In the deep dark night, he listened to her breathing, smelled her scent, and without even touching her skin, he could sense the softness and warmth of her flesh.
Everything about her was different from the corpses that accompanied him every day.
Bujing Nu stared at her, slowly sitting up. The dagger was hidden in his sleeve, and he gripped the blood-stained Human-faced Dagger once more. After a moment, however, he got off the bed and pushed open the door to leave.
Only after leaving the room and closing the door behind him did that inexplicable emotion in Bujing Nu's heart gradually subside.
No one had ever taught him, and no one had ever truly interacted with him. He did not know that this emotion was called discomfort.
Being among piles of corpses was the most comfortable for him—even more comfortable than being with the Son of Heaven's other Death Soldiers.
Though they were all Death Soldiers raised from childhood, Bujing Nu was different from the others. He had never had contact with anyone, had never studied books. The Son of Heaven had only taught him to recognize characters because he found it inconvenient that Bujing Nu could not write.
Bujing Nu was a fine blade. From a young age, due to his natural talent, he had been chosen to train under the strictest master to hone his martial skills. The first time he killed someone, he had never felt panic.
The official whose head he had severed ran around the courtyard. Bujing Nu watched, feeling that humans were no different from chickens.
The body was like a frog, when grabbed by the head it was like a chicken, the screams sounded like a wailing cat, the pleas like a dog's whimper. Blood splattered across his face, and he remained expressionless.
When killing, he always had no expression. Those who saw him all cursed him as a vicious ghost.
A vicious ghost.
Bujing Nu often thought that he was probably a vicious ghost.
Compared to the living, being with the dead was more comfortable. Didn't people often say that after death, humans become ghosts?
He was probably a ghost.
A living ghost.
In no way did he resemble a human.
He felt this even more when he lay for long periods among the dead. He would lie in the piles of corpses, staring into the eyes of the dead for a long time, and when he woke up, he often could not tell the difference.
He could not tell who he was.
Only when the master called him Bujing Nu did he know he was going to kill again. But who he truly was, he himself could not distinguish.
Who was he?
When staring at the bronze mirror, when meeting the eyes of a corpse, when seeing his own face reflected on the water's surface…
Who was he?
He was a vicious ghost.
A vicious ghost destined for hell.
That was what the living all cursed him as.
But they were only one step away from becoming ghosts themselves. With a single light slash of his dagger, these people would descend to hell to keep him company.
Xia Ji's fragrance was so distinct, deliberately or not, telling him that they were completely different. Bujing Nu had been bathing, but he saw his own face on the water's surface again.
Beautiful?
What was so beautiful about this twisted, terrifying face that resembled a vicious ghost?
Without a word, he stabbed the dagger into the water. Great splashes of water struck his face, slightly warm, just like the blood that sprayed from people.
Occasionally, he could not tell water from blood.
He had long since lost the ability to distinguish them.
Was what he drank from the cup water or blood? When bathing, was he soaking in blood?
Bujing Nu bathed in the 'pool of blood' before his eyes, lowering his head to see his own face stained crimson.
Much like those whose heads he had just severed.
When people died, they drew closer to him.
Hangiang was too far from him.
The reason her fragrance had made him so uncomfortable just now was precisely because of this—
Bujing Nu quietly dried his body and dressed himself. He did not know how to rid himself of his own scent. He was a vicious ghost, the same as the dead, and must carry an eternal stench of decay that could never be washed away.
Bujing Nu returned to the room. He stood before the vanity table, applying fragrant balm.
This scent was wrong too.
Still, there was no way to get closer to Hangiang.
He was a ghost, a dead thing, and it was impossible for him to be so close to Hangiang, a living person.
He would have to kill Hangiang too, only then would she be closer to him.
Xia Ji was woken up again.
In her confusion, she saw that the sky was just beginning to lighten. She was furious, her temples throbbing twice. She took a deep breath and choked.
A thick floral fragrance rushed into her nostrils, and Xia Ji coughed violently. She squinted, only then realizing how heavy she felt.
Bujing Nu was pressing down on her again.
Something cold touched her neck. Xia Ji, still groggy, wrapped her arms around Bujing Nu.
Oh, my little ancestor.
Please, give me a break!
"Good little brother, go to sleep, alright?" Xia Ji patted Bujing Nu's back, but she missed and only touched his hair. It was smooth, unexpectedly soft. Xia Ji stroked it a few more times.
Even though she had transmigrated into a young person's body now.
Her spirit was truly not young anymore. She was twenty-five this year, already at the age where staying up late to play games meant that the next morning, when she groggily set a cup down on the table, she would think someone was knocking at the door.
She breathed again, choked and uncomfortable, yet at the same time, somewhat moved.
Although Bujing Nu was a madman, he was still a promising talent—far more agreeable than the male leads and second leads in other novels.
Whatever she told him to do, he did. When she said he smelled bad, he not only bathed but also applied scented balm.
Though he may have applied a bit too much, it was still a sign of obedience.
Bujing Nu was really quite good, sigh.
"You really smell fragrant."
Xia Ji kept her eyes closed, too sleepy to even open them.
"Fragrant…?" The specially selected white jade dagger was pressed horizontally against Xia Ji's neck as Bujing Nu stared at her face. "I smell fragrant?"
"Fragrant to death."
So fragrant that when Xia Ji woke up, she nearly choked to death on the scent.
For a long while, she didn't hear Bujing Nu speak.
She only felt him burrow into her embrace, holding her tightly.
Oh dear… what is he doing…
Xia Ji was too sleepy, groggy, about to fall asleep again.
"Hangiang is the truly fragrant one. Do I smell good, Hangiang?"
"Good… good…"
Xia Ji turned her head and patted his back. "Good brother, let your sister sleep."
"Sleep then, I'm not stopping you, Hangiang."
Bujing Nu continued to hold her. His naturally gentle, soft youthful voice always sounded a bit sweet and cloying in one's ears, though he himself surely didn't notice.
Xia Ji endured it, held back, and didn't bother reasoning with this madman. She fell asleep again.
[Ding-dong. Detected host deviating from mission target. Mission target has been updated. The target has no name or surname—a young Death Soldier by identity. Capture success rate: ??? Growth index: ??? Appearance score: 10, higher than other capturable characters. Combat power: 10, higher than other capturable characters. Rarity: 9, higher than other capturable characters. Luck Value: 2, lower than other capturable characters.
This encounter is a rare stroke of fortune. Speaking of the world's heroes—battles on the battlefield, contests of pen and ink—every hurdle is passed one by one. Yet only infatuation bewitches, making the world's lovestruck men linger in obsession and resentment. Obsessive love may cost you a throne, may cost you peace and prosperity, may cost you a lifetime of glory, phoenix crown and bridal veil. The Better-Looking Capture System has officially activated. Currently bound target: Bujing Nu—]
Xia Ji: ??
What the hell?
She was fully awake now.
She looked down first at Bujing Nu lying on her, then saw no one else around. She tried communicating through her mind.
[System…?]
It was then that Xia Ji raised her head and met the crow perched at the head of the bed.
[Greetings, host.]
Scared to death!
In the darkness, Xia Ji looked at it as if seeing a ghost and immediately cursed: [You only show up now! Are you sick or what!]
[You… you Soul Seizure'd this crow?]
[Yes, host. This is currently the nearest living creature to the host that can be Soul Seizure'd.]
Xia Ji took a while to recover. Through the thin blue light of dawn, she saw that the crow's eyes—originally as hollow and black as Bujing Nu's—had become somehow different. Even the system had more humanity in its gaze than Bujing Nu did.
Xia Ji digested this for a good while before asking: [What did you mean earlier when you said I deviated from the mission target?]
The crow directly lowered its head and pecked her forehead.
"Ouch—!"
Xia Ji panicked and quickly shut her mouth. At the same time, a novel plot she had never read before inexplicably appeared in her mind.
It told of the female lead Xia Qiu, whose entire family helped the male lead, Prince Zhong Yanli, stage a rebellion. But Zhong Yanli's rebellion failed, and Xia Qiu's entire family was executed.
Xia Qiu, about to be killed, was instead noticed by the Third Prince, Prince Beikang, who had always delighted in humiliating his elder brother. She was taken to the prince's mansion, where a heart-wrenching, torturous romance unfolded. Both men who had originally only wanted to use her fell in love with her. In the end, the female lead was tortured until she went blind, her body broken and ruined. When the Second Prince finally ascended the throne and the female lead finally endured to the end, the male lead who claimed to love her to death built her a separate residence outside the palace—while he fathered child after child with his palace consorts inside.
Yeah, the female lead didn't even get a chance to enter the palace as a mere consort. She could only live outside the palace without any status, blind, body broken, holding her daughter as she survived.
Xia Ji: …
Just how confident had she been back then, thinking she was going to become a laid-back salted fish?
It really was an endless cycle of wage-slave suffering.
In her last life, she was poor, sure, but at least her eyes weren't blind, her body could still work overtime, and she had no child or vicious man dragging her down.
[Why are you showing me this? I don't want to see it.]
[Host, it's so you can understand.]
[Don't tell me I have to live through this original plot. I won't do it. Whoever wants to can do it themselves—you do it yourself. I'd rather die than do it. I'm warning you.]
Xia Ji closed her eyes, not even looking at the crow above her head.
[The host need not follow the original plot. The host has already deviated significantly from the storyline and it cannot be recovered. This system is the Better-Looking Capture System. As long as the host gets close and intimate with the capture target, you can increase your Luck Value and live longer!]
Xia Ji actually saw a fawning smile on a crow's face.
Xia Ji: …
Her wage-slave instincts kicked in.
[There's no strict time requirement, right? It's not like I'll die if I don't finish, is it?] In any case, this isn't some shady 'company', right?
[Don't worry, Host. Please rest assured. If you don't do the tasks and the system isn't activated, you'll die from having too low a Luck Value in this world. This system is an optional-task system and poses no threat to your life whatsoever. Your currently available targets are Bujing Nu, the Second Prince, and the Third Prince. Have you chosen Bujing Nu?]
[I'll pick him then…]
Xia Ji had no choice at all. What was up with those two? One caused her original body's family to be destroyed and left her blind, and the other, because he hated his elder brother, mentally controlled and belittled the female lead every day, ruining her body. Xia Ji couldn't stand it. Those two had better not come before her—she had a temper too.
Besides, from the images she'd seen, neither of them was as good-looking as Bujing Nu. Not even close. It was her first time seeing someone as beautiful as Bujing Nu. Having looked at him every day these past few days, she felt her standards for appearances had been raised. Truly, Bujing Nu was beautiful without a single flaw—the kind of androgynous beauty that easily put women at ease. Aside from being a bit gloomy and seeming somewhat abnormal, everything else about him was just fine.
[Host's selection has been officially recorded. Congratulations on successful binding.]
[Um, about that task you mentioned earlier—]
Before Xia Ji could finish asking, the crow before her seemed to suddenly lose consciousness and plummeted straight toward her face. Xia Ji let out an "Ouch!" and the crow seemed to snap back to its senses. Its eyes had completely returned to those of a normal crow.
"Caw—! Caw—!" The recovered crow cried out in fright. It was too close to Xia Ji. Just as she was about to cover her ears in alarm, a pale, slender arm reached across her body from beside her.
The youth lying on top of her had woken up. Bujing Nu frowned—it was rare to see such an impatient expression on his face. He grabbed the crow and tossed it away.
"Too noisy."
Xia Ji: …
"Sister… Hangiang…" His voice seemed to carry a nasal quality. When he first woke up, his voice was always soft and gentle. His black hair covered most of his face, but Xia Ji could see his handsome nose and forehead. He complained, "Why is the crow cawing…"
Poor crow…! I'm sorry!
Xia Ji's heart was full of guilt, even though it wasn't really her fault.
"Maybe… maybe the crow had a nightmare and got scared, so it came to find you."
Bujing Nu laughed twice—a low, muffled laugh that seemed to emanate from her chest. His laughter was especially pleasant to hear.
Strange.
Probably because she had just bound herself to him, Xia Ji felt a bit awkward now. Looking at him, she no longer saw him as a madman.
"A nightmare, for a crow?" Bujing Nu lifted his head. His skin was fair and smooth, his ink-black hair jet black, and his sleepy eyes held a mischievous smile. Xia Ji gazed at his beauty, watching his lovely lips part and close as he spoke. "Then it must have dreamed of me eating it. Why would it fly to me? I'll go roast it and eat it right now."
Xia Ji: "…Don't go! I was joking! Go back to sleep!"
Xia Ji forcibly wrapped her arms around his head and pressed him into her embrace. The fleeting romantic feeling that had just surfaced in her heart flew off to who-knows-where.
Inside the capital's palace, Wenxuan Hall.
For a palace meant to confine a prince who had committed offenses, Wenxuan Hall was excessively luxurious. But considering that Wenxuan Hall had been the residence of the Second Prince's late birth mother, and that after her passing the Emperor, in his longing and remembrance, had indulged his only remaining son somewhat, none of the civil and military officials had anything to say about it.
At this moment, an old messenger who had traveled through the night had long since changed into eunuch's robes and slipped into the hall, arriving at the Second Prince's bedside.
Zhong Yanli had not yet fallen asleep.
The young man sat up when he saw the old messenger enter. He wore lavish robes, had handsome features, and his face showed clear exhaustion and weariness, with visible bloodshot eyes in both.
"Your Highness, the Xia family of Jinling has been executed—the entire household."
"It's already been carried out?"
"Yes."
Zhong Yanli's expression grew increasingly cold.
"However, this servant heard something strange. It seems one body from the Jinling Xia household is missing—whereabouts unknown."
Zhong Yanli looked at him. "One is missing?"
"Yes. I heard someone escaped, but it's unknown whether they were recaptured afterward."
Zhong Yanli slammed his fist into the bedding.
"The one who ran must be Xia Qiu'er," Zhong Yanli hated that his great undertaking was not yet complete. "Xia Qiu'er wrote to me just days ago, saying that if my great undertaking succeeds, I must not forget my promise! Her feelings for me ran deep—it is my failure that my undertaking is incomplete, and I have ultimately wronged her!"
"Go back to Jinling and keep watch. Search for traces of Xia Qiu'er, and especially don't forget Prince Beikang's residence. If Xia Qiu'er is still alive, she must have fallen into Third Brother's hands…" He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then all the more reason to correspond with Xia Qiu'er. Have her keep a close watch on Third Brother's movements and not forget my instructions."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The old messenger hurriedly withdrew.
Sleeping with Bujing Nu wasn't comfortable.
But Xia Ji was tired and exhausted enough that she slept all the way until the sun was high in the sky.
She woke up in a daze, and happened to meet the gaze of the young man who was lying beside her, holding her arm.
His dark, deep eyes were fixed on her, and who knew how long he had been watching her like this. He gently curved his brows and eyes: "Hangiang, you're awake."
Xia Ji: …
She probably didn't dream last night, right?
She seemed to have dreamed of the system, and through the system, she had bound herself to a target for seduction.
The target for seduction… Bujing Nu.
She needed to get close, to be intimate… or something?
With him?