A few days later, You Xu received a message: [Cousin, thank you for taking care of me during this time. I’ve gone to meet him. He said that he doesn’t love his fiancee, and that everything was forced onto him by his family. He told me that he’ll break it off with her. I’m pregnant with his child. The baby needs a father.]
You Xu gripped her phone tightly as her jaw tightened. She forcefully suppressed the emotions that rushed to her head.
She thought that You Qi had gone to verify her words and understood that Xu Shaosi was not what he seemed. She thought that You Qi had given up and intended to leave this sad place.
However, You Xu thought of another possibility: You Qi might go find Xu Shaosi. Nevertheless, she never thought that the plot point of You Qi’s pregnancy would be brought forward so early. For the sake of the child, You Qi was easily coaxed by Xu Shaosi and chose to forgive him.
In the end, was You Qi too foolish, or was she using her child as leverage to salvage their relationship?
You Qi would not have thought that this child would eventually lead her to another ending, and Xu Shaosi himself did not want to see her end up that way.
“78,” You Xi said to the system, “Help me locate You Qi’s location.”
“Host, please don’t waste time doing unnecessary things,” said the system. “Please carry out the elimination mission as soon as possible.”
Recently, the system had been repeating this command. If You Xu had a choice, she would have blocked it long ago.
System: “If you are unable to do it, we shall choose a time for you to carry out the elimination.”
“What’s wrong?” Duan Min saw You Xu staring at her phone with a dim expression. He came over to check up on her. “Are you worried about her?”
You Xu lowered her eyes. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry.” Duan Min put the warm glass in her hand. It was a vanilla milkshake he had just learned how to make. “I’ll help you find her.”
It was only when the warmth gradually spread across her palms that she realized how cold her fingers were just now.
——
When Duan Min said he would find You Qi, he really did. You Xu did not know how many puppets he sent out, but it only took two days to find You Qi in this huge city— She was in a hospital.
You Xu’s eyes widened and she immediately took a cab to the hospital. Then, she found the corresponding ward.
When she opened the door, the first thing she saw was the person lying on the white bed. The person’s gaze was hollow, her hair was slightly disheveled, and her eyes were red and swollen. She became haggard in just the few days that You Xu did not see her. She lay there silently in her hospital gown, her breathing so quiet it seemed it could be cut off at any moment.
“You Qi,” You Xu breathed. Her fingers were white from gripping the door handle so hard.
You Qi looked over, and her eyes gradually focused to see the visitor. Tears silently gathered at the corners of her eyes and slid down to leave shallow traces on the sheets.
She buried her face into the pillow and said in a muffled voice, “Cousin… Why are you here?”
“To watch you cry.” You Xu walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and stroked You Qi’s hair.
In an instant, the dam in You Qi’s heart completely collapsed. She clung to You Xu, unable to suppress her tears. “Cousin… I was wrong. I was really wrong. He’s been lying to me all along. He was just trying to trick me into aborting the baby. He said… He said he doesn’t love Lin Lanlan, but he can’t let me have a child either. I kept begging him… I begged him to let the child go. I promised him that I wouldn’t appear in front of him and Lin Lanlan again in this life, but he refused…”
Xu Shaosi’s expression was seared into You Qi’s mind. He touched her face with one hand, pressed the other on her stomach, and said with a gentle smile on his face, “Don’t blame me, Qiqi. I just want a longer future for us.”
At that moment, You Qi realized that Xu Shaosi might have liked her, but nothing could compare to his love for himself, for money and power, and for what the Lin family behind Lin Lanlan could give him.
Scalding tears rolled down You Xu’s neck, and the shoulders of the girl crying into her arms trembled. You Xu’s heart broke as she suddenly remembered some of her past experiences.
You Xu had a younger sister in her own world. Her sister fell in love with a senior boy when she was in junior high school. The boy’s grades were poor, did not know how to play basketball, and was not very handsome, but he was very good at patiently coaxing people. He seemed like a gentle and considerate person.
Puppy love was forbidden. The class teacher repeatedly lectured You Xu’s sister, but she refused to bow down. When their father scolded her harshly, she said stubbornly, “I’m not doing anything wrong. I like him. I want to be with him for the rest of my life.”
Everyone felt that she was being ignorant and rebellious.
It was the first time their father hit her sister. He hit her with a finger-thick wooden cane, one lash after another, but she never admitted her fault or shed tears.
Despite all the pressure, verbal reproach, and body aching with pain, her sister still ran to find the boy. Just when she arrived at the boy’s door, she heard his classmates ask him, “Why aren’t you out playing with your little girlfriend?”
The boy chuckled and said casually, “I’m just toying with her. What can a little girl like her know? She won’t take it seriously.”
That day, her younger sister disappeared. She did not go to school, nor did she go back home. You Xu ended up finding her by a small pond.
At that time, her younger sister also asked, “Sister, why are you here?”
“To see you cry.”
Her sister froze, bowed her head, rubbed her eyes, and could not hold back a whimper. She finally let go and sobbed uncontrollably. “Sis, I was wrong…”
Her younger sister, who never bowed under the teacher’s stern gaze, who did not cry under her parents’ ruthless scolding, grabbed You Xu’s sleeve and sobbed in tears about her mistake.
…
You Xu withdrew from her thoughts and could not help but feel heartbroken. She hugged You Qi and said, “Don’t punish yourself for all these mistakes. Only the person who’s truly in the wrong should be punished.”
——
When You Xu came back, she did not hesitate to exchange 100 points for Xu Shaosi’s schedule for the next month. After learning that he would be staying at Hua’an Hotel for one night five days later, she made a plan in her mind.
“Warning! Host, please seize the time and carry out the elimination mission!”
You Xu ignored it and exchanged more points for a pain potion. The potion could temporarily incapacitate a person while keeping their consciousness awake. However, the feeling of pain from wounds on their body would be infinitely magnified.
Then, she took some professional anatomy books from Duan Min and began to study.
Xu Shaosi was human garbage who irresponsibly got a woman pregnant but treated the pregnancy and abortion as a game. He only cared about himself. To someone like him, what was something that could leave an eternal shadow of fear? Of course, it was castration.
The system warned her again. “Have you thought about the consequences of doing such things?”
Of course, she knew the consequences. Xu Shaoshi was the son of a high official, and his fiancee was the daughter of a huge conglomerate. It was a combination of money and power. Of course it would be easy to get back at her afterward.
When a transmigrator crossed over and took over an existing identity of this world, the transmigrator naturally had to follow the rules of this world. The tools that could be used were very limited.
However, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Rather than being afraid of the consequences, she was more afraid of regretting a future where she had the means to ‘repay’ Xu Shaosi but never acted on it.
In the days that followed, You Xu spent most of her time in the hospital accompanying You Qi. She only went home in the afternoon to make something to eat, take a nap, then went to the hospital again after showering and changing her clothes.
Duan Min did not know about You Xu’s plan, but he vaguely knew that something happened to You Qi. Thus, he did not say anything when You Xu spent almost all her time with You Qi. He simply nuzzled You Xu when she came back to have lunch and lay on the sofa taking a nap.
You Xu would tell him a fairy tale, and the two of them would lie down on the couch together to rest.
You Xu also knew that she was spending less time with him, so she allowed him to take a nap with her.
He cherished these afternoons with her, with the sun-warmed wind blowing in and the familiar scent and body heat beside him.
It was everything that was reassuring to him.
“…The little beauty’s tail turned into human legs, and she went ashore to find her prince… Alas, the prince did not really love her, and she finally turned into seafoam.”
You Xu closed the storybook. There was no need to focus too carefully when telling familiar children’s stories, so it was easier to fall asleep.
She was a little sleepy herself from telling the story, and Duan Min was already asleep.
The curtains were only half drawn, and half of the room was shrouded in darkness. The shadows on his profile made his whole face look more defined and three-dimensional.
Duan Min lay on his side, slightly curled up. He held a lock of her black hair in his hand, and his fine and curved eyelashes were pressed together. His cold temperament faded slightly, making him look quiet and beautiful.
You Xu watched him quietly for a while and could not help but smile.
She counted the date. Tonight, she will be going to Hua’an Hotel to give Xu Shaosi his surprise.
At that moment, the system interrupted her thoughts. “Attention! The time selected for the host has arrived. The system will send the designated prop to the host. Please carry out the elimination mission.”
You Xu: “???”
Wait, what was going on?
The next second, a scalpel appeared in You Xu’s hand, already aimed at the side of Duan Min’s neck.
The designated prop made You Xu freeze for a moment before noticing that there was an extremely tiny string of numbers on it, saying 787878. It was the serial number of the system bound to her. In other words, she had to eliminate the mission target with this prop in order to complete the mission.
The sharp blade reflected Duan Min’s cold white neck, as well as the faint blue veins on it.
If she slashed the blade, the world would end and the mission would be successfully completed.
The system urged her. “Host, please seize the opportunity!”
“No,” You Xu responded in her mind.
Maybe everything in this world was fake, but Duan Min was a living person in her heart. It was a fact that could not be erased.
You Xu was just about to withdraw the scalpel when Duan Min opened his eyes.
She froze and forgot to breathe.
The two of them stared at each other silently for two seconds. The scalpel held between them was particularly eye-piercing.
Duan Min smiled abruptly, but it did not reach his eyes. Her shadow was reflected in his dark brown eyes, but under that was the cold glint of the blade.
“Are you going to kill me?” he asked coldly.
