Chapter 15

Ever since the last time Lou Yang followed Zhou Qingluo to the night market and made a small buck, he became a little fanatic and loyal lover of cold, hard cash.

Rising Sun Mall was about to open and needed some people to wear mascot costumes to perform and distribute leaflets. The pay was also considerable—500 yuan a day.

In the evening, Lou Yang called Zhou Qingluo.

At this time, Zhou Qingluo just finished taking a shower and was sitting at his desk drawing.

The tablet had been used for many years, and each stroke had to lag for a long time.

However, Zhou Qingmu was about to go abroad. Even if she had a scholarship, it would still cost a lot. Zhou Qingluo wasn’t willing to spend money to buy a new one, so he could only compromise.

But the tablet had no heart and couldn’t understand his good intentions, crashing once again.

…It seemed time to buy a new one.

It was almost 11, and Zhou Qingluo threw down the tablet and cursed. He could only write a statement on the webpage saying that his tablet was broken and apologized to the readers.

Before going to bed, he logged in to read the readers’ comments.

[No way, no way, you actually don’t have any stash?]

(TN: Stash of extra chapters in case something comes up.)

Sange: Life is not easy.

[The author’s a dog! Update garbage!]

Sange: Woof.

[Daddy will give you money to buy a new tablet.]

Sange: Thank you Daddy.

[Sange, you actually dare pause updates as a little nobody newcomer? Is it amazing to draw well?]

Sange: Little nobodies have their own difficulties. You don’t understand.

[Sending you 50 points. Get out and buy a computer!]

Sange: You don’t get it, sending points is forbidden for minors.

[Sending 100 points. I’m an adult! Can I see some adult content?]

Sange: Returning 150 points, can’t afford it.

After interacting with the readers for a while, Zhou Qingluo decided that when this project was finished, he would use the money to buy a new tablet.

As soon as he put down the phone, he received a call from Lou Yang.

“Qingluo, are you going to work part-time at Rising Sun Mall?”

Zhou Qingluo: “Go!”

Rising Sun Mall was opened in a booming new district, and the developer was Baomu Group.

It was said that when this land was assigned to Baomu Group to build a commercial center, the housing prices in the area skyrocketed.

Since it was produced by the Baomu Group, then it would definitely be high-quality. Rising Sun Mall was a tube-shaped building with a large open space in the center. The stage for the opening ceremony was set there and a huge display screen was behind it.

It was said that Song Jinyi personally presided over the opening ceremony, and the media set up their cameras and waited.

Zhou Qingluo and Lou Yang followed instructions and waited backstage in cartoon costumes. The mascot of the shopping mall was a refined goat.

Because Song Jinyi was born in the year of the sheep.

Right on time at 9, Song Jinyi walked into the shopping mall with his entourage, like the stars surrounding the moon. The facial features of the man in the suit and leather shoes was a bit similar to Song Ling. Maybe because he was born in the light, he was gentle and refined while Song Ling was gloomy and harsh.

He also had a bunch of other titles: entrepreneur, philanthropist, genius…

Song Zhaoguang sat beneath the stage, staring at him with love and admiration, completely unlike the violence he showed Song Ling.

Zhou Qingluo stood beside the stage in a cartoon costume, rolling his eyes at Song Zhaoguang.

The reason Song Ling turned out the way he did was mainly thanks to him.

When he stopped his eyeroll, Zhou Qingluo suddenly realized, when did he start to sympathize with Song Ling?

At 9 AM, the ceremony officially began. The host came on with the force of spring, enthusiastically introducing the upper management. Afterwards, he invited everyone to watch the promotional video on the large screen.

The red background dimmed, and everyone’s eyes focused on it, wanting to witness the birth of this new district together.

But the big screen didn’t light up as expected. The worker in the back checked the computer and was relieved to find that there was no problem.

Suddenly, the computer screen turned blue. His heart stopped, and a row of subwoofers under the screen rang out with a loud “BOOM!!”

The audio system worth 8 million yuan; the 3D stereo was deafening. Everyone immediately looked at the screen.

A hanging ghost appeared on the large screen behind the stage, glaring with dead fish eyes, red lips, a pale face, and a tongue hanging out.

The subwoofer made another BOOM, and a large word ‘Payback’ appeared while blood began pouring out from the middle of the screen.

“AHHH!!!!!”

“F*CK!!!”

“Turn it off, turn it off, turn it off!!”

Shocked screams were mixed with the crying of children.

The scene devolved into chaos. No one expected a good opening ceremony to turn out like this.

Immediately afterwards, a black and white photo of a woman appeared on the screen, surrounded by a circle of flowers.

It was a photo from a funeral.

The picture flashed by, and before it could be seen clearly, the monitor was cut off. But from Zhou Qingluo’s angle, he could still see the criminal computer.

There was a slideshow of photos and also screenshots of old headlines from newspapers: “Song Zhaoguang r*pes his female subordinate, the female subordinate commits suicide in hatred.”

The computer was hacked and couldn’t be turned off. The scene manager was so anxious he was sweating profusely, and he pulled out the computer batteries in desperation.

Lou Yang was so frightened his legs went soft. He leaned on Zhou Qingluo as he cursed, “F*ck, Qingluo, how are you so calm?”

Zhou Qingluo wanted to say that he saw this scene before in an internet café, except that the ‘SB’ now turned into ‘Payback’.

He looked up and saw a black figure on the third floor, carrying a computer and leaving.

Zhou Qingluo could recognize him even with -5.2 eyesight—it was Song Ling.

He was dressed all in black, a cap pressed low over his head. The black mask made his neck revealed by his roundneck t-shirt even more fair, and the Juliet rose tattoo even more striking.

Lou Yang was terrified, “Qingluo, where are you looking? Did you see a ghost?”

Zhou Qingluo quickly took back his gaze, “No, what’s there to be afraid of? Everything’s fake.”

The scene was chaotic for a while and Song Jinyi came out to appease the crowd, “My sincere apologies, friends. The computer was attacked by hackers.”

While speaking, he bowed deeply towards the audience, “We will definitely check carefully and give everyone an explanation. In order to make up for this unpleasant experience, we will give out compensation. Please allow my colleague to tell you about it.”

Song Jinyi stepped off stage and after exchanging a few words with the others, he left.

The one that went up was Song Jinyi’s secretary Zhou Yunqian.

Zhou Yunqian’s expression was the same as usual and he didn’t bring up what happened just now, as if it never occurred.

“Everyone, pay attention to Rising Sun Mall’s official account. In a while, I’ll count down from five, and everyone send a mysterious code to the account. Take a screenshot and then go to the 15th floor to receive a 2,000 yuan voucher, limited to today. You can use it to buy anything in the mall. I’ll give everyone two minutes to read through it.”

The power of money was great. The gloomy atmosphere disappeared as everyone took out their phones, only Zhou Qingluo remained motionless.

Lou Yang: “Qingluo, hurry.”

Zhou Qingluo glanced at the third floor. Song Ling was already gone, and everyone was buried in their phones.

Zhou Yunqian, “Is everyone ready? Then please send ‘Rising Sun Mall, creating another legend’ to the official account.”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time’s up!”

Those who got it cheered; those who didn’t beat their chests and stamped their feet. The atmosphere was harmonious.

Lou Yang got it and went up to get his voucher. Unexpectedly, you had to sign a document before receiving the voucher. After a closer look, it was basically hush money.

Zhou Qingluo noticed and the staff explained, “The mall is sorry for the unpleasant experience, but we hope everyone will give us some more time to investigate. Before the results come out, we hope that everyone won’t spread it online.”

Lou Yang happily signed it, taking the 2,000 yuan voucher to exchange for cash. He mysteriously said to him, “Qingluo, don’t tell others what I say to you.”

Zhou Qingluo: “Then you should stop talking.”

Lou Yang: “What needs to be said still needs to be said. Everything that happened today is actually an internet security battle.”

Zhou Qingluo: “?”

Once it came to Lou Yang’s professional field, he became very eloquent: “I came early and overheard that the firewall was upgraded by a special team. They said that it was foolproof and even boasted that even the legendary END wouldn’t be able to hack through. It was as if they knew someone was going to attack them.”

Zhou Qingluo: “END? Who’s that?”

Lou Yang: “END is a legendary hacker in the internet security forums. A few years ago, a small country next door provoked him, and he broke through all of the firewalls into their country’s national bank in just two hours. Even now, that country’s National Security Bureau still hasn’t found any clues about him.”

Zhou Qingluo was silent. This ‘END’ was probably Song Ling.

Lou Yang suddenly sighed, “This kind of genius… What people fear most is this kind of person going astray. It would be terrible if he was used by bad guys. It is said that there is even a mysterious organization that wants to kill him.”

Zhou Qingluo’s heart felt suspended and he asked uncertainly, “Excuse me, is this still a lawful society?”

Why was there kill and assassinate at every twist and turn? He transmigrated over so he didn’t really understand.

“Of course it’s a lawful society, but think about it. If people like END exist, then normal people would be afraid that he would go astray and harm society while bad people would be afraid that END would drive them to death. That’s why the safest option is for END to die.”

Zhou Qingluo: “…” Seems to make a little sense.

“Oh yeah, wasn’t your delivery platform hacked last time? Some big names in the forum analyzed that it may be END’s work.”

Zhou Qingluo denied three times: “No, can’t be, impossible.”

Lou Yang silently looked at him, and Zhou Qingluo suddenly felt a bit guilty.

Lou Yang suddenly laughed, “How do you know? Do you know END?”

“What I mean is, even you can hack our broken delivery platform, do we need END?”

Zhou Qingluo’s tone was anxious, though he didn’t seem to realize it himself. He didn’t want Song Ling to end up like the original book.

He was a bit depressed, so he went to the rooftop to relax.

Unexpectedly, he heard someone quarreling upstairs. Well, it was not so much a quarrel as one-sided yelling.

“I’ll kill you today, you bastard!

“A beast born by a mother but not raised by one! Could you be here today without the Song family?

“With your appearance, if not for the Song family, you would’ve been sold as a prostitute someone and screwed to death!

“Not even as good as a pig or dog!”

Zhou Qingluo: “…” Why is this person’s mouth so dirty?

He couldn’t listen on anymore and was about to leave when he heard a voice slowly say, “Song Zhaoguang, why are you scolding yourself?”

Zhou Qingluo paused. This was Song Ling’s voice.

He pushed open the door to the roof and looked through the crack. Song Ling was sitting on the railing of the roof, behind him the blue sky, hell below it. As long as he tilted back and let go, he would fall in.

Zhou Qingluo’s heart rose to his throat.

Song Zhaoguang’s face was flushed red and he picked up a steel bar left over from construction, “I’ll f*cking kill you today and transplant your kidney to Jinyi! Song Ling, don’t be so proud of yourself. There are a million ways I can make you die.”

Song Ling suddenly laughed. His laughter mixed in the air extremely eerily.

“It’s easy for me to die, but your Song family’s little black history will be exposed to the world. Besides, what do you think will happen if I lean back a bit? Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is the 35th floor. If I fall down, can my kidney still be used?”

Song Zhaoguang trembled all over, the veins on the hand holding the steel bar bulging slightly. Finally, he dropped the bar with a clang, saying viciously: “Your mother ended her life here similarly, so you may as well jump down yourself and die in front of her.”

He turned around and Zhou Qingluo hurriedly ran down. He couldn’t care about other people’s family affairs.

Song Zhaoguang didn’t notice him and angrily stormed away.

When he left, Zhou Qingluo thought about it, hurriedly threw off his mascot head and rushed to the roof.

Song Ling was just scolded like that by his biological dad. What if he couldn’t think things through and leaned back…?

Buddha said that saving a life was better than building a seven-story pagoda.

He pushed open the roof door and Song Ling was sitting on the high railing.

Song Ling heard the noise and looked back, seeing Zhou Qingluo in the mall’s mascot costume, panting on his knees.

Song Ling: “Zhou Qingluo?”

Zhou Qingluo persuaded him like in movies, “Don’t be impulsive.”

Song Ling could tell that he was very nervous. He approached him cautiously step by step, as if he was afraid that he really would jump off.

No one had ever been this worried about him before. He looked deeply at Zhou Qingluo and shifted slightly.

Zhou Qingluo immediately grew nervous, “Don’t move! Your program’s not finished yet, how can you die?”

Song Ling raised an eyebrow and gazed at him.

Zhou Qingluo wanted to divert his attention while making his way closer to him. Just when he was about to lunge forward and grab Song Ling’s legs, Song Ling jumped down.

But Zhou Qingluo had already used all his strength to leap forward and inertia caused him to fall straight into Song Ling’s arms and hit his chest.

Song Ling supported himself with one hand on the wall behind him and the other on Zhou Qingluo’s waist, managing to stand still.

The wind roared around them and Zhou Qingluo’s legs went limp. He let out a huge sigh of relief.

Song Ling lowered his eyes. Zhou Qingluo’s black hair glittered with light in the sun, and when the wind blew, it stirred restlessly. A few strands floated onto his face, brushing against him softly.

He took a deep breath of the fresh lemon scent. It was light and pleasant to smell.

He couldn’t help reaching out and patting the back of his head, whispering into his ear: “Don’t be afraid. I was just scaring him.”

At this moment, Zhou Qingluo’s mind went blank.

What the f*ck is happening.

Why did nothing normal happen ever since he met Song Ling?

Zhou Qingluo hurriedly got up from Song Ling’s body and took a few steps back, both angry and embarrassed.

Song Ling lost the madness and gloominess from earlier, seemingly in a good mood.

“Zhou Qingluo, you’re quite good at throwing yourself into someone’s arms…”

Zhou Qingluo laughed out of anger.

He could appreciate the truth that all life was precious, but the other person simply wanted to die. They didn’t share the same values at all.

It turned out that Song Ling not only despised life, but also had a love brain.

Who the hell was throwing himself into his arms?!

Zhou Qingluo calmly said, “Be more rational. I’m acting bravely in the name of righteousness.”

“You threw yourself into my arms because you were acting righteously. It’s cause and effect, no contradiction.”

Zhou Qingluo saw his ‘you’re trying to get my attention on purpose’ and gave him a big thumbs up, “Full score in logic.”

He prayed that he would never run into Song Ling going crazy again. If he encountered it, he would act like he didn’t see it and no longer be a good, law-abiding citizen.

Zhou Qingluo pointed to where he was sitting just now, “You should go sit there, it’s suitable for you.”

Saying that, he turned and left.

Song Ling looked at his back, his heart pulling slightly.

Zhou Qingluo seemed to be angry.

Song Ling subconsciously wanted to chase after him when Zhou Qingluo suddenly paused and turned around.

Song Ling was startled and wanted to take back his step, but it was too late, so he could only shift his direction and pace back and forth awkwardly.

Zhou Qingluo coldly said, “Why don’t you consider changing to a slightly more polite picture next time? Lots of children were scared to tears earlier.”

After saying that, he left.

Halfway again, he stopped and solemnly said again, “Next time, if you can’t beat him verbally, just beat him physically.”

Song Ling watched his back and smiled. His heart seemed to be brushed by something, like spring breeze over ice. Silently, the ice began to melt.

This person’s heart was like spring, gentle and warm.