725: It's Me

It's Me

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for being here with me for Dr. Feng and Luan's side story. I didn't plan it for long, perhaps only 15-20 chapters at most. Please enjoy~1

The timeline of this side story starts after Dr. Feng learned Luan's existence in chapter 667

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After Lu Yizhou left, Bianca also disappeared somewhere else, leaving Dr. Feng alone in his office. The renowned and outstanding Head Administrator was currently lost in a daze. Just in a single day, he had received one explosive news after another, each was more shocking than the other. Bianca's vivid and human-like reaction, and then… there was also the existence of Luan.

Luan, who had always been staying by Cyrus' side – Dr. Feng's personal virtual character.

It had taken him decades to build the system to the level it was now. If he claimed to be the second person who knew the system best, then no one would dare to demand the first place. In this institute – no, in the entire galaxy, there was nobody who knew the system more than him.

But now, he suddenly found out that… he did not seem to know the system as well as he had thought.

Leaning against his swivel chair, Dr. Feng took off his glasses, pinched his brows and let out a soft humorless laugh. He could not believe that a machine could make him feel like this – helpless, frustrated yet thrilled at the same time. 

Was this how a father felt when they realized that their child had suddenly grown up without them realizing? Because Dr. Feng was damn sure that no description was more suitable to describe his feelings right now. And to think that he had to hear this news from another person. He had really lost face in front of that stinky brat Lu Yizhou today!

No, he was really unreconciled. He had to investigate this matter to the root! 

Straightening up, Dr. Feng put on his glasses and dragged a hologram keyboard in front of him. He had checked the system's backend data a few times before as he did not want to admit that he had overlooked Bianca's existence inside the simulator. And now, he was going through the same procedure again. Only this time the target was not Bianca, but Luan.

And as expected, he found nothing. At all.

Just like Bianca, Luan seemed to have appeared out of thin air one day. However, Dr. Feng could still explain Bianca's existence as he had learned from Lu Yizhou how Zachary had – cough – given birth to her, but where did Luan come from? It was not like his virtual character Cyrus had given birth to him too, right?

Dr. Feng imagined this possibility and in an instant, he got shivers down his spine. 

No, no, no, it couldn't be. He had built up Cyrus' main code with his own hands, and he did not give the virtual character any skill to give birth. It was simply impossible!

"Luan, Luan…" he murmured the man's name under his breath again and again, his gaze transfixed on the transparent screen in front of him that was packed with dense rolling data. "Just where the hell did you come from?"

He was so absorbed in the sea of data that he failed to realize that behind him… the flowing codes in the air had materialized into a blurred silhouette. It was the exact same phenomenon that happened when Bianca showed up earlier, except this time, the silhouette it formed was not a little girl. But a tall man. Although his face was made up of nothing but countless dots of light, if one looked closer, they would notice that the line of his sight had always been fixed on the Head Administrator's back.

Amidst the twinkling sea of data, he stood alone, unheard and unnoticed, giving off an air of melancholy and desolation.

One was sitting, while the other was standing. The distance between them was not far, only less than five meters and it could be covered in a few large strides. Yet at the moment, it was like the two of them were separated by a rift of time and space…

Minutes and hours ticked by as Dr. Feng was immersed in the work. He meticulously scoured through the system's backend data for the past three months, even examining them back and forth until his eyes became sore, but he still could not find anything. Not even a single data was out of place! The frustration and stress from the day quickly reached its peak and he tugged on his messy ponytail with a groan, cursing, "You unfilial child! You only know how to hide from Daddy all day long! If you have the guts, stop hiding and show up in front of me, goddamnit it!"

Luan: "..."

"Or… should I just dissect Cyrus' main code?" He suddenly realized a new method.

Dr. Feng actually did not want to resort to this kind of act. For him, Cyrus was no different than his own flesh and blood, and he was happy to see the virtual character living in the simulator. If he dissected Cyrus, then when he pieced it together again, it would undergo total reboot and would no longer be the same anymore. It was just like a human who had received brainwashing. 

However in exchange, he would be able to inspect Cyrus' main code. If Lu Yizhou was telling the truth that Luan had been sticking close to Cyrus, then Dr. Feng would definitely be able to find the trail of Luan's code in there. 

The more Dr. Feng thought about it, the more feasible it sounded. Anyway, now that Lu Yizhou was awake and Zachary's recovery was going very well, it was not like he had any further use for Cyrus…

"Well, here goes nothing," he waved his hand and pulled back the hologram keyboard. However, before he could even find Cyrus, a deep, unfamiliar male voice sounded behind him,

"Don't do it."

Dr. Feng whirled his head around so fast that he almost got a whiplash, and when he discovered the tall fuzzy silhouette behind him, he was so shocked that he shot up standing. His voice shook. "Y–You…" His eyes were wide in astonishment and disbelief as he raked his gaze all over the man's figure. There was an answer in his heart, but he could not seem to say it out loud. "You are…"

The fuzzy silhouette slowly solidified to show the angular and deep set profile of a man whom he had never seen before. The man was handsome, so incredibly handsome that even Dr. Feng – who dabbled in inanimate machinery all day long – had to admit his unique charm. But more than that, the emotions in his dark-colored pupils were so profound and unfathomable, just like the gentle waves of sea under the clear night sky. And when he gazed at someone like this, it was so easy to be drowned in those beautiful yet sorrowful eyes. 

Dr. Feng's heart skipped a beat. If not for the virtual body, he would have thought that the one standing in front of him was a real human.

"It's me…" he uttered softly, almost in a whisper. "I'm here, Cyrus."

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