After I Was Erased by the System, She Went Mad

When it came to traveling, no one was more excited than Shen Nian'an.

Like a busy little bee, she diligently pulled her small suitcase around the room, climbing up and down searching for things needed for the trip, constantly muttering to herself.

"This is the first time Mommy, Mama and I are going out together. I must prepare well! I definitely can't be worse than the bad auntie!"

Shen Xiaoyu lay listlessly on the sofa, lazily yawning. "We won't be out for very long this trip, An'an. You don't need to bring so many things. Besides, this time we're just going to..."

Her voice suddenly stopped. Well, she didn't know where they were going either.

After Su Huan said that day that she would take her to see places they used to stay, she disappeared again and hadn't appeared for two days.

Had she changed her mind?

"Mama! Your attitude isn't right!" Shen Nian'an suddenly appeared in front of her, pointing accusingly with a serious little face. "Where we're going doesn't matter. What matters is that our family is finally together!"

Shen Xiaoyu was a bit sleepy and too lazy to correct the error in her words. "Then you keep packing. Call me when your mommy comes back. I'm going to sleep for a while."

"Mama~"

Shen Xiaoyu waved her hand, yawning with every step as she walked toward the room.

Before she could enter, she heard Shen Nian'an's voice: "Mommy! You're back!"

Shen Xiaoyu turned around to see a travel-worn Su Huan coming in from outside. After picking up Shen Nian'an who had run to her, she looked at Shen Xiaoyu.

"Xiaoyu, let's set off." Su Huan had a smile on her face, looking spirited without a trace of fatigue.

Clearly she was looking forward to this trip.

"Yay!" Shen Nian'an cheered, then frowned. "But Mama is sleepy, and Mama hasn't packed her clothes yet."

Su Huan had anticipated this. "It's okay, I've already prepared everything needed for the journey. If you're tired, you can sleep on the way. We don't have any other plans today."

Shen Nian'an said "oh" and turned to look at Shen Xiaoyu.

She shrugged, indifferent. "Since that's the case, let's go then."

The sooner they went and looked, the sooner Su Huan would give up, and the sooner she could return.

Shen Xiaoyu got in the car with little enthusiasm, sitting by the window. As soon as she closed the door, she closed her eyes and began to sleep.

Actually she wasn't tired. During this period of staying here with nothing to do each day, she either ate or slept. But she didn't want to deal with Su Huan, and in the same space it was impossible to avoid conversation with her, so she could only close her eyes and rest.

Pretending and pretending, Shen Xiaoyu fell asleep without knowing when.

Su Huan, sitting beside her, unconsciously softened her voice and made a shushing gesture to Shen Nian'an. "Mama is asleep, let's be quiet."

Shen Nian'an immediately covered her mouth and nodded obediently.

She climbed onto Su Huan's body, craning her neck to look at Shen Xiaoyu. After a while, she withdrew her gaze and asked: "Mommy, when will you let Mama leave?"

Su Huan's expression shifted. "Hmm? Don't you want Mama to be with us?"

"But Mama isn't happy. I'd rather Mama be happy." The little girl was very melancholy. "Mama said we can't keep flowers by our side just because they're beautiful. Only in soil can flowers grow better. Mommy, if you force Mama to stay by your side, it will only make her wither faster."

Rather than having a mama who would wither quickly, she'd rather mama be happier, even if she couldn't see her often.

Hearing these words, Su Huan could imagine Shen Xiaoyu's expression and tone when she said them. She couldn't help but hold her daughter tighter and whisper: "But I'm not happy either. Why has she never cared about me?"

Shen Nian'an patted her hand, showing an obedient and cute smile, saying sweetly: "It's okay, Mommy, don't be sad. No matter when, I'll always stay with you. So after we come back from traveling, let Mama go back."

Su Huan didn't speak, her eyes vacant, with indescribable emotions surging in her deep eyes.

After a long while, she came back to her senses and rubbed Shen Nian'an's hair. "Children shouldn't worry about adult matters. Do you want to sleep for a while too? I'll wake you when we get to the hotel."

Shen Nian'an shook her head and sighed like a little adult, seeming helpless about her stubbornness.

"I don't want to sleep. I want to watch cartoons."

Su Huan put her aside and gave her a tablet to watch cartoons by herself.

Turning around, Shen Xiaoyu's head was tilted toward the car window, leaning against the seat back, breathing steadily.

Su Huan adjusted the air conditioning vent's direction and took a blanket, shaking it out to cover Shen Xiaoyu.

While tucking in a corner of the blanket, her body unconsciously leaned closer. Half-kneeling on the seat, when she leaned in, her nose brushed past Shen Xiaoyu's cheek. The familiar fragrance invaded her consciousness thread by thread. When Su Huan realized it, her lips were only a finger's width from Shen Xiaoyu's.

Her gaze gradually moved to her lips - pink and soft. Just a slight bow of her head and she could kiss the person she missed day and night.

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Su Huan's mind.

Kiss her. Isn't this what she always wanted?

No, if she kissed her, she would be angry.

She's already asleep. As long as she didn't say anything, she wouldn't know!

To kiss or not to kiss?

Su Huan stared at her lips, her eyelashes trembling slightly. Countless scenes of them together flashed through her mind, but her body maintained this position without moving. Only their exhaled breaths intertwined with each other, just like many moments in the past.

Emotion controlled her thoughts, making her want to take advantage and go further.

But her reason always controlled her emotions.

She couldn't. Shen Xiaoyu would be angry.

As soon as this thought emerged, she saw a barely perceptible blue light flash across Shen Xiaoyu's body.

Su Huan's expression changed. Like ripples stirred in a calm lake, with undercurrents surging, all thoughts disappeared instantly as reason controlled her entire brain.

She sat back in her chair, looking at Shen Xiaoyu with a cold gaze... or rather, looking through Shen Xiaoyu to make eye contact with the system on her.

"What exactly is your purpose?" Su Huan murmured questioningly.

Her voice was very low. Even Shen Nian'an sitting beside her didn't hear, watching cartoons with great interest, completely unaware of her mother's abnormality.

Su Huan was certain the system could hear, but the system didn't give her an answer.

She didn't know if it was because the communication device between them - Shen Xiaoyu - was fast asleep, or if the system didn't want to communicate with her.

Su Huan thought it was the latter.

The system was a product beyond this world's technology. It could bring Shen Xiaoyu, who didn't belong to this world, here and take her away. How could it not be able to communicate with her?

After waiting a while longer without hearing any voice, Su Huan finally withdrew her gaze. But the aura around her didn't diminish because of this; instead it became even sharper.

It didn't matter. Soon, she would have the ability to communicate with the system.

Perhaps she could even find the system's origin.

Su Huan sat beside Shen Xiaoyu, her arm touching hers, warm and comforting to her broken heart.

When Shen Xiaoyu woke up, the car interior was pitch black with only scattered light coming through from outside.

"Where are we?" She rubbed her sleepy eyes, trying hard to open them to see the situation inside the car, but then the overhead light flashed.

The sudden brightness made Shen Xiaoyu quickly raise her hand to cover her darkened eyes. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she moved her hand away.

"This is the hotel parking garage."

Su Huan's voice came. Shen Xiaoyu frowned and saw the person sitting beside her. "Then what are you sitting here for?"

"Waiting for you. I was afraid you'd worry if you woke up and didn't see anyone." Su Huan said this while bending down to pick up the blanket that had fallen in the car, neatly folding it and placing it aside before looking at her. "Let's get out."

"Hotel parking garage?"

After Shen Xiaoyu got out and looked around, she found this was indeed an underground parking garage with countless luxury cars around, showing the high class of this hotel.

"Didn't you say we were going to see old places?" She pointed around, her expression strange. "You two used to live in places like this?"

This was completely different from what the system had said. Wasn't it said that the predecessor had always been struggling with Su Huan, so poor that when they went home there was no heating, and they could only pretend to study to mooch air conditioning at the company?

Shen Xiaoyu scoffed at this. Once Su Huan entered the entertainment industry, even as an unknown small-time actor, she would earn more than ordinary people. How could she possibly let Shen Xiaoyu live so poorly?

Moreover, Su Huan was already becoming popular at that time. Even if the two were struggling, they couldn't be that materially deprived. This was completely a false image created by the author to highlight Shen Xiaoyu's misery!

Having read countless books, Shen Xiaoyu understood this routine very well.

"What's there to see coming to a place like this? You might as well show me your previous filming environments. Maybe this time it could stimulate the original owner's memories."

Shen Xiaoyu crossed her arms, following Su Huan casually toward the elevator while not forgetting to provoke her with words.

Su Huan in front suddenly stopped and turned back to look at her.

"This is just where we're staying tonight. Tomorrow is the official tourism."

The overhead lights cast shadows on her face, obscuring her eyes. Shen Xiaoyu couldn't see very clearly, only sensing the sadness emanating from within.

In that instant, Shen Xiaoyu seemed to connect with her spiritually. Her earlier words had made Su Huan very sad.

But Su Huan couldn't express it. This 'journey' was something she had forced, so even if she was unhappy, she had to endure it.

Shen Xiaoyu thought to herself and rolled her eyes at her, walking past her. "You better hurry up. I don't have much time to waste on a passerby."

"I know." Su Huan closed her eyes, exhaling slightly before turning to quickly catch up.

The two took the elevator to their floor. After exiting, Su Huan walked in front.

Seeing Su Huan had already swiped the room card to open the door but showed no intention of giving her a room card, Shen Xiaoyu finally couldn't help it. "What does this mean? Am I supposed to stay with you?"

Beep—the room door was swiped open. Su Huan tilted her head, asking with confusion: "Shouldn't you?"

"I... No! Why should I?" She demanded. "I already agreed to come out with you, and you're still pulling these tricks?"

One room!

Don't think she didn't know about her wolfish ambitions!

"Trying to climb into bed and make me take responsibility, right?" Shen Xiaoyu sneered. "This kind of tactic is so low!"

Su Huan's eyes dimmed as she looked down dejectedly. "Is this how you think of me?"

"Does it matter how I think of you? Isn't this exactly what you're doing?" Shen Xiaoyu crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe with an unfriendly expression. "Otherwise how was An'an born?"

Su Huan was suddenly shocked, her gaze at Shen Xiaoyu immediately changing.

"You, you remembered?" Her voice was hoarse, her tone nervous.

"Remembered what?" Shen Xiaoyu looked confused. "Isn't this easy to guess? When the predecessor was about to leave, you used technological means to get pregnant and give birth to a daughter. Your purpose was hoping the predecessor would stay for An'an's sake, right?"

She finished speaking, spreading her hands with a sympathetic expression.

"Too bad you messed it up."

After all calculations, she hadn't calculated that the predecessor would be eliminated for not completing the mission.

The daughter became a posthumous child and almost got led astray.

Oh my, the predecessor was really pitiful.

Shen Xiaoyu sighed in her heart, then turned to see Shen Nian'an coming out of the bedroom, her expression freezing.

"Mama, what are you doing at the door?" Shen Nian'an bounced over to Shen Xiaoyu, her bright eyes pulling her hand. "Mama, you slept for so long. Mommy wouldn't let me wake you up."

"Are you hungry? Mama ordered dinner. It just arrived and is still warm." Shen Nian'an pulled her toward the room. "Let's eat first."

In the room, three servings of dinner were laid out on the living room table. Three neat sets of bowls and chopsticks told Shen Xiaoyu that Su Huan and Shen Nian'an hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Shen Xiaoyu stiffly looked toward the room Shen Nian'an had just come out of—clearly a bedroom. And the slightly open adjacent room where she could vaguely see the interior decoration...

Shen Xiaoyu closed her eyes in despair.

It was over. She had spoken too early... But!

This didn't mean what she had just said was false.

She had studied the brief storyline between Su Huan and the predecessor, plus the details the system had reluctantly revealed. She could be very certain she wasn't being paranoid.

Su Huan had indeed planned this!

UnUnfortunatelyhuman's plans couldn't compare to the system's plans. The predecessor had disappeared just as she learned about the child.

Shen Xiaoyu opened her eyes, glaring contemptuously at Su Huan and cursing under her breath: "Scumbag."

She snorted coldly, pushed open the door and walked into the room, picking up Shen Nian'an and heading to the dining area.

"An'an, are you hungry? Not hungry? Did you sneak some snacks? No? I don't believe it!"

Su Huan stood at the door, looking pale as she watched Shen Xiaoyu playing happily with An'an, feeling an urge to cry.

"Mommy, come on."

Shen Nian'an in Shen Xiaoyu's arms cheerfully waved at her. Her smile was like a beam of sunshine after rain—clear and bright.

Su Huan tried to smile but found she couldn't at all.

So this was the kind of person she was in Shen Xiaoyu's mind.

So even without memories, her despicable tactics would once again be seen through by Shen Xiaoyu.

Was this the fate she deserved?

Su Huan couldn't understand, and no one would give her an answer.

After silently accompanying them through dinner, Su Huan tossed and turned alone in the side bedroom, her ears constantly echoing with Shen Xiaoyu's words.

'Trying to climb into bed and make me take responsibility, right? This kind of tactic is so low!'

'You used technological means to get pregnant and give birth to a daughter. Your purpose was hoping the predecessor would stay for An'an's sake, right?'

'Too bad you messed it up.'

Su Huan suddenly sat up, tiptoeing out the door wanting to get some air on the balcony, but heard the conversation between Shen Nian'an and Shen Xiaoyu next door.

"Mama, would you be happy leaving Mommy?"

"Definitely."

"Then I support you leaving. I want you to be happy."

Scalding tears fell. Su Huan closed her eyes, her heart like dead ashes.

The next day, Su Huan left Shen Nian'an at the hotel with a nanny while she took Shen Xiaoyu to their former school.

To avoid being recognized, both wore hats and masks. Since it was vacation time, most people around were tourists in various outfits, so they didn't attract much attention.

Su Huan acted like a tour guide leading Shen Xiaoyu around various parts of the campus.

"We used to attend classes here. We weren't in the same major then, but you often came to audit my major courses." Su Huan spoke clearly. Being an actress, her speaking tone was very pleasant, especially when facing Shen Xiaoyu—her voice was gentle, making people want to immerse themselves in it.

But this didn't include Shen Xiaoyu.

They had entered through the back door and stood at the back of the classroom looking forward, seeing only rows of desks and the blackboard facing them.

Shen Xiaoyu nostalgically touched the desks and chairs, sighing with emotion: "The predecessor was really dedicated, even attending university twice."

"But that's understandable. Everyone wants to return to the pure and beautiful student days."

She didn't want to now anyway. Returning to student days would mean taking care of her vegetative mother while juggling her studies, and working various jobs in her spare time to earn money. She'd wish she could learn ninjutsu to clone herself.

Now was better—her mother was by her side, she was traveling with someone, and could even earn money.

How wonderful.

Shen Xiaoyu turned to leave. "Alright, next place. I'm in a hurry."

Seeing she had no reaction, Su Huan wasn't disappointed and took her to the next location.

The whole morning, they visited most of the campus—mostly places they had stayed. Su Huan acted as narrator, telling Shen Xiaoyu about things that had happened between them in various places.

Shen Xiaoyu didn't converse with the system, so Su Huan couldn't hear her thoughts, but her expressions were easy to read.

When she was speaking, Shen Xiaoyu only gave perfunctory "mm-hmm"s and "ah"s, not really listening to her words.

Perhaps she was even cursing her stupidity in her heart—meeting such a good person but wearing her down to nothing. She really deserved it.

Su Huan held her frustration inside. After returning to have lunch with Shen Nian'an and resting a while, they went to visit the shops where she used to work in the afternoon.

After sixteen years, the shops where Su Huan had worked were either transferred to new owners or had become old and shabby, no longer resembling their former appearance.

Even so, she stubbornly wanted Shen Xiaoyu to understand her life before entering the industry, hoping something might stimulate her memory.

But there was nothing.

Although Shen Xiaoyu had headaches, they weren't signs of memory recovery but heat stroke from a day of running around.

Shen Xiaoyu sat in the cool shade of a tree with Su Huan's support, a tube of Huoxiang Zhengqi water in her mouth, asking unclearly: "Tour Guide Su arranged this trip very professionally. Can't professional matters be left to professionals? You kept An'an locked up at home all day—didn't you think she'd make a scene when we get back?"

Su Huan stood in front of her, fanning her with a newly bought fan, staring at her without blinking.

"There's one last place. After you accompany me there, we can go back."

Hearing this, Shen Xiaoyu's headache disappeared and her legs stopped aching. She quickly got up.

"Then let's hurry. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go back for dinner." She rubbed her waist. "We can't tour like this tomorrow. These old bones can't take it."

Su Huan didn't move, staying two steps behind her. She took out her phone and sent a message:

'Let them come.'

This was her final trump card.

A small alley building, hidden among the city's high-rises. Because the road was too narrow, cars couldn't enter and had to be parked at the alley entrance.

Shen Xiaoyu got out of the car and looked around. "Tour Guide Su, what's the story here? Please introduce it quickly."

"This... is where I used to live." Su Huan's tone was ethereal, carrying some nostalgia, then she stepped inside.

Shen Xiaoyu opened her mouth in surprise. "You lived here? This building looks decades old. How has it not been demolished yet? Do developers have no vision?"

She muttered while following Su Huan through twists and turns, climbing five flights of stairs before quickly reaching a doorway.

Shen Xiaoyu looked around. The door was covered in dust, and through the broken windows she could see the old interior decoration, also covered in dust like the outside.

She wrinkled her nose and brushed away the dust in front of her. "How about we just look from the doorway and not go in?"

Su Huan didn't answer. She retrieved a key from under a broken, dirt-filled flowerpot outside the door and struggled for a while before opening the rusted door.

Clearly, Su Huan hadn't returned here since moving out.

The moment the door opened, dust flew everywhere. Shen Xiaoyu was choked and coughed for a long time, quickly fanning away the dust in front of her. She regretted not bringing the fan from earlier—she'd definitely eat more wood ear mushrooms when she got back.

While thinking this, Su Huan at the doorway had already walked in, standing in the messy living room with somber eyes looking at her. "This is where we became lovers. Here you told me you loved me. That you would be with me forever."

"Are you sure?" Shen Xiaoyu expressed doubt.

Su Huan stepped forward and grabbed her hand. "Are you really not remembering anything? Not even a little bit?"

"Let go first, let's talk slowly."

Shen Xiaoyu was being gripped painfully. Seeing Su Huan's current emotional state was wrong, she tried to ease the atmosphere. "I'm already here, I won't run away. You can talk slowly."

"Shen Xiaoyu, tell me—are you really unable to remember, or are you lying to me?" Su Huan pressed further.

Shen Xiaoyu was hurt by the grip and annoyed. She shook off her hand. "What would I gain from lying to you? Didn't I tell you? I'm not the predecessor at all. These things have nothing to do with me. How could I possibly be moved?"

Seeing Su Huan's gradually changing expression, Shen Xiaoyu rolled her eyes. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on N0velFire.ɴet

"I'm telling you for the last time! The person you're looking for is already dead! Dead!"

Su Huan looked at Shen Xiaoyu's nonchalant expression, her eyes turning red. The emotions that had been stimulated by her words all day completely collapsed. Blood surged up as her emotions became agitated.

"No! She's not dead at all!" She suddenly raised her voice, saying word by word: "You are her! Shen Xiaoyu! You are her! You didn't die, you came back!"

Shen Xiaoyu was startled by her voice. Before she could react to the meaning of her words, she heard her say again: "There's no original owner, and no one disappeared. It's always been you!"

"What?" Shen Xiaoyu's mind was confused, unable to think.

"The person who stayed with me for ten years has always been you! Shen Xiaoyu! I am your mission target. Loving me and saving me is your mission!"