Luo Shang had made up his mind to head over that very afternoon.
Roland’s sudden appearance, coupled with the news from Sophia in the Reincarnation Space, made it clear that this world was undergoing turbulent shifts not found in the original work. If he kept plodding along the original plot at a leisurely pace, he might fall behind the rapid changes in society. The plot could become impossible to follow as the backdrop diverged further.
In that case, he’d have to resort to other methods to keep things moving—like carving out a small patch of land on the planet, crafting an artificial microcosm that perfectly recreated everything, and then proceeding from there.
That would only complicate matters unnecessarily.
The System said: [You sure it’s okay to go ahead of schedule?]
Luo Shang replied, “Let’s give it a shot. I’ve got nothing but time, after all.”
The progress counter on the System Panel wasn’t something the System calculated itself. It was merely a display synced with the Main God of the Reincarnation Space. The real heavy lifting in the background came from a rare item Luo Shang had purchased: the “Finger Seam of the Fate Goddess.”
He had traded some Peaches of Immortality from his contacts list to acquire it, which in turn confirmed that their Squad truly had access to the Peaches of Immortality Garden Dungeon. That sparked the envy of a whole string of others in the aftermath.
As the name suggested, the “Finger Seam of the Fate Goddess” was a destiny-aligned item. Per the Reincarnation Space’s rules, only sacrificing an item with matching attributes could unlock such functions. Once Luo Shang offered it up to the Main God Space, he gained a progress bar that quantified his adherence to the plot and tracked the completion status of his Fate Line.
Before arriving, Luo Shang had pored over the logic behind the data calculations. It stemmed from the Main God System in the Reincarnation Space monitoring fluctuations in entropy within his Native World, then crunching those through complex iterations tied to the destiny properties of the sacrificed item.
Studying it had been about as useful as not bothering at all. It offered no real help for following the plot. In the end, Luo Shang had no choice but to dive into the world himself and feel out the rules through trial and error.
He could always destroy the world and remake it—like reloading a game save to tweak his actions in the same scenario. That let him experiment repeatedly, probing for the optimal path. Mistakes didn’t matter; he could just try again.
His earlier fixation on Shen Changqing had been one such test. It proved that even if the trigger and the side character’s motives were off—Shen Changqing had originally chosen to eavesdrop on his own, only for Luo Shang to force the issue—repeating the exact steps at the original spot still triggered progress feedback.
Had there been no feedback last time, Luo Shang would have wiped the slate clean, resetting to just before he summoned the storm. He’d have tried a different tack to keep Li Qingshu from leaving B City. That way, Shen Changqing never would have stepped out of the garden due to the weather, and none of the fallout—like the System-induced disorientation—would have happened.
But last time, the progress had ticked up.
This time, Luo Shang aimed to push further.
He wanted to test whether triggering the same events at the original location, but at the wrong time, would still advance the plot.
No progress? No sweat—it was just a trial run. He could repeat it tomorrow.
Progress? Jackpot. It would mean he could proactively drive the rest of the plot forward.
The stretch from the Recognition Banquet to his faked death and escape spanned a full five years. If this worked, Luo Shang could squeeze it down to five weeks. He held off on five days only because the other players needed time to eat, sleep, work, and recharge.
The others, of course, had no inkling of Luo Shang’s machinations.
Inside the Shen Family Villa, on the second-floor staircase, Old Master Shen was still glaring daggers at Shen Changqing.
Shen Changqing stood stunned by his grandfather’s words. In his mind, Grandpa Shen had always been a stodgy old traditionalist. For a man like that to casually drop a line about “taking two at once”… What on earth did his grandfather think of him now?
Su Mingyao cleared his throat lightly, drawing both their gazes. “Grandpa Shen, you’ve got the wrong idea,” he said. “Brother Yao, Changqing, and I have some other business to discuss. It’s not what you’re imagining.”
“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.” Old Master Shen suddenly realized what he’d let slip. In moments of embarrassment, people often busied themselves to cover it. He mumbled an ambiguous response to Su Mingyao—neither affirming nor denying belief. “I’m just heading down for some tea. You youngsters focus on your careers; that’s a fine thing…”
Shen Changqing had no intention of calling out his grandfather’s fib. The study upstairs brimmed with the old man’s finest teas; the stuff in the first-floor living room was mere guest fare, nowhere near his private stash.
But with the excuse handed right to him, Shen Changqing let it slide. He nodded along. “Take care going down, Grandpa.”
Shen Zhijian pretended to be very busy as he headed downstairs.
He had originally come out just to see what Su Mingyao looked like, but the young man wasn’t the flashy, seductive type he had imagined. Instead, Su Mingyao was a refined and elegant youth with a handsome, clean-cut appearance—altogether pleasing to the eye, which greatly improved Shen Zhijian’s first impression.
As the receiver in the original work, Su Mingyao’s looks were undoubtedly more appealing to the elderly than those of the original vicious male side character, Luo Shang. He came across as far more dignified.
Luo Shang’s description in the original work was “cute on the outside but vicious at heart”—the kind of type that was adorable and brimming with boyish charm. Even though he was technically a young adult in age and had actually lived for several centuries, calling him a “youth” still felt perfectly apt.
Su Mingyao, by contrast, was a scholarly and easygoing young man, a touch taller than Luo Shang and carrying even more of that mature youthful vibe.
Thanks to the absurd misunderstanding at their first meeting, Old Master Shen felt a twinge of guilt toward Su Mingyao. He was no longer quite so resistant to the idea of him as the Su family’s marriage candidate.
Then, when Su Bingyao passed through the living room and offered a proper greeting to Old Master Shen, that resistance faded even further.
Shen Changqing had been telling the truth. How could a kid who seemed so upright and proper do something like that?
Forget Su Mingyao—even just Su Bingyao, with his longstanding reputation for good character as backing, meant the three of them wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
Old Master Shen sat in the living room sipping his tea, but the more he thought about it, the more something felt off.
Right then, the doorbell rang.
A servant went to answer it, but Old Master Shen remained unruffled, calmly continuing his tea.
Then Luo Shang walked right past him, offered a greeting, and even took a seat.
Old Master Shen: ?
Something was wrong!
What kind of day was this? Why were all the key players in the engagement fiasco showing up one after another?
Su Tiancheng was the only one out of the house, off discussing a contract. Weren’t the rest already here?
The engagement hadn’t been officially canceled yet, which meant Luo Shang was still Shen Changqing’s legitimate fiancé. And right now, his own grandson was upstairs on the third floor, spending time with Su Mingyao…
To top it all off, Luo Shang opened his mouth. “Hello, Grandpa Shen. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I spent all last night mulling things over before finally working up the resolve to come see you. I wanted to talk about the engagement between me and Changqing.”
Old Master Shen: “…”
So he had indeed come about the engagement.
Meanwhile, up on the third floor, the three of them hadn’t even gotten into any specifics when a nightmare of a voice rang out.
[In a moment, Old Master Shen will call Shen Changqing downstairs. So the question is: Is Shen Changqing here right now?]
He was! Shen Changqing jolted upright.
Su Mingyao and Su Bingyao gazed at him with pity.
“What’s going on? Didn’t you say the next plot point wouldn’t trigger until at least tomorrow?”
Shen Changqing felt utterly deceived. He shot a glance at Su Mingyao. With Luo Shang here now, he didn’t even dare speak aloud and could only mouth the words.
“It’s like this,” Su Mingyao explained. He was just as baffled. If he’d known Luo Shang was coming to the Shen house today, he never would have shown up.
What if Little Shang discovered him upstairs later? Talk about awkward—like he and Shen Changqing were sneaking around for a secret rendezvous or something.
“Because real events don’t always follow the script from our past lives exactly,” Su Bingyao said, speaking up for his younger brother.
“Besides, Little Shang’s thoughts jump around unpredictably. He does whatever pops into his head,” Su Bingyao added, defending his other younger brother.
“We can only guess at what Little Shang might do or think based on Mingyao’s memories. We can’t be certain he’ll follow through.”
“So you’re saying it’ll be like this from now on? Whenever a whim strikes him, he drags me over on a moment’s notice?” Shen Changqing felt like he was one second away from losing his mind entirely.
How was anyone supposed to live like this? Didn’t Luo Shang have work? A life of his own? What if Shen Changqing was out of town on business someday, and Luo Shang suddenly wanted him there—would he have to drop everything and go?
“Or you could embrace eternal peace and let Little Shang sort it out himself,” Su Bingyao said with a calm smile.
He had long since grown fed up with Shen Changqing, the man who had wrecked both his younger brothers’ lives.
Shen Changqing fell instantly silent. No more talk of going mad.
Between eternal peace and mad survival, he’d take the mad survival.
At least that way, he was still alive.
“Besides, when Little Shang needs you, you think you can just run?” Su Bingyao saw right through him and let out a scoff.
You think you can even leave B City when he calls?
Su Bingyao couldn’t help but wonder what had fostered such a naive delusion in Shen Changqing.
He even harbored a few dark thoughts, fantasizing about Little Shang destroying the world outright—just to give Shen Changqing a real taste of agony, the kind where death would be a mercy.
Of course, as long as he kept his distance from him back then, everything would be fine. Su Bingyao just wanted to watch the show without getting dragged into it himself.
