MCL CH18

Chapter 18: “Good night, Lin Xi.”

In the suite at the far end of the corridor.

As the innermost door closed, all the light was shut out. In the dimly lit room, which formed its own separate space, only a sliver of moonlight occasionally peeked in from the side window.

This independent room, from its furnishings to its decor, was undoubtedly completely out of place with the rest of the villa.

Minimalist, to the point of being somewhat crude.

Yan Xingzhou’s long legs were crossed in front of him. His fingertips, resting on the armrest, tapped lightly, becoming the only background sound in this silence.

Finally, as if sensing something, he lifted his lowered eyelids slightly. When he saw the figure that had appeared before him, the cold, sharp gaze he showed to everyone during the day suddenly melted into nothing but gentleness. “Sorry, I was 3 minutes and 52 seconds late today.”

The person standing before him gave no response, just looked at him fixedly.

In the semi-dark environment, against the backdrop of his black hair and black eyes, his otherwise fair skin seemed to become transparent for a moment.

Yan Xingzhou’s gaze lingered on that face for a long time before he reached out his hand.

The person in front of him walked forward at his gesture. He watched as Yan Xingzhou gently picked up his fingertips, caressing them lightly with the pads of his fingers. His expression was still the same indifferent smile from memory.

In the silence, Yan Xingzhou’s voice sounded as if he were recounting something, and also like talking to himself. “The United Administration finally couldn’t hold back anymore. They intend to have Su Qiuyin monitor me here. But they really picked the wrong time. The news of the funeral has already been released, and now the whole world is watching N City. If I’m not mistaken, we should be able to see those old friends from the United Administration very soon.”

“I’m also very curious what they’re feeling right now. The lie of that obituary has been circulating for three whole years. Someone should stand up and give them a reminder, otherwise, I’m afraid they’ll deceive themselves into forgetting the real cause of death.”

“Oh, right. You said that the existence of the highest contaminant would be the greatest crisis for humanity. So after confirming that Calamity is still alive, I have also been searching for his tracks. Just as I told you a few days ago, after three years, I finally found a clue on someone. I’ve brought him back today. If he really is Calamity’s new host, there should be a way to make him reveal a flaw. It’s just that…”

At this point, Yan Xingzhou brought the other’s hand to his lips and kissed it lightly, then slowly placed it on the side of his face. Under his extremely possessive caress, the color in his eyes seemed to lengthen. “Perhaps it’s because we’ve been meeting too frequently lately that it has affected some of my perceptual judgments, to the point that I always inadvertently catch your shadow on that person. After your funeral is over, I’ll have Ju Ze make an appointment with a few psychiatric experts to have a good look.”

He didn’t know if the man standing before him had understood what he said, but he suddenly followed the pull of his hand and gently stroked Yan Xingzhou’s sharp, handsome features. His voice was calm and emotionless. “You’ve lost weight.”

The moonlight from outside poured into the room, falling on the man, but it cast no shadow on the ground.

As his voice fell, a period of silence fell over the empty room. A moment later, an unprecedented gentleness appeared on Yan Xingzhou’s face, along with a distinct self-mockery. “This is the 26th sentence you’ve said to me in three years, and 17 of them, including this one, were in the last two months. It seems my obsession with wanting to be closer to you is getting more and more serious.”

He reached out and gently pinched the other’s chin. “But that’s fine. No matter what method, as long as I can still see you… otherwise, I really can’t guarantee that I can maintain a semblance of sanity before I finish everything I need to do.”

The man’s eyelids lowered slightly. “It’s late. Sleep.”

Yan Xingzhou: “Good night, Lin Xi.”

The entire night gradually returned to peace under the calm moonlight.

A gentle breeze blew in from the open window, making the curtains sway silently.

As his breathing gradually steadied, without him realizing, the figure in the room had disappeared.

Only that tall figure was left, his brow tightly furrowed, his expression weary as he fell into a dream.

The next morning.

When he came downstairs, Yan Xingzhou had already changed into a neat and sharp black suit.

As usual, he went downstairs for breakfast. Inadvertently, his gaze fell on the figure sitting at the dining table and paused for a moment.

A hint of a daze flashed in his expression.

Lin Xi had already heard the footsteps coming downstairs. He looked up and smiled, greeting him, “President Yan, good morning.”

Yan Xingzhou paused for a moment, as if he had finally remembered why Lin Xi was here. When he started walking again, he had already withdrawn his gaze. “Mm, morning.”

Lin Xi watched as Yan Xingzhou walked to his seat at the dining table. Without a sound, he couldn’t help but take another look at him.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he felt that just now, Yan Xingzhou seemed to have completely forgotten his presence.

No, not just that.

For a moment, Yan Xingzhou’s expression seemed to be trying hard to confirm his identity.

This is not right.

[Alright, I know you’re into his looks, but there’s no need to stare at him so intently.]

[On one hand, you say you don’t want to get too involved with him, but on the other hand, you’re coveting his male beauty. Don’t you think you’re being a bit too insincere, Executive Lin?]

Lin Xi: “…It’s not what you think.”

Lin Xi silently suggested in his mind, “As the King of Contaminants, I think you should sometimes not think about such lecherous things.”

[What’s wrong, what’s wrong? You yourself know that staring at others secretly like this is an improper thing to do?]

“…”

Lin Xi took another sip of milk and decided not to bother with him anymore.

“Sir, would you like another glass of milk?”

Hearing the respectful voice by his ear, Lin Xi politely said to the maid, “No need, thank you.”

After waking up in the morning, he had finally seen some living people in this villa of Yan Xingzhou’s. But he didn’t know why, when those people first saw him, their eyes were as if they had seen a ghost. After Ju Ze came over and gave a few instructions, their whole attitude became like it was now. Everyone was smiling, a little too enthusiastic.

Ju Ze had been up early. After arranging Lin Xi’s reception, he waited by the side. Now, seeing Yan Xingzhou come down, he took advantage of the breakfast time to open his laptop and hand the document he had prepared to Yan Xingzhou. “President, all the arrangements for the funeral in three days are here. It’s basically ready, with a few details left to be set. Please take a final look. I’ve already contacted the organizers this morning. They hope we can complete the final adjustments and confirmation before midnight tomorrow.”

Lin Xi had originally not been very interested in the work of the CEO of Wanyuan Corporation, but hearing Ju Ze say this, he also looked up.

Unexpectedly, he happened to meet Yan Xingzhou’s gaze. Caught off guard, their eyes met, and he was caught red-handed. “…”

“I have nothing to add,” Yan Xingzhou’s lips curved into a silent smile. “But it seems Mr. Lin Ni has some thoughts.”

Ju Ze also looked over.

“I wouldn’t call them thoughts.”

As Lin Xi said this, before he could finish, he saw Yan Xingzhou turn the laptop in front of him and push it directly to him. “…”

Yan Xingzhou made a “please” gesture. “I still have some time for breakfast. You can take a look at this complete funeral plan before giving your answer.”

[Again and again, this man is trying to bait you!]

Lin Xi replied in his mind, “…I know.”

He could, of course, see Yan Xingzhou’s blatant probing. But the words of refusal that were on the tip of his tongue were inevitably moved when the words “Century Funeral” on the screen entered his eyes.

Faced with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to personally review his own funeral, if he missed it, he felt he would regret it for the rest of his life.

In the end, Lin Xi took the laptop. “Since President Yan has said so, then I won’t be polite.”

Just like that, in front of Yan Xingzhou, he really did go through it page by page, seriously.

From the plan, it was not difficult to see that a lot of money had indeed been spent on this funeral.

After reading it carefully, word for word, Lin Xi smiled and beckoned to Ju Ze. “Come, Assistant Ju. I have a few immature suggestions here. Take a look and see if they’re worth adopting.”

Ju Ze glanced at Yan Xingzhou. After receiving a confirmation, he took out a pen and paper and walked over. “Okay, you speak. I’ll take notes.”

Lin Xi first flipped to the third page. “First of all, I think we can consider changing the style of the coffin. The current one looks a bit old-fashioned. If it’s suitable, I think we can use a new alloy material. That should better highlight Executive Lin’s temperament. In addition, I think the flowers on the side can be changed to…”

One suggestion after another. During this process, Yan Xingzhou always ate his breakfast slowly and methodically, without interfering once.

It wasn’t until Lin Xi had finally finished speaking that he looked up. “Is that all?”

“That’s all?” Lin Xi was clearly very puzzled by Yan Xingzhou’s description. He pointed to the content that Ju Ze had already written down, which filled more than ten pages, and asked sincerely, “Do you think my suggestions are not detailed enough?”

Yan Xingzhou was silent for a moment.

He had listened carefully to every suggestion made here, but from beginning to end, they were basically all about the venue’s layout and had basically not touched on any other areas. The entire change, apart from the aesthetic adjustments, could be said to be irrelevant.

He had thought that he would take this opportunity to do something secretly.

Yan Xingzhou looked at Lin Xi intently. “Besides what you just said, on the funeral’s procedure, are you sure you have no other suggestions?”

Lin Xi: “None.”

After a brief silence, he nodded. “I see.”

Lin Xi returned the laptop. “Assistant Ju, I’ll leave the specific adjustments to you.”

The smile on Ju Ze’s face had long since frozen with each and every record he made.

Where are these suggestions? This is practically a complete overhaul of the funeral’s on-site layout!

He hesitated and looked at Yan Xingzhou, asking, “President Yan, what do you think of these?”

Yan Xingzhou did not look at Ju Ze’s recorded content and just waved his hand. “I’ve already heard everything he said. Just change it according to what he said.”

“…”

Ju Ze wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, he still replied respectfully, “Understood. I’ll go contact the organizers right away.”

As he spoke, he took out his phone and was about to go outside to call the organizers when he paused at a new email notification.

Yan Xingzhou caught the fluctuation in Ju Ze’s expression. “What is it?”

Ju Ze looked back at Yan Xingzhou deeply and said slowly, “The attendance list for this funeral has been officially confirmed.”

Since he had become the CEO’s assistant at Wanyuan Corporation, he considered himself to have been through many storms. But even so, he couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath. “It’s a bit—surprisingly amazing.”

As he spoke, he immediately handed the list to Yan Xingzhou.

“Surprisingly amazing?” A quick glance, and the names on it were enough to shock the world. But after Yan Xingzhou had read it, he just smiled calmly. “I, on the other hand, think that only this kind of lineup is worthy of his funeral.”