Chapter 61: “Sweetheart”

Xia Mi immediately thought back to the ending of her first game. The game had mentioned that although Liao Tianhua survived the self-destruction, he lost his memory for unknown reasons and forgot her.

She had originally assumed his amnesia was related to the explosion. Thinking about it now, the game never said he “suffered a head injury in the blast.” It said “unknown reasons,” which suggested his memory loss might not have had much to do with the explosion at all.

Could it be the Boss’s special ability that made everyone inside the Nest forget her?

Or was it only Xiao Liao who had forgotten her?

After discovering Liao Tianhua’s amnesia, Xia Mi re-evaluated the ending of that first game. Only now did she realize how much information had been hidden in those few lines of text.

The reason she had been demoted might have been because the sole survivor, Liao Tianhua, had lost his memory. With no one to testify to her contributions during the mission, her tragic downfall was practically guaranteed.

At this moment, Xia Mi fully realized just how important Liao Tianhua was!

If tragedy struck, Liao Tianhua was her only witness!

While lost in thought, Xia Mi had been staring intently at Liao Tianhua for a long time.

Seeing this stranger standing motionless before him, Liao Tianhua asked, “I haven’t received any notification. You haven’t been assigned to the First Team, have you? Captain Qiu Hailan of the Second Team is next door in 316. You should go find her there.”

Xia Mi had just become a full-fledged officer today and hadn’t had time to collect her official rank insignia yet. The rank on her shoulder straps was still that of a trainee, so Liao Tianhua naturally took her for a new recruit.

Hearing Qiu Hailan’s name, Xia Mi immediately gave Liao Tianhua a salute, turned around, and left the room to find her.

She wanted to confirm whether everyone had forgotten her, or if it was just Liao Tianhua.

Xia Mi stepped out of Liao Tianhua’s office and went to Qiu Hailan’s room. She knocked and entered to find Qiu Hailan lifting dumbbells. Seeing Xia Mi enter, Qiu Hailan quickly set the weights down and said enthusiastically, “Xia Mi! I was just looking for you. Come in, come in.”

Qiu Hailan still remembered her, but Liao Tianhua had forgotten.

However, Xia Mi didn’t conclude that Qiu Hailan was normal just because of that. They were currently inside a Nest, yet Qiu Hailan showed no sense of crisis at all, appearing just as relaxed as she was on a typical day.

The Boss of this Nest was capable of influencing people’s memories and perceptions.

Xia Mi was actually quite helpless against this kind of mental attack. Back at the Pharmaceutical Factory, she would have been controlled if not for Sister Shield’s ability.

She walked into the office. Qiu Hailan first closed the door, then leaned in and whispered, “We’ve discovered someone who might be connected to the Immortal Foundation. We’re investigating him right now.”

Xia Mi immediately asked, “Who?”

Qiu Hailan replied, “Liao Tianhua.”

Xia Mi stared at Qiu Hailan, her expression blank.

She suspected that Fake Old Jiao wanted them to turn on each other.

Steadying her emotions, Xia Mi asked, “Why do you suspect Xiao Liao?”

Qiu Hailan said, “It’s a long story. Group Leader Mi knows the details best. I’ll take you to see her.”

Xia Mi hadn’t played the game yet and didn’t know what the future held. Her first instinct was to refuse and find a quiet place to start another game session.

The moment that thought surfaced, Xia Mi suddenly realized she had become far too dependent on the game. It was as if she couldn’t act at all without the game’s prompts.

This was not a good sign.

She knew the game was her ability, and it used various methods to warn her of future events, but this was causing her to gradually lose her vigilance and judgment. She was becoming reliant on it.

If she ever lost the game one day, how would she act if she had lost the ability to think for herself?

Xia Mi analyzed the consequences of going with Qiu Hailan.

At worst, both Qiu Hailan and Mi Xiangyan were being controlled by Fake Old Jiao. But with her current strength, she should be able to knock both of them unconscious simultaneously.

It wasn’t a major problem.

Xia Mi nodded and said, “Alright, take me to Group Leader Mi.”

The two took the elevator to the 16th floor. Mi Xiangyan was sitting at her computer, busy with something.

Seeing Xia Mi arrive, Mi Xiangyan immediately said, “Xia Mi, I was just about to look for you. There’s a possibility that Liao Tianhua was sent by the Immortal Foundation to seduce you.”

“Seduce?” Xia Mi asked, bewildered. “When has Xiao Liao ever tried to seduce me?”

Mi Xiangyan pulled a report from a cabinet and handed it to Xia Mi. “These are the complaints filed against Liao Tianhua recently. Deputy Director Jiao suppressed these matters; otherwise, Liao Tianhua would have received a formal warning.”

Xia Mi took the document and read:

[November 4th, Monday: Fang Zihan complained that Liao Tianhua was showing favoritism. Even though Xia Mi’s dormitory inspection was substandard, Liao Tianhua personally straightened the items on her desk during the inspection. He recorded an ‘Excellent’ for Xia Mi’s inspection but gave Fang Zihan a ‘Poor.’]

[November 11th: Liao Tianhua went to Xia Mi’s room an hour before the dormitory inspection to help her clean. This was equivalent to giving her the answers to a test in advance. An anonymous report was filed.]

[November 13th: Liao Tianhua was exercising in the hallway wearing a tight tank top, performing exaggerated bodybuilding poses. His actions were extremely cringey and caused emotional distress to passing officers. An anonymous report was filed.]

[November 17th: Liao Tianhua bought a bottle of treatment essence worth 1,000 yuan. Taking advantage of a moment when Xia Mi left her door unlocked, he snuck in and placed it in her room. He was spotted by Qiu Hailan, who was coming to the apartment to have dinner with Xia Mi. He was reported for entering a female comrade’s dormitory without permission.]

[The night of November 27th: Liao Tianhua went to the cafeteria without authorization…]

Xia Mi watched in stunned silence. Confused, she said, “I never saw any treatment essence. Something that expensive, I definitely would have noticed it immediately.”

Mi Xiangyan said, “He poured out your fake bottle and put the real one inside. That’s why you didn’t notice.”

The items Xia Mi had lost during the Building 6 incident had all been reimbursed, including that insanely expensive bottle of essence. The reimbursement money had been deposited directly into her salary account.

She couldn’t bring herself to buy another one, so she had bought the cheapest knockoff of the same essence from a third-party buyer.

The labels on the essence bottles were in English, and the letters were so similar that it was like the difference between “Master Kong¹” and “Master Kang.” Xia Mi hadn’t noticed at all that the logo on the bottle was different from the original.

It wasn’t until she bought the replacement and opened it to find the scent was different that Xia Mi realized she had bought a fake.

She knew it was her own fault for being greedy. By choosing the cheapest proxy buyer she could find on WeChat, she had set herself up for a scam. Since there was no platform to guarantee the transaction, she just had to swallow the loss.

Even for the cheapest proxy, Xia Mi had spent a solid three hundred yuan. She couldn’t bring herself to throw it away, but she didn’t want to use it either, so the essence water had just been sitting in her room.

She had indeed mentioned this to Liao Tianhua. On the day she discovered the essence water was a fake, Xia Mi had been quite sulky. When Liao Tianhua asked why she looked as dejected as if she had been demoted, Xia Mi explained the reason.

Liao Tianhua told her to throw it out, but Xia Mi felt that since she’d spent three hundred yuan, she might as well try it on the back of her hand someday. If she wasn’t allergic, she figured she would just use it up.

Liao Tianhua hadn’t said anything else at the time, but she never expected him to secretly buy a real bottle and swap it for her.

Xia Mi stared at the records on the complaint form, momentarily dazed.

Suddenly, many other things came back to her.

The employees at her unit usually ate breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria, but very few people ate there in the evening. To save food, the cafeteria often served leftovers from lunch or just stir-fried a couple of simple vegetable dishes for dinner.

Ever since Xia Mi became a “Rong”, her appetite had become enormous. She was also a particularly picky eater, demanding meat at every meal.

In the beginning, Liao Tianhua treated her to a meat dish every night. They had an agreement about meals at the Pharmaceutical Factory, so Xia Mi hadn’t refused at first and ate quite happily.

Later, Xia Mi felt that the Zhuo Coins Liao Tianhua owed her had been paid off, so she began declining his invitations.

Even though they weren’t eating five-hundred-yuan-per-person barbecue every day, going out every night and ordering meat dishes would still cost at least a hundred yuan. Xia Mi didn’t want to spend too much of someone else’s money.

After that, Liao Tianhua always went to the cafeteria with her in the evening, and every time, he managed to bring out a plate of meat from the back kitchen.

Xia Mi had assumed Liao Tianhua was having the cafeteria staff give them special treatment.

However, one of the entries on the complaint form was from the cafeteria manager. It stated that in order to chase a girl, Liao Tianhua ran to their kitchen every day and occupied their equipment to cook. They didn’t mind the equipment so much, but Liao Tianhua taking meat from the kitchen every day had caused resentment among other employees, leading them to report the cafeteria for giving special treatment to certain low-level leaders.

The reported cafeteria manager felt wronged, so he simply turned around and reported Liao Tianhua as well.

Xia Mi could recall the corresponding events for every single item on the complaint form. She knew the events were real; she just didn’t know if these complaints were forged by Fake Old Jiao or if they truly existed.

This was easy enough to confirm.

Xia Mi asked, “Can I take photos for evidence?”

“You may,” Mi Xiangyan said.

Xia Mi used her phone to photograph the complaints. She angled the screen to keep it away from the surveillance cameras and the sight of Mi Xiangyan and Qiu Hailan, then sent a message to the real Old Jiao.

Xia Mi: [Are these complaints real? [Image] [Image] [Image]]

Old Jiao replied quickly: [Yes, but these are small matters, not worth a formal punishment. I’ve already told Liao Tianhua to tone it down. His performance in December has been very good.]

Sure enough, there was only one secondary complaint from the cafeteria manager in December, regarding the reputational damage caused by Liao Tianhua’s unauthorized extra meals. There were no others.

Xia Mi suddenly felt an impulse. She really wanted to ask Liao Tianhua: “If you liked me, why didn’t you say so? If you had just told me properly, I might have been willing to give it a try.”

Xia Mi’s mind had never been focused on romance. Her eyes were only on her career and money; those were her current goals. As long as romance and marriage were “good enough,” she didn’t mind.

Her way of thinking was very direct.

She liked handsome men, too, but she wasn’t so conceited as to assume that everyone who paid attention to her liked her. If a person didn’t say it plainly, she wouldn’t bother guessing.

Because of Xia Mi’s “straight ball” thought process, many subtle advances during high school and university had died in the womb without her ever noticing.

If someone didn’t confess directly, she simply wouldn’t notice them.

If someone did confess directly, Xia Mi would first see if she liked the person’s looks and personality. If she didn’t dislike them, she would try dating for a while. If they got along, they would keep going; if not, they would just break up.

If she ever met someone she liked, she would also say so directly.

She wasn’t afraid of rejection. If rejected, she would just move on to the next person. Saving the time spent on a secret crush was the most efficient way to do things.

Xia Mi imagined it. If Liao Tianhua had been direct, she probably would have been willing to date Xiao Liao for a while.

After all, Xiao Liao had great qualities. He was young, promising, handsome, and in good shape. She had no reason to refuse.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Xia Mi sighed.

She wanted to ask Liao Tianhua for the reason, but unfortunately, Liao Tianhua no longer remembered her.

Mi Xiangyan said, “He didn’t say anything because he obviously had a guilty conscience. We’ve discussed this with Deputy Director Jiao. Liao Tianhua must be someone sent by the Immortal Foundation to bewitch you. You must not fall for his tricks!”

Mi Xiangyan’s words reminded Xia Mi of something.

Fake Old Jiao had also tried to seduce her.

Combined with the name of the game, “The Cuckoo Occupying the Magpie’s Nest,” the title suggested that Fake Old Jiao had some kind of “replacement” ability.

Perhaps the person who truly wanted to seduce her was Fake Old Jiao, but he had used the power of the Nest to make Liao Tianhua his scapegoat, redirecting Mi Xiangyan and Qiu Hailan’s hostility toward Liao Tianhua instead.

Xia Mi also remembered that the reason the real Old Jiao had rushed to the office overnight was precisely because Mi Xiangyan had called him, saying she had urgent matters to report.

Old Jiao’s car had been stolen while he was on his way to the office.

The thief had driven Old Jiao’s car, disguised himself as Old Jiao, and opened a Nest at the unit.

At that time, when Mi Xiangyan saw Fake Old Jiao, she would have certainly reported the urgent matter she mentioned on the phone. After all, that was why Old Jiao had insisted on coming to the office that night.

Combining all this information, Xia Mi formed a bold hypothesis!

Mi Xiangyan had indeed discovered someone sent by the Immortal Foundation. After Fake Old Jiao heard what she said, in order to cover it up, he used the power of the Nest to turn Liao Tianhua into the object of Mi Xiangyan’s suspicion.

He had Liao Tianhua “replace” someone from the Immortal Foundation, goading the three of them into killing each other.

But why would Liao Tianhua forget her?

Could Fake Old Jiao have used someone else to replace her in Liao Tianhua’s memories?

“Project Queen Bee,” “The Cuckoo Occupying the Magpie’s Nest,” “Replacement”…

Connecting these keywords, Xia Mi was suddenly struck by a powerful sense of crisis.

During the missions at Building 6 and the Pharmaceutical Factory, the Immortal Foundation’s objective had been glaringly obvious: they wanted to find a new host for the Queen Bee.

And currently, that host was Xia Mi.

The true purpose of this nest was to have someone replace her and seize the power of the Queen Bee from her body.

If that was the case, then the person who had replaced her in Liao Tianhua’s memories was the “cuckoo” preparing to seize the nest.

Without a word, Xia Mi sprinted all the way to Liao Tianhua’s office. She burst through the door and demanded, “Liao Tianhua, who is the person you love? Give me a name in one second. Now!”

Perhaps some subconscious trust for Xia Mi still lingered within him, or perhaps it was the power of the Queen Bee, or maybe her question was simply too direct.

Whatever the reason, Liao Tianhua gave her a name with startling bluntness: “Jiao Xingjian.”

Xia Mi nearly cursed out loud right then and there.

No wonder her end had been so wretched in the game’s original conclusion after Jiao Xingjian died. No wonder the amnesiac Liao Tianhua hadn’t just refused to help her, but had actively kicked her while she was down.

It turned out that in that first ending, Liao Tianhua believed Xia Mi had killed his “beloved,” and he was seeking revenge for his sweetheart.

Fine, fine, fine! So that’s how you want to play?

This was truly the most shameless Zhuo she had ever encountered!

Translator’s Notes