"Wang Yan, do you realize that the way you're acting now reminds me of the Four Great Classical Novels?" Xie Yufei sighed softly, slipping her hand out of his grasp.
"The Four Great Classical Novels?" Wang Yan repeated, confused.
"You know—'Brother, save me!' 'Advisor, save me!' 'Wukong, save me!' 'Sister, save me!'" Xie Yufei teased.
"Oh… I get it!" Wang Yan's face lit up, and then he grabbed her hand again, looking at her with utmost sincerity. "Yu Fei, help me!"
What's going on now?
Didn't I just mock him?
The highly intelligent young woman stared at her hand, now firmly held by his once more. After a few seconds, she burst out, "Wang Yan, where's your shame?"
"Right here," Wang Yan said with a cheeky grin.
Jerking her hand away, Xie Yufei scolded him as though admonishing a child: "Wang Yan, I keep telling you to solve problems by yourself. You're a grown man, yet you're always asking me for help. Aren't you ashamed?"
"Nope!" Wang Yan declared shamelessly. "I'm the boss. If something goes wrong in a company, the employees solve it, right? Haven't you ever thought about how, in certain stories, the leader does almost nothing while everyone else does the work? I see myself in that same position." He glanced sideways at Xie Yufei and added confidently, "If I can handle everything myself, what do I need you for?"
What an odd line of reasoning!
What strange logic…
Yet Xie Yufei couldn't find a direct counterargument. She had the urge to fling her hands toward the sky in exasperation again.
"Wang Yan, you're beyond saving," she groaned, massaging her temples. "Fine! What happened this time?"
"It's about the rehab hospital. My sister was on call last night, and she rang me this morning in a panic. Before she called, I used my Taobao account to buy a bunch of unusual items, paying with Li Zhan's bank card. Of course, Li Zhan himself is stuck in this world now. And not long ago, I also brought my downstairs neighbor—Old Man Liu—into this world. So…"
Though Xie Yufei always mocked his low IQ, Wang Yan felt he was explaining the situation pretty succinctly.
"So you're worried that during the investigation, your suspicious purchasing and your use of Li Zhan's account will be discovered? And you can't properly explain any of it," Xie Yufei concluded.
"Exactly," Wang Yan said, nodding gravely.
"Then don't bother explaining," Xie Yufei replied after a moment's thought.
"What do you mean?" Wang Yan asked.
"Let's go somewhere more appropriate first," she suggested.
In the next instant, they were both atop a nearby mountain.
Pulling out her phone, Xie Yufei switched on the camera and handed it to Wang Yan. "Film me."
Though puzzled, Wang Yan pointed the camera in her direction.
"Hello, everyone," she said brightly. "I'm Xie Yufei—yes, that Xie Yufei, the paraplegic genius with an IQ of 180 at the rehabilitation hospital. I'm the one responsible for the disappearance of the VIP ward patients."
She turned in place, then faced the camera again. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm fully recovered. Amazing, right? I won't explain how. As for the others who vanished, I've taken them to a mysterious place. I'll borrow them for three or five years and return them healthy as ever. So there's no point in wasting time and resources looking for them—you won't find them. I'm only making this video so you know the investigation is futile. That's all. I'm short on time, so… goodbye!"
Wang Yan gawked throughout the entire recording—he hadn't expected that solution. But he had to admit it seemed… effective.
"All done," Xie Yufei declared, checking the video. She clapped her hands, then tossed him her phone. "After you go back, find a discreet place to send this video to my parents' phones—then toss the phone. Problem solved. No one will suspect you."
"Thank you, Yufei. You're taking all the heat upon yourself," Wang Yan said, touched.
"So what?" she replied with a shrug. "Nobody can find me. My parents had no clue I went missing in the first place. As for us, we barely knew each other until yesterday. So they'll come up with nothing."
It seemed that everything really did become simpler whenever Xie Yufei stepped in.
She was so clever it made Wang Yan envious—she wasn't afraid of trouble, and she wasn't afraid of causing trouble.
Suddenly, Wang Yan resolved to read more books.
He might never match her raw IQ, but he could at least learn. In the past, he'd been too consumed with making a living to focus on self-improvement.
Now, with a 1:30 time ratio in his world, he had more than enough time to study and develop himself.
He also had a host of experts at his disposal—why not make the most of them?
Otherwise, he'd just fall further behind, losing any courage to pursue this brilliant woman.
Even though he claimed, "As the boss, my subordinates can handle everything," Wang Yan didn't want to remain a useless layabout who depended on others for every little thing.
He was, after all, this planet's master—the man who would someday become its "King of Gods." He couldn't look too much like a fool.
Bidding farewell to Xie Yufei, Wang Yan returned to Earth.
Using the Gate of Time and Space, he traveled to a secluded roadside five kilometers from his home, sent the video to Xie Yufei's parents, and then promptly took the phone back to his world, cutting it off from Earth's signals entirely.
Twenty minutes later, Wang Yan got another call from his sister, Wang Lin.
"Brother, false alarm! It turns out the Chinese Academy of Sciences took them away for some new experimental treatment method that can supposedly cure critical illnesses in record time. They, uh, took all those missing patients to be test subjects," she explained.
"Riiiight," Wang Yan snorted quietly. He knew the truth. "Well, at least everything's settled. You must be tired after a night shift."
"Actually, I slept great last night," Wang Lin said. "But brother, I'll drop by your place soon. I'm taking you on that blind date we talked about."
Blind date!
Wang Yan had promised her the day before, but that was before his world got 23 new experts—and Xie Yufei.
Heh, he thought. I've got way more important things to do now than date random girls…
"Uh, Linlin," he said hurriedly, "I actually have some crucial work to do today. Could we skip it?"
"No!" she huffed. Her voice shot up an octave. "Wang Yan, I knew you'd try to back out, but I already made all the arrangements. You're going, like it or not. That's final. Don't even think about eating first—I'm bringing you breakfast!"
She hung up before he could protest.
Wang Yan stared at his phone, realizing he now had a new challenge to face… an unwanted blind date.