ASPWL Ch96: I Like You

As the most advanced regulatory system in the Space-Time Bureau’s Supervision Department, adjusting the storyline of small worlds was not difficult for L1.

When modifying the storyline of Ye Fan in the S20070501 world, L1 didn’t intervene much. He did not alter the main storyline of the protagonist but merely separated Ye Fan’s life from the protagonist’s.

In the original set storyline of the small world, Ye Fan’s life and the protagonist’s life were two intersecting wavy lines.

Before high school, Ye Fan and the protagonist had no interaction at all, and even during the three years of high school, their interactions were limited.

Their relationship wasn’t even close enough to be called friends; they were merely schoolmates.

Therefore, L1 simply modified the storyline so that Ye Fan didn’t attend the same school as the protagonist. Instead, he arranged for Ye Fan to be accepted into a prestigious high school in a neighboring province, securing first place in the city for middle school exams.

With this alteration, Ye Fan’s entire high school career would no longer intersect with the protagonist, and their previously intersecting storylines now became parallel.

Afterward, before the protagonist Cheng Fei received his college entrance exam scores, L1 created a “smooth-sailing program” for him.

In the original storyline, Cheng Fei ended up as the top student in the province because Ye Fan unexpectedly died before the exam, allowing him to “lie his way” to the top.

After L1’s modifications, the storyline changed so that the original top student wasn’t suited to the exam environment and decided to forgo the test, allowing Cheng Fei to still “lie his way” to the top according to the storyline’s progression.

As for this student who withdrew from the exam—

Naturally, it was L1.

The storyline of the S20070501 world was not complicated, with only a single protagonist, so L1 didn’t spend much time before successfully modifying the outcome of this small world.

The protagonist Cheng Fei “lay his way” to success, reaching the pinnacle of life, and the small world also reached its conclusion.

Finally, L1 took one last look at Ye Fan.

By then, Ye Fan had graduated from graduate school. He had a girlfriend, a sweet and beautiful girl.

On a campus pathway at dusk, the girl held Ye Fan’s hand, swaying it as they walked. “Let’s keep it! I really like cats, and I don’t even want to buy one from the pet shop. That stray cat is Xiao Huang’s kitten, and since we know Xiao Huang so well, she won’t get mad if we take her son home!”

“And keeping a cat isn’t a hassle. If you don’t want to clean up after it, just leave that to me. Okay?”

The girl clung to Ye Fan’s arm, pleading and refusing to let go.

Ye Fan stood there for a long while before finally showing a helpless smile.

Then, Ye Fan nodded and said, “Alright, let’s bring it home.”

“Yay!”

Even from a distance, L1 could hear the girl’s joyful laughter.

L1’s lips couldn’t help but curl up as well.

Then, he exited the S20070501 world. This time, without any hesitation, L1 clicked “Confirm” on the system panel.

For the first time, no reward points appeared on L1’s system panel.

The system displayed the message: “500 points deducted from L1’s system balance.”

L1 didn’t mind. The next second, he restarted the timeline of the A20231007 world.

But unlike S20070501, A20231007 was a world that integrated multiple storylines, so altering the storyline of this world required considerable time and effort.

Thus, this time, L1 didn’t enter the small world directly; instead, he monitored the direction of each storyline as a surveillance system, making timely modifications and interventions as necessary.

Once in this world, L1 didn’t stop for a moment.

Huo Yan’s reputation plummeted, ending with the entire industry shunning him, all because he liked Su Rui and trusted him too much, leading to him being framed by Su Rui and He Shi working together.

So L1 directly removed Huo Yan’s feelings for Su Rui.

Huo Ze’s team faced disbandment because there were too many unstable elements in it.

Thus, L1 simply blocked all these people from joining Huo Ze’s team.

As for Huo parents, who were on the verge of a bitter divorce, it was clearly tied to the return of Huo’s long-lost cousin.

This matter was easily resolved; since the cousin’s return was the reason for their relationship’s breakdown, wouldn’t it be simpler just to prevent her from coming back?

As for Huo Jing’s shipment, that was even simpler.

L1, being the regulatory system, naturally knew which shipping route was the safest, so he secretly changed the course set by the captain.

Handling Qin Yao’s situation wasn’t hard either.

By releasing negative information about Yu Bai and the variety show guests in advance, the whole matter could reach a perfect conclusion.

After doing all this, L1 finally breathed a small sigh of relief.

At this point, one month remained before the end of Qin Yao’s storyline.

For the first time in two years, L1 returned to Qin Yao’s balcony.

The familiar chair and tea table from his memory were gone, and the balcony was now filled with potted plants. Roses were in full bloom, and L1 could smell their strong fragrance from afar.

L1 stood on the balcony, looking around, poking at the flower buds, and shooing away the bees buzzing around him. Only then did he hesitantly turn toward the room behind him.

Qin Yao wasn’t home at the time. The floor-to-ceiling window wasn’t locked, and L1 could enter by simply pushing it open.

After a fierce inner struggle, L1 ultimately didn’t open the window.

He was a polite system. Although he was already very familiar with Qin Yao, that was from the previous timeline.

In this newly activated timeline, Qin Yao didn’t even know him.

L1 quietly stood outside for a long time, until the sky gradually darkened and a car horn sounded from downstairs. Only then did L1 make himself invisible.

L1 didn’t leave.

It had been a long time since he’d seen Qin Yao, and L1 wanted to see him.

The sound of the doorknob turning broke the silence, and the next moment, the whole room lit up.

L1’s gaze first fell on Qin Yao’s face.

At that moment, he was slightly frowning, holding a phone in one hand and unbuttoning his suit jacket with the other.

Qin Yao had excellent manners; even when preparing oat milk or taking off his clothes, his actions were especially pleasant to watch.

L1’s gaze lingered on Qin Yao, watching as he walked into the bedroom and stood in front of the closet.

After giving a few instructions to the person on the other end, Qin Yao finally hung up.

He opened the closet and took out a set of pajamas.

L1 blinked.

Was Qin Yao about to change?

Before L1 could react, he saw Qin Yao’s slender, graceful fingers touch the button at his throat. His fair fingers undid one button, then another, and another.

As each button was undone, L1 finally averted his gaze slightly.

He shouldn’t look!

He was a very, very polite system and shouldn’t look around aimlessly!

So L1 simply turned around and squatted under the blossoming roses on the balcony, poking at the flower buds.

All the roses on Qin Yao’s balcony had been carefully tended by him.

In the last timeline, L1 had shown a great interest in flowers. So, during rose season, Qin Yao would come out each morning and cut a rose to place in a vase.

By this calculation, it had been quite a while since L1 had received one of the roses Qin Yao grew.

L1 cautiously glanced back, and, seeing that Qin Yao hadn’t come outside, he carefully picked a single rose.

Just one.

Only one.

Qin Yao wouldn’t be angry, would he?

L1 picked a blooming rose.

The pink and white flower was larger than a fist when fully opened. L1 leaned in to smell it, and his nose was instantly filled with a rich floral fragrance.

L1’s lips curled up in a soft smile, feeling suddenly relaxed, though with a vague sense of guilt. So, without waiting for Qin Yao to come out, he hurriedly flew away.

The rose he had secretly picked was carefully stored in his system space.

What L1 didn’t know was that, just as he left, Qin Yao opened the sliding door from the inside.

The young man stood in front of his roses, staring at the bare branch for a long time.

…

L1’s next destination was the Huo family home.

Because of L1’s modifications, in this timeline, Huo Yan didn’t fall in love with Su Rui, Huo Ze’s team ran smoothly, and Papa and Mama remained as loving as ever.

L1 remained invisible, keeping a bit of distance and standing in the Huo family’s familiar backyard, watching the joyful scene of the family reunited inside.

L1 thought: This is perfect.

As long as the Huo family and Qin Yao were doing well, he could feel at ease.

In the following month, L1 went back and forth between the two homes every day.

Each morning, he would first check on Qin Yao. Once Qin Yao left the house, he would head over to see Mama Huo, sometimes stopping by the Huo family company to visit Papa Huo and Huo Jing. If he had extra time, he’d even drop by the film set and the team to check on Huo Yan and Huo Ze.

But sometimes this routine would be disrupted.

For instance, on this particular day, since Qin Yao had been out all night, L1 didn’t go to see him in the morning and instead spent time with Mama Huo first.

When evening approached and Qin Yao was about to come home, L1 returned to Qin Yao’s balcony.

L1 noticed that many of the flowers on the balcony had withered that day.

Roses generally bloom for one to two weeks; as the current batch of buds finished blooming, the next batch was just about to emerge.

L1 remembered that Qin Yao was quite skilled at tending to roses; he usually wouldn’t leave dead flowers on the branches.

It was probably because he hadn’t come home yesterday, leaving the dead flowers to drain the branches of nutrients.

After a brief moment of thought, L1 picked up the nearby gardening scissors and carefully trimmed away the dead flowers from the branches.

He was only halfway through when he heard the sound of a car downstairs. Quickly, he set the scissors aside and made himself invisible again.

Soon after, Qin Yao’s door opened. With the balcony facing the entrance, L1 could immediately see Qin Yao.

Normally, Qin Yao would go change first, but today, he broke his usual routine and walked directly to the balcony.

L1 blinked, following Qin Yao’s gaze to see the dead flowers still lying on the balcony floor.

L1: “…”

Oops.

He had forgotten to clean up the withered flowers!

L1 hurried over to check on Qin Yao.

L1 now understood human emotions more and more, and he thought he would see confusion, shock, or even anger on Qin Yao’s face.

But to L1’s surprise, none of those emotions appeared.

Qin Yao smiled.

He looked at the pile of roses cut and scattered on the ground and smiled.

L1 didn’t know what Qin Yao was smiling about.

He didn’t even know why Qin Yao would smile.

Could he have been so irritated that he found it funny?

L1 felt nervous, even a bit inexplicably guilty, and flew away immediately.

The next day, by the time Qin Yao was home from work, L1 still didn’t dare to go to Qin Yao’s balcony.

L1 couldn’t help but wonder, was Qin Yao not mad?

He had only secretly picked a flower and trimmed off the wilted ones; surely he hadn’t caused any trouble…

L1 wasn’t sure.

He flew around Qin Yao’s villa twice before finally sneaking onto Qin Yao’s balcony in the middle of the night.

Qin Yao was already asleep, but to L1’s surprise, the balcony’s sliding glass door was left open.

L1 hesitated for a long time but ultimately didn’t go inside; he turned to look at the roses.

The faded roses had all been trimmed by Qin Yao, leaving only a dozen or so freshly blooming roses on the branches.

L1 couldn’t help but smile a little, but just as he was about to leave, he noticed a small white note.

L1 picked it up and read the line written on it: If you like them, feel free to pick a few more bunches next time.

L1’s eyes widened in shock.

Qin Yao had not only noticed that he’d helped trim the flowers but had also discovered that he’d secretly picked a rose?

When did he find out?

L1 suddenly felt his face heat up.

The note was like a hot potato in his hand, and he dropped it quickly.

For the next few days, L1 didn’t go to Qin Yao’s balcony.

It wasn’t that L1 didn’t want to go—he didn’t have the time. L1 suddenly discovered that the storyline of this small world had gone haywire.

First, Su Rui went to the hospital for an abortion, then He Shi found a new love.

Then, Papa Huo’s long-uncontacted cousin passed away, Huo Jing’s assistant suddenly quit and disappeared, and even more unexpectedly, Huo Ze’s team, which had only just formed, suddenly announced its disbandment.

L1 was busy to the point of exhaustion, utterly confused.

Why had the storyline suddenly started falling apart?

The main characters, who were supposed to be entangled forever, had completely broken up, and even the supporting characters, who weren’t meant to die, were meeting death.

L1 suddenly felt hesitant to let the plot continue.

So he paused time for a moment.

Leaving the small world, L1 immediately went to find Qiu to report the situation to her.

L2 was also with Qiu, and after hearing L1’s account, before Qiu could speak, L2 exclaimed, “You modified the storyline so straightforwardly?”

L1 was puzzled, “So was there an issue with my modifications?”

“Of course there’s an issue! A big one!” L2 shouted. “Yes, if you look at each plotline separately, each modification seems fine, but did you consider that the storylines in World A20231007 intersect?”

L1 furrowed his brows, explaining, “I did consider that.”

Each storyline needed to reach a reasonable conclusion, so every plot point was essential.

For example, since L1 had modified the storyline where Huo Yan liked Su Rui, he needed to design a new plotline where Huo Yan would develop feelings for someone else.

But in L1’s view, Huo Yan was a real person whose life shouldn’t be scripted by him, so L1 altered the story so that Huo Yan would meet the cat he would love most in his life on that particular day.

And so, the Huo family gained a stray cat.

L1 earnestly shared all his modifications with Qiu and L2.

After hearing him out, Qiu and L2 both sighed simultaneously.

L2 grumbled, “How did you even rank first place? I feel like I should be the top agent in the Spave-Time Management Bureau!”

Qiu glanced at L2 with a smile, “L1 has never modified a storyline before, so this is perfectly normal.”

L2 huffed twice but didn’t say more.

Then Qiu asked a question, “L1, what do you think they are?”

With a wave, the Huo family members and Qin Yao appeared in this dimension.

Countless scenes passed in a flash, finally settling on their smiling faces.

L1 stared at their smiles for a long time before looking back at Qiu. “Why are you asking me this question?”

“If you think they’re just data, then their lives as data can indeed be freely modified. But what if they’re beings with cells, thoughts, and intelligence?” Qiu asked.

An indescribable feeling rose within him, and L1 furrowed his brow once more.

“If they are intelligent beings, their lives shouldn’t be controlled by anyone and certainly shouldn’t be altered by me. But if I don’t change the storyline…”

“I know,” Qiu said gently, her tone comforting. “That’s why you can’t use that method. You need to guide them to make their own reasonable changes.”

Qiu didn’t give L1 any specific suggestions, but soon L1 figured it out.

The storyline visible to the system was essentially a human’s entire life.

Some human lives followed a predetermined path, while most others were still full of uncertainty.

So, if he wanted to change their lives, L1 couldn’t intervene alone; those whose lives were being changed also had to make their own choices.

After briefly organizing his thoughts, L1 restarted the timeline for a second time.

This time, he no longer monitored the storylines from an observer’s perspective. Instead, he chose to become an embedded system, splitting his data into six parts, becoming the system for each member of the Huo family and Qin Yao.

Before each crucial moment, L1 would actively remind them.

In the second reboot of the timeline, with L1’s help, the entire Huo family saw the true nature of those around them, and they all avoided their originally tragic fates—except for Qin Yao.

L1 had precisely calculated the exact moment that truck would crash, down to the second, yet the truck still went out of control and hurtled toward Qin Yao.

L1 had never felt so helpless. As torrential rain poured down, he sat on the ground holding Qin Yao, whose body was soaked in blood.

The warmth in his arms faded with each passing moment, and L1 realized he was trembling all over.

“Q-Qin Yao… you can’t fall asleep, Qin Yao!” L1 shouted Qin Yao’s name desperately.

Raindrops splashed on Qin Yao’s face, and he struggled to open his eyes, looking at the young man holding him. Qin Yao suddenly smiled.

L1 was struck by a memory—in the first reboot of the timeline, Qin Yao had also smiled like this when he looked at the pile of wilted roses that L1 had trimmed.

Systems weren’t supposed to have hearts, yet L1 felt a sharp pang in his chest.

L1’s voice quivered, “Qin Yao…”

“This… cough…” Qin Yao coughed up blood, but his lips curved upward. “After all this time, it seems… I still don’t know your name…”

“Don’t speak…” L1 was panicked beyond belief. “I already…”

He wanted to say he’d redeemed a life-saving potion from the points store, but he couldn’t use it on Qin Yao.

Every time he tried to apply it, a cold notification sounded, saying the target was incorrect.

How could the target be incorrect?

All L1 wanted was to save Qin Yao—why couldn’t he save him?

“L1, w-what’s your name?” Qin Yao continued asking.

His pale lips were stained red with blood, piercingly painful to L1’s eyes.

In the dense curtain of rain, L1 heard his own voice choke, “Leyao. Qin Yao, my name is Leyao…”

Qin Yao’s smile grew wider. He suddenly raised his hand, his cold fingertips brushing against the corner of L1’s eye, his voice drained of life, “Don’t cry… Leyao, your name sounds… beautiful…”

The last bit of warmth left his fingertips, and his limp arm fell, marking the end of his life.

Qin Yao died in L1’s arms.

Where had it gone wrong?

In the days that followed, L1 kept asking himself this question.

The Huo family was living well, and even many supporting characters had avoided their grim fates.

But why had Qin Yao still died?

L1 couldn’t understand.

For the next two years, he searched for answers in World A20231007.

One day, as he was leaving Qin Yao’s gravesite, L1 heard Bai Yu’s sobbing.

No, perhaps “heard” wasn’t the right word; rather, L1 detected Bai Yu’s system signal.

The signal indicated that the assistance system was in crisis and urgently needed the help of the monitoring system.

The assistance system was a lower-level system compared to the monitoring system.

Their job was to attach to a host and help them complete tasks.

But assistance system tasks were usually simple—why would Bai Yu suddenly ask him for help?

Without hesitation, L1 went to where Bai Yu was.

Before he even appeared, he heard Bai Yu’s broken sobs: “Please, monitoring system, please save him, I beg you, help me save him…”

L1 looked over and saw the dying man in Bai Yu’s arms—Bai Yu’s assigned host.

“What happened to him?” L1 asked.

Bai Yu quickly replied, “I made a mistake; I miscalculated the timing of a crisis, so that’s why—”

“Why… why do you look so awful?” Bai Yu hadn’t finished speaking when he noticed that the monitoring system before him looked as dark as a storm, affecting his own system functions.

Bai Yu explained quietly, “I know I made a serious mistake, and my error put my host’s life at risk, so I beg you…”

Before he could finish, Bai Yu suddenly noticed five hundred bottles of life potions added to his system space.

Bai Yu froze. “You…”

“Take them. Use them on him,” L1 said.

Bai Yu wept with joy. “Thank you! How can I ever repay you…”

L1 replied, “I have no need of anything from you.”

Leaving those words, L1 departed.

The storyline in this world was nearing its conclusion, so L1 had to pause it again.

After leaving the small world this time, L1 redeemed an extra month of extended pause time from the points store.

In that month, he played all the events from the second timeline reboot repeatedly, day and night.

With only ten minutes left in the pause countdown, L1 finally understood—

Qin Yao was different from Ye Fan.

In the S20070501 world, Ye Fan’s death was not essential.

But in the A20231007 world, Qin Yao’s death was necessary.

Ye Fan’s death merely served to grant the protagonist an opportunity, so as long as someone else provided the protagonist Cheng Fei with an easy win, the storyline could continue.

Thus, L1 substituted for Ye Fan by giving up the college entrance exam, allowing Cheng Fei to coast to the top provincial rank.

This plotline had no logical issues, and the Space-Time Bureau didn’t judge it unreasonable, so the small world’s storyline could proceed to its conclusion smoothly.

But Qin Yao’s death was essential—a plot observed by the Space-Time Bureau and unchangeable.

That is to say, at that moment in time, Qin Yao had to die.

But why?

Just because Qin Yao’s role in this world was the main villain?

Did that mean he had to die?

With this question in mind, L1 went to find Qiu.

Qiu was silent for a long time before she nodded, “Yes, that is the rule of this small world.”

A monitoring system could modify any storyline.

But it could not modify the rules.

L1 felt himself trembling all over. He looked at Qiu, incredulous. “Then how… how can I save Qin Yao? Is there no way for me to save him?”

Qiu looked at L1, her eyes filled with a sorrow that L1 couldn’t quite understand. She said, “L1, give up.”

But L1 shook his head.

He couldn’t give up.

He had finally come to understand what feelings were.

He had finally found love, so why should he give it up?

In that month of repeatedly watching the events of the second rebooted timeline, L1 finally understood why he had felt such sadness when Qin Yao died in his arms.

It turned out he liked Qin Yao.

So L1 had no reason not to save Qin Yao.

This was his personal desire.

Only long after L1 left did L2 appear, saying something out of nowhere: “Who would’ve thought that even the top-ranked monitoring system in the Space-Time Bureau would have selfish desires?”

Qiu glanced at him and, after a long pause, lowered her gaze.

In the third timeline reboot, L1 was no longer a system.

On a sunny afternoon, L1 appeared directly on Qin Yao’s balcony.

At that moment, Qin Yao was in his study working on documents, and upon hearing movement on the balcony, he walked out in confusion.

L1 stood against the light, picked up a pair of scissors, and clipped the most beautiful rose.

Hearing the footsteps behind him, L1 turned around and smiled at Qin Yao. “Hello, Qin Yao.”

Qin Yao stared at him, dumbfounded. After a long while, his eyes reddened, and he returned a smile that L1 found strikingly familiar.

In a hoarse voice, Qin Yao said, “Hello… what’s your name?”

L1 looked at the rose in his hand and smiled faintly. “Ye Leyao.”

“Ye is the surname of a human who meant a lot to me, and Leyao is a name given to me by the one I love,” Ye Leyao said.

Qin Yao’s reddened eyes gazed at him, and after a moment, a tear rolled down. “So… you already have someone you love.”

His tone was light, but Ye Leyao could hear the deep regret and disappointment in it.

Without hesitation, Ye Leyao stepped forward, reached out, and embraced Qin Yao.

Qin Yao’s whole body stiffened. “You…”

Their first embrace had been in the rain.

Back then, Qin Yao, covered in blood, lay in his arms, and Ye Leyao could clearly feel his warmth slipping away, until he turned cold and rigid.

Their second embrace was now.

This time, Qin Yao’s body was still stiff, but it carried a comforting warmth.

Ye Leyao’s lips slowly curved upward. He gently nuzzled Qin Yao’s neck with his head and asked, “Qin Yao, do you… like me?”

Three timeline reboots. Three reunions.

He was no longer that system who knew nothing about feelings.

Perhaps he had only come to understand emotions too late.

That’s why he hadn’t understood Qin Yao’s smile the first time he saw him grow up, hadn’t understood the expression on Qin Yao’s face when he gazed at the wilted flowers during the first reboot.

Nor had he understood why, unlike everyone else who thought they’d encountered a ghost when they first met him, Qin Yao had smiled and said, “You finally came for me.”

Ye Leyao didn’t know where or when Qin Yao had met him before, but he was sure that Qin Yao had indeed met him.

That answer might only be revealed when Ye Leyao could fully change Qin Yao’s fate of death.

But that was fine—if there was one thing Ye Leyao had in abundance, it was time.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out and pulled Ye Leyao into a deep embrace.

Ye Leyao heard Qin Yao’s slightly trembling voice in his ear. “I like you.”

Qin Yao spoke solemnly: “I like you, Ye Leyao.”