PAID

Huo Yan's voice was full of anger, and even from several meters away, Qin Yao could hear it clearly.

“Aren’t you being ridiculous?” Huo Yan said in a deep voice. “Ye Leyao, I don’t care if you’re a system or not, I won’t agree to this no matter what!”

Qin Yao silently took two steps forward, and Ye Leyao’s voice immediately followed—

“Huo Yan, I’ve already explained it to you. I came to your world for two reasons: first, to change your endings, and second, to change Qin Yao’s ending. Now that I’ve achieved the first goal, I must save Qin Yao…”

“I’m not stopping you from saving Qin Yao. I just don’t agree with that terrible idea of yours!” Huo Yan shouted. “Since you know Qin Yao is destined to be hit by a truck, why can’t you both just leave together ahead of time?”

“As long as neither of you are in that place, won’t you both be fine?” Huo Yan said.

Qin Yao slowly reached the door of the dressing room.

The door wasn’t fully closed, leaving a small gap.@@novelbin@@

Qin Yao saw Huo Yan standing with his back to Ye Leyao. Ye Leyao was sitting on the sofa, head slightly lowered, his expression unreadable.

After a long silence, Ye Leyao’s hoarse voice finally came through: “No.”

“What?” Huo Yan asked.

Ye Leyao said, “Even if we avoid the street where the truck appears, we still can’t avoid Qin Yao’s inevitable death.”

Huo Yan froze, staring at Ye Leyao in shock. “How is that possible…”

Ye Leyao suddenly chuckled, but the smile looked particularly pale: “Because I’ve already tried twice before.”

Huo Yan stared at Ye Leyao, disbelief filling his eyes. “What do you mean…”

What did he mean by trying twice before?

Ye Leyao no longer chose to hide it: “Didn’t you ask me the first time you saw me? You said I seemed familiar to you. Huo Yan, we’ve met before. During the first two timeline resets and the first time I came to this world’s timeline, we met many times.”

Having repeated everything so many times, the emotions Ye Leyao understood most deeply were sadness and grief.

These were also the emotions he hated the most.

Ye Leyao raised his head, and in his beautiful eyes, the sorrow was unmistakable. His voice seemed to tremble slightly: “I’ve tried twice, Huo Yan... But no matter which attempt, Qin Yao always dies… His death is a fixed point, an unchangeable ending. The only way to deceive the system is to substitute someone else in his place at the same moment.”

This method was something L1 had come up with after watching two years of timeline reviews in his main system space.

By the time the third timeline reset occurred, Ye Leyao had already decided to use this method to save Qin Yao.

Since Qin Yao’s death couldn’t be changed, as long as a “Qin Yao” died at that moment, the regulatory system wouldn’t detect an error in the plot.

So, during the third timeline reset, Ye Leyao edited a program for himself, allowing the main system’s monitoring program to recognize him as the “Qin Yao” of world A20231007.

To avoid the monitoring system detecting any abnormalities, Ye Leyao sealed most of his abilities, making himself appear more like a “human.”

Only in this way could he truly take Qin Yao’s place at the moment of death without being recognized as a plot error.

That’s why, after the reset, Ye Leyao had immediately appeared before Qin Yao—he wanted to spend as much time as possible with him during the next two months.

Not because Qin Yao liked Ye Leyao.

But because Ye Leyao liked Qin Yao.

The regulatory system L1 couldn’t predict what would happen after his death, so he chose to leave behind the most beautiful memories before his own demise.

Ye Leyao’s eyes were red, his voice choking: “Huo Yan, I’m begging you, please help me, okay?”

Although he had learned human emotions, Ye Leyao was still not human. So, no matter how sad or upset he was, without the acting buff from the point system, he couldn’t cry. His beautiful eyes only turned red with sorrow.

Huo Yan stared silently into Ye Leyao’s eyes.

After a long time, he shook his head, a bitter smile forming at the corners of his lips: “I can’t do it… Xiaoyao… Even though I don’t have memories from before, these two months have made me think of you as a younger brother… Of course, I understand that you don’t want Qin Yao to…”

Huo Yan suddenly looked up, trying to hold back his tears, but a single hot tear still rolled down his cheek. His voice was hoarse: “But how could any older brother send his younger brother to die with his own hands? It’s impossible…”

“And how can you be so sure that if you die in Qin Yao’s place, Qin Yao will be safe?” Huo Yan’s question was almost cruel.

Ye Leyao said, “My calculations won’t be wrong.”

That was the only thing Ye Leyao was certain of.

“Then what are the chances of you surviving?” Huo Yan asked again.

Ye Leyao fell silent.

Huo Yan didn’t speak anymore either.

The silence in the dressing room stretched endlessly.

Outside the dressing room, Qin Yao stood up and left.

The conversation ended without resolution.

That night, Ye Leyao returned very late.

Although all the Qin family servants and Qin Hongxi now knew of Ye Leyao’s presence, he still preferred to enter through Qin Yao’s balcony.

By now, it was already past midnight, and the lights in Qin Yao’s room were off.