/
Chapter 24: He has a future
After confirming that they would travel together, Kou Li made two phone calls to his secretary to arrange the trip.
Bian Yi returned to the bedroom and sat on the bed. There was a new photo on the bedside table, in addition to the one he had seen when he first came back. It was a picture of the three of them, taken not long ago. The cute and warm photo frame held all three of them together, just like the weather in the picture, warm and pleasant.
Bian Yi stared at it absentmindedly for a while, and when he came back to his senses, Kou Li had already come in.
They were going on a trip, and it was not a leisurely outing, so it was inconvenient to bring Xiao Shu. After some thought, Bian Yi said, “I’ll have my mother come over for a few days to help take care of Xiao Shu.”
Unexpectedly, Kou Li refused directly: “No.”
Before Bian Yi could get angry, Kou Li explained, “She won’t recognize him. I’ll have Jian Yi go get him.”
Bian Yi fell silent for a moment but eventually nodded.
Tonight, he would test Jiang Shi, but he couldn’t be sure that the system was hidden in Jiang Shi. Even if it was, it was difficult to guarantee that the system wouldn’t switch to another host.
The series of actions taken by him, Kou Li, and Jian Yi would definitely anger the system, at least. Bian Yi wasn’t afraid of the system’s retaliation against himself, but the people close to him were different.
In that space, the system knew what kind of illusion could drive him crazy, and naturally knew what his weaknesses were. Bian Yi didn’t dare to gamble with Xiao Shu’s safety.
As for Jian Yi, he was undoubtedly the person Kou Li trusted the most. Although he was a bit strange and had some potential for scientific abnormality, Bian Yi had to admit that it was safest to leave Xiao Shu with him. At least Jian Yi could quickly discern if the people around him had switched souls.
Bian Yi had seen Jian Yi and Xiao Shu together on E Island. Although his way of amusing children was very childish, it was also evident that Xiao Shu was very familiar with him, and they must have seen each other often in the past.
Bian Yi didn’t see all of this in his previous life. The system only showed him Xiao Shu locking himself in the room, with empty, lifeless eyes.
Bian Yi took a deep breath. He used to collapse every time he saw Xiao Shu’s despondent appearance, but when he calmed down, he also suspected whether it was possible that it was fake. At that time, all his doubts seemed to be self-comfort and self-avoidance, unable to accept reality.
However, the truth was that Bian Yi’s guesses were all reasonable and logical. Kou Li was a very careful person. Although he admitted that his gentle and considerate appearance was fake, his observation skills were absolutely outstanding. Whatever Bian Yi needed or didn’t need, he could quickly find out – this had once made Bian Yi infatuated. He could clearly feel how much he was favored and cared for by Kou Li.
And Kou Li knew much more about the people close to Bian Yi than Bian Yi did himself. How could such a Kou Li let such a terrible criminal into his home and hurt Xiao Shu?
Unfortunately, the system knows exactly how to destroy one’s mental state.
Bian Yi even began to suspect that his second escape was intentionally arranged by the system.
Bian Yi can’t remember the specific time of his second escape, but he remembers it was in Winter and at a hospital.
At that time, he didn’t know anyone around him. After he got out, he looked dazed and confused. He wasn’t even sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating. He had no sense of reality.
It was in this state that he saw Xiao Shu.
Xiao Shu was only seven or eight years old at the time. He was sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed out of the room by a nurse as if to go outside to soak up some sun.
The nurse asked him a question, but he didn’t seem to hear her. He kept his head down and didn’t say a word. There was an argument in the hallway ahead of them, but he didn’t even look up. He was immersed in his own world, and he looked so sad.
Bian Yi called his name, but it had been a long time since he had spoken, and his voice was hoarse and not loud enough for Xiao Shu to hear.
When he was about to catch up, he had already returned to that space.
It was then that Bian Yi realized that he had just escaped.
However, it was no use at all.
It was also that one look that turned all of Bian Yi’s previous doubts and disbelief into a ridiculous struggle. In the end, just as the system wanted, they turned into sharp knives that would not stop until Kou Li was dead.
Fortunately, Bian Yi still retained his sanity under such torture, and he had not gone insane.
Similarly, fortunately, no, Bian Yi didn’t know whether it was fortunate or not, but there was still a trace of trust in Kou Li in his heart. Apart from hatred, there were many other things that remained in Bian Yi’s mind when it came to Kou Li’s name.
He was back now. Even though he had been in the darkness for so long, he was not completely empty-handed. He was not a person without anything. His heart was still reaching for the light, longing for it.
He still had a future, and they still had a future.
As long as that damn system was eliminated.
Kou Li and Bian Yi agreed to set off tomorrow.
With hatred for the system, Bian Yi went to sleep. He needed to rest well. He didn’t want his companions to become a burden and give the system a chance to escape.
On the other side of the city, Jiang Shi, who would normally be asleep at this time, couldn’t sleep.
He had the driver change the route and go to that road, where the accident happened.
The brief words in that book didn’t fully describe the danger of the situation at the time, instead, they focused on the protagonist’s merciless attack on Kou Li.
Jiang Shi was both anxious and couldn’t help but mock himself: how could he ever fall in love with such a cold-blooded man?
A car accident happened before his eyes, but Kou Li just frowned in disgust as described in the text.
Jiang Shi didn’t quite understand if the author of the book had water in their brain, thinking that this kind of heartless attack was cool and charming?
What normal person would dare to live with such a man? Maybe one day you would hang yourself, and the man just frowns at your corpse in disgust.
Just thinking about it, his scalp exploded, and he couldn’t harden it anymore.
Jiang Shi’s mood was so contradictory.
On the one hand, as the book said, the event did happen, and the situation was exactly the same as in the book.
On the other hand, Jiang Shi still doubted the truth of the book crazily. After all, no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t possibly fall in love with such a man who raised a substitute lover to adulthood and had a cold-blooded personality.
System:

The system really doesn’t want to communicate with this stupid new host.
It’s ridiculous.
The facts are right in front of him, and he’s still trying to find loopholes?!
The system has checked it several times and confirmed that this stupid idiot’s brain is not lacking any organization.
If it weren’t for the lack of remaining energy, it would have hugged this new host and died together.
The system didn’t communicate with Jiang Shi, but his brain was still very active.
After tossing and turning all night, Jiang Shi finally figured it out.
He stared at the moon rising outside the window after the rain stopped with his eyes wide open, feeling that the problem that had disturbed his mood all day had finally been perfectly solved.
He decided to carefully read the book again, then list the timeline, record all the possible accidents that might happen in the future, and do his best to make the person who might have an accident believe, or remind or help them avoid it.
Even if the book is true, it is still just a book. Jiang Shi knows that he is real and that this world is real enough.
Therefore, he cannot do nothing when he knows that someone may die due to an accident.
Of course, if it is really unavoidable, it is destined, and Jiang Shi has no other way.
But even if everything is destined, Jiang Shi will not follow the plot in the book and get entangled with Kou Li.
He confirmed repeatedly that he could not fall in love with such a man, and the reality of Kou Li and his husband was too good. If so, why should he follow the plot?
He should just focus on himself.
The system is really going to vomit blood this time.
It couldn’t help but check Jiang Shi’s brain again, trying to analyze what was different about his brain from others.
Why did everything change so much in his mind? His thoughts were completely different from all its previous hosts.
What’s the solution?
Does this person have any pursuit?
What the hell does this stupid thing really want?
– Jiang Shi just wants to sleep.
After struggling to fall asleep for half the night, he finally drifted off within ten seconds of feeling comfortable.
Soon, the only sound in the room was Jiang Shi’s rhythmic breathing.
The system was going crazy.
It had never encountered a host like Jiang Shi or a situation like this before.
In the past, it would give hosts a storyline, and they would eagerly complete their tasks like wolves pouncing on meat. They didn’t need any persuasion, and they didn’t care whether the plot was reasonable or not. In their eyes, what was unreasonable was reasonable.
Old habits made the system give Jiang Shi a plot when it encountered him, just like it did with Guan Xi.
But now, it was in trouble.
No, it had to come up with another solution. Without being able to obtain energy from this world, it would be unable to survive.
After a night of rain, the weather was especially clear the next day.
Bian Yi sent Xiao Shu to school and prepared to leave when Kou Li suddenly suggested that he go to his lab to get some equipment.
Bian Yi was going to wait for him at home, but Kou Li spontaneously asked if he wanted to come and see his lab.
Bian Yi went with him.
Kou Li’s lab was where he conducted his research, and he had bought many pieces of equipment covering various fields. Bian Yi didn’t know much about it because he knew that Kou Li wasn’t interested in talking to him about it.
However, Bian Yi had been to Kou Li’s lab before.
Sometimes Kou Li would become engrossed in his work, and Bian Yi would bring him food.
Besides bringing him food, Bian Yi had also provided him with other services.
After all, Kou Li in his lab coat and glasses was so charming that Bian Yi couldn’t resist being tempted to show Kou Li his uncivilized side.
Some things might not be remembered if one didn’t think about them, but when an item or place associated with an event appeared, the memories would automatically resurface.
Therefore, when Bian Yi followed Kou Li into the lab, his expression was somewhat subtle.
Kou Li’s lab was empty, and it appeared that he didn’t have any assistants to help him with his experiments.
Kou Li didn’t bother to ask Bian Yi to look around since they were so familiar with each other, and Bian Yi was also familiar with the place, so there was no need for such formalities.
He went straight to where he needed to get the equipment, and Bian Yi wandered around the lab by himself.
The lab was neither big nor small, but the most noticeable thing inside was a massive machine.
It was an elliptical machine with a golden ball in the middle, and the whole machine was dark, with no signs of it operating. Bian Yi also noticed a burnt mark in one area, as if it was broken.
At this point, Kou Li had already obtained what he needed, and when he raised his head, he saw Bian Yi standing in front of the machine.
If this were in the past, Kou Li would have introduced the machine’s name, function, and research results after Bian Yi had been staring at it for so long, and then he would have waited to hear praise from him.
This was what most people would do, hoping that their excellence would be acknowledged by their partners.
But Kou Li just looked at him without introducing the machine.
Unaware of it, Bian Yi quickly withdrew his gaze from the machine and saw that Kou Li was already coming towards him, asking, “Done?”
“Yep,” Kou Li smiled, “Let’s go.”
So Bian Yi left.
But just as he had taken two steps, he suddenly heard a burst of electric current in his head. It was brief and abrupt, like a momentary signal failure.
In a moment of impulse, he asked Kou Li, “Is this something you were researching? It seems like it failed. You haven’t fixed it.”
Kou Li looked at him steadily and said, “It did fail once, but it succeeded in the end. It won’t be used again, so there was no need to fix it.”
Bian Yi quickly averted his gaze, his heart pounding.
He pursed his lips, hastily leaving the lab and saying to Kou Li behind him, “Alright, let’s go.”