The system had made a basic mistake.
It had assumed that Lin Mo was the primary anomaly.
He wasn't.
The real fracture began when someone else learned to look without asking the future.
The Protagonist's Move
Lucky Son #2 — Zhao Wen — felt the void before he understood it.
Opportunities didn't vanish all at once.They simply… stopped aligning.
A contract canceled "out of prudence."An investor who chose the conservative option.A promotion delayed six months "due to restructuring."
Nothing unfair.Nothing suspicious.
But everything wrong.
—This can't be happening… —Zhao Wen muttered, clenching his teeth.
The system tried to compensate.
Narrative Correction ActivatedPassive Luck Increase: +12%Forced Catalyst Event: In Preparation
Lin Mo saw it coming.
A big event.Visible.Violent if necessary.
The kind of shove the system used when it lost fine control.
—There you are —he thought.—Desperate.
The Reverse Trap
That night, Han Xue received an encrypted message.
Only two words.
"Tomorrow. Rooftop."
She didn't ask who it was from.
She knew.
When she arrived, Lin Mo was already there, watching the city as if it were a finished board.
—The system is going to force Zhao Wen —he said without preamble.—A public event. A stroke of luck impossible to ignore.
Han Xue wasn't surprised.
—A miracle —she nodded.—To remind the world who the protagonist is.
Lin Mo slowly shook his head.
—No. To remind the system that it can still command.
She looked at him carefully.
—And what will you do?
Lin Mo smiled.
Not with arrogance.
With calculation.
—Nothing visible.
That unsettled her.
—Then we'll lose control.
—No —he corrected.—We'll take away the stage.
The Event That Never Shined
The system played its card.
A minor industrial accident.A heroic rescue.Cameras.Networks.Public opinion.
Everything prepared for Zhao Wen to shine.
But when the moment arrived…
The accident had already been resolved.
Not by Lin Mo.Not by Han Xue.
By new protocols, approved weeks earlier.By unnecessary redundancies, quietly funded.By boring decisions, made in advance.
There were no victims.No drama.No hero.
Just a technical report.
The system fell silent.
Catalyst Event: FAILEDReason: Lack of Emotional ImpactNarrative Priority: Not Satisfied
Zhao Wen arrived late.
And for the first time, his luck couldn't change that.
The System Reveals Itself
That was too much.
The interface appeared before Lin Mo.
Not as a message.Not as an alert.
As a presence.
What are you?
Lin Mo didn't flinch.
—Someone who understands your rules better than you do.
You're breaking the story.
—No —he replied.—I'm removing your shortcuts.
Silence.
The heroines shouldn't act like this.
Lin Mo thought of Han Xue.
Her calm.Her resolve.Her refusal to be dragged along by the script.
—That's no longer your decision.
Chapter Epilogue — Season Finale
Han Xue watched the news.
Nothing epic.Nothing memorable.
Exactly as it should be.
She received one last message from Lin Mo.
"Season finale."
She replied with a single line.
"The board is clean."
World Status: StableActive Protagonist: DesynchronizedPrimary Anomaly: IntegratedSystem Control: Partial
Somewhere deep within, the system registered something new.
Not an error.
A fear.
Because for the first time since its creation…
the future was full of places it could not see.
End of Season 1