The Origin of the Note

Alice's birthday party showed no signs of wrapping up until deep into the night. Alice was still wearing her gorgeous dress, while the photographer beside her snapped photo after photo with rapid clicks.

Ye Shuang watched quietly from the side. He turned to glance at Bobo, who stood like a towering giant next to him, and suddenly spoke up, "Bobo, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead." Bobo glanced back at Ye Shuang.

"Were you the one who left that note?"

It was a totally absurd question, but Bobo went quiet all the same. He stared at Ye Shuang for several extra seconds before nodding, "Yes, it was."

Ye Shuang was not surprised by his answer at all. After all, the only person he could think of who could leave that note for him there, and knew about Jin Sha, was Bobo.

After a moment of silence, Bobo spoke first, "Mr. Ye, take my advice. This is for your own good, and for Miss Alice's good too."

"I know," Ye Shuang said, lowering his eyes, "but I can't stand by and let that dangerous creep hide in the shadows. Chen Qin has already gotten hurt because of him."

"The more you resist, the more attention you'll draw to yourself. It's extremely dangerous," Bobo warned.

"If I have to live my entire life at the mercy of other people's whims, I'd rather fight for what I can change."

Bobo said no more, because just then, Alice waved him over. "Bobo, come here, take a top-down shot for me!"

"Right away, Miss Alice."

Ye Shuang watched Bobo's broad back as he walked away.

...

After the party ended, Ye Shuang headed home with the others. He had so many things to sort out and prepare for that even after he showered and climbed into bed, he could hardly fall asleep.

Chen Qin, who had been taking care of Ye Shuang through his amnesia episode, did not stir at all, and lay peacefully asleep on her side of the bed.

Ye Shuang looked at her sleeping face, then slowly closed his eyes.

Nothing eventful happened that night, but Ye Shuang had another strange dream anyway.

...

He found himself in a blank, void expanse of white. Right in front of him stood a figure that felt oddly familiar, but no matter how hard he tried to make out their face, it was always shrouded in an invisible mist.

"We're almost at the final step," the figure said, reaching out a hand with an ethereal voice.

Final step?

Ye Shuang stared at the figure in confusion, and for some reason, he was fully aware that he was dreaming right then.

"Why am I having such a weird dream?" Ye Shuang asked the figure, his eyes falling on the outstretched palm.

He slowly extended his own hand, and the tips of their fingers brushed against each other.

The next second, Ye Shuang jolted wide awake.

"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep." The alarm rang by his ear. Ye Shuang realized he was lying in his bed, soft sunlight spilling through the window and draping the wooden floor in a faint warm white glow.

"Another weird dream," Ye Shuang mumbled as he sat up, rubbing his slightly aching head.

Within just a few minutes of waking, he had already forgotten what the dream was about. That was just the brain's protective mechanism, after all. It was perfectly normal to forget most details of a dream right after waking up.

Ye Shuang picked up his phone, and saw that two people had sent him messages.

One was from Fugui, and the message was extremely short.

Tang Hao is dead.

According to Fugui, he supposedly accidentally fell into a cesspit and choked to death. More specifically, he ran out of strength while flailing around in it, and sank to the bottom without ever resurfacing.

Still, Ye Shuang didn't take it to heart. After all, he had already gotten all the information he needed, and the rest of the matter would be easy to handle. The only thing that bugged him a little was that it felt like Tang Hao was getting off too easy.

As for the second thing, it was a message from Grandpa An Shi.

Anshi Yilang: I've found Jin Sha's location. I've already sent a few people over there.

Anshi Yilang: But none of the people I sent back with any news. I'm planning to head there myself.

After reading Grandpa An Shi's message, a bad feeling crept into Ye Shuang's mind. He thought for a moment and then sent a reply.

Ye Shuang: Make sure you're fully prepared, old man. The person you're dealing with is no ordinary foe.

A moment later, Anshi Yilang replied.

Anshi Yilang: This guy is no ordinary pushover? Do you think I'm some amateur myself? Kid, you're underestimating me. Once I wrap this matter up, we'll talk about Little Yu's situation later.

Ye Shuang frowned slightly after reading the message.

Wasn't it a little too soon to be making such bold claims?

He tried to talk Anshi Yilang out of it a few times, but seeing that it did no good, he gave up. It looked like he would have to go find An Shiyu and tell her about this, hoping she could talk the old man out of rushing off.

He just had a bad feeling the old man might not come back from this trip.

Hopefully he was just overthinking it.

"..." Ye Shuang was standing in front of the bathroom sink brushing his teeth at that moment, and right after he set his toothbrush down, a faint window popped up in his view.

[You've worked hard at brushing your teeth today too. Your strength has increased by a large margin!]

Ye Shuang stared at his own palm in confusion. A large margin? That was a pretty rare wording for the system to use.

But soon he seemed to realize something. Ever since he had paid a certain price before, the rewards the system gave him had been getting more and more generous. He still couldn't quite figure out what that was all about, but increased strength was never a bad thing - it let him get a lot more done.

After he finished washing up and went downstairs, he spotted Bai Yuyou and Chen Qin in the kitchen. If Ye Shuang remembered correctly, Chen Qin was never that good at cooking, and in fact she never even stepped into the kitchen at all before. She had only learned how to cook later, just to make meals for him.

"Ah, you're up? Come have breakfast," Chen Qin said when she saw Ye Shuang come down the stairs, walking over with a plate in her hand.

Ye Shuang glanced down and saw it was a sandwich with a beef patty, vegetables and a fried egg tucked inside.

"It smells great," the scent drifting over made Ye Shuang, who had just woken up, feel his appetite kick in. Chen Qin had even ground some fresh soy milk to go with it.

"See, I told you it would be good," she grinned.

Once they sat down, Chen Qin noticed the sandwich on Bai Yuyou's plate. Compared to the sandwiches the size of her and Ye Shuang's fists, Bai Yuyou's were as big as the palm of her hand, and there were several of them.

"Eating that much first thing in the morning, are you sure it's okay?"

"Mom has a really big appetite," Yezi, who was sitting off to the side, explained. Out of everyone at the table, her own sandwich was the smallest, like a tiny mini version. But Yezi had quite a big appetite too, apparently having inherited it from Bai Yuyou - she could easily finish several of those kid-sized mini sandwiches in one go.

"It's fine, we went for a checkup, her health is perfectly good," Ye Shuang said with a soft smile, then reached for the soy milk cup next to him.

Crack.

A crisp sound rang out all of a sudden. Ye Shuang froze for a few seconds before he realized the soy milk cup in his hand had split open, and the milk was seeping out through the cracks.

It looked like he had crushed it with just a little too much force from his hand.

"Ah..." The few people beside Chen Qin were also stunned for a second, assuming that the cup must have been of poor quality.