Approaching midnight.

A red Ferrari drove into the garage of Huanshan Manor.

Yan Ruoyun got out of the car empty-handed, stepping through the night as he walked toward the main building’s hall.

From a distance, he caught sight of the dim night lights shining in the hall and couldn’t help but sigh softly. Clearly, he had long anticipated the scene that was about to unfold.

Sure enough.

As soon as he entered the house, Yan Ruoyun saw two middle-aged people sitting on the sofa—his father, Yan Zihong, and his mother, Pei Shurong.

The couple each held a bowl of health-nourishing soup, but neither was in the mood to drink it; they just kept glancing toward the door.

It wasn’t until they spotted their son coming in that Pei Shurong set down her soup bowl and came forward to greet him:

“Ruoyun, I had the housekeeper save a bowl of soup for you. It’s still warm… Do you want to drink some now?”

Although Yan Zihong didn’t stand up, his expression was far from nonchalant. Following his wife’s words, he asked,

“Back so late?”

Yan Ruoyun: “…” Late?

If he remembered correctly, he usually came home around this time, didn’t he?

Moreover, whenever he needed to stay out late, he usually chose to rest at his bachelor pad not far from the company. He only returned to the old family estate to stay the night when work wasn’t too busy.

“I’ll have a little.” Yan Ruoyun smiled helplessly.

Actually, he knew early on that his parents wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully tonight, which was why he drove through the night for so long to return to Huanshan Manor.

The current situation was slightly better than he had expected—

At least his grandfather and the other elders hadn’t stayed up waiting as well.

Just after taking the health soup, before Yan Ruoyun could even warm his seat, he heard Pei Shurong ask softly, “It wasn’t clear over the phone. Weren’t you supposed to have dinner with Lin Zhu tonight? Tell Mom and Dad all about it in detail.”

Yan Ruoyun raised his eyes.

The couple.

All four eyes were staring straight at him.

He swallowed a mouthful of the warm, nourishing soup and answered very calmly, “We didn’t have dinner. I invited him out for tea.”

Hearing this, the inherently romantic Pei Shurong choked up slightly and grew a bit anxious: “Tea? He’s a young man, why would you ask him out for tea? Haven’t you had enough tea keeping your grandfather company on normal days?”

Yan Ruoyun took after his mother more. He had delicate features with a hint of Sino-French mixed-race traits, a stark contrast to his father Yan Zihong’s aura.

Yan Zihong had a solemn and righteous appearance. Rather than an entrepreneur, he looked more like a military man. When he kept a straight face, his presence was imposing. “Were you just planning to meet him once and be done with it?”

Hearing this, Yan Ruoyun lowered his head and took another sip of soup.

Well, his dad really hit the nail on the head.

Ever since receiving the pheromone compatibility report with Lin Zhu, he hadn’t bothered to hide his resistance in the slightest, but he never expected…

Just as he was thinking, Yan Zihong sharp-eyedly noticed an anomaly and asked again, “Why did you change your clothes? This wasn’t the outfit you wore when you went out today, was it?”

The soup bowl was pocket-sized, gone in just a few sips.

Yan Ruoyun gently placed the empty bowl back on the table, summarizing it in a few words: “While drinking tea, I accidentally got the original outfit dirty, so I had Chen Yuan bring me a new set.”

The couple exchanged a glance, neither looking very optimistic.

How do you get your clothes dirty just from drinking tea?

They heard the Lin family’s youngest son was pretty unreliable. Did they end up having a falling out?

Yan Ruoyun didn’t want his parents tossing and turning over his affairs. After a moment of thought, he stated very directly:

“Don’t worry, Lin Zhu and I added each other on WeChat, and we’ve set a time to go to the hospital together next time. We’ll have Dr. Xu do an examination first…”

Pei Shurong was sitting right next to him. Hearing this, her expression shifted slightly. As if sensing something, she suddenly leaned sideways and reached toward the back of her son’s neck. She discovered that the gland beneath his choker collar was slightly swollen, and surrounded by unhidden bite marks. Her eyes widened in shock.

“…You two marked?!”

Yan Ruoyun nodded in admission. “Yeah.”

There was no denying this kind of thing. Besides, his family had pushed him to meet Lin Zhu precisely because of the marking and pheromones. Even if he didn’t say it, Pei Shurong would bring it up.

When all was said and done, it was all because of the genetic disease.

Ever since Yan Ruoyun was diagnosed with the genetic disease, Pei Shurong had been constantly depressed, feeling that she had failed to give Yan Ruoyun a healthy body.

Upon learning that his pheromone compatibility with Lin Zhu reached an astonishing 100%, she was the most thrilled of all.

Knowing that her son always disliked being approached by Alphas, Pei Shurong had originally worried that he would rather endure the pain of the disease than engage in contact and marking with Lin Zhu. She never expected…

She stood up in pleasant surprise. “Ruoyun, how about Mom accompanies you to the hospital when the time comes? Do you want to invite Lin Zhu over to our house for a meal while we’re at it?”

She spun around and continued muttering: “Right, right, we also need to find a time to set up a meeting with the Lin family to talk, right? Sigh, if only Lin Zhu was an Alpha from an ordinary family…”

“What a messy affair. Gu Yan’s side…”

Gu Yan was Lin Cheng’s wife, Lin Xiujie’s mother.

Pei Shurong had a decent relationship with her and knew just how much she despised Qin Sinuan from back then, along with the child she secretly gave birth to.

But people have their priorities in closeness. Ultimately, her own son’s health was the most important thing.

Yan Zihong didn’t speak, but he nodded repeatedly, looking very agreeable. If the elders had been here, the scene would probably have been even more chaotic.

It couldn’t be helped. Ever since Yan Ruoyun was diagnosed with the genetic disease at eighteen, it had become the entire family’s sore spot.

In their eyes, Lin Zhu probably looked more like a limited-time super miracle drug developed specifically for Yan Ruoyun.

This sudden influx of attention had nothing to do with Lin Zhu himself.

To them, whether the name on the report was Zhao Zhu, Wang Zhu, Zhou Zhu… it didn’t matter.

But this point—

To Yan Ruoyun, it was incredibly important.

Seeing this situation, Yan Ruoyun sighed inwardly: It was precisely because of this that he didn’t want to make it public so early…

He pulled the excited Pei Shurong down to sit, speaking very solemnly to his parents: “Mom, Dad, leave this matter alone, let me handle it myself, okay?”

His tone was rational, his expression aloof yet firm: “I won’t resist treatment, and I’ll inform you of the check-up results right away… But, I hope you won’t interfere in my matters with Lin Zhu. Let me make all the decisions myself.”

Just like always, from childhood to adulthood,

Let him decide his own future.

Yan Ruoyun’s inspection ended at the gaming room.

Even though Lin Zhu had already proactively opened the door to the master bedroom, the man didn’t glance inside once. Instead, he leaned into his ear and said extremely softly, “Next time,” before leaving.

Leaving Lin Zhu standing alone like a wooden post in the living room for a long time.

Right until bedtime, lying on his two-meter-wide grand bed, he still felt a bit light-headed. Tossing and turning for about ten minutes, he couldn’t resist calling out to the system in his mind, asking, “…Me going to school shouldn’t affect the role-playing mission, right?”

The scumbag ex-husband persona definitely didn’t have the attribute of “study hard, make progress every day.”

“Huh?” The system was doing who-knows-what, and only spoke up after a good while, “It won’t affect it at all. Host, you just need to ensure the key plot points happen as scheduled.”

It laughed cheerfully twice: “Besides, Host, it’s not the first or second time you’ve gone OOC. Look at me, I’m not anxious at all.”

Lin Zhu, covered by his blanket, stared at the pitch-black ceiling.

His eyes were so calm they looked dead. He silently reminded, “…When you were rushing me to do missions, you weren’t like this.”

It was comparable to being possessed by a pyramid scheme ringleader.

Honestly, he felt the system acted more human than he did—frequently blindly optimistic, intermittently suffering anxiety breakdowns, seamlessly switching between the two states. Its mental state could be said to have achieved an alternative kind of stability.

“Working is just involuntary like this…” The system choked for a moment and sighed faintly. “This f*cking life has ultimately turned me into the very thing I hate the most.”

“…”

Thus, one human and one system started shooting the breeze.

Lin Zhu closed his eyes at some point, the nerves that had been tense all day finally relaxing.

Belated drowsiness surged from the depths of his mind, enveloping his body like a warm current, gently rocking him into a hazy dreamscape.

Gradually, Lin Zhu’s breathing became slow and drawn out…

He fell asleep.

On a luxurious King-size bed, the blonde youth inexplicably slept right near the edge. After changing his flat sleeping posture a few times, he finally settled into a curled-up, side-lying position, half his face buried in the goose-down duvet.

Beidu was a southern city.

The transition from summer to autumn brought especially abundant rainfall.

Around three or four in the morning, the humidity outside the house kept rising. Before long, the sound of rustling rain echoed between heaven and earth.

It was the sound of fine rain pattering against the eaves, window frames, and branches.

This continuous, dense sound made the bedroom seem even quieter, leaving only Lin Zhu’s shallow breathing. His eyelids were shut tight, the eyeballs beneath them unmoving, clearly having entered a deep slumber.

At this time, the system called out softly a couple of times: “…Host? Host, are you asleep?”

No answer.

It waited a little while longer.

Only then did the system click open the email in its backend from the Main Bureau.

【Subject: Judgment Report [Regarding the Rule Violations of Ex-Husband Roleplay System N001 in Endangered World 012], Attachment [‘Character Persona Sync’ Sub-system Installation Package.exe]】

【…Node: First Key Plot Point Task Completed [Unknown Error Exists]】

【Task Details: As detected by the ‘Task Judgment’ Sub-system, Main System ‘N001’ has committed the following violations: binding an unqualified host, indulging and inducing the host to treat tasks negatively, violently attacking the ‘Task Judgment’ Sub-system causing detection errors…】

【Summary Report: Main System ‘N001’ still harbors negative emotions. If the mission in Endangered World 012 fails, ‘N001’ will be recalled to the Main Bureau for a second comprehensive purge.】

【Current Processing Plan as follows: Force update Main System ‘N001’ to the latest version and install the ‘Character Persona Sync’ Sub-system. This sub-system will only gain ‘Auto-Start’ permissions during role-playing missions to assist the host in fully understanding the NPC’s character logic, thereby compensating for the severely low persona overlap rate.】

……

Inside the system space.

After reading the report, N001 glanced at the little glowing blue ball that didn’t dare to move in the corner—aka the ‘Task Judgment’ Sub-system—and said coldly: “Oho, you little snitch, you ran to tattle to the Main Bureau when I wasn’t looking?”

Sub-system: 【……】

N001 was submissive in front of its host but came out swinging hard against the sub-system, seamlessly switching between its two faces. Right now, it looked possessed by a wicked mother-in-law, every punctuation mark stuffed with sarcasm,

“Heh heh, they sent another sub-system over. Guess you’ll have some company. Congratulations.”

Sub-system: 【…………】

In an instant, the program generated a massive amount of redundant data.

N001 exited the system space, manifesting its data-stream body in front of its host for the very first time.

A small, round ball emitting white light popped out from the blonde youth’s forehead, hovered in mid-air for a moment, and then flew down to land on the windowsill.

Unfortunately, Lin Zhu had already fallen into a deep sleep and was completely oblivious to the system’s appearance.

Its round, chubby body looked incredibly soft. Lying on the windowsill, it resembled a melted lump of sweet sticky rice cake.

This was the default skin for the Main Bureau’s system light balls.

It’s just that other light balls were blue; only N001 was white.

The little white ball system stared at the rainy scenery outside through the gap in the curtains, then looked back worriedly at its curled-up, sleeping host.

Actually, it had lied to its host.

It wasn’t an intern system, but rather… a defective system.

In the system’s backend.

The ‘Character Persona Sync’ installation package was forcibly executing. The progress bar crawled along, definitely not going to finish anytime soon, but N001 was still in an awful mood. It even really wanted to savagely beat up the ‘Task Judgment’ Sub-system again.

Sub-system: 【…Please calm down, Main System ‘N001’.】

System: “Calm your ass.”

Sub-system: 【…Calm down.】

System: “Down your ass.”

The system sneered coldly:

“Just wait for death, you little snitch.”

Sub-system: 【………………】

Redundancy, redundancy, an endless amount of redundancy that could never be fully cleared.