Free Web NovelChapter 378: Chapter 376: The System Disappeared
At this realization, Mia Grant shot up from her chair.
Ahead of her, Silas Grant heard the commotion, paused his swing, and turned to look at her.
Mia quickly turned away, not letting him see her unraveling expression.
She frantically grabbed her phone from the table, nearly knocking over the lemon tea beside it in her haste.
Thankfully, she managed to keep her voice steady, tossing a sentence over her shoulder at the man, "I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back."
"I’ll have someone show you the way." Silas Grant suspected nothing.
"No need. I just saw the sign. I know the way."
After speaking, she pretended to leave calmly, breaking into a frantic sprint only after she was some distance away.
She ran head-on into someone.
Ugh!
Both stumbled backward. Mia managed to grab the wall in time, steadying herself before looking up.
The woman opposite her was caught by a friend just in time.
"What’s going on!"
Mia froze for a moment, looking at the figure before her with some surprise. "My apologies. It’s you, Miss White. I wasn’t watching where I was going."
Hearing the familiar voice, Quinn White swallowed the scolding that was on the tip of her tongue and squinted at her.
She met Mia’s eyes, which were filled with concern. "Are you alright, Miss White? Should I call for a medic to check on you?"
"No need." Quinn stood up straight, her gaze lingering on Mia for a long moment before she asked, "What are you doing here?"
Mia was in no mood to scrutinize the other woman. Once she confirmed Quinn was unhurt, she gave a slight nod, not wanting to engage in small talk. "Good, as long as you’re okay. I have something to attend to, so I’ll be going."
Quinn wanted to say more, but Mia slipped away too quickly, disappearing around the corner in an instant.
She frowned.
The last time she’d seen Mia was at the clubhouse when Mia had shown up to a blind date in Silas Grant’s place.
They hadn’t been in contact since.
She also hadn’t seen Mia at the old master’s funeral.
To be honest, she had always been very curious.
She didn’t know if Silas had hidden her away or if they had broken up.
But today, Mia had appeared perfectly fine in Portia, on Silas’s home turf, which meant she was still in contact with him.
But she still couldn’t be sure of their relationship.
Quinn thought for a moment, then called over a nearby attendant. "Was that young woman who was just here by herself?"
"No, she arrived with Nike Grant."
The attendant was sharp. This place was very private and operated on a membership system. Technically, he shouldn’t have answered.
But on second thought, answering this question or not wouldn’t really affect him.
It was better to just answer obediently. Just as he had, after answering, he received a thick wad of cash as a tip from Miss White.
***
Mia had no time to worry about Quinn White. Her mind was a mess. She found the restroom and hastily splashed her face with water.
In her panic, she almost touched her wound.
She quickly grabbed a towel and gently dabbed away the water droplets. After a long moment, she faced the mirror and let out a heavy sigh.
’I’d actually long since considered that maybe none of it was a dream.’
’But having that suspicion confirmed is still shocking, even a little hard to accept.’
’Because if this dream about Silas is real, then the others... must be real too.’
She put down the towel, braced her hands on the counter, and silently lowered her head to watch the water swirling in the sink. She suddenly felt the urge to cry.
’I don’t know what happened to them later in the dreams...’
’The dreams the others left me with were relatively pleasant.’
’They were all seemingly benign little interludes in life.’
’But Yates Donovan wasn’t.’
’Even now, that dream is still fresh in my mind.’
’I don’t know if Yates really beat that drunkard to death.’
’If he did...’
Her hand, resting on the towel, unconsciously clenched.
She always liked to prepare for the worst, so at this moment, she couldn’t help but make the connection: Yates had once killed for her.
’The price for that was... I ruined Yates’s life.’
’If the world after transmigrating is truly connected to the previous world, if Yates is really the only male lead who has "awakened," does that mean all of this was caused by me?’
’Like a butterfly effect.’
Mia pounded her head lightly, trying to dispel the thought.
"System... System!"
"Sy-System?"
Her brain was functioning normally. There was no sound.
Mia suddenly realized it had been half a month since she last contacted the System.
A terrifying thought suddenly sprang up, like a bamboo shoot after the rain, breaking through the soil. Its hard shell pierced her heart, and Mia smelled a familiar trace of blood.
Before she could react, a coppery sweetness surged in her throat.
She braced herself against the sink and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The crimson liquid was quickly diluted by the running water and swirled down the drain until the smell of blood was completely gone.
It was as if everything that had just happened was merely her imagination.
Mia reached up to touch her lower lip, stared at the spot of crimson on her fingertip, and let her hand fall limply.
Maybe it was because she had vomited blood a few times before and had built up an immunity, but it was just as the System had said: once you get used to it, it doesn’t hurt anymore.
She truly didn’t feel any pain. Her mind was still clear, with no signs of fainting.
Mia took a deep breath, spat out some bloody foam, and then rinsed her mouth and cleaned up as if nothing had happened.
Only her trembling fingertips betrayed her emotions.
After composing herself, Mia didn’t leave right away.
She sat down on a lounge chair beside the sinks, leaned her head back, and let it rest heavily against the smooth, cold marble wall.
Her eyes, staring at the ceiling, now looked somewhat vacant.
She was thinking.
Pondering the plausibility of the thought she just had.
’What if,’ she thought, ’there was never any so-called System to begin with?’
’No so-called past life, either.’
’Is it possible that there’s really something wrong with my head?’
’Everything has just been a delusion I imposed on myself.’
’It’s not as complicated as I thought, right?’
Mia felt a strange urge to laugh.
’Now this is getting interesting.’
’It just depends on whether I’m willing to admit I’m the crazy one.’
’The one with the problem... is it really me?’
Compared to the idea that she had ruined someone’s life, she was willing to believe, for now, that her mind had simply run into some trouble.
’Maybe I shouldn’t go see Dr. Quinlan tomorrow when I get back.’
’I should make an appointment with a psychiatrist.’
Deep breath.
Mia took out her phone and sent a message to Dr. Quinlan, canceling her appointment for the next day.
Dr. Quinlan didn’t ask any questions and quickly replied with an acknowledgment.
Mia put her phone down, her mind still trying to work through the logic of it all.
’Thinking about it carefully, the timing of the System’s appearance was indeed strange.’
’Before I jumped into the sea, it had plenty of time to manipulate me and change the situation.’
’But it just had to appear *after* I jumped, right when I had already resolved to break away from everything.’
’The System appeared.’
’It appeared with the one thing that would tempt me the most.’
’What a coincidence.’
Mia thought of the key element the System had mentioned—the "corruption levels" of the male leads.
’Maybe I can use these corruption levels to prove who really has the problem.’
’Will this world really collapse?’
’Hmm.’
She suddenly let out a laugh. ’If everything is just an elaborate hoax, then let it collapse.’
’I’d quite like to see what a spectacle that would be.’
’Should I give it a try?’
The voice in her head grew more and more resolute—’Let’s try it!’
