Chapter One: A Tumor?

A tumor can be benign or malignant. Malignant tumors are usually called cancer.

Wei Lin sat slumped in the driver’s seat of his car, dazed, the CT scan in hand as the doctor’s words echoed over and over in his mind.

This time, he had merely gone for his annual checkup as usual.

Who could have guessed that after a chest scan, a tumor would unexpectedly be found in his lungs? Terrified, he rushed to the First People’s Hospital of Jiangling City for a second examination.

In the end, it was confirmed that there truly was a tumor in his lung, and its location was not favorable.

The chief physician recommended that he come back in three months for another check to see whether the tumor had grown or changed in any other way.

A lung tumor?

Cancer?

Lung cancer?!

Early stage? Mid stage? Late stage?

“I’m not even thirty yet! Damn it!”

After a long while, Wei Lin could not help cursing aloud. He crumpled the CT scan into a ball and tossed it aside, then instinctively reached for the cigarettes in the center console.

The moment the cigarette was in hand, just as he was about to light it, he suddenly froze.

Cigarettes, lungs, cancer?

“Deep ice three feet thick does not freeze in a single day. If it really is lung cancer, then one or two cigarettes won’t matter now.”

In a state of extreme anxiety, Wei Lin ultimately failed to hold back. He lit up with practiced ease and took a deep drag, inhaling nearly a third of the cigarette at once.

As the smoke spread, he closed his eyes and thought about where he should go from here.

“What if, what if it really is malignant? Who’s going to take care of Mom?”

“The company my father left behind—once I’m gone, will there be problems? Should it be sold off as soon as possible, or should I let my mother keep managing it?”

“And what will my brothers, and those women who have ties to me, think when they find out?”

“...”

Wei Lin shut his eyes, his thoughts racing, his heart a tangled mess.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a faint green light burst into being within his mind.

Wei Lin stared in shock and saw that it was actually a green sphere, emitting a dim halo of light.

“What the hell is this? I don’t have the mind for this nonsense right now.”

The sphere was hazy, like an unknown star hanging in the dark reaches of the cosmos, carrying an air of mystery and cold remoteness.

Wei Lin cleared his thoughts, trying desperately to wipe the illusion from his mind, but no matter what he did, the star-shaped sphere would not disappear.

It was as though that spherical star had taken root deep in his consciousness and become part of his mental world.

“How strange.”

Still puzzled, Wei Lin looked once more at the sphere, and suddenly noticed a white bar beneath it, resembling a narrow river of light. At one end of the bar was a line of tiny text: Affection Value: 0/10.

“Affection value?”

While Wei Lin was still bewildered, the zero quietly changed to one, and another scene flashed through his mind.

At an unfamiliar bank counter, a lovely woman with an oval face, dressed in a black suit, was taking small sips of coffee, dazed and lost in thought.

Her makeup was exquisite. Her short hair brushed her shoulders, and her long neck was pale and smooth as soft jade. Her eyes were clear and ethereal, carrying a faint air of detachment, as if she did not belong to the mortal world.

Liu Qi.

The one who had caused the zero to become one seemed to be his ex-wife, Liu Qi.

At that moment, Liu Qi, in a rare moment of spare time at work, seemed to be... thinking of him?

Could an ex-wife’s longing for him increase this so-called affection value?

What would happen when the affection value reached ten?

The very thought had only just arisen when a faint will emerged quietly from within the spherical star:

“Breaking through the affection value can continuously unlock stages of life’s progression and strengthen your own vitality.”

Wei Lin sat up abruptly. When his eyes flew wide open, the green star in his mind vanished along with them.

“Strengthen vitality? Does that mean the tumor that suddenly appeared in my lung could actually be cured?”

At that moment, Wei Lin was like a drowning man desperate to seize hold of anything at all. With hope in his heart, he closed his eyes once more and focused, trying to look again upon that spherical star.

Sure enough, it was still there, impossible to shake off.

And the white bar representing affection value, having gone from zero to one, now showed a small amount of green at the other end.

Wei Lin immediately understood that the green represented progress.

“Besides Liu Qi, if other women think of me, love me, could that also raise the affection value? Could this thing really enhance my vitality?”

Wei Lin decided to try it and see whether other women felt affection for him.

He quickly grabbed his phone, opened WeChat, and after tapping open Lin Nanxi’s chat window, typed a line: I miss you.

A few dozen seconds later, Lin Nanxi replied: Do you miss me, or do you miss my body?

Wei Lin answered: I miss you.

I don’t believe you, Lin Nanxi replied first, and soon after sent another message: Same place, the Tianhe Hotel next to my company. Send me the room number when I get off work.

Wei Lin: OK.

...

Giant Peace Tower, 26th Floor, Hanlin Advertising Company.

“Nanxi, Mr. Chen just said he’s treating us to hotpot tonight, and he asked me to invite you along.”

Han Xiaolian walked into the private office and looked at the woman tapping at her phone with elegant fingers, her heart full of envy.

Lin Nanxi was a woman of both beauty and ability. Not only within the company, but even the wolves from other companies in this building all coveted her.

“No wonder the new Mr. Chen locked on to her right away,” Han Xiaolian muttered inwardly. Her gaze fell on Lin Nanxi’s well-tailored gray suit, and she thought that Chen Hao was not blind.

She knew very well, and everyone else could see it too: Lin Nanxi was not only beautiful, she also had a glorious figure.

She looked slender at first glance, yet gave off a graceful, voluptuous impression, because the parts of her body that should have had flesh... had quite a lot of it.

And the parts that should not have had any extra flesh had none at all.

“Too busy.”

While Han Xiaolian was still lost in her own thoughts, Lin Nanxi had already booked a king room at the Tianhe Hotel and flatly refused with a cold expression.

“Nanxi, anyone can see what Mr. Chen is after. He’s local, from a good family, and he’s got a master’s degree from a prestigious university. I think—”

Han Xiaolian continued coaxing with a smile.

“If you think he’s good, then go after him yourself. I’m too busy to bother with it.”

Lin Nanxi cut her off directly.

She turned her phone face down on the desk and leaned back against the chair. Her almond-shaped eyes were slightly cold as she looked Han Xiaolian over and said in a frosty voice, “The door may be open, but next time you come in, knock first. Understand?”

“Understood.”

Han Xiaolian lowered her head, her plump face burning.

At that moment, she felt as though all the colleagues outside were looking at her strangely.

She could not help cursing inwardly: Damn Chen Hao, insisting that I invite this iceberg. I knew there’d be no good end to it!

Just as she was about to turn and leave, Lin Nanxi’s voice rang out behind her again: “Close the door for me!”

“Oh, okay.”

Han Xiaolian answered hurriedly, hastily shut the door, and fled in disgrace.

...

Dozens of steps away, Chen Hao, dressed in a suit and tie and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, leaned crookedly against the door of another office. Frowning, his face darkened as he muttered to himself, “This is really hard to handle.”

...

Six-thirty in the evening, Tianhe Hotel.

A middle-aged man with a balding head was hunched at the front desk, engrossed in scrolling through short videos. He had just passed one clip after another of beautiful women dancing when a tall figure suddenly came into view.

“Damn it! Scumbag!”

Zhang Dahai cursed inwardly, but on his face he forced out a lecherous smile and gave the newcomer a slight nod.

Wei Lin smiled back and headed straight for the elevators.

He was an old customer here, and while he did not speak much with the owner, Zhang Dahai, they were fairly familiar with each other.

After all, this was not the first time he had brought a woman here to get a room.

The first time with Lin Nanxi, after they had both been drinking, happened in this very hotel—and he had paid for that room.

Only that once.

After that, as was the case today, he would let Lin Nanxi handle it.

It was not that he minded spending the money; it was simply that this place was closer to Lin Nanxi’s company, so she could get here faster.

“That’s all.”

Wei Lin comforted himself that way. After stepping out of the elevator, he quickly arrived at Room 407, pushed open the unlocked door, and looked at Lin Nanxi sitting quietly in the dim light, wrapped in a bath towel. Smiling, he asked, “How long have you been waiting?”

“Half an hour.”

Seeing him appear, Lin Nanxi’s face was full of impatience. “Couldn’t you have come earlier? I already told you, I still have a copy to finish tonight.”

“I’ll go shower right away. I’ll be quick!”

As he spoke, Wei Lin stripped off his clothes and walked toward the bathroom.

...

Twenty-five minutes later.

Wei Lin held Lin Nanxi in his arms, his fingers lightly tracing the slender, smooth skin of her back, his eyes closed as he examined the progress bar beneath the spherical star.

Affection Value: 1/10.

Tender words had been spoken, and the thing that needed to be done had been done, yet the progress bar had not changed.

Wei Lin felt somewhat disappointed. Looking at the cool woman nestled against him, he asked with unusual seriousness, “Lin Nanxi, have you never loved me?”

“Loved you?”

Lin Nanxi, who had enjoyed several bouts of physical pleasure, froze for a moment. Then she pressed her lips together in a cold smile and asked back, “Wei Lin, have you ever truly loved me?”

Wei Lin was left speechless by the question for a long time.

“Half a year ago, the morning after we were together for the second time, when I asked you what our relationship was, how did you answer me?”

A faint, crystal sheen curved at the corner of Lin Nanxi’s lips, full of sarcasm and chill. “Wei Lin! You yourself said we were only bedmates! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?”

Embarrassed, Wei Lin picked up a bottle of mineral water and drank straight from it.

“A scumbag like you deserves to talk about love? Wei Lin, are you joking with me?”

Glaring at him bitterly, Lin Nanxi pulled up the sheets and, with her back to him, quickly dressed herself.

“I booked this room by the hour today. It ends at ten tonight. I’m very busy lately, and I still have to work on a proposal tonight. I don’t have time to waste arguing with you!”

Click.

When the door shut, Wei Lin watched Lin Nanxi leave, then casually lit another cigarette and muttered, “A shameless woman. So she’s been deceiving both my feelings and my body all along.”

“Looks like building up this affection value really does require love after all. Without real love, it probably won’t work.”

Troubled, Wei Lin stared thoughtfully at the room key on the table and murmured to himself, “If Nanxi doesn’t work for now, let’s see whether I can build up some feelings with Xiaoxue.”

A moment later, he opened the WeChat avatar of a cartoon girl and sent a message: I miss you. I’m waiting for you at the Tianhe Hotel.

Brother Wei, I’m eating barbecue with my classmates right now. I’ll come over after I’m done, Gao Xue replied.

Wei Lin: I want some too. Pack me a bit to bring.

Gao Xue: Sure!

Wei Lin reached casually for the bedside phone and dialed the front desk. After hearing Zhang Dahai’s voice, he said, “Brother Hai, have one of the maids come to 407. Just change the bedsheets.”