Rebooting the World's Will
Seeing that his plan had succeeded, Wang Zihua's eyes flashed with a hint of smugness, but his face was full of surprise and concern: "President Xie! What's going on here... Oh dear! Mr. Lin? What are you doing here? What... what happened?"
The people behind him exchanged glances.
Lin Jingshang, following the rehearsal, had a flushed face, half acting and half genuinely angered by the scene.
He stammered, "I... I went to the wrong place... Mr. Xie seems to be feeling unwell, I..."
"Get out!" Xie Dang suddenly looked up, staring at the people at the door with fierce eyes and a hoarse voice.
"Get out, all of you!"
Wang Zihua was momentarily intimidated by his gaze, but having achieved his goal, he immediately adopted a fearful expression: "Yes, yes, Mr. Xie, please rest well. We'll leave right away!"
As he spoke, he led the others out quickly, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.
The moment the door closed, silence returned to the suite. The two people who had been tense and ambiguous just moments before relaxed almost simultaneously.
Xie Dang leaned against the bar, exhausted, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath, still smelling of alcohol. His wet hair was still dripping, sliding down his jawline.
Lin Jingshang's legs went weak, and he sat back on the edge of the bed, feeling as if he had just run a marathon, his mind and body were severely exhausted.
A few seconds later, Xiao Chen's voice came through the hidden miniature earpiece: "Mr. Xie, Mr. Lin, the witnesses have been confirmed to have left. Audio and scene evidence have been collected and preserved. According to the deduction, they should be busy sharing this earth-shattering gossip now. There is a greater than 90% probability that this result has been received and recorded by the world's will."
The plan was a success.
They used a meticulously designed scheme to deceive everyone, including the supreme will of the world.
Lin Jingshang looked up, wanting to say something to Xie Dang, but found Xie Dang looking at him. Xie Dang's eyes were deep, filled with complex emotions that Lin Jingshang couldn't understand, like weariness, or something even deeper.
Xie Dang opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
Suddenly, the air in front of Lin Jingshang fluctuated violently again.
This time, it was a chaotic, constantly flashing, snowflake-like jumble of text, interspersed with intermittent prompts: 【Core Plot... Buzz... Judgment...】
[Relationship...confirmed...]
[World stability...recalculated...]
[Error...Error...Logic chain broken...Unintelligible...]
[…Buzz…System…Restart…]
The last few words were blurry, and then all the light went out instantly.
The air in front of Lin Jingshang had returned to normal. He was stunned and subconsciously looked at Xie Dang.
Xie Dang was also looking at him, his brows furrowed, clearly having seen something similar as well.
The will of the world... has been restarted?
So, what about the elimination mechanism hanging over their heads?
The first day after the world's will was restarted was calm and peaceful.
Lin Jingshang went to and from work as usual, and no more glowing signs appeared before his eyes. He even went to the rooftop and approached the railing. Apart from his fear of heights acting up, nothing unexpected happened.
Manager Zhang is still making empty promises, and colleagues are still gossiping.
The focus of the gossip has shifted to "what exactly happened between President Xie and Lin Jingshang in the suite that night," with various versions circulating in vivid detail.
Lin Jingshang responded to all of this with an awkward yet polite smile, neither admitting nor denying it.
This attitude further confirmed everyone's suspicions.
He had secretly observed Xie Dang.
Xie Dang was still the same ruthless and efficient CEO Xie; the disheveled and out-of-control person he was that night seemed to be just a hallucination.
The lemon candy supply at Lin Jingshang's workstation had been restored, and next to the candy jar, there was a discreetly packaged box of imported stomach medicine. Attached was a printed note in Xie Dang's handwriting: "The alcohol that night hurt my stomach."
Lin Jingshang looked at the box of stomach medicine and the note, feeling a mix of emotions he couldn't quite describe. He carefully folded the note and put it in the innermost part of the drawer.
Xie Dang no longer needed to listen to data reports on his way home, but he would still send a message every Wednesday afternoon without fail: 【Candy?】
Lin Jingshang would reply with an "Mm," and then a lemon candy would be placed on the corner of his desk.
Everything seemed to be back on track, even more regular than before, but Lin Jingshang felt something was off. It was too quiet, a quiet that made him uneasy.
On Friday afternoon, Lin Jingshang went to the president's office to deliver a document that required Xie Dang's signature. He knocked on the door, and Xie Dang was standing by the window talking on the phone, his back to him.
Lin Jingshang inadvertently glanced at his left hand, which was resting on the desk, and saw a very simple silver ring on his ring finger without any patterns.
Lin Jingshang was stunned.
He had never seen Xie Dang wear any jewelry, and it was on his ring finger.
His heart felt like it had been gently bumped, leaving a dull ache. Lin Jingshang quickly lowered his head, placed the documents on the table, and prepared to quietly slip away.
"stop."
Xie Dang had finished his call sometime earlier, turned around, and looked at him.
Lin Jingshang paused, then turned around: "President Xie, is there anything else?"
Xie Dang didn't speak. He walked to his desk, picked up the document, quickly glanced at it, and signed his name. Then, he looked up at Lin Jingshang, his gaze seemingly lingering for a moment on Lin's empty fingers.
"Are you free tonight?" Xie Dang's voice was calm, revealing no emotion.
Lin Jingshang's inexplicable emotions hadn't subsided, and he instinctively wanted to refuse: "I..."
Xie Dang interrupted him: "It's not part of the plot, I've confirmed it."
Lin Jing choked.
Not part of the plot? Then...
"That private kitchen restaurant makes a good steamed egg with shrimp," Xie Dang added.
Lin Jingshang's heart skipped a beat. He remembered that night he worked overtime, and the steamed egg that tasted so delicious it warmed his heart. The words of refusal circled on his lips, but he swallowed them back.
He nodded: "...Okay."
After work, Lin Jingshang stood downstairs at the company, watching the familiar black sedan slowly pull up in front of him. He opened the car door and got in; the car smelled familiar.
The two remained silent the entire way.
There was no need to confront the world's will, nor to act out a script. This pure interaction made Lin Jingshang feel somewhat lost.
The restaurant had a tranquil ambiance, the kind of style Xie Dang would appreciate. The dishes were indeed exquisite, especially the steamed shrimp and egg, which was tender, smooth, and delicious—exactly the same taste as he remembered.
The meal was quiet, and when dessert arrived, it was a uniquely presented almond tofu.
Xie Dang picked up the small spoon, but didn't touch his own. Suddenly, he looked at Lin Jingshang and asked out of the blue, "The ring, did you see it?"
Lin Jingshang's hand holding the spoon trembled, and the almond tofu almost fell back into the bowl. He didn't expect Xie Dang to ask so directly.
“…Hmm.” He responded softly, feeling his ears getting a little hot.
"It's not what you think. There's no one else." Xie Dang's voice was calm.
Lin Jingshang suddenly looked up, meeting Xie Dang's deep eyes, and felt his throat go dry.
"Then...why wear it?"
Xie Dang looked at the plain ring on his ring finger, gently rubbing it with his fingertip, his voice low.
"I don't know, but I want to wear it after the restart."
He looked up again, his gaze landing on Lin Jingshang's face: "You find it an eyesore?"
"No!" Lin Jingshang blurted out, then realized he had overreacted. To cover it up, he scooped up a spoonful of almond tofu and put it in his mouth.
"It's just... a bit unexpected."
Xie Dang didn't ask any more questions, picked up his spoon, and started eating his dessert.
Soothing piano music played in the restaurant.
Lin Jingshang secretly glanced at Xie Dang, who was quietly eating across from him. The ring on Xie Dang's ring finger was slightly glowing, reflecting the light, and the slight depression in his heart unconsciously dissipated.
After dinner, Xie Dang still drove him home.
The car stopped downstairs at the apartment building. Lin Jingshang unbuckled his seatbelt and said in a low voice, "Thank you, dinner was delicious."
He reached for the car door, ready to leave.
"Lin Jingshang." Xie Dang's voice rang out again.
Lin Jingshang stopped moving and turned around.
Xie Dang looked at him, remained silent for a few seconds, and then asked, "What do you want to eat next time?"
It's not about what the next task is, or how to exploit bugs next time; it's about what you want to eat.
Lin Jingshang felt his heart being gently encircled by that small silver ring. He lowered his eyes, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up slightly.
"Hmm... I heard there's a good Chaoshan beef hot pot restaurant."
"good."
The steam from the Chaoshan beef hot pot rose up, separating the two people.
This shop, tucked away in a quiet alley, exuded a lively, down-to-earth atmosphere, quite different from the places Xie Dang usually frequented. But he didn't seem uncomfortable at all. He rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing his well-defined forearms, picked up a slice of beef, and placed it into the bubbling beef bone pot.
"Three rises and three falls, that's when the taste is best." He spoke with practiced ease and calmness.
Lin Jingshang watched as Xie Dang's hands, usually so adept at signing multi-million dollar contracts, now focused intently on a slice of beef, and it felt somewhat surreal. He mimicked Xie Dang's movements, scalding a slice, dipping it in satay sauce, and popping it into his mouth. His eyes immediately lit up: "Delicious!"
Xie Dang smiled slightly and then added another spoonful of beef tendon balls to the pot.
"Um."
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