Fate Trading System – Chapter 210

Plan A

Heavenly Voice 1

Lin Tang

【Returning to System Space. Calculating results.】

【Exiting stasis in the real world. This task world duration calculated as ten months. Remaining lifespan is eighty-six months. Memories have been successfully blurred. Please enjoy yourself, Host. See you next month.】

Okay.

【Next month, I might bring a new Host.】

Oh? Has Lord Fourteen found one?

【Yes, quite a lively young girl. But I need to evaluate her first.】

Hm? Evaluation is required? Isn’t it just selecting from those who die? Where is there time for evaluation?

【So many people die across the various planes every day. I can’t possibly inquire with every single one. Finding you was not accidental, it was inevitable.】

Hm?

But Fourteen didn’t say anything more. Su Xin opened her eyes, exhaustion filling them.

The contents of her mind had been pixelated again, leaving only fragmented bits; everything else was forgotten.

Su Xin slept for a while as usual, then woke up to eat something delicious.

“Boss¹ wants us back.”

Qiu Qingqing said while dishing out rice.

Su Xin washed her hands, shook them dry, and sat down.

“Hm? Why the sudden call back? Is there another mission? Didn’t we just finish a big one?”

“Not a mission. It seems the instructor for the Junior Division² is pregnant and needs to take maternity leave, so they want the two of us to substitute.”

“Both of us? Boss really knows we’re inseparable³.”

“Mhm.”

“Which Junior Division instructor?”

“AISR.”

“Tsk, how did she get pregnant? Getting pregnant in our line of work? Isn’t she afraid something will happen and endanger the next generation? Won’t they just end up like me?”

Su Xin picked up her chopsticks, took the bowl, and started eating.

“She won’t, because it’s R’s child.”

Su Xin swallowed a mouthful of rice and patted her chest.

“Those two got together? Tsk tsk tsk, the world is vast and full of wonders⁴.”

R and AISR are both formidable assassins. The two didn’t get along, their conflict was quite intense, but now they’re actually together and having a baby.

R is the Boss’s younger brother, his actual blood relative. If R and AISR weren’t willing, the Boss definitely wouldn’t let his own nephew or niece enter this dark world.

“Well then, let’s go. When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

The Organization has an Infant Division and a Junior Division. After the infant stage, those over ten years old go to the Junior Division.

Su Xin and Qiu Qingqing both struggled their way up⁵ from the Infant Division, were top performers in the Junior Division, and then started taking missions, no longer needing to return for training.

The next day, Su Xin and Qiu Qingqing first went to a remote villa in the wilderness, then took a private plane to an unnamed small island in the sea.

“Haven’t been here in ages.”

Su Xin stretched lazily and rubbed her neck.

“Mm.”

Their first meeting was here.

At that time, Qiu Qingqing’s clothes were ragged, her body covered in wounds. Her gaze, like all the other children’s, was bloodthirsty and sharp, tinged with numb indifference.

The dark door opened, and Su Xin walked in against the light, wearing clean clothes, her face pretty, like an angel.

Qiu Qingqing felt a rare surge of worry; this doll looked like she would shatter with a single pinch.

But Su Xin wasn’t as harmless as she appeared. When the rest period ended and it was time for combat, Su Xin instantly slit the throat of a child who tried to test her.

Back then, Su Xin still had a smile on her face, which instantly drew out all the emotions buried in Qiu Qingqing’s heart.

I want to be friends with her!

“Qingqing, what are you spacing out for? Let’s go, get inside.”

Su Xin gently bumped Qiu Qingqing, pulling her out of her memories.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go in.”

Now, that feeling has gradually transformed.

Being just friends is no longer enough.

Qiu Qingqing concealed the light in her eyes, resuming her calm expression.

Su Xin and Qiu Qingqing went to the Junior Division area. Inside were about twenty-odd boys and girls, around thirteen or fourteen years old.

“How old is the oldest?”

Su Xin picked up a whip. She rarely used this kind of weapon; her former instructor liked it, and she had certainly been whipped quite a bit.

“Fifteen.”

A youth said in a hoarse voice.

“Very good. Starting today, we are your instructors and will be taking over your entire lives. I don’t like disobedient children, you know.”

Su Xin put down the whip and sat down, crossing her legs⁶.

“Qingqing, say a few words.”

“You can handle it.”

Su Xin pouted. This one looked the gentlest, but in reality, her heart was more ruthless than hers, more unscrupulous.

“I don’t know if your previous instructor told you this, but if you want to become an outstanding assassin, you absolutely must use your own brain, not just learn to obey. Of course, someone with a brain knows when they should obey. I trust you can understand my meaning.”

“Every instructor has a different temperament and different training methods. However, what you need to learn, you absolutely will learn. The hardships you must endure⁷ won’t be lessened one bit. As for me, I really hate people asking me ‘why’. Whatever I tell you to do, you do it. Whatever task I assign, you complete it. It’s best not to have any other ideas in your head. Naturally, there will be rewards for completing my assigned tasks.”

“If you understand, get out. Rest for tonight. We officially start tomorrow.”

After everyone had left, Qiu Qingqing poked Su Xin’s cheek.

“Our Instructor Su Xin is so fierce.”

“Hmph.”

A month passed quickly. Watching those kids suffer every day was quite interesting. The instructor’s room had an internet connection, so Su Xin continued to have fun online every day as usual.

During a break, Fourteen appeared right on time.

【Received a request from a parallel plane. Accept?】

Accept.

【Proceeding to System Space. Connecting with the client.】

It was a pale, beautiful girl, but she didn’t inspire feelings of beauty or approachability, because her face was filled with resentment, radiating intense negative energy.

“Hello, I am your client⁸. What is your wish?”

“I never thought something like this really existed in the world. This is truly fantastic. My name is Lin Tang⁹. Regarding my experiences, I don’t want to recount them sorrowfully, because it’s just too disappointing for me. After you receive my memories, you should know… that meeting tomorrow, they definitely won’t just be messing with me simply this time. I want you to help me escape these shadows, make them suffer a terrible death¹⁰, I want to sing again, and I want everyone to know my name.”

“Is that your wish?”

“Yes. Please help me get revenge and reach the pinnacle of life. I’m not suitable for singing anymore, but in my heart, I really, really want to. Please.”

Su Xin opened her eyes again, and the memories of this body assaulted her like a landslide¹¹.

Lin Tang lived in a reconstituted family¹², with a step-brother one year older than her from her stepfather’s side.

Her relationship with this brother was actually quite good. At that time, she was already over ten years old. Seeing others having older brothers or sisters to back them up¹³ while she didn’t made her feel quite down. So when this brother arrived, she was very happy.

But later, Lin Tang developed terrifying feelings for her brother – a possessiveness, emotions that shouldn’t exist. She even began to feel jealous of her brother’s girlfriend.

Everything started spiraling out of control from here.

Lin Tang’s academic performance wasn’t great, but she loved music, so she joined a special talent program in high school and achieved considerable success musically. However, she couldn’t attend her dream university because she couldn’t afford the tuition. That summer, her brother was in a very serious car accident. The family needed money, lots and lots of money. Lin Tang cared for her brother, so she couldn’t possibly let her parents pay her tuition instead of paying for his medical treatment. Therefore, she willingly gave up her studies to work part-time jobs and sing at a bar.

One could say this girl’s emotional relationships were quite messy – at least, that’s how it seemed to Su Xin, whose own interpersonal relationships were very simple.

While singing at the bar, Lin Tang met a pursuer, a relatively wealthy ‘rich second generation’¹⁴ guy. Few genuine girls can resist an onslaught of money, romance, and beauty. So Lin Tang, this rose with thorns, fell for it.

She was actually still struggling, torn between her brother and her boyfriend. Did she like the boyfriend? But her brother remained very important in her heart.

However, this pursuit was just a joke between the ‘rich second generation’ guy and his scoundrel friends¹⁵. Actually, he couldn’t even really be called ‘rich second generation’ – just the son of a small business owner. But for a commoner with no background, power, or connections, that was enough. From Su Xin’s perspective, however, he was utterly contemptible.

The ‘rich second generation’ guy injected Lin Tang with some kind of sensitivity-enhancing drug¹⁶, turning her from a thorny rose into a limp, wilted¹⁷ flower. But those people didn’t engage directly; it was like they were playing some kind of perverse game, making Lin Tang perform acts on herself¹⁸ in front of the camera, or ‘training’¹⁹ her with props.

Lin Tang stayed home every day, trembling with fear, unable to resist her body’s reactions yet lacking the resolve to just die. She no longer dared to sing and had completely lost her creative inspiration.

She became frantic and terrified, hating the world yet utterly helpless. Every time that group summoned her somewhere to film videos, she was extremely resistant now, but she couldn’t fight back. Those videos had become leverage²⁰ against her.

Lin Tang had only wanted to start by singing in the bar, save enough money, then continue her education, pursue further studies, and move onto better, bigger stages. But now, everything was ruined.

How could she dare step onto a stage? Just thinking about the videos those people held, she knew she would be threatened for life. It would completely destroy her.

Just then, her brother, who had been in a coma for a long time, woke up. After everything that had happened, Lin Tang had no idea how to go home and face her mother and stepfather, let alone how to face the brother she cherished.

Lin Tang felt she was dirty²¹. Before, she felt unworthy of her brother; now, she felt even less able to stand before him.

After sorting through the original host Lin Tang’s memories, Su Xin looked around at her surroundings and decided to clean up first.

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