Chapter 91: Currying Favor
“Me?” Jiang Ning pointed at herself.
Xie Jingyan nodded: “Yeah, that’s right.”
Jiang Ning’s face didn’t flush and her heart didn’t race: “Haha, crazy, right? Would I dare to kill someone? I was just dreaming earlier, and in the dream I killed the bad guy. Do you have any other questions? If I had killed someone, the police would have arrested me long ago.”
After all, these things happened in her original world, and no one here knew her past.
The second generation rich who tried to insult her died.
Everyone would only see that he panicked and took a shortcut, fell into a big pit, broke his neck, and died. No one would suspect Jiang Ning.
She was also a victim in the black clubhouse.
Xie Jingyan’s slender index finger lightly tapped the desk. Jiang Ning’s eyes were clear; it was obvious she wasn’t lying.
Just now, Xie Jingyan hadn’t heard clearly either; he only heard Jiang Ning muttering “die” and “kill” repeatedly.
He had asked that question just to test her. Now, Jiang Ning seemed shrouded in a layer of mist in his mind. The vicious nature of Jiang Ning, which he could see through at a glance before, now made him somewhat unable to fathom her.
“Actually, that day I saw you shoot the kidnapper.” Xie Jingyan’s tone was flat, his gaze fixed on Jiang Ning, not missing any expression on her face.
Who knew she would just raise her eyebrow nonchalantly: “Oh, and then?”
“So why did you lie that day?” he continued to press.
After a long while, Jiang Ning sighed and said softly: “Wasn’t I afraid of leaving a psychological shadow on you? I’ve studied shooting before, you know. Being in a wealthy family, necessary self-defense skills are indispensable.”
She spoke convincingly, and Xie Jingyan’s brows furrowed slightly.
Because Jiang Ning didn’t seem like she was lying.
Jiang Ning sneered coldly: “Why are you asking so closely? Is it your sense of crisis acting up again? Afraid I’ll get you?”
Xie Jingyan stopped looking at her: “No.”
Jiang Ning pursed her lips, too lazy to pay attention to him.
She propped her head up and looked out the window again.
Strange, she hadn’t thought about the past for a long time.
Ever since she got out of there, Jiang Ning’s life had changed dramatically; she lived very arduously every day.
Jiang Ning shook her head, burying her experiences deep in her heart, unwilling to recall them again.
She swore in her heart that she would never sleep in class again!
It was really embarrassing.
When lunchtime came.
Jiang Ning sat in her usual spot.
Sui Tang was the first to rush to her side and complain: “Cousin! Why have you been disappearing lately? It’s so hard to run into you.”
She held a fruit platter and ate fiercely, looking unhappily at Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning picked at a toothpick and ate with her: “Really? Haven’t I been at school?”
Sui Tang puffed up angrily. If she hadn’t listened to Jiang Ning and studied seriously, she would have wandered aimlessly on the sports field every break.
Seeing Sui Tang alone, Jiang Ning was a bit curious: “Where’s He Shang?”
She remembered Sui Tang always sticking close to He Shang wherever she went, but today she hadn’t seen him.
Sui Tang pouted and pointed to the right: “There, accompanying Su Wanyuan. How could he be with me?”
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes: “How come everyone wants this Su Wanyuan? First Xie Jingyan and Gu Lanli, then Jiang Yan and He Shang. Does she think she’s a heartthrob?”
“Cousin, now I get why you hate her! Because she steals your spotlight, right? Hateful!”
Jiang Ning: “…”
She had misunderstood.
Jiang Ning didn’t hate this book’s female lead, but she didn’t like her either.
Of course, Su Wanyuan disliked her too.
The two couldn’t be friends.
Jiang Ning thought her mission was still more important.
Now the mission was stuck at eighty, and she didn’t know where the next progress boost would come from.
Little Honey: 【Host, there’s less than half a month until Jiang Yan goes offline. His going offline will boost our progress by another five percent.】
Little Honey suddenly popped up to explain to Jiang Ning.
Its tone was somewhat regretful: 【If you hadn’t saved Jiang Li last time and let her be taken to donate her cornea, the progress might have increased already.】
Jiang Ning: 『What’s the difference between that and eating a steamed bun made with human blood?』
Little Honey was stunned for a moment, unsure of Jiang Ning’s thoughts.
It carefully replied: 【But Host, this is just a book world. Just treat them as paper characters to strategy.】
『Their bodies are warm; they are living, breathing people. The so-called book world is just a parallel world on fixed tracks. One strategy player after another comes in, the world’s timeline refreshes over and over. Before me, all the strategy players who came to this world failed. Little Honey, tell me, why is that?』
Jiang Ning asked in her mind.
Little Honey didn’t expect Jiang Ning to hit the key point right away.
Its voice sounded weak: 【…This… I don’t know.】
Jiang Ning sneered coldly: 『Is it that you don’t know, or you don’t dare to say? If every strategy player who comes in falls in love with the male lead and ends up being brutally killed by him, can I assume that this world’s plot is on the verge of collapse because the book characters have awakened and realized what’s coming? That’s why the timeline keeps resetting, sending in one strategy player after another?』
Of course, these were just Jiang Ning’s guesses. This book’s plot had already collapsed into pieces because of her arrival, yet she had somehow reached eighty plot points.
Little Honey’s entire ball was about to shatter.
Was this the charm of the top scholar?
Her brain was really too sharp.
She had figured out problems that many people hadn’t.
The reason strategy players could come to this world was that its plot line had collapsed. Previous strategy players fell in love with the male lead, showered him with care, and thought they had reformed him and could replace the female lead without going offline. It wasn’t the system that annihilated them, but the male lead who killed them personally…
As for why Jiang Ning was chosen to fix it…
Little Honey couldn’t say.
Little Honey: 【Host… We’re only twenty away from success. As long as we succeed, this world won’t collapse.】
Jiang Ning chuckled coldly: 『Be honest with me: what number strategy player am I?』
Little Honey: 【…】
Its voice lacked confidence: 【101…】
Jiang Ning: “…”
Before her, a hundred strategy players had entered this world.
And none had exceeded twenty progress. Does that make sense?
While lost in thought, someone sat down across from her.
Jiang Ning looked up and saw Jiang Yan.
He handed her the crispy duck he had specially picked for her, his eyes filled with unease and tension: “Eat it.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
Meeting Jiang Ning’s gaze, Jiang Yan lowered his head like a child who had done something wrong.
“I told you, you don’t need to feel guilty. Even if it were someone else, I would…”
“I know.” Jiang Yan hurriedly interrupted her.
Her unspoken words got stuck in her throat.
His gaze shifted from uneasy to firm: “Even so, you still went to such a dangerous place to save me. It’s like… my existence isn’t a mistake.”
The previous chapter hasn’t been unbanned yet, so readers seeing this might feel it’s a bit disjointed. I’ll check if the blocked chapters can be released tomorrow. Finally, good dreams to everyone tonight.
