Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 85

Chapter 85: [Warning: High Ambient Temperature Detected…]

The winter night wind carried a bone-chilling cold, and Mu Qiuyu’s white fur coat could barely block it out. She didn’t linger in the warmth of the car’s heater; the moment the car pulled up to the villa, she stepped out ahead of Mu Jingqin and headed back to the house.

Fearing that the residual chill on her body would freeze the cat in her room, Mu Qiuyu deliberately slowed her pace while changing clothes. But she never imagined that when she returned to her room and saw Lu Ning—who had turned into a human to greet her—she would find herself in a state of absolute fury.

What did she mean by “again”? What did she mean by “just now”?

She had been back from the banquet for less than half an hour. It was impossible for her to have kissed Lu Ning “not long ago.”

Lu Ning’s words pointed to only one thing: that person from the Summer Youth Competition, who looked so much like her that even a machine couldn’t tell them apart, had appeared again.

Mu Qiuyu’s expression sharpened, her face clouding with a hint of gloom. If that person’s appearance at the competition could be dismissed as poor security at the shooting range, then how did she manage to bypass the villa’s security tonight? And how was her acting so flawless that even Lu Ning—a system—couldn’t tell the difference?

Mu Qiuyu’s gaze sank as it settled on Lu Ning. She realized one thing: “You’re hiding something from me.”

It was one thing for a machine to fail, but Lu Ning, as a system, had used the excuse of “unified monitoring calibration” as a reason for being unable to check the footage. Whether in the past or present, Lu Ning had always tried her hardest to prove her reliability to Mu Qiuyu. There was no way she would be this incompetent or passive unless it was intentional.

“I just got home. Who was the person who kissed you?” Mu Qiuyu looked at Lu Ning, her dark eyes hiding a storm of emotions.

Lu Ning, who had been dazed with sleep just a second ago, now felt her pupils dilate. She suddenly realized that the person who had kissed her earlier… wasn’t Mu Qiuyu.

Wutong had come!

Seeing the clarity in Lu Ning’s eyes, Mu Qiuyu knew that the person who looked exactly like her truly existed. And Lu Ning knew about her.

The flaws in Lu Ning’s behavior gathered like threads in Mu Qiuyu’s deduction, weaving a clear picture in her mind: “I once suspected Su Qinghang had an illegitimate daughter I didn’t know about, but I realize now my starting point was wrong.”

“This person has nothing to do with Su Qinghang. She is related to your system.” Mu Qiuyu’s gaze was deep and sharp, as if nothing in the world could escape her sight. She stated her conclusion: “Lu Ning, is there someone in my inner world who looks exactly like me?”

Lu Ning’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected Mu Qiuyu to deduce Wutong’s existence from a single sentence. With that question, Lu Ning knew she could no longer hide it. She still wasn’t sure of Mu Qiuyu’s attitude toward Wutong—especially since Wutong had just “dropped her mask” by pretending to be Mu Qiuyu to kiss her.

Lu Ning sat up slowly, seeking Mu Qiuyu’s hand and interlacing their fingers: “Um, please calm down. Can you listen to me?”

Seeing Lu Ning’s submissive posture, Mu Qiuyu understood. The gentle touch seemed to work slightly, and she forced herself to settle: “Speak.”

“It’s like this… everyone has emotions they don’t want to face or tend to avoid. When too many of these suppressed emotions pile up in the heart, they form a person.” Lu Ning chose her words carefully, her almond-shaped eyes looking at Mu Qiuyu like a puppy that had made a mistake.

Mu Qiuyu listened in silence, finally identifying the source of that voice in the back of her mind: “You mean, the person in my inner world was born from me?”

Lu Ning nodded: “She was born from you; she is a part of you. The more you accept her, the more similar you become, until finally, you become a complete self.”

“The Main System told you this?” Mu Qiuyu frowned.

“I deduced it,” Lu Ning whispered, feeling a bit guilty. “Because you two are becoming more and more alike.”

“So you mistook her for me?” Mu Qiuyu coldly filled in the unspoken second half of Lu Ning’s thought. She finally understood where that strange sense of joy, pride, and even fluke-like luck she had felt while in the car had come from.

“I didn’t m—mph…”

The scent of alcohol drew closer, and Lu Ning’s mouth was swallowed by a kiss, pushing her words back down her throat. To reclaim a city that had been occupied by another, an invader usually employs brute force.

Mu Qiuyu bit Lu Ning’s lips unreasonably, raiding her mouth as if to punish her, her tongue tracing the contours of the mouth to “cleanse” every inch. The cold wind outside seemed like a mere passerby, slamming against the window and seeping through the cracks, but it only made Lu Ning’s face hotter.

Compared to gentle tenderness, Mu Qiuyu’s current ferocity made Lu Ning feel truly cared for. Her wrist was pinned, yet it felt as if she were being held in the palm of Mu Qiuyu’s hand. The pulse at Mu Qiuyu’s thumb-grip throbbed, blood churning within.

The winter wind claimed the empty night, and the villa district was silent. No one could hear the sounds of friction and heavy breathing hidden on the second floor of a small building. The blankets on the bed were pushed into a mess, swallowing the girl’s slender frame.

Lu Ning didn’t know when she had gone from being kissed to lying flat on the bed. The dim light flickered in her eyes, leaving only Mu Qiuyu’s lowered gaze in her sight.

She was truly furious.

Lu Ning’s eyes were half-closed, her mind dazed by the kiss. The alcoholic scent that had previously belonged only to the other person had now thoroughly saturated her own breath. Knowing she was in the wrong, Lu Ning let Mu Qiuyu take what she wanted.

Until Mu Qiuyu’s hand slipped under her hem.

“!”

Lu Ning’s mind went blank for a few seconds. She instinctively reached out to push Mu Qiuyu’s hand away. But Mu Qiuyu was determined; she had already slipped half her palm inside, and Lu Ning couldn’t easily push her out.

Despite being indoors for a while, Mu Qiuyu’s palm was still icy, feeling like a block of ice against Lu Ning’s skin. This “ice” left no marks as it traveled up her flat abdomen, grazing her waist and ribs, until it was stopped by the inner layer of fabric.

Lu Ning’s internal system alarm blared: [Warning: High ambient temperature detected. Overload risk rising!]

As if that wasn’t enough, a prompt filled with bold, enlarged, red text covered Lu Ning’s vision. In an instant, she was blinded; all that remained was the tactile sensation of Mu Qiuyu’s touch. This was an even more lethal stimulus for Lu Ning. Every nerve became hypersensitive, and her desire to push Mu Qiuyu away grew stronger.

A few sounds of resistance echoed in the quiet room. Lu Ning tried to roll over to pin Mu Qiuyu down—but instead, Mu Qiuyu pulled her hand back and pinned Lu Ning’s wrists above her head.

Mu Qiuyu plundered Lu Ning’s lips a few more times in revenge before finally breaking the kiss. Her eyes, thick with desire and ferocity, were inches away: “Didn’t you say the system must unconditionally satisfy the host’s requirements? Am I your host, or is she? Why is it okay for her but not for me?”

Hearing this, Lu Ning’s already burning face turned even redder. She struggled, whispering a clarification: “She didn’t…”

“Then I must have it too.”

Perhaps fueled by the alcohol, Mu Qiuyu’s possessiveness was amplified like never before. She pinned both of Lu Ning’s wrists with one hand and gripped her waist with the other: “Do you know? I even imagined that the system information was wrong—that Su Qinghang had an affair and an illegitimate daughter back when he married my mother. I never thought you would lie to me.”

“What you said just now was terrifying. I thought those people had made a move and Su Qinghang was coming for you. Do you have any idea?”

Some things are hard to say under normal circumstances, but this situation was perfect. Mu Qiuyu’s gaze moved inch by inch, never leaving Lu Ning’s face, as if she wanted to go further and devour this disobedient cat.

Ignoring Mu Qiuyu’s hands for a moment, Lu Ning looked up alertly: “Su Qinghang! What’s wrong with Su Qinghang? Is he onto you? Was today successful? Do you need my help?”

Listening to Lu Ning’s string of concerns, the tightness in Mu Qiuyu’s chest eased slightly, though her face remained cold: “You finally thought of me?”

Lu Ning felt immense guilt. Her breathing was uneven, and she apologized softly: “Mm, I’m sorry, Mu Qiuyu.”

However, blinded by the system prompt, Lu Ning didn’t see the effect she was having. Because Mu Qiuyu was so close, Lu Ning couldn’t adapt to the breath lingering on her neck and instinctively tilted her head. To Mu Qiuyu, it looked like a mixture of evasion and invitation.

Mu Qiuyu let out a heavy breath, her alcoholic scent washing over Lu Ning’s cheek. She answered the concern: “Today went smoothly. I don’t need your help for now. Just sit still; we haven’t finished settling our accounts.”

“That’s good then.”

Lu Ning was about to breathe a sigh of relief and deal with the pop-up in her vision when Mu Qiuyu’s fingers easily bypassed the loose boundaries of her clothes, and a kiss bit into her neck.

“Mu Qiuyu!”

— “Stop it!”

— “If you want to settle accounts, settle them. What kind of skill is this, getting all handsy!”

Lu Ning’s voice and the voice in Mu Qiuyu’s head rang out simultaneously, both sounding utterly exasperated. Mu Qiuyu held Lu Ning, kissing her while looking through the transparent glass with dark eyes at the other person she couldn’t see in the physical world: “What? You’re allowed to do it on purpose for me to see, but I can’t do it for you to see?”

Wutong struggled against the chains on her ankles: “Don’t go too far!”

“If you don’t want me to go too far, then make a deal with me,” Mu Qiuyu said calmly, her tone carrying a hint of nonchalance. Wutong, unable to move, was forced to agree: “Fine. Say it.”

The storm that had been hovering in the dark clouds suddenly stopped; a gust of wind blew it away instead. For some unknown reason, Lu Ning felt Mu Qiuyu’s movements slow down. The hand inside her hoodie withdrew, as if she had never intended to stay there in the first place.

“Bad cat,” Mu Qiuyu whispered, her lips still against Lu Ning’s neck.

Lu Ning shot her a glance and panted, but didn’t forget to protest: “Good cat.”

“Then shouldn’t a ‘good cat’ pay the price for her deception?” Mu Qiuyu moved down and asked with a smile.

“!”

Lu Ning felt she had been tricked again, but she braced herself: “What do you want me to do?”

“From now on, you must accompany me to sleep in human form every night. You aren’t allowed to turn into a cat halfway through.” Mu Qiuyu brushed the stray hair from Lu Ning’s face.

Mu Qiuyu made this request because Lu Ning always liked to turn into a cat mid-sleep to shamelessly snuggle into her arms. But Lu Ning still got a racing heart from human embracing, so she sprouted cat ears and tried to tempt Mu Qiuyu: “But… doesn’t Tongtong like kittens?”

The black cat ears flickered in the air, soft and inviting. Mu Qiuyu couldn’t help but reach out to scratch them: “You can keep the ears and tail.”

Lu Ning immediately countered: “But this form costs a lot of points. I don’t have that many.”

“I’ll pay,” Mu Qiuyu stated.

“Mu Qiuyu…”

“A-Ning, I was really sad that you hid this from me.”

Before Lu Ning could bargain further, Mu Qiuyu beat her to it by acting piteous. Mu Qiuyu didn’t know, and Lu Ning didn’t dare say it, but her current cunning style was a bit like Wutong’s. Lu Ning knew the piteousness was an act, but what could she do? She was a willing victim.

“Then… do you want to pet them a few more times?” Lu Ning lowered her head and rubbed her ears against Mu Qiuyu’s hand. The kitten’s ears were soft and well-defined, making one feel better just by touching them. But Mu Qiuyu was looking more at the submissive Lu Ning than the ears. Seeing the flush that hadn’t faded, Mu Qiuyu smiled ambiguously: “A-Ning’s ears are truly cute.”

Lu Ning didn’t know that “cute” from a lover’s mouth is the most unfair word in the world—it was more lethal than a kiss.

Later, Lu Ning found out that Mu Qiuyu had let her off so easily because she had also made a deal with Wutong.

In the morning, students bustled through the school building. In the back row of the classroom, Mu Qiuyu was unhurriedly flipping through a Chinese textbook when a glass bottle of goat milk was suddenly placed on the table. The sharp sound made her look up.

She saw Li Xiang smiling at her energetically: “Good morning, Qiuyu.”

Mu Qiuyu’s gaze paused imperceptibly, then she gave Li Xiang a slight smile: “Good morning.”

Li Xiang froze, looking at Mu Qiuyu as if seeing a different person: “Qiuyu, you’re in such a good mood today! I thought you’d be exhausted coming in this early.”

“I…”

“Meow~”

Before she could speak, Lu Ning jumped onto the table from her lap, wagging her big tail. The kitten circled the milk bottle, signaling Li Xiang for a snack. This was a daily treat the class had organized for Lu Ning. Although she was no longer an underage kitten, everyone was happy to let the cat believe she was forever a little kitten.

“I’ll pour it for you now.” Li Xiang skillfully opened the bottle and poured the milk into Lu Ning’s clean bowl.

“Meow~” Lu Ning gave a sweet cry and began her performance of a kitten drinking milk.

“Good girl.” Li Xiang patted the cat’s head, completely forgetting the slight oddness she had detected in Mu Qiuyu.

But Lu Ning remembered. She spoke in her mind to Mu Qiuyu—no, to Wutong: “Tongtong, you should act a bit more cold and aloof.”

“Is that so?” Wutong didn’t care, turning a page and reading with interest. This was her deal with Mu Qiuyu.

Su Qinghang had noticed the Mu family’s movements and was monitoring Mu Qiuyu’s every move. Mu Qiuyu had a secret meeting today that Su Qinghang absolutely could not discover. While Mu Qiuyu was worrying about this, Wutong appeared.

Don’t misunderstand; Mu Qiuyu still held a grudge against Wutong’s existence. If there weren’t a better way to break the situation, she would never have let Wutong replace her—especially not alone with Lu Ning.

Outside the car window, snowy street scenes flashed by. Mu Qiuyu looked at the road, inexplicably finding the evergreen pines on both sides an eyesore. That person better not cause me trouble.

“A-choo!”

Leaning against the heater pipe, Wutong suddenly sneezed, her chest feeling inexplicably stuffy. But that feeling made her happy. After the sneeze, her lips curled up slightly.

“I think something good must have happened to you,” Li Xiang said, still finding her friend “off.”

“You’re right,” Wutong nodded, taking the initiative with Li Xiang. “Do you have any physics problems you can’t solve? I can explain them to you.”

Li Xiang’s eyes lit up. Who cares if she’s ‘off’? I hope Mu Qiuyu stays ‘off’ like this forever! She immediately pulled out her workbook: “This one.”

“The force analysis should be drawn like this…” Wutong scanned it and found the solution instantly.

Lu Ning sat on the windowsill drinking her milk, silently watching Wutong interact with Li Xiang. She didn’t interfere. Wutong had always lived in the inner world; her understanding of the world came from Mu Qiuyu’s memories. Now that she was in the real world, she should experience the school life she never truly had.

“So that’s how it works!” Li Xiang’s confusion turned into enlightenment. She looked at the steps “Mu Qiuyu” had written on her paper, carefully putting it away to review later. “I feel like your method is much easier to grasp than the standard answer.”

Wutong felt a sense of satisfaction from helping Li Xiang. She smiled faintly: “Is that so?” Then, in a voice only she could hear, she whispered: “Maybe because I’m not a ‘standard answer’ myself.”

“What did you say, Qiuyu?” Li Xiang leaned in.

Wutong shook her head and took out a textbook: “What are our review tasks for today?”

“Today…” Li Xiang opened her schedule. “Two sets of Chinese vocabulary exercises, reciting ‘Bring in the Wine,’ finishing the math solid geometry practice, and then doing topic five. For English, memorizing three model essays and doing four reading comprehensions…”

Listening to Li Xiang, Wutong flipped through the worksheets and notebooks Mu Qiuyu had prepared for her. Those tasks, which should have been done gradually, hadn’t been touched. Looking at the blank pages, Wutong’s brow twitched. She seemed to see that person’s dark smile in her mind.

And so, Wutong experienced the day of a real Grade 12 student. Classes, problem-solving, eating, spot checks, quizzes—Wutong’s time was packed. At first, she was full of novelty, determined to “slap Mu Qiuyu’s face” by being a better student. But by dismissal in the afternoon, she was slumped on the desk, exhausted.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Ning tilted her head and rubbed her forehead against Wutong’s.

“A-Ning, I was tricked. Being a senior is so tiring.” Wutong looked at her unfinished worksheets, wondering how Mu Qiuyu did it.

“Senior year is like this—endless problems, not enough sleep.” Lu Ning comforted her with a small paw.

“Was A-Ning’s senior year like this too?” Wutong turned to look at her curiously.

“Mm.” Lu Ning nodded. She transformed into her human form in the empty classroom, sitting in Li Xiang’s seat. “Our world was much more tiring than this. The books were piled this high. Not only did we have extra self-study in the afternoon, but we had night classes too.”

As she spoke, Lu Ning’s eyes flickered. She realized something: “So… we didn’t meet in senior year, did we?”

Wutong looked at Lu Ning, a flash of surprise in her eyes. Then she smiled: “A-Ning, you’re so smart.”

“I think so too.” Lu Ning held onto the clue she had found, raising her head proudly. “You can’t say it, but I can pry the answer out of your mouth.”

Wutong countered: “Believe it or not, I can too.”

Lu Ning didn’t understand what Wutong meant. As she was wondering, Wutong leaned in. The girl’s kiss, carrying the cool winter air, brushed against Lu Ning’s lips. Her “prying” wasn’t some deep metaphor; it was literal.

Lu Ning froze. Her heart was beating so fast. Embarrassment, nervousness, and restlessness all coalesced in that moment, centered on her lips where Wutong had touched.

“Finally finished correcting.”

“I got so many wrong.”

“I’m okay; I’ll finish the corrections tonight.” …

The voices of students from another class came from the back door. Lu Ning immediately pulled away from Wutong, turning her back guiltily. Wutong wasn’t annoyed; she just smiled at Lu Ning’s red ears.

“A-Ning, see you later.”

The girl’s voice drifted away. When Lu Ning turned back, Wutong’s body was becoming transparent. Wind rushed in from the open back door, blowing the curtains. The classroom was empty; only Lu Ning’s shadow sat alone at the desk, like a portrait of the future.

But people in the present cannot see the future. Lu Ning picked up her packed bag and vanished from the classroom.

Winter was warmer at home. Lu Ning phased through the wall to the second floor and saw Mu Qiuyu already sitting at the desk.

“Back so early? It must have gone smoothly.” Lu Ning’s eyes lit up.

But Mu Qiuyu’s face held little expression. She watched Lu Ning walk toward her and suddenly grabbed her wrist: “She kissed you again?”

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