Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 178: Reset
Fear. Confusion.
Xu Wang stiffened in his chair, unsure if the problem was with him or the secretary.
“Director… I’ll be leaving now…” The secretary tried to maintain a smile, but her hurried steps betrayed her panic.
The door closed.
Xu Wang sat silently, listening to the echo of the door shutting fade away. He didn’t know what to do or think, as if staying still would somehow clear the chaotic illusions from his mind.
Noise from outside suggested an argument. It sounded loud enough to penetrate the door.
“I’ve told you, Director Xu isn’t here!” It was the voice of the young female secretary from before.
“Not here? Fine, I’ll wait here then. I want to see how long he can hide!” Came an angry, hoarse male voice.
Xu Wang frowned. Had he offended someone? Even if there were grievances, bringing them to the company and making a young woman fend for him seemed too unseemly.
“You keep this up, and I’m calling security!” The female secretary continued to dutifully block.
Xu Wang stood up, opening the door without hesitation. Both people outside paused, as did the dozens of “resting at their desks but actually sneakily glancing this way” onlooking colleagues.
Xu Wang paused too, not expecting such a large office area and such a broad audience.
“Don’t trouble the young lady,” he declared loudly enough for the entire floor to hear. “Talk to me if you have something to say.”
The troublemaker was a young man wearing a baseball cap with his hands in his pockets and the brim pulled down low, obscuring his face.
“Alright, since you’re man enough, let’s talk.”
The baseball cap’s corner curled up as he stepped forward, his hand moving from his pocket with the speed of lightning, stabbing towards Xu Wang’s stomach.
Xu Wang didn’t see what he was holding, only hearing a faint “puff”.
Looking down, the baseball cap pulled out the object, then “puff, puff” stabbed him two more times.
Now Xu Wang saw clearly that it was a fruit knife.
The delayed pain swept over him like a tsunami, with screams erupting around…
“Knock knock.”
Xu Wang shook his head, only returning to his senses at the second knock.
“Come in.” His voice was somewhat hoarse as he spoke.
The young female secretary entered, smiling as she placed the fragrant coffee on his desk. “Director Xu, your coffee.”
Xu Wang was bemused. “Didn’t you just bring me a cup? What, forgot about it?”
The female secretary froze, looking at him blankly.
Xu Wang suddenly felt a chill, looking up at the clock, which showed noon. Frantically rolling up his sleeve, he saw the owl icon again.
[Cheat Sheet]: Survive past 4:44 p.m.
He still didn’t understand why his arm had such a thing, but now this eerie item strangely comforted him.
He hadn’t gone mad. He had indeed seen the time, drunk the coffee, heard the argument, and been stabbed three times.
Turning the chair slowly, the blood-red Arabic numeral outside turned into “12”.
The secretary left.
Xu Wang looked at the clock’s second hand: one circle, two circles…
“I’ve told you, Director Xu isn’t here!”
“Not here? Fine, I’ll wait here then. I want to see how long he can hide!”
12:04.
Xu Wang stood up abruptly, opening the door. “I’m here. Let’s talk.”
“Alright, since you’re man enough, let’s talk.” The baseball cap guy smirked and approached, his hand swiftly moving.
Xu Wang wouldn’t let himself be stabbed a fourth time! Dodging just in time, the baseball cap guy missed and stumbled into the office.
Xu Wang closed the door from outside, holding it shut while shouting to the office. “What are you looking at? Call the police—”
Suddenly feeling dizzy, Xu Wang analyzed calmly, even as he lost consciousness. He had heard that yelling too long could lead to oxygen deprivation, but he had only shouted once…
“Knock knock.”
Xu Wang sat lifelessly, watching the door knock open, feeling despondent.
The clock still showed 12:00.
The blood-red number outside had changed to “11”.
People don’t come back to life, but it seemed he could.
The question was: he clearly hadn’t been stabbed to death just now, so why was he back here?
With each return, the number decreased accordingly, and if it reached “0”… Xu Wang didn’t dare think further.
Regardless, he at least understood the meaning of “Survive past 4:44 p.m.” because, for two consecutive times, he couldn’t even survive past 12:04!
If the brain were a 1TB hard drive, Xu Wang now only had 1MB of information stored, from the first “knock knock” to this moment, the rest was blank.
But this 1MB was too intense, making him feel that questions like “Who am I?” and “Where is my past?” could be postponed. For now, focusing on “surviving” was enough. If he could survive, then he could discuss the past and future.
“Come in.”
“Director Xu, your coffee.”
“Have I wronged anyone?”
“Hm?”
“A young boy, who usually likes to wear a baseball cap, about 180 cm tall…” Xu Wang tried his best to describe. Since the secretary dared to block, she must know something.
The female secretary’s face turned red and then pale, not out of shyness but shame. “Director, I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Answer my question.” It was already 12:02, and Xu Wang couldn’t hide his agitation.
Anyone forced onto the track, unknowingly racing with death, would be agitated.
“It’s not about you. He… He insists that my breakup with him is because of you…” The female secretary lowered her head, her voice getting softer.
“He was your boyfriend?” Xu Wang thought the man was his enemy.
“Ex-boyfriend.” The secretary corrected even at this moment.
Xu Wang massaged his forehead, feeling uncertain due to his memory loss. “So, do we have any relationship?”
“Ah?” The female secretary was stunned. “How could that be?”
“……” What kind of reaction is that?
Even though Xu Wang also hoped they were clear of each other, the secretary’s “shocked” face was still hurtful.
He’s a handsome, middle-level company manager, unmarried and childless. Why is it impossible?
Wait, the marriage and romance part seem blank in his memory too…
“Bang—”
The door was kicked open. The baseball cap guy saw them inside, and his eyes filled with rage. “I’m going to fight you—”
12:04.
The female secretary didn’t leave, and the baseball cap guy changed his lines.
Xu Wang’s mind was uncontrollably filled with these thoughts, but his body acted honestly, dodging the baseball cap’s extended arm. The intruder, blocked by the desk, became furious. He suddenly leaped over it!
Xu Wang’s breath hitched, circling the desk to run outside.
The baseball cap chased closely, tackling him from behind.
Xu Wang braced for impact, clenching his teeth, but before the pain came, a breeze passed overhead.
Xu Wang felt lighter, then heard a “thud. The baseball cup guy who was pressing on him was kicked away.
“Pin him down!” A magnetic and pleasant voice commanded the sweep kick.
The baseball cap guy was pinned down by a group of security guards.
Xu Wang scrambled up, facing a one-in-a-million face.
One-in-a-million handsome, one-in-a-million intelligent.
He didn’t know him, and while handsomeness is visible, how do you see intelligence? Xu Wang couldn’t explain, but he just knew.
“Are you alright?” his savior asked.
“I’m fine.”
After Xu Wang answered, he felt it was too curt, hesitating whether to add a “thank you” or directly ask “who are you”, but the savior leaned in again, speaking in a voice so low only the two of them could hear—
“Can you see the blood-red number outside the window?”
……
Noon.
He snapped back to reality amidst the continuous “tap tap tap” of the keyboard, only to find that he was the one typing.
The screen, filled with meaningless gibberish, proved he had zoned out.
This was an incredibly spacious and luxurious office. The boss’ desk was made of solid wood, the sofa was leather, and the marble floor was shiny enough that he could see his own reflection. Hanging on the walls were strange decorations.
His gaze returned to the computer screen full of codes, critically assessing—decorating an IT office like this is insane.
But this was his office.
How odd.
His brain felt formatted, currently blank. There was nothing on the desk to prove his identity, but he only panicked for a moment before checking his pockets.
Sure enough, his wallet was there, containing his ID, driver’s license, and several identical business cards.
XX Technology Company, General Manager.
Wu Sheng.
He calmly accepted his identity, feeling it was as it should be.
But he couldn’t be calm about his amnesia; this was a serious issue that could affect normal life, and he had to get to the bottom of it.
The quickest way to clarify his current situation was to ask someone nearby.
Just as Wu Sheng was about to stand up and look for someone who could help in the office outside, a “ding” sound made him sit back down.
He accurately pinpointed the sound source, rolling up his shirt sleeve in disbelief.
An APP icon had appeared on his arm—quite a novelty.
Clicking in, he first checked new messages—
[Cheat Sheet]: Survive past 4:44 p.m.
On his watch, the hour, minute, and second hands were perfectly aligned at 12:00.
Wu Sheng slightly tilted his head, furrowing his brows in thought.
Survive past 4:44 p.m.…
A warning? A premonition? Or some kind of prank?
No, that’s not right. Technology hasn’t advanced to the point where something like this could be implanted in his arm without notice. Also, his amnesia was strange. Could it be related to this thing on his arm?
“Thud.”
A collision sound came from the floor-to-ceiling window behind him.
Turning around, he saw a window cleaner standing in a gondola, cleaning the exterior glass. The wind was strong, causing the gondola to sway and occasionally bump into the glass.
Behind the window cleaner, a giant blood-red “13” hung in mid-air.
Wu Sheng stared at the “13”, feeling oddly at ease—the world wasn’t normal, so the abnormalities appearing on him were to be expected.
“Thud.”
The gondola bumped the glass again, looking even more unstable. The worker inside had to stop his work and use a walkie-talkie, probably asking the control desk to bring the gondola back down.
The gondola quickly began its descent.
Wu Sheng, feeling somewhat concerned, instinctively stood in front of the window, watching the gondola lower.
Finally, the gondola landed safely on the ground.
Wu Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly felt dizzy, struggling to stand.
“Tap tap tap…”
As his vision cleared, Wu Sheng stared at the familiar gibberish on the screen, stunned.
His first action was to check his watch, the second was to open the owl icon, and the third was to look outside the window.
Only the time had reset.
The message in the owl icon remained, and the unread “1” had disappeared.
The blood-red number had changed from 13 to 12.
“Why…” Wu Sheng murmured as he looked at the message in [Cheat Sheet] with confusion in his eyes.
Survive past 4:44 p.m.
He didn’t know who sent this message, but logically, if everything was going smoothly, who would specifically remind him of this? Since “survive” is emphasized, correspondingly, there’s a big possibility of “not surviving”, meaning there might be some “not surviving” danger between now and 4:44.
But he hadn’t encountered any danger, yet the time had reset.
Is time-resetting inevitable? No, if that were the case, even gods couldn’t live past 4:44.
What if the time reset is conditional? Something he’s unaware of happened, so time reset… Wu Sheng got excited by his own guess, like someone groping in the dark seeing a glimmer of light.
Assuming this “reset condition” truly exists, he just needs to find and prevent this condition from happening, allowing time to continue forward to 4:44!
What happens after 4:44, he can’t imagine, but right now, “Survive past 4:44 p.m.” is like an intriguing puzzle, fatally attractive to him.
“Thud.”
The gondola bumped the glass again.
Wu Sheng no longer worried; he knew it would land safely.
Standing up, he headed out. The office outside was a long corridor, with transparent office areas on both sides, mostly empty, likely because most employees had gone for lunch. A few were either resting at their desks or reclining in chairs, catching a quick nap.
Wu Sheng glanced at his watch, 12:02.
Two male employees approached, one carrying their bought lunch, the other engrossed in his phone, chuckling.
“What’s so funny that you’re laughing like that?” Wu Sheng greeted them, making a joke.
He wasn’t the type to make jokes, at least not now, but everyone he met could carry crucial information, and he didn’t want to miss out.
“Wu-Mr. Wu!” The two employees immediately stood at attention.
“Hm?” A simple upward inflection indicated he was still waiting for an answer.
The employees, probably finding themselves tongue-tied, just lifted the phone for their boss to see.
It was a WeChat group named “XX Building” the screen was spamming in a flurry of text—
[OMG, drama!]
[Who got played haha]
[Don’t just live text. We need pictures for proof!]
[Just come to the third floor and see for yourself.]
[[Photo]]
[The door hasn’t been knocked yet. Now it’s just the female lead and the second male lead. The first male lead is hiding and hasn’t shown his face.]
[Quite cowardly.]
[OMG, the door opened, hey!]
[They started fighting hahahaha]
XX Building—isn’t that the company address on his business card?
The building’s group?
Third floor? Drama?
Wu Sheng had just caught a few keywords and hadn’t had time to think deeply when the familiar sense of déjà vu hit him a second time.
“Tap tap tap…”
His fingers stopped. Wu Sheng glanced at the “11” outside the window and quickly stood up without a moment’s delay.
Rather than speculating on whether those messages have anything to do with his current situation, it’s better to investigate on site.
The hallway was quiet. Those two male employees hadn’t come back yet.
Wu Sheng made his way to the elevator, finding himself on the 7th floor. The elevator was descending, currently on the 15th floor. He quickly pressed the down button.
The elevator stopped on the 7th floor. Wu Sheng entered and decisively pressed “3”.
Without interruption, the elevator reached the 3rd floor directly.
As the doors opened, Wu Sheng quickly stepped out, turned around upon exiting the elevator, and saw the “XX Financial Company” logo. It seems this building follows the rule of “one floor, one company”, with his tech company on the 7th floor and only this one on the 3rd.
From a distance, he could hear a man’s hoarse yelling.
The receptionist peeked into the office area to watch the drama, not noticing Wu Sheng’s entrance until he had already strode into the office area.
Just as Wu Sheng entered, the door that attracted all the office gossip was kicked open by the man wearing a baseball cap.
The man charged in aggressively, and Wu Sheng tensed up, instinctively running towards the office.
Just as he reached the office doorway, someone was escaping out. It was a rather handsome man, with distinct eyebrows and eyes. His facial features were attractive both individually and as a whole.
But just as Wu Sheng started to appreciate him, he hadn’t seen enough before the man was tackled from behind by the one with the baseball cap.
A flash of cold light.
The man in the cap was actually holding a knife.
Without thinking, Wu Sheng kicked the man away.
“Hold him down!”
The security guards arrived belatedly, just in time for the last part—pinning the man down.
“Are you alright?” Wu Sheng asked, but his eyes were already scanning up and down, automatically searching for any sign of trouble.
“I’m fine.” The man’s voice was a bit hoarse but still composed.
Wu Sheng’s “scanning gaze” paused on a section of the man’s exposed arm.
The same owl head.
He felt a surge of joy, unclear if it was because he had finally found a clue or because the clue was on this man.
“Can you see the blood-red number outside the window?” When Wu Sheng asked, he lowered his voice, unable to suppress his racing heartbeat.
The author has something to say:
If this were an exam, Advisor Wu would have already completed the multiple-choice questions, leaving only the fill-in-the-blank, calculation questions, and the final essay question. Captain Xu just finished writing his name and student number ╮(╯_╰)╭
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