My System, My Wife Feng Aotian [Transmigration] - Chapter 27.2

Qiu Shuangshuang was accustomed to taking orders from Feng Jue, but Xue Bufan’s expression was subtly amused. He glanced at Palace Mistress Feng, whose entire demeanor screamed “I’m too lazy to move,” and the corner of his mouth twitched as he resumed searching the room.

03 deliberately positioned itself between Xue Bufan and Feng Jue, then raised a matchstick and made an X gesture at Feng Jue.

The Host couldn’t stare, but 03 could keep an eye out.

03 watched Xue Bufan’s ring. A faint shadow emerged from between Xue Bufan’s fingers as he fumbled in the corner. The shadow glanced toward Feng Jue and seemed to whisper something to Xue Bufan. The Protagonist’s mouth moved within 03’s eyes.

“Strength reigns supreme. Enough.”

03 tilted its spherical body.

******

After a while, it drifted back to Feng Jue’s shoulder, bored, and watched Qiu Shuangshuang and Xue Bufan busily moving about. A question mark appeared above its head.

Ah!

Qiu Shuangshuang approached the fireball in the corner, using its light to examine the wall. Her hands unconsciously began searching the wall. The room was quite spacious, and before long, she moved beyond the firelight. She hesitated, turning to glance at Feng Jue, wanting to ask Palace Mistress Feng if she could move the fireball closer.

But when she turned to look at Feng Jue, she found herself inexplicably frozen in place.

Eight fireballs lit the room: four in the corners and four swirling around Feng Jue, illuminating her clearly against the dim surroundings. It was as if she sat in a palace, the golden threads in the carpet shimmering in the firelight, complementing the intricate embroidery on her crimson magic robe.

Feng Jue’s reputation was renowned, even reaching Qiu Shuangshuang’s ears despite her parents’ strict confinement at home. Now, Feng Jue appeared impeccably dressed, her golden hairpins and jade ornaments adorning her head. The fiery phoenix tattoo between her brows didn’t soften her features; instead, it sharpened her beauty, with only the purple flower branch tucked beside her temple offering a touch of gentleness.

Noticing Qiu Shuangshuang’s gaze, Feng Jue met her eyes. Startled, Qiu Shuangshuang quickly lowered her head, her gaze settling on Feng Jue’s hands.

The fingers holding the teacup were adorned with crimson nails, intricately patterned with golden lines. These two colors embodied the majestic aura of the Palace Mistress of Lanyang Palace, making Qiu Shuangshuang feel suddenly inadequate.

Clad in clothes given to her by Feng Jue, she felt utterly unworthy of comparison. Despite her exceptional talent—her parents’ pride and the envy of her peers in the Autumn Water Sect—she realized that among geniuses, there were still degrees of greatness.

She had heard that Feng Jue had achieved Foundation Establishment at the age of ten. Though she had reached it five years later, her mother had declared her future accomplishments would rival anyone’s. But now, standing before Feng Jue, Qiu Shuangshuang understood that even among prodigies, there remained a gap.

A wave of intense emotion washed over Qiu Shuangshuang, tormenting her and filling her with a helpless anger. Her fingers, which had been tracing the wall, had somehow clenched into a tight fist, turning her knuckles red. Lost in her thoughts, she only snapped back to reality when Xue Bufan called her name twice.

“Miss Qiu, is something wrong?” Xue Bufan asked.

Qiu Shuangshuang quickly waved her hand, forcing a perfunctory smile. “It’s nothing,” she said. She edged away from him, as if avoiding him, and fell silent as she busied herself with her tasks. Xue Bufan assumed she was still fretting over their confinement and didn’t press the matter. He figured finding a way out would cheer her up.

Feng Jue observed the scene with a cold, detached gaze, her eyes darkening with gravity.

The spiritual energy here was extremely thin, and its replenishment was painfully slow. But this posed no problem for Feng Jue, whose Storage Ring brimmed with Spiritual Pills and Miraculous Medicines. What truly alarmed her was the presence of something in this space that seemed to disrupt the mind. Just now, Qiu Shuangshuang had nearly fallen victim to it.

But… Feng Jue’s gaze settled on Xue Bufan’s back, her brow furrowing.

He showed no signs of disturbance. Could this be another perk reserved for the Protagonist?

As Feng Jue pondered, a glowing orb leisurely floated out from the wall behind her. It circled her twice before settling on the table, its body balancing perfectly on a matchstick at its widest point.

03: I’m back.

Feng Jue lowered her gaze at 03, signaling with her eyes.

Did you find anything?

Not long ago, 03 had been hovering conspicuously in front of Feng Jue, its eyes sparkling with curiosity, as if waiting for something. The emoticons in its floating bubble were all bashful and nervous. Feng Jue suddenly understood and pointed at the wall behind her. The silvery-white orb shot out with a whoosh.

This was a far cry from their initial encounter, when she had sent it to scout below the cliff, lecturing it about host tasks and following rules. Now, it had gradually transformed into a diligent System, earnestly fulfilling its host’s tasks.

“Centered around the host, within a hundred-meter radius, there’s nothing but thick brick walls and empty rooms—no trace of human presence,” 03 reported to Feng Jue, pulling out a map. On the map, circular areas were divided into rooms every ten meters, charted by 03’s exploration.

“Look here.” 03 zoomed in on a specific area, and a wall instantly materialized before them.

“I got stuck in this wall just now,” 03 said glumly. “Please, Host, stand up and walk to the opposite wall. I’ll check behind this one.”

A miniature 03 holding a telescope appeared in the System’s bubble.

Feng Jue chuckled and agreed.

She stood up and walked forward as 03 instructed, the AI drifting ahead of her.

Feng Jue sent a telepathic message to 03: “Every time I see your map, I can’t help but marvel at it. If you were to compare all the world’s cartographic artifacts, you’d be the Supreme Grade among them. 03, you’re truly invaluable.”

Floating in the air, 03 didn’t spin around. Bubbles floated out from its head, disappeared, and then floated out again.

“I could be even more useful,” 03 said. “But I haven’t found a way to do that yet.”

A bubble popped above its head, revealing a meme of a sweating System straining to pull up a radish.

Feng Jue chuckled at the strange expression, asking, “Did the Main System give you this?”

“No, I created it based on the code the Main System sent,” 03 replied modestly. “It’s a simple function that’s easy to deconstruct. I can whip up millions of these memes anytime. They’re not worth much.”

Feng Jue shook her head. “They’re adorable. I really like them.”

Just as 03 was about to merge into the wall, it paused and turned to look at Feng Jue.

Feng Jue met its gaze, puzzled.

“Hmm?”

“Everything’s normal,” 03 said, continuing to drift backward into the wall. Just as it was about to disappear, the matchstick-like appendage it had lowered suddenly raised, plucked a heart from a floating bubble, and tossed it toward Feng Jue.

The Host likes it?

Here you go.

The silver system vanished into the wall, and the heart that had been thrown out passed through Feng Jue’s palm, slowly falling and dissipating. Feng Jue stared at the spot where the light had faded, a smile curling her lips.

“Palace Mistress Feng,” Xue Bufan approached and asked, “have you discovered anything?”

The smile vanished from Feng Jue’s face in an instant, leaving her expression blank. “No.”

03 emerged from the wall, skirting the warning line, and immediately a faint glow appeared before its eyes.

Unlike the other rooms it had previously investigated, this one was occupied—and by someone familiar!

Siyi, the Chief Steward of Lanyang Palace, sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, arranging pebble-like objects on the ground with her hands. A figure rested across her lap: Xue Mengtao. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes closed as if in sleep, yet her body trembled uncontrollably.

Though Siyi was seated and conscious, her robes were stained with blood.

Before them stood a silver lamp as tall as an arm, its design based on the Vermilion Bird. The pea-sized flame it emitted provided the room’s only light.

03 strained to maneuver within the hundred-meter radius, trying to get closer to Siyi.

In the darkness, the flame flickered, casting a wavering shadow on the wall. Siyi raised her hand and tossed a jade piece into the Vermilion Bird Lamp. The flame instantly steadied and brightened again. Yet Siyi’s brow furrowed deeply.

“A lifeline in a hopeless situation?”

“I don’t know where the Palace Mistress is.”

The Palace Mistress is 49.3 meters behind you.

This is the shortest straight-line distance between you, 03 said to Siyi, who couldn’t see or hear it. Polite, it raised a matchstick and waved goodbye before flying back the way it came.

When it broke through the bricks, it found the atmosphere in the room completely different from when it left. Qiu Shuangshuang was on the floor, being helped to lie down on the carpet by Xue Bufan. Her condition was similar to Xue Mengtao’s—her face was pale, her body trembled, and her eyes were tightly shut, as if she were having a nightmare.

Xue Bufan, looking anxious, apologized briefly before taking Qiu Shuangshuang’s wrist and channeling spiritual power into her.

“It’s useless,” Feng Jue said coldly. “Her spiritual consciousness is trapped in an illusion and bewitched. The illusions here are extremely dangerous. Unless she can escape on her own, she’ll be trapped within it for life.”

Xue Bufan exclaimed in surprise, “An illusion?”

“So that’s it,” he said, deep in thought. “Palace Mistress Feng’s knowledge is truly vast. I initially thought the ring merely transported people into this cage to let them starve to death—a rather roundabout method. But if there’s an illusion involved…” He looked up at Feng Jue with a smile. “Wouldn’t the way out of this cage involve breaking through this illusion?”

Feng Jue suddenly tilted her head back and gasped, “Spicy…”

“Spicy?” Xue Bufan repeated, puzzled.

03 immediately floated over to Feng Jue, pulled out a bottle of chili peppers, and sprinkled it right in her eyes.

“Eye-watering!” it warned.

Feng Jue nodded. “Eye-watering.”

“How long do you plan to keep wearing that face? I’m afraid I’ll tear it off before we even leave this place!”

Xue Bufan stiffly rubbed his face. “Palace Mistress, please show some mercy! This talisman was just activated, and it still has half a month left.” Seeing Feng Jue’s displeased expression, he quickly added, “So we should hurry and find a way out. I promise I’ll stay far away from you! I’ll never appear before you again!”

You’d better.

Feng Jue shot a warning glance at Xue Bufan before striding toward Qiu Shuangshuang. 03 promptly told Feng Jue about Siyi and Xue Mengtao, but had barely finished speaking when Feng Jue suddenly froze.

“Host?” 03 called out.

Feng Jue’s vision turned crimson.

A sea of blood surged, blooming with phoenix flowers. Their branches spread wide, dyeing even the sky a scarlet hue.

A regal woman stood beneath the tree, gazing at Feng Jue. Her stunning face lit up with joy as she stretched out her arms and cried hoarsely, “Huang’er, my little phoenix!”

“Come to Mother! I’ve missed you so much…”

Her voice was a lament, each note carrying the anguish of bloodshed.

In reality, silver threads coiled around Feng Jue, swirling in circles.

“Host?”

“Host!”

“Host?!”

03 called Feng Jue’s name with deliberate inflection.

Within the illusion, Feng Jue coldly withdrew her gaze and stepped forward, walking across the Sea of Blood. Amidst the woman’s desperate cries and fervent expectations, she passed expressionlessly before her.

The exquisite silk brushed against the woman’s hands as it slipped away. The woman let out a wretched howl, covering her face and weeping uncontrollably.

“Huang’er!”

“Palace Mistress!”

Siyi, her robes in disarray, collapsed at Feng Jue’s feet, reaching out to grasp her ankles. Her voice trembled with grief. “Palace Mistress! Every last disciple of Lanyang Palace has been slaughtered… Lanyang Palace no longer exists!”

Behind Siyi, a mountain of corpses from Lanyang Palace rose, their spilled blood merging into the crimson sea.

“You’ve lost everything!”

Feng Jue brushed the dust from her sleeves, her expression unflinching as she continued forward.

The Sea of Blood suddenly churned, and two women materialized before Feng Jue, one to her left and one to her right. They shared a striking resemblance, both possessing rare and peerless beauty. Feng Jue had recently seen one of them. They smiled at Feng Jue, blood tears streaming down their faces. Their delicate skin instantly withered, their faces becoming gaunt as they reached out to her.

“This is our destined path to death, our shared fate!”

“When the phoenix dies, the feng will fall. You are destined to walk the same path as us! The great path is long, but you have no place among the immortals.”

“Feng Jue, your time has come. Go now.”

Their voices intertwined around Feng Jue, echoing through the Sea of Blood. Voices from all directions chanted the same words:

“Feng Jue, your time has come. Go now!”

The clamor intensified.

Impatience flickered in Feng Jue’s eyes. She strode between the two women, and amid the cacophony of voices, she suddenly spoke:

“One is missing.”

The roiling Sea of Blood stilled, awaiting Feng Jue’s explanation.

The majestic Palace Mistress of Lanyang Palace, her crimson robes trailing behind her like the swirling Sea of Blood, stepped forward with regal grace and uttered five dismissive words:

“Missing the eye-watering one.”

The Sea of Blood instantly dissipated.

“Host!!!”

Feng Jue nearly died from the shout, even after surviving the illusion. She took a deep breath, pressed a hand to her forehead, and waited for the ringing in her ears to subside.

03 drifted in front of Feng Jue and sighed in relief.

I’m out!

Feng Jue glared at it fiercely.

Even if your voice is pleasant, you shouldn’t use it like that! Were you using this kind of manipulation to force others to give you good reviews before?

03 put down its Little Megaphone, its big black eyes looking innocent as it stared at Feng Jue.

“Host, what did you encounter in the illusion?” it asked.

Feng Jue pursed her lips, lowered her hand, and calmly replied, “Nothing.”

Humans always said “nothing’s wrong” with faces that screamed “something’s wrong.”

03 couldn’t understand this contradiction. It persisted, “If there’s anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to ask. Within my capabilities, I want to help you.”

Feng Jue scoffed, staring at this Little System that only she could see and hear. “And if it’s beyond your capabilities?”

03 replied calmly, “Then I’ll strive to make it within my capabilities.”

The silvery-white System floated forward, extended a matchstick-like appendage, and patted Feng Jue’s cheek in a comforting gesture.

“Even if I haven’t demonstrated the ability to help you yet,” it said earnestly, “I will find a way. Please trust me.”

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