That did count as good news. Song Liang’s lips curved slightly. “Go on.”
“After what happened at the banquet that night, Xiao Ji landed himself in serious trouble. The board rejected his proposed promotion to deputy CEO. The Qiao family’s been noncommittal, and lately they’ve apparently been talking to the third branch of the Xiao family. Looks like they’re considering someone else for the marriage alliance.”
Duan Yan sounded utterly certain. “A few of my clients move in those circles. I heard it from them. It’s reliable.”
“What did he do?” Song Liang asked.
“You don’t know?” Duan Yan looked surprised. “It made the headlines. It was trending on Weibo for days.”
Song Liang shook his head. He’d spent the past few days holed up in an internet café playing games, paying no attention to the outside world.
“The Xiao family wasn’t just going to announce the marriage alliance at the cruise banquet. The current family head also planned to formally name Xiao Ji as the group’s future successor. Xiao Ji was supposed to pick him up that evening, but…”
He glanced at Song Liang.
“After that scene you caused, he got there late. And something happened to the head of the family.”
“Apparently, he ran into some robbers. They took his things and beat him up, broke two of his ribs. It turned into a huge incident. I heard the local police chief in Yalong Bay fainted on the spot. Then the case went straight to the Linhai Municipal Public Security Bureau, and they set up a dedicated task force.”
Song Liang thought of the green-eyed man he’d encountered at the abandoned dock that night. Yalong Bay really was a dangerous place. Robbers everywhere.
“They haven’t caught them yet?”
“They caught them at the scene. Now they’re looking for what the robbers took.” Duan Yan looked puzzled. “Apparently, it was a coat.”
Song Liang: “…”
【…】
“Where was he robbed?”
“An abandoned dock near Yalong Bay, I think.”
“…”
“It’s fucking ridiculous. A single coat, and the city bureau sets up a whole task force. And some genius actually went all that way just to steal it. How desperate for money do you have to be?”
“Maybe he just needed something to wear.” Without any change in his expression, Song Liang added, “What’s the Xiao family head’s name again?”
Duan Yan stared at him as though he’d seen a ghost.
“Xiao Yi. Xiao Ji’s youngest uncle. You don’t even know that?”
Xiao Yi…
For some reason, the name sounded familiar. Song Liang flipped through the script—and found the original owner’s ending.
Despite being cannon fodder, the original owner had survived for quite a while. Partway through the story, the main top lost everything and was driven out of the Xiao family after a clash with the main villain. To preserve the Song family’s prosperity, the original owner betrayed him without hesitation and threw himself into the villain’s arms.
When Xiao Ji eventually made his comeback, the first person he took revenge on was his fiancé—the original owner.
But Xiao Ji hadn’t done it himself. Instead, he’d used various schemes to make the villain distrust the original owner. The villain had then subjected him to all manner of torment before finally killing him.
Now, faced with pages of bloodshed, sex, and violence, and the name “Xiao Yi” written unmistakably across them, both host and system fell into a long silence.
Song Liang: 【Why are you so quiet? Didn’t you know Xiao Yi was the main villain?】
【I didn’t fucking know the man you stripped was the main villain!】
It was beyond exasperated. There were only a handful of villains in this beginner scenario, and Song Liang had managed to offend every last one of them right at the start!
Something else suddenly occurred to Song Liang.
“So that’s why the scenario’s difficulty went up? But I hadn’t even left the ship or met Xiao Yi at that point.”
【That’s because the main system has the most advanced plot prediction function available! After you kicked Xiao Wenyu across the room, it predicted countless possible developments. Every single one turned out to be highly dangerous, so it assigned the scenario an A rating!】
Song Liang said, “If nothing I do will work, then anything I do is fair game.”
【???】
Oblivious to its speechlessness, Song Liang began recalling what had happened at the abandoned dock that night, along with what the red-haired ringleader had said. Finally, his thoughts settled on a brooch set with a deep green gemstone.
His lips curved into a small smile.
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