Chapter 70: Don't wait for the Gods within the machine

Xi Zirui struggles against his bindings, making the armchair shake with the strength of his thrashing. "If you know about me and him, why didn't you just divorce me? What's the point of all this?"

Su Xueyi tips Xi Zirui back on the armchair and leans over him, keeping him trapped between his body and an uncomfortable tumble to the floor. "And why would I do that? When I worked so hard to get you?"

He sets the armchair straight with the loud clang of the wooden feet dragging on the vitroceramic tiles. "Do you even remember how insufferable you were back in high school?"

Xi Zirui rolls his eyes. This guy needs a therapist specialized on childhood trauma. "I don't recall."

"Of course you wouldn't." He steps away to light another cigarette. Xi Zirui can't help finding the way he shields the flame from a nonexistent wind extremely grating. "But I suppose I should thank you, who knows if I would have gotten to where I am today if it wasn't for you?"

"You're welcome," Xi Zirui says. "You can keep everything, just let me go."

"Host, please remember that the favor meter isn't full yet! You won't get a happy ending in this world unless the favor meter reaches100 at some point!" Ni Ni says, her metallic voice like a bell going off inside his head.

Xi Zirui thinks the happy ending he carefully planned out is all but gone up in smoke.

He needs to do some quick thinking if he wants to have any chance of salvaging this situation.

Trying to recall everything he learned when he was supposed to be an actor, Xi Zirui schools his face into a semblance of superiority. 

"If you want Han Yu to take the fall for any of your schemes, go right ahead, just leave me out of it."

Su Xueyi blows a plume of smoke up into the air. "Cute, you really went for it." He shakes his head. "You think I'm going to believe you've had a change of heart so soon after all the videos I saw of the two of you acting like a couple of teenagers?"

Xi Zirui decides to give it one last, desperate try. "It's just sex, you fucking idiot."

"No, it was just sex," he says, leaning on the armrest of the large leather couch behind Xi Zirui. "It's when it stopped being just sex that I knew it was time to do something."

Xi Zirui growls and struggles against his bindings, just as ineffectively as all the other times. "Do what, motherfucker, do what?"

"Whether what I've seen are dreams or memories, I'm determined to get revenge on everyone who has belittled me, used me, and mocked me." He flicks the butt of the cigarette away into a corner of the living room. "Starting with that snake Shen Yun. He killed me when I was en Emperor, did you know that?"

How is he remembering all this? What the hell is going on, and why is Ni Ni so silent on the whole matter?

Su Xueyi's eyes narrow at Xi Zirui's stony expression. "You don't look surprised."

He shrugs, his hands pulling uncomfortably on the zipties. "You are an easy person to want dead."

"CEO's favor up by +3 points. Now at 78 of a possible 100," Ni Ni says only to fall silent shortly afterwards.

Su Xueyi drapes his arm over Xi Zirui's shoulder and shakes. "The worst part is that I like you, I like your spirit, your nasty sharp tongue. You are a lot of things, baby, but you aren't boring."

Xi Zirui's heart jumps inside his chest. That were exactly his thoughts about Han Yu when he realized he was falling in love with him.

What does all of this mean?

"If only you could like me back," he sighs dramatically, before breaking into a sunny grin. "I guess we'll have time to change your mind in the years to come."

What's that supposed to mean? He was under the impression that Su Xueyi meant to kill him, as payback for the affair with Han Yu and all his jumbled memories from the previous worlds. 

Su Xueyi's smile widens. He guesses not.

"They should be here by now," Su Xueyi says clicking his tongue and chancing a look at his gold watch. "Bai Mi is nothing if not efficient."

Xi Zirui snorts. "Oh, she's in on your plan too? Was she the one who hired Cao Fei and Jin Ranyu?"

Su Xueyi throws his head back in a delighted guffaw. "Baby, you really think very little of me. Why would I need someone's help?"

---

He tells Xi Zirui everything after that. How Bai Mi's cut has been digging too much into his profit margin for his tastes lately, how her demands keep increasing, and how he saw the perfect opportunity to get rid of two birds with one stone.

"You anonymously hired Cao Fei and Jin Ranyu to seduce you, clone your WeChat, set up the meeting with Shen Yun and kill him?"

"Shen Yun's death so obviously looks like my doing, that anyone would believe it's a set up." He runs his fingers through his artfully disheveled hair. "Shen Yun's father has been pressing me for answers, he got them the moment I sent him a statement from Bai Mi's account paying off Cao Fei, and a recording of the same video Han Yu so conveniently showed you."

Xi Zirui knows he's been played, but he doesn't understand the extent of it until that moment. Su Xueyi purposefully planted the idea of the hidden cameras and the secret recordings when he showed him the video that would serve as his "collateral".

He anticipated all of this, and Xi Zirui followed blindly along with his plan. 

"You even took the liberty of making a public scene in the offices and escorting Cao Fei out for a joyride," he snorts, "thank you for that, I couldn't have done better myself."

Xi Zirui hates him. "Fuck you," he spits out, but the words taste like ash on his tongue.

"It's just going to be so convenient when Cao Fei and Jin Ranyu show up dead, murdered by Han Yu at your behest, because you saw Cao Fei as a threat to our marriage and to your lavish lifestyle." 

Xi Zirui wonders if Cao Fei and Jin Ranyu are still alive, or if Su Xueyi has dealt with them already.

Su Xueyi gets up from the couch and paces the space in front of Xi Zirui. "Of course, Bai Mi, shrewd as she is, saw the perfect opportunity to encourage Han Yu's obsession. In case the Shen family wasn't up to killing me just yet."

He squats down in front of Xi Zirui, a wide smirk across his face. "Which is why, being one of the few people who know about this house, she immediately drives Han Yu here as soon as they both learn that we're gone."

Xi Zirui looks sideways and away from Su Xueyi's manic gaze.

Su Xueyi gets up from the floor and walks towards a low end table. Xi Zirui already knows what he's going to take out before he opens the drawer.

"Unfortunately, things will get violent," he says, sliding a magazine into a handgun.

Xi Zirui can imagine how he'll talk the Shen family into cleaning up the mess after the fact, after all, they'll owe him for getting rid of Bai Mi.

Su Xueyi pouts when he notices Xi Zirui's haunted look. "Baby, don't look like that, I know you'll need some time to get over Han Yu's death, and I'll be very amenable to taking you back. In fact, you'll have no other choice besides staying with me, or I'll turn you in for being the mastermind of Cao Fei's and Jin Ranyu's murder."

Xi Zirui is so fucked, only a deus ex machina can save him now.

"Would Host like to have a look at the new items he has unlocked?"

The holo screen pops up over his wrist, displaying the newest unlocked items in the system shop

Su Xueyi misunderstands the reason for Xi Zirui's unfocused gaze. "You must be feeling a little lightheaded, I understand, this is a lot of information to take in." He pats Xi Zirui's thigh. "I'll get you some water."

As soon as he's out the living room, Xi Zirui focuses on the shop's items, hoping at least one of them will be useful.

Ni Ni has taken the liberty of making them slide automatically along the menu, on account of his current condition.

"What the fuck am I going to do with a permanent height extension?" Xi Zirui hisses through his teeth.

"It's one of our most popular items!" Ni Ni replies. "A very nice reward for Host's good performance in the previous world."

Xi Zirui wants to groan in frustration, everything she shows him is completely useless. 

"Wait," he says, after the tenth permanent hair color changing item.

Ni Ni stops the auto scrolling immediately.

"Shy Lover: Communicate telepathically all the things you aren't brave enough to say out loud. Valid for a single use."

Among all the useless items Xi Zirui has unlocked, this one is his best bet of getting in touch with Han Yu in his current predicament. He orders Ni Ni to use as many experience points as necessary to buy it.

"That will be 300 exp points. Now Host has a total of 600 exp points."

Xi Zirui can't really afford to be precious about how many experience points he has. Especially considering he doesn't even know if this is going to work.

"Buy it, just fucking buy it," he hisses, his eyes darting towards the kitchen, afraid to see Su Xueyi come in at any moment.

"Congratulations Host! 'Shy Lover' has been added to your inventory, please remember this item lasts for a single use only. You can send a telepathic message to someone of your choosing, as long as it's no longer than 200 characters."

What the fuck kind of special item is that? Xi Zirui is going to strangle Ni Ni one day, and she will have it coming.

Just then, Su Xueyi comes in from the kitchen carrying an entire pitcher of water and a tray with two glasses and a bowl of peeled mandarin slices. "I thought you could probably eat too."

He places the tray on top of the end table he took the gun out of, and pours a glass of water for Xi Zirui.

Smirking, he tips the glass towards Xi Zirui's lips. Xi Zirui holds his taunting gaze as he drinks.

"Don't come here, it's a trap. Have Bai Mi contact the Shen family and tell them Su Xueyi is responsible for Shen Yun's death, tell them to contact Su Xueyi and make some kind of threat. He wants to kill both you and Bai Mi; Cao Fei and Jin Ranyu, too. Please don't come after me, he's counting on it."

"Does Host want to send the message?" Ni Ni asks.

"Yes, curse you!" he says out loud, startling Su Xueyi into spilling some water down his chin.

"What?"

"Nothing, give me more water," Xi Zirui says, tipping his head backwards.

Su Xueyi pours the rest of the water into his open mouth, and then takes out his handkerchief to dab his lips dry.

For an unpleasant moment Xi Zirui wanders if it's the same handkerchief he used to inspect Shen Yun's dead body.

"They should be getting here any moment now," he says, leaning back into his heels after another furtive look at his watch.

Xi Zirui crosses his legs. "We'll see about that."

He can only hope Han Yu understands his message for the warning it is, and doesn't think he's going insane for hearing voices.