Chapter 5 What’s Your Problem?

Chapter 5 What’s Your Problem?

Song Hongkai left in a huff, but not without a parting shot: "You little brat, just you wait!"

Song Shimu watched Song Hongkai coolly. Once he was sure the man was gone, he handed the hose to the assistant. "Thanks."

"Anytime." The assistant’s eyes gleamed as he took the hose—that scolding had been incredibly satisfying.

Ignoring the assistant’s reaction, Song Shimu used his crutch to return to his room and pack. In the original plot, Song Hongkai had targeted Tan Manjin and Qin Song, extorting them for child support. Naturally, the protagonist would counterattack, driving Song Hongkai away.

Song Shimu believed he had perfectly completed the task, but the system disagreed, as it hadn’t followed the original storyline.

"What can I do if the antagonist doesn’t stick to the script?" Song Shimu retorted.

073 grumbled resentfully, "The program didn’t give a completion prompt. What was I supposed to do?"

Song Shimu chuckled. "Little Old System, hurry up and message your Ancient System. Try to get in touch as soon as possible."

"...I’m 073! Not Little Old System!"

"Same difference."

"Not the same!"

Arguing with the system, Song Shimu went downstairs. The assistant helped carry his luggage and potted plants to the car.

At the door, Qin Xu glanced at them, spotting the small suitcase in the assistant’s hand. He raised an eyebrow. "Done packing?"

"Yeah, might be back someday," Song Shimu offered as an excuse.

After getting into the car, Qin Xu suddenly called Song Shimu’s name and handed him his phone, expressionless.

Song Shimu looked puzzled. "What’s up?"

Qin Xu didn’t speak, merely pushing the phone closer.

Song Shimu, feeling confused, guessed that Qin Xu was thanking him for getting rid of a nuisance and was offering the phone as a gift.

But giving a used phone seemed too perfunctory—though it did fit the antagonist’s character of disliking the protagonist.

Song Shimu waved a hand. "Thanks, but even though this is the latest model, I’m not a fan of used phones."

"Who said I’m giving you a gift?" Qin Xu shot him a glare, pressed the power button a few times, but the screen remained unresponsive—clearly broken.

Song Shimu changed his tune. "I don’t take broken phones either. This isn’t a junkyard."

Qin Xu’s lip twitched. "That water you dumped on me got my phone soaked. Now it’s blacked out and won’t turn on."

"?...So you’re...?" Song Shimu asked hesitantly.

"You owe me a new phone."

The assistant in the front seat burst out laughing. Qin Xu glanced at him and asked in a demonic whisper, "You fetched the water?"

The assistant stopped laughing.

Song Shimu rubbed his nose, managed a smile, and said, "...I probably never mentioned this, but my side hustle is collecting old and broken phones. I trade them in for stainless steel basins—interested?"

Qin Xu tossed the phone to him, turned away coldly, and said, "How many basins do you think this phone is worth?"

Song Shimu shook the phone, assessing it. "Enough to bankrupt me, probably."

Qin Xu snorted and said nothing more.

The assistant still wanted to laugh but, for the sake of his salary, bit back the urge, turning red from the effort.

Song Shimu carefully inspected the phone, then asked the assistant for a charger and some tissues.

After wiping the charging port and plugging it in, the screen soon lit up with a low battery icon.

Song Shimu said, "If a basin of water can kill it, you should boycott this brand forever."

Qin Xu smirked slightly and closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

Seeing no reaction from him, Song Shimu realized Qin Xu had been tricking him. "You were bluffing?"

Qin Xu cracked open his narrow eyes, glanced at him, and said, "I guess. After all, Mom and Dad probably don’t know about your side hustle recycling old and broken phones."

"You’re going to tell them?" Hearing Tan Manjin and Qin Song mentioned, Song Shimu’s attention shifted.

"Yeah. Even though it might affect our relationship, I’ll still tell them. Mom and Dad asked me to stay on good terms with you and submit a weekly analysis report."

"..." Before Song Shimu could respond, Qin Xu added, "They’ll write one too."

"Tsk." Song Shimu didn’t know whether to be amazed by Qin Xu’s bluntness or by this family’s strict dynamic.

But the main issue now wasn’t that—it was that they had to write analysis reports. Wouldn’t it be easy to expose him if he left and was replaced by someone new?

"073, hurry up and pester the Ancient System. I can’t stay here too long."

"I’m trying, I’m trying..." Faced with a screen full of red exclamation marks, 073 was on the verge of despair.

Something was wrong with this world—the plot kept going off script. If it had just pulled the wrong person, it might only affect the main storyline, but why was the antagonist not following the plot?!

It was just a novice system! Why was this happening to it?!

By the time it finally connected with the Ancient System, Song Shimu had just finished updating Yue Lan and placed flowers in front of her grave.

The Little Old System was screaming in his head, but Song Shimu tuned it out, gazing sincerely at Yue Lan’s photo. "I don’t know how long I’ll need to use your son’s body, but rest assured—while I’m in it, I won’t mistreat it."

"Also, his birth parents are doing well. You don’t need to worry about them mistreating your son. As for your other son, well... he’s a good person too. He’s now the CEO of Qinfeng—a very capable man."

...

Song Shimu talked on like this until his legs grew sore and a vibrant orange-red glow appeared on the horizon. Leaning on his crutch, he slowly made his way out of the cemetery.

Once outside, he got into the car to head home. The driver was Qin Xu’s assistant.

As the car started moving, Song Shimu prodded the Little Old System to ask what was going on.

073: "The main system replied!"

"Oh? What did it say?"

"It scolded me, then stopped replying."

"...So you screamed and then went silent because you got scolded?"

073 said sheepishly, "I thought it would understand me. I reported the problem as soon as I could, but it blocked me and refused my feedback. Then it scolded me even harder..."

Song Shimu felt bad for it for a second, then asked, "Did it say how to solve the current problem?"

"No."

"So we—?"

"Might be abandoned."

"..." Song Shimu no longer felt sorry for the system; he felt sorrier for himself. "What kind of crappy boss is that? So petty?"

"Yeah, yeah! It’s exactly that petty!" Hearing Song Shimu complain, System 073 could no longer hold back the grievances built up over being blocked for so long, pouring them out like a flood. "Not only is it petty, but it’s also obsessed with its reputation! Anyone who doesn’t suck up to it gets sidelined!"

"The worst part is, we systems have performance evaluations. The main system has to be number one on the leaderboard, and it can’t stand anyone surpassing it!"

"Having a boss like that really is the worst kind of luck." Song Shimu expressed deep sympathy; his previous boss had also been hard to deal with.

"Exactly! Last time I complained about it a few times, it cut my pay! Can you believe it? After working hard to finish one job, thinking I could finally rest a bit, it cut my pay in half! And made me start work early!"

"I get it," he said.

Song Shimu felt this was probably the only thing he and 073 had in common—both were overworked and underappreciated.

The car continued forward, passing through crowded streets. Skyscrapers receded behind them as lush greenery rushed toward them, leading to an estate.

After driving through the garden, the car stopped in front of the villa. Song Shimu temporarily stopped trash-talking with 073 about the main system and, with the assistant’s help, entered the villa.

Once inside, Song Shimu didn’t let the assistant accompany him further. He leaned on his crutch and walked in alone.

In the living room, he ran into Qin Xu, who was sitting on the sofa. His suit jacket was off, revealing a clean, crisp white shirt. His distinctly jointed hands held documents, his jawline set and cold, his gaze fixed on the papers.

Qin Xu glanced over at the sound but continued reading.

Clearly, he had no intention of greeting him.

Song Shimu had no desire to force a greeting either. He retracted his gaze and headed to his room on the second floor, which meant climbing a flight of stairs.

Halfway up, an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

"073 system upgrade completed. Operator: 001."

"Host selection error detected. Initiating repatriation procedure."

"Repatriation progress: 10%, 20%..."

"What?"

"Holy shit!" Before Song Shimu could react, 073 blurted out a curse in his mind.

Then a deep, angry male voice spoke. "073, did you enjoy cursing at me?"

At this, Song Shimu stumbled. His foot, about to step onto the next stair, scraped off the edge. "Ouch!"

Song Shimu’s knees slammed into two steps before he scraped to a halt on the stairs. The throbbing pain, worsened by his existing fracture, made his vision go dark. "Hiss—"

Kneeling on the steps, Song Shimu caught himself with his hands, his crutch forgotten. He slid down several steps, making quite a noise.

In the living room, Qin Xu frowned at the sound and quickly walked toward the staircase.

"You—you—you! When did you get here?!" 073 squeaked in panic.

System 001’s voice turned icy. "I came the moment I saw your message."

"Then... then... then..."

"I heard everything. You have a lot of complaints about me."

"I—I’d never dare, haha... You must’ve heard wrong... I’m sorry..."

"We’ll talk about this later." After handling 073, 001 explained to Song Shimu, "Your coming here was a complete accident. As compensation, I can bring you back to life in your original world, but the cost is forgetting everything that happened in this world forever."

Song Shimu was about to say, "No, I’d rather not live," when Qin Xu’s voice came from behind him. "Is the floor too slippery?"

Turning to look, he saw Qin Xu holding his crutch, taking the stairs two at a time to reach him, reaching out to help.

Song Shimu tried to grab Qin Xu’s hand for support, but as soon as they touched, Qin Xu immediately jerked back as if burned.

Song Shimu: "?"

Qin Xu frowned tighter. "Are you faking a fall?"

"? Why would I fake a fall?" Song Shimu didn’t understand why Qin Xu’s attitude had suddenly changed.

Qin Xu didn’t answer, reaching instead to touch Song Shimu’s waist.

Song Shimu blocked his hand but quickly pulled back as soon as he touched Qin Xu. "What do you think you’re doing?! Taking advantage of me?!"

Qin Xu laughed. "Me, taking advantage? You’re biting the hand that feeds you!"

"What did I do? I slipped and fell, and now I have to put up with you groping me, being cursed at?" Song Shimu felt he’d wasted all that praise for Qin Xu in front of Yue Lan. He’d spoken highly of him, and now the man was turning around to berate him.

"I came to help you, and you shock me?" Qin Xu retorted.

"?........" Song Shimu fell silent, asking the system in his mind what was going on.

"........" The systems also fell silent.

Song Shimu waited, but no answer came. He then pointedly asked, "001, you don’t know either?"

"Ahem, normally, system punishments are only supposed to target the system."

"Then what’s happening with Qin Xu?"

"It’s possible the host selection error caused the punishment to miss its target. The shock might be from leakage during the repatriation process."

"Then take me away quickly. I don’t want to be revived; just take me away."

"Okay."

"Repatriation progress: 70%, 80%, 90%..."

Song Shimu knelt on the steps, quietly awaiting death.

Qin Xu’s dark eyes glared at him, waiting for a response that never came. He thought Song Shimu was pretending on purpose, too lazy even to make an excuse, simply ignoring him!

Qin Xu wanted to hit Song Shimu, but Song Shimu was already injured. If he hit him now, it would be taking advantage.

He’d settle this later once he’d recovered!

Qin Xu coldly placed the crutch in front of him. "Get up."

"Repatriation progress: 100%, repatriation completed."

Song Shimu listened to the announcement, his eyes fixed on the crutch Qin Xu had handed him. After waiting another half-minute, the same scene remained unchanged, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Hasn't it started yet?"

"Completed," 001, the system, replied after a half-second delay.

"Then where am I now?"

"...The Qin family estate. Wait, it might be a system malfunction."

". . ."