After I Was Erased by the System, She Went Mad

Chapter 56 : Just a Mission After All

Typhoon Tia's second displacement was still in progress.

If Typhoon Tia's second displacement succeeded, the wind force would exceed level 17, and that would be when true disaster struck.

In the villa, the other local servants seemed already accustomed to this, busily tidying up rooms and organizing things. During their free time, they gathered together to play cards and chat.

Shen Xiaoyu and the others had originally come for vacation, their daily routine consisting of eating, drinking, and playing around. Now without electricity and unable to go outside, they could only sit together and play mahjong by hand.

Qiu Ye didn't know how to play before and was just learning from the others. Every card he played required half a day of contemplation.

Shen Nian'an, who was just making up numbers, also didn't know how to play, treating it like a game as she randomly threw out cards.

The only two who knew how to play, Shen Xiaoyu and Shi Qiubai, were listlessly accompanying the two beginners.

As Qiu Ye once again pondered how to play his cards, Shen Xiaoyu turned to look at the person sitting behind her. Su Huan sat on the sofa, staring absently at some spot, though her gaze occasionally glanced at her phone, as if waiting for something.

Shen Xiaoyu thoughtfully withdrew her gaze. Su Huan definitely knew the truth, but how could she pry it out of her mouth?

"Sister? Sister? It's your turn." Shi Qiubai nudged her arm. "Qiu Ye played a two of bamboo, An'an played a one of circles—An'an! Put down the one of circles, you can't change cards!"

"I played wrong just now, I want to play a two of circles!" Shen Nian'an quickly grabbed back the one of circles and threw out a two of circles.

Qiu Ye blinked slowly and pushed down his tiles. "I won!"

Shi Qiubai exclaimed and carefully examined his tiles before slapping her forehead. "This is a false win! You still have a lone tile next to it!"

Shi Qiubai was frustrated and angry, huffily picking up the tiles again to start explaining the rules from the beginning.

Shen Xiaoyu pushed her tiles away. "I want to rest for a bit, you all play first."

"Eh? Sister? If you don't play, we won't have enough people!" Shi Qiubai complained.

"I'll play! I want to play!" Shen Nian'an was delighted, sitting in her chair and stacking the tiles like building blocks.

Shen Xiaoyu ignored them and got up to sit beside Su Huan. She didn't look at her, just picked up a book from the table and casually flipped to a page.

[Do you know where this typhoon came from?]

[Who? Me?] The system was completely confused. [I don't know! But this typhoon is a bit strange. Wait a moment.]

[Detection program starting up—]

[Detection program started—Detection program running—]

Su Huan's gaze paused, her hands resting at her sides unnaturally folding over her legs. Her expression tensed slightly, but she said nothing.

Shen Xiaoyu completely ignored the useless system's words and continued asking: [I'm asking you. There's no second person here who can hear my thoughts, so don't pretend you can't hear me!]

Only then did Su Huan confirm she was indeed talking to her, and couldn't help but look at her a few more times.

After the waste system on Shen Xiaoyu came online, its ability to cause trouble also came online.

Su Huan withdrew her gaze. "You all play, I'm going upstairs first."

After saying this, she took her phone and got up to go upstairs.

Shen Xiaoyu sat on the sofa, her expression darkening.

The morning passed quickly, and after lunch, the group separated to take naps.

Shen Xiaoyu's phone was left in her original room, and there were no spare phones at home. She only borrowed a servant's phone to roughly check the news.

The typhoon was heading toward their location. The second round of displacement would end at 4 PM, and whether the displacement would succeed was still being detected.

Upstairs, Su Huan was also following the online news, occasionally opening her chat with the researchers, anxiously waiting for results.

Time passed minute by minute. Su Huan couldn't sit still anymore. She took a deep breath and paced back and forth in the room, occasionally looking out the window at the trees being blown about by the wind, her mood heavy.

The light gradually dimmed. Flying sand whipped along the coast, and waves crashed against the shore one after another like unleashed beasts, powerful and turbulent.

Su Huan watched in a daze, her eyes gradually losing light as the sky darkened.

Ring ring ring—

In the quiet room, the phone suddenly rang. Su Huan snapped back to attention and hurried to pick up the phone. It was a call from the laboratory.

"Hello? How is it? Did you get it under control?"

The researcher's answer left her completely disappointed. "Sorry, control failed."

Su Huan pursed her lips, the hand gripping the phone showing bulging veins. Just as she was about to voice her angry rebuke, the other person's next words instantly improved her mood.

"But we've successfully put the system into sleep mode. We'll continue trying to control the system."

Su Huan breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, I understand."

After hanging up, Su Huan reopened Weibo and switched to the trending topics page. The first thing she saw was a hashtag: #Typhoon Tia's Second Displacement Failed#.

After watching the video of the typhoon displacement, Su Huan's anxious heart completely relaxed.

Failure was good. The system was forced into sleep mode, so this typhoon should disappear too.

She had to tell Shen Xiaoyu this good news.

She quickly walked out the door. As soon as she came downstairs, she heard Shi Qiubai's excited voice: "Sister! The typhoon won't make landfall!"

Shi Qiubai held her phone, excitedly shouting in front of Shen Xiaoyu: "Typhoon Tia's second displacement failed, so its power after landfall won't be that strong! And Tia's latest path has changed—it won't make landfall here!"

Shen Xiaoyu's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

She took Shi Qiubai's phone and looked at the latest news. Only then did her furrowed brow relax, her face full of relief.

"What wonderful news!"

At the last moment, the typhoon disappeared. Didn't this mean Tang Tang's system's plan had completely failed this time?

Shen Xiaoyu caught sight of someone walking toward them in her peripheral vision. After returning the phone to Shi Qiubai, she turned to look at her. "Let's have hot pot tonight to celebrate."

[Celebrate my narrow escape from death.]

Su Huan smiled at her, pretending not to hear.

Shen Xiaoyu narrowed her eyes and looked away in displeasure.

That evening, everyone enjoyed a lively hot pot dinner together. When talking about the typhoon, Shen Xiaoyu deliberately observed outside the window and clearly felt the wind force had decreased.

By the time they woke up the next day, the wind outside had weakened considerably, and opening the door didn't require much force against resistance.

Shen Xiaoyu ran upstairs and opened her room. The room looked like it had been ransacked by bandits—a complete mess. The heavy curtains were still dripping water, but the wind could no longer move them. The bedding was all soaked through.

She carefully walked in and lifted the curtains to observe. Only then could she see how the trees had punctured the glass. If the trees hadn't been tall enough, they would have crashed directly onto the bed.

Behind her, Shi Qiubai caught up and looked at the entire room in amazement. "How dangerous! Sister almost got hurt."

She frowned and muttered quietly: "They're all facing the sea, so why was it specifically sister's room that got damaged? This is too unfair."

"Maybe it was specifically targeting me," Shen Xiaoyu said with a laugh.

"How could that be?" Shi Qiubai didn't believe it at all, muttering that she'd definitely burn incense when they got back to ask the gods to protect her Sister.

But the speaker was casual while the listener was attentive.

Su Huan, who had followed to check on the room, heard every word of their conversation. She looked deeply at Shen Xiaoyu, struggling internally about whether to tell her the truth.

The people at the research facility still didn't know when they'd be able to control the system—maybe never. That meant situations like typhoons trying to kill people could appear at any time. Shen Xiaoyu had managed to escape this time, but that didn't mean she could escape next time.

But if she told her the truth...

Su Huan's hands at her sides clenched slightly. Two little people in her mind were fighting—one saying to tell Shen Xiaoyu, the other insisting on studying the system thoroughly first.

She couldn't let Shen Xiaoyu know what she was doing. Shen Xiaoyu already didn't like her, and if she made her think she was someone who'd stop at nothing to achieve her goals, the two of them would have no future.

While she was thinking, Shen Xiaoyu had already left her side and was going downstairs. "An'an, we're leaving tomorrow if the wind stops by then. Go check if you've packed all your things."

"So soon?" Shen Nian'an was surprised. "But it's still raining outside."

"It's okay, the typhoon has passed. There won't be any more danger." Shen Xiaoyu patted her head. "Or do you not want to leave with Mama?"

"Of course not! I want to leave with Mama, but, but—" Shen Nian'an hesitated. "Is Mommy leaving with us too? Why don't we take Mommy home with us?"

Shen Xiaoyu shook her head. "Your mommy has her own things to do. We'll leave first. When you miss her, we'll have her come see you, okay?"

Shen Nian'an was still unhappy but could only nod.

She had already tried—Mama and Mommy couldn't be together, so she had to choose whether to follow Mama or Mommy.

Sigh, how troubling.

Shen Nian'an swung her legs and continued stacking the mahjong tiles like building blocks.

Shen Xiaoyu rubbed her daughter's head, praised her, and kissed her.

The little girl became even happier, swinging her legs and bobbing her little head along.

Another day passed, and the rain outside gradually lessened. Shen Xiaoyu went back to her room to check again. All the clothes had been soaked and were unusable. She could only throw them away—she'd have to replace everything when they got back anyway.

Shen Xiaoyu searched for a while before fishing Shen Nian'an's phone out of the water. She thought regretfully that she'd have to get her daughter a new one when they returned.

She didn't know what brand Su Huan had bought, but it felt quite nice to use, and many of the features she hadn't seen elsewhere.

Shen Xiaoyu was thinking casually when she suddenly heard the sound of a door closing behind her.

She spun around to see Su Huan, who had walked up behind her, and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't you want to know about the system?" Su Huan asked.

After struggling for a long time, she still decided to tell Shen Xiaoyu—

Part of it.

Shen Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow. "You're sure you want to tell me? Not planning to keep hiding it?"

"I never intended to hide it from you," Su Huan explained. "I just hadn't figured out how to tell you."

"And now you have?"

Seeing her nod, Shen Xiaoyu got straight to the point. "Then tell me—what's the deal with Tang Tang's system?"

"It was generated by this world to repair the plot." Su Huan said. "Not long after you left, Tang Tang approached me saying a system had latched onto her and she wanted to cooperate with me to eliminate the system on her.

At that time, I was depressed because you had died... left this world, and I could barely hold on. Tang Tang came to tell me she had a way to bring you back to this world. But I had to help her break free from the system on her! As one of the conditions for the exchange, she was willing to become my test subject and provide experimental data."

Hearing this, Shen Xiaoyu suddenly understood. "So when I first came to this world, you already had a signal blocker that could shield system signals. That's where it came from."

Su Huan nodded. "That was the second generation. Before that, we had already been researching for five years, but because of the special nature of Tang Tang's system, we couldn't make too big a commotion. If the system discovered us, Tang Tang would die."

"What about now? Tang Tang hasn't appeared online for over a month. Is this related to you?" Shen Xiaoyu's tone was sharp. "And after 'Flowers Growing Up,' Qin Miao's exposé—was that also your arrangement?"

Su Huan lowered her eyelids, pursing her lips slightly. After thinking for a long time, she finally nodded. "Yes, she deserved it. I had to let the fans know what she had done so you could escape your predicament."

For that trending topic, she had prepared for six years, waited for six years.

Even if Tang Tang hadn't made a move, she would have arranged for Tang Tang to fall into the trap after Qin Miao was released from prison, then re-exposed her true face.

The incident on the show was an accident, but it made her plan work even better.

Tang Tang deserved this.

"But Tang Tang being blacklisted after the show aired had nothing to do with me. Ning Yu went with the flow and wanted to control her."

Hearing this, Shen Xiaoyu completely understood. "You provided her with the opportunity, and Ning Yu simply imprisoned her."

What followed was that due to her memory recovery, Tang Tang's system sensed her presence and orchestrated this typhoon, wanting to kill her completely to prevent her from interfering with this world's development.

Shen Xiaoyu held her forehead and couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Scheme after scheme, they all end up targeting me."

"What?" Su Huan didn't understand.

"Nothing." She shook her head. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"No." Su Huan shook her head. "The research facility is still investigating the system. There's no more data for now."

Shen Xiaoyu hummed in acknowledgment. "If you don't have anything else to tell me, I'll leave first."

Without waiting for Su Huan's answer, she stepped toward the door. Just as she was about to open it, Su Huan urgently spoke again.

"Are you really leaving with Shi Qiubai?" Su Huan's brow was tightly furrowed, her gaze focused on Shen Xiaoyu's face. Her hands hanging at her sides were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were slightly white—clearly she was anxious.

"Shi Qiubai isn't as innocent as you think she is!" she said. "Even the system says she's a villain. Where you can't see, she's already reached a cooperation with Ning Yu, with the purpose of targeting me."

Shen Xiaoyu's hand rested lightly on the door handle as she turned to look at her, confusion on her face.

"So what?"

Su Huan was stunned, unable to react. "What?"

"I know she's not a good person. I've known from the beginning, but so what?" Shen Xiaoyu looked at her with eyes that seemed to smile but didn't.

"I never required her to be a good person, and I never expected her to become a good person. What you're telling me won't affect my opinion of her at all. Besides, when I first pursued you, didn't I know from the start that you were a villain? Did I ever give up on you?" she asked in return.

"Moreover, you're not even as good as Qiubai. At least Qiubai has never deceived me, never been ambiguous with others to provoke me, and never had her fans cyberbully me, causing me to have nightmares every day. In some ways, you can't compare to Qiubai at all. What right do you have to tell me that Qiubai is a villain? In my heart, Qiubai is ten times better than you!"

Su Huan felt like someone had poured a bucket of cold water over her head. Her face turned ashen with each word, her body swaying. Her lips moved but she couldn't say a single word.

Shen Xiaoyu's lips curved upward. "Miss Su, I don't like hearing what you just said. Please don't say such things again, or I'll get angry."

After saying this, she waved at Su Huan. Her hand gripped the door handle firmly—click—the door was about to open when the voice behind her spoke again.

"What if Shi Qiubai knew you were here to pursue her?"

Click—the door closed.

Shen Xiaoyu's smile completely disappeared. She turned around, frowning as she looked at Su Huan. "What do you mean by that?"

"Aren't you worried that Shi Qiubai might find out you're here to pursue her? That your purpose for staying by her side is to reduce her corruption value!"

Su Huan's eyes were red with anger as she stepped toward her. "If Shi Qiubai found out, do you think her corruption value would explode?"

Shen Xiaoyu stared at her face, gradually narrowing her eyes.

The two faced each other, neither yielding.

After a long standoff, Shen Xiaoyu suddenly laughed, her shoulders shaking. "It doesn't matter. Go ahead and tell her. It'll save me the trouble of figuring out how to bring it up."

Before, when she had no memory, she thought she could only return home to be with her mother if she completed the mission.

But now that she remembered everything, her purpose for coming to this world was for her daughter. If she couldn't leave with her daughter, then her pursuit would be meaningless.

Rather than waste time on a virtual number, she might as well spend the remaining time with her daughter.

Shen Xiaoyu felt very relaxed. "It's just a pursuit mission. I never intended to complete the task anyway."

She chuckled and opened the door to leave.

Behind her, Su Huan's face showed no smile as she watched her retreating figure, brow furrowed.

This wasn't good news for her—the mission still had to be done.

If Shen Xiaoyu wouldn't do it, then she would have to do it herself.

Su Huan looked up toward the door and said softly: "Come out."

The light outside the door flickered, and a figure stepped out from the corner, face pale as she looked at her, eyes almost shattered. "What does... pursuit mean?"

Shi Qiubai stood dazedly at the door, tilting her head as tears fell from the corners of her eyes. She looked at Su Huan in disbelief.

"Why can't I understand what you're saying? What pursuit? What corruption? What villain? What happened during the six years Sister was missing?!"

"Shen Xiaoyu's first visit was sixteen years ago. Her mission target was to pursue me." Su Huan was brief and to the point. "Six years ago she completed her mission and left. She came again five months ago with the mission to reduce your corruption value."

Shi Qiubai's eyes widened like walnuts in shock, her face full of disbelief.

They were all Chinese words, so why couldn't she understand when they were put together?

What pursuit, what corruption...

"Who exactly is Sister?" Shi Qiubai stepped closer, demanding answers. "And how do you know all this?"

Su Huan's pale face showed a hint of mockery. "What's the use of you knowing this? Can you make Shen Xiaoyu leave?"

Instinctively, she shook her head. Impossible! She had finally waited for sister to return—how could she let sister leave her again?!

"So what can you do even if you know?" Su Huan sneered.

Shi Qiubai opened her mouth, finally asking only one question: "If knowing is useless, why did you tell me?"

"To let you experience what I once experienced."

Su Huan was very unhappy that Shen Xiaoyu was leaving her for someone else.

And since she was unhappy, she wanted to make others unhappy too.

Who could best understand her feelings? After thinking it over, only Shi Qiubai fit.

"Now you know Xiaoyu's purpose for approaching you. Do you still plan to let Shen Xiaoyu leave with you?" Su Huan's lips curved upward in a smile.

Shi Qiubai's eyes were red. She looked up, gritting her teeth and glaring at her with hatred. "Aren't you afraid I'll tell Sister what you said?"

Su Huan shook her head. "Do as you like. She already hates me this much—I don't mind if she hates me more."

Hate lasts longer than love.

As long as she could make Shen Xiaoyu remember her forever, she didn't mind becoming the person Shen Xiaoyu hated most.

"You!" Shi Qiubai was too angry to speak.

What Su Huan said was completely beyond her understanding. How could someone who was so good to her, who was like a beam of light illuminating her life, possibly be a pursuer?

In that instant, countless images flashed through her mind.

Sister's smile, Sister's gentleness toward her, and the words Sister had once said...

So many things—for a moment she couldn't tell whether Sister was sincere or just pursuing her for the mission.

Shi Qiubai closed her eyes, her face full of despair. "This is fake! You must be lying to me! How could Sister possibly be a pursuer? This is too absurd!"

"Believe it or not." Su Huan didn't care and stepped toward the door. "You can pretend you heard nothing today and continue interacting with Xiaoyu as before, if you don't mind."

Not everyone was Su Huan, and not everyone had mind-reading abilities.

In many days and nights to come, Su Huan would wonder: if she didn't have mind-reading abilities, would Shen Xiaoyu have been able to complete her mission long ago?

Later she rejected this thought. If she didn't have mind-reading abilities, she would have fallen even deeper into Tang Tang's trap, spending every moment doubting Shen Xiaoyu's every action—doubting whether she was enduring her for the pursuit mission, whether she was pretending to love her for the pursuit mission.

After thinking this way for a long time, Su Huan reached a conclusion.

She was purely being masochistic.

Even if Shen Xiaoyu would leave one day, their time together would forever be her most precious memory.

But Shi Qiubai would never understand this.

Shi Qiubai was just like her former self, even a lower-spec version without mind-reading abilities.

She would only keep doubting Shen Xiaoyu's motives.

As Su Huan passed by her, she deliberately paused. "You might as well think carefully about what qualifies you, as a villain, to be loved by Xiaoyu."

This sentence was directed at her, but also at her former self.

That self-deprecating, yet extremely proud self.