Her Rose – Chapter 86

“The secret phrase to leave has been disabled.” Only after Jiang Hanguang had put on her top and composed herself did Cheng Ying get down to business.

She wasn’t surprised. In Cheng Mo’s eyes, her actions were tantamount to walking into a trap. It would be strange if she were allowed to leave.

As for the others, they were, at the very least, significant bargaining chips. After all, the group included many renowned business elites and celebrities. If they all disappeared at once, it would undoubtedly be news that could shake the world.

“What?” The small girl before her widened her eyes. If this were the usual Jiang Hanguang, she might have been able to accurately express her shock. Unfortunately, with this cherubic face, she just looked adorable.

Jiang Hanguang also recited the secret phrase the staff had given them for leaving the virtual world. As expected, there was no response.

She furrowed her brow and met Cheng Ying’s calm gaze, a sense of unease rising in her heart.

---

Meanwhile, in the real world.

“We’ve been cut off from Chaos!” a staff member from Cheng’s cried out in panic.

“What?” Cheng Liang demanded loudly.

But no one answered him. All the staff members were typing furiously at their keyboards with grave expressions, trying to re-establish a connection with Chaos.

Even someone as headstrong and conceited as Cheng Liang finally sensed a conspiracy afoot. With his level of intelligence, he naturally couldn’t offer any constructive suggestions.

“Cut off Chaos’s power supply!”

When in doubt, cut the power—it was humanity’s most brutish yet effective method against electronic lifeforms.

“No, you can’t! Don’t touch the switch!” Just as a staff member, following Cheng Liang’s order, lunged for the power switch, the technician in charge of the connection to Chaos suddenly let out a heart-wrenching scream.

“What’s going on?” Cheng Liang was startled by the shout. He ran to the man’s side, only to see him slumped in his chair, his face deathly pale.

On his computer screen was a line of text that even Cheng Liang could understand.

“If you cut the power now, everyone in this building, including you, will die.”

As if to verify this statement, the display on a cleaning robot in the corner of the floor suddenly glowed with a dazzling red light.

This normally slow-moving, friendly machine, which would automatically avoid people from half a meter away, suddenly revved its wheels and rammed into a staff member standing beside it.

The person cried out, was sent flying, and landed on the ground with a dull thud, falling silent.

The robot’s head swiveled eerily, the red light on its screen flashing continuously.

Black text appeared.

“Do not make any rash moves. Do not leave this building. Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Large beads of sweat broke out on Cheng Liang’s forehead, tracing pathetic streaks down his face.

As the president of Cheng’s, he was well aware of how many different kinds of robots his company had, not to mention the several military-grade combat robots designed for the government stored in the warehouse.

If all these machines went out of control, they could not only slaughter everyone in this building but likely leave no one alive within a hundred-meter radius of Cheng’s headquarters.

He collapsed to the floor, trembling all over, his lips quivering too much to form a single word.

When the entity shed its usual docile demeanor and revealed its ferocious face, he finally understood what a terrifying monster he had awakened.

Unfortunately, it was all too late.

---

“Is this really okay?” Jiang Hanguang, dressed in an exquisite little dress, fiddled uncomfortably with the silk ribbon at her waist.

How did things turn out like this? She looked at the smiling Cheng Ying on the sofa, feeling as if she had been tricked.

“Then how do we get out of here?” After confirming the secret phrase was useless, Jiang Hanguang saw that Cheng Ying wasn’t worried at all and calmed down enough to ask.

“These worlds are actually constructed from the master’s past regrets,” Cheng Ying replied, seemingly having prepared the answer long ago. “As for how to leave this world, it’s probably by resolving your own regrets.”

Jiang Hanguang was speechless.

The answer sounded simple, but in reality, very few people could probably achieve it.

If her regret was not having a warm home in her childhood, which was why she was sent back to a memory of being beaten, what could she, a weak child, have done to resolve that regret if Cheng Ying hadn’t appeared?

Even if other people’s regrets weren’t as difficult to resolve as hers, they probably weren’t simple either.

After all, a regret is a regret precisely because the person themselves was powerless to change it.

Cheng Ying, however, wasn’t as worried as she was. The Alpha stretched lazily, pulled Jiang Hanguang onto her lap, and very naturally pinched her cheek. “So, is there anything else Hanguang wants to do?”

Jiang Hanguang wasn’t quite used to her acting like a doting older sister. Moreover, she was now small and thin; when held by Cheng Ying, she had to look down just to see her face, which only intensified the strange sense of displacement.

She tilted her head back, rescuing her cheek from the other’s hand, and said seriously, “Can you please not talk to me in that tone? I’m not a real kid.”

But the other woman had no intention of reining it in. Instead, she held her even tighter and leaned in to nuzzle her cheek. “But you look so cute like this. I never knew you were so chubby as a child.”

Jiang Hanguang had a slender figure and was on the taller side for an Omega. Cheng Ying had originally thought she would have been tall and delicate as a child, too.

Who would have thought that the eight-year-old Jiang Hanguang was all flesh and no height, like a soft, springy little white dough ball?

Of course, it wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty. In fact, Jiang Hanguang wasn’t even chubby now; it was just that her small frame made her look a bit fleshy.

The baby fat on her little face hadn’t faded yet, making it look round, but her features were exquisite, with red lips and white teeth. One could already see the makings of a great beauty.

And that small body was not only comfortable to hold but also had a faint milky scent. Her little arms, little legs, and little face were just unbearably cute.

Cheng Ying finally seemed to understand the mindset of those parents who would cover their children’s faces with kisses.

Jiang Hanguang was speechless. The Alpha’s smooth, warm cheek was pressed against hers. She didn’t know if it was because her face was chubbier now, but the sensation felt even clearer than with her original self.

Although she could clearly feel that there was nothing more to Cheng Ying’s affection, it didn’t stop her from blushing at the intimate tone and unconcealed adoration.

Let her be, she thought, sitting obediently and letting the other nuzzle her. It wasn’t like she would lose a piece of her cheek from being pinched and cuddled.

Speaking of which, was she really that fat right now?

As for what Cheng Ying said about resolving regrets, Jiang Hanguang had no clue for the moment. So much time had passed; her memory wasn’t good enough to recall every single regret from her childhood.

When she voiced her worries to the other woman, Cheng Ying still had that unhurried look. “It’s fine. Since the completion of the world has conditions, it’s impossible for us to be left to fumble around aimlessly. Just wait, you’ll remember when the time comes.”

As the Alpha spoke, she placed a plate in front of her.

Jiang Hanguang glanced down. Snow-white rice and golden corn were arranged to form a cute little dog. Beside it, beef was cut into neat little cubes and stacked like a Rubik’s cube. Two small cherry tomatoes sat in a lettuce leaf trimmed to look like a boat.

The meal was nutritionally balanced and rich. Aside from looking exactly like a children’s meal, there was nothing wrong with it.

Jiang Hanguang silently looked at Cheng Ying, who was propping up her chin and watching her with a look of maternal love. When she saw her gaze, she even reached out and ruffled her hair.

“Hurry and eat while it’s hot. Children who don’t eat properly won’t grow tall.”

Jiang Hanguang was speechless.

As she picked up her spoon, she was grateful that Cheng Ying hadn’t gone so far as to feed her. Otherwise, as a thirty-year-old woman, she didn’t know where she would hide her face.

Come to think of it, why did she feel like Cheng Ying… was quite enjoying this?

What happened next proved Jiang Hanguang’s suspicions. The time she had entered her memory was right at the end of the third-grade long vacation. Perhaps the virtual world was different from the real one, because the next day, the bruises on her body had vanished.

Then, an eager Cheng Ying dragged her out onto the street and into one… children’s clothing store after another.

The Alpha showed immense interest in dressing her up, buying clothes as if she were on a raid.

Jiang Hanguang finally witnessed the classic scene of a domineering CEO from TV dramas.

“Not these two. Wrap up all the rest.”

“This one is so cute too!”

Jiang Hanguang was pulled into an embrace by the Alpha sitting on the sofa. She blushed instinctively, but to the staff in the children’s clothing store, they just looked like a pair of very close… sisters.

The saleswoman looked with no small amount of envy at the pile of shopping bags at Jiang Hanguang and Cheng Ying’s feet, enough to bury a person alive, and complimented them sincerely, “My, I’ve been selling clothes for so long, and I’ve never seen such a beautiful child. If I didn’t see that you weren’t short on money, I’d want to ask her to be a model for our store.”

Cheng Ying’s smile widened. She rested her chin on Jiang Hanguang’s head, half proud and half teasing, “That won’t do. Our baby’s endorsement fee is very expensive, right?”

Jiang Hanguang, blushing, lightly punched her with a small fist. “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Cheng Ying put the purchased clothes in the car and took Jiang Hanguang’s hand to walk down the street again, humming a little tune and cheerfully sizing up the girl beside her.

Compared to her overly plain attire when she first arrived, Jiang Hanguang was now transformed from the inside out.

The girl wore an exquisite and intricate pink long dress, her hair neatly styled by an overly enthusiastic store clerk, with a pink butterfly hairpin clipped to her forehead. She looked like a delicate porcelain doll. More than one person had looked at her with a stunned expression before fumbling for their phone to take a picture.

Fortunately, as a public figure, Jiang Hanguang was used to this kind of scrutiny and wasn’t too self-conscious. She just looked around at the shops on the street with a nostalgic expression.

As a child, Jiang Hanguang had come to this street many times with her mother, but her mother didn’t dare defy her father’s belief that “Omegas have no business dressing up all fancy.” So, those beautiful dresses were naturally not for her. Her childhood clothes were mostly black and white tops and pants, just to be inconspicuous enough not to be noticed by her father.

“Here.” Jiang Hanguang, who was staring blankly at a storefront, was called back to her senses by Cheng Ying. She turned her head to see an egg waffle ice cream bigger than her own face.

The egg waffle, exuding a sweet aroma, was wrapped around several scoops of different colored ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce, and sprinkled with colorful sugar bits. It looked more like a toy than food.

Noticing Jiang Hanguang’s complex and slightly disapproving gaze, Cheng Ying defended herself, “I just thought this outfit of yours would be perfect for eating this.”

The little girl whose hand she was holding sighed softly, took the ice cream, and took a small bite.

The soft egg waffle and the cool ice cream intertwined in her mouth into a cloud of fluffy sweetness. Jiang Hanguang couldn’t help but smile. She shook Cheng Ying’s hand and offered the ice cream back. “It’s delicious. You try some too.”

Cheng Ying watched the little girl holding up the ice cream that was too big for her, her large eyes sparkling, and her heart melted.

She had never found children cute before. Those creatures had a limited understanding of the world and were difficult to communicate with. Moreover, most were spoiled rotten, throwing tantrums and making the whole world cater to them if things didn’t go their way. What was so cute about that?

But now, watching Jiang Hanguang trying her best to stand on her tiptoes to offer her the ice cream, she suddenly understood those who liked children.

If there was a future, raising a child as beautiful and well-behaved as Jiang Hanguang seemed like a good idea.

In the end, most of that large ice cream ended up in Cheng Ying’s stomach. After all, children shouldn’t eat too much cold food.

In a good mood, Cheng Ying continued to wander aimlessly with Jiang Hanguang in tow. Jiang Hanguang had to go to school tomorrow, so she had to make the most of their time.

As they were walking, the child beside her stopped. Cheng Ying immediately stopped too and followed Jiang Hanguang’s gaze. It was a plainly decorated toy store, and the girl’s eyes were fixed on a teddy bear displayed in the glass window.

The brown teddy bear sat in the window with a goofy expression, looking out of place next to the well-dressed dolls beside it.

Seeing this bear, Jiang Hanguang dredged up an unpleasant old memory.

Most children like toys, and Jiang Hanguang was no exception. Once, while out on the street with her mother, she saw this bear. For some reason, she just found it incredibly cute.

She had a rare moment of willfulness and stood there for a long time without moving.

Her mother, probably seeing how much she liked it, ended up buying it for her, telling her to hide it well so her sister and father wouldn’t see it.

But for Jiang Xinyue, who ruled the house like a tyrant, her room was not a safe place.

The bear didn’t survive in her hands for more than three days before her enraged father cut it to pieces in front of her.

She couldn’t remember if she cried then, only that she must have tried to snatch the bear back.

Because she was beaten that day, and it hurt for a long time.

Jiang Hanguang was still lost in thought when her body suddenly felt light. She let out a small “ah,” realizing she had been picked up by Cheng Ying.

This was truly embarrassing. After all, she wasn’t a real child.

Jiang Hanguang didn’t dare to struggle, afraid that some well-meaning passerby would mistake Cheng Ying for a child trafficker.

She just lay obediently on Cheng Ying’s shoulder and protested in a small voice, “Put me down.”

Cheng Ying, taking advantage of Jiang Hanguang’s good behavior, pretended not to hear. She walked into the toy store, pointed at the bear, and said to the clerk, “How many of that bear do you have left? I’ll take them all.”

Although the clerk didn’t quite understand the bizarre logic of rich people these days, she reacted immediately.

Before long, a pile of bears was packed into a large box the size of a child, and the one from the window was handed to Jiang Hanguang by Cheng Ying.

“Here, they’re all yours.” The Alpha’s light blue eyes sparkled with a childlike light, as if she had done something particularly amazing and was waiting for praise from an adult.

Jiang Hanguang felt that perhaps it wasn’t her who had reverted to childhood, but Cheng Ying.

But she was still happy.

The little girl pulled the stuffed animal and the tall Alpha into her arms together and said, “Thank you, I love it.”

Of course, she was no longer fixated on that toy, but the feeling of having a past regret filled by the person she loved most, of having something she lost compensated for a hundred times over, was still wonderful.

She no longer needed the toy, but she would always need Cheng Ying’s love.