Chapter 77

Edited by: kapekopicoffee

“…Cough.”

Su Mingqian lowered his head slightly, a little embarrassed at Li Shuoxing’s compliment.

He pressed his finger on the corner of Xingxing’s mouth and rubbed it twice, kind of wanting to kiss…

He quickly cut off his thoughts.

But.

+50+50+50+50.

A total of 200.

The incomparably bold and unconstrained favourability numbers illustrated Su Mingqian’s feelings in an incomparably clear gesture.

In order to divert attention, Su Mingqian didn’t wait for Li Shuoxing to speak. He quickly raised his head again, held up the travel log, and said, “I haven’t read yesterday’s log update. Ximu, let’s read the travel log together.”

Li Shuoxing had been joyfully watching Su Mingqian adding favourability, and when he heard this, his attention was diverted.

The two of them fixed their gazes on the leather book together.

In a moment, the leather book was opened and new content appeared before their eyes.

As usual, the first thing was a photo.

A huge area with many machines could be seen in the photo. The most striking among them was a silvery-white machine in the centre. Next to the machine, there was also a slender and thin back in a white shirt.

With just a single glance, Li Shuoxing confirmed.

That must be Su Mingqian!

He continued down, wanting to get more content, but to his surprise, there was only one line of text below the photo.

“Love.”

Li Shuoxing: “???”

What do you mean?

It can’t be saying that the cub has a true love for the computer, right?

I’m clearly the cub’s true love!

Li Shuoxing inwardly refused to accept it. He was about to open his mouth when he heard Su Mingqian’s voice.

“Ximu, I think…”

Su Mingqian’s fingers caressed the photo.

Something belonging to the past stirred in his mind.

Some fragments, leaking out through the gaps in the deep fog.

He murmured, “Ximu, I seem to remember this image. This image is…”

The travel log changed at the sound of his voice.

The inner page, which originally had only one line of text, suddenly began to write automatically, and new content appeared!

“Can I not do today’s homework? Love is too hard to write about, and John said that I can be lazy.”

“You could say that to John and maybe he’ll exempt you from today’s homework.”

“My calculations tell me the opposite. John has a greater chance of assigning me more homework.”

“Then I can’t help you.”

“What exactly is love? Humans have different definitions of it. Some define it as poison, others define it as honey. The vast majority believe that love makes people happy and drives people crazy. John also told me that love can solve everything.”

“John isn’t wrong in a sense.”

“You agree with that?”

“I guess.”

“Then why don’t you have someone you love?”

“It involves a lot of things. For example, I don’t have the time nor the right person.”

“No, you do.”

“I have what?”

“The database retrieved information that you have once fallen deeply in love with someone. You toss and turn, are full of expectations for him, and have closely tied your career to him, which fits 90% of human expectations for love. You just aren’t with him.”

“That isn’t love. It’s a kind of soul friend status, where my soul and his soul have intersected at some point.”

“The supreme realm of love is the intermingling of souls.”

“John has given you too little homework. You should learn more about human psychology. Love isn’t the only thing in the world.”

“George also told me that humans are good at lying. Evidently, databases are more reliable than humans.”

That was all the text that appeared on the inner page.

Li Shuoxing looked at the book, deep in thought.

This was obviously a conversation between Su Mingqian and the machine.

In this passage, the machine showed undoubted intelligence, not that it mattered, because Li Shuoxing had already guessed that. What mattered was that, reading between the lines, this conversation revealed that the cub had a soulmate…

“Ximu,” Su Mingqian suddenly spoke.

“Huh?” Li Shuoxing’s heart had been affected by that information and he replied somewhat absent-mindedly.

“I think the person I mentioned in my conversation with Ask is you,” Su Mingqian said.

“???” Li Shuoxing froze.

“If it wasn’t you, why would I appear on your phone? There are so many people in the world. The probability of me getting to your phone by coincidence is so minuscule that it’s practically impossible,” Su Mingqian analysed.

“That’s…” Li Shuoxing was somewhat convinced by Su Mingqian.

He kind of wanted to be jealous, but before the jealousy could fester in his heart, Su Mingqian was quick to snatch it away and drain it out.

It just felt… amazing.

But then Li Shuoxing thought a little more carefully and felt something off. “Cub, if we’re soulmates, then we must have some sort of connection. I should have met you before, but I don’t have any impression of you… Have you been with me for so long that you have the illusion that I’m the person you described?”

Su Mingqian cut him off in one breath, with a tone of utmost certainty, “It’s not an illusion. It’s definitely me and you.”

At the same time, he made a wish in his heart to Ask.

If the person in the database record isn’t Ximu.

Change it.

Change it right now.

Immediately destroy their information ¹ 毁尸灭迹 [huǐ shī miè jī] means to destroy a corpse and obliterate all traces. and replace it with Ximu’s!

He was so sure that Li Shuoxing felt a little strange.

Li Shuoxing unconsciously raised his hand and rubbed his lower lip. “Huh?”

He sensed something was wrong this time.

He thought the cub didn’t really need to be… so sure, did he?

He was glad that Su Mingqian was able to express his opinion, as this gave him an instant feeling that the cub hidden in his pocket hadn’t been stolen; but from the cub’s side, of course, it was best to have more information about the past and more contact with the normal world.

Wasn’t the cub really happy when he found out that he had many friends and got gifts from them before?

Now, it was just a friend becoming a soul friend.

The cub should be happy and looking forward to that too, right?

Li Shuoxing was silent for a while, so long that Su Mingqian began to feel uneasy.

He knew that Ximu was sensitive and fragile, so he was especially afraid that Ximu would hide in places he couldn’t see to cry.

He was a little anxious and blurted out some words, “Ximu, you’re the person I really care about!”

Li Shuoxing subconsciously answered, “Care about in what way?”

Su Mingqian replied with utmost clarity, “Of course, emotional care.”

Li Shuoxing: “…”

Li Shuoxing felt as if he had touched on something.

He couldn’t help but think.

Love.

Soul.

Cub’s excitement.

Emphasising that I’m the one he cares about.

I’m the one who’s his soul friend.

All of the above combined…

A soulmate?

???

Li Shuoxing had crashed.

Su Mingqian found himself rewarded with silence again.

Silence, silence and even more silence.

Did what they saw today really have such a big impact on Ximu?

He was a little distraught, but after swapping his and Li Shuoxing’s roles, he had to admit… Yes, there was such a big impact, especially as Ximu liked himself so much.

Will Ximu guess that I had a partner before and think that I’m lying to him now?

Su Mingqian felt a little anxious inwardly.

He decided to do something to change the situation, or at least cheer up Ximu first.

He looked around and suddenly saw a cute Christmas reindeer hairband. He picked it up, put it on his head, then raised his head and got serious. “Ximu, don’t be silent. Let’s keep talking. You can tell me anything you want to say.”

At the same time, he was expecting it in his heart.

Look at the hairband on my head.

Is it cute?

Does it make you feel better?

Li Shuoxing, who had been deep in thought, was awakened by Su Mingqian’s voice. He raised his eyes, saw Su Mingqian, and immediately fell back down.

He fell down because of the cuteness.

Grey eyes, red hairband, pouty face, round antlers.

Li Shuoxing drew in a few breaths in succession. “…Cub, I really do have something to tell you. Something very important. You have to listen carefully.”

Su Mingqian sat squarely in his seat with a serious look. “Say it.”

Li Shuoxing: “Caramel Ximu is my pen name. My real name is Li Shuoxing. You have to…”

He racked his brain, testing out a few sentences, but none of them seemed right, so he finally picked a particularly simple and profound one. He looked at the cute cub in the game and at the thin and slender back in the travel log. Going with the feeling of the moment, he said:

“You have to remember my name.”

1

毁尸灭迹 [huǐ shī miè jī] means to destroy a corpse and obliterate all traces.