Chapter 62#
World 2: I Want to Be a Fish in Your Pond#
Under 996’s urging, Qin Qing quickly arrived at the D City Public Security Bureau.
A police officer came up, took his ID card for registration, and seemingly remembering something, suddenly asked, “Is your father’s name Qin Hualei?”
“Yes.” Qin Qing nodded.
The officer scrutinized Qin Qing for a few moments before saying, “In a few days, Liu Chengli, who swindled your father out of 280 million, will be extradited back to the country. Our bureau is responsible for receiving him. We’ll need you to come back then to assist with the investigation. Liu Chengli developed quite well in the UK and did big business. He can repay all your father’s money. You’ve finally made it through. If your father had just held on a bit longer back then…”
At this point, the officer stopped and sighed with emotion.
Qin Qing said some words of thanks, his eyes also reddening slightly.
He had walked to the darkest moments of life countless times, thinking that a little further would be light, but every step forward brought only more desperate darkness.
He thought life was just like this, that no light would flicker in such deep darkness.
But he waited until, in the deepest, deepest darkness, in the place where light was least likely to appear, a star actually lit up for him.
Qin Qing smiled and said, “I didn’t do anything to him; everything is karma.”
Yes, everything is karma. If the script had played out smoothly, the person sitting in the interrogation room crying bitterly would have been Qin Qing.
Thinking of that scene, and then looking at Qin Qing glowing faintly at this moment, 996 suddenly felt that the plot collapsing didn’t seem to matter much. A flower’s mission is to bloom beautifully. Even if it withers, it should fall into a lake or river and be carried away by clear water.
Thinking this way, 996 looked at Qin Qing softly, its little nose snorting proudly.
Qin Qing didn’t know what it was thinking but felt the warmth radiating from its soul.
“Little dummy.” Qin Qing squatted down and gently rubbed 996’s round head. Passersby couldn’t see 996 and thought Qin Qing had some delusion, but Qin Qing didn’t care about their strange looks at all.
One person and one cat walked slowly on the street, lazily basking in the sunlight.
Not knowing what it thought of, 996 suddenly let out a shrill howl: “Meow, in this case, Top 3’s career is also ruined? The future Top 3 was supposed to be a world-class ball star! Qin Qing, the plot has collapsed again, help!”
Qin Qing laughed heartily. For his little stupid cat, he eventually rushed to the hospital and paid Yan Boxing’s hospitalization fee.
The next evening, the person and the cat bought a lot of beer and skewers, sitting at home eating and drinking.
996 was completely slumped, one paw holding a beer bottle, one paw grabbing a skewer of sheep kidney, paralyzed on the sofa saying resentfully: “Don’t have so many Tops in the next world, one is enough. Otherwise, if all the emotional lines collapse, I’ll damn well shorten my life.”
Qin Qing crossed his long legs, leaning lazily against the back of the chair, took a drag of his cigarette with a frown, and nodded in agreement: “One is enough; too many is really unbearable.”
His phone was vibrating continuously. Ye Rongzheng and Mu Feiyan seemed to have made an agreement, sending text messages one after another.
Ye Rongzheng: [Kiss kiss, I miss you.]
Mu Feiyan: [Baby, you have to miss me.]
Ye Rongzheng: [I’ve opened a mining factory and a security company now. Business is very good. I will definitely be more powerful than Mu Feiyan in the future.]
Mu Feiyan: [I’m going to work at the family enterprise tomorrow, temporarily serving as CEO. Is Ye Rongzheng doing okay in Africa? It suits him there because he’s a beast with only muscles and no brain.]
Ye Rongzheng: [Heard Mu Feiyan went back to inherit the family fortune? Is it because he has no ability to start his own business that he sits and enjoys the fruits of others? Really useless. Wonder how long it will take for him to bankrupt his family’s company.]
After a while, both sent a photo. Ye Rongzheng took a picture of the African savanna, and Mu Feiyan took a picture of an ancient castle.
Ye Rongzheng: [Really want to bring you here to watch the sunset on the savanna with me.]
Mu Feiyan: [I will plant the garden full of roses for you. In spring, I’ll wander through the sea of flowers with you.]
Qin Qing smoked while reading the text messages, his bewitching face showing an awkward expression.
996 leaned over and asked curiously, “Which one will you choose?”
Qin Qing shook his head, exhaling a puff of melancholic smoke: “I don’t know, I’m still worrying about it.”
“Stop worrying, watch TV!” 996 poked the back of Qin Qing’s hand with an empty bamboo skewer.
Qin Qing wiped his hands with a wet wipe before looking at the TV. He saw Mother Ye’s hideous and distorted face on the screen. She was screaming, crying, and wailing, saying she loved her child and couldn’t have killed him, while kicking the surrounding police officers.
A group of police officers swarmed up and could barely restrain her.
Finally, her hands were handcuffed, her legs were pinned, and she was carried onto the police car like a dead pig.
A group of reporters surrounded Father Ye, asking him if Mother Ye had really killed her young son. Perhaps out of a guilty conscience, or perhaps because the evidence was conclusive, Father Ye admitted to Mother Ye’s and his own crimes in front of the national audience.
Tears of remorse fell from his swollen eyes.
“Son, Mom and Dad are sorry. Please forgive us. It doesn’t matter if you don’t forgive us; take care of yourself out there.” He looked at the camera and finally spoke words of repentance.
996 shook its head and sighed, “Sigh, isn’t it a bit late to admit mistakes now?”
Qin Qing asked curiously, “In the script, were their crimes made public? Did they repent? Did Ye Rongzheng get the innocence and justice he deserved?”
Three consecutive questions plunged 996 into awkwardness. The script only wrote that Yun Siyu lived with the three Tops in turn and started a happy life; there was nothing after that. However, it guessed that justice was absent because Yun Siyu had repaired the relationship between Ye Rongzheng and Mother Ye. The mother and son were harmonious, and all the ugly truths were covered up.
It grabbed an oyster and stuffed it into its mouth, pretending to mumble some Martian language, but actually saying nothing.
Qin Qing stubbed out the cigarette butt, rested his snow-white chin on his hand, and asked meaningfully, “Then do you think the current ending is better, or the ending in the script is better?”
996 swallowed the oyster and stopped mumbling: “Of course, the current ending is better. Every cause has an effect.”
“Yes, every cause has an effect, so the script in your hand actually has disordered cause and effect. Disordered cause and effect is certainly not caused by the Heavenly Dao, but by someone messing with the wheel of fate. Because the cycle of cause and effect is the most basic law of the Heavenly Dao.”
Qin Qing lit another cigarette, took a deep drag, and his gentle brows showed a hint of coldness amidst the curling blue smoke.
996 was stunned. Even with its low IQ, it could understand the terrifying message hidden in these words.
“You mean, someone is disrupting the fate trajectory of every small world? Why? Even hiding it from the Heavenly Dao and the Main God, who is that person? There can’t be such a powerful guy in the world! You must have guessed wrong!”
996 shook its head repeatedly, its fur standing on end.
“Do you know?” Qin Qing parted his red lips slightly, slowly exhaling thin smoke, his already bewitching face looking eerily beautiful at this moment.
After a long pause, he continued, “My race seems weak, like dodder flowers that can only survive by clinging to others, but we have the ability to steal the sky and change the sun, to steal luck. Since we can steal the sky and change the sun and steal luck, messing with the wheel of fate is naturally quite a simple matter. As long as we find where the wheel of fate is, we can succeed. However, it’s not easy to tamper with the fate of the Son of Destiny; that person might have already gambled his own life.”
996 stared blankly at Qin Qing in the smoke, stammering, “You mean, you mean, the person doing this is of your race?”
Because he stole a segment of the most brilliant mortal world, such a beautiful flower was condensed. Isn’t the rolling mortal world exactly the sky and the sun, the years and the months? This guy Qin Qing is a product of stealing the sky and changing the sun!
996 had no more fur to stand on end, so it could only widen its terrified eyes.
Qin Qing reached out, gently patted its big head, and comforted, “I’m guessing. It’s not necessarily my race, or maybe some other demons and ghosts.”
“Damn it, this guy who messes with the wheel of fate and steals luck, it wouldn’t be you, would it?” 996 shrank into the sofa in fear.
“If it were me, my true form would have been crushed by the Main God long ago. Do you think He wouldn’t be able to distinguish someone who stole His luck within His universe? Even if He is still sleeping, His power is not something a small flower demon like me can contend with. The person pulling strings behind the scenes just sneaked into this world, sneaking around looking for valuable items, carefully taking away a few things he could carry. You can say he is very dirty, you can say he is very shameless, you can also say he is despicable and obscene, but you absolutely cannot say he is very powerful.”
Qin Qing shook his head contemptuously, “He is not powerful at all. On the contrary, he is just a flea, hiding in the mud, hiding in the stinking ditch, hiding in the trash can, hiding in any dirty place you can’t imagine, silently waiting for a prey. His greatest ability is to stick his sharp mouth into the prey’s flesh and suck a few drops of blood. Greed will make him suck blood endlessly until his belly bursts. He even dares to steal the Main God’s luck; he is seeking his own death.”
Qin Qing stubbed out the cigarette, his cold and disdainful expression returning to his usual gentle laziness.
996 was not optimistic at all: “But with so many worlds for him to suck blood from, he will become very powerful sooner or later!”
“That’s right. If he is really of my race, he can use this stolen luck to cultivate. It won’t take long for him to reach the peak of the immortal path, ascend to the upper realm, and awe the universe.” Qin Qing nodded nonchalantly.
996’s heart was in its throat: “Your race is too damn weird!”
“Yes, it is indeed very weird. As long as you guard your own heart for a lifetime and turn to steal someone else’s heart, you can take that person’s luck, lifespan, and power for yourself. Who can resist such temptation?” Qin Qing’s pupils dilated, looking at the night sky outside the window without focus.
He seemed to recall some past events.
When 996 sneaked off the sofa, wanting to get away from this terrible flower demon, Qin Qing smiled gently again: “But you don’t have to worry, my heart was lost long ago. My luck, lifespan, power, and everything important or unimportant have already been given away. My race is born with two choices: one is to give a true heart and sacrifice everything; the other is to steal a true heart and plunder everything. I chose the first path.”
“Who knows if what you say is true or false.” 996 retorted, but its chubby body jumped back onto the sofa, snuggling up to Qin Qing.
Its intuition was very accurate; it believed Qin Qing was not a bad guy.
Qin Qing smiled, his eyes overflowing with gentleness: “Do you think the Main God is a pushover? With such a disgusting thing existing, would He not discover it? Why did the last world keep looping and restarting? Can’t you figure it out now?”
996 slowly opened its mouth wide, its brain completely confused.
After a long while, it reacted and said in disbelief, “You mean Qin Zishi was the one messing with the wheel of fate and stealing luck? He kept getting terminal illnesses and dying repeatedly, causing the plot never to reach the end, because the Main God was punishing him?”
“Yes. The Main God trapped him in that small cage, playing with him like playing with a mouse, neither letting him get everything he wanted nor letting him die happily. He constantly experienced the longest torture, dying and living, living and dying, never to be released. Is such punishment cruel enough?”
Qin Qing lightly stated his guess.
996 felt a chill in its bones, but thinking that Qin Zishi was a thief stealing luck, it felt very relieved.
“Damn it, the Main God is the most powerful!” It exclaimed.
Not knowing what he thought of, Qin Qing licked his slightly red thin lips, narrowed his moist eyes, and said lazily, “Yes, He is really powerful.”
His whole person exuded a languor of satisfied desire, yet his misty eyes revealed a trace of longing, making his bewitching face even more astonishingly beautiful and erotic. He must be thinking about some messy things in his head.
996 scratched its head, not daring to ask in detail.
Suddenly, a thunderbolt flashed through its mind, and it said fearfully and uneasily, “Qin Zishi in the last world was the one stealing luck, so is Yun Siyu in this world also—”
“Yes, in every future world, perhaps we will encounter such people. But they are not the real masterminds behind the scenes; they are just tools for stealing luck. In the next world, you’d better show me the script. The records in the script are the wheel of fate messed up by the mastermind.”
Qin Qing instructed solemnly.
996 wagged its tail and thought for a long time, nodding half-believingly: “Alright then, I’ll show you the script in the next world. How do you think Yun Siyu is doing now? Without stealing the Son of Destiny’s luck, he will definitely go to jail, right?”
Qin Qing thought for a moment and said, “Maybe going to jail is just the beginning.” For some reason, he chuckled lightly, his eyes lingering with tender gentleness: “My Main God seems to have a very bad temper. His punishment won’t be that simple.”
“Going to jail is just the beginning?” 996 widened its eyes, completely failing to notice the ambiguous and burning words “My Main God” that Qin Qing held in his thin lips as if reluctant to spit them out for others to hear.
Yun Siyu curled up on the single bed in the detention center, holding a thin quilt tightly in his arms, sleeping very restlessly.
Cold sweat covered his forehead, his body shivered, and his lips were bitten to bleeding by his teeth. Even so, he still couldn’t break free from the nightmare.
This dream started out beautifully; everything was sweetly intoxicating.
Qin Qing didn’t bother him at all in the dream, nor did he ask him to pay back the money, so he didn’t have to worry about debt at all. He was carefree and happy. He went to the dorm to play with Yan Boxing and thus met Mu Feiyan.
Just as he was gently strumming the guitar, Mu Feiyan fell in love with him and asked him to move into the dorm to live together.
Not long after, Ye Rongzheng returned to school and fell in love with him at first sight. This mad dog-like man began to chase him, fighting openly and secretly with Mu Feiyan for him, vowing never to give up.
In the dream, Yun Siyu was outwardly anxious, constantly persuading the two to make peace, but secretly very happy. Such excellent two men could give up all principles and bottom lines for him, piling the best things they could give in front of him.
Ye Rongzheng used the Ye family’s financial power to make Yun Siyu famous, turning him into a renowned painter at home and abroad.
Mu Feiyan became a big star, often promoting Yun Siyu’s paintings on the internet, making him sought after by people all over the world.
And Yan Boxing had actually had a crush on him since he was very young. Seeing him being fought over by Ye Rongzheng and Mu Feiyan, he also joined this war of love.
At this time, Yun Siyu could have whatever he wanted; the only things missing were troubles and worries. A casual doodle of his could sell for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.
His achievements were enough to be written into world art history.
How wonderful! How could everything in the dream be so beautiful? Yun Siyu indulged in it and didn’t want to wake up at all.
However, things took a sharp turn for the worse at this moment.
He hovered between Ye Rongzheng, Mu Feiyan, and Yan Boxing, hesitant and unable to choose. Those three men didn’t force him to make a choice, but just let him live in their homes in turn: this month at Ye Rongzheng’s villa, next month at Mu Feiyan’s castle, and the month after that at Yan Boxing’s apartment.
When going to Ye Rongzheng’s villa, Yun Siyu thought this was the beginning of a happy life because he was especially liked by Mother Ye. Even though he was a man, his relationship with Ye Rongzheng was easily accepted by Mother Ye.
In the Ye family, he could be as casual as in his own home. He often persuaded Ye Rongzheng to get along well with Mother Ye and forced Ye Rongzheng to go home every day to accompany Mother Ye. His matchmaking repaired the relationship between the mother and son.
In the dream, Yun Siyu felt he had merit. Outside the dream, Yun Siyu knew this was no merit at all, but harm and coercion. He was harming Ye Rongzheng’s already unsound heart! He was forcing a beast to become an even more bloodthirsty beast!
Naturally, he didn’t notice at all that Ye Rongzheng’s temper was becoming more and more irritable and crazy.
In the dream, Yun Siyu got out of Ye Rongzheng’s car and walked towards the villa gate. Mother Ye stood on the steps at the door, her face full of uncontrollable excitement and anticipation.
Ye Rongzheng didn’t get out of the car. Instead, he sat in the driver’s seat, waved with a smile, and then drove away.
From that moment on, Yun Siyu became Mother Ye’s toy.
Mother Ye pushed him down the stairs, breaking his arms and legs, injected him with various strange drugs, making him suffer from asthma, epilepsy, allergies, and other torturous chronic diseases.
Mother Ye invited reporters to the house to film his emaciated appearance, pretending to take care of him gently, showing off her kindness in front of the camera.
In Mother Ye’s hands, he was a puppet doll. Every important part of his body seemed to be pierced with cursed silver needles. He was broken, his body and mind shattered.
He called Ye Rongzheng for help every day, but the man who fought for him and disregarded everything for him suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Why? Was Ye Rongzheng’s love fake? Why did he send him to a devil? Did he have no feelings for him at all, not even a shred of pity?
Yun Siyu couldn’t figure it out, so he fell into despair.
Just then, Mu Feiyan appeared at the Ye family like a savior and took him away. A group of police officers rushed in and arrested Mother Ye.
In the dream, Yun Siyu wept with joy, thinking he was saved, and firmly believed that Mu Feiyan was the one who truly loved him. But outside the dream, Yun Siyu clearly saw Mu Feiyan standing far away, looking indifferently at a group of doctors treating the Yun Siyu in the dream.
He wasn’t worried about Yun Siyu’s life or death at all. When he heard the doctor say the situation was somewhat serious, he even smiled nonchalantly.
Is this love?
No, this is not love! This is a mockery more terrifying than Mother Ye’s poisoning. Yun Siyu had become a prey in Mu Feiyan’s palm; life or death was entirely up to his whim.
Outside the dream, Yun Siyu broke out in a cold sweat from anxiety, but inside the dream, Yun Siyu indulged in this false tenderness.
Under Mu Feiyan’s meticulous care, Yun Siyu recovered. He picked up his paintbrush and started painting again. But his fame had been exhausted during the year he disappeared. To quickly return to his original position, he had to produce a painting that would shock the world.
Somehow, he actually painted Mu Feiyan in the nude.
Mu Feiyan was a global superstar; who wouldn’t like his nude painting?
Yun Siyu put all his effort into this nude painting, but didn’t notice that Mu Feiyan’s gaze towards him was becoming colder and colder, like a leopard whose patience with its prey was running out, ready to pounce.
“Don’t do this! Don’t paint anymore! You’ve angered him!” Yun Siyu outside the dream shouted hoarsely.
Yun Siyu in the dream was obsessed with the fame and fortune about to be obtained, considering nothing and hearing nothing.
Suddenly one day, that nude painting inexplicably started to burn under the sunlight. Yun Siyu hurriedly grabbed the frame to put out the fire, but his hands were burned black.
After the burns healed, his ten fingers were fused together, tightly curled into two fists. Let alone picking up a paintbrush, he lost even basic self-care abilities.
Just at this time, the scandal of him using a ghostwriter to sell fake paintings was exposed, and the whole world began to crusade against him.
He lost his health, lost the ability to paint, lost fame and fortune.
He thought Mu Feiyan would stand up to protect him, but that man also disappeared. He was sent out of the castle and settled in a shabby rental house. Yan Boxing found him and took him back to the mansion to live.
He thought he had ushered in redemption once again, but the scandal of Yan Boxing taking stimulants was exposed. Overnight, Yan Boxing was also ruined.
The mansion, luxury cars, stable and affluent life, all gone. Yan Boxing eventually left Yun Siyu too.
The dream continued. Yun Siyu lay in a cramped basement, with a small transom window overhead. Sunlight shot in through the window, bringing in a lot of dust.
Yun Siyu looked at the dust, his hands choking his own throat, his face gradually turning purple. His asthma attacked! He was enduring long suffocation and painful struggle, and then the final death.
“Huff huff huff!” Yun Siyu sat up abruptly, gasping for breath.
Everything in the dream clearly hadn’t happened, but he always had a feeling that those terrifying, inhuman experiences were all real! As long as he was with Ye Rongzheng and Mu Feiyan, those terrible experiences would be staged one by one in the future!
What love at first sight, fighting for him, loving him inextricably, all fake!
Those two people never loved Yun Siyu! All the beauty was false! But why? Why treat me like this? I didn’t do anything wrong!
Yun Siyu covered his face and cried with extreme grievance.
He didn’t know that on the back of his neck, under the thick hair, a leaf-shaped green birthmark was slowly turning withered and yellow.