Observer Effect

The next morning, just as he had told Jiang Xingye, Lin Xu slept until he woke naturally.

The first thing he did after getting up was take out his phone and check his unread messages.

After clearing away a pile of useless app notifications, Lin Xu opened WeChat.

The very first message he saw left him dumbfounded.

"Lin Xu, the plan for our new company has basically been finalized."

"Based on the discussions among the company's management, we've drawn up two options."

"The first is what I mentioned before: establish a new company from scratch, recruit new staff, and purchase equipment and raw materials."

"This would be relatively safe. If we oversee the entire process ourselves, management would also be cleaner."

"But the downside is that setting up the new company would likely take a considerable amount of time."

"Conservatively estimated, around three to four months."

"As for the second option... we could directly acquire a chemical fiber plant."

"The company would fund the acquisition, while the equity distribution would remain as we discussed before."

"We could directly take over the existing company's equipment and personnel. We'd only need to add some missing equipment before we could begin operations."

"With this option, the entire cold-start period could be compressed to within a week."

"Take a look. Which option do you think would be more suitable?"

Which option was more suitable?

Without question, the second one.

What Lin Xu needed now was speed. Three or four months was terrifyingly slow.

As for the potential security issues brought by the second option...

As long as they purged the original management team completely, it shouldn't be much of a problem.

And that wasn't difficult!

With that thought, Lin Xu decisively typed a reply:

"Boss, let's go with the second option."

"Do we already have a target in mind?"

After sending the message, he immediately exited the chat to reply to Jiang Xingye first. In his view, a boss like Ren Jian probably wouldn't be staring at his phone.

But to his surprise, before his hands had even returned to the keyboard, Ren Jian's reply came through.

"Yes."

"We've selected a chemical fiber plant that has been poorly managed and is currently seeking restructuring."

"It meets all our requirements. If we push forward at full speed, we can enter negotiations this afternoon."

"No problem."

Lin Xu typed another question:

"What plant?"

"Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant."

???

Lin Xu's hands froze in place.

Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant?!

The Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant that he had broken into with Skullhead and his crew, whose security system they had smashed to pieces??

Was this a joke?!

Was that how they got their patent??

At that moment, Lin Xu suddenly felt an intense sense of unreality.

Reality and Bracelet World had formed a closed loop.

But the problem was that the "result" in Bracelet World had appeared before the "process" in reality!

What the hell was that called?

The observer effect??

Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant was like a photon passing through a slit, somehow knowing in advance whether he would alter the timeline, then laying out the result ahead of time according to the timeline he was about to alter?

Did that mean his subjective will could directly change the future?

No, impossible.

Based on what he knew, Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant had not been acquired by any other capital in Bracelet World.

It had held on stubbornly until the data on those two materials was released, only then achieving a miraculous turnaround.

This was most likely just a coincidence.

The reason Ren Jian had chosen this company was simply because it was an excellent target to begin with.

Lin Xu let out a long breath.

For that brief moment just now, he had truly felt an overwhelming fear.

Fortunately, things had not yet developed beyond control.

—But then again.

If Skyvault Technology completed its acquisition of Donghua Chemical Fiber Plant now, what would that place become the next time he entered Bracelet World?

Lin Xu touched the bracelet.

He even wanted to enter Bracelet World immediately and take a look.

But on second thought, the acquisition had not been finalized yet. Even if he entered now, there probably wouldn't be any changes.

They should settle the acquisition first.

Lin Xu replied to Ren Jian. The latter immediately sent over the afternoon meeting schedule and asked Lin Xu whether he wanted to participate.

Lin Xu gave it a quick look. The meeting was mainly focused on the purchase price and had not yet reached anything that required his involvement, so he decisively left it to Ren Jian.

After all, it wasn't his money funding the acquisition. If he insisted on meddling in that too, he would really be treating Skyvault Technology's boss like less than a person...

He had barely finished replying to Ren Jian and was just about to message Jiang Xingye when her call came directly through.

"Come on, man, are you going or not?"

"Sleeping until you wake naturally doesn't mean sleeping this naturally, does it? Look at the time—it's already ten thirty!"

There was a trace of impatience in Jiang Xingye's voice, and Lin Xu hurriedly replied:

"I'll be ready in a second, I'll be ready in a second—you wait downstairs for me. Five minutes!"

"Hurry up!"

Jiang Xingye hung up with a snap. Lin Xu hurriedly got up, swiftly changed clothes, stuffed his phone into his pocket, and headed for the door.

Before leaving, he suddenly noticed the water bottle Jiang Xingye had left at his place, so he casually picked it up and slung it over his shoulder.

He hurried straight to the elevator. When the doors opened downstairs, Jiang Xingye was already waiting on a sofa in the apartment lobby.

"You got here pretty early."

Lin Xu walked over.

Jiang Xingye had on light makeup, and her hair had clearly been carefully styled. It looked like a simple ponytail, but the loose strands around her temples revealed a touch of deliberate effort.

She wore a tracksuit. When she stood, her toes lightly touched the ground, and her long legs stretched perfectly straight.

Damn, her youthful vibe was through the roof.

"Tsk, tsk... Is this outfit taking you back to high school?"

"Taking your head back!"

Jiang Xingye shot Lin Xu a glare.

"Dude, I've been messaging you for an hour!"

"Who makes a girl wait an hour when asking her out to hang out??"

"I'm not taking the blame for that."

Lin Xu shrugged.

"You were the one who said you'd sleep until you woke naturally!"

"I freaking..."

Jiang Xingye had no comeback.

"Forget it... Let's go."

"You really just woke up now?"

"No."

Lin Xu quickly explained:

"I got up ages ago. I was talking to my boss about the new company."

"They've already picked a target and are preparing to negotiate the acquisition this afternoon."

"I see..."

Jiang Xingye did not ask further, but her gaze softened noticeably.

That was at least an acceptable reason.

If Lin Xu had really slept carefree until now, she would have had to teach him properly how to treat a girl.

As they walked out of the apartment building, the car Lin Xu had called arrived.

He went around to the side and opened the door for Jiang Xingye. She stepped in and immediately spotted the water bottle hanging from Lin Xu's shoulder.

"Oh?"

Jiang Xingye's eyes lit up.

"You're pretty thoughtful. You even remembered to bring my water bottle."

"Of course..."

Lin Xu got into the car after her. Jiang Xingye held out her hand.

"Give it to me."

"Here."

Lin Xu took off the water bottle and handed it to Jiang Xingye. She unscrewed the cap and tilted her head back.

The next second.

She stared at Lin Xu in stunned disbelief.

"What??"

"Dude, do you have a pig brain?!"

"It's empty?!?"