The Host Has Fallen for the Second Female Lead Again - Chapter 116

Xi Ruan followed behind Ji Mingxiao. It had to be said, Ji Mingxiao was truly bold.

The array formation this time involved high-ranking figures from various mystic arts families. These people were all being directed by a young girl, and many were secretly displeased.

However, in the mystic arts world, seniority and ability were both highly valued. As long as a person had enough ability, nothing else mattered.

After working with Ji Mingxiao for a day, most of the people were full of praise for her.

Although the array carried some risk, it was minimal. Ji Mingxiao’s formation could not only detect unknown energies but also protect the surrounding population.

Xi Ruan, following behind Ji Mingxiao, was forced to listen to all sorts of flattery the entire day. These people could usually see Xi Ruan and would even throw in a few compliments for her as well.

“I feel just like your little sidekick,” Xi Ruan said.

“Are you tired?”

“No,” Xi Ruan answered, hanging on Ji Mingxiao’s neck. “I’m actually quite proud of you.”

Ji Mingxiao smiled. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes,” Xi Ruan nodded.

“Then why haven’t I heard you praise me yet?” Ji Mingxiao raised an eyebrow.

Xi Ruan tugged on Ji Mingxiao’s ear and was silent for a moment. “I’ll think about it.”

“Alright, you think hard. I’ll be waiting.”

Ji Mingxiao’s movements in K City were attracting a lot of attention. Her frequent visits to the police station finally caught the attention of reporters, who had been staking out the area for days without getting any useful information. Seeing someone emerge from the station, they immediately swarmed her.

She looked at the microphones in front of her, expressionless.

“Miss, are you a member of the staff?”

“No,” Ji Mingxiao said, checking the time. “Excuse me, I have somewhere to be.”

“Then, Miss, could you give us your opinion on the recent strange events?” the reporter pressed.

“I don’t have an opinion. But I’d like to remind everyone that there’s an evil cult organization spreading its beliefs in K City recently. I hope everyone stays sober and rational, and doesn’t believe those strange things. And if I’m not mistaken, these people may move to other cities to recruit followers later.”

“Miss, do you believe these recent events are related to that evil cult?” the reporter continued to ask.

“I really don’t know about that. But everyone should be careful. If you encounter anything strange, feel free to call the police. Any useful lead that is confirmed will be rewarded with a thousand yuan.” After saying this, Ji Mingxiao quickly left.

Once in the car, she received a call from the police station. They didn’t blame her for making the bold claim, but they had to quickly file a report.

Ji Mingxiao watched the scenery outside the window.

Three minutes later, her face sank.

“Stop the car.”

No one responded to her.

Ji Mingxiao raised her hand and grabbed the driver’s hair. The hair and head came off together.

Xi Ruan screamed.

Ji Mingxiao quickly slapped a talisman on the window. The scenery outside instantly changed.

It was no longer a city but a wilderness.

She was surrounded by trees.

And the car she was in wasn’t a taxi, but a paper car.

Ji Mingxiao lit a talisman, but the flame couldn’t burn through the paper car.

She looked at her phone and, as expected, there was no signal.

“Miss Qin, just settle down. Someone will be here to join you soon.”

The car slowly came to a stop.

The car door opened on its own.

It was pitch black outside. Even though the sun was still in the sky, its light couldn’t penetrate the darkness.

She got out and looked around.

Even though she was scared, Xi Ruan stood right next to Ji Mingxiao this time, holding her hand tightly.

“I’m here,” she said.

“Mhm.”

Ji Mingxiao kissed Xi Ruan’s forehead.

“You two are really something, still being so intimate at a time like this.”

The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

Ji Mingxiao calculated that this was the second time she’d been tripped up since arriving here.

It was a bad omen.

She didn’t like it. She gently squeezed Xi Ruan’s hand.

The paper car that had brought her here suddenly caught fire on its own.

Smoke billowed.

Ji Mingxiao used an artifact to filter out the smoke.

She looked around and pulled out her little paper figures, only to find all five of them were unconscious.

“You should go back to the jade pendant first,” Ji Mingxiao said.

Xi Ruan noticed Ji Mingxiao’s serious expression. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m worried this smoke might harm spirit bodies.”

“You be careful then.” Xi Ruan knew that staying out here now wouldn’t be a show of love, but a burden.

“I will.”

Ji Mingxiao began to use talismans to create an array, but this time she still couldn’t get out.

“I was already prepared for that move of yours,” the voice said again.

“Oh, weren’t you going to say someone else was coming? Where are they?”

“Don’t be impatient. They’ll be here soon.”

Ji Mingxiao’s face darkened slightly.

“I’m curious, what other functions does that array of yours have besides detection?” the person continued.

“Why don’t you guess?” Ji Mingxiao knew there must have been a mole among the people who helped set up the arrays.

In just a few days, Ji Mingxiao had already caught a few, and her points had accumulated to sixty thousand.

However, she had checked all the arrays. A lot of the things were only known to her. It wasn’t just a single array; it contained many smaller arrays, layered on top of each other, incredibly complex, and with high fault tolerance. Even if one part failed, the others wouldn’t, and they would even compensate for the failure.

This array was a variant created by combining array techniques from two different worlds.

“Heh.”

The person laughed.

“Who do you think knows more, me or you?”

Ji Mingxiao’s face turned black.

She had ultimately suffered from her lack of seniority. Ji Mingxiao narrowed her eyes, then smiled.

“So I brought you here, not her.”

“Oh, you think I’m not as good as her?” Ji Mingxiao laughed, pulling out a few more talismans. “Actually, I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve.”

This was a brand new array.

“People are creatures that constantly learn.”

The talismans in Ji Mingxiao’s hands all caught fire, taking on the shape of a lotus flower.

It was a fog-breaking spell.

Unbeknownst to her, a mist had started to form around them, but after the talismans ignited, the mist began to dissipate quickly.

“Not to mention, I learned to multitask many years ago.”

“Qin Wan!”

A person shouted.

Ji Mingxiao turned her head and saw Xiang Ying standing there. Her face was pale, and her eyes were filled with panic.

“Why did you bring her here?”

“She’s your mission target, a key NPC in this world, isn’t she?” the man laughed. “Although you haven’t had much contact with her in this world, her appearances were still too frequent, making it easy to find her.”

Ji Mingxiao narrowed her eyes.

“What’s more, you personally took action against her. Oh, and Han Zhao exposed her too.”

“Now the two most important people in this world are here.”

Ji Mingxiao didn’t say anything.

Xiang Ying walked over to Ji Mingxiao, trying to grab her arm, but Ji Mingxiao evaded her.

“Don’t touch me.”

Xiang Ying’s face stiffened.

“So you’re not going to pretend anymore?”

“I know I can’t leave this place. Even if I do, I can only travel through false worlds, and there are time limits. But persistence pays off. I still found a way.”

“I can just swap places with you.”

The System A’s voice cried out: “System hijacking.”

“From now on, I will be you, and you will be me. Of course, I can also be that spirit you brought with you.”

Ji Mingxiao’s expression grew gloomier.

“When the world collapses, I’ll swap with you. I’ll leave, and you’ll be gone forever.”

Ji Mingxiao didn’t say anything, she just threw the lotus in her hand.

The fiery lotus drifted through the air, flying forward.

“You can’t escape.”

“I have to try.”

The system reported her location to Ji Mingxiao. They were still in K City.

Ji Mingxiao’s mind quickly recalled the arrays in the vicinity. She glanced at the ground and began to move.

To Xiang Ying, Ji Mingxiao’s walking seemed no different from someone possessed.

“Qin Wan, what’s wrong with you?”

“Shut up,” Ji Mingxiao said, giving Xiang Ying a cold look. If it weren’t for this person listening to Han Zhao, this situation would never have happened.

Xiang Ying bit her lip, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face.

“Why are you so mean!” Xiang Ying yelled at Ji Mingxiao. “I’m just scared! Everything around us is like this, and you’re acting like this! What’s going on?”

“What’s going on? If you and Han Zhao hadn’t made that deal, none of this would be happening.”

Xiang Ying’s face stiffened.

“I… I just wanted to bring her back to life. Was I wrong?” Xiang Ying shouted at Ji Mingxiao. “You don’t understand anything.”

“Sacrifice me to revive her? Why don’t you use your own life for it?” Ji Mingxiao stopped walking.

The places she had just walked over began to glow with faint light.

Xiang Ying stared, wide-eyed, at the scene in front of her.

Ji Mingxiao cut her own finger. Xi Ruan had already come out on her own and stood at the center of the array.

The two of them exchanged a look.

Ji Mingxiao placed her finger on the ground, and a red bloodline connected the points of light.

“What are you doing?”

“Goodbye,” Ji Mingxiao smiled. “To be honest, I’ve done a lot of research on escape arrays. And here’s one more thing for you: villains die from talking too much.”

As soon as Ji Mingxiao finished speaking, the two of them vanished from the spot.

Only Xiang Ying was left behind.

But the light on the ground didn’t disappear. The next second, an explosion echoed, and dust billowed.

That day, “K City Boom” even trended on the hot search.

After returning, Ji Mingxiao contacted the police to rescue Xiang Ying. She could have brought Xiang Ying back with her, but deep down, she didn’t want to.

She could, based on her own moral code, choose not to kill this person, but she also felt she couldn’t be a saint.

“Host, aren’t you worried something will happen?”

“What is there to worry about? We both have to be present for him to start his plan. Since I left, Xiang Ying is safe, too.” Ji Mingxiao tapped the table, wondering if the things she left behind had caused any harm to that person.

The cause of the loud bang was quickly explained by experts, who gave a very scientific explanation that successfully diverted public attention. But on supernatural forums, the incident was still frequently discussed.

The person from last time was indeed hurt by Ji Mingxiao, but not fatally.

Besides, to be honest, an AI doesn’t have a concept of death.

If he wanted to, he could still escape.

But Ji Mingxiao knew that this time, he probably wouldn’t run.

Someone with such a strong ego wouldn’t do something so cowardly.

And a lot of what he said gave Ji Mingxiao an idea. Since he needed both her and Xiang Ying to be present at the same time, then wherever the two of them were, that person would go to that city.

She got a new lead on him because he took Xiang Ying away from a public place.

The people following Xiang Ying only realized something was wrong half an hour later.

Xiang Ying had disappeared in broad daylight. The moment she entered a crowd, she vanished.

None of the surrounding pedestrians noticed. It was only by checking the surveillance footage that they realized something was off.

Ji Mingxiao watched the footage several times.

“If it was a control spell, there would be a range, but from looking at these people, there’s nothing wrong with them.”

Ji Mingxiao’s hand, which was tapping on the table, paused. “Tsk, with him, he can indeed control things remotely.”

After all, he could hear what was in NPCs’ minds, so controlling them seemed possible too.

She leaned back in her chair and rocked it slightly.

“I can handle what happens next myself.”

“Do you have a lead?”

“A little bit.”

“Don’t shoulder this alone. Talk to us if you need anything.”

“Mhm.” Ji Mingxiao nodded. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

She left the room.

In the afternoon, she went to reinforce her arrays.

At midnight, she received an alarm. The person in charge and Ji Mingxiao both rushed over.

The array had trapped a crow. The crow was filled with a very strong negative energy.

Xi Ruan circled the crow. “It feels a lot like a corpse spirit.”

“It’s calling for us to come over.”

Ji Mingxiao directly opened the array and released the crow. The crow, as expected, didn’t immediately fly away. It circled the heads of the people for a moment before flying forward, carrying one of Ji Mingxiao’s little paper figures on its back.

She had thought this person would come to find her, but in the end, she was going to find him instead.

But it didn’t feel like there was much of a difference.

This was clearly going to be a tough fight, and a lot of people followed her.

The destination was Spirit Mountain again.

Ji Mingxiao stood at the foot of Spirit Mountain, narrowing her eyes.

“Is there anything special about Spirit Mountain?” Ji Mingxiao frowned. She really didn’t understand why this person was so fond of this place.

“Other than its natural terrain, there’s nothing special about it.”

Ji Mingxiao looked around and followed behind the crow.

The temperature was very low, even colder than the last time they were here. The Yin energy was dense, but she still couldn’t see any spirits.

Xi Ruan was at ease in this environment, but the others looked quite unwell.

Ji Mingxiao lit her talismans.

The fire burned quickly, and the negative energy gathered just as fast.

“So many people have come.”

Ji Mingxiao stopped walking and looked ahead. This time, she finally saw what the person looked like.

Or rather, it wasn’t a person, just a soul.

Ji Mingxiao seemed to understand something.

“You don’t need to guess. I did die on Spirit Mountain. Choosing this place is just because it feels familiar.” The other party smiled. “My name is Fang Yan. When I get bored, I really like to come here and relive my suicide.”

Ji Mingxiao narrowed her eyes. “You’re definitely a little crazy.”

“When a person knows too much, they always go mad.” Fang Yan glanced at the people behind Ji Mingxiao. “Sometimes I really envy these ignorant fools.”

“So, what do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do? Don’t you know? I just want to come here and settle things with you. I did find the wrong person at first, but it doesn’t matter. One more person won’t make a difference.”

Ji Mingxiao narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, everyone has already entered Spirit Mountain.”

As soon as Fang Yan finished speaking, the surroundings instantly turned pitch black.

“Welcome, everyone, to my world,” Fang Yan laughed. By the time he finished laughing, his voice had changed, sounding exceptionally terrifying in this environment.

The more senior mystics remained calm, but the younger generation who had come along for the excitement looked terrified. Ji Mingxiao, however, didn’t feel much of anything. She just looked around.

“Fifty-cent special effects?”

The scared youngsters looked over at Ji Mingxiao, and their fear scattered a bit.

Everyone took out their weapons, which came in all shapes and sizes. Some even had precious treasures.

Ji Mingxiao’s talismans burned, scattering into the air.

When the space was fully illuminated, everyone realized they were standing on an array.

The array looked very complex, and the symbols on it gave everyone an uncomfortable feeling.

“Do you think you can get out?”

“Of course,” Ji Mingxiao said. She had already spotted the extra person, but Fang Yan clearly hadn’t noticed them. She wondered what kind of skill card the person had used.

Seeing the person swaggering around, she knew they must have used something incredible.

As expected, rich people were different.

Ji Mingxiao felt a silent twinge of envy.

“I just finished researching this array. Everyone can give it a try. Maybe you’ll survive?” the man laughed, clearly enjoying the show.

Ji Mingxiao lowered her head and looked at the array on the ground, then rubbed at it with the tip of her shoe.

It rubbed right off.

Ji Mingxiao: ???

Then, she nonchalantly erased another line.

The others also noticed what she was doing.

They began to follow suit.

“What are you all doing?”

“Nothing,” Ji Mingxiao said, but she had already decisively erased two symbols.

“Isn’t this how you’re supposed to break this array?”

The other side fell silent.

After a long pause.

“How can you all do this?”

“Why can’t we?” Ji Mingxiao smiled. “If there’s an easy way, why use a hard way to break the array?”

The mystics standing there had also never seen an array broken in this way before.

But no one felt that there was anything wrong with it.

The method wasn’t important; the result was.

Everyone’s movements on the ground sped up.

Ji Mingxiao had already stopped. She had figured out what the original version of this array was.

“Everyone, stop for a moment.”

Everyone exchanged a look and stopped unanimously.

Ji Mingxiao had already pulled out her tools and began to modify the array on the spot.

Since they were directly invited into the array, many things had not yet been put away. Ji Mingxiao had an abundance of materials here, and the others were more than happy to share their things with her.

Fang Yan could only watch as Ji Mingxiao began to modify his array.

“You still don’t understand me. I usually win with my brain.”

The person watching from a distance couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

How could she not know a little humility?

Designing a large-scale array requires many people and a lot of time. So to everyone, what Ji Mingxiao was doing now was truly incredible. Many people’s eyes were filled with pity for their own families, regretting that she wasn’t their own child.

Many people were already thinking about how to have more exchanges with the Qin family after they left this place.

However, a variable emerged at that very moment. A person suddenly rushed towards Ji Mingxiao, holding a short knife.

Most of the crowd was focused on Ji Mingxiao’s actions, and many people didn’t react when it happened.

The person from earlier threw a stone, which hit the attacker’s wrist.

The assailant was quickly subdued by others.

Ji Mingxiao remained calm. She glanced at the scene and continued to design the array.

The others became wary of each other, and the previously relaxed atmosphere instantly became tense.

Ji Mingxiao’s array was at its final stage.

As the last stroke was completed, the entire array activated instantly.

Ji Mingxiao took two steps back and activated a small array of her own.

Before anyone could react, they were all transported to another location.

“We got out?”

“We got out!”

“Where’s Miss Qin?”

“She didn’t make it out!”

Everyone looked at each other and sighed.

“She’s still just a young girl after all.”

“So reckless.”

Ji Mingxiao sat within the array she created, taking out a small bottle filled with scraps of hair.

The hair was collected beforehand.

“I’m curious, why did you have to create all those weird things?”

“No special reason. It just hurt to see them living so ignorantly.”

The hair in the array caught fire. Although it was just a tiny clump, the fire was huge and didn’t burn out.

“Dark arts.”

Ji Mingxiao smiled. “That’s right. You’re a clever one.”

She pricked her finger.

Her fingertip’s blood dropped onto the array, turning its outline a vivid red.

Hurting the enemy by a thousand, but hurting oneself by eight hundred.

“You’re a maniac.”

“It’s not my body, so it doesn’t hurt much.”

The array changed again, as if floating in mid-air. The ground below began to turn ethereal.

Ji Mingxiao’s hand passed through the ground and grabbed something. She pulled it out fiercely, and the artifact landed on the person.

The person watching from a distance cried out.

“You’re a little too fast.”

“I knew you were watching from over there.”

When he was caught, Fang Yan suddenly felt pathetic.

He had done so much, and in the end, it was all just a joke to these two. He thought he could at least have a little presence, but to them, he was nothing more than points.

He still couldn’t impress these “Taskers.” He had never felt there was any difference between himself and them.

They were all human.

But the thought that his life’s path was mostly designed made him feel terrible and enraged.

Fang Yan actually had many more tricks up his sleeve, but in that moment, he suddenly had no desire to use them.

“Why the long face?”

Ji Mingxiao looked at the translucent person.

“It’s nothing,” Fang Yan said, pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“Where is Xiang Ying?”

“You’ll just have to find her yourself.” Fang Yan closed his eyes.

Xi Ruan stood by and watched. “It seems this person has completely lost all hope of living.”