CH 64

He Zhou was insanely jealous of Qin He.

He was jealous that Qin He met Qiu Yanzhi earlier than he did.

He was jealous that Qin He was a real person.

He was jealous that Qin He had been genuinely liked by Qiu Yanzhi.

He was clearly jealous to the point of insanity.

But when he went up to kiss Qiu Yanzhi, his movements were as careful as can be, like he was handling something precious.

He kissed Qiu Yanzhi’s mouth, then he couldn’t resist kissing his eyes. But after kissing his eyes, he couldn’t resist kissing his nose.

This went on until the person in his arms grew itchy. He Zhou stopped once Qiu Yanzhi frowned a bit and nuzzled his collarbone.

He Zhou wanted to carry Qiu Yanzhi to the bathroom to clean up, but the sight of his right leg made his eyes darken.

He painfully closed his eyes.

And held the person in his arms a bit tighter.

He Zhou hasn’t been to his company in some time recently, so his workload was piling up.

Even though most of the tasks could be finished online, there were still some that had to be handled in person.

When He Zhou said he was going to the company, Qiu Yanzhi was a little worried. "Maybe you should rest some more…”

He Zhou shook his head and smiled. "Qiu Yanzhi, I have to learn how to adapt eventually.”

So Qiu Yanzhi could only let him go. However, he asked to accompany He Zhou.

And He Zhou agreed.

Every employee at the company already found out through their own sources that President He might never be able to stand again.

When He Zhou appeared at the company in a wheelchair, every employee greeted him politely with their heads bowed, as if nothing was just as it had been before.

However, when He Zhou turned around, those same people secretly glanced at him with a mixture of sympathy and pity in their eyes.

He Zhou's expression was completely blank.

But Qiu Yanzhi clearly saw how his fingers gripped the armrests of the wheelchair so tightly that they became pale.

Qiu Yanzhi followed He Zhou to the company the next day as well. He Zhou refused to let him come on the third day.

Qiu Yanzhi asked him why.

He Zhou twirled a strand of Qiu Yanzhi’s soft, dark hair around his fingers. He said with a gentle smile, “Qiu Yanzhi, your life can't revolve around me all the time."

Qiu Yanzhi pursed his lips. He never went to the company with He Zhou again.

…He seemed unable to refuse any of He Zhou’s requests at this point.

The only thing he could say was, "Then you have to take bodyguards with you wherever you go."

He Zhou: “You as well.”

Actually, there wasn’t much else for Qiu Yanzhi to do. His only task at the moment was to find that ‘Tongfang’.

However, there was a complete lack of new leads.

That ‘Tongfang’ hasn't sent him any more messages.

The list of people who used to go by ‘Tongfang’ was difficult to compile. The results weren’t out yet.

Qiu Yanzhi continuously asked other to look into the phone number from which ‘Tongfang’ had sent him those text messages and even called him. Yet the only information that came of it was that the caller was somewhere in this city.

Qiu Yanzhi continued to sift through all the information he could find on people called ‘Tongfang’, but it was like looking for the needle in a haystack. Nothing came of it.

On the contrary, it was Zhang Yuxuan who frantically called him first.

He said that Liu Cheng had disappeared.

Liu Cheng had clearly agreed to go shopping with him, but he never came.

Zhang Yuxuan thought Liu Cheng had just forgot, but no one picked up when he called. It was only when he rushed to the house Liu Cheng rented afterwards that he realized something was wrong.

Someone had pried open Liu Cheng’s front door. There were also blood smeared across the floor.

Zhang Yuxuan sounded like a trembling mess. He said that he just called the police and asked his father for help, but he still couldn’t calm down. In a teary voice, he asked Qiu Yanzhi what if something had happened to Liu Cheng. Was he kidnapped by an enemy and killed? He asked why such a thing would happen to a person as good as Liu Cheng.

Qiu Yanzhi's heart sank like a rock. While he reassured Zhang Yuxuan on the surface, he suspected that something more nefarious was at play. Tongfang may even have a hand in this.

After the call ended, Qiu Yanzhi once again commissioned the investigation team to look for Liu Cheng.

Then he called He Zhou and told him about this development.

He Zhou was at the company at the moment. After listening to Qiu Yanzhi’s summary, he said, “Wait for me. I’ll come home straight away.”

Qiu Yanzhi’s first thought was to use an Instant Transport Card to bring He Zhou home. But before he could say anything, he remembered that the user of the card had to be within 50 meters when using it.

Then Qiu Yanzhi thought about how the investigation team would need some time to look into Liu Cheng. Thus he said to He Zhou, "Then I'll wait for you."

However, Qiu Yanzhi was surprised to get the CCTV footage from the time of the incident from the investigation team just 15 minutes later.

Two hooded thugs, brimming with either arrogance or stupidity, brazenly pried off Liu Cheng’s lock in broad daylight. Disregarding his struggles, they dragged him out the door.

His neighbours heard the screams, but no one dared to come outside

The security camera was the only silent witness.

The next part of the footage made Qiu Yanzhi’s heart skip a beat.

He saw those two strong thugs drag Liu Cheng to the foot of his building.

There, they opened the lid of a trash can and stuffed Liu Cheng inside.

Liu Cheng struggled inside for five minutes.

Then the trash can grew still.

Those two glanced at their watches before opening the lid again.

It was empty inside. Although their hoods were up, the muscles near their mouths that were still visible seemed to move like they were smirking.

Qiu Yanzhi felt like he had been doused from head to toe in cold water.

He just knew that trash cans could make garbage disappear within five minutes.

Never did he think that this bug could be used on NPCs.

So who exactly discovered this bug and had to kill Liu Cheng no matter what?

This footage was all the investigation team could give him. They even apologized, saying that they suspected this footage had been tampered with.

But Qiu Yanzhi knew that this footage showed exactly what had gone down.

His scalp grew numb.

Yet a second later, he jolted like he had been electrocuted.

Qiu Yanzhi suddenly thought about the two drivers that went missing in the first and second round.

They disappeared so cleanly that even their corpses were nowhere to be found.

Before, Qiu Yanzhi thought that person had used Troublesome Character Disappearance Cards.

However, now that he thought about it, Troublesome Character Disappearance Cards cost $10,818.

Stuffing people in trash cans, on the other hand, was free.

This also corroborated one of his suspicions.

...That person was broke.

That person had never used any premium cards. The sudden disappearance of that gunman in the shooting range was probably due to an Instant Transport Card, which had a chance to be drawn from the free card pool every two days.

Additionally, it was because that person didn’t have access to premium cards that he hired proxies like the gunman and sniper, installed security cameras and sent threatening messages. That was why he used all sorts of underhanded methods. He wanted to mislead Qiu Yanzhi into believing he was some powerful figure.

So if this incident was indeed caused by that person…

He usually hid his traces so well. Why did he take out Liu Cheng so brazenly this time?

It was almost like he no longer cared about the consequences of his actions.

Even if Qiu Yanzhi kept reassuring himself, saying that he’d be fine because he had so many more premium cards at his disposal, the sense of unease he felt only grew.

Then, at that very moment--

He received another email from the investigation team regarding the list of people who used to go by ‘Tongfang’.

When Qiu Yanzhi opened the document, his eyes immediately picked a familiar name in the densely populated table.

--Ye Hongyuan.

Former name: Ye Tongfang.

A tremor ran through the hand Qiu Yanzhi held the phone with.

Following the sudden realization, he frantically opened the control panel and took out Liu Cheng’s Memory Search Card that he had drawn in the last round.

All the cards in this world persisted across resets.

Thus, the three memories he once watched were still stored on this Memory Card.

Qiu Yanzhi immediately pulled up the third memory.

The one where he saw Ye Hongyuan strangling Liu Cheng.

Upon watching it once more, he noticed a detail he had missed.

An object rested on the floor by Liu Cheng’s feet.

It was black and resembled a smartphone, but there was something off about it.

Since this was a fully immersive memory clip, Qiu Yanzhi headed straight over and crouched down to take a closer look at that ‘phone’.

On the screen of this phone--

Was the control panel he was oh so familiar with.

Qiu Yanzhi froze in place.

But the memory clip played on.

Jing Zeyu came over.

Ye Hongyuan let go of Liu Cheng’s neck and smoothly kicked the ‘phone’ under the table.

His tone was grim. “Liu Cheng, apologise to my wife."

It turned out that Ye Hongyuan didn’t choke Liu Cheng because of Jing Zeyu; he did it because Liu Cheng saw his physical control device.

It turned out that Ye Hongyuan had asked Liu Cheng to apologize to Jing Zeyu to cover things up and make sure Jing Zeyu didn’t notice anything strange.

It turned out that the reason Liu Cheng was bugged in the last round and immune to the effects of the Reset Card was because he accidentally came into contact with the physical control device.

...It turned out that the player who threatened and intimidated him, the one he referred to as Bug #3, was Ye Hongyuan.

Qiu Yanzhi immediately scrambled to call He Zhou once he exited the memories. He had to ask where he was and when he was coming back.

But to his surprise, before he could dial He Zhou’s number, the man’s bodyguard called him first.

"M-Mr. Qiu...Mr. He, Mr. He just disappeared!"

Qiu Yanzhi’s palms were sweating, but he forced himself to calmly ask, “What do you mean he disappeared?”

The bodyguard sounded frantic like he had just seen a ghost. “We don’t know what happened either! We’ve never left Mr. He’s side, but he suddenly vanished when he was about to get in the car! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but everyone else saw it too! He really vanished into thin air, I swear!”

--Instant Transport Card.

As long as the user is within 50 meters of the card, it can take effect.

Regardless if the target is a player, a NPC or an object.

Ye Hongyuan must’ve snuck within 50 meters of He Zhou and spirited him away with an Instant Transport Card.

Qiu Yanzhi stood numbly in place. He had goosebumps everywhere and all his hair was standing on end. The terror and anxiety of losing He Zhou soon almost overwhelmed him.

He looked down. With tightly gritted teeth, he almost mechanically dialed the number of that Bug #3.

The other party hung up on him.

No answer.

No answer.

No answer.

Qiu Yanzhi repeatedly dialed that number until his fingers were stiff and numb.

Only then did that person leisurely pick up. His voice was still distorted by a voice changer to sound raspy and sinister. “Well aren’t you an impatient one.”

With gritted teeth, Qiu Yanzhi spat out his words one by one, “Ye Hongyuan, what did you do to He Zhou?!”

The other party was quiet for a moment before suddenly speaking, “What did you just say?”

Qiu Yanzhi sneered. “Or should I call you Ye Tongfang?”

Another silence ensued. Suddenly, there was laughter. After turning off the voice changer, Ye Hongyuan’s voice could be heard. He spoke in a sickening, unhurried tone, “You found out quite fast, but you were still a step too slow.”

Qiu Yanzhi: "Spit it out. Where do you want me to go this time?”

Ye Hongyuan laughed. “The usual place, of course. Shengming Building on Zhonglin Road, first floor. I’ll wait twenty minutes for you.”

Qiu Yanzhi took out an Instant Transport Card, but he hesitated before using it. He went over to the drawer, retrieved a handgun and tucked it in his inner pocket after loading it with bullets.

Now that he was ready, Qiu Yanzhi entered his destination into the Instant Transport Card.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the first floor of the Shengming Building on Zhonglin Road.

The place was almost exactly like the last time he was here, except there was no extravagant elevator anymore.

Someone had used chalk to scribble markings on the dirty floor. Following the maze-like path they indicated, Qiu Yanzhi arrived at a purposely renovated room.

As soon as he entered, the door automatically closed with a clack.

In front of him was a familiar scene with a familiar camera.

Only this time, he couldn’t see He Zhou.

"Where’s He Zhou?" Qiu Yanzhi asked coldly.

A moment later--

The projector was remotely turned on.

A huge image appeared on the wall before Qiu Yanzhi.

His breath caught in his throat.

There was a huge metal rectangular bracket set up on the edge of an unfamiliar abandoned high-rise.

Tied on each of its four corners was a twine rope.

And tied to the other end of the ropes was one of He Zhou’s four limbs.

He Zhou looked into the camera, his face and lips bloodless.

And beside him squatted a tall, well-built man wielding a huge pair of scissors.

It seemed like he would cut the ropes and send He Zhou hurtling down ten stories as soon as the order was given.

Qiu Yanzhi’s throat was as dry as a desert. He almost wanted to scream at Ye Hongyuan to let He Zhou go.

However, he dug his fingernails into his palms and forced himself to remain calm.

No, I can’t panic.

I can’t let Ye Hongyuan get his way.

Negotiate. I have to negotiate.

Panicking isn’t going to save He Zhou.

Qiu Yanzhi closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he spoke in a bitter tone, “Ye Hongyuan, haven’t you learned your lesson from failing in the last round? Are you really going to use the same trick again?”

The speaker in the corner broadcasted Ye Hongyuan's ominous laughter. “How could I not have learned my lesson? Isn’t how I kidnapped He Zhou this time the best proof that I have?”

As soon as he finished speaking--

The man shown on screen raised his scissors and cleanly cut through the rope connected to He Zhou’s right leg.

He Zhou’s right leg violently dropped down, making his whole body almost flip over in midair.

“No!” Qiu Yanzhi screamed reflexively. His back was drenched with cold sweat.

Ye Hongyuan laughed again, the sound almost chilling. “He Zhou’s different from your mom. Your Reset Cards and Healing Cards have no effect on him, and that crippled leg is the best proof. If he dies, he dies for good.”

Qiu Yanzhi's lips quivered. His entire body seemed to stiffen like a statue. His palms were cold to the bone. All he could do was stare at the camera and ask in a soft, trembling voice, “What do I have to do for you to let him go?"

Ye Hongyuan chuckled pleasantly, "I already told you last time. Open the control panel, modify the player facial recognition function, and give up your player privileges."

"...Alright," Qiu Yanzhi said, "I'll do it."

With that, he shouted, "Control panel."

The huge holographic panel opened before him.

With a trembling finger, Qiu Yanzhi tapped on Settings, Modify Personal Identification, and then Facial Recognition.

He had never used this feature before so he wasn’t very familiar with how it worked.

By force of habit, Qiu Yanzhi called out for Big Yellow.

But Big Yellow didn't appear.

Qiu Yanzhi pursed his lips and clicked on Modify Facial Recognition.

A mechanical female voice sounded in his ears: "First step: Please enter your personal identification on the current screen."

Qiu Yanzhi stiffly typed in it.

"Step two: Please show your current face in the display box."

‘Current’, as in his face after ‘plastic surgery’.

At this moment, the door to Qiu Yanzhi's room suddenly opened.

Ye Hongyuan took off his mask and walked in.

Qiu Yanzhi suddenly saw something. His entire body stiffened, his eyes widening in shock. Then he clenched both hands into fist and hissed through clenched teeth, "--Big Yellow!"

With its head down, Big Yellow stood by Ye Hongyuan's side.

A full-body shudder ran through its frame when it heard Qiu Yanzhi shout its name. It looked up with red-rimmed eyes, “Qiu...Qiu Yanzhi, he promised me he wouldn’t h-hurt you. I just wanted to protect this world with him, that’s all. I-I’m sorry.”

Qiu Yanzhi sneered. "Protect the world, huh? How naive can you be? Do you know what he’s done? Any NPC he has no use for anymore, any NPC that’s a thorn in his side, he literally threw them into trash cans and got rid of them by exploiting a bug!”

Big Yellow's eyes widened.

"Shut up!" Ye Hongyuan suddenly roared.

Qiu Yanzhi: "Big Yellow, did you know that he sent people to capture Liu Cheng today and stuff him in a trash can?! He doesn’t even care anymore if other people find out about the bugs in this world! All that stuff about protecting means shit to him! If you ask me, it looks more like he wants to leave this world after taking out everyone on his bad side, consequences be damned!”

"Qiu Yanzhi, I told you to shut up!"

With that, the rope securing He Zhou’s left leg was severed, leaving his hands as the only things suspending him in midair.

Qiu Yanzhi's heart skipped a beat. Like an animal grabbed by the scruff of their neck, his furious rant cut off abruptly.

Something suddenly dawned on Big Yellow. It dully turned to look at Ye Hongyuan. “...You--Didn’t you want to protect this world? So why did you tell other people about the bugs… Are you really trying to leave?”

Ye Hongyuan sneered. "Fine, I admit it. I do want to leave this place, and I already found a way to do it. How stupid do you have to be to actually believe I want to protect anything here? It’s all fake! There’s nothing worth protecting!!”

Qiu Yanzhi turned to glance at Ye Hongyuan. “...Then why do you want my player privileges?"

Big Yellow nervously muttered, "...Because...because his player privileges are about to expire."

A second later, Big Yellow jolted like it suddenly remembered something. It looked at Ye Hongyuan, unable to stop trembling. “You, you’re not a player! You’re a NPC!!”

Ye Hongyuan's expression shifted. He suddenly burst into laughter. “What crap are you saying now? Of course I’m a player. How could I see you if I’m not?”

Big Yellow shook its head, its face pale. “No, no...You’re not...I finally remember… You, you’re the NPC who ran over that player three years ago!!! I was only wiped of that player's information, but I retained everything else so I still remember you! No wonder you covered your face in front of me!!!”

Qiu Yanzhi’s heart almost stopped beating.

Big Yellow turned and shouted at Qiu Yanzhi: "Qiu Yanzhi, buy the Trouble Character Disappearance Card! If he's an NPC, he'll disappear!"

Ye Hongyuan violently grabbed Big Yellow by the throat and choked it into silence.

He changed his name, only worked from the shadows, and didn’t dare to let anyone discover his true identity…

...All due to his fear of that Disappearance Card.

Ye Hongyuan gestured to the camera.

On screen, the rope tied to He Zhou’s left hand was cut. Now his entire body was suspended by a single rope on his left hand alone.

It seemed so brittle, like it would snap if exposed to a gust of wind.

Qiu Yanzhi's face was almost drained of all colour. He stilled instead of continuing to buy a Troublesome Character Disappearance Card.

"Qiu Yanzhi, I can see your control panel. Exit the mall now if you don’t want He Zhou to die.”

Ye Hongyuan’s expression was ugly and twisted, but he tried his best to soften his voice, “I won’t do anything to you. After I get your identity as a player, I will immediately leave this world. I won’t hurt He Zhou, and I won’t hurt you.”

He paused for a moment. "But if you refuse to do as I say, He Zhou will die before your eyes."

Qiu Yanzhi lips quivered. He stiffly reached out and exited the mall interface.

Ye Hongyuan took a step closer, his tone almost coaxing: "Go back to changing the Facial Recognition function.

Qiu Yanzhi looked up at He Zhou, who was suspended in midair on screen. The air around him seemed to grow thin. He tapped back to the previous Modify Facial Recognition screen.

The mechanical voice rang out again.

"Step two: Please show your current face in the display box."

Ye Hongyuan stepped forward and registered his face into the system.

"Step three: Player, please register your fingerprints and recite the following sentence to complete the registration procedure.”

Qiu Yanzhi looked up at He Zhou.

He Zhou seemed to be physically exhausted. His eyes only fluttered open once in a while. The rope strangling his left hand caused ghastly green and purple bruises to appear on the limb. His right hand clung to the only rope left. His face was far too pale.

Qiu Yanzhi reached out and registered his fingerprints.

He looked at the line of words and slowly read it out loud.

"Player Qiu Yanzhi confirms this modification of my face--”

"Qiu Yanzhi!"

Big Yellow broke out of Ye Hongyuan's grasp and shrieked!

Qiu Yanzhi frantically looked up!

Only to see on screen that He Zhou had untied the rope bound to his left hand at some point. The man looked into the camera and smiled faintly. His lips moved. He seemed to say:

“Qiu Yanzhi, you have to leave.”

Then he let go of the rope and plunged down towards the ground.

“He Zhou--”

Qiu Yanzhi hysterically screamed.

Ye Hongyuan also froze.

At that moment, Qiu Yanzhi suddenly pulled a gun out and aimed it right at Ye Hongyuan’s head. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with tears. Blue veins stood out on his temples. He glared at Ye Hongyuan and screamed, “Where’s He Zhou?!”

Ye Hongyuan knew that he had lost his leverage. He held up both hands, his face deathly pale.

“...Hong...Hong’an Building. S-spare m--”

With gritted teeth, Qiu Yanzhi pulled the trigger.

He closed his eyes, feeling fresh, warm blood splash across his face.

Ye Hongyuan collapsed, dead before he hit the ground.

Qiu Yanzhi stood up and raised his gun again like a madman.

He shot the body once more in the head, then the waist, then the leg.

The bloody holes in Ye Hongyuan’s body spurted blood nonstop.

Qiu Yanzhi couldn’t stop shaking as he used an Instant Transport Card.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived next to Hong’an Building.

But He Zhou was already an unrecognizable mess on the ground.

You couldn’t even piece the parts of his body back together.

Qiu Yanzh’s eyelashes were still coated with Ye Hongyuan's blood. They mixed with his tears and turned his whole world into a blurry, bloody mess.

Big Yellow seemed to shout something at him, but Qiu Yanzhi could no longer hear anything.

Qiu Yanzhi’s entire body was dyed red with He Zhou's blood.

He held He Zhou's hand in his arms…

He held He Zhou's shoes in his arms…

He held He Zhou's arm in his arms...

Then as if he was struck by a bolt of inspiration, Qiu Yanzhi opened his VIP mall again to try and buy a Reset Card.

However, when those five cards appeared before him again, He Zhou’s was grayed out.

Qiu Yanzhi frantically tapped on it with all his might.

But the same warning played in his ears: “This NPC does not exist. Please choose another NPC.”

Qiu Yanzhi hugged He Zhou's corpse and broke down crying.

Qiu Yanzhi didn't know how long he had been crying. His eyes had gone blurry some time ago and he couldn’t see anything. His voice was also hoarse as hell.

He Zhou's fresh blood had cooled.

Qiu Yanzhi’s head was pounding. He felt dizzy, like he could suffocate any minute now.

He cried until he couldn't cry anymore, until he had used up all the tears in his eyes.

"Qiu Yanzhi!"

Big Yellow shouted Qiu Yanzhi's name again and again. It flew over and used all its might to try and pry his hands away.

It shouted as loud as it could, "Qiu Yanzhi! You can leave now! You can leave! Qiu Yanzhi, you should go!"

Qiu Yanzhi looked up dumbly.

Despite everything being blurry, he could see that a giant white ring of light had appeared beside him.

There were two words written in big letters on it: "Emergency Exit".

Leave.

Right.

He Zhou told him.

He Zhou told him to leave.

He needs to leave. He needs to take He Zhou and leave.

Qiu Yanzhi started frantically collecting the pieces of He Zhou’s body, but some were very far away. So he bent down and collected them one by one. He put He Zhou in a very big bag that he had picked up. Straining to carry He Zhou, he stumbled into that white light.

When Qiu Yanzhi opened his eyes, the white ceiling of the hospital greeted him.

"Mr. Qiu is awake! He's finally awake!" Kong Xiujie shouted in astonishment. A few moments later, the room was swarming with doctors and nurses.

Qiu Yanzhi looked down.

There was no He Zhou in his arms.

Qiu Yanzhi's eyes widened. Tears suddenly welled up and overflowed.

"Mr. Qiu… What’s the matter, Mr. Qiu…?"

"Are you in any discomfort...?”

“You’ve been unconscious for quite some time…”

Qiu Yanzhi clenched his teeth as hard as he could, but his sobs still spilled out.

His tears ran rampantly down his face. He was trembling from crying so hard.

His face and neck were red and swollen. He couldn't breathe through his nose from crying, to the point where he had to open his mouth. The air was filled with the sounds of him alternating between breathing heavily and sobbing.

He closed his eyes as his sobs grew louder and louder. By the end, he was an inconsolable, hysterical mess.

......

He had fallen in love with a NPC.

But that person was already dead.