Chapter 167 - 2.63

Xu Yan's eyes flashed with a trace of sadness. With this, Xu Jiaqi felt like she achieved a different type of victory, something that she would only be able to obtain by making this woman recover just the smallest part of her humanity back from her everlasting facade.

"And.. Didn't everything turn out great in the end? That's even more of a reason for you to not feel lingering regrets, just like you said. From now on, I'd advise you to leave behind the memories of the past. I shall do the same." Xu Jiaqi smiled brightly, so bright that it conveyed her meaning that 'nothing could ever bother me in any sort of way'.

In other words, she couldn't care less about this shitty dramatic plot anymore.

"I also wanted to ask you for the letters that Han Zhongli might've written you, but seeing how far you are buried within your lies.. I think that those letters are long gone."

Xu Jiaqi wasn't just saying that out of spite, she actually told the System to scan the area and look for any potential clues containing that name. There was nothing. There was a pile of letters that got stored into this work room, but none of it was under his name. Seeing how unbothered Xu Yan was, she probably destroyed them to not shake her.

Xu Jiaqi then turned around and left the room without leaving any chance for Xu Yan to stop her.

The discussion ended abruptly, but it was enough for the two of them to find solace for themselves.

After exiting the room, Xu Jiaqi hid in a secluded alley, drawing a deep breath in. She felt a huge wave of relief wash over her as she slumped down.

'That was.. so intense. Fuck, I need to rest for a bit. That drained me so much.' Xu Jiaqi commented.

[Are you okay, Host?! Is there anything I could do to help..?] The System immediately panicked, hovering over the Host to try and detect what was wrong with her.

'Probably not. This is a result of the original body reacting to her most powerful trigger.. Her mother. I'm not the one that's truly hurt.. It's just bothersome because I'm inhabiting her body as a vassal. It's a sad fact, to be honest. She's not able to let go of Xu Yan even though that woman had betrayed her so many times in her short life, to the point where I'm this affected.'

What a pitiful child.

Xu Jiaqi grumbled, crouching down to the ground as she felt that her feelings were extremely jumpy and uncontrollable at the moment. So vulnerable. It made her want to curse. How come there was a soul that was as hopeful as the original child?

'But.. that was a satisfying ending, wasn't it? I think this is the best I could get the situation to.' Xu Jiaqi covered her face with her hands, and sought praises from the System for the effort that she put in.

[Uuu.. I don't know, Host. I still think that Xu Yan deserves a harsher retribution.. She's a bad person, but at the same time, she isn't..]

'That's the beauty of life, my dear System. Everything is so needlessly complicated, but that complexity is the very thing that makes us, us.' Xu Jiaqi laughed at the System's ramblings that was partly the result of her instilling her own ideology into him.

[Humans are so badly designed! Us robots would never have such problems to worry over, we only have bugs and anomalies to watch out for. There's no one to get us from the back because we're all working  under one System.]

The more the System accompanied Xu Jiaqi, the more he felt like everything she said made sense. Like a little chick following his mother to do everything.

'..You're right. Maybe that's part of the reason why I wanted to be the one to control the authority.. Because I wouldn't have those problems if I can unite everything useful and eliminate traitorous fools.' Xu Jiaqi had a revelation. To her, the System just said something that resonated deeply with her views, and reminded her of something much more important, yet so vague and far away from her mind.

[So, what do you want to do now, Host?] The System was still mildly furious from the things that happened, but he prioritized the Host.

'Come on, let's finish the mission once and for all. Look up every single piece of information about Han Zhongli. His family, his career, everything. If he could hide his presence this well, to the point that you were rendered useless for the slightest bit of data when you checked the brothel, then he must be quite.. good at his skills.'

'As for the first mission, to be exact, I could finish it right now just by announcing my presence to the whole world, but that wouldn't be as fun, right..? I'll have to wait a bit longer.' Xu Jiaqi giggled.

She was already such a dominant presence even as Xie Yongrui's unlisted advisor. What would happen if she decided to make a name for herself as an individual agent?

[Roger, Host! I will report to you soon!] The System was fired up because Xu Jiaqi mentioned the missions' close ending.

'Ah, wait. One question. If this Han Zhongli is dead, then would it still count towards the mission?'

[Yes, Host. After all, there's nothing we could do. The System won't hold it against you since it's impossible to control that sort of external factor, unless Host is part of what caused the mission target's death.]

'That's good to know. Our main topic now is Han Zhongli. Run a search through the restricted documents if you have to, find out about him. Now go off.. I'll reunite with Xie Yongrui. i'll be fine by myself, so you should concentrate on getting the data for me.'

[Okay!] The System cheerfully responded, flying away at a high speed and disappearing into who knows where.

The System was so hardworking that Xu Jiaqi wanted to cry out of happiness seeing how dedicated he was. Without him, everything would've been so much harder.

Xu Jiaqi: Mommy System is truly the best! A pro!

She made her way back to where Xie Yongrui was standing side by side with the attendees from Xi.

"Qiqi! You're back. You.. look pale. Are you alright?" Xie Yongrui immediately tended to Xu Jiaqi, which made her heart be filled with warmth for a short amount of time. "Should we rest right now? I don't want you to get hurt. Maybe the long travelling period took a toll on you.

"Rui.. You of all people know that I've travelled for much longer than this.. I'm perfectly alright, dear. I just met my mother and got to settle some things with her.. As well as getting some clues about my father. I expected much more, but I ended up not obtaining a lot." Xu Jiaqi sighed.

"... Do you not hold a grudge against her, Qiqi? If you can't bear to remove her.. I will do it for you. I will make sure that she won't ever feel any sort of happiness anymore. I promise you." Xie Yongrui pursed his lips, bringing the topic up carefully.

Xu Yan was still Xu Jiaqi's birth mother, so he was rather cautious as he spoke, afraid that Xu Jiaqi might rebuke him for his words. He just couldn't stand seeing Xu Jiaqi so dejected just because of that woman who threw her away. Even though Xu Yan's selfish actions were the very reason that they were able to meet in the first place.

"I don't want that. Selfishness is something natural. She was a young adult, and her job bound her too much at her prime. I don't blame her, I would rather live on with my own life instead of keeping myself busy thinking about her." Xu Jiaqi shrugged.  "That's the least I could do."

However, even though she didn't feel anything, due to her body's natural reactions, she trembled whenever she talked about Xu Yan. This subtle tremble was sensed by Xie Yongrui, who immediately stepped forward and hugged Xu Jiaqi.

"H-hey. What are you doing? This is.. in public daylight.. Everybody is going to look at us."

This was the old times, where everybody was still rather conservative. It was slightly embarrassing, having to receive all types of stares for this public display of affection.

There was even He Yiyuan and Han Zhengyu by the side.

"Don't care about them, Qiqi. Focus only on me.." Xie Yongrui's heart hurt every time Xu Jiaqi looked pained, no matter how small it was. He had an innate sense telling him to always protect the woman no matter what it was that they were going to face.

He was so deep into this massive whirlpool of emotions that it was sort of suffocating.

"..Yes, yes. Maybe you are right, I am a bit.. tired. Let's rush to our resting place, en?" Xu Jiaqi patted the man and made sure that he wouldn't be worried anymore.

Xie Yongrui's eyes sparkled as he nodded, starting to make preparations and talking about the matter to the others.