AITAMITB Chapter 82

The world, does it have a backstage? Zhao Xiaokui is not quite sure.

After reporting today’s events to the Nightwalkers, she received a message from Shen Zhifei.

“I saw a scene,” said Shen Zhifei in the message.

Zhao Xiaokui asked, “Is it related to me? Or did something happen?”

As she advanced to the second stage, Shen Zhifei, who lived by her side, also showed an upward trend in her extraordinary abilities.

Occasionally, she could sense some scenes that were about to happen. This ability existed even when it was weak in the beginning, but the appearance of the scenes was often very brief, making people doubt if they really saw such a scene. Therefore, Shen Zhifei had never told Zhao Xiaokui.

After the ability improved, she could confirm that she really saw something. Zhao Xiaokui further confirmed her identity as a star seer.

This extraordinary ability made Zhao Xiaokui somewhat have a  headache. The stuff in the school of fate was always mysterious. Wizards advance through meditation, mermaids advance through devouring souls. How do practitioners in the school of fate advance? Rely on fate.

You have to peek into your destiny but cannot observe it too much. Proper changes may enhance your extraordinary abilities, but you may also be overwhelmed by destiny and directly disappear.

Zhao Xiaokui’s only consolation is that Shen Zhifei’s ability is still somewhat concealed, and there aren’t many opportunities in modern society for her to actively pry into destiny. If it were in the supernatural world, she would be caught and locked up, foreseeing the future every day.

“I think it should be related to you.”

Shen Zhifei was sitting in the position Zhao Xiaokui usually liked at home.

She had just taken a shower, her hair still wet, dripping water drop by drop. However, thinking about the scene she had just seen, she couldn’t afford to delay and immediately sent a message to Zhao Xiaokui.

“I was just sitting on the sofa when a scene suddenly appeared before my eyes. It should be in a bedroom with two beds, similar to a hotel’s double room. But the room’s decor doesn’t look like a hotel. It’s very dark. Suddenly, someone opened the door and walked in.”

Zhao Xiaokui stood up, walked down from the bed wearing slippers, and recorded a video for Shen Zhifei at the door, asking, “Is it like this?”

Shen Zhifei watched the video sent by Zhao Xiaokui, and the image in her mind instantly overlapped with the room in the video. She said, “This is the place.”

At this time, Bai Jingru had not yet slept. Seeing her fiddling with her phone as if taking something seriously, she asked, “What happened?”

Zhao Xiaokui said, “Someone told me that there might be someone coming into our room at night.”

Bai Jingru frowned, “Wen Yuanjia?”

“If the program team didn’t arrange a night ambush session, it should be him.”

Bai Jingru, being an investor, knew that if the program team arranged a surprise (scare) segment, she couldn’t be kept in the dark. Without asking how Zhao Xiaokui knew, she suggested directly, “Let’s change beds and sleep.”

Zhao Xiaokui was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what Bai Jingru was suggesting. She quickly stopped her, “No, no, no! Jingru, you don’t have to do this. I can handle him. Trust me!”

Bai Jingru said, “But his abilities are unpredictable… If I were the target, you might have a reaction time.”

Feeling touched in her heart, Zhao Xiaokui understood that Bai Jingru was trying to protect her. However, ordinary people were mere cannon fodder in the competition between extraordinary abilities. To avoid raising suspicions, she had asked Bai Jingru to stay with her in the room. She already felt guilty about it and couldn’t let Bai Jingru change beds with her. She said, “Jingru, don’t worry. I’m stronger than him. Wen Yuanjia can’t do anything to me. He’s just desperate.”

Bai Jingru looked at her for a while before saying, “If there’s anything I can help with, you must tell me.”

Zhao Xiaokui sighed, “I don’t need much help. I’m just afraid of causing trouble to you.”

Bai Jingru smiled, “You saved my life. What trouble could there be? If it weren’t for you, I might have died a long time ago.”

Zhao Xiaokui opened her mouth, wanting to say something. But she felt that whatever she said wouldn’t be right.

Regarding her past, Bai Jingru now seemed indifferent. She said, “What’s in the past is in the past. Don’t dwell on it too much. You don’t have to worry about my emotions. If a mad dog bites a person, should the person keep thinking about that rabid dog all the time? Of course not. It’s over when it’s thrown into the garbage dump.”

“The only regret I have is not being able to find an opportunity to thank you in person. At that time, I had actually regained some memories. If you hadn’t timely found me with people, the first thing I would do was to jump from upstairs after recovering my memory. It’s because of you that I could muster the courage to face that past.”

“Xiaokui, thank you.”

Being thanked so solemnly face to face made Zhao Xiaokui feel a bit embarrassed.

After all, she had too many concerns at the beginning. If she hadn’t happened to see that newspaper, she might have given up on rescuing Bai Jingru. This was her selfishness, and Zhao Xiaokui never denied it. Saving Bai Jingru was just a fortunate coincidence, perfectly timed.

Moreover, she had also received resources from the Bai family. Zhao Xiaokui felt that they were now even. But she didn’t expect Bai Jingru to still care so much.

Seeing her hesitation, Bai Jingru squeezed her hand and said, “You don’t need to feel any psychological burden. Being able to help you makes me feel better too.”

To Bai Jingru, Zhao Xiaokui was like a younger sister. To Bai Jingru, Zhao Xiaokui, who pulled her out of the darkness, was her light and the person closest to her. People who haven’t experienced similar things might never understand the feeling of seeing the light again amid despair, like being rescued from drowning.

“Thank you, Jingru,” Zhao Xiaokui said. “By the way, I brought this.”

Thinking of something she had casually stuffed into her suitcase, Zhao Xiaokui got off the bed, opened her suitcase, and dug out some clothes. At the bottom, she took out a small black box.

Bai Jingru curiously asked, “What is this?”

“An alarm,” Zhao Xiaokui said as she opened the box, revealing a door stopper and an earplug. She put the earplug in her ear and explained, “If Wen Yuanjia tries a night raid, he might not expect us to use this to block the door. Even if he has a way to open the door, as long as he triggers this device, it will automatically send electromagnetic waves to wake me up.”

Outside the earplug, she let down her hair, covering it securely.

Throughout the night, everything was calm and peaceful.

The next morning, Zhao Xiaokui got up, and the door stopper was still in its original place. There were no signs of the cushion being pressed. Before the camera turned on, she had hidden the door stopper in the shadows. She nodded to Bai Jingru.

A new day began, still a day of intellectual and strategic battles between Zhao Xiaokui and Wen Yuanjia.

However, the fall yesterday seemed to have knocked him hard. Throughout the day, Wen Yuanjia’s expression appeared somewhat listless. Even in his weary state, he exuded a delicate and fragile beauty.

Zhao Xiaokui: “…” So much for silent complaints.

She knew this was a sensory illusion created by the voice in Wen Yuanjia’s mind. As an extraordinary individual, she could occasionally see the true appearance beneath this illusion – a common young man with drooping eyes, filled with ambition and greed.

But just because she could see it didn’t mean others could notice this anomaly. Among ordinary people, apart from Bai Jingru being somewhat wary of Wen Yuanjia due to Zhao Xiaokui, even the cleanliness-oriented Gu Tianming and the more cautious Nie Fu couldn’t help but show concern for him.

It was as if this grown man had turned into a delicate and sickly younger sister.

While Zhao Xiaokui complained, she also had to create accidents, doing her best to prevent them from coming into contact with Wen Yuanjia. She didn’t want them to be brainwashed by him. Now, Wen Yuanjia was ready to personally step into the arena to solve her. If, for added security, he decided to overpower the two big men in a residential area before dealing with her, what would happen?

Feeling somewhat awkward about protecting their chastity, Zhao Xiaokui looked at Gu Tianming and Nie Fu with a strange expression.

Gu Tianming, thinking she remembered something about him, nervously asked, “Xiaokui, what’s on your mind today? You seem preoccupied.”

Zhao Xiaokui glanced at him and said, “I just feel like my brothers are all too charming. I wonder what kind of woman will become my sister-in-law in the future.”

Marriage and love topics were common material in variety shows. Zhao Xiaokui started the conversation, and Wen Nianzhen quickly joined in, “Xiao Fu and Tianming are not young anymore. Have you ever thought about who you’d like to marry in the future?”

Nie Fu smiled and replied, “Not really. Let it happen naturally. There’s no fixed standard. I’ll figure it out when I meet someone.”

Gu Tianming, using clichés, said, “Talented, confident. I appreciate girls who shine brightly.”

After the two older members shared their views, the other three were also brought into the discussion.

Bai Jingru casually said, “I haven’t considered the issue of marriage. It’s not necessary for me. Life is a must, but marriage is not.”

Wen Nianzhen advised her that if she encountered someone she liked, she should bravely give it a try. Bai Jingru smiled without responding.

Zhao Xiaokui didn’t expect the topic to shift to herself. She exclaimed, then laughed, saying, “As long as I’m happy.”

Her demeanor made those who had experience in relationships immediately guess her emotional state.

Ren Hua and Wen Nianzhen were not familiar with her, feeling a bit curious. But in front of the camera, no one asked.

Nie Fu had heard rumors and was surprised to find out that they were true.

Gu Tianming felt a sour and bitter emotion inside, unable to express exactly what he was feeling. While he no longer harbored the admiration between a man and a woman for Zhao Xiaokui, hearing that she had someone now brought about a strange complexity. It was like something that could have been his once had now slipped into someone else’s embrace.

Zhao Xiaokui was still unaware of the drama Gu Tianming was experiencing for her. She was still listening to Wen Yuanjia’s inner monologue.

Since they started discussing this topic, Wen Yuanjia’s expression seemed a bit off.

“Marriage… Do you think someone like me has the possibility of getting married and having children?”

“Your life has limitless possibilities. Marriage and children are just needs for ordinary people.”

Wen Yuanjia self-deprecatingly smiled, “Initially, I just wanted to survive, but now, look at me. Do I still live like a human? I feel like I’m just a dog, lifting my butt for men to have their way with me. Even dogs are cleaner; at least they can choose who to mate with, someone they like. What about me?”

Zhao Xiaokui turned to look at him. In those eyes filled with ambition and greed, there revealed an inadvertent sense of sadness and world-weariness.

The Night Walkers have internally analyzed the characteristics of those likely to be chosen by the evil god.

Some are lazy and seek shortcuts, some crave fame and fortune. But most often, it’s those who find themselves in desperate situations with no way out.

Just like Bai Jingru at that time. She was used as an example during internal Night Walkers discussions about those influenced by the evil god. Many of those swayed by the evil god share experiences similar to hers, especially women who have been harmed. When they can’t find understanding or support from society and loved ones, they easily succumb to the temptation of the evil god, heading down an irreversible path.

Pity for the hateful.

Zhao Xiaokui can understand, but she can never accept it.

She has her principles. Even if facing death, even at the end of the road, she would rather die standing than live kneeling.

If, like Wen Yuanjia and Tao Zijin, she became a puppet of the evil god, unable to control even her own life, what would be the meaning?

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