Green Plum, Green Plum (1)
“You feel guilty.”
In the virtual system space, Xu Jiao sat on an e-sports chair that mirrored her own bedroom setup. She saw the cover of the book 《The Immortal Doesn’t Need Emotions》 fly off the bookshelf. It was originally glowing with a golden light, but that light extinguished instantly, and the entire book turned gray as if it had faded.
System Shanshan explained, “This world has completely collapsed because of the host’s will.”
Xu Jiao looked at the gray cover and lazily responded, “I know.”
The space was silent for a long time, and the system coldly and flatly asked, “Why did the host destroy the world?”
Xu Jiao raised her hand, placing her fingertip on the keyboard in front of her. It was her long-used red switch keyboard, Cherry 3494, which had been with her since she began making a living from writing. The system had copied her bedroom’s appearance so meticulously that even the shiny spot on the left side of the black space bar, worn from frequent typing, was replicated.
She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a shadow, giving her delicate features a nearly indifferent look.
Then, the system heard her say in a matter-of-fact tone, “The protagonist is dead. Is there any point in this world existing?”
The system was silent for a moment before commenting, perhaps with a hint of emotion, “You’re so cold.”
Xu Jiao raised her lips slightly, her eyes turning as she looked around. Since the system had no concrete form, it seemed like she was talking to the entire space.
“You, a system without feelings, calling me cold is inappropriate, isn’t it?”
The system seriously retorted, “I just haven’t yet completed the diversity of my voice card when I was created. In reality, I possess highly anthropomorphic thinking and emotions, which is the foundation of my being a super artificial intelligence.”
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After thinking for a moment, the system added, “Moreover, the world that is false to you is real to Xia Jingzhe. She thought you loved all things, so she killed the biased Immortal Venerable and put you, who are most suitable for becoming a god, in the position of the master of all things—but in reality, you love no one and directly destroyed the world.”
Xu Jiao’s expression remained unperturbed as she pondered the system’s words and directly stated, “You’re accusing me.”
After a pause, she continued, “You think my actions have betrayed Xia Jingzhe’s love for me.”
The system was also very straightforward, “Yes.”
Xu Jiao’s smile deepened slightly but didn’t reach her eyes. She leaned back against the chair, folding her hands in a relaxed manner, and said calmly, “Does she really love me?”
Not giving the system a chance to respond, Xu Jiao continued, “First of all, in this world, I am a nine-tailed fox named ‘Xu Jiao,’ a beloved disciple under the head of the Kunlun sect, and Xia Jingzhe’s savior…”
“But none of these are truly me. In other words, what she loves is just a false identity—look, she thought I wanted to see the scenery of the nine continents, thought I wanted to see this world, thought I wanted to become a god, but the truth proves she was completely wrong.”
“Secondly, since being chosen by you, I’ve been thinking that my dissatisfied readers should be more willing to save my tragic protagonists than I am. Why me?”
“Unless I have some irreplaceable reason, such as being the author, knowing everything, and naturally having a close connection with all my creations. In this way, it’s not hard to understand why Xia Jingzhe would develop feelings for me, because saving the protagonist and making the protagonist have a good impression of me, thus being utterly obedient, is indeed the simplest way to achieve a happy ending.”
The system was silent as it listen to her find out the reason why she was ‘selected’ for a few seconds before saying:
“Your guess is entirely correct.”
In fact, in the world of 《The Immortal Doesn’t Need Emotions》 Xu Jiao was very passive in completing tasks in the early stages. It was often only after the system issued multiple reminders and penalties that she would act. Therefore, she didn’t have much interaction with anyone except Xia Jingzhe.
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If Xu Jiao had been more proactive, she would have discovered that she was almost like a “lucky charm” in the entire world. Although not everything went her way, everyone had a soft spot for her.
If she was willing, besides Xia Jingzhe, many others would have fallen in love with her.
……
Upon hearing the system’s confirmation, Xu Jiao raised an eyebrow, her expression still light and carefree, as if she found everything before her too boring to show even a hint of surprise.
Until the system suddenly introduced a twist.
“But—”
It said, “In this world, you’ve always been passive. Why are you suddenly so proactive in proving ‘Xia Jingzhe doesn’t love you’ or ‘Xia Jingzhe’s love is false’?”
Xu Jiao was momentarily stunned.
She heard the system ask, “Is it because only by proving these things can you convince yourself to ignore her feelings without any guilt, or even not respond at all? This way, you can continue doing these very heartless things without any sense of guilt, right? After all, humans cannot be tormented by ‘guilt’ for long.”
Xu Jiao: “…”
At this moment, she firmly decided that if she had the chance in the future, she would definitely vote against the “Prohibition of Overdevelopment of Artificial Intelligence” bill.
While she was silent, the system pressed on, “If Xia Jingzhe truly loves you, to her, you are not only someone who doesn’t accept her love but also a cruel woman who stomps on her heart.”
Xu Jiao gasped, “…Why have you suddenly become so sharp-tongued? Did you get a virus?”
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System: “I just downloaded a package to expand my vocabulary—wait, you’re changing the subject, you feel guilty.”
Xu Jiao realized she couldn’t avoid its death quiz and simply gave up, “So what if I do?”
System: “…” It really couldn’t do anything.
Xu Jiao finally gained the upper hand in the verbal sparring and let out a sigh of relief.
The space was silent for a long time.
Then Xu Jiao softly said, “Let’s say you’re right… Besides, I find myself really disliking such endings. I don’t like this sense of losing control.”
System: “So?”
Xu Jiao: “So I need to summarize the reasons for failure and strive for success next time—you and Xia Jingzhe both think I’m cold, right? Fine, in the next book, I’ll treat it as a real world, I’ll take all emotions seriously, and I’ll approach them with the initial passion I had for writing. That should be enough, right?”
The system couldn’t find anything wrong with this plan: “…Then let’s try?”
Xu Jiao nodded.
On the bookshelf, another book began to glow. Before the dizziness overcame her, Xu Jiao saw the title of the book: 《Absolute Control》.
As she felt herself slipping into the book, Xu Jiao suddenly let out a grassy sound.
This one?! This was a story from her early days, and it was a rare emotional drama with sadomasochistic love…
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Don’t ask, asking means you can’t think about it too much.
……
After a long bout of dizziness.
Xu Jiao finally saw light. Instinctively, she turned her head and raised her hand to block the blinding sunlight.
Still dizzy, Xu Jiao couldn’t help but complain inwardly, “Is the system out of power? Why is the crossing process getting rougher each time?”
The system, hearing her complaints, calmly reminded her, “You feel dizzy because your head was broken.”
Xu Jiao: “…”
Xu Jiao: “???”
She had a bad feeling, “Wait, what’s my identity this time?” What happened to the favored child of heaven and the world’s darling?
The system responded gloomily, “Don’t you remember? In this book, you gave the villain your own name—”
“That’s right, it’s the one where you, as the tenth big sister, Xu Jiao, would beat up and extort the female lead at every opportunity.”
Xu Jiao: “…”
Her action of blocking the light turned into covering her face, her voice filled with extreme embarrassment, “Shut up!”
Digging up someone’s black history is like digging up their ancestors’ graves, you know!