Side Story 4: The System
Extra (4)
Life seemed to have returned to peace, abundance, and stability.
Perhaps only Xu Qingyao herself knows that there has always been a void deep in her heart.
The system that had appeared when she was most confused and helpless, accompanied her, guided her, and even saved her from danger several times, had completely fallen silent after the battle of the Wild Wolf Valley in the Northern Frontier.
No matter how she tried to call out, the cold, mechanical voice no longer answered in her mind.
At first, she thought it was just a matter of energy depletion, and that she would recover after resting for a while, just like the previous times.
But a month, two months, half a year passed, and that deep part of my consciousness remained empty.
She began to peruse numerous medical books and ancient texts, and even secretly sought out some so-called "extraordinary people" in an attempt to find a way to reawaken the system, but to no avail.
Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night and subconsciously call out "system" in her mind, only to be met with complete silence.
That feeling of emptiness and helplessness was more disorienting to her than any open or covert attack.
She had grown accustomed to its presence, accustomed to receiving analysis when she was confused, and to receiving guidance when she was in danger.
Now, she seems to have transformed back into that solitary woman who had just transmigrated, feeling unfamiliar and fearful of everything.
Xiao Zhouyan keenly noticed her unusual behavior.
She would often stare blankly at something, her eyes filled with a sense of loss that he couldn't understand.
He asked her several times, but she only said that she had not fully recovered and was a little tired.
He knew she hadn't said everything, but he couldn't bear to press her. He simply became even more considerate, managing the affairs of the household meticulously and spending as much time as possible with her.
That day, while sorting through old things, Xu Qingyao came across the unfinished poetry collection that her mother, Jiang Wanxin, had left behind, which she had brought from the Jiang family in Liangzhou.
She stroked the yellowed pages, and a thought suddenly came to mind.
The system once said that it was bound to her because of energy and spacetime turbulence. So, do these belongings of her mother also retain some kind of special energy trace that can resonate with the system? Even if it's just a tiny bit?
Once the thought arises, it can no longer be suppressed.
She locked herself in her study in the Begonia Courtyard, dismissed everyone around her, and laid out her mother's poetry collection, the half of the jade pendant, and even the keepsake her maternal grandfather had given to her father.
She closed her eyes, banished all distracting thoughts, and immersed herself in the depths of her consciousness. Instead of calling out in despair, she tried to feel and capture, as if groping for a glimmer of light in boundless darkness.
Time passed slowly, and the study remained quiet.
Just when she was about to give up, her fingertips touched a familiar silk bookmark embroidered with crabapple blossoms on her mother's poetry collection—
[...Buzzing...Weak...Host...vital signs detected...]
A faint, intermittent stream of information, like a spark that might be extinguished at any moment, suddenly flashed through her mind.
Xu Qingyao suddenly opened her eyes, her heart pounding. It wasn't a hallucination! That wasn't a hallucination!
She gripped the bookmark tightly, focused all her attention, and tried to connect again.
[...Energy...severely...damaged...core protocol...reboot...failed...database...partially...lost...]
Fragmented information came in intermittently, a little clearer than before, but still pitifully weak.
"System? Is that you? Can you hear me?" Xu Qingyao asked anxiously in her mind.
[Host...Identity confirmed...Xu Qingyao...Connection...Unstable...Unable to maintain...Full functionality...]
"It's alright! It's alright! As long as you're still here, that's enough!" Xu Qingyao was almost crying with joy. "What do you need? Energy? How can I help you?"
[...Unknown error...Unable to analyze energy in this plane...Self-repair...Progress...Slow...Estimated...Time...Unknown...]
The system's response remained fragmented, carrying an unprecedented sense of weakness.
Xu Qingyao understood.
The system did not disappear, but was nearly destroyed in the overdraft, falling into a deep state of hibernation and self-repair. The repair process was extremely slow, and its future was uncertain.
It may never be able to return to its former glory, and may even be forever stuck in this half-dead, lingering echo.
Disappointed? Yes.
But more than anything, it brings a tremendous sense of relief and peace of mind to have something lost and then found again.
As long as it still exists, even if it's just a faint fragment of consciousness, it means that she hasn't completely lost that "partner" from another world.
Since then, Xu Qingyao's life has included an unknown "lesson".
Instead of anxiously searching for ways to awaken the system, she would set aside time each day to calm her mind and try to connect with the faint consciousness in her mind.
Sometimes you can catch a word or two, but sometimes there's no response at all.
She began to treat him like a close friend who was seriously injured and in a coma, patiently accompanying him day after day, whispering about the trivial matters that had happened recently, the interesting stories in the court, or simply sharing a moment of afternoon sunshine in peace.
Xiao Zhouyan noticed that the faint melancholy between her brows had gradually faded, and her eyes had regained their usual calm and serenity, even showing a gentler glow than before.
Although he didn't know the specific reason, he was happy to see her change, thinking that she had finally emerged from the previous danger and exhaustion.
One autumn afternoon a year later, Xu Qingyao was taking a nap on a soft couch by the window, with her mother's poetry collection beside her.
The warm sunshine shone on my body.
In a half-dream, half-awake state, she seemed to hear a very soft prompt, unlike any mechanical voice she had ever heard before, carrying a hint of human... helplessness?
[Host, you have... silently counted to seventeen times today while looking at that plate of osmanthus cake... Calorie overload warning... This system... even if it's crippled... can't bear to watch...]
Xu Qingyao suddenly opened her eyes, paused for a moment, and then her lips curled up uncontrollably, higher and higher, until they finally turned into a soft laugh tinged with tears.
Outside the window, the sky is high and the clouds are light; life is just right.
She knew it might never be able to offer her any more earth-shattering help, but that companionship that transcended time and space returned in another form.
And that was enough for her.
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