"You've only been in Donghai City for a short time. How do you know so much about Lin Xian's affairs?" Tang Xin asked Zhou Duanyun.

Zhou Duanyun used a fork to pick up a dish from the white plate and put it in his mouth.

"Whether it's Donghai City or elsewhere... the after-dinner chats in the business world always revolve around the same old things, men and women. Although I haven't been in Donghai for long, I've heard a lot about Donghai from others."

"Lin Xian is quite famous in Donghai's business circles now. Of course... the reason for his fame isn't because he's so outstanding, but because of the women around him."

Seeing that Tang Xin was listening attentively, Zhou Duanyun smiled slightly, wiped the corners of his mouth with a towel, and continued,

"Lin Xian's boss, the president of Company X, Zhao Yingjun, is the only daughter of the Zhao Group in the capital. Although the two seem to be worlds apart in terms of status... according to everyone's speculation, their relationship is definitely not ordinary."

"The two danced a dance at the New Year's Eve banquet before the new year... A woman with Zhao Yingjun's personality would never dance with anyone else, but Lin Xian is such an exception, so you don't need to think about the reason."

"After I saw that you were interested in Lin Xian that day, I specifically inquired about him for you, and I did get some interesting news."

Zhou Duanyun looked up at Tang Xin.

"Lin Xian is now serving as Zhao Yingjun's personal secretary, and before that, Zhao Yingjun hadn't employed a secretary for a long time. Everyone inside Company X secretly feels that the relationship between the two is unusual... There's no smoke without fire. Although the two shouldn't have a definite romantic relationship, I think this President Zhao is obviously interested in Lin Xian, has ideas."

...

Tang Xin didn't speak.

She hadn't heard Lin Xian mention these things, of course, she hadn't specifically asked.

"That's Lin Xian's own business."

Tang Xin turned her head and looked at the neon night scene of Donghai outside the window.

"But I actually think Lin Xian doesn't have that kind of romantic feeling for Zhao Yingjun," Zhou Duanyun said with a smile.

"Do you know Lin Xian well?" Tang Xin turned her head and looked at Zhou Duanyun.

"I don't think you two seem too familiar."

"That's true." Zhou Duanyun nodded.

"But after all, we were classmates for three years in high school, and we chatted a lot when I took Gao Yang back yesterday, so I still know a lot about Lin Xian's situation."

"In fact, Lin Xian's greatest strengths are his kindness and enthusiasm. This is the same whether it's the Lin Xian of high school or the Lin Xian of now. But at the same time, this is also his greatest weakness—"

After a pause, Zhou Duanyun narrowed his eyes and said,

"Lin Xian is a soft-hearted person. He's not good at refusing others."

"He'll agree to most people's requests, even if some things are troublesome, but Lin Xian's inherent kindness and enthusiasm often lead him to reluctantly agree."

"That doesn't seem like a weakness." Tang Xin smiled.

On this point, she still agreed with what Zhou Duanyun said.

"Did Lin Xian often help others in high school?"

When it came to Lin Xian, Tang Xin also became more talkative.

"Yes."

Zhou Duanyun replied with a smile,

"Lin Xian was like that in high school. To be honest, he helped me a lot back then. I don't mind telling you that my family wasn't well-off in high school. I sat in the back corner of the classroom and was a bit inferior and unsociable. Few people paid attention to me."

"But many times, Lin Xian would notice me... especially in many moments of being ignored and overlooked, he would always try to pull me in very considerately."

Tang Xin smiled after hearing this,

"Then aren't you very grateful to Lin Xian?"

"This kind of thing... how should I put it."

Zhou Duanyun picked up the red wine glass, drank half of it in one gulp, shook the blood-red liquid, and put it back on the table.

"Looking at it now, at my age, I'm definitely grateful to Lin Xian. But at that age in my teens...

...I really hated people like Lin Xian."

"Why?" Tang Xin was very puzzled.

"This kind of emotion is hard to explain, right?"

Zhou Duanyun crossed his hands in front of his chest, leaned back on the sofa, and said slowly,

"Back then, Lin Xian was very popular. He was handsome and good at sports. He was a legendary figure in the whole school, always surrounded by a group of boys and girls, and had a close friend like the class monitor Gao Yang... I believe every teenage boy wanted to live like Lin Xian."

"And I was far from it. I could only huddle in the corner of the classroom every day, not daring to lift my head, and not even daring to look people in the eye when talking to classmates."

"In this case, I felt that it was best for everyone to ignore me, disregard me, and overlook me. The classroom was like being in prison to me at that time. I didn't want to stay for a second."

"But Lin Xian was always well-intentioned at times, thinking of including me in the activities with the classmates. It's just a pity that at that time, this kind of good intention would only make me feel embarrassed and hypocritical. Kindness turned into a sharp blade, like forcibly dragging me into the sun for execution."

...

Zhou Duanyun's words stopped abruptly here.

There was a long silence between the two.

Tang Xin could understand Zhou Duanyun's psychology very well, after all, she was also a transfer student who transferred halfway through school...

To some extent, she empathized with Zhou Duanyun.

"But that's all in the past. I'm still very grateful to Lin Xian now."

Zhou Duanyun changed his tone and smiled again.

"That's why I'm so concerned about Lin Xian and your affairs. If I can really bring you two together, it will be a belated repayment to Lin Xian."

"Actually, I don't usually tell these things, these words, to others. They're all embarrassing things and dark psychology from adolescence. It's embarrassing to bring them up."

Tang Xin shook her head.

"I'm quite surprised that you can tell me these things, because you were also very radiant and a successful person at the class reunion. You've never mentioned these things."

Tang Xin really felt that Zhou Duanyun was much more real when he told her these things, and she also felt that the distance between the two had narrowed.

"Because I really want to help you, help you two," Zhou Duanyun said with a smile, raising his wine glass, inviting Tang Xin to drink together for the first time tonight.

"How about it? Want to hear my plan?"

Tang Xin lowered her head and smiled, sat up straight, and also picked up the red wine glass and raised it gently.

"Although it's quite embarrassing. But... it wouldn't hurt to listen."

The two raised their glasses to the same level and drank the red wine.

...

Night, in the dream.

In the past few days, Lin Xian's exploration of New Donghai City has deepened further.

The latest achievement is that CC has perfectly deciphered the opening password of that giant chain bookstore.

As long as the correct password is used to open the door, no alarm will be triggered, and Lin Xian can stay in the bookstore all night without any problems.

In any era, books are the most direct treasure. Now that the safe is temporarily clueless, more time should be spent in the bookstore looking for useful clues.

Although there are no history books here that Lin Xian urgently needs.

But history is very broad. It will always exist in various books in various ways. Even if all the big events are erased, the general trend of history can still be deduced from some minor descriptions.

But Lin Xian is not an artificial intelligence capable of quantum reading. If he really has to read books one by one to find information, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He also tried to move towards the more central location of New Donghai City, curious about what was in the liit Building that disappeared into the clouds, and what kind of power ruled New Donghai City.

But unfortunately, he encountered two difficulties...

First, the closer to the center, the stricter the security patrols, and there are even a large number of real police officers.

This is very annoying.

Because of the differences in appearance, temperament, clothing, and other aspects, Lin Xian, an "outsider," can be easily identified from the "original residents" of New Donghai City.

This is a hard to describe feeling.

Just like a country bumpkin entering the city, even if they wear the same clothes and comb their hair into a trendy style, you can still tell at a glance that they are not locals.

New Donghai City has been isolated from the outside world for hundreds of years and has long formed its own unique cultural temperament and customs. It's okay to deceive mechanical dogs and robots, but real police officers can't be deceived.

At least, not yet. Lin Xian's imitations have repeatedly failed.

The second difficulty is also in exploring New Donghai City more deeply.

He originally wanted to steal a flying motorcycle and fly directly in... but he would always inexplicably trigger the alarm, and every time he would be exposed when he flew to a fixed area.

Lin Xian guessed that there might be some area-based detection mechanism?

Then on the ground, there are also several high walls that separate different urban areas, and Lin Xian cannot pass through on foot.

"It's a bit stuck."

Lin Xian scratched his head. At this time, it was like encountering a level in a game that he couldn't pass, or a maze where he couldn't find the right route. The progress was stuck like this.

Moreover, there is no strategy to check. Only through countless trials and errors, deaths, and piling up corpses may he be able to find the correct route to clear the level.

But this method is still too stupid and too silly. He only has one chance to die a day, and it is very likely that he will die hundreds of times and it would take a year or two to reach the central urban area.

So…

"Let's just read books in the bookstore for a while."

There are many books about New Donghai City in the bookstore, in all aspects. It's better to first learn about the details of security from them to see if he can find any loopholes.

As for CC…

Now the two basically part ways as soon as they leave the checkpoint, each doing their own thing. Lin Xian once tried to take CC to crack the identity verification door of the city's high walls, but that equipment was too advanced, and CC's "Bluetooth headset" couldn't even connect, let alone crack the password.

...

This afternoon.

Lin Xian was slacking off in the Company X office.

Ding-dong.

Tang Xin's WeChat message came:

"Are you free tonight, Lin Xian? I have something I want to give you."