Would Gods Be Jealous

The corner of Fang Qi's mouth twitched.

Because he'd had a bit to drink, his brain was moving half a beat slower than usual, but still...

"Lin Xiaoyou, you really must not want to live anymore...!"

He couldn't help but blurt out that complaint.

If Liguang really could see and hear everything, then once he found Liguang again...

He didn't even dare to imagine what kind of fate awaited Lin Xiaoyou then!

She'd probably end up on the dinner table for real!

"Oh, what's there to be afraid of, Senior!"

On the other end of the phone, Lin Xiaoyou's voice was kept low in the theater...

But her tone was absurdly cocky!

"Like I said before, when I married you, Senior, nothing happened to me either!"

She even sounded eager to try again!

Then she went on:

"Liguang? Liguang, can you hear me?"

"I'm about to go on a date with Senior right now!"

"Guess who we didn't bring along?"

"Nyah nyah nyah!"

...What?

Wait, no...?

Fang Qi felt his vision go dark!

He sobered up instantly!

...Lin Xiaoyou!

You've lost your mind!

Wife!

Wife, don't be mad, don't be mad! She's just a lunatic!

I have nothing to do with her!

Absolutely nothing!

But at the same time...

He finally figured it out.

Lin Xiaoyou, she...

She was doing it on purpose!

She was deliberately testing!

She'd probably been testing him ever since this morning, when she called and casually said something like "My dad's asking when we're getting married"...

Fang Qi rubbed his brow hard!

This was...

The textbook impression of Miss Genius!

Extreme self-destructive behavior!

But then...

His mouth twitched again.

Because he suddenly remembered the things he'd done in the bathroom today.

Yeah...

He supposed he was also sort of...

Joining Lin Xiaoyou in provoking Liguang?

Huh.

A chill ran down his back.

...He wasn't going to end up on the dinner table too, was he?

No, no!

Impossible!

He quickly shook his head, then spoke into the phone with irritation:

"Alright, you don't need to test me. I've already tested her thoroughly myself!"

"I'm a hundred percent sure that Liguang can't do anything right now!"

If she really could do something, he'd probably already be lying in a coffin!

He wouldn't still be alive, talking to Lin Xiaoyou!

A soft "Huh?" came from the other end of the line, followed by...

"Wow, Senior, you're so brave!"

Lin Xiaoyou's tone was both surprised and curious!

"Senior, Senior, what exactly did you do today? You didn't go to a brothel...!"

"Cough?!?!"

Fang Qi choked on his own saliva!

Now he was completely sober!

Lin Xiaoyou!!!

You really will say anything!!

I...!

If I ever dared to do something like that, even respawning wouldn't save me...

The thought alone was terrifying!

Fang Qi coughed a few more times...

Then his expression quickly turned serious.

"Lin Xiaoyou!"

He gritted his teeth and lowered his voice:

"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. We need to...!"

"But Senior!"

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly cut him off, a subtle shift in her playful tone.

"I have a feeling..."

"Liguang isn't completely helpless, you know?"

...What?!

Fang Qi's voice got stuck in his throat!

He froze for a moment...

Then sprang up from the sofa!

Clutching his phone tightly, he lowered his voice and asked urgently:

"Wait, what did you find?!"

She'd discovered Liguang doing something?!

Liguang she really...!

"Heehee!"

Instead of answering directly, Lin Xiaoyou lowered her voice even more:

"Senior, I haven't finished my movie yet! Tell you what, I'll send you an address. Come over and we'll talk in person!"

"Wait, you...!"

"Beep—beep—beep—"

The call was cut off directly.

Fang Qi stared at the "Call Ended" screen on his phone.

Damn it...!

...She actually dared to leave him hanging!

He was about to call her back when a location share from Lin Xiaoyou popped up at the top of his screen.

The moment he saw the address, Fang Qi's eyes froze.

This was...

The milk tea shop on the first floor of that old shopping mall?

He remembered this place all too well.

...Kěkǒukě Milk Tea.

The secret hideout of Bómo.

Right here, he'd watched Xiaoqing use a modified stun baton to knock out Lin Xiaoyou, back when she'd lost her memory.

But now...

Fang Qi stared at the pinned location of the milk tea shop.

It was the same spot, but the name was no longer "Kěkǒukě."

It was called... something like "Reindeer Milk Tea"?

Probably just some ordinary chain milk tea brand in this world.

...That made sense.

This world had no Chenxi Corporation, no awakened AI companions... and naturally, no Bómo either.

Without Bómo, there could never be the "Kěkǒukě Milk Tea" that served as their secret hideout.

Fang Qi stared at that location for a few seconds, pressing his lips together.

Then he locked his phone and stood up.

...Time to go.

...

By the time he took a cab to the old shopping mall, the sky had fully darkened.

The old neon signs on the mall's exterior wall were flickering, a few of the tubes already burnt out.

The place was much livelier than the mall in his memory.

Plenty of young people were coming and going through the entrance—some holding milk tea, others carrying shopping bags, chatting in groups of two or three.

The biggest difference was the cinema.

In the other timeline, that cinema had been shut down long ago, taken over by Bómo's awakened AIs and turned into a ghost theater.

But in this timeline...

He looked up at the third floor of the mall.

The cinema's sign was blindingly bright.

In the dedicated entrance, a few young people were walking out of the elevator with their ticket stubs, still wearing the excitement of having just finished a movie.

...What a peaceful world.

Fang Qi stepped inside.

The milk tea shop was on the first floor, near the edge.

From a distance, he could see Lin Xiaoyou sitting in a booth by the window, holding a cup of milk tea and slurping up tapioca pearls with her cheeks puffed out.

The moment she saw him walk in, she waved vigorously and flashed him the brightest smile.

Fang Qi took a deep breath.

What exactly had she discovered...?

He strode over quickly, sat down across from her, and got straight to the point:

"Lin Xiaoyou, you...!"

"Senior!"

She cut him off immediately, raising her milk tea and winking at him:

"Have you checked today's trending topics? They're pretty interesting!"

Fang Qi was stunned.

What?

...Trending topics?

Who looks at that stuff!

He had no time for such gossip!

Even on a normal day, he never looked at them!

He squinted at Lin Xiaoyou:

"Stop trying to change the subject! Tell me what you found. What exactly is Liguang...!"

"Se~nior~"

Lin Xiaoyou tilted her head instead:

"The trending topics aren't just gossip. Just take a look~"

...Huh?

Seeing her half-smiling expression, Fang Qi's heart skipped a beat!

Wait a second, could it be...?

The trending topics had something to do with Liguang?

He immediately pulled out his phone!

His fingers quickly swiped across the screen as he casually opened a trending list.

Then...

He saw the number one item.

[8.9 magnitude earthquake strikes uninhabited desert region in XX country, tremors felt within a two-thousand-kilometer radius]

Fang Qi blinked.

Earthquake?

Probably not this one.

He instinctively scrolled down.

The second item.

[Super typhoon suddenly forms over the central Pacific, expected to make landfall tomorrow morning; multiple island nations issue highest-level alerts]

Uh...

He kept scrolling.

The third item.

[Abnormal heatwave suddenly hits the Arctic Circle, glacier melt rate exceeds projections by threefold, sea levels may or may not...]

Fang Qi: "...?"

What...?

Item four, item five, item six...

He slowly widened his eyes.

Among the trending searches, not a single celebrity gossip story!

From number one to number ten, all of them were about natural disasters breaking out suddenly all over the world today!

Earthquakes!

Tsunamis!

Tornadoes!

Torrential rain!

Floods!

Abnormal heat!

Super typhoons!

Densely packed disaster reports, one after another!

They filled nearly the entire trending board!

This...!

Fang Qi tapped into a few of them to take a look...

The comment sections had already exploded!

Some people were posting satellite cloud images analyzing atmospheric anomalies, others were digging up historical data for comparison, saying the number of disasters occurring in this single day had already surpassed the total of the past decade combined!

And still others were frantically spamming "THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING!!!".

Only...

Fang Qi slowly raised his head and looked around.

The lights were glowing steadily, the air conditioner blowing a faintly cool breeze.

A few girls who looked like middle school students were huddled together, chattering away about the flavors of their milk teas.

...What end of the world?

The milk tea shop remained peaceful.

The city he was in showed no signs of any natural disaster.

However...

People were indeed murmuring quietly about the trending topics.

Fang Qi could overhear the two young people at the next table.

"My high school classmate goes to college over there, said the whole building was shaking!"

"Yikes... that's terrifying!"

Fang Qi lowered his head again and looked back at the alarming list of disasters on his screen.

His brows knit tighter and tighter.

...What does this mean?

Could it be...

He narrowed his eyes!

"Is it that this worldline isn't actually stable?"

He muttered:

"That's why...!"

"It shouldn't be, Senior."

Lin Xiaoyou cut him off.

She was swiping through her phone, still chewing lazily on the last few pearls in her mouth.

"This might be... oh!"

Her eyes suddenly lit up, and she jabbed her finger hard at the screen!

"Here it comes, here it comes!"

...What?

Fang Qi's phone screen changed too.

He looked down and saw that the moment he refreshed the page, an urgent news alert popped up!

This is...

A typhoon warning?

[Around 7:20 PM tonight, an abnormally strong gale suddenly picked up off the coast near XX City. It is expected to make landfall within a few hours. All citizens are urged to prepare for disaster!]

Fang Qi stared at the alert!

"Another new natural disaster...!"

He murmured.

"Just as I thought, because this world isn't on a normal worldline, it's unstable..."

He gripped his phone tightly, holding his breath slightly.

Which means, perhaps...

This "worldline" itself might not last much longer?!

Maybe it will revert on its own soon?

These disasters are the omens...!

"W-r-o-n-g, Senior!"

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly giggled, set down her phone, propped her chin on both hands, and looked at him with her almond-shaped eyes curved into crescents.

"Wrong!"

"This might be because..."

She blinked at Fang Qi.

"It's because I invited you out on a date earlier, Senior!"

Fang Qi: "?"

Huh?

What is this woman even saying?

Lin Xiaoyou tapped on Fang Qi's phone screen.

"See, the time is half an hour ago, it's exactly the same!"

"The news was just delayed, that's all!"

Wait—?!

Fang Qi's mind went blank.

It took several seconds before he slowly widened his eyes.

"You fu—"

He glared at this crazy girl in front of him!

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!"

But...

His heart began to pound wildly.

Fang Qi swallowed hard.

Wait, could she possibly mean...?!

"Mmm..."

Lin Xiaoyou swallowed the last pearl, licked her lips, and then—

"I have proof, Senior!"

Her tone turned a bit more serious!

"Look at this, Senior!"

She turned her phone around. On the screen was a notes page she'd just been swiping through, with several lines marked in different colored highlighters!

She pointed at the first line:

"Just this morning, a little after seven, a tornado suddenly spawned out of nowhere in a country across the ocean!"

Lin Xiaoyou looked at him, her almond eyes curved, and gave a slight raise of her brow:

"Senior, guess what I was doing at that moment?"

Fang Qi looked back at her, his eyes slightly unfocused.

A little after seven in the morning... Could it be...?

Lin Xiaoyou giggled, planted her hands on her hips, and said in a proud tone:

"That was when I said I wanted to marry you, Senior!"

Fang Qi: "..."

His lips moved, but no words came out.

Wait...?!

"Hehe!"

A smile spread across Lin Xiaoyou's round little face; she was thoroughly pleased with his reaction!

Then she looked back down and pointed at the second marked line:

"And then this morning, a little past nine, that 8.9 magnitude earthquake in that desert no-man's-land—that was really intense!"

She said in amazement:

"I heard tremors were felt across a two-thousand-kilometer radius!"

Then she tilted her head:

"Senior, I wasn't doing anything at that time, so..."

She winked at Fang Qi:

"What were YOU doing?"

Not...

Me?

At that time...?

Fang Qi felt his brain go completely rigid.

He was trying to think, slowly and laboriously.

...A little past nine?

What was he doing at a little past nine this morning?

...Ah.

Right...

He was in Sister An Lian's car, gazing out the window at the peaceful scenery of the old residential neighborhood, and thinking to himself...

"Kinda homesick. I miss the home I had before I transmigrated."

Fang Qi's hands began to tremble slightly.

And Lin Xiaoyou immediately pointed to the third line:

"And this one! That massive tsunami a little past eleven—I heard a tiny country near the equator nearly got completely swallowed by the waves!"

"Senior..."

She propped her chin on both hands, her almond eyes blinking rapidly:

"What... were... you... doing... then?"

Cold sweat began beading on Fang Qi's forehead.

A little past eleven... That was when...

He was in the bathroom at the An family home!

At the time, he was—

[Believe me, I'll walk right out there and announce I'm marrying Sister An Lian!]

[I'm seriously going home now!]

Fang Qi's whole body went stiff!

And Miss Genius was sitting there with her chin in her hands, smiling as she watched him.

"So you see, I did warn you, Senior."

She sat in her booth, gently swinging her legs, and said with feigned helplessness:

"I told you to behave. Because..."

She flashed Fang Qi a mischievous grin.

"If you make Liguang jealous..."

Her almond eyes narrowed slightly:

"The whole world will suffer for it."

Fang Qi stared at her, dumbfounded.

Then he stiffly lowered his head and once again looked at the densely packed disaster reports on his phone screen.

A 9.0-magnitude earthquake in the desert.

A super typhoon in the Pacific.

Melting glaciers at the Arctic.

A typhoon bearing down on the coast.

One after another, in an endless stream.

The timestamps of every single natural disaster...

...Matched.

All of them matched.

Exactly, to the minute.

He turned his head stiffly and looked at the young people at the neighboring table whispering about the trending topics.

“You guys, don’t you think maybe the gods are angry?”

“Gods, schmods! I’m a hardcore materialist!”

“Then how do you explain it! These disasters have absolutely nothing in common! Why would they all erupt within a single day!”

“Impossible—there has to be some link, we just haven’t found it yet!”

“I’ve got an idea—how come we haven’t had any disasters here? So it’s gotta be fake news! Fox News BS!”

Fang Qi opened his mouth.

Uh, so about your “gods”... they seem to be...

pretty jealous, huh?

Wait... what?!