hsntnovel Chapter 362 - End?
Chapter 362 - End?
Jiang Xingni didn't dare to turn around.
She kept walking forward until the distance between them grew so far that Rong Zui could no longer be seen, and only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
After losing her powers, the girl with black hair and black eyes, whose appearance had returned to its original state, sat on a bench, burying her face in her arms and knees.
System: [Stars? Jiang Xingni?]
Jiang Xingni ignored him.
After careful observation, the system noticed that Jiang Xingni's ear tips had turned red without him noticing.
"Okay," the system thought. It was a magnanimous system and should forgive Jiang Xingni for ignoring it, instead feeling shy because of a fan's unexpected confession.
The system waited for a while until Jiang Xingni put his hands down and finally lifted his face from between his hands and legs. His cheeks still had a slight redness, and he looked at the void with a misty gaze, not knowing where to place his eyes.
【Stars?】The system was momentarily confused.
So what if a fan confessed their love to her? The aftereffects are so strong! If Jiang Xingni knew that after she died, an entire city burned paper money for her, remembered her, missed her, and hoped that she could be brought back to life and return, who knows what kind of reaction he would have.
"My clothes should be pretty common, right?" Jiang Xingni wondered, still somewhat dazed. "How did I get recognized and mistaken for a cosplayer?"
The system looked Jiang Xingni up and down, examining his attire.
Hmm... do you really think your clothes are very casual?
To be honest, among the various distinctive outfits in shonen manga, Jiang Xingni's outfit isn't that outrageous—at least for cosplay, it's the kind of outfit you could wear on the street without blending in—but it's definitely not the kind of outfit most people would wear to work or commuting.
A brown leather jacket with a short cape over it, a shirt underneath, cargo pants with over-the-knee boots, fingerless gloves with wristbands.
Moreover, Jiang Xingni had just died before coming to the real world. It's no wonder that fans would have a deep impression of this outfit when she died in front of all the readers of the comic while wearing it.
When each character leaves the show, many people will commemorate her. Rong Zui would probably just think that this cosplayer's fandom is too fast, buying the wig and cosplay outfit so quickly, rather than thinking that this is her fandom coming to life and wiping away her tears.
Fortunately, Jiang Xingni didn't have any particularly conspicuous labels, otherwise, he could have become another target—thinking of this, the system suddenly realized.
[Stars.] The system's tone was serious. [Your earring is gone.]
Jiang Xingni: ?
If it weren't for the system's words, Jiang Xingni would have almost forgotten that the main characters had given him an earring before.
When Jiang Xingni first started wearing it, she could remember which side she should wear it on, but after a while she forgot, and every time she remembered to wear it, it could be either side.
—Besides, she doesn't wear earrings all the time. Jiang Xingni is always very casual about these things; she'll wear them when she remembers and leave them aside when she doesn't.
So much so that only now, when she touched both earlobes, did she realize that her earrings were gone.
Jiang Xingni fell into deep thought: "Was I wearing an earring when I died?"
The system nodded solemnly and showed Jiang Xingni the latest chapter—deliberately omitting the scene of flames filling the sky during Jiang Xingni's seventh-day memorial service, and only showing him the Easter egg in this chapter of the comic.
*
Pei Zhaoye knelt beside Jiang Xingni and saw the earring.
Jiang Xingni doesn't like getting her ears pierced, so her earrings have always been clip-on styles.
In this situation, the single earring naturally and effortlessly slipped off Jiang Xingni's earlobe and fell to the ground with a clatter.
The golden gemstone cracked, and cracks appeared on its originally shiny surface.
Pei Zhaoye picked up the earring and stared at it for a while.
Golden earrings, Jiang Xing glanced at the golden eyes.
He snapped out of his daze and hurriedly looked away to see Jiang Xingni's eyes—Jiang Xingni's eyes were already closed, and he could no longer see that golden glint in them.
Pei Zhaoye suddenly realized this.
The final scene of the post-credits scene shows Pei Zhaoye hanging the shattered earring on his earlobe.
Although both he and Jiang Xingni wore single earrings, their styles were different.
—If they were exactly the same, he wouldn't be the only one wearing earrings.
Wearing two earrings, one long and one short, on the ears creates a rather comical effect.
Pei Zhaoye simply touched the golden earring lightly.
*
Jiang Xingni fell silent.
"It's okay," the system reassured. "That fan of yours might even think you've meticulously recreated Jiang Xingni's character!"
Jiang Xingni felt utterly hopeless after hearing those words.
"Actually, I also feel sorry for them," Jiang Xingni said softly.
She knew she was going to die, but she couldn't control how far a person's emotions would develop.
She knew the main characters wouldn't die, so she never considered the possibility of her friends dying, making it even harder for her to empathize with them in such matters.
It wasn't until Jiang Xingni saw Pei Zhaoye holding the earring he had worn in life and reminiscing about her eyes that she suddenly felt a slight sadness—the dead can't feel anything anymore, but the living still have to endure the pain of losing loved ones.
The golden eyes that Pei Zhaoye longed for were fake.
The gold earrings that evoke memories were gifts from them.
In the end, apart from memories, it seems that Jiang Xingni left nothing for these friends; what she left behind was all fake.
Jiang Xingni shook his head, dispelling all the inexplicable sadness in his mind.
"Can I go back?" she asked.
Although it's not nice to deceive someone's feelings with death... if there's a possibility of resurrection, Jiang Xingni still feels that a living person is far better than a dead person.
And she clearly remembered making that promise to someone else! She would go back!
The system was bewildered.
"...Are you going back?"
The system had heard what Jiang Xingni had said earlier, that she might go back sometime, but the system did not expect that after coming to the three-dimensional world, she would really want to return to the world of the comic.
Didn't you say you didn't want to be restricted in every way?
The system doesn't understand.
Returning to the comic means that Jiang Xingni will definitely still be bound by the comic's plot, and may even suffer more intense retaliation from the screenwriter.
So what was her purpose in doing all this?
Jiang Xing smiled faintly: "So I can still go back."
She ignored the system's questions and looked up at the azure sky: "The screenwriter is simple... just finish the whole comic."
—Everyone, including her, will no longer be bound by the plot.