Chapter 22: Captive General vs Tsundere Princess (1) Part 1

Jiang Ning stared blankly at the river before her. Though she felt a flicker of attraction toward Lin Yiren, she had reminded herself to treat her as a younger sister and simply dote on her. Now that she had returned to the intangible Spatial Ring World, those feelings quickly settled, and she waited for the System to calculate her Points.

【Mission 0368 Completion Status: Protect Jiangtian Entertainment — Complete】

【Protect the Female Lead: Complete】

【Reward: 1,000 Points】

【Points have been distributed. If there are any issues, please contact the Spacetime Bureau supervisor via private message promptly for review.】

Jiang Ning frowned as she looked at the thousand Points. By all logic, this mission should have been worth at least ten thousand. How could it be so little?

【Host, have you forgotten the six months after the car accident? The Female Lead spent those six months worrying over you, crying her eyes out. If the Points she earned from the Conquest System hadn’t been non-deductible, this thousand is all you’d have left.】 The System began hinting that doing honest missions was pointless; clinging to the Female Lead’s coattails was the true path.

But Jiang Ning failed to grasp the System’s deeper meaning. The missions the Conquest System assigned were always bizarre, and they left her with a vague sense of dread. After completing the handover, Jiang Ning returned to her room to rest, while the System went off to report to its superiors.

Meng Xinghe had followed Jiang Ning out of the Small World the moment she left. After recovering her memories back in the dimensional space, she felt a pang of loss, unable to understand why Jiang Ning had chosen to leave. But just knowing she would still cross paths with Jiang Ning in future worlds was enough to satisfy her.

This wasn’t the first time Meng Xinghe and Jiang Ning had met. The very first mission Jiang Ning took after joining the Spacetime Bureau had been with her as the target. Back then, Meng Xinghe had truly been the female lead of the book, still trapped within the framework of the rules and the World Consciousness, and she had done some things she regretted, ultimately leaving Jiang Ning so disappointed that she departed the Small World.

Meng Xinghe didn’t know exactly what had happened afterward, only that Jiang Ning had forgotten her. But seeing that every mission Jiang Ning accepted afterward was one without a female lead, she understood there was still a thorn lodged in her heart.

So before being cast into each world, Meng Xinghe would give herself a soul-level suggestion: once she encountered Jiang Ning, she would never again follow the path the plot laid out. Her one and only goal was to be with Jiang Ning.

【Lady Female Lead, the Host says you’re wonderful, but she doesn’t love being a substitute. She only sees you as a younger sister.】

The word “younger sister” stuck in Meng Xinghe’s chest like a splinter. The whole reason she had crafted the White Moonlight persona for Jiang Ning was so she could take better care of her, so they could be together sooner. She had never imagined it would become the very reason Jiang Ning walked away.

At the thought, Meng Xinghe made a few adjustments to her settings, then, after Jiang Ning had rested, followed her into the next world. If being a suitor couldn’t make her stay, then they would simply start over as strangers.

Another snowfall. The bitter cold drained both armies of any appetite for battle, especially since the Southern Kingdom’s forces now held an unmistakable advantage. Even pure attrition would bleed the enemy dry, so both sides had grown slack in their own ways. One side was convinced victory was in hand; the other saw no way out and couldn’t be bothered to struggle. With nothing left but a treaty between them and the war’s end, who would throw their life away for nothing?

“Almost over, huh…” A soldier breathed warm air into his palms and rubbed them together. Snow had frozen onto the armor plating, weighing it down, and in the stillness of the night, every crunch of snow underfoot and scrape of metal rang out with startling clarity.

“Soon enough.” The other soldier stamped his feet, his hands wrapped around the shaft of his spear and red from the cold, though he never let go of it. “Word is, General Ying captured their general today.”

The implication couldn’t have been clearer. The Northern Kingdom was already stretched thin for commanders, and now one of their great generals had been taken. Surrender couldn’t be far off. The two traded small talk as they waited for the watch change, eager to get back to the tents and out of the wind and snow.

The identity Jiang Ning had been cast into this time was precisely that captured general of the enemy nation. A blade had opened up her back, the flowing blood long since frozen into ice, and she lay dumped on a bed of straw without moving, indistinguishable from a corpse. The lambs, repelled by the smell of blood, huddled in the corner and bleated from time to time.

“System, purchase a Lesser Restoration Pill.” Jiang Ning had gone numb from the cold, her whole body so stiff she couldn’t even lift her head. She had to buy medicine and recover some strength first.

Once the Lesser Restoration Pill took effect, all it really guaranteed was that she wouldn’t freeze to death tonight. The wound on her back had stopped bleeding. Lifting her head with effort, Jiang Ning surveyed her surroundings: the lambs, the straw beneath her hands. She pieced together her situation. The Original Host’s injuries weren’t actually that severe, but without timely treatment and then being dumped here, the wound had grown inflamed. And on top of that, shackles locked around her hands and feet. Her circumstances were dire indeed.

Hosts were told what kind of world they were entering before deployment, so seeing all this, Jiang Ning guessed the Original Host had been taken prisoner. Struggling to her feet, she shuffled over toward the flock and sat down among them, soaking up a little of their warmth, then began absorbing the Original Host’s memories.

No father, no mother. Trained in the martial arts from childhood. Quiet and reserved. A muddle-headed ruler with no capable generals to call upon, forced to recruit from among the common people. The Original Host had risen above the crowd as a woman, earned a measure of renown after successfully repelling an enemy offensive, and in her second year of service was betrayed by the Deputy General at her side. That was how she ended up here.

The Original Host’s history was simple enough that it didn’t take Jiang Ning long to sort through it all. The woman was no blind loyalist, either. Her greatest wish, now that she was trapped in enemy territory, was to find the person who had framed her and cut them down with her own hands. Feeling that wish, Jiang Ning quietly exhaled in relief. If the Original Host’s dying wish had been to restore the dynasty and help her muddle-headed sovereign conquer the world, Jiang Ning would have wanted nothing to do with it.

Fortunately, though it had snowed overnight, the next day dawned fairly clear. When soldiers came to check on Jiang Ning, they were startled to find her still alive. One stayed behind to keep watching her while the other went to report.

General Ying happened to be out on inspection, and he soon strolled over to her with a smile that didn’t reach his contemptuous tone. “So you actually survived. I suppose that counts as luck. Well then, you can stay right here and look after these sheep. If a single one of them goes hungry or comes to harm, you’ll lose your chance to go on living.”

Leaving an enemy general unconfined like this was partly confidence, a certainty that Jiang Ning couldn’t escape, and partly deliberate humiliation, a slap aimed at Northern Kingdom morale besides. Jiang Ning understood perfectly well that as a prisoner she had to endure it, but she made a mental note of Ying Feihong’s attitude all the same.

The grass on the grave of the last person who’d dared speak to her that way was already over three feet tall.

Jiang Ning spent several days in the Sheep Shed, piling the straw into a concentrated heap. It was better than nothing, and it blocked at least a little of the chill. Her daily routine was feeding the sheep, and once they grew used to her scent, they stopped avoiding her at night.

Prisoner or not, she still had to be fed. Sometimes someone would bring her food, mostly leftovers. If the person delivering it happened to remember her, the meal would be warm; if not, she ate it cold. This time, as she dragged her shackles toward the nearby trees to gather firewood, a soldier blocked her path. His tone was harsh, and he raised his voice just enough to draw the gaze of a young woman nearby.

“Who is that?” The voice carried a young girl’s softness and an undercurrent of curiosity.

“Your Highness, she’s our prisoner.” A soldier sheathed his sword and saluted to the right. Jiang Ning looked over as well.

【Host, that’s her! That’s the Female Lead, Zhao Xueze!】 The System practically had tears in its eyes. It had watched Jiang Ning suffer for days and could barely stomach it. The coattail she needed to cling to had finally arrived.

Jiang Ning had no idea why the System was so worked up, but seeing the Female Lead meant the mission could finally move forward. She listened quietly as Zhao Xueze chatted with the soldiers, saying nothing. The Original Host was, after all, a prisoner; she held no illusions that the Female Lead would help her.

“Isn’t there a designated prisoner camp? Why is she being kept here?” Wars always demanded manpower, and captives taken in battle were sometimes put to work rather than simply locked up and fed for nothing, which was just another kind of drain on resources. That was why Zhao Xueze was curious.

Jiang Ning had been living in the Sheep Shed for days and was covered in straw. What was more, years of martial training had given her a frame no less sturdy than most men’s, and with her hair hanging loose, Zhao Xueze hadn’t initially realized she was a woman. The soldiers’ answers made her blink at Jiang Ning in surprise.