Chapter 42 Who exactly is she?
Xiao Sui was taken aback. "Why would you ask that question?"
"It..." Ning Qi asked, forcing back her headache, "Is its name Niannian?"
Xiao Sui was completely stunned. "How did you know?"
It really is called Nian Nian (年年).
Her dream wasn't a fantasy; it was actually real.
Ning Xi had a splitting headache, as if her head was about to explode. She covered her head and sat back in her chair. The scene in front of her began to spin rapidly, as if she had fallen into a blender.
A warm flow gushed from her nose, and bright red blood dripped onto her clothes with a series of splatters.
Xiao Sui was terrified and hurriedly helped her up, calling out loudly for Qianyu.
When Qianyu came in, she was also startled. She found some silk cloth to stop the bleeding and questioned Xiao Sui, "What happened?"
Ning Qi calmed down a bit, her head no longer throbbing painfully. She waved her hand and said, "I'm fine. I probably just haven't been sleeping well these past few days, and it's too dry here."
Qianyu said worriedly, "You've been away for too long this time. You've always been in poor health. When we get back, we must have Physician Chu give you a thorough check-up."
"Okay." Ning Qi was still feeling unwell and was helped to bed by the two of them.
She stared at the ceiling, waiting for the dizziness to subside, and immediately questioned the system in her mind: "Why did I dream that I was Xiao Sui's cat? Even the name matches?"
"The villain mentioned it before, but you've forgotten," the system said calmly.
"Bullshit!" Ning Qi was so angry she wanted to hit someone. "Don't try to fool me, he definitely didn't mention it!"
"Your brain can deceive you, but our system doesn't make mistakes."
Ning Qi took a couple of breaths to calm herself down. "Okay, I remember that the mission required recording the entire process. Since your system doesn't make mistakes, pull up the records he told me about. I want to see them."
System: "You often block me, so the records are incomplete."
"Heh." Ning Qi sneered, "You know what happened when I blocked you? This is against the rules. I'm reporting you to the Main God System right now. What's the number again?"
Ning Qi quickly remembered the string of numbers, recited it silently in her mind, and a gentle voice came from the other end, "Hello, this is the Main God System. How can I help you?"
She read out the system number, saying, "There's a system violation here."
"Okay, we'll summon the system and investigate as soon as possible," the voice said.
After the "beep beep" sound, the system went silent, and Ning Qi's headache disappeared, making people suspect that the system was behind it.
"Princess, have some water." Xiao Sui handed her the water cup, the temperature of which was just right.
Ning Xi looked at him, still puzzled. How could she be Xiao Sui's cat? She remembered that there was no setting in this world where demons could cultivate into humans. Besides, she was Princess He Xi now, not a cat demon reincarnated. She just couldn't understand it.
She hopes the system will tell her the truth after the investigation, as she feels it's hiding something important from her.
Amidst the rising steam, Ningqi said, "Tell me about what happened every year."
Xiao Sui's brow relaxed slightly. "It was a very beautiful calico cat. It lay outside my yard on the eve of the Lunar New Year two years ago. It was thin and small, and had wounds on its body. I didn't want to keep it, but it seemed to have taken a liking to me and wouldn't leave my yard..."
"It likes to eat fish, hates mice, is very clean, often acts cute, and is very smart. Later, it got a bit fat and became the king of cats in our area. Male cats often came to it, but it chased them away."
“But later it was killed by those people.” Xiao Sui lowered his head, his fingers pressing on his knees. “Those people captured it while I was on a mission. I can’t bear to think about how much pain it must have suffered when it died.”
Ningxi placed her hand on the back of his hand, trying to comfort him.
“I’m sorry, Princess.” Xiao Sui raised his head, his expression calming slightly. “How do you know about Niannian? Did someone tell you?”
Ning Qi shook her head. "I dreamt about it."
"How could that be?" Xiao Sui looked surprised.
“I dreamt that you were injured, and Ning Xuanzhou brought people to humiliate you. I turned into Niannian and bit Ning Xuanzhou. Then they all beat you up.” Ning Qi grasped his wrist and asked for confirmation, “Did such a thing happen?”
Xiao Sui was stunned, his lips trembling as he asked, "Why, why did you dream about... me and Niannian?"
Ning Qi blinked. Her dream had been confirmed, which didn't surprise her too much, since she had dreamt of it many times before. Now she was just waiting for the system to explain it to her.
But Xiao Sui was different. The blindfold over his still intact left eye slowly smudged with water, and his throat trembled uncontrollably as he asked, "Who...who are you?"
Yes, who exactly is she? She is Princess Hexi now, so when exactly was she Nian Nian?
Seeing that Xiao Sui was too emotional, she comforted him, "Perhaps it is visiting me in my dreams every year, wanting me to know about your past life so that I can treat you better."
Xiao Sui covered Ning Qi's fingers, lowered his head, and his shoulders trembled slightly.
Ning Qi turned her head and saw tears slowly sliding down his chin. She raised her arms and hugged him.
The tall man huddled in her arms, making faint sobs, which Ning Xi couldn't hear clearly.
Later, the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.
When Ning Qi woke up again, she turned over and found the spot next to her empty, but the lingering warmth indicated that he hadn't been gone long.
She sat up and heard a slight noise outside. She got out of bed and saw Xiao Sui packing her luggage.
"Did I wake you up?" he asked apologetically.
"No, I just woke up."
"That's good." Xiao Sui said, "The demonic energy here hasn't dissipated yet, and there might still be corpse demons appearing. After you wash up, let's take the teleportation array back."
Qianyu brought in water for her to wash up. After she finished getting ready, Xiao Sui also got ready, and Zhizhi helped her into the sedan chair that was already waiting outside the courtyard.
Ning Qi called the system several times through the teleportation array, but received no response.
Logically, the system shouldn't need to rest. One night of investigation should have been enough time. Why hasn't it returned yet?
She secretly wondered, if the system doesn't come back soon, will this task be pointless to complete?
However, things didn't go as planned. When Ning Qi finally got to eat the fish grilled by Xiao Sui, a gentle voice from the main god system echoed in her mind.
"Hello, host. An investigation has confirmed that your system has violated regulations and its rating has been lowered. Please be aware of this. The system will communicate with you regarding the specific details, and the communication process will be monitored by the God System. If you have any further questions, please feel free to call us."
After hearing this, Ning Qi felt the grilled fish in her mouth taste even better.
She called out to the system in her mind a few times and quickly received a response, though it sounded listless.
"Tell me, what exactly happened?" she asked eagerly.
The system said, "You were indeed Xiao Sui's cat."
"What happened? How did I end up inside a cat's body?"
"This was indeed my mistake," the system said dejectedly. "When I found this small world for you, the previous mission taker was about to leave due to a problem. When I deployed you in, I made an operational error and selected the wrong time point, causing you to enter the world two years ahead of schedule, which resulted in a conflict with the mission takers who were still on their missions."
"Due to system settings, two identical mission systems cannot exist simultaneously. I was forcibly ejected from the small world, and your soul had nowhere to go. It happened to enter the body of that dying cat. Until recently, when the previous mission taker left and I returned to the small world, we were able to continue the mission."
Ning Qi was incredulous. "You're so unreliable! How could you make such a big mistake? What if I hadn't gotten inside the kitten?"
"Don't worry about that, you'll pop into the small world with me," the system replied.
Ning Qi still found it absurd, "Then why didn't you tell me sooner, and instead erased my memory?!"
"Because of your encounter with the villain, I was worried that your past interactions with him would affect the mission. At the same time, I was also worried that you would report my wrongdoing to the God System, so I erased your memory," the system said.
"You're mainly afraid I'll report you, aren't you?" Ning Qi said disdainfully.
The system stopped responding.
“Give me back my memories,” Ning Qi said.
"I'm sorry," the system said, "because I wasn't in the small world while you were a cat, I can't restore your memories."
“The punishment of lowering the score is too lenient,” Ning Xi clicked her tongue and said. “Once I finish the mission, we really need to have a good meeting.”
The system went silent again.
Ning Xi ignored it and, no matter how angry she was, wouldn't drag it out and beat it up. She turned her gaze to Xiao Sui, who was standing to the side.
So she was actually Nian Nian? When Xiao Sui killed Ning Xuan Zhou, he was avenging her?
A strange emotion surged up, leaving her somewhat at a loss.
The memories have all disappeared, but those emotions seem to be awakened by the system's words.
She put down the grilled fish in her hand, moved closer to Xiao Sui, and wanted to kiss and rub against him.
Xiao Sui was taken aback by her sudden closeness, but quickly pulled her into his arms.
Ning Qi snuggled against him, then raised her head and cupped his cheeks, pressing her oily lips against his face like a stamp.
This sounds so familiar; she must have done this all the time.
Xiao Sui held her tighter and tighter.
Ning Qi whispered in his ear, "Xiao Sui, it seems like I am Niannian. I have come back to find you."
"Really?" He heard suppressed breathing beside her, and he gripped her waist tightly. "How could this be?"
"I can't explain too much." Ning Qi looked at his slightly parted lips and leaned closer. "And please don't ask too many questions, okay?"
They were so close that she could clearly hear his heartbeat, which was as loud as a drum.
"Okay." Xiao Sui opened his mouth, letting her nimble tongue enter his oral cavity.
"Let's continue what I asked you to do before." She kissed his lips enough, then lowered her head and bit his Adam's apple.
——
The system was blocked again, and instead of staying in the small world, he returned to the main god space.
"You did alright this time," the gentle voice said. "Your half-truths have completely convinced her."
"Yes," the system said. "This soul entity frequently has problems, but if we erase its memories again, it might cause even more problems and make it impossible to complete the mission. Do you have any method to make it completely obedient?"
“That’s something you should be thinking about.” The gentle voice turned stern. “This world has already collapsed once. This is your last chance. If you fail again, I will have no choice but to destroy you.”
"Please don't do this." The system's voice became pitiful. "I will definitely try my best to complete the task, I just want to ask you to give me some guidance."
"Disobedient things, whether people or systems, should be eliminated as soon as possible." The gentle voice left these words and then did not respond to them again.
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Author's Note: Xiao Sui: I believe whatever the princess says.
This isn't a good system, is it? [eating melon emoji]
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