XH 165 -- The System Central replied my mail

Team Transmigrated wanted to know more about Doctor Bai and his system, but the 19th Emperor always dragged Doctor Bai and Xiao Hua out of the palace to sightseeing around the city. 

In these two days, Xiao Hua had visited the most famous temple in the Guilin Kingdom, the great spot that could overlook the whole city of Guilin Kingdom, and the most famous restaurant in the kingdom. They were all claimed so by the ever-confident Long Yuen despite after long years of absence from the kingdom. The last time he came back was just to pick up the Third Prince and toss him to Doctor Bai but he had arrived and gone without even staying for a night.

The Empress originally wanted to tag along as an assistant tour guide, but the Emperor forbids it. He had thought his wife would argue with him and already prepared for her outburst, but she did not do so and obediently comply with his order. That put the Emperor on edge, especially when his father did not persist in having his favorite daughter-in-law to tag along. They did not do anything, but his own fears were enough to ruin his own mood. 

They only returned to the palace in the late evening and after that Long Yuen would drag Doctor Bai to visit adult places that in Long Yuen's words, 'good little girl' Xiao Hua should remain ignorant about. 

Xiao Hua would not have discovered it if she had not tried to sneak into Doctor Bai's room, wanting to have a chat. Once she discovered him missing with a tidy bed, Duan XiYing helped to find him and returned with a complicated expression. 

"They are in rotten flowers street."

"Rotten flowers?" Xiao Hua assumed it was a name of a place and she guessed it half right. It was actually a term that scorned - cough - wives used for prostitutes. 

 

She does not know if she should side with which side so it was better to remain silent. She does have empathy for wives whose husbands often have their eyes strayed, but she also understands the prostitutes' side. Most of them do not have the choice and was forced into that career to earn money for living. But this empathetic side of hers does not extend to immoral females that steal other people's boyfriend or husband.

On that topic, Xiao Hua sneaked a glance at Duan XiYing and jolted in her chair when their eyes met.

Knowing what Xiao Hua was thinking, Duan XiYing smiled. "XiYing has a more terrible nickname."

Xiao Hua: '...' Don't sound as if you are proud of it! There's nothing good about it!

Xiao Hua thought that she would have to make plans to exorcise Long Yuen for a day when Doctor Bai suddenly declined Long Yuen and opted to stay indoors for the day. With a gentle smile on his face, Doctor Bai kicked his friend out of the compound, leaving him and Xiao Hua alone. All servants assigned to serve them were gone as well, including Duan XiYing and Da Bei.

"The System Central replied my mail," Doctor Bai said as he served them tea. 

That got all of Xiao Hua's attention. "I will call Heise!"

Much to her disappointment, Duan XiYing informed her, "Duke Heng had brought the Eighth Prince out of the palace to play."

The sad expression that Xiao Hua used to look at Doctor Bai was alike to a sad puppy whose bone was taken away by its owner. 

A sad puppy: I want to know (｡•́︿•̀｡)

The owner: '...'

It does not take long for Doctor Bai to give in. "I can tell it to you first if you wish."

"Yay!" Xiao Hua quickly returned to her seat, as attentive as a student in her favorite class.

"If I had not known of your true age from the information, I would find it difficult to believe when I see you."

"Childish is good, I get to retain my youth without relying on medicine!" Xiao Hua said and had unknowingly poked a sensitive spot of Doctor Bai's. That was because Doctor Bai had used precious self-discovery medicine to retain his youth in this world and her words felt as if he was being slapped. Cultivation could only go so far in retaining his youthful appearance. 

Doctor Bai changed the subject, not wishing to indulge in his adopted daughter's childishness as well as to prevent himself from suffering more heart injuries.

"It is this world itself that brings you and Heise into this world, believing both of you as its cure or prevention of the bad incident."

The cup that was halfway raised stopped in its tracks before Xiao Hua placed it down. "...I get it that me being here had stopped the original Xiao Hua from killing the Third Prince but what did Heise do?"

"The script I've received does have the Eighth Prince in it, but he is mentally handicap and has no use in aiding anyone. His body slowly got weaker as his mind quickly deteriorate and finally died before he reached adulthood."

His words reminded Xiao Hua something. "What happened to Long Lian in the script? You say the royalty bloodline ended. But does Long Lian included even if she's a female? Is she..."

Doctor Bai said solemnly. "Even if she's a female, she can still continue the Long bloodline. However, she died." He did not explain further as Long Lian's death was rather cruel, even for him who had killed and witnessed plenty of cruel conduct that a human could do. 

But Xiao Hua refused to let it go and asked anxiously, "Is Long Lian killed by the hero and heroine? In the novel I've read, she died by the heroine's poison after... after the Third Prince. Surely the fate changed after the Third Prince's time travel?"

"I've read this 'novel' and confirmed that Long Lian had escaped that fate, but she still ends up dead by the female lead's hands."

Xiao Hua released a harsh breath and stared at Doctor Bai fiercely. "I will do my best to prevent Long Lian from dying. You know that, right?"

"I've heard you and the princess are good friends." So yes, he knows she will try to prevent it. "But I will not tell you how she died."

"But-"

 

"My script is considered as the tool to see the future. The consequences of knowing the future is nothing good. I'm safe from it because I'm a player, assigned by the system central to fix the irregularity to prevent the world's ending."

Xiao Hua wanted to know how Long Lian will die very much, but she also knows that Doctor Bai will not tell her anything about it.

"As long as I know who will kill Long Lian, it is enough." Xiao Hua swore to find ways to send the heroine off to the afterlife. It would be useless to talk to the heroine when she and the hero were determined to end the Long bloodline. She doubted her talking skill could overturn their plans. 

Xiao Hua had never killed a human before and was terrified of the idea. But she preferred the heroine died than Long Lian. In her eyes, Long Lian was an innocent person that does not deserve to have her life cut short unnaturally.

"Liu Chu Chu's body is at risk of being possessed by the demon. If succeed, the gate would be opened by her."

She felt her vision shaking as she stared at Doctor Bai. "Are you trying to give me a reason to kill her?"

"She might not be your first kill," Doctor Bai assured. "Not to mention, I can guess that there's a long queue lining up to have a chance in killing her and you might not have the chance to do so."

Xiao Hua focused on the first sentence. "W-What-"

Knowing what rattled her, he explained. "I am not so cruel as to let you face the female lead without training. We will discuss this further when we return to the Bai land."

Her body unconsciously trembled at the thought. "You want me to be an assassin?"

"You wish to kill for money?" Xiao Hua quickly shakes her head vigorously at Doctor Bai's question. "Then you won't."

"Then what-"

"We will discuss it with Long Yuen when we settle down at Bai land. But know that there would be accidental killing or the chances of you encountering the situation where you will be forced to kill in order to save your own life. There are also probabilities of being forced to kill if you want to protect other people."

Xiao Hua hesitated for a moment before nodding. She does not know what he wanted her to do but Doctor Bai refused to tell her now so she will have to wait patiently. 

"If you force me to do something cruel and inhuman, I will not do it," Xiao Hua said firmly.

Doctor Bai smiled helplessly at his misunderstood adopted daughter. He got a feeling that if he did not tell her now her imagination will bring her far away and then it would be too late to bring her back to reality. 

"You will just tag along with Long Yuen to help people in need and to catch bandits. During the process, it's 9 out of 10 probabilities that you will kill someone when the bandits resist being captured."

"Oh." Xiao Hua was relieved. "But don't I need to stay at Bai land?" She squinted at Doctor Bai suspiciously. "You are lying to me?"

"It's not a lie, but it's not a problem to leave for a few days, as long as you did not break 7 days limit."

"The journey from Guilin to Bai land needs how many days?"

Doctor Bai chuckled. "Lesser than 7 days, but the horse will die from the constant trip between Guilin and Bai land."

Xiao Hua pouted and gave up on the thought. "The previous transmigrators were all sent here to help fix the irregularities? That's rather unfair. Once we transmigrated here, we can't return because we are supposed to be dead in our original world. What do we get in return from fixing the irregularities?"

Doctor Bai smiled. "You don't think second chance in life is a gift?"

Xiao Hua scrunched her face before pointing a finger at it. "Look at my face. Do you think I view it as a gift?"

Doctor Bai laughed pleasantly and rubbed her face so that she would stop scrunching it. "Be careful or that will be your permanent face."

Speaking of rewards... "What do you get in return for traveling around the world to fix things?"

The kindness behind his smile replaced with sadness and longing. "...My daughter."

The strong melancholy clouded his figure stopped her from asking further. His daughter might have died or something and the system might have promised him that if he agreed to help, it could bring back his daughter. 

Xiao Hua uncomfortably shifted in her chair and changed the subject. "Isn't Liu Chu Chu a transmigrator too? Why is it that her arrival caused more problems to appear instead of fixing it?"

 

Her question had fortunately pulled Doctor Bai back to his gentle and calm persona. 

"This world's spirit is unable to foresee it either. You see... before she transmigrates to this world, the Second Prince is rather pitiful. He married a woman that refused to help him remove the Long from the throne; her loyalty to the royalty was strong. His children, a pair of Phoenix and Dragon, were taken as a hostage and got killed along with their maternal family. The princes were all dead either by the Second Prince's hands or by war, but he left Princess Long Lian alive. With no one left, he successfully becomes the Emperor. But he did not pick an Empress or concubines, choosing to remain alone with no other more children from him. However, the demon invasion did not happen in that timeline."

"This world's spirit... it wants to save humanity or it wants its favorite son's life to be better?" Xiao Hua asked with a flat tone, her eyes showing her contempt. 

Since the demon invasion did not happen, should it not be a good thing in the eyes of the world?