“Don’t talk so much!” Chengye said to Jiang Xun, his headache coming back in full blast.

Don’t you think it’s exciting enough?

“Yuexi, apologize!” At this point, Chengye was thoroughly sick of dealing with everyone. “It’s your fault. It’s just an apology. Is it that hard?”

Seeing Yuexi crying in shock, he said irritably, “Hurry up and apologize. If you don’t solve this matter today, you can all get out of this house!”

Jiang Xun didn’t care. After all, she’d only been back for a little more than a month, so she could leave as she wished. She wasn’t afraid at all.

“Including you,” Chengye said to Nianzhen.

Nianzhen’s face turned pale. She didn’t dare to offend him at this time.

Jiang Xun didn’t care, but Nianzhen and Yuexi were both used to a life of luxury. How could they leave the Jiang family?

And no matter what, they would never let Jiang Xun have what was supposed to be theirs!

Without Nianzhen needing to tell her what to do, Yuexi cried and shouted, “I’m sorry!”

After saying that, she covered her face and ran back to her bedroom.

[Merit Points + 1]

Jiang Xun said, “I didn’t expect Yuexi to be so sincere.”

“…Host, can you act like a human for once?”

Look at how you bullied her, the system thought. But of course, Yuexi had brought this upon herself.

“Are you satisfied now?” Chengye’s guilt towards Jiang Xun only lasted for a few seconds before he quickly grew annoyed with her. “Stop your antics from now on!”

Jiang Xun shrugged nonchalantly in response and went upstairs to her bedroom with a heartless look on her face.

Chengye looked at Jiang Xun’s heartless back with a complicated look on his face.

Just as she’d said, she had suffered a lot, yet she acted as if she didn’t care about anything.

He didn’t know whether it was because she was very strong, or whether she felt that talking about such things was of no use.

He let out a long breath, feeling conflicted.

Jiang Xun returned to the bedroom and heard the system ask her, “Host, I haven’t heard you complain to Chengye ever since you came back. I thought you weren’t going to say anything.”

“Why wouldn’t I say anything? It’s just that if I say too much, it won’t be worth anything.” Jiang Xun took out her pajamas and changed into them. “After the Host returned in the original timeline, shel probably seized the opportunity to tell Chengye about her suffering, right?”

The system replied, “Yes.”

“Even if Chengye feels guilty, it’s only for a short while.” The more the original Host spoke, the more she wore away Chengye’s patience until eventually, whatever sympathy he’d had for her disappeared. “Moreover, the Host kept reminding Chengye of his mistakes, which only made him more unwilling to face her,” Jiang Xun said calmly. “So, when it comes to people like Chengye, you can’t complain too much. You have to pay attention to their limits.”

“Oh, right,” Jiang Xun said, having remembered something. “Since the Host is destined to die at the age of 20, why is she dying before the age of 18? Is it because of me?”

“No,” the system affirmed.

Jiang Xun heaved a sigh of relief. She did not want the original Host to die because of her.

The system continued, “Actually, I haven’t found an opportunity to explain it to you. Since you asked, I can explain it to you.”

Jiang Xun tilted her head curiously. “What is it?”

The system said, “Actually, the original Host is a parallel version of you.”

Jiang Xun froze at the words. “T-That came out of nowhere!”

The system could only stare at her. “…Anyway. Although living conditions in the Apocalypse aren’t good, the scientific knowledge that humans have in that timeline is much more than what we have now. You should know about the Multiverse.”

Jiang Xun nodded. “I knew about it, but it was just a theory. Due to the limited living conditions in the apocalypse, there weren’t many resources available for scientists to support this theory.”

“The multiverse does indeed exist,” the system confirmed. “You were living in the apocalypse, and the original Host was also living here at the same time. There is also the other original Host in yet another timeline, who lived according to the predetermined trajectory until she died at the age of 20.”

“However, there was an accident in this timeline, and the original Host died after being pushed down the stairs, which gave you an opportunity to cross over.”

The system said, “Actually, you are all the same person across all the different timelines. We arrange for people with great merit to cross between timelines, and we don’t randomly choose the Hosts, either. The requirements are very strict, with one of the criteria being: The Host must be the same person. Otherwise, why do you think that both the name and appearance of this Host would be exactly the same as yours?”

Jiang Xun nodded slowly, taking in all the information. “But, what if there’s someone who doesn’t fit the criteria and just happens to die?”

“There are many versions of you in the universe, and because of various reasons, all of you have different fates, just like how the original Host of this space-time died unexpectedly. As a result, the number of parallel timelines keeps increasing, and so do the versions of you. Out of so many of you, there’s always one that can be chosen. If there really isn’t one, we can seal your soul temporarily until a suitable individual appears.”

“In other words, perhaps in another dimension, the original Host is still suffering from what was destined to happen?” Jiang Xun asked, to which the system made a sound of affirmation.

“It’s entirely possible, so you don’t have to feel guilty. You don’t have to feel like you’ve stolen something.”

“Understood.”

In the meantime, Yuexi headed back to her bedroom, still crying from the events earlier.

She would never forget that Chengye, who had always believed in her and loved her, had actually taken Jiang Xun’s side over her.

Nianzhen took a bag of ice over and knocked on her door three times. Without waiting for Yuexi to speak, she opened the door and came in.

She closed the door and saw her beloved daughter sitting by the bed, covering her face and crying. She walked to Yuexi’s side and said, “Yuexi, I’ll remember everything that happened today. I won’t forgive that little brat for doing this to you!”

Yuexi finally stopped crying and looked up at Nianzhen, her face shining with tears. The left side of her face was even more swollen than before. When has she ever been in such a sorry state?

Since she was young, she had always been pampered and spoiled. Not even her brother had ever been pampered so much.

Nianzhen’s heart ached.

“Mom, can you really deal with Jiang Xun?” Yuexi cried. “We haven’t won since she came back.”

“…” Nianzhen paused for a moment and said through gritted teeth, “We still have a long way to go. The last few times we lost were only because we misjudged her character.”

“She has been living at home for a long time. We can always figure out her character and then target her.” Nianzhen wiped Yuexi’s tears away and carefully avoided her swollen left cheek. “I’ve been with your father for 19 years and have already figured out his personality. Does Jiang Xun think she can fight with me?”

“In the past, I snatched your father away from Jiang Xun’s mother and even managed to replace her, so now I can definitely plot her death, too!” Nianzhen said fiercely.