Chapter 268 – A Perfect New World (XXXII)

　　After the disk was successfully opened, the head of the monitoring system spent half a minute combing through its contents before turning it into data and sending it straight back to headquarters.

After thanking him politely, he stood up, intending to end the conversation: “Thank you for your cooperation.”

Chi Xiaochi lifted his hand, flung the ring off his pinky and tossed it into the air, grasping it in his palm.

He asked, “What are you going to do with the world lines that have been destroyed?”

The chief executive pressed his hands on the table, “This is something we should do, so it’s not up to Mr Chi to bother.”

Chi Xiaochi : “That’s what I’m supposed to do. Don’t forget, to be Lord GOD , is my heart’s desire.”

The Chief Executive was stunned, but acted more surprised than Chi Xiaochi: “Is your wish …… serious?”

Chi Xiaochi raises an eyebrow.

”Please don’t get me wrong. Because this is too big a mess ……” the other party resumed his seat, his attitude was a little less official and detached, “Just from the information we have gathered so far, it would take at least a year to sort out all the world lines that have gone wrong, let alone restore order completely.”

He paused, “With all due respect, I’m afraid you don’t understand the magnitude of the workload and we’re thinking of you, not wanting you to consume too much of your energy on our internal affairs after the dangers you’ve experienced. If you need it, I will request that you return to your old world as soon as possible ……”

”You don’t have to care whether I can understand it or not.” Chi Xiaochi said, “I’ll just ask one question: do you have any plans to restore the world lines and covenants that have been destroyed by Lord GOD?”

”It is a very …… difficult thing to try to recover,” said the Chief in as euphemistic terms as possible, “difficult. We have checked all the backed up deeds, and although there is a Wen word game, it has to be said that both the host, and the original owner, signed the deed voluntarily.”

”The basis of our system’s existence is ‘entropy’.” The Chief Executive explains in as simple terms as possible, “Entropy is the only source of our energy, i.e. the negative emotions of human beings. In this respect, we and humans are symbiotic. We seek to work with humans, like you, like 061, to serve the system in exchange for the chance to live again, and as part of our symbiosis with humans.”

”The slag attack recycling system, in our earliest versions of the plan, was only a small system.”

”According to our original plan for the Scum Attack system, we were only responsible for resurrecting the original owner from the point in time of death, collecting 1,000 points of remorse from the quest subject, plus the personal emotions of the quest subject during the rebirth process, and the external emotions received, ultimately earning 2,000 points of entropy.”

”However, 713, the current Lord GOD of the Scum Attack system, submitted a report to the watchdog after a few years on the job about reforming the system and reversing the timeline to an arbitrary time to facilitate better revenge for the original owner.”

”At first, we dismissed the proposal because it would require at least 10,000 points of entropy for every timeline reversed.”

”713 insisted on this and submitted the report over and over again and we let it try the new system out internally for a while. Little did we know that it would perform far better than any other system.”

Having said that, the General Manager commented objectively, “I have to say that it has been excellent in terms of meeting the required targets.”

–The game of “Wen” is used to deceive the host and the original host; the host is deliberately chosen with a serious character flaw; a new “good feeling” bar is added to confuse the host and entice people to fall into the game; the host is not told that the soul of the original host is still inside him, and the entropy value is eventually collected from the host, the original host, the target and the system, which is of course excellent.

Chi Xiaochi muses, digesting the known messages.

Lou Ying asked on his behalf, “Does it do that and does it ultimately do any good?”

”The systems create their own wishes as they see more and more.” The Chief Executive says, “Within each system, there exists a pool of ‘entropy’. When the pool is full, Lord GOD’s mission ends there, and we will fulfil a reasonable wish for Lord GOD.”

”Heart’s desire?”

”Become a higher level system Lord GOD, or gain freedom and become a human being and end a long eternity. After all, as a system, one has experienced everything, the only thing one has not experienced is death.”

”Then its heart’s desire is-”

”We’ve asked it.” The chief shrugged, “It said that it just wanted to stay here and not go anywhere, to make this the highest spec system under the highest god.”

Lou Ying cries out in disbelief.

There is no noble reason for this, but the cause of all the trouble was simply the “greed” of a system, Lord GOD.

The Chief Director turned back to Chi Xiaochi who had not said a word since earlier : “The reason we were able to enter into a contract with the original owner was because the original owner had ‘entropy’ present in their body at the time of their death, and the spiritual body that we captured was about to be dispersed so that we could establish a contractual relationship with them and give them the possibility of coming back to life. But when the original owner died completely, the spiritual body had already disappeared completely, so to go back in time is almost impossible.”

”Thank you for your rigorous answer.” Chi Xiaochi said, “The fact that you used ‘almost’ shows that there is still a way.”

The General Manager did not reply positively.

”The power of ‘Entropy’ is able to go back in time line. Naturally, it can also take time back to the time when the original owners first signed the pact. However, you have no intention of doing so.” Chi Xiaochi said, “Understandably, after the system’s precise calculations, resurrecting all the original owners who had been victimised was a very bad deal.”

The Chief Executive smiled slightly, not affirming or denying.

Chi Xiaochi never forgets that these truly innate systems, despite their human appearance and human expression, are essentially a bunch of data.

What the data seeks, is a perfect and cold optimal solution.

The chief executive said, “Mr. Chi, we are grateful to you for allowing us to discover such a major bug, and it is for this reason that I am talking to you so much to let you know what a big muddy puddle you have to jump through. Now, you can speak your mind.”

Chi Xiaochi leaned back: “This Lord GOD, I’ll do it.”

The chief executive exuded a look of disbelief, “Mr Chi, I thought you were very shrewd.”

Chi Xiaochi says: “I was never shrewd.”

If she had been smart enough, Chi Xiaochi would not have waited for someone who could not return, nor would she have taken a very different path in life for someone who could not have returned.

What he wants, he never wants.

”To your system, everything is just business. And if you want to do business, credibility is what counts, isn’t it.”

In business, Chi Xiaochi did not play the emotion card and said straight out, “If you just replaced another innate system to do Lord GOD after the bad accident, regardless of the bad debt that happened in the past, do you think it is more likely that other Lord GODs will learn from this or steal the experience of 713 Lord GOD cheating and use it for themselves? A symbiotic relationship is all about equivalence. There is no such thing as equivalence if you can’t even the score. Besides, if the secret of the ‘innate system’ spreads, guess if the system will riot?”

The Chief Executive finally turned pale and rose abruptly, “How do you know about the ‘Innate System’-”

Chi Xiaochi laughs, “Never you mind how I know that.”

”Instead of letting me go who knows the secret, and letting another new Lord GOD know about it, or causing a riot in the system, let the secret rot in my hands.” Chi Xiaochi said, “I will hide the secret and give these ‘innate systems’ the best possible ending, and I will help you settle the score by using all the entropy accumulated in the outgoing Lord GOD’s ‘entropy’ pool, and the entropy that will soon be earned of entropy, in exchange for a new life for these victims. How about that?”

The Chief Executive sized him up, “Mr. Chi, you are a strange man. In my database, I’ve never seen a person willing to jump into the fire.”

”It’s like you said.” Chi Xiaochi says, “Lord GOD’s wish is to become a higher Lord GOD or to be able to die as a human being. I’ve already died and don’t mind living well.”

What started out as a simple presentation of exhibits turned into a long talk of almost an hour.

As she walked out of the hut, Lou Ying asked Chi Xiaochi: “What is the secret of the ‘innate system’?”

Chi Xiaochi does not answer and looks into a corner of the space.

He had been here once last time and knew that there were 009 dormitories in that direction.

The memory data belonging to these “innate systems” has collapsed, like Lou Ying’s memories of a decade of missions, into fragments and dissipated.

It’s none of Chi Xiaochi’s business, but he doesn’t want Lou Ying to feel too burdened, so he smiles and rubs his chest: “It’s rotten here.”

Lou Ying put her hand over it and touched it tenderly, and was about to speak when a loud, crisp whistle came from beside her.

089 Leaning with his back to the door of 023’s dormitory.

Lou Ying : “Why are you standing here?”

089 rubbed the tip of his nose: “Just said goodbye to them, 23 even cried, now I can’t leave for a while, he’s thin-skinned and doesn’t want to stay with me, so he kicked me out ……”

The dormitory door thumped steeply from within, followed by 023’s jarring shout, “Who’s crying!”

089 raises an eyebrow at the two men, signalling the end of the subject.

Chi Xiaochi had no intention of telling him about 089’s near-removal from Lord GOD’s memory.

He was willing to make everything easier, especially relationships.

He did not want to add a layer of kindness to the friendship, inevitably adding to it.

So he digressed along 089, “I heard from Lou that you ran a personal errand the last time you went to cover for Lou?”

”The new Lord GOD is here to check up on you.” 089 joked, “Yeah, done.”

Chi Xiaochi had already heard the general story from Lou Ying: “I know that you can convince yourself to believe in something so bizarre, but I can’t imagine how you would convince 023 that something would happen to him in a certain month in a certain year?”

089 says, “I don’t love to convince people. But I will protect him.”

Chi Xiaochi : “So confident?”

089 looked back to the window, saw 023 peeking out from inside, and gave a low chuckle, “Because it’s me.”

……

In the meantime.

With his suitcase in his left hand, Ji Feihong walks along the red brick paths of Eastern Europe, carrying a note left for him two months ago by the young student named Lou Ying.

The quadrangular twilight converges on his shadow as he searches for the occupants of 66 Bodil Block.

From a distance, he saw a white-haired young man in a hat on a bench by his destination, wearing headphones, elfin-like, with his eyes slightly closed, breathing fresh air.

Ji Feihong’s mind was made up and he had a hunch that this was the man he was looking for.

As the note says, at six o’clock in the evening, when the sun is not so bright, he will come out of the house and sit on the bench outside.

It’s no wonder that he was instantly recognisable when he saw Zhuang Changting.

It is true that the youth’s eyesight is not very good.

When Ji Feihong stopped in front of him, he looked up, thinking it was a tourist who wanted to ask for directions, and gave a detached and awkward order of dismissal: “Hello, I don’t know the way, ask someone else for directions.”

”Ay. Hello.” Ji Feihong crouched down and noticed that the young man’s face was tender, not at all like he was older than himself, “May I ask if your surname is Zhuang.”

The clear and righteous voice should not belong to a bad person, but the young man with white hair was still instinctively alert: “You know me?”

”You can start to know each other today.” Ji Feihong curled her eyes and smiled, “I’m new to this street, I’m your neighbour.”

After taking care of things at the orphanage and gaining a basic understanding of the Ukrainian language, Ji Feihong took a year’s sabbatical from her father.

He was a family man with money, but he was a man who did as he pleased. It was not uncommon for him to sell insurance on the spur of the moment.

Whether he was willing to go abroad this time, as he said, to learn from the advanced experience of foreign nurseries or simply wanted to take a break, Father Ji let him go.

”Neighbor?” Zhuang Changting was wary, “How do you know my name?”

”I heard it from someone else.” Ji Feihong replied, “There’s a ‘child from the moon’ in number 66 called Zhuang Changting.”

Zhuang Changting is a bit happy to think that a smooth talker is not a good person.

The man on the other side introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Ji Feihong and I am also Chinese.”

With a quick mouth and a cheerful voice, he quickly introduced his family and the purpose of his visit to Ukraine, and mentioned his hobbies, one of which, “playing games”, made Zhuang Changting’s ears perk up.

Zhuang Changting Another thought, a bit of a silly chatterbox.

After a long introduction, Ji Feihong said briskly, “I didn’t expect my neighbour to be of Chinese descent, how nice. I’d like to be friends with you, how about that?”

Zhuang Changting, who rarely speaks face to face, looks aloof, but actually has his hand gripped tightly on the armrest of the bench so as to suppress the tension in his heart: “I don’t usually come out very often.”

Ji Feihong was extremely thick-skinned: “Then can I come to your house to see you more often.”

Zhuang Changting, who has never had a friend before, kept his mouth taut and silent, a little eager and a little resistant.

After a long silence, Zhuang Changting said indifferently, “Whatever you want.”

…… As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them.

He rarely speaks and therefore has no good control over the tone of his own voice.

Why this attitude yourself?

It’s over, he thought.

But before the frustration could set in, the person across the table let out a soft laugh, “Then it’s a deal. I’ll come and see you when I can.”

Zhuang Changting now dared not take Joe too seriously, fearing that he might backtrack, and gave a very quick “yes”.

Ji Feihong looks earnestly at his face.

His original plan was to spend a year becoming his friend and then naturally take him out of his death throes.

To Ji Feihong, it was worth a year’s time to save a life.

But after meeting Zhuang Changting in person, some of my thoughts slowly changed without me realising it.

Also unknowingly changing are other things.

Chi Xiaochi, who is on the same world line as Ji Feihong and Zhuang Changting, got into the same high school as Lou Ying and went on to the same university with flying colours.

They are uncharacteristically downplaying that involuntary time, seeing each other and being as close as they used to be.

The two are not trying to be ungrateful.

On the one hand, they know that it is not appropriate to talk about it, and on the other hand, they have felt the strange feelings between the other Chi Xiaochi and Lou Ying.

…… the other world, the two of them seem to be lovers.

For Chi Xiaochi and Lou Ying as teenagers, this was something they had only heard about but had never touched in their lives.

At night, when I couldn’t sleep, Chi Xiaochi closed the covers and wondered how two men could be together. Would it be comfortable to cuddle and how would kissing be different from a girl?

After all, he had grown up with Lou Ying and had no contact with girls, so he had no way to compare.

But as the thought bubbled up, his heart itched and tingled, as if a thread had sprung up in it for no apparent reason, wiggling its way to the tip of the man’s heart downstairs.

Thanks to the other Chi Xiaochi, Chi Xiaochi has a wider world to explore.

He discovered that basketball was fun, he discovered that going to school every day was not torture, and he discovered that his former tablemate in junior high school, Tong Zhuo, even got into a different class at the same high school as him.

It’s just that in his last life, he didn’t have the heart to dig into the beauty that called to him.

On his first day of high school, Tong Zhuo grabbed him and bemoaned, “Oh shit, it’s you again.”

Chi Xiaochi hooked him on the shoulder and said, “How nice is that? If you get out of class early, you’ll take my place in the cafeteria; if I get out of class early I’ll take my place, how about that?”

Tong Zhuo thought for a moment, “Aiqing has a point, so I don’t blame you for always following me around.”

But it wasn’t long before Tong Zhuo was bemoaning the fact that he had been too damned careless with his friendships.

…… Class B always ends earlier than Class A. Also, Chi Xiaochi eats and plays one at a time for his brother Lou, who is a senior in his family.

Tong Zhuo complained, “Brother Lou, Brother Lou, all you know is your brother Lou. You’re such a small daughter-in-law, just marry him.”

Chi Xiaochi hit him with her schoolbag, but in her mind she thought of another Chi Xiaochi.

That day, he carried himself and went to the communal bathroom in the silo and washed his hair.

”Disappointed to see the other you when you grow up.” Chi Xiaochi, the other long-haired one, drops his head, his slightly longer hair brushing his ear, and says, “As long as you don’t grow up to look like me, I’ll thank God.”

At that time Chi Xiaochi could not speak, but in his heart he gave the answer.

–I really want to be another you, to be able to protect the people I care about most.

Thinking about it, Chi Xiaochi was enlightened, thinking that all those inexplicable itches and palpitations were due to that little obsession.

He has to protect Lou.

He doesn’t know what Lou Ying has in mind.

Chi Xiaochi is the one who willingly gave up his body to bring Lou Ying back to life. As for Lou Ying, he was clearly having a good time, but he was inexplicably possessed and manipulated like a puppet on a string for a few months, which must have been quite unpleasant.

But when Chi Xiaochi was alone with him one time and asked about it, Lou Ying said, “No, I’m grateful to that person.”

Chi Xiaochi put his mind at ease.

He was quite afraid that Lou Ying would hold a grudge against the object of their benefactor: “Yeah well. They were being kind and didn’t mean to steal your body.”

”Hmm.” Lou Ying smiled warmly and looked down to write a few lines before inclining his head to call him again, “Xiaochi.”

Chi Xiaochi is working on a big physics problem related to acceleration: “Hmm?”

Lou Ying asked, “Do you think that Lou brother is better or this Lou brother is better?”

Chi Xiaochi smiles and says, “It’s all good.”

But he thought to himself, “That Lou brother is good for everything, but this Lou brother is with me.

It was too odd to say, and it was only a thought in his mind before the strange threads began to wrap around his heart again, calling him a little breathless.

Lou Ying gave another “hmm” and continued to write, but the corners of his lips turned down in annoyance for a moment.

Lou Ying could have been guaranteed a place at university straight away, but he wanted to give it a go and his final results were, as expected, impressive.

He went away and texted Chi Xiaochi from time to time about his current situation.

Once Chi Xiaochi texted him and he didn’t reply until he called an hour later, slightly out of breath.

Lou Ying apologised: “Sorry, I was practising earlier.”

Chi Xiaochi got sensitive: “Why are you practicing boxing. Is someone bullying you at school?”

Lou Ying paused, “No. Just suddenly wanted to learn a bit more.”

Chi Xiaochi is relieved.

Since Lou Ying’s incident, Chi Xiaochi has always been paranoid about similar things: “Don’t scare me.”

”Didn’t want to scare you.” Lou Ying’s voice softened, “If you’re worried about me, come to the exam early and watch me.”

So Chi Xiaochi quickly enrolled in his school with high marks.

On the day of the report, when the bus arrived at the West Station train station in the nearby city, Chi Xiaochi, carrying her luggage, bumped into Tong Zhuo, who was also carrying a suitcase.

The two men looked at each other without saying anything.

Tong Zhuo : “Beijing?”

Chi Xiaochi : “Beijing.”

Tong Zhuo : “The one that drives in half an hour?”

Chi Xiaochi : “Well, that trip.”

Tong Zhuo breathed a long sigh of relief and put a hand on his shoulder, smiling brightly, “Let’s go.”

Lou Ying picked him up at the station after returning early from her summer vacation because she was working for her tutor.

Chi Xiaochi jumped into Lou Ying’s arms, smiling and pouting, “Senior!”

Tong Zhuo smacked his lips, thinking that good-looking people really do have a good taste in the mouth, and that the image of a 5’8″ person jumping into a person’s arms must be unbearable to watch.

Lou Ying took him in his arms and rubbed his forehead gently, “Did you eat on the train? You must be hungry.”

Today we had good news that Lou Ying’s bidding for graduate school was a sure thing, and with Chi Xiaochi reporting to school again, Chi Xiaochi was looking forward to celebrating and meeting Lou Ying’s friends after she had reported and settled her luggage.

Celebration is celebration, but Chi Xiaochi still overestimates his drinking capacity.

Unlike the other Chi Xiaochi, who has developed his drinking skills over the years in the entertainment industry, this one is under Lou Ying’s close care and has never even had the chance to get addicted to cigarettes.

Chi Xiaochi was carried back to her dormitory by Lou Ying.

It’s junior year and not many students are still living in the dorm, most of them are renting rooms with their girlfriends, so Lou Ying has only one roommate left.

Lou Ying moved Chi Xiaochi to his own bed, fetched the basin and was about to go to the hot water room to fetch him hot water to wipe his face when he heard a muffled thud from inside the room before he could close the door.

Lou Ying, in a hurry, pushed the door open again and saw a drunken Chi Xiaochi rolling on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Lou Ying tightened her arms around his waist and lifted him up, “You.”

Instead, the teenager blushed and hooked his neck, ” Brother Lou, Brother Lou.”

Lou Ying, who was not a bad drinker but was a little dizzy from the puff of alcohol, patiently responded to the little drinker’s words, “Hmm?”

Chi Xiaochi pulled back the covers, pointed to her heart and said in a daze, “It’s not good.”

Lou Ying heard him say that he was not feeling well, and his heart pumped along with him, “Why are you not feeling well? I’ll take you to the school doctor’s office ……”

”It’s like being tied up with wires.” Chi Xiaochi murmured, “Just thinking about Brother Lou does that. Is that normal?”

Lou Ying was stunned, her heart tightening by the minute.

He wondered if he had misunderstood Chi Xiaochi’s meaning.

”That Lou Ying likes that Chi Xiaochi, as it should be. …… that Chi Xiaochi is that good.” Chi Xiaochi said to herself, “…… But would Lou, my brother, like me.”

The next morning, Chi Xiaochi lies on Lou Ying’s lemon-scented bed with a look of sheer disbelief.

Done, he thought.

It was only at sunrise that Lou Ying returned with breakfast and helped Chi Xiaochi out of bed.

Chi Xiaochi sipped her bean curd, hoping that Lou Ying would be as considerate as ever and not ask any questions.

However, as he was putting the bowl down, Lou Ying asked him, “Do you remember what you said yesterday?”

The teenager who remembered everything shrank back under the covers and tried to deny it, “I broke up.”

Lou Ying lifted the covers, looked at Chi Xiaochi for a moment, leaned down and kissed him gently on the lips.

”Come to think of it?” Lou Ying’s voice trembled too, her cheeks flushed slightly, “If it doesn’t come to mind, I can give you another hint.”

What Chi Xiaochi doesn’t know is that Lou Ying is even more grateful to those two people than Chi Xiaochi herself.

If it weren’t for them, it might have taken Lou Ying many more years to come to terms with her feelings.

–He was in love with the teenager he had grown up looking after.

From the time he turned 18 and realised at the station that he would soon not be able to see Chi Xiaochi all the time, he realised that something was not right with his affections.

The good thing is, it turns out, he never had wishful thinking.