Chapter 80: Understanding

Zhang Zhang Ningning left; on her first day at work, she was dragged into a team-building event, and before noon, Yang Yi had drunk her into a stupor. Director Zhou gave her special permission to rest in the afternoon. Yang Yi asked Liu Liu Siyuan to take her home; her family is from the capital.

Now only Yang Yi remained. Though she had drunk more than the other four combined, she could not achieve the deep drunkenness she desired. She could only sit slumped on the sofa with a clear mind, staring blankly at the curtains fluttering in the wind.

After a while, she took out her phone and began scrolling through Chris's personal blog.

In the past, she often did this; whenever she had nothing to do, she would browse his blog to see what he had posted. Sometimes it was promoting a movie or an advertisement; sometimes it was sharing his life. Ever since they were jointly rated as S-Class, she rarely did this anymore—she was too busy, and this busyness was not just physical but also psychological, as if a pile of things suddenly rushed toward her without warning, crashing into her and leaving her dizzy and confused.

Thinking carefully, from an ordinary corporate drone to the number one Awakened one today, not even half a month had passed, yet she felt it had lasted several years—recalling the simple, ordinary life of half a month ago felt like it had been many years ago.

She started scrolling from that photo of the two of them together. Ah, back then, seeing the hundreds of thousands of comments below, she had been so shocked, even somewhat proud—though mostly excited. At that time, his hand had gripped her shoulder, and even now, she seemed to still feel that warm temperature.

She scrolled through his historical playlists; indeed, they were all rock music. He had said that in his youth he was most obsessed with rock music and even worked part-time to buy vinyl records. Ah, the day he introduced them to her, what song had he played? Old Time Rock and Roll... He had swayed his body gently, smiling as he spoke of his youth. It was so damn sexy...

While scrolling through his blog and reminiscing, Yang Yi felt unusually relaxed.

Suddenly, a message from Chris arrived: "I saw your personal blog go live!" The emoji following it was 【Grinning Widely】.

Yang Yi pressed her lips into a smile and tapped her phone: "Your loyal fan is currently browsing your recent blog."

No sooner had she sent it than Chris immediately called via video.

Yang Yi couldn't help but laugh and answered the video call.

"Hey, why would you rather look at my blog than look directly at me? That's truly heartbreaking!" Chris seemed to be working out; sweat covered his forehead. He raised his eyebrows slightly, and his blue eyes, animated by his movement, looked somewhat childish. "If you want to know anything, you can consult me directly. I will certainly tell you everything!"

It was early morning in the Ark Country. He was wearing a sleeveless sports shirt and gray sweatpants on a sports field. Beside him were giant tires, resistance bands, and weightlifting equipment.

"Well—" Yang Yi said with a smile, "Are you working out? Am I disturbing you?"

"Sweetheart, no matter the time or the matter, you are always number one. Screw working out; who cares about that?" Chris dropped the dumbbell in his hand to the ground, grabbed a Mao Jin to casually wipe the sweat from his head, winked at her, and said with a slightly complaining tone: "It's incredibly rare for you to have time; I must make the most of it."

Oh my god, Yang Yi's heart was instantly blitzed by that wink, jumping dozens of times in an instant.

Stop beating, stop beating, calm down! Calm down! Yang Yi shouted internally.

"Did something happen today?" Chris picked up a bottle of sports drink from the ground and walked toward a large villa complex not far away.

It appeared to be an estate; this must be the house in Beaver he had mentioned. Besides his mother's home, this was the place he stayed most often.

Yang Yi had previously seen his entertainment news; in Luocheng's most luxurious residential district—Beaver—he had purchased a mansion for over two hundred million Card Yuan. Located on a mountaintop, it occupied an entire hill, offering a distant view of the ocean and an overlook of the surrounding homes. It included a tennis court, a basketball court, a sports field, a swimming pool, lawns, woods, and a mansion complex composed of an entire group of villas.

Moreover, he had a keen head for investment. Excluding his main career—acting, advertising endorsements, etc. —his investment returns alone brought him hundreds of millions of Card Yuan in income annually.

So, she always felt he was the most expensive non-sale item in that grand exhibition. In the past, she couldn't even get an invitation to enter; now, she had actually collected this sapphire into her display case. Truly, the world is unpredictable.

Look, even without superpowers, he remains so dazzling. And you? Only superpowers add some luster to you. Without this luck that fell from the sky, what do you have to show for it?

Putting aside this lottery ticket that fell from the sky, she herself was truly an ordinary person. She felt like a poor person who had won a lucky prize, suddenly obtaining a ticket to the wealthy elite, but once she squandered that money, she would still be that most ordinary, mundane person.

Mediocre. Yes, she had always considered herself mediocre: mediocre intelligence, mediocre emotional intelligence. Her only virtue was self-awareness, unlike those ordinary yet blindly confident people—she simply envied their unfounded confidence; this was the thing she lacked most.

Even as the number one Awakened one, she still believed her essence was mediocre—and that one day she would return to mediocrity.

Regarding everything she had currently obtained—superpowers, power, status, and this sapphire—she had a feeling that one day they would return to their original places and no longer belong to her.

Therefore, regarding these things that would eventually be lost, she never abused them. Perhaps this was a subconscious form of self-protection.

But facing Chris, she often could not control herself. She was carried away, unable to restrain herself. Both emotion and reason told her not to continue, but impulse, and some baseless expectation, always told her: try again, try again...

"Yang Yi?" Chris walked to the corridor and sat down. Along the way, his eyes never left the phone screen. He saw that she had fallen into a state that seemed like contemplation yet also like a trance. She seemed to be looking at him, yet also looking at something else. This scene always left him enveloped in a feeling of unease. To break this feeling, he shouted repeatedly, mixing Ark language with Xia Guo language:

"Darling? Sweetheart? Girlfriend? Yiyi?"

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Yang Yi was brought back to her senses by his varied calls.

"Tell me, did something happen today? Okay? I feel you are a bit unhappy today." Chris sat on a cool chair, holding his phone with both hands, placing it squarely in front of himself so she could clearly see his face. He knew Yang Yi had no resistance to this; he was very good at leveraging his advantages.

He looked at her seriously: "Even if I am not by your side, I want to understand you, understand your life, understand your past, understand your present, understand everything about you..."