Chapter 12: The Secret Within the Box
The carriage rolled across the bluestone road of Bianjing and returned to the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion, which was perched on the riverbank. Su Mengzhen's precious sword, which cost ten thousand taels of gold, was casually tossed into a corner, and neither of the two girls paid it any attention.
"That's strange. If you don't like it, why did you buy it?" Zhu Qiqi asked Xie Huailing, puzzled.
Xie Huailing didn't open her eyes for a long time, making it hard to tell if she was asleep. Zhu Qiqi stared at her persistently for a while before she finally spoke: "Whether you buy it or not isn't entirely based on whether you like it or not." Anyway, it wasn't her money, and she even thought she hadn't spent enough.
She was actually asleep. Hua Wucuo's matter wasn't that important to her; it was something she could easily forget once she figured it out. Whether or not to remind Su Mengzhen wasn't a difficult decision for her to make immediately. Su Mengzhen was a legendary figure in the martial arts world, but also a patient plagued by numerous ailments. His world was fraught with hidden dangers; whether there was one more or one less lurking blade, the outcome might not be different. She was more like a spectator sitting on high ground, holding a piece of paper with spoilers in her hand, but too lazy to hand it out for the time being. The play had only just begun; who was the mantis and who was the oriole was still unknown. She had plenty of patience to wait until the fire burned brighter.
Therefore, they remained on the sidelines and had no intention of entering the arena.
Zhu Qiqi didn't understand Xie Huailing's words, perhaps because she couldn't imagine that some people would do things simply to annoy others. She turned back to her own things, still immersed in the sweetness of Shen Lang's vows, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, and biting her lip shyly. Everyone on the bus was in their own world, and the journey was relatively quiet.
Back at the Golden Wind and Drizzle Pavilion, Fan Fenyan was already waiting for Zhu Qiqi in front of the Yellow Pavilion. He exchanged a few pleasantries with Xie Huailing before taking Zhu Qiqi away. Xie Huailing also bid farewell to the scheming Hua Wucuo and returned to her room with her maid. Sunlight filtered through the light gauze, lazily spreading across the floor. Everything remained exactly as it had been when she left, showing no sign that its owner had been gone for most of the day.
However, Xie Huailing still figured it out. While changing his clothes, he asked the maid, "What's in the box on the table...?"
The maid took off her outer garment, massaged her scalp, and said gently, "Miss, it was sent by the master of the house. He said that the clothes you were wearing on the day you fell into the water have all been washed and put away."
Yes, Su Mengzhen had said a few days ago that she would send her things over. Xie Huailing looked up, still half-dead. It seemed that going out had drained her of her life force, and she was too lazy to speak. When she felt a little better, she waved her hand, and the maid in the bedroom obediently lowered her head, stopped all her work, and silently left the room.
The all-black box was about the size of several books stacked together, and was carved with lifelike patterns of flowers and birds on ebony, the work of a master. Xie Huailing pressed a button with her slender finger, and the box lid opened with a click.
Neatly folded inside were the clothes she wore on the day she fell from the sky into the water: a white short-sleeved top, a plaid skirt, and a slightly thicker coat, the fabric reflecting the fading twilight. The three pieces of clothing were clean and tidy, carrying a faint scent of soap, as if they had been carefully washed and probably checked inside and out before being folded and placed in the box, as if they were just ordinary clothes she changed into one day, or as if they were about to be hung back in her wardrobe so she could wear them out again, with the skyscrapers of the world still before her eyes; they were not relics of her past.
Xie Huailing flipped through the pages casually, wondering whether to keep them as a memento or burn them to be on the safe side. However, she wasn't one to dwell on the past, so she decided to burn them to prevent future problems.
Thinking this, she took one last look at her coat, her fingertips brushing against the lining, feeling the hard texture.
Xie Huailing stopped moving.
She reached in and her fingertips touched a cold, flat cube. Pulling it out, she saw it was a palm-sized, minimalist black mechanical cube, resembling a smartphone, with smooth edges, no buttons, and only one side a dark area like a screen. She'd seen this before, but it shouldn't be in her pocket.
At that time, she was still alive in every sense of the word, lying listlessly in her rented room when a survey salesperson knocked on her door. Needing something herself, and remembering her academic paper, Xie Huailing and the salesperson filled out the questionnaires together. This object was given to her by the salesperson after she finished the questionnaire. She tried various methods—charging it, pressing it, even dropping it—but it remained lifeless and unresponsive. Ultimately, she casually stuffed it under the table to use as a brick.
So how did it end up in her pocket? Xie Huailing tried to recall the contents of the questionnaire, but all she could think of was a deliberately blurred, dull feeling. She frowned, an absurd and chilling premonition gripping her, the truth behind it all: she hadn't died in the earthquake but had traveled through time, coiling around her like a snake.
Before she could figure it out, the device emitted a "hum," followed by a sudden bright light from the dark screen, illuminating her pale face with a soft, warm yellow glow. On the small screen, a series of Chinese characters popped up one after another following the cursor, seemingly alive, changing and combining, finally settling into the shape of a notification letter.
[Host's vital signs detected as stable... Consciousness link established... System startup in progress... Startup complete. Hello host, ID: HS-007 (Vase-type Auxiliary System - Patch Version), at your service. I sincerely apologize for the delayed response.]
Xie Huailing remained silent, having rendered others speechless for so long, this was the first time he himself had been speechless.
She stared blankly at the characters flashing on the screen. Her first reaction wasn't shock or elation after suddenly realizing the truth, nor was it the dazed feeling of a light novel coming true. Instead, it was a ridiculous mix of "I knew it" and "It's finally here," followed by a strong sense of disbelief.
Xie Huailing chuckled, her true emotions unreadable: "You certainly know how to pick your timing. I took a bath, almost burned myself silly, spent a few days as a mascot in this building, and witnessed a major undercover operation before you finally woke up?"
[...It's a problem with the newly loaded module.] The system paused awkwardly for a moment, then continued, [There were some errors when I bound you to the system, and I've been loading new modules these past few days to fix them.]
"What went wrong?" Xie Huailing asked, her bad premonition growing stronger and her eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
The system remained silent, seemingly finding the matter difficult to discuss as well. The cursor flickered erratically: "[I'm not originally in this business line; my original role was a decorative system. During the host selection process in the main space, an accident occurred, and I inadvertently bound myself to your colleague, the strategist system. Unable to unbind, the higher-ups sent me there for a period of training.]"
"I see." Xie Huailing remained silent for three breaths, his voice devoid of any emotion.
Three breaths later, she suddenly sprang up, grabbed the black cube that was still emitting an innocent golden light, and with all the strength she had in her life (though it wasn't much), she shoved it hard and angrily into the fluffy, soft brocade quilt next to her. Still not satisfied, she pounced on it and pressed it down with her body, as if she wanted to suffocate this damn thing to death deep inside the quilt.
"I didn't hear anything. Maybe I'm hallucinating because I woke up too early..." she muttered to herself as she tried to cover the system with her hands, attempting to deceive her own brain. "Indeed, that must be it. It's all Su Mengzhen's fault. No matter how I think about it, that's how it is. I should go back to sleep."
The black cube, pinned beneath her, clearly hadn't anticipated its host's "physical exorcism." Its screen cursor flashed wildly, and it thrashed about under the quilt like a live fish thrown into a hot pan. Suddenly, it struggled free, leaping from Xie Huailing's side and crashing into a nearby celadon vase with a "whoosh," shattering it. It then bounced back onto the bed, still vibrating and emitting a flashing light like an alarm.
Xie Huailing sat up, panting, her hair slightly disheveled, her cheeks flushed a rare shade of red from the fight and her anger. She stared at the trembling cube on the table as if it were a dead man.
The cube was intimidated by her murderous aura, its light stabilized, and the Chinese characters carefully reformed: 【…I am very sorry, but I will do my best to assist you, host. I am truly useful.】
"What's the use?"
[...For example, if you suddenly want to be a pretty vase, I can provide props and skills, or...or I can tell you what your task is.]
"Back to the drawing board, I'm not kidding."
The system was momentarily speechless, then paused for a few seconds before reorganizing its thoughts: "I will do my best to fight for your other rights later, I promise you. Let's skip this topic and discuss something else. Uh, do you know why you transmigrated?"
"That was such an abrupt change of topic." Xie Huailing rubbed her aching palms, her eyes expressionless, like a stagnant pool. "I don't need you to tell me. It's because of that questionnaire I filled out, isn't it? I wrote something like, 'Would you be willing to work for a second life after death?'"
"You guessed right, you did write it," the system explained. "But actually, it only served as a filter. You can give up on revival now, but the price is that I will leave, and you will only have three months to live."
Xie Huailing sneered again: "You talk about human rights but don't. Tell me what I want to do first."
The system switched to a larger font size; if it had a voice, it would probably have coughed twice before speaking: [You have only one mission, with no other side missions. This mission is: Assist the key figure 'Su Mengzhen' in achieving his great cause.]
Xie Huailing raised a question that came from the bottom of his heart: "Did you take his money?"
In a sense, yes. His elders received a fortuitous opportunity, but ultimately chose to give it to Su Mengzhen. According to Su Mengzhen's destiny, his ending wasn't particularly good.
"What about my money?"
【This will be provided, it really will! You can think about it carefully, how about we officially sign the contract first?】
"This..." Xie Huailing felt sleepy and yawned lazily.
She slumped back onto the bed, not forgetting to cover herself with the blanket, this time completely burying herself in it, like a soft spring roll: "I don't know. Hi, sir, come find me when I'm about to die."
The black cube shook frantically on the bed, the cursor jumped wildly, and a voice switched on: [Host, wake up! If you don't sign the contract and accept the mission core, the system will forcibly remove you in three months, and you really will die!]
A muffled, flat sound came from under the covers, as if they were talking about someone else's life or death: "So what? Everyone dies eventually. Whether you suffocate in bed or die suddenly from staying up all night, it doesn't make much difference."
She paused, as if adjusting herself to a more comfortable position in the blankets: "What I care about is what I want to do. If your job happens to coincide with what I'm planning to do, it's not out of the question that we could team up."
The system saw a glimmer of hope, and the cursor blinked slower: [What do you plan to do? Please let me know, and I can try to conduct a task compatibility assessment...]
"Forget it, it's good that you're not a burden."
Spring Roll didn't move an inch, yet through the blanket, her words were directed toward the vast and silent Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower in the twilight, and further away, the silhouette of the imperial city, a symbol of the pinnacle of decay.
"What do I intend to do?" she repeated softly, as if asking the system, or perhaps herself, or the world at large. "System, tell me, what kind of world is this, what kind of dynasty is this, based on the modules you've loaded?"
She didn't need a system answer; the answer had already been formed in her heart.
"This was an era of outward splendor but inner decay, a splendid facade crawling with maggots. Generations of prioritizing civil affairs over military matters gradually wore down the backbone of the court, raising the most useless emperors by squeezing the blood and sweat of the people. The emperor sitting in the palace treated the country as a canvas and his people as ants. He wielded his brush, writing in the 'Slender Gold' style, while the blood and sweat of the people flowed out. He practiced alchemy and Taoism, seeking immortality, while depleting the foundation of the nation's fortune. He indulged in the 'Flower and Stone Tribute,' breaking the backs of the people."
"Scholars and writers who read the classics and earn thousands of taels of gold are by no means any better. Power is at their fingertips, everything can be deceived, and everything can be sold."
"A decade or a few years later, the retribution will come like a landslide and a tsunami, landing in history and writing the word 'shame'."
Her voice was soft, but each word was sharp and cutting, scraping through the silent air.
"In the martial world, the so-called heroes aren't much better. They fight for territory, scramble for profits, shed the blood of their brothers, and use the tears of others. Whether it's the Six and a Half Hall or the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion, they're all just vying to be the one to take the spoon in this broken pot called 'Great Song,' which is already riddled with cracks and overflowing with pus and blood. Rules and chivalry are nothing but fig leaves in the face of absolute power and survival."
“Watching this kind of drama again would make my taste seem a bit too vulgar, so—” Her voice was resolute, overflowing with an almost delusional, manic determination, “Whether it’s martial arts or chivalry, chivalry uses martial arts to disrupt the law; whether it’s literature or Confucianism, Confucianism uses literature to disrupt the law. Since I’m already here, why can’t I write a new story, and I can decide the ending?”
"Then, Su Mengzhen, can he be the protagonist of my story?"
The cursor on the screen jumped wildly, the golden text attempting to combine, but ultimately only flowing, breaking, and reassembling in vain, only to break again. The system's calculations seemed to be completely thrown into chaos by this grand proposition and the cold questioning, leaving only rapidly flashing light, like a heart on the verge of collapse.
"You don't know," Xie Huailing answered for it, her voice calm and even. "I don't know either."
She pulled the blanket down a little, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes.
Therefore, I will not answer.
The system finally teetered on the brink of crashing, and the cursor laboriously formed a single word: 【But…】
“I know what you’re trying to say,” Xie Huailing interrupted. “'I’ll do something'—you can rest assured about that. As for Su Mengzhen…”
She paused, as if assessing the suitability of an item.
"Whether he's cut out for me, whether he can walk the same path as me... that's his destiny, and my choice. If we get along, we're both lucky. If not..." Her unfinished thoughts lingered in the air, "In any case, I'll give you an answer before I die."
The system fell silent. The light on the screen dimmed, and the faint cursor flickered, conveying a sense of utter bewilderment after being completely crushed. Even the modules it had hastily learned could not understand or refute the wild ideas of the host before it.
Seize this opportunity!
A glint flashed in Xie Huailing's eyes. She threw off the covers and sat up, her movements swift and silent. She grabbed the black cube that was still contemplating life. Before the system could react, she had already shoved it back into the ebony box with a sharp, resounding clang!
"You good-for-nothing, just keep sleeping and don't wake up!" With a low, impatient rebuke, she slammed the box shut with a "bang," and even grabbed a thick copy of "The Great Song Dynasty Criminal Code" from the table, slamming it heavily onto the box.
The world is quiet now.
Xie Huailing let out a long breath, trying to expel the harsh words and absurd experience she had just endured. She tidied her slightly disheveled hair and clothes, the faint blush on her face from the intense activity quickly fading, replaced by her usual calm. She walked to the dressing mirror, casually running her fingers through her long hair to make sure she didn't look too much like she had just been in a fight.
Then, she walked straight to the door and pulled it open.
The maid waiting outside had clearly heard the commotion inside. She was biting her lip anxiously when she saw Xie Huailing come out. She bowed and said, "Miss Xie..."
"It's nothing." Xie Huailing's voice was flat and emotionless. "I just accidentally broke a vase. It's nothing to clean up."
Her gaze swept past the maid and landed at the deep end of the corridor: "Where is the master now?"
The maid dared not ask any further questions and respectfully replied, "Reporting to Miss, the master of the brothel should be discussing matters at the moment."
"Understood." Xie Huailing replied and started walking. Her steps were unusually brisk. As she walked along the corridor, the afterglow of the setting sun cast her long, thin shadow, which floated on the wall.
As she walked, she thought to herself that she had been planning to watch a play on her way back, but now she couldn't watch it and had to fast-forward through it herself.
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