Chapter 106 - 3.2

It was during that period that she steeled her mind and heart, sealing her true feelings off and putting on a false facade before the peers. She hated the world for hating her, and that hatred passed onto Yue Ling, who put her in the brink of death after hours and hours of labor as she wasn't provided with extensive care and was still categorized as a young teen.

Losing her trust and hope for humanity after all the pain that she had to bear, she didn't even have the time to cry over her fate and recover from the blows before she was forced into prostitution once again. Such was the harsh laws of the world.

Xu Yan proved herself to be a much more competent worker than she thought she was. She learned to utilize her charms in the correct way, and soon her name began to rise up. She started getting an influx of customers, and tasted success bit by bit. Drunk in the feeling of being appreciated, she didn't have time to pay attention and care for Xu Jiaqi, her own daughter.

Instead, she passed Xu Jiaqi over to one of the brothel's lower servants and did not pay any further heed to how the child was treated. Since she grew to have more power, she gave away some money to the caretaker and left to do her own business in enticing the customers.

After keeping up her good work, she rose to the top of the ranks. Her name was widespread. Her beauty and charms were unlike the other workers, who couldn't manage to fathom how Xu Yan was able to captivate the hearts of so many people. Xu Yan, standing on the top of the food chain and being desired by the general public as 'Blossom', became fascinated.

Little to no one disrespected her, she was a revered figure that held many men's hearts in her grasp. Her influence grew, and those who were willing to pay a huge fortune just to entertain her appeared left and right.

Her words were like gold, as everyone tried to adhere to her and spoil her, make her happy. In return, she just had to provide her service. She took advantage of her assets and reeled all of her customers into her spider web. She was able to choose her customers, and no longer had to service those who she hated with a passion.

She had freedom. Even in the cruel night district industry, she had freedom.

Although her endless facade could not be erased, she felt a bit of joy over the control and power she had. Then, where was Xu Jiaqi's position in all of this?

Nowhere. Xu Yan had no interest in the child.

She was the Queen of the Night, and she was not going to let anybody shake her throne.

Just like that, the child named Xu Jiaqi, born out of an unclear affair, was left to fend for herself if she did not wish to die.

The caretaker hurriedly bailed out upon receiving the money. Luckily for her, Xu Yan did not inquire about Xu Jiaqi's wellbeing in the slightest, so there was nothing that could be traced down to the child currently thrown into a slum.

"..So you're saying that I am such a minor character that.. my mother, who was someone completely unrelated to the story in the first place, occupied all the information that I inherited? Like.. where are the leads in all of this?!" Xu Jiaqi sighed. Her stomach was feeling awful. She could only wallow in sadness at the ridiculousness of things.

[..Sadly, yes. Also, your condition is not the best right now. Not only did the original body already suffer a lot from the lack of food intake, you coming into her body also made the toll even harsher.] The System warned.

"I can tell. Are you only here to tell me about it, or are you going to give me something to fix this condition of mine?" Xu Jiaqi questioned as she grumbled, thinking about what her next plan should be.

[Hehe. I reacted quickly before we jumped into this world when I saw that the lottery hit this kind of setting. Do you want some bread?] The System really couldn't do much. It spawned two loafs of bread, which was given to Xu Jiaqi and munched by her. The System also kindly gave some water to quench her thirst.

Xu Jiaqi glared at the wall right in front of her. The System was able to provide her with food, but it couldn't tamper with much more. In fact, for him to give her this supply of food was already a great thing.

Since she was completely powerless, and there was no loopholes that she could latch onto, this world was bound to be hard. As Yue Yan's daughter, she was naturally a beauty. Her father should also look quite good, to be able to produce such an exquisite face.

The fact that even as a child, parts of that great beauty already showed up made Xu Jiaqi sure that she would be able to utilize her beauty as part of her potential weapon in the future, only if she was able to gain leverage to care for her body more.

As of now, Xu Jiaqi was already latched on to a wooden balcony fence, using her inner strength to pull herself up and stand on the higher ground. She was feeling weak, but she resisted it. She had to escape from this slum, first of all.

Chances would only come if she got out of this district. At the very least, she had to run away to a decent place where her chances of survival would be upped. She latched onto a rocky building's walls, dangling herself over dangerous places. She then began to maneuver over the buildings to look around the place.

Wanting to reach a building's rooftop, which was also coincidentally the most conspicuous one of all, she stepped on the fences to make a jump filled with impact, that should've landed her safely on top of the desired destination.

However, she overestimated the building's ability to hold itself together as her body punctured the roof due to the momentum that her body had.

Baam!

Xu Jiaqi: Wow, my luck is shit.

The wooden roof piece her feet landed on crumbled down, and Xu Jiaqi fell on her butt. Pain struck her and spread throughout her entire body as the impact of the fall was quite harsh. In a reflex, she rolled away and looked left and right.

The building was actually being used for a VIP meeting. A top secret information was coincidentally about to be relayed the exact moment Xu Jiaqi fell through, so she was immediately treated as a spy! An intruder who wished to disturb their affairs.

"C-CHASE HER! CATCH HER FOR ME!" One of the attendees shouted, making dozens of guards clad in armor appear out of nowhere and surge to the floor Xu Jiaqi was in.

Without having to process the situation any longer, she just knew that she had to get out, or else her life would be forfeit. This was not the modern era, where people would at least have a slight bit of hesitation to kill another in fear of law. The law here was weak! Or else, how could Xu Yan have thrown her away like that without any repercussions coming back to bite her?

In fact, it was a miracle that the  original Xu Jiaqi even managed to live this long.

"Damn, everybody wants to catch this great master!" Xu Jiaqi cursed as she ran to the balcony and jumped over to another building through an open window. Using her skills and small body, she ran around the place.

She saw guards that also had great jumping prowess aiming to cross over to her place, and she instantly knew that she wouldn't be able to run away at this rate. No matter how skilled she was, and how hard she tried to run, she was still just a young child. She was even younger than Ariel when she first entered her body. Not only that, her malnourished state was worse than before.

"I expected too much of the building structure, I suppose." Xu Jiaqi leapt through a window and jumped over to a lower building, landing safely and using it as a propeller for her next motion. "I recall that this world doesn't have magic, right?"

[Yes, Host. Whatever you are thinking of, please cease this instant. You might hurt yourself if you don't progress with a clear mind.]

"..I was just asking, you know?!" Xu Jiaqi saw a narrow alley that would definitely fit her, but not the chasers from the corner of her eye. Only, there was a large building in between the two areas that didn't leave her any means to climb or hang upon. If she could get there, then her escape would probably be certain for the time being.

"System, teleporting seems fun, right?" Xu Jiaqi raised a brow. She couldn't come to a halt, but she was also about to reach her body's limit. In the previous world, she had utilized teleportation spells a lot and immediately had her mind hover to that option.

Xu Jiaqi: Guards, do you want to see a magician in action?