Chapter 134
Chapter 134
The moment he heard that Shu Xiao was one of the System’s people, Ning Shuo instinctively pushed him away. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much strength left, and could only lean against the opposite wall, staring at him warily. “You… you’re one of the System’s people?”
Shu Xiao said helplessly, “I told you already. I guess you could say I’m kind of… his superior, and also a subordinate who’s not all that subordinate?”
He coaxed, “Anyway, whatever we do right now, the System can’t see any of it. I can help you. Do you want my help?”
No one knew how long the System malfunction would last. Ning Shuo was silent for only two seconds before offering him his hand. “Thanks.”
“No need. You’re the variable nobody saw coming.”
“What do you mean?”
Shu Xiao had no intention of hiding anything. “I’ve always known that with the Water Moon Mirror around, the Main God could always remain undefeated. Who would’ve thought a copied soul would actually survive?”
And by a twist of fate, it had skipped past the System entirely and become the master of the Water Moon Mirror.
With his free hand, he casually pointed at the red light all around them. “See? You even caused a glitch this big.”
His hair had grown a little long, and Shu Xiao tucked it behind his ear. “Tell me, if I help you, then no matter what I do afterward, whether I get involved or not, wouldn’t the Main God have to lose?”
Ning Shuo’s guard didn’t drop. “That’s hard to say.”
“Relax. No need to be so tense. Since I said I’d help you, I won’t go back on my word.”
Ning Shuo stayed silent, and Shu Xiao didn’t say anything more either.
They were getting closer and closer to the Data Prison when Shu Xiao suddenly asked teasingly, “I suddenly really want to know-you’re leaving your entire fallback plan in Ning Wang’s hands. Aren’t you afraid he’ll stab you in the back?”
If Ning Wang’s memory was wiped, then everything afterward could only be entrusted to him.
“As far as I know, the first day you met, you fought like enemies, and for nearly half a month after that, you barely exchanged a few words, right?”
Because the more they said, the more chances there were to slip up-not to mention the System was watching. Even if they wanted to say something, they could only communicate with their eyes. Over the course of half a month, they hadn’t spoken much, but their relationship and tacit understanding had deepened a lot.
Besides, both he and Ning Wang were Xie Ning. Rather than both of them losing their memories, it was better for one of them to keep them. The one who remembered would definitely be able to think things through more thoroughly than the one who didn’t.
Leaving his fallback plan to Ning Wang wasn’t much different from keeping it in his own hands.
He couldn’t say any of that in front of someone whose loyalties were still unclear. Ning Shuo had only just begun to think about how to phrase it when Shu Xiao cut him off again. “No need to think up some excuse to fool me. I’m just a spectator below the stage. I want to see how far your play can go, and whether you’ll really manage to kill the villain in the end.”
Shu Xiao was smart, and he had obviously been observing Ning Shuo for a long time. Knowing all of Ning Shuo’s hidden cards, he easily worked out what Ning Shuo was planning to do.
When they reached the Data Prison, Shu Xiao bent down to examine Ning Wang, who had been drugged and was sitting weakly on the floor. He clicked his tongue twice and shook his head. “Poor thing. Remember this-once the System goes back to normal, you have to act like you just entered the System, okay? You don’t remember anything from before in the System. Got it?”
Ning Wang’s gaze froze, and he immediately looked at Ning Shuo. “You…?!”
Ning Shuo didn’t look at him. That kind of sentimental, drawn-out scene was exactly what he hated most, and Ning Wang hated it too.
Leaning against the side, he casually tossed a shard of the mirror to Ning Wang. “Keep it safe. After I come back, find a chance to give it to me.”
Then he looked at Shu Xiao. “When are we leaving?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Honestly. This Data Prison needs Judge identity to be opened. Without me, there’d be no way you could hide this from everyone on your own, and you don’t even know how to thank me properly.”
Just as he was about to shut the door, a muffled groan came from inside the prison.
Ning Wang was sprawled on the ground, crawling toward them. “Don’t…”
Shu Xiao raised a brow and said to Ning Shuo, “Sharp eyes, huh? He figured out you’re injured right now and doesn’t want you to suffer through another memory wipe?”
Ning Shuo turned away. “Even if I weren’t injured, he still wouldn’t be willing to owe anyone a favor. Let’s go.”
If he left any later, people would get one more second to stare at that miserable sight.
The same face, the same build. Ning Shuo had no desire to look at that humiliation reflected back at him like a mirror.
Not to mention, he himself had looked just that wretched on the way here, and Shu Xiao had seen all of it. Ning Shuo didn’t want to keep looking at that bedraggled appearance.
Shu Xiao had just started to leave when he suddenly remembered something. “Ah, right. I forgot.”
The cell door, which hadn’t fully closed yet, opened again. With quick, deft movements, Shu Xiao knocked Ning Wang unconscious. “The aftereffects say you need to stay out for a while. Ning Shuo had that mirror blocking most of the external force, but you didn’t.”
Shu Xiao put him back into the memory-wiping data pod.
This thing was pretty overbearing too. It wouldn’t even start unless someone was lying inside it.
Shu Xiao rested a hand on the pod and checked the watch on his wrist from time to time.
That kid Shu Yan-he wondered whether he’d been attending class properly today.
A couple of days ago, he’d been making a fuss about picking a name for himself, and he had insisted on sharing Shu Xiao’s surname.
The corners of Shu Xiao’s lips lifted unconsciously. When the cleansing was past the halfway mark, the internal error messages in the System finally stopped.
Several rigid Judges finally regained focus in their eyes. The moment they saw Shu Xiao, they realized what had happened and hurriedly said, “Thanks, Xiao-ge, for watching this place for us.”
Even though these Judges had no idea why the few lower-numbered Judges in the System weren’t affected by the System in real time, that didn’t stop them from instinctively fearing them.
Shu Xiao was clearly smiling, yet they all felt as though 002’s hand on their shoulders weighed a thousand jin. “What are you scared of? It’s not like I’m going to eat you.”
These Judges had all started as mindless beings, mechanically acting according to the System’s initial directives. Only after a long time had they developed anything resembling individual personalities. Seeing that they were still trembling, Shu Xiao lost interest and withdrew his hand. “All right, I’m leaving. Oh, right-”
He pointed at the data pod, deciding to give Ning Shuo and the others one final push. “This is the second person already.”
The data pod remained perfectly quiet. Shu Xiao turned back with a puzzled glance, confirming that the machine was indeed running.
Not even a single scream?
Memory cleansing was like shoving a blade into someone’s brain and forcibly scraping away the parts you wanted erased. It didn’t harm the body, but it hurt quite a bit.
Shu Xiao recalled the level of pain.
Ah. Every time the Main God wanted to punish someone, before the real punishment began, they would first be made to wash away a segment of trivial memory. Even the screams during the actual punishment weren’t as loud as they were during memory cleansing.
Shu Xiao walked off with light steps, drifting away like a cloud, leaving only the few Judges staring at one another.
Just to be safe, they made preparations on both ends. After the second memory wipe was completed, one of the Judges went back to check how many times the Data Prison had been opened and looked over the data pod’s usage log. “…It really has been used twice already?”
“As expected of 002. That was fast.”
“That person still isn’t awake, which matches the aftereffects of a fresh memory wipe. The Data Prison also shows signs of having been opened twice. It should be the one from inside the Water Moon Mirror.”
When Ning Shuo came out of the data pod, he was still muddled and dazed. He heard someone ask, “…Ning Wang?”
His eyes only half-open, he weakly asked in return, “Who are you people?”
It was still such a foreign place.
Those people only exchanged a few glances before saying, “You’re injured. We’re here to save you. This is a medical hall. When we rescued you, we dropped a mirror. Can you check whether it’s on you?”
Save him?
Ning Shuo had a splitting headache, but he wasn’t stupid. What kind of Good Person asks for something before the person they’ve saved is even awake?
If it really were theirs, couldn’t they have just taken it while he was unconscious?
Not to mention that his memories were extremely disjointed. Just a second ago, he had clearly still been trying to assassinate the emperor.
Looking at it that way, unless they couldn’t retrieve that object themselves and could only trick him into handing it over of his own accord.