Chapter 174: Don't Call Mother, Call Sister

Su Mo completely blurted out "Mother" subconsciously; in the book she read, there wasn't much description of the original body's parents.

【2> She now can't even remember what the person in front of her is called.

She can't even remember what the person in front of her is called now.

This "Mother" of the original protagonist before her eyes differs somewhat from her imagination; she is about thirty-something years old, which in her previous world was also the prime of youth.

Her gaze toward Su Mo faintly carried an inexplicable excitement, making that faint guess in Su Mo's heart grow clearer.

The person in front got straight to the point: "You're here for Jiang Wu's matter, right? Come inside and speak."

Su Mo furrowed her brows and said to Mo Xiao behind her: "Wait for me outside."

Mo Xiao glanced at her and nodded: "Okay."

……

The room fell briefly silent.

"Hello, let me introduce myself first—I'm Fu Ying."

Su Mo looked at her outstretched hand, remained silent for a while, then couldn't help furrowing her brow: "Fu Ying? Then you aren't……"

Fu Ying nodded: "Exactly as you think—I was dragged here by Jiang Wu's resentment."

A flicker of surprise crossed Su Mo's eyes, then quickly returned to calm.

The author actually got dragged into the plot by a character's resentment? Such a heavy grudge is unprecedented in history.

The last trace of Su Mo's guard eased, and she couldn't help raising an eyebrow and lightly laughing: "Do you count as the most tragic author in history?"

Fu Ying sighed: "Could it be you came today just to laugh at me?"

Su Mo frowned slightly: "Since you're the author, you should have a way to deal with her."

Fu Ying, devoid of will to live: "After she awakened, she completely ignores plot control; whatever I can think of, she can think of too. To be frank, she's killed me eight times…… Moreover, in the previous few reincarnations, my memory was a total blank—I'm just an ordinary human with no golden finger at all, so how could I kill her?"

"You… have already been killed eight times?!" Su Mo knew she shouldn't laugh now, but couldn't help it: "Your death rate is terrifyingly consistent."

Fu Ying frowned resentfully: "No laughing—did you come looking for me just to mock me?"

Su Mo said solemnly: "Then why did you suddenly regain your memories this time?"

Fu Ying: "Probably because…… this is the last chance for reincarnation; if we still can't change the previous ending this time, we should both be utterly destroyed in this timeline."

Su Mo's eyes widened abruptly: "You… really?"

Fu Ying furrowed her brows: "It's highly likely."

Su Mo frowned: "But you've only just undergone your ninth reincarnation, right? Even if you die once more, you should still have another chance, shouldn't you?"

"The first time Jiang Wu awakened, I hadn't yet arrived in this world, so this is actually the tenth time……"

Su Mo looked at her, somewhat speechless: "But you set her up as an immortal body—if we kill her now, we'll still have to die along with her!"

"That wasn't set for her at all; it's that after she awakened, she didn't follow the script and seized the protagonist's setting."

Su Mo frowned: "Isn't she the protagonist herself?"

"When did she become the protagonist? Are you reading a rewritten fanfiction?"

Su Mo: "Ah…… right, the author of that book is Fu Ying2. So you're not the same person, are you?!"

Fu Ying doesn't want to speak right now.

Su Mo suddenly thought of something: "So that book Jiang Wu had in her hand earlier was also fanfiction?"

"……"

Fu Ying utterly refuses to speak now—this world is practically a massive bug!

No wonder that villain Jiang Wu is like someone with cheats……

Is there anything even more absurd than this?!

Fu Ying sighed: "Forget it—anyway, there's more than just her bug in this world; the important thing is how to deal with her!"

Su Mo widened her eyes, full of expectation, and asked: "You must have a way, right? At this point, don't hide it—hurry up and unleash your trump card!"

Fu Ying propped her chin, voice weak: "If I had a way, would I be stuck in this godforsaken place and still get killed eight times by her???"

Su Mo: "……"

In her mind, Xiao Jiu chimed "ding": "Host, she looks even weaker than me……"

Su Mo also didn't want to speak.

I thought I had found a divine stabilizing needle, but it turned out to be just a piece of bronze after all.

How bitter her fate is……

Fu Ying said guiltily: "Although the Reverse Feather isn't Jiang Wu's weakness, we could still attack elsewhere—perhaps try to sever her connection to this world, which could completely make her disappear."

"How to sever it?"

Fu Ying sighed: "... Well, well, we'll think of something!"

Su Mo took a deep breath, forcing a smile uglier than crying, and said: "Yes, Mother, you're resourceful—surely you can turn danger into safety!"

Fu Ying hastily waved her hands to stop her: "Don't call me Mother, it's awkward—I'm only a few years older than you in my original world. Call me Sister!"

"……" Su Mo was speechless.

After a moment of silence she asked: "And what about your beast husband?"

"He was killed by Jiang Wu's people while protecting me." A hint of sadness crossed Fu Ying's brow: "I originally thought I couldn't go back, so I'd just live well here, but things are unpredictable."

Fu Ying seemed to recall something: "Don't blame us for not caring about you—when I first regained my memories, Jiang Wu had already poisoned you, letting me quietly dispose of you. I exhausted every means to bring you out."

"Back then, it wasn't even certain whether you were the transmigrator she was looking for." Fu Ying gave an embarrassed laugh: "The enemy's enemy is a friend—after all, maybe you could truly change the ending? After you came of age I left, fearing that gathering together would make our target too big, and besides, at that point you…… hadn't even transmigrated yet; I feared staying with the original protagonist would get us killed faster—after all, every extra year we can scrape by is a year gained, right?"

Su Mo nodded to show she understood.

"By the way, are the few beast husbands I arranged for you still satisfactory? You have no idea—I racked my brains to get them to agree to this marriage! Fortunately, I've seen my share of storms, so a little trick did the job! Now they count as your strongest support—my original efforts weren't wasted."

Su Mo: "……Thank you so much—you really are a good mother after all!"

This accidental turn of events happened to bump into the plot of the very book she first read, leading her to initially think she was here to follow the storyline.

Fortunately her mind still works somewhat; otherwise she wouldn't even know how she died.

Fu Ying furrowed her brows and said: "I already said not to call me mother, call me sister! As long as we safely get through this tribulation, from now on we'll be good sisters sharing weal and woe for life! When I finish writing this book, I'll invite you to make a cameo~"

Su Mo stared wide-eyed, waving her hands in fright: "Let's forget that! Let's first solve the immediate problem."

Fu Ying gave an embarrassed smile: "What trump cards do you have in hand now? Tell me quickly, and we'll study them."

Su Mo briefly explained the system and the totem; Fu Ying looked at the dark markings on her wrist and exclaimed delightedly: "Great stuff! Indeed a Transmigrator's essential Golden Finger! I bet on the right treasure—this time we can still take a gamble!"

Su Mo sighed: "These things of mine aren't secrets to Jiang Wu; that day I only managed to repel her by luck. If she makes a comeback, her assault will surely be fiercer than before, and she didn't even use her ultimate skill that day. If she does, I might not be a match."

Fu Ying pondered a moment: "She broke through the weakness of Ni Ling in her cultivation, surely she has already swapped her ultimate skill; I don't even know what her ultimate is now. Since I came to this world, those who die tend to do so early, so I never got a chance to witness her ultimate."

Su Mo frowned: "Why is she so hard to kill?"

Fu Ying let out a long sigh: "Her resentment is too heavy, she's utterly cold and ruthless, and she has awakened the plot setting—you know this kind of character; in the script she's the ultimate big boss."

She waved her hand saying: "It doesn't matter; she's injured now, right? While she's recuperating, we can still enjoy some leisure."

Su Mo tilted her head to glance at the person beside her: "You're thinking pretty openly, huh?"

"Look what you're saying—I've reincarnated so many times, my mindset has long been tempered! Anyway, the current ending is either total annihilation, or after her death everything returns to calm, or…… we get killed by her."

Su Mo: "Then… there's no other possibility?"

"Then… after we die, do we return to our original world?"

Su Mo gave her a speechless look, thinking she was terrifyingly crazy.

She came to find her precisely because she didn't want to die, yet two out of every three sentences from her are about death……

Forget it, let's not talk about this topic.

"By the way, why does Jiang Wu's control over my totem's power also affect my Beast Husband's strength?" Su Mo frowned: "She couldn't have some Golden Finger I don't know about, could she?"

Fu Ying pondered: "In the original book I didn't give her such a setting, and the protagonist doesn't have it either. She probably got it from those fanfics—this isn't good; we need to find a solution quickly."

——

When Su Mo and Fu Ying emerged from the cave, Mo Xiao started walking toward them.

"Wife Master and Mother finished chatting?"

Su Mo nodded.

Fu Ying gave Mo Xiao an embarrassed smile, then told Su Mo: "I'll come find you once I think of a plan."

Su Mo frowned: "You're not coming back with me?"

Fu Ying leaned close to her ear and whispered: "Better not; it's actually less safe to stay by your side right now……"

Su Mo gritted her teeth, not knowing who had just been in the room. "Sisters in life and death, sharing weal and woe!"

This sisterly bond is really as thin as paper……

"As you wish."

What Fu Ying said was correct—Jiang Wu's target is her now, she literally has no bandwidth to bother with anyone else.

Not staying by her side is indeed safer.

After coming down the mountain, Mo Xiao couldn't help asking Su Mo: "Mother…… is she really okay alone up there?"

"She's fine; for now, there's nothing more dangerous than Jiang Wu."

As she said that, Su Mo's mind flashed to her last conversation with Fu Ying in the room.

Fu Ying asked her: "Su Mo, if we still can't change the inevitable deadly ending this time, would you be afraid?"

At that moment she didn't rush to answer, merely countering: "Are you afraid?"

Fu Ying fell silent for a long while, then chuckled lightly: "Saying I'm not afraid would be a lie; even an ant clings to life. But after nine rounds of reincarnation…… I've seen enough to view life and death lightly."

At that moment she looked at Su Mo, voice soft: "The story has progressed to this point; this world is no longer just a novel, every person here is alive. You know how despairing it is for me to watch those lives wither away in my dreams over and over—like…… personally snuffing out ten thousand lights. Jiang Wu's obsession shouldn't become everyone's cage."

"You being able to come find me today shows you've already made up your mind. Let's give it a try—this time either we rewrite the ending, or……"

Su Mo furrowed her brows and interrupted: "No, this time we must rewrite the ending—there's no other option."

Now that she's trapped in this situation with nowhere to hide, there's no need to keep hiding.

She doesn't want to die, nor does she want to see anyone she cares about fall into danger…… so…… she must change the ending!

Fu Ying declared boldly: "Alright, I'll accompany you!"

——

"Wife Master."

As Su Mo came to her senses, she found herself already standing at the mountain's base, hearing Mo Xiao call her from behind.

Turning around, she was tightly embraced by him.

"Suddenly…… I really want to hug you."

He seemed intent on pressing her hard into his chest; Su Mo leaned against his heart, listening to his thunderous heartbeat.

The longer he held her, the tighter his grip, his arms trembling uncontrollably.

Sensing his unease, Su Mo soothed him softly: "Don't worry, I will definitely have a way to deal with Jiang Wu."

Not far off, those few from home also came searching together.

Mo Xiao's gaze swept over those figures, and he said in a hoarse voice: "I'm not worried about that; I'm worried about you, worried you'll get hurt, worried you'll……" and in the blink of an eye he vanished before my eyes.

Su Mo lightly laughed, pushed him away, reached out to tickle his nose with a fond smile: "You forgot I can protect myself now; I'll keep myself safe. Hurry home—I want to cook myself tonight!"

We don't know what tomorrow will bring, but today's meal still ought to be eaten well.

Mo Xiao smiled, nodded, turned and took her hand, walking toward the four figures not far away.

Just as Su Mo approached, Yue Ying came over and, without ceremony, wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pulling her slightly into his embrace.

"You step out the door and talk for half a day—what's there to say? Don't you know people at home might be missing you?"

Su Mo felt he was about to go crazy again, and she subtly struggled.

Yue Ying held her even tighter: "You keep dodging me—do I have some virus? You dislike me this much, yet still want to marry me? Is marrying me just to waste my time?"

Su Mo narrowed her eyes and coaxed: "How could it be? Marrying you back is naturally to love and cherish you properly!"

"Then you kiss me?" Yue Ying said, shamelessly leaning in.

Su Mo glanced at him speechlessly, then went over and kissed him.

Yue Ying smiled contentedly, about to lean in to kiss her, when suddenly a resentful voice came from behind: "Wife Master, I want to too!"

Su Mo turned her head and saw Ye Yuan with red eyes, gazing at her sorrowfully.

Cang Lan beside him curled his lips and said, "I want to kiss too."

Su Mo pressed her lips: "......"

【Can't play, let's run!】

Su Mo shoved the fox beside her away and ran off as if fleeing.

Yue Ying watched the person running faster than a rabbit, sighing helplessly: "Why are you all blindly joining in the fun?"

He glanced at the person who had already run out of sight, then turned to find Mo Xiao behind him to ask about what just happened on the mountain.

After running into the courtyard, Su Mo headed straight for the kitchen.

After speaking with Fu Ying for a long time, her mouth was dry.

Just as she stood at the doorway, she saw Xuan Qing brewing medicine for her. Drop after drop of glaring scarlet trickled from his wrist into the cauldron; the rising steam made the bloody scent more intense, but soon that smell completely dissipated.

Su Mo took an incredulous staggering step, bumped into something outside with a clear sound, startling the person inside who was fully focused.