Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: “Lu Ling, Who Were You Talking to Inside My Mind…?”

For a moment, it felt as if the world had been muted. There was only the sound of the wind mingling with a heartbeat, blowing from Lu Ning’s right ear to her left.

In her field of vision, the girl’s pristine white skirt spread out across her lap like petals, pressing against her in seamless intimacy. Mu Qiuyu’s voice was soft and matter-of-fact, as if her earlier words couldn’t possibly have meant anything else.

Lu Ning didn’t have the mental capacity to ponder whether her own words had been ambiguous; she simply swallowed hard. Since Mu Qiuyu was injured, there was no need to make her move around. Besides, their relationship was perfectly innocent—nothing was going to happen.

Thinking this, Lu Ning took a deep breath. With careful precision and a strong sense of boundaries, she lifted the hem of Mu Qiuyu’s skirt.

The chains rested against the girl’s slender ankles. The cold iron had been used without any protection, leaving behind a sharp, stinging array of scars. The seeping blood had congealed into scabs, forming small, jarring ridges on the delicate skin.

Lu Ning couldn’t help but knit her brows. “Has it always been like this?”

“It wouldn’t be like this if I moved a bit slower,” Mu Qiuyu said calmly, as if to tell Lu Ning the chains had no real effect on her.

But how could they not?

“So that’s why,” Lu Ning murmured. She finally understood why Mu Qiuyu’s movements were always so light and slow. On one hand, she was formed from the suppressed emotions of the “Outside” Mu Qiuyu; on the other, she was forced by the reality of her environment. Not to mention, she hadn’t had any healing ointment until now.

“I’ll leave this ointment here with you. Let me know when you run out,” Lu Ning lectured as she nimbly unscrewed the cap. “Don’t let this area get chafed again. Repeated scabbing will leave scars.”

“If I leave scars, will you dislike it?” Mu Qiuyu looked at Lu Ning, tilting her head.

Lu Ning found the question strange. She didn’t think this was a joking matter and spoke seriously: “It’s not a matter of liking it or not. These are your ankles, very important joints for a human. You have to protect them.”

As she spoke, Lu Ning squeezed out a pea-sized amount of ointment and applied it evenly along Mu Qiuyu’s ankle. Mu Qiuyu’s skin possessed a satin-like smoothness. Lu Ning applied the medicine with extreme care, inevitably brushing against her Achilles tendon.

“Especially the tendon. If it snaps, you won’t be able to walk for a long time.”

As the cool ointment moved across her skin, Mu Qiuyu lowered her eyes to watch Lu Ning’s serious and familiar technique. Following the lecture, she asked, “Did someone close to you experience that in the past?”

At those words, Lu Ning’s movements faltered visibly. It wasn’t a pleasant memory; her eyes darkened, and she gave a muffled “Mhm.”

Mu Qiuyu’s ankles were fair and slender, so exquisite they looked as if someone had spent a lifetime carving them. This made the sight of the chafing seem even more cruel.

“So don’t let that happen to you,” Lu Ning took a cotton swab, applying medicine to the inner wounds while unable to stop herself from nagging further.

This should have been Lu Ning’s usual daily worrying, but mid-sentence, Mu Qiuyu looked at her with certainty. The girl, who had been leaning lazily against the headboard, suddenly sat up and leaned into Lu Ning’s face.

“I won’t.”

The sudden shadow blocked the light on one side of Lu Ning’s vision, making it difficult for her eyes to adjust for a second. Mu Qiuyu’s voice was pulled very close, her warm breath falling entirely upon Lu Ning’s ear as she spoke.

The sudden proximity drew all of Lu Ning’s focus onto Mu Qiuyu. She turned her head and met a pair of pitch-black, clear eyes. Mu Qiuyu was looking at her, a look of determination written across her innocent face. It was as if a story Lu Ning had repeated so often she’d become desensitized to it was suddenly being felt by someone else.

Finally, someone was taking her seemingly casual warnings to heart. Finally, someone seemed to understand even a little bit of her worry and fear.

Lu Ning froze. Looking at Mu Qiuyu, she felt a wave of self-doubt. Can someone really understand me? Does this Mu Qiuyu know what she’s doing?

While Lu Ning was lost in hesitation, Mu Qiuyu smiled slowly. “I have a gift for you.”

“What is it?” Lu Ning asked, her mind partially diverted by curiosity.

Mu Qiuyu tapped Lu Ning’s hand, which was beginning to lose its grip on the cotton swab. “Finish applying the medicine, and I’ll show you.”

“Okay.” Lu Ning snapped out of it, gripped the swab properly, and lowered her head to continue.

The air was filled with silence, and the gentle sunlight prevented the place from feeling lonely. While Lu Ning applied the medicine, Mu Qiuyu quietly watched her. Those thick, long lashes blinked softly—the paintbrushes of her eyes. She traced Lu Ning’s profile inch by inch, as if recording this moment to carve an unforgettable picture into her heart.

“All done.”

Lu Ning finished applying the ointment. She turned to look, but Mu Qiuyu had already discreetly withdrawn her gaze and was tidying her skirt. “Thank you. Your gift is arriving now.”

Mu Qiuyu gave her a suspenseful smile and stood up from the bed. This was her world. She waved a hand in the air, and the white tree nearby instantly erupted into countless blossoms. The newborn flowers held a shy pink tint, flying toward Mu Qiuyu in clusters.

Lu Ning had never seen anything like it; it felt like she had stepped into a fantasy world. Mu Qiuyu was the protagonist of this realm. Her long black hair was lifted by the wind, her skirt fluttered, and countless petals swirled around her from all directions, gathering in her hands.

Then, they transformed into a telescope.

Lu Ning couldn’t believe her eyes. “This is…”

“A telescope. You can see every corner of this world through it,” Mu Qiuyu explained. The clusters of flowers gradually vanished into the wind, and a look of confident radiance appeared in the girl’s gentle eyes. She knew how much of a surprise she was giving the person before her. She beckoned Lu Ning over. “Don’t you want to see how the flowers you planted are doing?”

“Of course I do!” Lu Ning’s shock turned into intense interest, and she walked to Mu Qiuyu’s side in a few quick steps.

She mimicked what she’d seen on TV, leaning toward the telescope and peering through the eyepiece with one eye. The clear lens carried her vision through the dark, damp, withered branches until everything became bright and white. It was the moon. The crescent moon had shed its frightening appearance, radiating a soft glow toward Lu Ning.

Lu Ning suddenly felt that Mu Qiuyu’s world wasn’t so boring after all; it was like a treasure buried in the dirt, requiring slow uncovering. After looking past the withered trees and swamps, Lu Ning encountered her familiar foxtail grass. Mu Qiuyu’s inner world was vast and hazy; she scanned it haphazardly, but because she wasn’t skilled at operating the device, she couldn’t find the Timothy grass area. She really wanted to see how the flowers she planted were doing.

“Over here.”

Just as she thought this, Mu Qiuyu’s voice brushed past her ear. Lu Ning’s distant focus was suddenly pulled back. Mu Qiuyu’s hand rested on the back of hers—cool yet soft. She overlapped their palms, controlling her hand to move the telescope.

Suddenly, after a blur of chaotic scenery, a beam of light hit her vision. Her sight, which had been shrouded in darkness for so long, brightened. A cluster of irregular green sprouts swayed in the wind. Their leaves still carried bits of soil from the barren earth—scattered, yet exceptionally resilient.

“They grew!” Lu Ning’s eyes lit up, and she looked excitedly at Mu Qiuyu.

Mu Qiuyu seemed infected by the excitement, her eyes curving into a smile. She nodded, briefing Lu Ning on what she had been guarding over these past few days. “Although many flower seeds sprouted and withered over these twenty-odd days, and some didn’t grow at all, luckily, in the end, one kind survived.”

Lu Ning leaned back into the telescope, looking at the distant barren soil, deeply feeling the miracle of life. She was curious and asked as she observed, “What kind of flower do you think it is?”

Mu Qiuyu’s gaze followed Lu Ning’s toward the distance. “I don’t know. Maybe it will bloom the next time you come.” She paused, looking at the girl peering through the lens with such delight, and whispered, “Don’t make her wait too long.”

Those words pulled Lu Ning back from the lens to the world in front of her. She looked at Mu Qiuyu and said, “I won’t make you wait too long either.”

On this day, it wasn’t just Mu Qiuyu who heard the subtext; Lu Ning understood Mu Qiuyu’s words as well. The wind blew up suddenly, swirling between them, making Mu Qiuyu’s pupils tremble. Perhaps the wind was too dry, for tears seemed about to well up in Mu Qiuyu’s eyes.

Lu Ning noticed and felt suddenly helpless. “Uh… don’t cry. You should be happy to hear that.” She didn’t understand why a simple promise to visit often would make Mu Qiuyu react this way. She couldn’t imagine such a reaction from the “Outside” Mu Qiuyu. Is she really that lonely here all by herself?

In the vast, cold wind, Lu Ning awkwardly reached out her hand, unsure whether she wanted to wipe away Mu Qiuyu’s tears or catch them as they fell. Before she could decide, a flash of white light zipped before her eyes.

This light was far less gentle than the one in the Inner World; it hit Lu Ning’s eyes with a stinging brightness that made her feel like she was going blind from the pain. In her discomfort, she struggled to open her eyes.

Amidst the sound of turning pages, she suddenly realized the things in her vision had grown larger. No… Lu Ning was dazed, looking up to see the thing curled in front of her face to block the light… was a paw. Pitch-black, fluffy fur floated with her breath, slowly brushing across her line of sight.

Lu Ning didn’t even need to check the system to know she had turned back into a kitten. But how did she become a kitten? Had she left Mu Qiuyu’s inner world? Why? Why didn’t the system notify her this time before pulling her out?

Lu Ning was confused. But then, she belatedly realized the white surface in front of her was a bit unusual. Sunlight drew shadows across it, and beneath the kitten’s paw pads lay a patch of comfortable warmth. The shadows weren’t just shadows—they were wrinkles in fabric. The warmth wasn’t just warmth—it was human body temperature.

Realization dawned, and Lu Ning slowly looked up. Beneath a peaceful shadow, the eyes of a human girl were staring down at her with a calm, expressionless gaze.

The white surface in front of Lu Ning wasn’t anything else; it was the shirt on Mu Qiuyu’s body. She had indeed returned to the real world, and she was sleeping in Mu Qiuyu’s arms!

“Who should be happy?” Mu Qiuyu asked calmly, looking at the kitten curled in her lap.

The kitten had finally awakened from its deep sleep, but there was no joy on Mu Qiuyu’s face. She stared into Lu Ning’s crystal-blue eyes, her voice laced with dissatisfaction.

“Lu Ling, who were you talking to inside my mind just now?”

“And why is it that when I summoned you, the system showed that you had rejected me?”

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