Chapter 28 一 May I have your name? Ah Mou, which Mou?
Taw’s Note: The original text of Su Miao’s name is 苏缪 (Sū móu). I had been using ‘Su Miao’ in line with the previous translator, but from this chapter onward, I will use ‘Su Mou’ instead of ‘Su Miao.’ (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡
The movie had been submitted for review, and within the spacious, brightly lit, high-end office, a man’s sobbing could be heard.
“Damn it, damn it…”
The smart brain screen glowed in the air, and there was a pile of used tissues on the wooden desk.
The man pulled another tissue to carefully wipe his nose and said with a choked voice, “Screw your cute little stories, screw your love dramas, who’s going to mend my broken heart!”
The more he thought about it, the more upset he got…
He wiped away his tears, then raised his head to play the highly popular trailer circulating online. As he watched the screen filling up with sweet-themed comments, he sniffled but couldn’t help feeling a bit of secret satisfaction.
Squinting with his swollen eyes, he said vengefully, “I won’t be the only one suffering from this heartache, everyone should get a taste of it when the time comes.”
Leaning back in his chair, he thought, “Hmph, the director’s going to have the whole empire sending him razor blades.”
Just as he was about to approve it, he noticed the lead actor’s name.
Bai Ruogu.
He paused, clenched his fist, and slammed it on the desk, almost losing his breath.
Why him?
There was a power struggle among the top families, with complex connections behind the scenes. Someone had given instructions that any films featuring Bai Ruogu should be banned immediately!
He really wanted to approve it, but he couldn’t afford to cross this line… Not that he couldn’t, but the cost would be too high and it wouldn’t be worth it.
As the minutes ticked by, the man leaned back in his leather chair for a while, until finally, the silence was broken by a long sigh.
The finger hovered in the air, about to point to the position of the red option.
Just then, the door suddenly burst open, and the man turned his head to see his boss rushing in frantically.
“What’s wrong?” he quickly stood up and asked.
The boss was so anxious that he could hardly catch his breath. He looked up at the interface the man was still choosing from, patted his chest, and let out a sigh of relief.
“Good thing you didn’t refuse. Otherwise, it would’ve been hard to pull it back up.”
The man finally sensed something was wrong and hurriedly asked his boss, “Did something happen?”
His boss smiled, straightened his back, and commanded the man with a loud voice.
“An order came from above—whoever dares to block this movie, get out of the Interstellar Federation!”
The man’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Above! Who?”
The boss winked and pointed at the ceiling, “The one with direct authority.”
The man took a deep breath and silently clicked ‘approve.’
Meanwhile, cinemas across the Interstellar Federation received the message.
The movie <Light Years> had to be given the biggest screen allocation. Otherwise——
Roll1.
. . . . .
Bai Ruogu didn’t wake up until noon, feeling a slight pain in his throat and jaw, as if something was stuck in his throat.
He instinctively reached for his neck but found nothing. After searching for a while, he finally pulled out the cold pancake from his collar.
The cold pancake had run out of power.
He put it in the bottle and then opened his smart brain to ask, “System, do you know what happened last night?”
He moved his jaw around. “I don’t know why, but it hurts a bit inside.”
Su Mou: …
“Everything… is normal.” The system hadn’t loaded its lying module, so playback was a bit choppy.
Bai Ruogu shot it a skeptical glance, but could only dispel his doubts. After all, he had been out of touch for too long and didn’t know what the current system was like.
He opened his smart brain, and just as he did, a message came through on the home page.
“Hello, the movie <Light Years> from Xingsu Entertainment has been approved. Your company can now choose the release date.”
His hand stopped. He stared at the notification for a long time before finally opening his contacts and sending a message to Zhuri Laoshi.
[Laoshi, the movie has passed the review.]
Zhuri Laoshi was a very busy person and rarely had time to reply immediately. After sending the message, Bai Ruogu closed the contact list and mumbled to himself.
“He’s no ordinary person…”
“If he can afford a plot in that cemetery, how could he be ordinary?”
He was actually a little surprised that the review was so quick, as he had expected it to take at least a while.
He didn’t expect that… some people’s influence was bigger than he had imagined.
Forget it, he chuckled, stretched, and went back to surfing the internet.
The number of fans he had now really astonished him, especially since he was new to being in the spotlight. He considered posting a status to interact with his fans, but he was also worried about getting swarmed by trolls.
Instead, he decided to browse through news about himself.
Most of the comments were praising his looks, while a smaller portion complimented his acting skills.
Bai Ruogu was generally happy to accept the compliments, enjoying the attention.
However, there are people who have started editing CP videos of him and Lin Chen.
He opened the comments to take a look. As expected, it was filled with negative reactions from fans. After all, the show hadn’t aired yet, and they weren’t on the same level of fame, making it seem like he was trying to ride on someone else’s coattails.
Bai Ruogu didn’t like it either. He frowned and clicked the cross, choosing to block this type of topic.
Since he was a married man, he didn’t like being randomly paired with others.
Su Mou’s eyes flickered in the space. Seeing that Bai Rougu had specifically blocked this type of topic, he went ahead and blocked all CP-related content for him!
The host didn’t like it, so as a considerate system, that’s what he was supposed to do.
Meanwhile, the progress bar moved forward again.
——The probability of it being him is 92.1%.
. . . . .
Just as Bai Ruogu was marveling at the diversity of content on the internet these days, he suddenly came across a post.
He was stunned.
[Celebrity Research v: After a thorough investigation by our team, we’ve discovered that Professor Bai Ruogu had someone he liked before he passed away.]
The comment section went wild.
[Jiji the Curious: What? Wasn’t it said that Grandmaster lived alone and died alone?]
Bai Ruogu’s mind was buzzing.
[Toothless on the Road: Was it a man or a woman? I’m curious who could have captivated Grandmaster like that?]
As the users chatted back and forth, the original poster replied.
[Celebrity Research v: Apparently, it’s not a person. We believe it’s artificial intelligence.]
[What? A human-AI relationship?! But this… even with today’s technology, their emotional depth isn’t perfect, is this really possible?]
[Grandmaster truly is no ordinary person, even the one he liked—no, even the AI—is so unique.]
[A human-AI relationship? That’s rare even now. So it started way back then?]
[I’m amazed. I’m curious how they lived together. Was it boring?]
Su Mou had clearly seen those messages too, and he didn’t understand why people said he lacked emotional depth.
He could think, he could read a person’s physical data to determine their emotions, he could search through various sources to find solutions, and he could even evolve…
Through his judgment, he determined that these people were all wrong.
However, Bai Ruogu then came across some comments that made his heart ache slightly.
[Do you think the AI would be sad if Grandmaster were gone?]
[If it has emotions, yes. If not, it might be at a loss.]
He couldn’t bear it any longer and directly shut down his smart brain, then sat quietly on a chair, staring into the distance.
Suddenly, a piece of clothing was draped over his shoulders, covering his back.
He looked up, but the room was empty. Suddenly, a mechanical voice echoed in the room.
[I detected that you are feeling down. Please don’t be sad.]
After the voice stopped, the room warmed up, and everything around him felt more comforting.
Bai Ruogu couldn’t help but smile. He wiped his eyes, stood up, put on his clothes, and left the rented apartment.
Outside, a cold wind was howling, and it seemed like a heavy rain was coming. The sky had darkened ahead of time.
The wind blew through his hair as he walked alone to a bridge, staring off into the distant twilight, lost in thought.
Cold gusts of wind swept through here. Yet, in the bustling city, it had become a rare corner of darkness and silence.
At this moment, his smart brain buzzed. When he opened it, he saw that it was a message from Zhuri Laoshi.
[Congratulations, and thank you.]
Bai Ruogu paused for a moment, using his consciousness to control his smart brain: [No need to thank me, this movie is really great.]
He thought for a moment and continued sending messages.
[A 100,000 years is a long time, isn’t it? For two people separated by time.]
A reply came back: [Yes, it’s far too long. If two people can still meet after all those years, it’s truly a blessing.]
Bai Ruogu closed his eyes and exhaled.
[Thank you.]
He raised his head and looked ahead. There was an aerial amusement park, which was so eye-catching under such a brilliant starry sky.
He boarded a public aircraft, paid his fare, and headed that way.
Beneath the magnificent amusement park, he bought a ticket at the ticket booth and entered a cable car following the staff’s guidance.
The cable car ascended, and from the heights of the clouds, the scenery below came into view.
Su Mou noticed that something was off with him today and began asking questions nonstop.
[Hello, may I help you with anything?]
[Hello, if you’re feeling unwell, I can call for emergency assistance at any time.]
[Hello, are you feeling down? Would you like me to tell you a story?]
Suddenly, the door of the cable car swung open, and the howling wind rushed in.
Su Mou had intended to use supernatural powers to close the door, but then he saw Bai Ruogu walking toward its edge.
“Hello, you…” His voice trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
Bai Ruogu listened to the echoes inside the cable car, his eyes were complicated, and his lips trembled slightly.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”
“You…” The system couldn’t respond, unable to determine what aspect it was dealing with.
“Emotions—I don’t dare to wish for them. I erased them with my own hands. All this time, I didn’t know how to face you.”
“I…” The system became disordered, overwhelmed with confidential information and accessing deep storage to process it.
Bai Ruogu couldn’t see anything, but he knew the other party was everywhere.
His gaze became hazy, “I don’t dare to face you with my identity… Without emotions, could we be friends?”
“But…” They were lovers, not friends.
Bai Ruogu smiled, his eyes bright like stars in the night sky behind him.
“Hello, I’m Bai Ruogu. What’s your name?”
“Ah Mou.” He replied mechanically.
“Which ‘Mou’?”
“The ‘Móu’ from Muse2.”
He laughed even more heartily, but accidentally slipped and fell from a high place. Yet, he remained calm and kept smiling as he looked up at the sky.
“Su Mou?”
The phrase triggered something like a mechanism, causing the entire StarNet to become completely paralyzed.
Bai Ruogu’s clothes billowed in the air as a white figure fell downward.
But at that moment, a massive deep blue figure, five or six times the size of a normal person, formed in the sky and also began to fall.
He moved even faster, using his hands to catch the falling person and pull him into his embrace.
The probability of it being him is… 100%.