The Abused-Novel Female Lead Holds a Mad Brush - Chapter 25
Chapter 25: Beep
Just moments ago, 999 received another massive surge of energy.
The source of this energy was none other than the disciples of the Xihe Sect having their “prided self-control completely go out of control.”
In the original novel, as the tragic female lead, the heroine naturally possessed such irresistible charm.
But replacing her with Yu Jiaxue…
999 silently shed a tear of sympathy in its heart for the disciples of the Xihe Sect.
Evidently, the behavior that had left the entire Xihe Sect utterly flabbergasted was none other than its host’s unprecedented, historically flawless dive into the water.
In fact, it wasn’t just the Xihe Sect disciples—999 System itself was deeply astonished by it.
[Host, why are you so bold today?!]
999 was burning with curiosity.
The impression most Xihe Sect members had of “Floating Life Dream” came from the most widely spread saying in the cultivation world: “A dream of floating life bewilders human hearts; ten thousand prosperous phenomena all turn to void.”
However, 999 knew that just as the Hongmeng Scroll was far more than it appeared on the surface, Master Xihe’s Gourd of Floating Life was not merely a tool for trials.
“Floating life is like a dream, dreaming of one’s entire life; sorrow and joy are like mist, realizing the dust of vanity.”
—This was the original purpose of the Gourd of Floating Life.
If someone blessed with destiny encountered it, they could glimpse a wisp of smoke representing their own future from within the Gourd of Floating Life. If they could break free from it, they could naturally prove their Dao path.
Yet, ever since that turmoil caused by the conflict between the human and demon tribes altered the fate of heaven and earth, Master Xihe had never used the Gourd of Floating Life again.
Now, however, Yu Jiaxue was a special existence.
999, who was well-versed in the plot, remembered clearly that in the original novel, the female lead Yu Xue had gone through just such a “fatal binary choice.”
That was a major turning point in the original book. After being abandoned, the female lead Yu Xue had been utterly heartbroken and lost the will to live several times over.
Who could have guessed that when Yu Jiaxue faced the exact same situation, she would pull off a perfect 10-point dive?!
999: As expected of you, my eternal ancestor.
In truth, 999 had never intended to replicate this plot point.
Ever since it saw Yu Jiaxue sneakily drawing a wire to pick a lock in the Wushang Sect’s Hall of Punishment and walking out with total composure—without making a single sound she shouldn’t have—999 had come to a realization:
Play is play, trouble is trouble, but the client never jokes with her life.
Even back at the grand hall of the Wushang Sect, where Yu Jiaxue acted so unyieldingly unbending that even the system was temporarily fooled into thinking it had misunderstood a good person, who knew it was all just because she thought she had no spiritual root at all?
Yet this time, Yu Jiaxue had actually jumped off the cliff with unhesitating determination?!
Simply unbelievable!
Yu Jiaxue raised an eyebrow.
After coming out of the sea, she bounced on the spot and said with a deep, enigmatic air, “Take a guess at why I dared to do that.”
[First, because the host wanted to maintain her image…]
[Second, because the host has practiced diving before?]
Even 999 felt it was absurd to ask such a question.
Who would be bored enough to practice that kind of thing?
And yet—
“Of course.”
Yu Jiaxue waved her arms, controlled herself to spin around on the shore, and then suddenly collapsed onto the ground with a splat.
Not feeling her behavior was strange in the slightest, she calmly scratched at the dirt while speaking with supreme indifference, “A professional client is omnipotent.”
Only by possessing enough skills could she ensure she wouldn’t be beaten to death by the contractors!
999: …
It figures.
[The host must have other trump cards so you weren’t afraid of getting injured from the fall,] 999 said as a spark of inspiration hit while watching Yu Jiaxue’s odd movements.
However, there was still a question—
[What is the host’s trump card?]
Yu Jiaxue’s eyes flickered with light. She finally stood up from the ground and curled her lips into a smile.
“Because this is a game I used to invest in.”
While bantering with the system, Yu Jiaxue had already swum ashore and was walking along the coastline toward a dense forest not far away.
Don’t ask why there was an ocean under the cliff, or why there was a forest by the sea.
Yu Jiaxue thought profoundly: Everything is simply meant to be.
Although she had been suspicious of the system at first, the system’s panicked screams while she was falling and its familiarity with her during their chats all proved that what the system said earlier was true.
It even seemed to have tried to catch her with something, which was why her splash when hitting the water had been so small.
A truly soul-stirring bond between ancestor and descendant.
Yu Jiaxue instantly felt she could treat 999 a bit better.
So after coming ashore, while tidying herself up a bit, she briefly explained the matter to 999.
“This was the very first game I invested in. Its name was…”
Wait.
What was this game called again?
Yu Jiaxue frowned, her hands slowing down as she wrung out the pixelated squares on her clothes.
As the “first” game—a detail that ought to be deeply memorable—there was no reason she shouldn’t remember it clearly, right?
Yet right now, Yu Jiaxue’s mind was in a haze.
Many times, she could clearly see a corner of the answer, but when she tried to grasp it, she couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Yu Jiaxue slowly let go of the pixelated blocks in her hands, turned around toward the ink-blue gradient pixelated seawater, and examined her current appearance.
Beautiful.
Unquestionably beautiful.
Skin as white as snow, delicate and flawless; facial features exquisite without being vulgar.
Slender willow eyebrows were gentle and clean, and long, curled eyelashes were like delicate crow feathers.
Her eyes were exquisitely shaped, with slightly lighter pupils that made them look crystal clear, captivating, and shimmering with liquid charm.
Paired with her one-of-a-kind soul, it was truly a celestial visage and divine demeanor that could nowhere else be found in this world.
In two words: PERFECT!
999: …
No, little ancestor, didn’t you just say that in your eyes, everything is made of pixelated blocks?
“What do you know?” Yu Jiaxue lifted her chin slightly, spreading her arms as she spun on the spot like a top, whipping up a tiny tornado.
She said with soaring confidence, “Not even pixelated blocks can obscure my one-of-a-kind beauty!”
Whether she was beautiful or not remained unknown. But to spin around and create a tornado—you are definitely one-of-a-kind!
999 watched in utter dumbfoundment. Before it could stop her, Yu Jiaxue spoke up again: “Also, I remembered the name of this game!”
Just now, upon seeing her extraordinary and otherworldly face, a flash of inspiration hit Yu Jiaxue, and she finally caught that name surfacing in her mind!
999’s attention was instantly diverted, and it asked curiously: [What is it called?]
Yu Jiaxue blustered loudly in her heart, “This game is called ‘I Went Crazy After They Died’!”
999: ?
999: ??!
999: You’re doing this again?!
“I also remembered that to clear the game, you have to complete the quests, clear away all obstacles on the path forward, and make sure you maintain your sanity so you don’t go crazy.”
“That is the fastest way to clear the game!”
Yu Jiaxue delivered her words with complete righteousness and resounding certainty.
999 listened with a trembling heart, wishing it could kneel down and hug her legs to beg her to stop causing trouble.
It had thought that after its correction, the meme of ‘I Went Crazy After They Died’ had passed.
Never in its wildest dreams did it expect Yu Jiaxue to have such an etched-in-stone impression of it that she actually brought it up a second time?!
Yet, precisely at this moment, 999 couldn’t give any hints to fix Yu Jiaxue’s outrageously wrong memories.
After all, this involved content related to the origin world; even with all the energy 999 had gathered now, it couldn’t fully contend against it.
Hearing a sudden burst of electrical static in her head, Yu Jiaxue furrowed her brow. “Number Zero, what’s wrong with you?”
999 glitched again.
Although it was quite touched that the host still remembered its nickname despite her amnesia, still…
Since you have temporary amnesia, just forget the things you’re supposed to forget!
[…It’s nothing.]
999’s mood was extremely complicated.
[You haven’t explained yet: what does this game have to do with what you just did?]
Hearing this question, Yu Jiaxue’s steps forward slowed down slightly, and her eyes drifted to the side.
“Cough, well, haha, back in the day, I was young and fearless, knowing nothing of how precious life is or how much expensive hair care costs. So I was extremely competitive and wanted to stand at the top of everything and grab first place…”
I can tell.
999 nodded repeatedly. Not just back in the day—you are the exact same way right now.
“…So when designing the first game, taking advantage of the fact that it was a single-player game, I asked the backend to alter my base stats.”
999: …?
An ominous prefeeling slowly rose in its heart.
That terrifying sensation of a Husky dancing wildly or a wild horse running unbridled struck again, so much so that when 999 spoke, its tone became respectful.
[Allow me to ask, what did you do?]
“I asked the backend to tweak my stats a bit. Of course, nothing too exaggerated…”
Before the system could breathe a sigh of relief, it heard Yu Jiaxue speak in a deliberate, slow voice.
“Just infinite stamina, infinite life, infinite luck, top-tier limb flexibility, and combat power standing above everyone else… that’s all?”
That’s all.
By this point, 999 realized its inner heart was actually completely unruffled.
It even felt a bizarre sense of gratitude toward Yu Jiaxue’s restraint.
At least she didn’t introduce millet and rifles into a cultivation RPG game to snipe old pals one bullet at a time, right?
Thinking about it this way, 999 instantly calmed down.
[Alright host, no problem host, whatever you say is right, host.]
[May I ask where you plan to go next?]
“To the Xuan family for revenge.”
This time, Yu Jiaxue didn’t hesitate for a single second and answered crisp and clear.
She remembered distinctly that the speech bubble that had floated over the person’s head earlier contained the two words “Xuan Family.”
Recalling that earlier declaration that made one’s body burn with agitation and heat, Yu Jiaxue only felt her fists hardening again.
She slammed a palm toward a nearby tree.
This palm strike came with fierce momentum, grand as a rainbow, carrying the overwhelming power of thunder; even the wind of her palm carried a desolate killing intent, directly snapping an old tree whose branches were thicker than an adult man’s waist right in half!
Unquestionably herself—a woman maxed out in combat power!
999: .
How about I go negotiate to swap Xuan Yeyang’s Long Aotian protagonist slot to you instead!
Amidst the solemn, desolate scene of falling leaves, Yu Jiaxue looked with satisfaction at the scatter of brown pixelated blocks on the ground, then said in a deep voice, “He who fails to avenge a wrong is no gentleman. A gentleman seeks revenge without rest day or night, to the point where ‘those who pass away are like the river,’ yet without exceeding proper bounds.”
Earlier, she simply hadn’t reacted in time, plus there was the system—an entity of unclear allegiance—around.
But now, Yu Jiaxue had fully confirmed her dominant position.
A real woman must have the courage to throw punches and crush all trash!
[…I can roughly understand the general meaning, but I still want to ask: how do you explain ‘those who pass away are like the river’ here?]
Yu Jiaxue asked in surprise, “You don’t know? It refers to dead people floating down the river, but because I am a gentleman seeking revenge, all of this is only natural and proper.”
Yu Jiaxue’s gaze gradually turned suspicious: “Do you systems not go through nine years of compulsory education?”
How could they let someone who dropped out before nine years take on the job?
999: […]
Fuck your father!!!
WHO IS THE ONE THAT DROPPED OUT OF NINE-YEAR COMPULSORY EDUCATION HERE?!!!!!
At this point, if 999 still couldn’t figure out what was happening, all its years of work would have been for nothing.
Yu Jiaxue—its host who loved to climb, loved to smile, and was both doggish and proud—
Her memories were completely scrambled!
Perhaps it was because she held memories of two lives, or because of the unique nature of the Floating Life Dream, or perhaps the subtle targeting from this world…
Regardless of the reason, the most important task at hand was to get through this hurdle of the Floating Life Dream.
[Then let’s hurry and find Xuan Yeyang,] the system said tiredly.
[Let’s clear the obstacle quickly so we can beat this stage earlier.]
Once she cleared this trial, the host would regain her memories and original combat stats, and then she could at least be a bit more normal…
Right?
While the two were bickering back and forth, they had already walked out of the dark little woods near the bottom of the cliff.
The world outside was completely different from the quiet depths of the forest.
As soon as Yu Jiaxue looked up, she was nearly blinded.
Sun! (A type of solar orb / exclamation)
(T/N: (rì) literally means “Sun” or “Day” (the solar orb in the sky). In modern internet slang, (rì) is also used as a vulgar profanity/exclamation equivalent to “Fuck!”, “Damn!”, or “Shit!” (“fuck a dog”). Because web novels in China are heavily censored for coarse language, authors frequently add deadpan, sarcastic parenthetical annotations to pretend a profanity is actually just a completely innocent word.)
How could there be such a dazzling existence?!
Yu Jiaxue was greatly alarmed, a sudden crisis of being outshone rising in her heart.
Moving at an unprecedented speed, she nimbly dodged every obstacle along the way and sprinted to block the path of the shining pixel figure.
Looking up at the golden crown atop the other person’s head that radiated light like the sun, jealousy, envy, and unwillingness all burst forth in her heart at once.
Yu Jiaxue couldn’t help taking a step forward, saying amiably, “My son…”
The moment the words left her mouth, Yu Jiaxue paused.
She blinked.
Huh, why did a strange surge of maternal affection rise up in her the moment she saw this person?
999: ?
999: [Wait, why is his seniority higher than mine? I don’t agree to him joining this family!]
The golden-crowned figure, however, didn’t think there was anything wrong with the address.
He seemed to automatically ignore Yu Jiaxue’s weirdness, cupped his hands in greeting toward her, and took the initiative to ask, “Wild beasts and bandits often haunt this area. Why is the young lady here alone? Have you run into some difficulty?”
For some unknown reason, the moment he saw this woman, a strange sense of familiarity welled up in his heart.
A familiarity so strong that he actually felt like taking care of this young lady like he would an ancestor???
Realizing his potential presumption, the golden-crowned figure hurriedly introduced himself: “I am Pei Tianming, the youngest son of the Pei family in Xuan City. I came out on this trip specifically to hunt a tiger. If the young lady does not mind, you may leave with me afterward.”
In reality, Pei Tianming didn’t want to hunt a tiger at all.
Had he not been forced by his family, he would never have stepped out of the house.
It was too tiring; lying flat was better.
Pei Tianming?
Yu Jiaxue pondered the name in her mind, and seeing his luxurious equipment from head to toe, her heart burned with greed even more.
Shining with gold all over, and offering help as soon as he spoke—wasn’t this a walking, breathing big spender sucker?
It’s decided!
I’m going to lock him in!
A flash of inspiration struck Yu Jiaxue, and a deep swell of emotion overflowed from her clear, beautiful eyes.
She said solemnly, “My name is Yu Jiaxue. I was supposed to be a young lady from a wealthy family, but I was framed by wicked people. My biological father was mistaken for an old pig and castrated, while my biological brother fell into a manure pit and died!”
Under Pei Tianming’s shocked gaze, Yu Jiaxue’s speaking speed grew faster and faster: “I had no choice but to go out and work, relying on being a maid to make a living. While working, I met a wealthy young master named Xuan Yeyang. I served him tea and poured water for him day in and day out, dancing for him amidst romance and moonlight. He said he loved my smile the most and wanted to grow old with me! Yet when death loomed, he actually abandoned me!”
“I hate! I am furious! I harbor resentment! I distort! I slither—”
Oops, accidentally said that too smoothly.
Yu Jiaxue paused, looking at Pei Tianming without blinking an eye: “I fear the road is hard, harder than climbing to the blue sky! Heaven has its Way, the Way that can be spoken of is not the eternal Way; as the common saying goes—”
“I am bound to win back my dignity!”
999: …
That transition was way too forced!
Who would believe that!
Clap, clap, clap.
A round of applause rang out.
“Well said!”
Pei Tianming’s face was filled with deep emotion, his eyes shining brightly.
His hands holding his sword trembled uncontrollably, and a red flush rose on his cheeks from excitement.
“Living in this world, one ought to have such spirit!”
“May I ask, Lady Yu, how do you plan to proceed next?”
The corners of Yu Jiaxue’s lips curled up, forming a confident arc.
Pei Tianming was stunned, only now realizing after the fact what an incomparably breathtaking face the woman before him possessed.
The previous misery and suffering vanished completely from Yu Jiaxue’s face; at this moment, she was filled with resolute fortitude, standing so dignified and sacred that she seemed like a mysterious goddess from high above the nine heavens who could not be profaned.
Pei Tianming’s heart shook violently.
He watched those clear, lively eyes sink, as if thousands of unspoken words of suffering were buried within them.
Yet he knew Yu Jiaxue needed no one’s pity.
Just like a rare flower growing beside majestic mountains and steep cliffs, she possessed a vibrant, unquenchable vitality, having long since found her own way out.
As the setting sun sank in the west, one could gallop to the ends of the earth even when alone.
She looked at him, cleared her throat, her voice melodiously enchanting yet laced with a trace of mystery.
She said—
“If you wish to know what happens next, quickly hand over 648 taels so you can unlock and listen to my revenge plan!”
999: Believe you, my ass!
Whoever gives this money is the ultimate sucker!
Sure enough, Pei Tianming’s brows furrowed.
“Six hundred and forty-eight taels?”
[Ha, the host really miscalculated this time. He’s not a fool to rush to give you money. How could there be such a good—]
“Isn’t that way too little? Is it enough for your revenge?”
Whether in gold or silver, no matter how Pei Tianming calculated it, he felt it wasn’t enough!
It was just that he had left in a hurry this time and hadn’t brought much cash with him…
Pei Tianming pondered for a few seconds and decisively made up his mind: “Once we get out of this forest, let’s go to the pawnshop in the city! I’ll pawn off my outfit here, and along with the money I brought, it should be worth tens of thousands of taels!”
[—thing in the world?!]
999’s words came to an abrupt halt.
999’s pupils underwent an earthquake!
999 was filled with utter disbelief!
There really IS such an idiot in this world who rushes to send people money?!
There really IS such a good thing in this world where people rush to give you money?!
