"Host, your ideals are lofty, but in reality, your actions will not have any impact on the development of the plot," said the system.
Xiao Jin replied, "How do you know it won't work if you don't try?"
Xiao Jin decided to give it a try. She took out the weapon she always carried with her and walked towards Nan Jin.
The sharp tip of the weapon gleamed with a cold and sharp light as her shoes stepped silently over the puddles formed by raindrops.
Clearly, Xiao Jin was still transparent.
Nevertheless, Xiao Jin still raised the blade in her hand and aimed it at Nan Jin's neck.
Just as the dagger was about to break the skin, Xiao Jin suddenly let go and allowed the dagger to fall to the ground.
"Who?"
Nan Jin looked at the small ripple on the ground and furrowed her brows slightly.
If she hadn't misheard, it seemed like a sound had come from the water puddle just now. It was clear and sounded like the noise of metal or iron falling to the ground.
But in reality, only a broken petal floated on the water's surface.
Nan Jin didn't pay much attention to the sound she heard. In her opinion, on such a cold and rainy day, anything could happen.
Which ghost's soul had come back, and where would it float to? None of it had anything to do with her.
Nan Jin simply said to Su Tan, "There's nothing interesting in the world anymore, but you are guilty, and you must stay alive. You need to go save that girl now."
....
Su Tan had already been dragged away by the guards behind Nan Jin, and Nan Jin was nowhere to be seen.
The only person left to enjoy this heavy rain was Xiao Jin.
Xiao Jin stood in place and watched for a while until she no longer wanted to watch. Then she asked the system, "Don't you plan to give an explanation?"
The system remained silent.
Xiao Jin said sarcastically, "No explanation for why Nan Jin could hear the sound of the dagger falling?"
"It's a bug, definitely a bug," the system affirmed.
Xiao Jin sneered, "A bug? Go ahead and make excuses. I'll stand here and listen to your nonsense."
The system replied, "Host, I can't quite understand what you mean."
"If you don't understand, then let's have a discussion," Xiao Jin said expressionlessly as she began to bring up past grievances. "Last time when I entered the memory fragment, even though I was still transparent, why did Chu Shao seem to know someone was in the courtyard and spoke to me several times?"
The system explained, "Host, you have to understand the protagonist's halo. It's like this."
"...Although Xiao Jin's emotions were stable, she still had to scold. 'To hell with your protagonist's halo.' According to your logic, if Nan Jin can hear the sound of the dagger falling, does that make her the protagonist too?"
The system remained silent.
Xiao Jin continued, "Since you claim not to understand, let me share my understanding with you."
"Please go ahead," the system replied.
Xiao Jin glanced at the rain-drenched Yao Country Imperial Palace and said to the system, "My understanding is that this is not Chu Shao's memory fragment at all. It's the past being reenacted."
The system said, "Host, it's not appropriate to describe it as a reenactment of the past."
Xiao Jin's response was indifferent. "Is that so? Then let me put it another way. I reasonably suspect that these few times, you didn't show me memories like movies but actually transported me to decades ago."
"In other words, you're using a little trick to hide me, making them unaware of my presence, but I'm actually back in the past."
"Why do I think that? Just now..."
"Just now, I made the motion to stab Nan Jin, and you made an emergency response to the dagger, preventing Nan Jin from being attacked. But obviously, you couldn't react in time to my next action of throwing away the dagger because you didn't anticipate that possibility. So, it fell to the ground and made a sound."
The system fell silent.
"Well, you're still remaining silent. It seems you really can't be considered intelligent. If you had a bit of intelligence, the memories you showed me these few times would have been from a single person's subjective perspective, not multiple perspectives."
"Do you know that in a single-person memory, you wouldn't have access to the inner thoughts and activities of multiple people? Is it a bit unreasonable to see the thoughts of so many people just through one person's memory?"
The system fell silent once again.
Xiao Jin continued to speak, "Are you trying to say, 'I'm sorry, host. It's my first time being a system, so I'm not very skilled yet'?"
The system replied, "Host, I..."
Xiao Jin's face remained expressionless. "What 'you'? This is also my first time being a host. But I can see that there's definitely something wrong with you as a system."
"Quickly tell me all the information you know, or else I'll slit my throat right now, and neither of us will have any fun."
As Xiao Jin spoke, she swiftly raised the dagger and pressed it against her own throat.
Silence filled the air.
The system sighed, "Host, holding the dagger against your throat won't work. You won't die."
Xiao Jin narrowed her eyes, "You can control whether I live or die?"
The system answered, "Yes."
"In that case, was it also a deception when you warned me before that I would die if I didn't complete the mission?" Xiao Jin's tone had become murderous.
The system paused for a second, "It wasn't a deception."
"Host, if you don't complete the mission, both the body of Prince Yan, Xiao Jin, and the true you in the other world will die."
"Only by completing the mission can you stop the countdown to your life and return to the original world."
Xiao Jin smiled and asked, "Who set these rules?"
"Host, I set them," the system replied.
"Why are you able to set the rules? Who are you?" Xiao Jin inquired.
"I am the system."
"..."
She couldn't refute that.
Xiao Jin realized that she couldn't obtain any meaningful information from conversing with the system.
So, for now, she temporarily suppressed her other doubts and asked the most crucial question, "I understand the reasoning. But why is it specifically me?"
Xiao Jin genuinely couldn't comprehend why she, just a useless modern youth, became one of the cannon fodders in the novel, rather than a paper-thin character.
Did the whole event happen too hastily?
However, the system didn't think it was hasty at all and shamelessly said, "Host, because it can only be you."
Xiao Jin's eyes flickered for a moment, feeling that there was a deeper meaning behind the system's words.
Then, the system continued, "Only you refrained from cursing and didn't insult the original author's family, calmly giving a negative score."
"And you even displayed the text 'Quite cliché, I'm afraid I'll die within three chapters as a cannon fodder with the same name. Tsk, I'm truly scared of transmigration' on the public screen."
"..."
Xiao Jin interjected, "There's no need to repeat it again."
"In any case, after the system's detection and calculation, you are the most suitable candidate, and only you can complete these tasks."
Facing the mindless boasting of the system, Xiao Jin had already become numb.
She knew that the system was definitely hiding something from her. But it was evident that this system was not very intelligent or human-like, so it would not disclose the truth.
Unable to obtain much information, Xiao Jin stopped trying to pry information from the system. Instead, she lifted her head and looked at the sky framed by the palace.
Raindrops passed through her eyes and fell to the ground.
At this moment, Xiao Jin remembered the rain on ChunTan Street and the scholar who had fallen drunk on the bridge. Whether he was muttering about long and melancholic poetry no longer seemed important.
The key was that she could now perceive raindrops passing through her body, indicating that she was only hidden away and hadn't lost her sense of hearing, touch, and smell.
The vivid sensations also indicated that these memories were not just memories but a way for the system to somehow send her back to the past.
As for what the system was thinking exactly, Xiao Jin wouldn't know, and she didn't care either.
It didn't matter.
After all, now that she had full omniscient perspective, she didn't need the system. She could find the truth on her own.
With that in mind, Xiao Jin suddenly remembered something important. "What did Nan Jin say to Su Tan with her last words?"
At that time, her thoughts were occupied with the system, so she didn't pay attention to what was being said.
The system replied, "She said, 'Now you have to go save that girl.'"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Translator's note: Yes~ there is definitely a deep meaning on that~~.
TO BE CONTINUE...