Chapter 45
Chaos ensued.
Ran Hong didn’t understand why his boss had suddenly become a righteous hero, but by the time he reacted, the two were already standing very close.
“I thought you were different from those spoiled rich kids good-for-nothings, but you’re also doing this kind of thing behind the scenes. If I hadn’t discovered it today, how long were you planning to continue your misdeeds?!” Xiang Haichao said indignantly.
Although Yu Congyan had helped him in the past, that was a separate matter, he wouldn’t shield a villain!
“This is clearly a misunderstanding.” Ran Hong, observing from the side, raised his hand.
He could tell from Xia Wansheng’s reaction that this was a misunderstanding.
It wasn’t uncommon for people to be brought here against their will, but their reactions were usually fear, anger, or despair.
Xia Wansheng’s calm and observant expression was definitely unusual, his first reaction was to explain the situation.
Their conversation was surprisingly normal.
Xiang Haichao also realized their relationship wasn’t what he had imagined. His aura weakened slightly, but he was still a bit uneasy and turned to knock on Xia Wansheng’s table.
Xia Wansheng looked up, puzzled.
“Has he ever coerced you?” Xiang Haichao asked seriously.
“Boss, be careful how you phrase that question!” Ran Hong quickly intervened.
But regardless of the phrasing, the answer was no.
Xia Wansheng honestly shook his head.
Xiang Haichao, truly living up to being the owner the owner of a law firm, quickly shifted to a friendly demeanor after understanding the situation: “My brother, I knew you weren’t that kind of person! Long time no see, come give me a hug~”
“Not now.” Yu Congyan said coldly.
His heart rate hadn’t slowed down from the earlier adrenaline rush.
There were still many unanswered questions.
Like the email he had received, whether it was a prank or a genuine threat, he needed to hear the truth from Xia Wansheng.
Silence fell, the atmosphere growing heavy.
“Since we’ve met by chance, let’s have dinner together!” Xiang Haichao suggested after some thought.
He was hungry after coming here so late, and the firm hadn’t had any cases requiring his personal attention recently, he was a bit bored. Now that he had met an acquaintance, he naturally wanted to chat for a few hours.
“Let’s go, I know a century-old restaurant!”
Before they could refuse, Xiang Haichao assumed they agreed, calling Ran Hong and turning off the lights, ready to leave.
They arrived at a modest, unassuming restaurant. It was clear Xiang Haichao was very familiar with this area, without any airs of a rich kid.
Yu Congyan had to drive later, so he naturally didn’t drink.
Xiang Haichao was the only one who got drunk, patting Ran Hong’s shoulder and rambling: “Brother, let me tell you, the most important thing in a relationship is trust, it’s the foundation, don’t misunderstand his actions just because you think you’re doing what’s best for him…”
Ran Hong seemed used to this, casually picking up some food while replying perfunctorily: “You’re absolutely right, boss.”
He turned to Xia Wansheng and Yu Congyan and explained: “Our boss likes to dispense wisdom when he’s drunk, don’t mind him, he’ll sober up later.”
“He seems to hold his liquor well.” Xia Wansheng commented.
Xiang Haichao, seeing Ran Hong’s indifferent response, squinted, trying to see the two people clearly, finally recognizing Yu Congyan.
Memories flooded back, and he changed his tone: “Come, come, let me impart some relationship advice, don’t wait until your wife leaves to chase after her…”
“My wife left me, she left me alone…” he wailed dramatically.
He rambled on, his voice not too loud or disruptive, adding a touch of warmth to the atmosphere.
When the dinner ended, Xiang Haichao was still reluctant to part ways. Old friends always felt like time was too short. Ran Hong and Xiang Haichao stood at the door, waving goodbye, as if the background music would suddenly switch to “Often Go Home and Visit.”
“Then we’ll be going now.” Xia Wansheng stood up to leave. Although things hadn’t gone as planned, at least he could finally get some sleep after this all-nighter.
Back in the warm car, Xia Wansheng felt a wave of exhaustion, almost falling asleep as soon as he sat down.
But curiosity trumped fatigue. He leaned closer to Yu Congyan, who was starting the car, and asked: “What happened to Boss Xiang? His current path isn’t easy.”
Perhaps because it was a small, local firm, the book never mentioned “Qingjiang Legal Aid.”
Come to think of it, there wasn’t much law and order in that book anyway.
Yu Congyan gestured for Xia Wansheng to fasten his seatbelt, then started explaining: “Xiang Haichao wasn’t interested in these things before, he didn’t even want to inherit the family business or learn anything, let alone start his own company.”
The situation back then was simple. Qin Yu, like other unfortunate characters in those novels, had a gambling-addicted father, a bedridden mother, and a younger sister still in school.
Debt collectors constantly harassed their family, even threatening to take his sister.
Xiang Haichao, an ordinary rich kid at the time, happened to witness this, naturally stepping in to rescue the sister. That was how they met.
Xia Wansheng felt a sense of familiarity with this plot, searching his memory and recalling a small segment.
This seemed to be a side couple from the original book, a clichéd story of unrequited love and misunderstandings.
The white moonlight knew from the beginning that the rich kid was just playing around.
He had overheard him casually mentioning their relationship to a friend, who joked, asking if he had finally fallen in love.
But the rich kid hadn’t seemed to care much about the white moonlight, saying he was just keeping him around because he was pitiful and good-looking.
So the white moonlight was always aware that he wasn’t worthy, but he still couldn’t help but yearn for this fleeting happiness.
Later, the rich kid, although having developed feelings, didn’t confess, instead being set up on a blind date by his family.
The white moonlight, seeing his date was a perfect match, gave up on his unrequited love and left for a foreign country.
A classic case of angst and regret.
“When is Boss Xiang going abroad?” Xia Wansheng asked.
He wondered how far their story had progressed in the original book.
Xiang Haichao should be going abroad to chase after his love soon, he wouldn’t appear in the later parts of the story, he wondered how long this law firm would last.
“He failed his IELTS test, he can’t go.” Yu Congyan said after a few seconds of silence.
“Ah? But he has to go abroad,” Xia Wansheng said curiously, “He can’t just stay separated forever.”
This plot couldn’t just be left hanging.
Yu Congyan was puzzled: “Why does he have to go?”
Xia Wansheng didn’t understand: “Because his first love is abroad… Didn’t Boss Xiang say his wife left him?”
And there were so many misunderstandings between them, he remembered from the original book that the rich kid went abroad to chase after him, otherwise they wouldn’t have met and eventually gotten together after a long and complicated process.
“Don’t listen to his dramatics, Qin Yu is just on a six-month exchange program, he’ll be back in a few months.” Yu Congyan finally understood.
“Just studying abroad… are you sure he’ll come back?!” Xia Wansheng couldn’t believe it.
This wasn’t the same as the plot he remembered.
In the original book, they didn’t resolve their misunderstandings, which led to the dramatic chase and escape.
Had the plot changed without his knowledge?
“Why wouldn’t he come back? Their relationship has always been good.” Now it was Yu Congyan’s turn to be puzzled.
“Their relationship has always been good? No misunderstandings?”
“I haven’t heard of any, and with Xiang Haichao’s personality, misunderstandings are unlikely. If he feels wronged, he would rather sulk than seek comfort from Qin Yu.” Yu Congyan said after some thought.
“Then does his family know about their relationship? Will they set him up on blind dates?” Xia Wansheng asked.
He was trying to confirm the details from the book.
He had initially assumed the plot deviations were due to his arrival, but this had nothing to do with him.
Of course, there was another possibility he didn’t dare to consider—
What if both parties in this clichéd story had gained self-awareness?
And their thoughts and actions were different from the original book, then perhaps other characters in this world would also deviate from the plot and make their own choices.
If everyone had the possibility of making their own choices, then the characters he thought were fictional were actually real, flesh and blood people.
“He mentioned being set up on blind dates, but he refused and confessed his feelings to Qin Yu instead. His family is worried about their relationship, but they haven’t interfered.” Yu Congyan summarized.
He rarely paid attention to these matters, he had only learned about it recently when he noticed a familiar name while recruiting for his company, realizing how much time had passed.
“So… there were never any misunderstandings between them, Boss Xiang’s first love just went abroad to study?” Xia Wansheng asked again, still in disbelief.
No wonder Xiang Haichao had rambled about “trust being the foundation of love,” he was already laying the groundwork then.
Yu Congyan didn’t understand Xia Wansheng’s reaction, but he nodded in agreement.
“！！！”
Xia Wansheng was stunned.
There were many illogical parts in the original plot, like the villains constantly switching between stupidity and intelligence, but ultimately always being defeated by the protagonist;
Like misunderstandings that could be easily resolved being dragged out for dozens of chapters, the truth only revealed in the final chapter…
So he had always assumed minor plot adjustments were normal.
But this time was different.
This part of the plot was only briefly mentioned in the book. Although their encounter was plot-driven, their subsequent development and thoughts were their own choices.
The characters in the book had, at some point, gained independent consciousness and thoughts.
They weren’t just supporting characters created to highlight the protagonist, but real, flesh and blood people with independent minds.
Then—
Was Yu Congyan, the protagonist of the story, just an ordinary NPC following the plot?
Xia Wansheng felt like he had overlooked many things.
He had treated this place as a simple role-playing game where he couldn’t skip the plot, but now he was told that the characters had gained self-awareness long ago.
“We’re home, let’s go.” Yu Congyan parked the car and said to the person beside him.
Then he noticed Xia Wansheng seemed dazed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Xia Wansheng’s mood seemed to have shifted after learning Qin Yu was just studying abroad, he looked both disappointed and lost in thought.
“Did you know each other before?” Yu Congyan wondered.
“Who?”
“Qin Yu.”
Xia Wansheng shook his head, he had only heard this name today.
“I’m fine, it’s quite cold outside, let’s go in.” Xia Wansheng didn’t explain.
His mind was in a mess.
He had always treated this as a simple game world, but this incident was a harsh wake-up call.
He had mistakenly assumed everyone was just an NPC revolving around him, their actions dictated by the plot, slightly altered by his arrival.
But he had never met Qin Yu and Xiang Haichao before today, yet they made choices completely different from the original book.
When did they gain self-awareness?
Xia Wansheng mechanically lay in the bathtub, mechanically dried his hair, mechanically lay in bed and closed his eyes.
He tried to figure out where the plot had deviated from the original book.
Then he realized with a pang of sadness, it was the moment he thought this was a dream and tried to jump out the window, and Yu Congyan reached out and pulled him back.
From that moment on, the plot had completely veered off course.
And he had naively assumed Yu Aotian still had feelings for the original owner.
So, as long as he played the role perfectly, he could complete the mission and go offline.
Thinking back, perhaps from the very beginning, when he was pulled back, it was Yu Congyan’s own consciousness making the choice.
Xia Wansheng couldn’t sleep. He sat up abruptly in bed and called out to the system deep in his mind:
“System, come out, we need to talk.”
The system, sensing his tone, tried to play dead: [Hello, customer service is unavailable between 10 pm and 8 am, please try again later.]
“Fine, then I’ll file a complaint.” Xia Wansheng said coldly.
[No, dear host, that was an automated reply, I’m back from the game room now, happy to assist you~] The system, not wanting to be reported, immediately appeared.
“Explain yourself, when I arrived, you told me this was a book, I think I deserve an explanation.”
Xia Wansheng didn’t elaborate, but the system clearly understood.
It fell silent, trying to act cute and evade the question: [Host, you see, the situation was urgent, if I didn’t explain things simply, the reaction wouldn’t have been correct… ]
“So, every character I’ve met here is a real person, not some NPC with predetermined actions?!” Xia Wansheng demanded.
[It’s practically the same, host, you’re just here to complete the mission, real or not, what’s the difference?] The system tried to argue.
“Answer me, yes or no.” Xia Wansheng didn’t play along this time.
[…] The system remained silent.
The answer was obvious.
In the drizzling rain, Xia Wansheng sadly opened the window, letting the cold air in, sitting on the windowsill, lost in thought.
The system tried to comfort him at an inopportune moment: [Host, don’t overthink it, is Yu Aotian treating you well? This plot development isn’t bad.]
“…” Xia Wansheng didn’t want to talk to the system.
[And the original prediction was for you to beg for forgiveness and achieve the abused ending. Thanks to my newly installed big data analysis plugin, the mission was adjusted, you just need to play the white moonlight and go offline on time, why aren’t you praising me? ]
The system, afraid of being ignored, quickly explained.
“Then why didn’t you tell me at the beginning?” Xia Wansheng wasn’t truly angry, just feeling a surge of emotions after this revelation.
He had treated this as a game world, so the increase or decrease of game currency and the NPC friends he made were just temporary experiences.
Everyone was just following the plot and giving pre-determined responses, he would eventually return to his original world.
[It’s our policy. Those who were informed in advance would hesitate during their missions, and few chose to go home,]
Sensing he wasn’t truly angry, the system quickly added, [So we decided to let the hosts discover it themselves…]
Xia Wansheng was still processing his emotions when the post-bath drowsiness washed over him.
Before falling asleep, he glanced at his phone, seeing messages from Ji Yang and Lu Mingxi in the group chat, asking where he was and if he needed help.
Xia Wansheng forced himself to reply briefly.
He thought he wouldn’t receive any replies so late at night, but an incoming video call almost instantly appeared.
The two, with dark circles under their eyes, carefully examined his face, confirming he wasn’t injured, just looked a bit stiff, and finally relaxed.
“We’ll just spend the night here, good night!” They waved goodbye.
Then the call abruptly ended.
It seemed they just wanted to make sure he was safe.
The phone screen went dark, but Xia Wansheng remained still, looking at the distant night sky.
It was raining, he couldn’t see the moon.
So everyone in this world acted out of their own volition, not because of some predetermined plot.
This couldn’t be a dream he had while working overtime, could it?
The system appeared in his mind, [No, host, you’ll know if you go offline now, not only can you go back to work, but you can also experience the heartbreak of losing five million!]
“…” Xia Wansheng’s carefully cultivated emotions vanished.
He should have advised the system against installing so many antivirus programs, it seemed to have lowered its intelligence.
