My conduct and whereabouts are in my own hands (1)
In a world where terminals are now widely available, there are many different types of terminals catering to different groups of people. The cheapest "communication terminals" don't even have color screens and can only dial fixed numbers by pressing buttons.
More advanced terminals generally consist of three parts: a semi-transparent OLED screen, a motherboard, and a slot for placing chips.
Of course, the application of chips is not limited to games, but also includes big data storage and applications. Generally, terminals above 3000C will be equipped with one or more chip slots.
The terminal that Shu Ningmiao had previously broken was already the latest civilian terminal on the market, but compared to the processor of a military terminal, it was a completely different concept.
If even military terminals can't run a chip, then probably no machine in the world can open it.
If it crashes again this time, she'll throw the chip away and pretend nothing ever happened.
She gently pushed the chip in her hand and stared intently at the screen that lit up again. Although the screen was semi-transparent, it did not reveal any information. This special glass, except from the front, appeared as a blank screen from any angle.
Chip inserted
As the content was being read, the familiar cursive text quickly reappeared on the screen. In order to prevent Shu Changyan from hearing the embarrassing narration, Shu Ningmiao quickly tapped a few times to skip the opening animation.
This time it went much more smoothly. After the opening animation, she was taken directly to the game's title page, with the iconic tower of the String Light Academy that she had seen before in the background, and five options listed below.
Start Game | Save/Load | Strategy Guide | Glossary | Character Information
Shu Ningmiao clicked the "Start Game" option, but the interface remained unresponsive as before.
Just as she was feeling disappointed, the terminal vibrated, and a bold, decorative pop-up appeared on the title screen.
"mistake"
The error message paused for a moment, then displayed a bunch of characters.
Character detected: Shu Ningmiao
"Unable to start the game due to character recognition"
Character information has been updated.
Character-related illustrations have been unlocked.
Unlock CG: Extravagance Leads to a Dead End
Unlock Ending: Shu Ningmiao's Death Ending
Her name was clearly written in a pop-up window with black text on a white background. Seeing the unlocked ending, Shu Ningmiao felt a chill in her heart. When she touched the screen, she realized that her fingertips were surprisingly cold.
She immediately opened another option in the sidebar, which was also mentioned in the pop-up window as "updated" 'Character Information'.
The character information displayed was the same image she had appeared in the opening animation. The character portrait on the screen showed her wearing a fitted uniform dress, with her long, black hair elegantly cascading down her shoulders. She clasped her hands together, looking at herself gracefully and calmly outside the screen.
Next to the character portrait are rows and rows of character information boxes.
Name: Shu Ningmiao
Identity: Villainous Heiress
Superpower: Absurd Original Sin (Current Status: Wrath)
Character Introduction: Born into an upper-class family, she is spoiled by her parents. No matter what she does, her family will clean up after her. On the surface, she is a beautiful and charming noble lady, but in reality, she is just an exquisite empty shell filled with jealousy, extravagance, and arrogance. Her heart has been spoiled to the point of being lawless, selfish, and unscrupulous. She will do anything to achieve her goals, and she will probably have to pay the price for it later.
This introduction is a bit excessive, isn't it?
Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath, her fingers tightened on the terminal, and one of the pearls on the lower edge of the screen cracked under her fingertip.
Putting aside the character introduction that made her extremely uncomfortable, Shu Ningmiao stared at the category of superpowers, her eyes flashing with astonishment. The background, character illustrations, and story of a game can all be faked, but the category of superpowers is something that cannot be known by human means no matter what.
She only awakened her superpowers three days ago, and because she had been running a fever, she hadn't had a chance to tell anyone yet.
She gripped the terminal tightly, the frame digging into her palm. The pain brought her back to her senses, and following the unlock prompts, she exited the character information and fumbled to open the 'Strategy Guide'.
The strategy guide is divided into two sections: strategy characters and other. She clicked on other and, sure enough, found the content she had just unlocked. Only this one picture was lit up.
The title of this CG is "Extravagance Leads to Death Without a Burial Place".
The enlarged image had a somber tone, and the background appeared to be a dimly lit cubicle. Shu Ningmiao had never been there before, and even a cursory glance was enough to tell that it was dilapidated and filled with the smell of dust. It was a place she would never set foot in.
In the center of the image, she is wearing a white princess dress, lying in dirty, rotten garbage, with a dark red stain seeping from her left side and bloodstains beneath her.
The girl's delicate, flawless face was covered in a black, mud-like liquid. Her almond-shaped eyes were still open weakly, but the pupils were dilated, and her eyes were staring straight in a certain direction, already dull and lifeless.
The associated text will pop up below.
Shu Ningmiao's tragic end: A noblewoman who had everything from birth, she went astray due to desire, ultimately trapping herself and losing everything, including her family's tragic bankruptcy. Shu Ningmiao died alone in the place she once despised the most.
Despite her anger and amusement, Shu Ningmiao quickly extracted a few keywords from the text: "went astray" and "family bankruptcy," and secretly memorized them.
She exited the interface and then clicked the remaining two buttons, "Save/Load" and "Glossary," but like "Start Game," neither of them had any effect.
Shu Changyan tapped the table with his finger, reminding her, "You haven't eaten a single bite yet. When did you become so fond of playing with the terminal?"
This guy's face seemed to say, "I knew you liked this tacky new terminal, but don't get too obsessed with it."
Shu Ningmiao's initial anger was somewhat dampened by her speechlessness, and she gradually calmed down, suppressing her emotions beneath her expression.
"Don't forget, today is your reporting day. I'll take you to Cornunos later."
Shu Changyan had already finished eating. While giving her some instructions, he got up and picked up his coat from the back of the chair. The uniform coat of the Pigne Military Region was dark and solemn in color, which made his overly handsome and heroic appearance less leisurely.
"No need." Shu Ningmiao paused upon hearing this, then turned her head to look at the floor-to-ceiling window beside her. "Shi Yu will come to pick me up."
There was a moment of silence in the air. Shu Changyan leaned against the door, twirling his car keys in his hand: "You've forgotten about your brother now that you have a boyfriend?"
“He’s reporting for duty today too, it’s just on the way.” Shu Ningmiao had lost her appetite and got up after only a few bites. As she passed by Shu Changyan, she paused and explained, “You don’t need to take leave for me.”
Shu Changyan made room for her to look in the mirror. Shu Ningmiao walked to the entrance hall, leaned close to the mirror, and adjusted the necklace on her chest, keeping it in just the right position.
Even though she had just been hit by the sudden news of her death, she didn't want to show any signs of being disheveled or lost.
"I'm just going to work, not going to jail."
Shu Changyan shrugged, pressed his lips to his lips, and reached behind her to ruffle her hair. Shu Ningmiao gave him a cold glare in the mirror, then picked up a small comb to fix her hair.
The huge floor-to-ceiling windows cast blurry shadows from the window panes. Shu Ningmiao noticed the car driving into the courtyard and quickly applied the last bit of her lipstick.
A sleek black sedan was parked quietly not far away. The guard at the gate was about to come in to report when Shu Changyan raised his hand to stop him.
Shu Changyan glanced down at the small whorl of hair on her head, smiled, and gently patted her shoulder: "Go ahead, and say hello to him for me too."
Shu Ningmiao thought to herself, "You don't even know each other, why bother greeting each other?"
As the girl approached, the back window rolled down, and sunlight streamed through, illuminating the boy's profile and outlining the soft lines of his eyebrows and the perfectly curved corners of his lips.
His platinum blonde hair shone with a soft sheen, and the sky outside the car window was reflected in his gray eyes, along with Shu Ningmiao's figure.
His gaze fell on Shu Ningmiao, whose smiling face was flawless, like a gentle spring breeze, almost like a textbook example, without a single blemish.
The car door opened automatically. Shu Ningmiao stared at his hair, which was shimmering in the sunlight, and suddenly stopped a few steps away from him, taking out a terminal from her handbag.
wrong.
A fragment of memory floated in her mind and overlapped with the person in front of her. Shu Ningmiao quickly opened the terminal, clicked on the game icon, and her fingertip hovered over the title screen.
The "prince" who plays the piano in the music room on a rainy day and meets the protagonist in the opening animation should be an important romanceable character. Based on the length of the opening animation, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the official couple.
She raised her eyes and hesitantly glanced at the face of the person in front of her. She then opened the "Character Information" section again and, following her memory, found the bottom right corner that she had just glanced at and hadn't paid any attention to. The button in the bottom right corner was labeled "Switch to Romance Character".
She clicked on it, and five embossed frames appeared side by side on the screen, only one of which was lit up, and it was the first one.
The character portrait is lit up, with a gentle and serene expression and a standard smile. The name is written below the relief frame: Shi Yu.
There's also a pointer on the frame that seems to indicate favorability. The left side is blue, representing dislike, and the right side is red, representing liking. The pointer stops exactly in the middle, which should mean 0.
Only the protagonist can start the game, so Shu Ningmiao speculates that the displayed favorability rating is likely his affection for the protagonist. The 0 rating might be because the story hasn't started yet, and they haven't met.
The character she's pursuing, Shi Yu, is unsurprisingly her boyfriend and fiancé who's currently waiting in front of her.
—Not yet.
Even at this point, Shu Ningmiao still found it difficult to fully believe the direction the game was taking.
If we connect the plot points revealed in the game, and treat these plot points as facts that are about to happen, then the girl from the orphanage in the story will soon be enrolling at the Cornunos String Light Academy as her classmate today.
She will play insignificant roles in the protagonist's life, using despicable means to highlight her vicious character. She is an arrogant, vain, and haughty young lady whose family goes bankrupt and she dies silently in obscurity.
What kind of actions could lead to such an outcome? At least now she's certain that she has absolutely no interest in bullying her classmates, and even if the protagonist of the story stood right in front of her, she wouldn't give her a second glance.
Only cowardly and incompetent losers would bully those more helpless than themselves to gain a sense of existence. This game is right about only one thing: she has everything and doesn't need to seek any fulfillment from the outside world.
Shi Yu had never seen her so engrossed in the terminal before. After looking up from the terminal, Shu Ningmiao began to scrutinize him sharply.
He could only ask gently, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
Shu Ningmiao put away her terminal, raised her hand slightly, and Shi Yu readily took her bag and placed it beside her.
"It's nothing." Shu Ningmiao crossed her hands in front of her and nodded to him. The curve of her chin connected to the beautiful lines of her neck and shoulders, but her gaze was not really on Shi Yu.
Such a manner of treating others might seem somewhat absent-minded, and her every move could easily leave an impression of arrogance. Yet, when she does it, there is a unique arrogance and elegance to it.
She didn't say anything, and Shi Yu smiled and turned her head to look at the other side of the car window, no longer curious.
The car slowly drove out of the Shu family's house from the front courtyard and into the traffic on the central avenue of Pinheit. The terminal vibrated, and Shu Ningmiao opened the screen to find that it was a push notification from the game.
Survival tip: Players are advised to break up with the romance character Shi Yu as soon as possible.
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