Chapter 96: I Like You

Chapter 96: I Like You

As the most outstanding regulatory system of the Time and Space Bureau's Supervision Department, modifying plotlines in minor worlds was no challenge for L1.

When adjusting the narrative involving Ye Fan in the S20070501 world, L1 made few interventions in the protagonist's main storyline. He merely separated Ye Fan's life from that of the protagonist's, ensuring their paths would no longer cross.

In the original plot of the minor world, Ye Fan's and the protagonist's lives were like intersecting wavy lines.

Before high school, Ye Fan and the protagonist had no connection. Even during their three years of high school, their interactions were scarce.

Their relationship didn't even qualify as friends; they were merely schoolmates.

So, L1 revised the plot to have Ye Fan and the protagonist attend different schools, with Ye Fan being admitted to a provincial key high school as the city's top scorer after junior high.

With this modification, Ye Fan's entire high school experience would be devoid of any encounters with the protagonist, transforming their intersecting plotlines into parallel ones.

Following this, L1, before the protagonist Cheng Fei received his college entrance exam scores, programmed a "winning-by-default" scenario for him.

In the original plot, Cheng Fei became the provincial top scorer by default due to Ye Fan's unexpected death before the exam.

After L1's adjustments, the story changed to the original provincial top scorer abandoning the exam due to an inability to cope with the atmosphere, allowing Cheng Fei to still "win by default" and become the provincial top scorer.

And the student who dropped out of the exam—

Was naturally L1 himself.

The plotline of the S20070501 world wasn't complicated, with only one protagonist, so L1 didn't spend much time successfully altering the outcome of this minor world.

Cheng Fei, the protagonist, completely won by default, reaching the pinnacle of his life, and the minor world reached its conclusion.

Finally, L1 took another look at Ye Fan.

At this point, Ye Fan had graduated from his postgraduate studies. He had a girlfriend, a very lovely and beautiful girl.

On a campus road at dusk, the girl held Ye Fan's hand, swaying it back and forth. "Please! I really love cats, and I don't want to buy one from a pet store. The stray cat is Xiao Huang's child, we're already familiar with Xiao Huang, taking her son home wouldn't make her angry at us!"

"And taking care of a cat isn't burdensome. If you don't want to clean the litter box, I'll take care of it. Okay?"

The girl pouted and tugged on Ye Fan's arm, refusing to let go.

Ye Fan stood there, and after a long while, he revealed a helpless smile.

Then, Ye Fan nodded and said, "Alright, let's take it home."

"Yes!"

From a distance, L1 could hear the girl's delighted laughter.

L1's lips involuntarily curved upwards.

Subsequently, he exited the S20070501 world. This time, without any hesitation, L1 confirmed the changes on the system panel.

For the first time, L1's system panel did not display any reward points.

The system panel notification read: "Deduct 500 points from L1's system score."

L1 paid no attention to it. In the next second, he restarted the timeline of the A20231007 world.

However, unlike the S20070501 world, the A20231007 world was a complex web of intertwined plotlines. Modifying this world's narrative required significantly more time and effort.

This time, L1 did not enter the minor world but instead monitored each plotline from the perspective of the surveillance system, making timely adjustments and interventions.

Upon entering this world, L1 wasted no time.

The reason Huo Bin ended up ostracized and criticized was because of his affection for Su Rui and his unwavering trust in her, which led to his entrapment by Su Rui and He Shi working together.

So, L1 directly altered the fact that Huo Bin liked Su Rui.

The reason why Huo Ze's team faced disbandment was due to too many unstable elements within it.

Thus, L1 simply prevented these individuals from joining Huo Ze's team altogether.

As for the quarrels and divorce between Huo Ba and Huo Ma, it was naturally related to Huo Ba's distant cousin whom he hadn't contacted for years.

This issue was particularly easy to resolve. Since the cousin's return to the country caused their relationship to deteriorate, preventing her return would suffice.

Regarding Huo Jing's cargo, the solution was even simpler.

As a regulatory system, L1 knew which route was safest, so he secretly changed the captain's pre-set course.

The situation with Qin Yao was also manageable.

By releasing the black materials about Yu Bai and the other variety show guests in advance, a perfect resolution could be achieved.

Having completed all this, L1 finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At this point, there was still a month left until the end of Qin Yao's plotline.

Two years later, L1 returned to Qin Yao's balcony.

The familiar chair and coffee table from memory were gone. Now, the balcony was filled with flower pots, roses blooming splendidly. From afar, L1 could smell the rich fragrance of flowers.

Standing on the balcony, L1 looked around, poking the flower buds and shooing away bees buzzing around him before hesitantly turning to look at the room behind him.

Qin Yao was not at home at the moment. The floor-to-ceiling window was unlocked, and L1 could easily push it open to enter.

After a fierce internal struggle, L1 ultimately decided against opening the floor-to-ceiling window.

He was a polite system, and although he was quite familiar with Qin Yao, that was from the previous timeline.

In this newly initiated timeline, Qin Yao didn't even recognize himself.

L1 stood quietly outside for a long time, until the sky gradually darkened and the sound of car horns echoed from downstairs. Only then did L1 vanish from sight.

But L1 didn't leave.

It had been a long time since he last saw Qin Yao, and L1 wanted to see him.

The sound of the doorknob turning rang out, and in the next moment, the entire house lit up.

L1's gaze first fell on Qin Yao's face.

At that moment, his brows were slightly furrowed, one hand holding a phone while the other was unbuttoning his suit jacket.

Qin Yao was well-mannered; whether making oat milk or undressing, his movements were particularly pleasing to the eye.

L1's gaze roamed over Qin Yao continuously, watching as he entered the bedroom and then stood before the walk-in closet.

After a brief exchange with someone on the other end, Qin Yao hung up the call.

Qin Yao pulled open the door of the walk-in closet and took out a nightgown.

L1 blinked.

Was Qin Yao about to change clothes?

Before L1 could react, he saw Qin Yao's slender and beautiful fingers land on the button below his Adam's apple, white fingers undoing one button, then another.

As the buttons continued to be undone, L1 finally averted his gaze slightly.

Don't look where you shouldn't!

He was an extremely polite good system, he couldn't just stare!

So L1 simply turned around, crouching under the blooming flowers on the balcony, reaching out to poke at the rose buds.

These roses on Qin Yao's balcony were personally tended to by him.

In the previous timeline, L1 had been very interested in fresh flowers, so during the season when roses bloomed, Qin Yao would come out every morning to cut a rose and place it in a vase.

Counting down, it had also been a long time since L1 received a rose grown by Qin Yao.

L1 cautiously looked back, making sure Qin Yao hadn't come out, before carefully picking a flower.

He would only pick one.

Just one.

Qin Yao wouldn't be angry, right?

L1 picked a blooming Lo-shen rose.

The pinkish-white flowers, once fully bloomed, were larger than a fist. L1 leaned in to smell them, and his nostrils were instantly filled with a rich floral fragrance.

L1's lips curved upward, his mood suddenly relaxing, but he also felt somewhat guilty for no apparent reason. So he didn't wait for Qin Yao to emerge from the room, but quickly flew away instead.

That Lo-shen he secretly picked, L1 cherished it immensely and placed it into his system space.

What L1 didn't know was that almost as soon as he left, the sliding glass door was pushed open from inside by Qin Yao.

The young man stood before the roses he planted, staring at the bare branch for a long time.

...

L1's second destination was the Huo family.

Because L1 had altered the plotline, in this timeline, Huo Yan didn't fall in love with Su Rui, Huo Ze's team operated smoothly, and the relationship between Huo Dad and Huo Mom remained as loving as ever.

L1 still vanished from sight, not getting too close, but standing in the familiar backyard of the Huo family, watching the happy reunion of the family inside the house.

L1 thought: This is perfect.

As long as the Huo family and Qin Yao were doing well, he felt at ease.

For the following month, L1 shuttled between the two places every day.

First, he would visit Qin Yao in the morning, and once Qin Yao left the house, he would go to the Huo family to see Huo Mom. Occasionally, he would also visit Huo Dad and Huo Jing at the company, and if there was enough time, he would fly to the film set and the team to see Huo Yan and Huo Ze.

But sometimes, this order would be disrupted.

For instance, on this day, since Qin Yao hadn't returned home all night, L1 didn't come to see him in the morning but went to accompany Huo Mom instead.

It wasn't until evening, when Qin Yao was about to return home, that L1 came back to Qin Yao's balcony.

L1 noticed that many of the flowers on Qin Yao's balcony had withered today.

Roses have a flowering period of only about a week to half a month. Once this batch of buds finished blooming, the next batch would be in bud again.

L1 remembered that Qin Yao was very skilled at taking care of roses, and he generally wouldn't let withered flowers remain on the branches.

It was probably because he hadn't returned home yesterday that these withered flowers were left on the branches to drain nutrients.

So L1 pondered for a moment and then picked up the nearby gardening shears, carefully cutting off the withered flowers on the branches.

But just halfway through, L1 heard the sound of a car downstairs. He hurriedly put the scissors aside and vanished again.

Soon after, Qin Yao's door opened, and the balcony faced directly opposite the entrance. L1 immediately saw Qin Yao.

According to Qin Yao's usual habits, he would definitely change his clothes first, but today, he broke his routine and walked straight to the balcony.

L1 blinked and followed Qin Yao's gaze, spotting the withered flowers on the balcony floor that had yet to be cleared away.

L1: "…"

Damn.

He had forgotten to clean up the dead flowers!

L1 hurriedly looked back at Qin Yao.

L1 was increasingly understanding human emotions, and he expected to see bewilderment, shock, or even anger on Qin Yao's face.

But to L1's surprise, none of those emotions were present.

Qin Yao smiled.

He laughed at the pile of rose petals that had been clipped and fallen to the ground.

L1 didn't understand what Qin Yao was laughing about.

He didn't even know why Qin Yao was laughing.

Was it possible he was laughing out of frustration?

L1 felt uneasy, somewhat unjustifiably guilty, and flew away.

The next day, by the time Qin Yao had returned home from work, L1 still hadn't dared to visit Qin Yao's balcony again.

L1 couldn't help but wonder if Qin Yao wasn't angry.

He had only secretly picked one flower and then trimmed the spent blooms; surely he hadn't caused any trouble...

L1 didn't know.

He circled around Qin's villa twice before sneaking onto Qin Yao's balcony in the dead of night.

Qin Yao was already asleep, but to L1's surprise, the balcony's floor-to-ceiling window was not closed.

After hesitating for a long while, L1 still didn't go inside. Instead, he turned to look at the roses.

All the spent roses had been clipped by Qin Yao, leaving only a dozen or so budding roses on the branches.

L1 couldn't resist curling his lips into a smile. Just as he was about to leave, his gaze shifted, and he suddenly noticed a white post-it note.

L1 picked it up, and on it was written: If you like them, feel free to pick more next time.

L1's pupils widened abruptly.

Not only had Qin Yao discovered that he had helped trim the flowers, but he had also found out that L1 had secretly picked his roses?

When did he find out?

L1's face suddenly felt hot.

He tossed the note away as if it were a scalding hot potato.

For several days after that, L1 didn't dare return to Qin Yao's balcony.

It wasn't that L1 didn't want to go; he simply didn't have the time, because L1 suddenly realized that the plot of this small world was beginning to unravel.

First, Su Rui went to the hospital for an abortion, then He Shi found new love.

Then came the death of Huo Ba's distant cousin whom he hadn't contacted in a long time, followed by Huo Jing's assistant suddenly resigning and disappearing. What surprised L1 even more was Huo Ze; his team, which had just been formed for a season, suddenly announced its disbandment.

L1 was busy every day, his head spinning, and he was very puzzled.

Why was the plot suddenly starting to fall apart?

The main characters, who should have been entangled together forever, were now completely at odds, and the supporting characters who weren't supposed to die were heading towards their death.

L1 suddenly became a little afraid to let the plot continue.

So he promptly paused time once again.

After leaving the small world, L1 immediately sought out Qiu and informed her of the situation.

L2 was also there with Qiu. After listening to L1's account, before Qiu could speak, L2 spoke first, asking incredulously, "You altered the plot so crudely and simply?"

L1 was puzzled. "So, is there a problem with my modifications?"

"Of course there's a problem! A big one!" L2 exclaimed, "Yes, each plot line you modified seems fine when viewed separately, but did you consider that the plot lines in A20231007 would intersect!"

L1 furrowed his brow, explaining, "I did consider that."

Each plot line needed to lead to a reasonable conclusion, so every part of the story was essential.

For example, when L1 modified the plot point that Huo Yan liked Su Rui, L1 had to design another character for Huo Yan to fall in love with in this scenario.

But in L1's view, Huo Yan was a living person, and his life shouldn't be arranged by him. So L1 changed this plot point to Huo Yan meeting his favorite cat of his life on this day.

Thus, the Huo family gained a stray cat.

L1 earnestly told Qiu and L2 about all his modifications.

After hearing him out, both Qiu and L2 sighed simultaneously.

L2 complained, "How did you become the top-ranked! I think I should be the number one in the Time-Space Administration!"

Qiu glanced at L2 with a smile. "It's normal that L1 hasn't modified plots before."

L2 grumbled a couple of times, then fell silent.

Qiu asked a question, "L1, what do you think they are?"

Qiu then made a gesture, and the entire He family, along with Qin Yao, reappeared in this world.

Countless scenes flickered by, finally settling on their smiling faces.

L1 stared at their smiles for a long time before looking back at Qiu. "Why did you ask me this question?"

"If you consider them just strings of data, their data-driven lives can indeed be casually modified. But what if they are humans with cells, thoughts, and wisdom?" Qiu asked.

An indescribable feeling suddenly arose, and L1's brow furrowed once again.

"If they are wise humans, their lives should not be controlled by anyone, let alone be casually altered by me. But if I don't modify the plot..."

"I know," Qiu said with a smile, her voice gentle and soothing, "So you cannot use this method. You need to let them make reasonable changes themselves."

Qiu didn't give L1 specific advice, but soon, L1 figured it out.

The plot lines that the system could see were essentially the lifetimes of humans.

Some humans' lives were pre-written, predetermined paths, but more often, people's lives were filled with uncertainty.

Therefore, to change their lives, it couldn't only be L1 intervening. These humans whose lives were being changed also had to make their choices.

After briefly gathering his thoughts, L1 restarted the timeline for the second time.

This time, he no longer monitored all the plot lines from a surveillance perspective. He chose to become a resident system, dividing his data into six parts, each becoming the system for the entire He family and Qin Yao.

Before each critical moment, L1 would actively remind them.

In the second timeline restart, under L1's help, the entire He family clearly saw the true nature of the people around them. They all avoided their originally tragic endings, except for Qin Yao.

L1 had clearly calculated the exact time when the truck would hit, even down to the seconds, yet the truck still careened uncontrollably towards Qin Yao.

L1 had never felt so helpless. In the pouring rain, he sat on the ground, cradling the blood-soaked Qin Yao.

The warmth in his arms was fading drop by drop, and L1 realized he was trembling all over.

"Qin... Qin Yao... you can't sleep, Qin Yao!" L1 shouted his name loudly.

Raindrops splashed onto Qin Yao's face as he struggled to open his eyes, looking at the youth holding him. Suddenly, Qin Yao smiled.

L1 suddenly remembered that in the first timeline restart, Qin Yao had looked at the pile of withered flowers he had cut with the same smile.

Even though systems didn't have hearts, he still felt his heart wrench painfully.

L1's voice trembled. "Qin Yao..."

"This, cough cough..." Qin Yao coughed up a mouthful of blood, his lips still curved upwards. "For so long, I seem... to still not know your name..."

"Don't talk anymore..." L1 panicked. "I've already..."

He wanted to say that he had exchanged points for a life potion in the points store, but he couldn't use it on Qin Yao.

Every time he clicked to use it, a cold prompt would appear, indicating an incorrect target.

How could the target be incorrect?

L1 wanted to save Qin Yao. Why couldn't he save Qin Yao?

"L1, you... what's your name?" Qin Yao continued to ask.

His bloodless lips were stained red again by fresh blood, making L1's eyes turn red.

Under the dense curtain of rain, L1 heard his own choked voice: "Le Yao, Qin Yao, my name is Le Yao..."

Qin Yao's smile grew wider. Suddenly, he raised his hand, his icy fingertips brushing across the corner of L1's eye. Qin Yao's voice lacked vitality. "Don't cry... Le Yao, your name sounds nice..."

The last bit of warmth in his fingertips disappeared, and his powerless arm dropped, signaling the end of life.

Qin Yao died in L1's arms.

What exactly went wrong?

In the days that followed, L1 repeatedly pondered this question.

The entire He family was doing well, and even many of the supporting characters hadn't ended up with terrible outcomes.

But why did Qin Yao still die?

L1 didn't understand.

For the next two years, he kept searching for answers in the A20231007 world.

One day, while leaving Qin Yao's grave, L1 heard Bai Yu's cries.

No, perhaps "heard" wasn't the right word. It was more accurate to say that L1 detected fluctuations from Bai Yu's system.

This fluctuation meant that the assistance system was in crisis and urgently needed the help of the supervisory system.

Assistance systems were lower-level systems than supervisory systems.

Their task was to reside in the host and help the host complete tasks.

But since assistance systems' tasks weren't usually difficult, why would it suddenly seek his help?

Without hesitation, L1 rushed to where Bai Yu was.

Even before he could appear, he heard Bai Yu's desperate cries: "Please, monitoring system, save him, I beg you to help me save him…"

L1 looked over and spotted the man in his arms, barely clinging to life – Bai Yu's mission target.

"What happened to him?" L1 asked.

Bai Yu hastily replied: "It was my mistake; I miscalculated the timing of the crisis, which is why—"

"You… Why does your expression look so grim?" Before Bai Yu could finish, he noticed that the expression of the monitoring system in front of him had turned unusually severe, like dark clouds looming over a city, making it difficult for his system to function.

Bai Yu whispered an explanation: "I know I made a grave error, but it was due to my mistake that the host's life was endangered, so I beg you…"

Before he could finish, Bai Yu suddenly found that his system space contained five hundred bottles of Life Potion.

Bai Yu was taken aback: "You…?"

"It's for you, use it on him," said L1.

Bai Yu burst into tears of joy: "Thank you! How can I repay you…"

L1 responded: "There's nothing I need your help with."

Leaving those words behind, L1 departed.

The plotline of this world was about to reach its end once again, so L1 needed to pause the storyline promptly.

After exiting the small world this time, L1 exchanged points at the Points Mall for another month of extended pause.

During this month, he played back all the events from the second timeline restart day and night without rest.

Ten minutes before the pause countdown ended, L1 finally understood—

Qin Yao was different from Ye Fan.

In the S20070501 small world's setting, Ye Fan's death was not necessary.

However, in the A20231007 small world's setting, Qin Yao's death was essential.

Ye Fan's death merely provided the protagonist with an opportunity, so even if it wasn't Ye Fan, as long as someone could make the protagonist Cheng Fei win effortlessly, the plot could continue to unfold.

That's why L1 replaced Ye Fan by giving up the college entrance exam, allowing Cheng Fei to win the provincial championship effortlessly.

This plotline had no inconsistencies, and the Time and Space Bureau wouldn't judge it as unreasonable, allowing the small world's story to smoothly progress toward its conclusion.

But Qin Yao's death was essential, a plot point closely monitored by the Time and Space Bureau that couldn't be overlooked.

In other words, at this point in time, Qin Yao must die.

But why?

Just because Qin Yao's identity in this world was that of a major villain?

So he must die?

Carrying this question, L1 sought out Qiu.

After a long silence, she nodded: "Yes, that's the rule of this small world."

The monitoring system could modify any plot.

But the one thing it couldn't change was the rules.

L1 felt his entire body trembling; he stared at Qiu in disbelief: "Then I… How am I supposed to save Qin Yao? Can't I save him?"

Qiu looked at L1, her eyes carrying a sorrow that L1 couldn't understand, and she said: "L1, give up."

L1 shook his head.

He couldn't give up.

He had finally understood what emotions were.

Having finally gained affection, why should he give up?

During this month of repeatedly watching the second timeline restart's plot, L1 finally understood why he had been so heartbroken when Qin Yao died in his arms.

It turned out that he liked Qin Yao.

Therefore, L1 had no reason not to save Qin Yao.

This was his selfishness.

Long after L1 left, L2 suddenly appeared, uttering an incomplete sentence: "Never thought that even the top-ranked monitoring system of the Time and Space Bureau would have selfish desires."

Qiu glanced at him and lowered her gaze after a long moment.

For the third timeline restart, L1 didn't transform into a system again.

On a sunny afternoon, L1 directly appeared on Qin Yao's balcony.

At that moment, Qin Yao was in his study dealing with documents. Hearing the noise from the balcony, he curiously stepped outside.

L1 stood against the light, picking up a pair of scissors to cut the most beautiful rose for himself.

Hearing footsteps behind him, L1 turned around and smiled at Qin Yao: "Hello, Qin Yao."

Qin Yao gazed at him in a daze. After a long while, he revealed that smile that L1 found particularly familiar, even his eyes reddened.

Qin Yao spoke hoarsely: "Hello, what's your name?"

L1 gazed at the rose in his hand and smiled faintly, "Ye Leyao."

"Ye is the surname of a human who holds significant meaning to me, and Leyao is the name given to me by my beloved," Ye Leyao explained.

Qin Yao's eyes, red-rimmed, locked onto him for a long moment before a tear suddenly rolled down his cheek. "So... you have someone you love now."

His voice was soft, but Ye Leyao could still detect a profound sense of regret and disappointment within it.

Without hesitation, Ye Leyao quickened his pace, stepping right up to Qin Yao and wrapping his arms around him in a direct embrace.

Qin Yao's body instantly stiffened. "You..."

The first time Ye Leyao and Qin Yao embraced was on that rainy day.

Drenched in blood, Qin Yao lay in his arms, and Ye Leyao felt his warmth gradually ebb away until he became cold and rigid.

Their second embrace was happening right then.

The man's arms were still rigid, yet they carried a comforting warmth.

A slow smile spread across Ye Leyao's lips as he gently nuzzled his head against the crook of Qin Yao's neck. He asked, "Qin Yao, do you like me?"

Three resets, three reunions.

He was no longer the system who knew nothing about emotions.

It was his own fault for developing feelings late.

That's why he didn't understand the smile on Qin Yao's face when they first met after he had grown up, nor did he comprehend the expression on Qin Yao's face when he stared at the withered flower during the first reset.

He was also puzzled as to why everyone else's first thought upon obtaining a system was that they had encountered a ghost, while Qin Yao alone greeted him with a smile, saying, "You've finally come to find me."

Ye Leyao couldn't recall where or when he had seen Qin Yao before, but he was certain that Qin Yao had indeed seen him.

This answer might only be revealed when Ye Leyao successfully alters the outcome of Qin Yao's death.

But it didn't matter. What Ye Leyao had in abundance was time.

Suddenly, a pair of hands lifted, pulling Ye Leyao deeply into an embrace.

In his ear, Ye Leyao heard Qin Yao's slightly trembling voice, "Yes."

Qin Yao spoke solemnly, "I like you, Ye Leyao."