Chapter 35

The elevator continued descending. Lin Si stood beside Lu Wei and asked, “No work tonight?”

Lu Wei turned his head slightly, glancing at him. “Yeah.”

“We’ll do our best to handle today’s situation,” Lin Si assured him. “I don’t want to cause trouble for the company.”

Lu Wei: “It won’t be too hard to resolve.”

The elevator’s lights remained bright and dazzling. Looking at Lu Wei, Lin Si suddenly realized that he didn’t seem as cold as he’d initially thought. There was a calm and steady presence about him that felt trustworthy.

Today, Lu Wei was wearing a light brown sweater.

It was the first time Lin Si had seen him wear something like that after living together for so long.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, Lin Si was unsure of the route to the property management office, so Lu Wei pointed it out for him.

“I almost forgot, Xijiang is part of your real estate company,” Lin Si remarked.

They walked side by side in the night breeze. As spring transitioned into summer, the wind no longer howled like in winter but instead felt like a gentle caress from a lover. Lin Si took a deep breath and said, “I went to the supermarket at Xijiang before. There were a lot of little robots—really cute.”

Lu Wei hummed in response. “Do you like them?”

Lin Si hadn’t expected Lu Wei to care about his preferences.

He only felt that the road was too long and the night breeze too gentle—it seemed fitting to chat with Lu Wei.

“I do,” Lin Si replied. “They’re like talking little animals.”

Lu Wei tugged lightly at Lin Si’s sleeve, guiding him away from a willow tree with long drooping branches.

Lin Si avoided getting hit in the face by the branches but ended up much closer to Lu Wei.

“You don’t like small animals, do you?” Lu Wei asked.

“N-no, not really,” Lin Si stammered. “I haven’t raised any, but I don’t have anything against them.”

Lu Wei was silent for a moment before saying, “The second rule—you said no pets at home.”

“The second…?” Lin Si’s mind buzzed as he suddenly remembered the conversation from the day he moved in. His face instantly turned red. Turning his head awkwardly, he muttered, “That’s not what I meant…”

The property management center was at the corner. Lin Si said, “I’m a bit afraid that small animals might bite me.”

“Most small animals don’t bite,” Lu Wei said, pushing open the door and gesturing for Lin Si to go in first.

Lin Si didn’t comment further and followed the signs to the surveillance room.

It was 11:30 p.m., and only a middle-aged man with his feet up was watching a livestream of a beautiful woman. Lin Si knocked on the door. The man glanced at him, then continued watching his phone. “What’s up?”

“I want to check the surveillance footage from before the New Year,” Lin Si said. “Near the entrance to Parking Lot B24.”

The man yawned and waved him off impatiently. “It’s hard to find footage from that long ago. Come back tomorrow.”

Lin Si pulled down his mask, hoping the man would recognize him. “This is important. Please help me check it.”

But the man didn’t even look up. “It’s not just a little trouble—it’s a huge hassle. Checking the footage now would take until 1 or 2 a.m. Plus, surveillance involves privacy. Come back tomorrow, apply at the office, fill out a form, and sign it before you can check anything.”

“Are you giving him a hard time?”

A cold voice cut through the air. The man finally put down his phone, taking a good look at the fair-skinned young man in front of him and the tall, stern-faced man standing behind him.

The young man’s face was nearly flawless, even with a mask hanging below his chin. But for some reason, the intense gaze of the man behind him was unnerving—it made the hairs on his body stand on end.

The man coughed nervously. “No, no… It’s just that I’m the night shift guy, and I don’t have the authority to let you see the footage.”

“Call your supervisor,” Lu Wei ordered.

The man sneaked another glance at Lu Wei but quickly lowered his head, muttering, “Alright.”

He reluctantly made the call. “Supervisor… Two residents want to check surveillance footage. Where do they live? Let me ask—” He turned to Lin Si, “Where are you staying?”

“Building 17, Unit 2501,” Lin Si said.

“Oh, Building 17, Unit 2501,” the man repeated. Five seconds later, his face suddenly changed. He stared at Lu Wei in shock and jumped to his feet. “Lu… Lu General Manager!”

Lu Wei narrowed his eyes slightly. The man hastily hung up the phone. “I’ll check the footage for you right now!”

He quickly entered the password to access the database and asked, “Which day are you looking for?”

Lin Si couldn’t recall the exact date and gestured toward the chair. “Can I do it myself?”

“All right, all right,” the man quickly stepped back, standing aside.

Lu Wei grasped Lin Si’s arm. “I’ll handle it.”

Lu Wei sat in the man’s seat, the worn leather chair showing signs of wear and tear. But he sat upright, his sharp gaze making the simple, shabby duty room seem solemn and formal.

“Think back—when exactly was it? What did you do that day? If nothing major stands out, check your chat history with your manager,” Lu Yan instructed.

Lin Si lowered his eyes and thought for a moment before giving Lu Wei the exact date.

Lu Wei’s hands moved quickly, pulling up several surveillance feeds near Entrance B24 and syncing the footage from four other community entrances.

“How many feeds can you watch at the same time?” Lu Wei asked.

“Two… maybe,” Lin Si admitted, rubbing his eyes. After spending too much time with the virtual headset and being late at night, he was genuinely fatigued.

Lu Wei clicked on a feed and placed it in the upper left corner. “Watch this one at 1.5x speed. Stand back a bit and take your time.”

“What about the others?”

“I’ll handle them.” Lu Wei positioned the other three feeds on the side. “The one you’re watching directly faces B24 and is slightly later in the timeline. Once you find that person—”

He paused, unable to recall Bai Fan’s name. “Once you find that guy, we’ll trace back their movements from the surrounding cameras and match it to their entry time.”

The videos played simultaneously. Lin Si focused intensely for two minutes before feeling uncomfortable, his thoughts interrupted by hurried footsteps at the door.

The supervisor ran in, nodding and bowing. “Good evening, Mr. Lu. What brings you here?”

Lu Wei didn’t pause the footage or respond. Lin Si briefly glanced at them but quickly returned his focus to the monitor.

The supervisor pulled the night-shift worker aside and approached Lu Wei. “Mr. Lu, what are you looking for? Let me help you.”

“Have payroll settle his salary,” Lu Wei ordered coldly.

The night-shift worker’s face turned pale. “Mr. Lu, surveillance footage isn’t supposed to be accessed casually—”

“You’re on the night shift. Even if residents need to check footage until 2 a.m., it’s part of your work hours.” Lu Yan’s voice was icy. He sped up a video to 2.5x, paused it eight seconds later, and pointed at the screen for Lin Si. “There’s someone in this car.”

Lin Si leaned over Lu Wei’s shoulder and saw a car in the northwest corner with its window slightly open, revealing a camera lens inside.

Lu Wei adjusted the timeline. “That person should have shown up after this point—”

Before he could finish, all the feeds went dark.

Lu Yan checked the source files and discovered that several surveillance videos near the B24 entrance were missing.

“Gone?” Lin Si stared in disbelief. “Were they deleted?” He straightened up and questioned the supervisor. “Where are your video files?”

The supervisor hurried to Lu Wei’s side. “Let me look, let me look.”

Lu Wei released the mouse, his gaze cold. “How many people have access to the surveillance footage?”

“I… I’m not sure,” the supervisor pointed at the computer screen nervously. “Someone from the IT center came to fix the server before. Maybe the files got lost then.”

“He didn’t ask who lost them,” Lin Si interrupted. “Why are you assuming they were just ‘lost’?”

The supervisor’s voice faltered. After a long pause, he muttered, “You mean… you’re saying they were deleted? I was just guessing… it couldn’t have been me.”

“Shut up and get out,” Lu Wei ordered in a low, commanding voice.

Lin Si glanced between the two.

The night-shift worker, who had long wanted to leave, bolted without hesitation. The supervisor, however, lingered awkwardly, reluctant to leave the office.

“Illegally accessing surveillance footage, maliciously leaking it online—under current law, the maximum penalty is seven years in prison,” Lu Wei said coldly. “Whoever’s responsible should just wait for the court summons.”

Lin Si asked quietly, “What about spreading false information using the footage?”

The supervisor visibly trembled, his attempt to maintain composure faltering. As he left, he even forgot to close the door behind him.

Lin Si sighed, a sense of helplessness creeping over him. “Now that the footage is gone, those people even remembered to delete the source files after copying them.”

“Let’s head back and get some sleep,” Lu Wei suggested.

Lin Si, looking dejected, walked toward the door. Noticing Lu Wei still seated, he asked, “Aren’t you coming?”

Lu Wei typed a command on the keyboard. “The data can be recovered, but it might take a while. You go back and rest.”

“You’re staying here all night by yourself?” Lin Si closed the door and pulled over a folding chair to sit beside him. “That’s not happening.”

Lu Wei paused his typing and turned to him. “Why not?”

“You’re staying up all night because of my issue, and I go back to sleep? How does that make sense?” Lin Si pointed at the screen. “I don’t understand much, but I can stay up with you.”

The night breeze drifted in through the window, causing a tuft of hair on Lin Si’s head to sway gently.

Lu Wei stood up, closed the window, and left a small gap for ventilation.

Lin Si tilted his head to look at him, his gaze following Lu Wei’s movement. “Is it hard to recover the files?”

Lu Wei double-checked the system. “No, but all records between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. were completely deleted. It’ll just take some time to restore them.”

“Should we call a professional to fix it?” Lin Si suggested. “You have work tomorrow too.”

Lu Yan typed a line of code and paused, glancing at Lin Si. “If you’re tired, just rest your head on the desk for a bit.”

Lin Si pursed his lips and leaned in closer to the monitor, trying to understand what Lu Wei was doing. But Lu Wei was too fast, and the commands he was typing were incomprehensible to Lin Si. His eyes were starting to blur from trying to keep up, so he pulled his head back, chose not to disturb Lu Wei, and took out his phone.

There was no news from Liao Ji, probably because he was too busy on the other end.

Half an hour ago, Lin Si had received a few concerned messages from friends, including Xu Xiangyang and Lu Nan.

Xu Xiangyang: [Are you okay with everything going on online?]

Lu Nan: [Shocking! Top idol Lin Si’s exclusive/private/video leaked! Click http://ahahah.com to watch now!]

Lin Si burst out laughing and replied: [What the hell!]

Lu Nan: [Damn it, did you get set up?]

Lu Nan: [If someone as clueless as you can get a partner, my brother might as well do a handstand while having diarrhea.]

Lin Si laughed so hard that he even disturbed Lu Wei, making him turn around to glance at him.

Lin Si made a zipping motion across his lips to signal that he would stop laughing, then lowered his head and replied to Lu Nan: [Whoever’s your brother is truly out of luck.]

Then he switched to reply to Xu Xiangyang: [I’m fine, don’t worry.]

Lu Nan, a certified internet addict who seemingly surfs the web 25 hours a day, replied almost instantly: [What’s taking so long to put out a statement? It’s obvious your company isn’t the one pushing this CP narrative. But seriously, you have way too many Omega fans—they’ve all gone crazy. Scary.]

Lin Si glanced at the focused Lu Wei, took a deep breath, and replied: [We’re working on it.]

Lu Nan: [Wow, let me take a look at who’s protecting the world’s most precious No. 4 baby.]

Lin Si: [Enough with the sarcasm! Just end me already.]

Lu Nan: [Unbelievable. You’ve improved. Respect!]

Ignoring him, Lin Si logged into his social media account using his alt to check if things were really as bad as Lu Nan described.

Normally, they wouldn’t care too much about gossip spread by marketing accounts, but now, those out-of-context and spliced-together photos had convinced the public that Lin Si was in a relationship.

Social media was back up and running. Lin Si saw himself trending and clicked on the hashtag. It was still flooded with those same images, with layer upon layer of comments beneath them.

[My world collapsed overnight. (T_T)]

[Of all people, why Bai Fan…? He’s been in so many CP scandals before. I’m done. His taste is awful, unfollowing.]

[I trust 44. Let’s wait for the official statement. Don’t get led by the nose.]

[My friend works on the Missing You set. They said Lin Si is frequently absent, and one time he stayed in his nanny van all afternoon without coming out.]

[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why! Why!!!]

[Hahaha, 04’s fans are a joke. The evidence is solid, yet they’re still deluding themselves, saying they’re just longtime colleagues. Who believes that?]

[Lin Si is a normal 19-year-old Alpha—he’s an adult. What’s wrong with dating and finding a partner? If anything, it’s the people here stirring the pot who should worry. Your fave is the one who’s going to flop!]

[He’s probably still in Bai Fan’s bed right now. Anyway, who cares about some gala when you can catch up on sleep? side-eye smirk]

The situation was worse than Lin Si had expected. Everyone genuinely believed he was in a relationship with Bai Fan. The ones arguing now were mostly former fans angrily turning against him and so-called “neutral bystanders” stirring the pot.

“…This slander is getting out of hand. Saying I’m not even 1.75 meters tall,” Lin Si muttered under his breath. “Excuse me, I’m 1.79 without shoes, okay?”

The constant sound of typing suddenly stopped. Lu Wei leaned back in his chair, his gaze settling on Lin Si’s profile.

Lin Si turned his head to meet his eyes and put down his phone. “Are you tired?”

“Stop looking at those.” Lu Wei’s voice was soft.

Maybe the window was too small, and the wind wasn’t coming in. That’s why the room felt warmer, Lin Si thought.

Because at this moment, Lu Wei seemed especially gentle.

---

Author’s note:
Lu Wei: Lu Nan, you will be mysteriously eliminated tonight.

T/n : Bai Fan that villain is really going too far 😤 seriously our Si baby is definitely not 1.75 m! Slander! Pure Slander!!😤😤 Lol😏🤣🤣🤣 Stay tuned guys❤️ If you want to support me you can buy me a Ko-Fi or go to my paypal page. Happy Reading 💐😄