Chapter 55
The reflection on the windowpane hadn't even had time to blur, the safety buckle and moon necklace around Shi Ye's neck were still warm against his skin, and in the living room, Lin Xiaoyu was holding her phone, letting out a fourth suppressed scream at Qi Jin's "couple's photo," while the male and female leads of that melodramatic TV show on TV were kissing passionately in the rain, with incredibly sentimental background music playing—
Then, the world suddenly froze.
It wasn't a system malfunction in Shi Ye's mind; it was the real world.
The TV screen abruptly changed from a tender embrace to a glaringly static display, crackling with static. The living room chandelier dimmed briefly before struggling to come back on, but the light was noticeably less stable, flickering on and off.
Lin Xiaoyu's scream got stuck in her throat, turning into a comical hiccup: "Hiccup—what's going on? Unstable voltage?"
Shi Ye's heart suddenly sank. It wasn't unstable voltage. She was all too familiar with this feeling—the "frame-pausing" sensation when the world's underlying data was unstable. It was slightly less noticeable than the distortions and elevator flickering at her doorstep, but more…frequent?
She instinctively gripped the safety buckle around her neck, the cool jade seemingly conveying a faint, uneasy tremor.
Almost simultaneously, the system in her mind, that electronic voice that had been half-dead recently, barely noticeable except for displaying progress bars and occasional crackling sounds, suddenly rang out with an unprecedentedly rapid and shrill frequency:
[Warning! Warning! External malicious data stream detected! Target locked: Associated figure Qi Jin! Attack method: Complex (cyberattack/physical interference/public opinion manipulation)! Intensity: Medium to high! Source analysis in progress...buzzing...match rate 89.7%: Data characteristics associated with Qin Ming's forces!]
Qin Ming!
Shi Ye's back instantly broke out in a cold sweat. Qin Ming, who had suffered heavy losses due to the business blow, and who might also be involved in her mother's death! He finally couldn't hold back anymore and started his revenge? And right off the bat, he launched a combined attack on Qi Jin?
"Sister Shi Ye? What's wrong? You look so pale!" Lin Xiaoyu noticed that something was wrong with her and, ignoring the TV and lights, came over and asked worriedly.
Before Shi Ye could figure out how to explain, his phone started vibrating incessantly. It wasn't a phone call, but notifications from various social media apps and news feeds, ringing non-stop like a pot exploding.
She picked it up and swiped the screen with her fingers stiffening slightly.
The top post was a trending topic from a local gossip forum that Lin Xiaoyu had just shared with her. The title was in bold, blood-red, and quite alarming:
Breaking News! New Mysteries Resurface Over Qi Group President's Car Accident! Insider Reveals Conclusive Evidence of Deliberate Damage to Vehicle; Suspect Points Directly to Business Rivals! Family Feud? Crime of Passion? The Truth Remains Elusive!
The accompanying photos are blurry and appear to be surveillance screenshots and chat logs, with a very clear implication.
This was followed by a financial news push: [Breaking News! Several key projects under the Qi Group have been attacked by unknown hackers, and some internal data is suspected of being leaked! Stock price may be affected!]
Scrolling further down, there were even posts from local lifestyle accounts with sensational headlines: "[Late Night Horror! Suspicious Person Loitering Near Well-Known Company Family Compound, Suspected Retaliation Against Society? Attached Photo (Blurred Figure)]" The location in the accompanying photo... was none other than the vicinity of Qi Jin's luxury apartment!
Lin Xiaoyu also came over to look, her eyes widening: "What... what is this?! Senior's car accident was deliberate? And a hacker attack? Suspicious people? Oh my god! Someone must have deliberately sabotaged this! It's targeting Senior!"
Shi Ye forced himself to calm down and quickly scanned the information. The methods were old-fashioned, but combined, they were disgusting enough: using half-true, half-false "leaks" to manipulate public opinion and create a negative image of Qi Jin as someone with "many enemies and barely able to protect himself"; using hacker attacks to undermine Qi's business operations; and then using "suspicious individuals" to create panic and harass Qi Jin's personal life. The goal was simple—to exert pressure on Qi Jin's reputation, business, and psychologically, and to retaliate.
Qin Ming is desperate and resorting to despicable means, disregarding the consequences.
"Sister Shi, let's tell our senior quickly!" Lin Xiaoyu stamped her foot anxiously.
As soon as he finished speaking, a new WeChat message popped up at the top of Shi Ye's phone screen, from Qi Jin.
There were only two words: "It's okay."
Then she sent another picture—a steaming glass of milk on the simple kitchen island in her home.
The caption reads: "Drink milk, go to bed early. Don't worry."
Faced with this overwhelming barrage of negative news and attacks, Qi Jin's first reaction was to tell her "it's okay" and to tell her to "drink milk and go to bed early".
Shi Ye stared at the glass of milk and the words on it. His heart felt like it had been squeezed hard by something, aching and painful, yet a strange, burning sensation welled up from the bottom of his heart, dispelling the coldness and fear from before.
Qi Jin… she's always like this. She calmly shoulders all the storms, then turns around and says to her, “It's okay.”
How could she not worry?
Her fingers flew across the keyboard: "I saw the news. How are you? Are you really okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"
Qi Jin was a little slow to respond this time, probably because he was dealing with something.
"It's being handled. Public opinion is under control, the technical department is dealing with the attack, and security has been strengthened." Qi Jin's reply was still concise. "You and Xiaoyu stay home, lock the door, and don't go out. Aunt Liu will be over tomorrow."
Then she sent another message: "Necklace and jade, wear them."
Shi Ye stared at the message, her fingers curling up, her nails digging into her palms. Of course she would wear it. But was that enough? Faced with such blatant malice and attack, Qi Jin was all alone…
She suddenly remembered the system's earlier alert: an external malicious data stream attack, targeting Qi Jin.
Malicious data streams… This isn't just a real-world attack; could it also be triggering instability at the world's core? Those "frame freezes" and flickering lights…
"System!" she cried out urgently in her mind, "Was the anomaly just now related to Qin Ming's attack? Was the world's collapse accelerated?"
[Correlation analysis in progress...] The system's electronic voice carries severe interference noise. [External malicious attack... resonates with the current unstable worldline data... exacerbating underlying logical conflicts... forced correlation progress fluctuates due to external stimuli... Current progress: 93%... Warning... if the external attack continues... it may cause... a wider range of... data disorder...]
93%! It's gone up again! And it's because of external attacks?
Shi Ye's heart sank to the bottom. Qin Ming's retaliation not only threatened Qi Jin's immediate safety, but could also act as a fuse, directly igniting this already precarious world!
"Is there any way to stop it? Or... mitigate the impact?" she asked the system.
[The host may try... stabilizing the emotional state of the associated character Qi Jin... reducing the external shocks he receives... stabilizing the emotional anchor point helps... offset some... data disturbances...] the system replied intermittently, [but this is only a temporary solution... the root cause lies in... the external attack source... and... the core error in the world line...]
Stabilize Qi Jin's emotions? Shi Ye recalled Qi Jin's calm glass of milk and her brief "It's nothing." Qi Jin's emotions seemed as stable as a rock, but what about her heart? Faced with such a comprehensive and despicable attack, could she really remain indifferent?
And then there's the "core worldline error"... The system mentioned this again. Does it refer to an error in the mission itself, specifically the one that brings Qi Jin and Lin Xiaoyu together? Or something else?
Before she could even think it through, Lin Xiaoyu had already grabbed her phone, her face flushed with anger, her fingers flying across the screen: "This is outrageous! These people are talking nonsense! I'm going to the forum to confront them! I'll curse these trolls to death!"
Shi Ye glanced at the screen and saw that Lin Xiaoyu had already logged into her social media account with a three-digit number of followers (mainly classmates) and was passionately commenting on the post that broke the news, using a series of emojis and sharp rhetorical questions to silence several accounts that were obviously paid trolls.
"Xiaoyu, don't..." Shi Ye wanted to advise her not to get involved, as online trolls are not so easy to deal with.
"No way! I can't stand by and watch them slander my senior like this!" Lin Xiaoyu didn't even look up, her fighting spirit off the charts. "My senior is so good and so amazing, why should she be smeared by these despicable people! Sister Shi, don't worry about me, I may not have any other skills, but I've never lost an argument! I'll beat them until they're speechless!"
Seeing her fiercely protective and flustered demeanor, Shi Ye's heavy heart and sense of helplessness were strangely lessened. At least, not everyone was kicking him when he was down. At least, there were still simple and passionate people like Lin Xiaoyu who were willing to stand up for Qi Jin, even if it was just a trivial online argument.
Just then, Shi Ye's phone vibrated again.
This time it was a voice message sent by Qi Jin.
Shi Ye clicked on it.
Qi Jin's voice came through the receiver, slightly lower than usual, carrying a calm and decisive quality typical of handling official business. However, the background noise could be faintly heard as rapid typing and hushed conversations, indicating that she was directing the response.
“Don’t worry about the public opinion; the legal and public relations departments are handling it. We’ve basically pinpointed the technical path of the hacker attack, and we’re tracing it back. The police have already intervened with the surveillance screenshots of the suspicious individuals.” She paused, her voice seeming to soften for a moment. “You all should get some rest and not stay up late. Tomorrow, everything will be back to normal.”
End of audio.
His tone remained calm, even conveying a sense of confidence that he was in control of the situation.
Shi Ye listened to the audio several times, especially the last sentence, "Tomorrow, everything will return to normal." Qi Jin's calmness and strength acted like a shot of adrenaline, gradually calming her panicked heart.
Yes, Qi Jin is not someone to be trifled with. She is the president of Qi Corporation, a ruthless and decisive businesswoman. Qin Ming's underhanded methods might create temporary chaos, but truly shaking her will not be so easy.
But... what about the risk of the world collapsing? What about the forced correlation progress that fluctuates and increases due to external attacks?
Qi Jin was unaware of these things.
Only she knew.
She looked at Qi Jin's profile picture on her phone, then touched the necklace and jade around her neck.
Outside the window, the night grew even darker. The city lights still shone brightly, but in some corners, undercurrents were already surging.
The static on the TV screen had somehow returned to normal, and the melodramatic soap opera was playing again, with the male and female leads resolving their misunderstandings and getting back together. The living room lights had also stabilized.
Lin Xiaoyu was still "fighting" on her phone, muttering to herself: "Hmph! How dare you slander my senior! Let me show you what a little princess of Zu'an is... oops, I mean a master of civilized debate!"
Everything seemed to have returned to "normal" as it had been a few minutes earlier.
But Shi Ye knew that things were different now.
Qin Ming's revenge has begun, and the collapse of the world is being accelerated by this malice.
She stood on the edge of this storm, with the "reassurance pill" given to her by Qi Jin and the "peace charm" given to her by Grandpa Qi around her neck, and a "system" that could explode at any moment and a "forced association" that had soared to 93% in her heart.
Is the road ahead a more violent storm, or... a turning point where things seem to be looking up?
She didn't know.
All she knew was that Qi Jin told her to drink milk and go to bed early.
All she knew was that Lin Xiaoyu was arguing with someone because of Qi Jin.
All she knew was that she could no longer passively wait for the mission to be completed or failed, passively fearing the coming collapse, just like before.
She has to do something.
For Qi Jin's words "It's okay," for Lin Xiaoyu's simple loyalty, and also for... the frozen soil in her own heart that was melting madly, and those two faint stars that had quietly lit up.
She stood up and walked towards the kitchen.
Heat a cup of milk.
Then, think about it carefully.
Tomorrow, things may not "return to normal".
But at least, she has to face this double storm from reality and the bottom of the world together with Qi Jin.
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