The card continued to rise, and the gun in Duanmu Old Man's hand hung limply. As the patriarch of the Duanmu family, he knew that once the card flew into the sky, it was beyond redemption.
He had originally believed he would be like his father, reigning supreme in this era, passing down the Duanmu family's business for generations. He never imagined this beautiful dream would shatter while he was still alive.
Watching his life's work on the verge of destruction, Duanmu Old Man looked at Lin Xi with eyes full of hatred. He raised the gun in his hand and fired at her.
The moment the bullet shot out, a wide smile spread across Duanmu Old Man's face. How could he have forgotten? As long as the person with the card was killed, the card would lose its energy supply and naturally become ineffective.
Duanmu Old Man felt he couldn't be blamed for this oversight; after all, they hadn't used cards for many, many years.
The surrounding volunteers' expressions changed drastically. Su Haipeng and others, who couldn't get close, rushed forward but found themselves unable to approach.
Controlling the card within her consciousness, Lin Xi flicked her wrist, and a silver-white gun appeared in her hand. She raised it and fired at Duanmu Old Man.
This was a high-temperature solution gun, the latest weapon developed in Lin Duxi's world after learning about the effects of the starfall ore. Its temperature was extremely high; upon contact, it would instantly incinerate clothing but wouldn't kill a person immediately.
The high-temperature solution round shot towards the bullet fired by Duanmu Old Man, dissolving it instantly. Duanmu Old Man's face changed, and he immediately retreated to the side.
Standing behind him was Duanmu Xiu, the Duanmu family's third-generation heir. Duanmu Xiu seemed like a fool; seeing the high-temperature solution gunfire sweeping towards him, he could only open his mouth wide and scream, his legs rooted to the spot, not daring to move.
"Move!" Duanmu Old Man roared, his eyes wide with fury. This shout seemed to snap Duanmu Xiu out of it, and he immediately stepped back.
Zhuge Mo'er was also among the Zhuge family crowd. Seeing this scene, a flash of calculation crossed her eyes. She stepped out from the group and grabbed Duanmu Xiu. "Xiu, run!"
Perhaps out of instinct, Duanmu Xiu didn't think of running. Instead, he pulled Zhuge Mo'er in front of him as a shield. The high-temperature solution round reached them and struck Zhuge Mo'er squarely in the back.
Her clothes were instantly scorched away by the high heat, the fibers sticking to her skin. She let out an agonized scream. Duanmu Xiu, his face deathly pale, pushed her away.
Seeing this, Lin Xi frowned. Another gun, ice-blue in color, appeared in her hand. She aimed at Zhuge Mo'er and fired. This gun was from Yao Xiran's interstellar world, firing cryo-rounds.
When the cryo-round met the air, it instantly condensed into ice and snow, capable of reducing extreme heat.
The high temperature on Zhuge Mo'er's back was frozen solid. Lin Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
Although she had indirectly or directly participated in the affairs of many transmigrators' small worlds, she had never actually killed anyone.
Her original plan was indeed to first use the high-temperature solution gun to give Duanmu Old Man a taste of heat, then cool him down with the cryo-gun.
She had anticipated Duanmu Old Man dodging, but Duanmu Xiu not moving, Zhuge Mo'er running out, and then being pulled as a human shield by Duanmu Xiu—this was something Lin Xi had not foreseen.
It was truly shocking.
Chi Qiushui covered her mouth. If the situation weren't so urgent, with the tremors from underground growing stronger and more pronounced, she would have really pulled Lin Xi aside for a good gossip session.
Everyone looked up. The card, which had flown to the mountaintop, spun rapidly in the air as the ground shook more and more violently. The manors of the four great families were uprooted from the earth, and along with the mountain that separated the four family estates from the normal world, they transformed into phantom shadows and were drawn into the card.
The card spun a circle in the air, and Lin Xi reached out her hand. The card returned to her palm.
The members of the Duanmu, Zhuge, and Ouyang families turned in unison to look at the home they had lived in their entire lives, believing they would reside there for many more years to come.
From this mountain gate, one could usually see the four long rows of connected villas, their golden domes always gleaming under the sun.
Now, the area was flattened. The buildings were gone, leaving only piles of personal belongings scattered on the ground, forming small hills.
Duanmu, Zhuge, and Ouyang Old Men instantly aged by more than ten years.
A group of well-trained special police and soldiers emerged from behind the volunteers, holding riot shields and forming an impenetrable protective barrier around the volunteers, Lin Xi, and the others.
"Miss Lin, Miss Chi, please come with me." Xu Xuezhe and several other bodyguards, who had arrived at Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui's side at some unknown time, whispered to them.
The two followed them as they retreated. Chi Qiushui had, at some point, taken out a gun obtained from Lin Duxi and was holding it in her arms.
Under Xu Xuezhe's protection, they moved backward.
Su Haipeng and a group of people similarly dressed in Zhongshan suits stood not far from the crowd, where many low-profile yet heavily modified black Hongqi sedans were parked.
Soldiers and police officers armed with guns stood guard all around, constantly vigilant.
Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui were escorted to Su Haipeng's side. Su Haipeng acted as the intermediary, introducing both parties. Then, everyone got into the cars and left together.
Back at the residence of the four great families, the military was still in a standoff with them. By the time Lin Xi and the others returned to the two-story courtyard building where they had previously met Su Haipeng, the soldiers had already handcuffed the members of the Duanmu and Zhuge families.
The small courtyard was bustling with activity. The staff dressed in student uniforms and street thug attire were pounding away on their computer keyboards.
Chi Qiushui's phone could connect to this era's internet. She sat down next to Lin Xi and shared the current trending topics on Weibo with her.
The hype around "The Zhuge Family Welcomes the Young Miss Home" had actually died down after a night of fermentation. Moreover, the area near the four families' residence was exceptionally prosperous.
Outside the urban village where Chi Qiushui rented, skyscrapers rose from the ground, not to mention the area around the Euliston School.
People had already begun posting online about the volunteers surrounding the four families' residence. Some even tried to upload videos of the manors flying into the card.
However, such videos couldn't be uploaded. The rooms beneath the teahouse were filled with cybersecurity personnel from the Ministry of State Security.
Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui sat together. Chi Qiushui didn't ask about Lin Xi's father. She knew what topics were appropriate and inappropriate to ask a friend about.
The two chatted in the group, and everyone was quite surprised that Lin Xi had gone to the Mary Sue world to help Chi Qiushui.
But they could also understand it.
[Wealthy Family Eldest Daughter-in-law Ji Xinyu: That Mary Sue world looks very jarring, as if it was forcibly squeezed into the normal world.]
[Ancient World Xu Huanhuan: Yes, it feels like a patchwork of two different civilizations.]
During the time Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui weren't speaking in the group, the other group members had already discussed the matter over several rounds.
Lin Xi replied in the group.
[Earth Girl Lin Xi: That's exactly right. The Mary Sues in this world are outcasts from the Mary Sue Federation who crossed over through the Misty Forest. Their arrival also caused another Heavenly Dao to emerge in this world.]
[Because the Mary Sue Heavenly Dao comes with cheat abilities (golden fingers), it once overwhelmed the normal world's Heavenly Dao. If the four major families were to merge, a new Heavenly Dao would form and automatically replace the normal one.]
Seeing this message, Chi Qiushui had an epiphany.
[Mary Sue Minor Cannon Fodder Chi Qiushui: I get it now. In the plot, the Nangong family moved abroad entirely. It's mentioned in a obscure corner of the plot that their domestic assets were taken over by the Duanmu family.]
[When the Zhuge family's business suffered heavy losses, the Duanmu family wasn't faring much better, only the Ouyang family was slightly better off. At the critical moment, because Ouyang Xiuming deeply loved Zhuge Mo'er, he didn't hesitate to use most of his family fortune to bail out the Zhuge family.]
[Duanmu Xiu then married Zhuge Mo'er, and he naturally took over the Zhuge family's business. Later, after Ouyang Xiuming died, his property was left to the child of Duanmu Xiu and Zhuge Mo'er, so this counts as the four families merging!]
Chi Qiushui's analysis hit the nail on the head. She sent her final message: [In other words, Ouyang Xiuming was reborn so many times because he deviated from the path arranged for him by the Alien Heavenly Dao, so he was forced to relive his life again and again. If he hadn't encountered me crossing over this time, his ending would likely have been forced by the Alien Heavenly Dao to sacrifice his own family.]
[Period Novel Stepmother Xu Huixin: I think Qiushui has got it right. After all, being reborn so many times would wear down a person's will to fight. Once that will is worn down, it's just giving up and compromising.]
[Mary Sue Minor Cannon Fodder Chi Qiushui: Yes, in this life, Ouyang Xiuming, to avoid being reborn again, even started trailing after Zhuge Mo'er and the others, and even began acting out his infatuation for Zhuge Mo'er.]
Chi Qiushui still remembered Ouyang Xiuming's utterly superficial, gentle glance.
As everyone chatted in the group, Su Haipeng returned.
"Xiao Xi, would you like to see your father's residence here?" Su Haipeng knew Lin Xi couldn't stay in this world for too long, so no matter how busy he was, he wanted to take her to see the place where her father had lived.
Lin Xi was willing to go. She stood up: "Uncle Su, aren't you busy?"
"Busy, but I think taking you there is also very important. Let's go, I've already filed the report."
Chi Qiushui put away her phone and walked arm-in-arm with Lin Xi. Although it might be a bit inappropriate, she wouldn't let Lin Xi go alone.
The two left through the back door this time. Several cars were parked there. Su Haipeng got into the driver's seat of one, and Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui got into the back seat.
Su Haipeng drove them towards the main city area. Lin Zhongxun's residence was in an old residential district in the main city.
While leading them upstairs, Su Haipeng chatted with the two. When Chi Qiushui asked why there was an urban village opposite the four major families' estates, Su Haipeng answered this way: "The four families are quite domineering. They don't allow prosperous urban areas to be built near their mountain villas, so that place has remained an urban village."
Chi Qiushui pursed her lips: "Typical Mary Sue families, really quite overbearing."
Su Haipeng smiled but didn't say more. They climbed to the third floor of Building One. It was a layout with two apartments per floor. The doorway of unit 301 had a shoe cabinet and other daily items, while unit 302 only had a red 'Safe Journey' doormat.
Su Haipeng opened the door. The interior decoration was very ordinary and simple. Having been unoccupied for twenty years, there was a particular smell in the air, but the place was very clean, clearly regularly cleaned.
Su Haipeng went to open the windows: "My family also lives in this complex. Sometimes when I'm off duty, after cleaning my own place, I come over to clean here. Alright, I need to get back to work. You can stay here for a while. Come over to my place for dinner tonight; your aunt makes the best sweet and sour pork ribs, and she's already preparing them."
After saying that, Su Haipeng hurriedly left. Only Chi Qiushui and Lin Xi remained in the room. Chi Qiushui said, "I'll go use the restroom first," and hurried off to the bathroom.
From the moment she entered, Lin Xi hadn't paid attention to anyone else. Her gaze was fixed on the feature wall opposite the living room. There was a very, very large photograph.
It was a photo of her and Xue Min, but enlarged, and with a man added beside them.
He stood next to Xue Min, in a protective stance, embracing both mother and daughter in his arms.
Lin Xi's eyes grew moist. For the first time, she felt so directly that Lin Zhongxun had loved her, and had loved Xue Min too.
She hadn't cared much about Xue Min being possessed before because she couldn't imagine what Xue Min loving her would look like. From her earliest memories, her impression of Xue Min was of being ignored, and the words her grandmother told her—that Xue Min didn't want to see her.
That initial impression was too deeply ingrained, so she couldn't imagine Xue Min loving her and didn't care who the soul in her body was.
Now, she found it unbearable.
She took out her phone and entered the group chat: [System, is my mother still alive?]
This was the first time Lin Xi had asked the system about Xue Min.
[System Message: Sorry, group member Earth Girl Lin Xi has insufficient permissions to query the answer to this question.]
Looking at this message, Lin Xi suddenly smiled. She remembered getting the same 'insufficient permissions' reply the last time she asked about her father, Lin Zhongxun.
But her body had already been taken over by someone else. Could she still come back? Lin Xi wasn't sure, and there was no precedent in the group.
Her thoughts were tangled. Lin Xi thought for a moment and decided not to dwell on it. The boat will straighten itself when it reaches the bridgehead. After replying to the group messages, she began to look around the small, modest apartment.
This was a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. On the nightstand in the master bedroom sat a photo of her and her mother. The bed was stripped down to just the mattress frame. Opening the wardrobe beside the bed, a few sets of clothes hung inside—it looked like they were what Lin Zhongxun often wore.
Lin Xi packed all those clothes away. She just wanted to keep something as a memento.
After looking through the master bedroom, she went to the secondary bedroom. As soon as she opened the door, her eyes were met with a room full of pink. The bed was styled like a princess bed, and even the wardrobe in the room was a mix of white and pink.
Opening the wardrobe, the double doors revealed shelves packed full of plush toys. She closed that door and opened another cabinet, which held quilts and comforters, all in pink. Having been unused for many years, the pink bedding had become somewhat faded and worn.
Lin Xi stored away the items from this cabinet as well.
Her time left here was running short; the countdown was now only two hours. Lin Xi decided to spend these last two hours having a meal with Chi Qiushui.
Before heading out, Lin Xi returned to the secondary bedroom and placed some weapons, ones that could be manufactured in this world, inside the cabinet there.
The two found a nearby Northeastern-style restaurant, ate an iron pot stew, and each drank a bottle of beer. After the meal, the countdown behind Lin Xi and Chi Qiushui's chat dialog showed only twenty minutes left. They returned to Lin Zhongxun's apartment and stayed for a while. When the time came, Lin Xi was directly taken away by the Transmigrator Chat Group.
After she left, Chi Qiushui stayed in the same spot for a very, very long time. She only left when Su Haipeng came looking for Lin Xi to go eat.
Lin Xi left so quickly that Su Haipeng was a bit surprised and also quite regretful. He had wanted to take this time to properly tell Lin Xi about his good friend.
But Su Haipeng also knew that even if Lin Xi hadn't left, given how busy he was now, he wouldn't have been able to talk much with her anyway. These two trips were only possible because he had squeezed out the time. If the person he had requested leave for wasn't Lin Xi, his superiors wouldn't have even let him come.
Chi Qiushui returned to her rented room. The door to Ouyang Xiuming's apartment opposite was tightly shut. Chi Qiushui opened her door, lay down on the bed, pulled the curtains shut, and went to sleep. When her mental state was truly poor and her mood was genuinely emo, apart from getting a manicure, only sleep could make her feel somewhat better.
Waking up in the middle of the night, Chi Qiushui checked the group chat; no one was talking anymore. She sent a message to Lin Xi, then took out her phone to check the trending topics.
The news about the residences of the Four Great Families being razed to the ground was already spreading like wildfire online. Simultaneously, official organizations like the National Tax Authority, the National Police Network, and the Procuratorate also posted announcements online, listing in detail all the illegal activities committed over the years by the Duanmu Group, the Zhuge Group, and the Nangong Group.
Knowing these families had a massive number of fans, they provided corresponding evidence for each listed crime.
All the current Weibo hot searches were about these three families. Not seeing any information about the Ouyang family, Chi Qiushui wasn't surprised.
Ouyang Xiuming was a smart man. He had probably made contact with the state side very early on. After all, he was a ruthless person who could rewind the world countless times and, upon seizing an opportunity, still aimed to finish off the Duanmu and Zhuge families.
Chi Qiushui switched to forums. There, almost every discussion was about this incident. Even late into the night, people were still fighting hard to keep up with the gossip.
Of course, where there were gossip-eaters, there were those having major meltdowns, especially the die-hard fans of the Four Great Families. They indiscriminately attacked every person with sound values in every post.
After reading, Chi Qiushui couldn't help but play the troll once more, going eight hundred rounds against those brain-dead idiots.
When exiting, she accidentally clicked on the original owner's old instant messaging app. Her phone lagged for a few minutes. Once it recovered, she saw messages sent by the original owner's former classmates.
About eighty percent of the messages were from those classmates, and their attitudes had completely reversed. At first, they were threatening her; later, it became pleas for mercy; and by this afternoon, it had turned into curses directed at her.
Chi Qiushui thought about it but didn't delete the account. She just logged out completely.
Lying in bed again, Chi Qiushui still couldn't sleep. She truly missed home.
In the middle of the night, Chi Qiushui's door was knocked on. She grabbed a broom and went out. There was a peephole on the door; looking through it, she saw Ouyang Xiuming standing outside.
After thinking it over, she still opened the door.
Ouyang Xiuming had been very busy and very tired today. Seeing Chi Qiushui, a sincere, gentle smile appeared on his face: "My suffering has ended."
Chi Qiushui, still holding the broom, looked expressionlessly at Ouyang Xiuming who had come to her door to act crazy in the middle of the night instead of going home: "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Without waiting for Chi Qiushui to say more, Ouyang Xiuming started chattering on his own: "The reason the Ouyang family managed to emerge unscathed from this incident is, first, because our family does business with integrity, never using power or influence to bully others. The second reason is that we handed over two-thirds of our assets."
The Ouyang family was in the machinery business, holding several of the most advanced technologies both domestically and internationally. With this handover, they were left with only one of those technologies.
But even with just this one, it was enough to ensure the Ouyang family's wealth for decades to come.
"You should be secretly pleased."
Ouyang Xiuming didn't mind Chi Qiushui's cold words: "Yes, I should be secretly pleased. I'm sorry for disturbing you so late. You should go back in; I need to go back and sleep too."
Ouyang Xiuming felt he needed to go back and properly calm his emotions. After all, the family home was gone, and most of the business was gone too. He needed to adjust his mood well.
@Infinite Good Literature, all in Jinjiang Literature City
After a dreamless night, Lin Xi returned home. She held the card containing the residences of the Four Great Families, examining it repeatedly.
Compared to before, faint images of houses and other structures had now appeared on the surface of this card.
Lin Xi opened the group chat: "System, don't you want this card?"
[System Message: This card cannot be reclaimed by this system. Please store it properly. Do not use the card for illegal activities, otherwise this system will immediately eliminate you.]
Lin Xi placed this card into her space and took out the few remaining blank cards inside. These cards were all blank, identical to the ones she had taken to the Mary Sue world.
She took out the items she had collected from Lin Zhongxun's home in the Mary Sue world, looking at each one, playing with each one. Even though she was past the age for playing games, she still found endless enjoyment in it.
After she had finished playing, she put the items away into her space and took out Lin Zhongxun's letter to examine it carefully, focusing mainly on pondering the first few sentences.
Lin Zhongxun mentioned the age of twenty, and also mentioned that her mother was not her mother. So, had he already foreseen that Xue Min would be possessed? And why would he know that she would go to a Mary Sue world?
Was all of this his arrangement? Did she enter this chat group because of him as well?
These questions hung over her like one puzzle after another, and she didn't sleep well that night. The next day when she got up, it was raining outside, and a thin mist enveloped the distant lotus pond.
Chi Xiangping was cooking breakfast in the kitchen. The pumpkins planted after the New Year had already started growing, and today's breakfast was pumpkin shoot and lean pork soup.
The moment she saw Chi Xiangping, Lin Xi slipped a gold bracelet onto her wrist.
"Oh my, why did you buy this for me? Don't I already have one?" Seeing the bracelet, Chi Xiangping exclaimed in surprise.
Lin Xi went to get bowls to serve the rice. Her back was turned to Chi Xiangping. "This is from my dad, through me. Grandma, you keep it."
Chi Xiangping's movement to take off the bracelet paused. She wiped her eyes, which were no longer bright, and carefully put the bracelet back on. "Ah, alright, alright, alright. My dear girl has really grown up."
Lin Xi glanced at the ceiling, blinking back her tears. She carried two bowls of rice to the table. While eating, Lin Xi casually asked Chi Xiangping a question.
"Grandma, my mom said she put a pager on the eaves of my room. When our house was renovated a couple of years ago, did you see it?"
Last time Xue Min came, she only asked for Lin Zhongxun's old belongings but didn't specify what they were.
"What pager?" Chi Xiangping thought for a moment before it dawned on her. "Oh, I remember now! That thing he used to hang on his belt that would beep now and then, right? He took that with him when he left."
"Your mother knows this too. She must have remembered wrong, right?" Currently, Chi Xiangping held a strong negative opinion of Xue Min. She talked about missing her son and wanting to compensate her granddaughter, but she only came that one time and hadn't been seen since.
She had heard from others that after the New Year, Xue Min spent a lot of money on extracurricular classes for the daughter and son she had later. During this time at the homestay, Chi Xiangping had met quite a few young people, and she found some of their sayings particularly insightful.
Where the money is, there the love is. Although this saying isn't entirely accurate when applied to family relationships, it fits perfectly for the relationship between Lin Xi and Xue Min.
Xue Min clearly knew that her parents had embezzled so many years of child support. She sounded so remorseful when she came, yet there was zero follow-through in action. If a normal person learned about such a thing, even if the other party refused, wouldn't they still try to offer that money as compensation?
But that time, it was all talk and no action. It had been over a month since she went back, and she hadn't come once. If Chi Xiangping still couldn't figure out that Xue Min's visit was solely to get her son's things, then she would have lived all these years for nothing.
Lin Xi nodded and changed the topic with Chi Xiangping. After Chi Xiangping left, she began to ponder.
Regarding the last time her father went out, her grandmother must have recalled it countless times; her memory was unlikely to be wrong. So the question arose: Xue Min had been possessed two or three years after that. How did her father's pager end up in Xue Min's hands?
What was Xue Min's purpose in putting that pager on the roof of her room? Since she came looking for it twenty years later, she must know its use. Why didn't she take it with her then?
Furthermore, her father said he fell into a spatial rift while trying to stop someone. So another question emerged: why didn't that pager go with him?
Lin Xi picked up her phone and opened the chat group to look. What connection did that pager have with this current chat group? Were they the same thing?
Lin Xi tapped on the message-in-a-bottle icon behind the chat group. Her chat with the anonymous netizen from the infinite flow world was still paused at her last sent message. Above that was the anonymous netizen's message saying he was going into a dungeon.
She closed this chat window and opened the one with Ai Ruisi from the magical world. A month had passed since her last message, and Ai Ruisi still hadn't replied.
Lin Xi sighed, collected the bowls, and washed them. The rain continued outside. The rain around Qingming Festival drizzled down, capable of lasting the entire day.
Lin Xi walked to the living room. Chi Xiangping was making paper money offerings. It was Qingming Festival; they were going to visit the graves. Lin Xi worked alongside her.
After finishing, she took out her phone, found Wang Peng's mother's number, and asked for the address of where they worked in Guangdong province all those years ago.
Some things just had to be investigated. Maybe she wouldn't find anything by going, but she still had to go and see, right?
She asked the group chat system: "Are there methods to make someone who has taken over another person's body leave?"
The group chat system replied instantly as usual: [Detection shows group member 'Earth Girl Lin Xi' has insufficient permissions to query this issue. Please strive to level up.]
Lin Xi sighed, opened the group chat, took a photo of the rain curtain, and smoothly joined the ongoing conversation.
As they chatted, Chu Qianmo came online to speak.
[ [Dog Brother] Wife-Slaying Daoist Chu Qianmo: Good news, everyone. All five of the original host's ex-wives left this morning. The small houses they rented have already been listed for rent again.] Chu Qianmo was genuinely happy. Who could understand the joy he felt seeing those five figures leave early in the morning?
From morning until now, Chu Qianmo had been spending his time singing the song "Good Luck Comes."
[Earth Girl Lin Xi: Congratulations, Dog Brother, on no longer being tormented.]
[Mistaken-Identity Real Heiress Qin Suyuan: Congratulations, Dog Brother, on escaping that sea of bitterness.]
The other friends in the group quietly sent messages in the chat.
Chi Qiushui also came out to talk. Only Lu Shenzhi and Bai Qingting were absent.
The status under Bai Qingting's avatar still showed "Busy."
They chatted idly for a long time. In the Mary Sue world, Chi Qiushui had just finished a client's manicure, cleaned up, and was about to go out to buy groceries when her phone buzzed with a message. She opened it while changing her shoes.
[System Message: Detected that group member Chi Qiushui meets the conditions for returning to Earth. Confirm return? PS: After returning, memories of the transmigration will fade, and memories of the group chat will disappear.]
The keys in Chi Qiushui's hand clattered to the floor. Her first instinct was to pinch herself hard, the pain twisting her face.
She looked at her phone again. The message was still there. Chi Qiushui placed her finger over the "Yes" button and glanced around the living room.
"If I leave, what will happen to this body here?" Chi Qiushui wanted to go back. Why wouldn't she? She had no family in this place. All she had done since arriving was eat, sleep, and do clients' nails.
Earth had her parents and her friends. Why wouldn't she go back? But she was still worried about the original owner. For some reason, Chi Qiushui had a persistent feeling that the original owner was still alive.
[System Message: The original Mary Sue minor cannon fodder Chi Qiushui is alive. After the host leaves, she will be returned to this body by this dimension's minor Heavenly Dao.]
Chi Qiushui let out a sigh of relief. She walked back to her room, took out a pen and notebook, and began writing swiftly on the pages. This was her message for the original owner.
No matter how the original owner's first dozen or so years had been, she wished her happiness and joy for the rest of her life.
Moreover, the original owner was still young. She shouldn't be running a nail salon at home; she needed to go back to school. The wages Chi Qiushui had helped recover for her hadn't been reclaimed by the state. That money was enough for the original owner to buy an apartment in this city.
Chi Qiushui wrote down every little detail, every piece of advice she could think of, covering all aspects she could imagine. She filled three whole pages. At the end, Chi Qiushui apologized to the original owner. Even though using her body hadn't been intentional, she felt she owed her both an apology and thanks.
After finishing, Ouyang Xiuming returned from outside. If she weren't leaving, Chi Qiushui would have ignored him as usual—after all, he clearly had a black heart. But since she was leaving, and he was the only person she'd gotten somewhat close to during her time here...
Thinking that this would be their last meeting, Chi Qiushui decided to bid him a proper farewell.
"Classmate Ouyang, want to have a meal together? My treat."
Ouyang Xiuming had expected Chi Qiushui to ignore him as usual, so her invitation took him by surprise. He agreed immediately.
There was a Sichuan restaurant downstairs. They had a casual meal there. After returning, just before Ouyang Xiuming entered his apartment, Chi Qiushui called out to him: "Ouyang Xiuming, goodbye."
"Goodbye."
Chi Qiushui entered her apartment, sat on the sofa, and took out her phone to message Lin Xi.
[Mary Sue Minor Cannon Fodder Chi Qiushui: Little Xi, I got a message from the group chat system. It says I meet the conditions to return, but after I go back, my memories from after the transmigration will fade, and my group chat memories will disappear. Even so, I've decided to go back.]
[I'm afraid I might really forget you. Let me send you the gold and jewelry I got during this time first. Will you come to see me sometime? I think if we met in reality, we'd definitely be good friends too.]
Chi Qiushui didn't speak in the group chat. She knew many of the friends there wanted to go home, but they likely couldn't. "It is not the lack but the inequality that causes discontent"—Chi Qiushui understood this principle.
Moreover, Lin Xi had asked her that question when she visited that day. Chi Qiushui knew Lin Xi must know something. If she went to the group chat announcing she could return to Earth, it might cause trouble for Lin Xi.
When Chi Qiushui was notified by the system about the return option, Lin Xi had already received the message asking if she agreed to Chi Qiushui's return. She had clicked "Agree," but hadn't seen Chi Qiushui confirm on her end.
Seeing Chi Qiushui's message now, Lin Xi first replied with congratulations, then with "Okay, I will definitely go see you." She accepted the gold and jewelry Chi Qiushui sent over.
Chi Qiushui stood up and took one last look at this Mary Sue world. The stalls downstairs were already set up. She sat back on the sofa, opened the group chat. That message was still there, blocking all other chat history.
She selected "Yes." The moment the "Yes" option lit up, Chi Qiushui slumped onto the sofa. Her avatar in the group chat turned gray.
A system message appeared in the group chat: [System Message: Group member Mary Sue Minor Cannon Fodder Chi Qiushui has left this group chat due to force majeure.]
The group chat froze for a moment, and soon, Lin Xi's private messages multiplied.
As Lin Xi was busy replying to them, in the Mary Sue dimension, the Chi Qiushui who had just collapsed on the sofa sat up.
After a moment of dazed confusion looking at her surroundings, her gaze fell on the papers on the coffee table.
Just as the Earth-dimension Chi Qiushui had felt, the Mary Sue-dimension Chi Qiushui had not vanished. She had been within the Earth-dimension Chi Qiushui's body, occasionally aware of outside information, but unable to stay conscious all the time.
She picked up the papers on the table and read every line of the three pages filled with advice. Seeing the Earth-dimension Chi Qiushui's apology at the end, she hugged the papers and cried until she was drenched in tears.
Apart from Situ Ying's hypocrisy and performative kindness, this was the first time the Mary Sue-dimension Chi Qiushui had directly experienced genuine goodness from someone else.
She treasured this kindness. She looked at the gold and jewelry on the table—valuable and beautiful. Chi Qiushui carefully put them away. They were a gift from the Chi Qiushui elder sister from another world.
Someone knocked on the door. Chi Qiushui stood up and opened it. Ouyang Xiuming was holding a box of fruit. The moment he saw Chi Qiushui, his pupils contracted sharply.
He suddenly understood why "Chi Qiushui" had invited him to dinner and why she had said goodbye.
At this moment, a sense of loss enveloped Ouyang Xiuming's heart.
Chi Qiushui took the fruit. As she was about to close the door, Ouyang Xiuming asked her: "She's gone, isn't she?"
Chi Qiushui looked up at him sharply, at this boy she had once secretly liked. It was so strange. The old her would have blushed and her heart would have raced seeing him, but now, looking at him, she no longer felt that emotion at all.
She nodded gently and closed the door. "Goodbye, Classmate Ouyang."
The moment the door closed, Chi Qiushui smiled with relief. So, the feelings she once had for him were merely a fondness, a longing.
It was only because of the gentleness he showed to the outside world. But now, she had met someone who was truly gentle to her. The emptiness and yearning in her heart had already been filled by another person.
It's just such a pity that she and her Qiushui sister never had a chance to interact or talk face-to-face.
Neurology Department, Inpatient Ward, a hospital in Liaoning Province.
Dong Xiulian walked into the ward where her daughter Chi Qiushui was staying, carrying a lunchbox she had prepared. Her husband, Chi Hailong, was curled up on a camp bed, sleeping soundly.
Dong Xiulian went over and patted him awake. "Go wash your face and come back to eat."
The city hospital wasn't far from the place their daughter Chi Qiushui used to live. During this period while Dong Xiulian was here taking care of her daughter, she had been staying there. He Jiantao, who had lived with her daughter before, hadn't been seen since giving her ten thousand yuan for medical expenses.
According to relatives, Wang Jinzhi was already arranging blind dates for him. Dong Xiulian didn't say anything about it. As the saying goes, husband and wife are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, each flies away.
It's good that he's going on blind dates. At least it makes it clear this man really isn't worth entrusting one's life to.
Chi Hailong woke up under Dong Xiulian's patting, dragged a basin from under the bed, and went to the bathroom to wash up. Dong Xiulian lifted the quilt covering Chi Qiushui and started massaging her entire body.
"Qiushui, dear, the sun is so lovely outside today. The flowers in the roadside greenbelts are all blooming. When I came over, I even saw some edible wild herbs in the flower beds. The dandelion greens are so tender. I saw an old lady digging them up with a small shovel."
"I remember you love cold dressed dandelion greens the most. You need to wake up soon, and then Mom will dig lots and lots of them for you. This morning when I went to the market to buy groceries, I also saw someone selling Chinese toon. You like the pickled kind the best. This stuff is scarce. If you don't wake up soon, you'll miss the first harvest."
Dong Xiulian talked and murmured as she massaged, the more she spoke, the sadder she became. In just these few short days, she and Old Chi had visibly aged a great deal. Relatives had been visiting frequently during this time, and the first thing everyone said upon seeing them was to take care of their health.
Dong Xiulian wanted to, but every time she saw her daughter lying here, even her breathing dependent on an oxygen tube, she felt heartbroken.
They checked on Chi Qiushui over a dozen times a day, terrified that her heart monitor might flatline if they weren't careful.
"Shui'er, my dear girl, if something really happened to you, how would your dad and I go on living? The night before last, your dad was sleeping in your rented room. When I went over, I saw the ashtray on the nightstand was full of cigarette butts. You know your dad. The last time his smoking was this heavy was when your grandfather passed away."
"You can't be so thoughtless, leaving your mom and dad behind like this. Your mom and dad are old, we couldn't bear such a blow, dear girl." As Dong Xiulian spoke, she began to cry.
A teardrop fell on Chi Qiushui's arm. Her finger seemed to have some sort of chain reaction, twitching slightly. Dong Xiulian, intently massaging the muscles in Chi Qiushui's legs, didn't notice.
Chi Hailong returned from outside. Dong Xiulian wiped her tears and didn't say anymore.
Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, Chi Hailong said nothing. Their daughter lying here like this had taken half their lives.
Before, they were always urging her to get married, urging her to have children. But now, neither of them thought about those things anymore. As long as Chi Qiushui woke up, they wouldn't interfere with whatever she wanted to do.
Only after experiencing such despair did they understand that good health is more important than anything else.
Chi Hailong opened the lunchbox to eat. Dong Xiulian had made dumplings in the morning, with chive and egg filling. Chi Hailong ate them one after another, enjoying them thoroughly. While taking a drink of water, he glanced at Chi Qiushui lying on the bed. Then, as he picked up another dumpling to put in his mouth, he suddenly looked back again.
His daughter, who had been unconscious for days with the doctors unsure when she would wake up, was now lying there with her eyes open, looking around.
The dumpling in Chi Hailong's mouth fell to the floor. Dong Xiulian happened to see it. "Hey, you old man, how old are you? What's with the shock? You dropped the dumpling. Don't you understand our family's situation right now..."
Ignoring Dong Xiulian's nagging, Chi Hailong strode towards Chi Qiushui's bedside. He pressed the call button by the bed. Only after pressing it did he reach out with a trembling hand to take Chi Qiushui's hand.
Watching his actions, Dong Xiulian's mind went blank. She slowly turned her head and saw Chi Qiushui with her eyes open.
"Shui'er, my child, you heartless girl, you've finally woken up. You have no idea how worried your mother has been all this time." Dong Xiulai kept talking, tears streaming down her face more fiercely than ever.
Doctors and nurses arrived. Upon seeing Chi Qiushui was awake, they immediately wheeled her to the examination room.
By the time she returned from the examination, over an hour had passed. Although Chi Qiushui was still weak, she was already able to make small movements.
Dong Xiulian took out her phone and called relatives one by one to share the good news. Soon, Chi Qiushui's relatives arrived, led by her aunt. The ward instantly became lively.
The next day, Chi Qiushui had improved significantly. She could also speak a few simple, albeit weak, sentences.
Tubes were still attached all over her body. She said to Dong Xiulian, "Mom, I had a dream. I dreamed I traveled through time and became a little girl in another world."
With her daughter awake, Dong Xiulian felt energized in everything she did. Hearing this, she nodded and chuckled in agreement. All her daughter's test results were back; she was fine. After a few more days of observation, she could be discharged.
Chi Qiushui looked at the magpie that had flown to the windowsill and blinked.
She felt that waking up again was truly, truly wonderful.
………………
Lin Xi learned the news of Chi Qiushui's awakening through a call from Dong Xiulian. She was genuinely happy for Chi Qiushui.
She had already told Chi Xiangping she needed to go out for a while. Chi Xiangping didn't say much. At the guesthouse now, she and Yao Yuran could handle everything perfectly well. Whether Lin Xi was there or not didn't make much difference.
Vendors now delivered vegetables and goods to the village specifically, so everyone didn't necessarily need Lin Xi anymore either.
She drove towards Guangyue Province. Wang Peng's mother had said that back when they were migrant workers, they were in Shaxu Town, Guancheng. There was a place there called Qiushan Park, and it was in that park that her mother had been injured.
Following the navigation, Lin Xi drove to Shaxu Town. It was an industrial area, with factories large and small lining both sides of the road. It was already very hot here in April, and people wearing short sleeves and shorts were everywhere.
Chi Qiushui parked the car near Qiushan Park, had a meal first, and then walked inside.
Qiushan Park, as the name suggested, had low hills within the park. It was a weekend, and quite a few people were playing on the paths on both sides of Qiushan Park. The park wasn't large, and before long, she reached the hilltop.
From the top, looking down, she could see the small factories near the park. She sat for a while, enjoying the breeze.
Deep down, Lin Xi knew that coming here wouldn't change anything. Without any clues, she couldn't even begin to investigate why Xue Min had been injured here all those years ago.
Twenty years had passed; the setting remained, but the people were gone. Even if there had been any clues, they had vanished with time. She just wanted to come and see, to see the place where her mother had disappeared.
Perhaps it was also the place where her father had gone missing.
After standing for a while, Lin Xi descended from another direction. In just a few dozen meters, she broke into a sweat.
She bought a bottle of water at a roadside shop, then sat in the car, cooled by the air conditioning. She picked up her phone and contacted Chu Qianmo.
[Earth Girl Lin Xi: Dog Bro, can you help me check the name or life story of that great master from your continent who practiced the Yishu Thirteen Sutras?]
It was mealtime where Chu Qianmo was. His small shop was bustling with noise and excitement. Upon receiving Lin Xi's message, he video-called her. He scooped a small cup of spiritual spring water from his spatial storage, poured it into a wine jar, gave it a shake, and then carried it over to chat with a regular customer.
"Brother Zhang, everyone says you're the most well-informed person in Zemeng City. Now, your little brother here has something he'd like to ask you."
The one Chu Qianmo called Brother Zhang was the owner of a teahouse in Zemeng City. Backed by a major sect from the cultivation world, his teahouse was a place where people from all walks of life gathered to exchange information.
So Chu Qianmo's words weren't wrong at all.
Brother Zhang was a big food lover. To eat the dishes from Chu Qianmo's Earth Restaurant, he had even started sharing tables with others. It wasn't that he didn't want to have it all to himself, but Chu Qianmo's cooking was simply too delicious—he couldn't secure a table alone!
Hearing Chu Qianmo's words and smelling the rich aroma of wine and the surging spiritual energy from the jar he carried...
"Haha, you've come to the right person asking me. I'm known as the All-Knowing One of the cultivation world. Any information you want to know, I can divulge it to you." Brother Zhang's statement earned him a round of flattery from those sharing the table.
Chu Qianmo pulled over a stool and sat down, placing the wine jar he was holding on the table and pouring a bowl for everyone present.
Good wine is easy to find, but wine imbued with spiritual energy is not. Chu Qianmo's gesture made those who already liked him appreciate him even more, and compliments flowed freely into his ears.
"Brother Zhang is indeed straightforward. I'm not asking about any secrets. I just want to inquire about the only person in our cultivation world who achieved the Dao through martial arts. I'm really too curious about his story." Brother Zhang had already finished one cup of wine, and Chu Qianmo immediately refilled it for him.
"I just want to hear a bit more." Chu Qianmo put down the wine jar and gave a bitter smile. "Everyone knows I don't like cultivation much; I just enjoy making good food. I heard someone achieved the Dao through martial arts, and I thought maybe I could learn from that. Perhaps I could achieve the Dao through culinary skills."
Chu Qianmo's words were half-true, half-false. But in this era, it wasn't rare for people to achieve the Dao through all sorts of strange and wonderful skills. Here, "achieving the Dao" didn't refer to the Qi Refining stage like drawing Qi into the body.
The Qi Refining stage was just the entry level. To truly say one had "achieved the Dao," one needed to be at least at the Golden Core stage.
"I think Boss Song can definitely do it. In all my years traveling the cultivation world, this is the first time I've eaten such delicious food."
"Exactly, exactly. I've heard even the disciples of the major sects consider it an honor to eat a meal personally cooked by Boss Song..."
"..."
The waves of flattery made Chu Qianmo feel a bit light-headed. As a chef, there was no greater joy or pride than having the food you create recognized and appreciated by others.
Brother Zhang decided not to drink the second cup of spiritual wine just yet. Picking up some peanuts, he began to talk about the great master who achieved the Dao through martial arts.
That great master was originally just an escort in the mortal world. Because of his exceptional martial talent, he was noticed by people from Streamside Manor and recruited into the manor. After leaving his job as an escort, he had more time to devote to martial arts. Everyone knows that those with great martial talent aren't far off from body cultivators.
"In less than two years, that great master achieved Qi Refining. Once he had spiritual energy within him, he began creating his own cultivation method. The once highly popular Yishu Thirteen Sutras was created by him. By practicing this set of techniques, he successfully achieved the Dao in less than forty years."
Brother Zhang was indeed well-informed, but he really had no talent for storytelling. What could have been a perfectly good inspiring story became dry and bland in his telling.
Chu Qianmo wasn't bothered at all. He glanced at the message on his jade token and continued asking, "What was this great master's name?"
"Lin Zhongxun," another diner at the table blurted out, earning a fierce glare from Brother Zhang.
That diner and Brother Zhang were old friends of many years, so he wasn't afraid of him.
Chu Qianmo refilled his empty wine cup, and he continued, "Senior Lin is the most respected senior among us body cultivators. Not only was his martial talent exceptional, but his moral character was beyond reproach."
The young lady of Streamside Manor, presumably everyone has heard of her. She was said to be the number one beauty in the mortal world at that time. It's said she greatly admired Senior Lin back then—to what extent? Wherever Senior Lin went, she would follow.
“But our Senior Lin remained unmoved by such beauty. When asked, he would say he had a wife and daughter before, but they had gone missing and he couldn't contact them. Once this story got out, no one failed to respect and admire him.” People who are loyal and value emotions and righteousness can always win others' praise, no matter the era.
"What happened to that young lady in the end?" Chu Qianmo pressed.
"In the end, she went back home and, under her family's arrangements, married someone else. Come on, let's have another drink. Boss Song, you should have a drink with us too."
"Alright, let's drink." Chu Qianmo raised his glass and clinked it with theirs.
Lin Xi ended the video call. She rested her head on the steering wheel and laughed. So, she had gotten news of her father that early on?
It was just that she had never asked.
She suddenly really wanted to know if, in Chu Qianmo's era, her father had left her a letter like he did in the Mary Sue world.
The phone in her hand vibrated. She tapped to look.
[System Message: Welcome, Liu Zhong, the sworn rival of Long Aotian, to the group.]
[System Message: Welcome, Zhong Shuyan, the elderly farmer from the ancient world, to the group.]
Lin Xi was just about to type a welcome message in the group chat when she looked up and saw a woman in a red dress walking past on the opposite side of the street.
It was a face she would never forget in her lifetime. She pushed open the car door and immediately got out.
