Chapter 277: Destruction
On the tall building where Xu Youyou had been earlier, on the chair where she once sat, now sat a woman completely enveloped in black gauze.
The woman was muttering incantations under her breath, and those nearby kept their distance, as if afraid of being tainted by her presence.
The Gu siblings stood in the corner. Gu Yujing, holding a pair of binoculars, was peering into the room. From his viewpoint, he could see that the entire courtyard was enveloped in gray smoke, with no movement in sight.
“Will she die?” Gu Xueying suddenly asked.
“Don’t worry. She will die, and there will be no bones left,” Gu Yujing said coldly.
Gu Xueying forced a smile, though she couldn’t feel happy hearing this. She even wondered, with how much Lu Jingyao liked Xu Youyou, would he be heartbroken upon hearing about this? But that thought was fleeting. Gu Xueying knew better than anyone that only when Xu Youyou was dead would her life get better.
Deep down, she was also hoping that Xu Youyou would die.
The woman in the center of the courtyard, hidden beneath the black gauze, had a faint smile on her lips, feeling as though everything was under her control.
But suddenly, she seemed to sense some mysterious force. Her forehead tightened, and her chanting grew faster. She even picked up a small knife from the side and smeared blood on her palm.
Gu Yujing, who had been smiling, frowned when he saw this. “Such a situation? Can Xu Youyou break this?”
At that moment, Xu Youyou in the courtyard felt as though two small figures were fighting in her mind. One was an arrogant figure urging her to act quickly, while the other, weaker one, kept shouting, “Don’t act rashly.”
Xu Youyou, who was usually calm and rational, seemed to have ignored the faint voice and raised the dagger in her hand, moving it closer to her neck.
Ding! Host is in a state of soul loss. Please regain your composure and complete the task as soon as possible!
The system’s mechanical voice had echoed in Xu Youyou’s ears repeatedly, and a look of struggle appeared on her face.
Ding, ding, ding!
The phone that had fallen on the ground suddenly rang.
Ring after ring, Xu Youyou suddenly woke up, gasping for air.
“What happened to me?”
She was in a gray fog, and when she looked down, she saw the dagger in her hand, glowing coldly. Terrified, she let go, and the dagger fell to the ground with a sharp sound.
The phone’s ringtone persisted stubbornly. Xu Youyou crouched down to pick it up, glancing at the caller ID.
“Qing Yatou, did… did you know I was in danger?” Xu Youyou asked.
On the other end, Qing Yatou’s voice was as ethereal as ever, like she was singing: “Sister Youyou, I didn’t know you were in danger. I just felt like I should call you, but I didn’t know what to say once the call connected.”
Xu Youyou’s nose tingled. She realized that the most important task she had completed was finding Qing Yatou, and even if Qing Yatou hadn’t become a successful million-subscriber creator like now, Xu Youyou would still be willing to support her for life.
“Goodbye, Sister Youyou,” Qing Yatou said, about to hang up.
Xu Youyou hurriedly said, “Thank you.”
Qing Yatou replied, “Sister Youyou, it’s what I should do.”
After the call ended, Xu Youyou solemnly spoke to the system: “You saved me again.”
The system’s mechanical voice was calm as usual: Host, only by staying alive can you witness a broader view. Please live long and healthily.
Xu Youyou felt a softness in her heart.
Host, pick up the dagger.
Xu Youyou was stunned. She had fallen into an abnormal state when holding this dagger earlier.
After a moment of hesitation, she took out a cloth to wrap the dagger, her expression full of vigilance. She was prepared to throw it away at the first sign of something wrong.
But she didn’t fall into that strange state again.
The system suddenly spoke, explaining: Host, you won’t fall into the same trap twice.
Xu Youyou immediately understood that the same trick had worked on her once before, and she had developed an immunity to it, so she wasn’t afraid now.
Now that she had withdrawn from that hazy state, she could finally see the golden needle’s exact direction.
The golden needle was still pointing in the same place. Xu Youyou had initially thought it pointed to the dagger, but now she realized it pointed to a wooden box beneath the dagger.
She approached and opened the box. Inside was a black, shiny spherical object, about the size of an adult’s fist.
She took it out with the cloth, and it felt heavy in her hand. But as soon as she saw what it was, she wished she could throw it away on the spot.
It was a head. A round head, looking like a child, eyes slightly closed, with a peaceful expression.
But this eerie object gave Xu Youyou the distinct feeling that it might open its eyes at any moment.
She recalled the cries of a child she had heard earlier, and her heart tightened: “Is this a head taken from a child?”
No.
Upon hearing the system’s reply, Xu Youyou didn’t feel any relief. She still felt an overwhelming sense of discomfort.
Though this isn’t a head taken from a living person, it contains the resentment of countless infants.
Xu Youyou almost wanted to throw the thing away, feeling so frantic she almost jumped up: “Do I have to take this thing with me?”
Host, sometimes picking up the treasure isn’t about obtaining it, but about destroying it.
Without even thinking, Xu Youyou immediately grabbed the dagger and stabbed it hard into the head.
Suddenly, she heard sharp, piercing cries of a baby, the sound seeming to penetrate her eardrums.
“This sound is unbearable!” Xu Youyou couldn’t help but complain.
The system, unusually, responded: It could indeed cost a life.
On the rooftop across from the courtyard, the woman in black gauze, who had been casting spells, suddenly spat blood. “Impossible! Such a flawless spell, how could it be broken?”
Gu Yujing, seeing her like this, rushed over quickly. “Your Majesty, the Empress, Xu Youyou didn’t die?”
The woman glared at him with eyes as sharp as swords and said, “In my domain, the trap I painstakingly set, how did she break it? Are you hiding something from me?”
Gu Yujing replied, “Xu Youyou, besides being a little lucky, has no special abilities.”
The woman in black gauze gave him a fierce glare. “Something’s wrong! She must have something we don’t know about. Since she has broken the spell, we can’t let her stay there any longer…”
Before she could finish, her eyes suddenly widened, and she collapsed without warning, falling to the ground.
