VAP - Chapter 40
Chapter 40: The Sleeping Beauty Whose Words Are Law (39)
This was supposed to be a rather ordinary day.
The weather was unremarkable, and nothing major happened.
The System was chatting with the host when Yue Du let it slip, allowing Qi Jiu to find out that she used to call her a “koala spirit.”
“A koala spirit?” Qi Jiu deliberately lowered her voice, her expression unreadable.
After a moment of guilt, Yue Du calmed down and said coolly, “Isn't it fitting? In fact, you slept even more than a koala back then.”
Qi Jiu fell into thought. “Hmm.”
Yue Du: “...” What did “hmm” mean?
A few minutes later, she found out. On a whim, Qi Jiu ran off to Australia and came back with a mutated koala.
Yue Du: “...Oh, wow.”
She admitted defeat, thoroughly impressed.
This unlucky koala, despite being a mutated creature, hadn’t grown in size. It was the same size after the great Esper Ability outbreak as it was before.
And it really could sleep. Even after being captured by Qi Jiu and moved thousands of miles away, the koala was still sleeping like a log, clinging motionlessly to a eucalyptus branch that Qi Jiu had cut.
It was a mystery how it had survived in a world fraught with danger during the transition to Esper Abilities.
Qi Jiu looked down at it for a moment, then casually broke off a twig and poked its fluffy, fan-like ear.
The little guy didn't wake up. A tiny snore came from its big black nose; it couldn't have looked more peaceful.
Qi Jiu put down the twig and said seriously, “I sleep a lot out of boredom, as a last resort. It sleeps a lot because it's truly lethargic—it's just its biological nature. There's no comparison.”
What else could Yue Du say?
Her head ached. She pressed her temples and said sincerely, “You're right. I shouldn't have called you a koala spirit—you're a Sleeping Beauty.”
“As long as you know.” Qi Jiu was very satisfied with this response.
Looking at the koala, Yue Du was still impressed. She thought to herself, I also called you a salted fish. Why don't you go bring back a salted fish and let me see its white belly?
It was just a thought; she would never say it out loud. Who knew if this host, with her unconventional way of thinking, would actually plop a salted fish down in front of her...
Just as she was thinking this, the koala woke up.
The little creature opened its beady black eyes, looking languid. It actually bore a slight resemblance to Qi Jiu.
“Wow,” Yue Du murmured, reaching out a finger to poke its round cheek.
The koala's fur was thick and soft, wonderful to the touch. Yue Du's eyes lit up. She had expected the little guy not to react, but after a few seconds, it slowly turned its head to avoid her hand.
Yue Du: “...”
She had indeed heard that koalas were extremely slow to react, with long reflex arcs. Someone had once tried pinching a koala and found that it only cried out after a good while.
It seemed to be true. A mischievous impulse took hold of Yue Du, and she pinched the little guy's furry ear.
Sure enough, its beady black eyes slowly widened, and a moment later, it let out a shriek. “Yaa—”
Qi Jiu commented, “It's like one of those screaming chickens.”
Actually, a koala's normal call wasn't like this. It was more like a pig's grunt—deep, loud, and rather amusing.
Yue Du felt quite guilty. “Did I scare it? I'm sorry, I won't pinch it again.”
Qi Jiu: “It's fine. Pinch it all you want. You're not using enough force to hurt it. It's doing it on purpose.”
As she spoke, she reached out, but Yue Du slapped her hand away. “Don't you pinch it!”
Qi Jiu was shocked and hurt. “?? You're yelling at me for a koala? Why are you protecting this little seductress?”
Yue Du was speechless. Being this dramatic is a sickness, she thought, and it needs a cure.
Because of Yue Du's reaction—“protecting this little seductress”—Qi Jiu completely lost interest in the koala. Or rather, she began to regret bringing it back at all.
Yue Du, on the other hand, poked it with great interest for a while and was even eager to try petting it properly.
Qi Jiu tried to stop the system. “Maybe you shouldn't. This one is probably wild. It's a bit dirty, and it might have parasites.”
Yue Du: “I can give it a bath.” As she spoke, a transparent sphere of water began to gather in her palm.
Qi Jiu: “...” Now she regretted her last sentence.
Fortunately, Yue Du was still rational. She knew this little creature wouldn't be kept as a pet. It was a wild animal. If she rashly gave it a bath, what would happen if it couldn't adapt to the Australian environment when it returned?
So, no matter how much she coveted the koala's soft, white chest fur, Yue Du didn't touch it.
Qi Jiu, as if she'd just sucked on a lemon, said, “I'll send it back.”
Yue Du was reluctant. “It's so small, and it has no way to attack...”
She had clearly forgotten how she'd just been thinking that they wouldn't be keeping it.
Qi Jiu sneered, mercilessly exposing the truth. “Don't you worry about this one. It's got plenty of tricks up its sleeve.”
Yue Du was skeptical. “No way. If it really had any offensive power, would it let me touch it like this?”
At the same time, she poked the koala's ear again.
“When I went to grab it, it was surrounded by several mutated kangaroos, dozing comfortably like a queen. There were even two birds bustling about, breaking off tender eucalyptus shoots for it.”
Qi Jiu concluded with a deadpan expression, “It has an Esper Ability that increases its favorability with other creatures.”
Yue Du: “...”
The evidence was irrefutable. Yue Du silently withdrew her hand. The koala, its true nature exposed, slowly glared at Qi Jiu and let out a soul-searching question: “—Yaa!”
Yue Du: “Send it home, please.”
Qi Jiu: “Okay, okay~”
Up to this point, everything seemed perfectly ordinary.
So what if she'd caught a koala? Back when Qi Jiu was interested in mutated creatures, she had caught them from all over the world for fun.
But it was the events that followed that truly threw Yue Du's mind into turmoil.
After sending the koala back, Qi Jiu quickly fell into a deep sleep, another one brought on by her Esper Ability leveling up.
Looking at Qi Jiu slumped on the sofa, Yue Du sighed.
In that position, she would probably wake up with a sore neck.
So Yue Du helped her to the bed, removed her outer clothes, tucked her in, and tidied her slightly messy long hair.
Speaking of which, it seemed like a long time since she had entered Qi Jiu's mental space... not since Qi Jiu had started showing that ineffable affection.
Yue Du actually missed that time a little.
The scenery in Qi Jiu's mental space was beautiful, vibrant, and lovely. Even after staying there for more than three years, she had never grown tired of it.
They would sit or lie by the lake amidst the green grass, and even silence wasn't awkward. When the breeze blew, lifting a slightly curled strand of Qi Jiu's long hair, she would gently smooth it back for her.
Yue Du liked that feeling.
Perhaps the lingering effects of the koala's ability had lowered her IQ, or perhaps she had always been thinking of the tranquil beauty of that space... In any case, Yue Du's reason began to be pulled by her emotions, gradually wavering.
Qi Jiu wouldn't wake up now. It should be fine to go in and sit for a while, right?
A system's most important base of operations was the host's mental space. It was beneficial for both parties, so it couldn't be called an invasion of private territory or anything.
After an internal struggle, Yue Du took a deep breath and lay down beside Qi Jiu.
Her deep amber eyes flickered with conflict before finally closing gently.
Inside the mental space.
Yue Du stared blankly at the lake's surface.
When she first came in, she had wandered around, intentionally or not, and found that the space was the same as always. The lake, the flowers, the temple—everything was as it had been, which was all the more reassuring.
With this in mind, she stepped into the temple cheerfully, but as soon as she entered—
“...” Yue Du.
The last time she was here, the temple's interior had only simple furnishings, as pure and cool as its ivory-white exterior, as if a true deity resided within.
But now? There was a Yue Du body pillow here, a Yue Du photo album there. The space was filled with traces of her everywhere.
None of this was here before!
If she didn't know that a mental space couldn't be consciously altered by its owner and was merely a reflection of their inner world, Yue Du would have thought Qi Jiu had done this on purpose!
Honestly, it was mortifying, and a little creepy. If she had to describe it, it was probably like politely visiting a female colleague's home only to discover her bedroom wall was covered with your photos...?
And so, Yue Du stumbled out of the temple and sat by the lake, dazed.
The only thing to do now was to leave the mental space quickly and pretend she hadn't seen anything.
Suddenly, the gentle breeze in the space stilled for a moment.
It was as if someone had pressed a pause button. The ripples on the lake froze, the blades of grass stopped swaying, and the ethereal light and clouds, which didn't exist in reality, also ceased their wandering.
“Ding.” The Main System's notification tone rang out faintly.
A new mission? Yue Du thought. She remained seated, just listening intently.
The interval between the notification and the mission announcement seemed a bit long this time. After a moment, the mechanical voice issued the directive.
“Please complete the final part of the main mission within one month: Destroy the 161 Silver Galaxy Small World. Ensure no life forms remain. Method is unrestricted.”
“Upon completion, you will be awarded 3000 system points. Good luck.”
For a moment, Yue Du thought there was something wrong with her information reception system.
Destroy the world...?
This was a completely different direction from the previous missions, and entirely different from what they had anticipated!
After confirming her hearing was fine, Yue Du decisively connected to the customer service emergency help channel.
Yue Du: “Error report. This is System 0996, affiliated with the Villain Awakening Project Group, currently executing a mission in the 161 Silver Galaxy Small World.”
A gentle voice from the other side immediately replied, “Basic information received. Please report the error.”
Yue Du couldn't help but close her eyes. From the moment it started until now, everything had been too absurd.
She could only try her best to keep any hint of emotion out of her voice. “I have reason to suspect an error in the mission content issued by the Main System. The main mission content is—”
Customer service cut her off directly. “Number 0996, I am surprised you would have such a thought. The content issued by the Main System is never wrong. This is a basic part of system training.”
Yue Du frowned and said urgently, “Please allow me to finish! The main mission content is to destroy the world! To annihilate all life forms within the small world!”
The other end paused, then said lightly, “That directive has been determined to be correct. There is no mission error. Please work hard to complete it.”
Yue Du couldn't understand. “Either the mission is wrong, or I am wrong. I belong to the Villain Awakening Project Group! The mission direction has always been—”
Customer service said calmly, “Please control your emotions. In fact, according to our records, the mission direction has never deviated. The host of the 161 Silver Galaxy Small World, Qi Jiu, has the duty to destroy the world. The ultimate mission is correct. Please be advised.”
“But the previous missions were all...” Yue Du suddenly stopped. She remembered the previous missions.
The first mission was to have Qi Jiu become Xing Qingcang's disciple. The next ones were to maintain contact with him, subdue the chaos faction, and subdue the mutated creatures.
The name of the Villain Awakening Project and the way Qi Jiu handled the missions had given Yue Du a false impression: that these missions were meant to have Qi Jiu replace Xing Qingcang and walk the protagonist's path to the pinnacle of life.
But what was the reality?
Building a good relationship with Xing Qingcang was to gain protection in the early stages of Esper Ability evolution. As for the chaos faction and the mutated creatures, the requirement was to subdue them—subdue, not defeat or even eliminate.
If a villain capable of destroying the world were to appear, her growth trajectory could very well be like this.
“But what about the mission with Xin Licheng? Letting him spread the virus and eliminate the living forces, wouldn't that have been an easier way to achieve the final goal?”
Customer Service: “Querying related missions, keyword ‘Xin Licheng.’ Please wait.”
Customer Service: “Regarding your question, it involves confidentiality regulations. No comment.”
Confidentiality my ass.
Yue Du forced herself to calm down. “If the ultimate mission is really completed, what will happen to the host?”
“Qi Jiu is a life form belonging to this small world...”
Yue Du suddenly clenched her jaw, but in the next second, customer service continued, “However, the host ‘Qi Jiu’ is a being from outside the small world and is not within the scope of destruction. She can use a host escape pack to leave the small world.”
Yue Du said no more.
Customer service waited a moment, then asked, “Are there any other matters to report? If not, please allow me to disconnect the communication.”
Yue Du: “...No.”
“Please work hard to complete the mission. Goodbye.”
The communication was disconnected.
Yue Du stared blankly at the lake.
Could customer service be trusted?
She had known the answer to that question very clearly four years ago.
If the host could leave unharmed—or rather, if the host could benefit from the ultimate mission, then why was there no mention of the points the host should receive in the mission reward?
Qi Jiu's body had to die, because it belonged to the Qi Jiu of this world. So, in what form would the Qi Jiu she knew leave, and what arrangements would be made for her afterward?
...Taking a huge step back, even if all the above problems could be properly resolved, could she really destroy a small world with a clear conscience?
When Qi Jiu awoke from her deep sleep and emerged from the lake, she saw her system sitting by the shore, hugging her knees and staring into space.
Miss Qi was very happy. “You're finally willing to come in?” Then she keenly sensed something and her gaze darkened. “What happened? You're not in a good mood.”
Yue Du snapped back to her senses and saw her host's beautiful face.
“It's nothing. What could possibly be wrong with me?” she said nonchalantly. “I just missed your mental space a little.”
Missing my mental space = missing me.
This equation made the corners of Qi Jiu's lips curl up. She immediately glided forward and whispered, “Why don't we... relive some of our beautiful memories from the past?”
Yue Du looked at her calmly.
Only the unlucky system herself knew how desperate she felt inside.
My dear lady, my great miss.
I'm currently contemplating the destruction of the world. How about we put our romantic feelings aside for now...?
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment