Chapter 6 The Snail is Profound

Chapter 6: The Inscrutable Snail

Lin Jianyuan had no time to dwell on the snail. He rushed back to his workstation, quickly swallowing two pills. As the sweet tablets dissolved in his mouth, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus.

"Grab your laptops and head to the streaming studio," Lin Jianyuan commanded.

Pei Shuo swiftly packed both their laptops and chargers, along with any other essentials.

Jiang Chen, still trembling from Lin Jianyuan’s earlier threat of "waiting to pay up," was visibly shaken.

He handed over the car keys, asking, "Can either of you drive? My hands are still unsteady..."

Lin Jianyuan shot him a cold glance. "I just took psych meds. Do you want me to drive us straight to the grave?"

"I’ll do it! I can drive!" Pei Shuo snatched the keys and dashed out to call the elevator.

The three stood in tense silence while waiting. Lin Jianyuan used the time to skim through Jiang Chen’s butchered proposal on his tablet.

Every time Lin Jianyuan paused, Pei Shuo furiously jotted down notes.

Jiang Chen didn’t dare breathe, standing quietly to the side.

Pei Shuo, still relatively new to driving, drove like a maniac. Jiang Chen, sitting in the back, gripped his seatbelt in terror. Lin Jianyuan felt an urge to kick him out of the car.

They finally arrived at the live stream studio. The cramped soundproof booth was packed with equipment, except for the area in front of the camera.

Three cameras were aimed at the central ring light, and the anchor desk in front of the green screen stood empty—the originally planned 3D virtual product display had rendering errors due to Jiang Chen’s last-minute switch to that "square-jawed black cat" alteration. The tech team was cursing at the flickering screen.

"Stop debugging! Use the original version!" Lin Jianyuan shouted as he rushed past, without waiting for a reply.

"Huh?!" the tech team yelled in unison.

For once, Lin Jianyuan got to be the client, but he had no time to savor it. He immediately went to check other parts of the setup.

Pei Shuo was crouched in a corner, double-checking the teleprompter nervously, his fingers gripping the tablet so tightly the screen was smudged. On the control desk lay materials featuring the knockoff square-faced black cat, fueling Lin Jianyuan’s rage. He tore down a poster.

"Four hours until broadcast! Redo the background and remove all printed materials!" Lin Jianyuan grabbed Jiang Chen by the collar and snapped, "When will the new materials arrive?!"

"It's gonna take a minute," Jiang Chen said frantically, texting people in the group.

An assistant passed by and instinctively greeted, "Hello, Mr. Jiang!"

Lin Jianyuan and Jiang Chen both looked up at her. The assistant froze, her eyes fixed on Jiang Chen’s collar, which Lin Jianyuan was still gripping tightly.

Jiang Chen jumped back as if shocked, awkwardly smoothing his collar and muttering, "I'm good, I can tie my own tie. Lin Jianyuan, just focus on your work!"

The assistant: "..."

Lin Jianyuan: "Moron."

Jiang Chen was completely mortified. Sensing the tension, the assistant muttered, "I’ll go find the host," and hurried away.

"Color team, lower the background saturation! Director! Has the director talked to the host? Get the script—never mind, bring it to me, I’ll check it myself!" Lin Jianyuan felt like he was barely keeping his composure thanks to the medication. He calmly directed everyone while checking his constantly buzzing phone.

Jiang Chen was blowing up the work group chat, tagging everyone and sending the team into chaos.

Lin Jianyuan skimmed the messages, finding only one useful line: "There’s not enough time."

"Lin Jianyuan, um..." Jiang Chen approached hesitantly, looking like he'd eaten something nasty.

"Shut it, don't even start," Lin Jianyuan cut him off. "Go to the warehouse and bring all the backup samples from last week. Three boxes. Now!"

"Me?" Jiang Chen asked, pointing at himself in disbelief.

Lin Jianyuan: "Should I go instead?"

Jiang Chen looked utterly defeated but eventually slumped away.

The countdown display changed to "02:12:47." As Pei Shuo passed a promotional standee, he noticed the image on it was wrong. He went pale. After a moment’s hesitation, he grabbed an X-Acto knife and started scraping off the incorrect layer.

Afraid of damaging the standee, his hand shook nervously until Lin Jianyuan tossed him a can of spray adhesive. "Use this! Hurry!"

Pei Shuo quickly slapped the correct image over the mistake.

Everyone was scrambling.

The host was screaming next door, "Where are my contact lenses?!" The tech team was pounding on a crashed server. Jiang Chen tripped over a cable while moving boxes, tearing down half the green screen.

Pei Shuo clutched the inventory list and glanced at Lin Jianyuan, who was leaning against the wall, chugging water. His pale fingers flew across his laptop keyboard, his bangs covering his dark-rimmed eyes.

A red light suddenly lit up in the control room.

"Audio team, prepare for the first sound check!" the director yelled.

All non-essential personnel cleared out of the broadcast area. Pei Shuo hurried to Lin Jianyuan’s side. Lin Jianyuan wiped his mouth and said, "It’s almost done. Keep an eye on things—most importantly, make sure Jiang Chen doesn’t cause more trouble! I need to step out."

"Bro Yuan!" Pei Shuo followed anxiously. "Where are you going? Are you okay? I’ll come with you!"

Lin Jianyuan snapped, "I’m taking a shit! Why would you follow me?!"

"..." Pei Shuo, who had been about to insist, quickly pulled back his hand and mumbled, "Oh. Well, break a leg then."

Lin Jianyuan gave him a "what’s wrong with you" look and stalked off, pissed.

With half an hour until the broadcast, Lin Jianyuan ran through everything in his head and felt confident nothing had been overlooked.

He sighed in relief and sat down on the toilet.

The earlier chaos had left him with a tingling scalp and a buzzing head. He deserved a good, paid poop break—wait, shit, he was still on sick leave! Crap!

Bitching, he set a ten-minute timer and started scrolling through short videos on his phone.

But even mindless scrolling couldn’t distract him in his agitated state. He switched to Candy Crush.

He had to admit, at times like these, it had to be Candy Crush, especially with sound effects. The satisfying crunch of matching gems sent dopamine rushing through him, offering a brief escape from the madness.

Then, ding-ding-ding—

The alarm went off!

Lin Jianyuan was startled. He shut off the alarm, pulled up his pants, and stood up, puzzled. Had ten minutes already passed? It felt like he’d only played a level or two.

But the clock confirmed it—ten minutes had flown by.

Fuck this.

This job was unbearable.

Lin Jianyuan splashed water on his face at the sink, got his shit together, and returned to the live stream room.

The host was in position, photography and lighting were ready, all equipment had been tested without issues, and all materials were confirmed ready.

The director’s gravelly voice roared through the room: "Everyone quiet! Three, two, one—go live!"

Lin Jianyuan stood behind the director with his arms crossed, watching the live stream together through the control console screen. Jiang Chen let out a long sigh and said with relief, "I can’t believe it—we actually pulled it off! We saved it!"

Lin Jianyuan and Pei Shuo both shot him a look at the same time.

"Huh, what?" Jiang Chen realized he had spoken out of turn and said sheepishly, "Alright, I admit it—this time it was mainly Lin Jianyuan who carried the team, saving our company from disaster…"

"No, Bro Yuan probably didn’t mean it like that." Even Pei Shuo couldn’t take it anymore, saying with exasperation, "Mr. Jiang, the live stream has just started! There are still three whole hours left! We can’t let our guard down now—the most critical part is just beginning!"

Jiang Chen: "…"

"Pei Shuo, don’t blame Mr. Jiang," Lin Jianyuan said coolly, arms still crossed, "Mr. Jiang has always handled macro planning and never personally managed a live stream. It’s only natural he doesn’t know the details."

Doesn't. Know. The. Details.

The three words hit Jiang Chen’s face like three hammer blows.

"Fine… whatever." Jiang Chen rolled his eyes and walked away.

Lin Jianyuan focused intently on the live stream. Everything was proceeding smoothly and according to plan. Fatigue gradually crept over him.

"So annoying, this jerk only knows how to make sarcastic remarks. He got us into this mess, didn’t even say thank you, and we even have to buy our own coffee!" Pei Shuo fumed indignantly, handing over a cup of hot coffee angrily. "We workhorses have it so rough—we even have to pay for our own feed!"

"Thanks." Lin Jianyuan took the coffee and casually comforted Pei Shuo.

Fatigue piled up layer by layer. The smoother the live stream went, the more exhausted Lin Jianyuan became.

His previously overstrained nerves were now uncontrollably relaxing. Lin Jianyuan yawned repeatedly and had to gulp down the coffee.

The day’s running around had left him sore and aching all over. Sitting in the swivel chair now felt unbearable, and he kept shifting positions restlessly.

Three hours of live streaming felt like serving a prison sentence. By the end, Lin Jianyuan even pulled out his ultimate time-killer—Candy Crush.

But this time, even Candy Crush didn’t help.

He had already played over a hundred levels, but when he looked up, it was only just 8 o’clock.

8 o’clock! Only an hour had passed!

Help, there are still two more hours… Lin Jianyuan inwardly wailed as boredom, irritation, and exhaustion continued to accumulate.

"Bro! Do you know what Mr. Jiang is up to?" Pei Shuo came back after a quick walk, fuming. "He’s passed out in the break room! Damn it! We’re here monitoring the live stream, and he’s sleeping next door! Snoring loud enough to wake the dead! I could hear it from the hallway!"

Lin Jianyuan was too tired to even curse the idiot boss. Seeing his exhausted expression, Pei Shuo quickly said, "Hey, Bro, why don’t you go back first? Leave this to me! Don’t worry, even if Mr. Jiang holds a knife to my neck this time, I won’t listen to his bullshit directions again!"

The temptation of going home to sleep was too strong. Lin Jianyuan thought about it but still shook his head. "I’ll go find a place to lie down for a bit too—twenty minutes. If anything happens, call me immediately."

"Alright. Bro, go quickly!" Pei Shuo stood up and even handed him a jacket. "Use my coat to cover yourself—don’t catch a cold!"

"Mm." Lin Jianyuan accepted his kindness and waved as he was about to leave when something suddenly flashed past his eyes.

Lin Jianyuan froze in place, looking around blankly. Finally, he spotted a familiar, suspicious mark on the ground.

No, not just one mark.

Countless marks.

Without anyone noticing, shiny, slippery trails had appeared all over the floor around them.

The trails crisscrossed, and upon closer look, they seemed sticky. Like an airtight net, quietly enveloping everyone in the live broadcast room.

"What’s up, Bro?" Pei Shuo looked up at him.

"Nothing." Lin Jianyuan scratched his head. "Watch your step, it’s slippery."

Pei Shuo: "?"

Lin Jianyuan went out to find a place to rest. As he passed by the neighboring room, he indeed heard snoring. Clenching his fists, Lin Jianyuan resisted the urge to burst in and take a dump on Jiang Chen’s face, instead heading to the other side of the hallway to find a spot to rest.

Lin Jianyuan set a twenty-minute alarm, pulled Pei Shuo’s jacket over himself, closed his eyes, and cozied up comfortably.

—Ding ding ding!

Lin Jianyuan: "?!"

Lin Jianyuan jolted awake from his sleep, heart racing. He grabbed his phone—the alarm was going off!

Had it already been twenty minutes? That fast?!

Lin Jianyuan irritably ran a hand through his hair. The thought of going back to monitor the live stream gave him a headache.

Maybe… just five more minutes?

Lin Jianyuan yawned repeatedly, still groggy with sleep. He tapped "snooze for five minutes," tossed his phone aside, turned over, and fell back into sleep.

—Ding ding ding!

Again?!!!

Lin Jianyuan felt like he had just closed his eyes when the alarm went off again. Five more minutes… He didn’t even want to open his eyes; the desire to keep sleeping overpowered everything else.

Five more minutes—even if the sky falls, I’m sleeping five more minutes… Lin Jianyuan kept his eyes closed, fumbling for his phone in extreme irritation.

Clatter. The phone fell to the floor.

Lin Jianyuan still didn’t want to open his eyes, afraid the sleepiness would vanish. Eyes shut, he turned on his side, stretched his arm under the sofa to feel for the phone.

He didn’t find the phone but instead touched something wet, cool, soft, and squishy.

"!!!" All sleepiness vanished in an instant. Lin Jianyuan jumped up. "Holy shit! What is that?!"

"Holy shit! You can see me!" The snail on the floor let out a scream.

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

Snail: "??"

Lin Jianyuan sat on the sofa glaring at the snail; the snail lay on the floor glaring at Lin Jianyuan.

Human and snail stared at each other.

The snail shook its antennae and said mysteriously, "I never expected a mere human to be able to see me…"

"What the hell is this damn thing!" Lin Jianyuan flew into a rage, lifted his foot, and squashed the snail flat.