Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

"treasure--"

"Until we meet again—"

"Have a safe journey—"

"Waaaaah... Finally fixed and restarted! The corpse feels so warm!"

Amidst everyone's farewells, Chai Xiaomi suddenly heard an extremely abrupt, mechanical sound accompanied by a crackling electrical noise.

It lingers in my mind.

She tentatively called out in her mind, "Youtiao (fried dough stick)?"

"Yes, it's me."

???

How did it become a bilingual (Chinese and English) version?

Chai Xiaomi: "You upgraded the system?"

These words seemed to hit a nerve, and Youtiao immediately let out a loud "Wow!" in her mind: "Upgrade?! I painstakingly saved up 10000 performance points, which I was reluctant to use, just to upgrade my chip to a higher level in the future, and then you, host, got a fever and burned out my CPU! The repairs cost a whole 8000 points! A whole 8000!!"

"Waaaaah... The soy milk shop next door has already upgraded to the latest photon chip, but I'm still stuck with this old, broken card! Why am I so unlucky to have such a fragile host like you, waaaaah—"

Its cries were earth-shattering.

Chai Xiaomi was silent for three seconds, then couldn't take it anymore: "Shut up, or I'll kill myself right now if you cry again."

The fried dough stick instantly became obedient: "Dear host, it's been a long time. I missed you a lot at headquarters. *heart emoji*"

Chai Xiaomi: "What do you mean by performance points?"

Youtiao: "Within our digital world, there is a virtual points shop. Performance points can be used to redeem everything the system needs, such as chip upgrades, routine maintenance, and even the cheat codes you mentioned earlier."

Chai Xiaomi's eyes lit up, and she was just getting into the swing of things when it was doused with a bucket of cold water.

Youtiao said dejectedly, "But I've followed all sorts of hosts and transmigrated into all sorts of novels before, and not a single one of them completed the mission. They all died in the end, so I haven't earned a single point. These 10000 points are just the system's initial performance score, and then I had to lose 8000 of them because of you, damn it!"

Its voice was almost filled with despair: "If a system loses all its performance points, it proves it's useless and can't assist the host in completing tasks. Ultimately, it faces destruction, destruction!"

Chai Xiaomi reassured her, "Don't worry, I will definitely complete the task to earn back the performance points you lost."

Youtiao seemed unsure of himself, his tone carrying a sense of resignation: "Just don't get a fever again, that would be a huge help to me. Okay, now let's review the plot progress."

"First of all, congratulations, host. During my downtime, you survived the villain's attack without being easily killed, which deserves applause! So, may I ask, have you successfully gained even the slightest bit of the villain's trust?"

"Lili." Chai Xiaomi suddenly turned around and looked at the boy behind her.

"Hmm?" Wu Li gazed lazily ahead, wrapped his arms around her, and casually responded.

Chai Xiaomi asked directly, "Do you have even the slightest bit of trust in me?"

Fried dough stick: "!!!"

Youtiao: "Have you lost your mind?! Who asks the villain like that?! I told you to probe indirectly, not to walk right into their trap!!!"

Upon hearing this question, Wu Li seemed to find it somewhat amusing and glanced at her with her eyes lowered.

"If you're really bored out of your mind," he tightened the reins and spurred the horse, "you can go for a run."

The sound of horses' hooves suddenly quickened, and Chai Xiaomi swayed, quickly grabbing his arm tightly: "Just answer me, yes or no."

"I only believe in myself."

He glanced down at the girl's expression, expecting that his question would be met with her persistent questioning.

But she fell silent.

He didn't say a word.

She didn't even look up at him, but remained silent, her eyes lowered, as if she were lost in thought.

He inexplicably felt a pang of regret.

In the past, this answer would have been an unquestionable truth, the very rule by which he survived. But now, even he himself knows that it is no longer entirely true.

At least, he believed the vow she made.

His faith was so deep-seated that it even surpassed his own self-belief.

Chai Xiaomi said to You Tiao, "You heard that, right? His trust level is zero. I can neither judge the depth of his feelings for the female lead nor predict when he will plant the love potion."

Youtiao, exasperated, asked, "What have you been busy with all this time?!"

"I've been quite busy," Chai Xiaomi thought for a moment, "but it wasn't all for nothing. Oh right, I didn't gain your trust, but I did get my first kiss."

Fried dough stick: "What???"

Chai Xiaomi: "The villain's first kiss."

Chai Xiaomi: "They even kissed twice."

Fried dough stick: "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

After a piercing electrical buzzing sound, the system's mechanical voice intermittently emitted a string of jumbled characters:

「5&1!K^j%8@mZ$9eP……%#@*&……”

Chai Xiaomi didn't understand; it seemed to be a string of disordered code due to overload.

The outdated system chip was clearly unable to handle this explosive information and completely malfunctioned under high-speed operation.

It wasn't until everyone set foot on the territory of Liangya Prefecture.

The fried dough sticks gradually recovered.

It repeatedly confirmed with Chai Xiaomi, "Are you sure you're not delirious from the fever and dreaming about it, and then confusing reality with your dream? How could the villain kiss you on his own initiative? In the original story, he didn't even hold the female lead's hand!"

Chai Xiaomi: "He said it was just to shut me up."

Youtiao: "Nonsense, he clearly has a Gu worm that can make people mute."

Chai Xiaomi: "That worm was eaten by the big fat snake."

The fried dough sticks fell into a long and chaotic silence.

Is this reasonable? The Gu snake you carefully raised swallowed the Gu worms you raised? The more you listen, the more outrageous this sounds...

Forget it, now is not the time to dwell on this.

The sky gradually darkened.

The group spurred their horses forward, the hooves pounding on the wide official road, the sound clear and far-reaching.

A weathered stone tablet by the roadside came into view, with three large characters clearly engraved on it: Qianwu Town.

This was originally just an ordinary stopover for them on their way to Ghost Spring Town.

But Chai Xiaomi's memories gradually became clearer.

In the original story, the main characters encountered a series of bizarre and inexplicable events after arriving in this town.

It was in this town of Thousand Mist that the villain and the heroine began to have frequent contact.

This is where he first tried to plant a love potion on the female lead.

Youtiao took a deep breath:

"Host, are you ready?"

"We're about to step into the real—main storyline."

Chai Xiaomi's gaze swept across the twilight, landing on the myriad lights of Qianwu Town in the distance.

As the sun sets, wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys of houses throughout the city.

Her eyes were firm, brimming with confidence: "Ready!"