He Cheng: “Fuck!”
“Why are we so damn unlucky?”
First they had nearly been found, and now it was raining. Couldn’t they have a little good luck for once?
Bean-sized raindrops splashed against his face. Pei Jing frowned.
“Let’s find a rock to shelter under first.”
Fortunately, there were plenty of huge boulders around the terrain near Xican Village. They could at least block some of the rain.
The group casually found a rock wall to shelter beside. He Cheng could not resist complaining, “Surely they won’t come searching for us in the rain now, right?”
He refused to believe those people never needed to rest. If that really was the case, he would honestly have to admire their perseverance.
Tan Qingxian turned his head and glanced at him.
“Don’t jinx it.”
But this time, He Cheng seemed to have… actually been right?
The group waited in the nearby forest for a long while without seeing any trace of the villagers. Clearly, the other side had not come up the mountain.
Had they given up?
Tan Qingxian breathed a sigh of relief. His body relaxed slightly, though he still felt somewhat puzzled.
After leaving the dilapidated house, A-Qi had originally intended to continue searching with the others. But before he could set out, he saw a familiar villager running toward them with a candle.
“A-Qi, it’s raining. The village chief said you don’t need to keep searching.”
The villager paused and discreetly glanced around.
“The village chief said this is the deity’s will.”
But the idol…
A-Qi froze for a moment, then suddenly thought of the five sacrificial animals. His expression changed slightly.
“Mm, I understand.”
No matter how well those outsiders hid, they could not leave the village.
A-Qi’s expression returned to calm as he cast an inscrutable glance toward the mountain forest.
…
Xie Fan returned home with countless things he wanted to say but could not. Everything that had happened today seemed utterly absurd to him, yet not a single villager besides him appeared to think so.
“No, seriously, they can tell the direction just by letting a spider crawl around?”
What kind of basis was there for that?
The moment the thought surfaced in his mind, Xie Fan remembered: this was Xican Village.
He frowned. Only after going upstairs and closing the door did he quietly ask, “So, did they find the protagonist group?”
“No.”
The System’s voice sounded the same as always, devoid of any discernible emotion.
Xie Fan breathed a slight sigh of relief. “Looks like this feudal superstition isn’t all that effective after all. That’s what I thought. How could there really be such a bizarre method?”
If it actually worked like that, wouldn’t a single drop of blood be enough to know where anyone had gone in the future?
That would be way too creepy.
Xie Fan rubbed his arms, some color gradually returning to his face.
“But…”
Xie Fan hesitated again. “Will anything happen because I dripped my blood into that cup today?”
He vaguely remembered reading somewhere that you should never casually leave your blood behind, especially in a sinister village like this one.
Ever since he cut his finger, Xie Fan had vaguely felt uneasy. It was only now that he suddenly remembered why.
“Sun Zhou” had appeared beside him again after they returned.
Hearing his question, he smiled faintly.
“Nothing will happen.”
“Look, so many people in the village dripped their blood into it. How could anything happen?”
Xie Fan opened his mouth, then stopped.
But those people in the village weren’t…
Weren’t what?
His mind went blank for a moment, and he forgot what he had been about to say. He pressed his fingers against his temple.
The “System” quietly watched him. As it sighed, countless eyes along the side of its face opened, soothing him.
“You’re too anxious.”
“Don’t think so much.”
Xie Fan nodded.
He knew that he really was a little too anxious. Maybe… he truly was overthinking things?
“Still, System, that ability of yours to stop bleeding is pretty amazing.” He had not even felt anything. In an instant, the bleeding had simply stopped.
It never once occurred to Xie Fan that if the System possessed an ability capable of stopping bleeding and erasing wounds, then why had it not used an illusion to help him avoid having his blood taken in the first place?
His absolute trust in the System caused him to forget that question entirely.
Only belatedly did exhaustion wash over him. He exhaled and slumped weakly over the table.
Cool, silky black hair brushed across the back of his hand. The “System” lowered its head for a glance, then could not resist reaching out and rubbing his hair.
“You look like you lost a little blood.”
“Have some pork liver congee to replenish it.”
Xie Fan: …?
Why was the System just like his college roommate? The moment someone mentioned replenishing blood, pork liver congee was the first thing that came to mind.
Remembering how his roommate had brought him pork liver congee for an entire week back in college, Xie Fan’s teeth almost ached.
Yet he subconsciously relaxed inside and said contrary to his true feelings, “Fine, I guess.”
Pork liver congee always had a strange taste. People who liked it loved it, while people who disliked it could not stomach even a little. Xie Fan himself fell somewhere in the middle.
“Sun Zhou” raised an eyebrow slightly, then turned and went downstairs.
After the System left, Xie Fan began feeling drowsy.
Perhaps the System had been right and he really had lost some blood. He was unbearably sleepy now, especially after hearing the steady patter of rain outside. It was practically hypnotic. Before long, his eyes slipped closed.
By the time “Sun Zhou” finished cooking the congee and brought it upstairs, he saw a cat sleeping soundly with his head pillowed on his arms.
However, that posture was not very good.
The human spine was fragile. It would hurt when he woke up tomorrow.
As the thought flashed through its mind, “Sun Zhou” walked over, closed the window, and gently set down the bowl.
Deep honey-colored eyes swept over Xie Fan.
It had originally intended to wake him, but as it continued watching him, it unexpectedly… hesitated?
Such behavior was exceedingly novel for the deity.
“Sun Zhou” stopped and gazed at Xie Fan’s flushed cheeks as he slept, all the way until… Xie Fan woke up on his own.
The room was warm and clean, while the rain outside provided a soothing wash of white noise. Xie Fan felt that he had slept exceptionally comfortably.
After opening his eyes, it took him a moment to remember where he was.
He froze briefly before recalling that he was in Xican Village, and the System had gone to make pork liver congee for him.
Right… the congee?
“Did I sleep for a long time?”
Xie Fan felt a little embarrassed. He thought he had been terribly rude. The System had kindly cooked congee and brought it up for him, yet he had actually fallen asleep.
“Sun Zhou” reached out and tested the temperature of the congee.
“Not long. About half an hour.”
The deity came back to itself and joked, “The congee is still warm, just in time.”
Xie Fan yawned. “I don’t know why, but I suddenly got a little sleepy just now.”
The warm pork liver congee sat on the table. He picked up the spoon and took a bite.
His eyes instinctively narrowed, and a hint of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.
“This is exactly the taste!”
He had just been thinking about the homemade congee his roommate used to cook for him in college, and now he was tasting that exact flavor.
Fresh pork liver had been simmered until tender and mixed into the white congee, with a few leafy greens added as well. It could not exactly be called exceptionally delicious, but it tasted warm, comforting, and homey.
Xie Fan had originally thought he did not like pork liver congee that much, but the flavor was so familiar and homely that he unexpectedly drank more than half a bowl in one sitting.
Only when his stomach began feeling somewhat full did he finally stop.
“How do you know how to make this?”
Warmth spread comfortably through his entire body, and Xie Fan suddenly felt as though his strength had returned.
The “System” said, “It doesn’t seem difficult.”
It thought for a moment.
“If you want some, I can try making shredded chicken congee tomorrow.”
“We happen to have the ingredients.”
It added the last sentence while looking into Xie Fan’s eyes.
The familiar words flashed through Xie Fan’s ears.
He froze.
For some reason, that answer sounded inexplicably familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.
His mind blurred for an instant. When he came back to himself, he saw the System looking at him questioningly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Xie Fan shook his head, tossing that subtle sense of strangeness to the back of his mind. He suppressed the thought in his heart. Since he could not remember, he simply stopped thinking about it.
He did not realize—
Those were the exact words from a conversation he had once had with his roommate at school, without a single word changed.
Across from him, the “System’s” deep honey-colored eyes slowly curved with its smile.
Of course the deity knew.
It was imitating Xie Fan’s roommate.
No, not merely his roommate. More accurately… it was imitating everyone who had ever brought Xie Fan pleasant emotions before he transmigrated?
After reading Xie Fan’s memories, it had been—
Imitating them.
Becoming his friend, his roommate, his brother, his teacher…
Silently, the deity thought:
His lover?
His one and only?