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Bonus chapter! Thank you to --- for the donation! ^^
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Forced to tilt his head back and weakened from his earlier struggle, a tear slipped from the corner of Ruan Qing’s eye.
Gone was his usual arrogance—now he just looked pitiful and helpless.
Without his mother’s protection, the fragile lamb was left exposed to the wolves. No matter how fiercely he tried to mimic a predator, his scent betrayed him.
Deep down, the boy seemed to understand this. His bravado was nothing more than a facade, which was why he had chosen to rely on Miao Ciyu in the first place.
Miao Linyuan chuckled softly, gently wiping away Ruan Qing’s tear with his thumb. "Why the tears? Did you think I poisoned you?"
"It’s just an ordinary piece of candy."
Ruan Qing’s delicate face was still tense with unease. Anyone would be terrified after being force-fed something unknown—especially after witnessing the black dog’s gruesome transformation firsthand.
He bit his lip, his voice fragile as he met Miao Linyuan’s gaze. "Really… just candy?"
"Of course," Miao Linyuan smiled, then delivered the next words with deliberate amusement.
"That was a lie."
Ruan Qing didn’t need the confirmation. The moment Miao Linyuan uttered those words, his heart lurched violently, the pounding so loud it drowned out all other sound.
A wave of dizziness blurred his vision, distorting the figure before him into shifting, overlapping shadows—until they merged back into one.
The episode lasted less than a second, but something had undeniably changed.
The way he looked at Miao Linyuan was entirely different now.
No wariness. No hostility. None of the revulsion he should have felt.
Instead, his gaze held… trust.
Trust? Miao Linyuan frowned. This wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. The boy was too calm—unnervingly so, as if the gu had failed to take hold.
Suspicious, he reached for Ruan Qing’s wrist, intent on checking for anomalies.
But the moment his fingers made contact, Ruan Qing jerked away and shoved the dirty rag into his arms.
Miao Linyuan stared blankly at the cloth now in his hands, momentarily stunned.
This wasn’t the same frightened pretense from earlier. Ruan Qing’s composure was genuine now—cold, composed, and utterly certain.
"I'm tired. You do it for me."
Miao Linyuan stared at the person before him, a sudden realization dawning. He reached out, brushing his thumb against Ruan Qing's cheek, his voice low.
"There was something dirty on your face."
Ruan Qing didn’t pull away. Instead, he obediently tilted his chin up, letting Miao Linyuan wipe his cheek—acting so familiarly, as if he trusted him completely.
Yet instead of satisfaction, Miao Linyuan’s expression darkened, a storm brewing in his eyes.
Hah.
This person… already had someone he loved.
The gu he had used was one of the love gu—zhongqing gu, the "Love at First Sight" gu.
As the name suggested, it was supposed to make the victim fall deeply and irrevocably in love with the caster, believing they had experienced love at first sight.
It wasn’t an aggressive gu—in fact, it was considered gentle. It didn’t rewrite memories or forcefully alter thoughts. It simply made the victim feel as if they had naturally fallen for the caster.
But it had one flaw: its effects weakened drastically if the victim already had someone they loved.
Instead of falling for the caster, they would simply… mistake them for their beloved.
Just like now.
Ruan Qing thought he was someone else.
Unlike Miao Linyuan’s barely contained fury, the System was frozen in shock.
It knew exactly what kind of gu Miao Linyuan had used—and what it was supposed to do.
Ruan Qing… had someone he liked?
Who?
The System’s gaze turned icy as it combed through every record of Ruan Qing’s past instances, down to the very first one.
But there was no trace of anyone special. No hints, no unusual behavior.
The only person Ruan Qing had ever willingly kissed… was his own avatar.
A memory flashed—Ruan Qing, in the ruins, arms wrapped around his neck, pressing his lips to his own.
The System’s nonexistent heart lurched violently.
Was it… him?
A strange tension coiled in its chest, so tight it felt like suffocation. It tried to suppress the question, but the need for an answer burned too fiercely.
After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke in Ruan Qing’s mind, its voice uncharacteristically hesitant—almost nervous.
[Do you... like me?]
The System seemed afraid of the answer. Immediately after asking, it regretted the question and nervously backtracked.
[You don’t have to answer! I was just asking randomly. You’ve been poisoned with a zhongqing gu—a love charm. It makes you fall for the person who cast it at first sight.]
[But if you already have someone you like…]
The system didn’t finish, but Ruan Qing already understood the implication. He shook his head and answered, [No.]
[It’s myself.]
System: [...]
As if he could see the System’s exasperated expression, the faintest hint of a smile tugged at Ruan Qing’s lips.
Too nervous to notice, the System missed the flicker of surprise in Ruan Qing’s eyes when he heard the explanation about the effect of the gu—as if even he was taken aback by something.
And Ruan Qing was surprised. He had assumed the substance forced him to see someone as his most trusted person, not… someone he loved.
A loved one.
It didn’t shock him. In fact, it felt almost inevitable.
Hate never arises without reason, and love never descends without warning.
Before it’s called love—
perhaps it’s just—
Goodnight.
Every goodnight whispered was really saying:
My heart is in chaos.
Miao Linyuan stared at the trust in the young man’s eyes, and the cruelty in his own gaze deepened.
Miao. Ci. Yu.
Who else could the boy love, if not Miao Ciyu? What he’d assumed was a one-sided farce turned out to be mutual affection.
Good. Very good.
His grip tightened, veins bulging on the back of his hand as he nearly crushed the rag in his grasp.
But the next second, his fingers relaxed—and a flash of killing intent passed through his eyes.
Since he already had someone he liked and wouldn't fall in love at first sight, then the solution was simple—make sure he no longer had someone to like.
"What are you standing around for? Hurry up and clean."
Miao Linyuan looked at the bossy figure before him, tossed the rag aside, and made no move to wipe the coffin.
"Cleaning isn’t about tidying up—it’s about checking whether any gu insects have crawled out of the corpse. If there are, you kill them."
"Gu insects?" Confusion flashed across Ruan Qing’s delicate face. "What gu insects?"
Miao Linyuan raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You don’t know?"
Seeing the young man shake his head blankly, Miao Linyuan fell silent. His bewilderment wasn’t feigned—he genuinely had no idea.
He grabbed Ruan Qing’s wrist and checked his pulse.
Aside from the zhongqing gu he had planted earlier, there wasn’t a trace of any other gu insects in the boy’s body.
Miao Linyuan was even more shocked. In Miao Village—a place teeming with gu—being completely free of parasitic gu insects was nothing short of a miracle.
Someone uninfected by gu must never come into contact with them.
Because they would be the perfect host.
Miao Linyuan pulled Ruan Qing away from the coffin. "Stand back. From now on, don’t touch the coffin—better yet, stay away from the mourning hall altogether."
As he spoke, he opened the coffin and carefully inspected the corpse. Only after confirming there were no gu insects did he close the lid again.
"I’ll handle the cleaning tasks for you from now on."
Ruan Qing nodded obediently, lowering his head to hide the horrified look in his eyes.
When Miao Linyuan had opened the coffin, he had also glanced inside—and what he saw was seared into his mind.
The first thing that struck him was the overwhelming red.
The corpse was dressed in robes so crimson they seemed to drip blood. Even the cloth shoes on its feet were red.
Like a bride prepared for her wedding.
Except the figure inside wasn’t a bride—it was a gaunt, withered old woman. The vibrant red clashed grotesquely against her shriveled, dark corpse, making the sight even more terrifying.
Why was she dressed in red for death? Who had changed her clothes?
In the original owner’s memories, his mother had been wearing… wearing…
Ruan Qing’s eyes widened.
He couldn’t remember what clothes the original owner’s mother had been wearing when she died!
Even the oversee is shocked ;w;
ReplyDeleteHe he he, he loves the System >u>
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapters!!