Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Yes, better safe than sorry.

996 sprang into action, beginning to collect biometric data on all relevant key figures.

Who were these key figures?

Naturally, they were the Guan family members surrounding Shen Ju:

—Guan Mulin, Qin Suxi, Guan Muyao, Guan Lifeng, and Guan Jianshan.

Hmm, all of them needed to be blocked from the system.

While working, 996 simultaneously reported Guan Mulin's current location to Shen Ju.

"He's in the outer corridor, the one with the small pond below."

It also glanced at the system upgrade progress after the bug fixes—already over 90%, it would be completed soon. Not bad speed, huh?

Shen Ju grunted in acknowledgment, then turned to Qin Suxi, saying he wanted to go out for a stroll.

Qin Suxi seemed to sense Shen Ju's discomfort. As soon as he spoke, she smiled and ruffled his hair, saying, "Go ahead, sweetie."

Then, she added casually, "A-Lin also told me he wanted to go out and enjoy the scenery. He’s never been fond of these kinds of events. If he doesn’t want to come back in, don’t take it to heart."

"Well, I mean, if you happen to run into him outside."

Shen Ju lowered his gaze and mumbled some vague replies.

Around Qin Suxi, he often felt flustered and at a loss for words, eager to escape.

After leaving the banquet hall, Shen Ju walked with his head hung low toward the corridor.

Before he even got close, he heard a harsh voice.

"Guan Mulin, our class monitor, doesn’t seem to be in the best mood today?"

"What gives you that idea?"

Guan Mulin crossed his arms, frowning at the group in front of him, his gaze finally settling on the one in the middle. "Han Chengfeng, don’t start anything on an occasion like this."

"Oho, you’re warning me now?"

Han Chengfeng laughed mockingly. "But what identity are you using to warn me, Class Monitor? Your status as the young master of the Guan family?"

"Hmm... how does that saying go again? Oh right, 'in name only,' huh? Haha."

The others around him burst into laughter as well.

Guan Mulin’s face hardened, and he clenched his fists, but surprisingly, he didn’t lose his temper.

When he accidentally discovered he wasn’t biologically related to his family, Guan Mulin had long prepared himself for this kind of situation.

In a way, he was lucky.

In their social circle, there was no shortage of people who would kick others when they were down.

He truly wasn’t the real young master of the Guan family. To fly into a rage out of humiliation over what Han Chengfeng and the others said would only make himself look more ridiculous.

Guan Mulin lowered his gaze and took a deep breath.

But his reaction clearly didn’t satisfy Han Chengfeng.

Han Chengfeng tsked in disapproval. "So boring, Guan Mulin. Where’s all the swagger you had at school? Why aren’t you showing off like you used to? Weren’t you always so proud?"

"Or maybe now that you’re parentless, you can’t act tough anymore—"

Guan Mulin’s expression suddenly darkened, and he was about to speak.

"Did you even attend your ethics classes when you were a kid?!"

An angry voice cut in sharply.

Guan Mulin froze and instinctively looked up.

He saw Shen Ju standing on the other side, his small face tight with anger and visibly furious, fists clenched like a pressure valve had burst, his eyes blazing with fury.

This was the first time Guan Mulin had seen Shen Ju this angry.

"Guan Mulin is still raised by the Guan family! Who are you saying is parentless?!"

So Shen Ju had a hot temper too.

He was so angry his voice trembled.

Shen Ju strode over and continued firing off, "When you criticize someone, you drag their parents into it? Is that how your family taught you to speak?! Who are you cursing?!"

Han Chengfeng and the others naturally recognized Shen Ju’s identity.

At first, seeing Shen Ju speak up for Guan Mulin, Han Chengfeng wanted to retort, but hearing that Shen Ju seemed to have misunderstood his earlier words, he felt somewhat in the wrong. Still, he couldn’t just take it lying down. After holding back for a moment, he redirected his anger toward Guan Mulin, sneering, "Well, Class Monitor, have you started sucking up to the Guan family’s real young master now?"

"But I guess it makes sense. You did take his place, and now that he’s back, you’ve got to butter him up properly."

Han Chengfeng tsked. "How pathetic. You used to strut around at school like you owned the place, and now you’re just a lapdog. Haha..."

Shen Ju frowned, finding the words more and more grating. He really wanted to step up and punch this guy a couple of good ones.

THWACK—

Han Chengfeng’s face jerked to the side.

Shen Ju was stunned.

He hadn't even thrown a punch.

"Han Chengfeng! No decent words come from your filthy mouth, do they?!"

"Damn it, Pei Haochuan, you dare hit me?!"

"You're exactly who I'm hitting!"

From Pei Haochuan rushing out, to him fighting Han Chengfeng, to a one-against-many free-for-all, to Ke Cheng and Guan Mulin joining the fray—it all happened in the span of just thirty seconds.

The small corridor was quite the spectacle.

Shen Ju wasn’t just stunned—he was utterly dumbfounded.

How did it come to this?!

He hadn't even made a fist yet, and now a fight had broken out?

And Guan Mulin was actually fighting too.

And he was fighting pretty fiercely...

"Host!! What's going on?!"

996 was practically screeching!

It always trusted Shen Ju, so its attention had been focused on the upgrade progress, which was already at 98%. But in the blink of an eye, how was Guan Mulin fighting someone else?!—Ahem, not that it wanted Shen Ju and Guan Mulin to fight each other, but this situation was clearly off, right?!

The conflict was between others, and their host had become an outsider?

"No way, host, hurry up and step in!"

Step in how?

Oh, right, break up the fight?!

Shen Ju, feeling dizzy and confused, went to break it up.

He had never been in a situation like this before and couldn't react in time.

Then, by accident, he was accidentally shoved hard by someone.

Shen Ju lost his balance.

And right beside him was the edge of the corridor.

It was just a horizontal beam, the kind you could sit on to rest, barely reaching knee height. Normally, it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but at this moment, it seemed somewhat dangerous.

Shen Ju's leg hit the beam.

He was going to fall!

Instinctively, Shen Ju threw his hands out.

Like a flailing goose, he seemed to want to steady himself or grab onto something.

But suddenly, the shove pushing him sideways was too strong. In less than a second, Shen Ju did manage to grab hold of something, but due to inertia, he ended up pulling the other person along with him—

Splash, splash.

Shen Ju, pulling someone down with him, fell into the small pond below.

The system screeched again, mixed with a panicked shout—

"Uncle!!"

Beep, upgrade progress 99%, 99.1%, 99.2%, 99.3%...

Splash—

The pond water drenched Shen Ju completely.

Shen Ju was still instinctively holding onto someone.

Beep—beep*&…

It seemed to lag or glitch.

In an unnoticed corner, the upgrade progress slowed to a crawl, as if struck by an electric current.

Shen Ju felt as if an electric current swept through his body, then shot out through his fingertips...

Beep, upgrade progress 100%.

Beep, upgrade completed.

The system's voice became clear again.

"Host—"

At the same time.

Qin Suxi was about to put a piece of cake onto Guan Lifeng's plate when the voice echoed in her mind, making her jump and her hand shake, and the cake plopped onto Guan Lifeng's hand.

At the same time, Guan Lifeng's face changed abruptly. He didn't even notice the cake on the back of his hand and instead looked around.

Elsewhere.

Guan Muyao was playing chess with Guan Jianshan.

Each held a chess piece.

Guan Muyao was about to make a move.

The next second, with a clatter.

The piece in his hand fell.

Guan Jianshan, though past fifty, was still fit and healthy and had seen many ups and downs in life. But at this moment, they were alone in the small living room, and the sudden voice seemed to come from inside their heads. Even though he was usually stoic and maintained a stern expression, he couldn't help but feel astonished now. And what did "host" mean?

"You heard it too, Grandpa?"

Guan Jianshan grunted in agreement and stood up.

This was no illusion.

Where did the voice come from? And who was it calling?

Qin Suxi and Guan Lifeng also realized they both heard the voice and stood up at the same time.

Splash—

Shen Ju and the other person also got up out of the pond.

Fortunately, the pond wasn't deep, and they didn't fall from very high. The water cushioned their fall, so they weren't injured. Aside from being soaked from head to toe, everything else was fine.

It was just that bro 996 was screaming too loud in his head, hoarse and frantic, like he was calling back a spirit.

"I'm fine, bro 996."

Shen Ju said, instinctively looking at the person he had dragged down with him.

Then he suddenly froze.

—No, he's in trouble!

Look who he dragged down?!

—It was actually Mr. Pei Yan from next door!

Shen Ju opened his mouth, at a loss for words.

Pei Yan was glaring at him with darkened eyes, rooting Shen Ju to the spot.

Dripping water trickled down Pei Yan's body. The water wasn’t exactly murky, but it was far from clean—nothing like pool water. What’s more, there were fish in it, and the bottom was covered with mud and stones. The surface might probably even be floating with dead leaves and broken petals. Given the commotion of their fall, even if the water had been clear initially, it was definitely murky now.

It was filthy, utterly unbearable.

And on top of that, Pei Yan had been pulled down by someone else.

Sheer bad luck.

The moment he fell, Pei Yan’s rage shot straight up.

His face was dark, his expression as dark as the water.

But after standing up from the water, Pei Yan suddenly paused, couldn't help but stare at the person in front of him—

Host? Bro 996?

Author's note:

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