Seize the Throne

Chapter 33

“Your mood seems pretty good?” Early in the morning, Jian Yi came to the laboratory to find Kou Li.
He had already finished studying the samples he had extracted from Guan Xi.

While Kou Li had been smiling as Jian Yi spoke, he neither confirmed nor denied Jian Yi’s observation and didn’t intend to chat much with him.
Jian Yi smiled and didn’t ask further about what made him so happy.
Even if Kou Li didn’t say it, Jian Yi could guess that it was probably due to the relationship between Kou Li and Bian Yi, and their intimate matters were naturally not something they would share with a third person like him.

As Kou Li’s doctor, although Jian Yi was not very responsible or serious, he still welcomed any improvement in his patient’s condition.

Skipping over this matter, Jian Yi handed the document bag he brought to Kou Li and said, “This is Guan Xi’s.”

Leaning against the lab table, Jian Yi continued, “It’s really interesting.
When I peeled off the outer layer of the illusion, guess what I found?”

Kou Li had already taken out the file, which contained detailed data on Guan Xi’s entire body.
On the last page of the first section, there was data on Bian Yi.
Jian Yi had analyzed Guan Xi’s DNA and found that it was completely different from Bian Yi’s.

“Hmm…” Jian Yi pondered for a moment and described to Kou Li, “It’s like wearing an extra layer of clothing.
The outer layer is a high-quality imitation of Bian Yi, but inside, it’s Guan Xi himself.”

Jian Yi sighed disappointedly, “That system is even more useless than I imagined.”

Kou Li flipped through the papers in his hand and said, “It’s very self-confident.”

Jian Yi smiled and glanced at his friend, “That’s right, it’s very self-confident and quite contemptuous of humans.
That stupid fake probably doesn’t even know that his body is likely his own.”

The paper stopped on the last page, and Kou Li looked at the graph and data, saying, “Is the ‘outer layer’ fading?”

“Uh-huh,” Jianyi nodded, “The one that’s still in its original state is the one I’ve transmitted energy to.
Now, it’s on someone else.”

Kou Li understood Jian Yi’s meaning.
In other words, the “Bian Yi” that the system created was only able to deceive people, not a perfect replica.
Perhaps a perfect replica would require more resources, but the system didn’t want to waste them on the host’s body.
Or perhaps the system didn’t dare to completely replicate people from their world, and it needed to ensure that after it left, the host’s body would not be analyzed by people in this world to discover anything beyond the world.

Therefore, to maintain the appearance of Bian Yi, the host needed to “maintain” it regularly.

Without the system’s supply, the “outer layer” would eventually disappear, and the host would become an ordinary and ordinary human being with no valuable things on his body.

In short, soon Guan Xi would return to his original appearance, and he would no longer have the same face as Bian Yi.

The document bag was placed aside by Kou Li.
He took off his glasses and wiped them clean, with a particularly gentle smile on his face.

“How does he match?” How can he match having the same face as Ah Yi, how can he always wear Ah Yi’s face, even until death?

In fact, even before Jian Yi brought this document, Kou Li had already thought of an ending for Guan Xi – he would personally skin Guan Xi, an ugly thing that deserved to die in an ugly way.
He did not deserve to have anything that belonged to Ah Yi, even if it was just a replica.

But now –

Kou Li’s laughter was two parts genuine, it was a good thing that he didn’t have to do it himself.

Ai Yi and Xiao Shu probably wouldn’t like him embracing them with blood-stained hands.

Jian Yi saw all of Kou Li’s reactions.

He tapped Kou Li’s shoulder and said nothing.

Kou Li understood his meaning, which was probably saying: Yes, just like this, always think of your wife and children in everything, don’t turn yourself into a real monster.

Monsters cannot coexist with humans.

If they are forced to coexist, the first to be hurt will be the person closest to the monster.

Kou Li placed the document bag that had been placed on the workbench back into a cabinet and continued his research after putting it away.

Jian Yi looked on and casually asked, “How’s the progress?”

Kou Li calculated and replied, “Another half month.”

Jian Yi was a little surprised, “That’s fast.”

He stood up straight from the workbench, straightened his wrinkled clothes, and casually encouraged him, “Then keep up the good work, I’m leaving.”

Before he left, he added, “Remember to make your wife exercise and check in every day.”

In Kou Li’s mind flashed the scene from last night, with Bian Yi’s damp hair sticking to his forehead as he gasped for breath on top of him, unwilling to let him go.

Kou Li smiled and affirmed, “He will come.”

And Bian Yi did come.

He was indeed unwilling to admit defeat.

Last time they were both too crazy, there was not much to say, but last night, he shouldn’t have lost.

Kou Li spent every day in the lab and came back so tired, but why was he still so…

Bian Yi was a bit annoyed, he couldn’t say whether it was towards Kou Li or himself.

Therefore, after seeing off Xiao Shu, he went to the court early in the morning.

What Bian Yi didn’t know was that Kou Li had a gym in the lab, though the entire lab was almost empty, Kou Li went there every day.

The gym was arranged by Xiao Shu, of course, in the previous life.

He hoped Kou Li would exercise every day, eat and sleep on time, but Kou Li rarely met his expectations, and later he couldn’t even eat, and every day he had to rely on Jian Yi to infuse nutrients to barely sustain his life.

Kou Li felt very sorry for Xiao Shu, he was not a qualified father, so after starting over, he exercised every day, ate on time, and tried not to disappoint Xiao Shu.

But the only thing he couldn’t control was his sleep.

Fortunately, he can sleep well now, especially recently, he slept better and better each time.

Kou Li stopped what he was doing, thought for a moment, and called Bian Yi.

After two rings, the call was picked up on the third ring.

“… What’s up?” There was a slight panting on the other end of the phone, as if he had just run a short distance, or just finished exercising.

Kou Li relayed Jian Yi’s reminder: “Jian Yi said to remember to record your exercise.”

This statement originally wasn’t a big deal, since Jian Yi’s treatment plan for Bian Yi had included this.
But the image from last night kept replaying in his mind, with all of his resentment towards Kou Li.
And now Kou Li was calling about this.

Without thinking, Bian Yi took this as a taunt.
His annoyance turned into anger as he said, “You–you want to die or something?!”

“Ah, I have to go.
I’ll be back early tonight,” Kou Li said hastily, interrupting Jian Yi.
Then he hung up.

Bian Yi almost threw his phone in frustration, but managed to stop himself.
He ended up laughing instead.
“He’s so annoying!” he said.

After leaving Kou Li’s lab that day, Jian Yi had no contact with Jiang Shi beyond returning the medical fees.
It had been almost a week since they last had any interaction.
And Kou Li’s experiment, which he had claimed would take half a month to complete, was already halfway finished.

Jian Yi thought for a moment, then put away his phone and went to knock on his assistant’s desk in the other room.
“I’ll take that interview with that one media outlet,” he said.

The assistant looked confused as he recorded the matter, and then went to make arrangements.

It was nothing but a ploy by the new host to toy with them.
After all, his favorability rating must have been high at the time, thought Jian Yi.

If that was the case, he couldn’t help but go and have a chance encounter.

The interview was arranged quickly, and someone called to invite Jian Yi almost that same afternoon.

Jian Yi spent half an hour choosing his clothes and accessories, and sprayed some perfume before leaving.

His two assistants followed him and communicated with each other through eye contact:

“Are you sure the professor is going for an interview?”

“No, I’m not sure anymore.”

“The professor seems like he’s going to meet his destined one.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out like the last one.”

They already knew about the situation with the one on the island last time.
He turned out to be a suspect and the professor’s love life was really unlucky.

Jiang Shi was in the lobby on the first floor, signing a contract with Sister Jiang.
It was for a singing and dancing program on the XX platform.
This program had excellent word-of-mouth and traffic, and the contestants who participated were all established artists with recognized abilities, regardless of whether they had names in the entertainment industry before.
Even if they were eliminated, they would definitely be more famous than before.

For newcomers like Jiang Shi who had just debuted, this was an extremely rare opportunity.

They certainly couldn’t miss it.

However, Jiang Jie looked at Jiang Shi, who was not energetic enough, with some concern.

Recently, for some reason, their Xiao Shitou was not the same sunny boy as before.
He seemed to have a lot on his mind and would occasionally become absent-minded.

Jiang Jie was worried that he wouldn’t be able to adjust even after entering the program.
If that were the case, the program might not bring Jiang Shi good fame and resources.

“Jiang Jie, I’m fine,” Jiang Shi noticed his agent’s concern and said, “Don’t worry, I will do my best!”

Jiang Jie saw that he was not being forced and responded with a “good” before taking the child and following the company staff into the elevator.

Before the elevator doors closed, she saw Jian Yi who they had met before.

Jian Yi’s assistant was reaching out and mouthing “Wait a moment”.

Jiang Jie saw this and was about to press the button, but Jiang Shi was faster.

The elevator doors closed.

Jiang Jie was stunned for two seconds before turning to look at Jiang Shi, who was looking down and muttering, “Sorry, I think I pressed the wrong button…”

Jiang Jie furrowed her brows, feeling a strange unease in her heart.

This was very strange.

It was a little strange.

Jian Yi looked at the closed elevator doors and fiddled with the luxurious watch he had intentionally put on.

It didn’t seem like he was trying to toy with him, but rather that he genuinely wanted to avoid him.

To toy with someone is to tease them, while to genuinely avoid them is to reject them.

According to the persona Jian Yi had given himself, he was supposed to be knowledgeable and interested in the other person.
With such an obvious rejection, he wouldn’t go after them again.

But with that, it became contradictory to try to pursue him.

It didn’t make sense for the system to “let him go” like this.

Of course, the system wouldn’t do that.

It’s getting impatient: “What are you doing? You haven’t contacted him in a week, and today he went out of his way to have a chance encounter with you, but you ran away.
Isn’t it obvious that you’re rejecting him?”

Jiang Shi remained silent with his lips pursed and his head bowed, with no conversation going on in his mind.

The system warned: “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking.
I’ve given you enough patience.
If you keep resisting, I won’t mind giving you more ‘enjoyment’.”

Jiang Shi remained silent for a moment, then asked the system: “So, can you tell me what will happen to him if I successfully pursue him?”

The system was speechless for a moment, not responding.

The system had said that Jian Yi’s favorability towards him was 85, and the full value of favorability was 100, which was enough to show how much he liked him.

Jiang Shi couldn’t stand it.
He couldn’t bear to use someone who had such a high favorability towards him.

This system was always purposeful.
Why did it suddenly want him to pursue Jian Yi? It couldn’t be just because Jian Yi had a high favorability towards him and it wanted to help him, could it?

Before, the system had been constantly speaking ill of Jian Yi and ordered him to stay away.

With such a strongly malicious system, whatever it wanted to achieve couldn’t be anything good.

Jiang Shi had reason to believe that if Jian Yi was successfully pursued, he would lose something.
Money was secondary.
What he feared most was that Jian Yi would lose his life.

His conscience wouldn’t allow him to push another person into a pit for his own freedom.

The system was really annoyed.

Why did this person have to get to the bottom of things? Couldn’t he just deceive himself like Guan Xi? Isn’t everyone selfish? Why should he care about others? To Jiang Shi, Jian Yi was just a stranger!

The system can’t understand and doesn’t want to understand.
It coaxes with the last bit of patience:

“He won’t die, I guarantee it.
If you don’t believe me, we can sign a contract.
If I don’t fulfill my promise, I’ll be automatically destroyed.”

“The strategy is a side task.
The more points you get, the more points I get.
Your points can be used to exchange for what you want, and so can mine.”

“I’m just trying to earn points too!”

“Previously, I didn’t allow you to get close to him because he’s extremely difficult to conquer.
My previous host has failed on him before, and I don’t want you to repeat the same mistake.”

“But now, his fondness for you is at 85.
With a little more effort, you can succeed.
Look, his rating is S-level, and you can get 10,000 points if you succeed! Think about your freedom.
You’re already halfway there just by succeeding!”

Jiang Shi emptied his mind, took a deep breath, and replied, “Okay.
I’ll listen to you.”

The system got the answer it wanted and was satisfied, but at the same time, it thought: This is really troublesome.