out of the nightstand drawer.

The yellowish-brown envelope floated slowly in front of Xiaoyu.

On the envelope was Jiang Zhe's handwriting.

Xiaoyu recognized that handwriting; when her brother wrote, the final stroke always had a slight upward flick.

She reached out and took the envelope, somewhat bewildered.

But her heart throbbed inexplicably, as if she had lost something.

The envelope read: [To be opened by Xiaoyu personally]

She carefully tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter.

The paper was ordinary white paper, and the ink was black fountain pen ink.

The handwriting was neat, every stroke deliberate, as if written very seriously yet also as if he were in a hurry.

"By the time you see this letter, Big Brother has already left."

Beside her, Xiaohei narrated for Xiaoyu using Jiang Zhe's magnetic speaking voice.

"Xiaoyu, thank you for being with me these past two months."

"When you see this letter, according to your nature, it will be 11:30 PM, and you will have come upstairs on time to call me down to celebrate the New Year with you."

"If my guess is correct, it should be to set off firecrackers at the courtyard gate with the professors."

"You should see now that Big Brother's bedroom is empty, save for Xiaohei and that Super Telescope."

"Xiaohei is a black-tech watch from five hundred years in the future; as for the Super Telescope, it comes from an astronomical technology in a Kyoto laboratory three hundred years in the future, capable of peering beyond the unobservable universe."

"Xiaoyu, Big Brother stayed alone in his room last night and tonight to record nearly 100 birthday videos for you. They are all in Xiaohei's memory bank."

"I've left a surprise for you: one birthday video will be unlocked every 365 days. I hope Big Brother's birthday blessings accompany you for the rest of your life!"

"Big Brother has left Xiaohei for you. It comes from 500 years in the future and is capable of answering all your questions regarding any technology or difficult problems in the world."

When Xiaoyu read to this point, she had already guessed something. She couldn't help but swallow hard, and the throbbing in her heart accelerated.

Her hands wouldn't stop trembling, but she continued to read on.

"Xiaoyu, please forgive Big Brother for having no choice in the matter!"

"The time for Big Brother to stay has come to an end; it is time to leave."

"Please forgive Big Brother for not being able to accompany you through this life, but Big Brother has left behind everything he could."

"Your future will be even further than Big Brother can imagine!"

"Remember to take good care of yourself. Stay up late less, eat less spicy food, and remember to wear more clothes when it's cold. If you encounter a problem you can't solve, ask Xiaohei. If there's something you can't figure out, ask Xiaohei too. Although it's cheeky, it won't lie to you!"

"Big Brother has no regrets. These two months have been the best two months of my life."

"Xiaoyu, do not try to find Big Brother. There will be no trace of me even at the ends of the earth!"

"But if one day you stand at the forefront of technology, look up then; perhaps you will see Big Brother's figure in the depths of the universe!"

"Xiaoyu, I wish you a bright future; Big Brother will always love you—Your Jiang Zhe!"

The letter slipped from her hand.

Xiaoyu's vision trembled as she stood there, motionless.

She lowered her head, looking at the letter on the floor, watching the handwriting shimmer slightly under the moonlight.

Her eyes turned red, yet she stubbornly did not cry.

Her lips were pressed into a line, her teeth biting her lower lip.

Just then, Xiaohei condensed back into shape and floated beside her, hovering quietly in front of her face.

Suddenly, as if she had lost all her strength, Xiaoyu's legs gave way, and she collapsed onto the floor.

She raised her head and looked at Xiaohei with tear-filled eyes.

"Will Big Brother... will he still come back?"

Xiaohei fell silent and gently shook its head.

"I don't know. Jiang Zhe didn't tell me, and he forbade me from telling you where he went. He only backed up all his data into my memory bank before leaving, while also copying all the information and technology in my database."

"He said... he said if you asked, I should tell you."

"Tell you: don't wait. Never wait!"

Hearing this, Xiaoyu's eyes grew even redder, but she still stubbornly refused to cry.

Xiaoyu only nodded, then slowly stood up.

Her legs were a bit weak; the moment she stood up, her body swayed, and her knee hit the edge of the bed with a dull thud.

She just leaned against the bed frame, took a deep breath, and then turned to walk toward the door.

However, after only two steps, the strength was suddenly drained from her legs, and she slumped to the floor, her entire being seemingly losing its spirit in an instant.

Xiaohei floated to her side and extended a small hand condensed from light points, gently patting Xiaoyu's shoulder.

"Xiaoyu, your brother said that if you are sad, I should tell you—he hasn't disappeared."

"He just went to the place where he belongs."

Xiaoyu sat slumped on the floor, motionless, her eyes out of focus and her vision blurred.

"The place where he belongs!"

Suddenly, Xiaoyu let out a self-deprecating smile and said to herself, "That's right. Back then, the person had already been dead for a long time, so how could they be resurrected!"

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

Ouyang Baili was the first to push open the door, still wearing that oversized silver pajama, his face full of confusion:

"I heard something fall to the floor with a thud."

After saying that, his words came to an abrupt halt.

He saw the despondent Xiaoyu slumped on the floor, and then he saw Xiaohei floating in mid-air.

Behind him, Guan Jingming, Old Wu, Professor Chen Runzhi, Qian Mingyi, Professor Wang Shouren, Professor Liu Guangyi, and Li Mo walked in one after another.

The eight people stood in the massive master bedroom, their gazes first falling on Xiaoyu, then slowly shifting upward to rest on the black, chibi-style ball floating in mid-air.

Xiaohei turned around to face them and gave a kind smile.

"Hello there," it waved a small hand. "I am Xiaohei, Jiang Zhe's personal butler!"

As the words fell, the eight of them were instantly dumbstruck.

At this moment, New Year's fireworks exploded again outside the window—red, green, and gold—instantly lighting up the entire sky as if it were broad daylight!

11:40 PM.

Twenty minutes left until the New Year.

The greatest New Year's gift is about to arrive!