Chapter 19
After nearly nine hours of deep sleep, Xia Er felt completely rejuvenated. She lay on the bed, her body soft and reluctant to rise.
But soon, she mustered the strength to sit up and took a sip of water from the cup beside her.
Perhaps it was due to her exhaustion, but this sleep had been particularly refreshing.
Kneeling on the bed, she silently called out to the system.
A bright silver screen appeared before her, bringing a sense of calm.
At least she wouldn’t wake up to find it had all been a dream.
She opened the simulation interface and glanced at the simulated time displayed.
“Tomorrow: 1 Day (Saint Year 741, June 19, 6:25) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)”
“Yesterday: 3 Days (Saint Year 741, June 15, 7:30) (Cost: 10 Fate Points)”
“Old Days: ***, *** Days (????) (Cost: 10,000 Fate Points)”
June 19, 6:25... If she did nothing, she would meet her demise six minutes after entering the simulation.
It seemed that as long as she hadn’t truly passed June 19, the simulation would remain stuck here.
Xia Er had hoped to continue simulating events further along, and seeing this situation left her feeling a bit disappointed.
The first two simulations had also been at this time, both resulting in her receiving only a small amount of information before dying at the hands of others.
For the Xia Er of ten hours ago, reaching this point in time was undoubtedly a dead end.
But for the Xia Er who had now experienced four simulations, this “dead end” no longer held any tension for her.
She lit the candle on her bedside, picked up a pencil, opened her notebook, tore out a few pages, and burned the writing in the candle flame before crumpling the ashes and tossing them into the trash.
Then, on a new page, she began to write briskly.
“1. I need to familiarize myself with my abilities in the archive.”
“2. Have my sister take a day off and wait for me at the café in the city center.”
“3. Construct a plan to eliminate Thomas and Solari while clearing myself of all suspicion.”
These were her goals for the future, with the first being her primary focus, and the last one intended to help her future self devise strategies during this time.
This would save her a lot of thinking time.
“Good luck, future me.”
Xia Er smiled slightly, drawing a simple smiley face at the end before closing her notebook.
She lay back on the bed in a starfish position, notebook in hand.
Xia Er was ready to enter the simulation, but before that, she wanted to check if there were any useful items in the shop.
From her previous archive, she noticed that her clothes had already been changed by You Li Si, likely to her own garments.
Perhaps she might find something useful in the shop.
Upon opening the shop, a series of items appeared before her.
“[You Li Si’s Underwear]”
“Fate Points: 1”
“[You Li Si’s Bra]”
“Fate Points: 1”
“[High Priestess Robe of the Goddess of Salvation: ‘Silver Grace’]”
“Fate Points: 5”
“[Emblem of Salvation: ‘The Servant’]”
“Fate Points: 1”
“[Bloodied Bandage]”
“Fate Points: 1”
...
Aside from some intimate clothing, there were a bunch of herbs and bandages.
It seemed You Li Si had indeed changed her clothes, but had taken all the valuable items, leaving her with mere odds and ends.
Finding nothing immediately useful, Xia Er closed the shop interface and opened the simulation.
“Tomorrow,” she silently recited.
This time, Xia Er didn’t directly enter the simulation.
A new interface appeared before her.
“Please select a character.”
“No.x: Xia Er (Pure Mode)”
“No.1: Unnamed”
“No.2: None”
“No.3: None”
Can I still name it?
With a thought, the unnamed option began to change.
“No.1: Xia Er the Avenger”
With fire and shadows, Xia Er almost wanted to name it “Fire Shadow,” but to better distinguish her abilities across different archives, she settled on a more ordinary name.
Choosing the No.1 archive, a beam of white light enveloped her.
...
“Tomorrow”
“Saint Year 741, June 19, 6:25”
“Countdown -23:59:59”
“Whoosh...”
She opened her eyes.
Before her was the familiar room, and outside, the sound of rain she knew all too well.
But what was unfamiliar was the searing pain coursing through her body, along with the growing irritation and anger that accompanied it.
Fortunately, with the boost from [Calm Thinking Lv.1], Xia Er didn’t let these emotions cloud her judgment. She raised her hand, and the sleeve fell away, revealing the bandages wrapped around her.
The burn hadn’t healed yet... but the bandages felt cool, indicating that the medicine You Li Si had used was gradually taking effect.
Another difference from her real self was the chaotic, unspeakable knowledge swirling in her mind.
She sat on the edge of the bed and looked ahead.
Xia Er’s shadow flickered with the candlelight, and then a black silhouette emerged, as if crawling out of a mire.
It was a version of Xia Er, entirely black, with eyes devoid of pupils, only pure white glimmers, wisps of white mist escaping from its eye sockets.
Moreover, the edges of its body were surrounded by a faint gray substance that flickered, resembling a terrifying ghost from a horror film.
Suddenly, such a shadow appearing before her could easily scare many people half to death.
This was Xia Er’s first experience of wielding her extraordinary abilities. Under her control, the shadow-like duplicate moved as she commanded, and she sensed that her powers extended beyond this...
Before proceeding, she quickly checked the notes she had left for herself.
Opening the notebook by her bed, she found sparse records, mostly investigations into events she hadn’t experienced.
For instance, after failing to kill Thomas that night at the tavern, where he went, where Solari went, and the movements of the thug Aian.
She had figured out the addresses of Thomas and Solari, while Aian had been completely brainwashed by Thomas, living only for him.
As for planning?
She had left just this one line.
“[Let’s kill once and see the reactions before I think; trying to force it out isn’t working ^_^]”
The same smiley face was used here, as Xia Er playfully pinched herself.
Seeing this, Xia Er suddenly chuckled, feeling a sense of relief.
It was indeed her style.
Putting away the notebook, Xia Er glanced at the time.
6:28, just three minutes until her original “death time.”
Killing once to see the aftermath...
Xia Er stood up, reaching for the mask on her face, but halfway through removing it, she put it back on.
If this was the work of an “Extraordinary,” no one would suspect it was the act of an “ordinary person,” right?
Dressed in the robe of the Goddess of Salvation, no one would connect any of this to Xia Er—she wasn’t even a believer.
“Sorry, Goddess.”
Xia Er adjusted her mask once more.
“I’ll return those two pennies when I’m back in reality.”
---
**Chapter 19: Unnatural Death**
*Click—*
Xia Er opened the door and walked down the creaking, decaying wooden stairs.
*Thud, thud, thud—*
The wooden door below was pounded heavily, causing the old doll hanging on it to fall to the ground.
Accompanying the sound that seemed intent on breaking down the door were coarse curses.
Xia Er strolled leisurely to the door, and the shadow picked up the fallen doll and handed it to her.
Xia Er frowned slightly beneath her mask.
The shrill voice outside was unmistakably that of the thug Aian.
But she couldn’t kill him at the door.
Because this time, aside from the act of killing, the main goal was to observe the reactions from all parties involved, including but not limited to the police and the Goddess of Salvation.
It was important to cover her tracks a bit.
The shadow slipped through the crack of the door like a wisp, suddenly gripping Aian’s throat.
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