Lu Chen helped her into the back seat and then got in himself.
Cui Lingyao leaned her head against the car window, watching the neon lights blur past. She felt lost in time.
Ten years.
She had spent ten years in Great Yue.
Everything she rarely thought about when sober was now, in her drunken state, bubbling up piece by piece.
When the car stopped and Lu Chen went to help her out, he found her face streaked with tears.
His little sister was crying silently.
Over the past year, the changes in Cui Lingyao had been subtle.
But Lu Chen had still sensed them. He had even sent people to investigate.
They found nothing.
Now, seeing the girl crying in secret, he frowned in distress. "What's wrong?"
Cui Lingyao didn't say anything.
As he helped her out of the car, a chilly autumn wind swept across her cheeks, and she felt a deep cold.
She sniffled. "I miss Mom and Dad."
During those ten years, she had been married to Xie Jinbai for three. For the other seven, she had been in the Cui Family, the apple of her parents' eye and her brother's beloved little sister.
She had grown incredibly close to her family there.
If not for her concern for her brother and his paralyzed legs, she wouldn't have died so cleanly and decisively.
A thoughtful look flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.
Mom. Dad.
Such archaic terms of address were truly strange.
Especially since Cui Lingyao's parents had died long ago, and she had grown up in the Lu Family household.
Whether she was talking about his parents or her own deceased ones, she would never use terms like that.
'Whose mom and dad... is she thinking of?'
'And how on earth did she get that elixir?'
Lu Chen was tempted to pry the truth from her drunken lips, but he quickly stopped himself.
They had been close since they were children.
Since she didn't want to talk about it, she must have her reasons.
No matter what secrets she had or where she had been.
He shouldn't ask any more questions.
She was back now, and it was all in the past.
That was what Lu Chen told himself, and Cui Lingyao thought the same.
Her brother's legs were completely healed, and her memories of that other world were fading day by day.
Everything was getting back to normal.
But things rarely go as planned.
Her stable life only lasted for two years.
In her third year back from Great Yue, Cui Lingyao discovered something was wrong with her body.
First, her hands and feet began to disobey her. While eating, she would suddenly be unable to hold her chopsticks.
Within a single month, she sprained her ankle three times and took a nasty fall once.
Soon, she noticed a distinct muscle weakness.
After she failed to keep a grip on her chopsticks one more time during a meal with Lu Chen, he forcibly dragged her to the hospital.
She underwent a complete physical, from head to toe.
The test results came back a week later.
ALS.
A genetic defect, a hereditary family illness.
It was a low-probability inheritance, and Cui Lingyao had drawn the short straw.
The Lu Family used all their resources, bringing in nearly every leading global expert who studied the disease.
The medical team spent nearly half a year on consultations and observation alone before cautiously proposing a treatment plan.
It had no effect.
The disease progressed rapidly in Cui Lingyao's body. In less than a year, she could no longer walk on her own.
She was now the one confined to a bed.
And Lu Chen became the one frantic with worry.
Cui Lingyao couldn't be left alone, so several nurses were hired for round-the-clock care. But he still wasn't at ease. He even moved his work into her hospital room so he could stay by her side at all times.
He monitored her physical condition so closely that he knew more about her illness than she did.
The red veins in his eyes grew more and more pronounced, darker and deeper.
But Cui Lingyao's body continued its relentless decline.
There was no hope for a reversal.
Several doctors had essentially given her a death sentence.
Lu Chen refused to accept it. He ordered everyone out, walked to her bedside, and asked with bloodshot eyes, "Can that elixir save you? How do I get it? Tell me."
A spiritual pill like that was the only hope he could think of.
If it was possible, he was willing to do anything to get one for her.
Cui Lingyao understood how he felt. Her lips moved, forcing a smile. "There are no more. That stuff was limited edition."
Her muscles had atrophied, making it difficult for her to even speak clearly.
But Lu Chen heard her perfectly.
His face turned ashen. He stood frozen for a long moment before slowly sinking to his knees by the bed. Burying his face in his hands, his voice choked with sobs. "I don't believe it. There has to be a way."
'...There has to be a way.'
Cui Lingyao wanted to pull him up, but she had no strength. She tried to lift her arm, and when it was no use, she could only press her lips into a bitter smile, unable to say a word.
In the silence, a familiar BZZT BZZT of static echoed in her mind.
[Long time no see, Host.]
Cui Lingyao trembled. 'System?'
[It's me,]
The System's voice was listless. [Sorry to bother you again. I misjudged that last mission, so I need to trouble you with some after-sales serv—huh?]
As if sensing something, the listless electronic voice suddenly shot up in pitch. [Looks like things aren't going so great for you here, either.]
Cui Lingyao: '...Not great at all.'
The System's sudden appearance.
Ignited a spark of hope in her despairing heart.
'After-sales... service...'
'Something must have gone wrong on Xie Jinbai's end.'
'The System needs me.'
'Which means I still have a chance to get an elixir.'
An almost imperceptible change crossed Cui Lingyao's face.
She looked at Lu Chen, still kneeling by her bed, and spoke to the System in her mind. 'As you can see, I have a very serious, life-threatening illness. If you had shown up any later, I might have already been dead.'
'The Host almost died.'
The System was so shocked it short-circuited for a second before replying: [Now that I'm here, you won't die. There's a new mission. Want to accept it?]
Such a straightforward conversation. Cui Lingyao's mind settled. 'Did something happen to Xie Jinbai? I remember completing the mission.'
[You completed the mission, but the mission was flawed from the very beginning!]
The System was full of grievances with nowhere to vent them. Now that it had finally found the other party involved, it held nothing back.
On the day Cui Lingyao fell into the water, Xie Jinbai pulled her out immediately. He didn't waste a single moment, stripping off her wet clothes and infusing her with his Inner Strength to warm her body. The household doctor also arrived with exceptional speed.
But she still died.
Her death was just bizarre.
At first, Xie Jinbai absolutely refused to accept that she had died so easily.
He clung to her body, refusing to let go. Even the arrival of the Emperor and Empress did nothing to change his mind.
It was only when a subordinate roused him with the words, "Perhaps there is another reason for the Princess Consort's death. We must avenge her," that his month-long daze finally ended.
Afterward, Xie Jinbai gradually pulled himself together and began investigating the culprit, but no matter how thoroughly he searched, he couldn't find any clues.
At the time, the System didn't think much of it.
It didn't understand human emotions. Seeing that he had returned to normal—eating, sleeping, and attending court—it waited in eager anticipation for him to find a woman and have children.
But who would have thought? Xie Jinbai just wouldn't find one.
Three years.
Three whole years.
He didn't seek out any women.
The System's voice was utterly baffled.
[Data analysis indicates that males of the Human Clan, between the ages of eighteen and thirty, are in their virile prime. As long as they are physically and sexually normal, they are fundamentally incapable of staying away from women. So what in the world is his deal?]