Today, the Foolish Scum Gong Screwed Me Over Again

Qiu Yanzhi held the knife in his hand, but he couldn’t bring himself to stab Qin He.

He felt like something wasn’t right here.

At first, he simply thought that Qin He had lost his memory. But that theory didn’t seem to fit after Qin He touched Qiu Yanzhi’s injury and then asked him why he hadn't gone to work.

Qin He and He Zhou were identical in terms of voice and appearance after all.

The stern and serious way in which the question was asked almost made Qiu Yanzhi mistake the person before him as He Zhou.

Qin He touched the wound on the back of his head. His body swayed a bit even as he held onto the table for support with one hand.

He closed his eyes and opened them again, looking more and more confused. "...I clearly remember that...I was in the study. How did I get here in the blink of an eye?"

He looked down at his clothes and commented, "These aren't my clothes either."

Qiu Yanzhi sounded a little tense. “...You...where did you just say you were?"

"I was in the study. And there was a pot of porridge for you heating up on the stove.”

The knife in Qiu Yanzhi’s hand clattered to the ground.

He stared at He Zhou with wide eyes and dumbly said, “He, He Zhou, you seem to have possessed his corpse--no. No, you seem to have swapped bodies with Qin He.”

He Zhou was taken aback by that. He had half a thought to tell Qiu Yanzhi to stop joking around, but the expression on Qiu Yanzhi’s face and his current surroundings suggested that this was no joke.

He Zhou fished around in his pockets and found a phone and wallet that didn’t belong to him.

Opening the wallet, there was an ID and business card that he had never seen before inside.

"He Zhou, CEO of Faraway Technology Co., Ltd”.

Oh right, “Qin He’s” current name was also He Zhou.

He didn’t know the passcode for the phone, but his fingerprint smoothly unlocked it nonetheless.

Although it was unbelievably weird, He Zhou had no choice but to accept reality.

He was indeed in Qin He's body now.

He Zhou pursed his lips and looked up at Qiu Yanzhi. "Then what about Qin He?"

Qiu Yanzhi blinked. He replied dumbly, “...Could he be in...your body?”

"We have to go home and check." He Zhou said, "And the burner cooking the porridge needs to be turned off.”

Qiu Yanzhi’s brain had long since grown muddled. He just stood up without much fuss and walked out with He Zhou.

He Zhou looked around this unfamiliar neighborhood and frowned. "Where is this?"

"Long Ze residential neighbourhood. Our neighbourhood is across the street once we exit this one.” Qiu Yanzhi said.

He Zhou glanced at him. He wanted to ask Qiu Yanzhi why he was here with Qin He, but he pursed his lips in the end and didn't ask.

The two apartments were indeed very close to each other. They arrived back home within ten minutes.

Qiu Yanzhi carefully entered the passcode, opened the door and walked in.

However, there was no trace of Qin He in the living room.

"Let’s go check in the study." He Zhou said.

Qiu Yanzhi nodded and quietly followed him there.

Opening the door, Qiu Yanzhi and He Zhou froze at the sight inside.

The study was completely empty.

The only thing out of place was a set of clothes laid out on the chair.

Said clothes were arranged in a very odd fashion.

The shirt was draped across the face of the chair, the belt was still securely fastened to the pants, and the pants were hanging half off the chair, its legs touching the floor.

And peeking out beneath them were He Zhou’s slippers.

The clothes didn’t look like they had been taken off.

Rather...it was like the person wearing them vanished into thin air.

He Zhou walked over and picked up the shirt. He retrieved the jade necklace inside.

He Zhou put the piece of jade and caressed it carefully. The jade was still warm, like it had retained a trace of its owner’s body heat.

Then he turned to Qiu Yanzhi and stated, "We didn’t switch bodies."

After a moment of silence, He Zhou decided to tell Qiu Yanzhi everything. "My body is made of data. Once, I...I tested that by booting up the virtual reality pod. When my body comes into contact with the pod, it starts to gradually grow transparent and vanish. So my body doesn’t actually exist in this world.”

Qiu Yanzhi sharply looked up at him, shocked beyond words.

He Zhou turned and walked out of the study to the bedroom.

Qiu Yanzhi stood frozen in place for a beat before frantically going after He Zhou.

He Zhou arrived at the bedroom.

The virtual reality game pod sat in the corner as always.

He Zhou walked straight over and plugged the VR pod in. The moment the blue lights flickered as part of the initializing sequence, he pressed his entire hand against the chassis.

A shiver ran though Qiu Yanzhi’s entire body as he recalled what He Zhou just said about his body disappearing upon contact with the VR pod. He frantically reached out and pulled the man away.

He Zhou was caught off guard and stumbled backwards. He turned to Qiu Yanzhi after regaining his balance. “What’s wrong?”

Qiu Yanzhi nervously asked, "Didn't you say you’d disappear?"

He Zhou's eyebrows relaxed. He smiled and said, "There was no reaction when I put my hand on it just now, which means that this isn’t my original body anymore.”

Qiu Yanzhi: "Your original body is made of data, and Qin He’s is made of flesh… So what does that mean...for Qin He?"

He Zhou was silent for a moment. Then he asked, “What happened between you and Qin He in that apartment? Did he...die?”

Qiu Yanzhi shook his head. "No, he didn’t die. I, we had a disagreement and I impulsively smashed him over the head with a vase. But I checked his breathing. He was just unconscious, not dead."

He Zhou: "If he was just unconscious, then it's possible that Qin He is still in this body."

Qiu Yanzhi: "Are you saying...there’s two souls in this body?"

"Rather than two souls, it’s more like one soul and some data.” He Zhou paused. “I don't know why I entered Qin He’s body either. Maybe it’s because his mental defenses were weak due to being rendered unconscious, so someone like me, who is a virtual being based on him, automatically reacted in some way with his body.”

Qiu Yanzhi: "Then will Qin He be back later?"

He Zhou reached out and unplugged the virtual reality pod again with downcast eyes. "It’s more than likely. I too have no intention of taking over his body."

Qiu Yanzhi felt like this turn of events was so strange it seemed like fiction.

He suddenly remembered that his plan all along was to drug Qin He, lock him up, and have He Zhou pretend to be him for a while to deal with the game.

Although there were a few hiccups along the way, things actually...worked out by complete accident?

It wasn’t until Qiu Yanzhi came back to his senses that he noticed the almost congealed blood behind He Zhou’s ear.

Oh that’s right. "He Zhou" still had a head injury!

Qiu Yanzhi: "Does your head...hurt?"

He Zhou: "A little."

Qiu Yanzhi sucked in a breath of cold air. The thought of He Zhou’s head injury going untreated for more than 20 minutes made even his breathing shaky.

He took He Zhou's hand and said, "Let's go to the hospital."

Just before they headed out, He Zhou paused once more. “The stove’s still on. I’ll go turn it off.”

"I'll do it." Qiu Yanzhi walked to the kitchen and turned off the burner.

They quickly arrived at the hospital, where the doctor took care of the wound on He Zhou's head and put a huge piece of gauze over it.

When the doctor was about to leave, He Zhou stopped him and pointed at Qiu Yanzhi’s cheek. “The wounds on his face need to be treated as well.”

The marks on Qiu Yanzhi's face from the glass shards were so insignificant that the doctor just disinfected them with a cotton swab and put some band-aids on.

Qiu Yanzhi touched the band-aids on his face. Only then did he remember that He Zhou had never asked him why he and Qin He were in that apartment across the street.

Although he didn't ask, Qiu Yanzhi couldn't help but explain.

Qiu Yanzhi looked up at He Zhou and said, "He Zhou, there’s something I have to tell you. Qin He has hired a top tier foreign technology team to completely erase the game’s data."

He Zhou froze for a moment before looking up at him.

Qiu Yanzhi decided to omit his original plan to kidnap Qin He. Instead, all he said was, “I met with him at that apartment today to try and stop him from destroying the data, but we got into an argument. In the heat of the moment, I smashed him over the head with a vase.”

He Zhou blinked, his expression a bit incredulous: "You...hit Qin He?"

Qiu Yanzhi nodded. "Yeah."

He Zhou: "...Why?"

Qiu Yanzhi gave He Zhou a puzzled look. He said like the reason was obvious, "Because he wants to make you and the entire game disappear! How can I let that happen? He Zhou, it’s up to you now to stop this.”

He Zhou pointed at himself. "...Using this body?"

"This is a good opportunity.” Qiu Yanzhi said, “Since we don’t know when Qin He will come back, the sooner you take care of things the better.”

He Zhou seemed a little hesitant.

Qiu Yanzhi held He Zhou's hand and pleaded, "...He Zhou, I don't want the entire game world to disappear...I don't want you to disappear either."

He Zhou pursed his lips.

"...Fine."