Chapter 27: Threat

“She was in just as much pain back then when you pushed her off,” the woman whispered.

The man whose windpipe had been pierced couldn’t speak. He clutched his neck in agony, rolled over, and crawled desperately outward.

He knew that if he didn’t struggle to crawl out, the madwoman behind him would kill him!

If he got another chance, he would never mention Song Qi’an in front of Mu Yixuan no matter what! That madwoman was already dead, but she had passed her madness on to Mu Yixuan!

Run! Run fast!

He regretted it immensely. He regretted getting carried away and using Song Qi’an to provoke her before he had even figured out Mu Yixuan’s background. If he hadn’t brought up Song Qi’an, Mu Yixuan might not have gone this mad!

The woman who had gone berserk with killing stood up. Blood dripped from the knife in her hand. She didn’t chase him because she knew he couldn’t crawl out. This was a hunt prepared for him long ago. Waiting outside were all those pitiful people who bore blood feuds against him but had been unable to take revenge due to Long Chendong’s powerful background.

Those people were itching to slice the flesh from his body inch by inch. If he really ran out there, he would die without an intact corpse.

But before that, she still had her own score to settle with him.

Mu Yixuan followed after him. No matter how fast a dying, injured person could crawl, they couldn’t outpace a healthy one.

However…

Suddenly, someone grabbed her hand.

Nian Zhi’an couldn’t stand by any longer. Whether this was a “dream” or whether she could actually grab hold of anything didn’t matter—she would charge in recklessly!

Fortunately, she gripped the other’s hand solidly. The person who was grabbed seemed startled too. She gripped the knife in her hand warily and turned her head back. But in the next second, the knife fell from Mu Yixuan’s hand to the ground.

“Song… Qi’an?”

She lifted the hand that had just been holding the knife, wanting to touch her to see if this was an illusion.

But her hand was covered in blood—the filthy blood of that beast. When she saw it, she flinched and pulled her hand back. But halfway through withdrawing it, her bloodstained hand was suddenly seized firmly by someone.

Nian Zhi’an used her sleeve to wipe the blood from Mu Yixuan’s hand and face clean. But while the blood came off her face, the tears could not be wiped away no matter what.

“I… I’ve avenged you,” Mu Yixuan said as she hugged her, pleading, “Can you stay a little longer?”

She seemed to think of herself as a ghost, afraid that she would leave the mortal world now that her great vengeance had been fulfilled.

“Mm.” Nian Zhi’an gently returned the hug to Mu Yixuan. A long while later, the person in her arms vanished, leaving her alone to face the male lead’s corpse, which was being “divided up.”

“If you’ve got something to say, spit it out,” Nian Zhi’an snapped, her irritable mood worsening. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to swallow the Main System whole.

She didn’t know if it was out of malicious amusement, but the Main System hadn’t changed the environment where Nian Zhi’an found herself. It just left her there with the mangled corpse.

The System’s data showed that the male lead died miserably, but she hadn’t expected it to be this miserable. Most importantly, she hadn’t expected Mu Yixuan to deal with him using such methods.

【I think this is something you should want to know.】 The Main System’s flat, emotionless mechanical voice rang out. 【I’ve told you the truth about the future collapse of this world. You should be grateful to me.】

Nian Zhi’an took a deep breath. Stay calm, stay calm. She couldn’t let it anger her; in the end, the only one who’d get hurt would be herself.

“You pulled me in here just to show me this?”

【I just wanted to tell you that this world’s antagonist’s danger value has never gone down. She will still kill the protagonist. Of course, she won’t survive after killing the protagonist either.】

No egg is safe when the nest falls. Once this world was destroyed, everyone depending on it for survival would naturally die too.

“So?”

【So I think that if she knew Song Qi’an was still alive in this world in another form, her danger value would drop. Why not try dating her?】

Nian Zhi’an’s head throbbed when she heard the Main System’s mechanical voice utter the words “dating.”

“I hate using other people’s emotions to complete tasks the most.”

【I’m not asking you to use her. You can trade true heart for true heart. I won’t object.】

“…” Should I thank you now?

【No need to thank me. As long as world stability is maintained, I don’t mind if my Executors use any means necessary.】

That was why Nian Zhi’an hated the Main System. It was arrogant and high above it all…

The other Systems had inherited its arrogance too—even the redemption Systems starting with ‘a’ were the same. Only the one by her side now was different. That little guy was like a fool the Main System had adopted.

Back at the amusement park, it had nearly died of grievance. Nian Zhi’an believed it hadn’t deliberately leaked her intel to the Main System, but it had already become the Main System’s eyes.

When she had no weaknesses, she could treat the Main System’s words like hot air and do whatever she wanted. But now she had a weakness, and the Main System knew about it.

“You’ve said all this, but I still don’t know why Your Excellency so mercifully spared me from execution,” Nian Zhi’an said to the Main System, reaching a tacit understanding not to discuss the Little System.

【World collapse is a very troublesome matter. I need you to clean up your own mess. That’s all.】

Nian Zhi’an let out a scoff. “What’s a thousand-year-old fox doing playing innocent? That kind of talk might fool kids, but thanks to you, I’ve spent enough time here to see countless Systems and Executors you’ve executed with my own eyes.”

“Executors who fail five tasks in a row are subjected to capital punishment. There’s never been an exception since the System Space came into existence.”

“You didn’t react at all when the sixth task world failed, which already seemed off to me. Not to mention a System got executed but the Executor lived—that’s unprecedented in System Space history.”

“If there really was some chance at redemption, you wouldn’t have executed s-232.”

With a calm expression, Nian Zhi’an said to the Main System, whose location she didn’t know, “I’m very curious. What exactly made you keep me around? I don’t think there’s anything about me worth Your Excellency’s attention. It couldn’t be that you’re secretly in love with me, could it?”

Nian Zhi’an’s cold joke made the surrounding air temperature drop several degrees.

【Your appearance doesn’t match my aesthetics.】 The Main System lacked the capacity to understand cold jokes, so it explained very seriously why Nian Zhi’an wasn’t to its taste.

【But you’re right. In and of yourself, you truly have no value. Normally, you should have been erased long ago.】

【But someone exchanged something valuable with me for… a chance for you to redo your tasks.】 There was a tiny pause in the Main System’s words. If not for Nian Zhi’an’s mind blanking out for an instant due to shock, she might have noticed that anomaly.

【I also need you to clean up the mess you made.】

It really was… an answer she didn’t dare imagine.

“Was it… 779? 682? Or 394?” She didn’t have many friends in the System Space, and even fewer would pay a huge price to save her. Moreover, those guys were mostly a bit unhinged. If they knew she’d killed her System and gotten her wish, they’d at most pop a bottle of champagne at her execution site to celebrate for her. Do good deeds without claiming credit? Impossible!

Not to mention the price to save her from the Main System’s hands—she didn’t think any of them could afford it.

Main System: …?

None of them.

It hadn’t occurred to it that s863 had so many friends with deep connections.

“Can I know who it was?”

【You cannot.】

It seemed the person who saved her had a not-so-simple identity.

Nian Zhi’an hated owing favors, especially one this enormous—she didn’t even know how to repay it.

【I’ve changed your task. I know all your fussing was to save her. Now it’s as you wished, so you should be able to carry out the task properly.】 The Main System’s voice held no emotion, yet it inexplicably conveyed a sense of arrogance.

【If you still can’t complete the task and the antagonist’s danger value remains high, I’ll have no choice but to send a few of my retired Clearance Department members to purge this world.】

Purge… It had been a very, very long time since she’d heard that word.

This was the Main System’s threat to her.

It was warning her that besides her, it had plenty of ways to handle this world’s problems.

Nian Zhi’an clenched her fists. She took a deep breath, plastered on a fake smile, and bowed her head to the Main System. “Thank you for your mercy. I will definitely complete the task properly and leave your beloved world intact.”

…

She woke up—awakened by pain.

When Nian Zhi’an opened her eyes, half her body felt numb from the pain.

The sunlight outside was a bit blinding. It seemed to already be the next morning. The air conditioner had been on since she’d come home yesterday, and thanks to that Main System’s stunt, she’d spent the night lying on the floor and been blown by the AC all night long.

Now not only did her body ache, but her head was dizzy too.

She figured she’d caught a cold from the wind.

“Little System.”

【QAQ!】 The Little System was finally released. It had just been shut away by the Main System and was nearly scared out of its wits. 【The Main, Main System just, just came!】

To the Little System, the Main System was like a god. Being suddenly locked up by that god, it had thought it was about to be dealt with.

“Look at my back. Hasn’t another wound appeared?” Nian Zhi’an undid her outer garment, revealing half of her back.

【No, none, but this scar…】 The Little System stared at Nian Zhi’an’s back, feeling utterly baffled. 【Host, do you have some special ability where wounds automatically turn into tattoos after they scar?】

“Nonsense, of course not.” Nian Zhi’an frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

【Host, see for yourself.】 The Little System shared its vision with Nian Zhi’an.

That mysterious wound which had inexplicably appeared on her back back then had faintly formed the shape of a red carp after scarring. If it had still looked like a scar at the time, it now appeared as an extremely exquisite tattoo—a red carp with scales and eyes so lifelike they seemed real.

【So magical.】 The Little System marveled.

It truly was magical. Nian Zhi’an frowned as cold sweat slid down her forehead.

Calling this thing a tattoo… but based on her years of experience, it seemed more like some kind of mark.

Why did she have this thing? Why… of all things, a red carp?

She felt the answer probably lay in the portion of memory she’d lost. Yet whenever she forcibly tried to recall that blank period, her head would ache unbearably.

This should have been the System’s memory erasure technique. The technology shouldn’t have such severe side effects, unless she’d desperately struggled during the erasure, which had led to a minor mishap.

“Um…”

【Host?!】

Suddenly, Nian Zhi’an murmured softly, “Carp, because… Niannian you yu, Niannian have…”

Thud!

The Little System shrieked as it watched the Host suddenly faint. It thought the Main System had forcibly summoned her again, but after waiting a moment, it discovered her face was flushed an unnatural red—scalding hot to the touch.

She was sick?!

The Little System was stunned for a moment. Then it quietly pulled out Nian Zhi’an’s phone and called Mu Yixuan.