Chapter 58

As the car entered the underground parking lot of Qi Jin's apartment, the empty soy milk cup in Shi Ye's hand was already slightly deformed from being squeezed. The elevator ascended at a steady speed, and the metal wall reflected the two somewhat blurry shadows—Qi Jin stood straight, her shoulders level; Shi Ye shrank half a step behind her, her hair slightly disheveled, and her coat still had bits of grass from under the tree at dawn stuck to it.

"bite."

The elevator doors slid open, and the tranquility unique to the penthouse apartment washed over me. A very faint scent of cedarwood diffuser lingered in the air, along with… a barely perceptible, off-putting smell of burning?

Shi Ye's nerves instinctively tensed up for a moment.

Qi Jin seemed to sense something as well, her steps faltering almost imperceptibly. But her expression remained unchanged as she unlocked the door with her fingerprint and pushed it open.

The motion-sensor light in the entryway turned on, illuminating the clean and spacious living room. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the rising sun and the city skyline stretched out, everything appearing peacefully perfect.

"Change your shoes first." Qi Jin took out his own pair of fluffy rabbit slippers (which Lin Xiaoyu had insisted on giving him as a buy-one-get-one-free deal) from the shoe cabinet and placed them next to Shi Ye's feet. He then bent down to unfasten the buckles on his leather shoes.

Just then—

"Crack".

It was extremely faint, like the sound of tiny glass shattering, coming from the direction of the kitchen.

Qi Jin's fingers, which were unfastening his shoe buckle, stopped.

Shi Ye felt a chill run down his spine. Something was wrong. It was too quiet; there wasn't even the faint sound of the central air conditioning. And that burnt smell... was even more pronounced.

Qi Jin slowly straightened up, not immediately looking towards the kitchen, but his gaze sharply swept over the smart home control panel in the corner of the living room—all the indicator lights were off. Power outage? Where's the backup power?

“Qi Jin…” Shi Ye subconsciously grabbed her wrist, his voice low and his fingertips icy cold.

Qi Jin squeezed her hand in return, his grip firm and steady. "It's nothing, probably just a wiring problem," she said, pulling Shi Ye behind her as she silently walked towards the living room control panel.

Shi Ye's heart pounded like a drum. A line malfunction? At the very moment Qin Ming had clearly reported it, and she had received a strange warning? What a coincidence!

The moon necklace and the safety buckle around her neck suddenly became scalding hot at the same time, burning her skin with a stinging sensation!

[Warning! High concentration of malicious entity intrusion detected! Physical rule interference intensity: High! Danger! Danger!] System 007's sharp electronic voice exploded in my mind without warning, accompanied by an unprecedented, almost distorted alarm!

Almost at the same moment the system alarm sounded, Qi Jin's finger touched the reset button on the center console—

"boom!!!"

Not from the kitchen, but from beneath their feet! A dull yet terrifying roar erupted from within the core load-bearing structure of the apartment building! The entire building seemed to tremble violently! The floor-to-ceiling windows rattled wildly!

A pungent, acrid smell, mixed with the burning odor of chemicals, accompanied by billowing black smoke, instantly gushed out from floor cracks, vents, and even wall seams!

This wasn't an ordinary fire! It was a controlled demolition! Qin Ming's men had actually infiltrated the building and tampered with its structure!

"Go!" Qi Jin reacted with lightning speed. Before the explosion had even subsided and Shi She was still in a state of extreme shock, she had already picked Shi Ye up by the waist and shoved open the nearest door—not the bedroom, but the independent study next to the living room, which had a fireproof and explosion-proof alloy door!

The moment the study door slammed shut behind them, an even more violent and continuous explosion and the deafening crash of shattering glass came from the direction of the living room! Flames shone through the crack in the door, illuminating the windowless, enclosed space of the study in a blood-red, flickering light!

Thick smoke quickly seeped in from under the door, carrying a scorching heat.

"Cough cough..." Shi Ye coughed violently, choked by the thick smoke, and tears streamed down her face. She was held in Qi Jin's arms, her back against the cold metal filing cabinet, and she could clearly feel the vibration of Qi Jin's chest and his abnormally fast heartbeat.

"Don't be afraid." Qi Jin's voice was unusually calm amidst the roar of explosions and flames, even carrying a chilling anger. She quickly released Shi Ye, rushed to the other side of the study, and pulled open a metal panel embedded in the wall—inside wasn't a book, but a small emergency equipment kit!

She swiftly produced two breathing masks, first putting one on Shi Ye and adjusting it before putting her own on. The masks filtered out some of the thick smoke, slightly calming Shi Ye's cough, but fear clung to her like a poisonous vine. The explosions continued; although the study door was sturdy, how long could it withstand such intense explosions and flames?

Qi Jin took out two silver, thin, film-like objects from the equipment box, each only the size of a palm when folded, and quickly unfolded them—they were actually simple heat-insulating and fireproof blankets! She wrapped one of them around Shi Ye.

“Listen,” Qi Jin gripped Shi Ye’s shoulder. Through the transparent window of her breathing mask, her eyes were sharp as knives, her tone more serious than ever before, and she spoke very quickly. “The study has a separate ventilation duct, but it’s very small. The fire and explosion in the living room are targeting the main load-bearing structure, and the building may partially collapse at any time. We can’t stay here and wait for rescue; it’s too late.”

She pointed to a corner of the study ceiling, where a square access panel, about fifty centimeters in diameter, was concealed by a decorative grille. "That's the backup access to the rooftop terrace's utility room—a straight ladder, but it's old and in disrepair, so you have to climb it manually. On the east edge of the terrace, in the storage room mezzanine, there's an emergency escape kit; inside it..."

She paused, lowered her voice, but spoke clearly: "There's only one single parachute. It's old-fashioned, but it should work."

Shi Ye's mind went blank. A single parachute? Only one?!

"You..." She had only uttered one word when Qi Jin interrupted her.

“Go up, grab the umbrella, and jump from the terrace. Below is the fountain in the central garden, the probability…” Qi Jin calculated rapidly, “not too high, but higher than here.”

"And what about you?!" Shi Ye suddenly grabbed her arm, his knuckles turning white from the force beneath the fire blanket. Let her parachute to safety alone? Leave Qi Jin here to die? What a joke!

Qi Jin looked at her, his eyes behind the mask as deep and cold as a still pool. "I'll try to get to the next unit through the ventilation duct. Don't argue, time is running out."

"You're lying!" Shi Ye's voice was hoarse from excitement and smoke. "With this kind of directional blasting, the next unit would probably also be affected... and how could the ventilation duct possibly..." How could it possibly accommodate an adult? That's clearly a maintenance passage!

"Shi Ye!" Qi Jin shouted, cupping her face in his hands and forcing her to look directly at him. "There's no time for argument! This is the best solution!"

"Optimal my ass!" Shi Ye practically roared, tears mingling with the smoke and dust streaming down her face, stinging her cheeks. To hell with the optimal solution! To hell with the mission and the collapse! All she knew was that she couldn't just stand by and watch Qi Jin stay here! "If we're going to jump, we jump together! If we're going to die..."

"There's no way we can jump together!" Qi Jin's voice rose slightly, filled with suppressed anger and... a hint of anxiety that Shi Ye had never heard before. "The parachute is an old model from twenty years ago, with limited load-bearing capacity. A tandem jump is suicide! Listen, I've calculated that there are about three to four minutes before the building completely collapses. My chances of survival are higher if I go through the pipes to the next building than if you stay here!"

She speaks as fast as a bullet, with impeccable logic and an icy, unapproachable demeanor.

But Shi Ye knew she was lying. Pipes, adjacent units—in an explosion of this magnitude, they were all just placebos! Qi Jin was using himself to draw the danger away, to buy her a chance to survive!

"I don't..." Shi Ye shook his head, wanting to tear off the breathing mask and refuse this "best solution".

Just then—

"Bang!!!"

The heavy alloy door of the study let out a loud, strained thud, as if the metal was twisting under its own weight! A clear bulge appeared on the door panel; the flames from the living room outside had already turned the door panel red-hot! The intense heat seeped through the fire blanket, and the temperature inside the study was rising rapidly!

Time is really running out.

"Qi Jin..." Shi Ye looked at the woman in front of her, who remained frighteningly calm despite being in dire straits, illuminated by the firelight. Her heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and the pain made it almost impossible for her to breathe.

She suddenly remembered many fragments.

I recall Qi Jin's quiet profile as he heated milk in the kitchen.

I remember her cool fingertips brushing the fallen leaves off my shoulder.

I remembered the photo of the glass of milk and the security control console she sent me.

I remember her saying, "Next time you're worried, you can just go upstairs."

She thought of the safety amulet her grandfather had given her, which was now burning hot against her chest.

And then there's... that five-year-long, silent crush.

This world may be an absurd novel.

The system might be a broken program that's always buggy.

Forced association and collapse could kill her at any moment.

But at this moment, Qi Jin's body temperature was real, the determination in her eyes was real, and her feelings—even at the cost of using lies to pave a way out for her—were real.

That's enough.

Shi Ye took a deep breath; the air, thick with the smell of burning, stung her lungs, but it also made her mind unusually clear. She raised her hand, not to pull off her mask, but to quickly unfasten the clasp of the moon necklace and the safety buckle around her neck.

"What are you doing?!" Qi Jin's pupils shrank.

Shi Ye ignored her and, with trembling but unusually swift movements, stuffed the necklace and jade clasp, still warm from her body, into the inner pocket of Qi Jin's fire blanket and pressed it down hard.

Then, taking advantage of the moment when Qi Jin's attention was diverted, she used all her strength to push her violently towards the inspection port under the ceiling!

Caught off guard, Qi Jin stumbled as she pushed him.

"Shi Ye!!!" Qi Jin shouted sharply, turning around to grab her.

But Shi Ye was faster. She had already stepped onto the rickety filing cabinet next to her and, using the method Qi Jin had just taught her, suddenly pushed open the grille of the access panel! Cold air, carrying the smell of smoke and dust, rushed down from above.

"Catch!" Shi Ye, with a burst of strength, grabbed the bundle of emergency rope from the equipment box (she had noticed it earlier), quickly tied one end around her waist, made a slipknot at the other end, and threw it forcefully toward Qi Jin! The slipknot precisely caught on Qi Jin's arm.

Qi Jin instantly understood her intention, and for the first time, a look of near-horrified anger flashed in his eyes: "Are you crazy?! Let go!"

"System!" Shi Ye screamed in his mind with all his might, "Help me! Just this once! Lend me your power! Send her up! Please!!!"

[…Buzz…Host experiences strong emotional fluctuations…Requesting confirmation…Conflict with core instructions…Buzz…But…The priority of external malicious entity attacks…is higher than plot corrections…Temporary permissions granted…Physical enhancement (weak)…Duration: 10 seconds…Start!]

A faint but real surge of heat instantly coursed through her limbs and bones! Shi Ye felt as if she had been injected with a power that didn't belong to her. She gritted her teeth, used this power to grab the rope with both hands, and with all her might, she plunged downwards, while simultaneously kicking her legs hard against the filing cabinet!

"No—!" Qi Jin's exclamation was drowned out by the sound of the explosion.

Using her own weight and the force of her fall, along with her slightly enhanced strength, Shi Ye forcefully pulled Qi Jin, who hadn't yet managed to break free of the ropes, upwards like a puppet! Qi Jin's hand touched the edge of the access panel!

"Go up!!!" Shi Ye hissed, his mouth filled with the taste of blood. The ten-second enhancement was rapidly passing.

Qi Jin turned around and glanced at her.

That glance was through thick smoke, firelight, distorted air, and the window of the breathing mask.

Shi Ye couldn't see her exact expression, but he saw something... shatter in those always calm and deep eyes. It exploded into a crimson, desperate light, and something deeper, more profound, almost destructive.

Then, Qi Jin exerted her strength, grabbed the edge of the access panel, and nimbly flipped up. She didn't hesitate at all, because these few seconds that Shi Ye had risked his life to buy for her could not be wasted.

The rope loosened. Shi Ye collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted. The enhancement effect vanished completely, replaced by excruciating pain and utter despair, as if his bones were falling apart.

She looked up at the dark, gaping inspection hatch. Qi Jin's figure had already disappeared inside.

alright.

She twitched her lips, trying to laugh, but instead coughed up a puff of black smoke.

How stupid, Shi Ye. She said to herself. She was clearly most afraid of death, pain, and trouble. In the end, she actually did something so stupid that was troublesome, painful, and likely to kill her.

But... I don't seem to regret it.

The emptiness around her neck felt a little strange. But the thought of those two things on Qi Jin's body gave her a strange sense of... peace of mind.

The study door let out a final, agonizing groan as it faced imminent collapse.

The firelight outside had already melted half of the door panel.

The temperature was so high it felt like it was baking people dry.

Shi Ye huddled in the fire blanket, leaning against the filing cabinet, and slowly closed his eyes.

In his mind, System 007's voice faintly sounded, tinged with static: [Forced association progress...abnormal jump...97%...98%...99%...external malicious attack triggered critical point...intensified disturbance of the world's underlying data...host consciousness...beginning...stripping...? *Zzzzz...error...error...*]

Am I going to die?

Or... will it be "stripped away" as the system said?

Whatever.

She seems... a little tired.

The last thing that flashed through my mind was the glass of milk that Qi Jin had sent me last night.

It was still steaming.

What a pity.

I haven't even had a drink yet...