Fate Trading System – Chapter 147

Plan A

Red Moon in the Barrier 11

Kiss

Su Xin went to Tong Xi’s house in the afternoon, but when Mu Qi came to pick her up, it was almost dark.

Winter nights came early, darkness fell suddenly and unexpectedly, though it wasn’t complete darkness, still carrying a dim glow.

Mu Qi carried Su Xin as they walked on the ground where snow hadn’t completely melted. Though the ground was slippery, Mu Qi carried her with steady steps.

Tong Qing became very worried when he saw his elder sister being carried back unconscious. Not caring about his favorite book in hand, he threw it on the table and ran over.

Tong Qing actually didn’t know that Mu Qi had very little strength, even unable to wring out clothes, because all he had seen was Su Xin and Mu Qi washing clothes together, then Su Xin hanging them while Mu Qi cooked, not knowing Mu Qi couldn’t do heavy work.

“Sister Mu Qi, what happened to my elder sister?”

“She must be feeling unwell. I found her collapsed in the snow, so I quickly carried her back.”

Mu Qi responded to Tong Qing, walking past him toward the room. Tong Qing took a few quick steps to lift the curtain, letting Mu Qi enter.

“What should I do?”

“Go boil some water first.”

Ten-year-old Tong Qing was quite capable of boiling water. He nodded and ran to the kitchen.

Mu Qi placed the unconscious Su Xin on the bed, took off her shoes, and covered her with a blanket.

Su Xin wasn’t just suffering from catching a cold from being out in the wind so long, but also because yin qi [negative energy] had entered her body.

Last time, even the small amount of yin qi from Tong Manwen had made Su Xin catch a cold and develop a fever. This female ghost was who knows how many times more powerful than Tong Manwen, and with Su Xin having stayed in the ghost’s illusion for so long, that’s why she now looked like she was nearly dead.

Like last time, Mu Qi placed her fingertip on Su Xin’s brow point, and strands of black qi dispersed from Su Xin’s brow into her fingers, but this seemed to have little effect, showing no significant improvement.

This was a female ghost, not an ordinary entity. Mu Qi could save Su Xin, but only if Su Xin could find her way out of her own dreamscape, rather than losing herself within it.

If Su Xin couldn’t find her way out of her dream, if she remained trapped inside forever, Mu Qi would be helpless. If it came to that, Su Xin’s body wouldn’t die, but would become like a vegetative person, alive but without consciousness, forever trapped in endless sleep.

Now it all depended on her, Mu Qi sighed.

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Su Xin sat dazedly on the sofa, feeling something wasn’t quite right about her surroundings. She shouldn’t have been doing this just now, but she couldn’t remember what she had been doing.

“What are you thinking about? Quickly wash your hands and come eat.”

Qiu Qingqing urged her from the dining table. Su Xin responded and went to the kitchen to wash her hands.

After eating, Su Xin rubbed her stomach as she went upstairs, opened her phone and mindlessly browsed web pages, chatted, and played games.

Time always passed quickly when playing with phones, especially when gaming. It felt like she hadn’t played much all day, but a whole day had passed, and soon it was dinner time. When Su Xin went downstairs, she washed her face and stared at herself in the mirror, feeling something was off but unable to say what.

It seemed she had forgotten something.

Qiu Qingqing was helping her serve rice, her profile looking gentle in the lamplight.

“Hey… do you know someone called Fourteen?”

Su Xin asked this strange question that even she found puzzling. Either her voice was too soft or Qiu Qingqing didn’t hear, as Qiu Qingqing didn’t respond.

【Host, this one is deeply moved that you still remember this one.】

Fourteen’s mechanical voice rang in Su Xin’s mind, and instantly she remembered everything.

Master Fourteen, what happened to me just now?

【You fell into a self-created dreamscape, and I was blocked outside your consciousness. I finally managed to slip in and heard your question, which deeply moved this one.】

Fourteen hadn’t expected Su Xin to remember it in this situation, showing how deep their bond was.

Of course, you’re my good partner.

Can I wake up now? Why can’t I open my eyes?

【There were some problems outside today.】

Mu Qi waited from dusk until deep night. The person lying on the bed wore an expression of comfort and peace, indicating that the person in her dream who was keeping her company made her feel very safe – probably her brother.

Mu Qi had thought Su Xin would be unconscious for three days and nights, but didn’t expect her to come out so quickly. Since she had emerged from her self-consciousness, they could proceed to the next step.

Mu Qi bit her own tongue tip, leaned down, one hand gripping Su Xin’s chin, opened the unconscious person’s lips, and fed her tongue-tip blood into her mouth.

Mu Qi was momentarily dazed by the warmth of the other’s mouth, but quickly collected herself, raised her head, and wiped her lips.

Su Xin could actually feel it, but before she could savor that brief kiss, she felt her entire body’s blood beginning to boil and burn.

The cold qi in her limbs and bones seemed to be instantly drawn out, purposefully converging toward one point, continuously gathering and gathering.

Without delay, after completing the previous step, Mu Qi raised her hand and made a pointing gesture in the air above Su Xin’s brow. A drop of blood rose from Su Xin’s brow, but it wasn’t pure red – instead, it was almost deep black in color.

That small droplet swayed in the air before merging into Mu Qi’s palm.

There was a tiny wound on her tongue tip. Mu Qi gently touched it, and the wound disappeared, but the sensation remained.

Her mind seemed to still remember the feeling of that brief entanglement, a delicate sensation she had never experienced before, making Mu Qi unconsciously clench her hand.

Su Xin felt herself becoming comfortable, but before she could open her eyes, she fell unconscious again.

For every mission, she had to start from being weak, because this was inevitable, because this was the Fate Trading System.

If someone was already in a high position, wealthy, talented, and powerful, why would they need to become a client?

Mu Qi nervously rubbed her palm with her fingertips, considering whether to try that feeling again.

Gently holding the lips, as if holding something soft and elastic, Mu Qi carefully continued her exploration, lightly teasing the sleeping person’s lips and tongue.

Not daring to make too big a movement, she just quietly experienced that magical feeling, as if electricity flowed through their point of contact straight to her heart. For a moment, Mu Qi even thought her heart was beating.

But that was impossible – she didn’t have a heart.

The sleeping person let out a soft moan, and Mu Qi hastily pulled back, as if startled, or rather, feeling guilty like a thief – tasting her flavor without the owner’s permission.

When they separated, a silver thread stretched between them, quickly breaking and clinging to the corner of the quietly sleeping person’s mouth.

Mu Qi wiped away Su Xin’s saliva with her finger, rubbed her own lips with one finger, and took a deep breath.

The next morning at cockcrow [call of a rooster], Su Xin woke from her sleep. Hearing the rooster’s crow made her think of Yang Cui’s house, then their current situation with only Tong Xi remaining, and then yesterday’s events – the female ghost who wanted to harm her and Mu Qi who came to save her.

Su Xin didn’t make much of that brief kiss before she passed out; she could tell the girl was trying to save her, though the method was rather strange.

Just as she thought this, Fourteen reminded her.

【Host, when you passed out yesterday, I saw unspeakable mosaics.】

Fourteen didn’t want to explain how Tong Ning felt in the system space when she saw those blurry mosaics. Fortunately, there had been improvements now – when intimate scenes appeared, the system showed partial mosaics, but for the client, it was full-screen mosaics.

Tong Ning was clearly confused by the suddenly blurry screen. She timidly asked Fourteen what was happening, and Fourteen seriously explained it was magnetic field interference from some force. Tong Ning nodded with partial understanding and, after confirming there was no danger, didn’t worry about it further.

Fourteen had a feeling it would continue down this path even further.

Actually, with mosaics, it mainly depended on the client’s acceptance level. If they were more open-minded and accepting, they might even be happy about it, but for an innocent village girl like this, there was no need to shock her young mind.

Hmm? What happened?

Su Xin asked with interest, wondering if Mu Qi had done something unspeakable to her last night?

【The mosaics only appeared on the lips.】

So she secretly kissed me while I was unconscious.

【Yes.】

So she’s gay and interested in me. Actually, she’s quite pretty, has a nice figure, especially that slim waist. If the timing and place weren’t so wrong, maybe something could happen, but with all these ghosts around, I’m not in the mood. Wait… how did I get back yesterday?

【Of course she carried you back.】

But isn’t she supposed to be a delicate girl who can’t even lift clothes?

【What do you think?】

True, how could someone be that weak if they weren’t an ordinary person?

Su Xin sat up in bed. Mu Qi was lying on the bed, looking as if she had already washed up, her lower body covered by the blanket, her upper body dressed, reading a book.

“Qiqi… ah… I’m not dead…”

Su Xin wore a dazed expression of someone who had survived a great disaster, touching her face.

“Yesterday when you hadn’t returned for so long, I went to look for you and found you collapsed in the snow, so I carried you back. Fortunately, you haven’t gotten sick today.”

Mu Qi said softly, her attitude very concerned.

“Yesterday I saw… never mind, it’s nothing. How did you manage to carry me back? Weren’t you too weak to even wring out clothes?”

Su Xin asked suddenly with surprise, looking very straightforward.

“I don’t know either. When I saw you collapsed in the snow yesterday, I was so worried and just wanted to get you back quickly. I don’t know where the strength came from.”

Mu Qi acted very innocently, with a hint of relief.

“Fortunately, I somehow had that strength at that moment to carry you back immediately. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have taken. Your face was already looking very bad at that time.”

Well, Su Xin couldn’t respond to that. She had to act very delighted and grateful, even though she knew the person beside her might be a big boss, she still had to treat her like a newbie village commoner.

“Thank you, Qiqi. I can’t explain the specific situation, but there are ghosts in our village, so you must be careful about your safety.”

“Alright, I will.”

Mu Qi nodded obediently, looking very compliant.

“I heated up some zhou [rice porridge] for you, it’s in the pot. Go eat after you wash up.”

Mu Qi said softly while looking at her book, turning a page.

“Okay.”

After Su Xin left the room, Mu Qi let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t know why she felt so nervous from the moment Su Xin opened her eyes and started talking, as if breathing was no longer under her control. Though she had turned a page in her book, she hadn’t actually taken in anything she read.

At first, she truly had no common life knowledge, because she never needed clothes to dry – even if they were wet, she had ways to fix them before wearing them.

But Mu Qi was rather concerned about saving face, not wanting to reveal that after all this time she didn’t even know clothes needed to be wrung out before hanging, so she claimed she lacked strength.

This was originally a harmless white lie with no ill intent. Mu Qi hadn’t anticipated at the time that Su Xin would later invite her to live together, but what’s done was done – the words were already spoken and couldn’t be taken back, so she had to keep up the act.

Mu Qi truly felt that being cared for by this person felt good, and caring for this person felt even better.

Su Xin calmly ate her zhou while watching the worried-looking Tong Qing, picking up some xian cai [pickled vegetables], feeling quite pleased.

Young Tong Qing looked very depressed, watching Su Xin with a look of having nowhere to vent his frustration.

“What’s wrong, younger brother? Why aren’t you happy?”

Su Xin smiled as she teased Tong Qing, poking his puffed-up cheeks.

“Elder sister, please stop messing around!”

Tong Qing swatted away Su Xin’s finger, saying angrily.

“What’s wrong…”

Su Xin leaned closer, patting Tong Qing’s head.

“You promised to take good care of yourself. Do you know how scared I was when Sister Mu Qi carried you back yesterday? I couldn’t sleep well all night.”

He had cried while boiling water yesterday, but Tong Qing would never mention that.

“It’s elder sister’s fault. I made you worry. How about I won’t run off anymore, alright? I’ll definitely take good care of myself.”

Su Xin wouldn’t tell Tong Qing about the ghosts and supernatural things. Besides causing him extra worry and anxiety, it would serve no purpose – Tong Qing was just a child after all.

“That’s more like it.”

Tong Qing muttered.

“No, you can go anywhere, but you have to take me with you.”

“What would I take you for? So you can watch me cry if something happens?”

Su Xin chuckled as she pinched this little old man, this little kid.

“When I grow up a bit more, it’ll be better. Then I can protect elder sister.”

Tong Qing felt somewhat down about his age.

“Mm-hmm, right now I’ll protect you, and when you grow up, you’ll protect me, okay?”

“I want to protect you now too.”

“Okay, okay, okay.”

Su Xin felt very gratified. Although he wasn’t her real brother, this kind, sensible, thoughtful, and ambitious child was like a healing little angel. Su Xin liked cute and well-behaved children, and rejected all crying, troublemaking little demons – too scary.

Every night, Mu Qi would timidly and secretly give her a kiss. At first, it was fine – just a quick peck before leaving. But later, perhaps growing bolder, the kisses lasted longer, and she would even lick a couple of times, really thinking Su Xin was in deep sleep.

Su Xin thought about suddenly opening her eyes sometime to startle Mu Qi, but it was just a thought.

It wasn’t that Su Xin was afraid of Mu Qi; she just didn’t want to disturb the status quo. Su Xin wasn’t exactly suffering from these advances – sometimes when she felt lazy, she’d just continue sleeping; when disturbed, she’d make a couple of sounds and Mu Qi would behave; sometimes when in the mood, she’d even respond. Su Xin didn’t want to break this unspoken understanding because the timing wasn’t right.

They hadn’t left this village yet, and Mu Qi was still an unknown factor. Su Xin couldn’t even be sure if she really liked her.

It might just be curiosity, because Su Xin couldn’t see any particularly appealing points about her current identity – just being somewhat pretty, but Mu Qi didn’t seem like someone focused on looks, being quite beautiful herself.

A village girl with no education, helpless against ghosts and only able to wait for death, not even good at cooking – aside from being physically strong and looking fresh-faced, she had practically no merits.

【Host, that’s quite an accurate assessment.】

Perhaps the big boss beside her had just reached an exploratory phase but had no other targets…

Su Xin wasn’t very narcissistic; she always had a clear understanding of her identity.

Being simple-minded wasn’t scary – lacking self-awareness was what was truly frightening.

After the New Year, the snow began to melt.

Death was no longer unusual in the village now; it would have been strange if things were peaceful.

Tong Yuzhu died.

No one kept vigil for her or buried her. She was alone – not a widow, but her situation wasn’t any better than a widow’s, perhaps even worse.

Abandoned by her husband and son, she had become a laughingstock – “tragic” wasn’t enough to describe it.

Su Xin went to see her body. There was a terrible mark on her forehead. They said it was death by impact, a suicide.

But how could it be suicide? Yet no one would investigate, and no one would care.

Su Xin believed it was the work of that female ghost from that day. This ghost killed periodically, possibly because of Tong Xi.

Now only nine households remained suspicious; the formation eye was among these people.

Of the original fourteen households, excluding the original owner, Widow Wang, Tong Yuzhu, and Uncle Tong, there were ten. Su Xin manually excluded Mu Qi, leaving nine.

Su Xin was pondering a question: that day the female ghost said this maze barrier had nothing to do with her. If she was telling the truth and really didn’t know, what would happen if she killed the formation eye?

If the formation eye died, wouldn’t the maze barrier break, allowing her to leave?

Although taking advantage of others’ work wasn’t ideal, it would be foolish not to use what was available. Su Xin’s worry was that the female ghost might not be able to kill the formation eye, because whoever set up this maze barrier wouldn’t allow their formation eye to be destroyed.

In this world, Su Xin was always in a passive position, which made her feel uncomfortable. She preferred to be in control, rather than following others’ actions, but in this damn world, her identity was limited to being an ordinary person, unable to directly confront those ghosts.

“What’s wrong? Why are you sighing?”

Mu Qi put down her phone-book and came closer, smoothing out the wrinkles between Su Xin’s brows.

“I’m wondering when we’ll be able to leave. Why can’t we still leave the village when it’s almost spring? What about younger brother’s schooling, and what’s happening in the outside world?”

Su Xin sighed again, wondering what the person who set up this maze barrier wanted to accomplish. Did they just want to watch that female ghost kill them one by one?

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Mu Qi said soothingly, showing a smile before changing the subject.

“What would you like for lunch? I’ll make it for you.”

“We don’t have much food left at home, what should we do…”

Their stored food was limited after all. They still had rice, since they grew paddy rice, but they were almost out of vegetables.

“That’s true…”

“I’ll go out for a while later, see if other households have any vegetables, maybe we can trade rice for them.”

“Alright, should I go with you?”

“No need, just stay here. I’ll be back soon, it won’t take long. The village is only this big, just a short distance.”

“Okay then, be careful.”

Of course, Su Xin went out without fear. She needed to learn more to possibly discover the formation eye. With Mu Qi around, that female ghost probably wouldn’t act again. If there was a chance the ghost might act, Mu Qi would probably follow her, and even without Mu Qi, she still had Fourteen – getting help from outside was super convenient.

Tong Qing insisted on going along, but Su Xin finally managed to persuade him.

“Younger brother, I’m just going to ask around. It would be strange to bring you along. Just stay home properly, and don’t make elder sister worry, okay?”

Hearing this, Tong Qing wilted. What he feared most was being a burden to others. He knew that his elder sister going out to try trading grain for vegetables was unavoidable, and taking him along wouldn’t be good.

“Then elder sister, please go and come back quickly.”

“Mm-hmm, I know.”

The original owner’s family mainly grew paddy rice, not many vegetables, since they had limited manpower and couldn’t manage too much. However, some villagers specialized in growing vegetables for bartering.

Su Xin planned to visit that household – Tong Xiaoxuan’s family.

Tong Xiaoxuan’s family situation was similar to the original owner’s, with an older sister and younger brother, no parents. But when Tong Xiaoxuan and her brother Tong Liu’s parents passed away, they were already quite grown.

Tong Xiaoxuan was twenty-five, with looks that could barely be called delicate – not particularly pretty, very ordinary and plain, with somewhat yellowish skin. But she was well-developed, tall, with nice curves, and because of constant physical work, she had no excess fat. She was one of the village’s older unmarried flowers.

Tong Liu was nineteen, a year older than the original owner. Their family had good genes – both males and females grew tall.

Their family grew vegetables, quite a variety of them.

Su Xin knocked on the door and saw Tong Liu’s acne-covered face, forcing a smile.

“Tong Liu, where’s your sister?”

The original owner didn’t get along well with Tong Liu. Since they were close in age and grew up together, and Tong Liu had a nasty personality and liked playing pranks, he often bullied the original owner. Pulling her braids and mocking her were common occurrences when they were young. Even as they grew up, they couldn’t help quarreling whenever they met – they weren’t loving enemies, just enemies without the love part.

“What do you want with my sister?”

“None of your business.”

“Nonsense, why shouldn’t I care who’s looking for my sister?”

“I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Oh well, fine then. My sister’s not here, she went out.”

“Went out?”

“Yeah, how should I know what she went out for? Hurry up, don’t waste my time.”

Tong Liu urged impatiently, looking annoyed.

“I wanted to ask if you have any vegetables? I can trade rice for them.”

“Oh, just that? Wait.”

Tong Liu went inside and soon came back with a basket of vegetables.

“Why are you being so nice?”

Su Xin took the basket with a strange expression, somewhat surprised.

“Take it or leave it.”

Tong Liu shoved the basket at her, glared at her, and slammed the door shut.

Actually, what Tong Manwen had said before wasn’t right – there were people of suitable age for the original owner in the village, but they hadn’t considered Tong Liu then, since they felt he wasn’t good enough for the original owner when it came to fighting.

It wasn’t about family background, but appearance.

Although Tong Liu was tall, he was too skinny, and with a face full of acne, he clearly wasn’t a match for the original owner, who was a pretty girl.

Su Xin took the vegetables and headed back home, planning to bring rice later, but before she reached home, while passing by a certain place, she heard some very unusual sounds.

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