“Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. You’ve earned one beauty transformation, and a reward of 50 points. Points can be used to buy items in the mall.”
“Host, shall we pull out of this world right away?” The system could hardly wait to take the host on to the next mission.
“Wait, I haven’t finished spending the money I worked so hard to earn, I can’t die with money still left over.” Su Yue checked her savings, a little over ten thousand, a fortune to someone as thrifty as her.
She couldn’t take anything from this parallel world back to her own, and she wasn’t willing to just abandon it, she had to spend it all before leaving.
“Host, you could use your points to buy a spatial item from the mall, convert the money in this parallel world into actual goods, and store them in the space to take with you. The space would be yours to keep afterward, making future missions much easier, a one-time investment for endless returns. You deserve it, what are you waiting for?” The system quickly offered up the idea, worried that if the host went back to her own world, she’d just exchange the points for cash, such a waste.
Of course, the real loser there would be the system, which wouldn’t get a cut of that. But if the host bought something from the mall, it would get a 2% commission.
“Fifty points can buy a 5-cubic-meter space. If you feel that’s too small, you can upgrade the space later using more points, clearly priced, no gimmicks. It’s a really good deal, host, stop hesitating.” The system kept coaxing her, eager for her to buy quickly so it could collect its commission. As for what use points were to a piece of code, well, naturally, for upgrades.
Other systems relied on their hosts feeding them points to upgrade. It was different, it was a strong, self-reliant system that would never become a burden on its host.
“I’ll buy it…” Su Yue had originally planned to browse the other items in the mall first, but with the system’s coaxing, she found herself genuinely wanting to own a space that only existed in novels.
She left her apartment and headed straight for a gold shop, but the moment she reached the door, she suddenly calmed down. She couldn’t be this selfish, she still needed to arrange for what would happen after she was gone.
“Host, what’s wrong?” the system asked, confused.
“I forgot, the original owner has no family and no friends. Arranging what happens afterward will cost money too, so I can’t selfishly take it all with me.” She turned on her heel and headed straight for a nearby bank, withdrawing every last bit of her savings.
The system let out a deep breath of relief, good thing it had managed to talk the host into buying the space earlier. What a clever little thing it was.
Back at her studio apartment, Su Yue wrote a will. Drawing on the original owner’s memories, she wrote down everything the original owner had experienced from childhood onward, including all her resentment and grievances.
She wanted to make sure everyone would know everything the original owner had gone through, as a kind of repayment to her.
Then she thought about whether her departure might weigh on Du Chengfeng and Zhao Cheng’s conscience, so she also filled the letter with praise for the two of them, saying that meeting them had been the luckiest thing to happen to her in this life.
Finally, she urged all adults not to have children carelessly, that was the best form of self-discipline any adult could practice. Bringing a child into the world without raising it properly was the most shameless thing a person could do.
She wrote another letter, this one addressed to the police. The orphanage director had always told her that if she ever ran into trouble, she should go find a police officer.
“Hello, officers. First, I want to say I’m sorry for making you meet me this way, and for the trouble I’m causing you. As an orphan, I don’t know where I truly came from, so please scatter my ashes into the sea. Don’t feel sad for me, death isn’t an ending for me, but a new beginning. Enclosed is 11,056 yuan, all of my savings, to be used to cover the costs of my funeral arrangements. Once again, I bow to you in apology for the trouble caused.”
With everything arranged, she called the police and reported her address.
Then she took a selfie, smiling brightly in the photo, making a peace sign. It looked a little silly, but she felt quite good about it. She posted it to her social media feed with the caption: I’ve been in this world. See you again in the next life, if fate allows.
The next moment, she pulled out of this parallel world. Ten minutes later, the police arrived. When no one answered the door after knocking, they forced it open.
After reading through the two letters left behind, and then seeing the girl’s peaceful, smiling face, every officer present fell into silence.
Everyone in the world knew that a poor life was better than a good death, so what could have driven this eighteen-year-old girl, still in the bloom of youth, to leave this world so calmly?
Later, these two letters were even posted online, drawing a wave of sympathy.
“This child suffered so much…” an older officer couldn’t help saying, a sentiment everyone else shared.
Du Chengfeng and Zhao Cheng, seeing the social media post, rushed to the studio apartment right away, but they were still a step too late, stopped by the police tape at the bottom of the building, and then they saw the figure covered by a white sheet.
In that moment, they felt as though they’d fallen into an icy pit. Refusing to give up, they lifted the white sheet to confirm it themselves, and both of them sank into dead silence.
Especially the smile still on her face, it stabbed sharply into their eyes, and even more sharply into their hearts.
Du Chengfeng pressed a hand to his own chest, the ache there unmistakably clear. So he hadn’t been entirely without feelings for her after all, why hadn’t he realized it sooner?
If he’d only understood his own heart earlier, she never would have come to this.
In fact, he’d never insisted on marrying someone excellent in every way, but it was all too late now.
“She was perfectly fine just a few hours ago, why? Why?” Zhao Cheng also couldn’t accept this painful reality, while silently cursing himself for not noticing something was wrong with her a few hours earlier.
When he’d left, he’d sensed something off about her, why hadn’t he turned back?
Once the older officer learned who the two men were, and given that the girl’s letter had mentioned them both, he showed them the two letters directly, then took them back afterward.
“That girl went through too much suffering. Maybe it’s for the best that she’s gone, I hope she gets a better life next time around. The letters need to go back with us for now, though, once the paperwork is done, you can pick them up at the police station if you want them.” The older officer let out a deep sigh. Having been a police officer for most of his life, he’d seen every kind of human suffering there was.
“Why did that damned girl have to go and die in my apartment? My property!” The landlady, arriving late to the scene, lost her composure the moment she understood what had happened.
Now that someone had died in her apartment, who would ever want to rent it after this?
So what if she raised the rent every now and then, or charged a bit more for water and electricity than others did?
It was her property, she could do whatever she wanted with it, this damned girl must have been getting back at her on purpose!
Su Yue: getting back at her, she’d honestly never even thought about that.
Her cursing drew furious glares from everyone present, including the crowd of onlookers who’d gathered. Most of the onlookers were residents of the building, and it nearly sparked public outrage.
The girl was dead, and here she was getting cursed at on top of it, the landlady had no decency at all.
In the end, the studio apartment Su Yue had lived in was bought by Du Chengfeng. He himself wasn’t sure why he’d bought it.
Maybe it was out of fear that the last trace she’d left behind in this world would be erased otherwise.