In the environment where Fu Jinyin grew up, she truly began to understand this world at sixteen.
Six years ago, she slept in an alley, covered with clothes dug out of a trash can.
She didn’t feel cold.
She only wanted to wrap herself up tightly.
It rained constantly during that time.
The sky was dark and heavy, and occasionally there would be leftover food in the trash bins.
Rotten.
Foul-smelling.
But enough to fill her stomach.
Day after day, she did not die.
She stubbornly stayed alive.
One ordinary night, an old woman passing by the alley picked her up and took her home.
She couldn’t distinguish good from evil.
When the old woman told her to go, she went.
The next day, the old woman brought her to the police station.
The old woman left.
She stayed at the police station for a long time, and in the end, she was sent to an orphanage.
[The experimental subject possesses exceptionally high memory capacity, but No.112 suffered brain damage and does not have this ability.]
In truth, she did have it.
At the orphanage, she learned how to speak and write, and later began continuously accumulating knowledge.
Her brain was very intelligent.
She remembered everything those researchers had said.
It was only because she couldn’t read and didn’t know how to use her vocal cords that they thought she was stupid.
She gradually integrated into human society.
But learning was difficult.
Those humans always liked to shove her head into water.
But she was an octopus.
She wasn’t afraid of water.
Yet at those moments, her heart would feel uncomfortable.
At first, she didn’t know what that emotion was.
Later, she learned that it was anger.
She accumulated knowledge bit by bit, learned about emotions, and her once-blank mind gradually became richer.
But it seemed she had never learned any good emotions.
Having her arm slashed with glass hurt.
Being pushed down from a building hurt.
Stepping on nails hurt too.
Everything she experienced made her heart uncomfortable.
It made her want to kill.
Fu Jinyin called that feeling “annoying.”
As she experienced more, she became more and more like a human.
Yet she never truly understood emotions.
For example, right now.
Liu Qiu made her very annoyed.
Her heart felt swollen and uncomfortable.
But it seemed different from before.
Before, she also found Liu Qiu annoying.
She had wanted to kill her.
She had wanted to make her suffer so she could understand her own emotions.
The internet said that if you hated someone, you should ruin their reputation, strip them of all their money, have their spouse cheat on them, and make all their friends betray them.
What was being “cuckolded”?
Fu Jinyin searched again.
It referred to one’s spouse or partner having an affair.
She didn’t understand these things.
But it did seem to make Liu Qiu suffer.
Fu Jinyin lay down.
In the darkness, her pale eyes fell on Liu Qiu’s trembling shoulders.
She slowly extended her hand, but stopped just before touching her.
Recently, Liu Qiu always made her very annoyed.
Yet she had inexplicably hugged Liu Qiu earlier.
A strange kind of annoyance.
Liu Qiu’s tears also annoyed her.
Why had she become so prone to crying?
She hadn’t cut her arm with a knife.
She hadn’t beaten anyone with an iron rod.
Nor had she sliced open Liu Qiu’s flesh with a small blade.
The system was awakened by Liu Qiu’s intense emotional fluctuations.
As soon as it woke up and sensed that its host was crying, it immediately asked, [Host, what’s wrong? Who bullied you?]
Liu Qiu was silent for a moment, then slowly told the system what had just happened.
The system began analyzing.
Liu Qiu couldn’t hear the system anymore.
She called softly, [System, did you fall asleep?]
The system replied, [No. Host, do you like Fu Jinyin?]
Liu Qiu answered, [No.]
[Then why are you crying?]
Liu Qiu carefully buried her face into the pillow.
[I don’t know. I just feel uncomfortable.]
The system lowered its mechanical voice and began asking one question after another.
[Then do you like Duan Fan?]
Liu Qiu: [No.]
The system asked again, [Does Fu Jinyin resemble your first love?]
Liu Qiu pressed her lips together.
[I never had a first love, but Fu Jinyin kind of resembles a friend of mine.]
[System, why are you asking these things?]
The system replied stiffly, [I’m giving you psychological counseling. Host, don’t you feel less uncomfortable now?]
Liu Qiu sensed it.
[It seems like I do.]
She really didn’t feel as bad anymore.
The system clapped inside her head.
[Clap clap clap.]
[Host, do you remember how you viewed these characters in your first mission world?]
Liu Qiu thought carefully.
[System, I forgot.]
The system didn’t mind.
[I remembered it for you. Back then, Host, you even voluntarily put the “cuckold hat” on yourself.]
[Wasn’t Bai Qingqing gentler and kinder to you than Fu Jinyin? Yet you never felt upset when Bai Qingqing cheated on you, let alone cried.]
When the system brought it up, Liu Qiu’s memory became clearer.
It really had been like that.
Bai Qingqing didn’t love the original host.
Fu Jinyin didn’t love the original host either.
In fact, Bai Qingqing was even better at pretending.
In those small worlds, Liu Qiu had never invested real feelings.
She only wanted to go home.
She wanted to see her parents again.
But in this world, her emotions had been wrong from the very beginning.
From the moment she saw Fu Jinyin, she had almost thought—
[System—]
The system’s mechanical voice burst into laughter.
It didn’t sound pleasant and carried no real warmth, but Liu Qiu knew it was truly laughing.
Liu Qiu no longer felt so uncomfortable.
Still, something about her emotions felt strange.
As if knowing her thoughts, the system slowly explained, [Host, you just miss home. When you saw that Fu Jinyin looks like someone you know, even if you didn’t consciously realize it, your subconscious must feel differently toward her.]
[So you inevitably projected your emotions onto Fu Jinyin. And since this Fu Jinyin treats you so fiercely, you feel wronged.]
[Sleep it off and you’ll be fine. Host, I’ll sing you a lullaby.]
The system sounded relaxed.
In truth, it was frantically sending messages.
What it told her wasn’t entirely wrong.
But the real issue was that its host’s mental state was deteriorating.
She never should have rushed from one mission world straight into the next without rest.
The host was only a twenty-one-year-old ordinary student.
It was going to apply for a long leave.
Its host needed proper rest.
Liu Qiu felt the system made sense.
She really did miss home.
She usually didn’t show it, but her emotions accumulated day by day.
If left unresolved, they would hurt.
Fu Jinyin wasn’t her friend.
She was just someone in a mission world.
Liu Qiu had placed her reliance on her friend onto Fu Jinyin instead.
The more Liu Qiu thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
The suppressed emotions in her heart dissipated completely.
There was no need to feel hurt just because Fu Jinyin treated her badly.
Even if she was only taking the blame, the identity she inherited had indeed done excessive things.
Since she inherited it, being treated coldly was only natural.
But none of that mattered.
As long as she could go home.
[System, thank you for talking me through it. I feel much better now.]
The system replied, [Haha, Host, it’s fine. We’re in this together. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself while doing missions.]
Why hadn’t the main system replied to its messages yet?
So annoying.
Liu Qiu sniffed.
[I won’t. I’ll work even harder.]
The moon hid behind the clouds.
The room fell into darkness.
But Fu Jinyin was not hindered by the night.
She could still see Liu Qiu clearly.
Liu Qiu had stopped trembling.
Was she asleep?
Fu Jinyin pressed her lips together gently and called hoarsely, “Liu Qiu.”
Liu Qiu heard her.
Since Fu Jinyin knew she was awake, Liu Qiu slowly turned to face her.
She didn’t speak.
Fu Jinyin could see Liu Qiu’s reddened eyes.
Her fingers moved slightly.
She still couldn’t control her body and reached out to lightly touch Liu Qiu’s cheek.
“You cried?”
“Why?”
“You’ve been crying a lot lately.”
“It annoys me.”
Fu Jinyin’s fingertips were cool.
They traced along the tear tracks little by little.
Liu Qiu’s skin was warm and soft, still damp.
It made Fu Jinyin uncomfortable.
Liu Qiu’s tears always made her feel uneasy.
Liu Qiu didn’t stop her.
In the darkness, she couldn’t see Fu Jinyin’s face clearly.
She blinked and spoke hoarsely, her voice carrying a slight nasal tone.
“Fu Jinyin, let’s sleep.”
Fu Jinyin’s fingers paused before slowly withdrawing.
“Why… three syllables?”
It was annoying.
Liu Qiu always changed things.
Liu Qiu explained, “You don’t seem to like it when I call you just the last two characters.”
“If I call your full name, will you feel better?”
Fu Jinyin pressed her lips together and asked again, “You still haven’t answered me. Why do you cry so much?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but in the quiet room it sounded clear.
Liu Qiu’s heart skipped.
Had Fu Jinyin noticed something was off?
A domineering CEO wasn’t supposed to cry.
She had cried several times these past few days.
After thinking for a moment, Liu Qiu answered honestly, “Because you treat me badly.”
“But I don’t blame you. I know I treated you badly before. It’s only fair that you treat me like this.”
She even felt a little embarrassed saying it.
Despite everything she’d been through, she still couldn’t fix her tendency to cry easily.
Seeing Fu Jinyin silent, Liu Qiu added, “In the future… I’ll cry less.”
She couldn’t promise never to cry.
So she could only promise to cry less.
Fu Jinyin fell silent.
Her heart began feeling uncomfortable again.
She reached out and gently held Liu Qiu’s hand.
She didn’t know why she did that.
It felt like an instinctive movement.
Fu Jinyin enunciated each word slowly.
“You always make me… very annoyed.”
She didn’t like the sour, swollen feeling in her chest.
Liu Qiu didn’t pull away.
But she couldn’t help thinking that Fu Jinyin hadn’t washed her hands after being with Duan Fan earlier.
Fortunately, this hand was dry and cold.
It probably wasn’t that hand.
It was very late.
Fu Jinyin had work tomorrow.
After being persuaded by the system, sleepiness swept over Liu Qiu.
She let out a small yawn and whispered, “I’m going to sleep. Good night, Fu Jinyin.”
The room fell completely silent.
Meanwhile, in the other room, Duan Fan sat on the bed in a daze for a long time.
After Chaoyue finished her game, Duan Fan still hadn’t moved.
She looked like a statue.
Chaoyue laughed.
“What are you zoning out for so long? Did you fake moan yourself into exhaustion?”
Duan Fan snapped out of it and looked at her.
“You heard?”
Chaoyue put down her phone and pointed to her ear.
“Dear, I have very good hearing.”
“If you did it, you did it. Why sit here repenting and disturbing my game?”
Duan Fan smiled, her narrow eyes nearly closing into slits.
“Chaoyue, sometimes you’re really annoying.”
“If you didn’t notice anything, hurry back to my sister.”
Chaoyue shook her head.
“I need to observe a few more days.”
“By the way, Duan Fan, aren’t you afraid you’ll regret what you did?”
Duan Fan gripped the ruby pendant at her neck, her tone flippant.
“Regret what? I didn’t actually do anything.”
Chaoyue rolled over and lay on her stomach, reopening her game.
“You know what I mean.”
“Anyway, it’s none of my business. I don’t have any particular opinion about Liu Qiu either. I’m not competing with you.”
Her words were blunt.
Just short of grabbing a loudspeaker and shouting in Duan Fan’s ear, You like Liu Qiu.
Duan Fan lay back lazily, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling and smelling the faint scent of body wash.
“Chaoyue, you’ve got to be kidding.”
She had hated Liu Qiu for over ten years.
How could she suddenly like her?
She admitted she’d had certain thoughts about Liu Qiu lately.
But that was just lust at first sight.
Liu Qiu did look good.
But as for liking her?
It wasn’t that serious.
Chaoyue tapped her game.
“Dear, onlookers see more clearly.”
“Tomorrow, go explain what you did last night to Liu Qiu.”
Duan Fan closed her eyes and rested her hands behind her head.
“It was fun. Why explain?”
Chaoyue smiled silently.
Duan Li had truly raised her little sister into a fool.
“You made Liu Qiu cry.”
She had already kindly reminded her.
Whether Duan Fan listened or not had nothing to do with her.
Duan Fan’s lashes trembled.
She turned her back to Chaoyue.
“Enough. I’m sleeping.”
If Liu Qiu cried, she cried.
Did that mean she had to comfort her every time?
She wasn’t her wife.
Why should she comfort her?
And besides, Fu Jinyin had agreed to it.
Damn Fu Jinyin.
Always acting in front of her like she hated Liu Qiu to death, yet at night she held her in her arms.
That damn woman was sly.
If Duan Fan didn’t mess with her a little, she’d feel uneasy.
But now that Chaoyue had mentioned it, Liu Qiu’s tearful face surfaced in her mind again.
So annoying.
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