Chapter 64

Actually, looking at the place overall, Ye Chengxing felt it was already perfect.

When she heard Li Jia’s question, she shook her head earnestly. “Everything looks beautiful. I don’t feel like there’s anything that needs adjusting or changing.”

Li Jia seemed to have anticipated her answer. The Omega slipped her arm through Ye Chengxing’s and smiled faintly. “Then why don’t you stay here with me for a while, sister?”

“After all, some spots might look nice at a glance, but you can only tell if they’re truly good—or if they need tweaks—after actually living here for a bit.”

Ye Chengxing considered it. The logic made sense, but…

“Wouldn’t it be a little inappropriate for me to move in with you right now?” Her tone carried a hint of hesitation.

Li Jia had clearly renovated the place with the intention of sharing it someday with her future partner. Yet here she was, slipping in ahead of that person to test it out first. No matter how she spun it in her mind, it just felt wrong.

At her words, a shadow flickered in Li Jia’s eyes, though the smile on her lips only brightened. “What’s there to hesitate about? Does our relationship really need second-guessing over something like this?”

Ye Chengxing felt truly torn, but she couldn’t hold firm against Li Jia’s relentless coaxing. In moments like these, she could never bring herself to refuse her outright.

In the end, she relented. “Well… just for a few days, then.”

Li Jia had said “a while,” without specifying how long, but it had sounded like more than a quick stay. Ye Chengxing decided to narrow it down to a few days.

“Good,” Li Jia replied, her eyes curving into happy crescents.

The Omega didn’t seem to mind the exact length, whether short or long—it appeared the same to her.

Ye Chengxing had still felt a twinge of doubt after agreeing, but seeing how much more often Li Jia smiled over the next couple of days made her feel like it had been the right choice.

“I’ll go pack up the things I’ll need for these few days and bring them over,” Ye Chengxing said.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the Omega took her hand.

Li Jia gazed at her, her eyes bright. “No need. I’ve already prepared everything—it’s all brand new.”

She lowered her gaze bashfully and gave a small smile. “After all, I’ll be troubling you these next few days to share how it feels living here. I went ahead and got it all ready so you wouldn’t have to bother.”

Ye Chengxing paused for a moment. Hearing that, she thought Li Jia was simply too considerate.

She let out a quiet sigh, carefully burying certain thoughts deep inside.

She was past the age of acting purely on impulse, heedless of consequences. She couldn’t afford to be that willful anymore—she had to think things through more thoroughly.

Besides, things were progressing in a way that even without the System coming back online, she had a faint premonition that her mission was nearing completion.

She probably wouldn’t be in this world much longer.

There was some selfishness in her feelings too. If Li Jia’s affections were reserved solely for her, then even after succeeding in her mission, Ye Chengxing would choose to stay. But if Li Jia found someone she truly loved—someone she cherished more—then even if that person treated her like family, Ye Chengxing wouldn’t have the courage to remain.

She had family and friends, yes, but they were all in another world. Everything that mattered to her was there. Of course she missed them, of course she cared—and more than once, she’d dreamed of going home.

Li Jia did depend on her heavily, it was true. But from another angle, Li Jia was her sole anchor in this world.

So call her selfish if you must. If Li Jia couldn’t choose her unwaveringly and only her, then Ye Chengxing truly couldn’t bring herself to stay. She couldn’t abandon everything for a world that still felt utterly alien.

Yet no matter what, their meeting had been a fated one, full of shared experiences that had woven trust and deeper bonds between them over time.

If the day of parting truly came, she would have to bid Li Jia a proper farewell. She couldn’t just vanish without a word.

Ye Chengxing turned her gaze to the window.

It was warm inside, but the weather outside had grown steadily colder. The Star System Calendar operated differently from the one in her original world, and temperature shifts happened with startling speed.

Roughly calculating the time against her home world’s calendar, it should be nearing New Year by now. But this world had no such holiday—no one celebrated New Year.

Every time she noticed these differences, her sense of belonging here frayed a little more.

“Sister, what are you thinking about?”

Lost in thought, Ye Chengxing was jolted back by Li Jia’s sudden voice near her ear.

She withdrew her gaze, realizing she’d zoned out for quite a while.

Turning to Li Jia, she curved her lips into a smile and voiced something honest—but not her actual thoughts. “Nothing. I was just thinking how happy I am that we’ll be heading to Gourmet Street together soon.”

Li Jia listened to her words, laced with anticipation, as if sifting through them for authenticity. Only after a long moment did she murmur softly, “I’m happy too, getting to go with you, sister.”

Ye Chengxing stayed there for two days, and she found not a single uncomfortable spot.

And for some fleeting reason—or perhaps her imagination—she even wondered if everything had been arranged to her exact tastes.

The thought flitted through her mind for just a second before she laughed it off.

Before she knew it, the day had arrived for their trip to Gourmet Street.

It had snowed the day before, and it was Ye Chengxing’s first time seeing snow in this world—quite the novelty.

Li Jia stepped over to tie a scarf around her neck, and noticing her fascination, she asked offhandedly, “Do you like snow that much?”

Truth be told, Ye Chengxing had no strong feelings about weather changes. No matter how beautiful a vista, it was all the same to her. The wonders of the world blended into uniformity in her eyes. But…

She looked at Ye Chengxing.

Nothing held much color for her, but she didn’t need colors. The one vivid hue before her was more than enough.

Ye Chengxing stared at the snowflake that had landed in her palm, still not melted after quite some time. “It just feels so magical.” Snow that melted this slowly—was it even snow?

The novelty made her blurt out her real thoughts without thinking.

She realized her slip right away. To her, this was wondrous, but to someone like Li Jia, who’d lived here all her life, it probably sounded bizarre—like a shocking lack of common sense.

Ye Chengxing coughed lightly, trying to patch it over. “I misspoke just now. Not magical—I meant I like it…”

Li Jia, whether she’d caught on or not, simply smiled. “Did the snow you saw before always melt quickly, sister?”

Her voice was soft and measured. “The snow here melts slowly, so it stays pristine white for a long time after falling. If you like it, you could seal some in glass.”

Ye Chengxing’s attempted explanation died on her lips.

Did snow vary so much by region in this world? Li Jia’s description made it sound like two different worlds entirely.

A subtle sense of wrongness nagged at her, but afraid of digging herself deeper, she simply nodded and let the topic drop.

It really was beautiful, though.

Ye Chengxing glanced at Li Jia.

Snow blanketed everything in sight, and the Omega amid it all seemed bathed in a quiet, luminous glow.

She touched the scarf around her own neck, then unwound it and draped it over Li Jia.

Li Jia’s eyes stilled.

The scarf, moments ago snug around the Alpha’s neck, now carried the faint scent of Ye Chengxing’s fragrance and pheromones, along with lingering traces of her body heat.

Ye Chengxing stepped back a few paces, as if appraising her work, then nodded in satisfaction. “With the scarf wrapped like this and a hat on top, no one will recognize you.”

“Oh, like that?” Li Jia’s lips quirked as she touched a fingertip to them, then lowered it. She pulled on a hat. “If others can’t tell it’s me… can you still recognize me, sister?”

Ye Chengxing couldn’t help bursting into laughter at the question. Her long, wavy Alpha hair swayed with the motion. She reached out to adjust Li Jia’s scarf one more time, her voice gentle beyond measure. “I said others. Of course I can recognize you.”

Li Jia smiled, meeting her eyes. As Ye Chengxing finished and went to pull her hand back, Li Jia caught it in her own. “Good. As long as you can recognize me, we’re set. Let’s go.”

Ye Chengxing had been about to say something more, but the sudden hand-holding cut her off.

She blinked, then murmured agreement. After a brief pause, she steered the conversation to a lighter topic, trying to sound natural.

Though it had snowed the day before, Gourmet Street was far from deserted today. If anything, it bustled as lively as ever.

The crowds thronged the area, lights twinkling amid the familiar haze of cooking smoke. Ye Chengxing’s eyes nearly stung with sudden emotion.

She took a discreet deep breath, steadying herself until the feeling subsided.

Gourmet Street had crowd limits in place, but there were still plenty of people milling about.

Ye Chengxing instinctively tightened her grip on Li Jia’s hand.

The street stalls offered every kind of food imaginable. Ye Chengxing bought according to Li Jia’s tastes, leading her past every vendor while chatting about what each one sold.

Li Jia listened to her, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on Ye Chengxing’s face.

They strolled and paused at intervals until their hands were laden with treats before long.

Strawberry-laden crepes, sweet taiyaki…

Ye Chengxing placed a newly bought Hot Milk Treasure into her hand. “Ice cream might be a bit chilly right now. Want to try this instead, Xiao Li?”

Shaped adorably, the Hot Milk Treasure drew a laugh from Li Jia at Ye Chengxing’s coaxing tone. Under her expectant gaze, she took a sip. “I like it.”

Ye Chengxing’s lips curved. “As long as you like it.”

Seeing how much Li Jia was juggling, she added, “Give those to me. Just hold on to this for now.”

She took the items from Li Jia’s hands, then clasped the newly freed one in her own.

Dusk deepened, but the streets glowed brightly. Beneath the hazy lantern light, Li Jia turned her head slightly to gaze at the figure walking beside her. The hand holding hers felt so warm, as if the surrounding clamor had hushed to silence along with it.

Her memory pulled her back to that night once more.

Her vision blurred as she looked at Ye Chengxing and said that as long as she no longer harbored any desire to destroy this world, her task would be complete.

But in truth, she’d abandoned such thoughts long ago.

It wasn’t that she had truly come to love this world. It was simply because Ye Chengxing was here.

She had even begun to hesitate about loving her.

The single word “love” consisted of only thirteen strokes, yet it was so very difficult to control.

If she allowed herself to love her, then she would complete her task and have to leave her behind.

But she could no longer hold back the surging tide of affection swelling within her for Ye Chengxing. Nor could she prevent her task from reaching completion so soon.

The anxiety that had steadily grown over the past several days now felt impossible to contain. Li Jia sensed she was facing a trial whose arrival date remained unknown.

Ye Chengxing seemed to sense something as well. She turned her gaze to meet Li Jia’s eyes.

At that very moment, a long-forgotten electronic chime echoed in her mind—

【Ding Dong! Congratulations, Host! Task completed!】

【Scan complete: The current task target no longer harbors any desire to destroy the world. Redemption Value: 100%. Villain Blackening Value: …】

The System’s cheerful announcement ground to a halt upon registering the number trailing the Villain Blackening Value.

After double-checking to confirm it wasn’t glitching, 001 reeled in shock.

Who could explain this to it? Why was the Villain’s Blackening Value still at 100% even though she no longer wanted to destroy the world?!