Fate Trading System – Chapter 342

Plan B

Heart-Stealing Operation 1

【Mission settlement complete. Memories have been blurred. Returning to the real world. Remaining lifespan is 140 months.】

Okay, understood.

Su Xin rubbed her hair, preparing to turn over and sleep, but she suddenly heard an unusual crackling sound of electric current in her mind, which woke her up at once.

Master Fourteen, what’s wrong with you?

【Due to system rectification, This Humble One needs to enter hibernation for an upgrade. Beep.】

The last electronic sound was loud, and then there was silence.

Master Fourteen?

No response.

The room was deathly silent. Su Xin sat there alone, vacantly staring at a point in the air.

A situation like this had never occurred before. Although Su Xin did not have many memories of their past, since she had already obtained 140 months of life, it meant they had already cooperated many times. Master Fourteen’s sudden action like this made her feel very insecure in her heart.

What on earth had happened that the system needed to undergo rectification, and even enter hibernation for an upgrade? It came so suddenly, without any warning.

Su Xin’s head hurt badly. She wanted to sleep, but she could not fall asleep with her eyes open.

After she washed her face, the condition of her head not only did not lessen, but on the contrary, it grew more and more painful.

“What’s happening… huff…”

Su Xin lay prone on the bed, her brows tightly furrowed.

The sound of brakes came to her ears, so ear-piercing.

Su Xin suddenly sat up from the bed, looking in the direction of the outside.

She was currently living in Qiu Qingqing’s home, and Qiu Qingqing’s home was in a villa district where the houses were spaced very far apart. It was impossible for her to hear the sound of brakes coming from that direction.

Su Xin lay on the bed, panting. She was covered in a lot of sweat.

What went wrong? Was her current condition related to Fourteen’s departure, or rather, his hibernation?

Su Xin was very certain she was not hallucinating. The scenery before her eyes was still what she had just seen, but the sounds coming to her ears were as distant as if they were in another time and space, yet so clear.

My head hurts so much!

Su Xin closed her eyes and shook her head. She got out of bed and stood up, but she felt her whole body begin to throb with pain.

Dammit… a familiar feeling.

Master Fourteen isn’t about to explode, is he!

Su Xin did not know how terrible her complexion was right now; it was a completely stiff, ashen white. Her lips were also completely bloodless, and her face was covered in cold sweat.

A painful feeling came from her four limbs and hundred bones, as if she were being struck and crushed by something.

Who is screaming in my ear?

So noisy.

Su Xin staggeringly opened the door. Her vision had already started to become somewhat blurry.

She had to find Qiu Qingqing.

If this was really a repeat of the feeling of her death, then did all those missions she did before still count?

She could no longer remember the things from before, but with the disappearance of the voice in her mind, she felt in a daze, wondering if all of that had been a dream.

If all of that was a dream, was she going to die again?

No, no… in that case, wasn’t she already dead?

Su Xin touched her arm. Her body was still intact.

Was she, in the end… dead or alive?

Her head hurt more and more, the scenery before her eyes became more and more blurry, and the screaming in her ears became more and more ear-piercing.

Shut up! Don’t scream anymore!

Su Xin irritably wanted to shout at that voice, but she could not open her mouth and could not say a single word.

Where is Qiu Qingqing?

Su Xin stumbled along the route in her memory, heading towards Qiu Qingqing’s doorway.

Qiu Qingqing was closing her eyes, recalling the world from just now. They had been very happy indeed.

If only everything could be like this in the real world too.

But it did not matter. Sooner or later, that day would come. They would not be together here and now, but Qiu Qingqing believed that in another world, they would meet in another form, and then fall in love.

Qiu Qingqing heard the sound of knocking on the door and got up alertly.

She took a defensive weapon from the drawer and quietly opened the door a crack. She did not see any enemies, but instead saw Su Xin in a semi-conscious state.

Qiu Qingqing immediately threw the weapon in her hand to one side and helped up the limp Su Xin.

“Xinxin? What’s wrong with you?”

“So uncomfortable… Qingqing… I’m in so much pain…”

“Where does it hurt? Are you injured?”

Qiu Qingqing carried Su Xin and placed her on her own bed. After an examination, she found that there were no injuries on Su Xin’s body at all.

“Don’t scream! Qingqing… Qingqing… I’m in so much pain…”

Su Xin’s current state was really not right at all. Her gaze was somewhat vacant, and her complexion and body temperature looked… like a dead person’s.

“You cried?”

Su Xin looked confusedly in Qiu Qingqing’s direction. Qiu Qingqing was a bit stunned.

She did not cry.

But the person on the bed was still muttering to herself.

“Don’t cry for me… it’s okay… just a little uncomfortable… I want to sleep… so sleepy… my head hurts so much… just sleep for a little while… a little while…”

Words that felt familiar, that Qiu Qingqing would absolutely never forget, even in death.

“Don’t sleep, don’t sleep! Xinxin, look at me.”

Qiu Qingqing felt her hands and feet were now a bit weak.

She wanted to contact the system in her mind, but there was no reply, like a stone sinking into the sea¹.

Fourteen! Where did you go! Clearly, everything was already agreed upon, so why has she become like this now?

There was no response. Qiu Qingqing held Su Xin on the bed, coaxing her, trying to get her to open her eyes.

“Xinxin, don’t sleep, okay?”

“But my head really hurts so much, I’m so tired, and so cold…”

“I’ll hold you. If I hold you, you won’t be cold.”

Qiu Qingqing sniffled, holding back her tears.

If one were to ask Qiu Qingqing, having lived for so long, what was the most desperate thing she had experienced? It would be witnessing Su Xin’s death.

Clearly, when she went out, she was so lively and energetic. They had made a promise that after her mission was successful and she returned, they would have a big meal.

But she waited at home for a long, long time, and never saw that person return.

Then she received a phone call.

That girl who so magically loved to be beautiful was just lying there on the cold ground, with so much, so much blood.

“Don’t cry for me… it’s okay… just a little uncomfortable… I want to sleep… so sleepy… my head hurts so much… just sleep for a little while… a little while…”

Those were the last words Su Xin said when she rushed over and held her.

She closed her eyes in her arms, forever and ever, and she did not even have time to do anything.

She had originally thought life would just be like this, but she never expected that miracles really do happen.

The system’s time turned back to the very beginning. She waited at home and saw her girl return safely.

All of that from before was illusory, as if it were fake.

Su Xin had not been in that accident at all, and she had not held a funeral for this person.

A funeral that only she attended. She briefly described her life, then held her coffin and broke down.

At that time, she was unwilling to have the person cremated, as some delusions still existed in her heart.

But who could have thought that her delusions would really come true?

She carefully and cautiously protected all this, just like maintaining a very easily broken dreamscape.

Could it be that the dream is about to end?

“Qingqing… it hurts…”

Su Xin snuggled into Qiu Qingqing’s arms to act cute. She actually could no longer see things clearly, but she knew that the person she was relying on was someone she could trust.

Just as Qiu Qingqing was thinking, Su Xin was also wondering if this dream of hers was about to end.

What Su Xin felt was the wetness at the corner of her eye. She thought she was crying, but she was not.

Later, Su Xin quickly realized that those were not her tears, but Qiu Qingqing’s tears that had fallen on the corner of her eye and then trickled down her cheek.

“I never thought that one day, you would also shed tears for me.”

Qiu Qingqing did not speak, only held her.

“You’re so silly.”

“I think so too. I never thought I wouldn’t die at the hands of those people… but would instead die from doing a good deed…”

Does this count as a kind of retribution?

“I’m going to rest for a bit.”

Su Xin’s voice was so light it was indistinct.

“Don’t!”

But that pair of eyes closed in the end.

With an expression on the verge of tears, Qiu Qingqing’s trembling fingers reached out to touch the space below Su Xin’s nose.

Qiu Qingqing let out a huge sigh of relief.

She was still breathing!

Her heartbeat was still there too!

Qiu Qingqing kissed Su Xin’s lusterless lips, her face full of the joy of having regained what was lost.

This was not the same as before. Thank goodness, thank goodness.

Su Xin slept for three days and two nights. Qiu Qingqing also kept watch for that long, without eating, drinking, or resting.

【Beep! System upgrade complete!】

Su Xin suddenly opened her eyes and felt the world was completely clear. All the previous abnormalities in her body had also completely disappeared.

“You! Quickly go to sleep!”

When Su Xin saw Qiu Qingqing’s death-like appearance, she knew how long she had stayed here. She pulled Qiu Qingqing to lie down properly.

Qiu Qingqing’s mind relaxed, and her body followed, slumping down. Su Xin covered her with the quilt and began to concentrate on conversing with the system in her mind.

What happened before?

【Due to This Humble One’s passive hibernation, the data was not handled properly, which resulted in the Host entering a death-flashback hibernation state. This was This Humble One’s mistake.】

What happened?

【The system has undergone changes, and the client situation has changed. In the future, we will no longer be finding suitable clients to make deals. Instead, we will directly choose ‘voluntary destroyers,’ i.e., those who commit suicide, to make deals. The Host will no longer have direct contact with clients. Missions will be issued by This Humble One.】

Understood. This way actually saves a lot of trouble. Why the sudden change?

【The Designer’s situation has worsened. He must have more energy to supplement his soul power.】

No wonder… the problem is, after he dies, will all the effort we made before also disappear?

【Theoretically speaking, that is indeed the case. We are directly bound to the Designer’s soul. If the Designer’s soul perishes, we will also be destroyed.】

But he will die one day.

【This Humble One is talking about the soul.】

Understood.

Actually, this is also blameless². The chance for them to be reborn was given by someone else, but thinking about it this way still feels a bit unpleasant.

【Now proceeding with new world transmission. The details of the system rectification will be explained later. Transmission beginning.】

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