Chapter 223: Coming to the Door

“Little Ba, tell me, why does it thunder in the sky?”

“I don’t know why the heavens thunder, and I don’t know why Shengling thunders.”

Mi Xiaolu looked at her “Big Thunder” roommate. “But what I really want to know is, why are you staying here all by yourself?”

Weren’t they supposed to be on their honeymoon? Why was she back in the Dormitory?

Today was just over a week after the wedding. That day, everyone had been very happy; the scene was bustling, and the atmosphere was lively. Although there were about ten guests who weren’t exactly “human,” everyone was understanding, and it went well.

After Shen Ning made her vow on stage, Principal Lü kept nodding, telling the people beside him that the child had finally grown up, becoming responsible and dependable—a true testament to the excellence of the Academy’s education.

However, they had underestimated the young woman’s drive. On the second day after the wedding, Shen Ning crawled into bed, pulled up the covers, and left only one sentence for Xu Chuyao: “Wife, bring me back the day after tomorrow. Any time is fine.”

At the time, Chuyao was stunned. “Don’t you think you’re overdoing it?”

Girl, you’ve been at it for two days straight!

But on second thought, the Crystal Stone World was essentially a place of endless work. The young woman used to go there to handle business whenever she slept anyway.

While others sleep, you work—who could possibly out-hustle you?

And so, Shen Ning plunged headfirst into the Daystone world, returning only once every two or three days.

If you called it a business trip, it didn’t feel like she was that far away, because she could come back the moment she touched a stone without needing any transportation. But if you said she wasn’t far, well, she had gone to an entirely different world.

“Student Shen Ning really is being a bit excessive. You clearly should be on your honeymoon.” Mi Xiaolu comforted her roommate. “But don’t be angry; she’s just focused on her duties…”

“Angry? Why would I be angry?” Xu Chuyao jumped down from her bed. “Why should I be angry? I’m happy beyond words!”

“Happy?”

“Exactly. You don’t know what she’s doing. You don’t understand—none of you do. If you understood, you definitely wouldn’t think that way.”

Chuyao knew exactly what Shen Ning was doing and what would happen once those tasks were completed.

“Actually, it is strange. Why is she doing this so early? It was originally supposed to start four or five years from now… forget it. The progress has been completely unrecognizable since six months ago. Why worry about that now? The sooner we finish, the sooner we beat the game, and the sooner we can enjoy life.”

Mi Xiaolu didn’t understand what her roommate was rambling about, but as long as she wasn’t angry, everything was fine. Peace at home was what mattered.

“I won’t say more. I’m going over there to do my duties. I’ll be sleeping there tonight.” Xu Chuyao grabbed a small bag and waved to Mi Xiaolu. “Goodnight, see you tomorrow.”

After the wedding, Principal Lü had specially found a standalone “Villa” within the Academy. This place was originally the Arts Complex, intended to cultivate the interests and sentiments of students with artistic hearts. Later, they found that students kept accidentally breaking expensive instruments or cracking the hardwood floors with overly heavy footsteps, so the project was eventually abandoned.

Now, it was perfect. This elegant, fully-equipped small house was used as the Wedding Room. All it needed was a bed.

Xu Chuyao opened the door with a key, tossed her bag onto the sofa, and went into a large room nearby.

This place was called the Art Display Room. It was filled with various artworks—some made of plaster, some of ceramic, and various other materials. They were called art, but in reality, they weren’t worth much because they were man-made—hand-crafted by the then-Vice Principal, a Three-Stage Spirit Power User of the Earth Element.

Just like the original intent of the building, these were meant to cultivate sentiment. In practice, because the teacher himself wasn’t skilled in design, the results were worse than 3D printing. Now, they were being recycled as—

“Come to life, my love!”

Xu Chuyao gave a light shout and grabbed the X Crystal. It dissolved instantly, and Palm Lightning crackled in her hand.

Half a minute later, a beautiful young woman with flowing white hair rose from the art pile and rubbed her eyes. “Xu Chuyao, good… good afternoon.”

The Art Display Room finally had a real piece of art.

Though she had been busy since the wedding, Shen Ning had indeed become even more beautiful. Full, surging Spirit Power seeped from her slender body, completely transforming her aura.

“You really are looking a bit too good now.” Xu Chuyao described her in her own way. “You look like a limited-edition anniversary character that a small pity-timer would skip and only a big pity-timer could pull.”

“Don’t say that…”

The young woman lowered her head slightly. The Spirit Power radiating from her body gently pushed aside the surrounding ceramic displays, like an autumn wind brushing fallen leaves. Her snow-white long hair moved even without wind.

“See, that’s exactly what I mean by ‘vibe’.”

Shen Ning reached out to tuck her hair back, trying to smooth it down, but it didn’t work well. “I don’t want to be like this either. It’s too high-profile…”

In the process, she inadvertently generated a few hundred Counter Villain Value points for her wife.

Having received her “dues,” Xu Chuyao opened the door with a grin. “Let’s eat first.”

Although she technically hadn’t slept for several days, Shen Ning was still full of energy. At the dining table, she excitedly shared her progress.

After making the vow at the wedding, they had immediately begun work in the Crystal Stone World. The grand “Operation: Become Human” had officially commenced.

The action was generally divided into three steps. The first step was recuperation, letting those with clouded minds stay at Hourglass Square and do daily exercises to regain vitality.

Once they improved, they moved to the second step: crossing the Naihe Bridge to send dreams to their relatives. Meanwhile, people in the real world would act as contacts to help find the other party. If there were no issues, a meeting would be arranged.

With the five golden stars currently in Xu Chuyao’s hand, finding someone was just a phone call away.

Indeed, after killing Wang Li in the Cursed Lands last time, she had been promoted again.

The third step was the offline activity—arranging the meeting. Shen Ning wouldn’t go every time—it was too much to handle—but she would try to accompany them when possible.

Watching the light in the Fossil Corridor gradually increase, the young woman felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

Of course, not every case had a perfect ending. Some people’s relatives were no longer in this world and couldn’t be found. Others had been gone for too long, and their families had started new lives, unwilling to have contact with the deceased. Those people could only return in disappointment.

For those cases, there was truly nothing to be done.

“Fortunately, they recovered well through the exercises and gained basic communication skills. Minister Long said a new community could be formed in the Crystal Stone World, like a nursing home in reality.” Shen Ning took a bite of rice and continued, “People in the community can lean on each other. It’s a solution.”

Xu Chuyao chuckled and reached out to pick a stray grain of rice from the girl’s cheek. “Eat slower. Talk slowly, I’m listening.”

“Oh.”

Counter Villain Value +4200. Li Yao was very happy. Hearing her say that, she secretly wished Shen Ning would get rice on her face with every bite.

Pity the girl was 19 now, not a child of only a few years old. She finished the rest of the meal smoothly, giving her wife no further chance to “farm” her.

After dinner, as the sky darkened, the two tidied the house together and then lay down on the bed.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Get on with it!” The Oppression Sister within her was impatient. “We already have the certificate! What are you waiting for!?”

Shen Ning thought to herself: Last time I came back, we did it immediately. If I do it again the moment I return this time, won’t it look bad? It’ll make Chuyao think I only come back for that.

“If Chuyao thinks that, let her think it. It’s not like she won’t let you… forget it. Since you don’t want to, then do something else productive.” The Oppression Sister said, “It’s been almost half a month. Have you forgotten something?”

This time, Shen Ning was truly stunned. She racked her brain for a long time, thinking from the mortal world to the Crystal Stone World, from Hourglass Square to the Fossil Corridor, but she still couldn’t remember.

The Broken Shadow gave a hint: “The gifts you received for the wedding haven’t been fully settled yet. I’m not talking about the ones from people.”

Emmm… besides people, who else sends gifts? Ghosts?

No, it was the System!

Shen Ning finally remembered the unsettled System rewards. She quickly checked the messages following the last update.

[Obtained Autumn Wind Element Traits]

1. Invisibility: When this trait is active, all your elemental skills become invisible to the naked eye.
2. Absorption: When this trait is active, your elemental skills will absorb surrounding elements during release, increasing skill power.

Excellent. Two traits that directly increased frontal combat power. But there was still a long message below.

Shen Ning continued scrolling. Next were the changes to the Milestone System. Subsequent missions had turned into something similar to random Daily Tasks. They had no fixed cooldown and would occasionally pop up. For example, she had just completed one: [Do housework with your dear wife], rewarding a small amount of Spirit Power, which solidified her status in the mid-stage of the Four Defenses.

Having understood that, only one last thing remained—

[Host, due to the successful wedding, your merit is complete, triggering a special mission: All for One, One for All.]

[Description: Walking this path from youth toward maturity, the girl who once hid behind a cabinet in an underground mall trembling is now someone who commands the wind and clouds in the Zhou Nation. Of course, you didn’t get here alone. Along the way, besides your own efforts, you had the companionship of your Reflections to protect you. They come from your future self in other timelines, bringing intense mindsets and useful experiences.]

Intense experiences… huh?

Shen Ning thought it over. The incredibly oppressive Oppression Sister, the incredibly broken Broken Sister, and the incredibly… well, Naijie Sister.

Experience was definitely there, but whether it was “mature” was debatable. Then again, whether it was the Oppression Sister’s strategic advice, the Broken Sister’s combat insights, or the fragments of prophecy Naijie Sister struggled to speak through system bugs—they were all very useful.

[Now, you have also become a mature and successful person. As they say, the sea is vast and leaves return to their roots. Are you willing to provide support for others who need help?

No side effects.

Reward: ???]

Shen Ning read it carefully several times. Her current mental state would be copied as a status buff and sent to a past parallel world to become a Reflection for a rookie Shen Ning. Additionally, the Reflection wouldn’t be exactly the same as the original, but an enhanced version based on her most prominent traits.

So it turned out the original Oppression Sister didn’t spend every day in “adult entertainment,” and the original Broken Sister wasn’t drowning in sorrow every single day.

Since there were no side effects, there was nothing more to say. Even though the reward was three question marks, since it was a reward, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The young woman firmly clicked “Agree.”

All for one, one for all!

Immediately, a wave of unstoppable drowsiness washed over her. Shen Ning closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Zzzzz…

In a certain world out there, in the early autumn of Shengling Academy, the wind whistled against a girl’s snow-white long hair until she reached out and closed the window.

“How can you help me?” she whispered to the window, though there was clearly nothing outside.

“Just do missions to stack stats? The power I get doesn’t need practice to master? Really? What… I just need to stick by Xu Chuyao?”

“I was just talking to a classmate on the road…”

The girl whispered a few more sentences, then suddenly heard her own reflection on the window gritting its teeth: “She dares to talk to other girls today, she’ll dare to sleep with other girls tomorrow!”

“Nonsense!”

The summer breeze blew gently, carrying little coolness, unlike the air conditioning in the room.

Shen Ning had a rare, long sleep. After waking up, she greeted Xu Chuyao and took out a crystal, preparing to enter the other world.

“I’m going. If anything happens, just call me back.”

“Got it.”

Xu Chuyao replied lazily.

What could possibly happen? Theoretically, Chuyao was still enjoying her honeymoon vacation, unless that old man Minister Long was shameless enough to make her work overtime…

Ring~ Ring~ Ring~

Suddenly—

Xu Chuyao cursed under her breath. She picked up the Mobile Phone without even looking and said directly, “Hello, Minister Long. Good morning.”

Message notifications usually just vibrated; a sudden call was a special alert. Because the other party never engaged in small talk, every time he called, it was bound to be something big.

“Morning. Are you free now… forget it, even if you aren’t, you have to come over. I know you’re on your honeymoon, but I have no choice. The higher-ups specifically asked for you.”

“Fine, fine. Sigh, I hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet.”

Xu Chuyao grumbled as she slowly changed her clothes, turning on the speakerphone to ask, “So what is it exactly, Minister Long? Can’t you give me a heads-up?”

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Minister Long seemed to light a cigar, taking a deep puff before saying, “Better to talk in person. I can only tell you that this time, a Councilor wants your help. He’s been targeted by the Supreme Society over some matters, and he hopes you can clear up that trouble.”

More than eight hours ago, in the quiet of midnight, outside a beautiful large villa, several figures used the cover of night to quietly scale the wall.

The high-end alarm system did not respond at all because elemental power was far more effective—with metal parts jammed and the system cut from power, it naturally couldn’t serve any purpose.

The anti-theft alarms were never designed to defend against a Three-Stage Spirit Power User; it was completely beyond their capacity.

“I really regret letting the Clown Gang get wiped out on that island,” a man with a raspy voice said irritably. “Now look, there’s no one to do the grunt work and die for us. We have to do it ourselves.”

After those at the bottom of the pyramid were gone, the middle tier became the new bottom.

“Shut up, Harris,” another bald man hissed in a low voice. “Quiet down. If you just keep your mouth shut during such a simple mission, we’ll be perfectly safe.”

As he spoke, he looked up to find an angle, reaching out to toss a letter inside. Then, he gestured for the group to withdraw.

It was indeed very simple.