Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 79

“I like Li Ting.”

These four words seemed to possess a magical power. The moment they were uttered, the entire stark-white system space seemed to tremble slightly.

Yes, it was as it should be. Admitting it wasn’t actually that difficult.

Falling in love with Li Ting was a simple and joyous thing.

On the screen, those few pink tentacles that had been curiously exploring Li Ting’s body—following their primal instincts—seemed to hit a pause button. Then, like soldiers receiving a supreme command, they instantly became incredibly docile and well-behaved. They receded silently into the shadows like an ebbing tide, vanishing completely.

Because she had faced herself, she gained the power to control those instincts.

Perhaps, during her youth, besides her admiration for her “sister,” there had always been a slightly “ill-intentioned” attachment deep in her heart. She was simply too young then to distinguish it, expressing her inner closeness through clumsy chasing and imitation.

She had gone to great lengths to scout out every trace of Li Ting’s life. On the surface, it looked like she was gathering material for their next confrontation or seeking evidence to support her taunts. But in reality, it was an obsession… an excessive preoccupation.

The system binding had given her another chance and an excuse to be near Li Ting, and finally, the opportunity to see her own heart clearly.

The transition between love and hate isn’t actually that difficult.

“Please tell me! What should I do!!” After speaking her heart, everything seemed to switch to easy mode.

She abruptly wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. Though her face was flushed from crying and she had looked incredibly fragile just moments ago, she revitalized herself instantly.

In those gemstone-like eyes, a surging flame of fighting spirit flickered. She looked as if she had been injected with infinite vitality, becoming full of drive!

This was Si Xiaoxiao.

The stubborn, earnest Si Xiaoxiao who wouldn’t turn back until she hit a dead end.

So, the most important task now was—how could she make Li Ting like her too?

At this thought, Si Xiaoxiao’s eyes sparkled as she looked into the void. With a hint of cautious anticipation and massive trepidation, her voice instinctively grew soft and gentle: “System… since you bound me and Li Ting together and threw us into this… this weird script, does that mean… she… she likes me too?”

As she spoke, her voice grew smaller and her confidence waned, until the last few words were barely a whisper.

It was truly embarrassing!

One of the world’s three great delusions—”She likes me”—was a common trap Si Xiaoxiao was well aware of.

What if… what if the system was just playing matchmaker at random?

After all, she knew that “CP fans” loved to force couples together; they could imagine a hundred-thousand-word erotic novel about two people who clearly despised each other.

Recalling carefully, did she have any shining qualities that would make Li Ting like her?

Well, she was pretty…

Pretty…

Very pretty…

Dammit!

It seemed her greatest merit was just being good-looking!

Even though it was the truth, it was infuriating to realize it herself!

Si Xiaoxiao’s face changed colors like a dye shop—red, then white, then a frustrated shade of blue.

Ultimately, she pinned her hopes on the “all-knowing” system. Summoning her courage as if seeking a final judgment, she asked loudly: “So! She does!! She likes me! Right?! You must know!”

Si Xiaoxiao’s inquiry carried a bit of “claws and teeth” bluster—the unique pride that belonged only to her.

If it weren’t for being in the system space and having this chance to face her inner self, her tsundere personality would have made it impossible to say the word “like” in this lifetime.

However, the system expressed regret, its electronic voice even carrying a hint of human-like helplessness: “The system doesn’t know either. After all, Lady Li Ting is very guarded against me… Human emotions are very complex… Like you, I can see you like her, yet you act like you don’t. So, well…”

“Awooo!” Failing to get the definitive, affirmative answer she wanted, Si Xiaoxiao snapped. Her gathered courage popped like a pricked balloon. She instantly pulled a classic “angry cat” face, baring her little fangs and flailing her arms at the air: “You—you didn’t even confirm if she likes me! And yet you gave us that kind of mission!! You’re a total scammer!! And, and also…”

Thinking back to when she was lost, the system had seen through her heart effortlessly. Why couldn’t it do the same for Li Ting?

Is it… because Li Ting doesn’t like her, or doesn’t like her enough?

The moment she thought she had already lost the lead, Si Xiaoxiao felt a wave of sorrow. Girls troubled by love are often like this.

Having no physical form, the system naturally didn’t fear her “fang” attack. It stated with total honesty and even a sense of righteousness: “Only twisted melons are truly sweet!”

“…How bored are you!” Si Xiaoxiao was nearly fainted by the system’s twisted sense of humor.

“Of course, it’s not just about being sweet!”

The system began to expound its ultimate theory of “shipping” CP, its electronic voice growing excited: “Rival couples are the best to ship! Fighting one moment then going home to eat at the same table—that’s the taste! Love and hate, sweet and bitter! The tension! The drama!”

(And of course, watching you struggle and stubbornly refuse to admit it is also quite fun~)

Si Xiaoxiao immediately covered her ears and couldn’t help but retort: “Aren’t you a bit too humanized? You’re just a mere system; stay out of your host’s life!”

“Fine! In that case, this Great System is leaving!” Surprisingly, the system had learned all the wrong things and adopted a tsundere attitude identical to Si Xiaoxiao’s. The electronic voice cut off, and the entire space fell into a dead silence.

“???” Si Xiaoxiao didn’t expect this reaction. She called out tentatively: “Hey, you left?! Really left??”

In the vast white system space, only the echo of her own lonely voice remained. No one responded.

So… it turned out being tsundere was this annoying.

Ugh…

Si Xiaoxiao sank into a wordless dejection. Like an abandoned puppy, she crouched down pitifully.

She had no way of knowing that the system’s energy was simply depleted and it needed to enter sleep mode to recharge; it had only said that to “revenge” itself on her attitude.

The naive and easily fooled Si Xiaoxiao truly believed she had driven the system away.

With the system offline, Li Ting on the big screen seemed to have finally escaped the harassment of the tentacles and fallen into a deep sleep.

After tossing and turning for so long and experiencing such emotional highs and lows, Si Xiaoxiao also felt a wave of intense exhaustion.

She curled herself into a ball, leaned against an invisible “wall,” and soon drifted off into a muddled sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, a clear call, tinged with a hint of testing, pierced through the fog of sleep and woke her up.

“Si Xiaoxiao, are you still there?”

It was Li Ting’s voice!

Si Xiaoxiao sat up abruptly, instantly awake, and fixed her eyes on the screen.

She saw Li Ting standing before a sturdy-looking, locked wooden door, her brow slightly furrowed as if troubled by something.

Is she… trying to use the power of the tentacles to open the door?

Si Xiaoxiao understood immediately.

“Concentrate… concentrate…” she muttered, trying her best to project her will toward the shadow beneath Li Ting’s feet on the screen. She felt a faint connection with the “little things” in that shadow.

“Move… just move…” She was fully focused, her face turning a bit red from the effort.

On the screen, at the edge of Li Ting’s shadow, a pink tentacle tip—no thicker than a pinky finger—wiggled extremely weakly. The movement was so slight it was almost negligible.

Si Xiaoxiao: “…” It seemed the effect wasn’t very significant yet. Her control over this part of her “body” was still unskilled.

Unexpectedly, Li Ting had her own methods. Her beautiful voice, carrying a trace of imperceptible shame mixed with a desperate, “sink-the-ship” resolve, came through clearly:

“If you can help me open the door, then tonight I will… cough, cooperate with you.”

COOPERATE! WITH! YOU!!!

These three words were like three bolts of lightning, accurately striking Si Xiaoxiao’s heart!

Was there anything with greater lethality than this?

BOOM—!!

Si Xiaoxiao felt her entire existence catch fire.

An incomparable, indescribable power—accompanied by an explosion of shame and a certain unutterable ecstasy—erupted from the depths of her soul. She and the small segment of tentacle in the screen’s shadow “boiled” together.

How to describe this feeling?

It was like Popeye eating spinach. The beast inside her body awakened, generating unparalleled strength.

Aaaaahhhh!!

Si Xiaoxiao let out a silent scream in the system space. Her consciousness felt red-hot, as if steam were rising from the top of her head.

How could she say such a thing! And to her of all people.

Her brain completely lost control, frames of images flashing through her mind—all of them filled with “mosaics.”

Perhaps because the host’s emotions were too agitated, the tentacles lost control, slowly pressing against the bare skin of Li Ting’s ankles, calves, and forearms.

Then, after a few tentacles were lightly pinched by Li Ting, they actually started fighting among themselves for her favor.

She was being completely “baited” by this “bad woman.”

Fortunately, the door was opened in the end. But then, losing control on the spot, the tentacles started licking the “bad woman’s” hand like a puppy!

Why didn’t you lick her feet? Ahhh, don’t go there! I was just joking, you don’t have to actually carry out my thoughts, you instinct!

Ahhh, so embarrassing!

Stop being that bad woman’s dog! Hey! Show some spine!

Next, under the “bad woman’s” direction, the Miss Tentacles opened the secret chamber at the very back of the room.

And so, she witnessed a truly shocking scene: a medicine cabinet filled with evidence of evil.

Inside that cabinet, Li Ting found a small cubby labeled with Si Xiaoxiao’s name. And inside that cubby lay a diary.

Support