Standing Next To You-Chapter 588: Zero

When Fei Chuan returned to the company, three hours had already passed. He opened his computer—there was still no email from Xu Tian.

Fei Chuan smirked. Of course. Even experts would struggle to open that file. For some, it could take days, others weeks, and most might never open it in their lifetime.

But for king-tier hackers, it would take only a few hours—three to five at most. And for god-tier hackers, just a few minutes—ten to thirty, tops.

Fei Chuan suspected Xu Tian was a hacker. Based on his output over the past week, he was most likely a king-tier.

Ding!

An email popped into his inbox.

Fei Chuan opened it. Xu Tian’s message read:

[Exciting.]

Fei Chuan checked the time. Three hours and three minutes. That was an impressive result for someone at king-tier level.

He nodded in approval.

Just as he was about to close the window, another notification came through.

Xu Tian: [A two-way street is better than a one-way street.]

Fei Chuan paused, narrowing his eyes. This man really had guts. He seemed thrilled to be trained bt he was too prideful to ask for it.

Ding.

Xu Tian: [As you can see, I’m still far from you, Zero. But if you train me, I could go beyond king-tier. Maybe even reach demigod-tier. Still nowhere near your level. But with better skills, I can become even more useful to Phoenix Holding. And for them, I won’t hold back.]

Fei Chuan raised a brow. Well, since he had used his signature coding style, it made sense that Xu Tian would recognize the patterns and uncover his other identity. He wasn’t exactly hiding it. If Xu Tian truly had the skills, he would’ve figured it out after cracking the code.

Fei Chuan tapped his fingers on the desk. If he trained Xu Tian in this field, he could become Phoenix Holding’s greatest asset. However...

Would he also become a threat?

Would equipping Xu Tian with more skills backfire? He would do more impressing jobs and might take Bei Sangyun’s attention again and possibly...won her heart. Like he did in the previous life.

Fei Chuan frowned. He didn’t particularly like Xu Tian. Especially after the dreams from their past life, where Bei Sangyun had chased after that man.

But he also didn’t want to hold back if it meant helping Bei Sangyun.

Agh.

Fei Chuan returned to his keyboard and typed out a reply. After hitting Send, he bit his lip.

If the time came when Xu Tian managed to catch Bei Sangyun’s eye again... he just had to shine even brighter—so that she would only ever look at him.

.....

On the other side, Xu Tian was staring intently at his screen. During the first hour of decoding the file, he realized something shocking—Fei Chuan’s true identity. The realization left him stunned, thrilled, and instantly more serious.

As a hacker, Zero was his idol. No—Zero was everyone’s idol. No one in the hacking industry didn’t know that name. Zero possessed god-tier skills. While many hackers claimed to be at that level, none ever matched Zero’s capabilities.

Whenever Zero set up a code, it remained uncrackable. And if someone did manage to crack it, it took them months—working with teams of king-tier and even self-proclaimed god-tier hackers.

As a king-tier himself, Xu Tian had tried cracking several codes Zero left behind. So when he saw the familiar style and structure within the first hour of working on the file, the thought of Zero came to him. And as time passed, his suspicion solidified into certainty.

Xu Tian had done his research on Fei Chuan before joining the company. When Zhong Cheng first introduced him, he had been clueless. But once he learned he’d be training here, he dug deeper for information.

He found almost nothing. Only the sanitized, surface-level details Fei Chuan had allowed the public to see. Nothing else. No traces. No history.

The most useful information he ever got came from Zhong Cheng.

Now it all made sense—why Fei Chuan’s background was so tightly guarded, why he had risen so quickly, and why the James family treasured him so highly.

Xu Tian curled his fist.

Fei Chuan didn’t seem to like him, and Xu Tian wasn’t the type to curry favor. But knowing he was Zero... he felt like this was the one exception. Earning favor from a legend wasn’t shameful. It was necessary.

Ding.

Xu Tian jolted at the sound of the notification and immediately opened the new email from Fei Chuan.

He took a deep breath as he read:

[Come to work early tomorrow.]

Xu Tian’s eyes widened.

Then, slowly, a bright smile spread across his face—lighting up every corner of his expression.

....

Inside the office, the sound of a pen scratching against paper echoed. Bei Sangyun was writing furiously, pouring everything she could remember onto the page—the major events from the past, and the key moments that might still happen in the future.

The room was air-conditioned, yet sweat beaded on her forehead as she scribbled with urgency and great difficulty. It felt as though she were submerged underwater. The more she tried to transcribe her memories from her past life, the more they slipped away—like ink dissipating in water.

She wrote for a long time, until finally her hand stopped. The last bullet point she wrote was a memory soaked in unbearable pain—lying bedridden, slowly dying.

Bei Sangyun took a deep breath and stared at the stack of papers before her. She had divided them into two sections: events from the past life that had already occurred again, and future events she remembered that had yet to happen.

Under the section for past events, she had drawn a line between those that had repeated in this life and those that had changed.

Bei Sangyun stared at the papers anxiously. Had she forgotten something important?

She tried to recall, but her mind was cloudy. Her memories were blurry, and her brain refused to process them. She was too exhausted.

But she didn’t want to rest. She feared that if she relaxed now, she would forget even more.

Just like how she was now forgetting the very events she once thought were unforgettable.

Bei Sangyun picked up the pen again and wrote in large letters at the bottom of the page:

[Reborn. Old monk in the mountain.]Then, she scribbled down the old monk’s address.

Just in case she forgot completely.

Bei Sangyun had a nagging feeling that, sooner or later, she would lose more memories. Her past life was fading. Whenever she tried to recall it, the images turned hazy, her head ached, and her thoughts scattered.

It was as if something—some unstoppable force—was trying to erase it all. Wiping away her memories until they vanished into nothingness. Like the past itself was choosing to disappear, pretending it had never existed.

But Bei Sangyun refused to forget.

Her past life had been filled with sadness, pain, and regrets. Yet those very things made her more grateful now, and deepened her love for the people in this life. More than anything, she didn’t want to forget the man who had stayed with her for decades in that life—Fei Chuan—loving her unconditionally.

She couldn’t forget him.

"I don’t know why this is happening... but I won’t forget," she whispered.

Even if she was the only one who remembered, she would hold on to those memories.

....

Fei Chuan picked Bei Sangyun up from the office and drove her home. Throughout the drive, he noticed that she was unusually quiet. Her gaze was fixed straight ahead, lost in thought.

When they arrived at her villa, Fei Chuan parked the car. But Bei Sangyun remained still, still staring forward as if she hadn’t noticed they’d arrived.

He gently reached over and took her hand, giving it a soft squeeze."What’s wrong?"

Bei Sangyun jolted slightly, coming back to herself. She looked around. "We’re here already."

"Yes. You seemed deep in thought. Is something bothering you?" His calm voice, warm touch, and worried gaze made Bei Sangyun feel a strong urge to confide in him.

She hesitated, then slowly opened up. The gentle squeeze of his hand softened her heart.

"...Earlier at lunch, you asked about the past. When I tried to remember, I realized the memories in my head are fading. It’s like someone is forcibly erasing them."

A quiet silence filled the car. Fei Chuan gave her hand another squeeze."Would it be better if you forgot that life? It brought you a lot of pain."

Bei Sangyun shook her head. "That life might have been painful, but I don’t want to forget it. Even if I’m the only one who remembers... I don’t want to forget the time you spent beside me."

She reached into her coat and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.

"So I wrote down everything I could still remember. But I’m afraid... that when I read this again, it might feel foreign to me. Like a story that belongs to someone else." She looked at him, her voice tinged with sadness. "I don’t want to forget. Even those painful moments."

Fei Chuan took both her hand and the paper into his own.

"Then let’s not forget. I’ll stay by your side, and I’ll be your backup memory. If one day you forget, come to me—I’ll help you remember."

Bei Sangyun smiled, her eyes welling with genuine tears. "Thank you."

She handed the paper to Fei Chuan. There were no secrets between them now. Her memories of the past might be fading, but she could rely on him.

Fei Chuan carefully unfolded the paper and began reading the contents, one by one.