Chapter 104: I Want To Do As I Please (6)
Jiang Zhiyan’s act of leaving without handing over her work threw the branch company into chaos, and this chaos quickly spread to other departments, even affecting their partners.
Everyone knew Jiang Zhiyan had been shouldering a lot of work that wasn’t hers, but they didn’t expect her disappearance to have such a big impact.
“Will General Manager Jiang be back?”
“Probably not, if I were her, I wouldn’t come back either.”
The employees gathered and whispered amongst themselves.
“She endured it before, what happened this time?”
“How would we know? What about Assistant Cen?”
“He seems to have resigned too.”
“I also want to resign, the Jiang family offended the Stargazers, and now it’s so chaotic… I don’t think this company will last long.”
“It didn’t seem so bad before, but this time, there’s no one to take over.”
…
While the outside world was in chaos, inside Jiang Zhiyan’s estate, all was peaceful and quiet.
Yu Qici hadn’t intended to sleep, but leaning against Jiang Zhiyan, she dozed off, even before Jiang Zhiyan did.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at Yu Qici’s profile and gently tickled her. Yu Qici frowned and moved a bit, but didn’t wake up.
“Doesn’t look like a prisoner at all,” the System commented. “She seems to be living more comfortably than you.”
“Indeed,” Jiang Zhiyan tickled her neck again. “I think a thin chain would look good on her.”
“The equally perverted original owner has prepared some in the rooms downstairs,” the System said.
“Just speak, no need for personal attacks,” Jiang Zhiyan said, looking at Yu Qici. “But isn’t her recovery too fast? Don’t people usually need to rest for a few days after being marked?”
“Because you’re a defective Alpha, so your pheromones, mm, are at most just for fun.”
Jiang Zhiyan pondered: “I see.”
She glanced at the time and kissed Yu Qici’s earlobe: “Wake us up in an hour.”
“Yes.”
“Please keep an eye on the situation over there.”
“Roger that,” the System said, satisfied. “I feel like I’m on a major mission now, this kind of thing is indeed suitable for a high-end AI like me, low-level AIs can only search for information.”
Jiang Zhiyan chuckled softly: “You’ve even learned to put others down now.”
“I’m just stating the facts,” the System said haughtily.
Jiang Zhiyan adjusted her position and closed her eyes.
Yu Qici fell into a deep sleep, she could feel Jiang Zhiyan’s small movements, but she couldn’t wake up.
But this dream was strange. She was in a large room, with a large table in the middle, surrounded by people, she was one of them, but she couldn’t see the others’ faces.
But this place felt familiar, she felt like she had been here before.
“The three hundred and twenty-seventh self-rescue meeting.”
Yu Qici: ???
“What meeting?” Yu Qici couldn’t help but ask. The other person’s voice was identical to hers, and based on the name of the meeting, she guessed they were probably all versions of herself.
“Another one has become disordered, twenty-seven fragments this month, an improvement compared to last month.”
Yu Qici frowned, didn’t say anything, and listened quietly.
“But is Jiang Zhiyan’s mental state becoming more and more unstable?”
“Yes, but it’s not a major problem, everyone, please keep up the good work.”
“Does anyone have any experience in resisting the world consciousness to share?”
…
When Yu Qici opened her eyes, her head felt heavy, as if she had worked overtime for three days, she felt like she had a dream, but she couldn’t remember the details, however, she remembered Jiang Zhiyan’s small movements very clearly.
She glanced at Jiang Zhiyan beside her, who was also awake and looking at her.
“Did you do something just now?” Yu Qici asked suspiciously.
“No, why?”
“I don’t feel well-rested,” Yu Qici rubbed her temples. “Maybe your arm was in the way.”
Jiang Zhiyan withdrew her arm: “But you fell asleep within three minutes of being in my arms.”
“Impossible.”
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t argue, just gave Yu Qici a look that said “whatever you say.”
“Let’s eat, then take a walk with me.”
“Going out?” Yu Qici looked up.
“Leaving the house.”
Yu Qici sighed softly, judging by Jiang Zhiyan’s tone, “leaving the house” probably meant leaving the building, not the estate, but the garden was large enough for them to stroll around, she had observed from the rooftop, the nearest building that didn’t seem to belong to Jiang Zhiyan was ten or twenty kilometers away, surrounded by lush greenery as far as the eye could see.
After dinner, it was already dark outside. Yu Qici followed Jiang Zhiyan. She didn’t know where Jiang Zhiyan got the chain connecting their wrists, they could hear the clinking sound with every step.
“Why are we going out at night?” Yu Qici looked at the quiet path ahead. “Can you send a message to my mentor, tell her I’m fine, and send her some of my research data?”
“No.”
“I can’t escape.”
“Who knows,” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Yu Qici. “I know you’re very capable.”
“Thank you for the compliment,” Yu Qici nodded, readily accepting the praise, and seeing Jiang Zhiyan refuse, she didn’t continue to argue, she hadn’t expected Jiang Zhiyan to agree in the first place.
Yu Qici looked down at the path ahead: “Such a large estate, what’s underneath?”
She didn’t believe that Jiang Zhiyan wouldn’t have anything hidden under such a large piece of land.
“I’m not telling you,” Jiang Zhiyan said, looking at the glowing satellites in the sky. “A prisoner should act like a prisoner.”
Yu Qici sneered and raised her hands: “Why don’t you just put handcuffs and shackles on me?”
Jiang Zhiyan thought for a few seconds: “That’s not impossible.”
After saying that, she looked at Yu Qici, her gaze full of meaning.
Yu Qici froze for three seconds, the things she saw in those other rooms flashing through her mind, she calmly looked away, quickly dispelling those memories with sacred knowledge.
The garden was very large, mostly natural scenery, but Yu Qici wasn’t physically fit and got on a personal transport vehicle after walking for a while.
“With such poor stamina, how can you do experiments?”
“I can sit, and I have assistants,” Yu Qici glanced at the chain between them. “What’s the point of this?”
“To prevent you from getting lost.”
“You’re always following me, how could I get lost?” Yu Qici touched the collar on her neck again. “And this thing.”
She had examined the collar in the mirror earlier, without tools, she could only analyze the material of its outer shell.
“Just in case.”
“Don’t you find this boring?” Yu Qici looked at Jiang Zhiyan, whose expression turned slightly sad and aggrieved.
Yu Qici looked away, seeing her expression, she also felt a bit bad, but in her current position, she couldn’t say anything comforting.
The scenery suddenly opened up; it was a large artificial lake, with golden butterflies fluttering above its surface, golden dust falling with each flap of their wings. She knew these were dangerous species from the restricted area of District 47.
“They’re beautiful, but I remember their powder is poisonous,” Yu Qici had tried to use this powder in mechs before.
“These are lab-bred, non-toxic, they gave me the first batch,” Jiang Zhiyan said. “You should be able to see them at various galas soon.”
“The Stargazers’ research results?” Yu Qici asked.
“Mm.”
“Really non-toxic?”
Jiang Zhiyan looked at her with dissatisfaction: “You’re really good at ruining the atmosphere.”
“I’m starting to suspect that you deliberately let yourself be captured to get information from me,” Jiang Zhiyan lowered her voice and stared into Yu Qici’s eyes.
“Deliberately how? How could I deliberately do that?” Yu Qici retorted, her gaze unflinching. “In the public’s eyes, the Stargazers only research weapons, it’s normal for me to be suspicious.”
“But you’re not the public,” Jiang Zhiyan leaned closer, kissed Yu Qici’s forehead, lowered her voice, her tone gentle, held her wrist, and caressed it with her thumb. “If you ruin the atmosphere again, we’ll be spending the rest of the day in the basement.”
“Since you suspect me…”
Jiang Zhiyan looked at Yu Qici without speaking, just tugged on the chain on her wrist, gesturing towards the direction they came from.
Yu Qici stared at Jiang Zhiyan, closed her mouth, looked away, and at the butterflies not far away, which, for some reason, only stayed within that area. She was lost in thought, then was suddenly pulled forward and her waist embraced, Jiang Zhiyan also got on the transport vehicle.
The vehicle flew towards the lake. Yu Qici instinctively reached for the handrail, but Jiang Zhiyan pulled her into her arms.
“Look over there.”
Yu Qici followed Jiang Zhiyan’s pointed finger and saw a pearly fish leap out of the water, quickly followed by a school of fish, their scales shimmering in the moonlight.
Her jaw dropped slightly. The Yu family also kept this kind of fish, but only two, they were gifts, because they were valuable and difficult to raise.
She finally understood why they came here at night.
Yu Qici didn’t speak, just quietly watched the lake, only exclaiming softly when rare species appeared. She saw Jiang Zhiyan’s reflection in the water, her expressionless face seemingly unmoved by the beautiful scenery, as if deep in thought.
Yu Qici subconsciously touched Jiang Zhiyan’s hand on her waist, and Jiang Zhiyan looked over, she calmly withdrew her hand.
After touring the entire lake, the two returned. They didn’t go deeper, and Jiang Zhiyan didn’t get off the vehicle, flying directly back to the villa.
“Can I go there tomorrow?” Yu Qici asked.
“Whatever.”
“Further in.”
“Anywhere is fine, if you like it, I’ll have them build a small cabin on the lake for you, so you can rest there at night.”
“Okay,” Yu Qici nodded.
“Not afraid of the poisonous butterflies anymore?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her and unchained their wrists.
Yu Qici: …
“I’m going out for a bit.”
“Where are you going?”
“The Jiang family is at the gate,” Jiang Zhiyan said with a sneer.
Yu Qici watched as she entered the password, opened a cabinet, and took out an energy gun.
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