Shen Jie smiled warmly.
Although he knew at noon in the cafeteria when he saw the news that Zong Lin should be coming back for vacation, he still felt pleased when he actually received the message.
He sent a message back: [Welcome home. Have you eaten yet?]
The other side replied: [Not yet.]
Shen Jie: [Then tonight, let’s have lamb hot pot, um… with a side of scrambled eggs with leeks. How does that sound to you?]
The other side remained silent for half a minute before replying: [Okay.]
A few minutes later, another message came from the other side.
[I miss you a lot.]
Shen Jie picked up a new cup, took a sip of water, licked the water stains off his lips, and typed with his slender fingers.
[I miss you too.]
The system’s voice fell silent.
It looked at the conversation between “Capable Partner” and “Lovely Baby” on the screen, feeling like its non-existent face was being bombarded with cold dog food, and its young heart was being ruthlessly trampled.
[Wait, Host, isn’t the avatar and nickname you set for yourself a bit…] The system couldn’t help but comment as it looked at the blushing cat avatar in the messaging app.
This cute avatar was really hard to match with Shen Jie’s own speaking tone, not to mention the nickname “Lovely Baby”… According to its estimation, Shen Jie’s height was at least 1.8 meters, so “Lovely Baby” didn’t seem quite fitting!
“It’s not me,” Shen Jie hastened his pace of packing. “He set it. We exchanged phones before.”
The system suddenly didn’t want to ask who “he” in Shen Jie’s words referred to. It also didn’t want to delve into the secret interests between this young couple. It just accidentally came online seven years late, only to find its bound host not interested in saving the world at all, but spending every day idly with his partner. And what could it do? It was just a small, pitiful, lonely, and helpless system.
The system curled up into a ball and remained silent.
Since Zong Lin was coming back, Shen Jie decided to take the subway back to the urban area tonight and stop by the supermarket on the way home to buy lamb and leeks. When he finished work, he greeted Steven. Steven smirked at him, “Your wife is coming back? You look so happy.”
Many people in the research institute knew that Shen Jie had a partner, but they didn’t know who exactly that partner was. Steven had subtly asked a few times before, but Shen Jie hadn’t revealed anything.
After all, Zong Lin’s identity was special. Shen Jie didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention to himself at the research institute.
So he nodded, “I’ll cook at home later, so I won’t go to the cafeteria.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Steven said, “Do you want me to help you apply for leave tomorrow morning?”
Shen Jie thought for a moment, learning previous lessons, he said, “Take three days off, so I can use up some of the accumulated vacation days.”
Steven showed a surprised expression, “Are you sure about that?”
Shen Jie replied, “It’s correct.”
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.
After all, he didn’t need to exert much effort himself.
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Shen Jie walked slowly through the subway tunnel.
The electronic screen on the wall was playing the heroic postures of the superpower humans during battles, occasionally interspersed with warnings from the Observation Center and reports of research progress.
Shen Jie caught a glimpse of their institute’s director, Shi Chen, on the screen.
Shi Chen was dressed in a white research suit, tall and with features that seemed to be carved with a surgical knife, exuding a daunting beauty. Even though he was already over fifty years old, he looked no different from a young man in his twenties or thirties. Behind him was an enlarged white capsule with black letters “S.C.” printed on it. The headline of the poster: “The invention that saved the city – Infection prevention and treatment pills.” Next to it was a photo of Shi Chen and others. Shi Chen had one hand in the pocket of his research suit and the other hand around the shoulder of a young man with curly golden hair beside him. The young man had a bright smile and a strikingly handsome appearance. Poster title: “Breakthrough in Alien Research! The Strongest Master and Apprentice Team Unravel the Mystery of Genetic Fusion” Shen Jie glanced at it briefly before looking away. He rode the escalator to the platform of Subway Line 1, in the direction of “Mist Observation Center – City Defense Headquarters”.
The electronic display showed that the next train would arrive in 7 minutes. Shen Jie found an empty spot by the door of a carriage and stood waiting. His silhouette was reflected on the transparent glass partition door.
[I didn’t expect you to look quite handsome.]
The system, which had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up.
Shen Jie: “It’s normal.”
Shen Jie’s expression always seemed rather indifferent. The face reflected on the glass door showed no movement, like a cold landscape painting. But the hand in Shen Jie’s pocket lightly tapped on the case of his contact lenses. This meant he was thinking. Regarding this suddenly appearing of the mysterious ‘system,’ Shen Jie had confirmed two points. First, the system could only observe the world through his perception. That was why it only knew his appearance now. Second, the system didn’t seem to know the origin of his soul. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have said something like “save the world” to him.
After its quiet period, the system seemed to have reassured itself and started babbling again.
“[Host, with such good looks, your partner must be beautiful, sweet, and very capable, right?]”
Along the way, it had been pondering the relationship between a “capable partner” and a “cute baby,” not quite believing that the “big cabbage” it had bound had already been snatched away, especially considering Shen Jie’s tall and handsome appearance.
Moreover, it had just heard Shen Jie’s colleague asking if his wife had returned, and Shen Jie hadn’t denied it himself. “A wife,” ah, a fragrant and soft wife, how could she possibly be a rough and tough person? So, “capable” might just be a simple adjective, not at all what it initially thought, definitely not!!!
The system convinced itself and selectively ignored the abs profile picture, starting to reason with Shen Jie.
“[Host, you and your wife seem to have a great relationship. For the sake of your future happiness and offspring, it’s not a bad thing for an ordinary person to rise up and save the world. Why don’t you reconsider…]
Shen Jie actually considered it for a moment and then said, “He probably wouldn’t want to conceive.”
The system quickly responded, “[If your wife is worried about the discomfort of pregnancy, I have painless pregnancy protection capsules here. They last for a year, and after taking them, no matter how much you move around, it won’t affect the child. Plus, painless delivery is guaranteed, ensuring that giving birth feels no different from roasting a piece of pork belly!]”
Shen Jie added, “Because surrogacy is illegal.”
System: ?????
“Compliance with laws and regulations is the basic code of conduct for residents,” Shen Jie said. “Do you need me to buy you a current law codex for study?”
“[…No need, thank you.]” The system understood everything, its voice trembled, its spirit once again greatly wounded.
Shen Jie continued to wait for the train.
As the rumbling sound of the tracks echoed, the Line 1 subway arrived at the station.
Shen Jie stepped onto the subway.
There were plenty of empty seats inside the subway, so he found a corner and sat down, taking out his phone. There were no new messages in his communication app, which didn’t surprise him. After all, his partner had always been a silent person, better at expressing emotions through actions. So he casually opened a game and started playing. Shen Jie was playing a rhythm game, a collaboration between Rhythm Master and Electronic Woodfish, called Wild WoodFish. He put on his headphones, selected a song with a 3S difficulty level, and started the custom infinite mode. Wooden fish flew in at lightning speed with the music, his slender fingers tapping incessantly. With each prompt of “+1 combo,” he quickly reached a combo of 666.
[Host, you have such fast reflexes.]
Shen Jie: “Practice makes perfect.”
[Do you need such fast reflexes for working at the research institute?] The system was a bit curious, [If it’s because you often have to type research reports, I can help you share the workload. I can even serve as your thesis assistant, and if necessary, I can publish a few Tier 1 papers under your name. This way, you’ll quickly get promoted, and easily reach the peak of your career…]
Shen Jie continued: “Because my partner isn’t here.”
The system’s voice abruptly stopped, and after realizing its mistake, it felt like slapping itself in the face for speaking recklessly just now. It mumbled itself: “Didn’t I tell you to learn from your mistakes? Didn’t I tell you to learn from your mistakes?”
The subway train was moving fast.
Shen Jie was quietly playing a rhythm game.
The entire carriage he was in was quiet. Most of the observers and researchers coming from the core area were either i-person or forced to be i-person due to the environment. There was at least a meter of distance between each person, fully reflecting modern people’s sense of boundaries.
But this silence was broken when the subway reached the inner city area. The inner city area had three stations – High-Tech Park, Industrial Base, and University City. As everyone knew, the companies in the High-Tech Park and the factories in the Industrial Base did not provide meals or accommodation, so employees had to commute between their workplace and the outer city every day. After work, a large group of workers rushed into the High-Tech Park station. Most of them chatted and laughed in groups of two or three. Once they boarded the train, they either found a seat if available or stood in the middle aisle if not. The subway doors would automatically close when there was still half of the carriage space left to leave room for passengers at the next station. Through the glass partition doors, anyone could see the long line of people standing outside the subway station, stretching as far as the eye could see. Although so, everyone queued up in an orderly manner, smiling through the glass at the people sitting inside the subway, seemingly not losing their good mood despite the possibility of having to wait for several more trains. As the subway started moving, the people inside the carriage engaged in relaxed conversations, accompanied by frequent ringing of mobile phones.
Ring, ring, ring…
“Hello, boss? Yes, yes, okay, I’ll rush through the work tonight and try to finish it for you. You take an early rest.”
Ring, ring, ring…
“There’s an emergency meeting at nine tonight? Understood, I’ll definitely participate on time.”
Ring, ring, ring…
“The plan is wrong and I need to go back to work immediately? Okay, okay, I’ll turn back at the next subway station…”
They all seemed to have very good temperaments, and the social atmosphere was civilized and harmonious.
Shen Jie deliberately chose a seat by the side, but there were not many seats on the subway, so inevitably someone would sit beside him. He glanced at the person sitting next to him out of the corner of his eye and continued playing games.
The system reminded: “[Host, the person sitting next to you is the protagonist! The protagonist Chen Shushu!]”
Shen Jie: “Oh.”
The system suspected: “[You’ve read the novel, so you should have recognized him just now, right?]”
Shen Jie remembered the post-apocalyptic novel that had fallen to his feet. In his world, there weren’t many intact books left, so he rarely picked it up out of curiosity and flipped through it. The next day, he crossed over. Shen Jie recalled the contents and said, “The book was too thick, the plot too bland, and the writing fragmented. Didn’t finish reading it.”
The system: […]
The system could only accept its fate and start introducing the protagonist.
“The protagonist Chen Shushu, male, 15… should be 22 now, awakened his superpowers in high school, later joined the superpower eradication team ‘Dawn’, embarking on a magnificent life of a high school student saving the world… How could he be here?”
Chen Shushu was indeed easy to identify.
Among the crowd of white-collar workers in suits, only Chen Shushu had his suit jacket unbuttoned, revealing a glimpse of the anime girl T-shirt underneath. His brown hedgehog-like hair stood up, with a lightning scar in the center of his forehead. At the moment, he was buried in his phone watching anime, occasionally letting out giggles. … Not much different from the description of him when he was 15 years old in the book, except for the suit jacket.
Sensing Shen Jie’s gaze, Chen Shushu looked up from his phone, blinked, and flashed a toothy smile at him.
“Hey… uh, big brother, how are you? Meeting like this must be fate, shall we get to know each other?”
[System: By the way, Chen Shushu is a sucker for good looks. Sitting next to you, he probably had it all planned out.]
“I’m Chen Shushu, a senior this year, interning on this side of the tech park. Today is my first day of internship, luckily no major mishaps.” Chen Shushu pretended to be shy, “Big brother, are you working at the research institute with that outfit? That’s so impressive. In our department, there are only two people interning at the research institute this year, and I can’t even come close.”
[System: He’s faking it. He’s got an IQ of 250, getting into the research institute would be a piece of cake for him. The biggest possibility for not getting in the research institute is… not wanting to.]
Shen Jie: “I don’t know you. Not impressive. I prefer quiet people.”
Chen Shushu: “…”
He blinked, then raised his hand and made a zipper motion across his mouth.
Pretty clever.
Soon, the subway passed two more stations, and more people boarded.
After the doors closed at the University City station, the subway began its journey from the inner city to the outer city.
This road was long, even with the subway’s speed, it would take more than ten minutes.
The system hesitated for a moment, feeling it should speak up:
[Although, I think I should remind you…]
Before it could finish, a piercing scream suddenly came from the back of the train, followed by the panicked footsteps of the passengers.
“Mist! It’s mist!”
“Why is there mist inside the train?”
“The mist is coming—run, run!!!”
“Mist! It’s mist!”
“How could there be mist inside the carriage?”
“The mist is coming—run, run!!!”
[Chen Shushu has the physique of a famous detective elementary school student the system’s voice was heavy. [Staying around him will get people killed.]
camping~ this started really well it’s so promisinggg ! tysm for the translation <3
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for this new story 😍❤️
Thanks for the chapter! Usually I try not to read danmei until the first arc is done but the summary and the cover was to enticing!
lmfao, I never understand why the mc is always the death god’s type, like, ya’ll can’t pick any other cannon fodders???
I can’t tell if this is a ‘The Mist’ reference 😭thank you for the chapter!! Lovely translation!
Pfft- Conan physique is absolutely plot armor break debuff
Thanks for the translation ❤️
Damn protago halo, it’s best to be far apart from this walking harbinger!
Lol Conan physique (≧▽≦)
Haha 🤣