Chapter 234: Future

Chapter 234: Future

On a spring afternoon, Chi Jing sat on a rocking chair in the villa's backyard, a financial report in her hand.

The dense numbers on the report made her drowsy. She lazily lifted her gaze, letting it drift beyond the courtyard wall to the perfectly round, golden sun slowly sinking in the distant blue sky.

This reminded her of many golden dusks from her childhood.

Yet, those distant memories had long since blurred, like faded, yellowed old photographs, gradually fragmenting as darkness encroached.

It wasn’t until she returned to her old home that they resurfaced from the corners of her memory, regaining some of their vivid colors.

It was only when Chi Jing saw this world of origin in the Supreme God System that she suddenly realized her world was nothing more than a novel, and she herself was merely cannon fodder—a villain despised by everyone.

To outsiders, she truly deserved her 'monster' reputation—daring to kill even her business genius father, Qiao Zhizhang—utterly cold-blooded and ungrateful.

After her imprisonment, Qiao Yanzhi seized the opportunity to spread rumors, slandering her as extravagant and promiscuous, even claiming she slept with married men and, enraged after failing to extort money from an old man, killed in a fit of passion.

These rumors expertly targeted netizens' sensitive nerves, whipping up public fury.

Thus, at the age of twenty, Chi Jing was sentenced to death, bearing the stigma of debauchery, shamelessness, and inhumanity.

But she refused to accept such a death.

So, when Song Yu approached her before her execution to make her a Cleaner, Chi Jing carefully reviewed the terms and signed without hesitation.

After becoming a Cleaner, the first thing she did was kill Qiao Yanzhi.

Working for others, disposing of bodies—as long as she could stay alive, there would always be a chance to reverse her fortunes.

Holding onto this belief, Chi Jing, who started with nothing, went from a fugitive to the puppet master she was today.

However, she hadn’t initially decided to enter this world, feeling more hesitation and doubt. Her only relative had died, and all the enemies she hated had been killed by her. There was nothing left here worth staying for.

Even if she chose to return, she couldn’t go back to the world in her memories—after all, one can never step into the same river twice.

But in the end, Chi Jing was moved by the thought of "returning to see her past self" and chose to enter.

She had even imagined what she, at thirty, would say to her eighteen-year-old self.

"You’re not a monster," or perhaps… "None of this is your fault?"

However, things didn’t always go as she expected. Though she had no intention of interfering, she still ended up causing her past self to sacrifice herself to save Shi Nianan and get hit by a car while saving a child.

Especially when she saw Seventeenth, covered in blood, smiling at her without a care, her guilt and heartache peaked.

Didn’t it hurt? How could she still smile?

Chi Jing didn’t need to ask to know the answer.

It hurt—it really hurt. But who would care about the pain of a monster? Deep in her memory, that one time she'd cried in front of the Qiao family, all she received was mockery.

"Wasn’t she supposed to be an emotionless monster? Why is she crying? She must be faking it—what a calculated move."

"Her pretentious act is truly disgusting."

"This murderous lunatic shouldn’t have been brought back."

"Is she going to kill us?"

"She doesn't have the guts for that; she's all bark and no bite... Hahaha..."

Chi Jing watched Qiao Yanzhi's boisterous laughter with a dark expression, barely holding back the urge to rush over and punch him.

Before finding a way to get rid of Qiao Yanzhi without hurting her own interests, she had to learn to endure.

Fortunately, Chi Jing's advantage was her rationality and patience.

The Qiao family's Floating Cloud Palace was vast and luxurious, with everything one could need. During this time, she read many books, met many people, learned many things, and perfected her assassination skills.

All politicians who opposed Huangtian died at her hand, yet no one could find any evidence linking her to the crimes.

Qiao Zhizhang, who had initially planned to use her as a disposable pawn, changed his indifferent attitude and praised her endlessly. To secure her loyalty, he not only gifted her money and jewelry but also repeatedly called her "my dear daughter" in front of others, showing her unusual warmth.

Had it been anyone else, they might have been swayed by Qiao Zhizhang's sweet talk and become blindly loyal to him.

Unfortunately, Chi Jing saw right through his act—beneath his friendly smile lay a sinister plan to discard her once she was no longer useful.

After all, she knew too many of his secrets, and only the dead could keep secrets.

Chi Jing began planning to escape the country and start a new life elsewhere. She mastered several foreign languages, secretly registered an offshore company abroad, and transferred her money overseas.

But before she could carry out her plan, she learned the truth about her grandmother's death from Qiao Yanzhi.

In that moment, she thought it was utterly absurd and couldn't help but laugh.

Chi Jing couldn't understand why she was laughing, but just then, the mocking voices of the Qiao family echoed in her ears—

"You're a failed experiment, a complete monster. Monsters can never learn to love... even your tears are fake..."

Yes, she was born without emotions. Laughter meant happiness, tears meant sorrow—all her emotions were just clumsy imitations of humanity.

Her pain was fake, her tears were fake.

From then on, Chi Jing stopped crying. Since it was all fake, smiling was easier to fake and better at hiding her unnatural psyche.

But when she stood before her younger self again, watching her smile despite being covered in blood, the pain she had deliberately ignored came rushing back.

Seventeenth knew nothing and was still beaming triumphantly. "Look! I did it!"

Chi Jing never expected the tears she had long buried to well up again, her voice choked up. "Yes, Seventeenth is amazing, truly amazing."

But no matter how capable, she was still mortal—she could still feel pain.

"Rest well," Chi Jing said, letting her sleep.

Seventeenth had passed the test, but Chi Jing began to hesitate. Was pushing her onto the path she herself had chosen truly the right thing to do?

If she stayed in this world, perhaps she could live a different life, one with more ordinary happiness.

But Chi Jing knew herself too well. If an opportunity to control how the world works presented itself, she would never settle for an ordinary life.

She decided to leave the choice to Seventeenth.

By now, Liu Shenai should have already entered into a contract with Seventeenth.

"Ah..." All her tangled thoughts finally ended in a sigh.

The dusk's light breeze brushed against the newly budded leaves on the treetops, gently rustling the corner of the financial report resting on Chi Jing's lap.

She withdrew her gaze from the distant sunset and pressed down on the paper with her hand. Just then, a slender silhouette fell silently over her.

A voice full of anger rang out, "Great! You’ve deceived me again!" Liu Shenai exclaimed.

Chi Jing looked up and saw her pale gray eyes filled with accusation. She smiled faintly, "Was the contract successful?" she asked.

"Why didn’t you tell me that Seventeenth is you, and you are Seventeenth!"

"Hmm? You didn’t know? I thought after all these years of friendship, you’d understand me just as well as I understand you. Was I wrong?" Chi Jing looked at her with a wounded expression.

Liu Shenai, who had intended to confront her, froze instantly, looking guilty. "I—of course I knew! But..."

"But—but knowing is one thing, and you not telling me is another!" she retorted, regaining the upper hand and speaking with renewed confidence.

Seeing her puffed-out cheeks, Chi Jing knew she wasn’t truly angry and was about to say a few soothing words to placate her when footsteps suddenly sounded from behind.

"President Zhou—" the voice carried a hint of hesitation.

After exchanging a few words with Liu Shenai, Chi Jing had already pushed aside her melancholy thoughts. When she turned around, a gentle smile curved her lips, revealing no trace of emotion.

"Xiao Liu just told me. You must already know how I hypnotized Qiao Zhizhang, right?"

Seventeenth nodded in gratitude, but then furrowed her brows.

Chi Jing asked, "What’s wrong?"

Seventeenth said worriedly, "President Zhou, you know I’m an eccentric person, not good at dealing with people. I can kill, but when it comes to completing the Supreme God’s tasks, I’m really... not confident."

Chi Jing raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t the kind of person to show weakness to others. Had she already won her trust after meeting only twice?

"Well, I know you’re emotionally reserved. For humans, that might be a problem, but for people like us, it’s a gift," she explained.

Seventeenth was puzzled, "A gift?"

"From now on, you’ll embark on a path entirely different from ordinary people. You’ll meet many—some who love you, some who hate you. You’ll experience countless farewells, even witness the aging and death of friends. You might feel lonely, pained, or empty—no one can truly understand you, no one can share your burdens. Only this unique gift will stay with you, making you stronger."

"So, believe in yourself. You are the most suitable one."

Seventeenth was stunned, then broke into a radiant smile.

This was the first time she had heard someone praise her for having a gift instead of calling her a monster.

She knew her intuition was right—they were kindred spirits.

Seventeenth said, "Sister Fanyi, thank you," her usually cold voice softened by the sunset, fervent and sincere. "Will we be able to meet again in the future?"

As soon as she finished speaking, they heard a loud thud from behind.

The three in the garden turned to look and saw Shi Nianan standing at the entrance, a folder dropped at her feet, her face a stunned expression.

God only knows how shocked she was to hear those words.

Who was this person calling her mother "sister"? Was this the same cold-blooded killer Seventeenth she knew? And smiling so sweetly—had a ghost taken over her body?