[Real NPC: Jiang Yan]
[Main Quest "Sheep": No character abnormalities detected.]
[Side Quest "The Judge": Successfully completed the task.]
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Jiang Yan's punishment. After all, he was the first real "Judge." Although it wasn’t his intention, he had certainly drawn attention to himself.
Likewise, he was also the first "Judge" to be executed.
The main system emitted two "bzzt" sounds before announcing—
[Due to a main system bug causing various inconveniences and disturbances to this real NPC, the punishment is mitigated.]
[Punishment Result: Lightly kiss the copy's BOSS.]
“Pop.”
Ding Wanyu crushed another one of Zhou Hao's eyeballs, staring in disbelief at the rosy sky in the distance.
He... survived?!!!
[???!!!!]
[??????!!!!]
[???????]
[Is... the system also bugged?]
[@Main System, what’s going on?]
[Holy sh*t... this is the first time I’ve seen someone survive a personal quest failure!]
[Is this what they call fate? How the hell did he survive! He didn’t even lose points!!]
[If I could survive a personal quest failure, I’d gladly kiss a monster! Hell, I’d kiss a hundred bio-humans from the "Basement!" ]
[Bio-human? Never mind, I’d still choose to die.]
[Wait... is Jiang Yan really not the illegitimate child of the main god?]
[When it comes to him, the main system bugs out; when it’s his task, it’s just a kiss with the BOSS. It doesn’t make sense for him to be an illegitimate child.]
[Upstairs, who knows how old the main god is now? Maybe he’s an illegitimate grandchild or great-grandchild.]
On the game forum, all the players and NPCs were discussing Jiang Yan, the NPC who survived despite failing a personal quest.
Even the top-tier veteran players had never seen such a situation. Various guilds began investigating what exactly this real NPC named Jiang Yan was about.
The investigation concluded that Jiang Yan was just an ordinary person; however, in this game, “normal” people were the most abnormal existence.
In no time, the name “Jiang Yan” became shrouded in mystery.
But Jiang Yan knew nothing of this!
All he knew was that after he made the heartbreaking choice, the "Hunter" did not devour Yu Xiu alive in front of him.
Instead, those emerald-green eyes were filled with a forced smile: “Being insincere is what makes a child unruly. If you apologize to me now, I’ll forgive you.”
Jiang Yan didn’t understand what this meant, but he instinctively obeyed the "Hunter." Tears welled up in his eyes as he dumbly said to the "Hunter," “I’m sorry…”
“Good, I forgive you.”
Before Jiang Yan could react, the "Hunter" swiftly planted a kiss on his lips, and he was teleported back home.
Normally, real NPCs and players are teleported to the game lobby right after completing a quest.
In the lobby, players and real NPCs can engage in point trading, join guilds, and communicate between guilds.
As for when to return to the real world after a quest, or whether to return at all, that is entirely up to the player.
However, Jiang Yan had no opportunity to choose; he was directly teleported back to his home.
By the time he realized it, he was lying on his bed at home, still in the shirt that the "Hunter" had unbuttoned.
Jiang Yan lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling of his bedroom, unable to snap out of it for a long time.
Since his divorce from Yu Xiu, he had been living alone in this apartment, and at that moment, he felt a terrifying silence in the room…
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but finally, Jiang Yan took a deep breath. The joy of surviving the ordeal made his tears fall alongside the cold sweat.
He got out of bed, staggered to the floor-to-ceiling window, and with a swift motion, he pulled open the curtains. When the sunlight hit him, Jiang Yan finally felt the reality of the world.
He gathered his clothes that the "Hunter" had unbuttoned and gradually calmed down.
After a while, he numbly returned to bed, intending to take a nap, but as he turned over, he saw a photo of himself and Yu Xiu on the bedside table.
It was a picture from their first date after confirming their relationship; he wore a faint smile, while Yu Xiu hugged him, grinning brighter than the fireworks in the background.
Jiang Yan’s lips curled slightly as he remembered their first meeting.
The two had met in the autumn of Jiang Yan's sophomore year.
That afternoon, Jiang Yan had just come out of the library and was heading back to the dormitory when, unfortunately, it started to rain. Autumn in the south often brings gloomy weather, and the dampness soaked into his clothes through the collar, making him feel bone-chilling cold.
Most of the students without umbrellas quickened their pace, some even holding their bags and books over their heads while running. Jiang Yan did the same, holding his books atop his head, but compared to the hurried crowd, he appeared unusually leisurely.
Just as he was about to reach the cafeteria, a transparent umbrella appeared over his head.
Jiang Yan lowered his books and turned around to see a tall, dark-haired, green-eyed boy smiling at him, looking as exquisite as a fairy.
In the drizzling rain, the boy’s emerald eyes sparkled, and for a moment, Jiang Yan was lost in thought. The boy handed him a flyer: “Hey, are you preparing for the Level Six exam?”
At that time, Jiang Yan had just taken the Level Four exam. He intended to pass Level Four to graduate smoothly and didn’t have much desire for the Level Six exam or any other certificates.
He had always been this way, getting by with anything and everything.
But looking into those cheerful emerald eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse.
And that’s how they met.
The smile on Jiang Yan's face faded, and he lowered his gaze, lost in thought. Then he turned over lightly and closed his eyes to sleep.
—
"I saw him again."
"But it seems like he doesn't like me anymore."
"Do you think Yan Yan really doesn't like me anymore?"
At this moment, in the control room of "Jian," a vast space filled with nearly infinite photon screens was covered with information about all players and NPCs, including their survival status, dungeon updates, usage, and damage reports.
All the photon screens were interconnected by beams of light, finally converging at the central control system, resembling a luminous giant tree.
In front of the central control system sat a man dressed in a vintage Zhongshan suit, casually crossing his legs while reviewing the situation in the game.
However, behind him, a discordant sound constantly interrupted his work.
The man helplessly turned his chair around, only to see a green-haired, green-eyed man sitting despairingly in front of a glass coffee table, plucking the petals from a vase of roses.
He quickly stopped the other from destroying the flowers: “You... you don’t have to dye your hair green!”
Yu Xiu, with his head of green hair, looked even more eerie as his originally vibrant green eyes now appeared lifeless.
“Didn’t you say that, according to your human perspective, if Yan Yan is with someone else, my hair would turn green?”
As he spoke, a sense of despair radiated from him: “Yan Yan... kissed someone else... He chose to let me die...”
Looking at his boss, whose face was etched with despair, the man rolled his eyes helplessly: “You made him choose between you and his parents; of course, he’ll choose his parents over you!”
“Why?”
“Because they are his parents; he was born and raised by them.” The man began to explain patiently, “In the human world, parents are the most important and closest people to their children.”
“But Li Xue killed her father,” Yu Xiu replied.
“...That’s because her father killed her mother and her sisters.” The man looked helplessly at his boss, “That’s not normal. You know that there aren’t many normal people in this game.”
“Jiang Yan is a normal person; his father and mother love him very much, so he loves them too.”
Seeing Yu Xiu’s disbelieving expression, the man shrugged helplessly: “What you are, we are not the same species.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Xiu seemed to want to say something, but his expression changed in the next moment.
He lowered his head and began to cough, his skin becoming translucent, with veins creeping like thin branches across his face, and golden blood flowing thinly.
“Cough! Cough cough cough…”
Yu Xiu clutched his shirt at his chest, his brows furrowing as he began to cough violently.
“What, what’s wrong?” The man felt a bit at a loss.
Seeing Yu Xiu on the verge of collapsing from the glass swivel chair, the man hurriedly went over to support him.
He watched helplessly as the golden glow in Yu Xiu’s blood became brighter, and at the same time, Yu Xiu’s expression grew more painful, coughing more and more violently.
The man felt helpless: “What now…”
“Cough cough… cough cough cough cough…”
Finally, Yu Xiu coughed up a mouthful of golden blood, which dripped down his chin like sap from an injured tree.
“Cough cough cough cough…”
Seeing this, the man was terrified. He supported Yu Xiu’s body and quickly called out to the void: “Law! Law!”
In the next moment, a pair of transparent hands wrapped around Yu Xiu like petals and then disappeared into the control area.
When Yu Xiu opened his eyes again, he found himself enveloped by those invisible hands in a void surrounded by the stars of countless eras.
【You’re awake.】
Yu Xiu struggled to sit up, gasping for breath. The golden glow in the veins of his face gradually faded, and his skin returned to a porcelain-like appearance.
Yu Xiu recovered, though his face remained somewhat pale.
【You are about to fall.】
Yu Xiu’s green eyes dimmed: “I won’t.”
Then he smiled gently and said something trivial: “Today, a new sapling in the Amazon rainforest told me it really liked today’s sunshine.”
【You shouldn’t care about these trivial creations.】
“Do I care?” Yu Xiu resumed his nonchalant demeanor, “Just now, I wanted to blow up the solar system.”
The voice in the void fell silent for a moment, then said earnestly:
【You shouldn’t be happy because of a tree, and you shouldn’t like that human boy.】
【You are a deity, the last deity in this world.】
【You should cultivate your own followers like your ancestors.】
【Not be pleased because of a tree or play tricks because of an ordinary human boy.】
“I don’t need so-called followers.” Yu Xiu rubbed his temples and continued, “Why should there be such things as followers?”
“The solar system was formed from the interplay of dark matter and dark energy in this universe, birthing a blue-green planet. In the world I govern, there are countless such star systems and planets, born from the expectation of life, not because of me.”
“That tree likes today’s sunshine, not because of my generosity.”
【You provided it with sunlight.】
“No, sunlight was always meant to belong to it.”
“I like Yan Yan…” Yu Xiu’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, “because I liked him all along.”
【You shouldn’t develop feelings for any creation.】
【Human love arises from the desire to reproduce.】
The voice in the void grew stern.
【A deity should only receive the reverence and worship of all beings, without any emotional attachment to creations, much less favoritism.】
【You should learn from your ancestors.】
“But they still fell.” Yu Xiu coughed lightly.
He stood up and stepped out of the invisible hands' embrace.
Standing on the stars, he looked at the countless creations in the void, the rise and fall of countless civilizations, and the seeds striving toward the sunlight. At that moment, he smiled.
“Law, don’t you think gods are actually the most superfluous and irrelevant existence in this world?”
The Law did not answer his question, only saying:
【You are too willful.】
“Is that so? I can be even more willful; do you want to know how?”
【……】
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