4 – Did zombies eat your brain?
The computers were at the very back. Lin Yaojia made her way through, attracting quite a few glances along the way.
Her well-behaved appearance really didn’t fit the vibe of this place.
Lin Yaojia kept her eyes straight ahead as she walked to the innermost area.
As she passed by seat number 28, Lin Yaojia was drawn to the pair of hands on the keyboard.
Pale, slender, with distinct knuckles—but most importantly, they moved fast and skillfully, typing beautifully and fluidly across the keys.
Looking up at the computer screen, she saw a female character in a pale yellow pleated skirt fire a stream of bullets that hit the opponent’s head, which had inadvertently peeked out from a third-floor room.
That move was pretty damn impressive.
Only then did Lin Yaojia shift her attention to the person in front of her.
Black hair, a side profile with striking lines, long eyelashes casting shadows on his eyelids.
He looked very young, wearing a blue-and-white number 19 basketball jersey, his Adam’s apple clearly defined.
The guy held down the mouse and fired several shots in quick succession. After the screen flashed the announcement of a win the chicken, he yanked off his headphones, turned his head, and said coldly, “Had enough?”
His face was far more stunning than his profile—dark, deep-set eyes and eyebrows, a tall, straight nose.
Especially those narrow, captivating eyes that could make even a dog feel adored.
Not only was the guy handsome, but his voice was mesmerizing too.
Low and husky, each word distinct.
“Not yet,” Lin Yaojia replied instinctively, feeling a bit carried away.
The handsome guy’s expression darkened as he narrowed his eyes to scrutinize Lin Yaojia.
His gaze was anything but friendly. Lin Yaojia snapped back to her senses and quickly shook her head. “No, no, I’ve seen enough… Wait, that’s not what I meant either… I mean… never mind.”
Seeing that she couldn’t explain herself clearly, Lin Yaojia gave up and closed her mouth, hugging her Wahaha as she walked to her own seat and sat down.
She stared straight at the computer screen.
From beside her came a low, mocking chuckle, tinged with faint derision.
It felt as if it were laced with ice shards, much like the bottle of cold, fizzy Coke on the table.
Lin Yaojia stayed quiet for a long while before sneaking a glance to the side.
The guy had already started a new game.
Lin Yaojia withdrew her gaze, opened her browser, and curiously asked, 【998, are there a lot of handsome guys in this world from the book?】
998 paused for a moment. 【You think he’s handsome?】
【Handsome enough to make my legs go weak, okay?】 Lin Yaojia was frantic. 【If he debuted in the entertainment industry, I’d absolutely be his most, most, most loyal fan!】
998: 【Oh, what a coincidence. That’s Huo Songjin.】
【……】
Lin Yaojia was stunned.
It took her a while to find her voice again. 【What did you say?】
998 enunciated each word clearly: 【That’s your mission target, Huo Songjin.】
Lin Yaojia immediately held her breath, subtly shifting her butt a little to the side while glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
998 covered its face.
Help, its host really looked creepy right now.
Lin Yaojia’s heart was beating a little too fast. She didn’t know why she felt like she was meeting an online crush.
Excited, thrilled, and even a little moved.
From Huo Songjin’s straight, tall nose to the line of his neck disappearing into his collar.
Wuwuwuwu…
She’d finally met her Jin Jin!
He was so handsome, even more so than the author had described.
Under the increasingly heavy sound of Huo Songjin’s keyboard tapping, Lin Yaojia finally settled down.
She withdrew her gaze and focused intently on browsing the internet.
Mainly, she clicked into Weibo and habitually scrolled through the trending topics for a while.
Most of the trending searches were about the entertainment industry, featuring many celebrity names she was unfamiliar with.
After browsing for half a minute, she exited and searched for Huo Chi’s name in the browser.
Huo Chi, Chairman of the Huo Group.
He was also Huo Songjin’s father—or rather, he should now be called Huo Chengyu’s father.
Huo Songjin and Huo Chengyu were a classic case of “swapping the prince for a cat.” Seventeen years ago, Jia Fangshu and Ye Fei gave birth at the same hospital. A careless nurse accidentally switched the two babies.
Huo Songjin spent seventeen years as the eldest young master of the Huo family, while Huo Chengyu lived as an ordinary person for seventeen years.
Huo Chengyu’s original name was Ye Chenyu.
The Ye family was of modest means, making a living by selling vegetables at the local market. They lived in Yicheng and had little connection to the capital.
Until a few months ago, when Huo Chi traveled to Yicheng on a business trip.
The hotel he stayed at happened to source vegetables from the Ye family.
That day, the weather was poor. Ye Chenyu was helping his father deliver vegetables. The young man wore a simple T-shirt, his posture upright, sweat dampening the hair on his forehead.
As Huo Chi hurried out of the hotel, he caught a glimpse of a face that bore a striking resemblance to his own.
Even his secretary behind him stopped in surprise.
The meeting was abruptly canceled, and Huo Chi took Ye Chenyu to the nearest hospital for a paternity test.
Later, Huo Chi brought Ye Chenyu back to the capital and renamed him Huo Chengyu.
…
There was very little information about Huo Chi online. Lin Yaojia searched for a long time but couldn’t find anything useful.
She grabbed her Wahaha yogurt drink and took a few big sips.
She was genuinely anxious, after all, a major plot point was about to unfold.
Lin Yaojia tilted her head slightly. The boy sat quietly beside her, making almost no sound other than the tapping of his keyboard.
It didn’t seem like he was playing a game at all.
Take Lin Yaojia herself, for example. No matter what game she played, she’d curse while fiercely clicking her mouse and keyboard.
But Huo Songjin was completely silent, not even bothering to furrow his brows.
Yet, on his computer screen, he was taking down opponents one headshot after another.
The demeanor of a pro gamer was on full display.
The way he played games was truly dazzling.
This feeling was something that couldn’t be captured in the novel.
So, Lin Yaojia found it hard to imagine how someone like him would feel if a car accident injured his wrist, leaving him unable to play games ever again.
In the original novel Palm of Love, Huo Songjin was merely a supporting character with very little screen time.
He was always used to highlight the male lead.
A car accident severely damaged his wrist, ending his gaming career, shattering his esports dreams, causing him to lose his family, and ruining his reputation.
All the suffering he endured was summed up in just a few lines by the author.
As a result, Lin Yaojia only knew he would be in a car accident at the age of seventeen but had no idea when it would happen.
After pondering for a moment, Lin Yaojia tentatively asked, “998, do you think…”
998 put on a serious face. “Give it up. I won’t spoil anything.”
Lin Yaojia: “…” What’s the point of having you?!
She opened the 4399 mini-games site, found Plants vs. Zombies, and clicked on it with practiced ease.
She planned to relax for a while, but unfortunately, fate had other plans.
When a bottle of mineral water, accompanied by a furious “Fuck you!”, suddenly came flying from the opposite side, all Lin Yaojia could think was, “I’m still one sun short!”
It wasn’t until someone grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her down, hiding half her body under the table, that she snapped back to reality.
The mineral water bottle brushed past her hair and hit the wall with a thud.
In the distance, someone was fighting—the sound of curses and punches echoed continuously.
In this slightly cramped corner, Lin Yaojia looked up and met the young man’s somewhat indifferent eyes.
His back was slightly bent, one hand gripping her arm while the other loosely held a mouse.
The blue light from the computer screen reflected on his face.
“Th-thank you.”
Lin Yaojia was momentarily dazed.
Huo Songjin released her hand, his gaze sweeping over her as he said, “Your brain must have been eaten by zombies.”
Huh??
Lin Yaojia’s first thought was that her 2D idol actually had the heart to scold such an enthusiastic and devoted fan like her.
It wasn’t until Lin Yaojia straightened up and looked at the screen of her computer that she froze for a moment.
At the same time, she let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.
Thankfully, she hadn’t said anything more just now.
Otherwise, she might have offended her idol.jpg.