Side Story

This chapter was very boring. It did not matter whether you read it or not. In short, it was boring enough to kill time if you had nothing better to do.

A torrential rain seemed to wash away the vitality of everyone present, because today was the day Luo Tian's grandfather would be buried.

After the burial, Luo Tian was only three years old. At that age, he did not know what death meant, nor did he know why his relatives were crying.

Normally cheerful, Luo Tian felt so oppressed by the atmosphere that he could barely breathe. What he did not know was that after his grandfather died, he no longer had anyone to rely on.

Although his grandfather had left an inheritance for Luo Tian, he was only three years old, and his relatives divided up every bit of it among themselves.

When Luo Tian was three, all he had was a villa—but that was all he had at the age of three.

Fifteen years had passed since Luo Tian's grandfather died. It was the day of Luo Tian's fifteenth birthday.

Knowing it was his birthday, Luo Tian bought a cake to celebrate. Of course, he was the only one celebrating.

At ten o'clock that night, Luo Tian lit the candles.

He sang the birthday song by himself. "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy... birthday... to me..." Gradually, Luo Tian's voice became choked with sobs.

Luo Tian thought of his grandfather. Almost every birthday, he was like this.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Violent knocking sounded at the door.

"Who is it? Ah..." Luo Tian asked through his tears.

"Pay up!!!" The knocking stopped, replaced by an angry roar demanding repayment from outside.

Confused, Luo Tian opened the door. Standing before him was a muscular man covered in tattoos, the kind of gangster who looked terrifying at first glance.

"Pfft!" Luo Tian laughed.

"What are you laughing at? Pay up!" the muscular man said to Luo Tian.

It was no wonder Luo Tian laughed. Even he knew about muscle-display serum. As long as someone applied it to their body, it would make their muscles appear, but those muscles could not be used like muscles gained through actual training.

It was easy to tell whether someone had used it. The bigger and more perfectly defined the muscles were, the more obvious their bronze color became. That bronze color also made the softness and paleness of the face stand out, making it especially obvious.

Moreover, the serum was harmless and non-addictive, and barely anyone bought it, so it could be used without issue.

"Pay up!" the muscular man repeated.

"Um, may I ask when I ever owed you money?" Luo Tian asked.

"You don't owe me money. You owe Luo Corporation money," the muscular man said to Luo Tian.

"What?! They took all of my grandfather's inheritance. How could they make me pay them back?! If anything, they should be paying me back!"

As Luo Tian angrily spoke, the muscular man became somewhat frightened and pulled out a photograph. It showed some kind of contract.

It stated that Party A was Luo Corporation and Party B was Luo Tian. Luo Tian knew it had to be full of unfair terms, so he only looked at the signature and immediately understood.

"Sir, give me the photo so I can examine it carefully. Come back tomorrow. I'll figure out a way to gather the money," Luo Tian said to the muscular man.

The muscular man handed the photo to Luo Tian and left. He was so unconcerned because he had backups of the photo, and there was also a transmitter on it.

After closing the door, Luo Tian carefully examined what the contract in the photo said. Yet most of it described what would happen if he breached it.

But one clause struck him as extremely strange: if he could not repay the debt, he could repay it with his body.

Luo Tian spent three hours reading it. By the time he finished, it was already two in the morning.

"Time to sleep." With that, Luo Tian went to bed.

Luo Tian woke at noon. Just as he was about to wash up, a group of burly men barged into his home.

"What are you doing?" Luo Tian shouted, but none of the men answered. Just like that, he was taken to a dark room.

"Where is this?! Hey!" Luo Tian yelled, but after shouting for a while, he realized it was useless and began feeling around in the darkness.

"What is this? It's soft?" Luo Tian said, giving it a squeeze.

"Ah! Pervert!" Luo Tian was slapped across the face.

"Who are you? Why did you hit me?!" Luo Tian asked into the darkness.

As soon as Luo Tian finished speaking, lights came on throughout the dark room. Once it was illuminated, he saw the person who had slapped him. She was an astonishingly beautiful girl, and Luo Tian was stunned by her looks.

Slowly, Luo Tian realized something and said, "Could that... soft... thing just now have been...?"

"You pervert! Who are you? How did you get in here?!"

"I... I don't know either! I was kidnapped and brought here!" Luo Tian answered.

Hearing that, the girl did not doubt him. She began pondering something, then asked, "What is your name?"

Luo Tian took a beat to react before replying, "I'm not telling you."

"You! Hmph. If you do not want to get out, then stay like this!" With that, the girl lay down on her bed.

Luo Tian ignored her as well. He looked around the room, which was clearly a room designed for a girl.

There is no way my relatives built such a luxurious room. They drove Luo Corporation into bankruptcy, after all, Luo Tian thought.

How did Luo Tian know that? It was simply because the contract would only take effect once Luo Corporation went bankrupt.

Everything here is so luxurious, and the security is so tight. How can I get out? Looks like I can only ask her for help.

"Hey, hey, miss?"

"Huh? You pervert! What is it?"

"Um, I need to use the bathroom. How do I get out?!"

"Oh, stop thinking about getting out. Just take care of it right there."

"?"

"Hey! You are a girl, aren't you ashamed?!"

"Ashamed? Hehe."

"Since you are so ashamed, use that bucket." The girl pointed to an iron bucket.

"You!"

What Luo Tian did not know was that, to avoid using the bathroom, she had not eaten or drunk anything for days and had been sleeping the whole time. Normally, a person would die after three or four days, but what she did not know was that she sleepwalked, and whenever she did, she went out normally.

"Fine, I'm begging you. Let me out!" Luo Tian said to her.

"Then tell me your name, and I'll help you get out," the girl said.

"Fine, it's a deal. Then let's make a pinky promise," Luo Tian said.

"A pinky promise?"

"Yes. It seems to be a way people made agreements in ancient times."

Luo Tian walked over to the girl's bed, took her right pinky with his left pinky, and hooked them together. Then, shaking their hands, Luo Tian said, "Pinky promise, hang yourself, a hundred years without changing." Afterward, he thought for a moment and added, "Hook pinkies, make a promise. If you lie, swallow a thousand needles."

"Why were the two sayings different?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Maybe different countries say different things," Luo Tian said.

"Fine, since we made a pinky promise, my name is Luo Tian," Luo Tian said to the girl.

"So it really is you!" the girl exclaimed in surprise.

"?" Luo Tian was extremely confused. Why would the girl say that?

"Tell me, Luo Tian, why are you so eager to get out? Your corporation has already gone bankrupt, and it has been acquired by Tang Corporation."

"My corporation? Hehe. If I had not been so young back then, Luo Corporation really would have been my corporation."

The girl understood the implication in Luo Tian's words.

"Oh? Why would Luo Corporation truly have been yours if you had not been so young?" the girl asked curiously.

"Since we have already made an agreement, I'll tell you why..." And so, Luo Tian began telling her about everything his relatives had taken from him starting on the day his grandfather died.

"Waaah!" The girl began crying.

"Why are you crying?" Luo Tian asked.

"Because... because you are so miserable. You even spent your birthdays all alone."

"You asked why I want to get out, right? It is because today is my grandfather's death anniversary."

"Fine. I'll think of a way to get you out right now." The girl made a phone call, and before long, a burly man entered.

"Let's go," the man said to Luo Tian.

Just like that, Luo Tian was released with ease.

The moment Luo Tian stepped out the door, he turned back and asked, "What is your name?"

"I... I'm Tang San," she answered.

Luo Tian left. After getting out, he bought a bouquet of flowers and went to the cemetery. He placed the flowers before his grandfather's grave.

At last, Luo Tian could no longer hold back and burst into tears.

Not long after Luo Tian finished crying, a man in a suit came to Luo Tian's grandfather's grave to pay his respects as well.

The suited man noticed Luo Tian. Just as Luo Tian was about to leave, the man called out, "Hey!"

But Luo Tian seemed not to hear him and kept walking forward.

The suited man ran after him, put a hand on Luo Tian's shoulder, and asked, "Are you Luo Yang's grandson?"

Luo Tian was somewhat startled upon hearing that. His grandfather had said he had never told anyone besides relatives about him, and the man before him clearly did not resemble any of those relatives.

"Who are you? How do you know?" Luo Tian asked warily.

"I'm not a bad person. Your grandfather once saved my life, and I heard about what happened to you," the suited man said.

"Here, this is my business card. I can introduce you to a job. It's easy and pays well, though it is a little dangerous." With that, the suited man left.

Luo Tian looked at the metal business card in his hand.

"So his name is Lu Han, and he is the CEO of Lu Corporation. His phone number is 988******50." After reading it, Luo Tian considered what to do next.

"Right, I still need to find somewhere to sleep." Luo Tian remembered that he still had to live, yet he was now in trouble because he had no money. He was about to take out his phone to make a call.

Then he realized that his phone seemed to have been taken as payment too.

"Hehe, do I have a superpower or something? A superpower that makes everything disappear?" Luo Tian mocked himself.

Then he wandered aimlessly through this technologically advanced world, where there was not a single real person around him.

The shoppers and couples around him were all humanoid robots as well, because aside from major matters, humans basically relied on robots for everything.

In this world where human technology had advanced so far, humanity could no longer live without robots.

As he walked, Luo Tian bumped into someone. The sensation was not that of a robot, but a genuine human being.

Luo Tian was somewhat surprised. In this era, it was as rare to see a human outside as it was to see an extinct animal.

Since he had knocked the person over, Luo Tian extended his hand and said to the person sitting on the ground, "Um, are you okay?"

But the person sitting on the ground did not answer Luo Tian and merely sat there.

Luo Tian awkwardly kept his hand extended.

Then Luo Tian withdrew his hand and lifted him up.

He blankly raised his head in confusion. His features were so delicate that he looked like an immortal untouched by the mortal world.

Why did Luo Tian pick him up? Because Luo Tian saw the words "President of Lu Corporation" written on his clothes.

Luo Tian carried him because he wanted to take him to the police station. Once they arrived, Luo Tian saw Lu Han at the station filing a missing-person report.

After Luo Tian entered the police station, Lu Han saw that the person he was looking for was in Luo Tian's arms.

"Xiao Tong, why did you run away?!" Lu Han shouted at the child in Luo Tian's arms.

"Um, Lu Han, I want to do that job you mentioned," Luo Tian said to Lu Han.

Before Luo Tian spoke, Lu Han had not noticed him at all.

"You are... who?" Lu Han asked.

Luo Tian froze. Had they not met just a short while ago?

"I'm Luo Tian. Luo Yang's grandson," Luo Tian said.

"Luo Yang may have saved my life, but he never had any children," Lu Han said.

"Are you kidding? Look, this is the business card you gave me just now." Luo Tian took out the business card Lu Han had given him earlier.

"This... How is that possible?! Why is this happening?!" Lu Han suddenly began shouting.

"What is your name?" Lu Han asked.

"Luo Tian?" Luo Tian answered uncertainly.

"It really is you... Luo Tian?" Lu Han asked again.

"Yes. What is it?" Luo Tian answered again.

"Why? This is impossible! Luo Tian, he... he died in 2953! It is already 3035 now! The last time I saw him was in 2953, right after he had visited his grandfather's grave! That was a full eighty-two years ago!"