The improved female villains regained their memories.

“Something must have happened in this town,” Shi Yuzun said in a deep voice, his brows furrowed.

Gardenia also noticed something was wrong. She stopped a woman who was walking hurriedly and asked softly, "Ma'am, what happened in town? Why is it so desolate?"

The woman looked pale and her eyes darted around. She sighed and said, "Young lady, you don't know this, but our Luoxia Town has been struck by a strange illness! First, there's a persistent high fever, then weakness all over the body, unable to get out of bed, and then... and then..." She covered her mouth, unable to continue, tears streaming down her face.

"A strange disease?" Zhi Zi and Shi Yu Zun exchanged a glance and immediately thought of the spreading virus.

Shi Yuzun made a quick decision: "Let's go see the town mayor."

The mayor's house was also shrouded in gloom. The mayor himself was bedridden, his face ashen and his breath faint. When he saw Shi Yuzun and Zhi Zi, he struggled to get up, but Shi Yuzun held him down.

“Mayor, there’s no need for such formalities. We were just passing through when we heard about the strange illness in the town, so we came to see if there was anything we could do to help,” Shi Yuzun said.

The town mayor gave a wry smile: "Thank you for your kindness, young master, but this strange illness has come on fiercely, and the doctors in town are helpless. Many people have already... have already passed away..."

Many shadows appeared; these were the followers who had been with Shi Yuzun all along. Under Shi Yuzun's gaze, one of them stepped forward, took out a magic artifact, placed it on the town mayor, and carefully examined his symptoms, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.

"How is it?" Shi Yuzun asked.

The man nodded: "That's right, exactly the same as before, but slightly different. Their method of poisoning seems to be..." He hesitated.

"What does it resemble?" Shi Yuzun pressed.

“It seems… to be man-made.” The man finally voiced his suspicions. “Moreover, the disease seems to be related to the water source.”

Shi Yuzun's eyes sharpened: "Water source?"

"Yes." The man nodded. "I need to go check on the town's water source."

The water source of Luoxia Town is an ancient well called "Crescent Moon Spring", located on the west side of the town.

At this moment, a group of anxious townspeople were gathered around Crescent Lake, holding buckets but not daring to step forward to draw water.

Shi Yuzun led his men forward to investigate and found that although the well water looked clear, it had a strange smell.

The man dispersed the crowd, took some water samples, observed them carefully, and tested them with a ritual implement, and indeed discovered the problem.

"This water... has indeed been poisoned!" the man said gravely.

"What?!" The surrounding townspeople were in an uproar, their emotions running high.

"Who is so cruel as to want to harm the entire town!"

"Damn it, this is cutting off our way out!"

Looking at the agitated townspeople, Shi Yuzun said loudly, "Please calm down! We will definitely find out who poisoned us and give you justice!"

After calming the townspeople down, Shi Yuzun immediately began investigating the matter. They split into two groups: Shi Yuzun led a team to track down the poisoner, while Zhi Zi was responsible for calming the crowd.

After several days of hard work, his men finally developed a medicine that could temporarily relieve the symptoms. Although it could not completely detoxify the poison, it could at least save the lives of the townspeople.

Meanwhile, Shi Yuzun also caught the person who poisoned the well. It turned out that Luoxia Town was located on a major transportation route, and recently a group of bandits had been entrenched nearby. In order to control the water source, they forced the townspeople to pay high "protection fees." When the townspeople refused, they went so far as to poison the well water.

Upon learning the truth, Shi Yuzun immediately led his men to wipe out the bandits and recovered the remaining poison from their possession.

With the poison sample in hand, his men quickly developed a complete antidote. The crisis in Luoxia Town was finally averted, and the townspeople were overjoyed, deeply grateful to Shi Yuzun and Zhizi.

To express their gratitude for saving their lives, the townspeople spontaneously erected a monument in the town center square, inscribed with the words: "Their grace shines like the setting sun, their virtue benefits all living beings."

But no one felt happy.

At the thank-you banquet hosted by the town mayor that evening, Shi Yuzun did not attend. Instead, he sent Zhizi instead, while he stood alone on the hillside, looking down at the town from above.

“My lord,” the subordinate standing next to Shi Yuzun said, “just as you said, those bandits were indeed a decoy. The poison was provided by another group of people.”

"Okay, I understand." Shi Yuzun nodded. At this moment, he was no longer as rash and impulsive as he had been in front of Zhi Zi and the system.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, whether it was Shenlong Lake or Luoxia, you treated them in time, so..."

"Then let's finish this quickly."

He said calmly, "I'm tired of this game."

He had already witnessed the system developed by Ye Buxin and had almost figured out the root cause of the villain's failure.

Ye Buxin and Rendao jointly invested in the protagonist, so she naturally had to cut off Yang Pingsheng's investment in the villain and Tianyi.

"The Guardian Sect..." he sighed, at this moment, he once again became that unfathomable and profound soul.

-------------

Further ahead lies the small town where Gardenia lived with her grandmother when she was young.

That's where it all began, and the place is famous for its gardenias.

But besides gardenias, that town also produces a variety of other flowers, decorating every corner of the town.

Seeing that Zhi Zi liked it, Shi Yuzun suggested that they stay a few more days so that she could relax. Zhi Zi was naturally delighted, and the two found an inn in the city to stay in.

That evening, Zhi Zi was organizing the medicinal herbs she had collected over the past few days in her room when Shi Yu Zun pushed open the door and came in, holding a bunch of freshly picked flowers.

"Gardenia, look." Shi Yuzun handed the bouquet to Gardenia.

Gardenia looked up and saw that the bouquet was full of colorful flowers vying for attention, with glistening dewdrops and a faint fragrance.

"So beautiful!" Gardenia took the bouquet and examined it carefully. "This is... rose, peony, and... what kind of flower is this? I don't think I've ever seen it before." She pointed to a small pale purple flower and asked.

“This is a purple iris, which grows in the valley outside the city. I discovered it by chance,” Shi Yuzun explained.

"Iris...what a beautiful name." Gardenia held the bouquet to her nose and gently inhaled its fragrance. "Thank you."

She followed the plan and feigned delight.

Seeing her happy expression, Shi Yuzun lowered his eyes slightly and said, "I'm glad you like it."

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then Shi Yuzun suddenly said, "Zhizi, let's go for a walk."

“Okay!” Gardenia readily agreed.

The two walked out of the inn side by side and strolled down the street.

It was already late, and every household lit up their lanterns, illuminating the entire town in a dreamlike way.

They walked along the street for a while and came to a small bridge. Under the bridge was a clear river, the lights on both banks and the stars in the sky reflected on the water, sparkling and beautiful.

"I never realized this place was so beautiful," Gardenia murmured, deliberately revealing a flaw in her deception, "Such a beautiful view!"

Shi Yuzun followed up on the clue and asked, "Before?"

"It's nothing, I was just talking to myself."

Gardenia did not respond directly, but answered stiffly, like a puppet.

The two stood quietly on the bridge, admiring the beautiful night view, neither of them speaking.

After a long while, Zhi Zi suddenly spoke up: "Actually, I still prefer gardenias."

Shi Yuzun turned to look at her, the moonlight shining on her face, giving her a soft halo.

"I'm sorry, I lied to you last time," Gardenia replied.

Shi Yuzun was silent for a moment, then said, "I know, I investigated you. You used to live here, right?"

The plan went smoothly, and Zhi Zi appropriately showed her surprise.

"You know?" Gardenia asked cautiously.

Shi Yuzun nodded: "More or less."

A long silence.

"So, the extraterrestrial visitor, like this saintess, is just a persona, right?"

"......Um."

Gardenia looked at the river.

Her fingertips were slightly white as she gripped the bridge railing tightly, her lips dry.

She was a little speechless.

But... the system has already awakened and is urging you on internally.

She took a deep breath and said, "You're right. All of this was a carefully crafted persona designed to get closer to you."

“Those viruses…”

"I did it too." As she said this, Zhi Zi's face showed a hint of collapse, but she still forced herself to say, "The ones at Shenlong Lake and in Luoxia Town were all done by my people."

“Gardenia…” Shi Yuzun turned to look at her and asked:

"If you did all of this, then what do you consider human life to be?"

"To get closer to me, you're playing with people's lives. Is this still the kind-hearted saint I know, the one who listened carefully to everyone's wishes and recorded them in the back hall, the one I couldn't bear to destroy?"

-------------

I feel so bad.

Although she had anticipated this many times, she never expected that she would feel so distressed when the plan was actually implemented.

She felt like she was going crazy.

But the system's urging and the muscle memory of so many years made her say in that near-collapse state, "As long as I can eliminate you, then the Crown Prince will have no more worries."

As soon as she finished speaking, the entire town was enveloped by magical artifacts, and the prince's men jumped out of the water one by one, surrounding Shi Yuzun.

The magical artifacts enveloping this place isolated the spiritual energy. Shi Yuzun slightly raised his hand and found that he could not use the spiritual energy.

He sighed helplessly and looked at Zhi Zixun: "Why did you have to go to this extent?"

"Because, I......."

Because I like the Crown Prince, I have secretly loved him for many years.

Once Gardenia says those words, her mission is complete.

But she stood there with her mouth half open, unable to say anything.

The system was frantic, shouting, "What are you doing? You're only halfway through a sentence, why aren't you finishing?!"

"Speak up, speak up now!"

"Once you tell everyone, your mission is complete!"

Shi Yuzun raised his head slightly and looked at the clouds in the sky that had been blown away by the wind.