Fu Dongfeng and Li Yunhui were stunned. The male lead? Kill her? Could it be that the bad things Xiao Yan did were forced by that male lead? Would she die if she didn’t do them? And what she said earlier to the system about not following the plot and letting this world and her dissipate together—was that real? Did that mean they would all die very soon?
At that moment, 001 replied: 『This can be considered following the plot. Rewards will be automatically issued later. The male lead probably won’t move against you for now, because he still needs you to do other things. The host is temporarily safe.
However, this way the plot deviates. The butterfly effect can be minor or major; it’s impossible to predict when the world will collapse.
It is recommended that the host properly follow the plot. The host can fake her death at the tragic death node, change her name, and live somewhere else. That way, the world continues to operate, the host can complete the mission and obtain the rewards, and then live freely until her natural end.
Toiling for a year or two in each world to enjoy several decades afterward—doesn’t that sound good?』
The system’s CPU was almost overheating before it came up with this loophole-exploiting method: faking death when the plot ended to steal several decades of lifespan. At that point, she would no longer be bound by the plot and could do as she pleased. Wasn’t that tempting?
Xu Ziyan was indeed tempted. But as soon as she thought of those vicious plot points, she refused again. 『My moral sense is too strong. I can’t do something so morally bankrupt.
Helping a mistress climb into my foster father’s bed, causing my foster parents to divorce; stealing my eldest brother’s trade secrets; causing my sister to become a vegetable. This is asking me to be a bootlicker for Ding Jie and bring ruin upon the Fu family. We have no enmity or grievance. I could never do such a thing, even if you beat me to death. I wasn’t even this ruthless toward my own parents who favored sons over daughters.
Forget it. I’ll live one day at a time. I might as well eat some delicacies I’ve never tried and die with a full stomach.』
Fu Dongfeng glanced at his wristwatch at an opportune moment. “It’s getting late. Let’s arrange dinner. No matter what, the family should eat a meal together.”
Xu Ziyan understood. A farewell dinner. When someone left the company before, they’d also have a farewell dinner. She just hadn’t expected her foster parents to be so angry yet still willing to eat with her. She thought they wouldn’t even want to talk to her, sitting there for so long without acknowledging her.
In the original host’s memories, the Fu family’s head chef, Auntie Chen, cooked exceptionally well. She felt somewhat expectant. “Alright, let’s eat together.”
Li Yunhui called for Auntie Chen. “Make more of Xiao Yan’s favorite dishes.” After saying this, she remembered that the current Xu Ziyan’s tastes might differ from before and quickly added, “And make some of your signature dishes too. Call a few more people to help. Start serving once four dishes are ready, serve the rest slowly, but be quick. Oh, right, bring Xiao Yan some afternoon tea first.”
After giving her instructions, Li Yunhui forced a smile at Xu Ziyan. “You fainted earlier. Doctor Lin said you need good rest. Your father and I will go back to our room first. Eat something to replenish some vitamins. Lie down for a while or go sit in the garden—whatever helps you recover faster.”
Li Yunhui just wanted a quiet place to sort out her thoughts and casually found an excuse to fob off Xu Ziyan. But this suited Xu Ziyan just fine. She didn’t want to sit with them awkwardly either. Being able to wander around on her own and admire the super mansion was fantastic.
Xu Ziyan had no psychological burden. The whole world might be gone by the time she woke up from a nap, so of course there was no need to put on an act or overthink things. She would just do whatever was comfortable.
After they returned to their room, Xu Ziyan wandered around the first floor of the Fu residence. The kitchen was larger than the apartment she bought, equipped with all sorts of cooking and baking apparatus, comparable to the back kitchen of a large restaurant.
There were also servant quarters, a pet room, reception rooms, a tea room, and the like. She could never have imagined what all those rooms in a huge mansion were for before, but now she finally had her eyes opened. Even though she had received the original host’s memories, seeing it with her own eyes gave her a sense of reality and a feeling of having truly transmigrated.
Time was precious. Xu Ziyan walked through the garden to the swimming pool and happily lay down on a lounge chair by the pool. She always loved this scene the most when watching TV. So comfortable!
A servant had already placed a fruit platter, cake, cocktails, coffee, juice, and more beside her—a wide variety for her to choose from.
Xu Ziyan ate a grape and was surprised. Were the fruits the wealthy bought some specially selected breed? The flavor was so rich! It wasn’t that she was unsophisticated; the fruits she usually bought tasted good too, but they really weren’t as delicious as the Fu family’s.
She took a bite of each item, then picked her favorites to eat. She was alone here, undisturbed. The system had also gone off to some corner to be emo. This feeling was truly relaxing and comfortable.
Just yesterday she was busy with new home renovations, company proposals, and career advancement studies. Today she was lying by a mansion’s pool in such comfort. Life was truly unpredictable.
She felt that her twenty-eight years in her previous life had been wasted. Life should be about enjoyment! What was the point of grinding so hard? In the end, you’d just work yourself to death and couldn’t take anything with you. If you can enjoy, then enjoy!
At that moment, Fu Dongfeng and Li Yunhui were in their second-floor room, watching Xu Ziyan from afar, filled with anxiety. Li Yunhui cried, “What on earth is going on? How did Xiao Yan change for no reason? Then where is our daughter? Was she devoured by her?”
Fu Dongfeng frowned. “Did we really have a daughter? She told that system that our world is just a book, that everything is just text. Did the original Xiao Yan truly exist? Are we even real?”
“But the past few decades felt real to us! We adopted Xiao Yan for twenty years; that’s absolutely true too. How could she not exist? And how did she suddenly disappear?”
Li Yunhui gripped Fu Dongfeng’s hand tightly, looking at him. “Let’s go find a master, ask a master to take a look for us, help us get Xiao Yan back!”
Fu Dongfeng patted her back to soothe her and sighed. “If this kind of thing leaks out, it could bring us great trouble. We must make proper arrangements first, then inquire about which master is more effective. Also, if we get Xiao Yan back, what do we do afterward? Would she do those harmful things? Could we teach her properly?”
Hearing this, Li Yunhui felt a sense of despair and powerlessness. They had truly been very good to their adopted daughter and had taught her diligently. But for some reason, the adopted daughter had been a good actress since childhood, always appearing well-behaved and sensible in front of them. They only recently learned how outrageous she was behind their backs.
There were four children in the family in total—two sons and two daughters—all raised the same way. Why was she the only different one? Was it just because she was the villainess in a book? Then was their whole family destined to be cannon fodder? What had they done wrong?
Thinking this way, the current Xu Ziyan was also innocent. Listening to her inner thoughts, her previous life had been very hard. She cut ties with her family and struggled on her own, working herself to the point of sudden death, and her soul was even assigned to be a villainess. This child’s moral compass was correct; she’d rather vanish than do evil things. She was also a pitiful person.
Li Yunhui wiped her tears, her voice dropping. “If she doesn’t follow the plot, maybe tomorrow, the day after, we’ll all be gone. We won’t even have time to find a master.”
Fu Dongfeng put an arm around her shoulders. “Take it easy. What we heard isn’t necessarily true. Maybe there really is a master who can solve this. Then we can all live well.
Regardless of what’s true or false, let’s stabilize the situation first. If we’re going to vanish, we’ll all vanish together. There’s nothing to be afraid of. As for being cannon fodder, I don’t believe in fate. Since we’ve been allowed to know the ending, there must be a way to change it.
A sliver of hope rose in Li Yunhui’s heart. “Right, we can hear her inner thoughts. There must be a purpose behind it. Heaven never seals off all exits. Perhaps this is the slim chance heaven gave us. Maybe she came to this world to save us. We mustn’t lose heart. There must be a way!”
The couple was somewhat incoherent, their words sometimes disjointed, saying whatever came to mind—all to encourage and comfort each other. After they calmed down, they thought of their youngest son who had been dealt a blow and hurried to Fu Qiming’s room to comfort him.
The three of them analyzed for a long time and speculated that the ‘male lead’ was Ding Jie. The Ding family and their Fu family were archrivals. In the past, their elders were opponents as officials. Later, in Fu Dongfeng’s generation, they were opponents in business. Ding Jie, that illegitimate son, probably wanted to topple the Fu family to accumulate capital and gain a chance to inherit the Ding family.
And Xu Ziyan, this “villainess,” liked Ding Jie, felt no familial affection for the Fu family, was used by Ding Jie, and harmed all the Fu family members. Right now, the first thing was to clarify what else Xu Ziyan had done besides acquiring Fu Qiming’s game and whether she had targeted other family members.
Most importantly, they had to maintain appearances and absolutely not let Xu Ziyan discover they could hear her inner thoughts. Otherwise, they could forget about learning the plot anymore.
Fu Qiming suddenly thought of something. “To prevent the world from collapsing, we have to help her follow the plot? Does that mean I have to tell her to give the game I made to Ding Jie?”
Fu Dongfeng said, “To stabilize the current situation, we can only do that. First, follow the plot’s progression to buy some time to figure out what’s going on.”
Fu Qiming was stifled unbearably, so angry he wanted to curse and confront Xu Ziyan. But he was no longer a child. He knew what could and couldn’t be done. Precisely because he knew, he had to put on an act in front of Xu Ziyan, take one step at a time. No matter how aggrieved, he had to endure it.
Dinner was prepared quickly. Not long after, a servant came to invite them for the meal.
It was still just the four of them for dinner. Xu Ziyan remembered. The domineering CEO elder brother, Fu Qixuan, was abroad negotiating a deal. The aloof sister, Fu Yazhen, and her husband Zheng Wenbo happened to have a holiday and went on a second honeymoon, so they couldn’t attend this farewell dinner. But Xu Ziyan had just transmigrated and wasn’t familiar with them anyway. Not meeting was better; she believed they wouldn’t be happy to see her either.
Xu Ziyan looked at Fu Qiming. “Where’s the contract? Let’s sign it before eating, so you can feel more at ease.”
Fu Qiming kept his head down, looking very irritable. “No need. Let’s just eat quickly!”
Li Yunhui quickly tried to smooth things over. “Let’s eat first. We can talk after eating well. These are all Auntie Chen’s signature dishes. Eat more.”
Since they weren’t in a hurry, Xu Ziyan didn’t stand on ceremony either. She picked up some food, carefully tasted it, and her eyes lit up. 『Delicious! 001, it’s really delicious! Even better than the meal I had when I went with the boss to discuss that big deal!』
001: 『Host, if you do your missions well and live longer, you can eat all sorts of delicious things.』
『No need. Having eaten this meal before dying is enough. I’m not greedy.』 Xu Ziyan replied resolutely. She tasted a few other dishes, slightly squinted her eyes, her expression actually revealing a sense of happiness.
The three members of the Fu family felt mixed emotions. They hadn’t expected this Xu Ziyan to be so easily satisfied and to have such a good mindset. Perhaps it was because she had already died once. She saw through everything, couldn’t bring herself to do those vicious deeds, and simply enjoyed every moment she was still alive. None of them had as good a mindset as she did.
Fu Qiming suddenly saw the light. What was one game? If giving the game to Ding Jie could let them survive temporarily and buy more time, then so be it. He could make his first game; he could make a second, a third. What was the big deal?
As long as he was alive, he could settle this account with Ding Jie sooner or later. Even if the world collapsed, they’d all die together. What was there to fear?
So Fu Qiming said frankly, “No need to return the game. Handle it however you want.”
“Huh? Why?” Xu Ziyan widened her eyes in surprise. 『What’s the situation? He cared so much about that game, and now he just doesn’t want it?』
Fu Qiming found an excuse. “Consider it payment for you telling me the truth. I’m giving it to you. Right now, I just want to investigate Li Dong’s matter thoroughly. Everything else is unimportant.”
Xu Ziyan understood. “It seems the matter with his good friend hit him too hard. He doesn’t even want his hard work anymore.”
Subconsciously, as if in a social setting, she raised her glass with a smile. “Then thank you. Here, let me propose a toast to you.”
After saying that, she called out to 001 in her mind. 『System, system, this game is mine now? Did I just get a huge bargain for free? Quickly check how much this game is worth and find me a good buyer to sell it to.』
Fu Qiming wanted to vomit blood. He had with great difficulty convinced himself to help her follow the plot, and after getting the game, her first thought was to make money, never once considering giving it to Ding Jie. If she didn’t follow the plot, the world would be gone. What was the point of having so much money?
001 said the same thing to Xu Ziyan: 『Host, you now formally own this game. You can rightfully give it to the male lead to follow the plot.』
Xu Ziyan refused without hesitation. 『My cheap younger brother and Ding Jie are archrivals. Ding Jie wants to seize the opportunity to strike at the Fu family. How could I do such a wicked thing? Look, the Fu family prepared so many delicious things for me. My cheap younger brother is still giving me his game even though he’s losing his temper. They’re so good to me. I can’t let Ding Jie succeed.』
001: 『But if the plot deviates, the world will likely collapse.』
‘Go ahead and crash then. It’s not like this plot point will collapse, it’ll be the next one. I can’t actually follow the plot one by one and end up harming Fu Yazhen into becoming a vegetable or something, right? We’re all innocent cannon fodder, why cause trouble for the Fu family right before we die? Just based on them letting me enjoy the treatment of a wealthy family, I should let them die comfortably.’
Xu Ziyan had her own logic, clear and definite, and she happily ate her food without a shred of burden.
The three members of the Fu family: “……”
They actually weren’t quite ready to die yet. Losing a game or something really didn’t matter, but don’t give up so quickly! But how could they say that? They couldn’t exactly urge Xu Ziyan to deliver the game into Ding Jie’s hands and have her collude in his dirty business, could they?
Just as the three of them were racking their brains trying to think of something to say, the servant led a person inside. “Sir, Madam, Mr. Li Dong is here.”