Chapter 9: Finding Jiang Xingye
“Lin Xu! Lin Xu!”
“Get up!”
“Hurry!”
“Hurry!”
...
In a daze, Lin Xu heard Jiang Xingye calling his name.
He thought he was still in the world of the wristband, but he didn’t understand why this time Jiang Xingye wasn’t shouting “Run!” but rather “Hurry!”
—Then, in the next moment, he heard loud knocking on the door.
Opening his eyes, Lin Xu struggled to sit up and glanced at his phone to check the time.
12:30.
Rubbing his eyes, he walked toward the apartment door. As he opened it, Jiang Xingye was already standing there, fully dressed.
“What’s up on a weekend...”
Lin Xu yawned.
“It’s only 12:30, sis. I’ve only slept for four hours...”
“Four hours isn’t enough? Who told you not to sleep last night?”
Jiang Xingye glanced curiously into Chen Xu’s room and remarked,
“Your room’s actually pretty clean, totally different from the stereotypical guy’s room I imagined.”
“...Clean, huh? Want to come in and see for yourself?”
“...Forget it.”
Jiang Xingye waved her hand.
“The boss sent you a message. Have you seen it?”
“The boss? President Ren?”
Lin Xu took out his phone and opened the app. At the top of a flood of group chat messages was an ID named “Ren Jian 00001.”
The message was simple.
“Student Lin, if you have time on Monday, come to my office for a chat anytime.”
Lin Xu’s heart skipped a beat.
“What does that mean? Have they already reviewed the proposal?”
“That’s right!”
Jiang Xingye nodded.
“Apparently, both the boss and the chief engineer are very interested in your proposal. They immediately sent you a message to come talk.”
“But since they didn’t get a reply from you, Chen Yan came looking for me to check what’s going on with you.”
As she spoke, Jiang Xingye laughed.
“Hey, you should’ve heard the tone of that bastard Sun when he called me!”
“He was so servile, so humble, so cautious...”
“I bet the boss was sitting right next to him during the call.”
Page 2
“Well, this time we really got some revenge...”
“Wait.”
Lin Xu raised his hand to interrupt Jiang Xingye.
“You woke me up in such a hurry—don’t tell me it’s just to tell me this trivial stuff?”
“Trivial??”
Jiang Xingye shot Lin Xu a look full of disappointed hope.
“Dude, the boss is waiting for your reply!”
“Do you think when he says ‘anytime’ it really means anytime? He has meetings with investors on Monday, and a ton of things at the company. You really think he’s waiting around all day just for you?”
“You better reply quickly and set the time, so the general office can arrange the schedule!”
“...I forgot about that.”
Lin Xu smiled awkwardly and pulled out his phone.
“Morning or afternoon better? Did you ask for me?”
“Three in the afternoon. That time slot’s pretty free.”
“Alright.”
Lin Xu tapped on the screen, quickly composing a polite and professional reply to the boss. After sending it, he saw the message turn to ‘read’ status, and “Ren Jian 00001” sent back an ‘OK’ gesture. Only then did Jiang Xingye nod in satisfaction.
“OK, OK! As long as you replied!”
“Want to eat? Let’s have lunch together?”
There was a hint of expectation in Jiang Xingye’s eyes. Lin Xu hesitated for a moment, then answered,
“No, I’ll sleep a bit more.”
“In the evening, I’ll treat you to Japanese food. You really worked hard on the new project, you deserve some proper thanks.”
This time Lin Xu didn’t joke with Jiang Xingye.
Indeed, from Experiment Project No. 3 to the new project, Jiang Xingye, as the leader, had fought for a lot on his behalf.
He wasn’t the ungrateful type. When someone treats you well, even if you can’t repay right away, you still show your appreciation.
Anyway, nothing pressing tonight. The last time he talked with Jiang Xingye about the “end of the world” issue, it felt like they hadn’t fully explored it. Today would be a good chance to spend some time on it.
“Oh? You’re starting to get it?”
Jiang Xingye sized Lin Xu up.
“I can’t handle cold food today, so no Japanese. Let’s do hot pot.”
“If you can’t handle cold, then don’t go.”
Lin Xu said seriously.
“Damn you! Say that again?”
Jiang Xingye raised her hand as if to slap, and Lin Xu quickly stepped back.
“Just kidding, just kidding... Hot pot it is.”
“I’ll call you tonight. For now, go back to sleep—wanna come with me?”
“No way!”
Jiang Xingye rolled her eyes, but a rosy blush appeared on her face.
Page 3
Clearly, once Lin Xu let himself loose, she was no match for him anymore.
She slammed the door shut and quickly walked away.
Lin Xu shook his head with amusement and returned to his room. Instead of lying back down, he sat in front of his computer.
On the desktop, open documents included the preliminary design plan for Star Voyage One and a “Clues” document he had summarized.
At the end of the document, Lin Xu had updated a few highest-priority to-do items.
[First: Attempt to verify the connection between the real world and the wristband world, determine what extent of changes can affect the wristband world.]
[Second: Further promote the progress of the Star Voyage One project, extracting more technical information from the wristband world.]
[Third: Figure out Jiang Xingye’s motivation and method for saving me.]
Reading the to-do list again, Lin Xu sighed.
Actually, the first two tasks were easy.
To confirm the link between the real world and the wristband world, the simplest method was to test if something in the real world could be preserved for 20 years and then transmitted into the wristband world.
Twenty years isn’t long. Most buildings wouldn’t have reached their lifespan yet. Lin Xu even thought that if he left a mark on a rooftop no one visits, it might still exist 20 years later.
If small-scale changes didn’t affect the wristband world enough, he could gradually increase the test scale.
As for extracting information from the wristband, that was just repetitive, tedious work.
The third task, however, was the most difficult and puzzling.
From previous probes, Lin Xu saw that Jiang Xingye clearly knew nothing about the apocalypse.
Asking her “why” or “how” now was like the story of carving a mark on a boat to find a lost sword.
She wouldn’t know the answer.
—Wait.
If asking Jiang Xingye here is like carving a mark on a boat, why don’t I just go back to the river where the sword fell and fish it out?
Lin Xu suddenly realized his thinking was truly limited.
Jiang Xingye from 20 years ago didn’t know about the apocalypse, but wouldn’t Jiang Xingye 20 years later know?
If she didn’t know, how could she notify him in advance?
So, “finding out the motivation” was a false proposition.
As long as he found her in the wristband world, all problems would be solved!
Lin Xu raised his wrist. The number displayed on the wristband was “3.”
He still had three chances left today.
That was enough.
Lin Xu lay back on his bed, his consciousness gradually drawn away.
Once again, he entered the world inside the wristband.
This time, he had only one goal.
Find Jiang Xingye!