The Melancholy Miss's Overbearing Butler - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Drifting Half a Lifetime, Finally Meeting the Guiding Light

Heaven is this what it looks like?

Although, all things considered, she was only twenty-seven years old this year, Xiang Changge felt like she had lived two lifetimes.

In her first life, she lived in a peaceful, beautiful modern society, filled with traces of civilization everywhere.

Although she was an abandoned infant thrown into a trash can right after birth, she was found by her grandfather, Xiang Xingchang.

Under his care and the companionship of her Senior Brothers and Sisters at the martial arts school, she studied, learned, and grew up methodically.

However, just as she graduated from university, preparing to inherit her grandfather’s martial arts school and hoping to make it flourish, her first life abruptly ended.

The apocalypse descended, and society entered a period of disorder.

As one familiar person after another left her, living a day as long as a year was no longer just a simple phrase; it became Xiang Changge’s reality.

In the apocalypse, death was as easy as breathing.

And surviving became a difficult, painful, and impossibly distant luxury.

Drifting through the apocalypse for five years, Xiang Changge had killed more people and zombies than a fishmonger had gutted fish.

Every rational person who died in front of her, in their final moments, told her with their words and their eyes the same desperate plea.

I wish I could live a good life.

So, even when she was the only one left, even when her future was shrouded in mist, even when she knew the only thing awaiting her was a broken bridge, Xiang Changge still strived to live.

She thought she would see what tomorrow would bring.

And that answer could only be known the day after.

Thus, she lived day after day in a daze. Until today, when, as if experiencing a moment of lucidity before death, she saw this familiar yet foreign scene.

People. So many living people.

There were men and women, old and young.

They were seated orderly in their spots: some were looking down, fiddling with their phones, some wore headphones, watching shows on tablets, some read magazines, and others looked around curiously…

The airplane broadcast began its second repetition. The gentle, pleasant female voice sounded like ethereal chanting drifting from the edge of the sky, filling Xiang Changge with a sense of the unreal.

However, this feeling of unreality might only be true for her.

Xiang Changge watched the people seated in the same cabin with her. None showed any strange expressions; they were simply going about their business, accustomed to the calm, passing the time, barely looking around.

In the apocalypse, if a person showed even slight complacency or failed to pay attention to their surroundings, the next moment they would either become food for zombies or a delivery package for other humans.

But here, for these people, this very moment was just a normal, calm part of an ordinary day.

No different from usual.

Outside the window were blue skies, white clouds, and bright sunshine. In the distance, airport ground crew were busy working.

Humanity and society were all progressing in an orderly fashion, as if the apocalypse had not yet come, or had never come at all.

For a moment, Xiang Changge almost believed that the five years in hell were nothing more than a dream.

Now the dream was over, and she was still Xiang Changge, a girl who had just graduated and was boarding the flight back home, filled with the joy of returning.

Her grandfather, the Senior Brothers and Sisters at the martial arts school, the little sister next door who loved spicy strips, the enthusiastic auntie who sold steamed buns at the town entrance… everyone was still there.

However, the electronic voice in her mind, which sounded like it had poor signal reception and occasionally emitted crackling, fragmented static, shattered her illusion.

“Moshi Moshi? Lei Hou? Bonjour? Host, can you hear my sweet voice, I mean, System’s sweet voice?”

“Acknowledged, please reply, over!”

Xiang Changge: “…”

She could hear it, but she wanted to pretend she couldn’t.

What is this thing, and why is it so noisy?

Subconsciously, Xiang Changge mentally posed the classic three-part question: Who am I, where am I, and what happened?

“Woo-wah!”

No sooner had the thought crossed Xiang Changge’s mind than the thing calling itself a System let out a piercing screech, like a lost soul finally finding its Guiding Light.

“Host, we finally connected!”

“You have no idea how much I, the System, suffered to connect with you!”

“Do you know how much energy and effort it took for me to piece you, the Host, together from a pile of ash?! It was too terrifying! It’s the first time the System has ever seen such a bloody scene.”

“Thankfully, we have now successfully arrived at the mission plane!”

Xiang Changge remembered that she hadn’t spoken, yet the voice in her mind chattered away a great deal, as if it had heard her thoughts.

She looked around. She was sitting in a middle seat in the cabin. There were people in front and behind her, and across the aisle, but the window seat beside her was currently empty.

The nearest passenger, separated by the aisle, looked like a student, fiddling with their phone with their head down. They showed no unusual expression and seemed not to have heard the mechanical voice, which was still accompanied by a hissing electrical current sound.

Xiang Changge raised her hand and gently pressed her temple.

Could it be that the sound was only in her head, and only she could hear it?

Xiang Changge remained wary and did not respond immediately.

But even if she didn’t speak, the thing calling itself the Plot Rewriting System wouldn’t stop talking.

It coughed twice in a human-like manner, as if clearing its throat or drawing attention to itself to signal that what followed was important business.

“Alright, 8802, I know you are listening. Humans have an old saying: ‘The hardest person to wake is the one pretending to sleep.’ The System believes we can add another line to that now.”

“‘The hardest person to wake is the one pretending to sleep, and the hardest person to get a response from is the one pretending not to hear.’ It doesn’t matter, though. I, the System, am experienced and have seen every kind of Host. (Parentheses, pushes glasses up, close parentheses.)”

Xiang Changge: “…”

Why does this thing feel a little slow?

“You must have already figured it out. You are the eight thousand eight hundred and second Host brought in by this System. As long as you follow this System well, whatever you want, you will get.”

“Alright, next, the System will introduce you to the information about this plane and what you need to do.”

“… Jibber-jabber, Labrador, shiver, shake, shake—”

The System’s introduction went on and on. The plane had already taken off, reached cruising altitude, and flown for half an hour, yet it still wasn’t finished.

Why doesn’t it start talking about when Pangu split the Heavens and Earth?

Xiang Changge listened to the System’s non-stop chatter while finding a moment to mentally comment: “It’s a chatterbox, right? And it seems to be quite a severe case.”

Like a duck whose throat was suddenly squeezed, the Plot Rewriting System’s voice abruptly stopped.

Xiang Changge: “…”

Oh, she almost forgot. It could hear her thoughts.

The System, roasted to its face: “…”

“You are truly the most difficult Host I have ever managed!” the Plot Rewriting System shouted, having reached the limit of its patience.

Xiang Changge scratched her head.

The words sounded familiar, as if she had heard them somewhere before.

In any case, perhaps because she hadn’t communicated with anyone or listened to anyone speak for a long time, although she found the System noisy, Xiang Changge still took in the abundance of information it provided.

According to it, the System (which refused to disclose its origin) was a high-level product whose job was to rewrite the worlds inside certain books—or, as it called it, “saving the world.”

For instance, in certain strange, old-fashioned novels, there were many characters who were intentionally or unintentionally written to be extremely tragic. Readers felt sorry for them and wished for a good ending. Due to the intensity of this collective desire, the Plot Rewriting System came into being.

The System selects suitable people from various planes to enter the books and complete missions based on its requirements. This “suitable person” mainly refers to someone who has died but still has an unfulfilled wish.

As long as the Host completes all the missions issued by the System, the Host can gain an opportunity to fulfill one wish. Of course, choosing to be reborn is also an option.

The world Xiang Changge was currently in was the 2.0 rewritten version based on the novel “99 Times of Sadistic Love: The CEO’s Exclusive Affection Has Nowhere to Hide.”

When she heard the novel’s title, Xiang Changge didn’t immediately react.

It wasn’t until the System mentioned that the male lead in this old-fashioned novel was named Shangguan Min, the female lead was Chu Keke, and the female supporting character was Yu Qing, that she suddenly remembered—this was the very novel she used to read while eating every day.

Xiang Changge was slightly surprised: “What a coincidence?”

She was reading this book while eating dried earthworms just before she died, and now, having died, she was brought into the book by this so-called System.

The System, using its electronic voice with a dialectical accent (presumably to make its origin untraceable), said: “No coincidence, lah. If we hadn’t detected that you’ve read it many times, are familiar with the plot, and meet the mission criteria, this kind of good fortune wouldn’t have come to you, lah.”

Good fortune.

Xiang Changge pondered these two words.

Is this good fortune?

Of course, it was.

Being alive, and alive in a world with stable order—how could that not be good fortune?

Even if this world evolved from a book.

The plane was now ten thousand meters up. Looking out the window, one could see clusters of clouds within reach. The plane traveled through the clouds, yet it always had its direction.

Some small sounds drifted in. Xiang Changge withdrew her gaze from the window and looked forward.

A flight attendant, wearing a uniform and a smile, pushed a food cart down the aisle, softly distributing small snacks to the passengers and asking if they needed any drinks or water.

With her perfect eyesight, Xiang Changge easily saw the items the flight attendant was giving out.

Each person received one dorayaki (a small Japanese pancake sandwich), a small packet of nuts, a carton of yogurt, and a cup of their chosen beverage.

The person in front asked for juice. Xiang Changge clearly saw the flight attendant take out a disposable paper cup and pour a glass of tempting orange juice.

Although she was quite far away, Xiang Changge felt as if she could already smell the sweet and sour aroma of the orange juice.

Gulp.

Food. Fresh food, uncontaminated and not even expired.

Xiang Changge swallowed hard.

Heaven knows how long it had been since she tasted anything like that. So long that she couldn’t even recall the taste anymore.

Hunger spread from the pit of her stomach.

In the apocalypse, whoever had the hardest fist controlled the resources.

If it weren’t for sufficient restraint, knowing this was no longer her original world, Xiang Changge would have almost charged forward to claim everything on that food cart for herself.

The System seemed to sense Xiang Changge’s state, and, afraid that this still-warm Host would do something irrational, it quickly said: “See? Normal life, abundant food. This is much better than your previous world.”

“As long as you complete the missions according to the System’s requirements, you can live happily in this world.”

“When you successfully rewrite the plot, you can choose to stay here. The System can even let you exchange the mission points you earn for skills or money, oh.”

A stable society and sufficient money—this was the life people dreamt of.

Xiang Changge clenched her fists, suppressing the urge to seize what she wanted, and asked mentally: “What if I fail the mission you require?”

There’s no free lunch in the world; only people who want to eat your lunch. Xiang Changge admitted that the System’s conditions were hard to refuse. But showing her desire too quickly would make her lose the upper hand in the negotiation.

System: “If the mission fails, then, 8802, you will revert to your original state.”

Xiang Changge was confused: “My original state?”

System: “That means turning back into ash, didn’t you forget? You were hit directly by a falling fire stream and turned into ash in your riddled world.”

“If the mission fails, you’ll have to go back to being ash.”

Xiang Changge: “…”

How is that different from being cremated immediately?

However, she had already died very cleanly anyway. At worst, she would just return to the state of “dust to dust, ashes to ashes.”

“…Then what do I need to do?”

Without further hesitation, Xiang Changge made her decision.

It’s just a mission, I’ll do it. She refused to believe that any mission could be harder than fighting her way out of a horde of zombies.

Sensing Xiang Changge’s inclination to agree, the System wasted no more words this time.

In the novel “99 Times of Sadistic Love: The CEO’s Exclusive Affection Has Nowhere to Hide,” the male lead’s early-deceased fiancée, Yu Qing, was extremely wealthy, making money the most useless thing to her. However, she never knew what happiness was; melancholy was her gift.

Upon realizing that the male lead’s kindness toward her was solely due to guilt and the responsibility of their arranged engagement, Yu Qing voluntarily chose to step aside, paving the way for the beautiful love story between the CEO male lead and the passionate, innocent female lead.

Yet, having nothing to hold onto in this world, she chose to commit suicide. Her death not only caused readers to lament her fate but was also indirectly used by the author as an excuse for the male and female leads to continue their dramatic, sadistic romance.

The System quickly summarized: “Rescue the early-deceased female supporting character Yu Qing, allow her to regain confidence in life, and live happily.”

Ensuring that the female supporting character Yu Qing lives well is the wish of the readers who loved her character, and also the hope of the CP (Couples) fans who don’t want to see the male and female leads engage in endless angst.

Closer, closer. It was almost her turn.

Watching the flight attendant push the cart closer and closer, and thinking about the taste of delicious food she hadn’t sampled in five years, Xiang Changge licked her lips, suppressing her restless desire to eat.

After listening to the System’s words, Xiang Changge had doubts about her hearing.

She had expected the System’s mission to be very difficult. Now that she heard it: “That’s it?” That’s the whole mission?

That’s it?

What did she mean?

If the Plot Rewriting System had a physical form, it would have widened its eyes: “…Do you think that’s simple?”

It arrived, arrived. The next person was her.

Although she was listening to the System in her mind, most of Xiang Changge’s attention was focused on the flight attendant distributing snacks.

The flight attendant was currently serving the person in front of Xiang Changge, while Xiang Changge’s gaze was fixed intently on the food cart in the aisle, which was now so close she could reach out and touch it.

Food. Lots of food. Normal, delicious food.

Xiang Changge clicked her mouth, which still vaguely tasted of dried earthworms, and absentmindedly replied to the System mentally: “Otherwise?”

The System, inexplicably silent: “…”

So, she’s not a reserved, wary Host, but a confident one? Interesting.

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