Chapter 1.9
The directness of Chu Cheng Yan’s question showed no uncertainty as to the source of the photograph. He was merely curious of the method Su Yu used to have managed to shoot it from an overhead angle.
The ball: Please recognize my effort!
Su Yu was quiet for a moment. This question would actually ve quite difficult for him to explain. After all, the ball does not fit in with current technology nor should it exist in the world’s story line.
So in the face of this question, Su Yu could only play dumb. “Cousin, aren’t you misunderstanding something? That photo was discovered by Miss Jiang in her office. What does that have to do with me?”
Chu Cheng Yan was not intimidated in the least by Su Yu’s denial and laid out his own thoughts. “You deliberately dirtied Jiang Yue Yue’s shoes and anticipated that I would clean them. So you prepared a camera and secretly took a picture of us. And what reason would you have to do this? It could only be because you saw through Jiang Yue Yue’s personality and knew I was in love with her. Following this train of thought, you did it intentionally?”
Su Yu sat with his head slightly bent, the same smile frozen on his face as if he could not hear Chu Cheng Yan’s words. Say whatever you want. Anyways, as long as I don’t admit it what can you do?
Chu Cheng Yan’s eyes gradually darkened. After confirming that Su Yu was not going to reply, he continued, “But then again, you had just arrived in A City and it was your first time seeing Jiang Yue Yue. Since I had never mentioned anything to you about Jiang Yue Yue either, naturally that theory is impossible.”
Su Yu could feel the burning gaze of the man next to him on his body. Knowing that it would be impossible for Chu Cheng Yan to figure it out, Su Yu could only lift his head and sigh, “Cousin, I really don’t get what you are talking about. Don’t you need to start working?”
With two pairs of eyes locked together, Chu Cheng Yan tried to stare through Su Yu while Su Yu matched his gaze with placid peach blossom eyes. Finally, Chu Cheng Yan broke the staring match first.
“You go have fun at the rest area. I’m going to finish working.” Chu Cheng Yan stood up and walked over to the desk as if the conversation had never occurred and started going over a document.
Su Yu blinked. Chu Cheng Yan realized this conversation was going to be in vain and so quit asking just like that?
However, regardless of what Chu Cheng Yan was thinking, Su Yu was not about to pass up this opportunity and bring the topic back up himself. So hearing Chu Cheng Yan’s dismissal, Su Yu grabbed his things and ran to the rest area. Chu Cheng Yan watched Su Yu’s retreating back and sighed, a complicated look different from earlier flickering in his eyes.
Su Yu did not notice the change in Chu Cheng Yan and played games on the couch in the rest area thinking about his tasks.
Jiang Yue Yue’s apprenticeship in the art of in extortion failed miserably. It was only the second attempt from Zhao He but it had already been foiled by the two men. Su Yu could predict that Zhao He would be quiet for a time but he didn’t know if Zhao He would be insulted by his loss to the point of attempting something crazy.
Well, even if Zhao He did take action, with Chu Cheng Yan’s IQ having reached 50% he should be able to handle the problem easily enough.
So all that’s left for Su Yu to do is greet Chu Cheng Yan for 50 more days.
Thinking of this, Su Yu couldn’t help but sling his arm across his face and sigh. Things had just become interesting and now they were going to be boring again. Su Yu could handle anything but boredom. But on the bright side, this gives him a chance to plan for the next world task, right?
“Ball, come here.” Su Yu put down his phone and hooked his finger at the ball.
Having its attention disrupted from the phone game, the ball reluctantly floated over. “What are your orders Master Host?”
“What’s the background for the next task?” Su Yu immediately asked.
The ball froze thinking Su Yu was already bored of the current world and wanted to move on to the next one. Flashing anxiously, it tried to explain the importance of completing each task to the host.
“Master Host, even if the current male protagonist has regained half of his IQ and can now deal with the story line, he still needs your help to finish restoring his IQ. As long as his IQ has not reached 100% completion, the task is unfinished. Please calm down and rethink your decision Master Host!”
“I just asked about the next task. I didn’t say I was giving up on this one. Calm down.” Su Yu plucked the ball out of the air. Although this task really was boring, he still wouldn’t give up halfway through it.
The ball saw that Su Yu was not going to quit the task and relaxed. Squirming out of Su Yu’s dog paws he said with embarrassment, “I…I was also worried about Master Host too!”
“So tell me the backstory of the next task already.” Su Yu rolled his eyes as he repeated his request.
The ball was still afraid that if Su Yu got too bored he would still give up on the current task. So even though Su Yu asked about a confidential matter, it still dutifully explained the next task with only a moment of hesitation.
“The world settings are actually pretty optional but since Master Host is still new at completing world tasks, I chose a world that is similar to the Master Host’s original world.”
“So if the worlds are optional, then I can choose the world task?” Su Yu raised a brow, his interest peaked.
The ball nodded and repeated some wisdom it had learned from its senior systems. “Although the mission world can be chosen by the Master Host, it is recommended that Hosts start from easy to difficult. For example, the mission Master Host is working on now. It is almost indistinguishable from Master Host’s original world so adaptation is very easy. But if instead it was an ancient world, even with the memory of the original owner it would be much harder for Master Host to thrive.”
“You doubt my ability to adapt?” Su Yu narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the ball.
The ball quickly denied the accusation, “Of course not! I’m just following the Host pathways set by more experienced systems.”
Su Yu did not care about the ball’s thoughts anymore. Tapping his chin with a slender finger, Su Yu pondered his options for a moment before coming to a decision. “I think we should do a modern world for the next mission.”
“That’s good. Just remember that eventually we’ll have to do a non-modern world,” the ball truthfully informed Su Yu of the situation.
Su Yu nodded, “What are the available story lines and missions for modern worlds?”
The ball flickered briefly as it downloaded the information for Su Yu’s request. Projecting the images in front of Su Yu, it said, “The Master Host can choose from one of these worlds.”
Three story lines were in front of Su Yu’s eyes: farming, a thriller, and the entertainment circle. Su Yu didn’t even have to think before he chose the entertainment circle. What else could be worthy of his radiant self?
Seeing that Su Yu had chosen his world, the ball withdrew the other projections. Before Su Yu could pester the ball for more options, the ball proactively made a suggestion, “In addition to the main missions, each world can also have side missions as well. Does Master Host want to consider taking a side mission in the next world?”
Although the ball did not want to admit it, it had also realized that Su Yu’s IQ and EQ were being wasted just doing the main missions and that it was truly too boring to just do the main missions.
“Side mission?” Su Yu’s stare almost burned a hole through the ball.
“Although the increasing the IQ of the protagonists is the purpose of the system, the system can also extract plot tasks from the world otherwise known as side missions. Such tasks are taken from the characters’ agendas in the story meaning they will mostly involved with taking revenge, finding inspiration, reversing fate, fulfilling regrets, etc. Hosts can also receive rewards for successfully completing side missions.”
After the ball finished its introduction to side missions it felt it was too serious and flashed pink in embarrassment. “But just so Master Host knows, the rewards for completing side missions are in a completely different part of the mall from the main mission rewards.”
The ball felt it was constantly an uphill battle to hold onto its Host. It even had to forcibly steal tasks made for other systems to meet the requirements of Su Yu.
Su Yu was very interested in the side missions and did not hesitate to agree. “I want the side missions but are they optional?”
“Yes, I have just checked the entertainment world and there are three available side missions Master Host can choose from.” Withdrawing the projection of the entertainment world, the ball displayed three side missions in front of Su Yu.
Su Yu was just about to browse over the the side missions when he heard footsteps. Picking up his phone, Su Yu put his headphones back on and opened a random game to play.
When Chu Cheng Yan entered the room, he saw the scene of Su Yu furiously swiping and tapping at his screen. At that moment Su Yu looked just like the average energetic teenage student.
Chu Cheng Yan did not say anything, and stood behind Su Yu not knowing what to think.
At the end of the game after Su Yu suffered a miserable loss, he happened to glance up. Turning off his phone and pulling his headphones out, he greeted Chu Cheng Yan, “Cousin! What’s up?”
“I was afraid you would get bored so I finished early.” Hiding the emotions in his eyes, Chu Cheng Yan gave a slight smile.
Su Yu immediately spoke up, “That’s great! I really was getting bored. But Cousin, this won’t delay your work right?”
“Don’t worry, it’s almost done. Let’s go, ” Chu Cheng Yan took initiative to help Su Yu put on his coat, and the two filed out of the office.
Recently, Su Yu vaguely felt that lately Chu Cheng Yan’s attitude was becoming strange but he didn’t bother to give it much consideration. Only, a few days later this feeling was becoming painfully obvious.
He didn’t know if it was because of overstimulation due to Jiang Yue Yue’s matter or a sign of a rising IQ but Chu Cheng Yan who was completely cold and indifferent in the past, became completely unfamiliar. When looking at Su Yu, his gaze was increasingly gentle and his smiles became almost an everyday occurrence.
The morning before Su Yu’s school started Chu Cheng Yan offered to take him out to play, “Yesterday, some friend gave me two tickets for the amusement park. Do you want to go together?”
“Cousin, you want to go play?” Su Yu suspiciously looked at Chu Cheng Yan. In fact, his heart could not help but have a slight expectation arise. In his original world, Su Yu’s life never had any time to waste on things like amusement parks. In this world though, he could relax and try it out.
In his excitement, he missed the ambiguous tone of Chu Cheng Yan’s answer, “If you want to go then I’ll accompany you.”
“Then, thank you Cousin.” Su Yu made his decision with a smile. He returned to his room to change into more suitable clothes for playing at an amusement park.
Chu Cheng Yan had apparently already predicted Su Yu’s answer as his usual suit had already been replaced with the rare leisure clothing. While Su Yu went back upstairs to change, Chu Cheng Yan waited in the living room. His eyes flickered with unknown thoughts.
When Su Yu came back downstairs, he saw Chu Cheng Yu sitting on the couch. As he turned to look at Su Yu, the light from the window reflected on a strong handsome jaw and highlighted the line of his collarbone. Su Yu felt weird and could not help but open his mouth to disperse the strange mood, “Cousin, I’m ready! We can go now!”
Chu Cheng Yan looked up at Su Yu and licked his lips nervously, “In the future, don’t call me Cousin anymore. Call me by my name.”
Su Yu raised an eyebrow but before he could speak Chu Cheng Yan stood up and walked towards the door, “Let’s go.”