After the Black Moonlight’s "Death Escape" Failed [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 74

Chapter 74: See You in the Next World

◎A caramel-flavored moon is forever the sweetest◎

The word “marriage”—a concept so closely linked to the happiness of ordinary people—had always felt like something that had nothing to do with Jiao Qingyin.

She was used to traveling exhaustedly on the road. Being able to meet Wen Fengyue on this path was already the most romantic thing she could imagine.

And now, her lover had suddenly brought out a ring and said, “Let’s get married.” On this thorn-covered path, countless flowers suddenly bloomed.

“I do.”

A feeling full of sweetness and a swelling ache made Jiao Qingyin’s voice sound unexpectedly raspy.

Hearing those two words, a light ignited in Wen Fengyue’s eyes, and her mouth curled into a massive arc. Anyone could see how happy she was, and Jiao Qingyin couldn’t help but smile along.

Her eyes were filled only with the Wen Fengyue before her; her smile was brimming with the warm glow of happiness, brilliant and dazzling under the lights. It made Wen Fengyue instantly forget the lines she had been memorizing for ages.

But under Jiao Qingyin’s gaze, Wen Fengyue suddenly realized that those wordy, flowery lines weren’t important at all—the most important thing, her heart, had already been fully conveyed.

Seeing Jiao Qingyin extend her left hand toward her, Wen Fengyue’s breathing quickened slightly. She took the other’s hand and slowly slid the proposal ring onto Jiao Qingyin’s middle finger.

The second the ring was on, Jiao Qingyin pulled Wen Fengyue up and, under the gaze of millions, kissed her lips.

“I’ve been tied down by you,” Jiao Qingyin’s laughing voice rang out. Wen Fengyue’s ears turned hot, and she wrapped her arms around the other’s waist to kiss her back.

—Out of a small sense of possessiveness, she didn’t forget to pick up the trophy belonging to the two of them to block their faces.

The fans of Caramel Moon ushered in a celebration akin to a New Year’s festival on this day—what could be more exciting for a CP fan than their favorite couple getting married?

The one-minute kiss between Wen Fengyue and Jiao Qingyin, hidden behind the trophy, was screenshotted by countless fans and sent to the Star Net trending searches. The hashtag #CaramelMoonCenturyKiss hung at the top for a long time without coming down.

While everyone was cheering, Jiao Qingyin started a live broadcast without any prior notice.

Despite no advance notification, with their current traffic and high-profile official announcement, her broadcast was noticed by countless people who swarmed in almost as soon as it started.

“Congratulations on the engagement!!!”

“Xiao Jiao, promise us the wedding candy!”

“Ahhh, my CP is getting married!!!”

Countless comments and gifts filled the screen. Under the optical lens, Jiao Qingyin and Wen Fengyue smiled at each other. Then, the former spoke to the fans first: “Don’t worry, the wedding candy will be given to you.”

Jiao Qingyin had left many recipes for Lin Chu, many of which were for desserts or candies. Once the first batch of candy left the factory and went online, all Caramel Moon fans could receive a free portion of their wedding candy based on their follow records.

Amidst the satisfied howling of the fans, Jiao Qingyin raised her left hand with the ring, turned it in front of the camera, and asked: “Is it pretty?”

“Pretty pretty!!”

“Xiao Jiao’s expression while showing off the ring is so proud.”

“Such a beautiful ring, such a perfect pair—!”

When Jiao Qingyin’s left hand was pressed close to the camera, most people were attracted by the sparkling ring, but someone still noticed something else—”Wait, what happened to the web of Xiao Jiao’s hand?”

“It looks like an injury? There are red marks.”

Seeing these comments, Wen Fengyue lowered her eyes and coughed dryly, masking the change in her expression.

Jiao Qingyin read out one of the comments asking about her injury. The smile on her face deepened. After glancing at Wen Fengyue, she intentionally sighed before saying: “I was bitten by Teacher Wen—she is very fierce.”

As she spoke, Jiao Qingyin’s arm flashed past the camera. The viewers staring at the screen did not miss this scene; they all saw it—

“It’s a hickey—! Oh my god! Teacher Wen’s possessiveness is overflowing!”

“Came here for the fame… I thought it was a publicity stunt, but after watching for a while, it feels like a real couple.”

“Truly fierce, I also want to find such a fierce [censored].”

“Xiao Jiao still hasn’t released ‘laopo’ (wife) from the blocked words list; even ‘laopo’ with four slashes is blocked!”

Seeing the last one, Jiao Qingyin squinted and smiled. “Why haven’t I unblocked the word? Because I don’t want to see other people randomly calling her ‘wife.’ I’ll get jealous.”

She generously displayed her pettiness. In a place the camera couldn’t capture, Wen Fengyue couldn’t help but hold her right hand. They were a couple openly dating, yet at this moment, she tasted a bit of the feeling of a secret romance.

As the broadcast continued, the progress bar for the final main mission, “Display the scars on your arm and denounce Wen Fengyue’s behavior”, finally pushed to 100%.

Hearing the announcement of the mission completion, Jiao Qingyin squeezed Wen Fengyue’s palm and said: “Today, there are some other things I want to tell everyone.”

Wen Fengyue stopped her action of rubbing Jiao Qingyin’s fingers and looked toward the device.

She had waited for this moment for a long time, so without giving the audience much time to buffer, she finished her plan in one breath: “Jiao Jiao and I plan to quit the industry. Satellite will be our last work. For the rest of my life, I want to spend it alone with Jiao Jiao.”

After speaking, she didn’t look at their reactions and turned to look at Jiao Qingyin. She was used to doing things her own way and didn’t care at all how others saw her.

Jiao Qingyin didn’t persuade the other to use more tactful wording. Amidst a screen full of unbelievable question marks, she nodded to the audience in the broadcast room and followed Wen Fengyue’s words: “Just as Teacher Wen said,”

“Why! Xiao Jiao, your career is on the rise, stay awake!”

“When Teacher Wen was interviewed before, she mentioned many times that she didn’t like the entertainment industry life, but we just didn’t take it seriously…”

“That was mainly because there were too many people scolding Teacher Wen online a few years ago…”

“Xiao Jiao was also scolded from her debut until Satellite aired; only then did her reputation turn around.”

“Is Xiao Jiao doing this to accompany Teacher Wen? Don’t give up your career for love!!!”

“‘Don’t give up your career for love,'” Jiao Qingyin repeated the most frequent sentence in the comments. “This sentence is very correct, and I support it too. However—”

She paused, took Wen Fengyue’s hand, and kissed the back of it in front of countless opposing comments. The gentle expression on her face faded, and her gaze toward the camera showed a few hints of indisputable dominance.

“I chose to enter the entertainment industry for Teacher Wen. Teacher Wen is the goal of my actions. Now that the goal is achieved, I only want to return to a life that belongs only to us with my lover.”

Her tone was so serious that the chaotic comments in the broadcast room stopped for a moment. Only after a good while did comments begin to float again.

“When Teacher Wen was in the lawsuit, the medical report released was indeed not very good. It is time to rest for a while.”

“Is it because the negative public opinion disturbed you?”

“But I really like you guys QAQ”

Just looking at their expressions, the fans could understand that there was no room for negotiation on this matter. Even if they were clear about this rationally, emotionally they still couldn’t accept the fact.

Jiao Qingyin understood their feelings. She broadcasted for a long time that day, patiently chatting with fans and answering their questions. Wen Fengyue would occasionally chime in. The warm and peaceful atmosphere gradually diluted the audience’s anger and sadness.

When the broadcast ended and Jiao Qingyin and Wen Fengyue said “Goodbye” together to the camera, the fans were in a daze, feeling like they had lost two good friends. Although they were sad, most people gave their blessings, holding onto a faint hope, waiting for the day the two might return.

Besides those who liked them, there were also many who hated them. Many marketing accounts and water armies from other companies took the opportunity to release black materials about the two, claiming their retirement was just to grab attention.

Without Forged Star Entertainment even needing to act, these water armies were scolded back by fans with nowhere to vent their emotions.

But whether fan or hater, people were waiting for the latest news about the two. However, they seemed to have vanished completely. Not only did they never appear on the Star Net again, but no one ever captured their silhouettes—for the highly developed Blue Star network, this was incredibly unbelievable.

Even the official fan station of Caramel Moon and the big CP fan named “Hidden Moon Person” stopped updating from that day. They seemed to have disappeared from this world.

—On a starship in outer space.

Jiao Qingyin and Wen Fengyue leaned against the deck railing, looking at the starry sky together. They wore matching rings on their ring fingers—on the day they left Blue Star, the two had officially registered their marriage.

Jiao Qingyin picked an angle to take a photo and had the system send it to Lin Chu.

Lin Chu was the only person in this world they still had contact with—though this contact was one-way, limited to them occasionally sending her an electronic postcard or a piece of aerial footage. Jiao Qingyin didn’t consider herself her real daughter and couldn’t repay her familial love, so she could only use this method to put her mind at ease.

After discovering she couldn’t contact Jiao Qingyin at all, it took Lin Chu a while to accept it. At this moment, looking at the newly received postcard on her device, she thought that her relationship with Jiao Qingyin was actually a bit better than the mother-daughter ending she had imagined. At one point, she had felt her daughter would do anything for wealth.

Fortunately, they didn’t reach the point of mother and daughter killing each other.

She printed the new postcard and added it to her collection, then habitually clicked on an optical computer game—an archaic Blue Star-style work, Tabi Kaeru (Travel Frog).

She stuffed her frog’s bag with food and sent it out, waiting for it to send her travel postcards, and also waiting for the day it might bring a friend home.

Lin Chu, who was supposed to die young in the original work, lived into her nineties under Jiao Qingyin’s influence. After she passed away, all her property was donated to Blue Star welfare organizations to help improve the lives of orphans.

On the day of the funeral, countless people were invited to attend, but two seats in the first row remained empty. People wept silently for this outstanding lady, following her all the way to the cemetery. When the final bell of the funeral rang, they looked up to see two bouquets of fresh flowers that had appeared on the coffin about to be buried, no one knew when.

Time flowed slowly.

The massive success of Satellite caused it to be remade or adapted several times later, including many excellent works. But the version most loved by the public was forever the one with Jiao Qingyin and Wen Fengyue.

The two leads had retired at their peak; in people’s memories, they were forever at their best. Countless people tried to find out where they went after retiring, but all were in vain—until a certain night over sixty years later, when the sky suddenly brightened, a brilliance like daylight illuminating the Blue Star sky.

People looked up to see two meteors falling straight down, their gorgeous trails reflected in every pair of eyes. At the same time, the official CP fan station account “Caramel Moon,” which had been silent for decades, posted a scheduled blog post.

@CaramelMoon: “A caramel-flavored moon is forever the sweetest.”

Jiao Qingyin opened her eyes. Before getting used to the headache caused by the transmigration, she was first woken up by a heavy weight on her chest.

She struggled to support her body and picked up the fluffy little white wolf.

Al woke up immediately after. Upon seeing Jiao Qingyin, she let out an “Awoo” howl.

“Mm, I’m here.” Jiao Qingyin held the long-unseen little wolf and kissed her head.

The wolf cub’s fur puffed up slightly, and in the next second, she rapidly turned into a large white wolf, pouncing forward to pin Jiao Qingyin to the ground and happily licking Jiao Qingyin’s face.

“I know you’re happy—don’t lick—Al!!”

The result of excessive playfulness was Al being pulled by the tail and scolded. She lowered her head pitifully, whimpering and muttering in small “awoo”s incessantly.

Jiao Qingyin couldn’t understand, but she could roughly guess—in the last few years of the previous world, she had suffered from the predetermined illness, spending at least fifteen hours a day in a sleeping state with much less energy than before. Al had been sad about this the whole time. Seeing her return to health now, Al was happier than she was.

“Business first,” Jiao Qingyin said seriously. “Stretch out your paw; let me see if the forged identity has been recognized.”

Al cooperated immediately.

Jiao Qingyin had always been good at finding loopholes—in the first world, she discovered the Space-Time Administration didn’t know Al could turn into a wolf; otherwise, they wouldn’t have mistaken Al for a regular puppy and let her pick her up. This gave Jiao Qingyin an idea of how to bring Al to the Administration—using Al’s beast form to forge a “Host” identity for her.

Because Al was experienced in dismantling systems and had the help of the “traitor” system, developing a brand-new system wasn’t difficult for the two of them. Al herself had the independent ability to travel through space-time, so this system only needed to help her pass the Administration’s certification.

Additionally, Jiao Qingyin had the system bind her and Al with a “Couple Host” status, so they could return to the same Host space.

When the original host’s death arrived and the time-space tunnel opened for Jiao Qingyin, Wen Fengyue jumped in first and transformed into her white wolf form before crossing. Then the system certification opened, and the tunnel judged her as one of the “Hosts,” bringing her back to the Administration with Jiao Qingyin.

Now, Jiao Qingyin finished her check and confirmed that the Administration was completely fooled by her and Al. She let out a heavy sigh of relief.

The biggest worry was finally resolved. Jiao Qingyin smiled, hugged the big white wolf’s neck, and nuzzled her fluffy fur affectionately. Al felt an itch in her heart from the nuzzling, but to avoid detection by the Administration, she could only maintain her beast form.

“Awoo…” Al felt aggrieved.

After the two fooled around in the empty personal space for a while, Jiao Qingyin took out the items she had chosen to take from the last world—three rings strung together on a red string.

The one with the sapphire was the proposal ring Al gave her, and the diamond pair were the wedding rings they had made by hand. Combined with the Full Moon Ring left in the S3202 small world, they had four rings.

Jiao Qingyin used points to buy a display box and placed the rings inside carefully, setting them next to another collection in the space—Al’s collar.

Al followed behind her, her fluffy tail occasionally brushing against Jiao Qingyin’s calves.

Jiao Qingyin’s ball system was playing with Al’s new forged system when it suddenly received a message.

“Host—look at this!”

Seeing the system was very anxious, Jiao Qingyin frowned. After exchanging a look with Al, she read the message out loud:

“Host Jiao Qingyin, hello. Due to your suspicion of violating regulations by influencing the world line in world S3202, after review by the headquarters, it has been decided to increase the difficulty of your next mission world…”

Jiao Qingyin quickly finished reading. She had actually expected this; if not for the headquarters’ low efficiency, the difficulty of her last mission should have been increased already. Al’s world was originally numbered A3202, but since Al became stronger, it automatically became S-rank. The last world was B1247, meaning both difficulty and danger were relatively low.

Along with the message, the headquarters attached three missions for her to choose from—all of which were worlds with an initial rank of S.

Initial S-rank worlds have a strong suppression on transmigrators. To enter smoothly, a host needs to seal all memories since starting missions. In other words, regardless of Jiao Qingyin’s choice, after transmigrating into that world, she would believe it was her first time performing a mission.

Since Al was currently bound to her, when she entered the new world, Al would automatically follow and have her memories sealed just like her—until the moment Jiao Qingyin completed the mission.

Jiao Qingyin didn’t hide anything and told Al everything, adding her deduction: “Your soul power is very strong. After transmigrating, you’ll probably be judged as the protagonist again, like in the last world. The plot and my missions will revolve around you.”

And the identity she would play would surely be a character standing in opposition to the “protagonist.”

The latter listened quietly, then raised a paw and placed it on Jiao Qingyin’s hand.

“Awoo.” (Trust me.)

Trust me. No matter what we become or whether we remember the past, I will fall in love with you, chase you, and do everything in my power to be with you. Moreover, Al was certain that once she got used to the new world, she would recall the past once more. When that time came, she would be responsible for awakening Jiao Qingyin’s memories.

The system’s urging sounded. Jiao Qingyin, carrying a punishment, had no right to rest and had to enter the next world immediately. They couldn’t say much more before being enveloped by the light of the time-space tunnel. Jiao Qingyin touched Al’s head one last time and whispered: “Al, see you in a bit.”

Al nodded forcefully.

[Emergency error, emergency error. Host, please exit the world immediately.]

[Emergency error, emergency—]

[Prompt: World line backtracking. Please…]

As soon as Jiao Qingyin regained consciousness, she felt someone pressing down on the back of her head, forcing her into the water. Ice-cold water rushed into her nose and mouth; the painful sensation of suffocation completely surrounded her.

Survival instinct made Jiao Qingyin bend her elbow to strike backward, however—she found she hit nothing. No, it wasn’t that she hit nothing; she hit a person, but her elbow passed directly through the other’s body.

Jiao Qingyin snapped back to her senses and immediately found herself pulled away from the pain, floating in mid-air. She quickly looked down at where she had been.

By the garden pool, a girl in an exquisite dress was pressing down on another girl’s head, repeatedly submerging her face into the pool water. The girl committing the act had rare long silver-white hair and beautiful blue-green eyes. She looked much more mature than her peers, but her fierce expression ruined that sweet face, making her look… like a life-taking doll in a horror story.

Jiao Qingyin’s system spoke up tremblingly: “What should we do, Host… the identity you were supposed to use, she, she seems… about to die…”

Hearing the system’s voice, Jiao Qingyin didn’t answer its question but asked: “Are all systems as lively as you?”

Though it was her first mission (in her current memory), she had done a lot of homework at the Administration before being assigned a system and had some understanding of them. As far as she knew, regardless of how a system’s personality was set, they would exhibit a non-human mechanical feel before the host. But this system of hers…

The system choked. It was restricted from leaking anything from Jiao Qingyin’s previous memories, but it didn’t expect the host’s focus to be so sharp. And the host spoke too coldly; it had worked so hard to get on good terms with the host before QAQ.

It thought for a long time and squeezed out: “This system is relatively special.” Then it reacted: “Host, the identity you are supposed to use only has 12% health left!”

“She doesn’t look like me when I was a child”, Jiao Qingyin was much calmer than the system, still asking other questions. “After I take over her identity, will others not notice the change at all?”

Out of professional habit, the system first answered “No”, then became more anxious: “Host…!”

While talking to the system, Jiao Qingyin had already finished observing the surroundings and her current state—she found she had become something like a ghost, invisible to others and unable to touch physical objects.

Looking down at the silver-haired, blue-eyed child, she spoke in a flat tone: “I have no way to save her either. This isn’t my mistake. The headquarters should have handled these issues when choosing the missioner’s identity.”

Fortunately, because of the emergency, the system had sent an error message before Jiao Qingyin regained consciousness. At this moment, the headquarters’ response arrived:

“This world contains spiritual beings such as ghosts. Host Jiao Qingyin is permitted to execute the mission in her own identity.”

“In the ghost-form state, the abilities available to Host Jiao Qingyin include: passing through walls, telekinesis, possession, etc. Please explore freely.”

“This mission world has mutated and difficulty has increased; mission points are doubled. Host, please act reasonably and actively complete the mission.”

Before the system could react, it saw the host, who had been disinterested just now, instantly perk up the moment she heard the word “doubled.”

She controlled her ghost body somewhat unskillfully, floated toward the two children below, and then—entered the body of that silver-haired girl.

One second, two seconds.

Wen Fengyue, who was originally full of gloom, suddenly felt her arm stiffen. Her action of pressing the person into the water stopped abruptly.

She immediately entered a state of alertness. In the next moment, a voice rang in her mind: “Why would you use your hands to do this?”

The voice was very pleasant, but cold and detached, seemingly without emotion—it was the voice of an adult woman.

With a strange voice appearing in her head, Wen Fengyue’s body tensed completely, yet her eyes grew warm for some reason—

A single tear fell.