A noise suddenly came from the bedroom.
Lu Zhou instinctively walked into the room.
Pushing open the bedroom door, he was shocked to see Su Mian sitting on the floor, clutching her phone tightly.
On the phone screen, their couple's account balance was displayed: 0.
He walked over in disbelief and called out, " Su Mian."
Su Mian didn't react at all, as if she didn't even notice his presence.
Su Mian made the phone call while crying.
But as soon as the call connected, the other party hung up.
Lu Zhou leaned closer and glanced at the time on Su Mian's phone...
He remembered!
This was the day Su Mian discovered he had spent all of their money!
At this time, Xu Qingyun caught a cold, so he went to take Xu Qingyun to the hospital.
Xu Qingyun was feeling very unwell at the time, so he couldn't afford to be distracted.
So he hung up on Su Mian directly.
He remembered what happened next very clearly.
Su Mian couldn't get through to him by phone, so she sent him a message asking him to come over when he had time.
He didn't arrive until evening.
Su Mian asked him directly if he could return her share of the money in the account, as she needed it for her mother's medical treatment.
To test whether Su Mian was deliberately approaching him for money, he deliberately said he had no money.
Then Su Mian broke up with him, saying she wanted to marry any rich old man she could find.
Enraged, he slapped her.
Then Su Mian flew up and kicked him... and then his personality changed drastically.
Why... why did a car accident bring him back to this time?
Suddenly, Lu Zhou heard a strange electronic voice coming from Su Mian's direction.
[Master, would you like to activate the self-protection mechanism? Once activated, you will view this story from a third-person perspective. You will no longer have feelings for the characters in the story; none of the people and events here will affect your emotions, and you will no longer be sad.]
Then came Su Mian's voice. "I plan to give him one last chance."
Lu Zhou quickly understood what was going on.
The company just filmed a short drama where "the whole family eavesdrops on the female lead's inner thoughts."
The premise involves people around the female protagonist who can hear her conversations with the gossip-loving system in her mind.
Then, the cannon fodder around the female lead can all defy fate by relying on her familiarity with the plot.
That seems to be his situation right now.
But there's nothing he can do to interfere!
He reached out towards Su Mian's face, but couldn't touch her at all.
He wandered through this world like a ghost.
-
A few hours later.
The Lu Zhou of this time and space has finally arrived.
Su Mian asked him frankly, "The money we deposited in the account was supposed to be for future plans, so why is it all gone now?"
Lu Zhou frowned slightly. "I dropped everything to rush over to see you, and this is all you're saying?"
Su Mian asked anxiously, "Tell me quickly, where's the money? My mother was just diagnosed with cancer, and I need this money for her treatment."
Lu Zhou, who was floating to the side, was going crazy with anxiety.
He still remembers how he felt at that time.
He thought Su Mian was deliberately lying to him and trying to get his attention by saying that her mother was sick.
He shouted hysterically in his own ear:
don't want!
Stop testing them!
Give her the money back!
Now focus on getting her mother treated, stop causing trouble!
But just like in my memory, "he" said impatiently, "I've already spent all the money on stocks, where am I supposed to get it for you?"
The last glimmer of hope in Su Mian's eyes vanished completely.
Lu Zhou heard Su Mian's inner thoughts again.
"As expected, a female mission taker should leave immediately after completing the mission. No matter how much the other party begs, I shouldn't have stayed for him."
[Yes, Master. The longer a transmigrator stays in this world, the deeper their bonds become with everyone in it. They gradually lose their true nature, forget their real identity, and are forcibly assimilated into the world's consciousness.]
[This is why so many transmigrators end up choosing to stay and forget about going home.]
[Master, would you like to enable automatic protection?]
"Enable."
[Ding--Protection mechanism successfully activated.]
[Master, your mission in this world is to redeem the tragic male supporting character, Lu Zhou. Originally, this tragic male supporting character should have committed suicide at a critical juncture in his life, abandoned by his childhood sweetheart and unable to bear the blow.]
[But your arrival accompanied him through the most desolate period of his life, enabling him to persevere, so your mission is already complete.]
Su Mian sighed softly, "Looking at myself from an outsider's perspective now, I really think I'm crazy."
[Actually, it's not so bad. He was supposed to be down on his luck for several years, but because of your appearance, he rose from his low point in just one month. And as soon as he rose again, his childhood sweetheart started pulling at him again...]
[So there's absolutely nothing between you two. He doesn't love you at all. The most intimate thing he's ever done for you is walk you home and leave right at the door... He only keeps you two as boyfriend and girlfriend out of a slight sense of gratitude.]
"That hurts, old man!"
[Ahem... This is Master's first mission, so encountering some pitfalls is inevitable. People need to grow through repeated trials. You know how to decisively withdraw when you're utterly disappointed, which is already quite remarkable! My Master is so awesome!]
Su Mian gave Lu Zhou a deep look.
"Those who inexplicably sacrificed themselves for the protagonist and died tragically are indeed pitiful, but do you think someone like Lu Zhou, this piece of trash, deserves my redemption?"
[Um... maybe there are some that are really worth saving?]
[Perhaps, someone you redeemed, who loves you very much, will disregard everything and break free from the world's control to follow you after you leave?]
Su Mian laughed dismissively, "How could that be?"
"To put it bluntly, these tragically deceased supporting characters are all our customers. Saving them is my job; once I've finished my work, I'll find the most comfortable place in the world to retire and be done with it."
"In our line of work, the biggest taboo is falling in love with a customer."
After communicating with the system, she told Lu Zhou in this timeline, "Let's break up."
Then, Su Mian's personality completely changed.
With exceptional skill, he leaped forward and kicked him, driving him out of the house.
He then angrily retorted, "You'll regret this."
At this point, he actually thought Su Mian would definitely regret it.
No, she won't regret it.
She has completely distanced herself from the situation.
Lu Zhou, adrift in this time and space, felt a deep pain in his heart.
He blamed himself for being so reckless back then; she was born to save him...
He can't even empathize with his past self; he just wants to strangle his present self.
It's only been twenty days.
His heart was already filled with deep regret.
Suddenly, the world before my eyes distorted.
-
The next moment, Lu Zhou was back in the car.
He suddenly sat up in his seat.
The deployed airbags protected his head well, and he felt no discomfort.
So what happened just now?
His thoughts briefly traveled back in time, and he realized that he was just a minor character in this world?
A tragic male supporting character who, after falling on hard times and being abandoned by his childhood sweetheart, commits suicide in despair?
What about Su Mian?
Who is this Su Mian now?
Is she still herself?
Is it simply because she shifted to an outsider's perspective that she became incredibly clear-headed and no longer swayed by emotions?
Lu Zhou immediately returned to the villa, changed cars, and rushed to the Distant Mountain to search for Su Mian that very night.
-
7:00 AM.
The show hasn't started yet.
Su Mian was still asleep at this time.
Duan Xuanyu has woken up.
He had just gone out to chase away some noisy children and dogs so they wouldn't disturb Su Mian's sleep.
As soon as he got back, he saw a car parked at the door, and Lu Zhou got out of the car.
Duan Xuanyu clenched his fist.
There's work to be done.