Zhu Xing was surprised when he saw this. Why so sudden? But Ying Chi clearly hadn’t agreed, meaning there was still room for a turnaround.
On his way driving to the club, Ying Chi felt a heavy mood. Losing his heir status followed by a cliff-edge breakup caused him to overthink.
Upon arrival, Ying Chi asked the staff for directions and was told the person was in the lounge.
When Ying Chi gently pushed open that door, he already had a premonition in his heart, but seeing Lin Yu embracing someone else still sank his heart to the bottom.
Lin Yu stiffened upon seeing him, yet still didn’t pull away, keeping his face cold and remaining silent.
“Did you break up with me to hook up with someone else?” Ying Chi vaguely remembered the guy holding Lin Yu; it was the young master of the Chen family.
“Young Master Ying, oh wait, I should probably just call you Ying Chi now. You’ve already been stripped of your heir status,” Chen Bowen said as he planted a kiss on Lin Yu’s cheek, while Lin Yu accepted the affection willingly.
Ying Chi closed his eyes, finally realizing how foolish he had been to make such ridiculous choices for someone like this.
“Ha, because of someone like you, I hurt my family and my friends. It’s ridiculous, but Lin Yu, and you, did you really think I couldn’t do anything to you?”
A throbbing pain pounded at Ying Chi’s temples. Unwilling to look at the sickening scene any longer, he turned and walked out of the private room.
Zhu Xing wept internally. What on earth was happening here? His mission was about to collapse again.
[250, it’s over, my mission collapsed again,] Zhu Xing said listlessly.
[Host, let’s take it one step at a time.]
Days later, seeing the two empty desks in class, Zhu Xing felt his irritation grow. Just as he was trying hard to follow the plot, the protagonists fell apart anyway.
A week later, Zhu Xing heard from his parents that the Chen family had gone bankrupt. True to the novel’s protagonist, even after being stripped of his heir status, Ying Chi wiped out the Chen family with a flick of his wrist.
[System, do you think there’s any chance, Ying Chi pulls off a forced love arc?]
[Host, are you alright? Is the mission failure hitting you this hard? Ratings aren’t out yet, don’t rush.]
A full month passed before Ying Chi returned to school, apologizing to Zhu Xing right in front of the entire class.
“I’m sorry, Xingxing.” The arrogance had faded from Ying Chi, leaving him much quieter.
“What are you calling me? Can’t you say Classmate Zhu?” The moment Qu Qingyu heard the name Xingxing, his mouth shot back with a retort.
Yet Ying Chi didn’t talk back, yielding submissively instead. “Classmate Zhu, I’m sorry.”
Zhu Xing nodded casually. “Mm-hm, accepted.” Actually, he wanted to say whether Ying Chi could just marry Lin Yu to salvage his mission.
Lin Yu remained entirely out of sight, though once when Zhu Xing went out with Qu Qingyu and Zou Ran, they spotted him at a club accompanying different men on several occasions.
Every time Lin Yu latched onto someone new, Ying Chi tracked them down, gradually making it impossible for Lin Yu to even find part-time jobs as Ying Chi constantly sabotaged his efforts.
Lin Yu neared a breakdown. “Ah Chi, I’m sorry. You still love me, right? Can you please stop targeting me and let’s be together properly?”
Ying Chi pushed him away sharply, sneering, “Love you? Don’t say such disgusting things. I’m just curious how long someone who loves acting as much as you can keep up the charade.”
Zhu Xing no longer had the energy to deal with the entanglement between the two. Ever since they started university away from home, Qu Qingyu had turned into an absolute clingy shadow.
While handling Qu Qingyu’s endless demands, Zhu Xing worried constantly about his upcoming twenty-fourth birthday.
Because the original plot concluded at age twenty-four, when the original novel’s protagonist gong Ying Chi proposed to Lin Yu.
Yet currently, nobody even knew where Lin Yu was, and Ying Chi had moved abroad, barely making an appearance over the past two years.
Finally, during a drowsy morning lecture, Zhu Xing heard the system’s settlement chime.
Accompanied by the system’s self-generated celebratory background music, a deafening clatter of gongs and drums startled Zhu Xing awake.
[Now settling current mission points. Due to mid-term task adjustments, the host’s evaluation method has been changed to assisting supporting characters in driving plot progress. Current rating: D-Class. Points credited: 10,000.]
Zhu Xing wasn’t surprised by the D-class rating since the two protagonists hadn’t ended up together.
Even so, weren’t the points a bit too high? Historically, only S-class ratings yielded 10,000.
[System, how many points does an S-rating get?]
520 checked the internal system rating table and saw a string of 10,000s stretching from S down to D class, with identical point payouts across the board.
Was there a bug? 520 prepared to inform Zhu Xing when a jolt of static surged through.
[My host, S-class only gives 1,000 more.] The system’s pitch shifted slightly, sounding closer to a real human voice.
Still, getting only 1,000 extra for an S-class made it practically identical to B-class. Zhu Xing accepted the rating without much fuss, considering he was already blacklisted by the industry anyway. For once, Zhu Xing felt a twinge of urgency.
[So, my dear host, what rating would you like for the next mission? S? Double-S?] Zhu Xing shivered in disgust.
[250, are you malfunctioning? What are you calling me?] With that, he threw a punch mentally, clearing the static bursts until the system returned to normal.
[Understood, Host.] Previously, when the system called him host, Zhu Xing thought nothing of it, but getting called that now made his hair stand on end.
[Ratings aren’t something I can just demand. Act professional, or I’ll crush you.]
[Host! Why would you want to crush me?] 520 felt another static wave wash over before hearing Zhu Xing’s threat to crush it.
This response sounded distinctly normal, though switching titles was probably for the best.
[Call me Host, stop calling me Master.]
[Understood.] 520 had no choice but to follow whatever Zhu Xing wanted.
[System, now that the mission is complete, can I stay here?]
[Host, unfortunately no. Since you’ve transmigrated into ten consecutive school romance novels, lingering too long in the same genre counts as passive mission completion, which incurs point deductions. 3,000 points for the first year, 6,000 for the second, and so on.] Combined with his newly added points, he only had enough to cover a single year’s penalty.
Since entering school romance novels was no longer permitted, it required 10,000 points to advance to the next tier.
[Fine then,] he muttered despondently.
Upon moving out of town for university, Qu Qingyu bought a house near the campus and officially moved in with Zhu Xing.
Returning home, Zhu Xing felt too oppressed and low-spirited to speak.
“Having accomplished what you wanted to do, aren’t you happy?”
“Not really. Even though it’s done, I feel miserable.” Zhu Xing mumbled listlessly. Catching himself, Zhu Xing snapped back to attention and stared wide-eyed at Qu Qingyu. Did he mean what he thought he meant?
Qu Qingyu pulled him onto the couch in an embrace. “It’s done, so cheer up and stop overthinking.”
“Then, then if I leave, what are you going to do?” Zhu Xing’s voice trembled.
“I’ll follow you. Sound good?” Qu Qingyu coaxed him calmly and gently.
“How could you follow me? Do you even know where I’m going?” Zhu Xing asked anxiously.
“No matter where you go, I will find you.” Qu Qingyu’s unwavering tone finally allowed Zhu Xing to relax slightly.
[System, get out here! Is what he’s saying true?]
[Host, even I can’t be certain. Normally, characters from a minor world cannot travel to other worlds because they lack system support to cross world barriers.]
Hearing the system’s response, Zhu Xing’s heart tightened again. He was terrified Qu Qingyu would be left behind.
Noticing the hesitation on Zhu Xing’s face, Qu Qingyu murmured, “Alright, go finish your next mission.”
He planted a soft kiss on Zhu Xing’s lips and whispered, “Go on, I’ll find you. Finish the mission quickly and gain your freedom.”
Zhu Xing didn’t let the system pull him away, but feeling his soul start to detach, he wrapped his arms tightly around Qu Qingyu.
“Okay, I’ll wait for you in the next world. You have to come!”
After Zhu Xing left, Qu Qingyu looked calmly at the empty space in his arms where the figure had vanished. His hair began to grow longer, shimmering like silver moonlight, and his eyes shifted from black to silver like winter ice, clear yet profound, wrapping him in an aura of mystery and danger.
[001, let’s go.]
A cold voice echoed, and he vanished from the spot as well.
With their departure, the entire world ground to a halt.
Zhu Xing waited inside the system’s settlement space, where completed missions granted a three-day rest period.
[520, let’s hurry into the next world.]
Beep. Tier 1 mission completed. Opening secondary channel.
–Entering transmission.