Chapter Three

Boss Lu has always thought of himself as an easy-going guy.

He followed the rules. Did what he was told. Yeah, in this world he caused a lot of trouble and complicated misunderstandings, but that was planned for the system.

Whether the system would say it or not, Boss Lu could tell that it favored him. No other system would let a protagonist get so unleashed as he was. He thought it was perhaps his glib tongue. He probably threw out one too many compliments at the system. The system's virgin heart couldn't take it and turn biased.

Even after misbehaving so much, the system only gave him warnings. It was until the female lead's suspicion reached its peak and she found a way to catch him red-handed. When Boss Lu thought about it, he should have thought of it earlier. Leading her to follow after him.

But now that he was free of the system's grasp, he didn't have anything else planned. What does he do now? In all of the life that he could remember, he had been striving to be free. But now that he was here, and he was so close, he doesn't know where to go. He felt that he was in uncharted territory and that he needed to find some kind of map. Or he needed the time to explore his surroundings.

Even though Boss Lu had been traveling from world to world, he took name after name. But he felt that he hadn't grown at all. He felt that all of his actions weren't his own. He could speak to people like Leng Zheng, unimportant characters, but his reputation, talents, relationships, free time, and feelings were all controlled by his acting program.

And not only a day after being free and allowed to create something of his own, something big already came to disrupt him.

'Lu Corporation's CEO, Lu Jiang, top suspect in the murder of his girlfriend's father'

That's what the news said.

A photo of a person he knew very well was shown right above it. From his dark eyes, and black hair, and the two prominent vertical moles underneath his right eye. His hair was combed back and he looked just like how he would on a normal day of work.

That was him. He was called Lu Jiang

"Lang Zheng, stop the car!"

Their car screeched to a stop. Leng Zheng turned to ask what was wrong, but before he was able to say anything. Boss Lu rushed out of the car.

Boss Lu stared wide-eyed at the large TVs adorning the buildings. His face was pasted on them all. The screens switched between his face and the newscaster. They spoke of his supposed crimes as if they were truths. But Boss Lu knew that he could never do such a thing.

If you gave him a knife now and told him to kill a man to survive. He wouldn't hesitate. To him, his freedom was the most important. And to be free, you have to first be alive. But because of his acting program, Boss Lu would never be able to do something drastically out of character. Even when it can do the things that the system mentioned before. He didn't do those things, he physically couldn't. Instead, he ruined his reputation without doing it himself. He's never stood out of girls' high school, dug through the trash, or bought sex toys. He only set up look a likes. As long as his acting program didn't detect him acting out of character during the plot. Then it wouldn't enforce him to do anything.

It's taken years and years for Boss Lu to find these loopholes. When the system thought that he was quietly playing through the plot. He was learning about how his program works. The limits and rules. The dos and don'ts. All of it was leading to him finally getting free.

And somehow, he had never thought of what to do after.

"Boss...what is this?" Leng Zheng looked dumbstruck when he saw the screens. He held onto his constantly vibrating phone, people were calling him non-stop. But he didn't answer any of them. He knew that they were going to ask questions, questions he didn't have the answer to. But when it came to Lu Jiang, he knew that he wouldn't do this. There was no way.

Boss Lu's face cooled. He placed his phone and placed it back onto his ear. "Ma, is this what you wanted to show me?" It seems that this was more serious than he thought. He had thought that one of the old plans of his ended up working at the wrong time and his mother was going to ask him about how he works in human trafficking or something like that.

"Well now that you know, what are you going to do? I'm sure staying out in the middle of the street won't help you stay low, so if that's what you want to do then you sure as hell should get back into the car." His mother's tone was the same as it was either. Cool and calm. In this plot, Lu Jiang's mother could be called the main antagonist of the story. She was raised tough and had hard skin. Both mentally and physically. After being married off to Lu Jiang's father she took over a lot in the Lu household. She raised Lu Jiang the same she was, so by the time he took over Lu Corporation he was able to raise it to unbelievable heights.

But when her son came home with a soft young lady of some fallen household that was missing a head. She did not approve at all. The Sung house has been in the dumps for years, and when the head, Ms. Sung's father, went missing, it was sure to say that he ditched his family to run from the loan sharks. But his silly daughter started to cling to her son and kept using Lu's resources for herself.

But although she didn't like her son's taste and she disapproved of them greatly, she still loved him dearly.

Boss Lu turned towards his friend and assistant. "Leng Zheng, back into the car. Drive to the villa in city B, we'll figure out what to do from there."

He spoke back into the phone, "Ma, I'll speak with you later."

"No need. Power off your phone and stay safe."

He didn't question her, "Alright."

He hung up the phone and powered it off. He sat back into the car and took one last look at the screens.

Instead, his eyes caught onto a man. His back was straight as he looked back at him. Although he looked normal and mixed with the crowd, Boss Lu could feel a different kind of pull towards him. This person...Their eyes stayed glued to each other and a crazy thought entered Boss Lu's head.

His gaze stayed on the man as Leng Zheng drove away. When he was out of sight Boss Lu called out to the system. [System, are you there.]

"Do you still expect me to follow after you?" A bright ball appeared next to him. Boss Lu wasn't quite used to being able to see the real system. He wasn't sure why he was able to either. Perhaps it was because now that he wasn't classified as a character anymore and he got rid of the systems control, he's stuck in the middle of being a system and an extra.

After all, Boss Lu already wasn't really human. He was made of code, the only reason he's able to think the way he is now is because of the error in his data. Therefore, there wasn't that much of a difference between the two of them. They were both a bunch of code piled up to make a whole.

[And yet you still came when I called.] Boss Lu gave the system a small mocking smile. He was doubting whether or not the system would show up.

Boss Lu's smile dimmed when he remembered the situation. [I'm guessing this is because you report the situation, and this is some kind of counterattack?] His mother was able to see through it too. This was all no more than a scheme. And although his mother might have other ideas, he was for sure an attack on him.

"Why would you ask a question you already know the answer to?"

[It's just nice to have assurance.]

Boss Lu looked back out the window, they were heading towards city B, where they would stop at his villa. Then when they get there he would probably find a reliable place to hide out. Getting caught was not an option. The justice system wasn't on his side.

[That man from before. He was a transmigrator right?]

"You are no longer qualified to know this information. Please do not try asking again." This seemed like a trick answer. Even if he asked this question before he went against the system, the answer would be close to the same. The system just wouldn't warn him so harshly.

[Is he here to kill me?]

"You are no longer qualified to know this information. I insisted that you stop asking."

[System, why are you being such a tsundere, you know you're practically already giving me the answers, right?]

"..."

Boss Lu snickered into his hand. Even if the system didn't respond the same, it was still fun to tease it.

Suddenly, a glint of light shined in Boss Lu's eyes as he twisted his head to the side. Just at that moment, another car came barreling them at full speed.

"Lang Zhang, watch out!"

The vehicle ran into the side of their car at full speed. Boss Lu wasn't prepared in time as he was thrown to the other side of the car. Pieces of window flew around him as the car tipped over. Boss Lu felt his head hit something solid, and an immense amount of ache ran down from his head to his back. If he was in a different situation, he might have laughed. The system wasn't there to protect him from pain. He remembered the first time he felt such pain, back then, he didn't even know who he was. He was playing the part normally.

He felt that it was too long ago. He could barely piece the images of his memories together.

After the error in his system, he was still too awkward with his surroundings. It was until the plot he was in hit its climax. Boss Lu ended up injured. And the system, out of pity, mockery, sympathy, understanding, or whatever you would want to call it, suggested to give him pain tolerance.

The last sight in Boss Lu's was the same man that he saw earlier. His back was still as straight and poised as before. But this time, in the milliseconds that Boss Lu saw him, he saw something different. Something that he connected to deeply.

Boss Lu lost consciousness with an ineffable smile etched on his face.

-

Bai Mo watched the cars collide into each other. He felt that it was a pity. Finally, someone was able to get out. Someone had that chance to be free. Yet the job he was given was to take it from them.

Bai Mo felt sick. He wanted somewhere comfortable to stay. He wanted to curl on the floor of the bathroom to pour his heart out.

He hasn't done something like that in years. Over time, he felt that his feelings didn't matter. It was part of the job, it was the price of playing as someone else for so long. He tried his best to stay sane. But staying sane with no anchor was impossible. Bai Mo did have an anchor though. But it was a promise. A weak promise with no insurance. The promise to go back to his original world. It was the same promise given to almost all transmigrators. Complete the tasks and you can get what you wish for.

But how long is this going to take? He didn't feel like he could last much longer.

Bai Mo watched as onlookers panicked and called the ambulance. The first responders pulled the three victims out of their cars and proceeded to take care of them. Bai Mo kept his eyes on the young man in a suit. That was his target. The elegant look and demeanor the man held before was replaced with an unconscious body. His hair was matted to his forehead and blood-covered half of his face.

Bai Mo watched him until his body was placed in the ambulance and driven away.

It was a shame. He thought.

He hates this job.