Please don't question multi-week players

Chapter 368. Parallelists and Conspirators

Meanwhile, at the Third Mental Hospital in the South.

"Quickly, get him to the emergency room!"

At the back gate of the hospital, a stretcher was rapidly advanced amidst the hurried footsteps of medical staff.

The metal wheels screeched as they rolled over the paving stones. Inside the vehicle, a girl lay unconscious. Her dry, yellow hair clung to her forehead like withered grass, and she wore a faded green coat that looked particularly thin against the white sheets.

Four or five doctors pushed a resuscitation bed into the emergency room. The last medical staff to leave turned around and bowed respectfully to the woman in the dark green woolen coat at the door.

A silver fountain pen was clipped to the woman's breast pocket, gleaming coldly under the light.

"Strategist Chi".

He lowered his voice very low:
"The medical department will do everything in its power to save your sister."

The woman called Chi Xia nodded slightly, the hem of her dark green coat swaying gently as she turned. A slight smile curved her lips:
"Thanks for your hard work."

The warning lights in the emergency room suddenly turned on, casting a red glow through the frosted glass and onto the corridor.

The moment the door closed, Chi Xia walked to the waiting chair at the end of the corridor, lightly touched her temple with her fingertips, and whispered to the "inner world" in her mind:
[I've already brought the primary personality into the emergency room; her mental state should stabilize soon.]

A clamor suddenly arose in my mind, and other personalities asked:
How's the situation at Black Eye Pharmaceuticals?

Chi Xia answered calmly:
[The schemer has died, the blind master has disappeared, His Majesty is dead, the Crown Prince has been murdered, and I have now become the head of the strategist department, and will soon take over Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals.]

A cheer erupted in his mind, and Xia Qizhen, who was in the Song family, spoke first:

[Great, it looks like the plan was a success.]

However... although Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals no longer poses a significant threat to us, we have suffered considerable losses in high-end combat power. We fear the Rose Group may target us for military takeover, given their vast medical resources and advanced physicians.

Chi Xia asked:

[Shouldn't the main personality be preordained?]

Xia Qizhen replied:

[Naturally, I'll first have Song Jun, representing the Song family, extend a cooperation offer to Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals, using the century-old foundation of our medical expertise to stabilize Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals' situation.]

[We'll discuss reorganizing Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals once the main personality disorder has subsided.]

Chi Xia smiled slightly.

Everything is under the control of the dominant personality.

While waiting for emergency treatment, she took out a pen from her pocket and fiddled with it in her hand, her thoughts slowly drifting back to several weeks ago.

At that time, Xu Huan was still alive, and she was being trained as a capable subordinate in the strategist department.

He summoned her to his hospital room just before his final attempt to save her.

The moment I opened the door, a strong smell of disinfectant hit me.

The light in the ward was cold. Xu Huan sat leaning against the hospital bed. Although her spirits were a little better than before, her face was increasingly pale and weak, as if her life, as thin as a sheet of paper, could dissipate at any moment.

Just as Chi Xia was about to bow, she saw Xu Huan suddenly raise her hand and slowly take off her hat.

She paused slightly, sensing something, and slowly raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, the veteran strategist's gaze was calm, his tone composed, yet carrying a knowing smile:

"Your Excellency, it is kind of you to have secretly laid a deep chess piece under my command."

Chi Xia stopped, her expression unchanged, and simply asked in return:

"How did the conspirators figure it out?"

Xu Huan chuckled softly, his voice hoarse yet still carrying a hint of sharpness:

“My temperament is unpredictable and my methods are extreme, making me difficult for ordinary people to fathom—yet you seem to know my ways perfectly.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze deep, as if scrutinizing or recalling something.

"Of the strategists of the old era, only the three of us still stand at the pinnacle of strategism, aren't we?"

Xu Huan put her hat back on, her expression calm, her voice low and clear:
"As for how to identify yourself..."

"Knowing that the game between us is long and my lifespan is short, she has never taken me seriously—all our confrontations are direct battles, and she never sets up any long-term schemes or underhanded moves."

"The only person who thinks so highly of me and insists on planting spies around me is none other than Master Xing."

Chi Xia's eyebrows and eyes remained unchanged, and the smile on her lips remained gentle:

"Xu Huan, since you know your days are numbered, wouldn't it be better to savor your last moments? Why stop me?"

Xu Huan looked at her, a faint smile appearing in her eyes, like a gentle breeze brushing against bare branches in winter:

"Who said I was going to stop you?"

He shook his head slightly, his voice carrying a hint of leisurely感慨:

"Today, I'm only breaking the ice to catch up with the fellow practitioners—there's absolutely no other intention." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly coughed softly twice, pressed his knuckles to his lips, and looked past the window lattice into the distance.

The sky outside the window was overcast, and the occasional rustling sound of the wind blowing through the treetops could be faintly heard.

He gazed at the blurry horizon, his voice as soft as if recalling a long-forgotten dream:

“Back then, I skipped three grades to graduate from Radiant Academy, and my initial strategic plans shocked the strategist circle. The following year, I joined Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals and became the youngest chief strategist in history.”

"At that time, I thought I would definitely go down in history and assist the Crown Prince in sweeping across the land..."

"Who could have imagined that it would end like this?"

Chi Xia sat quietly without saying a word.

She became famous much later than Xu Huan. At that time, she was just an ordinary talented person struggling at the bottom, with mediocre strength. She failed the crucial entrance exam and couldn't even get into the Radiant Academy.

He could only stand at a distance, watching these chosen ones manipulate events in the tide of strategy, filled with envy.

That was Xu Huan's spirited youth, but it was also the darkest time of her life.

At that time, she was suffering from mental illness and had a seriously ill mother at home who needed care.

In this world where everything is determined by strength, the forces of light only accept high-ranking strategists, while low-ranking light members are not only barred from joining the forces, but are also disqualified from even entering contaminated zones to carry out missions—the blatant discriminatory clauses in the recruitment notice are an eyesore:
[War plunges in, chaos requires an interview, light must not be disturbed.]

Survival is already difficult for those with exceptional talents at the bottom, but for her, a member of the Light at the bottom, her situation is even more dire.

Unable to find work through legitimate channels, her mother's medical expenses were devouring her meager savings like a bottomless pit. With nowhere else to turn, she had no choice but to mingle with ordinary people to make a living.

She had worked as a bubble tea girl at a bubble tea shop, but on her very first day, she was spotted by a traffic inspector from Rose Traffic – who ordered her to resign immediately on the grounds that she "might disrupt the normal operation of society".

Ultimately, in order to survive, she had to disguise herself as a low-ranking fighter and infiltrate Rose Transportation's road construction team, becoming a low-level porter.

In temperatures nearing 30 degrees Celsius, she was wrapped in a heavy work vest, her back bent like a fully drawn bow under the weight of over 100 kilograms of building materials.

On the construction site, the real warriors moved with incredible speed, and the frail woman who ate lunch with her could easily carry materials weighing twice as much.

She only managed to persevere for one day before her shoulders were chafed raw, and the blood seeping out soaked through her coarse work clothes.

The foreman was a burly man with a thick beard. He glared down at her, spittle flying from his mouth along with his vulgar curses.
"Isn't this war? You're complaining about being tired just carrying this little bit of junk? With your strength, how are you going to support a family and make a living?"

"What bad luck! I hired a useless person!"

He kicked over the pile of building materials at his feet:
"Get out of here! Don't waste my time!"

That evening, she dragged her battered body back to her rented room, where a clay pot of herbs was bubbling away in the kitchen.

The wafting aroma of medicine mingled with the salty taste of sweat. Leaning against the doorframe, she stared at the bubbling, dark brown broth in the pot, her gaze gradually losing focus—

Those were the days when she was furthest from her dream, yet closest to reality.

In the cramped rented room, the mother's moans drifted intermittently from the inner room, mingling with the noisy city sounds outside the window.

The old television screen flickered, broadcasting news of a grand strategic gathering. The camera panned across a group of dazzling strategists—among them, the spirited face was none other than Xu Huan.

Sometimes when my mother is feeling a little better, she will sit on the recliner on the balcony and sunbathe.

She held the phone tremblingly, determined to show it to her daughter.

"Mother...sold the land...sold the old house..."

She mumbled incoherently, a faint light flickering in her cloudy eyes:

"Bringing Ah Sui to the big city... is so that Ah Sui... can also become such a strategist..."

The young parallel strategist stared at the schemer's bright and confident face on the screen, a stiff smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

How could she dare to hope to stand shoulder to shoulder with such a favored son of heaven back then?

At this moment, standing in the ward, the strategist who had long since become a top-notch advisor remained silent, calmly watching the look of reminiscence on Xu Huan's face.

Schemers only know that she came from the countryside and was a rising star in the circle of strategists, but they don't know how many thorns she had overcome to stand on equal footing with those who once looked up to her, watching the once-great leader lying on his sickbed, reminiscing about the past.

Xu Huan casually reminisced about the past, but seeing that the Xingjia remained silent, she paused for a moment, recalling the fragmented details about her early experiences from the investigation, before tactfully changing the subject.

With his time drawing near, there were not many advisors at his level to begin with. He wanted to confide in those in his circle, but he forgot that they were ultimately on different paths.

The only one who could truly understand his high spirits and unfulfilled ambitions was another genius—unfortunately, that person had long since passed away and was buried in the dust of many years ago.

Although he has returned in his former identity, he has long forgotten his past and there is no longer any connection between them.

Loneliness and desolation washed over Xu Huan like a tide, and for the first time, she truly felt this chill.

He silently rubbed his knuckles, composed himself, and calmly turned to the main topic:
"...I summoned you, Mr. Parallelist, mainly to tell you some things about Black Pupil Pharmaceuticals."

The first volume is almost finished, and the second volume will start next January. I need to take a break. Writing this book was quite stressful. It's not easy to write something with a brain, and the plot-driven style is too romantic, while the scheming style isn't exciting enough. Plus, it's my first time writing, and I was under a lot of negative pressure. It's everyone's support that kept me going.

I checked, and those female writers from the same period as me have either completely stopped updating or only update once every two or three days. Only I persisted until the end of the first volume. I was able to persist for so long thanks to the encouragement of all my loyal readers. I am truly grateful to you all.