Xue Min wiped away her tears and looked toward the arena. Her gaze instantly turned exceptionally sharp. At this moment, the gentle and kind Xue Min seemed like a completely different person.
The change in her aura was so drastic that it caught Lin Xi's attention. Sensing her gaze, Xue Min offered her a faint smile. Then, she reached out her hand, and a longsword materialized in her grasp.
"Xiao Xi, watch closely. Today, Mom is going to slaughter the man who forced our family apart."
After saying this, Xue Min leaped onto the arena under Lin Xi's astonished gaze.
Seeing her come up, Lin Zhongxun withdrew the cards in his hand. As his cards suddenly retreated, Shang Ji's body jerked backward. He violently turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Shang Ji looked at Lin Zhongxun, who, aside from a slightly pale complexion, showed absolutely no signs of discomfort. The jealousy in Shang Ji's eyes deepened.
He then looked at Xue Min standing beside Lin Zhongxun, his eyes brimming with hatred.
"Lin Zhongxun, did you know that Gu Sangzi died of illness not long after marrying the young master of the Liang family?"
Hearing this familiar name, Lin Zhongxun's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"And? What does that have to do with me?"
Seeing Lin Zhongxun so nonchalant, Shang Ji felt incredibly bitter on Gu Sangzi's behalf.
"She loved you so much! She boldly confessed her love to you even though she knew you had a wife. Why did you betray her?!" Even now, thinking of the woman named Gu Sangzi still made Shang Ji's heart throb.
Before meeting Lin Zhongxun, Shang Ji's family had been destitute. The money his parents earned in a month wasn't even enough to cover their living expenses.
When Shang Ji was ten years old, his parents accidentally offended a powerful aristocrat while working and were killed in the streets by the aristocrat's cards.
Just as he was about to be killed as well, Gu Sangzi's carriage happened to pass by. Seeing the scene, she lifted the carriage curtain and intervened with the aristocrat his parents had offended. The aristocrat let him go, and Gu Sangzi's maid gave him some money so he could bury his parents.
From then on, Gu Sangzi became the dream of his youth. She became his goddess, the guiding light in his life.
He spent his entire life trying to find ways to get closer to her. Originally, he would have been satisfied just becoming a servant in the Gu manor.
Later, at the age of sixteen, he met Lin Zhongxun. His hard work caught Lin Zhongxun's attention. Through intentional approaches, he obtained many, many good things from Lin Zhongxun—things he couldn't name, but which benefited his body immensely.
His card talent broke through its original limits, and his abilities advanced by leaps and bounds. He finally caught Gu Sangzi's eye. During that time, Lin Zhongxun even felt that his life had taken on a new meaning.
By then, he was already a ranked talent within the country. His goal had shifted from wanting to be a servant in the Gu manor who could see Gu Sangzi every day, to becoming her husband.
Why couldn't he? His abilities were strong, and backing him was Lin Zhongxun—a bloodbank he could endlessly draw from. As long as he pretended to be a grounded, ambitious young man who hadn't forgotten his roots, and occasionally feigned dejection at the right moments, Lin Zhongxun would offer up everything he had.
To be honest, Shang Ji wasn't grateful to Lin Zhongxun. Or rather, he had been grateful at the very beginning, but later, as Lin Zhongxun gave him more and more, his feelings shifted from gratitude to a sense of entitlement, and eventually, to contempt.
He began to scrutinize Lin Zhongxun's every move with the most critical eye, interpreting his every word with the most malicious intent.
Consequently, every action Lin Zhongxun took was deemed ill-intentioned, and every word harbored ulterior motives. A casual glance became proof of condescension, and an unintentional smile became a mockery.
All of this transformed into a bone-deep hatred after Gu Sangzi casually uttered a single sentence to reject her suitors.
He hated everything about Lin Zhongxun. One night, the equation "defeating Lin Zhongxun equals winning Gu Sangzi's love" took root in Shang Ji's heart, and it never left.
He began to dabble in forbidden cards unrecognized by mainstream society during the days Lin Zhongxun was away. He devoted himself to studying them for a year. By the time he re-emerged, Gu Sangzi had already been married off by her family to the young master of the Liang family, a clan of equal standing to the Gu family.
Shang Ji once sneaked into the Liang estate to see Gu Sangzi. She was not living well. When he offered to take her away, Gu Sangzi laughed brightly, only to mock him immediately after.
The words that pierced his heart the most were: "If you take me away from the Liang family, you don't have a powerful family background or mountains of wealth. What will you use to guarantee my lifestyle? Do you think you are Lin Zhongxun?"
Leaving the Liang estate that day, Shang Ji's hatred for Lin Zhongxun reached its peak. He didn't hate Gu Sangzi for her choice because she was right. He truly wasn't strong enough, nor did he possess the mountainous wealth of a great aristocratic family. But even if he didn't have it, did Lin Zhongxun?
He was just some outsider who had somehow stumbled into this world!
He laid low, waiting for Lin Zhongxun's return. During this time, Gu Sangzi was framed and killed by the women in the Liang young master's backyard. Shang Ji was agonized and blamed everything entirely on Lin Zhongxun.
His logic was that if Lin Zhongxun had married Gu Sangzi when she said she wanted to marry a man like him, she wouldn't have died.
"Lin Zhongxun, you are completely heartless! If Gu Sangzi hadn't confessed her love to you, how could she have been despised by her husband after marriage, and ultimately framed to death?! This is all your fault!" Thinking of his deceased love, thinking of Gu Sangzi who had descended like a goddess in that bustling street all those years ago, saving his life and preserving his parents' corpses with just a few words, Shang Ji's eyes turned red with hatred.
"I'm going to make you experience what it feels like to lose the person you love!"
Lin Zhongxun had long learned not to use a normal person's reasoning to understand the logic of a lunatic. But at this point, it was already a do-or-die situation between him and Shang Ji.
"Shang Ji, anyone in this world can call me heartless, except you. I will state this one more time: I have absolutely no relationship with Gu Sangzi. Whether she is dead or alive has nothing to do with me."
"Why are you wasting your breath on him?" Xue Min interrupted their conversation. Seeing that Lin Xi had grown up so much, Xue Min's heart ached terribly. The more she hurt, the more she hated Shang Ji.
She had to finish off Shang Ji with her own hands.
Lin Zhongxun didn't say a word and consciously stepped back.
Xue Min confronted Shang Ji directly. The longsword in her hand began to emit a faint, pulsing black light. "Shang Ji, I don't care what kind of history you have with Lin Zhongxun, but it's time to settle the score between you and me."
Xue Min didn't have any golden finger cheats. In her first lifetime, when she was dropped into an alternate world by the Rescue System, she lived in an era similar to the Han Dynasty, where she was a noble lady from a prominent family.
In the modern world, she had merely been a junior high school student, but in that era, she was a complete illiterate. To find a way back to the present, she asked her father in that lifetime to find her a tutor.
She was very lucky. Her parents in the life she transmigrated into loved her dearly. Since she was willing to learn, her father hired renowned teachers for her. She studied diligently, and with the memories of her previous life, her progress was incredibly fast.
Her father took her to visit various major families, and she read through the collections of most households in that Han-like era. However, records regarding transmigration were exceedingly rare.
She spent her entire life writing book after book, yet she still could not unravel the secret of transmigration.
She died in tears in her first life. In her second life, she was reincarnated into the cultivation world, but only as a mortal unable to cultivate. By that time, her memories began to jumble.
Sometimes, she was a noble lady from an era resembling the Han Dynasty; sometimes, she was a middle-aged hermit master who had authored several books; and sometimes, she was a young woman in the twentieth century who had just given birth, whose husband had gone missing, leaving her alone with a toddler over two years old.
The three sets of memories intertwined, driving her mad. It was during that time that she started sewing rag dolls and coaxing them as if they were Lin Xi.
Later, her clan was massacred. Only she, an otherworldly soul who had already experienced two worlds, survived. She drifted between heaven and earth for a long time before her memories were finally sorted out.
One day, while sleeping under the moonlight, she encountered the rare Emperor's Flowing Essence. When she opened her eyes in the morning light the next day, a cultivation manual for ghosts had appeared in her mind.
She practiced that manual and spent hundreds of years condensing a physical body. In the eighth year after she became human, she met Lin Zhongxun, who was carrying out a mission in that world.
From then on, she followed Lin Zhongxun as he traveled from one world to another. While Lin Zhongxun was on his missions, she would learn the knowledge of that world, enrich herself, and save up a dowry for Lin Xi.
Of course, she never forgot to cultivate. She intended to settle her scores with Shang Ji, bit by bit.
Xue Min swung the sword in her hand, sending a visible pale purple wave of energy toward Shang Ji. I heard you consider yourself a top-tier talent in the card world. Let me, a cultivator, exchange a few moves with you.
Shang Ji retreated rapidly, summoning his cards to defend against Xue Min's attack.
The card world and the cultivation world were completely unrelated. Moreover, Xue Min was the most powerful ghost cultivator in her respective cultivation world. Shang Ji, a mere human who only knew how to throw cards, had no resistance against her whatsoever.
With a few light taps of her toes, she landed behind Shang Ji. Her empty hand grabbed at the center of Shang Ji's back. Accompanied by an ear-piercing scream, Li Sheng's body fell straight down. Lin Zhongxun calmly raised his hand, and Li Sheng hung suspended in the air, face down.
Lin Zhongxun flicked his hand to the left, and Li Sheng landed off the arena.
Up on the arena, a playful smile curled the corners of Xue Min's lips. Interesting.
She lowered her hand, tapped her toes, and shot up from the ground, flying onto the roof. She brought her index and middle fingers together and swiped them across her eyes. Her eyes instantly turned crimson. Then, she looked around, her icy gaze sweeping past Lin Xi and the others before focusing elsewhere.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Lin Zhongxun had walked up behind Lin Xi. Li Sheng had been moved to the side of the wall, still hovering above the ground.
Lin Zhongxun flipped his hand, and a bright red apple appeared next to Lin Xi's hand. Your mother said you loved eating apple puree when you were little.
Lin Xi looked at the apple as a rich, sweet aroma wafted into her nose. It was impossible to say she wasn't touched. In truth, she didn't really like apples anymore; she now preferred highly sweet fruits like durian.
However, seeing the expectant look in Lin Zhongxun's eyes, she still took the fruit and took a bite. A crisp, sweet taste flowed over her tongue into her mouth, accompanied by a rich apple fragrance.
It was no exaggeration to say this was the most delicious apple Lin Xi had ever eaten.
At that moment, Xue Min, still in the sky, flew toward a corner. The long sword in her hand transformed into a silver-red rope.
As she approached, the curtains in that corner fluttered in the wind.
Lin Zhongxun followed Lin Xi's gaze and said, Shang Ji's cultivation is not even worth mentioning in your mother's eyes. Your mom is just toying with him right now. Once she's had enough fun, Shang Ji will be thrown into the blazing hell.
Is there really a hell? Lin Xi asked curiously.
Not in this world, but there is in others. We'll have our own ways when the time comes. A glass of ice water appeared in Lin Zhongxun's hand, complete with a pink straw.
Lin Xi's gaze landed on Ma Yufen, who had fallen unconscious at some unknown point.
What about her?
Lin Zhongxun's eyes turned icy. She was only able to enter your mother's body because Shang Ji used a Soul Transfer Card. This card allows her to perfectly sync with your mother's body, but it has a fatal flaw: she has to use soul-stabilizing cards twice a year. If she fails to renew the effect in time, she will soon be rejected by the body.
A soul like hers that forcefully occupied someone else's body will be struck by lightning and roasted by fire the moment it returns to the world, until not a single trace of vitality remains, ultimately dissipating between heaven and earth. Lin Zhongxun looked at Ma Yufen as if he were looking at trash, full of disgust and hatred.
Lin Zhongxun continued to explain to Lin Xi, Occupying someone else's body falls into several different categories, but only forcefully seizing another's body incurs punishment. Things like transmigration and rebirth, as you know, are matters of karma. Under those circumstances, as long as the karma is repaid, there is no punishment. In fact, after dying a natural death, one might even gain merit.
When a person bearing merit reincarnates, their path in their next life will be much smoother. Lin Zhongxun's words brought a sudden realization to Lin Xi.
What about my mom? What will happen to her? Lin Xi's 'mom' sounded exceptionally natural.
Lin Zhongxun chuckled softly and said, After completing a hundred fast-transmigration missions, your mother and I signed an agreement to transfer most of our merit. Once we leave this room, her and Ma Yufen's appearances will revert to their original looks.
In the eyes of the public, the child Ma Yufen gave birth to will become hers and Luo Qingfeng's. As for you, you will become the child raised by your mother.
When Lin Zhongxun said the last sentence, his expression turned slightly awkward. He knew this was a bit awkward for Lin Xi as well.
They could reverse the entire world's impression of Xue Min, but they could not affect Lin Xi's perception.
Just like in that erotic novel world, Zhong Shuyan's perception could never be twisted.
Lin Xi looked at Lin Zhongxun's guilt-ridden face, then turned to look at Xue Min, who had already grasped a visible, transparent mass of soul in her hand.
She said, As long as you both come back safely, that's better than anything else.
For twenty years, Lin Xi had dreamed of having both her parents by her side. Now that there was finally a chance for this dream to come true, she was ready to accept it, regardless of whether the outcome was good or bad.
Besides, she figured that Xue Min and Lin Zhongxun must have gone to tremendous lengths to make their return possible.
This was enough. The only pity was her grandfather. If her grandfather were still alive to see Lin Zhongxun return and to know that Xue Min had never really left, he would definitely be overjoyed.
As if reading Lin Xi's mind, Lin Zhongxun said, Your grandfather's death was not an accident.
Lin Xi whipped her head around to look at him, her eyes filled with shock and anger. Who? Who killed him?
In Lin Xi's twenty-plus years of life, her grandfather, Lin Zongping, had been like a towering mountain. He was a man of few words, but no matter when or where, or what happened, he was always so reliable.
Before his car accident, Lin Xi's life had been completely carefree.
His passing caused the sky to fall on the Lin family. To survive and pay off debts, Lin Xi was forced to become the family's pillar, living an exhausting life.
Lin Zhongxun closed his eyes. In the final moment before I was lost in the space-time tunnel, I used my authority as the host to order the Savior System to save my family. The Savior System received my command and fought to break through before the space-time tunnel closed, returning to Earth right around the same time as Shang Ji.
To completely extinguish any possibility of me returning to Earth, and to better travel through space and time in the future, Shang Ji used all his strength to chase down the Savior System after returning to Earth. He grabbed the system's carrier, which was the pager I used to use.
He was already heavily injured, just like me. Expending so much effort to catch the Savior System drew the attention of the Heavenly Dao of this realm. Sensing the destructive power of this outsider, the Heavenly Dao exerted a tremendous amount of energy to seal away most of his abilities.
The pager seized the opportunity to transmit all of Shang Ji's data to the Heavenly Dao before being forced into dormancy. With his abilities sealed, Shang Ji couldn't use any of his powerful cards at all. He didn't even have the power to force the pager to turn on.
After resting for a while, his body recovered somewhat, and he figured out a way to gather energy to power on the pager. Thus, a plan called Soul Exchange was born.
He originally wanted to swap your soul, but you were born after I acquired the Savior System. Upon birth, your body inherently carried the destiny of merit, making it impossible for him to find a match even after searching the entire country. Your grandparents were too old to withstand the risks brought by a soul exchange.
If a soul exchange resulted in the death of your grandparents, it would trigger the self-rescue mode of the Savior System, which had received my final command. If that happened, his soul would be entirely shattered.
So, all things considered, the only person who could bear the aftereffects of the Soul Exchange was your mother. To ensure this plan was foolproof, Shang Ji found Ma Yufen, whose Eastern birth chart and Western astrological sign were almost identical to your mother's. Furthermore, after two years of recovery, the Soul Exchange card he created was enough to deceive the Heavenly Dao, allowing him to execute the plan.
By the time the dormant Savior System detected the anomaly, your mother was on the verge of turning into a vengeful spirit. Those who become vengeful spirits violate the covenant set by the Heavenly Dao and can no longer receive its protection. This was also the main reason Shang Ji had Ma Yufen hurt you time and time again.
In the nick of time, the Savior System forced itself to turn on and used its last ounce of strength to send your mother to the world I was going to.
Lin Zhongxun slowly recounted the events of that year to Lin Xi.
He hadn't yet mentioned who was responsible for Lin Zongping's death, but Lin Xi had already guessed it.
Based on the power-on time of the Savior System after detaching from its host, it was supposed to activate eighteen years later, which is the year you turned eighteen. And according to the first command I issued after separating from the Savior System, the only person who could bind with the system again had to be a member of my family.
According to the Heavenly Dao of this realm, which follows the inheritance laws of various nations, a wife is the first-in-line heir. At the time of binding, she would be considered first. This was another reason why Shang Ji chose to swap your mother's soul.
However, because Ma Yufen took it upon herself to marry Luo Qingfeng, she severed this karma. Coupled with the fact that sending your mother away depleted the Savior System's energy reserves, the system's activation time was delayed for quite a few years.
Lin Zhongxun's words were very logical, and every point matched up, but there were still a few things that didn't make sense. Since the final command you gave the Savior System was to protect us, why didn't it save my grandfather?
Isn't my grandfather your family? Lin Xi couldn't accept this.
Lin Zhongxun glanced at the mole on Lin Xi's wrist and took a deep breath. Because at that time, the Savior System hadn't stored enough energy. It couldn't even manage to turn on.
Because that idiot Ma Yufen, that brainless thing, put the pager on the roof beam. The beam was so high, and there was a ceiling blocking it. When you were little, you slept with your grandparents and didn't even live in that bedroom. It would have been a miracle if the Savior System could charge at all.
You only started sleeping in that room alone after you turned ten. Two years later, you went to middle school, and from then on, you only stayed there for a night or two a week. Sometimes you didn't even sleep in the room. How could it possibly charge? The Savior System was already out of power, so naturally, it had no way to protect your grandfather.
What's more, your grandfather's death was a setup orchestrated by a mostly-recovered Shang Ji to test whether the Savior System was still around and whether I was still alive. That is why, despite the widespread presence of surveillance cameras, the driver who hit your grandfather was never caught.
But don't worry. Shang Ji is a malignant tumor that the Heavenly Dao of this world cannot excise. To prevent Shang Ji from having an easy time, the Heavenly Dao directly took away your grandfather's soul. I only need to pay a portion of my merit to restore your grandfather's existence.
Speaking of this, Lin Zhongxun sounded very carefree. I've signed the contract. The moment I walk out that door, all the merit on my body will be transferred away, and I will become a complete and utter ordinary person.
When Lin Zhongxun bound the Savior System and in the subsequent mission worlds, he had completed so many tasks and accumulated a lot of merit. But to sacrifice all of that to bring back the dead and exchange it for a family reunion, Lin Zhongxun felt it was completely worth it.
She had already placed Shang Ji's soul into a transparent bottle and walked over. Her longsword had already been sheathed.
To get to Lin Xi's side, Xue Min had to cross the obstacle that was Ma Yufen. Xue Min simply kicked her out of the way.
She smiled in front of Lin Zhongxun and Lin Xi, then handed the phone that Shang Ji had confiscated back to Lin Xi. The moment the phone returned to Lin Xi's hands, the former Savior System, now the Transmigrator Group Chat System, flew directly into the phone.
A black hole appeared in front of the family of three, and Xue Min threw the transparent bottle containing Shang Ji's soul directly into it.
Lin Zhongxun said, "The hell Shang Ji is going to is one your mother and I carefully selected after traveling through so many worlds. His days there will absolutely be highly entertaining."
Xue Min thought of the punishment Shang Ji was about to receive, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face.
Glancing at Ma Yufen, who had just been kicked flying by her and was awakened by the pain of her injuries, Xue Min said, "Let's go. Once we leave this house, we will go our separate ways, and everything will return to how it originally was."
Ma Yufen froze, somewhat not understanding why Xue Min would say such a thing, but a bad premonition arose in her heart.
Lin Zhongxun looked at his wife, then at his fully grown daughter, and then thought of his parents waiting at home. A trace of excitement appeared on his handsome face. "Let's go. We're going home."
Lin Xi also thought of her grandfather who had come back from the dead. She was desperate to return home. As she was being pulled out the door by Xue Min, Lin Xi suddenly thought of Li Sheng, whose body had been possessed by Shang Ji.
"Mom, Dad, what about Li Sheng?"
"His soul hasn't left; it has been following right beside his physical body, just like I used to. Now that we've taken Shang Ji away, his soul will return in a little while and he will be fine. However, he will forget all about being possessed by Shang Ji and everything that happened inside the Yanxi Restaurant."
With Lin Zhongxun saying this, Lin Xi felt relieved.
The moment they stepped out of the Yanxi Restaurant, the wind surged and the clouds rolled in an instant, and the colors of the world changed. The anomaly ended after about two minutes, and the sky returned to how it looked when Lin Xi first arrived.
Lin Xi turned her head to look at Xue Min. Xue Min's current appearance bore a slight resemblance to Ma Yufen. Every one of her facial features was perfect, and her skin was as tender and supple as a peeled egg.
She wore a light green bohemian floral maxi dress and a woven straw hat with a white lace bow on her head. She looked youthful and beautiful, completely like a young woman in her twenties, not at all like someone in her forties.
The previous image of Ma Yufen wearing the shell of Xue Min was instantly crushed into dust in front of the real Xue Min. The feeling was just like the stark contrast between a buyer's review photo and a seller's promotional picture.
Looking at Lin Zhongxun again, he was wearing a floral shirt, beach shorts, and white sneakers. His previous long hair had been replaced by a carefully styled haircut with a wisp of hair at his bangs. His outfit was even more fashionable than the popular idols of today.
Compared to them, Lin Xi, who was wearing a white printed t-shirt, a white sun protection jacket, and flared denim jeans, instantly looked incredibly frumpy.
Xue Min suddenly let go of Lin Xi's hand and walked over to link arms with Lin Zhongxun. Her height of 1.65 meters made her look especially petite and bird-like in front of the tall, 1.85-meter Lin Zhongxun.
Xue Min looked up, and Lin Zhongxun looked down. Their gazes met and locked in the air. Accompanied by the blue sky, white clouds, green trees, red flowers in the distance, and the brilliant sunlight, the whole scene was as aesthetically pleasing as a movie shoot.
Lin Xi just stood there, her mood exceptionally complicated.
In the past, she always saw quotes online saying that parents are true love and children are just an accident. She always thought it was fake and exaggerated, but at this moment, Lin Xi truly felt that saying made a lot of sense.
Not only that, but she also felt incredibly stuffed. That feeling was probably just like how Fifth Grandma's dog next door felt after eating three bags of dog food.
"Let's go, Xiao Xi. Why are you standing back there?" Xue Min finally remembered her daughter.
"Coming, coming." Lin Xi took large strides forward and held Xue Min's other hand. The family of three walked towards the car Lin Xi had driven there.
It was afternoon, and the sun cast their shadows very short for a moment, giving off an adorably cute vibe.
This time, Lin Zhongxun drove the car back. Xue Min sat in the passenger seat, and Lin Xi sat in the back.
As the car drove out of the Yanxi Restaurant's territory, the previously bustling Yanxi Restaurant instantly became dilapidated. A spider web even appeared on the plaque bearing the three words Yanxi Restaurant.
Lin Xi suddenly felt cold all over. Seeing this, Xue Min calmly turned around. "That was Shang Ji's property. Now that he no longer exists in this world, everything related to him will be erased."
Lin Zhongxun drove the car towards Lianhua Village. Hearing this, he said, "This Yanxi Restaurant actually fell into ruin twenty years ago because a murder occurred here. Shang Ji erased the public's memory of the incident, opened a restaurant here, and also used this fiercely ominous place to cultivate."
"Now that this world is repairing itself, this matter is definitely within the scope of the restoration."
Lin Xi took one last look and asked, "Then what about Ma Yufen and Li Sheng?"
"One should be in the hospital, and the other should be at the prison gates picking someone up upon their release?"
When Xue Min said this, Lin Xi automatically matched the two people up. Ma Yufen should be at the prison gates; after all, her lover Luo Qingfeng was still serving time in prison. Now that the world was repairing itself, Luo Qingfeng should also be within the scope of the restoration.
Li Sheng went without saying. He had been in a coma from his injuries for several months. If his body hadn't been seized by Shang Ji, he should still be recovering in the hospital right now.
After the car drove a certain distance, Lin Xi's phone dinged continuously. She picked up her phone and saw that her friends in the chat group were having a lively discussion. Her sudden disappearance during this time didn't have much of an impact on the group.
Lin Xi watched for a while and asked Lin Zhongxun, "Dad, why didn't the system answer when I asked it questions about you, Mom, or Shang Ji before?"
Lin Xi only remembered this after seeing the group chat. So many things had happened before, and each one was shocking. The fact that her grandfather had come back from the dead made Lin Xi's emotions surge even more.
It was only now, after her mood had calmed down a bit, that she had the time to ask.
"You see, when I bound to it, it was a Rescue System. Now that you've bound to it, it has changed into a Group Chat System. Although the cores of these two systems aren't much different, their names are the same. Its superior leader, the Heavenly Dao System Bureau, does not allow a system that has changed its name or attributes to get involved in matters concerning the previous system."
"My situation with it is also somewhat different, so it could only reveal a little bit to you. It couldn't take the initiative to talk about more detailed things. If it leaks more than ten percent, it will be formatted."
Formatting was every system's nightmare. Lin Xi immediately understood the Group Chat System's concealment.
The car's audio system was playing a song called Blue Lotus. Amidst the bold and free-spirited melody, Lin Xi watched Xue Min and Lin Zhongxun chatting happily about a building or a piece of land they passed by, without neglecting her in the process. She suddenly felt that the wind today had become very gentle, and even the world itself had become gentle along with it.
In this instant, all her past unwillingness, indignation, and the injustices she had suffered due to her family suddenly drifted away with the wind and the singing, no longer mattering at all.
The car parked in the lot opposite the Wind and Rain Tower. The family of three walked across the wooden Wind and Rain Bridge. Both sides of the bridge were occupied by grannies and aunties from the village, as well as outsiders here to do business. There were people selling fruit and water, and others touting for guesthouses; they had everything you could possibly need.
By the rocks under the bridge, a group of people was floating river lanterns. They were releasing flower wreaths woven by the deft-handed grannies and aunties of the village, which sold for ten yuan each.
As the family of three crossed the bridge, people who knew them constantly greeted them. Some even asked Lin Zhongxun about the events that had happened just a couple of days ago.
Lin Zhongxun acted as if he had never left Lianhua Village; he could smoothly reply to whatever anyone said. Xue Min's hands were even stuffed with a bunch of fruit by the local grannies.
Lin Xi looked at them, feeling as if those twenty years of time had never been missing. For a moment, she wondered if her memory was playing tricks on her.
That was until A-Huahua's cat, Cao'er, jumped onto Lin Xi's shoulder. Traveling back and forth between the two worlds, Cao'er had unknowingly grown much fatter. Its face was round and bulging, and the stripes on its body had stretched into wide watermelon-like patterns.
Chi Xiangping had weighed it a few days ago, and it was already twenty pounds. Now, relying on its massive physique, it had become a tyrant in the cat and dog circles of Lianhua Village.
It even had its own legends on the internet. This was all thanks to a battle it had with a black local dog a few days prior. After onlookers uploaded the video to a short-video platform, it even gained its own fans.
Among the tourists visiting Lianhua Village these past few days, some were cat lovers who came specifically to see it.
Just like now, some cat owners had already taken out the cat food, cat treats, and canned food they carried with them, opening them nearby to tempt it.
Sitting on Lin Xi's shoulder, Cao'er licked its paws and inspected the crowd of "tributes" for a long time. Finally, it walked over to a girl in her twenties wearing a white dress, lowered its proud head, and ate the sausage from her hand.
Cao'er's body had been improved by the space-time tunnel, making it exceptionally sensitive to toxic gases or food. Because of this, Lin Xi and A-Huahua felt completely at ease letting Cao'er eat whatever the tourists fed it.
The tourist girl chosen by Cao'er was a hardcore cat lover. Completely captivated by the feline, her free hand stroked Cao'er from head to back over and over again, her expression gradually turning infatuated.
Xue Min stuffed a handful of crisp green plums into Lin Xi's hands. "Let's go, let's go home. I really miss your granny's stir-fried chicken. I have a feeling she definitely made it today."
Eating the sweet, crisp plums, Lin Xi followed behind Xue Min, and Lin Zhongxun caught up with them as well.
The village's long street banquet was still going on. Under the temporarily erected thatched sheds sat tourists happily feasting. The aunties, sisters, and grannies helping out at the banquet were busy but delighted. Fortunately, the weather wasn't too hot yet; otherwise, walking back and forth so many times would have been unbearable.
Amidst a chorus of greetings and questions, the family of three arrived at Lin Xi's home. She looked at the antique-style two-story house with a bit of wonder.
Xue Min was very satisfied. "This is what I traded with the Heavenly Dao for. Come on, we are home."
The raw wooden door separated the inside of the courtyard from the outside world. Rose-red bougainvillea was planted on both sides of the door, placing a rose-red crown upon the wooden gate, dotted with vibrant green leaves, full of life.
Lin Xi suddenly felt weak in the knees. She hoped that when she pushed open the door, her grandfather would be sitting under the courtyard corridor, puffing loudly on his water pipe. But she was also afraid that when she opened the door, only her grandmother would be in the courtyard.
Seeing her like this, Xue Min felt a sour ache in her heart. She had been absent for twenty years of Lin Xi's growth. They had practically just reunited, and the fact that Lin Xi was willing to call her 'Mom' was enough to make her happy.
She didn't force anything else. In fact, Lin Xi's reaction made Xue Min feel genuinely proud. If Lin Xi had showed no reaction to Lin Zongping's resurrection, that would have truly frightened her.
After dealing with someone like Shang Ji, Xue Min absolutely despised ungrateful people.
Lin Zhongxun was the first to push open the door. With a creak, the scene inside the courtyard appeared before Lin Xi and the others.
There was no need to mention the colorful flowers; they were standard in every household in Yunnan Province. The layout of the courtyard also went without saying, as it was personally designed by Xue Min. Every corner was meticulously planned, beautiful and carrying an indescribable ancient charm.
However, none of that mattered. What mattered was Lin Zongping, sitting under the corridor, carefully scrubbing something with a melon leaf.
Lin Xi's tears instantly fell. After her grandfather passed away, this scene had appeared in her dreams countless times, but every time she woke up, everything in the dream would vanish into nothingness.
Xue Min handed Lin Xi an embroidered handkerchief. "Go on, your grandpa is waiting for you."
Hearing the noise, Lin Zongping looked up with a big smile on his face. Just like every time Lin Xi, Lin Zhongxun, and Xue Min had returned from an outing over the past many years, he said, "You're back? Are you hungry? Dinner will be ready soon."
"Yes," three voices replied in unison. They looked at each other, only to realize that their eyes were already red.
Xue Min's own parents favored boys over girls. It wasn't until she married into the Lin family that she learned what it felt like to be loved by parents. Therefore, from the bottom of her heart, she treated Lin Zongping and Chi Xiangping as her own biological parents.
Seeing them safe and well at this moment, Xue Min was truly overjoyed. As for her biological parents, Xue Min had only one attitude: they could stay as far away as possible.
Lin Xi and the other two composed themselves, stepped onto the stairs together, and walked into the corridor.
Lin Zongping continued washing the wild mushrooms. "Your auntie from your great-grandmother's side went up the mountain today and found some mushrooms, so she brought some over for us. Your mother has stewed a pot of chicken soup, and it will be perfect to eat in a bit."
Lin Zongping had absolutely no memory of dying. In his mind, he was still robust. While others his age complained of aches and pains, his back didn't hurt and his legs weren't sore. He could hike to the top of the mountain in one breath; his body was in excellent shape.
Chi Xiangping came out of the kitchen wearing an apron. "I killed two chickens today. One is for stewing soup, and the other is for spicy stir-fry. You all need to eat a lot, don't leave any leftovers."
"Okay," the three replied in unison.
The sunset was vibrant, the evening breeze was gentle, and the fragrance of flowers filled the air. On this evening, the Lin family had a reunion dinner in every sense of the word for the very first time.
