After finishing her meal, Xu Ziyan called for Butler Wang to prepare a car, then went back to her room to pack her things and get ready to leave. She was so brisk and decisive, it seemed as if she wasn’t being kicked out, but rather going on a trip.
The Fu family, however, was somewhat flustered. Li Yunhui said, “Are we really going to sever ties with her and let her move out? Once she’s gone, we won’t know anything about the plot.”
Fu Dongfeng was also uncharacteristically hesitant. “The easiest plotline to follow right now is this one. Otherwise, I’m afraid all plotlines will deviate, and the butterfly effect will be even more severe.”
At that moment, Fu Qiming received two messages. The matters he had previously asked people to investigate had already yielded results. Those hoodlums who had stabbed him were indeed locked up in the Shenzhen City Prison, though the specific details would have to wait until a prison visit the next day to ask.
More importantly, Li Dong was truly addicted to gambling and was constantly in debt.
Without waiting for the results of the prison visit, Fu Qiming already completely believed Xu Ziyan’s words!
He slammed his phone down violently and paced around the room irritably. “Damn this bullshit plot! My best brother is fake, my cheap older sister is evil, and my whole family is cannon fodder paving the way for that illegitimate son.
Why care about the butterfly effect? I’m going to find Ding Jie right now and take him out with me! What kind of male lead is he, anyway?”
As Fu Qiming spoke, he made to leave, but Fu Dongfeng grabbed him. “Enough! Calm down! What’s the use of losing your mind? Injuring the enemy a thousand while damaging yourself a thousand—is that how I taught you?
Right now, what we need to think about is how to avoid the plot’s trajectory, escape our cannon fodder fate, and prevent the world from collapsing. As long as we’re alive, we can settle the score sooner or later.”
Fu Qiming plopped down onto a chair and roughly ruffled his hair. “Then let’s keep Xu Ziyan here. We can rely on her inner thoughts to understand the plot. We have to know what specifically is happening and where the dangers lie in order to avoid them, right? Even if we die, we should die knowing why.
And forget about the butterfly effect. She’s already refusing to follow the plot, refusing to help Ding Jie, so what’s a little more deviation?
Honestly, the fact that we can hear her inner thoughts now is only within a certain distance, and only the three of us can hear it. What if one day everyone can hear it, or even we can’t hear it anymore? That would be even more troublesome. Might as well take advantage now to pump her for information and grasp more of the initiative.”
Li Yunhui nodded. “Actually, keeping her here also means we can protect her, prevent Ding Jie from forcing or harming her. We can also try to find loopholes. Didn’t that system come up with the idea of faking death? Then severing ties could also just be in name only.”
Fu Qiming and Fu Dongfeng exchanged a look. Fu Qiming stood up and said, “I’ll go. I was the one who wanted to kick her out anyway.”
Fu Qiming found a new phone, blocked Xu Ziyan’s number, and posted a message to his WeChat Moments, visible only to the Fu family and Ding Jie, declaring that he was severing ties with Xu Ziyan. From now on, Xu Ziyan had nothing to do with the Fu family, and whether she lived or died, she shouldn’t involve the Fus.
Then he went and banged loudly on Xu Ziyan’s door. “Taking so long to pack? Are you done or not? Hurry up and get out! Don’t even think about sticking around!”
Xu Ziyan had only packed some valuables, documents, and a few favorite pieces of clothing, just enough to fill one suitcase. She closed the suitcase, opened the door, and rolled her eyes. “If you want me to hurry, then help me carry the suitcase downstairs. Oh, and have someone pack up the rest of my things and send them to my new place.”
‘With your explosive temper, I wouldn’t stay even if you begged me, psycho.’
Fu Qiming took a deep breath. Didn’t she consider all the things the original host had done? And she was still calling him a psycho in her head? His attitude was plenty good already! Fu Qiming directly shoved his phone screen with the Moments post in front of Xu Ziyan’s face. “Read. It. Clearly! The Fu family is severing ties with you. You are now officially kicked out of our home. Downstairs!”
Xu Ziyan had just barely made out the words “sever ties” when Fu Qiming picked up the suitcase and stomped downstairs. Fu Qiming was fuming over the Li Dong incident and had nowhere to vent his anger; he walked as if he wanted to stomp right through the floor.
Xu Ziyan, however, found it inexplicably funny. 『001, look at him, he’s so hilarious. He’s this angry but still helping me with my luggage. Is he a masochist or something? Isn’t there an elevator right there? Haha!』
Fu Qiming missed a step and almost tumbled down the stairs, which made him even angrier. Whether it was the old Xu Ziyan or the new one, they were equally infuriating!
Xu Ziyan got into the car. After stowing the luggage, Fu Qiming unexpectedly opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
Xu Ziyan was puzzled. “What are you getting in for?”
Fu Qiming said with utter reasonableness, “I need to personally see you off.”
He had to know if doing this counted as following the plot and completing the mission. How could he hear her inner thoughts if he didn’t follow?
The novel’s description of Fu Qiming, aside from his bad temper, didn’t paint him in a bad light; his character was still reliable. So Xu Ziyan wasn’t afraid he would do anything. She put on some music she liked and drove the car out of the Fu estate.
The Fu family villa was huge, with beautiful scenery outside. It was a long drive before other residences appeared. Xu Ziyan intentionally drove very slowly, taking the time to properly appreciate the environment she had never seen before. Listening to the music, she was in a very good mood.
She even had the leisure to sigh to 001: 『This doesn’t feel like being kicked out at all. On TV, this is when the person should look like a drowned rat, as miserable as can be, crying their heart out. Me… I’m driving my own luxury car, heading to my own villa, with a little brother helping me with my luggage and escorting me all the way. Life is good.
Is this the wonderful treatment a villainess gets? Then I can struggle a bit more, do some harmless missions.』
Fu Qiming resisted the urge to retort and focused intently on hearing how the system would reply.
001: 『Host, congratulations on completing the two plot points of severing ties and being kicked out. Reward: two skill points. Additionally, I have secured a Newbie Gift Pack for the host. It’s a blind box; the host may open it herself.』
As soon as 001 finished speaking, information about the skill points appeared in Xu Ziyan’s mind. Her intelligence, stamina, endurance, health, appearance, and so on all had corresponding point values. An ordinary person’s stats were all average. Currently, only her appearance was above average. The points she earned could be freely added to any stat to improve it.
These were just the parts that could be unlocked, belonging to her foundation. Other grayed-out, locked sections included cultivation techniques, mystical arts, transformation, and many other bizarre things. This world didn’t have these elements, so they couldn’t be unlocked. If she were in an immortal cultivation world, she could add points to cultivation-related stats. It was a pretty powerful golden finger.
001 sensed Xu Ziyan’s joy and said happily: 『This is a reward system I fought hard to negotiate for with the higher-ups. Previous rewards were things like money, beauty, love points… but this one is the system you most deeply desired. Host, I didn’t mess up this time, did I?』
Xu Ziyan was stunned. The system she most deeply desired? Thinking about it carefully, she had indeed thought about rewards while packing. She really did feel that rewards should be practical, something that could increase her strength without hard work. Only by becoming strong herself would she have a sense of security, having a golden finger without needing to grind.
So, had her subconscious transmitted this, leading to this reward system?
That… was just too awesome!
She would never have to grind herself to the bone again! She could finally kick back and relax!
『001, you’re the best! Love you, mwah~』
Fu Qiming snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing her “mwah.” Damn, this felt even more interesting than the game he made. He immediately sat up straight. “Go back first. Quickly. I suddenly have a new inspiration. I need to jot it down right away.”
Xu Ziyan looked at him speechlessly. “Then get out and take a taxi. I get kicked out by you and still have to chauffeur you back? What kind of sweet deal do you think this is? Forget who was just telling me to scram?”
“I never said ‘scram.’ I even helped you with your luggage. I was being polite.” Fu Qiming looked at her. “It was you who tricked me, wasn’t it? And I even gave you my game. Now you won’t even give me a ride back? Holding a grudge over my Moments post? I’ll delete it right now!”
As he spoke, Fu Qiming deleted that Moments post and even held up his phone to show Xu Ziyan. Xu Ziyan was utterly baffled by him. What was going on? The firecracker wasn’t angry anymore? He could even delete the severance declaration so casually?
But calculating it, she had indeed taken advantage of Fu Qiming—gotten a game for free and used him as a luggage porter. Now that he finally had a flash of inspiration, she couldn’t very well delay his important business, could she? In her past life, when she worked like a beast of burden, she hated it most when others delayed her important work.
Xu Ziyan turned the steering wheel to make a U-turn. She even thoughtfully turned off the music to give Fu Qiming a quiet space to think. She was truly kind.
She also took the opportunity to open the Newbie Gift Pack. Inside was one Danger Aversion Opportunity and one gold bar. These two items could follow her to any world. That meant if she didn’t use them in this world, she could take them to the next one. They would be very practical if she encountered danger or the identity she transmigrated into had no money.
Xu Ziyan happily praised 001 several times, then without hesitation added the two skill points she had just earned to her health stat.
Not only was 001 stunned, even Fu Qiming was dumbfounded. Intelligence acted directly on the soul, but health, beauty, and the like were tied to a single lifetime and couldn’t be taken away. What was Xu Ziyan thinking?
Hearing 001’s question, Xu Ziyan laughed. 『Haven’t even found a way to survive yet, why think about those things? All I know is that after adding these two points, my headache immediately went away. The world could collapse at any moment. Live in the present, okay? At this very moment, feeling physically and mentally at ease is a win.』
Fu Qiming realized this Xu Ziyan was damnably clear-headed. She never agonized, hesitated, suffered from internal conflict, or even felt afraid. She was always very clear about her situation and knew what she wanted. Including that reward system and adding points to health—they were all the most beneficial to her at this moment.
It wasn’t that she didn’t plan for the long term, but rather that in a situation where the world could collapse the very next second, the long term was the last thing she should think about. Living well in the present was the most important.
Fu Qiming began to understand a little why the system had chosen Xu Ziyan as a tasker. With such a mindset and ability to take action, if Xu Ziyan were just a bit more ruthless and had slightly lower moral standards, she could definitely complete missions smoothly. Thinking about it this way, they probably should be thankful Xu Ziyan didn’t treat them as cannon fodder.
The car drove back to the Fu residence. Fu Dongfeng and Li Yunhui were already waiting at the main entrance. Seeing that the Moments post had been deleted, they guessed things had probably been settled and were anxiously waiting there to persuade Xu Ziyan to stay.
Seeing them, Fu Qiming said to Xu Ziyan as the car stopped, “Mom and Dad can’t bear to let you go. I should also thank you for telling me about Li Dong. Don’t leave. This time, it was my fault.”
Xu Ziyan looked at him as if she’d seen a ghost. 『001, has Fu Qiming lost his mind?』
Fu Qiming got out of the car and walked away with a dark expression, even his retreating back radiating thick resentment.