Chapter 60.60 Zi’ai and Conversation
“I am An Keling, and that is my name. You don’t need to change it… Although I say so, in your heart, An Ling is someone else, right? If you feel uncomfortable, then call me—well, call me ‘Jiuyuan’ for now.”
—but no, Jiuyuan said this.
“Jiuyuan, long-lasting fate? Does that mean this?”
At the same time, she untied her hair ties, transforming from twin tails back to long, straight black hair, her aura significantly changing.
“….I find it rather casual. Did you just think of it?”
“Yes, it’s just to accommodate you. Of course, I still want to be called An Keling because Keling was the first name I gave myself.”
“You gave yourself the name Keling?”
“Yes, isn’t it cute? I originally wanted to name her Ai Li, but since your name, Zi’ai, already contains ‘Ai,’ I used ‘Ke’…”
“I feel like you’re just trying to provoke me into making a sarcastic remark.”
“Hm? Is that so?”
Jiuyuan casually walked over, snapped her fingers in front of me, and a table and a pair of chairs appeared between us.
She gestured for me to sit, then took a seat herself and said, “Now it’s just you and me. We can have a good talk.”
“A talk first? Does that mean I still have a chance to persuade you with words?”
“Hehe, sure. I will listen carefully.”
Not flustered at all.
This type is the most troublesome.
“Actually, it’s quite strange talking to you. Because you are not the real Zi’ai An, but rather ‘traces of Zi’ai An’ created from my ‘impression.’ It’s like that game called Dark Souls, where you can summon NPCs to help in boss battles, right? You are a similar existence to them.”
“I think I’m much smarter than those soul phantoms.”
“Hehe, I think so too.”
She had completely changed. Her eyes were half-closed, with a half-smile, revealing a profound expression.
It was like Xiao An. The original Xiao An, who grew up as Juncheng’s daughter, and the divine Xiao An who had lived for thousands of years. Their appearances and builds were completely different, yet one could feel that they had ‘completely changed.’
If the original, innocent, and cute “My Younger Sister” was a girl full of youthful spirit, then the current Jiuyuan was as unfathomable and unpredictable as an old lady.
“You’re thinking something rude. I’m going to get angry, you know?”
Mind reading?
No, there’s no need. I was created by her in the first place. It’s incredibly easy for her to investigate my thoughts.
And she said it with a smile. She really looked like a mastermind.
I shrugged and sat down, saying to her, “You don’t look like you’re angry at all.”
“But I’ve already written down what you said in my little notebook, you know.”
“So you’re the type who smiles on the surface but will find an opportunity to retaliate… Ah, I remember now. Your title was ‘Black-bellied’!”
I had found it strange before. Keling herself was only a bit sharp-tongued and didn’t like playing pranks that much. Why did she end up with the title of ‘Black-bellied’?
“So, the truly ‘black-bellied’ one is you?”
“—You could say that, but I think it’s better to interpret it as ‘the one in my belly is blacker.’ Hehe.”
So, the hint was given from the beginning?
But that kind of hint is like having no hint at all. It was hidden too deeply. Without experiencing all of this, it would be impossible to guess.
“You directly admitted that you’re black-bellied?”
“Look at the Non-existent that I manipulated earlier. They were black and did dark deeds to annihilate all of you. My representative color must be black, right?”
“Of course. I’ve always been self-aware.”
“Experience from living for a long time?”
“Yes, it’s the so-called ‘old saying,’ hehe.”
She didn’t get angry even when joking, and she responded with a joke. She was kind.
I actually found the conversation with her enjoyable. Was it because she understood me so well?
She looked like a villainous boss when she first appeared, but after chatting for a while, I felt like she was a harmless bystander.
“Because I am ‘one of us’ in the first place.”
“‘One of us’ would annihilate ‘one of us’? You must be a traitor.”
“But it was me who connected your fate with Juncheng’s. Otherwise, you would never have met.”
“What!”
Suddenly, she dropped a bombshell. What did this woman just say?
You mean us F? There’s no doubt, it must be. What else could the fate she’s talking about refer to?
In other words, Jiuyuan arranged for Juncheng’s past life to meet the F, and thus they formed a fate.
Why would she do that?
…It’s too strange.
I can’t understand it. As a woman, I can’t understand this. It’s the same reason men hate R. I analyzed the reason she did this.
My words blurted out became this:
“Are you sick?”
“You just called me an old lady, and now you’re suddenly saying I’m sick. You’re too much.”
“Because—uh, could it be that you’re a saintess?”
“Hehe, a saintess? I think it’s the opposite. You can’t understand because you think it’s foolish to give away your own man, right?”
I nodded.
That’s precisely what I couldn’t understand.
“Of course, I have a reason for doing so. I’ll tell you slowly.”
“You just want to talk, don’t you? Talking to the afterimage you created, you must be lonely.”
“Oh dear, as a BOSS, it’s my responsibility to explain. Otherwise, I’ll incite public anger.”
You’re quite ‘kind’ for a BOSS.
“If I have to start from the beginning, I have to start with this. Hmm, Juncheng and I, when we had no names at all, we were Original Humans.”
“Original Humans? That’s a term I’ve never heard before, but I can guess its meaning.”
So, I directly retorted, “Adam and Eve?”
“That’s just a fairy tale fabricated by humans later. Original Humans doesn’t mean evolved from monkeys—it means humans finally had souls.”
“Soul…”
“Yes, we were the first humans to possess ‘souls,’ which are ‘reincarnation devices’ that can carry spirits and be passed down to future generations.”
I see. So, humans began to have souls starting from these two people.
Then, where did their souls come from?
…Never mind, now is not the time to discuss such topics. It’s enough to know that Juncheng and Jiuyuan were the first humans to get the chance to be ‘reincarnated.’
“However, the reincarnation of souls varies in time depending on the amount of information the soul carries. At first, I didn’t know about this, not even that I could live again. After I died and realized this, I didn’t want to forget Juncheng, so I left all the information from that life. But the amount of information a soul can carry is too little… If it were just me, it would be fine…”
She paused and continued, “But I was chosen as a ‘Star-Gazer’ to record the Akashic Records.”
“Akashic Records?”
I think I’ve heard this word somewhere before.
Never mind, she’ll explain it to me.
“The ‘Akashic Records’ are also called the ‘Book of Life.’ They record every thought, speech, and action of every person in their past and present lives. It’s a record of soul growth, a database of universal evolution and the soul’s journey. Simply put, it is ‘truth.'”
Truth…
“The reason I was able to have a soul at that time was because I became the representative of the planet, chosen as a ‘Star-Gazer.’ That’s why I obtained a soul. Juncheng was by my side then, so he obtained a soul.”
Juncheng was just an afterthought…
“All this information was stuffed into my soul, so I couldn’t reincarnate with Juncheng. Instead, I was directly thrown into the origin of the universe, where it is eternal, without beginning or end… None of this matters.”
Jiuyuan said indifferently, as if talking about something insignificant. She truly didn’t care about these things.
Her cold tone was very much like Ji Lianbing, but the words she spoke with fiery emotion afterwards were like a certain blue fox.
“What’s important is that Juncheng and I were separated!”
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It was like a nightmare.
I am fortunate that during my growth, I had your companionship, so I didn’t grow up alone.
“He and I have always been together. We have never been separated.”
“Are you siblings?”
“According to current relational classifications, yes.”
“No wonder…”
Are you trying to say that’s why I chose to be born with him?
Perhaps there was some reason for that. However, due to the interference of some people, we were separated from birth.
Although I was a bit angry. I was not fully manifest at the time, so it didn’t matter.
“Being suddenly chosen as a ‘Star-Gazer’ was not my intention. Although I could reincarnate…”
“But we were separated too far.”
“I can’t imagine a life without him, but in the days that followed, I was all alone.”
The accumulation of time only deepened my longing.
And the waiting time was too long.
Eternally so long.
So long that I couldn’t bear it.
“I don’t want to say any more mushy words. Words cannot express my longing for him.”
“I understand what you mean. We’re all like that.”
“But you haven’t been separated from him for that long.”
“Yes, if it were us, we might go crazy.”
You’re very self-aware.
Yes, it was unbearable, but I could do nothing about it.
“At the end of time and space, I can see information flowing back to me. All souls feed information back to me, and that is the Akashic Records. Then I saw the information transmitted by his soul to me.”
“He started looking for you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, that was like a salvation for me, liberating me from despair.”
My feelings for him were conveyed to him.
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So in his heart, I was also this important.
His determination to find me no matter what was conveyed to me entirely through his soul.
I felt immense warmth and comfort.
“After I suddenly disappeared, he began to search for me. Even without a single clue, he never doubted or wavered. It was clearly possible that I was just a non-existent person in his imagination, yet he still searched, never stopping.”
“—He’s just that kind of person, a fool.”
Yes, he’s so foolish.
Really, too foolish. But so happy.
Why am I so happy? I want to be by his side immediately, to hug him, to kiss him, to give him everything.
That is the happiness of a woman. That is my wish. At that time, I finally understood.
I love him.
“But the reincarnation of souls has a limited amount of information it can carry. In his first few reincarnations, he could still remember who I was and our experiences together.”
“Yes, he gradually began to forget later.”
It really hurt.
It really hurt.
I didn’t want to blame him. I even hoped that maybe he would forget and be better off.
But he didn’t give up.
“He forgot about me, forgot about his past self, forgot everything from the past.”
“Except he didn’t forget about finding you.”
Yes, that’s the only thing he didn’t forget, and didn’t wish to forget.
“Some people have deep obsessions that penetrate the soul, and they can never forget them. However, souls that reincarnate with memories will eventually enter destruction prematurely. That’s why there is Meng Po’s soup in the underworld to help people forget their past lives.”
“Is this why Juncheng made a bet with the Bodhisattva to find you within ten lifetimes?”
It’s not so much a bet as it is rebellion.
“It’s not that he necessarily has to find me within ten lifetimes, but his soul can no longer bear it. He only has ‘ten’ chances left.”
“So Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was just advising him to let go of his obsession so he could continue reincarnating. Even, perhaps that Bodhisattva already knew that the you Juncheng was searching for was waiting for Juncheng in this end, and that’s why he deliberately made a bet with him? Because only by continuing to reincarnate could he reach your side.”
“Perhaps. I don’t care about other people.”
“But I can’t just watch him walk towards self-destruction like this.”
“Only ten lifetimes. I don’t want him to be destroyed. But I don’t want him to forget even the last thing about me. I don’t want that.”
“—I don’t think you would stand by and watch Juncheng meet his doom, so what did you do? Is it related to how you arranged for the other F earlier?”
“Yes, Zi’ai An, you are indeed a smart person.”
“So, I decided that I would go to him.”
“I don’t want to wait any longer.”
“I want to shorten the distance between us.”
“But aren’t you at the end?”
“So, let’s destroy the world and bring about the end prematurely.”
“—What! Are you crazy!”
Seeing Zi’ai An stand up in anger, I found myself unable to understand.
What was there to be surprised about?
“To be able to return to his side, this is nothing, right? You all too, to steal him back, even changed the world.”
“But forget it, it’s no use talking. You’re right. Hehe, we really have no face…”
Zi’ai An sat down again, tidied her hair, and said, “Souls have connections. That connection, in today’s terms, is fate. Fate is also a part of karma and destiny. It is because of fate that humans occupy the highest position among all beings.”
“Yes, the causal threads entwined around the soul will strengthen a person’s Destiny Power. Therefore, I started a plan. In each life, I arranged for the woman with the strongest Destiny Power in that world to meet and know him.”
“After repeating this nine times, in the tenth life, Juncheng will acquire a Destiny Power that surpasses the world, allowing him to directly decide the world’s direction and bring about the end of this world. Then I will descend and meet him again.”
“You’re essentially destroying all of humanity.”
“All of humanity? What does that have to do with me?”
Perhaps it was because my counter-question was too decisive, Zi’ai An gave a bitter smile and shook her head helplessly.
I understood her meaning, but this was my thought.
“The Original Humans, there were only Juncheng and I. Others are not considered humans in my eyes.”
“I only need to satisfy my own wish. I just want to see him again. I just want to return to his side. If I have to destroy other things to do so, I will hesitate to destroy everything else.”
“Heh. Hearing you say that, I actually feel relieved.”
“Oh?”
“Because you are the same as us, and the same as the other F. You are all selfish women.”
“If we were to rank the status of the harem by seniority, I would be earlier than all of you?”
“But the time you spent by Juncheng’s side…”
“You all spent less time than anyone else. Hmm, perhaps only slightly longer than me.”
“So I envy you, I’m jealous, and I even regret it.”
“I can’t forget, and I don’t want to forget.”
“I remember everything about him. I want to be by his side, to do more and more things with him.”
“Without him, it’s impossible.”
“But I’m not by his side.”
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“Watching more and more people form bonds with him, fall in love with him, and be by his side.”
“That is what I have always longed for. Again and again, repeatedly.”
“Just hold on a little longer, wait a little longer. Soon, I’ll be able to see him.”
But at this moment, I heard him say he was going to give up.
“—No, I won’t look anymore. I don’t want to deal with all those messy things. For the past nine lifetimes, I lived for others. This time, I want to live for myself.”
Finally, he gave up.
But I felt immense panic.
Does he not need me anymore?
The thought of this made me feel like I was dying.
I wanted to shout, “Don’t.”
So, I am this weak.
It is precisely because he exists that I have been able to persevere until now.
“Don’t give up on me!”
“Please!”
“Please!”
“Please!”
“No! No! No! No! No!”
“I will destroy, destroy everything!”
“I can, abandon everything!”
“Only to have you again!”
“I want to see him even more now. No, just meeting him is no longer enough. I want to possess him.”
After hearing my words, Zi’ai An shrugged and said, “Your way of thinking is very close to Yandere. No, you are the first Yandere in human history. Heh.”
“Perhaps so.”
“Because that’s my everything.”
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“So in the end, the world suffered another undeserved disaster?”
“Pft. If the world were personified, it would definitely cry out in agony.”
“Perhaps it would even complain, ‘How much longer do you want to toy with me before you’re satisfied?'”
“I’m sorry. It’s precisely because you are indispensable to everyone that we compare the world to Juncheng and then choose to abandon the world to highlight how important Juncheng is in our hearts.”
“And this woman right in front of me.”
“She is the first person to value Juncheng more than the world. Even before humans reached the top of the food chain, when they still revered nature, she had already placed Juncheng in the highest position in her heart.”
“You could say she’s the first Yandere in history.”
“‘The first Yandere in history’? That title is quite grand.”
Jiuyuan, who had read my mind, said this. It didn’t sound like she was boasting, nor did she dismiss it as a joke.
“Then Juncheng is the first person in the world to be pestered by a Yandere. Thinking about it, he’s quite pathetic.”
“Hehehehehe~”
After a long silence, she suddenly started laughing happily.
“Indeed, he’s quite pathetic. Not only am I the first Yandere in history, but none of the women I arranged to form bonds with him later were any better.”
Her words made me very uncomfortable. She did it on purpose, leaving a knot in my heart.
Not only am I trying to persuade her, but she’s also counter-attacking me with words?
“You are all Yanderes too. No, you might be closer to ‘lustful women’?”
“‘Lustful women’? That’s quite rude.”
I don’t admit it. Perhaps Lan, Ji Lianbing, and Lily, and Xinran could be considered. Those women who would instigate Juncheng at the drop of a hat and do shady things, women who were perpetually unsatisfied, would be more fitting of that title.
“Isn’t that so? Like a mare, only knowing how to seek pleasure, and then hoping to be the first to leave him with a child. It’s almost like an animal, isn’t it? Humans were liberated from pure desire once they gained reason, yet you willingly let yourselves be consumed by madness and turn back into beasts only seeking to satisfy their desires. You’re living backwards with age.”
Although I was angry, I couldn’t find a reason to refute her.
It’s true that they chose to be consumed by madness for their own sake.
“How ugly, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, intertwined together, like chopped up and mixed dumpling filling, making strange noises and emitting pungent odors. You can really abandon your dignity and shamelessly writhe your waists there.”
“You’re quite venomous with your tongue.”
Even more venomous than Keling before. Or Keling’s venomous tongue had a tsundere charm, making it irresistible. But Jiuyuan’s was purely venomous.
“I don’t mean to insult or curse you.”
“Precisely because you don’t, it’s even more malicious.”
I knew she didn’t. When she said these words, she didn’t have a mocking expression, and her tone wasn’t overly sarcastic.
As she said earlier, she “completely doesn’t regard us as humans.”
To her, the only ones who could truly be called humans in this world were herself and Juncheng. Other humans simply didn’t count.
So, it didn’t matter what happened to others, and it didn’t matter what happened to this world.
I remembered when I and Zihua were like that. We actually had the same thoughts.
In the end, we did the same thing.
“So, I don’t have any hatred towards you. In fact, I’m grateful to you. Thank you for accompanying Juncheng in my place.”
Before she could finish, I slammed the table and stood up, glaring at her.
“Shut up!”
Only this, I do not admit!
Whatever you said about us before, whether you called us whores, lustful women, or sows, or Juncheng’s playthings, we admitted it.
But this, I do not admit, nor am I willing to admit!
“We! Are not by Juncheng’s side because of you! Nor is it because of your arrangement that we are together with Juncheng!”
Only this, I must deny.
Perhaps it was because of you that we were able to meet Juncheng, but what happened after we met has nothing to do with you!
“It’s useless for you to deny it. Your meeting was just a debt from your past lives, and that was also my manipulation. Before you became the ‘Female Lead’ of this life, you must have been a ‘Supporting Actress’ in the previous life. It’s by switching the C position like this that you can get the final qualification.”
I was agitated again, wanting to retort, but as the words reached my lips, I swallowed them back.
Because I saw her dejected expression.
“So, are you envious?”
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Jiuyuan did not answer my question, but I felt that this was equivalent to an admission.
“Because—earlier, Juncheng said he was going to give up, right? He said he was going to give up looking for you.”
Thinking about it, it makes sense. Her demeanor just now, rather than targeting us, seemed more like she was being sour about us.
“On one hand, you think it’s best for Juncheng if he gives up like this, so his soul can be preserved. On the other hand, you don’t want him to forget you. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
She said so.
Then her eyes went black, losing their light and focus, becoming empty.
“Yes, yes, yes,”
She began repeating the words, but her tone grew increasingly intense, finally erupting.
“Yes! You’re right! I’m envious! I’m jealous and hateful! Every time I think about it, my hands and feet go cold.”
“Indeed, I’m incredibly envious. This woman has long gone mad.”
“She doesn’t need madness, she is crazy herself.”
“She’s been constantly thinking, ‘Will he forget me like this?'”
“‘Will he not want me anymore?’ ‘Will I no longer be needed by anyone?’ I’ve pondered each of these questions for a very, very, very long time. “I can’t imagine how long it’s been since no one recognized me.”
“You…”
“I chose the latter. I can’t forget him, so I want to see him again. If this would lead to Juncheng’s doom, let it add color to our reunion.”
“I’d rather destroy everything. Every encounter is a reunion after a long separation.”
The world reached this point.
“Then…”
“Wait!” I tried to stop her, but she had already stood up from her seat. The table and chairs turned to dust, signifying an unpleasant parting.
I want to advise her, as long as the whole person is pieced together, only the head remains.
“The remaining parts have all fallen into Jiuyuan’s hands. The head.”
Except for Juncheng, Yu Hui, who was holding the young Juncheng, had her hand on Juncheng’s wrist.
She walked to where he was.
“Give him to me.”
Before the words were finished, the sound of a slap.
A crisp slap directly landed on Jiuyuan’s cheek! Oh my god! Yu Hui, what have you done? She’s…!
Yu Hui finished speaking, and then immediately slapped her back!
But that was still…
Slap! The sound was even louder, and it actually hit again!
Jiuyuan, who had been slapped twice, was a bit stunned but quickly recovered.
Her expression turned menacing.
After being continuously… she also stood up, holding the child Juncheng’s hand with one hand while stepping forward to confront Jiuyuan.
Yu Hui stared back at her, their cheeks less than five centimeters apart, their noses even touching. “Give him to me.”
“Make him an adult. Stay away.”
“Talking to Juncheng.”
The surrounding temperature rose continuously, and the scene was about to erupt.
But it only made things uncontrollable.
In the end, the two madwomen – one who chased after him for ten lifetimes of reincarnation after falling in love with him, and the other who had been waiting for him since the most ancient times, waiting for him for…
After the end, when all the F were wiped out, such a Shura Field would still occur. No one would have expected it.
In the end, it was Yu Hui, who had been by Juncheng’s side the longest, and Jiuyuan, who had barely spent any time with Juncheng.
The encounter of those who accompanied him, or their later interactions.
It starts with the very first scene.
I will witness…
