Extra 5: Elite Pei × Mayor He (Finale)

Translator: Abo Dammen

☆

Extras 

There were surveillance cameras in the cell. Zhen Li had disappeared into thin air.

The footage showed him activating the work machine he usually used, fiddling with the pendant Xu Pei had given him. Then the screen distorted. Once it stabilized, Zhen Li was gone. The guard on duty was scared out of his wits, stammering as he recounted the event as if he’d seen a ghost.

He Yixun immediately contacted another cosmologist named Si Lei. She and Zhen Li had once been colleagues. Zhen Li primarily researched extraterrestrial life, such as aliens, which aligned with He Yixun’s initial hypothesis about Xu Pei. Si Lei, on the other hand, focused on string theory, which included concepts like parallel universes. 

After examining Zhen Li’s computer, Si Lei said, “Zhen Li downloaded all my papers. It seems he was planning to cross over for a long time.”

Xu Pei still found it hard to believe. “But he said he didn’t know much about crossing.”

“Forgive my bluntness, but he’s a murderer. His words aren’t very credible,” Si Lei replied.

The facts were laid bare: Zhen Li had escaped, using Xu Pei’s pendant. 

Judging from the surveillance footage, before crossing, his expression was serious and his body tense, indicating the crossing wasn’t an accident but a deliberate act. If he were truly framed, he should have waited for He Yixun’s investigation results. Why would he be in such a hurry to leave?

The only explanation was that he did indeed murder his wife.

“Now that the pendant is gone, can Xu Pei still cross back?” He Yixun asked.

“There’s scanned data of the pendant on the computer. I can try to create a trigger device,” Si Lei said. “It could be ready as soon as tomorrow.” 

For a moment, Xu Pei felt lost. What was he going back for?

He had no family, no friends. The only person he trusted there was a murderer. Going back meant either prison or being murdered by an alpha. The Stabilizer he wanted to develop was already successful. What was left for him in that world?

“Mayor,” the prison warden said, wiping sweat from his forehead, “the most pressing issue right now is Zhen Li’s prison break…”

“I share responsibility for this matter,” He Yixun said calmly. “I will cross over to that side and bring him back.” 

Xu Pei was stunned. “What?”

The secretary was horrified and quickly tried to dissuade him. “Mayor, you can’t go! What if you can’t come back?”

The prison warden broke out in a cold sweat. “There’s no need for you to take this risk personally! We don’t even know what the situation is over there.”

The two of them went back and forth, urging He Yixun to reconsider. Si Lei couldn’t help but interject, “I also think it’s unnecessary. 

“Since he has already mastered the method of crossing spacetime, he could escape to countless parallel universes. We might not be able to find him.”

This reason was persuasive enough. Everyone else secretly breathed a sigh of relief, including Xu Pei. He also didn’t want He Yixun to act impulsively.

But Zhen Li’s escape was indeed a problem. They couldn’t just act like nothing happened…

Just as everyone was pondering how to respond, the calm air in the room suddenly began to waver. In the blink of an eye, another figure appeared in the not-so-spacious cell. The person had graying hair and a stooped figure, exactly like the person in Xu Pei’s memory. 

“Dr. Zhen?!” Xu Pei was the first to recognize him.

As soon as Zhen Li grasped the situation, his first reaction was to pull a trigger-like device from his pocket and press it frantically, but nothing happened around him. Realizing he had just returned and was already trying to escape again, He Yixun immediately ordered, “Seize him!”

The elderly Zhen Li put up no resistance, shouting, “I confess! I surrender!” begging the guards to go easy on him.

All instruments were removed from the special cell and sent to Si Lei’s laboratory, leaving only the guest sofa. Zhen Li sat in the middle, surrounded by He Yixun, Xu Pei, and the others. 

Consistent with Si Lei’s guess, Zhen Li had been to many spacetimes and had spent over ten years there.

In the last spacetime, he still couldn’t prevent Xu Pei’s death. Thinking he was old and lacked the energy to ‘reload the save’ and start over, and believing that so many years had passed in this world that things might have changed and his past would no longer be pursued, he returned, only to find mere hours had passed here, and he still had to face imprisonment.

After listening to Zhen Li’s account, Xu Pei frowned and asked, “Are you saying I’m destined to die?”

“Essentially, you already died in that childhood car accident,” the elderly Zhen Li said slowly. “And, I discovered something interesting. 

“All the spacetimes I went to were branching spacetimes, where the final outcome cannot be changed. For example, your ex-fiance Zhan Gao, who swapped identities with his brother, will always be exposed in the end. So, in these spacetimes, not only will you die, everyone’s future is predetermined. The extra spacetimes will continuously undergo convergence, eventually returning to the original prime spacetime.”

Zhen Li spouted a bunch of unfamiliar concepts, leaving everyone confused.

Seeing that no one was following his train of thought, he dropped the preamble and stated bluntly, “You, Professor Xu here, former researcher at the National Institute, current Chief Scientific Officer of Delan Pharmaceuticals—you are actually just one of the many Xu Peis branched out from the original.

“In simple terms, you are a copy, an extra person. After you die, this copy world will gradually converge and return to its original state.” 

…An extra person?

Xu Pei had never considered this possibility and was stunned into silence.

“What copy?” He Yixun asked with a frown. “Is there a main storyline then?”

“There is a Prime Xu Pei,” Zhen Li said. “His decisions led to the emergence of the other Xu Peis.” 

Xu Pei’s understanding was once again upended. There was actually another version of himself in the world?

He suddenly remembered seeing himself and another He Yixun investigating his murder scene when he crossed over. So… was that person the Prime Xu Pei?

Zhen Li added, “So, Professor Xu, you weren’t supposed to exist in the first place.”

When saying these things, Zhen Li didn’t mean to target Xu Pei, he was simply stating his findings, like any scientist eager to share their research results. However, Xu Pei’s spirit suffered a significant blow. He had never imagined that the life he’d been living was merely a ‘copy life.’ 

“Enough.” Noticing Xu Pei’s distress, He Yixun stood up, his face darkening as he addressed Zhen Li. “I don’t care about your definitions. To me, he is one of a kind, not some superfluous person you speak of.”

Having said that, he took hold of Xu Pei’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

“Hey, wait, Mayor He!” Zhen Li hurriedly called out to stop him. “I want to expose the real culprit! The one who actually killed my wife back then was Police Chief Shao Hui! Because my wife discovered the Chief Justice’s secret…”

An entire day was spent on Zhen Li’s affairs, and the backlog of work kept piling up. 

He Yixun should have returned to the city government to work overtime. But since the trigger device was now readily available and Si Lei had promised to help Xu Pei return the next day, he cleared his schedule and went home with Xu Pei.

On the way back, Xu Pei remained silent the entire time. After arriving home, he went straight to the floor-to-ceiling window, staring blankly at the bustling nightscape outside.

He Yixun prepared a cup of honey water, walked over to Xu Pei, and handed it to him. “What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know,” Xu Pei said, taking the cup to warm his hands, his gaze still lost outside. “My mind is empty.” 

“Or perhaps, is there anything else you’d like to do?” He Yixun recalled their first meeting and asked, “How about going to the amusement park? It’s probably closed now, but I can have it opened for us. We could ride the pirate ship.”

Such a pure suggestion.

Xu Pei shook his head. He looked at He Yixun and asked, “Would you like to have sex with me?”

He Yixun was taken aback. “Are you sure?” 

Xu Pei didn’t respond. He walked to the living room, set the honey water down on the coffee table, turned to face He Yixun, and took off his suit jacket.

Next came the tie, the dress shirt… until he was completely naked.

He turned on his heel and walked towards the bedroom. “Aren’t you coming?”

One thought flashed through He Yixun’s mind: What is this if not a succubus? 

Xu Pei was pushed down onto the bed by He Yixun. The kisses were more urgent than before. Perhaps due to some work emergency, the secretary called. He Yixun hung up immediately and powered off the phone, but then suddenly remembered something. “I’ll have a delivery service bring condoms.”

“No need,” Xu Pei stopped him. “Our body structures are different. Diseases probably can’t be transmitted.”

He Yixun: “……”

“I’m not sick. I’m worried you might get pregnant.” 

“That won’t happen,” Xu Pei said dismissively, not wanting to spend effort explaining. “You don’t have the ability to get me pregnant.”

Because He Yixun couldn’t knot.

It was an objective fact, but for some reason, it seemed to provoke someone. The caresses became rougher, the thrusts exceptionally intense. Xu Pei could only brace himself with one hand against the headboard and push against that taut lower abdomen with the other, his mind wandering as he thought, ‘So this is what sex is like? Such strenuous exercise?’

“Don’t get distracted,” He Yixun gripped Xu Pei’s chin, discontentedly biting his lip. “Am I not making you feel good?” 

Xu Pei reminded him, “You’re in the wrong place.”

He hadn’t entered the reproductive chamber even after all this time.

When He Yixun finally found the right place, Xu Pei could no longer remain calm. Overcome with passion, he clung to He Yixun’s back and asked, “Will you remember me after I’m gone?”

Truthfully, Xu Pei couldn’t be sure if he, as a mere copy, would ultimately disappear. If so, being preserved in He Yixun’s memory would be enough. 

“I should be the one asking you that,” He Yixun said between ragged breaths. “Counting from our first meeting, I’ve remembered you for 20 years. What about you?”

Xu Pei had thought it was just a dream and had indeed forgotten.

But from now on, he would remember He Yixun forever.

The next day, He Yixun left early, instructing the driver to take him to the city government first, then return to pick up Xu Pei and take him to Binshi University to find Si Lei. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Xu Pei off himself; he was afraid he might act on impulse, change his mind at the last moment, and take the man back home to hide him away.

Having tasted over a decade of freedom, Zhen Li couldn’t accept being back in prison and confessed the whole truth about the incident, causing an uproar in Binshi.

His wife had been his student and was teaching at a middle school. She accidentally discovered the dealings of the Progressive Society. Later, Chief Justice Luo En took people to silence her. Zhen Li, acting as an accomplice, missed some evidence while cleaning up the scene, got caught by the police, and had no choice but to plead guilty.

The matter involved many people. He Yixun ordered a thorough investigation and spent the whole day coordinating various departments. It was late at night by the time he returned home. 

The house was cold and quiet, exuding a sense of loneliness. Even though Xu Pei had only been there for a few days, He Yixun was already unaccustomed to living alone.

After a quick shower, he made his way to the bedroom in the dark and wearily lay down, only to feel someone else in the bed. He quickly rolled over and turned on the bedside lamp.

He saw Xu Pei, who shouldn’t have been there, sitting up half-awake, rubbing his eyes. “You’re back.”

He Yixun was slightly stunned. “You didn’t leave?” 

Xu Pei said, “I was afraid you’d forget me.”

After much thought, Xu Pei couldn’t find any reason to go back. He didn’t want to be someone else’s copy, nor did he want to be “converged.” Why not start a new life somewhere else?

Besides, he couldn’t bear to leave He Yixun anyway.

“I told you I wouldn’t forget—” Realizing this was just an excuse, joy overwhelmed He Yixun. “If you’re not leaving now, you’re not allowed to leave later either.” 

“Mm,” Xu Pei yawned sleepily and lay back down. “I’m not leaving.”

“That’s not very convincing,” He Yixun leaned over, pressing down and whispering in Xu Pei’s ear. “Unless you have a baby for me.”

Xu Pei frowned. “I told you, we can’t produce one.”

“How would you know if we don’t try?” 

“No, He Yixun, you—”

“…”

The scene was filled with passion, and the future looked promising.

Author’s Feed： 

The content isn’t convenient to write, so the story of Xu and He ends here.

There’s one more side story about Chou Wei × Zhan Yuan afterwards, which won’t be very long and involves role reversal. Dear readers who prefer not to read that, you can consider the story complete here～