Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

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

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Chapter 71

The sky was dim. Zhou Qian directed a vine to coil around a flashlight and lift it up, shining it directly on Ryan’s face. This allowed him to clearly see every expression, as if peering through this deceptive exterior to catch a glimpse of the true soul hidden within.

The relentless pursuit by the Peach Blossom Legion and the protective measures he took as a Rank God player loaded into an NPC character… Zhou Qian saw it all.

Behind the numerous battles, there surely was an extensive conspiracy involved, which made him hesitate to easily reveal his identity.

Zhou Qian could roughly guess all of these.

But Zhou Qian naturally assumed before that the game footage could be seen by all Rank S players and above; that person deliberately hid the truth just to prevent his real identity from being exposed to other players.

However, there was an unexpected turn.

At the very end of the “Last Wish” game, an illogical “monster” appeared, and correspondingly, a “dragon” that also didn’t fit the story logic emerged.

This meant that his identity had essentially been forced into exposure to others.

Logically, he shouldn’t have to hide anymore and could tell everything.

But why, after the conclusion of the last instance, had he still not told me the truth?

Even… after waiting for so long, why hadn’t he contacted me at all?

The more Zhou Qian thought about it, the angrier he became.

Whenever he encountered matters related to him, his emotions seemed to fluctuate intensely.

Zhou Qian looked at Ryan with considerable resentment.

He soon noticed that Ryan was staring back at him with an equally resentful glare, almost exclaiming, “What did you just say? You’re being absurd! You dare?!”

“What am I afraid of?” Zhou Qian responded immediately, quickly moving forward and deftly unbuttoning Ryan’s shirt from inside.

“You—” Ryan’s face turned pale.

“I’m not molesting you,” Zhou Qian whispered in his ear, positioning his own body in front of Ryan to shield him from view. “With so many cameras watching, I might be misunderstood as a scoundrel, but it doesn’t matter. However, letting others see you in that state is definitely not appropriate. But—”

Zhou Qian’s anger faded, and he laughed again, saying, “However, the skirt must be worn!”

Once he said this, Zhou Qian’s peculiarly mutated hands swiftly picked up a skirt from the ground and slipped it over Ryan’s head.

Afterward, under Zhou Qian’s control, countless vines extended from beneath the skirt, crawling up to Ryan’s waist, lightly brushing against it, as if searching for something.

For no apparent reason, Ryan suddenly frowned and hissed, “Ouch!”

Zhou Qian paused for a moment, realizing something, then laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that some of my vines had cactus thorns. Did it prick you?”

As he asked, Zhou Qian swiftly pulled down Ryan’s pants, shamelessly suggesting, “First put on a skirt, then take off the pants. That way, no one can see anything. Aren’t I good to you?”

Ryan didn’t respond. He just glanced at the mobile camera held aloft by a butterfly in the distance, fear and despair evident in his eyes.

It was over. Everything was truly over.

All his plans, arrangements, and meticulous disguises… all gone.

Zhou Qian had utterly exposed him.

His true identity was about to be revealed to everyone!

On the side, seeing his expression, Zhou Qian knew he was still in character.

Raising an eyebrow, Zhou Qian draped him in a witch’s black robe and handed him a magic wand. “Alright then. Continue acting. I’ll just treat you as Ryan, or perhaps, Sarah.”

Zhou Qian then took a few steps back, summoned the butterfly, took back the phone, and personally held it up, giving Ryan a close-up from head to toe.

Facing the camera, he addressed the stunned government troops, townsfolk, and witches, “Actually, Ryan is Sarah. Sarah is Ryan.”

“I think, due to differences in their beliefs, Sarah and Ryan had a rift from a very young age. So, when Ryan returned to town after many years away, Sarah didn’t formally welcome him back home, not until she had to amputate a limb and sought Ryan’s help.”

“Yet even then, she secretly sought his assistance without letting others know. Thus, almost no one in the town knew about their sibling relationship.”

Facing the phone camera, Zhou Qian recounted the entire story of Ryan and Sarah, then said, “Perhaps those who knew these secrets have been secretly executed. But justice has a way of catching up. Sarah must never have imagined… that Shirley, who was closest to the explosion, didn’t actually die, right?

“Not only did Shirley survive, but she also preserved all the evidence of Sarah’s wrongdoing.”

At this point, Zhou Qian took out a coffin from his bag.

He had prepared it before leaving the second basement floor of the tower.

Back then, Zhou Qian had asked Shirley, “Was it you who tried to absorb a person’s most profound memories and project them outward?”

“Yes. It was an experiment I conducted using plants and microorganisms from the wetlands,” Shirley replied. “I’ve always tried to replicate and read memories by copying genes and then project them outward.”

No wonder. The wetland’s ability to read memories and create illusions had a reason.

After falling into a swamp trap, Zhou Qian had been seeking the connection between the “memory reflection” of the wetland area and the story itself.

After seeing Shirley and all she had gone through, he had his answer.

If, before the players entered the high walls, everything inside had a brain and could project memories as instructed, that person could only be Shirley.

Zhou Qian then asked, “Was your experiment successful?”

Shirley nodded. “At first, I could only access the deepest memories. But gradually… I could access more and more. Can you help me?”

Zhou Qian solemnly replied, “I can. I promise to help you.”

​[Zhou Qian obtains item: Highly Mutated Being—Shirley]

Once the system acknowledged this, Zhou Qian was able to treat Shirley like an item, packing her and her coffin into his bag.

Fast forward to the present. The phone camera clearly showed the coffin being set down by vines. As the lid was opened, a creature, only retaining human eyes, sat up with the aid of numerous vines. When viewers saw the name on the coffin lid through the “live stream”, a woman in the town couldn’t help but cry out.

She immediately posted on the town forum.

[Shirley! This is my Shirley! She admired Ryan and followed him early on to learn techniques that could change the town. Ryan said she was participating in a secret experiment and might not return for months or even years. I never expected… she…]

The elderly woman never imagined her daughter would turn into such a monster and be placed in a coffin by Ryan.

The comment she left sent shockwaves through the community. At first, people were simply shocked, with a hint of disbelief. But now, their sympathies shifted from Ryan to Zhou Qian.

If Shirley was turned into a monster by an evil spirit and Ryan had to kill her, no one would blame him. He always appeared impartial and fair. He could’ve told the truth. So why did he lie to the old woman?

The public now watched the screen intently.

On-screen, Shirley and Ryan, directed by Zhou Qian’s “monster” vines, moved toward the wetlands.

They didn’t know what Zhou Qian was planning.

But Zhou Qian had thought of this move a long time ago.

Shirley had spent the longest time inside the high walls.

Given her physique, she should’ve died long ago.

Unlike players like Zhou Qian, who didn’t belong to this world, the inhabitants couldn’t withstand the radiation.

But Shirley held on, documenting everything, probably waiting for this day—to reveal the truth and seek revenge for herself!

For so long, Shirley had truly merged with everything inside the high walls.

In a sense, she was the true “Master of All” within these walls.

But due to her physical condition, she was very weak. Clinging to her last breath and barely surviving with the special living methods of plant cells, she had no capacity to control everything like Zhou Qian, let alone confront Ryan.

Under Ryan’s surveillance, she dared not do anything openly. Otherwise, once discovered, she would be immediately destroyed.

Shirley could only hide silently in the dark underground second floor, barely sustaining her life in that coffin.

She survived on sheer willpower. Though she couldn’t control flora and fauna, she subtly transmitted her genes and memories.

Thus, the talking grass was her, crying out for help through it.

Every plant and tree in the wetlands were also her.

She tried desperately to read and project memories using the vegetation and microorganisms of the wetlands, all in an effort to restore the truth.

Shirley had hidden and suffered for so long, waiting for this day.

She finally met Zhou Qian, who brought her to the edge of the wetlands to personally avenge herself and all the wrongly deceased.

Moments later, Shirley made her move.

Using her remaining strength, she thoroughly dismantled herself and many plants in the wetland area.

Together, they transformed into countless bright particles, which reassembled in the air into figures, furniture, decorations…

These particle figures could move and even emote.

In this manner, Shirley played scenes from her memories like a movie, displaying them to everyone through Zhou Qian’s elevated phone camera.

As twilight descended, the sky above the wetland played four continuous movie segments in this unprecedented way. Numerous plants even spoke, replicating the voices of Sarah or Ryan from memory.

The four films, corresponding to the four fragments the players had previously found, exposed Ryan and Sarah’s secrets, leaving her with nowhere to hide.

The watching government troops, witches, and townsfolk were all stunned and speechless for a long time, until finally, they wept uncontrollably.

Amidst their breakdown, their words became unprecedentedly unified—

“Kill him! Kill Ryan! No… Sarah! Anyway, kill that monster!”

“He’s the real monster! He’s the town’s Flower of Evil!”

“We should burn this Flower of Evil to death!”

​[Player Zhou Qian uncovers the secret behind Ryan and exposes it. Side mission completion: 100%]

​[Congratulations to player Zhou Qian for achieving a hidden achievement!]

[​The end cinematics will play next. Rewards will be settled after the animation ends.]

Raising what could barely be called a wrist, Zhou Qian saw the game completion prompt on the system panel.

Then he looked towards the wetland again—

After the four movies, Shirley’s power was completely depleted. She and many plants turned into fireflies, scattering and sinking into the swamp.

It was a magnificent revenge she accomplished with her life.

As for Ryan, at this moment, he was in immense fear, unconsciously reverting to Sarah’s form.

Without wigs and colored contacts, she returned to her true appearance.

She was terrified beyond measure, hugging her shoulders and shivering next to the wetlands.

She wasn’t afraid of her crimes being exposed; she couldn’t face the feeling of falling from grace.

At that moment, a broadcast echoed from a helicopter overhead.

“Ryan, this is General Lehman. I am dispatching forces to capture you. Surrender now. During your interrogation, you must confess to all your crimes. I’ll repeat again—”

It wasn’t until General Lehman’s words repeated three times that Sarah finally snapped to her senses.

At that moment, Zhou Qian saw her not as Sarah but as someone with a completely different personality.

Under some emotional influence, Zhou Qian suddenly felt sympathy for her, even having a vague sense of… perhaps he had gone too far.

But just as Zhou Qian took a step towards her, she suddenly stood up, meeting his gaze.

Then she said, “The night of the Strawberry Music Festival was special. I detected unusual magnetic fields in the mountains. The explosion undoubtedly exacerbated these abnormalities, possibly causing a convergence of different time-spaces. And then…”

“And then you arrived. Which alternate world are you from?”

“When I first saw your data, I truly believed you were a gift from the heavens for me. I was wrong—”

“The heavens sent you to get rid of me. It was you…”

“It was you who killed me.”

After saying this to Zhou Qian, Sarah turned and ran.

Perhaps due to her protective witch’s robe or perhaps because Shirley was already dead, she wasn’t affected by any illusions. Thus, without looking back, she circled the wetlands, sprinting towards the northern wall.

That was the north engulfed in flames.

Sarah’s figure disappeared into the inferno.

She couldn’t bear to fall from grace or lose the love of everyone.

She’d rather die.

Such a fate was deserving for her.

But in Zhou Qian’s eyes, another figure was engulfed by the flames along with her.

“Bai Zhou… does it hurt when you’re burned by fire?”

“Bai Zhou. I never want to encounter you in this manner again.”

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