Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: “Then What Do You Care About?” …

The sun was setting.

The setting sun painted the cafeteria windows, and the world outside was burning in a dim glow, much like the sea of spider lilies in Mu Qiuyu’s Inner World. It appeared beautiful, but was, in fact, lethal.

Stunned by the boy’s miserable screams, the crowd stopped to watch. No one noticed the little hedgehog hidden in Mu Qiuyu’s pocket curiously poking its head out.

Mu Qiuyu’s voice was calm and gentle, like a helpful passerby who had noticed the boy’s agonizing cries and stepped in to assist. Only Lu Ning knew that Mu Qiuyu was far from being the harmless person she appeared to be.

The boy understood this too. He had put all his strength into slamming into Mu Qiuyu. She might not have reacted the first time, but there was no way she didn’t notice the second.

It was truly bizarre. The first time he hit her, she didn’t feel this “hard” to knock over. But the second time, it was as if he were a masochist trying his best to hurl himself against a brick wall. The pain in his shoulder made it impossible to control his expression; he grimaced and hissed through gritted teeth.

It really was as Mu Qiuyu said: his arm was dislocated.

“D*mmit…” The pain was so intense he couldn’t speak clearly, but he still managed an indignant curse.

Mu Qiuyu listened to him, the gentleness in her eyes not fading in the slightest. She continued to look down at him, stepping closer. “This isn’t a normal dislocation. If it isn’t reset within five minutes, you won’t even be able to hold a gun steadily in the future.”

Mu Qiuyu’s voice was kept extremely low. Only the boy and the little hedgehog in her pocket could hear her clearly.

Yes, this is the real Mu Qiuyu. She could use the most tender tone to say words that chilled the heart, casting a massive shadow over the other person, making them afraid to defy her openly. They even began to doubt themselves.

The boy felt a sensation of pain unlike anything he’d felt before; he felt like half his body was losing sensation. If he had any way to stand up, he wouldn’t be squatting on the ground losing face like a turtle flipped on its back.

“Fine… just do it,” the boy said, struggling with his pride. He told himself that Mu Qiuyu was the one who volunteered. He failed to notice the expression on her face as she looked at him.

Her deep pupils seemed to see right through his thoughts. She reached out and gripped his shoulder.

“AAARGH!”

The boy let out a howl. He looked furious, about to open his mouth to curse.

Mu Qiuyu beat him to it, putting on a puzzled look. “It hurts that much? You’re a man—can’t you even handle as much as a little girl?”

Mu Qiuyu’s words instantly downgraded the boy’s displayed agony. The onlookers finally laughed without reservation: “Hahaha, that’s hilarious.”

“Reminds me of those Chinese bone-setting videos.”

“Record it, record it!”

The boy panicked as he saw the phones being held up around him. He writhed on the ground, commanding the students: “Don’t record! You bastards—AAAH—”

The scream was louder than the curse. Before he could finish, Mu Qiuyu moved his arm toward the back left and scolded coldly, “Don’t move.”

The boy was completely pinned under Mu Qiuyu’s control, his face turning beet red. His teammates couldn’t bear it any longer and appealed to the crowd: “Have a heart, everyone. His arm is dislocated, it’s not entertainment.”

“Yeah, he’s already suffering. Let’s respect his feelings, okay?”

Lu Ning was giggling in the pocket, but her expression sharpened at those words. The little hedgehog leaned against Mu Qiuyu and efficiently brought up her operating system. This guy hit Guanghua students so many times, and now that he’s being disciplined, he wants to play the victim? In your dreams!

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

Just as the crowd was being moved by the boy’s friends to delete the videos, AirDrop notifications popped up on everyone’s phones. Every single video was a clip of the boy hitting people.

Lu Ning worked fast, enlarging and highlighting the boy’s ugly, mocking face after each collision, filling the screens.

“Ew, how disgusting.”

“No wonder. I was wondering why it suddenly dislocated.”

“He was hitting people on purpose! He just hit me a moment ago!”

“My Sister Mu is truly being the bigger person.”

“He hit Qiuyu so hard. It must have really hurt.”

“Serves him right.”

The boy’s behavior disgusted everyone to the core. The little bit of guilt they felt moments ago vanished. Indignant, they voiced their support for Mu Qiuyu. “Sister, do it as painfully as you can!”

“Right! If you don’t punish him, he’ll do it again tomorrow!”

“Qiuyu, don’t be afraid. We all know you’re just being helpful. If he dares to report you, we’ll all testify for you.”

Lu Ning hadn’t seen such a satisfying scene in a long time. She crossed her legs triumphantly in Mu Qiuyu’s pocket. Though Mu Qiuyu had already intended to make the boy suffer, the crowd’s support made her even more ruthless.

The sudden collective outrage made it impossible for Mu Qiuyu not to think of Lu Ning.

I’ll buy you starch sausages when we get back, Mu Qiuyu said in her mind.

I want ten! Lu Ning poked her head out instantly. Her reddened nose had fully recovered, leaving only her black-bean eyes shining at Mu Qiuyu.

I’ll buy you a hundred, Mu Qiuyu laughed, scratching Lu Ning’s head before tucking her back into the pocket to avoid being seen.

It had been a long time since she felt like this. Or rather, Mu Qiuyu had never experienced it. It turned out there was someone who would rush to aid her without fail when she needed it. When Lu Ning said she wanted to help, it wasn’t an empty boast.

“Bear with it, it’ll be over soon,” Mu Qiuyu said flatly to the boy on the ground. She looked to be in an even better mood than before, the corners of her eyes tilted up with a smile. No one knew why she was suddenly happy, but the fluorescent lights above highlighted her delicate features, making her look like a pure, harmless angel.

He had hit her on purpose, yet she was willing to help him. If that wasn’t an angel, what was?

“AAAAAAH—!”

The scream was even more piercing than the last. The boy’s face was pressed against the floor; the cold tiles made him go numb. He heard two distinct cracks in his shoulder, followed by Mu Qiuyu pressing down hard once more.

The boy didn’t even have the strength to scream anymore. Large beads of sweat rolled off his forehead. His vision grew blurry, and only Mu Qiuyu’s face remained floating in his mind. Gentle, harmless… and a truly vicious devil!

Everyone around was saying, “The world can’t lose Sister Mu!” and “The world is broken, but Sister Mu mends it.” Only the boy knew Mu Qiuyu wasn’t an angel. She was a devil. A total devil.

“…I was wrong.”

The suffering was too much; it felt like he was experiencing all the pain of his entire life at once. He couldn’t take it anymore. Weakly, he grabbed the hem of Mu Qiuyu’s skirt.

“What?” Mu Qiuyu lowered her head, looking at him as if she hadn’t heard. But she had heard perfectly; her hand was positioned on the most painful nerve. He had felt that pain once and didn’t want a second time. In the past, he thought he’d rather die than lose face. But he wasn’t dying; he was being held in Mu Qiuyu’s hand, hovering between life and death.

Finally, his ridiculous machismo shattered. He felt that face wasn’t as important as his life!

“I’m sorry! I was wrong!” In his breakdown, he apologized and begged for mercy in front of everyone. “I’ll never hit anyone again! I’ll apologize to everyone I hit! I’m sorry! I really know I was wrong—AAGH!!”

The moment the seemingly sincere apology ended, his scream echoed through the cafeteria. Mu Qiuyu pressed down on the shoulder socket she was holding and twisted his arm. Just as the agony reached the threshold of what he could tolerate, he suddenly realized the pain of the dislocation had vanished.

Freed from the pain, the boy was dazed. He looked up to see Mu Qiuyu standing up unhurriedly, her gentle eyes carrying a layer of mockery. “In such a hurry? That was the last move. You could have held on a bit longer.”

Her words, spoken from a height, made his self-esteem feel pulverized. The boy was stunned. The sense of shame arrived faster than the relief of survival. His brain was dominated by the thought that if he had just held out, he wouldn’t have had to apologize.

Mu Qiuyu ignored his breakdown and politely thanked the onlookers.

“Thank you for testifying for me.”

“You’re welcome, little sister.”

“We’ll come watch your match. You have to get a good score!”

“Sister Mu is doing good deeds; she’ll definitely get the gold!”

She had a beautiful face and a submissive, polite manner like a girl next door. Everyone cheered for her. In reality, this “girl next door” was full of schemes and usually too cold to approach.

Lu Ning watched blankly. For a moment, she felt as if she were seeing Wutong. Was Wutong like this too?

The farce ended. No one cared how the boy was carried away by his friends. The crowd slowly dispersed. Only Zhou Wan, the girl Mu Qiuyu had protected, remained, replaying Lu Ning’s mass-sent video on her phone. She heard Mu Qiuyu call her name in the video. That cold voice had been right by her ear; it was truly heart-stirring.

Lu Ning didn’t know the video she sent would cause her trouble. She just followed Mu Qiuyu back to the food counter. The gentleness on the girl’s face vanished the moment the lights flickered past. Lu Ning thought: The Mu Qiuyu I’m familiar with is back. And for some reason, she felt relieved.

Buzz.

At that moment, Lu Ning felt a vibration within the system. She quickly pulled up the info. The main task progress bar, which had been stalled for three months, had suddenly jumped forward a significant distance.

“Host! Look! It must be because of what you just did—everyone is leaning toward you!” Lu Ning said excitedly.

Mu Qiuyu wasn’t as happy as Lu Ning. She coldly closed the notification box. “I don’t care if people like me.”

“Then what do you care about?” Lu Ning tilted her head.

Mu Qiuyu stopped in front of two steaming new dishes. “Do you want the Sweet and Sour Pork or the Crispy Fried Pork?”

Lu Ning didn’t feel like Mu Qiuyu was dodging the question. She knew Mu Qiuyu had things she didn’t want to say, and with delicious food in front of her, she obediently played along. “Can I have both?”

“Yes,” Mu Qiuyu nodded calmly, taking a bit of both for Lu Ning.

Lu Ning felt that becoming a hedgehog to accompany Mu Qiuyu to the Youth Games was a stroke of genius. Here, she could eat her fill of good food for free every day, and her precious points stayed safely in the mall.

In contrast to Lu Ning’s leisure, Mu Qiuyu was busy training every day. Because of the cafeteria incident, the No. 1 Middle School students avoided her. When she guided her teammates, no one from the other school dared to mock her. Pei Yinyue joked that everyone now viewed Mu Qiuyu as their “steadying pillar.”

It was a great start. Lu Ning happily watched the task bar move forward. However, as the “pillar,” Mu Qiuyu didn’t feel much pride. Her attention was still on the person who had used her identity to provoke her.

Mu Qiuyu arrived early and left late every day, hoping to catch that person again. But how was that possible? Whenever Lu Ning went back to the Inner World, she told Wutong not to come out. Wutong obeyed, eating the fruit Lu Ning brought and staying in the Inner World, replaying the expression on Mu Qiuyu’s face when she failed to find her.

—“You can’t find me.”

A girl’s footsteps echoed in the silent corridor. Mu Qiuyu thought she heard a faint sneer. Her brow was furrowed; she was the last to leave again today. Tomorrow was the preliminary, and she thought the person would surely show up.

“Host, are you still thinking about that imposter?” Lu Ning asked worriedly from her pocket.

“How is the surveillance check going?” Mu Qiuyu asked.

“Still ‘refusing to respond,'” Lu Ning said guiltily, then quickly added a piece of good news. “But I’ve found a lead on that ‘Uncle’ Cen Qin mentioned who taught him to abuse cats.”

The subject change was too obvious. Mu Qiuyu looked down at the hedgehog. The fawning expression suggested she knew she had failed at one task and was trying to cover it up with another. Whatever; both were important.

“Tell me,” Mu Qiuyu said.

“Cen Qin wasn’t lying. I applied to retrieve his memory. It’s quite blurry, but I can tell the person is an adult male around thirty. His suit is from ‘WET,’ a high-end luxury brand that was popular in the country back then.”

Lu Ning shared the pixelated image with Mu Qiuyu, then zoomed in on the tie clip. “This tie clip—many brands made similar designs back then. I think it could be a breakthrough.”

Even in the blurry image, the gem-encrusted clip was brilliant. Mu Qiuyu stared at the piercingly red gem, her gaze freezing.

Lu Ning noticed the reaction. “Did Host recognize the clip?”

Mu Qiuyu shook her head. She didn’t recognize it—or rather, she wasn’t 100% sure it was the one from her memory. “This clip is a breakthrough. Make sure you find it for me.”

“Leave it to me!” Lu Ning promised, patting her chest.

They returned to the dormitory. As Mu Qiuyu pushed open the door, Lu Ning noticed an apple had been placed on her bedside table again. For some reason, someone had been sending Mu Qiuyu food these past few days. Lu Ning felt a pang of jealousy every time she saw it, wanting to prick it with her quills and drag it away before Mu Qiuyu saw it.

“Zhou Wan,” Mu Qiuyu said, picking up the note under the apple. Lu Ning knew the name—it was the girl Mu Qiuyu had shielded. The girl’s handwriting was elegant, stating she saw fresh apples at the supermarket and bought one for her.

“Some people send apples, but you’d think it was a love letter,” Lu Ning pouted, crawling out of the pocket.

“You seem to have a big problem with her.” Mu Qiuyu placed the note on the nightstand and picked up the hedgehog.

“It’s just an apple. What’s the big deal?” Lu Ning said, stepping onto the nightstand. She stepped right on Zhou Wan’s note and reached into her own “pocket.”

“I have all-natural fruit here! Wild and organic! Way better than hers.”

Mu Qiuyu smiled meaningfully. “But why do yours always taste more sour?”

“Impossible! My fruit is super sweet!” Lu Ning protested, holding her fruit higher.

The person who complained about the sourness took the fruit anyway and ate it with a smile.

“Is it sweet?” Lu Ning asked.

“Sweet and sour,” Mu Qiuyu replied.

Lu Ning couldn’t stand the word “sour” right now; it felt like her fruit had lost to the apple. She ate one herself. When the juice burst in her mouth, she insisted, “Super sweet!”

“But I like sour things,” Mu Qiuyu said, taking another from Lu Ning.

That one sentence calmed Lu Ning down instantly. Like a swaying reed, she immediately started digging through her pocket. “Wait, I’ll find the sour ones for you.”

Lu Ning sat down to search her system space. The chubby hedgehog looked like a little black-and-white ball, her tiny paws rummaging through her belly. It was incredibly cute. Mu Qiuyu watched quietly as the evening sun fell on the nightstand, where a little hedgehog was desperately searching to win favor.

“Host, why did you punish that boy the other day?” Having found the fruit, Lu Ning brought up the question that had been bothering her.

Mu Qiuyu gazed deeply at the hedgehog, a smile in her eyes. “Because… a certain hedgehog almost had its nose smashed.”

Mu Qiuyu said it bluntly. Lu Ning’s worry that Mu Qiuyu had protected Zhou Wan vanished. It wasn’t for Zhou Wan; it was for a hedgehog.

…? Hedgehog? What hedgehog?

Lu Ning looked at her tiny paws and blinked. She realized she was the “certain hedgehog” Mu Qiuyu mentioned. Her heart started pounding. Mu Qiuyu said it was for her.

Did that mean she was no longer just a dispensable system? Was she important to Mu Qiuyu?

Lu Ning felt as if fireworks were exploding in her world, filling the lonely sky.

“Hos—”

[System Punishment Notification: Due to the task-taker’s inaction and bad attitude during the specified time, a punishment is now being issued to both the task-taker and the system. Countdown: 5, 4, 3…]

The fruit in the hedgehog’s hand rolled away, as abrupt as the ill-timed punishment.

“Why am I included?!” Lu Ning felt terrible. She had worked so hard! How could they punish her?!

Someone experiencing their first punishment was far less calm than someone on their second. Mu Qiuyu watched the countdown hit zero and analyzed: “It’s just for a bad attitude, not a failed task. It won’t be the dark room.”

“Really?” Lu Ning didn’t trust the system; fear of the unknown gripped her.

Suddenly, Lu Ning felt a cramp in her stomach. The fruit she had just eaten churned inside her, and she felt dizzy. “Host, I feel… weird.” Lu Ning wobbled toward Mu Qiuyu.

The tiny body had little capacity for sudden changes. Lu Ning tipped over, about to fall off the nightstand. But the expected pain didn’t come. Lu Ning opened her eyes to see a warm hand cupping her.

Mu Qiuyu had caught her, but she wasn’t agile enough herself; she sank to her knees on the floor. The punishment had begun. She seemed to be in more pain than Lu Ning, yet she endured it and told Lu Ning calmly:

“Don’t be afraid.”

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