CH 105

To be precise, Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di had quite a lot in common in their approach to things. For instance, Si Di would say, ‘I might not be able to resist helping Si Chu,’ but under Xiao Nian’s persuasive reasoning and emotional appeals, he ended up knowing every detail of the script yet remained silent from start to finish, allowing Si Chu and Ye Feiran to stumble through their tasks.

Essentially, what Xiao Nian advised was this: if you don’t intervene, Si Chu and Ye Feiran might go through hardships, but the outcome will be good. However, if you forcibly intervene, who knows if good intentions might lead to bad outcomes?

Si Di inexplicably understood why those aloof and cryptic characters from movies and TV shows always spoke in riddles and muttered incessantly about how the secrets of the universe could never be revealed.

Similarly, Xiao Zhenyun always assured, ‘We’ll definitely follow the script,’ ‘We’ll definitely stick to the original plot,’ ‘We’ll definitely replicate it faithfully.’ Yet, every deviation from the original plot somehow involved him, without exception.

In short, they were both ‘men of contradiction.’

Hedgehog earnestly pondered how Xiao Zhenyun could make his grand entrance when he returns three years later. He practically sacrificed sleep and meals, even when sniping the target from the sixty-story high-rise, he didn’t forget to whisper to Si Di over the private channel, “How about having Xiao Zhenyun parachute from a helicopter?”

Meanwhile, Si Di, disguised as a foolish spendthrift in the casino, was squandering time with reckless gambling to delay the mission. When he heard this absurd suggestion, he almost mistook the ace of spades for a three of diamonds and threw it away. Quietly gathering a four of a kind, he closed his cards just as Hedgehog vividly described, “With a row of explosive grenades around his waist, each hand holding a light machine gun, descending from the sky, penetrating the enemy circle, rattling with gunfire, amidst the fluttering of his black coat, all enemies fall beneath his feet.”

“At that moment, wounded, you cry out passionately: ‘Ah Yun! Is that you, Ah Yun!’ Xiao Zhenyun, aloof and arrogant, turns around, the helicopter’s rotor blades whirring rapidly behind him, amid the dense smell of gunpowder, he gently replies to you: ‘It’s me, Ah Di, I’m back.’ Absolutely grand, deeply moving, and heart-shaking!”

“…” Si Di agonizingly went all in with his chips.

His teammates helping to keep watch thought the captain’s gambling skills were so poor that he was betting everything and almost drew their guns.

The next second, the dealer revealed the cards, and Si Di turned the tables with four aces that looked fake as hell, as if no one would believe a cheat could rig the cards.

So, the guns did eventually come out, even though over twenty bodyguards were no match for the sentinel plus a sniper.

After the mission, Si Di couldn’t help but ask Hedgehog, “Do you remember that Xiao Zhenyun is a disabled guide? Explosive grenades and light machine guns, and parachuting? What you said sounds like the one-man show you perform every night in the bathroom for your own satisfaction, doesn’t it?”

Hedgehog’s least favorite thing in life was hearing brutally honest truths. He was so upset he didn’t speak to Si Di for a week, spending his days muttering to himself and the little dog in front of Si Di, blatantly using malicious words to frame their leader.

“If he has the guts, he should switch to the Blaze team,” Si Di complained to Xiao Zhenyun over lunch via video call. “I’m going to cut his pay.”

“Cut it, I support you.”

On Si Di’s end, the sun was shining brightly at noon, while in the background behind Xiao Zhenyun, it was dusk, with the setting sun casting long shadows and warm cocoa steaming in his hand. He sat outside a beverage shop, lazily enjoying a seaside dinner.

Vice President Xiao, who never wronged himself, slipped out of the country again after Si Di rushed back to work overtime.

“What are you looking at?” Si Di noticed Xiao Zhenyun talking to him without looking at his face.

Xiao Zhenyun took another sip of hot cocoa. “Hedgehog wrote his idea into an eight-page proposal and sent it to me.”

“…” Si Di was silent for a few seconds, then couldn’t hold it in. He put the hand holding the chopsticks against his head and burst into laughter. “This damn earthworm… He really is sick, looks like he’s got too much time on his hands.”

“He’s quite dedicated,” Xiao Zhenyun chuckled too, the orange twilight shining on half of his face, streetlights suddenly lit up, reflecting in his smoke-blue eyes. “He even listed out the model of the light machine gun for me, and meticulously provided a guide for using explosive grenades, and suggested I hurry up and sign up for a class to practice parachuting.”

“Are you going to sign up for the class? If you are, you should hurry, there seems to be only three months left?” Si Di inquired.

“Am I crazy?” Xiao Zhenyun closed the proposal interface. “I’d rather go find a job in a factory during these three months.”

“…”

As the weather was about to turn cooler, Si Di was about to express his concern to Xiao Zhenyun, when suddenly the office door was knocked. The captain was always so busy with official duties that he couldn’t even enjoy a peaceful lunch. When he looked up again, he saw a handsome young man quickly approaching Xiao Zhenyun, pouring him a full cup, and blushing as he said it was their shop’s free refill service, hoping Xiao Zhenyun would stay a while longer.

Si Di: “…”

A beverage shop offering free refills? What nonsense is this? Are they running a charity instead of a business?

Xiao Zhenyun thanked the waiter with a smile and raised his glass to Si Di. “Don’t be angry, if it were you, you’d get the same treatment. Who can resist Captain Si’s charm?”

“Just wait, after the plot ends, I’ll definitely tie your pants belt,” Si Di retorted.

Xiao Zhenyun laughed even more mischievously.

Feeling quite insulted because his great proposals were repeatedly vetoed by Si Di and Xiao Zhenyun, Hedgehog believed that the Storm Team was a bunch of boring idiots who couldn’t understand his elegant artistry. So, he began running to the Blaze Team more and more often. Si Di went from being indifferent at first to becoming alert later on, subtly suggesting that Hedgehog should focus less on tasks related to Si Chu, allowing the little dog to grow freely through trials and tribulations.

He and Xiao Zhenyun had already inadvertently helped the Hedgehog avoid one fatal scenario. But who could guarantee that the reckless dark sentinel wouldn’t stumble into another death trap, even if he managed to dodge this one?

“Is this how you act as an elder brother? Abandoning them just when they’ve formed a team and are still greenhorns?” Hedgehog didn’t understand Si Di’s paternal instincts at all, and even righteously argued, “I’ve been running myself ragged between Storm and Blaze for a month, it’s not easy. The tasks they’re handling are incredibly tough, not something Si Chu and Ye Feiran can deal with. If we older brothers don’t lend a hand, aren’t you afraid the heavy snow will crush the little dog?”

But the fact was that a cunning opponent who even you, the dark sentinel, struggled against was ultimately wiped out by this bunch of misfits.

The later chapters of the whole novel unabashedly showcased the ‘Protagonist’s Halo.’

“It’s been almost half a year since the team was formed, and they followed me for two years before that to gain experience. Green onions? They’re all towering leeks.” Even Si Di found it hard to convince himself of this. If he were true to his nature, he would have already taken the little dog under his wing and taught him how to work hands-on. “I don’t really care about being a brother, but you…”

“What about me? Si Chu also calls me Brother Bang, you know, and that voice, so sweet.”

Si Di cautioned, “Don’t you dare eye my little brother.”

Hedgehog, “…”

Feeling insulted and angry, Hedgehog questioned, “What can I do to an A-level marked sentinel like him? Do you think I’m that guy? Like Xiao Zhenyun?”

Si Di, “…”

Si Di added, “Believe it or not, the next moment Zhenyun will jump from a helicopter and gun you down with two light machine guns.”

Hedgehog fell silent.

Unbeknownst to Xiao Zhenyun, who was leisurely spending time on a scenic island country, this childish bickering was taking place. Despite being unable to act due to plot constraints during this period of the original text’s climax, Si Di still kept a close eye on and managed the progress of Si Chu’s side of the mission in private. Naturally, he had no time to hang out with Xiao Zhenyun.

Xiao Zhenyun was well aware of the numerous flags of failure planted on him. During the remaining three months, he simply avoided any topics related to the plot, completely cutting off any factors that could influence the plot’s direction.

With such high awareness, Xiao Nian wouldn’t even know what to talk about if he were to video call him.

As a result, Xiao Zhenyun enjoyed two months of leisure, living freely with the hard-earned money Si Di earned and making empty promises to the sentinel, saying that when he returns, he would hand over the Vice President’s salary card for safekeeping and entrust him to manage his businesses.

But in the most tense situation of the last month, Si Di, who had been out of contact for more than ten days, suddenly made a video call late at night, visibly in a bad state, with a noticeable ring of unshaven stubble around his mouth.

“Hedgehog is missing,” he said.

Xiao Zhenyun sat up in bed, calmly putting on his coat as he asked, “What’s going on?”

“I warned him many times not to get involved in Si Chu’s tasks,” Si Di rubbed his face anxiously. “But he still sneaked after them… Can’t stop someone who’s determined to take a path of self-destruction. Perhaps it’s also my fault for not being able to give a convincing reason… The key is, if he disrupts the entire storyline, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

“…It’s very much in line with his personality to do something like this,” Xiao Zhenyun buttoned up his coat. “Don’t worry, do you still have the saliva test strips I gave you? Take one out and swab… Did you tell Xiao Nian about this?”

“I haven’t told him yet. I don’t know how to face him.” Si Di’s lips were chapped, and he seemed very unstable. Tai Ji was also constantly howling. He retrieved a cryogenic box from the bottom drawer of his desk, inside which was the last saliva test strip. “…My emotions have been fluctuating a lot lately, and the guide elements you left behind have been used up.”

“I’ll replenish them for you,” Over the years, not only the protagonists but also Xiao Zhenyun himself had matured, becoming increasingly composed and calm. He said casually, “Take the test strip to calm down first. As for telling Xiao Nian, leave it to me. There’s nothing to be afraid of. As the world administrator, he’ll surely find a solution.”

Three minutes later…

Xiao Nian’s roar echoed throughout the universe: “I have no freaking idea! Quickly, before Han Bang does anything, bring him back!”

He quickly flipped through hardcover books and took out pen and paper to calculate the timeline. “There’s still time. According to the timeline, their team has only just entered the town. The loss of contact isn’t necessarily an accident; it could be signal interference. It’s to make it difficult to uncover the criminal gang in that town.”

“I’ll personally go and bring him back,” Si Di said bitterly. “Once he’s back, I’ll make him work as Xiao Jingfeng’s secretary for six months.”

“…”

Si Di’s hatred soared, and as soon as dawn broke, he set off, determined to catch Hedgehog.

On the first day, while lingering outside the town, he stayed in constant contact with Xiao Zhenyun. On the second day, Si Di left a message saying, ‘I’m going in,’ and there was no news from him thereafter. It wasn’t until the sixth day that Xiao Zhenyun couldn’t hold back and called Xiao Nian via video, blurting out, “Si Di has gone missing.”

“I know, don’t worry,” Xiao Nian reassured him.

“How can I not be worried? It’s already the sixth day, and there’s still no news from Si Di.”

“You were pretty calm when Hedgehog went missing…”

“Can you even compare Hedgehog to Si Di?”

“…Aren’t they both just lost causes?” Xiao Nian quickly proposed a sensible suggestion before Xiao Zhenyun could explode in anger. “How about this, I’ll go talk to Uncle, see if he can come up with a plan.”

The name Xiao Jingfeng carried significant weight, implying powerful influence. With this suggestion, Xiao Zhenyun immediately calmed down a lot. “…Uncle? You never call me Dad, but ‘Uncle’ just rolls off your tongue so easily?”

“…None of you Xiao’s are any good, always tricking me, making me call ‘Dad’ one moment and ‘Uncle’ the next.” Xiao Nian’s face flushed with anger, and he ended the video call.

Five days later, Xiao Jingfeng also went missing.

Xiao Zhenyun: “…”

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