Chapter 21: Painless Syndrome 1

…

A blank sheet of paper.

Above the paper lay emotions; beneath it, calculations.

Lu Shun walked out of He Qiuting’s home with complex emotions, his steps unsteady as he had never felt so exhausted and disoriented.

He sat down on the damp bench in the residential area, slightly hunched over, enveloped by the chill from both inside and out. Lowering his head, he revealed a faint, bitter smile.

The biting night wind made his eyes feel cold, sending shivers through him.

When Lu Shun pulled out his cigarette case, he realized his hands were trembling. The last cigarette was nearly deformed between his teeth before he slowly lit it. He took a deep drag but suddenly forgot to exhale, choking and coughing.

He should have realized it earlier.

He should have known long ago that He Jiyun’s death back then was inevitably linked to the Lu family.

Many years ago, He Jiyun would often visit Lu Zihai at their home. Passing by Lu Shun, he would squint his eyes, gently pat his head, and ask in a soft voice, Little Shun, where’s your dad?

Since childhood, Lu Shun had never been fond of getting close to adults, but knowing this was He Qiuting’s father, he didn’t avoid him. Instead, he blinked and pointed toward the backyard, watching as the man humbly followed the butler into their tea room.

Lu Zihai had always been arrogant and snobbish, categorizing business partners into hierarchies. For He Jiyun, he never once stepped out to greet him personally.

No welcoming, no seeing off.

Lu Shun had even criticized his father for this. Like a miniature adult, he pointed at Lu Zihai and bluntly said, Why are you so rude?

Lu Zihai chuckled, patting the spot on the sofa beside him. Come here, son.

He pulled Lu Shun into his embrace, rubbing the back of his head with a nonchalant attitude. Your Uncle He’s business relies on Dad’s investment. He’s here to ask for favors, so he should act accordingly.

Lu Shun nodded, only half-understanding. Every time this happened, he would hear his mother’s scolding voice, Lu Zihai, don’t corrupt your son. Xiao Zhao has already been influenced by you, full of bad habits.

Then Mother Lu would pull Lu Shun over and seriously tell him, You must respect others, no matter their status or achievements. Everyone deserves respect.

Enough, Chen Ling, Lu Zihai would always interrupt impatiently, his tone carrying a hint of reprimand. Stop reading those cheap, mass-produced educational books. They’re no good.

Listen, son. You just need to know that the threshold of our house is worth three hundred million US dollars. Only those who can step across it deserve respect.

He told Lu Shun, This society has always been divided by class. Everyone is born unequal.

If you’re always friendly to everyone, more and more people who don’t know their place will cling to you, taking turns trying to waste your time.

Lu Shun’s fingers trembled, and looking down, he realized he had only taken one puff of the cigarette—it had already burned out, scattering ashes in the wind.

Reflecting on his over twenty years of life, Lu Shun belatedly realized that he had been more influenced by his father’s teachings.

The stack of papers on He Qiuting’s desk resurfaced in his mind.

Lu Shun lowered his head and rubbed his forehead hard.

He Qiuting remained as rational as ever, meticulously calculating emotions and hatred line by line. Through that blank sheet of paper, he had separated Lu Shun from the Lu family.

If Lu Shun didn’t interfere in this matter, the two of them could still coexist peacefully. But once he chose to help the Lu family, He Qiuting would mercilessly pull out that piece of paper and list him as a mortal enemy as well.

Lu Shun rarely dwelled on things internally, but that night, as expected, he couldn’t sleep.

He thought about many things—not just about whose side he should take in the covert battle between Cloud Horizon and the Lu consortium, nor about how much He Qiuting’s debt-sniping strategy would affect his own family.

He also wondered whether He Qiuting didn’t want to reconcile or be with him now because of his surname, Lu—whether he was afraid that one day he’d be caught in the middle and forced to choose.

If he hadn’t accidentally seen it today, how long had He Qiuting planned to keep it from him? Maybe he never intended to tell him at all?

The more Lu Shun thought about it, the more desolate he felt. He gradually realized that he seemed dispensable in He Qiuting’s life plans. He Qiuting didn’t try to impose this pressure on him, but he wouldn’t change his original plans for him either.

He Qiuting didn’t rely on anyone; he trusted only himself.

For the first time, Lu Shun realized that loving someone, wanting to enter their heart and earn their trust, was so, so difficult.

He sat in his car outside He Qiuting’s building for about an hour before driving away.

The tires rolled over the asphalt road in front of the villa, the sound growing fainter as he drove off, unusually clear in the quiet early morning.

In bed, He Qiuting slowly opened his eyes. He propped himself up, took a sip of water from the glass on the bedside table, then slowly got out of bed and walked to the window.

Through the gap in the curtains, he saw the taillights of Lu Shun’s car just disappearing at the end of the row of buildings.

He Qiuting, holding his water glass and shuffling in slippers, walked into the study. His gaze lingered somewhat vacantly on the stack of neatly organized documents before his long fingers lightly flipped through them, confirming that the white paper was still there.

The corners of his eyes slightly downturned, he sat down at the desk, turned on the lamp, booted up the computer, and began monitoring online public opinion and industry trends.

Whenever something major was about to happen, He Qiuting found it hard to sleep.

On the computer screen, negative information had already begun to spread online.

Yunji Real Estate Construction Site Collapse, 2 Dead

Footage from Yunji No. 3 Construction Site

Yunji Forced Construction During Typhoon Weather

Scaffolding Collapse, Suspected Long-Term Use of Substandard Materials

Amid a flood of deliberately misleading hot search headlines, Yunji’s clarification announcement was quickly buried. Or perhaps people only wanted to see what they wished to see—most had little patience for so-called capital.

This was clearly a premeditated public opinion attack. Not only were there news about the construction site accident, but He Qiuting himself had even made it to the hot searches separately.

Yunji Real Estate CEO He Qiuting Hospitalized Late at Night, Employee: He Collapsed from Exhaustion!

The hot search included two photos of He Qiuting.

One showed him getting out of a police car, his face pale and pained. The other was a shot of him leaving Li Feng’s private hospital late at night.

These two photos weren’t even from the same day, clearly taken out of context by someone trying to distort public perception.

Such a hot search might seem favorable to Yunji, but in reality, it wasn’t.

He Qiuting personally visited the scene under spotlight and torrential rain, guarding the corpse for several hours while taking full responsibility before the cameras. These genuine actions documented in Cloud Horizon’s PR releases were originally commendable and could have garnered significant positive market feedback for the company.

However, once the trending topic about He Qiuting’s illness exploded online, it quickly drew public skepticism. Many questioned whether He Qiuting was feigning illness to evade responsibility, with some influential bloggers even launching polls:

Faking illness vs Genuinely ill

Isn’t President He’s illness too conveniently timed~

Naturally, votes for faking illness dominated the poll, while others openly mocked what they called Cloud Horizon’s crude PR tactics.

With just a casual refresh, He Qiuting could see view counts surging by millions. He stopped scrolling and messaged the PR department head to urgently convene a press conference at 7 AM the next morning.

After shutting down his computer, He Qiuting leaned back in his chair, swiveling left and right.

His body felt utterly exhausted, floating weightlessly as if lying on cotton, yet his consciousness remained acutely alert. Even a healthy person couldn’t withstand such strain, let alone He Qiuting. Suddenly, his stomach erupted in dull, throbbing pain – tensing and cramping from deep within, cold and rigid to the touch.

He Qiuting raised a hand to press against it, calmly opening the drawer with practiced ease to retrieve painkillers.

Only two pills remained in the aluminum blister pack. With two crisp snaps, they fell into his pale palm.

He methodically placed them one by one into his mouth, throat working as he washed them down with half a glass of water.

But halfway through swallowing, a violent surge of air rushed up his throat.

Cough… hnn…

Two partially dissolved pills, along with a mouthful of bright red blood, were vomited into the water glass.

The blood diffused through the water in crimson tendrils as the stained pills slowly settled. He Qiuting’s mind went blank for a moment before belatedly realizing he’d just vomited blood.

Not just blood streaks – a full mouthful of blood.

His hand clamped viciously over his stomach as chills wracked his body. The pain left him temporarily unable to straighten up, his throat filled with the metallic taste of blood.

Host.

The System’s voice reappeared.

Your body has entered critical condition. Being this stubborn is useless. Recommend immediately contacting President Lu to take you to the hospital~

Weren’t you quite enjoying that princess carry earlier? You clearly liked it, didn’t you? Clearly wanted to wrap your arms around President Lu’s neck, didn’t you? Clearly you need him, don’t you~

Shut up! He Qiuting clenched his fists.

Why so fierce! Yelling at me won’t help! It’s not like I caused your stomach pain! I’m just worried you’ll die from the pain and I won’t be able to complete my mission!

He Qiuting trembled as he hunched over the desk. What… mission?

My mission is to help you become a normal person again~

I am normal. He Qiuting gritted his teeth in rebuttal. You’re the one who made me… abnormal.

Oh my! Poor little System is so wrongly accused ahhhhh!

The System’s incessant chattering intensified He Qiuting’s pain. Closing his eyes as he panted, he heard the System speaking beside him.

System: Let me explain my existence to you.

You have long suppressed your emotions, but in reality, these emotions never truly disappear. Instead, they transform into latent entropy within your body, compressing your physical form and soul in higher-dimensional spaces beyond your perception. This has now reached a critical threshold—soon you’ll become a walking corpse, or even lose your life because of it!

My existence serves to help you release this accumulated entropy through the manifestation of illnesses, allowing your body and soul to restore order.

Whenever He Qiuting refused to acknowledge his vulnerability, his body would force him confront it through these symptoms. The System wasn’t an external imposition but rather the backlash from his excessitove psychological defenses.

The pain left He Qiuting unable to think clearly. His understanding remained superficial as he asked, Even if it’s released through illnesses, there must be a time limit. How long will this last? How many more diseases are waiting for me?

The System hesitated briefly, pulling out a menu while sounding somewhat guilty: There’s still… heart disease, lung disease, depression, myelitis, cervical spondylosis, lumbar injury, myasthenia, deafness, aphasia, insomnia…

Enough. He Qiuting didn’t want to hear more. His stomach ache intensified.

The System obediently put away the menu and said with earnest concern: Host, you need to understand one thing—if you cooperate with me, express your needs promptly, and face your vulnerability head-on, after releasing this batch of pent-up emotions, you can return to normal!

But! If you keep accumulating while releasing! It becomes a vicious cycle! After going through all the illnesses on this menu once, you might have to repeat the cycle again—twice, three times!

So, express your needs to President Lu more often. Let him see your vulnerability and suffering.

He Qiuting remained silent for a long time before lifting his head to stare at the empty space before him, his voice barely audible: I want to know… why does it have to be Lu Shun?

The System flipped through its notebook as if analyzing He Qiuting’s mind: Because Lu Shun is the only person in this world whom the host trusts and wants to rely on. He’s also the host’s sole emotional outlet.

After a pause, the System bluntly added: Oh, even though the host refuses to admit it and often brainwashes himself into believing he doesn’t need him.

He Qiuting took a deep breath, wanting to discuss something more practical with the System: Can’t we end this current illness early?

He Qiuting didn’t want to burst into tears during tomorrow morning’s press conference. He had no intention of playing emotional cards—he possessed substantial evidence and needed his delivery to be more logical and persuasive.

The System rejected him: The host hasn’t triggered any achievement tasks, so we cannot prematurely terminate the Incontinence of Tears condition. However, with 618 approaching! Little System is running a promotion! You can experience a hidden version of another condition in advance!

He Qiuting found this absurd: Why would I want to have two illnesses at once?

Was he someone who enjoyed being sick?

This particular condition is quite special—it happens to be perfect for alleviating your current symptoms! the System explained.

It’s called—Painless Syndrome.

Painless Syndrome?

Once the Painless Syndrome program activates, you’ll experience unprecedented comfort~ Your stomach won’t hurt, your head won’t feel dizzy, you won’t get tired, and your energy will reach peak levels! You could work day and night without feeling sleepy!

Could such a good thing really exist?

This time, He Qiuting was genuinely tempted. Wasn’t this his ideal physical condition?

Stop talking. Bind it now.

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