Free Web NovelJiang Ran was at home packing a set of fresh clothes into a black backpack.
In the afternoon, he planned to head to a gym that one of his alternate personalities had somehow signed him up for, to get some exercise.
There was clearly a small gym in the apartment complex, yet someone had still gone out and gotten a membership elsewhere.
Jiang Ran honestly felt that the alternate personality who bought that card had no idea how to manage money.
Starlight Gym.
This was Jiang Ran’s first time here. The person who had come before wasn’t him.
So, as he scanned the Starlight Gym, his first impression was that it was huge.
After entering the gym, he made his way to the locker room, stashed his backpack in a small locker, and then headed to the treadmill area.
Once there.
Before he could even start exercising, a crisp female voice called out to him.
“Jiang Ran, long time no see! Finally decided to come work out, huh? If you kept putting it off, your membership card was about to go to waste.”
Jiang Ran turned around.
He saw a young woman with heavy makeup, quite pretty.
To Jiang Ran, the girl gave off three distinct impressions:
First, heavy makeup.
Second, pretty.
Third, her nose had clearly been surgically enhanced—though it was the kind of successful, good-looking job.
“Xiao An?”
Jiang Ran asked a bit uncertainly.
Xiao An didn’t notice anything off. She laughed, “What? Haven’t been here in so long that you don’t recognize me? I’ve at least chatted with you on WeChat during the time you were gone!”
Jiang Ran smiled.
It really was Xiao An.
Seemed the photos on her Moments weren’t overly filtered; she looked about the same in real life.
“By the way, what did you mean when you said my card was about to go to waste?”
Jiang Ran stood in front of a treadmill and asked.
When Xiao An heard this, a hint of sadness flickered in her eyes.
“You know, because of what happened here—the supposed suicide of my best friend.”
“The gym’s business has taken a nosedive.”
“We’ve been barely holding on this whole time. Well, now we don’t have to hold on anymore.”
“The boss has decided to shut down in a week. Starlight Gym is going to become history completely.”
Xiao An looked around the gym with great reluctance, taking in everything.
Jiang Ran was a bit stunned. He had only just come for his first visit, and in a week, the gym was going to shut down?!
Seeing the sour look on Jiang Ran’s face, Xiao An let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your money back. Our boss wouldn’t just run off irresponsibly like that.”
“I was actually planning to blow up your phone with calls if you didn’t show up. Didn’t expect you to come today.”
Then, Xiao An dragged Jiang Ran to the front desk to cancel his membership.
The gym’s owner was an honest guy. He calculated based on the membership fee, deducting only for the days used.
Whatever days were left, you got that money back.
So, Jiang Ran got back most of the money he had paid for the card.
“So, can I still work out here?”
After the cancellation, Jiang Ran asked Xiao An.
Xiao An nodded. “Anyway, we’re closing in a week. The boss said that for this week, it’s free for anyone who had a membership here.”
Jiang Ran let out a long sigh. “What a good boss! If all business owners in Hua Country were this decent, that’d be great.”
Xiao An laughed again. “Not a chance. I’ve been working for years, and I’ve met very few honest bosses.”
“Like, my boss at my last job had a famous saying: ‘Making money means making dirty money! What’s the use of keeping a conscience? Can a conscience put food on the table?’”
Jiang Ran listened and said, “If everyone thought like that, society would be doomed. Everyone making dirty money, all screwing each other over.”
“By the way, Xiao An, since this place is closing, what are you planning to do next?”
Xiao An said, “I’m sticking with my current boss. He’s planning to open a big restaurant in the neighboring city, and I’m going to be a manager there.”
Jiang Ran smiled. “Well then, I wish you great business!” freewebnoveℓ.com
Jiang Ran didn’t notice that every time Xiao An mentioned her boss.
There was admiration, longing, and a hint of romantic tension between them.
“Alright, Jiang Ran, have fun here! I’ve got things to do, so I’m off.”
Xiao An said goodbye to Jiang Ran.
Then she hurried upstairs to a room on the second floor of the gym.
After entering the room, she locked the door behind her.
The room wasn’t big, kind of like a hotel room.
A middle-aged man with a decently maintained figure had just come out of the bathroom.
When he saw Xiao An standing awkwardly behind the door.
He wrapped his arm around her slender waist.
“B-Boss…”
“Hmm? Still calling me boss?”
“H-Hubby…”
Even under her heavy makeup, her face was visibly flushed.
The boss picked her up in a princess carry, walked over to the bed, and tossed her onto it. Xiao An let out an “ah,” and seeing that, the boss pounced on her.
…
Jiang Ran fiddled with a treadmill for a while before finally getting it started and began running on it.
He didn’t know how to use the other equipment. He figured this was the simplest, so he started with the treadmill to build up his stamina and endurance.
He hadn’t forgotten his earlier resolve.
When faced with danger, he would try to handle it himself, without offloading it to his alternate personalities, to avoid another long period of blank time like last time.
He jogged slowly for an hour.
Completely drenched in sweat.
Jiang Ran slowed from a jog to a brisk walk.
At the same time, he set his phone on the treadmill and scrolled through it.
He opened TikTok. The first video was a news report.
The video had a lot of likes and comments.
Jiang Ran read it carefully: “Former criminal investigator Ying Haijun, suspected of murder, has been arrested…”
“Well… that’s an unusual case… doesn’t happen often…”
Then, he clicked on the comments section. The top comment had the most likes.
It was from a netizen who wrote: 【I’m an insider on this suspected murder case. I can’t say too much, but one thing I can reveal is that this former criminal investigator is not a bad guy. On the contrary, the person he killed was the real villain—a deranged serial killer!!!】
Below this comment, a bunch of netizens replied:
【Holy crap! That makes him a hero!】
【A deranged serial killer? Whoa, I thought that stuff only existed in movies and novels…】
【Buddy, movies and novels are based on reality, so of course these freaks exist in real life! How could you think otherwise?!】
【So scary, a deranged serial killer. Hope no one ever runs into one. Hope they all die off.】
【I’m curious, this former investigator killed that psycho—will he get sentenced?】
【Buddy, that depends on the specifics. Different circumstances lead to different sentences.】
【Damn, I was just watching that debate about A-cell vs. that lawyer Luo’s opinion on whose life matters, and now this news pops up?】
【Hope this hero ends up okay. That kind of psycho deserves to die anyway. Serves him right!!!】
As for Ying Haijun, Jiang Ran had no memory of him at all right now.
Because the one who had interacted with Ying Haijun was the complete main personality, not him.
So, this news was just something he skimmed over. After getting the gist of it, he swiped to the next short video, his attention completely gone.
