Chapter 83
The reason he’d been able to accurately pinpoint the cat as the trigger mechanism of the time rewind last night was because neither Qin Zhou nor Ren Li had had contact with the cats; only Lin Yi had.
He not only touched the cat but also put it on the bed with him.
So among the three people who stayed at Cen Qian’s house last night, only Lin Yi experienced a time rewind.
Then, among the seven participants who stayed overnight in the conference room together, only Zhou Qi experienced a time rewind. As long as they find something he did that no one else did, they’d know the trigger.
Qin Zhou and Ren Li immediately understood Lin Yi’s point.
The three people set their sights on the press article on the conference table.
Everyone else was resting last night, only Zhou Qi wrote the article.
Qin Zhou picked up the document. The content of the article was related to ‘Shunxi’. Nowhere on it was Cen Qian mentioned.
After scanning the contents of the article, Qin Zhou was about to say something when the irritable voice of the editor-in-chief came from outside the meeting room.
After a while, the door to the conference room was pushed open by the editor-in-chief.
Following behind the editor-in-chief were the six other participants. The editor-in-chief caught them standing around in front of the news agency building. When asked for their articles, no one could present anything. The editor-in-chief was so angry that his lungs were almost about to explode.
Qin Zhou quickly put away the article and the editor-in-chief walked into the meeting room, angrily throwing the file in his hand onto the table. “What are you standing around for! The meeting’s starting!”
The other participants didn’t dare come in. Zhou Qi’s body was still in the conference room.
The editor-in-chief also saw Zhou Qi’s body and then called the security guard, scolding him, “Why’d you leave this thing in the conference room? Are you waiting for me to clean it up?”
“Stop with your excuses. If you’ve got time to complain, then you’ve got time to come up and clean it up!”
After hanging up the phone, the editor-in-chief said, “Meeting’s starting!”
The other participants didn’t dare sit next to Zhou Qi’s corpse, so Qin Zhou and Ren Li sat on either side of the corpse. Lin Yi thought for a moment, pulled out the chair and sat down next to Qin Zhou.
While waiting for security to dispose of the body, no one in the conference room spoke.
After a while, the body was taken away. Before leaving, the security guards gave the three of them dirty looks, especially Qin Zhou.
It was Qin Zhou who’d delayed their work.
“What about you three?” The editor-in-chief turned to look at Lin Yi and the three of them. “Did you get the work done?”
Lin Yi lowered his head, feeling like a student who hadn’t finished the homework assigned by the teacher.
He felt very guilty. He has always been a good student who turns in his homework on time.
Qin Zhou and Ren Li were different.
Ren Li: “No.”
Qin Zhou: “We didn’t get anywhere.”
Although Qin Zhou was answering the editor-in-chief, Lin Yi could hear the calm and composure in Qin Zhou’s tone.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
… The editor-in-chief was incredulous. “You made no progress at all?”
Hlc Itbe cbvvfv, “Ktja’r gluta.”
Olc Tl: “…”
Ktf fvlabg-lc-mtlfo rcffgfv. “P vbc’a xcbk kts Lewjc Efrbegmfr fnfc tlgfv sbe yjrajgvr. Cii kf’gf vblcu lr qjslcu sbe ab vb sbeg qfgrbcji yerlcfrr.”
Coafg rmbivlcu atfw, atf fvlabg-lc-mtlfo atgfjafcfv, “P vbc’a mjgf tbk vloolmeia ufaalcu Vteczl’r lcafgnlfk lr, lo sbe ralii mjc’a qgbvemf jcsatlcu ja abwbggbk’r wffalcu, sbe yfaafg cba rtbk sbeg ojmfr jgbecv tfgf!”
After saying so, the editor-in-chief gave the boy next to Feng Wan a vicious look. “Especially you.”
His words made everyone look at the boy. The boy himself was also baffled. He didn’t know why he’d suddenly been called out by the editor-in-chief. His face instantly turned pale in fright. Subconsciously, he looked towards Qin Zhou, looking to him for help.
But Qin Zhou wasn’t even looking at him. The boy lowered his head and trembled all over.
Lin Yi looked at this boy and he remembered that his name was Jiang Wang.
“You still have the nerve stay sitting here?” The editor-in-chief chased them away, “What? Are you waiting for me to serve you coffee!”
After he finishing speaking, the editor-in-chief violently slammed the laptop shut and stormed out of the meeting room.
But the meeting wasn’t over yet. Feng Wan carefully asked Qin Zhou, “President, what should we do now…?”
They all heard the ultimatum from the editor-in-chief, and no one knew whether being kicked out of the news agency represented death.
Qin Zhou was still seated. Lin Yi and Ren Li could only wait for him. The others didn’t leave either; they knew Qin Zhou and they were all waiting for Qin Zhou to point out an escape.
While Qin Zhou was silent and thinking, the room remained silent with him. Only the cold and treacherous fear swam in the air like a snake.
About three minutes later, Qin Zhou spoke to Feng Wan in a deep voice, “Tell me in detail what you all did yesterday.”
“Okay.” Feng Wan took a breath and said, “Fortunately, there is only one police station and one prison in this city. After yesterday’s meeting, we split into two groups. One group went to the police station and the other to the prison since we didn’t whether Shunxi was temporarily being held at the police station or had been sent directly to the prison.”
Ren Li asked, “So, where was he?”
“I don’t know.” Feng Wan sighed weakly and said, “We were tossed around like a ball. The people from the police station said that ‘Shinxu’ had already gone to the prison but the people from the prison said that ‘Shunxi’ was still at the police station.”
Lin Yi listened quietly to Feng Wan’s narration. He turned his head to look at Qin Zhou.
Qin Zhou frowned sharply after hearing what Feng Wan said.
Feng Wan said, “Their intention was clear. They don’t want us to interview Shunxi. But we don’t dare annoy them too much. After all… After all, they’re all NPCs.”
And thus, knowing this and under threat from the editor-in-chief, they were now asking Qin Zhou for help. They didn’t even know where Shunxi was, how could they possibly interview Shunxi? But the editor-in-chief had given an ultimatum.
They didn’t know what to do anymore.
“It’s still early.” Qin Zhou looked up at the sky outside through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the conference room. He said, “Stakeout those two locations using the same teams you used yesterday. But remember one thing for me, don’t touch anything here.”
Feng Wan nodded. “Okay…”
After the other participants left, Ren Li asked Qin Zhou, “President, what about us?”
He was asking whether they would go complete the task set by the editor-in-chief to interview ‘Shunxi’ or go find the Rules of Death.
Qin Zhou didn’t answer immediately. He turned his head and glanced at Lin Yi.
From out the corner of his eye, Qin Zhou had noticed that Lin Yi seemed to have something he wanted to say.
“Little genius.” Qin Zhou asked him, “What are you thinking?”
“Senior.” Lin Yi had been waiting for Qin Zhou to ask him and he said quickly, “Let’s first determine the protagonist of the 4-4 Rule World.”
Qin Zhou let out an “en” and began to play with the two pens that Lin Yi had just used as an example.
Lin Yi had the same thought he did.
There were too many NPCs in the 4-4 Rule World. Except for the participants, even the pedestrians on the street were NPCs.
And only one of these many many NPCs was the form of the 4-4 Monster itself.
Just like the vase girl in the 7-7 Rule World, the woman in red in the 2-6 Rule World and the doctor in the 16-8 Rule World.
Although they were all NPCs, the main line of the Rule World revolved around them. Only by figuring out the protagonist of the 4-4 Rule World can they determine their next direction for exploration.
Up to now, the NPCs with identities who have appeared included the editor-in-chief, Shunxi and Cen Qian.
Lin Yi asked Ren Li, “Who does Ren Li Ge think it is?”
Ren Li: “Shunxi.”
Lin Yi asked Qin Zhou, “What about Senior?”
Qin Zhou said, “Cen Qian.”
Although the editor-in-chief kept mentioning “Shunxi” and even Cen Qian watched the news channel report on “Shunxi”, there was one point that could prove that Cen Qian was the protagonist.
Shunxi himself had yet to appear.
The difficulty created by Shunxi’s existence was not how to avoid being targeted by him but to find him and interview him.
What if the participant never find him? Will Shunxi never appear? If Shunxi is the form of the 4-4 Monster, then the main plot of the 4-4 Rule World was unreasonable.
“I’m also leaning towards Cen Qian as the protagonist.” Lin Yi analyzed, “A plot line brought about by a serial killer can’t be as calm as how things appear now. Generally speaking, the time rewinds themselves must have some significance.”
Qin Zhou said, “Obsession.”
Time rewinds generally only appears in sci-fi movies; like immortality experiments, it doesn’t exist in reality.
But Doctor Zhu’s obsession with immortality led him to create the 16-8 Rule World. Applying the same principle, the 4-4 Monster’s obsession with the past must go so deep that he created the 4-4 Rule World.
Obsession meant being unable to let go or forget, thus the time rewinds.
Given that it’s possible, if you go back to a certain day in the past, which day would you want to go back to?
Respondents will generally answer whichever day left the deepest impression.
So the cat triggered a time rewind, which brought Lin Yi back to March 7 ten years ago. On this day, Cen Qian broke his leg because he saved a cat.
But what about the press article?
Ren Li spoke.
In the press release, only Shunxi was mentioned. There wasn’t the slightest sign of Cen Qian.
Lin Yi: “That’s why, I’ll go there tonight to have a look.”
This time rewind held not only a Rule of Death but also the answer to whether Cen Qian was the protagonist or not.
Ren Li thought for a moment and then looked at the press article. “How do you get there?”
Lin Yi scratched his head. “Last night, I slept with the cat in my arms. If the three of us sleep together on the same bed and hold the press article together, we should be able to go.”
Ren Li: “Fine.”
Qin Zhou: “Fine, my ass.”
Ren Li: “?”
Lin Yi: “Uh…”
Lin Yi silently lowered his head and pretended to read the press release. Qin Zhou glanced at Lin Yi and said quietly, “Little genius, you’re holding it backwards.”
“Ah? Oh.” Lin Yi adjusted the press release in embarrassment.
“With the Rules of Death unknown, if all three of us go, the slightest carelessness can result in a complete wipeout.” Qin Zhou said, “Someone has to stay behind.”
Lin Yi suddenly realized that he’d been overthinking.
Then Lin Yi heard Qin Zhou say, “I’ll go, you…”
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi quickly put down the document. “Senior, I want to be with you.”
He had a feeling that the 4-4 Rule was somewhat related to himself and he certainly wouldn’t want to miss a time rewind.
Qin Zhou paused, staring a while at Lin Yi, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Lin Yi thought that Qin Zhou wouldn’t take him with him. Just as he was about to say ‘the two of us can take care of each other’, he heard Qin Zhou say, “Are you sure?”
Lin Yi nodded immediately, “I’m sure, very sure, very very sure.”
Qin Zhou: “OK.”
The opportunity to take advantage was handed to him like this, it would be a pity to waste it.
For the rest of the day, they walked around the area they’d zeroed in on yesterday. When it was getting dark, they once again went to Cen Qian’s apartment uninvited.
Lin Yi stood at the door and greeted Cen Qian, “Good evening, can we stay at your place again tonight?”
Cen Qian turned the wheelchair back, leaving room for them to come in.
When Cen Qian assigned the rooms yesterday, Lin Yi had one, and Qin Zhou and Ren Li had another. Since this was someone else’s house, Lin Yi couldn’t make the arrangements himself and have Qin Zhou room with him.
He waited for Cen Qian to return to his room. When he guessed that Cen Qian must have already fallen asleep, he gently opened the door and whispered to Qin Zhou who was temporarily resting on the sofa, “Senior. Senior…”
“I’m coming.”
sleeping together~
ahhhh noooo, it stoped right before the good part QAQ!
also i think lin yi is the world protagonist, thanks for the chapter.
Progress 😜
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Qin Zhou must be laughing and jumping inside like crazy.. lol
Fine, my ass HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA