Chapter 89

Chapter 89: Something Is Wrong With the Memories

The sun blazed overhead, and the air stood still—no breeze, no mercy. The ground seemed to steam under the heat, making it hard to breathe.

Afternoon sunlight poured onto the balcony. The pothos looked listless now, its morning vitality dulled, leaves drooping as if even green had grown tired.

In the living room, Qiao Qing Yan sat on the sofa in light-colored loungewear. Her slender fingers pinched a porcelain-white jade bottle.

Against the pale ceramic, her smooth red nails looked almost violent—bright, vivid, sharp.

Little Tabby Cat hovered at the edge of her mind, curious again.

[Master, isn’t this the Clear Jade Dew you won last night?]

Qiao Qing Yan stared at the bottle for a long time without answering.

Last night, memories had surfaced—sudden and sharp, like a blade sliding out from under water.

They hadn’t existed in the original host’s memories.

And the voice inside those memories… sounded younger than the original host’s voice should have been.

They should have been the original host’s lost memories.

But—

[Master, it looks like the Child of Fate was here for this too, right?] Little Tabby Cat pressed, unable to contain itself. [Why did he suddenly give up bidding?]

Other people didn’t know the person in that private room had been the Child of Fate.

But Little Tabby Cat did.

Qiao Qing Yan’s eyes lowered. Her fingers turned the bottle slowly, as if feeling for something beneath the smooth surface.

“Xiao Hua Hua,” she said at last, “where are the original host’s memories from before she was eighteen?”

Little Tabby Cat went still.

[Huh? Master, what are you talking about?]

Qiao Qing Yan didn’t blink. She simply watched the sunlit dust drifting through the room, her voice calm enough to be frightening.

“Where are they?”

Little Tabby Cat scrambled, system threads flashing as it hurriedly checked its records.

A second later, it froze.

Then its voice came out small and strained.

[Master…]

It had trusted its master too much. It had also grown used to this host’s strength—so used to it that it hadn’t noticed the problem when things were urgent.

The original host’s memories were wrong.

[Master, the original host’s file is so strange.] Little Tabby Cat sounded almost panicked. [It doesn’t say she ever had amnesia. How did she suddenly have no memories from before eighteen?]

Qiao Qing Yan’s gaze remained on the porcelain bottle, unreadable.

Little Tabby Cat forced itself to steady its voice.

[Master, wait. I’ll report it to the Main Bureau and check what it is…]

Halfway through the sentence, it stopped.

Its voice faded, as if something had been cut cleanly.

A heavy sadness spread through its system world like ink in water.

It remembered what the Elder had said.

It no longer belonged to the Quick-Transmigration Bureau.

It couldn’t contact the Quick-Transmigration Bureau anymore.

Now it belonged only to…

Little Tabby Cat turned into a string of data and fell silent. The entire system space filled with its mournful, helpless emotion.

Qiao Qing Yan sensed the shift. She didn’t ask.

Based on what she knew about systems, it likely had something to do with the Main Bureau.

Sooner or later, it would speak.

Qiao Qing Yan kept staring at the bottle, sinking deeper into thought.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

The phone on the table started vibrating again, relentless.

—

Stone Yard

“Young Master Si, how is it? This price should be fine, right?”

“Young Master Si, how about we hold a bidding round? Even if you have ties with the boss, you can’t let your friend take a loss, right?”

“Exactly. Let’s bid. Highest bidder wins.”

“It’s been a long time since Cloud City produced Lu-Lu-Shou triple-color jadeite, hasn’t it? This is truly rare.”

“And look at the clarity—so clean.”

“Young Master Si, I’ll offer 900 million.”

For a piece this big, 900 million wasn’t even considered high.

Someone immediately raised it. “One billion.”

The number jumped from Brother Hong’s 850 million straight to one billion, and there were still people in the crowd itching to climb higher.

After all, old-mine jadeite with three colors was absurdly hard to come by. And this piece was so large that any jewelry cut from it would multiply in value several times over.