Moonlight cast a cold, desolate glow, yet the youth’s gaze burned hot and fervent.
Xin Yi was caught utterly off guard as he seized her wrist and yanked her fiercely into his embrace. Her waterfall of black hair spilled entirely across the couch.
She could not hide her shock and looked up, meeting the youth’s beautiful yet dangerous vertical pupils.
This seemed to be the first time since she had entered this Small World that they were so close, close enough to hear each other’s breaths.
Xie Shuo examined her with a cruel scrutiny devoid of any sympathy, like a serpent sizing up prey it could devour. Strange ripples swirled in the depths of his eyes.
Xin Yi’s scalp tightened in an instant, but out of some instinct for self-preservation, she did not immediately look away. Instead, she held his gaze in quiet confrontation.
Slowly, his breathing changed, growing erratic and urgent. The hand gripping her fair wrist slid down to her waist.
Xin Yi felt her waist suddenly tighten as their positions flipped dramatically.
She was pinned beneath Xie Shuo, her chest heaving, with no room to dodge or struggle.
She could only watch as the youth leaned down silently, drawing closer. His loose black hair draped across her face, his cheeks and nose tip inching near.
His lips were a deep crimson, parting slightly to reveal fine white teeth inside. His pale golden vertical pupils brimmed with intense desire, as if hesitating over which angle to start devouring her from.
Xin Yi went rigid all over, the youth’s delicate face clearly reflected in her eyes.
He looked so frail and harmless, like a pretty boy next door. If not for the dangerous aura now thick enough to overflow from his body, she might have been fooled by that beautiful face too.
But a villain was a villain, no matter how good-looking.
She kept reminding herself of that in her heart.
After a moment of self-hypnosis, Xin Yi could not help but silently complain: Damn system, why were the villains in every Small World so damn handsome? If her willpower had been even a bit weaker, she would have crumbled like a landslide.
Then the strategy would turn into total devotion, a complete failure.
She tried to place her hand on the youth’s face, wanting to push him away a little, a silent protest against his temptation.
But just as she was about to touch his jaw, he caught it. His gaze was pleading and scorching, as if he wanted to shake her off but could not bear to let go. He could only torment himself until a faint blush tinged the corners of his eyes.
Finally.
As if unable to endure any longer, he turned his head and planted a kiss on her finger.
Under the moonlight, that face, the arc of his lowered lashes, and the vulnerable, pleading expression as he kissed her… all resembled A Jie so closely.
Xin Yi inevitably froze.
How strange—she had actually seen Shen Ru Jie’s shadow on Xie Shuo?
They were clearly two completely different people, and the previous Small World had long ended, had it not?
Yet the emotions surging from her heart were inexplicably overwhelming, even giving her a bizarre illusion: no matter what Xie Shuo wanted to do to her tonight, she could accept it.
She really wanted to indulge him, just like she had indulged him before.
As if possessed, Xin Yi used her finger to part those crimson thin lips, touching the youth’s neat, fine white teeth.
Her fingertip grew slick with saliva, then she pinched his fresh red, wet soft tongue.
The body pressing over her stiffened abruptly. Xie Shuo jerked away, his scorching gaze seeming to clear for an instant.
Then he looked at her with hatred, as if she had taken advantage of him, as if her teasing actions just now were an unforgivable crime!
But even so, he did not immediately release her. Instead, amid the hatred, his expression showed restrained struggle.
Xin Yi always felt like he would lean in to sniff her the next second.
He wanted to sniff but did not dare.
“A Shuo…”
Moonlight filtered through the latticed window, illuminating her exquisitely beautiful jawline and that jade-like section of neck.
Her collar had already been tugged loose by him; he only needed to lower his head to smell it.
Just as Xin Yi thought he would finally give in and do something, the weight on her vanished abruptly.
He staggered away from her and fled out, the opened door slamming heavily. It swayed twice in the night rain.
“…”
“What was he doing, running off in the middle of the night?”
Melodramatic Transmigration System: “No idea. It’s not in the plotline. Maybe he felt too hot and went to take a cold bath?”
Xin Yi thus gathered her clothes and sat up.
Her red lips pursed slightly, a hint of bewilderment on her face. Then she tentatively asked the system, “Earlier, I think I saw A Jie’s shadow on Xie Shuo. Do you think there’s some connection between them?”
The system interrupted her speculation after hearing it and gave a reasonable explanation. “Logically, no, but it’s not impossible.”
“Because whether it’s Xie Shuo or Shen Ru Jie, they’re essentially fragmented and reassembled model data at their core. Data can overlap, so seeing similar shadows on different people is perfectly normal.”
Hearing it say that, Xin Yi could not tell what mood she was in.
She fell silent again, gazing at the swaying rain curtain outside, her thoughts wandering aimlessly.
Unfortunately, after waiting a long time, Xie Shuo still did not return.
As the rain outside grew heavier, she could not help but grow a little worried: Did a simple cold bath really need to take that long? He was a snake to begin with; what if he washed himself until he shed his skin.
Xin Yi’s imagination ran wild at that moment, instantly conjuring an image of a giant python shedding in the rain.
She shuddered with disgust.
After waiting a bit more, Xin Yi finally could not keep idling any longer.
After all, Xie Shuo was not a normal person—oh, not a normal snake right now. He was still in his mating period and might really lose his senses and cause trouble. With so many people in the general’s manor, if he revealed his true form and rampaged everywhere…
No, no.
With that thought, Xin Yi hesitated no longer. She slipped on her embroidered shoes, grabbed an oiled paper umbrella, and stepped out the door into the rain.
She held a paper lantern in her hand. Rain soaked its surface, blurring the edges of the cinnabar-painted peony flowers on it.
The half-candle inside flickered nonstop, as if it might be snuffed out by the night wind at any moment.
She had originally thought the same as the system: that Xie Shuo had run off to take a cold bath because his mating period was too unbearable.
But she searched every place in the manor where he could soak in cold water and found no sign of him. She even checked the lake, but still nothing.
Unless he had really hidden away to shed his skin.
Xin Yi was exhausted, and the puddles on the bluestone paths had soaked her embroidered shoes and silk stockings halfway. They felt damp and cold, very uncomfortable.
Just as she was about to despair, the system finally detected Xie Shuo’s location.
Its tone excited, it told her, “Host, I know where Xie Shuo went—he went to find Chu Chu!”
“?”
Xin Yi: “…”
Mating period, pouring rain, and he ran off in the middle of the night to find Chu Chu?
Xin Yi fell silent for a moment before asking, “If that’s the case, did you skip something when you fed me the original plotline? Or is it like the last Small World, where the villain falls deeply for the female lead?”
She really had perpetual bad luck, always getting the worst scripts.
The system was also baffled. “No idea, but those two definitely had no romance in the original plot. Even when Xie Shuo went dark in the end, he showed Chu Chu no mercy.”
And so, one person and one system fell silent in the rain.
Xin Yi had been out for half the night and returned drenched and bedraggled.
Even with the umbrella, she could not avoid getting soaked by the night rain. When she got back to the room, water dripped from her skirt hem, splattered with mud spots.
Then she saw that the person she had searched for like a headless fly had somehow returned without her knowing.
The youth sat dazed by the couch, still clutching the rouge-colored silk ribbon that had fallen from her hair bun. Faint traces of blood lingered at his lips.
He looked up abruptly at the sound of footsteps. After seeing her face clearly, he paused slightly.
He seemed not to have expected her to come back.
Xin Yi was furious and wanted to pound him with a couple punches.
Dead kid, running around in the middle of the night—what was that about? It had made her search everywhere and end up a drowned rat!
Her expression sour, she walked over and held out her hand. “Give it back. That’s my hair ribbon.”
Xie Shuo seemed to sense her anger and stiffened for a moment.
But in the end, he did not look at her with that rejecting, disgusted gaze again. He pursed his lips and obediently handed it over.
Xin Yi took the ribbon but ignored him further. She huffed heavily. Unexpectedly, she said nothing teasing and did not even ask if his forehead was still feverish.
She directly kicked off her soaked embroidered shoes and stockings, stripped off her damp outer skirt, pulled back the covers, and burrowed in. Even her back showed her poor mood.
Melodramatic Transmigration System: “Host, are you jealous?”
Xin Yi: “…”
Melodramatic Transmigration System continued, “Did you mistake him for Shen Ru Jie, so you can’t accept him liking someone else?”
Xin Yi: “Keep nagging and disturbing my sleep, and we’ll go down together!”
The threat worked; the system shut up wisely, and the world returned to quiet.
Xin Yi did not know when she fell asleep, but without a doubt, she slept until the sun was high in the sky again.
When Xin Yi woke, she regained her worker’s diligence.
Since she had to strategy Xie Shuo, she could not be defeated by any difficulty—even potential ones! So the next day, when she saw him, she smiled sweetly and teased again, as if last night’s unpleasantness had never happened.
Xie Shuo did not adapt to her change at first.
But after two sentences, he could not help rejecting and loathing her again. His handsome face darkened repeatedly.
He should have known long ago: Bai Xinyi was just such a silver-tongued, shameless woman.
It was just that last night, for some inexplicable reason, he had felt she was upset, and his own heart had strangely tightened.
At the same time, Xin Yi could not help worrying.
She thought seriously and decided that besides finding excuses to pester Xie Shuo every day, she should also try catering to his tastes and figure out what he liked.