35 Head in the clouds

It had almost been a week she had woken up to this world. It still felt unreal, but she was breathing just fine.

'...'

'Have I really?'

Apart from a few hardcore incidents here and there though... She had survived the process of being deleted thrice already.

Living with this body, under her fake alias, didn't bring her any unpleasantness. No one suspected that she was a fake as no one truly knew her nor her origins. The soul's mysterious background dealt a huge favor for Zhi's newfound mission.

Zhi had a mission to be achieved in this world, a fact that Zhi kept sticky in her mind - to make the host's wish come true.

Existing in this world and taking over the soul's body was not without a service, albeit she was not the real player currently and this didn't count back to the system. In return for her service, the soul had a price to pay. The price was something that Little Jae would not divulge to her though.

He only repetitively warned, "Beware of the butterfly effect."

Zhi, who couldn't get her braincells working, had only one plan - just go with the flow. She was a hundred percent noob.

"The performance has started, I bet the female lead all nervous~"

Little Jae hovered around her shoulders as the heavy mass of air switched between her left and right.

"Hey Zhi, do you think the female lead can move the general's heart with her performance?"

Zhi gave the question a thought and the scene of a magnificent phoenix soaring flashed. She unconsciously murmured, "If she could prove her sincerity..."

But Little Jae heard it clearly and retorted, "No, she doesn't necessarily have to. Anyone could fake their sincerity and nobody could tell."

He then continued, "She needs to lure him into thinking since they are husband and wife in name already, he needs to be responsible of her. The general is a very honest and upright man, you give him a responsibility, he'll thoroughly follow it to the end."

"Well, the player too must know when to go forward and retreat. When to have a big head and when to bow her head down."

Zhi just listened to Little Jae's chatter. At first, she was taken aback by his reply and thought that it was...scary. Then when he talked about the general like that, she found herself weirdly amused.

"The general as a husband..."

"Did you say something, Zhi?"

Almost spitting out a weird line, Zhi shook her head. "It's nothing!"

Several hours passed by idly like that, while the event continued on and people still filled with enthusiasm, loudly cheering over the ongoing martial arts competition now.

A sweet scent drifted over to Zhi's nose, teasing her empty stomach. Meng Xun, who was called over to other points before, had brought over some buns - freshly cooked.

"Eat up~" Meng Xun's eyes curved into a crescent. "I knew you were hungry around this time so I bought you food."

She handed over a steaming white bun to Zhi while notifying her that she had to move around again afterwards. She was feeling sorry to Zhi as she left her here alone. After confirming the safety and security of the area, Meng Xun left for her duty again.

Meng Xun as the senior sister had loads of work on her shoulder, unlike Zhi. Rather, instead of acting as a secret agent, Zhi was just hiding secretly. But she was grateful to be given the opportunity to get out from the dorm, even though the only activity she could do was hanging on a branch of a tree.

In the corner of her eyes, an old man who looked like a merchant was struggling to lift a bulging sack onto his cart. He was pretty far away from the people so Zhi wondered if she could lend him her hands.

Zhi stood up and undid the raven outfit, revealing a lady in white robe and veiled. She approached the merchant from his back.

"Excuse me, sir Merchant. May I help you?"

Albeit her small voice, the place was a bit isolated from the festival so it travelled well to the old guy.

The face of the old merchant revealed a startled expression but was instantly masked with a smiling face. "Ah, it is this one's wish for young lady to help but I'm afraid the burden is too heavy to handle."

Zhi stared at the old merchant's face. Wrinkles filled the corners of his eyes, even his smiling lines around the mouth was also distinct.

She then turned to look at the sack - big and heavy. However, she believed she could lift it, as a result from the weight training in Martial Arts class.

Before Zhi got to touch the sack, the merchant gently swatted her hands. "It's a trouble for you, young lady. My nephew's coming over, look! He's here!"

The man excitedly pointed a finger to Zhi's left, claiming someone was coming over.

"Nephew Song is already here, my young lady. There's no need to burden you with this heavy stuff."

Zhi shifted her sight to the man to her left, the Nephew Song who silently had come over.

Standing at two heads taller than her, this Nephew Song towered both Zhi and the merchant completely. He had a good build, perhaps from all the lifting of similar sacks as this one. And he just reached out the sack and easily put it over his right shoulder.

"Uncle, the others' have been waiting for you, let's go now." His stoic expression was largely different with the friendly expression his uncle had. He just stared at Zhi for a second and nonchalantly left with that huge sack affecting none of his walking.

"I have to go now, young lady. Thank you for your help offer."

Both of them walked towards a small carriage hidden by a big tree. Zhi could have sworn she hadn't seen any carriages going through the area here so how did that be there? She continued to look at their backs until they had alighted the carriage and drove towards the back gate of the city.

While wearing her raven outfit back under the thick shadows, sounds of flare bursting out. When she emerged from the shadow, flares with red and orange colours filled the blue cloudy sky.

'I never thought fireworks during a broad daylight would be good too...' Zhi looked up to the flares in the sky just above the center stage.

'Zhi, those are not fireworks. The city is under attack!' Almost enthusiastic sounding, Little Jae screamed to her ears.