Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Married life was blissful, but some things happened too often, and You Xu was starting to feel the strain.
Especially when Shen Jue would look at her with a gentle, captivating gaze, she felt even more overwhelmed. You Xu, unusually escaping his clutches, pointed out the window and said, “The weather’s so nice today, we were supposed to go boating on the lake.”
Shen Jue didn’t reply, lying lazily on the bed, chin in hand, watching her.
You Xu remained unmoved, her stance firm. She put one foot on the ground and the other on the edge of the bed, trying to pull him up.
But no matter how much she pried and pulled, he wouldn’t budge. You Xu glared at him, and he conjured a fox tail that brushed against her wrist, a faint smile playing on his lips.
You Xu: Oh no, I’m starting to lose control.
Then she saw Shen Jue slowly conjure a pair of snow-white fox ears.
You Xu: Oh no, it’s love at first sight.
But she still managed to hold onto her last shred of reason: “A boat trip on the lake, rowing, sunbathing— these things must be done today…”
As she spoke, she saw Shen Jue slowly pull open his shirt, revealing pale skin, a sharp Adam’s apple, and two red, demonic markings running down his shoulder, all complementing his devilishly handsome face.
“…”
You Xu: Fine, I choose to lie down.
Afterwards, she began to contemplate life. Considering Shen Jue was still developing his heart, she felt she should exercise restraint. Thus, she spent each day in a cycle of reaffirming her resolve— being tempted— wavering— lying down— and contemplating life again.
Days passed, and You Xu noticed that the faded demonic markings on Shen Jue’s face were slowly regaining their color. He hadn’t lied to her; his heart was indeed recovering, but it was a long process.
For a hundred years, every day and night, the pain of an empty heart accompanied him.
One day, You Xu accidentally touched something inside Shen Jue’s clothes. She looked up at him, and he took it out of his robes and handed it to her.
You Xu recognized it as her storage bracelet, which she had used to help Shen Jue through his hundred-year anniversary. After returning to Medicine Spirit Valley, she had forgotten about the bracelet since she no longer needed to store anything.
Shen Jue gently squeezed her wrist and put it back on her wrist.
You Xu didn’t think much of it. A few days later, under the pomegranate tree in the courtyard, she and Shen Jue were taking a nap on the soft couch. However, she had slept too much and wasn’t feeling sleepy. Afraid of disturbing Shen Jue if she moved around, she simply opened the storage bracelet, crawled inside, and checked if there were any snacks or dried meat left.
But as soon as she entered, she froze.
It was a hemispherical space, surrounded by piles of her miscellaneous belongings. There were bloodstains and messy writing on the porcelain-white floor beneath her feet, indicating that Shen Jue had been in very poor condition that day.
His mind was in a state of confusion, so much so that his words were somewhat incoherent.
You Xu squatted down, carefully deciphering the words on the ground.
“I’ll wait for you, You Xu.”
“…We’ll never be apart again.”
“I can’t wait for you anymore, I’m going to find you.”
….
You Xu’s eyes widened instantly, her eyelashes trembling. These were all words Duan Min had said.
Her heart pounded wildly, and You Xu forcibly suppressed her emotions, telling herself that it was all a coincidence, just words left unintentionally by Shen Jue.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and continued reading.
The characters “抹,” “末,” and “沫” were crossed out[1], but could still be vaguely discerned.
Then, there were four characters—茉莉 (Jasmine) and 封禁 (Feng Jin).
You Xu paused, covered the characters with her fingertips, and traced them several times to confirm that it was indeed jasmine. But there were no jasmine flowers in this world, and Shen Jue couldn’t possibly know the word “jasmine.”
She could no longer explain all of this as a coincidence.
You Xu straightened up, staring at the ground, her mind a jumbled mess. She wondered if Shen Jue was really Duan Min, or if these two characters were merely identities, and he was actually a transmigrator like her.
She carefully examined the four characters: “Jasmine” meant “you are mine,” and “Feng Jin” meant “the only one.” Together, they meant— “You are my only one.”
….
You Xu exited the containment bracelet and sat beside Shen Jue. He was still asleep; his features softened when he slept, losing some of his coldness.
Looking at his peaceful sleeping face, You Xu’s heart calmed down.
Perhaps everything was preordained.
As the sunlight faded, Shen Jue opened his eyes and reached out to take her hand. His voice was a little hoarse from just waking up: “Have you been waiting long?”
You Xu shook her head and asked him, “Do you know jasmine?”
“Jasmine?”
“Yes.”
Shen Jue thought for a moment and answered, “I don’t know. What is it?”
“It’s a flower,” You Xu lowered her eyes, her voice soft and low, “very similar to the pomegranate blossom.”
“Do you like it? I’ll go pick some for you.”
You Xu gently shook her head.
The sunset clouds on the horizon were a fiery red, and a cool evening breeze blew, caressing the pomegranate blossoms on the branches, the bright red flowers like leaping flames.
“Shen Jue,” You Xu called softly.
“On the hundredth day, when your heart has healed, let’s go outside and see all the pomegranate blossoms.”
Shen Jue straightened up and hugged her, his chin rubbing against her soft hair, and said slowly, “Okay.”
….
The last frame of the projection was of the two of them embracing each other under the pomegranate tree.
“Alright, close the mission replay.”
You Xu had returned to the blank space. Her overall mission evaluation was the highest, S-rank, earning her a reward of 10,000 points. However, she realized she couldn’t possibly be a points-earning expert. She had gained several thousand points by farming trust points, all of which were used for the energy needed to stay in the world after completing the mission. The 10,000 points she had just earned were used on a mirror image, copying all her memories, emotions, and feelings into that body, allowing that body to retain the same consciousness as her, and she successfully escaped the world.
It could be said that she had copied another version of herself in a parallel world.
She asked around and learned that for every ten days that passed in her world missions, one day passed in her original world. In the first world, she had spent thirty years too long, and her original self had been in a vegetative state for more than three years, not knowing how her parents and sister were doing.
But she couldn’t just finish the missions and leave, so she coordinated with the system to use 10,000 points to create a mirror image.
However, this meant she needed to achieve an S-rank rating in every world to have enough points to create a mirror image.
“You think that ‘me’ can really stay with Shen Jue for hundreds or thousands of years?”
You Xu asked 78, who had been excited for hours. You Xu was its first host to receive an S-rank rating, and it was as excited as an old father seeing his rebellious daughter receive a red flower, almost bursting into tears.
“Originally, it couldn’t, but that body was changed by the Heart-Eating Fox’s heart, so it became possible in accordance with the world’s setting,” 78 said. “It mainly depends on that body. If it were an ordinary person, they would live for as many years as they were supposed to.”
“Alright then,” You Xu said, “Let’s begin the next world.”
“Okay.” Just as 78 was about to teleport her, a cardboard box appeared out of thin air.
78 was astonished: “Could this be…”
You Xu: “?”
Then she saw a stick figure carrying the cardboard box, frolicking around the world, jumping left and right, and making monkey-like calls.
“….” You Xu pressed its head down, “What are you doing?”
“Host, come and draw a lot,” 78’s charcoal-black face couldn’t hide its excitement as it handed over the cardboard box, “This is the legendary lottery reward that only an S-rank can obtain.”
“What can I draw?”
78’s eyes sparkled: “I don’t know, this is my first time too, sob.”
It finally had an S-rank host and could witness an S-rank lottery reward; its ancestors’ graves were not just emitting green smoke, they were practically spitting fire.
“I heard they have everything, why don’t you give it a try?”
You Xu looked at the cardboard box-like lottery box with an indifferent expression, but she was also vaguely looking forward to it. It felt a bit like a company’s year-end lottery with prizes. Maybe she could draw a lot that would take her back to her original world and allow her to go home early?
She cautiously reached into the box, rummaged around for the slips of paper inside, and finally took one out, unfolding it nervously.
It said— “Kara Magic Hair Dryer.”
You Xu: “…?” That sounds so corny.
The next moment, the slip of paper transformed into a hair dryer in her hand, a cheap yellow plastic product, without even a power cord, just a toggle switch and a palm-sized mirror as a free gift.
You Xu: I feel like I’ve been tricked into buying a fake.
Under the encouraging gaze of 78, You Xu flipped the switch, blew on her hair, and her hair instantly became big waves. Blow on it again, and it became an afro.
She understood; whatever hairstyle she thought of, she could get that hairstyle. It seemed to actually work.
The next moment, she felt a chill on her scalp, and at a glance, she realized she had a receding hairline.
“…” You Xu threw the hairdryer on the ground, and 78 picked it up with a laugh. “I’ll try it.”
Then, she saw the cheap stick figure holding up a cheap hairdryer, blowing fire from its forehead.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—” 78 tossed the hairdryer aside and started running around in circles again.
You Xu: It’s a moving, burning match.
Whether it was the hairdryer’s heat or its own overheated mind, this was a classic case of “playing with fire.” You Xu slammed it down again, extinguishing the flames. “Are you still doing the mission?”
78’s blackened face was burned to ashes; it said, on the verge of tears, “Yes.”
78 used its severely injured forehead to draw a teleportation circle on the ground for her. As You Xu stepped into the circle, a notification sounded in her mind: “Host’s emotional solidification value will drop below 50. Teleport?”
“Yes.”
The circle faded, and You Xu regained her senses. The pain in her neck and the suffocating feeling in her throat were extremely clear.
Someone was choking her.
You Xu kicked twice in the air, completely powerless. She squinted hard to see the person in front of her.
The boy in front of her was about ten years old. His straw-like, dirty, and messy hair was tied up with a tattered rag. His clothes were far too big for him, tattered and dirty, patched with many large and small patches, but mostly riddled with holes. His exposed collarbone and hands were so thin they were just bones with a thin layer of skin.
There was murderous intent in his dark eyes, but even more so, hunger.
Murderous intent plus a starving, crazed gaze equals…
You Xu: Wait, you’re going to eat me?!
Her brain was already throbbing from lack of oxygen, and her consciousness was becoming hazy. You Xu struggled, making a faint sound in her throat: “Meow—”
What was that sound? Was that the sound I made? You Xu then realized, no wonder a skinny child looked so big. She looked at her paws with difficulty, her fur, and damn it, she had a tail…
She had been transformed into a cat?!
And she was going to be eaten?!
The author has something to say:
You Xu: What goes around comes around. Those who pet others will be petted in return.
—A fortune teller from an ancient world × a young widow. The female lead is initially a cat, then a human.
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[1] These are different ways of writing the word “mò”.
