Chapter 186. Journey To Earth (I)

---

Arc E: Extra.

---

---

Whenever he had some free time, Chen You started checking the house’s surveillance data. He spent most of the day reconstructing a huge amount of data, so much that he didn’t want to look at it anymore.

Good.

Very good.

Chen You called the man in, and he sat in front of the monitor and questioned, “What’s going on here?”

Li Yan stared at the screen without changing his expression. The screen showed a young man sleeping on the sofa, his black hair obscuring his eyes, and he walked over, knelt on one knee, and kissed the young man’s face.

The scene continued to play, Li Yan’s gaze was gentle, and his tone was soft as he said, “I’m kissing you.”

Realizing his question wasn’t direct enough, Chen You paused the surveillance footage. He turned around, his face displaying the calm before an outburst of anger, “Why did you do this?”

Without answering, Li Yan merely glanced at the young man, giving him a look that conveyed, you know the answer.

Chen You glanced at the surveillance footage. The date was March 28th, more than a hundred years ago. It was on that day that this person gained self-awareness, and he had never doubted it.

Was he too lazy, or too trusting?

This man, taking advantage of being the only one by his side, acted without restraint and with utter disregard for morality, engaging in impure acts with him in his house for over a hundred years.

Now that the evidence has been found and is right in front of him, he still can’t simply throw this person into a cryogenic sleep chamber and create a new one.

Thinking of this, Chen You’s face turned even worse. He walked to the window, looked down, and let the cold wind blow on him to calm himself down.

If a fight breaks out, he can’t beat this man.

Start swearing…

He doesn’t know how to swear. Right now, he only knows one cuss word damn it. Although he has retrieved a wisp of his consciousness from the assessment world and it’s all stored in his mind, he hasn’t mastered any other ways to swear, they’re too complicated.

Forcibly cutting off the power supply and locking this person in a cryogenic sleep chamber?

No, this method won’t work.

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Chen You’s tightly pursed lips relaxed, and he raised his hand to pinch his brow with his nails. His situation was extremely precarious, he couldn’t make a decision at all—when did it all begin…

It all began when, despite knowing he could no longer control him as his creator, he retrieved the man’s consciousness data from the virtual world and brought him back.

Chen You’s eyelids twitched. No, over a hundred years ago, he couldn’t fully control it anymore. This man raised him like a child, taking care of his food, clothing, and daily needs.

His world is very simple, consisting of only two things, focusing on work and relaxing and sleeping. As for anything else, it’s not part of his world, and he doesn’t want to deal with it, finding it too much trouble and unwilling to use his brain for anything other than work.

That’s why he didn’t pay attention to it.

The wind rushed against his face, kissing every pore. Chen You lowered his eyes and saw the image projected from the restored data. His heart was filled not only with anger, but with other emotions as well.

Li Yan stood there as if nothing had happened, as if he had long anticipated that the fact that he had altered the surveillance data years ago would be discovered, and that the young man wouldn’t do anything to him.

A series of footsteps approached, and Chen You’s hair stood on end. A sense of danger crept up his ankles and spread instantly. He turned around, and the man was already walking towards him, standing only a fist’s distance away. Any closer, and they would be face to face.

“Who told you to come here?”

Li Yan’s lips curved up into a smirk, and he chuckled in a low voice, “I haven’t made love to you yet today.”

He reached out to touch the young man’s black hair, his eyes darkening, “It’s my fault. I only just remembered now. I’ve kept you waiting for so long, Master.”

His words were extremely gentle, yet carried an undeniable force.

Chen You immediately turned and ran, but after only two steps, he was grabbed by the waist and pulled back with great force. His physique was simply too weak, despite being the same height, he was completely restrained by the man’s grip.

Before long, Chen You became drowsy and no longer had the strength to struggle.

For ordinary people, sleep is for relieving fatigue and giving the body a rest. For Chen You, however, sleep is for recharging his depleted mental energy, he only wakes up when his mental energy is fully restored.

Li Yan was a man of his word. He never missed a day of the daily love making session, and this continued for a long time. He noticed that the more frequently they do it, the more relaxed the young man became during the act. Sometimes, the young man would even cry, although he still maintained a cold, expressionless face while crying.

However, the young man was eating his favorite food, and the taste was exactly the same as before, completely unchanged. Every time he ate it, he unconsciously clung to it tightly, stuffing his mouth full. He loved it so much that there was no way he would have any feelings of resistance.

Just shy.

Every four years, there is a week-long holiday during which all system workers set up automatic replies and inform their respective hosts to try not to cause trouble in the mission world. If they do, they can only leave it to fate and pray.

With the holidays here, some workers will take their wives and children to other planets for vacation, as spending time with family is a very important part of life. Other workers won’t go anywhere, simply staying home and sleeping in until they lose track of time.

Some workers, however, are indecisive and don’t know how to make the best use of this week.

There’s also a unique individual. He’s a top performer and a leader at work, a rare genius, but at the same time, he’s completely clueless in his personal life, unable to do anything outside of work-related matters.

It’s Chen You.

In the past, during every holiday, he would invariably spend his time sleeping at home. After he’d had enough sleep, he would do nothing in particular, just sit or lie down somewhere, completely idle, because he couldn’t think of anything else he could do.

This time, Chen You had the idea of going out.

Chen You looked at the countless planes in front of him for a long time. Then, he pointed his finger and selected Earth, where there was cola, stinky tofu, and a song that he couldn’t understand no matter how he listened to it.

Although it is an inferior and backward civilization, it is magical and interesting.

Before setting off, Chen You checked the Earth’s weather forecast and temperature, he also needed to choose a city to stay in.

Unlike the planet he inhabits, Earth’s temperature and seasonal changes follow the unpredictable shifts of nature. A sunny morning might be followed by a violent storm in the afternoon, rather than being determined by a set of pre-programmed data sent out by a main program.

Not only is there a difference in temperature between day and night, but cities also differ significantly in temperature and atmosphere depending on whether they are located in the north or south.

Chen You pulled up images of the southern region during this season, then looked at those of the north. After a while, he decided to go south, and finally settled on Changsha as his first destination. The map displayed numerous marked attractions.

Most importantly, according to Earth’s data analysis, the stinky tofu there is the best.

Chen You rubbed his forehead, “I hate going out…”

He held his forehead with both hands and thought, I’d better not go. Going out is really troublesome. There are too many people, it’s noisy and chaotic, and it’s hard to find a place to sleep.

“So annoying.”

Chen You rested his chin on his hand, tapping his fingers absentmindedly on the table. Going would be difficult, but not going would be even worse, the thought in his mind was impossible to shake off.

Never mind, I’ll still go.

With that man by his side, he won’t starve, freeze, or get lost.

A knock sounded on the door, and Li Yan pushed it open and came in, “Let’s go.”

Seeing the young man looking at the silver box at his feet, he said it had been transported from Earth a few days ago, “It’s called a suitcase, used to carry luggage.”

Chen You said, “I know.”

Li Yan raised an eyebrow, quite surprised, as if to say, Wow, you even know this? Impressive.

Chen You was too lazy to pay attention.

Main system administrators enjoy S-level treatment, have their own personal spaceships, and possess top-notch equipment and skills in all aspects. Ordinary people, let alone getting to ride in one, would be hard-pressed to even catch a glimpse of such a spaceship.

When the spaceship landed, it was already on Earth.

Chen You looked at the yellow sand swirling in the sky, the surroundings were desolate and there was no stinky tofu in sight.

Li Yan looked at the black device on his wrist and led Chen You towards the south.

Not long after, Chen You stopped, beads of sweat forming on the tip of his nose, “I’m tired.”

Li Yan didn’t suggest the young man exercise, because it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. That was something that a rare race was born with—exceptionally strong intellect and exceptionally weak physical strength, perhaps for the sake of balance.

Otherwise, a person with two extremes would be difficult to control.

Li Yan pointed to the suitcase, “Sit on this, or sit on my lap, choose one.”

Chen You chose the suitcase.

The two walked and stopped intermittently in the sandy desert, finally emerging as darkness fell. When they saw the taxi, Chen You’s icy expression finally showed signs of warming up.

It is currently 6:30 PM on March 5th, 2017 on Earth.

Li Yan took Chen You to the train station by taxi to buy tickets. They used the ID card they had prepared in advance and successfully bought tickets to Changsha.

Chen You stood in the waiting hall, where rows of chairs were full of people, men, women, and children. Not only that, but people were also walking around, making the air stuffy and unbearable. His temples throbbed.

I want to go back, I shouldn’t have come out.

Li Yan spotted an empty chair. He pulled his suitcase with one hand and extended the other hand towards the young man, saying, “Give me your hand.”

Chen You remained unmoved.

Li Yan lowered his voice, his tone carrying a subtle but undeniable authority, “Listen to me.”

“There are many people on Earth, and they belong to all sorts of groups. They blend into the crowd, specifically choosing suitable targets, and then use a towel soaked in ether to cover the victims’ noses, causing them to fall unconscious and become completely unaware of what’s happening.”

Chen You said, “I am a man.”

Li Yan said, “On Earth today, men are suffering just as much as women, and the trend is that they might even be suffering more.”

He took out his phone and found a news article about a male college student who went out to buy a bottle of water and disappeared for several years before being found.  During those years, he had been kept in a dark room, with handcuffs on his wrists and chains on his ankles, forced to deal with different people, sometimes several at a time, whose identities and appearances he didn’t know.

When the boy was brought out into the sunlight, he was emaciated, and the severely injured parts of his body had already begun to rot.

After reading the news, Chen You frowned and reached out his hand.

Li Yan’s face twitched,  just like a child needed to be scared a little.

A middle-aged man carrying a cup of instant noodles walked by. He noticed the dark-haired young man staring at his noodles. The young man was well-dressed and handsome, he looked like a wealthy person. Why did he look like he hadn’t eaten instant noodles in eight hundred years?

The middle-aged man looked at the man next to the young man. He was outstanding in appearance, very tall, and had a straight posture. The middle-aged man had to look up at him, “Sir, is your Didi hungry?”

Li Yan said yes, and led the young man to the empty chairs first, because they would be taken by someone else if they were any later.

“You sit here and wait, I’ll go buy you instant noodles. What flavor do you want?”

Chen You skillfully rattled off the name of an instant noodle flavor, “Chicken stew with mushrooms.”

Li Yan, “…”, This is not rejected.

The waiting room was crowded, and Chen You kept his eyes closed, trying to ignore the stares from those around him.

Li Yan returned quickly, handed the bag he was carrying to the young man, and took out the instant noodles with chicken stew and mushrooms.

Chen You looked at the bag on his lap. It contained sausages, cola, red bean bread, chicken feet, egg rolls, hawthorn slices… lots of snacks. He didn’t reach in to take anything because he didn’t know which one to pick first, he wanted to eat everything.

People on both sides watched as the tall man prepared instant noodles for the young man, blowing on them to cool them down, tasting them to make sure they weren’t too hot before handing them over. He gave his chair to his Didi to sit on, while he himself stood beside him, his gaze gentle.

They all whispered among themselves, thinking how kind and considerate Gege was to his Didi.

Several girls walked by together, turning their heads to look at Chen You and Li Yan, and even looking back as they walked away, letting out screams of excitement, seemingly oblivious to the stares of others.

Chen You rummaged through his instant noodles, ate the last small piece of sausage, and asked, “What’s wrong with them?”

Li Yan said, “They think you’re cute.”

Chen You tilted his head to the side, looking puzzled, “I am cute?”

Resisting the urge to tear the young man’s clothes off, Li Yan let out a sound from his nose, “Mm.”

Chen You continued to look for sausages to eat, muttering, “Humans on Earth are really strange.”

The two of them bought sleeper berths, and Chen You fell asleep as soon as he lay down, he was incredibly tired.

Li Yan was not asleep. He sat at the foot of the bed, leaning against the wall, with one hand on the young man’s leg, constantly announcing to the world that this was his private property.

The train arrived at Changsha Station the next morning.

Chen You followed behind Li Yan, walking at a steady pace amidst the crowd. He had slept well and felt much more refreshed, he wouldn’t feel sleepy again anytime soon.

“Let’s go to the hotel now.”

Li Yan told the young man, despite his expressionless and aloof appearance, the other person was actually quite clueless, and telling him itinerary would be pointless.

An invisible rope was around the young man’s neck and around his wrist, they were connected.

While waiting for the taxi, Chen You inadvertently glanced at the bus stop sign not far away, and noticed that one of the listed locations was where Pang Yilong lived.

The taxi arrived, and Li Yan went to pull the young man.

Chen You pointed to the bus stop sign and read out the string of names, “Go there.”

Li Yan’s brows twitched slightly, but he didn’t ask anything. After getting into the taxi, he simply told the driver the destination.

The destination was the entrance of a residential complex. Chen You walked quickly, heading straight for a certain building and taking the elevator upstairs.

Li Yan waited downstairs, he wanted the young man to do this himself.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man.

Chen You concealed the emotional turmoil in his eyes, saying, “Pang Shushu.”

The middle-aged man looked him up and down, then asked, “You are?”

Chen You said, “I’m Pang Yilong’s… classmate. Is he home?”

“Pang Yilong?” The middle-aged man said in surprise, “There is no such person in my family.”

Chen You was taken aback, “There is not?”

“I remember he went abroad and hasn’t come back yet?”

“No, young man, I don’t know who Pang Yilong is. I don’t know him and I’ve never heard of him.” The middle-aged man was quite polite, “You’ve come to the wrong place.”

Chen You said, “The address is correct. Shushu, don’t you have a pair of twins?”

The middle-aged man laughed upon hearing this, “I wish I had that kind of good fortune, but it depends on God’s will. I only have one daughter, who is just starting her second year of college.”

A voice came from the living room, and a long-haired girl peeked out and asked who it was.

The girl was quite pretty, she wasn’t Pang Yilong’s meimei, Pang Yifeng. Chen You said, “Then I must have made a mistake, I’m sorry.”

He turned and left.

When setting up the assessment mission worlds, apart from Chen You and Li Yan, everything else in those worlds—including the buildings, objects, and all the data—was copied from different dimensional worlds and actually exists.

It was simply passed through Chen You’s hands, he selected suitable targets, rearranged them, and rewrote them.

Chen You was unable to identify the corresponding dimensional world for each of those people.

If they happen to meet, it’s a coincidence, or perhaps a kind of fate.

When Li Yan saw the young man come out, he didn’t ask him anything and took him to the hotel.

Chen You wasn’t sleepy. He sat in his chair, stuffing snacks into his mouth, lost in thought.

This was the first time Chen You had used his brain outside of work.

Because he ran into an old acquaintance.

Li Yan spread out the blankets, glanced at the munching mouse, and said, “Go to sleep.”

Chen You glanced over, but the person himself was still in the chair.

Li Yan lifted a section of the blanket, took the snacks from the mouse’s hand, washed his hands and wiped his mouth, then pulled him into the blanket and got to work.

The holiday was seven days long, and Chen You decided to spend three days in Changsha. He went out in the morning, eating stinky tofu and wandering around aimlessly.

On the last day, Chen You ran into Pang Yilong.

Pang Yilong works at a restaurant. He is tall, handsome, and often attracts female customers. His boss has also praised him many times.

As a result, Pang Yilong incurred the resentment of his compatriots.

When he got off work, he was surrounded by a group of people. He was no match for them and had to take a beating.

Spitting a mouthful of bloody saliva on the ground, Pang Yilong cursed loudly, “MF, if I were rich, I’d kill you all in a heartbeat!”

When the group saw someone approaching, they ran away immediately to avoid any further trouble.

Chen You had no friends, family, or lovers in the past, but now he has mastered three kinds of human emotions from the assessment world, including friendship, and knows how to make friends.

But never took the first step.

Looking at the boy in the alley, Chen You didn’t move, but subconsciously looked at Li Yan.

Li Yan put one hand in his pocket, like a parent looking at their own child, his gaze held a mix of indulgence, pampering, and permissiveness.

Go ahead and do what you want to do, don’t be afraid, I’m here for you.

Chen You fidgeted with his fingers, and after a while, he lifted one foot.

Pang Yilong, lying on the ground, rubbed his mouth. He heard footsteps approaching from afar. He turned his head and saw a strange black-haired youth walking over and extending a hand to him.

---

---

---

---