Leaving

The words came so abruptly that Lu Yan froze for a moment. "What did you say?"

The night wind was a little cold. Yu Zechuan frowned and pulled his jacket zipper higher, until the upright collar covered his chin. Only then did he repeat in a low voice, "I said, go back to your own home. Don't you understand?"

Just as the System had said, his soft-heartedness lasted only an instant. If Lu Yan missed this chance, there would never be another.

Without waiting for Lu Yan's reaction, Yu Zechuan strode into the apartment building. The semitransparent glass door downstairs opened and shut behind him, cutting off his tall, slender figure from view completely.

"Yu Zechuan!"

Lu Yan instinctively hurried after him a couple of steps, but the entrance required a key card. He was stopped outside, unable to get in even if he wanted to.

Of course, Lu Yan did not actually want to get in. He was only putting on a show.

Yu Zechuan took the elevator upstairs, his lips pressed into a tight line. The fingertips in his jacket pocket tapped rapidly, mirroring his agitation.

Yu Zechuan regretted it. The instant he turned away, he began to regret it.

He should not have let Lu Yan go. He could not let Lu Yan go. What if Lu Yan went to Jiang Boyun and tipped him off? His entire plan would be ruined. How could he assume that just because Lu Yan liked him, he would not run off and inform on him?

But Yu Zechuan had never liked turning back. No matter how his mind struggled and screamed at him to bring Lu Yan back, his steps remained resolute as he headed home. The moment he opened the door, the overwhelming darkness that rushed toward him nearly swallowed him whole.

Yet Yu Zechuan felt safe for once.

His mind, which had been tossed about by emotion just moments ago, suddenly calmed.

He shut the door behind him, took off his cap and mask, and tossed them onto the table. Then he slowly walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and reached out to draw back the curtains.

Whoosh!

What poured in from outside was not sunlight, but the tranquil darkness of evening and the ever-changing advertisement lights on the building across the street.

Yu Zechuan lowered his gaze. For some reason, he was compelled to look down, only to see Lu Yan still standing at the street corner instead of leaving. Like some foolish guy who had fought with his girlfriend, he paced anxiously in circles, occasionally looking up toward the building.

Naturally, he could not see a thing.

At last, his head slowly drooped, and he looked utterly dejected.

Was Lu Yan upset?

Yu Zechuan thought so. After all, what he had just done really had been completely inexplicable.

"Why? Why..."

Lu Yan could not make sense of it no matter how hard he thought. He had circled below Yu Zechuan's building dozens of times and still could not figure out why Yu Zechuan had let him go. Could he be testing him again?

Lu Yan liked to lower his head when he thought. Frowning at the ground, he muttered to himself,

"It doesn't make sense. Didn't he already test me once at the mall?"

"Could Yu Zechuan really be planning to let me go?"

"But what if he's got people lying in wait nearby?"

At that thought, Lu Yan glanced around without drawing attention to himself, using his circling to discreetly survey the area. When he found no suspicious cars or people, an unbelievable thought rose in his mind.

Could Yu Zechuan really be trying to let him go?

Though the guess seemed unreal, the more Lu Yan considered it, the more plausible it felt. To be safe, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he lingered below the apartment building until the middle of the night. Only after his legs had gone numb from walking did he finally hail a taxi by the roadside and head home, looking "dejected."

The blue taxi gradually drove away and disappeared from sight.

Whoosh.

Only then did Yu Zechuan draw the curtains and turn away to lie down on the sofa. His thin frame sank deep into it, nearly swallowed by the soft stuffing. His pale, chapped lips pressed together slightly; yesterday's high fever had not entirely gone down.

Yu Zechuan closed his eyes wearily, his breathing heavy.

All his life, he had chosen the wrong people and taken the wrong roads. He hoped that letting Lu Yan go today would not become another regret.

Meanwhile, Lu Yan had returned to his rented room. He had only been gone for three days, yet the furnishings inside somehow gave him a long-missed sense of familiarity.

Lu Yan tossed the shopping bags in his hand onto the sofa and flopped down after them. He let out a comfortable sigh, lazily turned over, and spoke to the System with his thoughts. "All I have to do now is avoid those few people and stay alive until the end of the month. Then the mission will be complete."

The corner of his lips curved upward, and he looked rather pleased with himself.

A black heart crackling with electricity silently appeared above him. At close range, he could even feel the rhythm of its beating. [Are you proud of surviving by deceiving other people's feelings?]

Lu Yan raised a brow. "Talk to me about deceiving feelings after Yu Zechuan actually falls in love with me."

Yu Zechuan did not love him. At most, he had softened for a moment. For the sake of staying alive, Lu Yan felt no psychological burden about deceiving him.

Since Jiang Boyun had died in the bathroom in the previous round, Lu Yan felt vaguely uneasy about it. That evening, while showering, he stood outside the bathroom for a long time, debating whether he should move somewhere else. Then someone suddenly banged on the front door from outside, hard enough to nearly shake dust from the walls. "Lu Yan! Lu Yan, are you home?!"

Lu Yan's heart clenched at the sound. He thought someone had come to kill him again, but after listening closely, he realized it was a woman's voice.

Lu Yan went over and opened the door a crack. Outside stood a woman around fifty with fashionable, voluminous little curls. Her plump figure was wrapped in a somewhat gaudy reddish-brown dress, and she had a notably prosperous appearance.

Lu Yan searched his memories hard for a moment before finding the matching form of address. "Ms. Lin, what can I do for you?"

The landlady held a plastic promotional fan, which she waved up and down with a loud clattering sound. "Lu, it's not that I want to lecture you, but you're already two quarters behind on rent. Last time, you said you were sick and short on cash, so I cut you some slack. But you can't put it off again this time. My husband is already angry."

Lu Yan: "Uh..."

The landlady glared. "What's with the 'uh'? Pay your rent, now!"

Lu Yan: "Oh..."

Two quarters behind on rent. Lu Yan truly felt too embarrassed to delay any longer, so he scanned the code and paid right in front of the landlady. When she patted herself down and left in satisfaction, Lu Yan stared at the double-digit balance in his bank account and fell into deep thought.

Eighteen yuan?

Now Yu Zechuan would not even need to make a move. Poverty had already dealt Lu Yan a vicious beating. There were still twenty-seven days left in the month. He could not even afford to live on steamed buns. In the end, he might not die at Yu Zechuan's hands at all, but starve himself to death instead!

The moment he realized this, Lu Yan's vision went black, and he nearly fainted.

Eighteen yuan. Even at his poorest, he had still had thirty in his pocket!

Seeing the luxury goods on the sofa, Lu Yan clung to his last shred of hope. He struggled to his feet, found the receipt, and called the number on it. The answer he got was that luxury items purchased in-store could not be returned.

Fuck!

Lu Yan collapsed onto the sofa in despair.

What was he supposed to do without money?

Get a job?

Well, everyone had to work at some point in life. Besides, he really did not feel right about reselling the luxury goods Yu Zechuan had bought him.

Faced with reality, Lu Yan was forced to bow his head. Early the next morning, he climbed out of bed and got ready for work. He did not even dare take a taxi, instead scanning a shared bike and pedaling all the way to the place where the original host had worked.

Yinchuan Group.

Lu Yan squeezed the brakes and came to a stylish stop. Looking up at the office building that soared into the clouds, he thought that it truly deserved its reputation as City A's leading real estate company. Its headquarters were impressive indeed.

Lu Yan locked up his little yellow bike outside the company building and walked straight into the lobby, ignoring the startled looks from passersby. He used his employee badge to open the turnstile and clock in, then followed the route from his memories upstairs by elevator, finding the department he belonged to.

The original host had worked in Yinchuan Group's Finance Department and had once been a junior manager. But after the embezzlement case five years earlier, many people had been implicated and left the company. To avoid suspicion, he had also been demoted to an ordinary employee.

When Lu Yan entered the office, quite a few people were already seated inside. The rapid clatter of keyboards filled the air; everyone was clearly already in work mode.

A man with a crew cut and black-rimmed glasses was eating breakfast in the corner. When he unexpectedly saw Lu Yan enter, he looked up and gave an astonished little hum. "Lu Yan, you really came to work?"

From the original host's memories, Lu Yan knew this was Jiang Kangkang, his close friend at the company. He answered casually, "Of course I have to work. If I don't, I'll starve to death."

His desk was beside Jiang Kangkang's, and the two sat side by side, making it easy to whisper to each other.

Jiang Kangkang took a bite of bread, leaned closer, and reminded him, "Man, you should probably lay low for a couple days. Skinflint Chen called yesterday and told you to work overtime. You didn't come, and it pissed him off badly. On top of that, you've missed three days of work, so he's already reported you to HR."

Lu Yan raised a brow. "You worked overtime?"

Jiang Kangkang nodded grimly. "Obviously. Wouldn't skipping it be asking for death?"

Lu Yan was distracted. "Oh... Is your bread good?"

Jiang Kangkang froze for a moment at that and instinctively looked down at his breakfast. "This? I bought it at the convenience store downstairs. Do you want to get some too?"

Lu Yan honestly shook his head. "No. I wanted to ask if you could give me half."

Jiang Kangkang: "..."

Lu Yan had not eaten breakfast. His eyes were fixed directly on the bread in Jiang Kangkang's hand, and the pressure was so intense no one could have kept eating. Jiang Kangkang could only hand him the remaining sliced bread from the bag, looking sympathetic. "Man, how did things get this bad for you?"

Lu Yan took the bread and finished it in two or three bites. "I've only got eighteen yuan left on me. Why do you think things are this bad for me? ...By the way, we're good brothers, right?"

Facing the expectation hidden in Lu Yan's eyes, Jiang Kangkang hesitated before nodding. "I guess."

Lu Yan's eyes lit up. "Then can you lend me two thousand yuan?"

Jiang Kangkang's expression changed immediately. "No."

Lu Yan did not understand. "Why?"

Jiang Kangkang said, "You still haven't paid back the eight thousand you borrowed last time."

Lu Yan: "..."

He had nearly forgotten. The original host was buried in debt now. He had borrowed money from every relative and friend he could possibly ask. Only an idiot would throw more money into that pit.

Lu Yan slumped back in his chair, never having felt so hopeless. Manager Chen entered the office right at eight-thirty. At a glance, he spotted Lu Yan sprawled in his chair. Rolling up the magazine in his hand, he strode over and smacked it against the desk with a loud bang, roaring through clenched anger, "Lu Yan!"

Lu Yan opened his eyes instinctively. A plump, balding man stood in front of him. Nearby colleagues had all looked over at the commotion, some nervous and apprehensive, others eager for a show.

"Manager Chen?"

Lu Yan's eyelid twitched as he straightened up in his chair. "Is there something you need from me?"

Manager Chen still held a grudge over Lu Yan talking back to him yesterday. Now that he had something on Lu Yan, how could he possibly let it go? "What do I need from you?! Why don't you think about what you've done wrong?! Did you look at the time? Do you know what time it is? Your colleagues are all at their desks working, and you're lying in your chair taking a nap?!"

The string of questions made Manager Chen seem exceptionally aggressive. One of the few hairs left on his head had even sprung up from sheer fury.

Lu Yan glanced at the time. "I did look. The company says work starts at eight forty-five. It's only eight-thirty."

Manager Chen choked. "Lu Yan, everyone else is working. Why are you the only one sitting around?!"

Lu Yan gave a half-smile. "Exactly, Manager. Everyone else is busy, so why are you the only one sitting around?"

The moment he said that, laughter erupted all around them. Everyone knew Manager Chen had gotten in through connections. He had no idea how to keep accounts or reconcile spreadsheets, and every day he did nothing but make them work overtime. He was the very model of getting paid to do nothing.

Manager Chen's face turned green, then white. He pointed at Lu Yan with a trembling finger and ground out, "You little punk, Lu Yan. Slacking off at work is one thing, but you dare insult your superior too? Get out! Pack your things and get out right now. This company has no room for a big shot like you!"

His voice was so loud that the entire corridor could hear him. Employees from the neighboring department even came running over and crowded at the door to watch.

Xue Jin happened to be arriving at work. As he passed through the corridor and saw the scene, he frowned, his expression stern. "What's going on? Do you all not need to work this early in the morning?"

Though he looked refined and wore a natural smile, he was decisive and efficient when he worked, and quite a few people at the company feared him. At his words, everyone scattered at once. Even Manager Chen sensed that something was wrong. He turned toward the doorway, and his loud voice immediately died down.

"Mr. Xue, what brings you here?"

Xue Jin?!

Lu Yan's pupils constricted. He turned away instinctively. Yesterday, he had been so focused on earning money through work that he had almost forgotten Xue Jin worked at the company too. Yu Zechuan might have let him go, but that did not mean Xue Jin would.

What should he do? What should he do?

While Lu Yan's thoughts raced, Xue Jin had already entered the office. "Manager Chen, what's going on? You're making such a commotion this early in the morning. There's a board meeting this morning. Would it look good if the executives saw this?"

Manager Chen gave an awkward smile. "You're right, Mr. Xue. One of the employees in the department wasn't taking work seriously, so I reprimanded him. I didn't expect him to talk back, and things got a little heated by accident."

"An employee?"

Only then did Xue Jin notice Lu Yan standing nearby. His expression changed, and shock surged through him. Clearly, he had not expected Yu Zechuan to let Lu Yan go.

The office was only so big; Lu Yan had nowhere to hide. Meeting Xue Jin's startled gaze, he gave a faint smile and had no choice but to greet him. "Mr. Xue. Fancy seeing you here."

"..."

Xue Jin said nothing. But he had spent years fighting his way through the business world, and within a few breaths, he had composed himself. He spoke slowly. "Manager Chen, strictly speaking, your department isn't under my supervision. But young people should always be given a few more chances. Who among us didn't learn through experience at that age? Don't you agree?"

Manager Chen could hear that Xue Jin was taking Lu Yan's side. Suppressing his displeasure, he said, "Mr. Xue, you don't know how negative and lazy this employee is! I called yesterday and told him to come work overtime. It would have been one thing if he just refused, but he even made up some nonsense about being kidnapped. What normal person would invent such a boring excuse? Our company absolutely cannot keep a lunatic like him..."

Lu Yan could no longer hear what Manager Chen said after that. Facing Xue Jin's steadily chilling gaze, only three glaring words remained in his mind.

I'm! Dead! Meat!