It was barely a few minutes before fine beads of sweat popped up on Wen Yuanting's forehead again. This time it wasn't from fear, but pure, unadulterated awkwardness. There was nothing he could do about it — his little sister and Zhao Yang were both incredibly casual, unapologetically open about how little they knew, and kept pestering Mu Yue to ask her what this thing was and what that thing was for.
Wen Yuanting snuck glances at Mu Yue the whole time, and luckily, he couldn't spot a single trace of impatience on her face. Then again, that was just Mu Yue. She always seemed quiet and hard to approach at first, but in reality, she was super easy to get along with. Besides, if she cared about class differences, she never would have invited all of them over in the first place.
"AHHHHHH! This place is absolutely amazing! And Sister Mu Yue, you're so gorgeous!"
Right after Gu Zhirou and Zhao Yang, three of Mu Yue's roommates arrived soon after. As the host, Mu Yue naturally went to the entrance to greet them. Wen Yuanting and his two friends stayed seated in the main hall, his sister's face flushed bright red with excitement while Zhao Yang looked around every which way with a dazed, stunned expression, his jaw practically hanging open.
Wen Yuanting gave up trying to play it cool then and there. Seeing how interested the other two were, he simply told them about the sights he'd seen the day before.
The staff waiting off to the side smiled politely. Gu Zhirou struck up a bold conversation with one of them, and the attendant responded in a soft, gentle voice, even proactively asking what they needed — there was none of that snooty, disdainful behavior you saw all the time in novels and TV dramas.
Over by the entrance, Jia Jia and Ya Ya were holding their breath the whole time. When they got in the car that picked them up, their hearts were pounding so hard they could hear it. They huddled close to each other without making a sound, but their faces looked like they were screaming on the inside. Fang Baiwei was a little more composed than the other two, seeming much calmer, though her eyes still darted around curiously, taking everything in.
It didn't take long before the three of them spotted Mu Yue waiting for them by the door, and they all grew giddy with excitement right away.
All three of them had brought gifts. They weren't anything overly expensive, but each one was a thoughtful gesture. Mu Yue chatted with them as she led them inside, where Wen Yuanting and his friends had already stood up. She quickly introduced the two groups to each other.
They were all students at A University, and they'd run into each other around campus every now and then, so they weren't total strangers. Little Gu, who was still in high school, had a bright, outgoing personality and wasn't shy at all. It didn't take long for everyone to start chatting like old friends. Mu Yue had no intention of making all her guests sit around making awkward small talk in the main hall, either. She had tons of fun things to do at her place, and it was still ages before lunchtime — everyone could go straight to whatever they felt like playing.
There were modern esports arcade games, retro casual games, every kind of game you could think of.
At first, everyone was still a little reserved, but Mu Yue didn't stand off to the side acting all high and mighty. She joined in the fun right alongside them, and in less than half an hour, the game room was filled with nonstop laughter and cheerful chatter.
Halfway through their fun, Mu Yue got a call from Lin Xiaoxiao. She'd already arrived in A City and picked Qianqian up too, and she told Mu Yue to get ready for her big, squishy bear hug.
Right after Mu Yue hung up the phone, Fang Baiwei got a call of her own. The relaxed smile on her face faded the second she saw the unfamiliar number pop up, and she instantly grew wary. She didn't do anything about it — she didn't hang up, she didn't answer — just stuffed her phone right back in her pocket.
Mu Yue noticed the odd reaction and quietly asked Fang Baiwei what was wrong. There was no reason for Fang Baiwei to hide anything from Mu Yue, and it wasn't even that big of a deal. It was just a bunch of strangers calling to hurl insults at her, both men and women. At first she thought it was a wrong number, but every single one of them knew her name, like they actually knew who she was. But the second she tried to ask what they wanted, they'd start screaming the most vulgar, nasty insults at her, and these kinds of calls had been coming in nonstop the past couple of days.
"I'm actually planning to get a new SIM card," Fang Baiwei said. She wasn't the type to put up with abuse. She'd followed Mu Yue's advice before and blocked all of the Fang family's numbers, and she'd had a nice, peaceful stretch after that. When the Fangs started calling again from new numbers, she'd just swapped her SIM card, and without all those annoying distractions, she'd gotten through this whole busy semester feeling perfectly happy.
But lately, she had no idea what was going on. She never filled in her phone number on random websites online, and she never bought any weird products that would leak her info. She couldn't figure out who was behind these petty little stunts. But at school, she barely even needed to use her phone to get in touch with people, so getting a new SIM card would probably make all the nonsense stop.
Mu Yue sighed quietly to herself. There was no helping it — that was just the kind of bad luck Fang Baiwei had. She never went looking for trouble, but trouble always found her anyway. After all, the world she was in was supposed to be a fake "feel-good" story that was actually a total tragedy for its lead. These harassing calls seemed like no big deal on the surface, but they pointed to a much bigger problem. The fact that the people behind them knew her basic personal information was a subtle, clear threat.
Fang Baiwei's original plotline had already changed a lot. The Fang family hadn't tracked her down at school yet, so the person pulling these stunts could be Fang Surou, or even someone who never showed up in the original story at all. Even if Fang Baiwei focused all her time on her studies, there was no telling when someone who took a disliking to her or wanted to scheme against her would pop up out of nowhere.
"Next time they call, don't hang up. Turn on the call recorder, collect a few recordings, and go straight to the police to file a report," Mu Yue told her. "If anyone tries to sweep this under the rug to make it a 'small matter,' you come find me. I'll have my lawyers handle the whole thing." Then she added another warning: "Right now it's just verbal abuse, but it could escalate later. You have to stay alert at all times, and keep something for self-defense on you."
Fang Baiwei nodded. "Okay, I got it!"
Mu Yue glanced at her slender frame and kept going. "Also, you should work out more often, and learn a few actual self-defense moves. Stay careful, too. Any food or drink that's been out of your sight even for a second, you have to be extra cautious about it."
Fang Baiwei nodded over and over. She was going to take every single one of Mu Yue's words to heart. Having gotten a second chance at life, she didn't pray to any gods, but she did trust Mu Yue more than anything else.
Not long after she finished talking to Fang Baiwei, Lin Xiaoxiao showed up. Mu Yue went out to greet her, and the second Lin Xiaoxiao stepped out of the car, she threw her arms around Mu Yue in a huge bear hug. "AHHH Yueyue! I missed you so much!"
Lin Xiaoxiao had brought a ton of stuff with her, most of which were handmade crafts she'd made herself. Mu Yue was surprised — Lin Xiaoxiao had done an amazing job, you could barely tell she was a total beginner. The little figurines were absolutely adorable. The best piece by far was a pair of tiny dolls leaning close to each other with big happy grins, which Lin Xiaoxiao said was the two of them.
Along with the two little dolls, there were tiny handmade flowers, plants, little furniture pieces, and miniature houses that you could assemble and arrange however you wanted.
Mu Yue had never been super into figurines before, but even she could see how much fun these little pieces were. She had more than enough rooms in the house, so she could set aside a whole room just to display all the figurines, install nice cabinets with soft lighting, and take them out to play with or change their little outfits whenever she was bored.
Mu Yue looked Lin Xiaoxiao over carefully. Compared to the first time she'd arrived in this world, this girl had changed completely. She didn't talk about men nonstop anymore. She'd found her own hobbies, her face was lit up with a bright, confident smile, and when she met new people, she didn't get nervous or shy — she greeted them openly and warmly.
It was so nice to see, and Mu Yue felt nothing but relieved and happy for her.
Once Lin Xiaoxiao arrived, it was time for lunch. Wen Xue and the others weren't coming until the afternoon. That meal blew every single person away completely. As Mu Yue's roommates put it, the food was so good their eyes almost popped right out of their heads.
Wen Xue's arrival in the afternoon left the whole group of students so flustered they could barely get their words out. The most common thing Wen Xue’s antis criticized her for online was her acting skills—no one could ever fault her looks or professional competence, and after getting to know her in person, everyone found out she was a total joy to be around, with an incredibly high EQ.
Mu Yue's estate was more than spacious enough, and Carter had even prepared a murder mystery party script. This game was only really fun with a big crowd, and it helped everyone burn through plenty of energy. Once they headed back indoors, there were all kinds of board games waiting for them, plus a lavish dinner spread.
After dinner, there were fun challenges to play, and later on, a late-night barbecue feast.
"Oh my gosh, with a life like this, who could ever have anything to complain about?"
"Tell me about it! This is absolutely amazing!"
"Ugh, thank you so much, Sis Mu! I finally get to experience what a billionaire's daily life feels like."
"I already posted a status about this, hehe, it's got tons of likes already!"
"I'm declaring this the coolest New Year's Eve I've ever spent!"
"Wait, where did Sis Mu go?"
"My brother's gone missing too..."
The group of people eating barbecue in the yard fell silent for a second, then shared a knowing smile, pretending nothing was out of the ordinary as they went right back to eating and chatting.
It was almost ten o'clock. Mu Yue pulled her gaze away from her watch and glanced at Wen Xue out in the yard—before long, Wen Xue would have to head home.
From the time she woke up that morning till now, there hadn't been a single robbery at any jewelry shop or bank in City A. The handful of targets the systems were keeping an eye on had only pulled petty stunts: some stole cars, some stole phones, one even stole someone's water bottle, and all of them got caught red-handed. Half of them were locked back up, and the rest who hadn't broken any laws were out drinking and bragging their heads off somewhere.
It wasn't midnight yet, so Mu Yue wasn't about to let her guard down. She had told everyone well in advance that she would be having guests over today, so the security teams both from her own household and the property management had stepped up their patrols. And of course, no one was working overtime for nothing—on top of triple pay for the holiday, everyone got an extra red envelope, which added up to four times their regular wage.
When the boss is that generous, the staff go all out on their jobs, and so far everything was running perfectly smoothly.
Carter pulled up all the surveillance feeds from the inner and outer areas of the estate, handed the tablet to Mu Yue, and after she skimmed through all the footage, she passed it over to Wen Yuanting. "We still have over two hours to go."
Wen Yuanting flipped through every surveillance frame, not a single car in sight anywhere. He tried to rack his brain, but his jittery nerves were messing with his memory. "I can't remember what the latest time it ever happened was... I think it was before ten... no, wait, once after I got hit, I remember seeing those New Year's countdown drone performances in the sky."
"It's okay, you don't have to force yourself to remember." Mu Yue double-checked the location of the pickpocket from the "stud hero" gang whose hand she had already disabled—right now, that guy was long gone from City A, back in his hometown out in the countryside.
Wen Yuanting handed the tablet back to Carter, leaving only him and Mu Yue alone out in the hallway.
Wen Yuanting said, "I tried heading to places where there was no way a car could show up before, but..."
Mu Yue already knew all about that, from the timeline he had made for her listing out every detail of the ten repeating incidents. If he was with other people, no matter if he knew them or not, they would somehow end up shoving him out of the building. If he was alone, he would suddenly black out, wake up being loaded into an ambulance by some strangers, and then get hit by a car.
Mu Yue told him, "I have doctors here. World-class, top of their field."
Wen Yuanting shook his head. "I'm just scared some random uncontrollable accident is going to happen later. If it was just me, it'd be fine, but what if I end up dragging you and the other girls into trouble..." The closer the clock ticked to midnight, and the happier everyone else looked playing around, the more on edge he got.
Logically speaking, no car could ever break into Mu Yue's estate, but all those weird, impossible experiences had left him spooked. What if there was a fire? What if something happened to someone else, or even Mu Yue got hurt and needed emergency medical transport?
Mu Yue listened quietly as he spoke. His worries weren't completely unfounded, after all—this whole situation was basically a bug in the system.
"Safety first, no matter what..." Mu Yue thought for a second, then bought a group luck buff. It was a little pricey, costing her 100 points. Then she called Wen Yuanting to come with her out to the yard, made sure everyone was accounted for, and activated the buff right there in the middle of the crowd.
Most of the barbecue was already finished, and when they saw Mu Yue come back, Wen Xue was just about to head home too.
Mu Yue walked her to the gate, telling her to drive carefully on the way back, not to rush, and take it slow.
Wen Xue blinked at her, surprised. "Babe, look at the traffic today, no one can go fast even if they wanted to. I'm definitely going to hit traffic on the way home, it's no big deal."
She winked at Mu Yue. "My family's nanny took the holiday off, so I'm all alone at home. That bastard won't even notice what time I get back. And besides..."
Wen Xue gave her a playful little smirk, and Mu Yue was pretty sure she already knew her overbearing CEO boyfriend was at the airport picking up his long-lost first love tonight.
Since that was the case, Mu Yue could rest easy.
After seeing Wen Xue off, Mu Yue herded everyone back indoors, to a special room with no sharp edges anywhere, all covered in soft blankets and pillows, with sliding glass doors on two whole sides.
The outer side opened onto a small patio that led to the yard, perfect for stepping out to get some fresh air or enjoy the sun. Inside, there was a super long, extra big sofa that was so plush you could sink right into it.
This was originally the plush game room Mu Yue shared with her four little pets.
The room was still plenty big, so even with all of them inside, no one felt cramped—everything just felt soft and cozy. There were special plush slippers by the door, all one size that fit everyone.
"Oh my gosh, how is there a room like this? Can I just flop down anywhere I want?"
Mu Yue laughed. "Of course you can! This room is made for sitting or lying down anywhere you want. All these blankets are super soft, and so is the sofa—who could ever resist this, right?"
"Ahhh, this is heaven!"
"You're not kidding, I can't resist at all!"
"This feels exactly like crawling into a giant cat bed! How is everything this soft? This is so good~"
One person made a silly happy noise, then soon more followed, everyone's faces looking so blissful that if a stranger walked in right then, they'd think they'd stumbled into some kind of shady establishment.
Wen Yuanting changed into the special slippers for this room, stepped inside, and couldn't help but glance over at Mu Yue. The room was really simply decorated, the only equipment in it a projector and a projection screen on the wall—this place cut down the risk of any accidents by a huge margin.
They had been running around playing all day, so the little bit of time left before midnight was perfect for watching a movie. They picked a light-hearted comedy that appealed to everyone, fast-paced and full of nonstop gags, and soon the whole room was filled with peals of laughter.
When the movie finished and the lights turned back on, there were only two minutes left till midnight.
Wen Yuanting had gotten so restless halfway through that he tried to leave, but Mu Yue had pulled him back to sit down. The two of them had their own little spot off to the side, and everyone else threw them the occasional teasing glance, but no one came over to bother them.
On the other side of town, Wen Xue had already gotten home safe. She sent Mu Yue a message to let her know she had arrived, then started getting ready for her night in, humming a little tune happily to herself.
Before long, the cheap takeout Wen Xue ordered arrived. She plated the food to make it look presentable, stuffed the empty takeout boxes into a garbage bag, went downstairs to throw the trash away, then sauntered back up.
She changed into the "white moonlight" style outfit that Wei Xuan liked, touched up her makeup, and found the perfect angle to take photos. She wasn't just photographing the food, of course — she had to make sure her outfit, her loose long hair, and her made-up face were all captured in the shot too.
It couldn't look deliberate, though. It had to be a reflection in the dining table, the kind that seemed totally unplanned. At first glance, anyone would notice the food first, but the second they looked again, they would definitely spot her.
It was a little tricky to pull off, but Wen Xue was an old hand at this.
Once she finished taking the photos, she sent them to Wei Xuan, added a deeply affectionate line about waiting for him, then promptly headed back to her room to sleep in.
That bastard was off picking up his beloved white moonlight tonight, there was no way he'd be coming home. But she couldn't slack off on what she needed to do. As long as she kept up her carefully curated persona, that bastard would keep spending generously on her.
Mu Yue got the message from Wen Xue, glanced at her phone, then firmly held Wen Yuanting down again. He really was acting off right now, his eyes glazed and unfocused. If her physique hadn't been enhanced, she probably wouldn't have been able to hold him in place.
This BUG was pretty tricky, it seemed. After Mu Yue had cut off every other possible trigger, Wen Yuanting had lost control all on his own. Luckily, he still had a sliver of his sanity left, so he didn't start yelling and making a scene, or shove Mu Yue off him directly. Mu Yue keeping him trapped against her only made their position look overly intimate, not outright suspicious.
By the second half of the movie, Wen Yuanting had mostly come to his senses, his face bright red as a tomato.
But just to be safe, Mu Yue still didn't let him go. Wen Yuanting didn't dare move either — he was so tense he could barely breathe, but at the same time he couldn't stop himself from leaning closer to her.
Finally, the video ended. There were only five minutes left until midnight.
"Let's go upstairs," Mu Yue still hadn't released Wen Yuanting as she stood up and said to the rest of the group, "We're going to watch the fireworks."
"Woohoo! It's New Year's!"
City A had a designated fireworks display zone on a high vantage point, so the show was visible to most people across the city. On a holiday like this, there was bound to be a big performance.
As soon as they stepped outside, the sky was already lit up. This year they'd gone all out — it looked like a drone show, spilling down like a galaxy waterfall, streams of light pouring down in a dreamlike, dazzling display.
"Ten, nine, eight..." Everyone stared at the time on their phones and counted down in unison.
The second waterfall of light began to pour down from the sky.
Mu Yue was standing right next to Wen Yuanting, and she noticed him gripping the railing so hard his knuckles went white, his whole body stiff as a board.
"One!" The glowing spots from the waterfall burst apart at the end of their fall, turning into clusters of light spray that scattered across the sky, bright and playful.
Wen Yuanting let go of the railing, his face completely blank. He looked at the time, then at the sky, repeating the action over and over, before finally turning to look at Mu Yue. Almost without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her.
His shoulders trembled slightly. He tried to speak several times, but no words came out.
He survived. He actually survived! He didn't get hit by that car, he didn't end up back in the hospital, he didn't become a vegetative state again, he didn't get stuck in that endless time loop anymore. His little sister was safe and sound, and he could even hear her laughing behind them, making jokes at his expense.
Ding! Congratulations Host, you have successfully cleared the BUG!
Points have been credited to your account!
Villain value + 300 points!
"Se—"
"It's past midnight," Mu Yue whispered softly in his ear, her fingers tracing idle circles on his arm, as if wondering why he still hadn't let go of her, or maybe savoring the feel of his body ahead of time, "If you still haven't figured out how to repay me... how about paying me back with your body, senior?"
What? Wen Yuanting felt like a whole fireworks display had just gone off inside his head.
She, she, she, she just said what?
