746: I Get It Now

I Get It Now

A hollow laugh stumbled out of his lips, breathless and mocking. "Indeed, I have been such an ignorant idiot…"  1

Without knowing anything, he assumed that he had understood Luan's capacity to love. He assumed that Luan should have liked Cyrus more from the time they had spent together. He assumed that Luan… well, everything was only his assumption. As a result, he had downplayed the entirety of Luan's love and stomped it under his feet. Oh God, no wonder Luan looked so hurt…

He had hurt Luan with his sheer stupidity and oblivion.

Pursing his lips tight, his gaze finally moved to the video from three months ago. It was the time when Zachary had just entered the simulation. For fear that something would go wrong and the Crown Prince would lose his life, he had created the virtual character 'Cyrus' and given him a sole order – assist Zachary to the best of your ability.

In the footage, he was sitting behind his desk, typing while mumbling at the same time. "What kind of character should I create?" The best choice was to base it on himself, as per what every researcher had done. However, he also knew his own shortcomings. If he sent in a character with a bad temper, someone who cared for nothing but work, wouldn't it just add on to the mess? If that was the case, then he should create a character who was gentle, patient, smart and mature…

For hours, he locked himself in the office and created a basic configuration. Wiping the sweat on his forehead, he asked the system, "What do you think?"

A mechanical voice answered him. [Whatever Admin God creates is good.]

He huffed, amused yet exasperated at the same time. "Thank you, you're so not helpful. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me with that tacky nickname?"

[Admin God sounds good. It suits you very much.]

"Now you're rebelling!"

Dr. Feng held his breath and carefully listened to the system's answer. Oh God… how could he be so stupid? If he got rid of the mechanical part of the voice, then the system's choice of words, its rebuttal and snarky comments… all of them were precisely the same as Luan! Now he could only bemoan his own foolishness for not realizing it sooner.

In the video, he saw himself standing in the middle of the office with a glowing ball in front of him, made of countless dots of light. With every word he inputted into the keyboard, the glowing ball stretched and elongated into the silhouette of a human. 

Like dark clouds that dispersed to let the sunshine in, a handsome and gentle-looking young man gradually took form. It was only two parts similar to him in terms of appearance. As for personality… well, it would be better if they were not compared to each other. After all, he had created this virtual character by covering all of his bad traits.

He stared at the virtual character with bright eyes and exclaimed, "He looks so good!"

[Whatever Admin God says is right.]

"Tell me the truth," he gestured toward the virtual character. "Don't you think that he's more handsome than me? Have I made him too handsome?"

[Admin God is the best in the whole world.]

He burst out laughing, amused by the system's mindless flattery. "Oh God, stop it, won't you? I didn't input the ability to sweet talk into your basic configuration when I created you, where have you learned it from?"

[Books, movies, dramas, there are so many sources I can learn from.]

He clicked his tongue. "Make sure not to be led astray, okay?" The more he looked at the virtual character before him, the more satisfied he was. Cupping his cheek, he started to wonder out loud, "Say, do you want me to make you a human form too?"

This time, the system's answer came a beat too late. [...I will pass.]

He clicked his tongue. "That's a pity. Who knows? Perhaps you can even be best friends with him." He finished up a few more refined settings and activated the virtual character's core. "Alright, it's all done! Make sure to take care of him inside the simulator, okay?"

[Okay.]

.

Dr. Feng's face was ashen by the time the video finished playing. That's right… he recalled it now. He was the one who had asked Luan to take care of Cyrus inside the simulator and… he was the one who had implicitly given Luan permission to approach Cyrus. It had been him all along…

"Fuck…" Dr. Feng buried his face into his palms and cursed softly. 

This was all his fault. He had messed everything up, he admitted it. But… how was he supposed to make it up to Luan? 

Now that he knew the true extent of Luan's feelings for him, it would be an utter lie to say that he was not moved. Who wouldn't be moved after knowing that someone had loved them in such a gentle, warm yet heartrending way? Who wouldn't be moved after someone bared their whole heart to them? After all, he was still a common mortal. His heart was not made of rock and he conceded… he had been sincerely moved by Luan's affection…

Oh God, he was feeling so distressed and remorseful that it was killing him. He even started to wonder, just what was about him that made Luan so devoted? However, as soon as the doubt flashed through his mind, he quickly shook his head and promptly put a stop to it. Raising this kind of question was just the same as what he had been doing all this time – assuming that he knew Luan best and downplaying the severity of his love. He would not do that again. He would not commit the same mistake… not anymore.

If he could not understand it, perhaps… he should just do what he was best at — to learn.

Dr. Feng was a man of action. Once an idea took form in his mind, he immediately sat down on the swivel chair, opened a new document, confirmed that his network was not connected to the system before carefully laying out his plans as well as its feasibility.

Then he sent a message to Luan. [I get it now, Luan. I understand what you want to tell me. I'm sorry, but… can you please give me a few days' time? I will make sure to give you an answer by then.]

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