Salted Fish is a Rebellious Person – Chapter 55

Xingshi set the cup down on the sideboard, grabbed the other person by the collar, and yanked him closer.

Almost at the same time, Fu Xiuning placed a hand on his lower back and pulled him in forcefully—the two of them pressed together in an instant.

It was still a deep kiss, but unlike last time, which had been more of a release, this one was laced with tenderness.

After tossing and turning in the middle of the night with nothing to show for it, 99 had given up trying to sleep. As luck would have it, it caught this scene playing out right before its eyes.

It was utterly ecstatic, watching the moment with unblinking intensity, savoring every second.

Might as well activate the shield and expand the viewing window.

99 instantly cried out, “Did you see that?! They kissed again! My favorite couple is giving us sweet fanservice!”

The Best Fortune asked flatly, “Don’t you think there’s something off about this?”

99 blurted without hesitation, “It’s late at night, and a man and a woman can’t help themselves. What’s wrong with that?”

The Best Fortune clarified, “I meant you.”

99 thought for a moment and replied, “I didn’t say a single word earlier for fear of disturbing them, so there shouldn’t be any issue, right?”

The Best Fortune reminded coolly, “Your shield wasn’t even turned on.”

99 quickly checked—and sure enough, it had completely forgotten to activate it. Only then did it realize there hadn’t been any favorability announcement either.

With a dazed look, it asked, “Is… is something wrong with me?”

The Best Fortune guessed, “Seems like your link with Xingshi has been severed.”

99 was stunned. “Wait, that’s even possible? I didn’t feel a thing!”

The Best Fortune replied, “You were too busy screaming at the time.”

99: “…”

They stared at each other in awkward silence.

A few seconds later, 99 solemnly declared—like it was marching off to war, “I’ll leave Xingshi in your hands from now on.”

The Best Fortune replied blankly, “…This is supposed to be my return trip.”

99 wailed, “But you’re smarter than me! You’ll be way more useful if you stay!”

The Best Fortune retorted, “Which is exactly why we can’t let you go back. You’d just mess things up even more.”

99: “?”

“…What did you just say?” it asked, suspicious.

The Best Fortune replied coolly, “I’m just being objective.”

99 flew into a huff and decided to cut ties with it for the rest of the night.

The Best Fortune didn’t say much after that—just hovered in silence.

After a moment, 99 asked anxiously, “You’re not going to purposely lock me out just because I ignored you, right?”

Shang Shang Qian replied, “I’ve already set the conditions for automatic shielding.”

99 got the message—that meant the two people outside were still kissing. It chuckled, immediately reassured.

In the restaurant, the kiss moved from deep to gentle and then back to deep again, both of them increasingly lost in it.

The air grew thick with heat. Their breath, the faint scent of each other—everything was intermingling in an inseparable tangle.

Fu Xiuning reached out and tried to lift his partner’s pajamas, but the moment his hand touched the fabric’s edge, he came to his senses. Years of self-restraint kicked in and made him stop instinctively.

He gave him one last deep kiss before pulling away—reluctantly.

Xingshi opened his eyes and looked at him.

They didn’t step back. Still pressed close, they adjusted their breathing—yet the familiar favorability notification never sounded.

Xingshi took the initiative and said, “Looks like it’s been severed.”

Fu Xiuning stared at his moist lips and replied hoarsely, “Really?”

Xingshi ended the topic with a soft “Mm,” then called out, “Brother.”

Fu Xiuning responded with gentle warmth.

Now that Xingshi couldn’t rely on the system to push things forward, he started assigning blame directly: “You’re the one who suddenly kissed me when everything was calm. You’re such a scoundrel.”

Fu Xiuning’s eyes lit with a smile, and he brushed a light kiss on his lips. “Then I’ll take responsibility this time.”

Xingshi had meant to say more, but that tender gesture caught him off guard and made the words stick in his throat.

Fu Xiuning reached out and tousled his hair. “It’s late. Go to sleep.”

The two were still too close—sensitive enough to feel the heat between them—and they both knew if they lingered any longer, things might spiral out of control.

Xingshi had no desire to share his private life with the system. Kissing was fine, but anything beyond that was out of the question. Even if they could block it out, the system would still know what happened.

So he obediently followed Fu Xiuning out of the restaurant, intending to say goodnight and return to his room. Just then, he turned his head and caught sight of the faint red on the other’s earlobes.

But his expression didn’t change—still gentle, still composed.

He didn’t suppress the itch in his heart, stepped forward, and bit the other man’s lip softly. “Good night.”

Fu Xiuning’s eyes darkened, and he immediately grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.

The Best Fortune’s temporary shielding had just lifted, but it activated again in the next moment.

99, completely forgetting its earlier vow to cut ties, shouted excitedly, “Did you hear that?! He said he’ll take responsibility!”

The Best Fortune: silence.

99 beamed, “This time, they’re not gonna sic the clear-headed male college student on me, right?”

The Best Fortune said blandly, “No idea.”

99 leaned in, gossiping eagerly, “How long do you think they’ll kiss this time?”

The Best Fortune, unbothered: “No idea.”

99 urged, “Come on, just guess~”

Shang Shang Qian had zero interest in this. After being pestered for a while, it finally muttered, “One minute.”

99 snorted, “No way! You don’t know how clingy young couples are in the honeymoon phase~ Let me tell you—”

Before it could finish, the blocking feature auto-activated again.

99: “…”

The Best Fortune just stared at it, waiting for its reaction.

99 looked on in disbelief, only to see the two saying goodnight and heading back to their rooms.

Xingshi’s clothes were a little rumpled, so he went inside and splashed some water on his face.

He had nearly lost control just now—and couldn’t even remember who had reached into the other’s pajamas first. If not for the system in the back of his mind, things might have escalated into something irreversible.

99 looked at Xingshi’s reflection in the mirror and said, “You didn’t sleep in the same bed tonight.”

Xingshi replied, “We’re just two male college students. We still need some personal space.”

99 asked suspiciously, “Male college student?”

Xingshi shot back, “What, aren’t he and I both college students?”

99 was briefly stunned into silence.

Xingshi climbed back into bed.

He was still feeling wired—too excited to sleep at all.

But his mood was much lighter than before. He closed his eyes and let 99 tell him a bedtime story, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, he got up late and skipped his morning jog. After washing up, he stepped out of the bedroom.

Fu Xiuning had already woken up. Seeing that Xingshi’s door was still closed, he was just about to check in.

Xingshi opened the door and saw him standing outside. He smiled and greeted, “Good morning, brother.”

Fu Xiuning replied, “Morning,” then took his hand, and the two of them headed to the dining room together.

99 exclaimed, “Yesterday you male college students were all ‘I’ll take responsibility,’ but today you’re back to acting innocent.”

Xingshi pretended not to hear. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

99 figured they must’ve talked things through, so it shook its head and decided not to tease anymore.

Seeing them quietly eating breakfast, the Best Fortune finally brought up the topic: “Did you unbind yourselves?”

99 suddenly remembered and cut in before Xingshi could respond, “I checked—no, we haven’t unbound yet.”

Shang Shang Qian and Xingshi were both surprised. The former had wanted to mention that the shielding function didn’t auto-activate last night, but considering that the transformation between it and Hou Hou Ju Shang wasn’t complete yet, sometimes the system functions could misfire—so it chose to stay silent.

Xingshi asked, “Are you sure?”

99 replied, “Sure.”

Xingshi followed up, “Try using energy to separate from me?”

99 gave it a try and said, “Nope, can’t.”

Xingshi pondered while eating, “Then the favorability value should be gone, right?”

99 said, “Yeah, the meter’s empty.”

Xingshi wasn’t surprised.

When Fu Xiuning grabbed his wrist last night, he’d already sensed that something was off with the notification sounds. Thinking back on his earlier theories, it was easy to deduce: the energy thread was essentially the favorability line tied to Fu Xiuning. And after he swallowed it, the favorability program had lost its anchor and stopped functioning.

Now that the energy link between him and Fu Xiuning had been severed, the favorability meter no longer posed a threat. He still needed a system around to monitor the movements of the main group anyway, so whether they were bound or not didn’t matter much anymore.

Besides, the defensive magic circle had only been partially inscribed. He could wait until the entire thing was finished before giving it a proper check.

He said, “Got it.”

99 asked, “So you won’t be consumed just because your favorability got too high?”

Xingshi answered, “No.”

99 chuckled and said, “Then may your marriage be blissful forever.”

Xingshi gave a neutral hum in response, thinking that if that wish was ever going to come true, the main system had to crash and burn first.

Neither of them had morning classes that day, so after lunch, they headed to the company together.

Life carried on just as before—yet not quite the same.

The routine stayed the same, but now, instead of keeping a polite distance at home in the evenings, they sat side by side.

Xingshi resumed the unfinished business at hand.

The advanced defensive magic circle was incredibly complex. The system’s core was small, and its main body even smaller. Fortunately, the laws of the energy world were different from those of the physical one, so it didn’t create too many obstacles. Still, it was painstaking work.

It took him over a week to finish carving it, and during that time, he discovered another energy thread—this one, he was sure, was the actual binding thread between them.

However, recalling a contingency plan that had flashed through his mind earlier, he didn’t cut it for the time being. Instead, he marked both ends with magical runes so he could locate them easily later.

99 screamed internally and almost regretted everything.

But first, it knew Xingshi wouldn’t stop no matter what. Second, it had blustered before and couldn’t afford to lose face in front of the other systems. Most importantly—every time it saw Fu Xiuning furrow his brows, wiping the sweat from Xingshi’s forehead and wrapping him gently in his arms—it felt like it could fight on a little longer.

Finally, the day came when the entire program was completed, and it quietly entered sleep mode.

Xingshi waited for it to fully wake before doing another check. He turned to Fu Xiuning and said, “It’s done.”

Only a few minor processes remained tonight, and they wouldn’t require much energy.

Fu Xiuning observed his expression, reached out to touch his face, and let out a soft “Mm,” visibly relieved.

Xingshi leaned against him and idly scrolled through his phone. A short while later, his WeChat pinged—it was a message from Chai Xiaoyu.

Chai Xiaoyu:
[Boss, I found a job in City Z. Just moved here today. I wanna treat you to a meal 😆]

Xingshi stared at the message and called out, “What kind of job did he find?”

Shang Shang Qian did a quick scan and replied, “He’s working as an intern assistant at Yingjie Entertainment.”

Xingshi asked, “How did he get in?”

The Best Fortune explained, “With the system’s help, he happened to meet the director of the Art Management Department. He did a small favor, and they arranged an internship for him. He’s planning to become an artist’s assistant in the future.”

Xingshi remarked, “It actually suits my identity as an artist quite well.”

The Best Fortune remained silent.

Based on how Xingshi and Fu Xiuning behaved when they kissed for the first time, it had a strong suspicion that Xingshi might actually be the original owner of the body.

The idea of someone traveling back and forth between timelines sounded absurd—but then again, Xingshi had advanced energy cores, so experiencing extraordinary phenomena didn’t seem that far-fetched.

And if Xingshi was the original owner, that meant Chai Xiaoyu truly was his childhood friend. What remained unclear was whether Chai Xiaoyu was a native of this world—or a transmigrator himself.

The Best Fortune said, “If he’s still a native, the system will only erase his memories once it’s disconnected.”

Xingshi replied, “I know.”

The Best Fortune added, “Fu Xiuning mentioned yesterday that Li Yu and Sang Chenhao have completed their tasks and will be back soon.”

Xingshi immediately understood the implication—that they were likely the next targets—and couldn’t help but chuckle. “Didn’t expect you to show such a soft side.”

The Best Fortune fell silent again.

Although its memory was incomplete, it could still recall a few scenes from past strategy missions. Situations where friends ended up becoming hosts were common. It wasn’t unusual for once-close allies to become strangers, even enemies.

It just didn’t want to witness that happen again.

“Just a suggestion,” it said lightly.

Xingshi replied calmly, “It doesn’t matter. Whoever it is, I’ll deal with it.”

The Best Fortune should have felt lucky to have such a partner. But when he thought about the main system possibly collapsing at any moment—about this same cycle possibly repeating in the future—it couldn’t help but fall into a brief silence, then quietly responded, “Mm.”

As the conversation trailed off, the phone screen dimmed on its own.

Fu Xiuning, catching sight of Xingshi staring blankly at his screen, leaned over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xingshi unlocked the phone again, showed him the chat history, and began replying.

Xingshi: [Okay.]

Chai Xiaoyu: [Are you free this weekend?]

Xingshi: [Yes.]

Chai Xiaoyu: [Great. Anything you want to eat?]

Xingshi: [I’ll go with whatever.]

Fu Xiuning turned slightly, rested his chin lightly on Xingshi’s shoulder, and quietly watched the conversation unfold.

From their last interaction, it was obvious—Chai Xiaoyu believed the system’s story about “saving people.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d been “saved” by a host. Every time, the host would use all sorts of tactics to pull him out of the abyss—hoping to make him live a better, more upright life, to become a “normal person” with a basic sense of morality.

But the more you gave, the more effort you put in, the more it would all come crashing down. Slowly, disappointment would turn into resentment. And if, in the process of trying to save him, others got hurt… then that guilt would inevitably be pinned on him.

After all, how could a “savior” admit they were wrong?

No, the blame would all fall on him. He was the one who didn’t change. He was the one clinging to sociopathy. It was all his fault.

Fu Xiuning was intimately familiar with that pattern. He’d long grown numb to it.

But for Xingshi, this would be the first time facing a host like that.

Fu Xiuning knew Xingshi wouldn’t go easy on him—but he didn’t want him to repeat the same cycle either.

Before Chai Xiaoyu sank any deeper into the system’s lies, he needed to have his system forcibly removed.

After Xingshi finished chatting with Chai Xiaoyu, he looked up and asked, “We’ve got dinner plans this Saturday. Want to come with me?”

Fu Xiuning cupped his chin, leaned in and kissed him. His voice was as soft and warm as ever—no different than usual: “Of course.”