Where the Sun Died

Ji Ting's pupils contracted, a chill of utter fury seeping into his pale face. "Ji Yanzhi, you..."

Ji Yanzhi watched his reaction. "What, you think my methods are despicable?"

He gave a mocking laugh and turned toward his seat.

"You've enjoyed the most privileged life since the day you were born. Even if you grew up to be useless, your dividends from Shili would still let you squander money for the rest of your life. You've always reaped the benefits, yet now you're accusing me-the one who creates those benefits-of being unscrupulous." Ji Yanzhi sat down and looked at him with open scorn. "Ji Ting, don't you think you're laughably naive?"

There was no longer any obvious emotion on Ji Ting's face, but his clear, dark eyes still gleamed coldly. "I have three points to make in rebuttal."

"First, Xu Ren has done nothing to harm your interests. He's innocent, yet you want me to toy with his feelings. You're shameless."

"Second, you hold such a high position, yet you can only have me use this sort of tactic to extract information. You're incompetent." "Third, you imagine you know the whole truth, when you're actually undermining your own defenses. You're ignorant."

"Ji Yanzhi." Ji Ting's gaze sharpened, his voice as cold as snow. "Which of us is more laughable?"

After being berated so bluntly, Ji Yanzhi should have either sneered or flown into a rage. Instead, a trace of unfamiliarity entered his gaze as he looked at Ji Ting, as though he had never known him at all.

They stared at each other, neither willing to yield, until Ji Yanzhi's phone suddenly vibrated.

He instinctively turned to glance at the screen. By the time he looked back at Ji Ting, the other man had already opened the door and left.

"Hello."

The man on the other end sounded somewhat anxious. "How did it go? Did Xu Ren agree?"

Ji Yanzhi lowered his dark eyes slightly and remained silent for two seconds before saying, "He had agreed, but I got a little impatient. I may have ruined it."

"How..." The man started to say something, but it ended in a sigh. "Why don't you just swallow your pride and yield to the old chairman? He's always protected his own, but you insist on defying him over your second uncle. Why bother?"

Ji Yanzhi's voice hardened. "Ji Liping's case is not negotiable."

"You, honestly..." Helpless, the man could only spell out the stakes for him. "No matter what proposal you put forward now, the Board of Directors refuses to take a clear stance. I thought we could turn things around once you got that new technology, but now that's fallen through too. Yanzhi, you're just one step away. Can you really bear to stop here?"

Of course Ji Yanzhi couldn't. He had fought his way here, step by step, and no one knew the agonizing price he had paid.

He half closed his eyes, a rare trace of exhaustion appearing on his face. "Don't worry. I'll find another way."

Meanwhile, Ji Ting left the study and went straight to Xu Ren.

"I'm not selling Unit One's technology to Ji Yanzhi anymore."

Xu Ren froze for a moment. "Huh? Didn't we already agree on it?"

Ji Ting had no intention of telling him why they had argued. He merely said, "Don't worry. Even though Unit One is no longer for sale, Shili still needs the technology you developed. Once you show it to Ji Yanzhi, he won't give you any trouble."

Xu Ren shook his head and said earnestly, "If you're not selling, neither am I. I have to stand by you!"

A faint smile flickered in Ji Ting's eyes at that. "Loyalty is a good thing, but not in this case. You're about to graduate. Working with Shili is your best option right now."

Xu Ren pressed his lips together. "Then I, I..."

"Don't feel guilty. Just wait for Ji Yanzhi to come to you."

Less than half an hour later, Ji Yanzhi went to the guest room where Xu Ren was staying.

Ji Ting had previously asked Xu Ren to prepare the documents for his patent application. They came in handy now, and Xu Ren showed them to Ji Yanzhi in advance.

The two talked for nearly three hours. Around midnight, Ji Yanzhi sent Liao Kai to escort Xu Ren back to campus personally.

Early the next morning, Ji Yanzhi went straight to the company without even eating breakfast.

The house was unusually quiet that day. After eating, Ji Ting returned to his room and opened his laptop.

First, he activated a counter-blocking program to disable the screen-monitoring module Ji Yanzhi had installed. Then he opened another program, which listed three modules from top to bottom, each representing a theoretical condition that could explain his crossing into this world.

Humans existed within three-dimensional space. Breaking through the fourth dimension to travel through space and time was far beyond not only the technology of this fictional world, but even that of his original world.

Setting aside how the energy could be supplied, the fact that his body had arrived intact at least indicated that it had not been compressed by a spatial force field.

At that thought, Ji Ting deleted the first two modules, leaving only the last: higher-dimensional spatial coordinates.

As the keys clicked, dense mathematical symbols began appearing across the screen, every expression undergoing exceedingly complex derivations and verification.

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye, and a familiar knock sounded at the door.

Ji Ting's gaze shifted to the lower-right corner of the screen. He had only just made out the visitor's face when the door was pushed open from outside.

The three men who entered carried an air of stern authority. The middle-aged man leading them inclined his head toward Ji Ting. "Second Young Master, the chairman wants you to go to Crane Garden immediately."

His commanding tone made it clear that he was merely informing him. After speaking, the man turned his head. "Take Young Master Ting downstairs."

So Ji Yanzhi's habit of having people hauled around was inherited.

Ji Ting said impassively, "No need. I'll walk."

"This way, please."

Over an hour later.

The car door on Ji Ting's side was opened, and the man gestured again. "Second Young Master, please."

Ji Ting looked up and saw two boldly wrought characters on the plaque: Crane Garden.

As the main gates opened, exquisitely natural landscaping and artfully arranged pavilions and towers unfolded before him. The whole of Crane Garden resembled an immense scroll of an ink-wash landscape.

Yet Ji Ting had no interest in admiring the scenery. All he could think of was a single sentence the body's original owner had written in his diary as a child.

He had said that this was where the sun died.

After walking along a covered corridor for several minutes, Ji Ting was led into the main hall of the central building.

The moment he entered, he heard sniffling sobs. A woman whose face was swollen from crying sat on the right, with a young woman beside her. The young woman's eyes became like poisoned awls the instant she saw Ji Ting.

Ignoring her glare, Ji Ting looked only toward the head seat. "Grandfather."

Ji Zhenting lifted his wrinkled eyelids to glance at him and responded with utter indifference. "Mm."

He neither invited him to sit nor explained why he had summoned him, simply leaving him standing there.

The old Ji Ting would probably have been trembling with fear by now, but the current Ji Ting refused to be cowed by this cold reception. "If there's nothing you need, I'll head back."

"Don't you dare!"