“We’ve been married for a long time, right? Husband.”
Inside the bathroom, the figure of Yu Xiu behind the frosted glass and the constantly writhing black tentacle froze instantly. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the rushing water.
Jiang Yan quietly watched the direction of the bathroom, waiting for an answer.
He did not ask what exactly this thing was. He did not ask if it knew about the anomalies around him. He did not ask whether these were related to him. He did not ask what the truth of this world really was.
So, we’ve been married for a long time, right?
He had no memories outside the copies, so this “long time” obviously did not refer to the wedding after graduating from university, or that certificate.
So, we’ve been married for a long time, right?
But just how long is this “long time,” husband?
The room fell into silence, golden dust drifting in the sunlight.
Jiang Yan did not get the answer he wanted. In fact, he did not get any answer at all.
His husband walked out of the dissolution chamber and, as usual, tenderly took him to the bathroom. He carefully dried his hair, dressed him, and helped his fragile wings with flower dew.
He received guests in the castle’s reception hall who had arrived early for their wedding. He accompanied Jiang Yan in learning the knowledge required to become the companion of the Giant King.
It was as if he had never heard Jiang Yan’s question. Jiang Yan did not continue to ask, as if nothing had happened.
Jiang Yan’s world remained peaceful and serene. The malice and bullying from the academy were blocked from his world by his friends and lover. Everything was beautiful.
The castle’s floral fragrance, the dazzling golden phosphorescence scattered by the Mother Tree, the smiles of the people around, kind yet distant seemed to remind him not to destroy this hard-earned happiness.
Until the day before the wedding, when guests and friends gathered to hold a farewell party celebrating his and Yu Xiu’s singlehood.
Blessings and wine made him slightly drunk.
His eyes half-closed, he was in Yu Xiu’s arms, enjoying a drunken kiss. Just as he was about to completely surrender, his lover, pressing against his forehead, suddenly whispered:
“Yan Yan, if you kill me, where would you put my head?”
Jiang Yan froze violently.
Before he could ask further, a human girl named Geng Hui in the cheerful crowd suggested with a smile:
“Let’s play the game of killing the white sheep!”
In that instant, countless fragments of memory surged into Jiang Yan’s mind.
Unlike before, this time, they began to assemble in his mind like pieces of a puzzle, forming vivid scenes one by one.
Strings of blue data chains formed the underlying code once more, and the gray panel in Jiang Yan’s mind suddenly lit up.
“Ding!"
[The Bloody Bride of the Giant Tribe, Reset Progress: 75%]
[Recovered Plot 1: Find the murderer who killed the king]
[Recovered Plot 2: Find the murderer who persecuted and killed the white sheep]
[Real NPC Jiang Yan, welcome to restart the system]
“Host!! Jiang Yan! Jiang Yan, can you hear me?!”
At the instant when the familiar 663 voice sounded in his ears, the lost memory fragments began playing again.
He remembered.
“Host! Host!”
“I’m here.” Jiang Yan’s brow twitched slightly.
Receiving his response, 663 paused in surprise, then in a voice broken to near tears said:
“You’re still here! You’re still here! That’s great! I thought you had already been devoured by the current system! Do you know what I’ve gone through while being disconnected from you all this time? I’ll tell you.”
663 began talking endlessly about the breakdowns he experienced while overworking for Jiang Yan.
But Jiang Yan only caught one word sharply:
Devoured.
His brow furrowed tighter as he looked up at the lover holding him.
Before he could probe further, a heart-wrenching scream instantly drew his attention.
It came from the crowd.
Jiang Yan raised his brow and turned to the direction of the scream.
He saw, on the lawn, a group playing the “white sheep game” around a bonfire, skinning a person.
The black-haired, blue-eyed boy being skinned, cold as the moon in the sky, was none other than Jiang Yan himself.
A few others were bound in the crowd, unable to move, forced to watch their friends suffer the torture, nothing but cries of anguish.
The surrounding people seemed lost in a school-like frenzy, celebrating something.
They laughed, shouting hoarsely, mechanically repeating:
“Follow the game rules! Follow the game rules!”
Follow the game rules.
At this moment, the boy being skinned in the crowd lifted his eyes to look at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan: “....”
“Is this a warning?” Jiang Yan spoke in his usual calm tone.
663 was slightly stunned.
“This… is recovering the copy plot. When a copy collapses, the main system needs to rebuild it, so it must recover the corresponding plot so the code can be recompiled.”
Jiang Yan remembered that in the previous plot, there was indeed a “white sheep game” in the players’ memories, but because the copy collapsed, how the game started and ended was left unresolved.
But he clearly remembered that in that “white sheep game,” he did not die.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yan suddenly smiled.
“Is that so?”
In his calm tone, tinged with amusement, he asked 663:
“This is the main system recovering the plot?”
663: “....”
After a moment of silence, 663 spoke in a near-crying tone:
“I’m just a worker.”
Jiang Yan slightly raised his brow.
At this point, anyone who was not a fool could sense that his entanglement with this damned game was not limited to Yu Xiu.
Although he still did not clearly understand what other grudges he had in this game beyond Yu Xiu.
He could be certain that something in the game wanted to erase him.
This erasure was not the pursuit of a player; it was a real, complete annihilation.
He could also be certain that it was very likely not the main system.
After all, the main system had given him one “exception” after another, and the “Divine System” showed that the main system was on his side.
Then… what exactly was it?
Thinking this, Jiang Yan turned to look at the one holding him.
At this moment, Yu Xiu’s expression had not changed much, like the people in the frenzied crowd, seemingly unable to see the bloody torture, unable to see that it was his beloved little prince being tortured.
He just looked at the person in his arms, quietly.
Jiang Yan’s hand gently touched his face, his expression probing.
So then, what exactly are you? An unexpected escapee from the game, or… the husband I dragged into this?
Thinking this, Jiang Yan sighed quietly.
He had lived for twenty-five years, always honest, always proper, aside from laziness he had never done anything against the basic moral values of society.
How could he have a grudge with anything in this game?
Not only was he dragged into it, but even his family and friends were not spared.
“Bang!” A sound like a balloon popping rang out.
Jiang Yan turned to see the head of the “his other self” tied in the middle of the crowd suddenly explode, with thousands of withered rose petals and blood flying, like party confetti.
The people in the frenzy seemed to regard it as a party spectacle, laughing even more excitedly.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The second, third, fourth… Jiang Yan watched more and more of himself randomly spawn in different corners of the crowd, heads exploding like confetti balloons.
The few who had been crying inconsolably froze. Although they knew this world inexplicably had many “Jiang Yans,” the grotesque scene now exceeded their comprehension.
663 nervously said: “Once the copy recovery finishes…”
Jiang Yan did not respond, calmly watching the progress bar of the copy recovery on the system panel.
[The Bloody Bride of the Giant Tribe]
[Recovered Plot 1: Find the murderer who killed the king]
[Recovered Plot 2: Find the murderer who persecuted and killed the white sheep]
[Reset Progress: 85%, 86%, 87%...]
Roses and blood splattered, people reveling wildly.
Until some blood splashed onto Jiang Yan’s face, a pair of long hands gently wiped it off.
Jiang Yan looked at Yu Xiu, those green eyes smiling yet still deep.
He felt a little dazed, sometimes he truly felt that Yu Xiu in the copy had consciousness.
The system NPC Yu Xiu was a string of data simulated by the main system, but the real Yu Xiu was now some black substance parasitizing his abdomen.
Yet he still often felt that the system NPC Yu Xiu had Yu Xiu’s consciousness.
Just like now.
Yu Xiu gently wiped the blood off his porcelain-like cheek, leaving a tender kiss:
“Don’t get dirty, Yan Yan.”
Jiang Yan’s long lashes trembled.
“There are many Yan Yans.”
“No, only one.” He looked at Jiang Yan firmly.
“Only one Yan Yan.”
Jiang Yan lowered his gaze in silence.
At this moment, the screams around could only be described as madness, more and more copies of himself appearing, heads exploding like balloons one by one.
“Follow the game rules! Follow the game rules!”
“Follow the game rules! Follow the game rules!”
At this moment, Jiang Yan could no longer tolerate this naked provocation and threat. He said calmly:
“Let’s just end it quickly.”
“What do you mean end it quickly?” 663 asked, confused.
Jiang Yan took a deep breath and looked up at the lover holding him through the rain and falling petals. His voice was calm: “Give me your head, okay?”
663 froze.
“Okay?” Jiang Yan asked Yu Xiu steadily.
663 shouted in disbelief: “No… Jiang Yan, you’re crazy! You’re still in the copy! You’re still a boy of the Elf Tribe! Why do you want your husband’s head?!”
“End the game,” Jiang Yan said calmly. “If I kill him, it will be over.”
663: "...."
“Then kill him!!” 663 shouted frantically.
“I don’t want to do it myself,” Jiang Yan said lightly.
At this, 663 nearly lost his mind. He collapsed into a panicked shout: “If you don’t want to act, at least don’t speak! If the system NPC in front of you thinks your character is broken, it will erase you instantly! Even if it doesn’t, who would agree to such a naked demand for death?! What if it thinks you are an Elf assassin, then it will…”
“Fine.” Yu Xiu smiled softly.
663: "......"
The supreme human king removed his crown, knelt on one knee before his little prince, and gently held his hand. He pressed a soft kiss to Jiang Yan and said: “As long as Yan Yan wants it, I will give it to you.”
Then, black viscous fluid flowed from his neck, forming a circle around it.
“Crack.” The king’s neck snapped. His head fell precisely into Jiang Yan’s arms.
663 could not speak, shocked: “He… is also a system NPC… he… how… he…”
“Bang!” The king’s body exploded before hitting the ground. Golden broom flowers mixed with green viscous fluid flew through the air, blending with the blood rain of roses.
Jiang Yan looked at his husband’s head in his arms. Those deep green eyes still gazed at him.
His jet-black lashes trembled violently. His glassy blue eyes were filled with emotions he had never felt before.
He stood, holding the head high.
“I have killed the Giant King.”
Then, the golden rose vines in his hands transformed into a dagger. He plunged it into his own heart without hesitation, expressionless, declaring:
“I have killed the sheep.”
Plop. Jiang Yan’s body fell to the ground. His bright blue eyes lost all light.
The crowd, previously reveling, froze as if someone had pressed pause. Their eyes were fixed on Jiang Yan, like puppets arranged in this pose.
“Bang!” The king’s head in Jiang Yan’s arms exploded.
Black viscous fluid gushed out. The black liquid inside Jiang Yan’s abdomen began to boil, merging and spreading.
“Ah!!” A scream rang out from the stiffened crowd. Chaos erupted instantly.
“It’s… a demon! That evil god!! It has awakened!!”
The crowd panicked, trying to flee, but it was too late.
The dark deity began growing uncontrollably, screeching as it consumed everything it touched.
The grass, the bonfire, the roses, the sky…
Those trying to escape were drawn into the deity’s body, struggling until they were completely melted into a part of the god.
It was a slaughter without blood.
Until the last scream faded and the final ray of sunlight was swallowed, the world fell into darkness.
“Ding!”
[The Bloody Bride of the Giant Tribe, Reset Progress: 100%]
[Recovered Plot 1 (Murderer who killed the king): Jiang Yan]
[Recovered Plot 2 (Murderer who persecuted and killed the white sheep): Jiang Yan]