Chapter 4: Darkness Descends Again and Again

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Perhaps it was because Jiang Lingyi’s expression was too twisted that the system couldn’t help but whisper a reminder.

“Host, the mission only says to poison the male lead, it doesn’t say you have to poison him to death, right?”

Jiang Lingyi: Heh.

Truly, hearing your words is like hearing a whole other set of words.

The real challenge of this mission isn’t to kill Xie Lin with poison, but how to slip poison into his meal the next day so he gets poisoned!

Tomorrow is Xie Xuan’s funeral day. All three meals are eaten together in the main hall, with everyone sharing the same food, cooked and eaten as one. How exactly is she supposed to poison only Xie Lin’s meal discreetly?

Even if she manages to poison the food, Xie Lin is currently at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation and can immediately detect if the food has been poisoned. He wouldn’t eat it at all!

Even if, by some miracle, Xie Lin absentmindedly eats the poisoned food and gets poisoned, how is she supposed to say that signature line in front of everyone?

“Take a good look at yourself,” she reminds herself. She is a frail, gentle, and kind white moonlight, after all!

Jiang Lingyi pinched the area between her nose and upper lip to prevent herself from fainting from frustration.

Promise me, next time when you issue a mission, consider the possibility of success, will you?

I’m a vicious supporting female character, not an all-powerful villainess. I’m not that omnipotent.

Seeing her pale face and long silence, clearly about to give up, the system whispered again to console her.

“Oh, host, this is the newbie stage mission. It’s designed to be a bit wild and illogical. But once you return to the sect and enter the main storyline, the missions will be continuous and reasonable!”

Jiang Lingyi rolled her eyes again.

Chocolate-flavored excrement doesn’t taste good; does that mean excrement-flavored chocolate tastes good?

She kept silent, utterly speechless, not wanting to utter a single word. Her mind was filled with thoughts on how to complete the mission smoothly tomorrow.

Oh, and she almost forgot—after completing the mission, she still had to slip into a humble kneeling position to cling to life.

One mission, two approaches—she was truly buying both misfortune and deception!

…

The next day.

Jiang Lingyi hadn’t slept well all night. At dawn, she quietly got up and sneaked toward the Xie family’s back kitchen.

Three meals a day means that, if Xie Lin doesn’t have a habit of eating midnight snacks, she only has three chances to poison his meals.

Since she doesn’t have to actually poison him seriously, a bit of mild poison should suffice, right?

In the kitchen, under the dim light, Jiang Lingyi’s conflicted face was reflected. She squatted before a low cabinet, holding a bottle of Strong Rat Poison in her left hand and a bottle of Cockroach Exterminator in her right, looking extremely hesitant.

“System, do these two count as poison?”

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The system was silent for two seconds.

“I guess… yes.”

After all, the mission only said to poison the host, without specifying if it’s poison for humans or animals.

Receiving the system’s confirmation, Jiang Lingyi was still hesitant.

Could these things… kill a person?

Looking at the pitch-black porcelain bottles sealed with blood-red wax, they looked incredibly sinister. She only wanted to complete the mission, not actually kill Xie Lin.

“Would a person die if they ate this?”

“Small amounts probably won’t.”

“How am I supposed to know how much Xie Lin will eat?”

“That’s a good question.”

Jiang Lingyi: …

She gritted her teeth and took the bottle of Cockroach Exterminator.

Compared to rats, cockroaches are much smaller, so the poison dose should be less than the Strong Rat Poison, she thought.

Steaming buns and mantou were in the steamers, and hot porridge was cooking on the stove—all breakfast for today. The Xie family had no servants, only a few temporary hires for the funeral, who were clearly inexperienced. Jiang Lingyi had already sneaked into the kitchen twice after stealing the poison, but the two hired women who were dozing off hadn’t even woken up yet.

She carefully checked the bowls and spoons, all of which looked identical. There was no way to tell which set belonged to Xie Lin.

Looking at the bubbling hot porridge, she closed her eyes in despair.

She couldn’t just pour poison into the whole pot of porridge. As for the buns and mantou, she didn’t know which one Xie Lin would take. There was no way to poison precisely.

Crime is hard. Being the perfect suspect is even harder.

Jiang Lingyi squatted by the stove for a long time. The heat from the burning fire continuously warmed her face. Suddenly, a flicker of the flames cast a bright light in her dim eyes.

Got it!

The mission never said everyone had to eat together. If she divided the buns, mantou, and porridge by person and had someone deliver each portion to their bedrooms, wouldn’t that solve it?

That way, she only needs to poison Xie Lin’s porridge!

Just a drop of Cockroach Exterminator—could that poison a cultivated warrior at the Nascent Soul stage like Xie Lin, who was also the male lead?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

As long as he eats this bowl of ineffective poisoned porridge, she could later come up with some vague excuse. If Xie Lin questions her, she could shamelessly deny it.

Perfect. Really, how clever she was.

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Jiang Lingyi clenched her fist and immediately began to work.

Cultivators loved to rise at dawn when the wind was crisp and dew pure to practice swordsmanship and gather energy. But today was a funeral, so it was best not to disturb others’ mourning. No one had gotten up yet.

Jiang Lingyi, under the pretense of helping out, divided the breakfast with the servants and instructed them to deliver each portion to the guest rooms one by one.

Xie Lin was still officially Xie Xuan’s son. He had been keeping vigil at the spirit hall all night and probably hadn’t come out yet.

Given Xie Lin’s murderous intent and prejudice against her, if she delivered the meal herself, he would definitely refuse to eat. So, Jiang Lingyi had a kindly-faced woman deliver the meal instead and strictly instructed her to make sure Xie Lin ate it while it was hot, urging him to eat quickly.

After a night of vigil, wouldn’t he be hungry? Looking at the fragrant hot porridge and buns, how could he resist?

Jiang Lingyi was full of confidence. This time, the plan was foolproof. Humming a little tune, she carried the tray and cheerfully walked along the corridor toward Jiang Yuanshan’s bedroom.

“Father!”

A crisp female voice echoed twice through the corridor. She knocked on the door, waiting for Jiang Yuanshan to open it and join her for breakfast. The wooden door creaked open from inside. Jiang Lingyi’s smile froze.

Father?

Her real father?

Why was Xie Lin the one opening the door?!

Jiang Lingyi almost popped her eyes out, staring at the person before her as if seeing a ghost.

He looked like he had just woken up, wearing only an outer robe. His black hair was unbound, his eyes half-closed, and his usually cold expression bore a rare youthful vitality, but…

This wasn’t right! Wasn’t he supposed to be keeping vigil at the spirit hall?

“Where’s my father?!”

Stunned, Jiang Lingyi asked blankly. Xie Lin leaned lazily against the doorframe, half-closing his eyes.

“He’s at the spirit hall. Jiang Shibo came to replace me in the second half of the night.”

Jiang Lingyi’s face twisted for a moment.

His father was at the spirit hall, so the explosive breakfast she had tampered with was delivered there as well…

Ah!!!

Her vision darkened repeatedly!

Father, oh father! At your age, can you really withstand the power of Cockroach Exterminator?!