Chen Ying recognized that voice instantly. It was the same melodic, concerned voice that had whispered "Nobody will miss a trashy girl like you" right before she was pushed into the freezing nothingness.
She took a deep, steadying breath, forcing her racing heart to slow down. 'Calm down. You've killed monsters and toppled empires. This little girl is nothing.'
"Yingying? Is something wrong? You've been quiet for an hour," Wang Bai's voice came again, this time with a hint of a tremor, as if she were about to break into tears at any moment.
"Maybe she's upset with me again," Wang Bai whispered, loud enough for the person standing in the hallway to hear perfectly. "I only wanted to make sure she was rested for the filming..."
"Why do you even bother with her?" A man's voice replied, dripping with annoyance. It was Zhang Rui, Chen Ying's fiancé—a man who owed his entire acting career to the Chen family's connections and Chen Ying's personal promotion. Yet, he spoke of her as if she were a stain on his expensive suit. "Let's go, Bai-er. I don't want to ruin my mood before we even land. She's probably just throwing another one of her childish tantrums."
Chen Ying listened to their retreating footsteps, her eyes like chips of frozen ice. The anger was there, but it was controlled now. It was fuel.
"System, the secret. Now."
[Ding! Secret Revealed: Your mother, Shen Lan, did not die of a simple hemorrhage during your birth. Her medical files were altered. She was poisoned with a slow-acting neurotoxin over the course of her third trimester. The culprit: Wang Bai's mother, the 'loyal' head maid of the Chen household.]
The air in the cabin suddenly felt freezing. Chen Ying's grip on the leather armrest tightened until the stitching groaned and began to pop. All those years... her father had ignored her, and her brothers had treated her with cold disdain because they believed she was the "killer" who had taken their mother's life. She had carried that guilt for twenty years.
"It was them," she whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of raw grief and pure, unadulterated rage. "It was always them. They didn't just kill her; they stole my family using her ghost."
[Hidden Quest Triggered: Blood for Blood.]
[Objective: Expose the truth of Shen Lan's death and make the culprits pay in blood and reputation. Reward: 1,000 Points]
"I'll do more than make them pay," Chen Ying promised.
"Host, don't forget the artifact," the System interrupted, its voice surprisingly somber. "Wang Bai has a [Low-Grade Luck-Siphoning Jade]. It's a parasitic item. It allows her to 'borrow' the luck, beauty, and intelligence of those around her. That's why you felt dizzy and struggled to think clearly in your last life. She was literally eating your brainpower."
"I need a counter-measure. I won't be a battery for her anymore."
"The [Heart-Protecting Pendant]," the System suggested immediately. "It's a standard-issue item for high-level missions. It creates a mental firewall. Price: 100 points. Since you only have 21 points left, I can offer you a 'Life-Debt Loan'. You will owe me 100 points plus interest, to be paid back through the 'Survival Show' missions."
"Give it to me," Chen Ying didn't hesitate. A faint, silver light shimmered around her neck, solidifying into a translucent pendant that disappeared beneath her shirt. Instantly, the heavy "fog" that had been lingering in the back of her mind for years—a fog she had thought was just her own personality—vanished. Her thoughts became sharp, cold, and lethal.
The plane's wheels chirped as they hit the tarmac. Chen Ying stood up, straightened her tracksuit—which Wang Bai had told her was "trendy" but was actually two sizes too big and a garish neon color—and grabbed her bags.
As she deboarded, she saw Captain Mo, an old family pilot who had been a close friend of her late mother. In her previous life, she had ignored him to chase after Zhang Rui.
"Captain Mo!" she called out, a bright, genuine smile breaking through her icy exterior.
The pilot looked surprised but beamed back, his eyes misting over. "Miss Ying! It's good to see you looking so spirited. You look just like her when you smile like that."
They walked toward the waiting cameras together. A young production assistant with a clipboard saw Chen Ying and sneered, not even bothering to hide her disdain. "Finally. We've been waiting for twenty minutes. Even Miss Wang Bai was kind enough to apologize for the delay, but you? One would think it's your personal plane with the way you act."
Captain Mo's face went red with anger. "What did you just say to the Young Mistress?"
The assistant rolled her eyes. "I said, Miss Wang Bai is the one we should be thanking for the flight. She was the one who told us how much effort she put into arranging this for the crew. She's much more humble than some people."
Captain Mo let out a harsh, booming laugh. "Miss Wang Bai? I don't know who that is. I've been a pilot for the Chen Group for twenty years. This is a private vessel of the Chen Family. If Miss Chen Ying hadn't personally requested it, nobody else would have set foot on this aircraft. 'Arranged it'? She's a guest on Miss Chen's charity!"
The assistant's mouth fell open. The camera, which was already live-streaming to the main channel, zoomed in on her shocked face as the truth hit the internet.
The comment section of the live stream exploded in a flurry of activity.