So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 54

“Host, Lord Main System wishes to see you.”

The light was faint and dim as leaves drifted down from above like a waterfall.

Coarse branches scraped ceaselessly against Chi Qian’s body. The feeling of weightlessness squeezed her heart; there wasn’t a single part of her, inside or out, that didn’t ache.

“Crack.”

“Thud!”

The sound of a branch snapping and a heavy object hitting the ground rang out one after the other. For a second, Chi Qian’s mind went numb.

She was still wondering what had made that dull thud when a ferocious pain tore along her back.

Ah, that was me.

Blood flowed backward, and Chi Qian felt as if she were gargling a liquid thick with the stench of iron.

She had only just spat out a mouthful when her consciousness began to blur.

Dying an unnatural death is a really painful thing.

Chi Qian had thought her part in the play would be over after she jumped off the cliff. How could she have known she would remain in this body?

Her consciousness flickered in and out. The immense pain sealed her inside a black box where she could only hear muffled sounds—footsteps, conversations, confrontations, angry rebukes…

And in every one of those sounds, it seemed, was Shi Jinlan.

Ah Lan…

Whenever she thought of that name, Chi Qian felt an extreme sense of unease.

She couldn’t stop worrying about this person. She struggled, wanting to open her eyes to see if she was safe, to see if she was alive and well. But the swinging clock ticked and tocked, time flowing away, reminding her over and over that it was time to leave.

An unknown amount of time passed like this. Chi Qian felt as if she had come back to life, only to die again a moment later. Then she was alive again, and then dead again.

Over and over, circling and starting again.

It was as if her life wasn’t in her own hands but was being fought over by two opposing sides.

“Beeeeep—”

The long, piercing tone of what sounded like an electronic instrument finally rang out, and a distinct beam of white light shot into Chi Qian’s eyes.

The light was completely unreasonable, an intrusive glare that demanded she open her eyes.

Chi Qian’s brow furrowed tightly, and she had no choice but to struggle to open them.

But what met her eyes was not her familiar room.

The scent of the sea breeze and medicinal herbs was nowhere to be found. The environment, awash in cool blue tones, was so clean as to be not stained by a single speck of dust.

Chi Qian looked down at the bed she was lying on, which resembled a space capsule, and felt as if she had arrived in the futuristic, technological world described in a sci-fi novel. She blurted out, “Holy north¹.”

This damn system hadn’t stuffed her into another mission, had it? Sent her to some future world?!

Wasn’t this novel of hers labeled as modern-contemporary?!

Just as Chi Qian was unable to touch her own head², a whimper sounded in the room.

A small blue ball, matching the color scheme of the surroundings, rushed toward her and began to cry its grievances. “Wuwuwu, Host! I thought you weren’t coming back!!”

Chi Qian instinctively leaned back, staring in astonishment at the small ball before her. Not quite daring to believe what she was seeing, she called out cautiously, “…Thirteen?”

“It’s me! Host!” Thirteen was full of grievances, and its tearful voice was much more pleasant to listen to than its past mechanical tone.

Encountering a familiar ball in an unfamiliar environment, Chi Qian’s questions all came bubbling up. “Where am I? No, what the hell is going on? Why do I feel like it took me a long time to get here?”

“This is the system interior. The Host has completed the mission and has now arrived inside the system.” Thirteen explained, slow and methodical, as it floated in the air, laying things out for Chi Qian one by one. “Your feeling isn’t wrong. It did indeed take you a very long time to get here.”

“What happened?” Chi Qian remembered that when Thirteen had described the mission to her, it had said that she would complete it as soon as she jumped off the cliff. Could it be that it had hidden something else from her?

“In order to save you, Shi Jinlan brought in authoritative experts from all over the country, and in the following days, there were even doctors from all over the world.” Thirteen trembled just thinking about it. “These past few days, it’s been me, operating the system, fighting with those doctors over you. Host, your mission was on the verge of failure!”

Hearing this, Chi Qian was momentarily shocked, but what followed was a sense of speechlessness. “Wait, how does that count as a mission failure? I wasn’t even conscious! What could I have done! Raised my hand and pulled out my own oxygen tube?!”

“Didn’t you say back then that this mission would be over the moment I jumped?!”

Chi Qian’s words made Thirteen feel guilty. The little ball tilted its body and mumbled, “This is also because the Host influenced Shi Jinlan’s emotions, which is why things became so difficult to handle…”

The system world seemed to block out all extraneous noise, and the surroundings were quiet.

Chi Qian heard Thirteen’s quiet mumbling clearly and abruptly lowered her lashes.

Hearing Thirteen mention Shi Jinlan again, Chi Qian no longer had the same exasperated energy to retort.

Her lightly closed lips trembled slightly as she asked Thirteen in a very soft voice, “What about Ah Lan? How is she?”

“Rest assured, Host. Shi Jinlan returned to Ningcheng smoothly,” Thirteen said in summary. “She has now reached a cooperative agreement with her mother’s side and is preparing to clean house and go head-to-head with Shi Cheng. She’ll be seizing power any day now.”

“Is that so.” Hearing Thirteen say this, a sense of loss suddenly bloomed in Chi Qian’s heart.

It was as if… that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

But what did she want to hear?

Did she want to hear Thirteen say how sad and grief-stricken Shi Jinlan was after she died?

Or hear Thirteen say that, for her sake, Shi Jinlan would exact revenge on Shi Cheng a thousand, ten thousand times over?

She had known from the beginning that she was the last straw that would break Shi Jinlan.

Since her mission was complete, didn’t that prove that Shi Jinlan had successfully blackened³ according to the system’s design and could never find peace again?

Chi Qian felt as if someone had twisted her heart, making it ache with a sour pang.

She took a light breath and then asked, “So does that mean after she’s done with Shi Cheng, the male and female leads will come looking for her?”

“No.” Thirteen shook its head. “The male and female leads won’t appear for another three or four years. The events the Host experienced are more like a prequel to this story. At this time, the male and female leads are still in high school. And even after dealing with Shi Cheng, Shi Jinlan isn’t strong enough. She still has to swallow up many more enterprises before she can become a storm.”

Hearing Thirteen say this, a fire ignited in Chi Qian’s heart.

What was this supposed to be?

Shi Jinlan, as the great villain who appeared last in the novel, was meticulously cultivated by the Lord Main System⁴ to be feared by all.

But in the end, she was to be offered up to its beloved protagonists, becoming the most dazzling medal to prove their strength.

“Is your Lord Main System—mmph!!”

Chi Qian wasn’t the type to hold back and was about to blurt out her complaints.

But she didn’t expect Thirteen to ram its entire ball-body into her, covering her mouth. “Host, this is the system interior! You must be cautious in speech and prudent in action⁵! If you promise to stop talking, I’ll let you go.”

“…”

Chi Qian’s eyes were wide and round, still angry.

But a good hero doesn’t eat the loss before his eyes⁶. She nodded her head and mumbled, “I gnow⁷.”

“Host.” Thirteen was also obedient and let Chi Qian go as promised.

“But I still think it’s unfair.” Chi Qian crossed her legs and sat on the bed, pouting. Her pupils were filled with a gloomy wistfulness, and it was hard to tell if there was more anger or more sorrow.

Shi Jinlan could only live well for another three or four years, free from fate’s “favoritism.” After that, the scales of fate would no longer tip in her favor…

Thinking of this, Chi Qian looked up at Thirteen again. “Shi Jinlan still dies in the end, right?”

“Yes,” Thirteen nodded.

Although she already knew the answer, Chi Qian’s mood plummeted all at once.

Images of villains from movies and TV shows who died with eyes open⁸ flashed through her mind. She spoke with difficulty, “Did anyone… did anyone collect her body?”

Thirteen shook its head. “In the novel, Shi Jinlan ultimately returned to the island. From the same beach where the Host first found her, she walked into the sea.”

When Chi Qian heard this sentence, it felt as if a gun had been fired into her chest.

When she jumped from the cliff, she had wanted Shi Jinlan to be able to live a good life. But in the end, she still couldn’t live a good life.

The sea breeze blew out from Chi Qian’s memory.

She clenched her cold hands, feeling as if she were standing on that reef on that night once more.

Thirteen found that its heart cannot bear it⁹. After considering for a long while, it decided to tell Chi Qian, “Actually, because Shi Jinlan tried to save you before, I went to the system and applied for an extension on your time in that world. The Host still has one hour left in that world.”

Chi Qian’s eyes lit up instantly. “Does that mean I can—”

The little ball that was Thirteen bounced twice in front of Chi Qian, as if it were nodding.

This was probably the best news Chi Qian had received so far.

She jumped up from the bed excitedly, hopping a few times. Then, as if she thought of something else, she looked at Thirteen and asked, “Then can I go back for a visit right now?”

Thirteen disagreed. “Host, it’s best you don’t go back right now.”

“Why?” Chi Qian didn’t understand.

“Take a look at your face.”

With that, Thirteen conjured a mirror for Chi Qian.

In the mirror, Chi Qian still looked as she had in the last world, though she was now wearing the standard white dress of the system world.

But even so, there was a bottle of system-provided asthma spray in her pocket.

“Holy north.” Chi Qian pinched her own face, unable to believe her eyes. “What’s wrong with you guys’ system! I didn’t originally look like this!”

“Host, don’t be nervous.” Thirteen quickly put away the mirror and soothed her. “It’s possible the system just hasn’t processed it yet. It might be fine in a couple of days.”

“You’d better be right.” Chi Qian wasn’t convinced. Her eyes darted around, and she held out a hand to Thirteen. “I want compensation. Otherwise, I’ll report you for dereliction of duty.”

“Host!” Thirteen was genuinely worried that its failure to do its job was the reason Chi Qian still looked like she did in the previous world, so it had no choice but to compromise. “How about this, I’ll let the Host turn into the wind in that world to go take a look.”

“Good yeah!” Chi Qian was overjoyed.

“But only for ten minutes!” Thirteen quickly added. “When the time is up, the Host must return immediately!”

It was truly worried that if Chi Qian became too attached to that world, it would lose this Host.

“Okay, okay! I’ll listen to you!” Chi Qian nodded frantically, like a chick pecking at rice¹⁰, and even lavished praise on Thirteen. “How has my Thirteen become so amazing now~”

Thirteen puffed up its body proudly. “Of course! I’ll get more and more amazing by following the Host!”

Chi Qian found this strange. “Didn’t you follow other Hosts before? Why didn’t you improve?”

“Huh?” Hearing this question, Thirteen’s body began to flicker with electric currents.

Chi Qian had seen this happen in her mind before; it was clearly Thirteen falling into a logical paradox.

Seeing this, she quickly reached out to hug the little ball, stroking it in the direction of the flickering currents to soothe it. “Let’s just say they weren’t as amazing as me! Don’t think about it, don’t think about it! You’re the only family I have now, so don’t you go breaking down over someone else.”

“Huluhulu¹¹…”

Perhaps Chi Qian’s technique was just that good, because Thirteen began to emit a purring sound in her arms, like a contented cat.

Chi Qian found this amusing and teased, “I was wondering why you’re still acting like a cat even after you’ve changed back to your original form?”

Thirteen’s comfortable purring stopped for a second.

It blinked its eyes while nestled in Chi Qian’s arms, its heart a field of茫然.

Truthfully, it didn’t know why either.

It was just like how, when it first came to Chi Qian’s side, it had insisted on becoming a calico cat.

Just as this one person and one system were sharing a moment of deep affection between master and servant, a bright light flew across Chi Qian’s room.

Chi Qian was still a bit disoriented when she saw the light unfold before her eyes. It was a system communication.

——【Please 7324784号 Host to 0号 Channel】

Chi Qian couldn’t help but frown at the message. “What is all this? 73… 24… 784, is this string of numbers my ID? I’m that far down the list! Or is it—”

Chi Qian stared at the “0” at the end of the message and voiced her suspicion. “Is there something wrong with your system? Is this garbled text?”

“No, Host.” Thirteen’s relaxed and casual demeanor vanished, replaced by nervousness as it looked at Chi Qian’s communication. “Channel 0 is the highest-level channel within the system. This channel leads directly to the domain of Lord Main System.”

Chi Qian didn’t understand but felt it’s awesome¹², looking at Thirteen in surprise. “Which is to say—”

Thirteen continued, “Host, Lord Main System wishes to see you.”

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The author has something to say:

Qianqian: Did the Aunties miss Qianqian?

Lanlan: We did QAQ

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