Edited by Rinrin
Everyone has attempted to delude themselves before, and Shan Ziwei was no different. In reality, he had noticed a lot of strange things regarding The World. The familiar voice, build and skills, as well as their special treatment of Shan Ziwei… it all pointed towards a “relationship” between them, but a certain hypersexual refused to let go of the different name, not wanting to think about it.
Yet the truth was ever so plain and clear~
Faced with host’s ever jealousy-inducing handsome face, Shan Ziwei glared at it as if he were seeing a ghost.
“Y-y-you!!!”
A small chunk of Shan Ziwei’s MP disappeared as he accidentally bit his own tongue. Meeting someone he knew in a new place was something he should be happy about. Even if he met Unparalleled Dragon King, he could smile and greet him with a ”how are you?” However, bumping into host, the host that saved him then killed him and who he’d even ‘flirted’ with, this hypersexual could only speak like a vengeful spirit with a grudge. “How come it’s you!”
The white-haired young man swallowed the blood in his mouth, his voice so sorrowful that anyone who heard him would cry and anyone who saw would be sick with grief.
“Aren’t you ‘The World’!?”
Against Shan Ziwei’s wailing inquiries, host’s reply was calm.
“’The World’ is my card inscription.”
What the hell was a card inscription?! This was false advertising, lying to the public!
A certain hypersexual was shocked, angry, nervous and afraid at the same time. Shocked that The World was host, angry at host killing him at the end of the last chessboard, nervous about the weird shit he had done under spiritual breakdown to host last time. As for afraid… goddamn why is this situation so familiar? Being saved by host on his last sliver of health, this was basically a repetition of the last chessboard. Host wasn’t planning to kill him again right after he thanked him, was he?!
Over here, Shan Ziwei’s emotions whirled in his mind, while over there, host didn’t seem to have noticed the white-haired young man’s conflicted feelings towards him at all. He stood there ever so calmly, expressionless.
“The monster is about to die.”
Shan Ziwei was still lost in his own emotions and didn’t manage to register host’s words at first. He stared at host blankly; the black-haired young man’s eyes were really dark, to the point where he couldn’t see anything in them.
“It’s all thanks to you.”
There was nothing special about host’s words nor any emotion to them, yet they pierced Shan Ziwei’s heart like a needle. The swelling emotions in his chest were like a burst balloon, deflating and leaving nothing behind. The emptiness inside and an inexplicable ache had his words coming out without filter, yelling, “What do you mean by that?!”
Host silently glanced at him and Shan Ziwei’s mind returned to reality after blanking out for a moment.
That’s right, host hadn’t said anything wrong. If it wasn’t for the shot he had taken, just Spring and Autumn and the others couldn’t possibly have managed to deplete the monster’s Hearts SP to under 50 percent. What host had said was the truth and nothing but the truth, yet when he had heard it, he had felt the kind of pain that came from being condemned. It made his heart ache so much.
The monster was about to die.
The monster that protected you was about to die.
The monster that was your “child” was about to die.
The monster that was always trying to get closer to you, acting like a spoiled child, but never truly hurt you was about to die.
…
It’s all thanks to you.
In that moment, an intense emotion invaded Shan Ziwei’s heart, suffocating him. This rapid outpour of emotion filled Shan Ziwei’s heart to bursting, making it difficult for him to notice that it wasn’t just guilt towards the monster, but could be traced to a similar past.
Why did you have to kill the monster?
Because the evolved monster will destroy humanity, the bald black man had told them, so you must kill it and save the world.
——Why do you want to erase my existence?
Because you’ll destroy humanity, that person from his memories thought to himself, so as the perpetrator of all this, I have to take responsibility for you and the world.
A shadow appeared over Shan Ziwei and Shan Ziwei looked up blankly at the monster’s tentacle. The monster had awoken without them noticing. It seemed to realise that its death was approaching, raising its tentacle high with rage to smash the one who had brought its death about into a puddle. Yet, the moment it was about to act, it couldn’t help but soften its movements. In the end, it merely hooked its tentacle around Shan Ziwei’s waist carefully, tugging him over against its core and refusing to let go.
Shan Ziwei lay upon the firm core of the monster. Though it didn’t make any sound, Shan Ziwei could almost hear its forlorn whimpers, hammering at his heart.
Seeing the core so near to him, Shan Ziwei was reminded of when he was trapped in that gap between the rocks. A white-haired young man being pulled down by the neck by the monster with only a small part of its umbrella head exposed as it asked for kisses.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
It was silly and funny, but all that remained after laughing was exasperation and guilt.
“Ktjcx sbe…” Vtjc Ilkfl ybkfv tlr tfjv rilutais, ygertlcu tlr ilqr jujlcra atf wbcrafg bo tlr bkc nbilalbc obg atf olgra, jcv atf bcis, alwf. “P’w rbggs.”
C uera bo klcv yifk ys jcv atf tjlgr bc atf yjmx bo Vtjc Ilkfl’r cfmx rabbv eq. Ktja wbwfca tf xlrrfv atf wbcrafg, la ofia ilxf rbwfbcf kjr rajcvlcu yftlcv tlw, xlrrlcu atf yjmx bo tlr fzqbrfv cfmx jr kfii. Vtjc Ilkfl gfoifzlnfis gjlrfv tlr tfjv, yea tf vlvc’a fnfc wjcjuf ab aegc tlr tfjv oeiis ktfc, bea bo atf mbgcfg bo tlr fsf, tf rqbaafv ktlaf ilcfr lc atf rxs atja jlgmgjoar wjvf lc qjrrlcu.
The nuclear bomb had arrived.
That meant Shan Ziwei’s mission was complete. In the second before stage clear, Shan Ziwei turned his head. He didn’t see the person that had kissed his neck as he was expecting, only host standing a distance away. His eyes were as black as ever, but golden spots of light began to shine in them, slowly taking over his pupils like dark clouds retreating from the night sky and revealing the brilliance of the stars behind them.
The black-haired young man blinked his golden eyes, the corner of his lips stretching upwards just slightly.
“It adores you.”
Even after host had disappeared, Shan Ziwei had yet to return to reality, still thinking about what the black-haired young man had said until a system notification popped up.
[System: Chessboard clear. View epilogue? Yes/No.]
Huh?
Shan Ziwei looked around and realised that he had yet to return to his personal space. Instead, he was in the middle of a patch of darkness with the scene he had just been a part of frozen in front of him. How should he put this? It was like he was the main character of some movie and was dragged out of his two-dimensional world by some mysterious force before being asked by said mysterious force if he wanted to view the epilogue of the movie he was just in.
He didn’t realise such an option existed.
Shan Ziwei contemplated it for a moment. As he hadn’t cleared the prison chessboard and the City of Toys was a tutorial stage that couldn’t really be used as a basis for comparison, he didn’t know if this “view epilogue” was normal or some special situation.
But no matter if it was a special situation or normal, why would he reject something given to him for free?
After Shan Ziwei chose “yes”, the screen in front of him suddenly expanded, surrounding Shan Ziwei on all sides. Shan Ziwei stood in the screen, like a three-dimensional creature in a two-dimensional world. He stared, wide-eyed, at the “slightly flat” monster in front of him, and then the frozen scene began to move.
“Boom!”
The immense shockwave of energy was so powerful that it shook the entire screen and caused Shan Ziwei to close his eyes from the blindingly bright light. The moment the nuclear bomb exploded, it first created a glowing ball of flame which then became a mushroom cloud that extended into the sky. By the time Shan Ziwei could open his eyes again, all he could see was thick, billowing smoke.
The screen very considerately increased the transparency of the smoke so that he could see the results of the nuclear blast. The entire hospital had been levelled, and there was debris everywhere. Apart from that, there was also bits and pieces of flesh that had been sent everywhere. All that was left in the place the monster had been was a charred block of flesh. He couldn’t even tell what part of the monster it had come from.
Though he knew what kind of ending it would be, Shan Ziwei’s heart still clenched when he saw it. He even regretted watching the epilogue a little now. What was this meant to do? Make him personally watch the monster’s death?
Squelch.
It was a sound like an overripe fruit bursting. Shan Ziwei stared in shock at the arm in that charred piece of flesh. That’s right, it was an arm, a pale, slender arm that clearly belonged to some delicate young master.
The arm had torn through the piece of flesh, getting covered in blood and fleshy bits and appearing just like that in the unprepared Shan Ziwei’s vision.
This was just the beginning.
The arm soon retreated, and just when Shan Ziwei was about to rub his eyes and convince himself he was seeing things, ten fingers gripped onto the edges of the hole the arm had just come out of and pulled outwards with a rip –
Shan Ziwei reflexively closed his eyes, but still felt as if he had just been splashed all over with blood and bits of flesh.
“…?”
An out of tune, humming voice wormed its way into Shan Ziwei’s ears. Shan Ziwei’s instincts told him to stop watching, but the system clearly didn’t give him an option to stop. So, Shan Ziwei mentally prepared himself and opened his eyes nervously.
The smear of white stood out on the red-coloured screen. The teen sitting amidst the pool of blood and pieces of flesh was akin to a narcissus flower that used blood and flesh as its soil and source of nutrients. It was heart-stopping in its evil, to the point where it exuded beauty and purity.
Seeing the familiar yet foreign facial features, Shan Ziwei’s mind blanked.
If Shan Ziwei stood next to that young man and met other people, they’d all smile and tell Shan Ziwei: wow, your son is so handsome.
The teen was truly very good looking, but no matter how good he looked, it wouldn’t erase the traces of Shan Ziwei’s appearance. This similarity came from their similar blood, something that would immediately point out to everyone that Shan Ziwei was the teen’s father.
Shan Ziwei didn’t have any children, but the scenario said he did, so he did in the game.
Even if the teen didn’t do anything strange, his identity was clear to any who saw him.
Shan Ziwei watched as the teen’s blood red hair seemed to come alive, styling itself to bunch and drape behind him. The threads of hair looked like countless blood lines and each lock looked like a tentacle.
——Wait, how did the monster survive the nuclear blast!? And how come it evolved into, into this!
Shan Ziwei’s brain was in a muddle from the shock of suddenly gaining a non-human son. This entire time, rationally, he knew that the monster was his son in the chessboard, but as it had been a ball of flesh all that time, Shan Ziwei hadn’t truly linked the non-human being to him. Thus, when the monster appeared in front of him in human form, it was clear how much of a shock it gave Shan Ziwei.
The teen in the screen didn’t seem to care about the blood and bits of flesh he was covered in, looking around, clearly trying to find something. Shan Ziwei was still conflicted over this development. He started replaying everything in his mind from when the bald black man had appeared all the way until those last words host had left him.
[It adores you.]
Shan Ziwei’s heart jumped as an idea behind to form in his head.
The bald man had said that the government couldn’t be certain if the nuclear bomb would be able to kill the monster or not, so they had to weaken it further… at least to about half its strength.
His shot had indeed gotten the monster’s Hearts SP down to below 50 percent. By all accounts, the monster’s Hearts SP shouldn’t have had any chance to recover, because you could only recover SP by roleplaying a relationship scenario. Though Shan Ziwei knew that the monster had an “Adoration (Active)” relationship with him, but he had no idea which SP “Adoration (Active)” affected nor did he know what the effect of “Adoration (Active)” was, so he couldn’t cooperate in activating it.
Yet, that very much alive teenage kid clearly told Shan Ziwei that he had, at some point, helped the monster achieve the requirements for activating “Adoration (Active)”, and “Adoration (Active)” just so happened to recover Hearts SP. Thus, the monster, with his over 50 percent Hearts SP, had managed to survive the nuclear blast…. What kind of crazy coincidence…!
“Father…”
In that moment, Shan Ziwei’s heart stopped. He stared at the teen in the screen in incomprehension. He didn’t know when it had happened, but the teen had turned its unblinking red eyes on him. Shan Ziwei couldn’t help but take a step back. They weren’t even in the same dimension anymore, but Shan Ziwei felt a chill like the teen had found him and was about to climb out of the screen in front of him.
Luckily, the teen then turned his gaze elsewhere, allowing Shan Ziwei to snap out of his stupor. He watched, not knowing how to feel, as the teen called out over and over again, looking around. Not finding what he was looking for after so long, a long, red mark appeared between the teen’s brows, growing clearer and brighter as his frustration mounted, to the point where it looked like it was about to drip with blood.
His styled hair once again dispersed, red liquid dripping from the tips of each strand, turning into blood lines and scattering in all directions. The teen didn’t seem to realise at all that it would bring about the end of human existence. Like the monster in the past enraged by the hunters, he curled his lips to reveal a canine, and declared fiercely.
“Don’t think you can run from me!”
Shan Ziwei shuddered in horror. Even back on his throne in his personal space, the hairs on the back of his neck were still standing.
He already cleared the chessboard, the hypersexual thought to himself solemnly, so no matter if it was monster hunters or a monster hunting, none of it had anything to do with him anymore… right?
——The fuck did I watch that epilogue for! QAQ
Little Gaia jumped down from Shan Ziwei’s shoulder. It landed on the ground and moved its mask out of the way, opening its mouth and regurgitating a plush doll that looked just like Sha Po Lang’s little wolf toybox. The little wolf was only the size of a palm, lifeless like a real doll and staring up at Shan Ziwei blankly. When Shan Ziwei picked it up in curiosity, Sha Po Lang’s voice came out from the little wolf’s mouth.
“Message left by Sha Po Lang:
Shanzi, did you get out yet? Tch, I got killed by those bastards because I didn’t agree to their plan ╮(╯_╰)╭ I don’t have much online time left, so I’m logging off for now. Let’s play together again sometime~”
It wasn’t until now, hearing Sha Po Lang’s message, that Shan Ziwei realised he hadn’t seen Sha Po Lang all that time. So, it turns out his pal had been killed by Spring and Autumn and the others an hour ago already!
Though Shan Ziwei didn’t regret killing Spring and Autumn and the others, this didn’t prevent him from affirming how useless their deaths were.
Shan Ziwei wanted to tell his friend the good news about how he had killed Spring and Autumn and co, but he didn’t know how to contact other players in-game. He wanted to get help from Little Gaia, but then realised that his toybox was squatting in the corner with its butt to him.
“…”
Shan Ziwei looked at the little wolf in his hands then at Little Gaia exuding negativity.
#What do I do with such a xenophobic toybox#
Shan Ziwei resolutely put the little wolf down and went over, picking up Little Gaia. The silver-haired, black-robed doll still had an emotionless face, sitting in his arms, but the mask it wore was now smiling. Shan Ziwei stroked Little Gaia’s smooth, soft silver hair and remembered the highlights of this chessboard.
“My Completion Report please.”
In this chessboard, Shan Ziwei’s body had endured much stress (being teased by the monster), and his mind had endured much shock (seeing host), but he had gotten through each and every difficult trial, living up to expectations and completing the chessboard. The hypersexual held great expectations for such a stage clear reward, and the system didn’t disappoint. The moment he unfurled the sheepskin scroll, Shan Ziwei levelled up.
[Congratulations on reaching Level 3! Your MP has increased to 200.]
[You have reached level 3, Story Mode now unlocked.]
As the second notification appeared, the floor to ceiling window directly in front of Shan Ziwei, that was, the one at eleven o’clock, lit up.
Story Mode?
Though he felt that there was a lot more to this, Shan Ziwei decided to read his completion report first.
[《Completion Report》
Chessboard: Slaughter Hospital
Chessboard Completion Score: A
Experience Gained: 222/380
Chessboard Completion Rewards: MP Recovery Potion x3, Relationship Scenario Cards x2]
Shan Ziwei was delighted at seeing that score of “A”, and there were really good rewards, too: three potions and two relationship scenario cards. Shan Ziwei glanced at them. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence or on purpose, but the two scenario cards were both “Adoration”, one passive and one active.
[Ace of Hearts – Adoration
Type: Active Relationship
Effect: When you show intimacy for them and they show intimacy back, restore 10 percent of your Hearts SP.
Description: Daddy, mommy, kiss me, hug me~]
[Ace of Clubs – Adoration
Type: Passive Relationship
Effect: When they show intimacy for you and you show intimacy back, restore 10 percent of your Clubs SP.
Description: My cute child, come here, lemme kiss you~]
… Okay, now Shan Ziwei knew how the monster had recovered its Hearts SP.
After reading the front side of the sheepskin scroll, Shan Ziwei began to hesitate. This scroll was double sided, but he still remembered the horrible experience he had the last time he checked the back side of the sheepskin scroll. Yet, people were masochistic like that. Even if they were terrified, they just had to look. After wavering for a moment, Shan Ziwei hardened his mind and flipped the sheepskin scroll over.
Compared to the paragraphs of writing the previous two times, this time it was very concise, to the point where there were only three words, repeated over and over again, filling his vision.
[You can’t run
You can’t run
You can’t run
You can’t run
You can’t run
…]
Perhaps just one “you can’t run” would make Shan Ziwei a little startled, a couple would feel rather shocking, but when it was a stream, repeated over and over again, it was like an inescapable curse. The words on the page seemed to transform into blades, stabbing into Shan Ziwei’s brain, and creating a nightmare.
On a bright, sunny afternoon, someone was running for their life.
In front.
——You can’t run——
Left.
——You can’t run——
Right.
——You can’t run——
Behind.
——You can’t run——
In that desperate chase, no matter where he ran to, “he” was always there.
Joui: Last chapter for this chessboard huehue, next chessboard is gonna be in story mode.
Rinrin: *whispers* You can’t run, and you can’t hide~, so just give up and have a good time~~
👌👌👌👌👌
Thanks for the chapter!
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something tells me you can’t run.
Thanks for the
Please delete this
And 2 years later, it was never deleted..
It will never get deleted 😞😞
Thanks for the update~
thank you for the chapter! shanzi is collecting MLs in every chessboard XD
Thanks for the chapter
Thank you so much for translating!!! 💕
this chapter should be named– meet your husband and get a child free
Oof he has collected yet another psycho! 😂
Thanks for the chapter! 💕
Omg the kid is so cute > <
Gaia is so cute toooo
Gaia is so cute tooo
+1 important things must be said twice.
Somehow I hope he will meet his son again xDDD
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
I CRIED like a big baby.
Glad babey got a kiss though.
Host and Gaia didn’t go into a jelly festival wow
poor flesh blob.. im so sad
“ Yet, the moment it was about to act, it couldn’t help but soften its movements.” this part really got me, no matter how mad he didn’t want to hurt his dad.
Then the ‘Ghost’ from before was also actually what he called the program before, then he used ‘G’ in ‘GShanzi’, so someone used ‘host’
If this is true, our ML is Gaia, Ghost(the data before), host,
Then Siren and the Monster Baby is a data (made by Gaia) from his memory and emotional [turmoil] experience from his days with MC
amd if MC erased him before, that’s why he acts so possesive and paranoid.
Maybe the Dean from the welfare center also knows what’s up, with his words before and all. “We’ll see each other soon”
Just know that our ML has many persona and one crazier than the other.
Honestly this feels like a psychological horror, the feeling is stronger when the scenario is over, with what was written in the scroll and all
The translation is good btw. Very much thank you to the translator 😊😊
You actual genius omg
Thanks for the chapter! o(≧o≦)o
“The male lead is setting up one hell of a chess game.” = carefully planned pieces hmm.. every game must have a significant purpose. And we currently already have 2-3 mentions of a possible yandere past lover + this. Altho after the siren guy this arc makes me think is this part of ML’s plan to EITHER test SZ to certain situations like having a (non human) child or the tentacle play OR increase SZ tolerance to non human entities in gen?? (or just desensitize his humanity altogether)
Also summary of this arc: SZ obtained a “son” in game 😂😂
Good thing Gaia’s so cute, cuz those writings on the back of the reports are scary 😟 yandere af! Still, it’s all feeling like one giant test to see what Shanzi will do and what the chances are of him accepting Gaia…
Still a weirdly sad outcome in that world 🙁
Joui, his name sounds like that of the RPG paranormal order character