Nine Summers of Divine Punishment

Divine Surrender

“System Alert: Key figure in current world deviating from administrator control. Immediate action required…”

This was Han Jing’s twenty-third day on the job, but the thirty-ninth time she’d seen this message.

Even though administrators weren’t supposed to feel fatigue, she couldn’t help but experience a sense of melancholy.

At the control panel, Han Jing’s finger hovered over a knob for a long time before finally dropping.

“Forget it,” she whispered. “Relinquish all control over this world.”

“Warning: This action will affect your performance evaluation. Administrator authority verification required. Please enter password.”

She typed in an unfamiliar string of characters, and immediately the screen’s display transformed. Across the continent, countless divine statues crumbled simultaneously.

To the world’s inhabitants, God was dead.

Han Jing knew what the white-robed Saint intended to do – she wanted to take their place, to become the new God, the ruler of this land.

While it would be somewhat troublesome to manage, as an administrator, Han Jing could still intervene. But now, she abandoned the idea.

Why?

Han Jing couldn’t understand it herself.

This was the first world she’d overseen since becoming an administrator, yet she couldn’t make it follow its predetermined path.

The Saint was supposed to remain chaste for life, dedicating herself to her kingdom. Why had she developed feelings for her servant?

The moment Miki laid eyes on Wakako, Han Jing saw their future on her screen. Like two intertwined threads, knotted so tightly they couldn’t be unraveled, only cut.

Han Jing could do that. For a God, a world administrator, taking Wakako’s life would take less than a second.

It was part of her job.

Yet her hand hung over the button, unable to press it.

Enough. She had no desire to be the villain in their love story. As long as they were discreet, she could turn a blind eye…

But some things couldn’t be hidden. To avoid the system’s elimination protocols, Han Jing had been forced to repeatedly inflict divine punishment on the Saint.

She hadn’t yet acquired the necessary detachment and impartiality of an administrator. Seeing Miki’s pain filled her with a sense of sadness.

“Couldn’t you have been more subtle?” Han Jing had asked. ” I’m not forcing you to separate, but you could have married Ruijun as planned and continued your relationship with Wakako in secret… Ruijun has her own lover; she wouldn’t have interfered.”

The frail Saint had gently shaken her head.

“No,” her voice weak. “I can’t.”

Han Jing didn’t understand. “Why?”

“Because to me, Wakako is more important than anyone else.”

Even through her pain, Miki had managed a smile.

“She deserves to stand beside me in the light. I would rather die than keep her hidden in the shadows forever.”

Han Jing still couldn’t comprehend it.

All the previous Saints had lived according to the prescribed path. . Why was Miki the only one who refused?

She wasn’t demanding they separate – just that they be more discrete, make some compromises. Was that too much to ask?

Was she the one in the wrong?

She was just an ordinary worker, following the system’s rules and regulations.

Then who was truly at fault?

She posed this question to her fellow administrators, only to be met with benevolent smiles. “It’s alright; all new administrators feel this way.”

“This is your first world. It’s natural to feel compassion.”

“There are far more cruel things to come. In time, your heart will harden like wood.”

Would it? Han Jing touched her chest.

Would there come a day when she couldn’t feel anything beating there?

She returned to her screen, watching Wakako kneel before the temple, praying through the night for divine mercy. That gaze, so pure, so unwavering, focused entirely on her master.

She saw too the girl from another world, who had delivered the key of change into Miki’s hands.

Han Jing’s fingers brushed the control panel.

With a single thought, she could erase them all, maintaining the world’s stability.

This world was under her complete control. As a new administrator, her first assignment would be considered a resounding success. She would be praised by her superiors, promoted, and given a raise.

But Han Jing couldn’t do it.

She knew Wakako wasn’t wrong, nor was Miki, nor the girl from another world.

So what was wrong?

The so-called predetermined path itself.

And so Han Jing raised her hand, dissolving the system’s control over this small world.

“Warning: World independence imminent! Warning: World independence imminent!”

The system’s warning blared, repeating incessantly, making her ears ring.

In that instant, it was as if everything became clear.

The answer she’d struggled to grasp was actually simple: everything stemmed from love.

Love was what made the Saint willing to abandon her position to become Lady Kitagawa, then ultimately choose to return to the divine.

Love was Wakako’s unwavering devotion, even in the darkest of nights.

In thousands upon thousands of worlds, all miracles were born from love.

Han Jing knew the consequences she faced. She might lose any chance of promotion, be exiled by the system, or worse, lose her job, even be erased.

But she didn’t want to lose her capacity to love, nor the beating of her heart.

It seemed she was incapable of becoming a God who simply went with the flow.

Author’s Note:

This is the cosmic background setting of the story.

The term “God” is more of a title than a reference to a specific individual; it represents the system’s rules. Han Jing, as she appears here, is merely an employee carrying out her assigned tasks and cannot be entirely equated with a God. Her story will be further explored later in Zhe Hua (Folding Flowers).

The backstory is as follows: In Zhui Xing (Falling Star), Han Xuan rebelled against the God (administrator) of her world and gave Miki the jade pendant. Miki, armed with the pendant, prepared to usurp the throne. Consequently, Han Jing relinquished control, leaving the world to Miki.

Note:
       This is the link to Falling Star: 《坠星》懒叶_晋江文学城_【原创小说|纯爱小说】

      Folding Flowers hasn’t been written yet.