Chapter 130
Lin Xiaolin lowered his head to look at the photo. After staring at it for a moment, he said honestly, “It doesn’t look familiar.”
Ji Yangqiu took another look at Yu Zhi’s high school freshman photo and, still unwilling to give up, asked Xiaolin, “How many years have you been at the bureau? Have you met everyone?”
Xiaolin adjusted his glasses and replied calmly, “Seven years. I’ve basically met everyone in the bureau.”
“I don’t think anyone resembles Yu Zhi.”
Ji Yangqiu put down the photo and looked at another one on the desk—a picture from Yu Zhi’s university research project.
In the photo, the young man stood somewhere between boyhood and adulthood. His features were clean and striking, but not feminine. The corners of his lips were slightly raised, radiating warmth and approachability, making people instinctively feel goodwill toward him.
Yu Zhi’s temperament during his university years was completely different from when he was in high school.
Everyone goes through a chuunibyou phase at some point. Ji Yangqiu didn’t dwell on it. He tapped the desk. “Look into Yu Zhi’s middle school background.”
Xiaolin responded. After waiting a moment and hearing no further instructions, he hesitated and asked, “What about the boyfriend? Shouldn’t we investigate that?”
Ji Yangqiu shook his head. “No need. Yu Zhi doesn’t tell the truth in every sentence.”
“He was testing how much information we’ve uncovered. He deliberately brought up middle school—coming to B City is real, attending middle school in B City is real… so the boyfriend is most likely fake.”
“We can’t determine his real purpose for coming to B City yet. We’ll deal with it when he arrives.”
Xiaolin: “Understood.”
Ji Yangqiu picked up his pen and signed the document in front of him. Casually, he added, “By the way, when Yu Zhi said ‘soon’ earlier… I’ve got a bad feeling. I keep thinking he’s going to stir up trouble in S City.”
Catching the implication, Xiaolin asked, “Should we warn Team Leader Fu?”
Ji Yangqiu let out a long sigh and began spinning his pen. “I’m torn.”
Yu Zhi was no easy opponent. He’d taken the initiative to say he was coming to B City, yet wasn’t coming directly. That clearly meant he intended to cause trouble in S City first.
If Yu Zhi only planned to target Fu Suxi, that would be fine. Unlucky Fu Suxi—fortunate for all humanity.
The problem was—what if Yu Zhi wasn’t only targeting Fu Suxi?
Yu Zhi had once been one of Meteorite’s target experimental subjects. Would he really let Meteorite off so easily?
Ji Yangqiu fell into deep thought, spinning his pen faster and faster until it left a circular afterimage in the air.
Warning Fu Suxi would benefit Fu Suxi.
Not warning him would benefit their observation and investigation of Yu Zhi’s true identity.
After weighing the pros and cons for a while, he suddenly slapped the pen onto the desk with a “?.”
“Forget about Fu Suxi.”
“Let him fend for himself.”
“Whatever Yu Zhi wants to do—let him.”
…………
S City Safe Zone
The moment Yu Zhi opened the communications room door, Shang Yu, who had been waiting outside, hurried up to him. “Brother Yu, what did Minister Ji say?”
Yu Zhi shook his head.
Shang Yu’s face fell. “Then we’ll have to wait until Minister Yu finishes the meeting and see if there’s another way.”
Yu Zhi responded with a hum and said casually, “I’m going to wash my face.”
With that, he walked straight toward the men’s restroom.
After confirming there was no one inside, he locked the door behind him and glanced at the system panel.
His attention was inevitably drawn to the scrolling barrage of comments. The entire screen was filled with talk about the “boyfriend.”
[User “Pure and Abstinent” hopes you’ll disclose specific details about your boyfriend and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “One Life, One Love” sincerely praises your juggling act and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “World’s Cutest Girl” admires your promiscuity and tipped 50 universal coins.]
“……”
Yu Zhi’s lips twitched slightly. Ignoring the barrage, he strode to the urinal.
Two seconds passed. The semi-transparent panel showed no new prompts.
He raised an eyebrow and walked into a stall.
The system panel still showed no changes.
“Xiao Liu,” Yu Zhi said, “I need to take a dump. Are you seriously not shutting off the stream?”
H0516 did not directly answer his question.
Yu Zhi was about to continue speaking when, before he could even get the first word out, H0516’s indifferent mechanical childlike voice echoed in the air:
“Please wait. Conducting diagnostics.”
In less than a minute, the result came back.
“Diagnostics indicate that your livestream room has indeed encountered a malfunction. It cannot be closed at this time. Please wait patiently while repairs are underway.”
This time, H0516’s tone no longer carried that icy sharpness. Instead, there was a faint hint of schadenfreude.
Yu Zhi slowly narrowed his eyes.
So the stream really couldn’t be closed—and it didn’t seem to be H0516’s doing.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “Then report this for me. I need to poop.”
“Please wait… submitting feedback…”
A moment later, a line of text appeared on the semi-transparent panel:
[We regret to inform you that Livestream Room H310000 has encountered a malfunction and cannot be closed temporarily. Repairs are in progress. Thank you for your patience.]
Yu Zhi stared at the line thoughtfully.
“How long until it’s fixed?” he asked.
“Please wait patiently. You will be notified immediately once repairs are complete.”
“So it might never be fixed?”
H0516 avoided answering directly. “Please wait patiently.”
“I—”
Before he could finish the first word, H0516 eagerly cut him off:
“Reporting won’t help!”
“This malfunction is being actively repaired.”
Finally managing to score a point against Yu Zhi, H0516 snorted twice. “If you don’t believe me, go ahead and report it.”
Yu Zhi blinked. “I wasn’t planning to report you. Do I look that unreasonable?”
H0516 replied decisively with two words: “You do.”
Yu Zhi glanced at the barrage.
The viewers had clearly received the malfunction notice. The comments were flying even faster now.
[User “momo” finds the situation very entertaining and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “King of Strength” urges you to hurry up and relieve yourself and tipped 10 universal coins.]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” is looking forward to your naked body and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Straw” viciously mocks your karmic retribution.]
“I’m a very understanding person,” Yu Zhi said with a smile. “Xiao Liu, I believe in your ability to cause livestream accidents—and I also firmly believe in your ability to fix them.”
H0516 immediately sensed the familiar sarcastic flattery in his tone.
Yu Zhi continued, “Making mistakes is normal. I’m broad-minded; I can accept your errors. But what matters more is how you compensate for them, right?”
H0516 understood. He wanted compensation.
They couldn’t report the malfunction—but could they report inadequate compensation?
Two seconds passed with no response.
Yu Zhi feigned surprise. “You’re not planning to compensate my losses?”
“So cold-hearted. Even men would get uterine chill from touching you.”
H0516: “……”
Why didn’t the cold freeze you to death?
“…Please wait. Submitting feedback…”
Yu Zhi had expected the compensation response to take some time. Instead, the moment H0516 finished speaking, a new notification popped up.
[Regarding your livestream malfunction, we have provided additional promotional traffic as compensation. Please wait patiently for repairs.]
It appeared too quickly—so quickly it seemed prepared in advance, just waiting for him to ask.
“Traffic compensation has been issued,” H0516 announced, unable to hide its smug tone.
Yu Zhi narrowed his eyes.
Unable to close the stream meant exposure of his privacy. Then they compensated him with promotional traffic—so even more viewers could appreciate that exposed privacy?
On the surface, compensation. In reality, a warning.
Yu Zhi was now completely certain.
—The inability to close the stream and the traffic compensation both came from Pandora.
Not just to avenge Meteorite Biotech—but also because he had repeatedly instigated reports against the system.
Pandora had more authority than H0516. It could do far more to him—including manipulating the livestream itself.
Yu Zhi pressed his lips together. The name Pandora rolled across his tongue—then he swallowed it back down.
It wasn’t the right time yet. No need to draw more attention from Pandora.
He exhaled slowly and looked at the viewer count.
[Online viewers: 7422]
Half a minute later, the number ticked up to 7424.
Not a sharp spike—but definitely increasing faster than before.
[User “Electronic Wooden Fish” is satisfied with your just deserts and strikes a wooden fish for you.]
[User “Evil Fleece” is curious about your relationship with the system and tipped 20 universal coins.]
[User “Cyber Bodhisattva” reminds “Evil Fleece” that you and the system share an indescribable relationship.]
“Xiao Liu, does this count as promotion already?”
“Yes,” H0516 replied cheerfully. “You can go poop now.”
Yu Zhi sneered. “Forget it. You’ve already dumped two big ones in my stream.”
H0516: “……”
Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside. The door lock rattled.
Yu Zhi ignored the system and barrage and walked over to open the door.
As soon as it opened, a familiar scent of smoke drifted into his nose. A relaxed, familiar voice pressed down from above his head.
“Locking the restroom just to wash your face? Who are you guarding against?”
Yu Zhi curled his lips into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Dogs.”
Fu Suxi replied evenly, “Your ex-boyfriend is in the treatment room.”
Yu Zhi lifted his eyelids, seeing his pale face reflected in Fu Suxi’s sunglasses. Word by word, he said, “Guarding against you, you dog.”
A second later, Shang Yu coughed loudly in the distance.
“Cough, cough—”
Yu Zhi turned his head. Shang Yu subtly twisted her neck toward the end of the corridor. Several silhouettes were reflected on the tiled floor.
In the blink of an eye, numerous sharply dressed figures entered view—department heads and deputy heads who had clearly just finished a meeting. Among them, Minister Lin from the Research Department stood out in his lab coat.
Noticing Yu Zhi’s gaze, Fu Suxi suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the men’s restroom.
“So you’ve got a beastiality kink,” he drawled lazily.
Yu Zhi: “……”
He opened his mouth to retort, but before he could speak, Fu Suxi’s other hand suddenly pressed toward his face.
Yu Zhi instinctively tilted his head to avoid it, but Fu Suxi was faster. Long, well-defined fingers landed directly on his head.
The man’s slender fingers ruffled his hair, slowly wiping away the dampness at his temple. At the same time, he said in a low, ambiguous tone:
“Your hair’s still wet. Be careful not to catch a headache.”
Yu Zhi: “……”
Here we go again.
He slapped Fu Suxi’s hand away and said expressionlessly, “Just looking at you gives me a headache.”
Fu Suxi tilted his head slightly, lips curling into a half-smile. “Good.”
Slowing his speech, he said word by word, “A boyfriend is meant to be cherished.”
Yu Zhi: “…………”
He grabbed Fu Suxi’s collar, forcing him to bend down. Then, just as Fu Suxi glanced toward his raised right hand, Yu Zhi suddenly kicked him hard in the knee.
The smile froze at the corner of Fu Suxi’s lips.
“Does your leg hurt?” Yu Zhi asked.
Fu Suxi discreetly glanced at the approaching ministers and gritted out, “No. It. Doesn’t.”
Yu Zhi gave a cold smile. “Good.”
“Love stops the pain.”
Fu Suxi: “……”
