Chapter 27: System Default Detected

The journey did not grow shorter; the road seemed to sprout a pair of vigorous legs, constantly stretching onward. Song Ruozhao shielded her eyes and peered into the distance. The City God Temple was nearly in sight when, unexpectedly, a glaringly thick club struck her.

"Thwack!"

A sharp pain radiated from her spine. She turned to look and saw a tall, slender figure in black, wearing a fearsome Nuo ritual mask with tusks. Only a pair of pitch-black eyes were visible—cold, profound, and utterly devoid of life. In his gaze, the world seemed to freeze, and all colors faded away.

His eyes grew even colder, reflecting with chilling clarity the next heavy blow descending toward her head.

She struggled to climb to her feet.

The man in black felt a pang of self-doubt: "She’s still not unconscious?"

Perhaps his strength had been insufficient. The club rose and fell again in his hands, and after enduring an even heavier blow, Song Ruozhao fell to the ground for a moment before staggering back up.

The man in black stared in astonishment at his own hands, which were supposedly "powerless to truss a chicken."

A "crack" sounded as the wood shattered completely.

The man in black: "..."

"Jusi Fu, come, hit me right here!" Song Ruozhao simply stretched out her neck, issuing a provocation.

Outwardly, he remained noncommittal, his eyes devoid of ripples. But inside, a storm was brewing: *This woman is made of iron, and yet she managed to see through my true identity!*

Song Ruozhao let out a sigh of dramatic lamentation, acting like a woman confronting a heartless lover: "To think you’ve disregarded all the affection we’ve shared as husband and wife these days. You rained blow after blow upon me with such cruelty. The mastermind behind this plot to take my life is none other than you."

"Yes."

A very honest answer.

"Is Lady Qianchun of Pingkang Ward your old flame?"

After a moment of hesitation, the reply came in a lower voice: "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you are not the real Song Ruozhao."

"How did you know?"

"I grew suspicious after comparing your handwriting at the Song residence. Moreover, you never avoided the family’s taboo names in your writing. It wasn't until I snuck into the Jingzhao Prefecture morgue that Lady Song the Third discovered the female corpse had two small toes."

"All the children of the Song family inherit this trait. The former Song Ruozhao had them, but the current one does not."

Song Ruozhao: "..."

* * *

In the past, I prided myself on having a husband who doted on me, who washed my feet every night. Was the bitter fruit also a fruit?

"So, you believe that I killed the real Song Ruozhao? That you lured me here to avenge her?"

Without dwelling on the entanglement, he hesitated for a moment and replied coolly: "And if I did?"

"You didn't know her, had no affection for her, and yet you want to avenge her? You are surprisingly kind-hearted..." She was half-skeptical.

"If I weren't kind, why would you have invited me to marry into your family?" He answered quickly.

"You may have had no affection for the real Song Ruozhao, but with me, even if our marital bond was shallow, surely there should be some remnant of the affection we shared?"

The token of their commitment from that day was displayed before him, like a sacred vow, a heavy stroke added to a bond that was already thin.

The glass shrimp nesting comfortably in her narrow sleeve seemed to smell the scent of a delicacy; it wiggled its body and crawled out.

The shrimp morphed into a woodpecker, pecking vigorously at the edge of the "wooden horse": "Zhaozhao, I sense a delicacy lurking inside the horse's belly."

Song Ruozhao rolled her eyes: "This is a wooden horse, not horse meat."

The shrimp: "It really smells delicious. If you don't believe me, take a deep breath and smell again."

Taking its word for it, Song Ruozhao inhaled sharply. A strange, pungent odor rushed into her nostrils, and the blood in her body seemed to stagnate as her limbs grew weak...

She couldn't say her mind was unclear, for she knew perfectly well she had been drugged.

Yet, she couldn't say she was clear-headed either, for Jusi Fu was right in front of her. Those eyes that could not capture her soul, that cold and mean face behind the mask...

From his features, from his seven orifices, ducks were jumping out one after another! Endless, flowing out!

Song Ruozhao forced her gaze away, fearing that if she looked down, she would see a pile of ducklings emerging from Jusi Fu's...

As he opened his mouth, the ducks quacked wildly: "If you were the real, simple-minded Song girl, with your powder-like intellect, I wouldn't even bother killing you..."

Song Ruozhao: *So, I died because I was too smart?*

"Sifu, I’ll do it myself." In her vision, a mother duck appeared.

The speaker, a woman still carrying the lingering fragrance of the pleasure quarters, had a face of stunning beauty—a top courtesan—but at this moment, it was like a relay race, with ducks leaping out from her features one by one...

Like a toxic fungus plunging one into a hallucinogenic den, Song Ruozhao felt as if she were on the verge of drowning, slowly suffocating. Jusi Fu seized the opportunity; he raised the blade, and it slowly pierced her heart.

The pain drove away her consciousness bit by bit. She spun slowly like a falling flower. The gray-green shadows of the trees trapped the azure sky. Sunlight and Jusi Fu merged into one, lingering and hovering, until everything in her vision fell silent.

She sighed sadly: "My journey through the Tang Dynasty is about to end. If I couldn't escape being hunted down in this world, then even in death, I..."

* * *

She hooked her arms around his blue waist, pressing her lips against his face like a dying fish, whispering in a lingering tone: "Even in death... I cannot let you go..."

Touching the rising heat of his body, his defenses weakened by surprise. Song Ruozhao seized the moment; her soft lips suddenly turned into a sharp shield, pushing him back relentlessly until the tip of the blade pierced straight through Jusi Fu’s heart from her own chest.

Everything was like a mountain ridge snapping, like seawater rushing in—unstoppable and unblockable.

Jusi Fu came to his senses amidst the honey trap. Seeing the blood seeping out, he lamented that he had died all too diligently. He had only just gotten familiar with the King of Hell a month ago, and now he had to report back again; he felt somewhat ashamed.

The feigned affection was gone. Having settled her affairs, she revealed a satisfied smile: "Even in death, I will drag you down with me..."

Two bodies clung to one another in life and death, and as Lady Qianchun watched in horror, the jade mountain collapsed.

...

Being used as a cushion by someone else really is a comfortable way to die!

Song Ruozhao sighed in relief. When she opened her eyes again, she truly saw the Judge of the Underworld, the King of Hell, and the ghost messengers...

She straightened up, sighing sincerely. Having failed to reach the City God Temple in life or see the headless female ghost, taking a shortcut through death could be considered a fitting end.

She checked herself from head to toe. Her limbs were whole, and she rejoiced that she was not as miserable as the original owner, who had been dismembered across the city.

She only wondered if she would meet her in the underworld, hear her grievances, and plead her case.

Song Ruozhao then remembered that she, too, had grievances. She might as well trouble the officials of the underworld with them...

But why were the officials of the underworld before her not moving?

Song Ruozhao reached out to touch them, then couldn't help but mock. The underworld was so poor and perfunctory that it didn't even have a single presiding ghost official; it relied entirely on statues to keep up appearances.

At that moment, a familiar voice rang in her ears.

[System: You have been assassinated by the antagonist. To ensure the host's safety, would you like to share the pain with the antagonist?]

In life, she had suffered because of this system's sharp tongue. Now that she was a ghost, she might as well wait and see what happened.

Song Ruozhao gritted her teeth and made no reply.

[Very well, the system has detected a default setting. Binding is now in progress!]

"!!!"