Chapter 60: A Past Revealed, A Future Embraced

In the side room’s bedroom, Hua Xiangrong, who had just vowed to sleep alone, found herself utterly sleepless. Nestled deep within the warm embrace of her blankets, she urgently called out to the system in her mind:

“099! 099! Quick, broadcast it for me…”

“Broadcast the situation with Hua Yan and Yun Xueshang, right? I know, I know…” 099’s voice resonated with a hint of helplessness.

“Oh, not bad, 099! You’re even answering preemptively now! Keep up the good work; maintain this momentum!”

099 replied, “…Host, you deliberately made excuses to give them an opportunity. How could I not know what you want to see?”

***

Soon, Hua Xiangrong’s mental screen displayed the scene of Hua Yan stubbornly and tsunderely declaring, “You can sleep wherever you want.”

“Ahhh! Mother, don’t drop the ball at such a crucial moment!”

The pink-haired girl rolled around on the bed, hugging her pillow, utterly exasperated with her prideful mother.

“I specifically created this perfect opportunity for you two! The atmosphere tonight is so good; why can’t you just fast-forward to the bedroom scene?”

“I can’t broadcast that kind of scene, Host. You’re still a minor!” 099 retorted.

“But I was an adult in my previous life! Wait… 099, do you mean you can broadcast it for me once I’m an adult in this life?” Hua Xiangrong’s eyes lit up as she eagerly pressed for an answer.

“No, I won’t broadcast it! The System Bureau absolutely forbids anything that invades privacy or violates public morality!”

“Why do you systems have so many rules?”

As the girl and system bickered, Hua Yan on the screen suddenly called out to Yun Xueshang, who was about to leave.

“Oh my god! A twist!” Hua Xiangrong instantly perked up, clenching her small fists as she cheered in her mind, “My villainess mom is finally making progress! Wuwuwu, 099! I’m so touched!”

099 responded, “…Host, can I go offline for a while?”

“No way! If you’re not here, who will listen to my post-shipping commentary?”

099 remained silent.

***

The two on the screen finally lay down together. Just as Hua Xiangrong was lamenting that the night might end uneventfully, Yun Xueshang suddenly spoke softly, sharing her innermost thoughts about Hua Xiangrong with Hua Yan.

Watching this, the excitement on Hua Xiangrong’s face gradually faded. She quietly curled up in her blanket, listening to their every word about her, speechless for a moment.

She turned her head to gaze out the window. The night sky was clear as crystal, with a crescent moon and twinkling stars, pristine and bright, much like the nights of her previous world.

Of course, according to 099, the novel world was based on Earth’s settings, so similarities were natural. Yet, the night sky here lacked the city’s neon lights and smog, appearing exceptionally clean.

“099,” Hua Xiangrong whispered softly in her mind.

“Host, I’m here,” the little system quickly replied.

“After… after I complete my mission, can I continue to stay in this world?” Her voice carried a hint of imperceptible melancholy, “This world won’t just disappear, will it?”

“Hmm? Host, you want to stay in this novel world?” 099 sounded a little surprised, but quickly gave an answer.

“Of course you can! Actually, according to the System Bureau’s records, many hosts choose to stay in a novel world to live out their remaining years after completing their missions. Few actually continue to travel through worlds with the system.

“Even though this is your first mission world, choosing to stay is perfectly fine. And it certainly won’t disappear, as I mentioned before, this is also a real world.

“Furthermore, this won’t affect your mission rewards, Host. Your points can even be exchanged for corresponding items in the system store in advance. Our System Bureau is very humane, you know.”

099 explained earnestly, though Hua Xiangrong wondered where exactly a system found its ‘humanity.’

“Thank you, 099.” Hua Xiangrong curved her lips into a sweet smile.

“Honestly, looking back at my past life, besides reading yuri novels, the days I’ve spent in this world have probably been the happiest.”

“Host…”

“099, you know what I was like in my previous life, don’t you?” Hua Xiangrong seemed to open a long-sealed floodgate, withdrawing her gaze from the moon and turning to look at the bed board above her, her voice soft.

“In my last life, I never met my biological parents; I grew up in an orphanage. Later, a couple took a liking to my looks and cleverness, and adopted me.

“I don’t know if I should be grateful to them. They gave me the best education, sent me to study acting, and racked their brains to cultivate my talents. But they never truly cared about me.”

Hua Xiangrong’s gaze drifted, as if landing on a distant past. “They never once stroked my head or praised me, only constantly demanded that my grades and performances be more perfect.

“They never asked how I was doing at school. When I was little, I once deliberately fought with bullies to get their attention—but they only scolded me for ‘tarnishing my resume,’ never asking why.

“They never personally cooked a single meal for me, not even a simple bowl of noodles. We ate takeout every day, and they did too—because they were merely bound by mutual benefit, not truly loving spouses.

“I grew up in that ‘home’ like that. I couldn’t develop any fondness for normal male-female relationships because they completely destroyed my expectations for ‘love.'”

“Then, one time, I accidentally came across a light novel, one belonging to a classmate from my acting class. It was about the love story between two girls.”

At this point, Hua Xiangrong’s eyes suddenly brightened, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted. “That’s when I realized that girls could also have such beautiful feelings for each other.

In the world of two dimensions, in anime, games, manga, and novels, the way two girls relied on each other and protected each other was so pure, so desirable, like a ray of light in my dreary life.

“From then on, I secretly devoured all kinds of yuri works whenever I had a moment, hiding it from that couple. It was the only solace in my oppressive life.”

“Later, I graduated with excellent grades and entered the entertainment industry as they wished, quickly becoming a popular young star.

But what did it matter? My contract, my life—everything was in their hands. They would never stop until they had squeezed every last bit of value out of me.”

“I couldn’t resist. Unless I never acted again in this life, they had a thousand, ten thousand ways to make me unable to survive in the industry.

Think about it, ‘Popular Young Star is a White-Eyed Wolf, Adoptive Parents’ Hard Work Betrayed’—the marketing accounts of my previous life would surely love a title like that, right?”

“But if I didn’t act, what else could I do? Having grown up under their control, I knew nothing but acting.

And I didn’t even have the heart to resist, because I simply didn’t know what else I wanted to do after resisting, besides continuing to read those yuri stories.

“So I lived in a daze, secretly reading my favorite yuri works while earning money for them, until that day I accidentally got into a car accident.”

At this point, there was no fear or regret in Hua Xiangrong’s eyes; instead, they sparkled, as if she were recounting a stroke of immense good fortune.

“Just when I thought I was going to suddenly die, just when I was still thinking about the unfinished updates on my novel bookshelf, I met you—099!”

A brilliant, dazzling smile bloomed on the pink-haired girl’s face. “You gave me a chance to live again! You transformed me into the Hua Xiangrong I am today!

“When I first arrived, I only thought about living for the moment, treating this novel world like a game from my past life. Seeing two beautiful characters, I just wanted to ship them, never taking the so-called ‘home’ seriously.

“But this place is different, and Hua Yan and Yun Xueshang are different.

They may not be my mothers in the truest sense, but they are willing to give me a home; they are not true Dao companions, yet they are willing to protect this gentle lie together for me—this child who appeared out of nowhere.

“They gave me everything I lacked in my previous life.

“I think, perhaps, this is where I truly belong.”

“Thank you, 099, thank you for giving me this opportunity to meet such wonderful mothers…” She chuckled softly, her eyes shining.

“Host…”

Listening to Hua Xiangrong’s narration, 099, though already aware of its host’s past, felt a bittersweet ripple pass through its cold data stream at that moment.

“I will stay in this world—after we save it!”

“I feel Mother and Matriarch’s feelings for each other are getting stronger… Since the CP I ship is real, then I must also become ‘real’!”

“Not the me from the past, whose life was controlled by adoptive parents, but the me now, reincarnated as Hua Xiangrong in this cultivation world, the daughter of Hua Yan and Yun Xueshang!”

“This is the family I want! This is the life I want!”

“I will definitely work hard to save the world! For my current and future home!”

“Go, Hua Xiangrong!”

The pink-haired girl cheered herself on, her smile bright and radiant.

Unlike her time in Yun Jing, where Hua Yan and Yun Xueshang showed her what a ‘home’ felt like, this time, she saw a bright future and was willing to walk towards that light, no matter what.