Sick people always seem extra fragile and emotionally sensitive.
I'm afraid of being judged for my poor family background, of being called a gold digger, so I didn't dare confess.
But Qi Zhi, why are you so good to me?
Li Mengfu's tone was a little sticky, with a hint of coquettishness: "You could have just sent an assistant to accompany me to the hospital."
You accompanied me the whole way, even keeping watch while I was unconscious. How can I not be moved when you're so gentle?
Do you know that I like you?
Hearing this, Qi Zhi chuckled lightly. His eyelids fluttered and his eyes were full of delicate and gentle light:
"If I don't treat you well, who will?"
As soon as the words fell, Qi Zhi reached out to ruffle her hair, then checked her temperature again.
Seeing Li Mengfu's fever had gone down, his furrowed brows relaxed, and his expression showed visible relief for a moment.
"Wu—" Li Mengfu made a sobbing sound, hiding her head under the blanket, refusing to let Qi Zhi touch her.
Her muffled voice came through the blanket:
"You haven't answered my question yet."
"Come out first, it's hard to breathe with your head covered like that." Qi Zhi patted Li Mengfu's blanket, coaxing her like a child.
After a moment, Li Mengfu poked her head out, looking at him expectantly with watery eyes, silently waiting for his response.
Qi Zhi suddenly leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers, warm breaths between each inhale and exhale, washing over Li Mengfu's face.
Li Mengfu's gaze flickered, her heart starting to race uncontrollably.
"I thought you knew," Qi Zhi's kiss landed on Li Mengfu's forehead. "It's because I like you."
【Ding—Host's mission progress 95%】 - Qi Zhi finally heard the system prompt about his mission progress after a long time.
Receiving a definite answer, Li Mengfu's face suddenly flushed red. Her eyes shone brightly with joy and excitement.
Qi Zhi liked her!
He really liked her!
Realizing his feelings, Li Mengfu sat up and pouted coquettishly:
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Making me fret over it for so long.
Qi Zhi chuckled, "It's my fault. I should have confessed earlier."
In fact, Qi Zhi had considered that Mengfu was only 17 before, if their relationship was exposed, he was afraid she would be berated over the affair, so he delayed confessing.
Qi Zhi gazed at her tenderly. Li Mengfu's face suddenly turned crimson: "Then now, we are..."
"Hello, I'm Qi Zhi. It's my first time being a boyfriend, please bear with me for any shortcomings," Qi Zhi ruffled her hair, his eyes indulgent and gentle.
*
After Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu's relationship was established, they didn't make it public until the day of the initial screening of 'Full Moon 2'.
The fans lured into the cinema by the sweet ZhiMeng CP interactions were then... abused to the point of crying their hearts out.
【Ahhhhh I'm crying to death, Jingyue died, Jingyue actually died!】
【Help wuwuwu】
【My eyes are swollen from crying】
【I want to send blades to Director Wu】
Instantly, the hashtag #JingyueDied surged to the top of the trending list.
【Ahhhh ZhiMeng must be together! Yusheng and Jingyue tortured me to death!】This comment was pinned as the top comment under Qi Zhi's Weibo.
When Qi Zhi browsed the trending list, he found that many people were lamenting the separation between Yusheng and Jingyue, and then extrapolating it to him and Mengfu.
"Ah Qi, I saw the trending list." Li Mengfu walked into the office and rested her cheeks on her hands, looking at Qi Zhi from across the desk.
Ever since they confirmed their relationship, Li Mengfu had started calling him "Ah Qi."
After the previous scandal, Li Mengfu had already torn off the child star label. Right now was the best time for them to go public: "Let's make it public."
'Full Moon 2' was at its peak popularity, they were each other's first love, and they had a huge CP fanbase. From any perspective, it was suitable to go public now.
"Okay." Qi Zhi agreed, then started editing his Weibo.
In the early morning of May 21st, Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu's Weibo accounts posted at the same time.
【Girlfriend, please take care of me in the future @Li MengfuV】
【Boyfriend, please take care of me in the future @Qi ZhiV】
As soon as the two posts came out, fans of all types of both parties exploded like fireworks.
【Ah, the CP I ship is real! I even witnessed them go from acquaintance to falling in love!!】
【Congratulations! Congratulations!】
【They're perfect match, made in heaven】
【Wuwuwu, my tears are flowing freely, it's a tale of teenage meeting blossoming into first love, the enchanting romance between Prince Qi and the beloved national sweetheart】
【Haha, here's a pen for you, hurry up and write upstairs!】Many urged the above person to write a story.
Everyone was excitedly congratulating this young couple, but there were also a few marketing accounts who weren't optimistic, saying the future is uncertain, who knows who might change their mind.
But soon, these comments were drowned out by the fans.
The young couple just started a happy relationship, what's with your cold sarcastic remarks?
Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu announcing their relationship pushed the Full Moon 2's box office to another high point.
The more tragic the movie was, the sweeter real life became.
It wasn't until the following year that Li Mengfu stood on the stage as the Best Actress for her role in "Full Moon". She looked at the handsome Qi Zhi in the audience, gave a faint smile to the camera before beginning her acceptance speech.
And Qi Zhi heard the system prompt in his mind:
【Ding—Host mission progress 100%. The replicated body will be left behind. Host please prepare to leave the mission world in 15 minutes.】
15 minutes later, Qi Zhi left a clone behind and returned to the system space. As usual, he opened up the light screen and browsed Li Mengfu's future.
With the Best Actress for the 'Full Moon 2', Li Mengfu's career was smooth sailing. It wasn't until age 28 that they progressed from lovers to husband and wife.
Li Mengfu and Qi Zhi became one of the few model couples in the entertainment industry, repeatedly proving wrong those marketing accounts who said their relationship wouldn't last.
In the end, Li Mengfu lived a fulfilling life to her satisfaction.
【Beep beep... Emotional memory deletion in progress...】
【Memory deletion complete】
Other than the first world as his original, Qi Zhi's emotional memories were cleared by the system each time after completing a mission.
Through previous missions, Qi Zhi learned that the soul of the original host would be devoured by the mission taker.
Also, during missions, when the task performer performs the task, they use the consciousness of the original host's body, making Qi Zhi's true self easily influenced by the original host's personality.
The so-called clone left behind after completing the mission is actually a strand of soul formed from the fusion of the original host and the mission taker.
"How many stars do I have now?" Qi Zhi's ethereal voice echoed in the system space.
The system replied: "63 million."
"Still 37 million short of 100 million stars."
Hearing this, Qi Zhi's expression remained unchanged, only the glow of his soul flickered intermittently.
Once, Qi Zhi diligently completed missions in order to be reborn and save himself and his family.
But during a certain mission, Qi Zhi accidentally encountered his younger sister Qi Xi who was also a mission taker like him.
Only then did he learn from Qi Xi that the "Star Rescue System" was supposedly meant to save individuals with tragic destinies known as "stars."
In reality, it was a means to plunder the energy belonging to that plane by changing the fate of others.
Unfortunately, the masterminds behind the system were too cunning. Qi Zhi not only didn't find any traces of them, he also couldn't do anything to the system for now.
Until he possessed absolute power, Qi Zhi had no choice but to bid his time, pretending to continue being controlled by the system.
Qi Zhi glanced at the green dot on the light screen and responded with a "Hmm" to the system.
The green dot was a software Qi Zhi had once made at great expense, which he named "Parasite."
He used it to probe the system's internal data, intending to seize the opportunity to overthrow the system with one move when the time was ripe.
A few minutes later, Qi Zhi said in a cold voice: "Send me the plot of the next mission."
【Yes, host.】
*
The next "star" that needed to be saved was called Bai Shuishui.
She was the product of the marriage between the head of the Bai Group and Miss Qian from the Qian family.
However, when Bai Shuishui was born, she was despised by her grandmother and father as a useless girl child who couldn't inherit the family business.
When Shuishui was 1 year old, her grandmother, Lady Wang and father Bai conspired with his pregnant mistress to sell Shuishui to human traffickers.
With the daughter missing, Miss Qian fell seriously ill. Father Bai took advantage of the situation to murder for money and power, and annexed the Qian Group.
However, everyone did not expect Bai Shui Shui to have great luck.
The human trafficker who planned to take the baby girl to a remote mountain valley encountered a Daoist priest who intervened when he saw injustice.
Seeing that this person had a sly and lecherous appearance, the Daoist priest realized he was a human trafficker and rescued Bai Shuishui. He then took her back to the Daoist temple.
Twenty years later, Bai Shuishui, who had become a female Daoist priest, gained fame on the internet due to a video of her practicing martial arts on the peak of the Daoist temple. Her father Bai recognized her as his daughter at first glance.
It just so happened that the Bai family was facing a crisis in their haunted mansion, and they were advised by an expert to sacrifice the Bai family bloodline to appease the lingering ghost.
So Bai's father came to acknowledge Bai Shuishui as a relative with her childhood photo.
Having grown up in the temple and knowing little of the world, Bai Shuishui was deceived by his emotional manipulation of family ties and was coaxed into accompanying him down the mountain.
From that point on, there was no news of Bai Shuishui.
The person who entrusted this mission had very little interaction with Bai Shuishui.
The original host was a fish that Bai Shuishui released when she was ten years old.
Years later, when the fish transformed into human form, he returned to repay the favor and discovered that Bai Shuishui had been killed by the Bai family in the mountains behind the haunted mansion, and her body was nowhere to be found.
The original host was furious and wanted to destroy the Bai family, but didn't expect to be subdued by a powerful figure behind the Bai family in the name of a demon.
In the end, he was locked up in a pond and used as alchemy material for the evil Daoist, dying tragically in the alchemy furnace.
【Gods above, please listen to me, Qi Zhi. If there's a next life, I hope I can find Bai Shuishui soon and protect her for a lifetime.】
*
Far from the hustle and bustle of the metropolises, in the northwest direction from the city center of K City, there was a mountain range called Lingyun Peak, and atop the Lingyun Peak was a Daoist temple.
The peaks stretched endlessly, Lingyun Peak blurred in the distance, bathed in a delicate red hue by the rising sun. The cries of chickens and dogs broke the tranquility of Lingyun Temple.
It was said that a wealthy benefactor was coming today to visit Lingyun Daoist temple and decide whether to donate for the repairs and renovation of the temple.
The temple abbot led a group of Daoist priests to wait early at the entrance gate.
In an instant, a cable car carrying a young man in a suit and leather shoes arrived at the entrance of the temple. The young man nimbly jumped off the cable car with a vigorous posture.
"I'm just here to take a look, why make such a big fuss?" He hadn't even approached yet, but his voice resounded throughout the entire Daoist temple like a bell.
The abbot maintained a calm demeanor and greeted him with a Daoist salute, "Mr. Qi has traveled far, thank you for coming."
"Oh, it's nothing, nothing," Qi Zhi waved his hand, flashing a bright smile at the abbot, revealing a set of white teeth, "You just need someone to show me around."
Upon hearing this, the head nodded slightly, about to ask his junior brother to accompany Mr. Qi for sightseeing.
However, to everyone's surprise, Qi Zhi's gaze swept over the group of Daoist priests, finally settling on a petite female Daoist priest sitting in the back row.
He raised an eyebrow, and a slightly playful smirk appeared on his face:
"Hey, it's just you."
"Show me around."