Observing more closely, Xixi found that the current female ghost was actually pitifully weak. Her figure was extremely faint, as if she could dissipate at any moment.
What on earth happened to her? Why has she become so intangible?
‘X-Xixi?’
Hearing no reply from the system, Youyou hugged a throw pillow and opened the laptop on the coffee table. While shivering and searching for a game, she called out to Xixi with her thoughts.
The break room grew colder and colder. In a spot Youyou couldn’t see, the red-robed, amnesiac female ghost was now nose-to-nose with her, their lips almost touching.
An itchy feeling came over her face. Youyou scratched her chin with her hand, completely unaware that her hand had just passed through the female ghost’s spiritual body.
[Ah, ah, sorry, host! Xixi doesn’t know the reason either.]
Seeing that the female ghost was now so weak she couldn’t even solidify her form, Xixi snapped back to its senses and quickly answered its host’s question.
Amused, it watched as the female ghost tried to touch the host but couldn’t, her expression growing so cold and fierce it was scary enough to kill. Xixi curled its cat lips into a grin and held a moment of silence for the female ghost.
‘Oh.’
Finding a little puzzle game, Youyou grabbed a blanket and draped it over herself, then focused all her attention on the computer screen.
Beside her, the red-robed female ghost’s eyes were so gloomy they could almost drip blood. She tried again to touch the girl, but still, she touched nothing but air.
A wave of fury suddenly surged in her heart. The female ghost pressed her thin lips together tightly, and her ghostly energy overflowed wildly, yet she still couldn’t make the girl feel anything other than the cold.
“As I thought, I’m still too weak.”
Unable to be seen by the girl, unable to touch her, the female ghost stood silently beside Youyou, her devastatingly beautiful, demonic face a mask of deathly stillness.
As time slowly passed, the female ghost grew weaker and weaker.
In the end, she had no choice but to return to the ancient ring to continue cultivating and recuperating. From beginning to end, Youyou never knew that she had come, or who she was.
Right when she was getting into the most exciting part of the puzzle, she was suddenly interrupted. Youyou puffed out her cheeks and looked up to see Bai Youjun, holding a laptop, smiling as he said, “If you keep playing, your eyes will start to hurt. Get up. Your brother is taking you out for a big meal.”
Youyou hummed lightly. “Is your meeting over?”
Bai Youjun nodded. “Yep. Thanks to my little sister, your brother closed a huge project today. Come on, what do you want to eat? Western or Chinese?”
Western or Chinese?
Her mouth began to water. Youyou’s eyes lit up, and she clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling. “I want to eat hot pot.”
She loved spicy hot pot the most, but Bai Qu and Su Ling were always stopping her. Now that she was finally free of them, Youyou was super, super eager to eat it.
“Hahahahaha—”
Amused by Youyou’s actions, Bai Youjun put the laptop back on the coffee table, unable to hide the smile on his face no matter how he tried.
He hooked his lips into a smile and ruffled his sister’s red hair, thinking that this overly bright color didn’t seem so jarring anymore.
“Let’s go. If you want to eat it, what are you still standing around for?”
“Mhm, mhm.”
The restaurant Bai Youjun chose was excellent. Youyou was lost in the delicious food, unable to pull herself away. Only after she was full did she, prompted by Xixi, ask Bai Youjun her question.
“Pfft, what are you asking that for? Did you really make an enemy of Mo Qingwu?” Unable to believe his sister was still fixated on this, Bai Youjun’s mouth twitched. He wished he could knock on his sister’s head to make her come to her senses.
Who was Mo Qingwu? A ruthless, terrifying woman who would devour people without spitting out the bones. Bai Youjun didn’t need to think to know what the outcome would be if his sister went up against her. Feeling a little stifled, he tugged at his tie. Inside the classically styled private room, Bai Youjun looked at Youyou with a serious expression, a rare coldness on his face as he spoke to his sister.
“Listen to me, Youyou. Do not provoke Mo Qingwu.”
Youyou: …
She didn’t want to provoke the supervillain either!
Perhaps seeing that Youyou’s expression was too pitiful, Bai Youjun’s softened. He said, “Be good, Youyou. It’s not that your brother wants to discourage you, but Mo Qingwu’s power is immense, stronger than any of the great families. To deal with her, we would need several of the great families to join forces, and that, clearly, is something very difficult to achieve.”
After all, Mo Qingwu was like a fierce, bloodthirsty wolf.
No one wanted to take the initiative and make an enemy of her for no reason, only to have her tear off a few chunks of their flesh at a critical moment. Or worse, to end in mutual destruction.
Youyou: …
The supervillain is too powerful. What am I supposed to do?
Discouraged by Bai Youjun’s words, Youyou spent the rest of the afternoon in a daze. When she returned to her apartment, she felt that the mission in this world was truly too difficult, wuwuwu.
Biting the bedsheet, she rolled back and forth on the bed. Youyou whimpered, wanting to give up on the mission. ‘Xixi, can we just not get the points?’
The supervillain is too terrifying. There’s just no way to acquire her company.
Youyou shrank back and timidly promised the system with her thoughts: ‘The next one… I’ll complete the mission properly in the next world and earn points.’
[Has the host really thought this through? You do know that if you can’t complete this mission, the difficulty of the next world’s mission will be doubled, right? And so on, in a vicious cycle. Can the host imagine the scene after that?]
This wasn’t Xixi trying to scare her. Its previous hosts had all failed in this very manner, again and again. And once a task-taker failed missions consecutively and their points dropped below the minimum value, breaking the rules set by the Main System, they would be severely punished. No system or task-taker could escape it.
‘Er… I…’
Her head was about to turn to mush. Youyou bit her lip and said sullenly, “I miss Bai Qu and Su Ling.”
Then, Youyou fell silent.
Knowing that its host now wanted to hide in Bai Qu’s arms, to be coaxed and held and have him solve her current predicament for her, Xixi felt a pang of sadness in its core. It didn’t know how to tell its host that her brother and Su Ling were already in a precarious situation themselves.
A task-taker who entered the Asura City was as good as dead.
That night, Youyou tossed and turned, unable to sleep, her brow slightly furrowed. Meanwhile, in the Mo family’s main residence, Mo Qingwu had already entered a dream early that night. In the dream, she saw a different version of herself, wearing a red wedding dress, idly strolling through an ancient, magnificent city. She was holding the hand of a gentle and beautiful girl, who was also wearing a wedding dress.
Suddenly, the scene changed.
In an instant, the ancient city became rotten and dilapidated. The sky was filled with lightning and thunder, and a heavy rain poured down. The world between heaven and earth abruptly turned pitch-black.
The scene shifted again. In a small, dilapidated temple, the same gentle, red-robed girl was lying on her side on a splendid red wedding bed that was completely out of place with its surroundings. Her lips were curved into a smile as she said something sweet.
Mo Qingwu drew closer and discovered there was a skeleton on the wedding bed. The girl, clearly, was talking to that skeleton.
In the back of her mind, Mo Qingwu already realized that the skeleton was her. She gazed at the smiling girl before her, a strange sadness welling up in her heart, along with a deep, endless, and undeniable hatred.
“Bai Youyou, ah.”
Waking from the dream the next day, Mo Qingwu chuckled. She stared at the ceiling above, her eyes filled with a darkness so thick it seemed it would never dissipate.
…
Several days passed.
The good-for-nothing Youyou still hadn’t thought of a good way to complete the mission.
Meanwhile, the female lead, Shui Sisi, had already submitted her resignation to the company.
Although Youyou didn’t understand why the plot was advancing ahead of schedule, she figured that, counting the days, it was about time for the female lead and the supervillain to meet.
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