Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Wen Jueqian slowly opened his eyes. The air still carried the lingering scent of Datura pheromones—Wen Yanxu must have left not long ago.

"You're finally awake!"

A voice brimming with excitement rang out.

Wen Jueqian turned his head and saw a small orb of light bobbing in midair.

"What happened to me?" Wen Jueqian spoke, his voice a little hoarse.

The little light orb quickly explained, "After you fell asleep last night, you never woke up."

"Wen Yanxu called a doctor over."

Wen Jueqian could picture the chaos that had unfolded while he was out cold.

He turned his attention back to the present.

Looking at the small orb in front of him, he said, "Aren't you supposed to be unable to manifest in the real world?"

Hearing him get down to business, System 99's glow returned to normal.

It floated closer to Wen Jueqian. "Originally, I couldn't either."

Its tone became noticeably proud. "But because the plot took a major turn, I absorbed World Essence, along with the intense emotions from you and Wen Yanxu, so my power has recovered."

Wen Jueqian's attention was caught by what it had just said. He repeated, uncertain, "The intense emotions from me and Wen Yanxu?"

System 99's light flickered. "Yeah, that's right!"

Wen Jueqian furrowed his brow slightly.

"I thought I was your host, and that you could only absorb my emotions and convert them into energy."

He chose each word carefully, speaking slowly: "If you can absorb Wen Yanxu's emotions, then you had no need to bind a host at all. There are so many people in this world generating massive amounts of emotion every day. You could easily harvest from whoever you wanted."

System 99 panicked. "Of course it's not that simple!"

Then it suddenly stalled and fell silent.

The little orb froze midair, neither flickering nor moving, like a kid caught red-handed.

Wen Jueqian didn't press it.

After a few seconds, seeing that System 99 remained unresponsive, he finished its sentence for it: "Wen Yanxu is different?"

System 99 was a small light orb—no face, no expression—but it was also simple, unskilled at concealment or pretense.

Wen Jueqian found his answer in its reaction.

"Wen Yanxu is different." This time, he stated it as a fact.

"Why?"

His voice sharpened as he pressed further: "What's so different about him? As your host, the main agent who obtains energy for you, don't I have the right to know?"

System 99's light dimmed for a moment, as if it were sighing: "You do, but according to the principle of no proactive disclosure unless necessary, if the host doesn't ask, we don't offer this information."

The principle of not proactively disclosing unless necessary.

Wen Jueqian turned the phrase over in his mind several times.

If the system doesn't speak up, the host won't know; if the host doesn't know, they won't ask—this was a deliberate information gap.

But for what purpose?

If the system truly wanted to redeem him and change his fate, why would it withhold information?

Unless the system itself, or whatever was behind it, needed this information gap to manipulate the host toward some end.

Wen Jueqian's mind was racing.

Information is leverage.

If the system had possessed information from the start that he didn't, then it could use that information at critical moments to steer him in a certain direction.

The so-called "redemption" was just a facade; what really mattered was the energy generated in the process...

They couldn't directly steal World Essence—they had to convert it somehow.

The key was Wen Yanxu.

"Wen Yanxu is the Child of Destiny." System 99's voice interrupted his thoughts. "The Child of Destiny refers to an individual chosen by the World's Will to carry the primary fortune. Their fate is deeply tied to the world's development, and their life choices affect the direction of the entire world. Therefore, the causal fluctuations around them—especially intense emotional ones—can be converted into higher-tier energy."

Wen Jueqian went silent.

Child of Destiny.

When designing the worldview for Fusheng Realm, he'd read many novels and was familiar with this trope.

So Wen Yanxu was one of those.

In an instant, many questions were answered.

He hadn't been chosen because he was Wen Jueqian, but because of his connection to Wen Yanxu.

That's what made him special.

If he hadn't known this, he might have genuinely believed he could change his own fate.

Wen Jueqian closed his eyes, pressing his fingertips to his throbbing temples.

He wasn't like Wen Yanxu—that man was favored by fate from birth, always knowing how to take control, how to solve problems.

What was a predicament to him was just a minor inconvenience Wen Yanxu could resolve without breaking a sweat.

That familiar feeling of inadequacy welled up again.

He always had to work so hard just to keep up with him.

Wen Jueqian thought bitterly—at least now he knew why he could never keep up.

His eyelashes cast a small shadow on his face in the glow of the bedside lamp.

He wanted to ask: Then why didn't you just bind Wen Yanxu directly? Influencing him to change the future would surely get you more World Essence.

But in the end, he held back.

In the plot that System 99 had fed him, Wen Yanxu and Qiao Yuexun overcame countless obstacles and ultimately got married.

A perfect match of high-compatibility Alpha and Omega—that was the conventional happy ending.

Would Wen Yanxu want to change that future?

It was an answer Wen Jueqian didn't need—and didn't want—to know.

He only needed to make his own choice.

Wen Jueqian raised his head again and looked at System 99. "You said earlier that the future has changed."

System 99 bobbed a few times, as if nodding.

"Which parts of the change let you gain energy?"

System 99 was taken aback. It had assumed Wen Jueqian would keep pressing for details about Wen Yanxu, given how emotional the host had been just moments before. But instead, after a brief pause, the host steered the conversation elsewhere.

Still, it answered the question first, as it should.

"The biggest change is that Wen Yanxu didn't temporarily mark Qiao Yuexun."

"In the original story, their connection mainly came from this temporary marking. The way Wen Yanxu treated Qiao Yuexun specially was also because of this marking."

Wen Jueqian nodded, going along with it. "Without the temporary marking, Wen Yanxu wouldn't have that complex mix of gratitude and guilt toward Qiao Yuexun."

"Correct." System 99's light brightened a bit. "And he wouldn't have given Qiao Yuexun the 7th-Gen Inhibitor endorsement as compensation."

Wen Jueqian went quiet.

He knew Wen Yanxu.

This was a man who took responsibility extremely seriously.

Wen Yanxu never ran from responsibility for his own mistakes or accidents.

Back then, they'd met through their studies. At the time, Wen Jueqian was just one of many students at Beichen. He had good grades, but his family was ordinary—no connections, no influence, and he was still a Beta.

Later, Wen Jueqian found himself in an awkward, humiliating situation.

It was Wen Yanxu who saved him, and who handed him a contract promising to provide for all his needs, in life and out of it.

Wen Jueqian asked why.

He said, "Because you can't take care of yourself. From now on, I'm responsible for your life."

If he'd been forced to temporarily mark an Omega, Wen Yanxu would probably feel the same urge to take responsibility.

System 99 continued: "Plus, there's the natural attraction between high-compatibility Alphas and Omegas. The pheromone exchange during marking leaves a mark on the Alpha's subconscious, making them protective and possessive of the marked Omega. It's hardwired into their genes—really hard to resist."

"So stopping their temporary marking was a crucial step..."

"Wen Yanxu isn't someone who gives in to biological instincts."

Wen Jueqian cut it off.

His voice was unshakably certain.

System 99 didn't mind the interruption. It looked at Wen Jueqian, as if looking at a lovesick fool who was way too sure of himself.

But it didn't argue back.

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Wen Jueqian spoke up first: "Let's talk about the next step."

"How to stop Qiao Yuexun from becoming the face of Aegis 7th-Gen Inhibitor."

System 99 was confused. "But the condition for Qiao Yuexun to become the spokesperson is already gone."

"Would Wen Yanxu still push for him to be the spokesperson despite everyone objecting?"

Logically, Wen Yanxu wouldn't.

But Wen Jueqian had a feeling things wouldn't end that easily.

"That depends on how things play out."

Wen Jueqian explained, "The future isn't just shaped by what we do."

System 99 nodded, only half getting it.

Wen Jueqian: "What about the Natural Law? In the original plot, the Natural Law didn't appear until the mid-to-late stages."

System 99: "What the Natural Law changed was kidnapping you."

After saying that, it stopped. Instead, it flew over and nuzzled into Wen Jueqian's chest.

"Are you okay?" Its voice went soft, full of concern. "Were you scared when you got taken? I was panicking, but I couldn't do anything—I couldn't even warn you..."

Wen Jueqian looked down at the little glowing ball rubbing against his chest, feeling a bit helpless.

It was doing something that sounded as shady as absorbing World Essence, yet in a lot of ways, System 99 seemed innocent and naive.

Just like what it was doing now—clumsy but sincere.

Wen Jueqian: "I'm okay."

System 99 stayed pressed against his chest, going on: "The kidnapping set off strong emotions in Wen Yanxu—fear, anxiety, worry, relief, all of it."

Wen Jueqian was thinking about something different.

"Those two from the Natural Law showing up doesn't count as changing the future. That means, in parts the plot didn't cover, they were active too."

The plot System 99 had given him really was flawed.

"You mean the plot's not accurate?"

Wen Jueqian nodded. Not only was the story told only from Qiao Yuexun's perspective, but it also hid a lot of info. You couldn't trust it completely.

"What can you do with the energy you've got back now?" Wen Jueqian asked.

System 99's light brightened. It floated off Wen Jueqian's chest and hovered in the air, sounding super proud: "Plenty! I can grab and sum up public info on the internet in real time—anything that doesn't need special access, I can collect and organize."

Wen Jueqian thought to himself that this sounded about the same as what a regular A could do.

System 99 kept bragging: "I can also live in your optical brain, keep you company on the go, and give you advice anytime. Plus, I can sense everything within ten meters around you."

After Wen Jueqian finished listening, he didn't show the surprise and anticipation System 99 had expected.

Its glow flickered a little, and it said, sounding a bit hurt, "That's all I've got for now. Once I recover more energy, I'll be able to do more!"

Wen Jueqian didn't say anything else. He took a new optical brain from the bedside drawer, ripped open the packaging, and hit the power button.

He handed the optical brain to System 99. "From now on, this is where you'll stay."

It drifted closer, curious, and asked, "Is this my new home?"

"You can think of it that way."

System 99 zipped around it excitedly, then morphed into a data stream and dove inside.

The screen blinked, and a new message popped up.

Wen Jueqian picked it up and opened the message—it was a voice note from System 99.

"Hey there, host! From now on, this is how we can talk! When it's not convenient to talk out loud in public, I'll message you on Xinwei!"

Xinwei was the Federation's most popular messaging app, kind of like the old days' WeChat, but more intelligent and convenient.

Wen Jueqian stared at the message, his finger hovering over the screen.

He sent a voice reply: "From now on, just call me by my name."

System 99 shot back almost instantly.

"So does this mean we're more than just system and host now—we're friends?"

Wen Jueqian looked at those words.

He could feel the hope in that message. This little light ball could be a bit dense sometimes and liked to keep secrets, but its goodwill was genuine.

He nodded.

"Yeah."

The optical brain projected a holographic fireworks show, with a few words on it: Celebrating us becoming friends!

The next second, another message came through.

"Someone's coming in."

System 99 sent no further messages, behaving like an ordinary optical brain.

The bedroom door was pushed open.

Wen Jueqian looked up.

Wen Yanxu stood at the door.

He was wearing casual home clothes, his hair still slightly damp, as if he had just taken a shower, with a few stray strands falling across his forehead.

"Qianqian."

==========Author's Note:==========

Wen Yanxu: This is love.

Wen Jueqian: It's just responsibility.

Seven years have passed, and he still hasn't realized he's been misunderstood by his wife all along.