possibility
"Shiyao! Are you alright?!" Su Wanwan, Shen Qingyi, and Gu Yanxi immediately got up from the bench at the police station and quickly walked towards Qu Shiyao, who had just finished giving her statement.
"It's nothing," Qu Shiyao said, her face pale and her voice weak.
"My body is still a bit weak, so I might have to go to the hospital for a check-up to see if there are any drug residues."
The system silently grumbled from the sidelines: [There are drug residues, but to be able to beat up a domineering CEO with your bare hands all night while completely exhausted, you're probably the first person to do so.]
"Wanwan, it's all up to you now." Qu Shiyao looked at Su Wanwan with a serious expression.
"I hope he can stay inside with his number one fan and experience what it's like to be beaten down by society."
"Don't worry, besides illegal detention, there's enough evidence we've gathered to make him pay dearly for his crimes of tax evasion, commercial bribery, and unfair competition."
Su Wanwan curled her lips into a sinister smile: "I'll take good care of them and make sure they have a wonderful time inside."
Shen Qingyi looked around and lowered her voice to remind her, "This is not the place to discuss this. Let's take Shiyao to the hospital for a full check-up first."
“I’ll drive,” Gu Yanxi immediately replied.
After completing her hospital check-up and resting at home for a few days, many people came to visit Qu Shiyao after hearing the news of her safe return.
That morning, Su Wanwan, along with Shen Qingyi and Gu Yanxi, were busy with the final stages of the acquisition of CAQ Group, leaving Qu Shiyao at home to rest.
Across the hall lives Tan Zhendong, Su Wanwan's personal bodyguard. He has basically recovered from his car accident and now lives here for convenient protection, preventing any fools from causing trouble again.
"Shiyao! We've come to see you!!!" Gao Huixin and the others heard that Qu Shiyao was recuperating at home, so they all took leave to come over.
For a moment, the apartment was filled with chattering greetings.
As the team's intelligence hub, Gao Huixin brought a whole bunch of the latest gossip.
Six people sat around the sunflowers on the balcony, cracking sunflower seeds and sharing interesting stories they had heard, creating a lively atmosphere.
In a daze, it felt as if Qu Shiyao had returned to the time when she first arrived at CAQ Group and joined the assistant team on the 8th floor.
Back then, when everyone had a spare moment, they liked to get together like this and secretly gossip about the domineering CEO behind his back.
Around 6 p.m., Qu Shiyao had just left her colleagues on the 8th floor and closed the door. She hadn't even sat down for a few minutes when the doorbell rang again.
Upon opening the door, standing outside was none other than an old acquaintance from the former CAQ Group's 66th floor, now the Su Group.
"Surprise!!!" Jin Yuxi stood at the front with her hands on her hips, chest out and head held high, a bright smile on her face.
Behind her were Zhang Li with a smile on her face, Wang Qian with a gentle expression, and Lin Weiwei who looked somewhat unwilling.
Qu Shiyao leaned against the door frame, her gaze sweeping over their empty hands. She raised an eyebrow at Jin Yuxi: "You come to visit a patient empty-handed? Not even a cheap fruit basket?"
"Oh my! With a relationship like ours, do we need all those fancy formalities?" Jin Yuxi said with a grin, trying to squeeze in from the side, but was blocked by Qu Shiyao's outstretched arm.
"A day apart feels like three autumns. May I ask who you are? Do we know each other?" Qu Shiyao remained motionless, fully demonstrating her role as a door god.
"Tsk! I told you she wasn't so easy to fool! We need to bring something!" Lin Weiwei couldn't stand it anymore, so she took out a packaged fruit basket from behind her and handed it over.
Qu Shiyao then smiled and took the fruit basket, glanced at it, and stepped aside, saying, "Senior Lin knows the proper etiquette."
As soon as Jin Yuxi entered the house, she felt right at home, touching and looking around everywhere.
"Gao Huixin and the others have been here?" She spotted a snack bag with a rare logo and recognized it as the collector's edition cucumber-flavored potato chips that Chen Xu would only buy.
"That's too much! They came to see you and didn't even call me," she complained as she expertly tore open a bag of potato chips.
The others also found places to sit down.
Upon hearing this, Shi Yao rolled her eyes: "Aren't you incredibly busy lately? How come you have time to condescend to come see me?"
"Don't even mention it, I'm exhausted lately, you can ask them if you don't believe me." Jin Yuxi got up, opened Qu Shiyao's refrigerator with practiced ease, took out a can of cola, and popped it open.
Zhang Li ate potato chips and explained, "Recently, the group has been busy acquiring CAQ, and many partners are optimistic about our prospects. New projects are coming one after another, so we are indeed quite busy."
"It's almost the end of the month, and a bunch of projects are waiting for final payments. I was planning to work overtime tonight! You should be grateful that I even had a moment to check if you were still alive!" Lin Weiwei crossed her arms and snorted coldly.
"Actually, you really don't need to make a special trip. I'm going back to work the day after tomorrow." Qu Shiyao said, pointing to Jin Yuxi who was raiding her snack cabinet, her face full of helplessness: "Besides, are you sure you really came to see me?"
Lin Weiwei paused for a moment, then immediately distanced herself: "She's not with us. Blame yourself for letting her in."
"Didn't you all come together?" Qu Shiyao crossed her arms and sneered.
"With your relationship, it's as simple as her coming in whenever she wants, isn't it? What does it have to do with us?" Lin Weiwei shifted the blame back without hesitation.
"Hey! I'm still here..." Jin Yuxi, holding a bag full of snacks, turned around and protested.
She felt like a ball being kicked around, someone even the dog disliked.
"Heh." Lin Weiwei responded with merciless sarcasm.
Qu Shiyao pretended to look away.
Jin Yuxi began to resist and express her dissatisfaction.
The room was filled with laughter and lively chatter.
The group finally left at 9 p.m.
After everyone had left, the system popped up, excitedly announcing: [Host! Great news! I've been monitoring the backend, and with my timely promotion, our novel's rating has finally reached 9.5!!!]
"9.5?" Qu Shiyao was slightly taken aback. She had been so busy these past few days that she had almost forgotten to check the rating.
Although I had a premonition, hearing it with my own ears still stirred up a complex mix of emotions within me.
[Yeah, yeah! Now all we have to do is focus on making enough money, and we can retire gracefully after the New Year!] The system's voice was filled with smugness and anticipation.
"A score of 9.5... does that mean that Yi Yu's body might have been found?" This was still the first thing Qu Shiyao thought of.
She knew that the reason she couldn't find it before was partly due to the tragic ending of the original story.
[Theoretically yes! The logic of the world tends to give a result.] The system answered affirmatively.
Qu Shiyao paced back and forth in the living room, finally making up her mind: "I will go into the water to look for it myself tomorrow."
The next day, the weather was clear and the sea was calm.
Accompanied by several professional divers arranged by Su Wanwan, Qu Shiyao repeatedly dived into the icy seawater.
Every few hours, she would surface to rest for a moment, her face showing undisguised disappointment, then grit her teeth and dive back into the deep blue.
After diving four times, Qu Shiyao finally returned to the boat, exhausted, around dusk.
She stood by the boat, gazing silently at the sea bathed in the golden light of the setting sun.
The system assumed she would continue after resting for half an hour, so it quietly stayed with her.
However, half an hour later, Qu Shiyao remained in the same position, gazing at the sea in a daze.
"Host, if we can't find it today, let's just forget about it and come back tomorrow?" the system asked tentatively.
"I have to go to work tomorrow." Qu Shiyao gazed at the sea, her voice calm, with a faint sigh.
[We'll find it sooner or later... What? A job?!] The comforting message the system had prepared got stuck halfway through; it almost didn't react.
Shouldn't we continue searching?
Why do I suddenly have to go back to work?
Qu Shiyao turned around, no longer looking at the sea, and walked straight to the shore after leaving the boat.
The divers who had taken turns going into the water and were also exhausted breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that she had finally decided to leave.
Reaching the foot of the mountain, she glanced back one last time at the cliff and the sea, then silently got into the waiting car.
After the car had driven for a while, she suddenly asked, "Have there been any new changes in your main system space recently?"
The system paused for a moment, then realized that the host was asking about its hometown.
[Host! Speaking of which, I'm incredibly lucky! I just finished gossiping with you in court, and the very next day something terrible happened back in my hometown! A massive brawl broke out! Lots of systems and mission takers were fighting each other!!!]
The system began to wail loudly, its voice exaggeratedly mournful.
"What exactly happened?" Qu Shiyao was not surprised.
Ever since the system mentioned the encirclement and suppression operation and the wanted notice in the main space, she had a vague feeling that there might be a reversal on that side.
Now that I've heard about the incident, I have a feeling that it was just as I expected.
[A data logic conflict has occurred at the core of the main system, and it seems that something has secretly modified some of the core code, causing major operational problems.]
[That wanted high-ranking quest taker is searching for repair tools while remaining in hiding. Many quest takers who are on good terms with her have either joined her in hiding or have already fled to other smaller worlds.]
[Didn't we send a lot of top-tier players to eliminate that thing before? That player took advantage of that opportunity to start their own operation. After the main system detected it, it issued a maximum warrant, and it took several days of fighting to get results.]
[The main system has now replaced some of its underlying code, and that expert has taken the opportunity to modify many rules, including the 9.5 rating rule you asked about before.]
[This means that after the mission ends, if the mission participant wants to remain in the novel's world, the world's rating must reach 9.5; otherwise, it will be considered as being influenced by the world's consciousness, and not their true will.]
Qu Shiyao gazed at the rapidly receding street scene outside the car window and asked a question: "In the new rules, are there any standards regarding the system binding new taskers? Just like we did back then."
[The previous standard seemed to trigger system intervention only when certain specific indicators reached a threshold, but this time…] The system quickly searched through the lengthy new rule text, and suddenly, its eyes lit up, and it exclaimed in surprise:
[Host! She's changed it! Any character whose relationship with the mission taker is triggered by the mission taker's alteration of the novel's plot, and whose death is directly or indirectly caused by the mission taker, will have their personal information sent to the main system. The main system's underlying logic will then determine whether they meet the criteria to become a new mission taker!]
The system glanced nervously at the date and raised its voice even louder.
[Moreover, this rule will take effect on the very day that YiYu had its incident!]
Qu Shiyao's tense face relaxed this time, and tears welled up instantly as she cried tears of joy.
At that moment, she was filled with indescribable joy.
After finally climbing onto the boat, her mind was racing.
She had considered that Yi Yu might really be gone without a trace, and even if she reached a score of 9.5, she would never find him again, but the information from Zhao Henxi's tarot card kept swirling in her mind.
Under what circumstances could a person survive a fall from such a cliff, after being on the verge of death?
What circumstances prevented him from contacting her or appearing in public, even though he was alive?
She suddenly remembered that she too had been bound to a system after death and was living in another form.
Considering the recent turmoil in the main space, a bold guess gradually became clear in her mind.
[Host, don't cry, don't cry! We'll all be alright...] This was the first time the system had seen its host cry. Even when Yi Yu had just had her accident, she hadn't cried. Now, the system was a little flustered and didn't know how to comfort her.
"Get out!" Qu Shiyao cursed fiercely with a heavy nasal tone, but her tearful eyes no longer held their usual intimidating power; instead, they revealed a sense of relief.
She did not ask further whether the system could detect whether Yi Yu had entered the main space mission participant sequence.
Not to mention the system's poor performance and limited access, making it unlikely that the information could be found;
The deeper reason is that she prefers to preserve this hope rather than explore it.
The system did not attempt to expose this possibility.
Regardless of whether Yi Yu is still alive at this moment, in its mind, it is as if it is still alive.
This unspoken expectation led them to remain silent.
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