Blame the Villain – Chapter 241

Villainous Singer (13)

Just as Lin Ruyu had said, about a year passed, and a new batch of children arrived at Bilin Star. Song Xuyi heard from these children that the students who were ordered to return by Song Yi had become teachers.

Why did Lin Ruyu know so much about the news from Ruoshui Star?

Song Xuyi vaguely understood that Lin Ruyu’s willingness to tell her these things was a sign of deepening trust.

However, Song Xuyi had no chance to ask for more information—after receiving that batch of new students, Lin Ruyu rushed off with her agent to the next performance. She suddenly became extremely busy, and although Song Xuyi could still reach her when trying to make contact, seeing Lin Ruyu’s utterly exhausted appearance on the other end, Song Xuyi couldn’t bear to disturb their peaceful atmosphere. She actively reduced the frequency of their calls, but made an effort to share happy moments from her life through text messages…

What startled Song Xuyi even more about Lin Ruyu’s identity was when, after continuously improving her skills and dismantling and reassembling most of the robots in Lin Ruyu’s room, she discovered a bloodstained corner of fabric in one robot’s core components—

At first, Song Xuyi hadn’t realized it was a robot; she originally thought it was a lifelike model of an extremely gentle-looking woman, always kept in a box in the corner. That day, for some unknown reason, the cleaning robot had turned out this model. It wasn’t until Song Xuyi touched the robot’s arm and felt something was off that she hazily realized it was a robot.

Later, Song Xuyi discovered this was the only humanoid robot in Lin Ruyu’s room, but at that time, Song Xuyi was so interested in robotics technology that she didn’t think much before dismantling it—

Compared to the other dazzling multi-functional robots in Lin Ruyu’s room, this robot’s functions were astonishingly simple—it could only produce voice output and had no other functions, not even the ability to stand.

However, Song Xuyi couldn’t decode the robot’s voice mechanism—it was equipped with a self-destruct program that would activate if anyone tried to force their way through.

Moreover, the robot’s internal system appeared extremely complete, possessing an incredibly sophisticated security system.

Many robots’ cores contain their main programs, and some companies set up security systems inside robots for confidentiality. Song Xuyi didn’t feel anything unusual at the time—the more sophisticated the security system, the more it sparked her fighting spirit. When she couldn’t crack it in one day, she would study the technology and continue the next day. It took five days before Song Xuyi finally broke through the robot’s security system.

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected to find a bloodstained piece of fabric inside.

It was only then that Song Xuyi hazily realized this beautiful robot model bore some resemblance to Lin Ruyu…

What shocked Song Xuyi even more was that this piece of fabric had an intricate pattern [àn wén – hidden or subtle design] made using a complex method.

Logically, Song Xuyi shouldn’t have recognized this pattern, but the original body had an extraordinary memory, and the original’s mother, who died in the war, was a famous embroiderer. She had taught the young original body to recognize patterns: this fabric’s hidden design was one that only the former Ruoshui Kingdom royal family could possess.

Could Lin Ruyu have connections to the royal family?

Back then, Bilin Star had invaded Ruoshui Star first, and when the royal family refused to surrender, everyone in the palace was slaughtered by the Bilin Star people. The palace fire burned fiercely for several days, symbolizing Ruoshui Star’s decline…

And to design such a security system would require exceptional expertise in robotics—would Lin Ruyu really trust someone else with something so private…

Countless questions surfaced in Song Xuyi’s mind, something was on the tip of her tongue, but she refused to think deeply about it, hastily reassembling the model.

She didn’t know if Lin Ruyu would later notice that she had dismantled this model, but the current Song Xuyi didn’t want to investigate further—

Song Xuyi had a premonition: when Lin Ruyu wanted her to know, she would eventually find out. And in the current situation, knowing too much sometimes wasn’t good for either Lin Ruyu or herself.

As long as they both understood without speaking, working together for Ruoshui Star’s future was enough.

Because of the experience of this batch of students who returned to Ruoshui Star to become teachers, subsequent students arriving at Bilin Star were no longer completely in the dark. The proportion of students devoted to repaying Ruoshui Star increased significantly. They were patient and silent, no longer as radical as the first batch of students, and despite their young age, they handled matters with competence.

Growth comes with a price. Song Xuyi was certain: those students who were called back by Song Yi had advised these children on how to survive on Bilin Star.

These children were Bilin Star’s future.

Although their progress seemed minimal, the spark would be passed down through generations, and one day, it would explode with tremendous energy.

Perhaps this was the situation Song Yi had always wanted to see.

After becoming the Guardian, Song Yi became increasingly busy, with fewer and fewer calls with Song Xuyi. Song Xuyi could only learn about Bilin Star’s situation through social media—

The public support that Luo Xi and others gained by interrupting their studies quickly faded. Although after this incident, many Bilin Star people learned about the pitiful situation of Ruoshui Star’s citizens, as beneficiaries of the status quo, most Bilin Star people maintained a hypocritical silence, while the voices of the small minority who truly sympathized with Ruoshui Star’s people were too weak to have any effect.

The only benefit was that after learning about Ruoshui Star’s situation, Bilin Star’s social media recognized this as an excellent publicity point, and now there was much more news about Ruoshui Star. Through these news reports, Song Xuyi gradually understood: Song Yi had become the most despised Guardian in recent years, with countless people wishing for his immediate death.

Because of this, the Bilin Star people had complete trust in Song Xuyi and no longer held back in their academic instruction.

Time flowed gradually in this atmosphere, and in the blink of an eye, eight years of study had passed.

In the year Song Xuyi turned sixteen, she faced the graduation examination at Kelin Academy—only ten graduating students would have the opportunity to study at higher institutions.

The teachers and classmates of Bilin Star were extremely surprised that Song Xuyi made it this far. Initially, over a hundred people had enrolled, but now only thirty remained in the robotics research department, with the rest being eliminated to other majors. Although Song Xuyi appeared to be at the bottom of the class, she still managed to be among these thirty and obtain a graduation certificate from the notoriously difficult robotics department.

“But that’s all she’ll get—just a graduation certificate,” Song Xuyi once overheard teachers discussing privately. Not just teachers, but many Ruoshui Star people thought the same: “It’s already quite good that she’s made it this far, but after all, she’s from Ruoshui Star, so this is as far as she can go…”

For the final examination, Song Xuyi had to face a live streaming event.

Bilin Star’s Robot Alliance was the largest robotics industry research institute. They would select soon-to-be-released new models from existing major companies’ unreleased robots, distribute them to participating students, and observe the students’ disassembly-assembly speed and ability to determine robot functions.

This activity excellently promoted various companies’ unreleased new models and received sponsorship from many major companies. These companies needed viewership, and with graduation tests happening every year, Song Xuyi’s presence would undoubtedly bring them massive traffic. Therefore, before the graduation exam even began, news of Song Xuyi’s participation spread throughout Bilin Star—everyone wanted to see what the first-ever robotics developer from Ruoshui Star looked like…

Song Xuyi paid no attention to these rumors, focusing entirely on her training. At this time, another piece of news stole most of the public’s attention—Lin Ruyu terminated her contract with her agency and announced the establishment of her own studio.

Lin Ruyu was now twenty-one.

Her time at school throughout the year added up to less than a month. She had been constantly busy with various performances and activities, earning enormous amounts of money for the agency. Although her age was considered quite mature for this era, the agency repeatedly postponed Lin Ruyu’s graduation exam citing busy schedules, and the school, wanting to keep Lin Ruyu as their golden recruitment banner, naturally agreed to the agency’s demands.

As a result, Lin Ruyu became Kelin Academy’s oldest ungraduated student.

Lin Ruyu’s announcement about terminating her contract with the agency obviously hadn’t been communicated to them beforehand. Soon after, the agency went online claiming this was an erroneous announcement made by Lin Ruyu while intoxicated.

However, Lin Ruyu seemed to have anticipated this situation. While various voices were buzzing online, she soon released her schedule from the past decade along with the original contract signed with the agency.

Lin Ruyu had an extremely strong fan base on Bilin Star, but even without mentioning that, her displayed busy schedule and harsh income-sharing terms were enough to provoke outrage. Moreover, Lin Ruyu hadn’t breached the contract and had even been extorted by the agency—

Lin Ruyu had signed a ten-year contract, and she only announced the termination after the full ten years, but the agency threatened that she must pay a huge compensation according to the contract to terminate it. Lin Ruyu’s displayed transfer records showed she had already paid this sum, yet unexpectedly, the agency still tried to turn the tables…

Outraged Bilin Star citizens collectively condemned the agency, wanting them to return the money they had appropriated from Lin Ruyu. As those who lose moral standing lose support, that very day, the agency faced a wave of resignations, with countless artists they had trained choosing to leave…

While the agency was in complete chaos and the outside world was in an uproar, Lin Ruyu, who had triggered all this, never appeared, and no one knew where she was—

Song Xuyi initially didn’t know about these events.

She was focused on preparing for her graduation test, which required filling out numerous documents. When Song Xuyi learned this news, it was already noon. After filling out the forms, she got a nutrition tube from the cafeteria. Hearing two Bilin Star girls talking about Lin Ruyu, she froze for a moment, then immediately ran back to the top floor of the dormitory and opened Lin Ruyu’s door…

“Xuyi, why did you only come now?”

Almost as soon as Song Xuyi entered, she heard Lin Ruyu’s familiar voice. Although they hadn’t seen each other for three months, their meeting didn’t feel strange at all.

Song Xuyi hadn’t noticed the several large boxes that had appeared behind Lin Ruyu.

Looking at Lin Ruyu’s clear, beautiful eyes and the smile at the corner of her lips, thinking of her efforts these past two years to terminate her contract, Song Xuyi felt incredibly distressed. She hurriedly bit her lower lip and pulled out her light brain…

“Are you confident about your graduation test? I bought several more robots for you to try out, perhaps they might inspire you…”

“Do you have any money left? I’ve saved quite a bit over these years, if you spend it carefully, it should last for a while—”

Two different voices rang out simultaneously at that moment.

Song Xuyi was stunned, her face instantly reddening, while Lin Ruyu narrowed her eyes to look at Song Xuyi, then glanced at the numbers on the light brain. Seeming to understand everything, she suddenly broke into a smile, more radiant than ever before—

“Xuyi, with so much money, have you been saving for me all these years?”

“Or do you want to be my little sugar mommy, wanting to keep me?”

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LP: Re-translated on January 26, 2025

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