Inside the Floating Dream Celestial Litter, the space was spacious. Pale green light veils hung from the four walls, snowy white fleece rugs covered the floor, and a faint, cold fragrance permeated the air.
A night-luminescent pearl the size of a goose egg was embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the entire carriage as bright as day.
Yun Shu sat on a pristine soft couch, holding a white jade bowl in her hands. Half a bowl of porridge remained inside.
Her sitting posture was not particularly dignified.
This carriage was not only proof against prying eyes but also well-soundproofed. While staying inside, there was no need for her to maintain the persona of a Divine Lady.
Opposite her, a snow-white little fox sat on a low table with its tail curled. Its two front paws held a bowl of porridge as it buried its head in it, slurping loudly.
It drank every last drop of the porridge.
It wiped its mouth with a paw and sighed. “I think the programs set by the Great God are unreasonable. Why can't the initial sets be strengthened or upgraded? If the Scent of Plain Snow could be upgraded to produce infinite pickles, how wonderful would that be?”
“Drinking plain white porridge like this is truly tasteless.”
Yun Shu glanced at it sideways. “Then why did you drink eight bowls?”
She had never seen a pig more gluttonous than this System.
The little fox guiltily changed the subject. “Host, Shen Yu went to see Luo Daoqing. Why didn't you let me silence him? He told Shen Yu that there are no gods in the future. What if Shen Yu suspects you’re a fake Divine Lady?”
As it spoke, it became filled with worry.
Yun Shu didn't answer the System's question. Instead, she asked another one. “System, tell me first—why does Luo Daoqing only know the legend of Nüwa Mending the Heavens? Even if he was a STEM student, he should have heard of universally known myths like Pangu Creating the World or Jingwei Filling the Sea, right?”
The System explained, “Host, this world is just a small world derived from a novel. Because the author's writing skills were limited, the framework itself is unstable. Therefore, it's quite normal for cultural loss to occur in the future.”
“Besides, it's impossible for an author to describe every single detail, just as they can't clearly describe the life experiences of every paper person in this world.”
“Paper people?” Yun Shu repeated those two words.
Every person she had interacted with had flesh and blood. Their pain, joy, expectations... everything was so real.
How could they just be paper people?
The System thought Yun Shu didn't understand, so it explained in more detail. “In this world, everyone except you is a paper person, including the male lead. Their purpose for existing is to complete the novel's plot and push this novel world to evolve into a real world.”
“Once the novel world manifests fiction into reality, the Great God will take it under his command for unified management.”
These matters regarding the Great God Space were originally not allowed to be told to the host, but the System had no defenses against Yun Shu. It even started spilling the Great God’s dirty laundry.
“Oh, right.”
“Host, let me tell you, my big brother, the Cultivation System, once bound a host. That host was in a small world where the immortals oppressed humans. He led a group of humans to overthrow the immortals, turning that world upside down.”
It suddenly lowered its voice.
“Unfortunately, even though the task was completed, the Great God dishonorably reset that small world, returning it to its original state. My big brother and his host were even locked in a dark room by the Great God because of it.”
“It was tragic.” It sighed incessantly. “Host, you must never learn from the Cultivation System’s host. Let’s just honestly pretend to be a Divine Lady to earn Shock Value and win over the male lead. Once you finish the task, you can be reborn with one billion in prize money.”
Yun Shu merely smiled and said nothing.
She slowly lowered her head, using the motion of drinking porridge to hide the sharp glint that flashed through her eyes.
...
Yecheng.
Cheng Ji took several attendants and left the Governor's Manor to personally check on the patients in the city's medical clinics.
The doors and windows on both sides of the street were tightly shut. White funeral banners fluttered from some lintels, and the atmosphere was cold and desolate.
Walking deeper into the street, he saw an old woman burning spirit money at the mouth of an alley. The firelight reflected on her aged face as her lips moved, muttering someone's name.
He stopped and watched for a long time before continuing forward.
In front of a clinic in the East Market, a long line had already formed.
A group of people slumped over, either leaning or sitting, winding along the base of the wall for dozens of feet.
Someone was constantly covering their mouth and coughing, each cough sounding as if they were going to vomit their lungs out of their chest.
Some curled up on tattered mats with blankets over them, their exposed hands covered in dark red rashes.
Others lay stiffly on old door panels, their chests covered by patched tunics, unclear if they were sleeping or had already passed away.
Cheng Ji stood at the end of the line, his gaze scanning the faces of those people one by one. The anxiety in his eyes grew heavier.
An old man leaned in a corner, his face a ghastly gray. He looked to be about sixty years old and was tremblingly lifting a coarse porcelain bowl to his lips. Inside was a dark, murky medicinal broth.
His hands shook so violently that more than half of the broth spilled.
Seeing this, Cheng Ji hurried over, knelt down, and gently supported the trembling hand.
The old man lifted his cloudy eyes to look at him, his gaze hollow and vacant. Then, his head lolled to the side, and he collapsed.
“Doctor! Where is the doctor?!”
Cheng Ji supported the old man and shouted toward the clinic.
“I am Cheng Ji, the Governor of Yecheng! A citizen has fainted at the door! Come and save him!”
A medical apprentice ran out, his eyes red and swollen, his voice carrying an irrepressible sob. “My Lord, my master also fell ill yesterday. Now I’m the only one left. I can only help them wash, brew medicine... I don't know how to treat illnesses...”
Cheng Ji was stunned.
He could feel the old man he was holding growing colder bit by bit, yet he was powerless.
As he stood up, his vision suddenly blurred.
“My Lord? My Lord!”
His attendants cried out in alarm and rushed forward to support him.
Cheng Ji waved his hand, about to say he was fine, but a metallic sweetness surged up his throat.
He turned his head and coughed a mouthful of blood onto his sleeve.
Symptoms like these undoubtedly meant he had also contracted the plague.
“Pass down the order: seal the city!” He closed his eyes, his voice filled with grief but brook no argument. “We must not let the plague spread and endanger Xindu City and Chaoyang City!”
At this point, this was all he could do. If he allowed the people of Yecheng to carry the plague out, even more people would die.
Everyone’s faces were pale. “My Lord, this...”
“Say no more.”
Cheng Ji looked toward the direction of the city gates, his gaze as hard as iron. “Close the city gates immediately. Prohibit all passage. Violators will be executed!”
Before his voice could fade.
A flurry of rapid footsteps approached from a distance.
Before long.
A soldier ran over and knelt on one knee. His voice was overly hurried from running, yet it could not hide his wild joy.
“Report!”
“Governor, the Divine Lady of Xindu has arrived!”
“The Divine Lady has also brought hundreds of followers and says she can cure the plague in Yecheng. We're saved!”
Rate on N.U.
