Chapter 86 The Man in Brown Clothes Possesses Jade (12)
Shu Ningmiao put down the letter and placed it together with the other letters.
She would never do something that even Edwina wouldn't dare to do.
She was a native of Penelope and had to consider how she would live in Penelope in the future.
If these reports are exposed, and she hasn't been eliminated by the United Parliament yet, she'll only have the fate of living like Prometheus, hiding and running like a rat.
Shu Ningmiao does not have a savior complex.
She knew very well that this document in her hands would only become a death warrant.
The sky had already brightened, and the sun, slowly rising from the distance, gradually tore through the gray, foggy morning light. Shu Ningmiao slowly sat down on the floor, staring blankly at the half-lit, half-dark ceiling.
Just like the night I received "Secret Love".
...She thought the things inside might have something to do with her, which is why she risked taking them.
But this book, though crucial, seemed to have nothing to do with her, or even with Achini.
More than uncovering this world-altering secret, she cared about how useful it might be to her.
What is the connection between Achini and these three envoys from three hundred years ago—and why does he want this information?
No, if he could hack into Edwina's office, there's no reason he couldn't get this information, and there's no need for him to kill her first.
Furthermore, this time she entered Edwina's office because she witnessed her own death.
But why did she walk into this office last time, and how did she open the door to this room?
Because you knew you were going to die here?
This is a complete paradox.
Shu Ningmiao hesitated before picking up the terminal; the reflection on the screen showed her slightly tired face.
Her finger hovered over the save/load button, moving it slightly. If she reloaded the save/load again, she might be able to see other "overwritten memories".
Long haunted by the shadow of death and mystery, she couldn't resist the urge to find a shortcut to the truth.
But after hesitating for a long time, she ultimately did not press the button and silently put away the terminal.
The sky was already beginning to brighten, and she still had class to attend. Shu Ningmiao mustered her energy to wash up, and just as her mind began to clear up a bit, she glanced at the terminal screen, which lit up and then went dark again.
Who messaged her so early?
Shu Ningmiao picked up the terminal and saw that it was a notification from the Cornunos Academic Affairs Office.
— Inform them all to suspend classes for a week.
She checked the sender's contact number again to confirm that this was not a prank or a joke.
Looking at the class notification group again, it was clear that quite a few people had been woken up by this message, and they were all sending question marks.
This was the first time Shu Ningmiao had ever seen such a situation.
Cornunos rarely has sudden holidays or school closures; the last time was due to an accident during a practice of his supernatural abilities.
—A major event of this magnitude.
Shu Ningmiao was startled. Could it be that she had discovered that the Crimson Palace Stone had been stolen?
Her expression turned serious as she forced herself to calm down and repeatedly checked whether she had made any mistakes.
The fact that Cornunos suspended classes indicates that this matter must be related to people within Cornunos, and she has to be vigilant.
After considering a whole host of countermeasures, Shu Ningmiao came to her senses and realized that her terminal screen had never dimmed at all.
She was bombarded with messages one after another.
Chris's message pop-up flashed past her eyes.
Chris: Are you awake?!
Chris: 'Big Event'
Chris: "Something terrible has happened."
Chris: "Do you know why schools are closed?"
Chris: "Five students are missing."
Chris: "They're all superhumans! Superhumans!"
Chris: "Do you know what this means? Pinheis is going to turn the world upside down."
Shu Ningmiao's heart skipped a beat, and a strong premonition swept over her. Without thinking, she instantly activated her 'Neural Connection' ability and used the tracker to confirm Eric's location.
No signal.
The tracker is either destroyed or located in a place shielded from magnetic fields.
This is not a good sign.
She typed a few periods: "Is Erice one of these five?"
Chris quickly replied, "How did you know? It was Linlu who called the police station. If she hadn't called yesterday, no one would have known that Erice had disappeared."
really.
Shu Ningmiao choked for a moment. She had just stolen the Crimson Palace Stone, and then a student with superpowers disappeared from Cornunos. The Security Bureau would definitely connect the two incidents, which could be said to confirm Prometheus's suspicion. She could rest assured.
Chris was still scrolling through the screen when a familiar dialog box popped up on her screen.
Everything happened ahead of schedule.
"What's the meaning?"
Shu Ning pondered, "Is it because I wasn't killed by Achini that the plot took an unexpected turn?"
At least from the story presented in the game, nothing unusual happened to Erice before her death—that is, before her second test of her powers.
It's not you who are changing, it's fate that's changing.
The dialog box appears faster: "Your restart is like a restart of fate."
"Now that you can speak normally, stop playing riddles." Shu Ningmiao sat down and spoke to it calmly.
"What I know—and what's covered up—is something that shouldn't exist in this world."
The dialog box that read "I am merely a string that should be covered up" took a long time to display the second line: "My dear, when you know everything, I will also disappear completely."
Shu Ningmiao felt she must be crazy to be able to discern such inexplicable sadness from a single dialogue box.
"Relax, don't be afraid, I'll be with you."
A message suddenly popped up in the dialog box: "Treat this world like a game. The world where you achieve the 'death ending' is called 'New Game Plus'—and the world you're currently in is called 'New Game Plus'."
If you were a player in a "second playthrough," what would you do?
Based on her rudimentary understanding of the game, Shu Ningmiao slowly spoke: "Avoid all the wrong choices in the first playthrough, shorten the walkthrough time, and get a more perfect achievement?"
But she was clearly not a "second playthrough" player.
Aside from the "death ending," she received no useful tips.
But after asking that question, the dialog box didn't give her any standard answer and slowly disappeared from the screen.
If she wasn't the one who changed the plot, then who was?
Change.
Shu Ningmiao felt a chill run down her spine as she suddenly understood the hint in the game's dialog box.
"Second cycle" represents more efficient and correct actions.
And where do these changes manifest themselves?
The idol that mysteriously appeared on Edwina's desk was not there when she died in the first playthrough.
Throughout the story, until the second test of his superpowers, Erice was caught up in the bittersweet life of his friends and the people he was trying to win over, and he never disappeared.
The disappearance wasn't an unexpected plot twist, but rather an earlier-than-expected development in the later part of the story.
When Achini first tried to win her over, he called her a "prophet," believing she could "predict the future."
There exists another player in this world, a second-timer, who is even more adept at controlling time and, while attempting to achieve his own perfect score, is acutely aware that she is one of them.
No wonder "Xian" said that it was dangerous for her to be pulled into that overwritten memory because she couldn't fully control time.
Achini...who exactly is he?
The more I think about it, the more frightened I feel.
Shu Ningmiao jumped up abruptly, locked the folder in the cabinet, and covered it with her clothes.
Even though she had already locked the cabinet door with a physical lock, she was still worried.
If this thing is discovered, she could die ten thousand times over.
Being hunted by Achini alone is a completely different level from being hunted by an entire nation.
She stood in front of the cabinet for a long time, and an idea slowly emerged in her mind.
Edwina explained the function of her superpower, the "Golden Chains," in her letter.
She could roughly guess the conditions of the "Golden Chains".
According to Edwina, she kept the document in her office because she didn't really want anyone to get it, so she set a "virtually impossible condition".
Therefore, the limitation of the "Golden Chains" ability should be that specific unlocking conditions must be set when locking it.
After all, there is no lock in this world that cannot be opened.
As for the other minor conditions, she would arrange and combine them according to the standards of general superpowers, and she could always get them right.
Shu Ningmiao attempted to steal the "Golden Chains" ability using the "Jealousy" state.
After more than ten attempts, the suffix was finally updated to "Golden Chain".
This is the superpower of one of the first users!
Shu Ningmiao was overjoyed and tried adding a special ability lock to the outside of the cabinet.
As for the conditions, it must be something that cannot be discovered by others, yet it must be easy for oneself to open.
Then set it so that only women who steal the Crimson Palace Stone from the National Research Center and possess the game "Secret Love" can open it.
Shu Ningmiao placed her hand on the cabinet door, watching the golden, semi-transparent chain beneath her palm pass through the door, continuously winding and tightening around the area she had envisioned, before flashing and disappearing into the air.
She raised her hand and stared blankly at her palm.
Were the first user's abilities too powerful?
Edwina has been dead for two or three hundred years, but her powers are still effective and have not disappeared.
This indicates that the lock created by the 'chain' was not based on the ability of the superhuman Pandora, but rather a genuine lock was created.
For example, a contract created by a contract-type ability user will become invalid after the ability user dies.
However, the ice condensed by ice-controlling ability users will not melt even if the ability user dies.
Because ice and water are both real things that exist in this world.
The chains can not only be used for security purposes, but may even become the most useful combat ability she has acquired so far.
With this special ability, she had an extra layer of protection against Achini.
Shu Ningmiao tapped her hand and noticed that it was getting noisy downstairs.
Students huddled together outside the dormitory building, complaining, "Why can't we go back?"
Staff members cordoned off the campus, and one of them replied rigidly, "This is a joint decision made by the Public Security Bureau and the school. In order to eliminate potential risks, Kornunos will be closed for seven days except in special circumstances."
What are the special circumstances?
Shu Ningmiao frowned. She couldn't possibly stay at school for seven days doing nothing; sitting idly by and waiting to die wasn't in her nature.
"Wouldn't it be safer for us to go home?!" the student retorted, dissatisfied.
"The missing students include day students as well." The staff member stated matter-of-factly, "Outside the boundaries, we cannot guarantee any safety."
The man's tone turned somewhat timid as he retorted, "That's too..."
Shu Ningmiao walked into the group of students and watched as the staff persuaded the students who wanted to leave to go back.
As the number of people dwindled, Shu Ningmiao became more conspicuous.
The staff member walked up to her and said impatiently, "Go back to your dorm and you'll be fine. Hurry up and go back."
Shu Ningmiao bit her lower lip tightly. After a long while, she gently tugged at the corner of her mouth, her eyes trembling slightly. Suddenly, she reached out and covered her chest, her legs going weak as if she were about to fall.
The surrounding staff immediately swarmed around.
Shu Ningmiao's face was deathly pale. She was truly holding her breath, and only spoke when her chest ached. Her voice was broken and intermittent: "I...it hurts so much..."
The staff, who were also encountering this sudden and unexpected illness for the first time, looked at each other in bewilderment and said anxiously, "Should we take him to the infirmary?"
She immediately stood up and said clearly, "I will only go to the best medical clinic in the whole district."
The staff stared at her in disbelief.
She coughed and raised her voice, "Didn't you hear me?! If I lied to you, wouldn't that delay my own treatment?"
They were assigned to protect the students, and they knew that the students in this school were all from wealthy and powerful families.
If this student really dies from illness, they will not be able to escape being held accountable no matter what.
The group exchanged glances and finally decided that one of them should notify their superiors to send her to the medical clinic.
Shu Ningmiao maintained the posture of Xi Shi holding her heart, observing their movements out of the corner of her eye.
The vehicle has a police badge, indicating that the security measures are genuinely stringent and not just for show.
Halfway through the journey, Shu Ningmiao noticed her terminal vibrating wildly. Seeing that the staff traveling with her seemed to be reporting something, she took out her terminal and glanced at it.
It turned out to be Shu's father, who had never called her in eight lifetimes.
She had already guessed the other party's intentions. She picked up the terminal, and heard Shu's father roaring from the other end: "Where are you? I called your terminal but no one answered. Do you know your brother is missing?! It's all your fault."
Shu's father had a loud voice, and the staff in front turned around when they heard it. Shu Ningmiao then coughed weakly a few times.
"Why did the police say he's missing?" Mr. Shu yelled on the other end of the line, "Did you say something to him?"
The roaring voice faded into the distance from the microphone, then turned to shout elsewhere: "Go find him right now! You lot in the Public Security Bureau are all useless cowards. I only have one son, and instead of you looking for him, you let the officers look for him. Do you even know who Shu Changyan is?"
Shu Ningmiao had just pressed the hang-up button when her body leaned slightly forward due to the brakes.
The car stopped on the side of the road before reaching its destination.
Several staff members left one after another, the driver's side door opened, and another person took over her troubles and naturally sat down.
"Why aren't you coughing anymore?" Yu Lu fastened his seatbelt with one hand and turned to look at her.
Yu Lu, who hadn't slept for several nights in a row, received a call from his subordinate on his way to the National Union Building.
He had long known that Shu Ningmiao was a troublemaker. Rather than letting her cause trouble for his subordinates, he thought it better to take her to someone who was happy to have her cause trouble.
The three active-duty agents, 01, 02, and 03, have all returned to the capital. There is no safer place than the Union Buildings now.
Sometimes he would find it funny how afraid these congressmen were of death.
He happened to be going to the United Building, so he switched cars with his subordinates on the way, intending to take Shu Ningmiao with him to the United Building as well.
Shu Ningmiao remained silent. He turned off the autopilot system and turned the steering wheel all the way. His work was tedious and nauseating, repeating the same things and the same lines. He was only clear-headed when he was driving, so he always drove in manual mode unless it was an important occasion.
"I'll take you to your brother's side."
Shu Ningmiao immediately refused: "I want to go to the clinic."
Once you enter the Union Building, it's difficult to get out.
Given her past record of breaking into the National Research Center to steal, she is now feeling guilty and doesn't want to be searched or questioned.
“…Okay.” Yu Lu sighed. Shu Ningmiao felt the car gradually accelerate and begin to overtake one car after another around them: “I’ll get you admitted to the hospital, but you can’t go out.”
Shu Ningmiao hummed in agreement: "I understand."
The journey of more than ten minutes was shortened to five minutes. After parking the car, Shu Ningmiao found that the car doors were still locked.
Yu Lu turned to the side and warned her again, "Don't leave the medical clinic."
"...What happened?" Shu Ningmiao sensed an impending storm in his tone.
Among the five missing gifted students are Erici and Su Ni, so this must be related to Prometheus.
However, observing Yu Lu's attitude reveals many strange points. If Yu Lu thought she would become a target and was dangerous, he wouldn't have agreed to let her come to the medical clinic in the first place.
Instead of just telling her not to leave, as is the case now.
“Not only Cornunos, but all five districts of Pigne will subsequently issue travel bans.” He slowly tapped the steering wheel: “To prevent panic.”
"The parliament... received a warning, or rather a threat. This threat concerns all of humanity, not just one person."
Yu Lu's eyes were clear and pure, without any ulterior motives. Shu Ningmiao always felt that he was a sincere person, with a heavy heart: "I don't believe it, but I don't want my disbelief to cause trouble."
He got out of the car and opened the door for her: "Go ahead, as long as you don't leave here, anything is fine. I'm going to the Union Building to report for work."
Shu Ningmiao bent down curiously, rested her hand on the rolled-down car window frame, and looked up at him: "You trust me that much? You don't need to write a contract or anything, don't you have plenty in your car?"
Yu Lu looked down and saw the wisps of hair on her forehead, as soft as feathers.
He was the eldest son, and due to the strict family rules, he had always been alone, without any close brothers or sisters.
He knew that Shu Ningmiao was Shu Changyan's sister, but the two had nothing in common, and their relationship was not particularly harmonious or close.
If Shu Ningmiao is a soft feather, then Shu Changyan is a stone harder than metal.
A soft feather landed on my hand, so the little trouble was just the ticklish feeling of the feather moving around.
"Okay," he said softly. "Want to pinky swear?"
Shu Ningmiao raised her hand, making a pinky promise. Just as Yu Lu was about to touch her little finger, she suddenly pulled her hand away, waved to him, and turned to leave.
Hajiu laughed.
The moment Shu Ningmiao stepped out of the garage, she heard Yu Lu's familiar voice in her ear: "Yelü Qi's time is running out... He probably still wants to see you."
He could have said it directly; he clearly didn't want anyone to hear it.
Without pausing, she continued up the spiral staircase.
She managed to hum in response a few times. Although Yu Lu had left, she still pretended not to leave the medical clinic immediately.
She had been visiting the clinic frequently in the past few days, and the people there already knew her. She gestured to the doctor to give her a box of vitamins, fill in the medical record, and then carried the medicine upstairs.
After much thought, this was the only place she could patiently stay in the medical facility.
The curtains in the ward were open, and sunlight streamed in through the window. Arcia leaned back in her wheelchair, moving slowly.
She was sitting at the table facing the window, holding a notebook. When she heard the door open, she looked over with a smile.
Shu Ningmiao walked to her side: "Your health is much better than last time."
The last time she brought her a picture book as a gift, Arcia was still lying unconscious in bed.
Arsya's attending physician chatted with her for a while, and she learned that Arsya had no parents and that her brother was often too busy to be seen.
They live in the best medical facility in all of Pinne, which costs a fortune every day. The two have no other family members. Arcia's brother is probably working hard to support her illness, so it's understandable that he can't come to the medical facility often.
"That's just how my body is, it's good for a while and bad for a while. I hope I didn't scare you last time."
Arcia patted her chest gently and proudly puffed out her chest: "I'm completely healed now."
She coughed twice as soon as she finished speaking, then lowered her head and covered half of her face.
Shu Ningmiao poured her a glass of water and helped her catch her breath.
Arcia's face flushed red. She used Pandora to move a chair out from under the hospital bed and placed it next to her, gesturing for Arcia to sit down as well. "Why did you come today? Isn't Cornunos supposed to be in class?"
"Classes are suspended." Shu Ningmiao leaned against the table, noticing that the notebooks, stationery, and quills spread out on her desk looked familiar. "What are you doing?"
"Write in your diary." Arcia smiled and held up her notebook. "Would Miaomiao like to see it?"
Steam rose from the teacup between the two, the tea leaves inside rising and falling gently and loosely.
The girl's voice was light and cheerful, making people feel relaxed. Shu Ningmiao blinked slowly and leaned over to look at the diary in her hand.
Arsia flipped through the diary with a serious expression: "Hmm... it's a little further ahead. Look, number 23, the red-nosed patient on the first floor smashed my window with a stone. Number 27, the old lady next door who was having her birthday gave me a cake."
The diary entries, whether expressing indignation or joy, clearly show distinct emotions, with almost no negative emotions lasting more than two sentences.
Shu Ningmiao also discovered that there were no personal names in her diary; instead, strange and unusual words were used to replace them, making it seem like a bizarre fairy tale.
Shu Ningmiao curiously pointed to words like "red nose" and "big fish" in the diary: "Do these refer to people?"
“Yes,” Arcia said seriously, “My brother told me that I shouldn’t write in my diary casually, because if others see it, they might use it to do bad things—but my memory is getting worse and worse after taking the experimental drugs. If I don’t write in my diary, I’m afraid that one day I will wake up and not remember anything.”
...What happened to her brother? How could anyone talk to a child like that? Shu Ningmiao couldn't understand it at all.
"So, I gave everyone code names—code names that only I could see."
"Is there any connection between these code names? How did you determine that you could match them one by one?"
“I told you before! My ability makes my senses incredibly sharp.” Arcia held a fingertip to her lips. “These codenames are actually what I see when I look at other people. I can see the unique…essential shape of everyone.”
Shu Ningmiao's gaze fell on the passage she had just finished writing.
I hate crows! He actually tore off my pink book cover and mocked the gift Pearl gave me as silly!
She paused, as if she had caught a glimpse of something in her mind, her gaze lingering: "The crow...who does it refer to?"
When Arsia saw that she had seen it, she bent down a little embarrassed to cover the sentence, and tilted her head to tell her, "It's my brother."
The word "crow" was so deeply ingrained in her mind that whenever she saw it, she couldn't help but associate it with another person.
What's terrifying is that the moment she was slightly distracted by thinking about it, everything stuck together on its own.
Did Arsia tell her before that her brother was a healing-type ability user?
-----------------------
Author's Note: I haven't abandoned the story, it's just that I'm really not in the right frame of mind. After seeing the comments, I kept questioning myself about whether my writing was too bad. I went back and forth from the first chapter to organize the plot and outline. I know my mentality is very bad and I can't handle pressure, which is bad. I'm already working on it. I've been revising the text until 2 or 3 a.m. every day. Thank you everyone for helping me find the bugs. I've corrected all the mistakes I could find. I'm only logging back into JJ today. I stopped updating for a while because I felt that continuing to make mistakes would only make things worse. All along, I've just hoped to write a better story. This book is still very long, and I don't want to end it hastily.
I've already closed my own comment section. I haven't deleted any comments except for personal attacks. I'll focus on writing from now on and I definitely won't abandon the project. I'm very sorry to everyone for letting you down. I'll hold more giveaways so that as many subscribers as possible can win.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
