Chapter 4
### Chapter Three: The Coming Days, The Past, and The Old Days
The violent gasps could not quell the fear within her. The agony of a bullet piercing her skull lingered, and Xia'er remained in shock from the scene she had just witnessed, unable to find peace.
Instinctively, she wanted to leap up and rush out of the house to check on her sister's safety in the factory area, but reason held Xia'er in place as she slowly adjusted her breathing.
What had just happened wasn’t real; it was merely a mirage that felt too vivid to be false...
“Pocket watch...”
Xia'er looked at her hands, which were empty except for a wound on her right thumb, a reminder that the pocket watch had once existed.
“What's wrong? Thinking about me?”
A bright silver screen unfolded before her, following the movement of her head, always staying in her line of sight.
Xia'er recalled that after the pocket watch was activated by her blood, it seemed to have displayed some binding information.
Was this pocket watch directly linked to her body?
“System?”
Xia'er called out instinctively.
The screen flickered and changed again, revealing several options.
“Simulation”
“Skills”
“Warehouse”
“Point Shop”
“P.S.: Next time, just think it in your mind: D”
It really was a system.
And a rather chatty one at that.
Xia'er clicked on the “Simulation” interface, and a familiar screen appeared before her.
“Coming Days: 2Day (Saint Year 741, June 19, 18:58) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)”
“Past Days: 1Day (Saint Year 741, June 16, 11:55) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)”
“Old Days: ***, ***Day (???) (Cost: 10,000 Fate Points)”
“P.S.: Your simulation for the coming days is fixed before June 19, 18:31. Make some changes in reality to break the death outcome and expand the number of days available for simulation.”
Xia'er noticed that aside from the coming days, the past and old days had already turned into random dates.
“Before the host's 'death outcome' is altered, the number of days available for simulation in the coming days will be limited to before the actual death occurs.”
It seemed the bright silver screen anticipated Xia'er's thoughts, clarifying her doubts.
In other words, unless she survived the death event in two days, the future simulation days would remain confined between now and 6:30 PM on the 19th?
“Correct.”
“System, if I go back to the past, can I change the future?” Xia'er asked instinctively.
This question was crucial; whatever she did in the past could trigger unpredictable butterfly effects.
“Simulations of the coming and past days will not affect reality, while the simulation of the old days will only impact 'those' existences from the old days.”
So, she couldn’t change the past...
Whether that was a good or bad thing was hard to say; at least her actions in the simulation wouldn’t wreak havoc on reality.
As for simulating the future, without mentioning anything else, just betting on horses could make her rich overnight. As long as she kept a low profile and controlled her wins and losses, visiting different racetracks, the gangsters wouldn’t bother her.
Xia'er exhaled slowly, exiting the simulation interface to digest the information swirling in her mind.
She didn’t want to rush into the future again; hurrying to two days later would not only leave her powerless but also force her to witness her sister's death once more.
First, she needed to understand all the functions of the system.
Xia'er opened the second tab, “Warehouse,” which contained four empty slots, devoid of any items.
This must be the place for storing items.
Exiting the “Warehouse,” she opened the “Point Shop” below.
A large interface unfolded before her, filled with numerous categories and slots, but only a few at the forefront were highlighted.
“【.450 (11.43mm) Black Powder Bullet (Slightly Deformed)】”
“Fate Points: 1”
“【Bolen Private Academy Graduation Certificate (Xia'er)】”
“Fate Points: 1”
“【Bolen Private Academy Graduation Gown】”
“Fate Points: 1”
“......”
After a quick glance, Xia'er found herself momentarily speechless.
She recognized these items as things she had brought with her into the simulation.
But she hadn’t expected that the bullet lodged in her skull could also be purchased.
That was a bit of a dark joke.
However...
The fact that she could buy items back from the simulation? Wouldn’t that cause some sort of time-space chaos?
“All purchasable items are system replicas; except for those with the 【Unique】 property, everything else can be bought.”
The system promptly responded, addressing Xia'er’s concerns.
And her final question naturally revolved around the skill she had gained after the last simulation.
【Agility Lv.1】.
As she pondered this, a silver panel appeared before her.
“Agility Lv.1: Slightly increases your agility, making your movements more nimble.”
Xia'er clenched her fist, feeling no surge of strength.
She tentatively stood up and did some warm-up exercises. After a few attempts, she realized her body had indeed changed.
She could jump farther and higher than before; now, she could touch the two-and-a-half-meter-high beam with just her fingertips without exerting herself fully. Given her previously mediocre physique, this was a significant improvement.
At her height, reaching that height had been impossible before.
In addition to that, her balance had greatly improved, and even when landing, her body instinctively employed some techniques to absorb the impact.
Xia'er was certain these movements were ones she had never performed before. She wasn’t completely clueless about sports, but she could only say she knew very little.
It seemed that this 【Agility Lv.1】 skill had comprehensively enhanced her body’s sensitivity, making her more agile than ever.
And this was just a consolation prize for having run a little in the future simulation.
If she accomplished other tasks or improved her system rating, would she gain even more powerful skills?
This ability... was impressive.
Xia'er quickly formed her judgment about the system.
Suddenly, she thought of something and hurriedly left the living room, running upstairs to her small room. She rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a hard-covered notebook and a graphite pencil.
Opening the notebook, the pale yellow pages emitted a faint scent of alum. Xia'er picked up the pencil and wrote a line in Chinese characters on the first page.
“Saint Year 741, June 19, 18:31 (Time of Death)”
This was likely the time when the events of two days later would unfold, leading to her sister's and her own demise.
After pondering for a moment, Xia'er continued writing:
“From now on, I will record all important events that happen within a day in this notebook, leaving no detail of any anomaly or intuition unnoted...”
Her elegant handwriting flowed smoothly from the tip of her pencil, and what she wrote felt less like a diary and more like a warning to her future self.
As she wrote, Xia'er paused slightly. The silver system interface appeared before her again, and she reopened the simulation interface.
She had no need to simulate the past now; simulating the future would only lead her to that irreversible moment.
The operational space was too limited.
Because when she simulated the future, she lacked the memories in between.
For instance, today, on the 17th, if Xia'er placed a piece of cake by her bedside, when she traveled through the system to the 19th, the cake would be gone, and she wouldn’t know who had eaten it or why it had disappeared.
But if she recorded it in her notebook, she could refer back to it and understand why the cake had vanished.
She could even leave hints in the notebook for her future self to decide how to handle the cake based on its contents.
This way, compared to directly entering the simulation, leaving information in the notebook would allow Xia'er to gain more intelligence and insights that the simulation couldn’t provide.
She needed “herself” to help her investigate.
Through the silver screen, Xia'er wrote on the paper on her desk in Chinese characters.
“Eddie will have a conflict with my sister on June 19, leading to her death.”
“Do not attend the graduation ceremony on the 19th; try to persuade my sister to move to another district with me, away from Bell Tower Alley, to avoid this conflict.”
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