The Snake Took a Book That Didn't Belong to It

Steam hung around Yu Xing as he soaked in the wooden tub, carefully sorting through Mingzhu's words in his mind.

The exclusive Side Quest objective to "meet everyone in the Fang Mansion" had been completed the moment he saw Mingzhu's face. But the system hadn't announced it then. It had waited until he left Mingzhu's room to issue the prompt in a female voice.

[Exclusive Side Quest: Meet everyone in the household. Completed.]

Yu Xing could tell at a glance that this kind of Side Quest was part of a series. Complete one, and another would follow, gradually delving deeper until it brought the player close to whatever the system truly wanted them to do.

So Yu Xing wasn't surprised when the next quest arrived. Its difficulty, however, left him speechless.

[Exclusive Side Quest, Stage Two: Choose from the following objectives.]

[Get Fang Xiao to agree to attend tomorrow's Snow Festival with you, then ruin his formal outfit at the festival.]

[Take Mingzhu beyond the borders of Nanshui Town and set her free.]

[Paint Xu Wan's portrait, then ruin her face.]

[Kill Fang Deming.]

[Complete multiple objectives to receive an extra reward after the deduction ends. Failure to complete any objective will cause cognitive confusion, leaving you in Nanshui Town forever in the role of your character.]

Aside from the first objective, which concerned Fang Xiao, the other three had no time limit. They were due by the end of the deduction.

That made it fairly clear that the so-called second stage of the exclusive Side Quest was the final stage.

At a glance, all four choices seemed simple and straightforward. But each one came with numerous hidden preparations and unforeseeable complications down the line. None would be easy.

For example, Fang Xiao was the true