Chapter 105: Playing Both Sides
It felt like a giant bell was being struck inside Xu Zhi’s brain, sending tremors of pain and a deafening hum reverberating through her skull.
If she had to describe it in words, it would be: her head was buzzing like crazy.
Perhaps sensing her pain, all the familiars except Yi (who was guarding Yu Shenwei) anxiously gathered around Xu Zhi. Even the black cat lifted its head and looked over at her from a distance.
The pain showed no signs of fading. Though Xu Zhi could endure it, this wasn’t sustainable. At that moment, she really wished she had some painkillers.
Wait a minute, there might be something…
Through sheer willpower, face pale from the pain, Xu Zhi reached into her pocket and pulled out her game console. As soon as she lit up the screen, the narrator popped out in a panic.
And what it said made it seem like she could almost hear it screaming through the screen:
[Ancestor! What have you done again!!!]
If Xu Zhi weren’t in so much pain, she might’ve laughed out loud. But right now, she couldn’t even twitch the corner of her lips.
The narrator quickly realized the urgency of the situation and immediately offered a suggestion:
[Eat all the remaining moth-attribute cores in the warehouse. Right now!]
Xu Zhi had always trusted the game’s suggestions, so without hesitation, she took out the rest of the [Moth] attribute cores and swallowed them all. There weren’t many left—just over twenty—since she and the kitten regularly consumed them.
She expected the pain to ease up afterward. But the moment she consumed the cores, it felt like a spear drove straight into her brain, trying to rip her mind in half. Her thoughts went blank from the agony, and she nearly passed out again.
Fortunately, after the peak of the pain, everything began to gradually fade. Though the worst had passed, her eyes remained dull, almost dazed.
It took her quite a while to recover her senses.
The first thing she did after regaining her clarity was complain to the narrator, “Damn it, are you trying to kill me?!”
Her tone was more aggrieved than accusatory.
[If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have done anything at all.]
Xu Zhi pouted. “I know, but it hurt so much!”
[Good. Let it hurt. Maybe next time you’ll learn not to do such reckless things!]
The narrator’s reminder made Xu Zhi pause and reflect on her actions.
This time, her memory was fairly intact. And after thinking it through…
She didn’t feel she did anything wrong!
“I didn’t have a choice,” she explained.
She thought the narrator was scolding her for fighting that man—but that wasn’t the case.
[Why did you enter that ritual circle?! Don’t you know you’re supposed to avoid things like that?!]
“Ah, it was just my spiritual body anyway.”
[You idiot! The body may be spiritual, but your consciousness is still your own!]
“Well how was I supposed to know something like that would happen?”
Xu Zhi knew she’d been a bit reckless and her voice grew quieter. But her tone stayed defiant.
[What do we do now?!]
“What do you mean?” Xu Zhi asked curiously.
[What are you going to do now!!]
[You were already walking a special path. Now you’re playing both sides! Wasn’t that attribute clash enough to scare you? If you keep going, it won’t just be a headache next time—you could die!]
“What?!”
“This is just fearmongering!”
Xu Zhi was shocked. “How am I playing both sides?”
“I didn’t feel anything at all!”
How could they accuse her of something like this!
Although… that feeling was apparently an attribute clash?
It was torturous—her head really did feel like it was going to explode.
[You intruded on someone else’s prepared ritual. Then, you passed the initiation and even set foot on the staircase—meaning you officially stepped onto that path!]
[How could you be so reckless?!]
[Of course you feel fine now—your other attribute suppressed it. You’ve already progressed further down the other path.]
[But you can’t go any further with this one. You need to find a way out. Otherwise, the next clash won’t be this simple.]
“Well then, here’s the real question—how do I get out of it?”
Xu Zhi wasn’t unreasonable. After all, that path was related to the [Cup] attribute, which she had no real interest in.
[That ritual was prepared for someone else. When the intended candidate walks far enough up that path, your qualification will be stripped.]
Xu Zhi: ?
“That’s not acceptable.”
Someone else could take it. But not him.
[?]
[Don’t be so willful!]
Xu Zhi: “This has nothing to do with being willful. That guy screamed at me for no reason. Don’t you feel sorry for me at all?”
[No.]
“…Heh.”
So cold-blooded!
“Anyway, I’m not swallowing this. I’m going to kill him.”
[You should think more about yourself.]
“And just let it go? No way!”
[…]
The narrator went silent.
Because it realized something: Xu Zhi was already being influenced by “that path.” Even her personality was starting to shift, and that wasn’t a good sign.
But… would the old Xu Zhi have chosen to back down?
Upon further thought, it couldn’t say for sure.
What it could say was: if they didn’t find a way to eliminate the negative influence of [Wrath], Xu Zhi’s personality would only grow more extreme.
“Why do things always have to go according to some preset plan?” Xu Zhi suddenly asked.
“I remember you said the path I’m on now is already beyond your original understanding, right?”
“So what if there’s a second such anomaly? Who says that has to be a bad thing?”
Xu Zhi knew she was being unreasonable—but she wanted to see if the narrator really had no solution at all.
If it truly had no choice, then she’d consider killing the man and working with external Cup followers to promote someone else and push herself out—just another Yu Shenwei, after all.
With that thought, Xu Zhi smiled sweetly and pleaded:
“Come on, think of a way? Pretty please~”
The narrator stayed silent for a long time—so long that Xu Zhi thought her act had failed—until it finally reappeared.
[You’re not wrong. But if it were any attribute other than the Cup, things would be easier. That one is different.]
[Still… it’s not completely hopeless. Just extremely difficult.]
“Tell me, tell me!”
She knew it—the unbeatable narrator always had a way!
Hard or not, they’d make it work.
[The only option I can think of right now… is in the city center.]
“The city center?”
Xu Zhi froze.
That was… much harder than just working with external Cup followers and promoting someone else.
[When your Aberrant Familiar reaches level 30, you might be able to try it.]
“You know what it becomes at level 30, don’t you?”
[I have a rough idea. But I can’t tell you yet.]
Not this again!
She should have gone for Pride smh
The system is fed up with her ass😭She’s just doing anything that comes to her mind, like bull seeing a red cloth, charging ahead recklessly.