VAP - Chapter 22
Chapter 22: The Sleeping Beauty Whose Words Are Law (21)
“I hate this restriction.”
After waking up, Qi Jiu stated this with a blank expression.
As she spoke, she had just left the realm of her subconscious. Her consciousness, clad in a pure white slip dress, slowly emerged from the surface of the turquoise lake, not a drop of moisture on her.
Yue Du sat primly by the lake, tilting her head up to look at her, and asked, puzzled, “Unhappy? Don’t you like sleeping?”
Qi Jiu frowned. “Who said I like sleeping?”
Yue Du: “…” Your actions did.
Would someone who didn’t like sleeping sleep for more than seventeen hours a day?!
“I sleep a lot because I’m bored.” Qi Jiu seemed to understand Yue Du’s confusion from her conflicted expression and explained nonchalantly, “If I’m bored, I naturally don’t want to move. I just want to kill time however I can—and sleeping is the most comfortable, effortless way.”
Yue Du was speechless.
Qi Jiu walked over and sat down beside her, habitually resting her head on her system’s lap and adjusting into the most comfortable position.
Perhaps sensing Yue Du’s speechlessness, she added with her eyes closed, “But that was before. Now that you’re here to keep me company, sleeping has become much more interesting.”
Compared to the pleasure of lying on someone’s lap and basking in the sun, the deep sleep caused by the ability’s restriction was not something to look forward to at all.
Yue Du roughly understood what she meant and sighed helplessly. “My honor.”
After that, neither of them spoke.
After a long while, Qi Jiu finally spoke up and asked, “How long was I asleep?”
Yue Du had already noted the time and immediately replied without hesitation, “Seven hours, twelve minutes, and seven seconds.”
Qi Jiu asked thoughtfully, “During the time I was deeply asleep, did you try to wake me up?”
“I did, but it obviously didn’t work.” Yue Du frowned. “Because I wasn’t sure if you could only hear external sounds, I even used a phone ringtone and turned the volume to maximum, but you still didn’t stir.”
“So, the state of sleep is compulsory?”
“Not necessarily. It could just be that you were sleeping too soundly… I haven’t tried waking you with pain yet.”
Qi Jiu said, “That’s true. But, finding out the truth is quite simple—”
As she spoke, she lazily raised her voice, “Fifth, using Word Spirit will cause deep sleep, and this state of sleep cannot be disturbed.”
With a ding, the Main System automatically determined that the exploration progress bar had reached 100%. The mission was complete, and points were issued accordingly.
Listening to the notification of points being credited, Qi Jiu chuckled lightly. “It seems it really is compulsory.”
These were all the restrictions of the Word Spirit ability.
It couldn’t create life, couldn’t cross worlds, and was better at destruction—the results of which were irreversible. While it could heal, it wasn’t proficient at it. The price for its use was falling into a compulsory deep sleep for a period of time.
To be fair, this was an extremely powerful ability, one could say it was max level from the start—because there was no restriction against killing people directly!
During this chaotic period, espers faced threats not only from mutated creatures that also possessed abilities, but also from anti-esper factions and their own kind who ignored laws and morals after awakening their powers.
If she could kill with a single sentence…
Qi Jiu was already, without a doubt, the strongest.
Was the Qi Jiu in the script this strong?
Yue Du couldn’t help but glance at Qi Jiu’s face. She had intended to look away after a single glance, but her gaze lingered on the slight curve of her lips.
Qi Jiu was smiling, a faint, irrepressibly pleased smile.
Yue Du had a strange feeling. Although it was the same Word Spirit ability, her host and the Qi Jiu from the original worldline might not have completely identical powers.
If a villain in any story could reach this level, what would be the point of the protagonist?
Imagine the protagonist leading a group of powerful individuals to fight the final boss, shouting and charging, while Qi Jiu only needed to say “kill them” to resolve everything. The power gap was just too vast!
“What’s wrong?” a voice tinged with laughter suddenly sounded.
Yue Du was startled and subconsciously replied, “Nothing—”
Then she realized that at some point, Qi Jiu had opened her eyes and was looking at her with a half-smile.
“I know I’m beautiful, but you can’t just stare at me like that.” Qi Jiu tilted her head, the movement causing her slightly curled long hair to slide across Yue Du’s lap. Her dark eyes were full of mischief. “Could it be you’ve fallen in love with me?”
“…” Yue Du took a deep breath. “Don’t overthink it.”
Confidence was a good thing, but too much confidence was just narcissism!
Qi Jiu didn’t care what she thought. She closed her eyes again and let out a muffled laugh to herself.
Just as Yue Du was seriously pondering how her host could be so thick-skinned, the Main System issued another mission.
This time it was a side mission:
“The tables have turned. Take revenge on the classmates who once bullied you and let them experience the fear of retribution. Completion reward: 100 points.”
Yue Du: “…?”
Qi Jiu: “Tsk.”
System 0996’s data began to tremble.
In that moment, she felt an impulse to write a report and send it to customer service.
The Main System must be malfunctioning. There was definitely something wrong with this mission!
What did it mean, ‘classmates who once bullied Qi Jiu’? How could such creatures possibly exist—look at her past behavior as a school tyrant, who would have the guts to bully her???
What were Qi Jiu’s three years of high school like?
Sleeping, half-heartedly reading a book, being called on by the teacher to answer questions, and finally, half-heartedly taking exams.
What has Qi Jiu’s college life of just over a year been like?
Sleeping, sleeping, and teasing her system.
“In your memories, have you ever been bullied?”
Beneath the dome of the temple, Yue Du sat upright and asked with a serious expression.
Across from her, Qi Jiu leaned against a stone pillar in the hall, her posture much more casual. “If you’re referring to things like taunts, insults, group beatings, or extorting protection money, then no.”
Then what was with this mission?
Could it be that even though it knew the current Qi Jiu wasn’t the same person as the one from the original worldline, the mission was still issued based on that original worldline?
Yue Du was silent for a moment, then asked cautiously, “Then, did the original Qi Jiu experience bullying?”
This was the first time she had laid it all out so clearly.
A dark light flashed in Qi Jiu’s half-lidded eyes as she said softly, “What do you think?”
The answer was yes.
Qi Jiu had never explicitly said she wasn’t the original owner of the body, but from the way she spoke of her childhood and the information she unintentionally revealed, it was practically the same as saying it outright.
Based on the bits and pieces her host had mentioned in previous chats, Yue Du deduced:
“Qi Jiu” became the Qi Jiu around the age of eleven, after An Ruosu’s death and before she started middle school.
That little girl’s personality must have been withdrawn and timid, not good at communicating with others. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have become an ideal target for school bullying despite having such a beautiful face and a comfortable life.
Of course, Yang Yun and her group probably had a hand in it, but that wasn’t the main reason. They wouldn’t have dared to be too blatant.
In that case…
Yue Du mused, “Could the bullies mentioned in the mission be the people who bullied Qi Jiu when she was a child?”
Qi Jiu said lightly, “Who knows. But if it’s them, this mission should have already been completed.”
Yue Du turned her head to look at her: ?
“I already got my revenge when I first arrived. With brats like that, how could I not make them transfer schools with some psychological trauma?” Qi Jiu smiled.
Ah, although I don’t have any deep feelings about this sort of thing… since I was summoned here, I had to properly fulfill that child’s last wish to meet the conditions, right?
But there’s no need to explain this to Yue Du.
Yue Du asked, “Do you remember who they were? What did they do?”
“It was all childish stuff. Putting caterpillars in her desk, spilling ink on her books, cornering her after school to intimidate her, poking at the wound of her mother’s death.” Qi Jiu recalled nonchalantly, frowning in disgust. “Thinking back on it now, their punishment was a bit too light.”
Yue Du’s gaze darkened.
As if not noticing the change in her system’s mood, Qi Jiu continued, “Oh, I remember their names, but I don’t recall anything else. After all, several years have passed. There’s no need to keep useless things like that in my head.”
Yue Du retracted her gaze and, after a moment’s thought, said, “Just tell me their names. I can probably look them up.”
Qi Jiu: “To go find them?”
“That’s up to you,” Yue Du said calmly. “Side missions aren’t mandatory. Although I’m inclined to give it a try, if you don’t want to go, I won’t force you.”
Qi Jiu said dismissively, “Then let’s give it a try.”
Yue Du was rather surprised. “I thought you’d say you couldn’t be bothered to go and would rather sleep at home.”
“How could I? The world is changing drastically right now, it’s probably quite interesting… I have my curiosities too.”
Her host said that, but Yue Du hesitated.
“But we also have to consider your safety outside. If you use Word Spirit and immediately fall into a deep sleep you can’t wake from, your safety can’t be guaranteed.”
Qi Jiu paused. “…Ah, right.”
Yue Du asked in disbelief, “You never thought about this problem before?”
Qi Jiu said matter-of-factly, “No. I don’t think anything can hurt me.”
Yue Du’s head throbbed.
Following this line of thought, if they were to seriously consider the safety issue, then practically nowhere was safe.
Even if she stayed at home all the time, there was no guarantee that some powerful mutated creature or crazed esper wouldn’t come knocking.
Of course, Qi Jiu could eliminate them with a single sentence, but what if something else came during the compensatory sleep that followed?
“Forget it, let’s not worry about the side mission for now… You should wake up and set up the house.” Yue Du pressed her forehead. “For example, adding a Word Spirit spell like ‘No living creature can enter my house, and no force can destroy it’ should work.”
Qi Jiu didn’t want to leave the warm mental space and tried to feign a bout of procrastination. “Wait, let me stay a little longer.”
Yue Du: Stare—
Qi Jiu met those deep amber eyes, sensed her system’s strong condemnation, and could only compromise. “Alright, I’ll wake up now.”
On the beanbag chair, the sleeping girl’s eyelashes fluttered. She slowly opened her eyes and stretched languidly.
It was now afternoon.
Eight hours had passed since the Recovery Mist dissipated, and the outside world had changed.
Author's Notes
Yue Du: I’m getting more and more curious about what you are…
Qi Jiu (smiling): I’m curious too.
Yue Du (shocked): Wait—??? You mean you don’t know either?!
Qi Jiu: Well, take a guess?
Yue Du: …
Yue Du’s most hated phrase right now: “Take a guess.”
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment