Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 67

The bright red rose was unparalleled in its charm and loved by countless people.

Sarah shone as brilliantly as a rose, wanting to be loved by all just like it. She relished the attention and adored being on top, controlling everything.

The rose taught her to enjoy attention and care, but it also taught her a lesson—it would wither.

A wilted flower was no longer loved.

An aging beauty would also lose favor.

Why does everything experience cycles of prosperity and decline? Why does prosperity inevitably lead to decline?

Why must beauty fade? Do all heroes eventually meet their end?

Why is health always accompanied by illness?

Why can’t the human body coexist peacefully with all viruses and bacteria?

Why are the boundaries between all species so clearly defined?

Is there a way to break these boundaries and control everything?

The universe began with the Big Bang*.

*Physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature.

The world was born out of nothingness.

In the distant beginning, the world was chaotic.

Everything emerged from this chaos. The Eastern philosophy told of the Taiji* producing the two primary forces, which then gave rise to the four elements, which in turn gave rise to everything. The same principle applied.

*Chinese philosophical cosmological term for the “Supreme Ultimate” state of the world and affairs—the interaction of matter and space, the relation of the body and mind.

So, why couldn’t it be reversed?

Why couldn’t everything return to its original state of chaos?

It should be this way.

All things in the world should be unified.

When everything became one, Sarah believed she could reign over it all.

She would be the universe and everything in it.

The world’s tides and blooms would be subject to her whims; flowers would bloom and wither at her command.

She wanted to become the god of this world and achieve true eternity.

The rose had accompanied Sarah for years. Now, as Zhou Qian looks at the vibrant rose, he not only extracts memories of Sarah from it but also seems to resonate with her on some level, understanding her thoughts more easily.

At this moment, Zhou Qian and all the players received a system notification.

​[Players have collected a memory fragment: “Sarah’s Legs”.]

[Memory Fragment Progress: 2/4]

Beside him, Wu Ren took a moment to process what Zhou Qian was saying. “Merge? Holy… What…”

Zhou Qian replied, “At first, I thought that when Ryan cross-dressed, he used a voice changer and contact lenses for his eyes. Now I realize that they might be some sort of symbiotic entity. If we stretch our imagination further—”

“His eyes can change color at will, and his body can switch between male and female.”

Wu Ren exclaimed, “Change body at will? Wait, isn’t that a bit exaggerated? We can’t control our body mutations, but if he’s really like you said… Does he have a key to change his genes at will?”

“Perhaps that’s the secret about him we’re looking for,” Zhou Qian speculated. “The only question now is, with Ryan and Sarah’s bodies merged, what about their minds?”

Wu Ren pondered and said, “These two siblings… have distinct thoughts and personalities, almost polar opposites. From the memories we’ve seen, the brother is more normal, gentle, and kind-hearted.”

“As for the sister, she’s more fanatical and obsessive, wanting power and control over others. Given her fanaticism, I feel she dominates their shared body. But—”

“The current ‘Mayor Ryan’ seems to be doing good deeds, like building barriers to protect the townspeople… So, maybe he retains both personalities.”

Zhou Qian reflected for a moment. “There are several possibilities. First, after their bodies merged, their brains might have combined to form a new consciousness. Second, all of this might be Sarah’s plot. She wants to reign supreme, so she might have found a way to always keep her consciousness dominant.”

Pausing for a moment, Zhou Qian added, “Based on the information from the rose, I lean towards the second possibility. Regardless of the scenario, if we let things progress, we’ll lose our willpower. We can’t let her succeed.”

……

Leaving the vicinity of the rose, Zhou Qian and Wu Ren continued eastward.

After a while, they reached a cliff. Sensing something amiss, Zhou Qian peered down and, sure enough, found Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao lying at the bottom.

Using the flying rope, Zhou Qian quickly reached the bottom of the cliff to check on the condition of the two people. Fortunately, the cliff wasn’t very high. Luckily, both of them had worn armor and helmets as soon as they entered this instance, so their HP both dropped to around 30%, and they weren’t in mortal danger.

After waking the two up, Zhou Qian immediately asked them what they had encountered before the wetland. According to Qi Liuxing, as he walked towards the wetland, he suddenly saw Zhou Qian running frantically towards the east.

Qi Liuxing, unsure of what was happening with Zhou Qian and out of concern, quickly followed him. To his surprise, he stepped into a void and fell off the cliff, knocking himself unconscious.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qian revealed a relieved smile. He looked at Qi Liuxing and said, “It seems the wetland can make people see their most terrifying memories. Have you ever dreamt of me falling off a cliff? So this became your worst fear? So you were really worried about me. I’m touched.”

Qi Liuxing sincerely replied, “I think you’re overthinking it. I just had a hallucination.”

“Brother Sword God is the most tsundere.”

Zhou Qian chuckled, then turned to Ke Yuxiao. “What about you? Did you fall off the cliff because of me as well?”

Ke Yuxiao replied with equal sincerity, “Qian Ge, you’re overthinking. It seems Xiao Qi was the first to be trapped in the illusion. I was fine at that moment. I just saw him suddenly run eastward and chased after him. But later on the way, I too experienced a hallucination.”

“I’ve mentioned before, I had depression, so… I won’t go into detail, but I remembered a terrible past experience. I thought I was standing on a rooftop. Feeling desolate, I jumped off, not realizing it was a trap.”

Hearing this, Qi Liuxing looked at Ke Yuxiao with concern.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Ke Yuxiao shook his head.

Zhou Qian was about to jest again when a thought crossed his mind.

Ke Yuxiao’s expression doesn’t seem right. Should I ask more? But that’s his private matter; maybe I shouldn’t pry? Yet, it seemed he tried to ‘end his life’ in that illusion. This isn’t right. How can I help him if I don’t understand?

It seemed like something Qi Liuxing might say. But he hadn’t spoken. How could Zhou Qian hear his thoughts?

This should be something Qi Liuxing would say. But he didn’t speak, so how could he hear him?

As he thought this, another phrase suddenly popped into Zhou Qian’s mind. I wasn’t actually trying to kill myself just now. I’m really okay. It’s all in the past. But it seems like Xiao Qi is really worried about me? I’ll have to explain it to him properly later…

This voice, however, was in the tone of Ke Yuxiao.

Can I hear their thoughts?

Could it be that all of us…

Wait, if I’m hearing Ke Yuxiao’s thoughts directly, it means… everything he just said is true.

With this realization, all hints of a smile vanished from Zhou Qian’s face, replaced by a serious demeanor.

Zhou Qian had never fully trusted Ke Yuxiao.

His earlier teasing was actually an attempt to probe Ke Yuxiao. He was desperate to know what had happened to Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao that led them both to the bottom of the eastern cliff during the illusion.

He didn’t believe it was a mere coincidence. It seemed more like a well-crafted setup.

Zhou Qian’s suspicion was consistent—the Peach Blossom Legion wouldn’t use the “Gourd kids saving their grandfather” method against him.

After Situ Qing failed and they had a sufficient understanding of him, they would definitely make a big move, ensuring that their plan to kill him was foolproof.

Simply relying on Yin Jiujiu and Zhu Qiang wasn’t enough to take down Zhou Qian; the Peach Blossom Legion knew this. With the knowledge that Yin Jiujiu was merely a pawn, Zhou Qian became even more suspicious. Besides Zhu Qiang, there must be other members of the Peach Blossom Legion among his team.

If that person wasn’t Wu Ren, then it could only be Ke Yuxiao.

Given the strength of the Peach Blossom Legion, it was possible for them to find Yin Jiujiu, who bears a grudge against Situ Qing. Knowing that Qi Liuxing was recruited by Zhou Qian, they targeted Qi Liuxing and possibly embedded a mole, Ke Yuxiao, into the team.

Moreover, the series of plots later orchestrated by Zhu Qiang made Zhou Qian even more suspicious of Ke Yuxiao.

The trap in this level’s wetland area was essentially the Peach Blossom Legion’s trump card. In fact, their use of Yin Jiujiu points exactly to this. If Yin Jiujiu could kill Situ Qing, that would be best, removing a threat and leaving Zhou Qian with one less ally.

But even if Yin Jiujiu failed, it wouldn’t matter; their sole aim was to force Zhou Qian to choose the most dangerous path in the middle to prevent Yin Jiujiu and Situ Qing from fighting each other.

Therefore, the Peach Blossom Legion’s grand setup was to ensnare Zhou Qian into the swamp in his dream.

They would want to ensure that this setup is foolproof. But how could it be foolproof if Qi Liuxing and Ke Yuxiao were always with Zhou Qian?

Why did all three of them fall into the dream at the same time?

Why did Zhou Qian find them both missing when he looked back?

Zhou Qian couldn’t help but suspect that Ke Yuxiao was also a pawn of the Peach Blossom Legion. Perhaps he tampered with Qi Liuxing covertly, leading him eastward and ultimately off a cliff.

With Ke Yuxiao as their pawn, the Peach Blossom Legion’s plan could be deemed complete. Their only miscalculation was not anticipating that mutated players could control plants and animals due to their insufficient information about the instance.

Thus, Zhou Qian believed his suspicions of Ke Yuxiao were entirely justified. But at this moment, he could suddenly hear Ke Yuxiao’s inner thoughts. Ke Yuxiao had actually chosen to jump off the roof to commit suicide because of past trauma.

From the looks of it, Ke Yuxiao probably couldn’t lie under these circumstances.

So, he was innocent?

Could it be that Zhu Qiang had laid other tools in advance, leading Ke Yuxiao and Qi Liuxing towards the eastern cliff, so they wouldn’t save Zhou Qian when he entered the swamp?

But now, with Zhu Qiang dead, Zhou Qian couldn’t inquire further. Even if Zhu Qiang was alive, Zhou Qian doubted he’d get any answers.

Zhu Qiang, consumed by hatred, would hide everything Zhou Qian wanted to know, including matters about Ke Yuxiao as well as the whereabouts of Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu.

Thinking of these matters, Zhou Qian unconsciously furrowed his brows. Unexpectedly, when he glanced up, he noticed Ke Yuxiao looking back at him with a slight frown, while Qi Liuxing had a face full of disapproval.

Blinking, Zhou Qian then looked at Wu Ren, who had an expression that read, “I’m embarrassed for you.”

Now, with everyone able to share thoughts, everyone else had naturally become aware of Zhou Qian’s earlier suspicions of Ke Yuxiao.

However, Zhou Qian fully embraced the principle of “as long as he isn’t embarrassed, others are”. So, acting as if nothing had happened, he bypassed the cliff and continued walking east.

“All these rules about killing to steal life points, accumulating 24 points, and draining your MP after a kill are just system tricks. What’s the point of schemes when our thoughts are connected?”

“Let’s first head to A11 for a ‘recharge’, then search for the two girls. Zhu Qiang probably knew he couldn’t clear the game alone, so he didn’t kill them. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Moments later, the four male players headed east, first stopping at Station A11 to replenish their life points. Then they moved to Station A13 in the west, trying to find clues about the two girls’ whereabouts.

The ground inside the station was wet, with a clear scent of alcohol. It could be deduced that Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu had been there. Not knowing where the two had gone, they started searching nearby.

Since the four were walking far apart without physical contact, they hadn’t experienced the “merging” situation that Yin Jiujiu and Situ Qing had.

Circling Station A13, Zhou Qian discovered a tower 300 meters away, hidden behind tall trees. He almost immediately speculated that the two girls might be there.

Compared to Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu, Zhu Qiang was far inferior in combat*.

*Fight against a five scum/trash (战五渣) This is a reference to Dragon Ball where Raditz first land on Earth and, using his combat analysis lens, measures a farmer with a combat power of only 5 (the scum in this case basically means a five combat powered trash). It’s now slang used to refer to someone who performs poorly in battles or competitions. 

It was unlikely he’d confront them directly, even if he wanted to capitalize on their conflict. His main goal was to prevent them from aiding Zhou Qian. He needed to quickly check on Zhou Qian’s situation, so he wouldn’t waste too much time and energy on them.

Thus, Zhu Qiang probably used a teleportation tool, setting a trap to relocate the girls and temporarily confine them somewhere.

The next step was to think about where Zhu Qiang would choose to trap them.

He likely received a lot of information on the instance through the Peach Blossom Legion. He probably also knew where the core secrets of the instance were.

But such places were usually very dangerous, so he’d need someone to scout and assess the risks.

Therefore, Zhu Qiang’s strategy was likely to kill two birds with one stone—transfer Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu to the place closest to the truth to scout and take risks, while also ensuring they were trapped there, with no chance of aiding Zhou Qian.

Finally, the tower 300 meters away was the only man-made structure they had seen since entering the walled area, apart from the “Evil Spirit Purification Stations”. Given its elevated location, it was likely the secret research base, the place “closest to the core truth”.

Considering everything, the probability of the two girls being in the tower was very high.

All of these thoughts flashed through Zhou Qian’s mind in an instant. Just as he was about to voice his suggestions, he heard voices in his mind.

Qi Liuxing: So that’s how Qian Ge thinks… He’s so quick; I almost couldn’t keep up.

Ke Yuxiao: I agree with his perspective.

Wu Ren: Zhu Qiang is that Li Buhui, right? This guy has a dark heart. However, since Zhou Qian could guess his intentions, Zhou Qian is probably just as dark. Haa, people these days—their schemes are just too dirty.

Zhou Qian: “……”

In that moment, he had two thoughts.

First: This instance is really annoying.

Second: Well… Hiss? I kind of wanted to experience this with Bai Zhou. I really want to know what he’s thinking. If only I could see his memories. Hmm, I wonder what I look like in his memories?

Then several thoughts popped up in Zhou Qian’s head—

Qi Liuxing: What’s the deal between him and that Bai Zhou guy?

Ke Yuxiao: Xiao Qi, you’re too young to think about this.

Qi Liuxing: ??? But when he last met Bai Zhou, he was younger than I am now.

Ke Yuxiao: Oh, so Zhou Qian had an early romance. Don’t follow in his footsteps.

Wu Ren: Bai Zhou? Early romance? Who had an early romance? What are you guys talking about?

Zhou Qian: “………”

Wu Ren: Oh, it seems Zhou Qian is getting angry. But he shouldn’t think of scheming against us. Now we can directly hear his thoughts. Hahaha…

Zhou Qian smiled faintly. “Then I’ll take care of you outside.”

Wu Ren, Qi Liuxing, Ke Yuxiao: “……”

……

Ten minutes later, the four of them arrived in front of a tall tower.

The metal door on the first floor of the tower was wide open, so the four of them walked in without any hindrance.

Inside, they found the hall empty. There was a spiral staircase to one side and an elevator in the middle.

Suddenly, with a “ding”, the elevator doors opened.

Wu Ren, being the main attacker, immediately made a move.

A steel needle appeared out of thin air, aiming towards the elevator. In case a monster came out, the needle would attack it immediately.

However, as the doors opened and he saw what was inside, Wu Ren quickly retracted the needle.

Though, strictly speaking, what appeared from the elevator could be described as a “monster”.

Inside the elevator were Situ Qing and Yin Jiujiu. However, their legs and arms were now fused together, sharing three legs and three arms between them. Their hands had transformed into cat paws, complete with pink pads. The paws themselves looked cute, but the combined appearance was quite eerie. What made it even more bizarre was that they were both covered in a net.

The Sky Net was indestructible, but fortunately, items in this game had a time limit. Once the time limit passed, they wouldn’t be separated, but at least they wouldn’t be bound by the net.

Zhou Qian asked, “Did you come from above or below?”

Yin Jiujiu replied, “From below. After finding the elevator, we didn’t dare to go further down. We saw that we could come up to the first floor, so we decided to try it. We didn’t expect to run into you.”

Hearing this, Zhou Qian checked the elevator panel and found that the tower had a total of 12 floors above and two below.

Yin Jiujiu and Situ Qing had been on the negative first floor, where there was only a cat and nothing else. They came up to the first floor after finding the elevator. It’s unknown what’s on the negative second floor.

In the end, the six players decided to go to the top of the tower together.

They all took the elevator to the top floor. As the elevator doors opened, they found that they couldn’t step out. The entire floor was covered in huge spikes, which, upon closer examination, were giant cacti.

After a quick glance outside, Zhou Qian looked at the elevator buttons. He pressed one with a door opening icon, ensuring the elevator doors would stay open.

Sticking his head out for a closer look and then returning inside the elevator, Zhou Qian said, “According to what Yin Jiujiu and Situ Qing said, the cat that Ryan and Sarah have raised since they were kids was put here… So, as expected, this is the core area.”

“Sarah needed to stay here for a long time to conduct experiments, so she brought the cat for company. However, maybe because the cat mutated, she didn’t want others to know, so she kept the cat here. So…”

Looking at the cacti in front of him, Zhou Qian continued, “Maybe we can obtain the third fragment of the memory from these cacti. However, we need to have the cactus gene.”

“We shouldn’t,” Yin Jiujiu quickly said, pulling Situ Qing back. “Or I fear we might prick each other to death since we’re too close.”

Situ Qing nodded in agreement. “Given that these plants and animals don’t actually harm us… You four can stay here, and we’ll go check out the negative second floor.”

So, three minutes later, the two girls went to the negative second floor. The four men stayed on the top floor, waiting for cacti to grow on them.

During that time, Wu Ren glanced at the rose blooming in his palm and exclaimed, “A cactus and a rose… growing together. Huh… It’s both strange and romantic.”

Qi Liuxing commented, “I feel as if we’re standing by the elevator, waiting to transform and then go save the world.”

Zhou Qian couldn’t help but shake his head. “Xiao Qi, you’re so childish.”

Ke Yuxiao: “It’s nice that Xiao Qi thinks this way.”

Zhou Qian: “……”

Moments later, Zhou Qian’s prediction came true. Spiky cacti started growing on parts of the four of them. At the same time, a memory was implanted in their minds.

The memory took place at the top of this tower. However, looking down from the window, the landscape wasn’t as it appears now.

A vast wetland stretched out, its waters reflecting the sky like a mirror, surrounded by trees of varying heights, normal birds, and running animals. Not far away, the roses growing in the rose garden were the most ordinary kind—a beautiful red dot amidst the green.

Inside the top of the tower, the first thing that appeared in the memory was a thin computer screen. There were a few cacti on the table next to the computer, and at that moment, Sarah was sitting in front of it.

Next to the computer, to Sarah’s right, was a full-length mirror. But it clearly wasn’t just a mirror. The surface flowed like liquid gold, like streaming sunlight, yet it wasn’t blinding.

Sarah glanced at the mirror, her eyes becoming fervent and obsessed. She then looked at the cactus with a meaningful gaze.

“I really don’t understand why Ryan likes these spiky plants. When he gave it to me, he said it could absorb radiation. Well, looking at you during breaks isn’t too bad,” Sarah mumbled to herself. “Ryan is doing charity at the orphanage again today. I truly admire him. How can he be so selfless?”

“If it were me, if I had the chance to go out, I would never come back. The small towns around here… can’t compare to the outside world. It’s so exciting!”

“People here are so ignorant. Like those girls, so naive… I just mentioned magic, and they believe me. Such backward humans… Do they really deserve to live? Even if they do, Ryan shouldn’t bother with them. Why should smart people like us sacrifice for stupid humans?”

“He’s my own brother, yet I don’t know what he’s thinking. How can this happen? No, I want to get close to his mind. I want to know… why are there good people like him in the world?”

For a moment, Zhou Qian found that Sarah’s words resonated with his own thoughts. He often wondered —Why are there people as good as Bai Zhou in the world?

He even thought today —If only he could know what Bai Zhou was thinking.

“Ryan and I were born from the same mother, yet we can’t understand each other. It’s so unfair. The foolish heavens—why arrange this? Why are we so different even if we have the same parents?”

“Well, I can start my experiment. Who should I merge with first? The stupid humans in the town aren’t worthy. Such a grand experiment… It should start with my dearest brother!”

With that, Sarah picked up something like a phone and sent a voice message. “Ryan, come to the experimental tower tonight. I have something to tell you.”

The scene shifted. The location was still this high-rise building, but the time had changed from day to night.

The elevator door opened, and Ryan, looking weary, probably from consecutive days of charity work, walked out.

Waiting for him at the elevator was a pale gold mirror. Suddenly, the golden surface shattered, spilling particles that seemed to dance like sunlight. They flowed onto the floor, crawled to Ryan’s feet, and swiftly enveloped him.

“Sarah? W-What have you done? You actually—”

Ryan couldn’t finish his sentence as the luminous particles sealed his mouth, flowed into his throat, and spread throughout his body.

Then, Sarah appeared, walking over from the side. At this moment, there was still another part of the pulsating light on the ground. In the same manner, this portion of light completely enveloped Sarah and poured into her body through her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, reaching every single cell within her.

Soon, both individuals’ facial features, limbs, and bodies were no longer visible. Standing on the ground in front of the now empty mirror frame were just two human-shaped, pale golden streams.

Approximately 30 seconds later, these two streams suddenly fell to the ground, turning into two jelly-like liquid forms, wiggling and bouncing on the floor. Immediately, they surged towards each other, merging into one, and gradually rose, solidifying into a human shape.

Finally, the golden glow left the human form, transformed into pulsating particles, crawled along the ground back into the mirror frame, and once again restored itself to something resembling a mirror surface.

Thus, a new, fused individual was born.

Gradually, the person walked over and stood in front of the full-length mirror, seemingly wanting to look at their reflection. However, since the mirror wasn’t real, it couldn’t reflect their appearance.

At this moment, through the memory frame, players could only see the bare back of the figure, with the area below the waist obscured by cacti and other plants, hidden in the darkness of night.

​[Players have collected a memory fragment: “Mirror of All Things”.]

[Memory Fragment Progress: 3/4]

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The author has something to say:

Zhou Qian: I want to merge with Bai Zhou.

Zhou Qian: “Zhou Ge, they say that it was puppy love. What do you think?”

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Kinky Thoughts:

I mean, one way or another, you’ll certainly be connected with Bai Zhou…

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