Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 67

Chapter 67: “A Kiss For A Secret.”

Looking at the hand gripping her wrist, Wutong’s eyes widened slightly. A flicker of irrepressible joy sparked in her eyes, but it was quickly suppressed. By the time she looked up at Lu Ning, her expression had returned to a state of calm.

“Did you remember something?” Wutong watched Lu Ning cautiously, her voice carrying a faint, hidden expectation.

Seeing Wutong’s reaction, Lu Ning understood a few things more clearly.

—They really must have had a connection in the past.

However, Lu Ning wasn’t the type to use someone for information and then discard them. She shook her head and answered Wutong honestly: “No, I don’t know anything. I just happened to dream of you when you were little.”

She paused, thinking of the crying girl in the dream, and corrected herself: “Both of you.”

“When Mu Qiuyu was young, you and she were still the same person, right?” Lu Ning looked at Wutong.

Hearing this, the light that had just risen in Wutong’s eyes dimmed slightly. “To be precise, when she was small, I didn’t exist.”

“Do you want to know how I came to this world?” Wutong asked tentatively, looking at Lu Ning with expectant eyes.

It was a long and dull story. Wutong didn’t know if Lu Ning would be interested in her birth, but she suddenly felt a desperate urge to tell her—just as Mu Qiuyu had told Lu Ning about her own childhood. Wutong hadn’t expected Mu Qiuyu to be willing to share her past with someone else. She knew better than anyone how high Mu Qiuyu’s psychological walls were.

Because of that, she was afraid. Even if Mu Qiuyu didn’t know who Lu Ning was, she might still fall for her.

Why? In a sense, I knew her first.

“I’m willing to listen,” Lu Ning’s gentle voice reached Wutong’s ears.

She didn’t say “I want to know”; she said she was willing to listen. This act of giving the initiative back to Wutong filled a small, empty corner of Wutong’s heart. This alone was enough to satisfy her.

The girl cradled her teacup and began to speak slowly: “In the beginning, I was just a tiny emotional factor. She constantly fed me the emotions she didn’t want. I grew from a factor into a living being within an embryo.”

Wutong still refused to say Mu Qiuyu’s name, using “she” instead. Her voice felt like a long stretch of time, bolstered by the white steam rising from the tea.

“For a while, I thought I would never change again. But one day, I felt my stagnant body begin to grow. I started to become a complete human.”

At this point, Wutong’s voice held a hint of excitement. She looked down at her hand holding the cup, then gripped it. “I quickly grew limbs. One day I was like an infant, the next a toddler, then a primary schooler, a middle schooler, until I became the high schooler I am now.”

As Wutong spoke, her pure black eyes sparkled—clean, clear, and innocent, fitting for this secluded world of white. But this place wasn’t entirely isolated.

“This isn’t a shackle,” Wutong said, gesturing to the chain on her ankle. “It’s my umbilical cord to her. It’s unavoidable.”

Lu Ning looked at Wutong’s ankle again. The blood on her skirt had dried, and the chain she held had lost its crimson hue, no longer looking like the “umbilical cord” she described.

In truth, Lu Ning’s definition of Wutong had always been blurry. She used to think Wutong was just a part of Mu Qiuyu who possessed her memories and knowledge of the outside world. But now, Lu Ning felt Wutong possessed knowledge that Mu Qiuyu herself lacked.

Like an independent person. And her attitude toward Mu Qiuyu wasn’t as friendly as one might expect from symbiotic parts.

“What happens if the chain breaks?” Lu Ning asked, her thoughts wandering.

“I’ll die,” Wutong smiled lightly. A baby leaves the mother and becomes independent when the umbilical cord is severed. Wutong would not. Her smile held a trace of contemptuous disdain.

Lu Ning looked at Wutong’s answer and formulated a guess: “But only Mu Qiuyu can do that, right?”

“You’ve always been very smart,” Wutong looked at her with relief. Indeed, who would like someone who held the power of their life and death?

Lu Ning watched Wutong’s deep eyes fixed in the white light. The girl was looking at her, yet it felt like she was looking at something more—much like her ambiguous answer from before. It reminded Lu Ning of the topic that had been interrupted by the story.

They had definitely met before. Sensing she was touching the truth, Lu Ning’s mind worked rapidly. She dug through the story Wutong had told her once before: “I’m that hunter, aren’t I?”

Wutong froze, then a smile spread across her eyes. It was as if Lu Ning’s question confirmed exactly what she had just thought.

“Can I ask why you think that?” Wutong asked back, her voice tinged with more than just curiosity.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Lu Ning said. “Because in your story, there was a hunter who left without saying goodbye. And in the dream, I saw you holding a hedgehog doll, asking me why I left without a word.”

“Yes… why did you leave without saying goodbye?” It was both an answer to Lu Ning and a question to herself.

Wutong leaned against the headboard, her thin face resting on her arm, her gaze filled with a lingering sorrow. Lu Ning could almost piece the story together through these fragments: She had known Little Mu Qiuyu in the past, they had formed a close bond, but then she had suddenly disappeared.

The story had a beginning and an end, yet it was incredibly vague. Lu Ning’s brow furrowed. She didn’t know Wutong’s internal question; she just felt her head was a mess. She had just discovered Mu Qiuyu’s mismatched memory, and now she found she had a blank memory of her own. Trapped between the two, she didn’t know which to deal with first.

Or perhaps, Mu Qiuyu’s mismatched memory was related to her own missing one?

So, it wasn’t an accident that Wutong knew how to make her favorite milk tea. Wutong had truly spent time with her within Mu Qiuyu’s memories, which was why she knew her tastes.

What happened? I’m just a miserable person who transmigrated into a book—how is my own past involved in the story?

Lu Ning’s head throbbed. She propped her chin in her hands and sighed to Wutong: “You know? I feel like a total scumbag right now.”

Wutong couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s quite a description.”

Lu Ning said gloomily, laying her cards on the table: “I thought coming to this world was crazy enough. Now you’re telling me I have a past with you? This is beyond ridiculous.”

Venting didn’t solve the problem, but it relieved the pressure in her chest. Looking at Wutong’s gentle gaze, she regained some of her logic.

“But you know,” Lu Ning sat up straight, her posture becoming serious. “You know exactly what happened between us, don’t you?”

Expectation shone in Lu Ning’s eyes, brighter than the white light filtering through the trees. Wutong couldn’t avoid it. She nodded. “Yes.”

Then she shook her head. “But not everything.” Stubborn to the end, she added: “But I know more than she does.”

Wutong didn’t know why Lu Ning dreamed of young Mu Qiuyu, but she knew the nightmare passage controlled by the system had been opened by the Main System. It was the Main System that had opened it last time, allowing her to enter from the other side and speak with that version of Mu Qiuyu.

Lu Ning fell into deep thought. According to Wutong, Mu Qiuyu had forgotten, and she had forgotten too. Only this person living in Mu Qiuyu’s heart remembered a part of it.

Lu Ning instinctively touched her chest. She wondered if she had an inner world too, and if someone lived inside it who knew everything. To live for over twenty years and suddenly be told you’ve forgotten something—it was a disorienting feeling.

She had always thought she was an outsider to this world, yet she had been entangled with it long ago.

“So, I really was here before?” Lu Ning looked at Wutong, her voice a mix of a question and an unbelieving murmur.

“I can’t tell you,” Wutong said, shaking her head. She didn’t treat Lu Ning’s words as a murmur; she took every word to heart.

Lu Ning frowned. “Why?” Based on Wutong’s previous story, she pressed: “Is it because I left without a word and Mu Qiuyu was so sad she chose to forget? Is that why you can’t tell me?”

Wutong shook her head again, her voice flat yet disdainful: “If I wanted to, even if it killed me, she couldn’t control me.”

Lu Ning’s frown deepened. Besides the Mu Qiuyu in the outside world, she couldn’t think of anyone else who could control Wutong. “Then who could it be? It can’t be the Main System…”

“No,” Wutong denied the answer Lu Ning didn’t even believe herself.

Using a bit of trickery, Lu Ning leaned closer to Wutong. “Just tell me. Didn’t we have a deal? Every time I come, you tell me one thing about Mu Qiuyu. This counts as something about her, doesn’t it?”

Wutong laughed. Her smiles were never for nothing. Hearing the familiar tone, she said softly: “You’re truly yourself.”

The familiarity made Wutong feel a sense of closeness. She slowly looked up at the girl leaning toward her. “Do you really want to know who is stopping me from speaking?”

“Yes,” Lu Ning nodded firmly. She couldn’t remember her past for now, but knowing who was blocking her was a start. To solve a complex problem, it’s easier to break it down.

As she thought this, a finger entered her field of vision. Wutong held up her hand and smiled: “A kiss for a secret.”

The girl’s slender finger swayed before Lu Ning, making her freeze. Lu Ning thought: Wutong really is a part of Mu Qiuyu; their craftiness is identical. How could such an innocent face hide so many schemes?

But that was Mu Qiuyu’s specialty. She knew you would compromise, so she made demands without restraint.

In Wutong’s gentle eyes, the silhouette of the person before her slowly drew closer. Lu Ning’s soft, warm lips moved toward the girl. It wasn’t the first time, so she wasn’t as clumsy.

When those lips pressed against Wutong’s forehead, the girl’s heart hammered. The white tree behind her shook suddenly, and clusters of pure white flowers burst into bloom. Satisfaction filled her thin frame, and the smile in Wutong’s eyes deepened.

She watched Lu Ning’s embarrassment and her ears, which were turning bright red behind her long hair. Even for the second time, this person couldn’t stay calm.

They were so close that Wutong’s breath mingled with Lu Ning’s. Lu Ning felt her face burning hot. She averted her eyes, desperate to claim the promise: “N-now you can tell me.”

“Yes,” Wutong nodded, keeping her word.

“You.” A single syllable fell from the girl’s lips.

Lu Ning froze. She didn’t react immediately; she didn’t even think that was the answer.

Wutong repeated it, telling her with certainty: “You were the one who requested it of me.”

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