Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: She Finally Felt Proud Of Being Able To Live Off Her Host…

Heaven knows how surprised Mu Qiuyu was when, while listening to a lecture, she suddenly heard this person’s voice echoing in her mind.

The day before yesterday, after collapsing drunk, Lu Ning had vanished from Mu Qiuyu’s sight. Mu Qiuyu had tried to contact her several times with no response. Having never encountered such a situation in her previous life, she had used the System Mall to retrieve the kitten form she had stored there, hoping to establish a link.

The kitten’s breathing was steady and relaxed; there was no apparent life-threatening danger. Yet an entire morning passed, and Lu Ning remained asleep, as if she had lost connection with this world.

Morning light fell on the girl’s fair face, a flicker of hidden worry in her cool eyes. She felt a twinge of regret—perhaps she shouldn’t have set Lu Ning’s alcohol tolerance to zero. She seemed to have overlooked the fact that even a digital soul inhabiting a body needs the ability to metabolize alcohol. It wouldn’t be good if Lu Ning disappeared due to some internal system glitch.

I don’t want to get rid of this system quite so soon, Mu Qiuyu realized silently.

She found that when dealing with the system, she was always the passive one. In her previous life, she couldn’t choose to make the system loyal to her. In this life, she couldn’t choose to maintain a constant connection with it.

The shadows of the trees shifted. The new branches seemed to prick at her brow, making her frown tighten. An inexplicable irritability rose in her heart, as if her patience had run dry.

In the midst of this mood, intermittent sounds began to reach her ears. The kitten curled in her lap seemed to be talking—mumbling and chanting under its breath. The static hum of the system mixed with the kitten’s faint voice; one moment it was happily talking about some flowers, the next it was seriously saying it wouldn’t let “something” wait for it. Finally, the kitten began to flail its paws anxiously against her chest, telling her, “Don’t cry.”

Mu Qiuyu knew, of course, that this “Don’t cry” wasn’t directed at her, so her frown deepened. She lowered her eyes, staring coldly at the cat that had just awakened from an unknown dream, and uttered two words: “Speak up.”

Lu Ning felt the distance she had painstakingly closed with Mu Qiuyu suddenly pushed back by those two words. She tilted her small head to look at the girl, feeling as if she had returned to the moment they first met.

“I…” Lu Ning stammered, her just-awakened brain clearly unable to keep up with the urgency of the situation.

Besides, she had no idea why the system would “reject” Mu Qiuyu’s attempts to contact her. She hadn’t even received a notification that Mu Qiuyu was trying. This broken system is so unreliable…

Lu Ning’s brow furrowed, but then her clever little mind caught Mu Qiuyu’s choice of words. “But Host, I don’t think I ever told you about the ‘Inner World.’ How do you know about it?”

Mu Qiuyu’s gaze faltered. It was true; Lu Ning had never mentioned the term “Inner World.” She only knew it because the system in her previous life had once mentioned that the place where systems were stationed was the host’s inner world.

Lu Ning had secrets, but Mu Qiuyu’s secrets were even bigger. Mu Qiuyu had never been this careless before; she felt as though she were being controlled by her emotions. She shouldn’t be like this. She snapped back to clarity, smoothly swallowing her agitation. She had many ways to “explain,” and after a slow selection, she told Lu Ning: “I kept being rejected when trying to contact you, so I exchanged points for the System Manual.”

The smartest lie isn’t a perfectly constructed loop, but telling only a partial truth. Mu Qiuyu was telling the truth. To force Lu Ning back this morning, she had indeed exchanged points for such a book. She had spent the entire self-study period struggling to digest half of those obscure, difficult-to-understand contents.

“The System Mall actually sells that?” Lu Ning was stunned.

“The System Mall sells everything,” Mu Qiuyu stated. She looked calmly at the kitten in her lap, not letting this slippery person derail the conversation. “Now, it’s your turn. Tell me—what exactly were you doing inside my mind?”

“…Oh.” The kitten pouted, not expecting her host to have such a good memory.

Fortunately, using the time gap, Lu Ning’s system had quickly summarized the sleep-talk she had just uttered. When she saw that the things she said to the Inner World Mu Qiuyu had been heard by the Real World Mu Qiuyu, she broke into a cold sweat. If Mu Qiuyu knew she had met a completely different version of her, what would happen?

“I would disappear.”

The words of the Inner World Mu Qiuyu made Lu Ning swallow hard. She scrambled to find a forced explanation based on the context: “I was… chatting with the flowers.”

“You probably don’t know, but I planted many flowers in your inner world. But when I went back this time, only a few had sprouted. I was just giving them a pep talk.”

Hearing this, Mu Qiuyu couldn’t help but frown. “Flowers?” She didn’t quite understand Lu Ning’s words, but she could vaguely imagine it. “Based on your description, the inner world is manifested physically?”

“Yes and no,” the kitten said mysteriously, nodding then shaking its head. Seeing the tension ease, Lu Ning decided to lead Mu Qiuyu’s thoughts further away from the dangerous topic by explaining the settings: “Different hosts have different manifestations of the inner world. It could be physical or illusory. Yours is physical—it has sky, land, trees, and wild grass.”

Mu Qiuyu looked thoughtful. She slowly flicked Lu Ning’s ear and a sudden, mocking smile appeared in her eyes. “It must be a terrible place, then.”

Her words were a sharp contrast to her expression, full of cynical self-deprecation. Lu Ning thought this was likely because she didn’t care about such things, yet for some reason, seeing Mu Qiuyu’s smile made her heart feel heavy.

“Why would you think that, Host?” Lu Ning asked, even though the reality was indeed quite bleak.

“Because flowers can’t survive there,” Mu Qiuyu replied flatly, her tone indifferent. The kitten’s ears were soft and springy, bouncing back each time she flicked them. She played with them for a while longer before adding slowly, “Since it’s not a good place, go there less often.”

It sounded like a friendly suggestion, yet also like a cold warning. Mu Qiuyu stared at the kitten with a somber gaze; she had an innate aversion to a place where she would lose contact with Lu Ning. It felt as if there were something bad inside. Consequently, she didn’t want Lu Ning going there.

But Lu Ning could never agree to that. She had just promised the Inner World Mu Qiuyu she would visit often. Even if they were the same person, there was a matter of first-come, first-served. Thinking this, Lu Ning’s brow furrowed awkwardly.

Real World Mu Qiuyu and Inner World Mu Qiuyu… it’s so confusing to say. I’m really afraid I’ll mix them up one day. It wouldn’t be so bad to say the wrong thing to the Inner World one, but if she slipped up in front of the Real World one… A chilly wind seemed to blow down her spine, making her shiver.

The consequences of a slip-up were unthinkable. The kitten decided she needed to give the Inner World Mu Qiuyu a nickname. Mumu? Xiao Qiu? Many pet names from the novels she read in her original world flashed through her mind. But after much thought, she decided to discuss it during her next meeting in the inner world. Deciding on her own felt a bit disrespectful…

“Meow!”

Lu Ning let out a pained yelp. She tried her best to control her voice so as not to scream in class. The kitten looked reproachfully at the source of the pain: Mu Qiuyu was holding her tail with one hand and scratching the tip with her clean fingernail.

“Little cat, you’re daydreaming,” Mu Qiuyu reminded her coldly, looking down at Lu Ning’s stifled, pitiful gaze.

“Meow~ (But I want to wait for the flowers to bloom so I can take photos for you…)” Lu Ning flashed her crystal-blue eyes, looking at Mu Qiuyu pleadingly. Having been around her host for so long, the kitten’s acting skills were top-notch.

Mu Qiuyu looked at the kitten acting cute, and her cold heart gave a little skip. “Fine…”

“Class is over, thank you, teacher…”

Just as Mu Qiuyu was about to say something comforting, the bell rang. The kitten, granted its freedom, didn’t even wait for consolation and hopped grandly onto the desk.

“Cat-cat, you’re awake!” “Cat-cat, you’re such a sleeper. Did you miss us after two days?” “I brought you dried fish, do you want some?”

In an instant, the drowsy students regained their energy, crowding the back of the classroom to play with Lu Ning. The physics teacher at the podium packed up his lesson plans, giving the scene a deep, displeased look.

Amidst the crowd, a girl scratched Lu Ning’s head and said thoughtfully, “Is it just me, or did cat-cat get bigger?”

“Really?”

Everyone looked at Lu Ning, who was currently munching on dried fish, and began to chime in.

“Yeah.”

“She feels heavier than before.”

“The fur is softer too.”

“Is it just me, or can I feel some muscle now?”

As they discussed, Lu Ning also realized it belatedly—the body Mu Qiuyu had replicated for her seemed much sturdier than the one she had exchanged from the system before. Sunlight bathed the kitten’s black fur, turning the desk golden. Lu Ning chased her fluffier “feather-duster” tail, realizing she was no longer a palm-sized little soot-ball!

“Host, did you adjust my stats?” Lu Ning looked at her changes excitedly, wagging her tail at Mu Qiuyu.

“Who else would it be?” Mu Qiuyu leaned against the wall, her questioning tone incredibly flat, as if it were just a whim.

But was it really? Only the Mu Qiuyu who had retrieved Lu Ning’s kitten form and adjusted her while she was out would know. Regardless, current Mu Qiuyu looked quite casual, beckoning Lu Ning over. Her cool palm stroked Lu Ning from head to rump; the feeling of the soft, yet powerful kitten made her feel satisfied with her adjustments.

“Your survival rate will be higher if you encounter another emergency,” Mu Qiuyu said simply.

“Really! Host, you’re the best!” Lu Ning was beyond excited, rubbing her head against Mu Qiuyu’s palm repeatedly. She was proud that she had finally saved system points by living off her host’s generosity. Besides, can a kitten depending on its owner be called “living off” someone? She was just a kitten who needed her owner’s favor.

“Meow~”

Realizing she had a healthier body, the kitten walked across Mu Qiuyu and Li Xiang’s desks, proudly showing off her new form to everyone, spreading her charm without restraint. Mu Qiuyu had never seen such a cocky system. She watched with disdain from the side, but her hand, which Lu Ning had rubbed against, closed unnoticed. She rubbed her fingertips together, as if savoring every detail of Lu Ning’s earlier flattery.

Cute.

“Ahhh, so cute!”

“Cat-cat, you’re the cutest baby in the world.”

“Look at the camera, cat-cat.”

It wasn’t just Mu Qiuyu; everyone was excitedly praising Lu Ning. However, amidst the celebration, a cold, mocking snort rang out: “Heh.”

The sound was too obvious and abrupt. Everyone turned around in annoyance to see Shi Jin standing outside the circle, arms crossed, looking down at them. “Still have time to play with a cat? Aren’t you worried about your grades?”

Shi Jin’s face showed a knowing sense of superiority as she smiled. “But then again, play as much as you can. Every second counts, because the homeroom teacher is going to throw it out soon.”

“Shi Jin, what are you talking about!”

“The homeroom teacher likes cat-cat too, okay? There’s no way he’d throw her out!”

“Yeah, stop talking nonsense.”

Everyone thought Shi Jin was just being bitter again and didn’t believe her. Shi Jin didn’t say much; she just pulled over the class monitor who was standing with her. “If you don’t believe me, ask the monitor.”

The monitor girl looked very awkward. She pushed up her glasses before giving a difficult nod to what Shi Jin had just said. “We were in the office just now and heard the physics teacher complaining to the homeroom teacher. He said our attention is all on the cat, that we aren’t focusing in class or finishing our work on time, and that our weekly test scores have dropped by 2.1 points. He demanded the cat be kicked out immediately.”

Hearing this, the smirk on Shi Jin’s face became even more triumphant. She looked at the little black cat beside Mu Qiuyu with a look of supreme arrogance. “Little stray cat, just wait to be thrown out.”

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