CH 103

“Caught is caught; leave the dirty work, like playing ducks and drakes, to the little dog,” Xiao Zhenyun said with disdain.

Si Di couldn’t believe it. “My brother likes you so much, and you treat him like this?”

Xiao Zhenyun smiled faintly: “After all, he’s the male lead. Without going through countless trials and tribulations, surviving countless dangers, and experiencing life and death situations, how can we write a thrilling and satisfying ending?”

“…,” Si Di marveled at his guide’s abundant idioms, feeling momentarily speechless. “…Isn’t the climax supposed to be two years later?”

“We can start preparing now,” Xiao Zhenyun recalled. “I remember the final main villain is some professor whose wife indirectly died at the hands of special individuals, bitten to death by a mentally deranged sentinel. His son, lacking guidance, turned to crime and was also killed by special individuals. His elderly mother or father passed away upon hearing the tragic news, so he harbors deep hatred toward all special individuals. He resigns and retires into seclusion. After many years, he secretly develops a drug targeting special individuals’ spiritual bodies, mainly acting on intracranial nerves… and so on.”

As he spoke, Xiao Zhenyun felt unusually unprofessional, clearing his throat and glossing over those technical terms. “Anyway, it will induce symptoms similar to mental derangement in the sentinels’ spiritual bodies, eventually causing them to fall into a permanent coma. The spiritual body is a special individual’s self, a companion, an irreplaceable soul. The slumber of the spiritual bodies will deal a devastating blow to special individuals.”

Then he added, “At this point in time, the progress of the villain’s drug research is estimated to have entered the clinical trial stage.”

“Your explanation suddenly makes the climax seem imminent…” Si Di nodded in agreement, “But I think our current focus should still be on the unfamiliarity between Si Chu and Duan Fei. Otherwise, this Hedgehog’s life might reach its climax tomorrow.”

Xiao Zhenyun chuckled softly, “Didn’t I say let Si Chu and Ye Feiran chase after Duan Fei and Duan Pei, and then you and I will interfere, prolonging the chase, making it difficult for him to escape, at least until Duan Fei and Si Chu develop a basic understanding of each other, even if it’s hostile. However, adversaries appreciate worthy opponents. Then, after Si Chu catches them, you intervene, telling him Duan Pei’s story.”

“I believe,” he continued, “that with the little dog’s sensitive nature, he will definitely shed tears and spare Duan Fei and Duan Pei, willing to stand up against the world for them.”

Si Di: “…”

What a rotten trick, he thought. In the future, I’ll have to do more good deeds to accumulate merit for this bad deer. 

After the plan was formulated, Captain Si hung up the video call to give Si Chu and Ye Feiran orders to pit his younger brother. Xiao Zhenyun wasn’t idle either, closely monitoring the whereabouts of Duan Fei and Duan Pei, periodically reporting to Si Di, who then selectively disclosed the information to Si Chu.

Mostly, it was after Si Chu fell for Duan Fei’s trickery that Si Di offered a couple of hints. With sudden enlightenment, Si Chu immediately changed his tracking direction, admiring Si Di to the hilt.

In the little dog’s mind, the image of his brother gradually transformed into a contradictory captain with outstanding abilities but questionable morality, making him both love and hate him.

Si Di had grown accustomed, learning to shoulder the blame silently like Xiao Zhenyun used to do.

As for Duan Fei’s side, after several attempts to shake off the Storm Team only to be inexplicably tracked down, he finally suspected the only ‘Mr. Shu’ who had maintained contact with Duan Pei from beginning to end. He deliberately had Duan Pei falsely report a location.

With over twenty years of military career and general education, Duan Pei didn’t skimp on the acting, conveying a false location to Xiao Zhenyun.

Xiao Zhenyun, who had long known that Duan Fei was a clever person, how could he not be prepared? Moreover, this matter was related to Hedgehog’s life; it was unreasonable for him and Si Di to work tirelessly while Hedgehog roamed the woods with his viper all day long.

“It’s fake.”

As soon as Duan Pei hung up the call, Hedgehog lazily made a judgment, “They didn’t go to Shan Nan at all. Did you hear the two yells from the background, typical mountainous accent? They ran to the mountainous area while deceiving you to Shan Nan. Xiao Zhenyun, you’re suspected.”

“It’s strange if they don’t suspect me,” Xiao Zhenyun felt not the least bit embarrassed, calmly sending today’s news to Si Di.

Hedgehog coiled his tail nearby, watching Xiao Zhenyun type. “I really can’t understand what you and the Black Wolf are doing… I mean, I have no idea what you’re up to, but it seems exciting… There’s a kind of joy in logical inconsistency that makes it impossible for people to resist getting involved.”

“Admit it, you’re just a pure pleasure seeker, enjoying causing trouble for others,” Xiao Zhenyun said while instructing Si Di that their actions had been noticed by Duan Fei, urging him to act cautiously. Then he asked Xiao Nian to check Duan Fei’s whereabouts using the World Source Code, and incidentally, told Si Di to gauge Si Chu’s impression of Duan Fei. If appropriate, they should quickly close the net and move to the next stage.

Although he never left his house, Vice Chairman Xiao orchestrated his plans with masterful precision, winning battles from thousands of miles away.

“When did I ever deny being a pleasure seeker?” Hedgehog was somewhat pleased to be described by Xiao Zhenyun like that, probably thinking that the title was quite prestigious, allowing him to show off a bit.

Three days later, Si Di replied to Xiao Zhenyun: Si Chu’s impression of Duan Fei is… average.

Xiao Zhenyun: ?

Xiao Zhenyun: Either bad or good, what does ‘average impression’ mean?

Si Di: It means the little dog completely sees Duan Fei as a common task target, he hasn’t even remembered his name, always referring to him as the commander’s grandson.

Xiao Zhenyun: Still average, it’s been almost half a month, and he still hasn’t caught him. Isn’t he feeling guilty?

Si Di: He does feel guilty, but he completely blames himself for being too stupid. As for Duan Fei, he believes that his brother, meaning me, is just toying with Duan Fei. No matter where he hides, I can always find him. In his mind, it’s not that the enemy is too cunning, but that he’s too dull.

Si Di: He’s increasingly admiring me… and he’s intending to break away from my command and complete this mission alone, to show me his abilities.

Xiao Zhenyun: …

He always thought every possible plot twist had already occurred, but it turns out new ones keep surprising him in unexpected ways.

Si Di: Should we discuss with Xiao Nian what to do next?

Xiao Zhenyun: Xiao Nian will definitely say there’s no way, just wait to die.

“No way, just wait to die!” Xiao Nian said expressionlessly. He had stayed up for two nights in a row checking the World Source Code. Now, with huge dark circles under his eyes and a lack of energy, he even found cursing others too exhausting.

Xiao Zhenyun, bundled up in a thick coat, sat by the window. Outside, snowflakes were falling heavily, the world was blanketed in white, and deer played excitedly in the snow. Xiao Zhenyun lazily held a cup of hot water in his hands, nestled comfortably in his wheelchair, not even bothering to wear his prosthetic limbs. “No big deal. How’s the completion level of the current plot?”

“Well, what else can we do?” Xiao Nian raised his hand, conjuring a hardcover book and quickly flipping to the relevant paragraph. “With the current situation going in opposite directions, even if there’s a 33.33% chance, I…”

Xiao Nian paused, his eyes squinting, displaying a mixture of deep confusion and forced patience.

Seeing his expression resembling someone who had just tasted feces, Xiao Zhenyun knew something had changed. He straightened up and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“…” Xiao Nian hesitated for a few seconds. “It’s now 60%.”

Xiao Zhenyun’s eyebrows relaxed. “Why?”

“Is there a bug?” Xiao Nian closed and reopened the book several times, finally confirming that he hadn’t read it wrong. “After this world ends, I must complain to the management bureau about the quality of the world books.”

Regardless of the exact issue, Xiao Zhenyun immediately called Si Di, instructing him to move on to the next step: influencing the little dog and the little chick.

“I was just about to tell you,” Si Di’s voice sounded urgent. “Today, it seems that Duan Pei had an episode of his illness. Duan Fei was a bit slow in transferring him, and he ran into Si Chu who came rushing. The two had a fight. Because the other teammates, including Ye Feiran, couldn’t keep up, Duan Fei managed to escape, so they brought back Duan Pei and took him to the hospital.”

…So, it’s literally a case of not hitting it off at first sight?

The world book actually acknowledged it?

Xiao Zhenyun increasingly felt that whenever he intervened in the plot, there would always be problems. However, if he let the main characters develop on their own, no matter how absurd it might be, as long as it could touch upon the main storyline, the plot book would be lenient.

It truly showed the difference in treatment between the protagonists and the intruder who came through.

“How’s Duan Pei’s condition?” he asked.

“…It’s not very optimistic. The tumor seems to have grown quite large, but it hasn’t yet endangered his life,” Si Di said. “The Duan family came to take him away, but I stopped them. I told them that the person we were asked to find by the Storm Team was Duan Fei, not Duan Pei, so I didn’t hand him over.”

Xiao Zhenyun chuckled softly, “Captain Si has quite the authority.”

Si Di’s act of turning away Commander Duan’s people somehow reached Duan Fei’s ears. The young officer sent a formal thank-you message, even saying that if there’s ever a need for his assistance in the future, he would spare no effort.

This phrase sounded somewhat familiar, but wasn’t the intended recipient of these thanks a bit off?

It felt like everyone in this book seemed more like the protagonist than Si Chu…

Having been through too many overturned plots with Xiao Zhenyun, Si Di didn’t dare to immediately inform Si Chu about Duan Pei’s situation. After all, Duan Pei’s tragic story was partly due to his own conflicted personality, making him not just a pitiful victim but also somewhat blameworthy. He was pitiful and hateful, and Si Di feared that the little dog would find a different perspective, unexpectedly saying that this was all Duan Pei’s fault, then listing three reasons and sending Duan Pei back to the Duan family for reflection overnight.

But this time, he had over thought it. Ye Feiran unexpectedly found a slightly different taste in Si Di’s action of standing up to the military pressure to send back Commander Duan’s people. He took it to heart and, choosing a time, went with Si Chu to the hospital to visit Duan Pei.

It’s unclear what the three of them talked about, but the next day, Si Chu found Si Di with red, swollen eyes, hugged his brother, and said, “It’s so good to have you. Find as many stand-ins as you like, my favorite person will always be you. I’ll make it up to Little Uncle when he gets back.”

Si Di: “?”

Hold on, young man, your words are quite dangerous, you know?!

As for Duan Fei and Duan Pei, with Si Di following along, the current plan was to bring Harold Xiu over to accompany Duan Pei during his time in the hospital. Duan Fei, on the other hand, was preparing to return home soon, to have a good talk with the old man and be willing to pay some price to secure Duan Pei’s freedom.

After the completion level of the plot rose to 70% without showing any signs of decline, Xiao Zhenyun promptly instructed Xiao Nian to tell him the cause of Hedgehog’s death.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Nian was straightforward this time, immediately answering as soon as Xiao Zhenyun asked, “Oh, he died in the final mission before terminating the contract with the Royal Mercenary Corps of the Ermanthian Kingdom.”

“…,” Xiao Zhenyun hesitated for a moment because the place name was a bit complicated, but suddenly remembered that the Royal Mercenary Corps of Ermanthian was the old employer of Hedgehog as mentioned by Si Di?

He turned to look out the window. Since he didn’t feel like going out today, he saw the foolish Dark Sentinel playing in the snow with Tian Lu at the door.

“Xiao Nian… I vaguely remember,” Xiao Zhenyun closed his eyes. “Didn’t Hedgehog terminate his contract with the Royal Mercenary Corps of Ermanthian about a month ago?”

Xiao Nian rubbed his nose, avoiding eye contact, and began observing the patterns on the ceiling.

“The last mission before his termination… was done with me and Si Di. It was the task given by Commander Duan to bring back Duan Pei,” Xiao Zhenyun tightened his grip on the teacup. “Since the book writes that he died in this mission, how is he still alive and kicking now?… World Administrator, care to explain?”

The author has something to say:

Xiao Nian: Let me explain…

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