Chapter 86: 086 Suspicious Heaven’s Mandate System Host_1
Seeing Wen Jiang was truly impervious to persuasion, Nian Jian seemed to realize tears would be futile too.
With her head still bowed, Nian Jian said sadly, "I don’t want to go back. My mother is a Spirit Card Master, and she is from Yunxia. I was always locked up, with no chance to get out. It was so hard to finally get out this one time, and then I was kidnapped. I couldn’t understand the situation. You saved me, and I want to stay by your side, just to investigate information about my mother."
Wen Jiang’s expression remained unchanged. "Zero Egg."
Zero Egg responded, "Her heart rate is steady. She shouldn’t be lying."
It was only a ’should.’
Because it had realized that its data had started to become unreliable recently. When Wen Jiang lied to others, her heart rate remained remarkably steady. Zero Egg knew that some things could not be explained by mere data analysis.
Wen Jiang carefully scrutinized Nian Jian’s face, sensing that she had hidden some information, but she hadn’t lied.
"Your mother is a Spirit Card Master from Yunxia, and you want to find her?"
Nian Jian nodded affirmatively.
Wen Jiang continued to ask, "Then do you know your mother’s surname and given name? Where in Yunxia is she from? Are you sure she is in Yunxia?"
Nian Jian’s eyes widened.
After thinking for a moment, her head drooped in dejection as she shook it. "I don’t know anything. My mother left me when I was very young. I taught myself the Yunxia Language just for this day. I don’t know why she left me, and I’ve never seen my father."
It sounded quite tragic.
A pity that Wen Jiang had a heart of stone. "Who imprisoned you?"
"It was my aunt." Nian Jian finally revealed her painful secret. "Ever since I was young, my aunt kept me locked up, but she also taught me many things. She wanted to offer me to other nobility in exchange for benefits."
Her aunt? Her aunt must be quite elderly by now, Wen Jiang mused.
Zero Egg disagreed, "An older person is unlikely. We usually select promising candidates. And isn’t she of mixed blood? That means her father is from Frost Moon, and her aunt is also from Frost Moon. It doesn’t seem like she would be chosen by the Heaven’s Mandate System."
Wen Jiang continued to inquire, "What is your aunt’s name?"
"Ivangelin Morton."
A very Frost Moon-style name. The Morton family?
Zero Egg searched and promptly produced a file.
Morton indeed had some reputation, but it was only a minor family in Frost Moon. This Ivangelin, judging by her appearance, was a very domineering blonde woman. When not smiling, she emanated a cold vibe and was decidedly not someone to be trifled with.
She was currently the deputy mayor of a local city in the Frost Moon Empire.
There was hardly any resemblance to Nian Jian on her face. Perhaps to Wen Jiang, all foreigners looked similar.
Wen Jiang projected the photo to Nian Jian. "Is it her?"
Seeing Ivangelin, Nian Jian seemed momentarily startled, but after a while, she still nodded.
Ivangelin’s family background was fairly simple. She had only one daughter, a pure-blooded Frost Moon citizen attending college. The whole family consisted of ordinary people, not Spirit Card Masters.
Then it didn’t fit the concept of ’feeding’ Nian Jian Spirit Cards. So who had used the Spirit Cards on Nian Jian?
"Apart from Ivangelin, haven’t you encountered anyone else in your life?"
Nian Jian subconsciously nodded, but under Wen Jiang’s intense scrutiny, she gradually began to look guilty. "She wanted to send me to Aldis Dodgson. I met Aldis a few times at his banquets, and it was there that I saw Du Zhaiyue."
The trail seemed to connect now. The question was this person of the Heaven’s Mandate System.
Zero Egg was confused. "No, that doesn’t make sense. Who here fits the criteria for the person of the Heaven’s Mandate System? It’s confirmed that Du Zhaiyue isn’t it. So who would target Nian Jian? Was she given a Spirit Card to seduce Aldis?"
Wen Jiang scanned Nian Jian from head to toe. "Have you always looked like this since you were little?"
Nian Jian was stunned, not understanding why Wen Jiang would care about such an irrelevant topic. She felt confused and then puffed her cheeks. "I’ve always been like this since I was little. I haven’t had plastic surgery! Nor have I undergone any technological enhancements. I don’t even eat foods with additives; my diet is controlled by my aunt."
She knew that ever since childhood, due to her beauty and naturally exceptional genes, even Ivangelin found her very eerie.
But to Nian Jian, that was a very hurtful thing. She didn’t want to remember it.
Zero Egg muttered to itself, "This is really bizarre..."
"It’s not bizarre," Wen Jiang suddenly said. "You’re sure Spirit Cards have been used on her, but are you sure that the Heaven’s Mandate System you entered is at the same time node as yours?"
Zero Egg exclaimed, "Damn it!"
As a System itself, it suddenly felt the hair-raising sensation of being struck by lightning.
"If your world has that kind of capability, then entering different points in time is quite normal."
Zero Egg’s voice trembled. "Do you have a suspect in mind?"
Wen Jiang said, "If Nian Jian isn’t lying, I suspect it’s her mother. A Spirit Card Master, a Yunxia person... Nian Jian has probably always looked like this since she was little. If she never raised any suspicions, it means the Spirit Card must have been used on her from a very young age. Only Nian Jian’s mother fits the conditions."
She had been wondering why Nian Jian, an ordinary person, was connected to her own destiny.
If it were a targeted attack, she hadn’t felt this way about anyone before, including Wu Fanjia.
But if Nian Jian had a mother carrying the Heaven’s Mandate System...
Zero Egg was dumbfounded. "But if it’s Nian Jian’s mother, that would mean the Heaven’s Mandate System arrived twenty years early! So why is Yunxia still the same as it is now?"
The System would surely produce powerful cards.
"Either something went wrong, hindering its host’s mission progress, or, as you said, unlocking the SSR Card set isn’t easy. This implies that Nian Jian’s mother didn’t succeed. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have treated Nian Jian as such a low-cost experimental subject."
Zero Egg gasped sharply. "She used her own daughter as a test subject?"
"A clever woman," Wen Jiang said, judging by her own standards. "A normal mother would never experiment on her own daughter with something of unknown origin."
Because a System is not a philanthropic entity. Can one truly trust everything it offers? Wen Jiang felt that a normal person would be skeptical.
"Of course," Wen Jiang added. "I’m just considering the worst-case scenario. Aren’t you Systems unable to detach from your hosts at will?"
"Yes, once chosen, they can’t be unbound," Zero Egg reluctantly admitted. "Based on what you’re saying, if Nian Jian’s mother didn’t meet the requirements, why is that? The Heaven’s Mandate System is powerful. It would definitely find ways for Nian Jian’s mother to reach the required level. How could she possibly fail to complete the task?"
"Who knows? You didn’t expect to crash and burn with me at the beginning either, did you?"
Zero Egg was speechless. She made a damn good point!
"Let’s not dwell on the fundamental issues for now. Nian Jian’s mother is definitely still alive. If she isn’t in Yunxia and hasn’t met the requirements of the Heaven’s Mandate System, it can’t return to your original world, right? If I were it, I would lie low and plan something big."
Wen Jiang speculated, "Now we really need to find out what happened between the Heaven’s Mandate System and its host."
Zero Egg asked, "All this is just your speculation. What if it isn’t like this?"
Wen Jiang calmly replied, "Then I’m just talking nonsense."
Zero Egg was speechless. She was certainly flexible.