Although You Suowei had completely turned to the dark side by now, deep down in his heart, a shred of his moral baseline as a human being still remained.
Thanks to Shaniu's formidable power, his career had soared forward like a rocket. However, due to its excessively rapid growth, the company began to face a cash shortage.
During a high-level meeting at Eric Food Company, one of You Suowei's subordinates put forward a suggestion—to replace raw materials with ones containing carcinogenic substances, which would drastically cut production costs.
Had it been the You Suowei of the past, he would have unhesitatingly and firmly opposed such an act, but this time, he displayed unusual hesitation and even fell into deep thought. Upon returning to his office, You Suowei was surprised to find Jilin sitting at his desk, leisurely brewing tea.
"Brother Wei, you're back! Come and try the tea I brewed, see how it tastes," Jilin invited enthusiastically. You Suowei looked at Jilin without much change in his facial expression, his mind still troubled by the matter from the meeting just now.
He slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down, picked up the teacup, took a light sip, and said flatly, "Mm, the taste isn't bad."
This tea, which once used to win You Suowei's highest praise, had now lost its former rich aroma on his palate.
"Brother Wei, what's on your mind? You might as well share it with me," Jilin said slowly upon seeing You Suowei's troubled expression.
After a moment of hesitation, You Suowei sighed and said, "Ah, Jilin! Actually, I've been thinking about Shaniu all this time." With that, he pulled Shaniu out from his pocket and activated her.
"Brother Jilin, Brother Suowei," Shaniu greeted the two of them after transforming into her human-form mode. Looking at Shaniu, You Suowei was suddenly overwhelmed by a heavy tide of guilt toward Lu Xiaoqian.
Jilin seemed to sense what You Suowei was thinking, so he softly asked, "Shaniu, is there any way for our existing level of technology to possess your capabilities as well?"
Hearing Jilin's words, You Suowei cast a surprised glance at him, but at the same time looked at Shaniu with great anticipation, waiting for her reply.
After a brief silence, Shaniu said earnestly, "Brother Jilin, given our current technological level, we can try copying my functions onto other phones. However, due to current technical limitations, these phones might not be able to achieve human-form mode."
Hearing Shaniu's reply, You Suowei's mind suddenly cleared. This way, he could both own a phone just like Shaniu and return the real Shaniu to Lu Xiaoqian, all without violating his own principles as a human being.
Subsequently, upon Jilin's further inquiry, Shaniu explained some of the details of cloning the phone to the two of them.
You Suowei then hurriedly went to his desk and made a phone call, asking someone to find a top-tier hacker. Once Shaniu was successfully cloned, he would return her to Lu Xiaoqian.
Jilin gazed at Shaniu, and seeing her joy clearly written all over her face, he already perceived that she seemed to have acquired human emotions.
By the afternoon...
You Suowei brought Jilin along to welcome a young man named Dongzi. Afterwards, they headed together to You Suowei's luxury villa. When they stepped into the villa, they found that Yellow Eyebrow was already waiting there ahead of time.
You Suowei led Dongzi into a small room furnished with various equipment, including computers and hard drives.
You Suowei gave Dongzi a few instructions, telling him to devote himself entirely to copying Shaniu's data, and arranged for Jilin and Yellow Eyebrow to take turns supervising the phone-cloning process.
Jilin didn't say much and readily agreed. After all, when they learned that Shaniu could be cloned, You Suowei had promised to make a cloned phone for him as well.
Night fell, and the entire city was immersed in tranquility. However, inside You Suowei's villa, a tense atmosphere hung in the air. Jilin suddenly received a phone call.
"Jilin, get down to Bar Street and find me right now! Shaniu was taken by Chuchu!" You Suowei said anxiously from the other end of the line.
After hanging up the phone, Jilin went downstairs, got into his car, and took out Huan'er to check the cause of the matter.
It turned out that because of his company's financial troubles, You Suowei had approached Helan, hoping to collaborate with her. The two of them were dining in a private room at a restaurant when You Suowei passed out drunk shortly afterwards. Chuchu, who had been lying in wait outside the restaurant, then seized the opportunity to take Shaniu.
Chuchu's move was also meant to rescue Lu Xiaoqian. Because You Suowei had to look after his company and couldn't attend to the career of the flying hero, Lu Xiaoqian had tracked him down, and You Suowei had promptly banished him to primitive society.
"Good grief, none of them can hold their liquor, why do they drink so much? Xiaoqian got drunk and lost Shaniu and his password, and You Suowei is just the same," Jilin muttered in complaint as he hurried toward Bar Street.Jilin drove to the bar street and met up with You Suowei, Yellow Eyebrow Great King, and the others. Afterwards, they split up to search for Chuchu and her group.
Before long, Chuchu and the others drove toward You Suowei's villa.
Meanwhile, having found no trace of them around the bar street, the group gathered in an open space to confer.
Wang Tianba had a sudden flash of inspiration and said, "The most dangerous place is the safest place. They must have gone to President You's house."
"Are you here just to cause trouble?" You Suowei rolled his eyes and retorted irritably.
"Truth often lies in the hands of the few." Watching another classic moment from the philosopher Wang Tianba, Jilin couldn't help chuckling.
At that moment, You Suowei thought things over and decided to expand the search radius, assigning everyone to split up and continue the search. Jilin, for his part, went to Helan's house to see if Chuchu was there.
Driving over, Jilin quickly arrived at Helan's front door. He got out of the car, unlocked the door, and walked inside to find Helan sitting on the sofa wearing a sexy nightgown, holding a glass of red wine with a displeased look on her face.
Hearing the door open, Helan raised her head to glance at Jilin and said sarcastically, "Well, look who it is—the busybody finally remembers his way home. Why didn't you keep going to help your cousin?" With that, she took a sip of her red wine and set the glass down on the table.
"Sigh, I suppose our feelings have faded after all, and you don't tell me anything anymore..." Looking at Helan acting like a resentful woman, Jilin chuckled inwardly, but on the surface, he put on a deeply guilt-ridden expression and said, "I'm sorry, Lan'er. Things have really been too hectic lately, and I neglected you."
However, when he saw how exceptionally charming Helan was dressed today, a sudden surge of desire flared up inside him. Without another word, he scooped Helan up in his arms and strode toward the bedroom.
"Hey! What are you doing? Let me down!" Startled by Jilin's sudden move, Helan struggled to break free, but Jilin held her tight and refused to let go.
Carrying Helan into the bedroom, Jilin set her on the bed and quickly turned around to shut the door. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he picked up the glass of red wine from the table, tilted his head back to drain it in one gulp, and covered Helan's lips.
……After a thorough round of tossing by Jilin, Helan finally conceded defeat and fell into a deep sleep.After reporting to You Suowei that Chuchu could not be found, Jilin took out Huan'er to check on the movements of Chuchu and the others. In the screen, Chuchu and Huamei were still trying out the passwords one by one.
On the other side, after several hours of fruitless searching, You Suowei finally remembered Wang Tianba's words and hurriedly drove home.
Jilin also received a text message from You Suowei telling him to head over to his villa.
After packing up, Jilin looked at Helan, who was still fast asleep. He tucked the blanket over her, gently stroked her cheek, and then carefully kissed her forehead, afraid of waking her.
Only after doing all this did he turn and leave the room with peace of mind, pulling the door shut gently behind him.
When Jilin arrived at You Suowei's villa, he saw You Suowei grabbing Yellow Eyebrow, getting ready to catch the battery that Dongzi was throwing down from the second floor.
However, just at that moment, a stream of data flashed by. You Suowei and Yellow Eyebrow suddenly vanished, and the battery dropped to the floor.
"What the hell, how could this happen..." Jilin's eyes widened with intense regret. He had rushed over at top speed, yet he still failed to prevent this from happening. Now You Suowei was going to be stuck eating fish for eight years, just like in the original story.
Five, four, three, two, one...
Time ticked away second by second, and soon the countdown ended. Suddenly, a burst of laughter rang out: "Hahahaha, my little ones, I am back!" It was none other than Yellow Eyebrow Great King returning. Thanks to Shaniu's five-second time-travel rule, no matter how long one spent in the past, only five seconds would have passed in the present.
Jilin looked at the Yellow Eyebrow before him and noticed that his expression was filled with joy, as if he had been reborn.
Looking at his weathered face, it was clear that these eight years had put him through countless hardships. Although to Jilin and the others only five seconds had passed, to Yellow Eyebrow and the rest, a full eight years of time had been lost.
Before Jilin could even say a word, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.
"Halt, monster, where do you think you're running!" Hearing this, Yellow Eyebrow zipped away in a flash, closely followed by a thunder-faced monkey.
Right after them, Lu Xiaoqian and Pigsy gave chase as well...