Page 43

He opened the notes app on his phone and slowly sorted through the tangled, complicated thoughts in his mind.

Judging from the timeline Mother of Diwu Ling had described, Diwu Ling should have died on the day Huo Jiu treated the uncles and aunties to a meal at Fresh Gathering Pavilion.

Because in this plot cycle, Huo Jiu had not treated the uncles and aunties to a meal at First-Rank Pavilion, he naturally would not uncover the truth that First-Rank Pavilion was passing off fake shark fin as the real thing. Nor would he be enraged by Cao Mingyan and propose a cooking competition with Yan Dongge. Naturally, Diwu Ling would not volunteer to act as the judge.

After finishing his meal, he had simply taken a car back to the company and died in a traffic accident on the way.

This was probably the fate Diwu Ling had to experience. It also fully explained why Huo Jiu had not seen any mention of Turing Group or Diwu Ling in the Original Plot—his death was likely related to it.

But in the previous cycle, because Huo Jiu had not followed the plotline prescribed by the Original Plot, Diwu Ling had not died at the time he was supposed to. Instead, he had met Huo Jiu and become his friend.

At that thought, Huo Jiu carefully wrote a line in his notes: Could the plot be changed?

The reason he added a question mark was because Huo Jiu could not be certain that this deduction was correct. Based on the experience he had gathered so far, he could only conclude that refusing to follow the plot would cause the entire world to forcibly Reload. Yet he had no clues to verify whether altered events would trigger changes to the Original Plot's established storyline.

If he wanted to prove this, Huo Jiu would have to find a way to verify it himself. But if he wanted to verify whether this deduction was correct, he would have to follow the Original Plot. Only by successfully passing the next plot point while carrying the altered events with him, and finding a way to create a conflict between the altered plot and the established plot, could Huo Jiu determine whether the Original Plot's established storyline could change under such a conflict.

If he refused to follow the plot, the only possible outcome would be enduring until the plot point arrived, then Reloading and returning to fifteen days ago. He would continue repeating this period of time.

At that thought, Huo Jiu felt lost for a moment. Even he did not know what use it would be to him if he figured out that the Original Plot could change. Nor did he know what consequences there would be if the Original Plot refused to change.

Most importantly, Huo Jiu did not want to proceed to the next plot point—because according to the Original Plot, if he wanted to get through the next part smoothly, he would have to agree to undergo bone marrow transplant surgery. But for now, Huo Jiu did not want to donate bone marrow to the original male lead.

This is a little troublesome!

Huo Jiu frowned hard and deleted all the analysis in his notes.

Old Zhang, the driver in the front seat, discreetly observed Huo Jiu's every move through the rearview mirror. He felt that this stepson the Su family had brought home behaved very strangely. He did not know whether Huo Jiu would bring danger to the Su family.

Unaware of Old Zhang's worries—though Huo Jiu would not have cared even if he had known—Huo Jiu still attended Diwu Ling's funeral at the invitation of his family on the third day after Diwu Ling's death.

As the current chairman of Turing Group and the Diwu Family's most highly valued heir, Diwu Ling's funeral was lavish and grand. Nearly every prominent and influential figure in the city had come.

—Yet Su Shiyuan and the elder members of several other families whose characters had substantial roles in the Original Plot were nowhere to be seen.

To Huo Jiu, this was also extremely inconceivable.

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, he went to the mourning hall and offered three sticks of incense to Diwu Ling. Looking at the unfamiliar yet familiar face in the black-and-white portrait, Huo Jiu's feelings became complicated for a moment.

Over the past two days, he had carefully browsed all the news related to the traffic accident, as well as every record about Turing Group that he could find online.

He discovered that Turing Group was highly influential not only in this city, but even across the country and around the world.

It was a multinational conglomerate involved in more than twenty industries. Its influence in the domestic business world ran extremely deep. Because its headquarters was located in this city, its local foundation was also exceptionally strong.

Yet there had not been even the slightest mention of it in the Original Plot. That was very abnormal.

Huo Jiu keenly sensed that something was strange, but he could not pinpoint what exactly was strange. So aside from offering incense to Diwu Ling, he had also come to Diwu Ling's funeral to gather some information.

Mother of Diwu Ling was responsible for receiving Huo Jiu. She was a beautiful woman with a gentle, quiet temperament. Perhaps because her only son had suddenly met with such a calamity, the woman could not withstand the cruel blow. She was listless, her eyes swollen like walnuts from crying, and her face pale and haggard. The way she looked at Huo Jiu was also filled with puzzled bewilderment.

"You're A-Ling's friend?" Mother of Diwu Ling asked suspiciously.

She had never met Huo Jiu. Clearly, she had never heard her son mention him, either. None of Diwu Ling's friends or subordinates knew Huo Jiu. Yet Huo Jiu had Diwu Ling's private contact information, and his tone on the phone had been very familiar.

"I am," Huo Jiu answered confidently.

Mother of Diwu Ling fell silent for a moment. Father of Diwu Ling stood beside his wife, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he asked Huo Jiu, "How did you and A-Ling meet?"

"Online friends," Huo Jiu said. Obviously, he could not tell Diwu Ling's parents that he had met Diwu Ling before the plot Reloaded.

Upon hearing Huo Jiu's answer, Diwu Ling's parents seemed to misunderstand something and exchanged a look of astonishment.

Mother of Diwu Ling looked Huo Jiu over and cautiously asked, "You are A-Ling's... online friend?"

Since when did Diwu Ling have enough free time to make friends online?

Huo Jiu did not want to linger on this topic for too long. He nodded silently and asked, "May I ask what Uncle and Auntie plan to do next?"

Mother of Diwu Ling had originally wanted to ask more questions, but when she heard Huo Jiu's words, her eyes reddened. "We're planning to leave here and settle abroad."

Diwu Ling's accidental death had dealt his parents a severe blow. They could no longer continue living in this city, because Diwu Ling had grown up here. The city held too many memories of him. His parents were afraid that familiar sights would stir up their grief, so they planned to leave.