Chapter 149: Can Love Bloom In Pain?
Xie Jingyan turned his head and looked at Jiang Ning. She didn’t dodge or avoid, her eyes staring straight, her pupils very black. Because they were too clear, they appeared somewhat indifferent.
After a long while, Xie Jingyan replied: “And then? Are you afraid I’ll forget, so you want to remind me again?”
Jiang Ning blinked her eyes and nodded gladly: “Yes, I thought your previous wound didn’t hurt anymore.”
Xie Jingyan didn’t get angry but laughed instead: “It doesn’t hurt anymore. As you said, that was in the past. I always think about past matters, and sooner or later, I’ll be driven crazy.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
She didn’t see an angry or cold expression on Xie Jingyan’s face, so Jiang Ning felt somewhat frustrated.
She tried to continue arousing Xie Jingyan’s past hatred toward her. If the world’s main storyline couldn’t change, then her being together with Xie Jingyan would definitely be wrong.
The people around her would suffer accidents one after another. Could she protect herself and also take care of them every moment without fail?
Jiang Ning knew she couldn’t do it herself.
So she chose to solve the problem from the root.
Even though bullying Xie Jingyan wasn’t something she did.
Jiang Ning accepted it.
She felt very annoyed inside, resentfully eating the buns without responding to Xie Jingyan’s words.
Xie Jingyan stroked the kitten with his finger. The bus slowly drove away, and the scenery retreated in his eyes.
He didn’t know how to break the barrier between him and Jiang Ning. If it was the previous Jiang Ning, she would only take action to make him hate her, rather than like her, trying to evoke his painful memories to make him hate her.
Xie Jingyan lowered his eyes, his heart feeling sour and astringent, numb and swollen.
So this is what it feels like to like someone, that anxious and insecure feeling?
He really hated this feeling of being unable to grasp things, being the passive party.
“Jiang Ning, has your second personality come out to save you?” Xie Jingyan asked softly.
Jiang Ning was stunned. She pursed her red lips, not knowing how to respond.
Xie Jingyan slightly turned his head and looked at her: “You’re not the same Jiang Ning I knew. You two are people with opposite personalities. I can’t imagine why a person would change so quickly. The only scientific explanation is that after receiving a stimulus, a person will awaken a second personality hidden in their body. She will appear when needed. Even in the same body, they are two distinctly different people.”
Jiang Ning fell silent. It wasn’t a second personality, but they were indeed two different people.
Xie Jingyan continued: “I looked up information on this. When a person awakens a dual personality, they will switch within a certain time. Jiang Ning, will that very bad you come back?”
Jiang Ning lightly exhaled: “Do you hope she comes back?”
Xie Jingyan reached out and held Jiang Ning’s hand, lowering his gaze to look at her pink and white cheeks: “I don’t know… They are both you, right?”
Jiang Ning parted her lips and looked down at Xie Jingyan’s hand tightly gripping hers. Emotions in her eyes were complex: “Xie Jingyan, you and I aren’t suitable.”
“How do you know without trying?” He was very stubborn and wouldn’t let go.
Jiang Ning was at her wits’ end.
She could only say: “If… the previous bad me comes back, all you’ll suffer is pain.”
Jiang Ning didn’t know if she would be annihilated.
If she died.
The soul previously in this body would naturally reappear.
Xie Jingyan tightened his grip on her fingertips: “Can love bloom in pain?”
Jiang Ning was speechless.
Her heart also became astringent.
Does it have to be her?
Jiang Ning herself didn’t know that she was so good.
She turned her head away, feeling somewhat powerless: “Do whatever you want.”
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, his head resting in the crook of her neck: “Jiang Ning, let me lean on you for a bit.”
Jiang Ning didn’t refuse again and softly replied: “Okay.”
At this moment, two hearts that were previously far apart seemed to draw rapidly closer unknowingly.
Jiang Ning looked at Xie Jingyan’s hand and quietly gripped it back a little.
Feeling his warmth, memories flashed in her mind of transmigrating into this book and the bits and pieces between her and him. They seemed to have many shared memories.
Suddenly, a cold mechanical voice sounded in her ear.
[The 101st player in this world has violated the character setting. The world will follow the rules and annihilate you within three months.]
Jiang Ning abruptly raised her eyes.
She called in her mind: ‘Little Honey?’
After a few minutes, Little Honey appeared.
Little Honey: [Host! It’s not me, but you have indeed been targeted by this world’s consciousness.]
Little Honey’s tone was exasperated: [Host, you’ve fallen for him. Have you forgotten what I said? Liking the male lead equals death, right?]
Jiang Ning sighed: ‘Then being liked by the male lead means no death?’
Little Honey was speechless: [……]
This round is unsolvable.
‘I want to try again… If I can save Jiang Yan, then I can also break this dead end. You know, I’ve always refused to give up on serious and stubborn people.’ Jiang Ning said.
She was someone who yielded to softness but not hardness.
She actually hoped Xie Jingyan would be stung by her words and stay away from her.
But despite her repeatedly distancing herself from him, pushing him away, and insulting him.
He could still melt those past painful wounds into his bones and blood to like her.
How could there be such a person in this world?
He had a devastatingly beautiful face, yet he was stubbornly obsessive.
Jiang Ning was tired of refusing.
‘Let’s try. What if…’
What if she could be together with Xie Jingyan.
Could break this world’s rules.
Could change everyone’s destiny…
What if…
She could live.
Little Honey: [Sigh, Host… Forget it. Let’s not worry about the mission for now. I’ll help you.]
Jiang Ning was stunned: ‘Little Honey… you…’
Little Honey turned into a light ball and stuck to her.
The voice was very cheerful: [Host, didn’t you say we are good friends? Good friends should throw their heads and spill their blood for each other. We’ve known each other for so long; it’s revolutionary friendship. From the moment I bound to you, I knew that even if you followed the setting to harm others, you’d eventually find a method to make it right. You’re different from the previous hundred players. You fundamentally wouldn’t harm anyone.]
Jiang Ning was speechless.
Finally, she chuckled: ‘But our strategy progress is already at 85%.’
Little Honey saw it openly: [Progress is just a number. Whether it’s full or not all depends on this world’s consciousness judgment. And… Host, the body you transmigrated into has no soul. Inside her, there’s only a setting. When no one transmigrates in, this body only operates according to the program set by the world.]
Jiang Ning had always thought she squeezed out the original soul when she transmigrated. Turns out this body had no soul, so before her, this body controlled her behavior just like it controlled Jiang Yan?
She hurriedly asked: ‘What about the others besides this body?’
Little Honey: [Upon detection, they all have their own souls. Only bodies without souls can accommodate transmigrators. Controlling characters’ behavior consumes the world consciousness’s energy. When it can’t control anymore, that’s when it disappears. So it chooses to accept one chosen book transmigrator after another in the world on the verge of collapse.]
