After Saving My Possessive Best Friend, I Couldn't Escape (GL) - Chapter 49

The old computer always made an irritating noise when booting up. It was like a rusty bellows whining and wheezing, turning slowly but stubbornly clinging to life, emitting an annoying clunking sound.

Fang Zhile slapped the large CPU case, instantly shifting it by ten centimeters. Dust fell from the ventilation mesh. After the case settled, it trembled before stabilizing. Perhaps sensing the power of the woman in front of it who acted before speaking, the noise finally subsided. The persistent buzzing seemed afraid of the woman who used force, and the computer struggled to boot up.

The blue screen cast a faint, eerie glow, dull like a faded sea. There were a few cracks on the computer screen. They weren’t caused by mischievous damage, but by years of aging that had yellowed and worn the edges. It should have been retired long ago but was stubbornly dragged along, expressing its resistance only through the flickering caused by poor connections.

Fang Zhile was not in a pleasant mood, so she showed no respect for the “elderly” machine. Her movements were large and forceful; she wielded the mouse with the intensity of a cleaver. She logged into the forum, entered the encrypted address, and clicked the black avatar, all in one smooth motion.

The black avatar belonged to a hacker in the novel. Fang Zhile analyzed his character profile: he was likely a minor character introduced by the author early on to serve as the female protagonist’s cheat but was forgotten entirely later on due to the long, meandering plot. Unfortunately, the author made him an all-around talent, even giving him the “everything can be solved with money” bug attribute for the protagonist’s convenience, though it was never fully utilized later in the story.

But even a minor character was a “concrete” person. Once he had a character sheet, he could be found in this world. Fang Zhile, adhering to the principle of using talent wherever she found it, simply hired him.

Found it already.

A message from 11 PM two nights ago lay quietly in the forum chat box. The moment Fang Zhile went online, he was notified and sent the pictures directly. A set of surveillance screenshots. They looked cruder than those from Zhishu’s company and were also more private. Many were gathered around a certain private club. Judging by the clothing of the people in the surveillance, the location was in Southeast Asia.

The trafficked young girl had not been sold to a childless couple as an adopted daughter, as Fang Zhile had wished. She followed the tragic fate of countless trafficked girls, sold to a brothel, where she worked in the flesh trade year-round.

Besides these photos, there is a video from a pornography website in this country.

–

Fang Zhile turned off the mute button and opened the video. Although she had mentally prepared herself, when a face similar to her own East Asian features was magnified on the screen, and when the camera maliciously lingered on the victim’s private parts, Fang Zhile felt so sick she almost threw up.

The black avatar provided Fang Zhile with the crucial whereabouts of the girl. Then, he unhurriedly attached various pieces of evidence regarding the Sun family’s hiring of people for forced demolitions. Once provided with a clear direction, the Sun family’s dirty laundry was exposed thoroughly. Finally, the black avatar attached a photo of Sun Father having dinner with his nephew, the human trafficker. This nephew was currently a fugitive and had been seen in a certain district of Japan last month.

Help me organize the evidence into a hard drive and send it to this address.

After sending the message, Fang Zhile rushed out the door, turned on the outdoor faucet, and splashed water all over her head, retching and dry-heaving.

The world has countless filthy corners, but most people live in a peaceful illusion. Only when that single grain of sand accurately and uniquely lands on a specific person or family does one feel the devastating sorrow of the world falling apart. Fang Zhile was merely looking through a pinhole. What she saw was just one casually shot video, not even a thousandth of the girl’s tragic reality, yet it was already so nauseating.

She inappropriately remembered Sun Li’s habit of taking private photos of people. It was a vicious trait inherited and passed down through the family’s bloodline. Malice, ruthlessness, and an absolute lack of humanity, when taken to a certain extreme, indeed manifested in similar ways.

She couldn’t imagine if she hadn’t discovered Sun Li, would Ye Yu one day become one of the female protagonists in such a video? Or, had the original protagonist shou experienced all this, which led her to irrevocably turn to darkness, orchestrating the mutual destruction of those who had harmed her?

The moment this thought appeared, all the melodrama gained clear logic. The protagonist shou, currently Ye Yu, grew up in an environment with strict family rules. Her parents were abnormal people who couldn’t give her genuine care. She grew up in a deprived and harsh environment, which is why she clung tightly to Zhou Meize. She believed that the dominant “big sister” figure by her side would protect her and eventually marry her, giving her the home she had always longed for since childhood.

However, her pessimism, silence, and introversion were seen as softness by some wicked people. Sun Li threatened her in this way. Although the issue was eventually resolved, the protagonist shou found it difficult to reclaim the kindness in her nature.

She blackened in silence and destroyed herself in an explosion.

The book said that when she had the car accident, a group of high school students in school uniforms, smiling sweetly, were crossing the road hand-in-hand.

Their faces were radiating the kind of pure, innocent, carefree joy she had never experienced. Distracted for a moment, she missed the oncoming semi-truck driven by a fatigued driver. After a loud crash, there was silence.

What was the protagonist shou thinking before she died? Was it to find loving parents in the next life, or that the world was finally quiet? None of this was known. The hurried, sloppy ending left the book with an absurd, melodramatic conclusion.

Fang Zhile splashed more water on herself.

Most of her hair was soaked. She raised her eyes, red-rimmed, and quietly stared at the void in front of her.

She decided that if she ever cleared the game and left this world, she would invest in filming this book.

She would perfect the romantic storyline, keep the school violence and human trafficking parts. If a TV series wasn’t possible, a web series.

If not a web series, a documentary.

If all else failed, she would film it overseas, avoiding the mainland market. She was determined to show these things to the world.

She absolutely had to give the protagonist shou in the book a home.

“Big Sister, do you need to wipe your face?”

Just as Fang Zhile’s thoughts drifted further and further, her expression growing graver, as if she were about to do something irreversible and desperate, a tender little hand reached out beside her. The hand held a clean tissue. The little girl with pigtails looked up at her, cute and innocent, her eyes full of genuine concern.

Fang Zhile looked at her for a moment, reached out to stroke her pigtails, and squatted down, covering her face. The little girl didn’t know what was wrong with her and squatted down too.

Sometimes, children are extremely sensitive to an adult’s emotional changes. Even without observing facial expressions, they can sense the person’s mood through some unexplainable sixth sense and react with pure, naïve gestures.

For example, at this moment, the little girl squatted with her for a while. She didn’t walk away bored, nor did she annoyingly speak again. Instead, she reached out, wrapped her soft, lotus-root-like arm around Fang Zhile’s head, rested her chin on the top of Fang Zhile’s head, and gently patted her back, just like rocking a doll to sleep. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. Go to sleep.”

Perhaps girls between four and six years old possess a strangely similar temperament—an innocent, natural childishness that adults cannot imitate.

The small girl from the family persecuted by the Sun family had pigtails in the newspaper photo. Ye Yu also wore pigtails when she was little.

The images of them overlapped with the face of the little girl in front of her. For a moment, Fang Zhile seemed to see the young Ye Yu through her.

How innocent are the young, and how wicked are human hearts?

She was only halfway through the plot. The villains hadn’t been caught. Ye Yu wasn’t safe. She couldn’t let herself be consumed by emotion.

Fang Zhile stumbled up, bracing herself against the cement wall next to the faucet. She forced a smile for the little girl. “Big Sister is fine. It’s so late now. Why are you out alone? It’s dangerous.”

“I’m not alone. Grandpa is waiting for me outside.” Just as the little girl finished speaking, Lü Yixian’s voice called out from outside. “Yaya, did you drop it off? Time to come home—”

Yaya’s eyes brightened. She immediately put down the basket in her hand anxiously. “Grandpa said he just made braised pork and sent a bowl for you. He said you need to eat more.”

She turned to leave. Fang Zhile quickly followed, escorting her to the gate. Lü Yixian stood there, hands clasped behind his back, looking calm.

He didn’t say much when he saw Fang Zhile come out. He simply raised his hand, letting the little girl return to his side, and smiled, waving. “Say goodbye to Big Sister.”

“Goodbye, Big Sister,” Yaya said obediently, waving her hand.

Fang Zhile watched them. The concern from her friends was like a spring wind blowing through the valley. As it swept over her, the cold, sticky feeling clinging to her body peeled away completely.

“Goodbye,” Fang Zhile said softly.

[laugh]: I’m sorry about tonight. I spoke too harshly. Can I treat you to dinner tomorrow to apologize?

Fang Zhile turned on her screen, staring at the message she had sent to Ye Yu for a long time. It was dark now.

Following Ye Yu’s schedule, she had likely finished washing up and was in her study, either copying a master’s calligraphy or struggling with her own unique script.

Her phone was likely placed behind the inkstone on her left, safe from ink, requiring her to stretch her arm to reach it.

Under normal circumstances, Ye Yu would have notifications enabled. The moment Fang Zhile’s message was sent, the lock screen would light up, showing “Received X messages.” After finishing the character she was writing, Ye Yu would gently put down the brush, rub her wrist, pick up the phone, check who sent the message, and then decide whether and when to reply.

Fang Zhile figured she was stuck at the last hurdle. Ye Yu was still angry and would either decide not to reply or wait three days until her anger subsided. Fang Zhile was clearly aware of this and simply called her.

Unexpectedly, the call didn’t connect. It rang for several tens of seconds before automatically hanging up. Fang Zhile dialed again. This time, someone else answered the phone.

“Hello, is this Miss Fang?”

The voice was strangely familiar, as if she had just heard it.

“I’m the bodyguard who helped you move this afternoon,” the voice on the other end said hesitantly. “Miss threw her bag at me when she left, then tossed it on the ground. I picked it up, but her phone is in the backpack.”

Fang Zhile’s eyebrows instantly shot up to her temples. She asked in surprise, “Why didn’t you rush it back!?”

“Miss told me not to appear in front of her,” the bodyguard almost cried. “Please go check on her.”

Fang Zhile thought, That’s between you and your boss. If she’s angry at you, I’m not going to rush in and get yelled at too.

The bodyguard probably guessed Fang Zhile’s thoughts. The next moment, he spilled the beans about the entire argument.

“What are you trying to say?” Fang Zhile’s mind felt like it was about to explode after hearing all that.

The bodyguard, with the mentality of succeeding or dying trying, bravely groveled to Fang Zhile. “Sister, you’re my savior. Please don’t let the two of you fight.”

Fang Zhile: …

“Ye Yu asked you to find a moving company, and in her mind, the most expensive is usually the best, so she told you not to worry about the cost and pick the most expensive and best one, right?” Fang Zhile’s rational and logical thinking was always sharp. She figured out the whole thing in a few sentences.

The bodyguard cried with joy, practically sobbing. Fang Zhile nodded and told the bodyguard to take the phone back to Ye Yu.

“I just sent her an apology message on my phone. She would have received it if you hadn’t held onto her phone.”

The bodyguard was stunned. The six-foot-tall man seemed to stumble on the other side, followed by a clattering sound of things falling. He ran forward, talking as he ran. “Wait! I’ll take the phone to her right now!”

Fang Zhile sighed. “Don’t run. Can two legs outrun a car?”

The bodyguard’s brain must have crashed. After being yelled at by Ye Yu, he was acting with panicked excitement, ready to explode at any moment. “Oh, oh, I’m so anxious. I’ll call a taxi now.”

Fang Zhile hesitated for a second, her eyes darting around. “Let me ask you a question.”

The bodyguard got into the taxi, buckled his seatbelt, and kept the phone on. “Go ahead.”

“How long have you been with your Miss?” Fang Zhile asked. She seemed to have noticed him occasionally since she reunited with Ye Yu.

Although Ye Yu preferred to be alone, her family driver didn’t pick her up at fixed times.

They would only show up if Ye Yu specifically instructed the driver or bodyguard that she had an event that day.

The bodyguard’s frequency of appearance was much higher than the driver’s or housekeeper’s. Moreover, Ye Yu entrusted him with the task of moving, indicating a minimum level of trust.

The bodyguard also grew anxious when Ye Yu was angry, calling Fang Zhile to ask her to mediate. From this perspective, the relationship between the mistress and servant seemed decent.

The bodyguard instantly grew alert. “Why do you ask?”

“…I’m concerned about your Miss,” Fang Zhile said, frustrated. Why are people so sensitive about this?

The bodyguard pondered Fang Zhile’s standing in his Miss’s heart for a while, realizing that the simple truth was that if his Miss was angry, he’d be thrown out of the car. He reluctantly spoke.

“I’ve been with Miss since she was very little,” the bodyguard said. “About twelve years now.”

Twelve years. That meant Ye Yu had this bodyguard since she left the old residence.

“Who assigned you to her?” Fang Zhile asked.

The bodyguard paused, confused. “No one assigned me. Miss hired me.”

“Ye Yu?” Fang Zhile was shocked. “She hired you when she was a five-year-old kid?”

The bodyguard nodded. “The men in my team had nowhere to go. Our captain found a way. We were holding a competition on the mountain, something like a real-life ‘killing’ survival game. Many rich people liked watching that kind of thing. Miss spotted me right away and signed a contract with me.”

Fang Zhile pondered for a minute, pursing her lips. “Typical of you all.” Melodramatic Yuri novel.

“Ye Yu hired you, and you agreed?” Fang Zhile had only asked on a whim, but now she was genuinely curious.

The bodyguard said matter-of-factly, “Of course I agreed. She gave me her whole year’s New Year’s money, which was enough for three years of my salary. I knew right away I wouldn’t have to worry about not getting paid.”

Well done. As expected, whoever pays the bills is the boss.

Fang Zhile returned to the original point. “You were playing that kind of bloody game. Why was Ye Yu there?”

“It wasn’t bloody. It was all fake,” the bodyguard said. “…Miss seemed to have secretly followed Master Xue there. She scared us, almost getting accidentally hurt.”

Fang Zhile thought for a few seconds. “Master Xue?”

The bodyguard said, “I don’t know much about the Ye family members. I only follow Miss. I genuinely don’t know anything else. If you want to know more, you can ask Miss directly.”

Fang Zhile said “Mhm.” “I’m done. I’m hanging up.”

“Wait!” the bodyguard sounded urgent. “You have to call Miss!”

“I’ll call her later.”

“Then you absolutely must remember to call her!”

“…Fine.”

“Otherwise, I’m really going to grab you!”

Fang Zhile: …

Great. Ye Yu has a loyal bodyguard. That’s good.