Chapter 44

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

If you think about it, Bai Lianhua does have too many unnatural, coincidental and intentional things about him.

There are many people who can repair and modify mechas. Why would Bai Lianhua be completely fixated on him?

When he looks back at his past self, no matter what, Shi Cangyuan can’t figure out what Bai Lianhua saw in him as a complete loser back then.

And their most special connection… Among people, why is it that he who had genetically collapsed would meet Bai Lianhua who was part of the research group?

What kind of probability was it that he would accurately find the only person that could heal him?

——Yep, ‘only.’

After Bai Lianhua has disappeared, Shi Cangyuan looked up that research project on the special light rays specifically, where he learned how much of an expert Bai Lianhua was.

While his name was not famous among others, but according to his former team members, Bai Lianhua is a gem. He’s perhaps the person that understands the most about those ancient plants in the entire universe… Most progress in the research project back then was driven by Bai Lianhua himself.

In other words, if the person he had met was others in the research project, there was still no chance he could have been cured.

During his time spent with Bai Lianhua, there were too many coincidences. And when these coincidences all happen to pile up together, it could only mean that this is no mere chance from the very beginning.

Shi Cangyuan who has already experienced the ups and downs of life has quite the sensitive mind. He cannot stop the thought from becoming more and more well-formed – that the sudden appearance and disappearance of Bai Lianhua in his life, are all predetermined.

But why?

Bai Lianhua met him, soothed his mind, cured his body, and then? He left after he took back ‘Dicarus.’

If he came here for a reason, what would Bai Lianhua’s objective be?

These years, whenever he had nothing to do, he would repeatedly rethink all the details in the interactions between him and Bai Lianhua…

Yes. There has always been a dream in his mind that he hoped to meet with Bai Lianhua again and he could keep him here.

And now, the chance is here.

Shi Cangyuan says to Bai Lianhua, “you know, I have once suddenly lost everything.”

“Betrayed, losing all the skills I had, the things that belonged to me had been taken away while I was helpless and shattered. In the end, I lived without purpose like a disgusting sewer rat.”

“So, to this person, when I finally righted all the wrongs imposed on me, what do you think would be the most important and would be the things I want the most?”

“Power? Rank? Glory? Reputation?”

Bai Lianhua’s body stiffens… He has quite the terrible premonition for what the antagonist is going to say next.

As expected, Shi Cangyuan then pauses before continuing, “no… None of that.”

He looks at Bai Lianhua, unblinking, “it’s you, who pulled me out of my misery.”

Bai Lianhua “…”

#Oof, I knew it#

#But what can I do even if I did#

#What else but continuing to listen while contemplating suicide#

The system seems surprised, “eh? Host, you sure are cooperative here.”

Are you not going to counter?

Bai Lianhua seems resigned, “no, experience has told me that when the antagonist feels like expressive his feelings, don’t do anything unnecessary. It’s best to quietly listen.”

#The best choice, yes, is to pretend to be an unmoving, fake plastic flower#

Bai Lianhua, with this mindset, continues listening to Shi Cangyuan.

“After you left, I thought, I would rather return to the past, when you were still there.”

Back then he was just a genetically collapsed trash, but fortunate enough to meet the light in his life… Yet, when he went back to being excellent, his light disappeared.

Then he would rather he still be trapped in the darkness, unchanged.

Nothing compares to when you were still here.

“What I thought I would treasure when I took them back, even more dearly than my life, in the end, turned out irrelevant to me.”

“I only wanted you.”

Shi Cangyuan has a light chuckle, “this is it for me… What about you? What is the most important for you; what is it that you want?”

Realising that Shi Cangyuan has finished setting up and now the topic has switched to him, Bai Lianhua’s hairs stand on hand. His survival instincts kick in and he at least wants to struggle as best a salted fish like him could.

He words himself carefully, “I wish you to be well, and wish the empire to be well.”

——Sigh. Every single time he is quite depressed to find that his language skills are nowhere near as good as the antagonists.

Shi Cangyuan’s smile seems odd, “is that so?”

“The last time you appeared when I was at my worst, and made me return to brilliance. This time you appeared at this critical moment, hoping that I would answer everyone’s expectations. I can’t help but guess, perhaps you want me to become a person that shines above everyone else.”

He had wanted to test if Bai Lianhua couldn’t accept him being insignificant.

And now, it seems that he was correct.

——If, Bai Lianhua, for some reason, required the person known as ‘Shi Cangyuan’ not remain unknown, and instead, he needs him to be known throughout the universe, to become the most dazzling character in the script of life, then…

“I have prayed that if you really did answer my prayers and returned, then as long as you wanted it, even if it were mountains made of blades or seas made up of fire, I could venture in for you.”

Shi Cangyuan closes in on Bai Lianhua.

“I’m willing to treat what you wanted as what I wanted.”

“I’m willing to walk the path you have already predetermined for me.”

“Step by step, towards the unknowable result you have already set, good or bad, no matter if I had to endure a great fall after I had worked so hard to get to the top——Yes, even if the effect you wanted was such a dramatic turn…”

“I will never jump out of the direction you laid out for me, and act on my own making you troubled like this ever again…”

“Just, are you willing to be with me?”

Bai Lianhua can’t help but stop breathing.

He really feels as if he is going to suffocate.

What kind of ridiculous thought is he having?

#I schemed everything to manipulate your life, to make you the most successful winner of the world?#

… And yet, I can’t counter. My God.

The system’s mission is for Shi Cangyuan not to waste his talents, and walk at the forefront of the empire’s most prominent bunch. And it would be best if he could save the world while he was at it. This is, in a sense, a predetermined life in direction, and it certainly was true that he wanted him to be the centre of the world.

In some sense, the antagonist hit the nail on the head, and somehow correctly pinpointed what he had to do.

——He’s impressed. Seriously impressed. Every time when he thought he could now face whatever the antagonist threw at him, and then the antagonist go and have these wild imaginations that surprise him, in the bad sense of the world.

He could never guess what other new drama the antagonists would conjure up next.

Bai Lianhua gives up on any further countering. What the antagonist has mistaken him for is ‘correct’ because this can’t be explained at all.

So, while calming down his trembling little heart, and maintaining his expression so that it doesn’t crack, he asks, “… by ‘being with you,’ what kind of accompaniment are you thinking of?”

Shi Cangyuan answers, “you have a professional background in flora biology, this is useful in field environments… And you also have the special skill to treat people.”

Bai Lianhua nods like a robot.

This special treatment skill, if he understands Shi Cangyuan correctly… Back then, he treated Shi Cangyuan not just with the medicine of the spacefaring civilisation’s technology. As he had been different people in different worlds, he understood Chinese medicine and, for the purposes of this world, this was not only helpful for him as an academic in flora biology, but it also made him seem similar to a doctor to others.

——A weird one, for that matter.

“So, you are capable.”

Shi Cangyuan smiles, “and fortunately, tradition dictates that when I return, I, the pilot of ‘Dicarus,’ have the right to designate an assistant in charge of handling the paperwork by my side… can I choose you…”

“… to be my assistant?”

“To walk alongside me?”

“To see for yourself as I complete your expectation step by step?”

Shi Cangyuan doesn’t seem forceful. There seems to be a calm that it’s fine to reject. Though, facing these series of questions, Bai Lianhua couldn’t say no.

He agrees.

Shi Cangyuan has a quiet laugh.

The only weakness of Bai Lianhua is that he’s too soft at heart. This was obvious in all their interactions so far.

So he would have to use himself to catch Bai Lianhua.

The last time, he was too dumb. He could always prevail no matter who his opponent was, but not Bai Lianhua.

In contrast, in front of Bai Lianhua, he must show his weak side without reservations.

Or, it would be even better if he’s always able to appear wounded and bloodied.

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