"What!"
In the chaotic crowd, Jiang Yan and Jian Hou looked at each other in shock.
The sudden, loud system notification caught them off guard, and the surging, hostile crowd before them left them no time to think about the game.
"Hit him! That damn murderer’s wife!"
"Two people sleeping in the same bed can’t be different! You think he really didn’t know anything?!"
"Hand over Yu Xiu! Hand him over!"
"Mr. Jiang! Mr. Jiang! What do you think about your husband being a suspect in a serial murder case?"
"..."
"Calm down! Everyone, please calm down! This is the police station! Keep order!"
The officer named Wen Shu commanded his team to maintain order, trying to open a path for Jiang Yan to leave.
Jian Hou held Jiang Yan tightly behind him. In the chaos, Jiang Yan felt something hit his head. Looking up, he saw a microphone being thrust out from the crowd, no one knew which media outlet it came from.
"Captain! Not good! We’re short on men!"
"They’ve blocked the road outside!"
"Damn! Who leaked the information?! Who notified the media?!"
"Call the traffic police for backup!"
"..."
Countless unfamiliar and hostile emotions mixed with chaotic noise, forming a huge whirlpool that trapped Jiang Yan inside, unable to move.
Suddenly, the roar of an engine cut through the noise. A sports car glowing with smooth light, its body like Batman’s vehicle, stopped at the police station entrance.
The cameras that had been aimed at Jiang Yan instantly turned toward the car. Someone in the crowd gasped.
"Holy crap! Two hundred million yuan! There’s only one of these in the whole country!"
"Damn! Step back! I can’t afford to pay for that!"
"..."
The crowd instinctively parted, giving way to the car.
Dizzy from the microphone hit, Jiang Yan looked confused.
What was going on?
Before he could react, Jian Hou grabbed him, took two quick steps forward, opened the car door, and pushed him inside. The door shut with a loud bang, the movement quick and clean.
"Vroom!"
The driver stepped on the gas, leaving behind the flashing lights and chaos.
"Are you okay?"
Only when the person in the driver’s seat spoke did Jiang Yan come back to his senses.
"Mo Cheng?" Jiang Yan said.
"I saw the message from Old Jian and came straight over," Mo Cheng said. "Hey, driving a two-hundred-million-yuan car feels great! You two okay?"
"It was fine just now, but now it’s not!" Jian Hou said angrily. "Is this your car? You just drove it out?"
"Didn’t you tell me to grab a car from your garage that looks too expensive to mess with?" Mo Cheng said matter-of-factly. "Well, this one definitely looks too expensive to mess with."
The car suddenly braked. The light turned red ahead.
The car was steady, but Jian Hou’s heart trembled.
"Careful, you maniac!"
Jiang Yan looked at Jian Hou in disbelief. "I know you’re richer than me, but have your godparents’ business grown that much? They bought you a two-hundred-million-yuan sports car?"
"Of course not," Jian Hou said.
"Then where did you get this car?" Jiang Yan’s heart tightened.
Two hundred million yuan.
"Your husband’s," Jian Hou said.
Jiang Yan froze. "Yu Xiu? Impossible!"
Where would he get that kind of money?
"You’re really something, living like a saint untouched by worldly matters," Mo Cheng said with a teasing laugh. "After all this time, you really don’t know how much your husband is worth?"
Jiang Yan truly didn’t know.
He had never considered himself extravagant and didn’t spend much in daily life.
When it came to money, he always just spent it. Before marriage, his parents handled finances. After marriage, Yu Xiu did. He never cared about it.
In Jiang Yan’s eyes, his family was only slightly above average. His parents’ business was enough for him to live comfortably for life, but not extremely wealthy.
Yu Xiu seemed about the same, maybe slightly better, owning some extra properties, but not too different.
"Yu Xiu can afford a two-hundred-million-yuan car?" Jiang Yan said.
Now Jian Hou and Mo Cheng were both shocked.
"No way," Mo Cheng said. "My dear young master, did you really think the castle you got married in, and the yacht and private island for your honeymoon, were rented?"
Jiang Yan: "..."
"I had a castle, a yacht, and an island for my wedding? Didn’t we just have dinner and go home to sleep?"
Jian Hou: "..."
Mo Cheng: "..."
When they returned to his parents’ villa and opened the trending news on the tablet, Jiang Yan finally saw his husband’s true wealth.
#Shocking! Trillionaire Suspected in Serial Murder Case!#
#Interview with the Wife of the Alleged Trillionaire Killer!#
#The Only One in the Country! Two-Hundred-Million-Yuan Supercar Appears at S City Police Station#
#Exposed! The Sinful Roots of Wealth! The Twisted Pleasures of a Tycoon!#
---
After sending them back, Mo Cheng did not say much more. He only said that if there was any trouble later and they needed his help, they could just send him a message, then left with a smile, asking Jiang Yan if he could borrow the car again sometime.
After receiving Jiang Yan’s affirmative answer, Mo Cheng happily drove away.
Jiang Yan half reclined on the sofa, looking at those exaggerated headlines and the incredible amount of wealth listed in the reports, completely unfamiliar to him. He turned toward Jian Hou, who was at the refrigerator looking for soda, and asked,
“Tell me, is this Yu Xiu’s real wealth, or is it something the game added to him?”
Holding the soda, Jian Hou paused for a moment. The sudden chaos earlier, the shock over two hundred million yuan, and the comforting familiarity of the real world had briefly made him forget the game hanging over their heads, and its abnormality.
“If by game added, you mean the dungeon mentioned in the pop-up just now, then I can tell you it’s not.”
“That guy has always been rich. So rich that at first we thought he was a scammer. Later we investigated and found out it was inherited family wealth.”
“But if you mean whether the whole thing was created by the game, then I’d say most likely yes.”
“Hm?” Jiang Yan looked up.
“You know, Yu Xiu was already an orphan before you married him.”
“According to our investigation, all his relatives are dead, not even a distant one left. As the only living member of his family, he naturally inherited all of their wealth.”
Jiang Yan was silent.
Jian Hou shrugged. “I used to think it was just coincidence. Now, it seems even his whole identity might have been fabricated by the game.”
Saying that, Jian Hou sat down beside Jiang Yan, handing him a bottle of soda. Before Jiang Yan could reach for it, a black tentacle resting against his abdomen slipped from beneath his shirt, wrapped around the bottle, twisted the cap open, and handed it to his lips.
Jian Hou stared.
“Tell me, does that thing look human to you?” Jian Hou muttered after taking a sip of his soda.
Then, as if realizing something, he froze and hesitated before saying,
“Yan Yan... when I came out of the dungeon, I was badly hurt. Tao Shi took me back to the Dawn Guild base, and I accidentally overheard them talking about you... saying you...”
“They said I wasn’t human either.” Jiang Yan looked at him calmly.
Jian Hou was shocked. “You already know?! You know what they said you are?!”
“I don’t know what that thing is,” Jiang Yan said quietly, holding the soda, his blue eyes calm. “But after everything that’s happened, I’d have to be an idiot not to see I’m not normal.”
“True enough,” Jian Hou replied.
“What did you hear them say?” Jiang Yan asked.
Jian Hou sighed and leaned back on the sofa, then began to recount everything he saw and heard after waking up injured at the Dawn Guild.
What he saw was one thing, just some elements beyond the real world, the kind of advanced technology that defied physics entirely.
But what he heard was the real issue.
“Game wishes?”
Jiang Yan frowned. “What is that?”
Jian Hou took a long sip of soda, wishing it were alcohol instead.
“Simply put, it’s a kind of energy, or emotion, that the game absorbs from players and real-life NPCs. When a player clears a dungeon, they give the game game wishes, and in return, the game gives them points, which they can use to make wishes come true.”
“But twenty-five years ago, something went wrong. The game’s collected game wishes were lost or rather, it escaped the game. Because of that, all players and real-life NPCs at the time, and everyone since, can no longer leave the game.”
“The timeline of the whole game stopped, and that stagnation even affected time and space in the real world, so...”
Jian Hou’s eyes dimmed slightly as he remembered Tao Shi’s desperate, tearful voice.
‘I’m already forty-three years old...’
And the helplessness in his eyes after he found out.
He was still just a child.
Trapped there for twenty-five years, repeating the same days, no hope of escape, stuck watching people who would never grow old...
He sighed.
“So, it’s because of me,” Jiang Yan said quietly. “I suppose it’s not just Tao Shi and his people who know. The upper members of all four major guilds must know too. That’s why the Puppet Workshop and Valen Church are trying to kill me, isn’t it?”
“This isn’t your fault, Yan Yan,” Jian Hou said.
“It is my fault,” Jiang Yan replied. “Not the part about having memories and a will of my own, but... about you. That’s my fault.”
“I’m sorry, old Jian.”
He lifted his gaze. The usually calm blue of his eyes trembled, now carrying a glimmer of moisture.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been dragged into this.”
Jian Hou froze for a moment.
It was the first time he had ever seen that kind of emotion in Jiang Yan’s eyes, the first time he had ever received such a sincere apology from him.
Yes, sincere.
They had known each other for years, and naturally had their disagreements. Jiang Yan wasn’t a difficult person. Quite the opposite, he was easygoing. If he did something wrong, he would always apologize directly, cleanly, even compensate if necessary, leaving no room for complaint.
But somehow... it always lacked a bit of humanity.
Not just his apologies, Jiang Yan himself always seemed to lack human warmth.
When acquaintances asked about him, they would often say, “Where’s that immortal-looking friend of yours who doesn’t seem like a real person?”
That was why, when Tao Shi told him Jiang Yan wasn’t human, he was shocked for a moment but accepted it quickly.
Yet now, the Yan Yan before him felt different.
Looking into those blue eyes filled with guilt and sadness, for the first time, Jian Hou felt Jiang Yan seemed truly human.
Without thinking, he reached out and placed a hand on Jiang Yan’s head.
This time, it was Jiang Yan’s turn to be startled.
Jian Hou ruffled his hair and smiled. “What are you talking about? You called me to play the game with you. That’s only natural.”
Jiang Yan blinked, then smiled helplessly. “You call this playing a game?”
“It’s still a game, isn’t it?” Jian Hou said casually. “Sure, I was scared at first... fine, I’m still scared now, but it’s still a game.”
“If it’s a game, we can clear it. If we can clear it, we can win. What’s there to be afraid of?”
“Besides, whatever you are, right now you’re basically a cheat code. Playing with a built-in cheat that doesn’t get reported? That’s awesome.”
He took another swig of soda.
Jiang Yan lowered his gaze. “But...”
“But what?”
Jian Hou interrupted him, smiling. “You’re the Jiang Yan I’ve known for twenty-five years. That’s all that matters. Whatever you were before you were born doesn’t matter. I didn’t know you back then anyway.”
He felt rather moved himself, so he reached out to hug his friend but before he could, a black tentacle blocked his path. The tip of it opened like a flower and screeched sharply at him.
Startled, Jian Hou pulled his hand back.
The tentacle swayed proudly, then coiled around Jiang Yan’s neck, its tiny suction cups pulsing, the many green eyes on it glaring challengingly at Jian Hou.
Jian Hou silently raised his middle finger.
Jiang Yan casually smacked the tentacle, and it immediately behaved, gently picking up the soda from the table and offering it back to Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan took a sip, then asked, “About Yu Xiu...”
“Don’t know a thing,” Jian Hou answered quickly.
Jiang Yan looked surprised. “Not even the Dawn Guild higher-ups?”
“Not even them,” Jian Hou said seriously. “But one thing’s certain. He’s definitely something that exists within the game.”
“So when you asked earlier whether his wealth was something added by the game, that’s why I said most likely yes. Yu Xiu is probably entirely born from the game. The reason he appeared in the real world is likely because of you. What he actually is, no one knows.”
“But according to Tao Shi, almost every being with emotions will be drawn to you.”
Then Jian Hou said meaningfully, “No wonder. I’ve always wondered why your love life was so absurdly lucky, considering I’m not any worse-looking than you.”
Jiang Yan laughed quietly, drinking his soda as he kept refreshing the news on his tablet.
But none of those exaggerated words sank in.
His mind was in turmoil. Even though he had already accepted that neither he nor Yu Xiu were human, getting solid confirmation still unsettled him.
For one, Jian Hou’s explanation was very different from what he had imagined.
He thought he might be a screw in some dungeon, or an NPC created by the game, maybe something connected to the main system, a piece of cold code.
Game wishes...
As Jiang Yan tried to sort through his thoughts, faint blue data chains appeared again in his vision, scrolling silently. Neither of them noticed.
“Old Jian.”
After a moment of silence, Jiang Yan spoke again.
“Yeah?”
“You said I’m this so-called source of game wishes. That’s why the Puppet Workshop and Valen Church are hunting me. Then why aren’t the Dawn Guild or Yin-Yang Realm doing the same? Just because you’re Tao Shi’s piano teacher?”
“It’s because they have different beliefs.”
“Beliefs?”
“Simply put, this kind of situation has happened before in the game. What they know is that for them to get out, you have to go back. But whether you should go back willingly, or be killed and taken back, that’s where they differ.”
“Tao Shi and his leader believe you should return by choice, like you’d willingly go back into the game world yourself.”
“It’s your destiny. But that doesn’t mean Jiang Yan has to be erased. You could play your role as the source of game wishes in the game, and still live as Jiang Yan in the real world.”
“But the leaders of Puppet Workshop and Valen Church believe that Jiang Yan must be erased completely. Only the pure source of game wishes can keep the game running.”
“As for Yin-Yang Realm, they’re staying neutral for now.”
Jian Hou finished explaining.
Jiang Yan fell silent. The only sounds in the living room were the faint fizz of soda and the sticky rustling of Yu Xiu’s tentacles curling and crawling over him.
Their silence didn’t last long before the voice of the main system interrupted them.
“Ding.”
[Main God: The main system is currently under maintenance. The personal interface is now open. Personal system and dungeon livestream functions are temporarily closed. Please be patient and continue your current dungeon missions.]
Jian Hou and Jiang Yan both froze.
“What the hell is going on?” Jian Hou said.
Jiang Yan was stunned too. This was the first time he had ever received a notification from the main god.
He opened the game interface again. The maintenance message was gone, and his personal panel reappeared but the speaker-shaped icon for the personal system was now gray. He tried calling 663 several times, but there was no response.
Meanwhile, the game forum was already in chaos.
[What the hell is happening?!]
[Was that really the main god? Is the main system really just under maintenance? Oh my god...]
[Rumor says the main system has a major problem, even the god above the main system too... the weird phenomena in the real world are connected to this.]
[Isn’t the main system just code? What could go wrong, it got a virus??]
[What’s going on?! I just got a dungeon notification IN THE REAL WORLD?! Are you kidding me?!]
[In the real world... if we do missions here, won’t the police arrest us? Won’t that break reality itself?!]
[I don’t care about reality. Just don’t drag my family into this!]
[I got the same notice... are the real-world disasters connected to the dungeons?] [Anyone know if we can still use dungeon items in the real world? I woke up kidnapped, tried to call the police, and got a main system notice saying it’s part of a mission...]
[Same here... there’s a killer outside! Help! My seven-year-old daughter is with me! Can I really not call the police?! This is the real world!]
“Damn...” Jian Hou muttered. Then something struck him. “Back then, before Tao Shi and his leader realized I was awake, they were arguing outside my room.”
“Tao Shi was really agitated, shouting ‘Where is the main system now?’ I didn’t understand what he meant at the time. I was focused on what they said about you, so I didn’t pay attention... what do you think he meant?”
Jiang Yan’s expression was blank as goosebumps rose on his skin. He said slowly,
“I don’t know. But I have a feeling things are much worse than we think or than what the main god’s notice says.”
Somewhere deep inside, Jiang Yan felt that all of this, somehow, was connected to him.
He turned to look at the tentacle swaying lazily beside him, set the tablet down on the table, and pushed it toward it.
“And you? What do you know?”
Yu Xiu’s tentacle waved as if pretending not to understand. For now, he was just a black slime.
Jian Hou frowned. “Didn’t he understand human speech before? Why not now?”
“He’s faking,” Jiang Yan said coldly.
Yu Xiu’s tentacle kept pretending ignorance, swaying innocently, until Jiang Yan said,
“Not talking? Then we’re living separately. Get off me.”
Immediately, the black tentacle morphed into a slender black hand and tapped on the tablet.
【Wife~】
Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow.
Not bad. The bastard was recovering fast.
Before Jiang Yan could speak again, Yu Xiu tapped another line.
【You already know everything I know, but I can’t say too much right now.】
Jiang Yan frowned. “Why?”
【Because we would die.】
Jiang Yan’s pupils contracted sharply.
【You and I would both die, and so would the world.】
【What I can say is that we were married a long, long time ago, long before you remember.】
【No matter what happens to the world or to me, I will always stay by your side, protecting you and everyone you want to protect.】
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