After Transmigrating Into a Book, I Was Played by the Black Lotus – Chapter 57

The Revelation

Lin Xingzhu had a dream.

In the dream, the floor was covered in vast patches of blood, a crimson so deep it was piercing to the eye. It gushed from a snow-white wrist, like blooming roses that wilted in an instant at their most brilliant and splendid moment. The intoxicating floral fragrance had not yet completely dissipated when, in the next second, it was swiftly devoured by fierce tongues of flame.

The surrounding air was hot, astonishingly so.

In a daze, she thought she was the one waiting to be incinerated in the scorching flames, but even when she woke up, she had not felt the pain of being in the throes of death.

Lin Xingzhu sat up in bed, rubbing her head.

She frowned, feeling only that this dream had a sense of déjà vu¹.

But she had never before encountered a dream like this, one where she seemed to be a bystander to someone else’s death.

Suddenly, the motion of rubbing her brow paused.

Lin Xingzhu was a bit hesitant; she seemed to recall where she had seen this image before.

The reason she called it an image and not a dream was because Lin Xingzhu suddenly remembered that before she died, in the hazy perception of her vision, she seemed to have seen this scene. It was just fleeting, too brief and too blurry, like the illusion of dizzy vision one has before collapsing to the ground in death.

This dream from last night was a little clearer than what she had seen before opening her eyes in this world, but only by a little. She still couldn’t clearly see the specific appearance of the person lying on the floor, waiting for death.

Why would she suddenly have this dream?

Lin Xingzhu fell into deep thought. Did this have something to do with her, or with the original owner of the body?

Or was it merely a dream?

But in the dream, from her bystander’s perspective, seeing the person in the pool of blood about to be burned gave her an inexplicably alarming sense of palpitation.

It was too strange.

Lin Xingzhu rubbed her brow and decided not to think about it for the time being. Perhaps it was just a strange dream. Trying to find clues and logic in a dream was just too ridiculous; it wasn’t like this was cultivation².

She still had to go to work today. Because of what had happened before, Jiang Yeye temporarily didn’t dare to run around recklessly anymore. Lin Xingzhu gave her a few more instructions before closing the door and leaving.

Generally speaking, as long as Lin Xingzhu was going to work normally, Bai Xiying was always the one sitting in her passenger seat on the way to the company each morning.

But thinking about how she would be going to Tianqi soon, Lin Xingzhu, who had long been accustomed to driving Bai Xiying to work every day, suddenly felt a reluctance to part.

“How did your preliminary review registration go?” Lin Xingzhu asked.

Because Bai Xiying was going to compete, Lin Xingzhu had long since memorized the relevant procedures. Seeing her good spirits now, she figured everything must have gone smoothly.

Bai Xiying paused for a moment, her eyes revealing a joyful color. “Everything went smoothly.”

“That’s good.” Lin Xingzhu asked with concern, “Has Mu Muqing been bothering you with rambling excuses³ again?”

At the mention of Mu Muqing, Bai Xiying happily touched her chin and said thoughtfully, “I think she’ll soon have no free time to bother me.”

Lin Xingzhu: “Why do you say that?”

Glancing sideways at Lin Xingzhu, whose skin seemed to glow in the halo of light, Bai Xiying paused, a trace of hesitation flashing in her eyes.

This hesitation was quickly caught by Lin Xingzhu, who had been paying close attention to her.

If it were the old Lin Xingzhu, she would have considerately changed the subject. But the her of now simply raised an eyebrow slightly, as if teasing, “Can’t you tell me?”

Bai Xiying smiled. “It’s not that I can’t say. I’m just a little worried, will telling you ruin the image you have of me in your heart?”

Lin Xingzhu grew even more curious.

She mused, “It probably won’t.”

Because she already knew that Bai Xiying was not as gentle and harmless as she appeared.

“……” Bai Xiying shot her a sidelong glance. “Is my image in your heart that bad?”

Although she said that, Bai Xiying still explained the matter in a few words.

Lin Xingzhu: “……”

A long silence.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Bai Xiying’s voice suddenly dropped.

Coming back to her senses, Lin Xingzhu shook her head. “……I don’t disbelieve you. Or rather, I’m not surprised at all that she would do something like this.”

She had said it before: Mu Muqing was a person who operated by treading on certain bottom lines.

Because of her impression from the original novel, coupled with their few encounters, Lin Xingzhu had long sensed it.

She just hadn’t expected that she would actually do such a thing.

Then in the original novel, did she also use the same method?

If that was really the case, then how much pain the Bai Xiying in the original novel must have suffered.

The one who pushed her into another abyss was, unexpectedly, her seemingly noble and upright⁴ immediate superior.

Lin Xingzhu’s thoughts began to drift. She couldn’t help but imagine if, at the very end, the constantly resisting and struggling Bai Xiying had compromised, if she had found a better future, if she had escaped all the darkness and coercion to find a brilliant tomorrow.

But the answers to these questions were all unknown to her.

But Lin Xingzhu’s heart couldn’t help but ache faintly.

Looking at Bai Xiying’s fair and bright cheeks, she felt an even more astringent pain.

“She must pay the price,” Lin Xingzhu said.

Bai Xiying seemed to sense a murderous aura in her voice and curved her lips slightly. “Of course.”

She would make Mu Muqing’s reputation be ruined and her name disgraced⁵!

Lin Xingzhu reached out, moved a strand of hair from Bai Xiying’s face, and said in a voice both gentle and powerful, “If you need anything, I can help.”

A cunning glint flashed in Bai Xiying’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ve already arranged everything.”

Seeing Bai Xiying’s confident and composed⁶ appearance, Lin Xingzhu nodded slightly.

After getting out of the car with Bai Xiying to buy breakfast, Lin Xingzhu drove a little further.

Just as Bai Xiying was about to get out of the car to go to work, Lin Xingzhu suddenly called out to her.

“Bai Xiying.”

The person who was called turned her head.

A pair of eyes, deep and vast like the sea, stared intently at her. Bai Xiying’s heart suddenly skipped a beat—thump, thump, thump—as if something was about to burst forth.

A strange light appeared in her eyes.

Lin Xingzhu suddenly smiled. “Everything will go smoothly.”

“……”

Bai Xiying nodded, pushed the door open, and got out.

The moment she turned around, her slightly bright eyes instantly dimmed.

She had a premonition that what Lin Xingzhu had wanted to say just now was definitely not that sentence.

Inside the car, having driven to the parking lot, Lin Xingzhu did not immediately lock the car and leave as she usually did.

She murmured the words she had just swallowed back at the last moment.

——“Do you like me, too?”

This was a feeling that made her tremble through all her limbs and bones⁷ just thinking about it. Just now, in that very instant, she had been on the verge of blurting it out.

But Lin Xingzhu still held it back.

People possess a certain degree of perception. Lin Xingzhu was not made of wood. All of Bai Xiying’s various behaviors toward her during this period: her more intimate attitude, her unreserved way of revealing her true self, and her affectionate actions that crossed the line of safe social distance…… all of it pointed to a certain issue: Bai Xiying had feelings for her.

This feeling was even more obvious, especially when she compared their initial acquaintance with the present.

In fact, she had been unable to resist asking this question the night before last.

In the instant Bai Xiying touched her abs, a spark of joy related to having her wish fulfilled flashed through her mind, but in the end, because it was too late, Lin Xingzhu forcibly suppressed it.

In the car, the way Bai Xiying revealed her true self made Lin Xingzhu once again feel the urge to speak up.

But she still hesitated.

Lin Xingzhu, who had never been in a relationship, also realized that bringing it up so suddenly would be a bit abrupt.

But after the first and second time, there might not be a third; she wasn’t sure if she could restrain herself next time.

When Bai Xiying arrived at the studio, she still didn’t look well.

Wang Xiaoxiao got her a cup of water and placed it by her hand, unable to resist offering a few words of comfort.

When it was time to officially start work, just as Wang Xiaoxiao was concentrating⁸ on her drawing, she suddenly heard a short, sharp cry from Bai Xiying next to her.

The sound wasn’t loud, but it was just enough for her to hear.

“What’s wrong?”

Bai Xiying turned her head, a look of pleasant surprise in her eyes. “Xiaoxiao-jie, I know who did it!”

Wang Xiaoxiao: “?”

Bai Xiying hesitated for a moment, then leaned in and whispered to her, “Xiaoxiao-jie, when I went home after work yesterday, I found a spare USB drive of mine from before. It had the work I needed to submit this time. I stayed up all night to revise it and managed to submit it successfully before the deadline.”

Wang Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised. “That’s great! Seeing you looking so listless this morning, I thought there was really no way!”

Bai Xiying pressed her lips together, a troubled look on her face.

Wang Xiaoxiao suddenly realized something. “What you just said about knowing who did it, what’s that about?”

A look of struggle flashed in Bai Xiying’s eyes. After a moment, she said, “I just remembered, not long after I first started here, I placed a miniature camera on the side of my desk.”

Facing Wang Xiaoxiao’s shock, she bit her lip and said, “Because at the time, I was just thinking of it as a precaution, just in case⁹. After all, you know that in our line of work, some people are always running into trouble. But it’s been too long, so I forgot about it yesterday. I only just remembered now while I was drawing.”

Wang Xiaoxiao’s feelings were a bit complicated upon hearing this, but it wasn’t a bad thing for a person to be a little shrewd.

“Then you should take a look and see who did it.”

Bai Xiying raised her eyebrows and looked at her. “Can you watch with me?”

Wang Xiaoxiao pondered for a moment, but still couldn’t resist the temptation and nodded.

Their two seats were by the window, which would prevent others from seeing their screen. Bai Xiying turned off the sound, took out the miniature camera, connected it to the computer, and started playback.

It started by playing the footage from the day of the incident.

Everything was normal, until that familiar figure returned to the studio and came to Bai Xiying’s workstation.

——Mu Muqing.

Bai Xiying and Wang Xiaoxiao looked at each other, both unable to hide their shock.

Seeing Mu Muqing’s actions in the footage, they could no longer convince themselves otherwise.

Especially Bai Xiying, whose face had turned deathly pale, looking particularly heart-wrenching.

Wang Xiaoxiao truly couldn’t believe it. “Mu, she… How could she do something like this?!”

It’s too shocking! But why?! President Mu and Bai Xiying don’t have any conflict of interest!

Thinking of this, Wang Xiaoxiao’s eyes suddenly flickered. For some reason, she suddenly recalled Mu Muqing’s repeated attempts to get close to Bai Xiying, and…… the discovery that she hadn’t personally created any new work in nearly three years.

Her heart was suddenly thrown into turmoil!

Bai Xiying was still in a daze, even more shocked and pained than Wang Xiaoxiao.

“……Even if she didn’t want me to participate, she shouldn’t have done this……” Bai Xiying murmured to herself.

Right! Xiying had told her long ago that President Mu didn’t want her to compete! At that time, Wang Xiaoxiao had only thought she didn’t want Bai Xiying to be distracted, but no boss should do something like that, and Wang Xiaoxiao had thought she only said it that one time.

But looking at it now, President Mu’s intention to stop her from participating was far too absolute!

This was especially true when Bai Xiying played the recordings from the past few days. It turned out that after work every day, Mu Muqing would make a detour to Bai Xiying’s workstation, and sometimes even turn on her computer.

But Xiying had also said that when she checked the surveillance yesterday, she didn’t find anything unusual.

……The more she thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

Wang Xiaoxiao was instantly filled with dread!

What kind of sanctimonious¹⁰ boss was this!!

Bai Xiying covertly glanced at Wang Xiaoxiao, who was immersed in the discovery of the truth.

She knew that Wang Xiaoxiao came from a privileged background. This was something Bai Xiying had discovered by chance in her previous life.

Moreover, Wang Xiaoxiao came from a family of artists. Due to her family’s principles, she absolutely could not tolerate things like theft and plagiarism.

More importantly, Wang Xiaoxiao herself was a person who dared to speak and act. Especially in this studio, she was competent in her own right and had enough confidence. Once the “pusher”¹¹ arrived, Bai Xiying believed that Wang Xiaoxiao would not keep Mu Muqing’s secret.

This way, all her previous hints and groundwork would pay off!

Throughout the entire workday, both Bai Xiying and Wang Xiaoxiao were absent-minded.

It wasn’t until quitting time that Wang Xiaoxiao called out to Bai Xiying, looking as if she wanted to say something but was hesitating.

“What do you plan to do?”

Bai Xiying pressed her lips together. “I’m not going to just let this go.”

There was a hint of relief in Wang Xiaoxiao’s eyes. She paused, then said, “Xiying, I’m planning to resign in a little while.”

Bai Xiying was slightly stunned. “……Me too.”

In an instant, all the mature charm that had been lost during their time together returned to Wang Xiaoxiao. She promised, “If you need anything, you can ask me for help.”

Bai Xiying was a little moved. “Thank you, Xiaoxiao-jie. It’s so good to have met you.”

After the two parted ways, Bai Xiying reached up to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes and got into Lin Xingzhu’s long-waiting car.

She lowered her head, editing a message to send to a not-so-unfamiliar email address.

Watching the person engrossed in sending a message, Lin Xingzhu did not speak to disturb her.

When she went to the company today, Lin Xingzhu had unhesitatingly halted the project team that had been in contact with Hurricane Studio.

The collaboration with Hurricane Studio could no longer continue, for both professional and personal reasons.

Otherwise, the losses would be even greater after Mu Muqing’s scandal broke.

Thinking of the other studios she had previously investigated, Lin Xingzhu pondered for a moment and made a call to the number on the business card she had received at the banquet.

Lin Xingzhu still remembered Wu Qitai¹², who had given her the business card on behalf of a friend at the banquet. Afterward, Lin Xingzhu learned that her friend was none other than the person in charge of Zhumei¹³, and Zhumei had been prominently listed on her previous list of researched studios.

After arranging everything, Lin Xingzhu finally breathed a sigh of relief. She then turned and had someone try to collect some of Mu Muqing’s more hidden information.

Although given Bai Xiying’s character, since she planned to retaliate against Mu Muqing, she would have arranged all the necessary details, Lin Xingzhu still decided to make some extra preparations.

Two days later, a piece of news suddenly exploded on the trending topics¹⁴!

#HurricaneStudioHeadStealsAnother’sWork#

It was a clear video recording that distinctly captured the entire process of Mu Muqing stealing someone else’s work!

The text accompanying the video also explained the cause and effect with perfect clarity.

Lin Xingzhu scrolled through and found another trending topic:

#FormerGeniusDrainsTalentAndStealsOutOfJealousy#¹⁵

Lin Xingzhu couldn’t help but applaud the person who came up with the trending topic name.

Clicking on it revealed a series of more hidden pieces of information, such as Mu Muqing having produced no new work for nearly three years, and even…

Hurricane Studio was well-known in the industry, and equally famous in circles like gaming and art design. With two trending topics like this shooting straight to the top, the reaction was immense.

There were those who blindly followed and defended her mindlessly, those who cursed her out as they went from fan to anti-fan¹⁶, those who spoke words of justice out of disgust for theft, and a small group waiting for the real truth.

Lin Xingzhu scrolled through for a bit and knew that this explosion of trending topics likely involved industry competition.

Bai Xiying had done a truly beautiful job!

With this, Mu Muqing had thoroughly torn off her hypocritical mask, both inside and outside the circle.

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