Chapter 29

Time passed she knew not how long. The unconscious Lu Xi drifted as though in an endless void, like a bodiless soul borne along on the wind.

In her dazed state, a familiar mechanical voice rang out. “Lu Xi! Lu Xi! Wake up! You need to wake up!”

The sound seemed to emerge from the depths of her mind, or perhaps to float in from the boundless emptiness. It was very familiar, yet for the moment she could not place it.

“Lu Xi! If you don’t wake up, I’ll toss you into the Space-Time Ruins!”

Space-Time Ruins? What was that place? Why did it feel familiar too?

Her awareness gradually returned. Lu Xi heard the mechanical voice chattering noisily in her ear. She abruptly opened her eyes amid a blaze of white light, seeing nothing but void. Slowly, memories of her past experiences resurfaced.

She was Lu Xi, a corporate drone who had died young. After her death, she had been bound to an entity called 001, which launched her on missions to save villainous love interests in various novels…

Those memories flashed swiftly through her mind. In an instant, Lu Xi recalled everything that had happened after she became the Xi Ning True God.

Fu Lan Cen! Her wedded wife!

Sorrow spread through her heart. Lu Xi looked down through her blurred vision and found herself reduced to a drifting wisp of cloud and smoke, bereft of any tangible form that others could see.

How she longed for Fu Lan Cen—longed for those days they had spent together in the Cloud-Dispelling Palace.

By now, Fu Lan Cen must have learned of her death from Lady Zhi Wu, hadn’t she?

A sudden wave of regret washed over her. She had not properly bid farewell to the only wife of her life, leaving her abandoned once more.

“…Given your excellent performance in this book, the completion of your main task, and several side quests as well, we’re now settling your points.” 001 had been speaking for some time, but Lu Xi—immersed in her own turmoil—only caught the latter part.

“Points?” Right, she remembered now. 001 had said that completing tasks earned points.

But in her current state, what use were points to her?

001’s mechanical voice came from all directions. “That’s right—your points balance is substantial. However, you can only spend them on one of two options.”

Here it paused. “Of course, you could also choose to spend nothing at all, passing on both.”

The fact that her points could only accomplish one of two things felt too limiting. Lu Xi lost interest at once and replied indifferently, “Fine, then tell me what those two things are.”

001 cleared its nonexistent throat. “Ahem. Option one: You can retain all your memories from this book and carry them into the next.”

Lu Xi: “!!!”

Her heart leaped in an instant!

She could keep her memories of Fu Lan Cen into the next book! She could hold onto Fu Lan Cen forever!

Sensing Lu Xi’s surging emotions, 001 chuckled and continued. “Option two: You can redeem a Revival Card. But note that this is a limited card—usable only on the immortals whose souls scattered during the Seal Demon Venerable Battle.” In other words, it could revive only those designated souls.

Hearing this, Lu Xi’s earlier excitement ebbed away.

“001,” she said, drawing a deep breath before asking softly, “Did you plan this?”

It knew full well she already felt guilty toward those Immortal Lords and Immortal Maidens. To toy with her using such a choice… Even if she desperately wanted to preserve her memories of Fu Lan Cen, she would still choose the limited Revival Card, grieving all the while.

She knew which weighed heavier. But this damned 001 had first dangled the hope of eternally remembering Fu Lan Cen—then snatched it away. It deserved damnation!

“Hey now! What are you on about? Deliberate how?” 001 played dumb and cackled. “So, which do you pick?”

“The second one: the Revival Card.” Lu Xi closed her eyes and ignored the evidently delighted 001.

“Hey, hey, hey!” But 001 paid no heed to Lu Xi’s mood. Transforming into a gust of wind, it enveloped her invisible, intangible soul and snapped its fingers, or so it seemed. “Want to take a peek at what happened to Bai You Ran and Qi Ran?”

Lu Xi had no interest. Those two were vermin she had disposed of herself; she could imagine their fates well enough.

“Don’t you want to take another stroll through the book?” 001 wheedled. “What if you run into that someone special…?”

“Go.” Lu Xi’s eyes flew open. She urged him urgently, “Right now.”

…

“Dead blind bastard! Get lost!”

Twilight gathered as several half-grown boys shoved a scrawny, middle-aged-looking man to the ground by a babbling stream. They snatched his cane with peals of laughter and flung it aside before spitting repeatedly on the blind man. With whoops of glee and calls home echoing in the distance, they scampered off.

Once silence fell, the blind man cursed furiously for a long while. Grovelling on the bank, he groped blindly for his cane.

About to reach the damp edge of the stream, a limping Big Yellow Dog trotted up behind him. It seized his hem in its jaws and tugged him away from the water.

His hand brushed the wet traces. The blind man yanked it back and scrambled backward, snarling curses as he slapped the newly arrived Big Yellow Dog. “Where the hell were you? Why didn’t you come bite those little shits to death?!”

He was seething with humiliation. With nowhere else to vent, he turned his rage on the dog that depended on him for survival. His words spilled out in a torrent—foul and furious—stripped of the grovelling timidity he had shown the boys.

The Big Yellow Dog had just been tied to a tree by two of the children and beaten brutally, one leg left lame. Yet it had gnawed through the ropes in desperation and hurried to find its master.

It could not understand why its master now beat and cursed it. Had it simply arrived too late?

The pitiful dog yelps echoed by the stream. It was dinnertime; no one came to look. Emboldened, the blind man pummeled the Big Yellow Dog with fists and kicks.

Pinning down the yellow dog’s neck, he hammered blow after blow onto its head.

By the time night deepened, the Big Yellow Dog’s whines had faded to inaudibility. Its struggling paws fell still.

Something felt off to the blind man. Ordinarily, even after such a thrashing, the dog would yelp relentlessly. Why had it stopped moving today?

“Big Yellow?” He fumbled, pinching the dog’s neck. No rise and fall. He hoisted the limp body and shook it—no response. In fury, he flung the Big Yellow Dog away, rubbed the yellow fur from his hands, and spat. “Bad luck!”

But no sooner had he spoken than strange memories flooded his mind. He froze in place.

Lu Xi, reduced to a wispy nothing, watched from nearby with a tsk-tsk. “Stripped of his Upper God status, Qi Ran really is pathetic, huh?”

Her sympathetic words dripped with sarcasm.

She glanced at the Big Yellow Dog—Bai You Ran—lying dead on the ground, its eyes wide in death. Expressionless, Lu Xi turned away.

These two were doomed to torment each other lifetime after lifetime. A fittingly agonized end.

“Didn’t you say we’d run into that certain someone?” Lu Xi wasted no more time on the wretches and asked 001 hesitantly.

“Having trouble letting her go?” 001 turned gossipy.

Lu Xi clenched her fists. “What do you think?”

001 chuckled slyly but refrained from further teasing the bristling woman. It ferried her onward.

As a soul with the System’s aid, Lu Xi arrived in a blink atop a towering mountain peak.

Familiar white mists swirled there, faint golden light shimmering. She looked around in shock. “The Sealing Grounds?!”

001 said nothing, and she asked no more.

Her gaze shifted to the cliff’s edge, where an unforgettable figure reclined in a rocking chair as always. A jade slip lay clutched in hand, pages turning now and then.

“Cen Cen…” Lu Xi stood rooted, rigid as if flesh-and-blood again. “Why… why is she here?”

As the consort of the Xi Ning True God, even after the True God’s death, Fu Lan Cen should have been enshrined and revered in the Cloud-Dispelling Palace. Why guard this frigid peak, battered by harsh winds?

“Sister!” A breeze stirred behind. Teary-eyed Bai Qing Yuan threw herself into Fu Lan Cen’s arms. “Sister! He’s back! Long Qian is back!”

Lost in utter joy, Bai Qing Yuan wept openly. “A full century—he’s finally returned!”

Few knew of the Demon Venerable’s sealing. Only Lady Zhi Wu returned to the Heavenly Realm to announce the deed across the Four Seas and Eight Wastelands. She proclaimed that the Xi Ning True God and a host of Immortal Lords and Immortal Maidens had perished, sacrificing themselves.

The revelation brought terror and grief in equal measure.

They had lost their sole True God and a pantheon of esteemed immortals…

A century had passed since the God-Demon War. Bai Qing Yuan had suddenly received word from Long Qian of the Dragon Clan: After nurturing his divine soul for a hundred years, he had reformed his body. Deathly weak now, he needed decades soaking in the Dragon Clan Divine Pool before he could come to her.

Bai Qing Yuan wept for joy. After centuries of waiting, her longed-for senior brother had returned at last. Bursting to share, she rushed here to tell her sister Cen Cen—urging her not to lose hope.

After all, everyone knew the True God Consort refused to believe the Xi Ning True God had vanished utterly. She had left the Cloud-Dispelling Palace to stand vigil on this peak, guarding the Sealing Array and awaiting the True God’s return.

“Sister, if Long Qian and all those Immortal Lords can return hale and whole, then the Xi Ning True God—an ancient deity for certain—will return too!”

Fu Lan Cen’s fingertip twitched. Hope tinged her voice. “Will she?”

Gazing at her noticeably gaunt sister, Bai Qing Yuan replied gently. “Of course. So you must rally yourself and greet the True God’s return in your finest form.”

“Very well.” For the first time in centuries, Fu Lan Cen smiled.

Her face, numb for so long, felt awkward at the slight pull of her lips. Probably… an ugly smile?

The woman now hovering before Fu Lan Cen choked with emotion. She reached out to brush those pale lips but—as mere void—could not even draw near.

“001,” she pleaded, “can I… hold her one more time?”

“I’m afraid not. You’re a soul now, detached from this book’s world. You can no longer touch any person or thing.” 001’s tone was utterly officious.

Lu Xi could only bend at the waist, her ethereal hands brushing past Fu Lan Cen’s form in an embrace. “Cen Cen, I’m sorry.”

The girl, who had been wiping her tears, froze. Her reddened eyes darted frantically, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Sister, what’s wrong?” Bai Qing Yuan gazed worriedly at her, fearing renewed sorrow for the one yet to return. She clasped her hand and soothed her. “Don’t fret, sister. The True God is likely still gathering her divine soul, so she hasn’t come for you yet…”

Fu Lan Cen heard nothing. For an instant, she had felt her wife’s presence—right there beside her.

Alas, a gust of wind brought a chill over her skin, whispering it had been mere illusion.

Tears streamed down Lu Xi’s face. She wiped them away with trembling hands, voice thick with suppressed sobs. She made a request of 001: “I don’t want her to dwell forever in grief over losing me. She should be happy, free, carefree.”

“So, can you erase her memories of me? Just like you’ll erase mine of her.”

001 fell silent a moment, then agreed. “Good.”

“This world has slowly returned to its proper course. The revived immortals rest in their secluded groves; the Demon Venerable is sealed beyond any chance of breaking free. Qi Ran and Bai You Ran—who harmed the love interest Fu Lan Cen—have met their most tormenting punishment. And…”

“And the love interest Fu Lan Cen will gradually lose her memories of you. She will slowly forget you.”

With that, 001 posed its official query: “You have completed this book world’s task. Are you ready to proceed immediately to the next book world and save its villainous love interest?”

Clouds dispersed, twilight deepened. Lu Xi gazed lingeringly at the figure who picked up her jade slip and rose toward the nearby Bamboo Hut. At long last, she whispered, “001, once I lose my memories, will I develop feelings for the next book world’s love interest?”

001 startled, wondering if it had leaked plot details. Seeing it was mere curiosity, not realization, it exhaled in relief. “I lack access rights to the next world’s plot. Thus, I cannot answer.”

Night had fully fallen. Dim candlelight flickered in the little Bamboo Hut.

Burning that frail silhouette into her mind, Lu Xi smiled wryly and turned away. “Then yes—enter the next book world immediately.”

A soft wind whispered in her ears. The drifting clouds of smoke faded into the night, vanishing utterly from this realm.

The Bamboo Hut’s door swayed gently; candle flames danced erratically. The girl reading her jade slip felt a sudden hollowness—as if something had been severed. Bewilderment flickered in her eyes. She looked toward Bai Qing Yuan, pruning nearby. “Did you feel like… something just left?”

Bai Qing Yuan snipped a wilted leaf, puzzled by her sister’s question. “No. Did you sense something running off from here?”

The bamboo door stilled. Candlelight steadied. The jade slip lay at the open page from before. All seemed utterly ordinary.

Fu Lan Cen shook her head, assuming another hallucination, and bent to read once more.

Never mind. Nothing there. Better pass the time and wait for that person’s return.

Suddenly, Fu Lan Cen’s breath hitched. Pain lanced her heart.

Who was that person? Why… was she waiting for her?