Chapter 25

"My husband got angry several times over this, regretting not buying the lottery ticket as the text message suggested. He tried to contact the source of the message, but it turned out that the message was sent through a computer system, and he couldn't get in touch. He was in a bad mood for days and couldn't focus on work."

As Qin Ruolan spoke, she became emotional, her eyes reddening. She took a tissue from the table and wiped away her tears.

Xu Mo glanced at the table, where a framed photo was placed. The photo showed Qin Ruolan and a man together, with a beach in the background. They were standing on the sand, facing the sea. The Qin Ruolan in the photo looked about three or four years younger than she did now, wearing a white chiffon dress and holding the man's arm.

Judging by their height difference, the man was probably around 180 cm tall, dressed in a blue suit. He looked to be about the same age as Qin Ruolan and was quite handsome.

"Is this your husband?" Xu Mo asked.

"Yes," Qin Ruolan nodded, reaching out to gently touch the man's face in the photo, her expression filled with nostalgia and longing. "This was taken not long after we met."

Xu Mo waited for her to calm down a bit before returning to the topic. "What happened next? Did your husband manage to contact the source of the message?"

"No," Qin Ruolan shook her head. "He tried several times but couldn't get in touch. However..."

She paused and continued, "A few days later, the message came again."

Xu Mo responded with an 'oh' and asked, "What did the message say? More lottery numbers?"

"No," Qin Ruolan replied. "This time, the message contained information about the stock price changes of a listed company. It said that within three days of receiving the message, the stock price of that company would... I can't remember the exact details, but my husband didn't tell me much. It seemed that the price would rise from about one yuan to over five yuan."

She paused and added, "I never pay attention to stocks, so I don't know what that means."

Xu Mo explained, "If the content of the message was true, and he bought the stock of that listed company as suggested, and sold it three days later, he would have made a profit of about four yuan per share, a return of three to four times his investment."

"Yes, that's what my husband said," Qin Ruolan agreed.

Xu Mo asked, "What happened next? Did your husband buy the stock?"

"He did," Qin Ruolan replied. "At that time, we had about 100,000 yuan in savings, which we had accumulated through hard work over the years. This money had always been kept in the bank and never touched. Originally, he planned to withdraw it all and buy the stock of that listed company, but I was worried that the message might be a scam. If we lost the money, wouldn't all our hard work be for nothing?"

"Besides, such a good thing falling from the sky seemed too good to be true. Why would such a good thing happen to us?"

"My husband scolded me, saying I lacked foresight. If the sender could get the lottery numbers, why would they scam us? What do we have that's worth scamming?"

"I didn't know what we had that was worth scamming, but since we weren't related, why would they tell us about such a good thing?"

"My husband was swayed by my words and hesitated. But after some thought, he believed it might be a mistake in the phone number. The sender might have intended to send it to someone else, but the wrong number was used, and it ended up with him. He thought it was a golden opportunity that shouldn't be missed."

"No matter what, I wouldn't agree, and we ended up arguing. I asked him, 'What if we lose the money?' He said, 'How could we lose?' I replied, 'What if we do?'"

"We've known each other for so many years, and I understand his personality. He is usually cautious. Otherwise, he wouldn't have calculated so much before buying a lottery ticket. I could tell that although he said we wouldn't lose, he was also worried, just like me. After hearing my words, he hesitated again but then gritted his teeth and said, 'If we lose, we lose. We can start over. This is an opportunity. If we miss it, with our salaries, when will we be able to afford a house in this city?'"

"After hearing that, I knew he was determined, and further persuasion was useless. I brought up our child, 'Since you've decided, I won't stop you. I chose you, so I should follow you. Now we have a child. If you suffer, I will suffer with you. If we lose the money, we can work to earn it back. But what about the child? He's only three months old. We can endure hardship, but can we let our child suffer?'"

"He hesitated again after hearing my words. I knew that mentioning the child had moved him. In the end, after much thought, he decided to keep half of our savings and use 50,000 yuan to buy the stock of that company."

"What happened next?" Xu Mo asked.

"What happened next?" Qin Ruolan repeated, then continued, "Three days later, the stock price of that listed company indeed rose as the message said. He sold the stock and made a total profit of over 167,000 yuan. That night, he got drunk, crying and laughing, cursing the unfairness of society. He and I worked hard every day for four years and only saved 100,000 yuan, but he made over 167,000 yuan in three days based on a message from a stranger."

"He concluded that the stock market and lotteries are manipulated to deceive investors and lottery players, making a few people rich. I was worried he would become cynical and even more concerned after hearing this."

"The next day, he tried to contact the sender of the message again. He sent over a thousand messages in one day, even though he knew it was futile. On the fourth day, the sender finally contacted him again."

"What was it this time?" Xu Mo asked.

"It was an address," Qin Ruolan replied without hesitation.

"An address?" Xu Mo was surprised; this was not what he expected.

"The sender told him to go to that address," Qin Ruolan explained.

"Did he go?" Xu Mo asked.

"He went the same day," Qin Ruolan's response was as expected.

Did her husband disappear then? Xu Mo's heart tightened. He asked, "Do you know where that address was?"

Qin Ruolan shook her head. "No, I asked him, but he didn't tell me."

Xu Mo felt disappointed. He asked, "Did your husband disappear after going to that place?"

Qin Ruolan's response was unexpected. "Not exactly. He came back that night, but he was excited and said he was going on a long trip."

"Did he disappear..." Xu Mo stopped mid-sentence.

Qin Ruolan understood his meaning and nodded sadly, her expression filled with sorrow.

Xu Mo asked again, "Do you know where he went?"

Qin Ruolan shook her head again. "No, he wouldn't tell me anything. If he had told me beforehand, maybe it wouldn't have ended up like this, with no news at all."

Xu Mo was silent, thinking of his own parents, who had also disappeared suddenly, leaving no trace. The reasons for their disappearance were unclear, but he believed it was different from Qin Ruolan's husband.

Qin Ruolan sighed again.

Xu Mo glanced at the child she was holding and thought of the Book of Revelation's hint. Could the child's appearance in the Book of Revelation not be because he was in danger but because it was related to his father's disappearance? But how did his father's disappearance affect him, and why was he being hinted at?

Feeling at a loss, he said to Qin Ruolan, "Don't be too sad. Your child's father might... not have disappeared. Maybe he just can't contact you for now." He didn't have much confidence in his words.

Qin Ruolan gave a bitter smile, her expression filled with sorrow. "I hope so, but I know he was set up and deceived. I don't know why, but if they took him, they won't let him come back. I think... after so long, he might be gone."

As she spoke, her eyes reddened, and she couldn't help but cry, wiping away her tears with her hand.

Xu Mo didn't know what to say. When Qin Ruolan calmed down a bit, he bid her farewell and returned to his room.

As soon as he got back, he took out the Book of Revelation and flipped through it, hoping to find some connection after the child's entry.

Since his experience on the mountain, he had been wary of the Book of Revelation's content, as it hinted at uncontrollable disasters. Most of these disasters wouldn't have happened if he hadn't read the book, but because he did, they came to pass, like an unchangeable fate.

He had once read a story about a man with the ability to predict the future. One day, he foresaw that he would be killed by his best friend. He then tried everything to kill his friend, but in the end, he was killed by his friend.

The story ended tragically, and the cause was his ability to predict the future. If he hadn't foreseen his death, he wouldn't have tried to kill his friend, and thus wouldn't have been killed.

Because he had the ability to predict the future and foresaw his death, he tried to kill his friend, leading to his own death.

The events on Beishan Mountain followed a similar pattern.

Therefore, after returning, Xu Mo had been wary of the Book of Revelation and hadn't read it again. But now, because of the child's father's disappearance, which might be related to his own parents' disappearance, he couldn't resist opening it again.

On the seventh page of the Book of Revelation, there was a coffin.