Chapter 13

Translator: Abo Dammen

When Qin Guchuan cast a glance his way, Chen Lu was already prepared for the next bit of plot to pop up in his mind. But after waiting a long while, even until dinner was over, nothing came, and no sense of danger showed either. 

It was only then that Chen Lu belatedly realized that this section of the plot was supposed to end here. Until the next sequence got delivered into his head, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

At that thought, the smile on Chen Lu’s face bloomed bright even without the delicious food in front of him.

Qin Guchuan looked over and pursed his lips.

He remembered that every time Chen Lu saw him, there was never a good expression; if not filled with fright, then guilty conscience; even when smiling, it always looked calculating. 

The more he thought about it, the more sour Qin Guchuan felt.

Ungrateful brat. Qin Guchuan’s chest tightened with irritation.

Still, it wasn’t all bad news for him. Unlike Chen Lu, whose plot only popped out in small fragmented chunks, Qin Guchuan, as an original character of the novel who had awakened, knew the entire content of the book from the start.

Every person and event to come, he knew them all. 

After this plotline ended, there would be a half-month lull. That period wasn’t written out in detail. It only got a passing mention later through some retrospective narration.

—That was when Qin Guchuan noticed “Chen Lu” smiling at Dr. Zhu Yi, a smile that planted a thorn in his heart. Later, he discovered that Zhu Yi had begun to casually make contact with “Chen Lu’s” mother and, together with other well-known doctors, started specialized research into her illness. He then suspected that “Chen Lu” was colluding with Zhu Yi.

—Naturally, Qin Guchuan was furious. But instead of pushing him away, it made him change “Chen Lu’s” label from a mere substitute for his white moonlight to his possession, intensifying his pure, unfiltered desire for control over Chen Lu as a person.

So, in short, Qin Guchuan already knew from the plot what was to come. All the unwritten filler parts he could coast through, focus on his own business, and just go through the motions later when he “discovered” Zhu Yi’s little maneuvers. 

During this half-month, the only busy ones would be poor Zhu Yi, and Chen Lu, who had to keep worrying about his mother.

Thinking this way, Qin Guchuan suddenly felt a lot better.

Speaking of which, tomorrow he was flying out to West City. There was some exhibition there, and according to the file, Chen Lu was quite fond of one of the painter’s works. Maybe he could bring back a piece as a sort of souvenir…

Naturally, Chen Lu had no idea what Qin Guchuan was thinking. He only learned the next day from the chef that he wouldn’t need to prepare meals for Qin Guchuan for the coming days, which meant Qin Guchuan was going to be away from North City for quite a while. 

Chen Lu knew that big bosses often flew around everywhere. Staying put in one place for long stretches was rare. It was obvious Qin Guchuan had remained in North City this long purely because of the plot.

He thought of how, outside of plot moments, he often saw Qin Guchuan racing against time to handle business. And now, right after the plot ended, Qin Guchuan was flying out again. Chen Lu shed tears of sympathy, but also felt secretly happy.

Even without new story prompts, he could still form his own conclusions. 

Clearly, with Qin Guchuan absent, the plot couldn’t possibly move forward. 

If one of the main characters was missing, how could the story go on?

The novel’s title and earlier chapters made it obvious that this whole story revolved around “Chen Lu” and Qin Guchuan. So now that Qin Guchuan was on a business trip, it meant Chen Lu could enjoy a blissful holiday without constantly worrying that the plot would suddenly kick in.

And besides—Qin Guchuan not being around meant one major blessing.

He could sneak into that study whenever he wanted! Tomorrow, the game he had pre-registered for was going into open beta. Hehehe. 

The more Chen Lu thought about it, the more he felt Qin Guchuan’s business trip was just perfect. Absolutely wonderful. He sincerely hoped that President Qin could stay away a little longer and not rush back.

That very day, Chen Lu eagerly downloaded the open beta client.

Game start!

Chen Lu was in high spirits. And far away, Qin Guchuan, peacefully on a business trip and immersed in Qin Corporation matters, was also in high spirits. During those days abroad, he kept feeling there was a strange sense of calm and harmony everywhere. Even when he heard regional branch managers bickering and begging HQ for more resources, it all sounded like a picture of peace and prosperity to him. 

The tranquility was just a little too suspicious, though. Like how it’s said that when a noisy brat at home suddenly goes quiet, you know something’s wrong.

A fleeting thought crossed Qin Guchuan’s mind. But he reasoned that the last anomaly was because of the “bias” his awakened status created. Now that he was physically away from North City, surely nothing could go wrong.

And so he rested easy—until noon on the 6th day.

Just after finishing lunch, Qin Guchuan’s phone rang. When he saw the old butler’s name flash on the screen, Qin Guchuan: “…” 

He somehow already knew what the call was about before even answering.

Rubbing his forehead, he picked up.

“Eldest Young Master Qin,” the butler’s tone was flustered. “Young Master Lu is gone. He didn’t come to the dinning room for lunch today. When Xiao Fei went up to check, his room was empty.”

When the butler reported, “Young Master Lu was still here this morning, he had breakfast, but when security checked the surveillance of all the estate’s entrances since then, there’s been no sign of him leaving,” 

Qin Guchuan, “…………”

Why does this plot feel strangely familiar?

He instinctively asked the butler, “Did you check my room?”

Hearing this, the butler paused noticeably, then answered with a slightly subtle tone, “Yes, it’s been checked. Young Master Lu isn’t there either.” 

The last time Chen Lu went missing, everyone in the Qin household had searched for hours and couldn’t find him. You could say he left the entire estate staff with a tiny bit of lingering trauma.

They even had search dogs, but because Chen Lu was afraid of dogs, Qin Guchuan had sent them to other Qin properties. After all, there weren’t supposed to be any “Chen Lu tries to escape” story arcs coming up, so there was no reason for them to show up now.

“…Have security keep rotating shifts on the monitors. Send people to patrol…” Many thoughts flashed through Qin Guchuan’s mind, but none seemed very likely. Being stuck far away in West City, all he could do was make arrangements from a distance.

Though, truth be told, it wasn’t really that he feared Chen Lu would actually run away. 

The real concern was… thinking of that guy’s not-so-bright look, Qin Guchuan worried he might get into some kind of trouble.

After all, knowing Chen Lu’s personality outside of the script, there was no way he’d just skip meals for no reason. He was the kind of terrifying creature who’d still hobble on a bad leg just to break into the kitchen for food.

Unable to shake off the unease, Qin Guchuan set aside his documents and opened his phone to check the mansion’s surveillance himself.

He knew the security staff would have already reviewed every frame, but he just wanted to see it again. After all, every time a certain “Chen” tried to sneak off, he always seemed to run into him, didn’t he? 

With this thought, Qin Guchuan frowned as he flipped through the footage, screen by screen. Then suddenly, on one click, a very familiar view appeared—his study—and in it, a figure he knew all too well.

That hair… that skin… that little tilted beret. The glow from the computer screen lit up the person’s face, showing every expression in crystal clarity on Qin Guchuan’s phone.

And just as clear was the fact that Chen Lu was now using his computer.

But wait, wasn’t the “Chen Lu sneaks into the study to secretly contact the outside world for help” event supposed to be a year from now?! Did the plot just derail?! 

That was Qin Guchuan’s first thought, until it was quickly interrupted by a certain jarring sound coming from his phone.

Or rather, a sound that definitely should have been muted.

“Brothers, you know what ‘thirty and standing’ means? It means a real strong man only has the right to make me stand up if there are thirty enemies on the other side. Here’s another one: to hear the Way in the morning, one can die content in the evening—well, if in the morning you tell me the way to your house, then by evening you can die. 

You know what real gaming joy is? Joy is when your opponent dies and is about to trashtalk you, but you get there first, and you curse them out even worse.”

Listening to Chen Lu’s constant stream of trashtalk flowing out of the phone, interspersed with game sound effects, Qin Guchuan’s gaze went blank.

It took him several minutes before he calmly turned off the phone.

His mind was both full and empty at the same time. He just thought, perhaps leaving the study’s surveillance under his sole private access “for confidentiality” had been… a mistake. 

After who knows how long, Qin Guchuan finally turned to his assistant and asked, “What does ‘copy the key’ mean?”

Assistant, “……”

Chen Lu, of course, had no idea what was going on outside. He had vaguely heard some noises earlier, but since nobody came to the study, he didn’t care. The reason Qin Guchuan could hear so clearly was because the camera was placed not far from the desk. It had been deliberately set up during that garage scene to track plot progression, and never moved since.

In fact, Chen Lu wasn’t being particularly loud; neither his gaming sounds nor his insults carried much beyond the study. 

For the past few days, Chen Lu had been living happily. Aside from cleaners coming in early morning, the study was essentially a forbidden zone.

At first, Chen Lu was cautious. But after a few days, he began to loosen up. And once a person starts loosening up, certain things slip. Only when his stomach finally screamed with hunger did Chen Lu suddenly notice the time.

Seeing “15:XX” on the clock, Chen Lu, who had been running his mouth just moments ago, froze like someone had hit the pause button.

He suddenly understood why there had been noise in the hallway today, when for the past few days there had been none. 

Chen Lu, “……”

Forgetting the time while gaming is normal for a shut-in, right?!

So if he claimed he was just too sleepy and overslept, maybe he could salvage this?

Carefully tidying the computer like he’d never been in the study at all, Chen Lu slowly opened the door. Out of habit, he glanced to the side. 

No one.

Oh, right. Qin Guchuan wasn’t home.

For some reason though, he had this persistent illusion that Qin the Overbearing CEO would be standing at the door, waiting for him.