That night, the students gathered around the campfires, laughing and chatting after eating and drinking their fill.
Jiang Nian sat quietly beside Tong Chuhe, seemingly listening to the three girls chat. But the flickering firelight illuminated her pretty face, her furrowed brow, and her tightly pressed lips.
She was thinking about what 88 had said after encountering Fu Zhenzhen that day. This unexpected development had left her feeling rather unsettled.
[Tongtong, are you sure? Fu Zhenzhen has a system too?]
The original novel had never mentioned anything like this from beginning to end, had it?
88 sighed and replied:
[Yes, I'm sure. Her system is one of the failed creations the Research Bureau produced years ago.]
[A normal system's job is to help its host complete various tasks to fulfill the transaction between them. But the kind Fu Zhenzhen has isn't capable of complex thought. It's more like a shop, only allowing its host to exchange for whatever items she needs.]
After saying that, 88 glanced at Jiang Nian, who had lowered her eyes in thought, and continued:
[What puzzles me now is that the Management Bureau should have destroyed and reforged all systems of this kind as defective products long ago. None should have slipped through the cracks. Yet Fu Zhenzhen's system not only escaped destruction, it even found a host of its own.]
[I suspect it developed a basic thought process, escaped the Management Bureau, and found its own host.]
Hearing this, Jiang Nian began to form a rough theory.
She had initially been shocked because this was no small matter, yet the original novel had never mentioned it, catching her completely off guard.
Now that she had recovered and thought carefully about the plot, some of the female lead's puzzling behavior made sense if every event had been built on Fu Zhenzhen having a system.
Fu Zhenzhen was just an orphan from an orphanage. How had she known so much about the powerful elite families? Why had she singled Jiang Nian out on the first day of school, right after Jiang Nian returned to the country? Why had she happened to run away from the orphanage on that exact day six years ago, and happened to find Song Jici just after he escaped his kidnappers?
So it had all been thanks to tips from her system.
But...
[Tongtong, why do I feel like that system is so much more capable than you?]
Jiang Nian only knew so much and could predict how certain events would unfold because she had read the novel.
But Fu Zhenzhen's system had known nothing, yet it had helped her map out the relationships among City A's elite and pinpointed Song Jici, who happened to have been kidnapped, as her way in. Many of the plot's implausible developments had probably been achieved through items exchanged from the system shop, too.
By comparison, her Tongtong's greatest ability seemed to be serving as a GPS.
Oh, right. There was also that beginner's gift package whose purpose she still hadn't figured out.
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88 choked, then quietly defended itself:
[I'm a legitimate system, okay? Everything follows cause and effect and the conservation of energy. If you don't give me anything, how am I supposed to exchange items for you?]
Jiang Nian froze.
[Then how did Fu Zhenzhen get so much through her system?]
88 thought for a moment before answering Jiang Nian.
[I don't know how Fu Zhenzhen makes transactions with her system, but I do know that the Management Bureau's first failed system-]
[Required its host to exchange her life for items.]
In front of the four male leads' tent, Tan Xuguang slumped on the ground, staring blankly at the blazing campfire before him.
"I'm so bored... Why don't we go hang out with Jiang Nian and the others? There's nothing to do here anyway."
Song Jici tossed more firewood onto the flames and smiled at him. "Didn't you hand in all your consoles and board games? What can we play?"
"No, no, no~"
With an air of mystery, Tan Xuguang shook his head and took a notebook and a ball of yarn out of his bag.
"A real game isn't bound by its format. You'll find out when we get there. Hehe."
Looking at those two items, Shen Hui couldn't guess what Tan Xuguang intended to play either, but that did nothing to dampen his desire to join the fun.
"Sure, count me in."
There was nothing to do here anyway.
With that, he raised his right hand and hooked an arm around Wen Jincheng, who was reading by the fire beside him.
"Stop reading, Jincheng. Keep reading in this light and you'll ruin your eyes."
Wen Jincheng looked at the arm draped over his shoulders, sighed, and silently closed his book.
He wasn't going to get any reading done today.
Once those three decided on something, they would drag him along even if they had to do it by force.
The boys tended to the fire, then got up and headed toward Jiang Nian's tent. They hadn't gone far before Fu Zhenzhen, who was camped nearby, spotted them.
At the sight of all four of them, Fu Zhenzhen sprang to her feet and walked over:
"Brother Ji Ci, where are you going?"
As Song Jici walked, he spotted Fu Zhenzhen suddenly darting into his path and gave her a brief answer:
"We're a little bored, so we're going to play some games with Nian to pass the time."
Fu Zhenzhen faltered. After weighing it over, she still made her request. "The four of us in my group are bored too. Can we come with you?"
Beside them, Tan Xuguang pursed his lips. He didn't have a particularly good impression of Fu Zhenzhen. Aside from her falsely accusing Jiang Nian last time, Jiang Nian's inner thoughts had revealed that she might also be the culprit who would drive a wedge between him and his brother in the future.
The other two didn't show it, but they felt much the same way. Neither particularly wanted Fu Zhenzhen to come along.
Seeing Song Jici searching for a polite way to refuse, Tan Xuguang was about to turn her down for him when a girl from Fu Zhenzhen's group walked over.
A gleam flashed through the girl's eyes when she saw Song Jici and the others. Then she gave Fu Zhenzhen a teasing look:
"Zhenzhen? I was wondering why you ran off mid-sentence. So you spotted your dear Jici?"
With that, she looked between Fu Zhenzhen and Song Jici suggestively.
Hearing the girl's teasing, Fu Zhenzhen blushed and shot her a glare, then cast a seemingly bashful glance at Song Jici.
But Song Jici merely frowned and addressed the girl:
"Maybe I've misread your intentions, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't look at us in a way that could give people the wrong idea."
Fu Zhenzhen's face went pale for a moment. Then she addressed the girl in a strained voice. "Exactly, Liu Fan. He's just like a brother to me. Don't get any ideas."
Liu Fan?
Song Jici and the others paused.
So this was the person Jiang Nian wanted to do something nasty to? She didn't seem particularly special.
Tan Xuguang and the others exchanged glances, swallowing the refusal they had been about to give Fu Zhenzhen.
Song Jici understood what they were thinking too. He glanced at Fu Zhenzhen and the embarrassed Liu Fan behind her, then softened his tone:
"Just don't make jokes like that again. They're no good for anyone."
Looking at Fu Zhenzhen, who stood before her with her head lowered in silence, Liu Fan clenched her fists and apologized through gritted teeth.
"All right, I misunderstood. I'm sorry."
Song Jici nodded and took the opportunity to agree to Fu Zhenzhen's earlier request to come along.
"Zhenzhen just said you were all bored too. If you'd like to play some games, you can join us."
Naturally, Liu Fan and Fu Zhenzhen agreed delightedly. They brought along the other two girls in their group, and the whole crowd headed toward Jiang Nian's tent.
Jiang Nian had still been hashing out the day's events with her system when she suddenly saw the main cast approaching en masse. She thought something had happened, only to discover they were simply bored and had come over to play games together.
Spotting the vaguely familiar ponytailed girl beside Fu Zhenzhen, Jiang Nian narrowed her eyes. She temporarily set aside all her current worries and accepted Tan Xuguang's invitation.
"Of course! We're bored too."
[Liu Fan, oh, Liu Fan. You've certainly been hard to find.]
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