Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Shen Zhiyi Goes Missing

The jolting motion of the vehicle snapped Shen Zhiyi back to consciousness, and the recent pain that almost killed her left her heart still racing, her stomach churning violently.

She turned her weary head to look out of the car window, only to see the desolate landscape rapidly passing by in reverse. Startled, she sat up abruptly, noticing that the car was also occupied by a driver dressed in black and a bodyguard sitting in the passenger seat.

The driver hadn’t expected her to wake up so quickly, but since she was tied up with ropes, they weren’t afraid of her running away.

“Where are you taking me? Let me out of the car!”

“Heh, of course we’re sending you on your way. When you get to the other side, don’t blame us for being heartless and ruthless. It’s your own fault for knowing too much.”

Shen Zhiyi turned pale. “Mo Jiu deceived me? He promised to let me go. How could he break his word?”

The bodyguard in black scoffed, his actions telling her that she had actually made a deal with a villain. Mo Jiu lacked even the most basic morals, and to talk to him about honesty? That was just too naive.

Shen Zhiyi bit her lip in anger, a metallic taste spreading in her mouth.

“Host! What have you done? The character trajectories are starting to destabilize, the plot has become chaotic, and the order of the Heavenly Dao is collapsing.” 008 had to force itself to awaken, as the system was about to automatically erase Shen Zhiyi’s soul had it not intervened decisively, leaving behind this mess.

Seeing that 008 had finally arrived, her voice broke into a sob, “008, I’m about to die, save me. I’m the female lead, the Child of Destiny. How can I just die like this?”

008 was livid; why had it bound itself to such an idiot!

Its voice was icy, “Rest assured, you won’t die, but the entire plot has collapsed. We can’t follow the original story anymore, but no matter the process, as long as the world’s ending aligns, it’s still considered mission success. So, from now on, the plot is no longer under the world’s control. You must fend for yourself.”

“What, what? How can this be? What am I supposed to do if the story goes off track? Then my golden finger of knowing the entire book is useless.” Only now did Shen Zhiyi realize the severity of the situation.

In other words, the plot could develop in an entirely unknown direction, and she suddenly felt lost.

008: “No idea, figure it out yourself.”

“I don’t want to do the mission. Send me back to my original world. I don’t want to die.”

008’s voice was mechanical and cold, “Impossible, Host. Let me tell you this, if you die in this world, it means truly dying, and you will have no chance to go back. You either do the mission or die.”

Shen Zhiyi’s lips quivered, and tears streamed down her face, “You didn’t start off saying this… I just want to go home…”

Everyone is frightened in the face of death. After seeing Mo Jiu, that feeling of fate being manipulated by others reemerged. With Ji Tian altering the plot, she was meant to follow it, but someone else insisted on disrupting it.

She had hoped to make quick progress by forcing Qin Jiangsheng offline but had not expected that to cause the plot to collapse. What should she do now?

In the end, her expression turned cold and numb, “Does it mean I just have to trample over them all? By any means necessary, if I laugh last, I can leave?”

008 didn’t respond, which was as good as an acknowledgment.

Shen Zhiyi lowered her head, “I understand, help me untie these ropes. I need to escape first.”

The bodyguard in black had been observing Shen Zhiyi’s reactions all along. He noticed her expressions shifting from panic to crying and, finally, numb acceptance.

He inwardly clicked his tongue in resignation. Such a gutsy young girl, daring to encroach on the Ninth Young Master’s territory. If she died, she would have only herself to blame. He then stopped paying attention to her.

Feeling the rope loosen, Shen Zhiyi looked at the door latch, and the surroundings became more desolate. She figured that even if she died in such a place, probably no one would care, and Mo Jiu would definitely erase all traces.

Clenching her teeth, she seized the moment when everyone was off guard to open the car door. The driver in the front was shocked and braked urgently, and Shen Zhiyi tumbled out, her arms and knees becoming a bloody mess from the friction on the gritty ground.

She couldn’t worry about that now, she just kept running forward through the pain.

“Damn it, that bitch got away. Chase her!”

Two men rushed out of the car and sprinted in the direction Shen Zhiyi had run. Their distance quickly closed as Shen Zhiyi felt her strength waning. She reached a very high cliff and, facing the two men closing in, jumped down without hesitation.

The two approached the edge and looked at the tall cliff. Below was a dense forest. The man in black swallowed hard, “Jumping from here, she’s probably dead for sure.”

The driver in black wiped sweat from his brow, “It’s a forest down there; even if she didn’t die, she would be half-dead with no food. There could be poisonous snakes and fierce beasts below; she couldn’t possibly survive to walk out of the big forest.”

“Should we still go look for her?” The man in black hesitated.

The driver also hesitated before shaking his head, “Forget it, it’s too dangerous down there, and we don’t know where the entrance is. Going in blindly could lead to trouble, let’s just report the truth to the Ninth Young Master when we get back…”

…

Ji Tian only got the news of Shen Zhiyi’s disappearance a day later.

Otherwise, she would have thought Zhiyi simply had taken a day off from school.

The main reason was because her mother had come to the school, which was the first time Ji Tian had seen Shen Zhiyi’s mother, with a sickly pale face due to regular treatments, her hair shaved clean and wearing a hat, her figure frail, but even so, it couldn’t hide her beauty, a restrained and graceful beauty with quiet elegance.

She wept as she sought help from the school authorities and also reported the disappearance to the police. She used the power of the media to issue a missing person announcement; it was her first appearance in public, and even Bai Tingyu mobilized the power of the Bai Family to help search for her.

Ji Weinan was distressed all day, “How could Zhiyi suddenly go missing? Who abducted her?”

Ji Tian glanced at him and airily said, “Don’t worry, she won’t die.”

With the aura of the main character in this world, she was sure to survive. As for where exactly she was, that remained unknown.

Ji Weinan was choked by Ji Tian’s words and wanted to say something in rebuttal, but seeing Ji Tian casually rub her fists, the words he wanted to say were crudely stuck in his throat.

He admitted defeat…

He didn’t want to get hit.

So he sneered, “After all, she is your classmate… You could at least say something nice.”

Ji Tian looked at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile, “My saying she’s not dead is the biggest blessing for her. Why? Do you wish for her to croak?”

“I didn’t mean that, don’t just say whatever you want.”

Ji Tian didn’t bother with him anymore but slightly furrowed her brows. According to her mother, she had said she was going to the lab, but Ji Qilin hadn’t seen her in the lab, which meant Shen Zhiyi had gone somewhere else and encountered danger, resulting in her still missing even after a night and a day.

While Ji Tian pondered, Ji Weinan could no longer sit still, “No, I have to ask my brother to lend some people to help search.”

Ji Tian couldn’t be bothered with him, but his request to borrow people was coldly rejected by Ji Lingyun. He wasn’t running a charity, helping to look for a stranger. This made Ji Weinan furious.