Translated by Eve
Edited by Wuxian
Thank you Anon for the kofi 💕
"Since it's like this, then let's act, ba," After hearing the news that Sui Yuan had conveyed, Zhao Xihe muttered to himself for a moment before making a decision.
"However, it seems that there's something fishy…" Sui Yuan furrowed his brows.
"There is definitely something odd about Xin Xin, that is without a doubt. Perhaps we have been misled by some things she had said all this time," Zhao Xihe shook his head gently, "It's still better to go with a Blitzkrieg strategy. We shouldn't let this drag on."
——He wasn't at all worried that Sui Yuan would be seduced away by the supporting male lead! For real!
Since Zhao Xihe had said this, and because Sui Yuan also wanted to finish their mission as soon as possible so he could free himself of Yue Minghe, the two of them quickly reached an agreement and decisively carried out their movements.
Perhaps Xin Xin still had some machinations occurring behind the scenes that were intended to keep her from being watched by her opponents and avoid alerting them. Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe once again deployed their 'despicable' method of drugging people. The person who would do the drugging was Yun Shan, or to be more precise, it was the Yun Shan that was being controlled by Zhao Xihe. Xin Xin was not on guard against Yun Shan so she would be easily able to drug her. Afterwards, Old Master Yun's faithful subordinates would take over.
Although there would be some suspicion over why Old Master Yun would act against the Xin Xin he always doted on, they had heard news of the public severance of relationship between Xin Xin and Yun Yi and even as to how ruthlessly she had caused the Yun Family's crown prince to lose face. Perhaps it was because Old Master Yun wanted to teach this younger generation, who wielded his doting love to act arrogant and despotic, a lesson. Or perhaps, there was a deeper level of meaning. The subordinates, who Old Master Yun had taken complete control of, did not raise any resistance. They quickly imprisoned the unconscious Xin Xin and cleaned up everything, removing all traces of what occurred.
When Sui Yuan received the news from Zhao Xihe and rushed to the place where Xin Xin was being held in captivity, the woman had already awakened. However, she was being controlled by the prop and had no way of resisting, nor did she have any way of getting in touch with anyone else.
"Hao Ning?! Grandpa Yun?! What do you guys want to do?" Xin Xin stared at the two of them with wide eyes, incredulous, using great strength to struggle, "Are you trying to help Yun Yi get out of his predicament?!"
"This has nothing to do with Yun Yi," Sui Yuan felt rather speechless towards this girl. Right up until this moment, she unexpectedly did not break away from the plot. Perhaps it was because she was prone to being too immersed in the plot, that she was incited into becoming a Destroyer, "We wanted to seize you because you are a Destroyer."
Xin Xin's movements halted. Anger and a feeling of being wronged immediately shifted into that of fear and anxiety. She gasped twice and then quickly shook her head, "No! No! You guys are mistaken! I'm not a Destroyer! I'm just an Actor! I'm being honest!"
Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe both furrowed their eyes. This information was not unexpected. It could be said that they had already noticed this.
"You're an Actor, discovered the Destroyer's tracks, and then communicated your discovery through your system?" Sui Yuan calmly helped her straighten out her thoughts.
Xin Xin nodded promptly, afraid that if she was just a bit too slow, she would be exterminated without any mercy. As an Actor that has already experienced the mission of eliminating a Destroyer, she naturally knew that the meaning of elimination meant that her soul would be scattered. It was a complete annihilation—leaving not a trace.
"Then, why did you change the plot and even secretly established your own power overseas?" Zhao Xihe narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Because I was not reconciled with the situation!" Xin Xin eagerly answered, trying her best to appear a little more honest, and then some more, "If we encounter a Destroyer, the elimination mission is placed in precedence to the acting mission, to the point where we don't have to worry about acting out our identity. I was just not reconciled with becoming a cannon fodder supporting female lead as ordained by the plot—one who ends up extremely battered and exhausted because of the male lead, one who is stuck in a difficult situation who can't live if she wants to, or even die if she wants to. I just want to live an upright, free, and easy life! Even if it's just in this world! I established a company so that I could fight against the Destroyer. There is no other reason!"
Sui Yuan's eyes glinted. Xin Xin's words were indeed very reasonable. It was just that, he didn't know why but he felt that something wasn't quite right, "Then, who do you think is the Destroyer?"
"It's Yue Minghe! Him!" Xin Xin shouted that name without any hesitation.
Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe exchanged glances. They immediately relaxed upon hearing this answer. Yes, Yue Minghe. If it was him, then everything made sense. He was also an important suspect to Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe before. Only, since Yue Minghe was the Destroyer, why didn't he do anything a Destroyer was supposed to do? That is, aside from his pursuit of Sui Yuan.
"We will look into whether you're telling the truth or not. Before that, please quietly wait here. Don't do any superfluous actions," Sui Yuan gazed at Xin Xin once more, speaking in an unhurried tone, "If what you say is true, then naturally, we will not hurt you. As a fellow Actor, we don't wish to accidentally injure the innocent."
Xin Xin relaxed slightly. She nodded her head, hot tears in her eyes. A moment later, she added hesitatingly, "Yue Minghe…that fellow is very cunning. He's a smooth talker. If…if he accuses me unjustly in order to protect himself, then I ask that you don't trust him!"
"Of course," Zhao Xihe's smile was especially amiable and placating, although the effect was greatly lessened on his elderly face, "The Destroyer is our enemy. We would definitely never listen to the enemy's lies."
Only then did Xin Xin truly relax and reveal a forced smile.
Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe left the area in which Xin Xin was imprisoned in and began to lock onto Yue Minghe's location. Sui Yuan watched as Zhao Xihe contacted his subordinates and frowned slightly, "Do you think that Xin Xin was telling the truth?"
Zhao Xihe took a moment to glance at him, "What do you think, ne?"
"She's lying. She's lying about at least one part," Sui Yuan muttered for a while, "If I were to say that there was a 60% chance of me believing in her words at the start—where I only thought that her expression was a bit fishy— then at the end, the way she overreacted turned my probability of believing her to zero."
"I feel the same," Zhao Xihe chuckled, "It's really such a pity, ne. That girl is obviously not particularly intelligent. No, I should say that she's stupid. Thus, that's why I replied like that at the very end: we naturally will not trust our enemies. As a result, she unexpectedly only understood the superficial meaning of my words. Truly an unfortunate, silly girl."
Sui Yuan glanced at Zhao Xihe wordlessly. He really didn't know what to say.
——It's probably because this girl is too dumb and revealed herself that she was used by Yue Minghe as a shield, adding to their troubles. From a certain angle, this girl was an awesome teammate for Yue Minghe.
Yue Minghe's location was hastily determined. Reportedly, he had just returned home and had not left again. In order to avoid the troubles undue delay would bring, Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe immediately headed over to Yue Minghe's residence. Furthermore, in order to prevent the other from escaping, Zhao Xihe also took the initiative to use a prop to lock up the entire Yue Family residence, making it even more difficult for the Destroyer to tear apart the barrier between worlds as a means of escape.
When everything was in order, the two of them entered the Yue residence. The Yue Family's butler had already been knocked unconscious when they had locked up the entire residence. Furthermore, aside from him, the entire Yue residence was absolutely empty—not a single sign of life.
Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe's hearts gradually sunk. They split up. After confirming that there weren't any traces of Yue Minghe, they both converged at Yue Minghe's room.
"…Did he run away?" Sui Yuan felt rather dispirited. The terrible feeling of having all his efforts ruined at the very end truly left him speechless.
"It seems that he is indeed much more shrewd than Xin Xin had said. He probably used Xin Xin to divert our attention. He likely had already noticed our presence. The time he spent 'pursuing' you was likely nothing more than him sounding us out and teasing us. He was self-confidently playing with us in the palm of his hands, ne!" Zhao Xihe sneered. Since he was born, he had never suffered such a loss before. He almost wanted to vomit to death.
"Fortunately, he did not get what he wished for. This world hasn't been destroyed and he has already taken the initiative to escape," Sui Yuan shrugged. He's already suffered many losses in the past. He was evidently able to accept this fact much more easily than the arrogant Zhao Xihe.
While comforting Zhao Xihe, Sui Yuan casually headed towards Yue Minghe's desk. Soon after, he fixed his gaze onto the desk and discovered that there was a note stuck onto it. It read, 'Perhaps you will want to listen to my message, my beloved."
The corner of his lips rose. He grabbed the recorder that was atop of the note and called Zhao Xihe over.
"What, he even left a message. Does he want to taunt us?" Zhao Xihe pursed his lips unhappily. He reached out to take the recorder over and pressed the play button.
After a short period of white noise, Yue Minghe's voice transmitted over, echoing within the room. Although it was the same voice, it was not at all as gentle and soft as the real Yue Minghe's. On the contrary, it carried a flirty and frivolous tone, "By the time you hear this recording, I will have already left this world. I'm very sorry that I couldn't bid you farewell. After all, I don't want to die by your hand."
"I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Mo Ziyou. What should I call you, ne? If we meet again, please, you must tell me your name. I think that since we were brought together by fate like this, then you needn't let me wait too long~"
When he heard the name 'Mo Ziyou', Zhao Xihe's reaction was much more intense than that of Sui Yuan. If one were to say that Sui Yuan was just a bit surprised, then Zhao Xihe evidently was nearly shooting fire out of his eyes.
"Yi? Mo Ziyou? He had really escaped last time!" Sui Yuan sighed in regret, "He really has good luck, ne…."
"Heh. That's right ah, he's really lucky," Zhao Xihe squeezed out between gritted teeth. His murderous aura completely filled the room.
Sui Yuan's shoulders silently trembled. He continued to listen to Yue Minghe's—or rather, Mo Ziyou's—message.
"Maybe you're angry with me for pursuing you in this world. Maybe you think that I was making fun of you. Please don't think that. What I feel for you is—" Sui Yuan did not hear the rest of his words because Zhao Xihe had quickly pressed down on the stop button.
As he watched Zhao Xihe calmly fast-forward past the long confession, expression unchanging, Sui Yuan was at a loss at what kind of expression to make. Actually, he was indeed a bit curious about what Mo Ziyou was thinking, pursuing him with Yue Minghe's identity. Only, so as to not provoke Zhao Xihe, he still obediently hid his curiosity in the depths of his heart….
When they finally reached the end of the confession, Zhao Xihe once again allowed it to play at normal speed. Only, compared to the beginning, that was abundant with emotion, Mo Ziyou's tone was evidently much more insipid, without any interest, "As for the supporting female lead Xin Xin that you have caught, she was an Actor in the beginning. I had intentionally revealed my identity to her because I was a bit fed up with this kind of life. I felt that raising a new Destroyer would be something interesting. That girl is indeed suitable to become a Destroyer. She is emotional and weak. I did not even need to try to convince her before she switched sides."
"Unfortunately, she's too stupid. She isn't guarded at all and took my every word to heart. Even if she became a Destroyer, she is fated to not go very far. Thus, I used her as a sacrificial offering to you. Although I cannot die at your hand, I can make sure that you do not go back this time empty-handed. A newly born Destroyer should be enough to compensate you for your losses, ba? Really regretful. Before you arrived, I had originally planned to raise this girl out of kindness and help her successfully topple this world, ne~"
Sui Yuan simply wanted to kneel after hearing Mo Ziyou's strange logic! Right now, he fully understood the relationship between Mo Ziyou and Xin Xin.
Mo Ziyou took the initiative to reveal his identity and had succeeded in provoking the anger and grievances that had always been repressed inside of Xin Xin, causing her to turn into a Destroyer. Meanwhile, Xin Xin was especially trusting of her 'guide', Mo Ziyou, and had followed his instructions on how to topple this world.
Xin Xin had used her system and had successfully attained the Origin's energy. Only, who knows if it was by coincidence, or because the Origin had thought that something was fishy, but Zhao Xihe and Sui Yuan had thereupon landed in this world.
Xin Xin did not know this point. Even if the plot changed, she would attribute the changes to Mo Ziyou. She did not have the slightest suspicion that other Actors had entered this world. After all, this kind of probability was really too low—so low that it was negligible. However, Mo Ziyou had noticed and had even recognized Sui Yuan to be the Actor that he had met once before: the Actor who was remarkably similar to his previous lover.
Because of some 'unknown' reason, Mo Ziyou had decided to pursue Sui Yuan and had unhesitatingly sold his teammate, Xin Xin, letting her be Sui Yuan's mission target and his sacrificial offering.
However, who knows if it was because she was cowardly and afraid of death or if she had noticed Mo Ziyou's betrayal, but after Xin Xin was captured, she immediately told them about Mo Ziyou's existence. Unfortunately, Mo Ziyou already saw that this would occur and did not wait for Sui Yuan and Zhao Xihe before directly leaving this world, fleeing in an especially direct and efficient manner.
"It's a pity that although I had guessed everything else, I did not realize that Yun Shan was your 'comrade', and that she was a shield controlled by □□. So, just who is your 'comrade'? Old Master Yun? If so, that's a bit difficult to deal with, ah!" Mo Ziyou's tone was very regretful but particularly relaxed and happy, "Before leaving, I killed Yun Shan. So sorry for troubling you guys with dealing with this unexpected death. Next time we meet, I will definitely not err again. I will definitely kill him. That way, you can only——"
Sui Yuan turned to look at Zhao Xihe who had pressed down on the fast-forward button again. He was quite worried, "Is there no problem? He seems to have his eyes on you, ne…."
"Even if he didn't have his eyes on me, I've long since had my eyes on him," After confirming that there was nothing 'useful' afterwards, Zhao Xihe snapped the recorder in half, "If he wants to come kill me, then that's exactly what I want. It even saves me the trouble of looking for him, ne! As for whether he can kill me or if he will end up killed by my hand, that depends on his abilities!"
Sui Yuan furrowed his brows. He did not like this kind of I'll-kill-you-you'll-kill-me face off at all. The mission was the mission. There was really no need to add on this kind of 'fighting until one's last breath' emotional drama to it. Unfortunately, this matter wasn't something that could be disregarded just because he said so, even if everything was because of him.
"Although I know that you're really amazing, you still need to be careful. This time, we underestimated the other and ended up suffering a loss, no?" Sui Yuan sighed, "In short, I'm on your side."
"As long as you always stay by my side, that is enough," Zhao Xihe came in close and kissed Sui Yuan on the lips, satisfied. However, he was pushed away by the other in disdain and immediately felt quite butthurt.
Unfortunately, Sui Yuan did not think about coaxing this 'lord' who was being difficult. He directly turned and headed to the door, "Then, how should we deal with Xin Xin? Kill her?"
"Let's look at what the Origin says. Only, I feel that her chances of living aren't very high," Zhao Xihe stared at the unfeeling silhouette of his family's sweetheart from behind and responded automatically.
"Yue Minghe, Yun Shan…and there's Xin Xin too. In one moment, so many people died. It's truly troublesome. What should we do to smoothly conceal their causes of death?" Sui Yuan felt his head hurt.
Right now, they weren't in the ghostly manor of the last world, where deaths were extremely regular. Right now, it was a serious crime to kill someone in this world. Moreover, the identity of the deceased were not insignificant. It was very easy for this to turn into a big issue.
"There will always be a way."
Seeing that his lover did not plan on comforting him, Zhao Xihe shrugged his shoulders helplessly. He raised a hand to rub his own elderly face and sincerely blamed this on his current appearance.
——Perhaps he should act softer towards the Origin?
A leader can submit or stand tall as required. Only by making suitable compromises can he obtain greater rewards!
The author has something to say:
Eve: MZY has very big yandere!ML vibes. Yandere!MLs make my heart feel all tingly. Is it obvious how much I like problematic MLs from my TL project choices and reading choices? Of course, I don't advocate anyone dating such types in real life. Choose a gentle and considerate ML for yourselves, my dears!
Wuxian: My shipping MZY with SY is a big giveaway of how much fictional yanderes make my heart go 'doki doki'.