VAP - Chapter 32
Chapter 32: The Sleeping Beauty Whose Words Are Law (31)
Out of the sharp intuition of a Brain Domain Esper (this world’s protagonist), Xing Qingcang discovered a connection between the strange memory erasure incidents and the weakening of the Chaos Faction’s power.
If this were the original script, this would be a proper flash of inspiration, the opportunity to uncover the true identity of the BOSS!
As expected of the protagonist, exceptionally clever!
However, this small world had already gone off its intended track ten years ago.
Young Miss Qi didn’t care at all whether her identity would be discovered. If it wasn’t, then everyone was happy. If it was, it was just a matter of a few words, followed by sleeping for a day or two.
So Qi Jiu was very calm. After hearing Xing Qingcang’s analysis, she even had the leisure to tease Yue Du, “Look, I’m getting special attention from the higher-ups. What should I do? I’m so scared. Come comfort me.”
Yue Du turned her head, speechless, thinking to herself, You should have gotten their attention long ago, you lawless fiend.
In the live broadcast, the leaders were still in a serious discussion.
Wei Jinghuang agreed with Professor Xing’s statement. She brought up the content of her divination: “In the fragments I divined, there was indeed a reference to a third-person female. Perhaps it refers to that Eastern girl.”
The others also expressed their opinions one after another.
“Intuition can’t be trusted. Brain Domain Espers aren’t prophets.”
“I actually think there’s some truth to it…”
“If they really dealt with the Chaos Faction and the mutated creatures, then aren’t they on our side?”
Dr. Yang couldn’t stay quiet for long and jumped up again, shouting, “Anyone who can do these things so stealthily can also come to your door and kill you just as stealthily! This is too dangerous, they must be controlled!”
General Lin had a headache. “Dr. Yang, please don’t get so worked up. We all know this matter is strange and this person is problematic and needs to be managed. But we have to be able to find them first.”
Dr. Yang was at a loss for words and fell silent.
“Indeed, we have too little information.” Xing Qingcang’s voice, carrying his characteristic composure, continued to come from the phone. “I can only speculate that this is a premeditated group action, involving at least two people with a specialized division of labor. One part is responsible for offense, while the other is responsible for affecting time or memory.”
“The one who dealt with America’s ‘Joker’ was likely the team member responsible for offense. The member responsible for affecting memory wasn’t present, which is why the witnesses’ memories weren’t erased, allowing that little girl to post about the incident on Twitter.”
It was logical, well-reasoned, and convincing.
In reality, however, Qi Jiu had simply been too lazy to erase the memories of those few little girls.
After all, Yue Du had deleted all the photos so thoroughly that even a specialist couldn’t recover the data. At most, the American side knew that an Eastern girl had taken out the Joker; beyond that, they could only guess.
But who would have thought Xing Qingcang would connect these two incidents!
In the conference room, the atmosphere was heavy. The matter seemed to have reached a stalemate.
Having been refuted twice by General Lin, Dr. Yang didn’t dare to speak again. Instead, he gestured for his most valued researcher to stand up and speak.
“This criminal team—let’s call it the Shadow Gang—already has a precedent of harming innocents. Aren’t Mr. Wu’s only son and the others from G City victims?”
The researcher looked around, his expression worried. “If even Professor Xing’s team is helpless against them, the threat posed by the Shadow Gang is even greater than that of the average Chaos Faction. If they were to make a move on any of you present, who could guarantee their own safety?”
Professor Ming frowned as she listened. Although she also felt the team was dangerous, she instinctively wanted to refute this faction’s argument. So she said, “The chaotic period has lasted for several months. That team has had plenty of opportunities to harm ordinary people, so why haven’t we heard a single peep besides these two incidents?”
Wei Jinghuang then said, “I also believe the ones they harmed weren’t necessarily innocent. As far as I know, Wu Xiude from our city has done plenty of despicable things. There are even rumors that he’s caused someone’s death.”
Xing Qingcang sharply seized on this point. “Wu Xiude has committed crimes?”
Wei Jinghuang replied, “Yes, it seems he was involved in school bullying.”
Normally, everyone would have undoubtedly condemned the evil act of school bullying, but right now, no one’s mind was on that.
“Could it be someone seeking revenge?” Xing Qingcang said. “Who were the targets of the bullying?”
“One moment, let me ask.”
A moment later, Wei Jinghuang looked up. “They were all young girls, with a preference for those from poor families and with introverted personalities.”
Now it all lined up.
General Lin didn’t hesitate for long before making a decision. “Investigate!”
“It’s not about holding them accountable or arresting them, but at the very least, we should know who they are and whether we can communicate. Since they eliminate evil forces and do good deeds without seeking recognition, they must also have a sense of justice and be full of positive energy. We need this kind of power!”
The justice-filled Qi Jiu wasn’t flustered in the slightest.
She didn’t fall into the category of young girls from poor families. Besides, society was no longer as orderly as it once was, which made investigations difficult. It wouldn’t be easy if they really tried to look into it.
And even if they did find her, so what?
The meeting ended quickly, and the live broadcast was turned off.
Yue Du closed her phone, her thoughts racing. She looked at her host, wanting to speak but hesitating.
Qi Jiu asked her, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” After a moment’s thought, Yue Du still shook her head.
Qi Jiu smiled. “Figured it out? Planning to give it a try with me?”
Yue Du hadn’t expected her to steer the conversation in this direction at all and immediately rolled her eyes without reservation. “You’re overthinking it.”
Actually, she was thinking about cooperation.
Right now, with her and the System Store around, Qi Jiu could stay holed up in her little nest until the end of time, aside from doing missions.
She didn’t like dealing with people either, so this kind of simple life was quite enjoyable.
But what about the future? After the final mission was completed and the System had to unbind and leave?
Qi Jiu couldn’t stay in this isolated place forever. Setting aside her condition of randomly falling into a forced slumber, how could she completely avoid people during the post-disaster reconstruction after the chaotic period ended?
And with her lazy personality that loved comfort and enjoyment, she would eventually have to interact with people.
Yue Du lowered her eyes. She thought that, judging by the speed at which Qi Jiu completed missions, the final mission probably wasn’t that far off.
She had to arrange a future path for her host before then.
As for matters of the heart… those were not within the scope of consideration. She would think about that later!
As it turned out, investigating a case during the chaotic period was indeed not an easy task.
Among the girls who had been bullied by Wu Xiude, many were either missing or confirmed dead. Trying to identify a mysterious girl from among them was as difficult as reaching for the heavens.
Even so, neither General Lin nor the G City authorities gave up. Wei Jinghuang even made a special trip to S City, found Xing Qingcang, and performed a divination on his past…
The results were very disappointing:
“Paths that cross”
“Flames that leap”
“Nothing but a careless glance”
“Didn’t I tell you—not to look?”
That last line made Wei Jinghuang break out in a cold sweat, and she refused to participate in the investigation any further, no matter what.
On Qi Jiu’s side, life continued in its usual lazy routine. It was just that her laziness had taken on a new form. Ever since Yue Du refused to enter her mental space as data, Qi Jiu’s daily sleep time had gradually decreased.
Eventually, she could actually keep it under ten hours!
What a miracle!
At first, Yue Du pretended not to notice, until one time she couldn’t help but remark with a sigh, “I can’t even call you a koala spirit anymore. I’m still not quite used to it.”
Qi Jiu stared at her with a beaming smile. “So you used to call me a koala spirit?”
Yue Du’s expression didn’t change. “It was just a metaphor. I didn’t call you that before. You’ve misunderstood.”
Qi Jiu didn’t seem to mind and said, “Are there any other metaphors? Tell me about them.”
Yue Du chose a flattering one. “Sleeping Beauty.”
Qi Jiu said, “There’s more than that, right?”
Yue Du denied it to the death. “That’s the only one.”
Of course, Qi Jiu didn’t believe her. “Really?”
Yue Du’s face was a picture of righteousness. “Could there be any other metaphors? Impossible. Only Sleeping Beauty suits you best.”
The Sleeping Beauty expressed her great satisfaction with the compliment.
But Sleeping Beauty needed true love’s kiss to wake up, so Qi Jiu used this as a template to request a good morning kiss.
Yue Du said, “I suppose you want a good night kiss too.”
Qi Jiu replied, “Can I? Then thank you in advance.”
As she said this, the expression on her beautiful face was so unbelievably alluring it was hard to imagine such world-stunning beauty could be real.
…Wait, that’s not right. I’m unconsciously showering her with praise.
Yue Du, snapping back to her senses, showed no emotion and said coldly, “I can’t accept it, so no thanks are necessary. Please don’t push your luck, thank you very much!”
Qi Jiu looked quite crestfallen. She sighed faintly and said her System was loving her and leaving her.
Yue Du: “…”
We never even started, so how could I be leaving you? Is it fun being so dramatic every day?
Teasing with words was one thing, but ever since confessing her feelings, Qi Jiu hadn’t made any overly intimate gestures. There were no more hugs or lying on her lap; her actions had become much more proper.
But it wasn’t hard to see that if the other party allowed it, she would close the distance in an instant and devour everything about her beloved System.
How much suppressed emotion was hidden within those deep black eyes? Perhaps only she herself knew.
In contrast, when Yue Du found that her host was no longer trying to stick to her every second, she actually felt a little unused to it.
Habit was a strange thing. When it was there, you didn’t think it was anything special, but when it was gone, you felt an emptiness.
Despite this, getting into a relationship was impossible—at least, not at this stage!
First, setting aside the question of whether her heart was moved, there was the future to consider. If they really did get into a relationship, it would be doomed to fizzle out.
As she had mentioned before, once the final mission was completed, the System would automatically unbind.
And she could only save up enough points to resurrect Yue Hao by going to the next small world.
Yue Du had never been the type to be ruled by love; she was very clear-headed. If this relationship was certain to end badly, why bother responding to it at all?
As for whether her heart had ever been moved…
…that was a secret no one knew.
For a considerably long time after that, the Main System did not issue any missions.
Not until half a year later did that familiar notification sound again:
“Ding! Main quest issued: Stop Professor Xin of the anti-esper faction from spreading a virus that targets espers and mutated creatures. Reward for completion: 500 points.”
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