Chapter 49 After taking the photos, they went in pairs...

After taking the photos, they walked away in pairs outside the restaurant and parted ways.

She and Li Xingzhou walked towards the hotel, while Xiang Zhinan and Xiang Wan walked in the opposite direction.

Just then, a faint, barely visible shooting star appeared on the horizon. It was so dim that when Huang Shiyu looked up, the shooting star left only a faint tail, like a chalk mark left on a blackboard after being erased. It was so faint, yet so poignant.

Unable to hail a taxi back to the hotel, the two took the subway at Li Xingzhou's suggestion.

From the moment Huang Shiyu entered the station to the moment she got into the subway, she kept sniffing her nose.

Li Xingzhou, who was traveling with her, naturally noticed her actions, and as they walked along, he also knew the reason behind them.

There are many homeless people gathered in the subway station, and even in winter, the smell is still very strong. In addition to the homeless people in the subway station, there are also many beggars in the subway, so this faint smell will follow you all the way to your destination.

Toronto's subway system has long been without signal. Not only that, but there are only three subway lines in total, and the seats are still the same style as decades ago. The seats are made of cloth, and it's hard to find a clean and tidy seat when you sweep through a row; they are all covered in some kind of unidentified dirt.

Huang Shiyu was used to living in China and found it a little hard to adjust. There were very few people on the train at this time, only a handful. She still chose to stand, looking at the blurry scenery rushing past the window.

In the subway with no signal, unable to use his phone, and with darkness outside the window, Li Xingzhou couldn't help but ask the question he had always wanted to ask but never dared to. Although he knew it was abrupt, he simply couldn't control himself. He could only pretend that he was in a foreign country and had lost his mind.

Do you hate Song Chaoye? Do you hate him for making you the way you are today?

Whether it was because he had been staring out the window for too long or because of Li Xingzhou's sudden question, Huang Shiyu looked somewhat stunned.

Her deep gaze passed through the window in front of her and landed on the eyes reflected in it.

Li Xingzhou was also looking at her, his eyes fixed on her. His lips, which had been slightly upturned, were now pursed, as if he would grind his teeth to dust if Huang Shiyu said something he didn't want to hear.

Then, he heard Huang Shiyu say, "I used to hate him, but I don't hate him now."

"Why?" His voice betrayed no emotion, but his eyes, which always seemed to hold a gentle warmth, suddenly turned icy cold, though it wasn't easily noticed through the dark car window.

Why not hate? Is it because there's still love? Do you still love him?

If that's the case... then I'll hate you... I'll be fiercely jealous of him... How can you still love him after he treated you like that...?

On what grounds?!

That's not fair!

Li Xingzhou was now consumed by jealousy; the surging envy overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.

The subway passed another station, and all that remained was endless darkness. Although no one could see or touch him, it was no exaggeration to call it a living hell, because his heart felt as if it had been gnawed by tens of thousands of ants, causing him immense pain.

However, after a moment, in the darkness, he finally heard Huang Shiyu speak again, “What can be done about hatred? His original intention was just to speed up the listing process of Speed ​​Technology. Since the game market began to decline the year before last, Speed ​​Technology’s daily active user revenue has also been affected and has begun to decline. I am also committed to the field of artificial intelligence. Speed ​​Technology’s cash flow probably cannot support two projects running at the same time. I can understand that he does not want to take risks. We are all businessmen, after all, and naturally we have to put our own interests first.”

She doesn't hate Song Chaoye now, and she never really did before. She only resented Song Chaoye for scheming against her for his own benefit. But sometimes she wonders if she would make the same choice as Song Chaoye, given that the Black Tower Group has extended such a big olive branch.

She really couldn't give an answer. She was constantly being harassed by the deceit and treachery of the business world, and at some point, she began to weigh the pros and cons.

She found it amusing, and after much deliberation, she continued, "I hated him in the early days because he had the ability to make me hate him. Now that I don't hate him, it's meaningless and unnecessary."

Li Xingzhou asked instinctively, "Really?"

"Um."

For Song Chaoye, who is passionate about algorithms, this was undoubtedly not the most hurtful thing; he had unwittingly handed over the work to someone else.

Hearing this, Li Xingzhou breathed a sigh of relief. His previous jealousy vanished, and even his tightly pursed lips relaxed, making him look less tense than before.

Before his eyes, the subway pulled into the station and stopped, the incandescent light slowly seeping in through the gaps in the doors, penetrating every nook and cranny.

The next moment, Huang Shiyu turned her head and her gaze fell on the slight upturn at the corner of his mouth. She paused for a moment, as if she had heard something very happy, but was trying hard to control her emotions and not show them in front of others.

What could possibly make him so happy and restrained?

She thought for a moment and asked, "By the way, how is Singularity's revenue doing right now?"

Her question seemed abrupt, as if she were probing for information. Li Xingzhou's dark eyes darted around before he said, "It's quite well-received in the domestic market, but it's hard to say about overseas markets."

The train was filled with an indescribable stench. When the train stopped at the next station, the two of them understood each other and walked to the next carriage. By the time the train started moving again, they had walked through four or five carriages before they were finally able to get away from the stench.

The two of them remained standing near the car door instead of sitting down.

Li Xingzhou continued the previous topic: "The thing I put on you that day was an advanced version of Qidian, which has not yet been released on the market, so you are the first person to use it."

After speaking, he couldn't help but look at Huang Shiyu to see what expression she would make. As he saw it, Huang Shiyu's expression was quite calm. But upon closer inspection, Li Xingzhou noticed that she was blinking much more frequently than usual. This subtle change in expression pleased him greatly.

"Is it something only I have?" Huang Shiyu originally wanted to tease him, but as soon as she finished speaking, she realized what she had just said and wished she could bite her tongue off on the spot.

Her words sounded as if she were asking Li Xingzhou to confirm that she was the only one, which could easily be misunderstood. To avoid such an awkward situation, she was about to change the subject when she heard Li Xingzhou say with a smile, "Of course, this was specially made for you. Didn't you notice that your name is engraved on it?"

Li Xingzhou, who was in a very pleasant mood, noticed that Huang Shiyu was frowning and looked blank. He understood and said in a muffled voice, "Okay, I know, you didn't see it."

For some reason, seeing Li Xingzhou's somewhat dejected appearance, she felt a pang of unease, as if something had choked her. She quickly attributed this feeling to the fact that he had at least custom-made something for her, and his behavior was too much like that of a heartless customer who turns his back on her. "I was so upset at the time, I'm sorry," she said. "And why did you customize it for me? I don't think I had that need."

Li Xingzhou snorted: "May I protect you."

Huang Shiyu looked at him curiously: "Protect me in what way?"

Li Xingzhou turned his head, his eyes, which possessed an alluring quality, fixed on her. Huang Shiyu did not look away, but stared back at him, eager to know what Li Xingzhou would say to her.

During the few dozen seconds they stared at each other, Li Xingzhou did not answer her.

What an idiot. Li Xingzhou sighed silently.

He didn't remain silent not because he didn't know how to say it; in fact, the answer was already obvious in their eye contact.

Of course, it's to protect you from tears when you sleep soundly at night, to let it accompany you once again in place of your grandparents, and to convey your longing.

Just then, the train doors opened, and the train stopped at the station they were going to get off at. This stopped the words that were about to come out of his mouth, and he swallowed them back, telling himself that it wasn't the right time yet.

The two walked out side by side. The temperature outside was about the same as inside the carriage. Huang Shiyu glanced at him again. Li Xingzhou hadn't answered her question about the previous topic, but she didn't say anything either. After all, he would say whatever he wanted to say, and he wouldn't say anything even if she asked him hundreds of times. Although she really wanted to know, she wasn't the kind of person who liked to make a fool of herself.

Back at the hotel, Huang Shiyu sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at the singularity in her hand, her thoughts a mix of emotions. "Is this what I thought?"

She looked up at Li Xingzhou, who was eating a beef patty across from her, and expressed her shock: "This product can use AI to simulate human voice and language, or rather, it's similar to a virtual human. A virtual human can see the face of the person they want to see again, and Qidian can hear the voice of the person they want to see again."

Li Xingzhou took another bite of the beef patty in his hand and nodded, "In principle, that's correct."

After a while, Huang Shiyu made a major decision: "Then can we cooperate?"

She carefully explained the advantages: "My project focuses on spiritual healing, while yours is about voice and language. Why not combine the two? I can already imagine the grand scene on the day of the launch."

Huang Shiyu's idea is to leverage Qidian's advantages in voice and language, its configuration, and its accumulated consumer base, and combine this with her spiritual healing products, to create new glories in the spiritual healing field.

The living room was spacious, and no one was talking; it felt as if every breath they took was a sharp, penetrating sound.

After finishing his beef patty and listening to Huang Shiyu's suggestion, Li Xingzhou didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked at her and said, "Can you tell me what happened that day?"

"That day?" Huang Shiyu was still a little confused.

However, after Li Xingzhou said that, she gradually began to remember what he had asked.

Huang Shiyu stroked the Qidian in his hand a few times and succinctly recounted what happened that day, “Zhang Jingyan called me on the plane. There was signal interference, so the call was intermittent. That’s right, her last call before she died was to me, but I couldn’t save her.”

"Do you think if I had been a little faster, maybe she could have been saved?" She bit her lip, feeling extremely guilty.

"Wait a minute..." Another thought occurred to me, "Knowing she was rushing to catch a flight that day, I still told her that as long as she's alive, the flowers will bloom; otherwise, would she have avoided this accident..."

"It's all my fault..." Feeling even more guilty, she took all the blame upon herself, even including Zhang Jingyan's cause of death.

Li Xingzhou could tell from her words that she attributed not only Zhang Jingyan's death to herself, but also the deaths of her grandparents.

“It was an accident, just an accident.” Li Xingzhou paused. “It has nothing to do with you. Don’t torture yourself. Think about happy things.”

"She said she wanted me to go back and apologize on her behalf." Huang Shiyu still kept her eyes downcast.

"Do you know where it is?" Li Xingzhou asked, looking at her.

"Yucheng".

"Yucheng is so big, where is it?"

Why ask such detailed questions?

"Hmm, I'd like to know."

Huang Shiyu glanced at him, took out her phone, found the place on the map, and showed it to him, "Hmm, here."

Li Xingzhou nodded and beckoned to her, "Come here."

Huang Shiyu asked, "What are you doing?"

Li Xingzhou also held a singularity in his hand, the same one as Huang Shiyu's. "Let me show you, there's a surprise." As he spoke, he put on one earphone and naturally held the other earphone further away, gesturing to Huang Shiyu, implying that they should listen together.

Huang Shiyu understood what he meant, so she moved over cross-legged. Since it wasn't far to begin with, she was too lazy to stand up and walk over.

She took the earphones from Li Xingzhou's hands. Inevitably, some physical contact occurred during the process. Her hands were a little cold, while Li Xingzhou's were a little warm. Touching them felt like a gentle warm breeze, warming her heart.

She put on the earphones, and soon a sound came through. Her pupils contracted, and she looked at Li Xingzhou, who remained calm on the other end, and asked in shock, "Is she conscious?"

It's no wonder she asked in surprise. Huang Shiyu had been somewhat skeptical when she first heard the Singularity Simulator's voice. Was it stable? Was it like a map navigation system, only able to speak simple and general language? Who knew that the one in Li Xingzhou's hand was the real advanced version, capable of simulating Zhang Jingyan's voice. She could even hear a trace of emotion in it, instead of the cold and ruthless tone of a robot broadcast.

"Code, just a bunch of code." Li Xingzhou's voice was calm, a stark contrast to Huang Shiyu's, without a trace of emotion.

"Do you think it's possible to create a dialogue mode like a virtual human?" she said, getting more and more excited. "For example, combining it with my project might spark some unexpected ideas."

Do you understand?

Li Xingzhou listened attentively until she finished speaking and asking her questions before slowly replying, "The idea is great, but implementing it won't be easy."

When this topic came up, Huang Shiyu's excitement clearly subsided, but she wasn't discouraged. She took off her headphones, looked at him, and said, "I know the road is difficult, but have you ever thought that many times what stops us from achieving our goals is the limitations we set for ourselves?" She smiled at Li Xingzhou, her eyes crinkling, "Ignorance is bliss. Why not be a brave pathfinder?"

“A brave pathfinder.” After repeating it, Li Xingzhou’s lips curled into a faint smile, and he continued, “How are your 50,000 orders coming along?”

Huang Shiyu was unsure whether his question was a test of her progress or an attempt to discourage her.

She blinked and smiled innocently, "I was working very hard on it."

She had been observing his expression, but Li Xingzhou chuckled without changing his expression at all. "Let's not talk about this anymore. The food is getting cold. Let's eat first."

Surprisingly, he didn't argue with her. It was quite rare. Huang Shiyu raised an eyebrow. In the past, this person would have given her a long and earnest lecture, but not today. It was strange, but she didn't delve into why. She reached into the bag, took out a bottle of beer, uncorked it, tilted her head back slightly, took a sip, and gazed at the night view outside the window with a slight smile. She sighed and said, "Winter, the New Year, truly is a season and festival for family joy."

Li Xingzhou followed her gaze and looked at the Toronto night view, which was composed of iconic landmarks and towering skyscrapers. He had seen this night view countless times, but none of them were as eye-catching as today.

He thought that perhaps what was most striking was not the scenery, but the people.

He shifted his gaze to Huang Shiyu's profile. "That's how it is."

"Li Xingzhou, I'm really curious. Someone like you would want to die, and what kind of death you'd like to have thought about?"

Huang Shiyu turned her head, smiling brightly at him. He wasn't someone who didn't understand etiquette, yet he had presumptuously brought up matters unrelated to the project. Their relationship should have ended with the project. But then she remembered Li Xingzhou's words about death at the racetrack. Although she hadn't intended to discuss the topic then, Li Xingzhou's nonchalant tone had lingered in her mind ever since.

"An 18-story building? Jumping into the sea? A car accident? You choose one." He looked at the dazzling, boundless night view, his eyes also reflecting the faint light of the night. "After all, this night is too long."

After speaking, his eyes, which were tinged with a faint light, fell on Huang Shiyu's face. The two were caught off guard and their eyes met. For a moment, Li Xingzhou's eyes were also slightly stunned, probably because he did not expect Huang Shiyu to be looking at him.

Huang Shiyu was the first to look away, continuing to stare at the beer in his hand. He smiled easily and said, "Let alone an eighteen-story building, falling from the fourth floor would be either fatal or crippling. An eighteen-story building would mean certain death; the bones would be shattered to pieces. Jumping into the sea is too painful. To calmly accept death in the sea, your senses are the first to perceive it, and the first thing you'll want to do is struggle. Then, your mental defenses are repeatedly broken down. This process would take at least ten minutes. That kind of death is quite painful, like a car accident..."

Li Xingzhou interrupted her and continued, "I know that you couldn't feel the pain at the moment of the impact, but you felt the pain when you woke up."

He spoke so casually, as if he had died once.

But how could someone have had such a smooth life from childhood to adulthood?

Looking at the night view outside the window, Huang Shiyu said half-jokingly, "Then you should see my project successfully go public, reach a market value of over 10 billion, and see the stock price soar before you die."

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Author's Note: I was so busy I was completely disoriented! I ordered takeout and it arrived at my house instead! Don't do what I did—always check the address before ordering takeout!!! My colleagues had already finished eating before I even got to eat (>﹏<)