Transmigrated as Cannon Fodder, Unable to Escape the Black Lotus Villain - Chapter 10

At the entrance of No. 1 Middle School, just as Ning Qi was getting off the bus with her backpack, she happened to see the Mu family’s car parked not far away.

A look of joy flashed across her face, and she walked over.

“Morning, Xinxin,” Ning Qi greeted Mu Hua, who was driving, and then pulled open the back door.

She looked at Mu Xin inside, who was wearing her school uniform and carrying a white schoolbag.

“Morning.” Mu Xin pursed her lips and looked at the bulging backpack on Ning Qi’s back. “What are you carrying in there?”

Anything could be in Ning Qi’s schoolbag—except books.

“Good stuff. You’ll know at noon.”

Ning Qi kept it a mystery as she took the wheelchair from Mu Hua’s hands.

After setting up the wheelchair, she reached out her hand toward Mu Xin.

“Come on, baby,” Ning Qi joked with a smirk.

“Who’s a baby?” Mu Xin glared at Ning Qi, but she still cooperated, reaching out to wrap her arms around Ning Qi’s neck.

Now, every time she got in or out of the car, Ning Qi carried her, which indeed made things much easier for her.

In the past, getting into the car by herself had been truly exhausting.

It was just Ning Qi’s flirtatious manner that left her feeling helpless.

“Do you know how many fanboys and fangirls you have now? If they saw you calling me ‘baby,’ I might become public enemy number one.”

Once Mu Xin was settled in the wheelchair, she smiled while Ning Qi was still leaning over.

For some reason, Ning Qi felt like her tone was a bit strange.

“Not really. What did I even do?” Ning Qi was completely unaware of such things.

Since school started, she had spent every day being dragged by Mu Xin to do practice problems. Usually, she was only with Mu Xin; how could she have fanboys and fangirls?

“You don’t believe me?” Seeing her dazed expression, Mu Xin smiled and took her phone out of her bag, clicking on the forum. “Take a look. You’re quite famous right now.”

“Really?”

Ning Qi took the phone and found that the top post already had over a thousand comments, and the count was still steadily increasing.

One had to realize that this was the No. 1 Middle School campus forum, mostly populated by students. A thread with over a thousand comments was quite rare.

Ning Qi clicked on the post, and the first thing that met her eyes was a video.

After watching for a moment, Ning Qi was amused.

Wasn’t this the video of her playing ball yesterday?

Someone had filmed the video of Ning Qi and Long Xiang playing. Furthermore, they had made a slow-motion close-up of the moment she knocked Long Xiang unconscious with two hits.

This had sparked a heated discussion among everyone.

Ning Qi skimmed through a few comments and found that people were discussing all sorts of things, but indeed, as Mu Xin said, many were saying she was very handsome.

Ning Qi bared her teeth in a grin; the kids sure had good taste.

“So, beautiful Miss Mu Xin, what are your thoughts on having such a handsome best friend?”

Ning Qi handed the phone back to Mu Xin and pressed both hands on either side of Mu Xin, leaning down slightly.

They were very close; from a distance, it looked like Ning Qi had her gathered in her arms.

A few younger schoolmates passing by turned bright red at the sight.

“This, this, this… aren’t those Senior Ning Qi and Senior Mu Xin?”

“I think so, but why are they leaning so close?”

“Could they be…”

“Shoo, shoo, what are you saying? Everyone knows Goddess Ning Qi and Senior Mu Xin are good sisters.”

One of them was clearly a fan of Ning Qi. Seeing her friends’ thoughts drifting off, she spoke up irritably.

“Shanshan, haven’t you always said you wanted to meet Senior Ning Qi? Now that we’ve finally run into her, why don’t you go up and introduce yourself?”

“This…” Shanshan hesitated. Although she really wanted to know Ning Qi, going up so abruptly seemed a bit impolite.

“Oh, Shanshan, let’s go together.”

Seeing her hesitation, her companions immediately suggested.

“Fine, but you guys aren’t allowed to leave me behind later.” Shanshan clearly knew her friends well. They were no strangers to playing tricks.

“Definitely, definitely. Let’s go, let’s go.”

A group of people crowded around Shanshan as they walked toward Ning Qi and Mu Xin.

Mu Xin was startled by Ning Qi’s sudden proximity. In an instant, Ning Qi’s scent enveloped her entire body. Her breath hitched, and she unnaturally turned her face away.

Hearing Ning Qi’s words, her eyes flickered, and her gaze fell on Ning Qi’s exquisite jawline. Following the line down, she saw a slender, fair swan neck.

Because of Ning Qi’s leaning posture, Mu Xin could even vaguely see her half-exposed collarbone.

“Not good.”

Mu Xin felt that Ning Qi’s current posture was somewhat eyesearing. She frowned and looked around.

“Not good?” Ning Qi froze for a moment, her eyes narrowing.

She wanted to see what Mu Xin was going to say. If Mu Xin’s answer didn’t satisfy her, she would get angry. For example, she would maintain a cold war until they reached the classroom.

“Ah, oh, just… it’s a hassle.”

Mu Xin snapped back to reality. What had happened to her just now? Why did she seem to dislike others seeing Ning Qi like this?

Because of the strange thoughts in her heart, she felt a bit nervous when facing Ning Qi’s inquiry, carefully hiding her emotions.

Just then, she saw several young girls in school uniforms walking over.

She quickly patted Ning Qi’s shoulder to push her away and jerked her chin toward the space behind Ning Qi.

“See? Didn’t the ‘hassle’ just arrive?”

“What?”

Ning Qi stood up and looked behind her, seeing several girls surrounding a girl with large eyes and a round face as they approached.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

Seeing that someone had indeed come over, the smile on Ning Qi’s face faded slightly as she asked politely.

“Senior Ning Qi, h-hello.” Looking at Ning Qi who was right in front of her, Shanshan’s face turned beet red.

What should she do? Ning Qi was even more handsome than she appeared in videos and photos. And she was so beautiful—both lovely and cool.

“Hello. Are you looking for me for something?”

Ning Qi looked at the girl who was clearly over-nervous, then glanced back at Mu Xin. Seeing Mu Xin sitting there with a serious face, Ning Qi secretly gritted her teeth.

She was actually stifling a laugh. Didn’t she see that Ning Qi didn’t even know what to say?

“Senior Ning Qi, my name is Hou Shanshan. I… can I have your contact information? Don’t worry, don’t worry, I definitely won’t disturb you.”

Shanshan took out her phone, looking at Ning Qi with an expectant face.

“Uh, okay…”

Ning Qi had been shooting looks at Mu Xin for a while, but Mu Xin acted as if she hadn’t seen them at all. In a fit of pique, Ning Qi was about to agree.

“Qiqi baby, class is about to start, and besides, your phone is out of battery.”

At this moment, Mu Xin, who was behind her, suddenly spoke up. After speaking, she gave Ning Qi a look that was half-smiling and half-not.

Then she looked at the stunned Hou Shanshan and said with an apologetic face: “I’m sorry, Junior. Qiqi’s phone is dead. How about you add me instead? We are together all day long; finding me is the same as finding her.”

Mu Xin spoke as she moved to take out her phone.

Hou Shanshan quickly stopped her. “No, no need, Senior Mu Xin. Class is about to start soon; we’ll leave first.”

Hou Shanshan felt the atmosphere was a bit strange, sensing that if they didn’t leave now, something might happen. Thus, she hurriedly pulled her friends away, looking somewhat panicked as they fled.

“Uh…” Ning Qi watched them leave, her lip twitching. She turned to Mu Xin, her expression immediately becoming bitter.

“Qiqi, are you very happy to see that a junior likes you?”

Mu Xin’s eyes narrowed, her gaze carrying a hint of danger.

Originally, she hadn’t planned on speaking. After all, Ning Qi was very popular now, and it was normal for people to pay attention to her.

But when she saw someone asking for Ning Qi’s contact info, she had instinctively spoken up to interrupt. Mu Xin noticed this herself—was she feeling possessive of Ning Qi now?

She reflected in her heart; was she being a bit unreasonable? But she really didn’t want to share this “goodness” with anyone else.

Seeing her dangerous eyes and meaningful expression, Ning Qi felt helpless and could only say: “Xinxin, I was shooting looks at you for so long, and you didn’t pay any attention to me.”

“So if I don’t pay attention to you, you really planned to add her?”

Mu Xin’s eyes widened, her tone carrying a faint trace of sourness.

“No.” Ning Qi quickly denied it, giggling as she pushed Mu Xin toward the classroom. “One best friend is enough for me.”

“But being friends is also fine,” Mu Xin muttered.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Ning Qi seemed to hear a sense of grievance.

She leaned close to Mu Xin, carefully examining her perfect profile until Mu Xin’s earlobes turned red. Only then did she straighten up with satisfaction.

“Xinxin, are you jealous?”

Ning Qi spoke as if asking Mu Xin, but it was actually a certain tone. Seeing Mu Xin’s embarrassed look, she found it particularly fun.

As expected, the villain is really cute.

“You’re overthinking it. Who would be jealous? You can add whoever you want; I’m just your best friend, after all.”

Looking at her proud smile, Mu Xin’s anger flared. She turned her head and pressed the button on her wheelchair herself, ignoring Ning Qi.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Seeing that the other was annoyed, Ning Qi quickly chased after her.

Pulling Mu Xin back, she put on a coaxing smile and said: “I was just joking, don’t be angry. I promise I won’t add anyone else in the future, okay?”

“No need.” Hearing Ning Qi’s voice admitting her mistake, Mu Xin didn’t look back; instead, she felt a mysterious irritability.

It wasn’t because of Ning Qi, but because of herself.

Clearly, Ning Qi hadn’t done anything, yet she was throwing a tantrum for no reason. And clearly, she was the one being unreasonable, yet it was Ning Qi who was coaxing her.

How could that be right? She felt that she was not only irrational but also bad.

“Xinxin!”

Ning Qi called out, ran over to stop Mu Xin, and brought her to a side area where no one was paying attention.

Leaning over, she discovered that Mu Xin’s eyes were rimmed with red.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?” Ning Qi asked worriedly, her gaze falling on Mu Xin’s legs. “Is the wound still hurting?”

After saying it, Ning Qi felt like she was an idiot. It had been so long; how could it still hurt? Wasn’t she just poking at Mu Xin’s scar?

“Mu Xin, I didn’t mean anything else, believe me.”

Ning Qi remembered that in the plot, the conflict between the original host and Mu Xin was because of Mu Xin’s legs, so she quickly explained.

“Ning Qi, tell me, what exactly do you want?”

Mu Xin suddenly raised her head, tears looking as if they would fall in the next second.

“Me? I don’t want anything?”

Ning Qi felt she completely couldn’t understand Mu Xin, but seeing her shed tears, her heart filled with anxiety, and she panicked for a moment.

“Then tell me, why are you so good to me? Just because we are best friends?”

Mu Xin didn’t doubt whether everything Ning Qi did was for some ulterior motive. Or rather, in the past, even if Ning Qi had an ulterior motive, she would have found it normal.

Given her current situation, aside from wanting to use her to get benefits from the Mu family, Mu Xin couldn’t think of why anyone would approach her.

She was used to it.

But as Ning Qi returned to the country, and as their contact and interaction grew more frequent and their relationship more intimate, Mu Xin suddenly felt a sense of fear.

She was afraid that Ning Qi was just like those other people—that she approached her for profit as well. When that day arrived and all contact ended, how was she supposed to face it?

Just thinking about the current Ning Qi disappearing, or even turning against her, made Mu Xin feel like she was suffocating.

Ning Qi noticed her face getting paler and her breathing becoming rapid. She quickly supported her shoulders, lightly patting her back while calling her name.

“Mu Xin, Mu Xin, are you okay? Listen to me, deep breaths. Be good, take deep breaths.”

Mu Xin grabbed Ning Qi’s arm, her knuckles turning white from the force.

However, as Ning Qi continued her actions, Mu Xin’s condition slowly stabilized. Feeling the warmth she was leaning against, she reached out and hugged Ning Qi’s neck.

“Qiqi, if you want something, can you tell me sooner? I will give it all to you.”

Mu Xin’s voice was very low, as if she had lost all her strength. She looked at Ning Qi with a bitter gaze. “But can you please not be this good to me?”

She was afraid that one day Ning Qi would take this goodness and disappear again.

“Why?” Ning Qi wasn’t angry, nor did she question her irrationality; she only felt a pang of heartache.

In fact, Mu Xin’s expression already revealed her thoughts. She craved care but was afraid of losing it after receiving it. Someone might have even told her that all kindness was nothing more than a scam for profit.

Perhaps during this period, she had already experienced these many times.

If Ning Qi had maintained an ordinary best-friend relationship, Mu Xin might not have thought so much. But facing the current Ning Qi, she really wanted to possess this warmth forever.

“Xinxin, we were born on the very same day, and we grew up together. Regardless of who is the older or younger sister, our relationship is destined to be extraordinary.”

Ning Qi reached out to embrace Mu Xin, patting her back, her voice gentle yet firm. “So don’t worry, I won’t leave, okay?”

“Mm.”

A long time passed before Ning Qi heard a tiny voice, and then she felt a patch of wetness on her shoulder.

She smiled and held the person a bit tighter, comforting her silently.

She glanced toward where the sun was rising. She didn’t want to go back. This place… was quite good.