ASPWL Ch99: You Promise Me

Looking at the smile at the corner of Ye Leyao’s mouth, Bai Yu blinked and asked, “What do you plan to do next?”

Ye Leyao did not answer Bai Yu but instead asked, “Did you exchange your voice with the Space-Time Bureau?”

Bai Yu smiled and nodded.

The supervision of the systems by the Space-Time Bureau was not very strict; one could even say the treatment was exceptionally good.

Not only did they have fixed rest days every week, but there were also various holiday breaks.

Even the system’s desire to leave the main system and go to the human world was permitted.

However, correspondingly, the systems also had to pay a certain price—

First, the main system would strip the system of all its abilities; after all, for the vast majority of the human world, systems were considered absolutely advanced civilizations.

This rule by the main system was to maintain the harmony and stability of the small world.

Secondly, all of the system’s points would be reclaimed.

But this was secondary; after all, having decided to live as a human, they truly shouldn’t possess anything unusual beyond what this world offered.

Finally, one of the system’s abilities would be reclaimed.

The main system created the system; now that the system could no longer be used by it, it would reclaim one ability from the system.

Throughout Ye Leyao’s long work career, he had encountered several systems that had their abilities reclaimed.

Some chose to give up an arm, others chose to lose their memories, but the vast majority of systems did not choose to lose their eyesight.

Bai Yu gestured with his hand: “Not being able to speak really isn’t much; as long as I can stay by my host’s side, I feel quite happy.”

Ye Leyao recalled the man he had met several times before and nodded sincerely.

Seeing this, Bai Yu asked again, “So, this time you can succeed, right?”

Ye Leyao smiled and said, “Mm.”

It would definitely be possible.

During the long years of working at the Space-Time Bureau, even when he was exhausted, Ye Leyao had never stopped.

He had been waiting for today.

And before this, Ye Leyao had made ample preparations; this was also the last chance.

To make the main system recognize that Ye Leyao was “Qin Yao,” Ye Leyao chose the timeline for the fourth time restart to be thirteen years ago.

He used shrinking potion to transform into the appearance of a five-year-old child and implanted memories into the members of the Huo family, becoming Huo’s adopted son, Ye Leyao.

Moreover, to reduce the impact of the first three restarts on the Huo family and Qin Yao, and to avoid Qin Yao recognizing him, Ye Leyao sealed some of Qin Yao’s memories, blurring his memory of Ye Leyao’s appearance.

Next, Ye Leyao wrote two programs.

One program was used to block Ye Leyao’s own memories, leaving only one program key for Bai Yu to find in the future.

The other program was the “Heart Voice Program”; as long as the key plot of the small world was triggered, Ye Leyao would “suddenly remember” a segment of “memories” he had already written.

The moment Ye Leyao possessed the “novel memories,” the story of the fourth time restart had its beginning.

The long-awaited raindrops finally fell; not far away, a few people were caught off guard by the rain and gasped slightly.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to Ye Leyao’s plan, but as with everything, there were unexpected events.

Ye Leyao’s gaze fell on Huo Yan, who was hurrying over with an umbrella, and he smiled: “Bai Yu, thank you.”

Bai Yu shook his head and gestured: “Then I’ll leave first.”

His lover was already here.

Ye Leyao nodded, watching their figures leave.

Huo Yan strode into the pavilion and frowned as soon as he entered: “You saw it was about to rain; why didn’t you come back early?”

Ye Leyao looked up and blinked: “I just wanted to wait for you to pick me up, Second Brother.”

Huo Yan snorted: “Did you want me to pick you up, or did you want Qin Yao to come get you?”

Ye Leyao smiled and remained silent.

Huo Yan said nothing more, shaking off the raindrops from his umbrella: “Let’s go; Qin Yao is still busy.”

In truth, Qin Yao had already finished, but Huo Yan didn’t like how Qin Yao was acting, and seeing the pouring rain for some reason made him feel increasingly uneasy. So, he had stopped Qin Yao and personally come to pick up Ye Leyao.

Ye Leyao didn’t hesitate, nodded, and stood up: “Okay.”

Huo Yan held the umbrella and led Ye Leyao towards the villa, asking as they walked, “Was that boy you were chatting with just now the one we met at the resort?”

“It was him,” Ye Leyao replied.

Huo Yan asked again, “Did you ask him why he looked for you that day?”

Ye Leyao said, “I asked; he said he was my fan, and the note he wrote that day had a line from an anime…”

Huo Yan understood, but he wasn’t very interested in that topic, so he changed the subject: “It’s getting late; Dad and Mom just finished talking with Uncle Qin. We should head back now.”

Ye Leyao looked at him: “It’s pouring rain; are we leaving now?”

“Of course,” Huo Yan said with a slight frown.

His intuition told him they had to leave immediately and take Ye Leyao with him.

Ye Leyao nodded and didn’t say anything more.

However, Huo Yan waited for a long time, only to find that Ye Leyao beside him remained quiet, looking at him with some surprise: “What’s wrong with you…”

Ye Leyao was all smiles and raised his head slightly upon hearing this: “Hmm? What’s the matter, Second Brother?”

Huo Yan frowned.

Something was off.

Something was wrong.

Usually, Ye Leyao liked to contradict him the most, but why was he so quiet today?

Huo Yan felt something was not right, yet he couldn’t pinpoint the problem and could only frown in silence.

Looking at Ye Leyao again, his expression was just as usual, and there didn’t seem to be anything unusual.

Could it be that he was really overthinking it?

As Huo Yan pondered, they had already returned to the villa.

Seeing the two come in, Qin Yao and the Huo family quickly walked over.

Upon seeing Qin Yao, Ye Leyao couldn’t help but smile widely. Without thinking, he jumped up and hugged Qin Yao’s neck.

Qin Yao instinctively caught Ye Leyao with his hands, then looked surprised: “Yaoyao?”

Ye Leyao chuckled softly, saying, “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to hug me?”

Huo Yan, the entire Huo family, and the surrounding guests all turned to look at the two.

In front of so many eyes, Qin Yao’s ears turned visibly red, and he cleared his throat awkwardly: “Yaoyao?”

Ye Leyao found it amusing but clung to Qin Yao, refusing to let go.

Huo Yan’s eyelids twitched, but Huo Ze timely pulled him back, preventing him from stepping forward.

Mama Huo took the opportunity to say, “What a lovely relationship! It’s truly enviable.”

Hearing this, the guests around them laughed.

“Yeah.”

“Alright, let’s leave this space for the young ones. We’ll move to another place to continue chatting.”

The guests quickly dispersed, and Mama and Papa Huo held hands and left first.

Huo Ze tugged at Huo Yan, who glared angrily at Qin Yao before saying to Ye Leyao, “I’ll give you five more minutes. Hurry up and come over; we’re leaving.”

Ye Leyao nodded repeatedly: “Got it, Second Brother, you go ahead.”

His time was limited; he wanted to take advantage of this moment to talk to Qin Yao.

Finally, Huo Yan began to move, but he kept looking back, taking a minute to walk a short distance before he finally left.

Just as he spotted Papa and Mama Huo, he heard Papa Huo say, “Alright, everyone is here. Let’s go.”

Huo Yan’s eyes widened instantly: “Go where?”

Papa Huo replied, “Home, of course. Didn’t you just say we needed to hurry back? I’ve already had the driver bring the car over.”

Huo Yan quickly interjected, “When I said ‘home,’ I meant taking Ye Leyao with us. Are we just going to leave him here?”

“What do you mean ‘leave’?” Mama Huo glanced at Huo Yan, somewhat exasperated. “When you went to pick up Yaoyao, Xiao Qin told me he would take Yaoyao home later. He said we should go back first.”

Huo Yan immediately protested, “No way, we can’t leave first; we must take Ye Leyao with us…”

Mama Huo didn’t want to hear it and quickly told Huo Ze, “Hurry up and take your second brother away before he really goes and confronts Xiao Qin…”

Huo Ze nodded immediately: “Okay!”

After saying this, he pushed Huo Yan: “Let’s go, Second Brother; we’re leaving!”

“I’m not leaving!” Huo Yan protested, “I want to take Ye Leyao with me…”

But Papa Huo and Huo Jing were quick, each grabbing one of his arms.

“We’ve already told you not to interfere with Yaoyao’s love life. You’re just as stubborn as a mule!” Papa Huo said in a deep voice.

Huo Jing also advised, “Yaoyao will soon have to report to school; he hasn’t seen Qin Yao for a while. Give them some personal space.”

Huo Yan exclaimed, “How did I become the mule? Wait, don’t drag me away!”

No matter how Huo Yan struggled, Papa Huo and Huo Jing wouldn’t let go, with Huo Ze helping from behind.

Huo Yan felt utterly overwhelmed as the remaining three men from the Huo family dragged and shoved him into the car.

The others followed and got into the vehicle, and then Mama Huo declared, “Drive!”

Ignoring Huo Yan’s objections, the Huo family’s extended luxury car slowly drove out of the Qin family villa.

On the other side, after all the guests left, only Ye Leyao and Qin Yao remained in the hall.

At this moment, Ye Leyao had buried his head in Qin Yao’s embrace, while outside, the rain poured down harder, with the sound of raindrops hitting the ground echoing endlessly.

Ye Leyao wanted to cover his ears but didn’t want to let go of the arms wrapped around Qin Yao, so he could only rub his face against Qin Yao’s neck to express his discontent.

Qin Yao noticed Ye Leyao’s little mood and quickly asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t like rainy days?”

Ye Leyao replied with a muffled “mm.”

Qin Yao reached out to tousle Ye Leyao’s hair, then gently placed his warm palm over Ye Leyao’s ears.

Ye Leyao was momentarily taken aback, then smiled: “How did you know what I was thinking?”

Qin Yao smiled but said nothing.

The two nestled together, and Ye Leyao called out, “President Qin.”

“Mm?” Qin Yao responded softly, “What’s the matter?”

Ye Leyao laughed: “Nothing, I just wanted to call you.”

Qin Yao said, “Mm, so what happened earlier?”

Ye Leyao didn’t expect Qin Yao to be so perceptive. He leaned slightly out of Qin Yao’s embrace and looked up at him, studying Qin Yao’s face.

Qin Yao lowered his head a bit, his gaze meeting Ye Leyao’s bright, shining eyes.

His Adam’s apple moved slightly as he asked quietly, “Can’t you tell me?”

Ye Leyao didn’t speak; he just quietly looked at Qin Yao, as if by doing so, he could imprint Qin Yao’s image into his program.

In fact, Ye Leyao could indeed achieve that level.

During the long years working at the Space-Time Bureau, every time he missed Qin Yao, he would create a model of Qin Yao using data.

As the most outstanding system in the Space-Time Bureau, the models he created were, of course, the most perfect.

Unfortunately, the models were never Qin Yao.

So Ye Leyao had only done this once; in the subsequent hundreds of years, he never made another model. Instead, whenever he missed Qin Yao, he would repeatedly look through all the data related to Qin Yao.

Ye Leyao’s data was vast.

But the data concerning Qin Yao took up a very small portion.

Ye Leyao couldn’t remember how many times he had gone through it, but thankfully, he didn’t have to look at the data anymore.

Because at this moment, Qin Yao was right beside him.

Even if they would temporarily part ways again, that was only for the time being.

After waiting a long time without a response from Ye Leyao, Qin Yao was not anxious; he simply looked at Ye Leyao quietly.

Suddenly, Ye Leyao tilted his head slightly, his lips pressing against Qin Yao’s.

Qin Yao’s eyes widened for a moment: “Yaoyao…”

“President Qin,” Ye Leyao withdrew his gaze, letting go of Qin Yao with satisfaction, shaking his hand, “I’m very happy to meet you.”

Qin Yao tightened his grip on Ye Leyao’s hand slightly. He was about to say something when he suddenly recalled Chu Cheng’s voice: “Brother! Grandpa is…”

Qin Yao turned around abruptly.

Chu Cheng rushed over, panting heavily: “Grandpa… is not doing well…”

Qin Yao quickly looked at Ye Leyao: “Yaoyao, I…”

“President Qin, you should go,” Ye Leyao said.

Qin Yao frowned slightly: “The rain outside is too heavy. How about I take you home first, or…”

“Just let the driver take me,” Ye Leyao looked at Qin Yao, his gaze almost greedily roaming over his face. “President Qin, you should go quickly.”

Qin Yao looked at Ye Leyao, the boy before him showing no signs of change, not even the way he looked at him.

But for some reason, Qin Yao felt that Ye Leyao had changed.

He couldn’t articulate where this change came from, but it made Qin Yao somewhat uneasy.

Qin Yao didn’t want to leave Ye Leyao: “Yaoyao…”

Before Ye Leyao could say anything more, Qin Hongxi quickly walked over to the three of them: “Qin Yao, the hospital just sent news that your grandfather…”

As he spoke, Qin Hongxi glanced at Ye Leyao and smiled at him: “If you don’t want to go, it’s fine too.”

However, Ye Leyao said: “Qin Yao, go.”

This was the first time since they met that Qin Yao heard Ye Leyao call his name.

Qin Yao’s eyes softened a little. He gently said, “Then wait for me here. I’ll take you back after I return from the hospital, okay?”

Ye Leyao nodded, smiling as he said, “Okay.”

Chu Cheng urged Qin Yao again.

Only then did Qin Yao follow Qin Hongxi and Chu Cheng away.

Watching the three of them leave, a smile slowly appeared on Ye Leyao’s lips.

After regaining his memories, Ye Leyao’s abilities also returned, so he had long known that the Huo family had already left.

At this moment, the head of the Qin family was also preparing to leave, and the guests present naturally began to disperse.

Ye Leyao then went upstairs to Qin Yao’s room.

The rain poured down, drenching the roses, causing them to lean awkwardly.

Ye Leyao walked to the balcony, took a pair of scissors, and cut a bouquet of flowers. He skillfully found a vase in Qin Yao’s room and arranged the fresh flowers inside.

Then he took out the remaining oat milk from the fridge.

Qin Yao knew he liked to drink it, so he had made a lot.

Sipping the oat milk slowly, Ye Leyao then went to wash the cup in the kitchen.

After that, he went to Qin Yao’s study.

Qin Yao’s computer was still on. Ye Leyao thought for a moment and installed a small program on his computer.

Then he took out a sticky note from the side and wrote a message on it.

After finishing these tasks, it was almost time.

Ye Leyao got up and went downstairs, then grabbed an umbrella prepared for the guests and was ready to go out.

At that moment, the butler of the Qin family suddenly approached: “Young Master Ye? What are you doing…”

Ye Leyao smiled at him: “My parents just called me and said they were waiting for me at the door, so I’m heading back.”

The butler frowned slightly: “I’ll take you out.”

Ye Leyao shook his head: “No need, I can go out by myself.”

Politely refusing the butler, Ye Leyao opened the umbrella and walked alone into the rain.

In just a few seconds, he had walked several dozen meters away.

The butler’s frown deepened; he felt something was off.

But before he could think further, he suddenly froze.

Wait…

Why was he standing here in a daze?

The butler shook his head in confusion and hurried back to his tasks.

Qin Hongxi needed to rush to the hospital and naturally had no time to entertain the remaining guests, so this duty fell to the butler.

At this point, quite a number of guests had yet to leave, and the butler dared not slack off.

Countless luxury cars left the Qin family villa, passing by Ye Leyao, but no one saw his figure clearly.

Amidst the torrential rain, Ye Leyao’s figure moved faster and faster.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Leyao had reached that intersection.

The heavy rain poured down, and there were very few people at the intersection, only the hurried flow of traffic.

The Qin family’s car was moving steadily on the left road.

Suddenly, the car came to a halt without warning.

Qin Hongxi was taken aback: “What happened?”

The driver said: “It suddenly stalled, sir; please wait a moment; I’ll check it.”

Chu Cheng was sitting next to Qin Yao, his brow furrowing: “How did it suddenly stall?”

Qin Yao’s heart suddenly raced at that moment, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead.

Chu Cheng turned his head and was suddenly startled: “Cousin, what’s wrong with you?”

Qin Hongxi turned around: “Qin Yao?”

At the same time, in the Huo family’s car.

Huo Yan, who had been silently preparing to accept reality, suddenly sat up: “No, stop the car! Stop the car!”

The family turned their heads in unison: “What’s wrong?”

Papa and Mama Huo looked confused.

Huo Yan’s eyes were bloodshot: “I can’t hear it anymore!”

Huo Mom was taken aback: “You mean…”

Huo Yan’s eyes were red: “I can’t hear Ye Leyao’s voice anymore. No, turn back! Go to that fork in the road! Hurry! Hurry! We need to go right now—if we’re late, it’ll be too late!”

The family quickly reacted.

Yes.

When did this start?

Why had they not heard Ye Leyao’s voice for so long?

An inexplicable panic enveloped the entire Ho family, and this time they could no longer voice any objections.

“Turn back,” Papa Ho said. “Reverse back! Go to that intersection!”

They had to go to that intersection.

They must go, and go immediately.

…

“Qin Yao!”

A series of sharp honks sounded, and Qin Yao had already jumped out of the car.

Chu Cheng looked at the unusual Qin Yao, puzzled. “What’s wrong with brother? Why did he suddenly get out of the car?”

Qin Hongxi was even more confused, but he didn’t ask further. He simply grabbed an umbrella and followed him out of the car.

Inside, only the driver and Chu Cheng remained, exchanging glances.

“I’m going to check it out too!” Chu Cheng said.

He took an umbrella and got out of the car, quickly following behind.

Qin Yao ran very fast, and as he got closer, he finally saw the person standing at the intersection—Ye Leyao.

“Yaoyao!”

The heavy raindrops poured down, soaking him completely.

But Qin Yao acted as if he didn’t notice and desperately ran toward Ye Leyao.

He didn’t know why he was running; he just knew he had to reach him.

Because he needed to protect Ye Leyao…

But what would happen next?

Ye Leyao turned in surprise and saw Qin Yao rushing toward him without a care for anything else.

He suddenly recalled that when the timeline restarted for the third time, Qin Yao had been like this too.

Ye Leyao had been prepared for everything.

He had deliberately kept Qin Yao at bay and arrived at this intersection ahead of time.

But in the moment the large truck came crashing in, Qin Yao had appeared from behind and pushed Ye Leyao away.

It had taken a long time for Ye Leyao to realize the truth, only discovering later while searching his own data for records about Qin Yao that Qin Yao had known all along.

On the day Ye Leyao talked with Huo Yan, Qin Yao had been waiting outside.

However, Ye Leyao had blocked most of his abilities at that time, so he hadn’t sensed when Qin Yao had come.

But today was different.

Qin Yao suddenly lunged at him, soaking wet, holding Ye Leyao tightly. His voice trembled, “Yaoyao… why, why are you…”

Ye Leyao hated water.

He hated rain even more.

But he didn’t mind Qin Yao, who was now drenched, holding him.

The umbrella slipped from Ye Leyao’s hand, and he embraced Qin Yao tightly, almost reverently pressing a kiss on the corner of Qin Yao’s lips. “Qin Yao, can you promise me one thing?”

Qin Yao trembled all over. His memories had been sealed by Ye Leyao; he didn’t know what was about to happen, but his instincts told him he couldn’t agree.

“No, I won’t agree. Yaoyao… I won’t agree to anything you say. You can’t…” Qin Yao’s voice was hoarse, tears streamed down before he could even speak, “You can’t leave me… I…”

“Qin Yao,” Ye Leyao interrupted him, burying his face in his chest. “You have to promise me. You have to wait for me, Qin Yao. You must wait for me to come back; do you understand…”

Qin Yao shook his head, repeatedly shaking his head, his eyes red. He gently pushed Ye Leyao away to look at him directly: “Yaoyao, what am I waiting for?” He chuckled lightly, “Aren’t you right here beside me? Why would I…”

Ye Leyao shook his head, reaching out to wipe away the tears at the corners of Qin Yao’s eyes, smiling as he said, “You wait for me, Qin Yao. It won’t take long; I promise I’ll come back for you. I promised you before, didn’t I?”

After saying this, Ye Leyao pushed Qin Yao away.

No matter how hard Qin Yao tried, he couldn’t hold onto Ye Leyao anymore.

It was as if an invisible hand was continuously pushing Qin Yao backward.

Qin Yao was separated from Ye Leyao, and he felt himself being pushed back.

A massive panic engulfed Qin Yao, nearly breaking him: “Yaoyao! What are you doing… What do you want to do?!”

Screech—

The sound of tires scraping harshly against the road rang out as an out-of-control truck sped toward Ye Leyao—

Qin Yao’s eyes filled with terror, and he yelled at the top of his lungs: “Yaoyao! Get out of the way! Quick—”

Before the last word left his mouth, there was a loud bang.

Qin Yao watched helplessly as Ye Leyao’s body flew up like a light butterfly and then fell rapidly—

“No—” Qin Yao screamed.

The hand that had been in front of his chest finally released, and Qin Yao dashed toward Ye Leyao.

“Yaoyao! Yaoyao—”

He held Ye Leyao’s body in his arms, blood blossoming on the rain-soaked ground.

Ye Leyao suddenly felt warm. He struggled to open his eyes, meeting Qin Yao’s bloodshot gaze.

“Yaoyao!”

“Qin Yao…” Ye Leyao’s voice was faint, like it was coming from a distant horizon. He smiled gently at him, enunciating each word, “Qin Yao, you have to wait for me. You have to wait for me, okay?”

Qin Yao held Ye Leyao tightly, crying like a child. “Okay, I promise you. Yaoyao, you promise me too. You can’t be hurt; you won’t get hurt…”

But before he could finish speaking, Qin Yao suddenly felt a lightness in his arms.

Ye Leyao’s body began to turn transparent, as if it were made of bubbles, dissipating in the heavy rain.

“Yao… Yao?”

Qin Yao’s voice trembled; first his feet, then his body, and finally even Ye Leyao’s fingers became transparent until he could no longer see them.

Ye Leyao had vanished.

“Yaoyao?” Qin Yao cried out in panic, repeating Ye Leyao’s name over and over.

But all around him, there was nothing but the patter of rain, with no other response.

In the next moment, the sealed memories suddenly unlocked.

Qin Yao remembered.

It was Ye Leyao.

The one who had carried him home through the heavy snow was Ye Leyao.

But…

But why did Ye Leyao disappear?

Qin Hongxi and Chu Cheng hurried over one after the other.

“Qin Yao!”

“Cousin—”

Raindrops pounded down on Qin Yao, causing him pain all over.

Qin Yao heard nothing; he just maintained his embrace, kneeling on the ground and crying uncontrollably.

He was gone.

The person he had waited eighteen years for had once again disappeared before his eyes.

At the same time, in the Space-Time Bureau.

Qiu and L2 hurriedly shoved a mass of data into a huge computer.

L2 was panting, exhausted like an orange cat: “Is this… is this enough?”

Qiu let out a long breath: “Yes, now we just have to wait.”

L1 had worked for hundreds of years, finally accumulating enough points to synchronize the time flow of the A20231007 world with that of the main system.

Now, it all depended on whether this human named Qin Yao would keep his promise and wait for L1 to awaken again.