Tag: wdbkfmgb

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! Year of the Ox.

Lengthy chapter! I wanted to finish the entire chapter before posting since this one has multiple perspective shifts. Enjoy!

Chinese Refreshers: Spicy Chicken = ‘trash’/’trashy’/’bad’. “Scram” = the direct translation would be “Roll”

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

Writing took a full day and a half. Excluding the time spent eating and sleeping, all other time was spent on writing. After posting twelve new updates, He Ruge fell into a stupor. 

After using the profits he earned from all his manuscripts he wrote during this time to purchase the “Holographic Gaming Helmet”, He Ruge had already made psychological preparations. If this item had no use other than acting as a fancy display item, he would delete this swindling, spicy chicken (trash) game! 

[Yes/No Spend 8888.88 to purchase the “Holographic Game Helmet”? 】 

【Payment successful】

 [The item will be delivered by today, please wait patiently~] 

Now what? 

He Ruge was slightly at a loss when he saw the successful payment interface. Would there be any changes to the game? Don’t tell me that 8888.88 only bought a game side plot…… 

He closed the game and reopened it. Upon discovering that there were indeed no changes to the game, He Ruge seemed to hear a sharp crackling sound as his own strings of rationality snapped. 

This deceitful game deserving a thousand cuts with the sword! 

Deleted, deleted! 

The hand that moved the mouse pointer trembled slightly, and He Ruge didn’t delete the game in the end. He was practically in tears as he opened the door to Room 104, wanting to feed the little monster. 

Then, He Ruge suddenly discovered that the little monster was no longer a little monster and had grown about one size bigger. The cotton nest that could previously fit him perfectly could now only barely support his butt. 

He Ruge finally remembered that he didn’t log in to the game at all yesterday and missed the timing to inject the genetic solution for the little monster. It was previously mentioned in the experiment’s instructions that the genetic solution could accelerate the growth of the little monster, but this growth was too fast.

In the blink of an eye, the milk bun little white tiger turned into a big, round snowball. He (Little White Tiger) was already up to the knees of his (He Ruge) game character. 

No longer as cute as the smaller version. 

He Ruge, who originally wanted to look at the little monster’s cute appearance, let out a huge sigh. 

He clicked on [Feed] with the mouse, and the nutrient solution was placed one meter away from the little monster. 

The little monster didn’t move. 

He Ruge clicked on [Talk] without much hope. 

Little Monster 

【Roar! “Scram”】

He Ruge smoothly scrammed, and then used Secret Observation like before. 

The little monster slowly walked towards the nutrient solution and started to eat. 

No.20 

[No.20 is eating] 

[Due to physical pain, he has suddenly stopped] 

[No.20 is slightly anorexic] 

The little monster smashed the other half of the nutrient solution. 

No.20 

[No. 20 criticizes that the nutrient solution has no taste] 

[He angrily throws away the nutrient solution] 

The little monster turned his body around and stared at the corner of the wall in a daze. After a while, he turned back in surrender and licked the nutrient solution off the ground several times. 

No.20 

[No. 20 is hungry, in pain, and unhappy] 

[He avoids the broken glass on the ground and starts drinking the nutrient solution] 

[The more No.20 licks, the more angry he gets, he wants to kill someone] 

He Ruge: “……” 

This broken bear child^[1] is strangely pitiful.

Thinking of the [pain nullifier] ^[2] he had drawn before, He Ruge opened the room (door) and prepared to use it on the little monster. However, as soon as he opened the door, the little monster, who was licking the ground like a little beggar, stiffened and became vicious, roaring at He Ruge in an untrusting manner ——

[Roar “Scram! ! !”】 

He Ruge: “……” 

Fine, I’ll scram. 

He Ruge exited the game with a blank expression, and after three seconds of silence, he suddenly laughed. 

    ＊

After the little monster killed the staff member, he absorbed some nutrients from the other party’s Zerg wings so that he could make his own Zerg wings slightly more beautiful. 

The little monster treated his previously lost but now regained Zerg wings as a treasure. Although he didn’t understand what happened, such that he even returned to the place where he had been locked up, since his Zerg wings had returned, the little monster was satisfied. 

There was so much food here. Except for not being allowed to eat the person Xi Guican liked, he could eat the rest, finishing each in one bite. When he finished eating, he will become smarter and stronger. He was currently still in the period of malnourished growth and development, starved by Xi Guican. Xi Guican didn’t let him eat anything and even pulled out his Zerg wings. 

As soon as he thought of Xi Guican, the little monster’s teeth would itch with hatred. But, recalling the miserable experience of being taught a lesson in the past, he quietly calmed his anger. 

After the gene altering solution was injected, the little monster was in pain for a day and a half. Originally, he was already overloaded trying to forcefully support his taxed body. The pain from the gene altering solution was simply the final straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Why did he come out at this time? Why was it that every time he came out, he would suffer pain and hardship, but when Xi Guican came out, he could experience happiness. The extreme disparity almost made the little monster want to cry. He actually had to suffer this kind of pain twice. It was the same last time. Xi Guican fell into a deep sleep while he was awakened. He experienced endless days of bone-crushing pain, while Xi Guican didn’t need to do anything and would attain success laying down. 

He hated it.

The hungry and hurting little monster finally waited until lunch. Originally, he had planned to eat the person who delivered the lunch with his meal, but after discovering that the other party was the one with black hair and black eyes, the little monster could only give up his anticipated feast. For large meals, conceding to drink the nutrient solution. 

The nutrient solution still tasted like plain water. Ridiculous. Why did they treat him this way? Don’t think he didn’t know anything when he was asleep. Xi Guican clearly had sweet nutrient solution before. 

With a completely broken mental state, the little monster angrily smashed the nutrient solution 

However, impulse was a devil, and he regretted it as soon as it dropped. The little monster, who’s tummy was rumbling with hunger, turned around and stared at the pool of nutrient solution with an indescribable gaze. 

Unclean and unsanitary, but wouldn’t get sick after eating. 

The little monster lowered his noble head and quickly lapped up several mouthfuls. The more he licked, the more angry he became. Unexpectedly, even he would be reduced to such a point. Later, he would again chop up this bunch of spicy chicken. 

Hateful. 

Just as the little monster, who was bloated with anger, was focused on licking, he suddenly heard the sound of the door being pushed open. He raised his head stiffly and locked gazes with a pair of black eyes. 

This person actually…… enters without knocking. 

“Scram!!!” 

The other scrammed immediately. 

This person actually…… scrammed without leaving the nutrient solution. 

The little monster almost cried from anger.

    ＊

He Ruge didn’t write in the afternoon and lay in bed to watch a movie. After eating, he received a package from “Your Exclusive Lover”. 

This delivery speed was quite shocking. 

Such an expensive price was probably all used on this incredible express delivery. He Ruge opened the package calmly and revealed an unremarkable helmet with an instructions manual.

From an observer’s perspective, it didn’t look attractive and was even sold at such an expensive price. 

Spicy chicken game, return my blood and sweat earned money.

He Ruge coldly flipped open the official-looking instructions manual and followed the instructions for operation while carrying a “let’s see what sort of tricks you can scrounge up now” mentality before putting on the helmet. 

Suddenly, the sky turned and ground spun, and his scalp felt like it had been lightly electrified, causing an uncomfortable feeling of dizziness. However, this feeling only lasted briefly. 

A cold mechanical sound then rang through his ears: 

“Welcome to the Virtual Reality (VR) version of “Your Exclusive Lover”. Given that the player does into have prior virtual reality gaming experience, the first day of gaming should not exceed one hour and be kept within two hours on the second day. To reiterate, a normal day of gameplay should best not exceed ten hours in order to prevent confusion between VR and reality.” 

“For the players’ health, this game has a built-in, anti-addiction timing setting. Wishing you happy gaming!”

When He Ruge regained control of his consciousness, the first thing he saw was not the room he was familiar with, but rather a gloomy corridor that was cold and dark and void of human presence. 

He turned around in a daze and saw a number on the room with the closed door, “104”. 

He then lowered his head and saw the nutrient solution he was holding in his hand. It was a test tube-like bottle  The transparent nutrient solution was thick in texture, and the bottle felt icy cold to the touch. 

Even if it was summer, drinking cold three meals a day was definitely not good for the stomach. 

He Ruge thought foolishly. 

He looked down at the nutrient solution and then looked up at room number “104”. 

What happened? Was he dreaming? He Ruge pinched his own thigh and the pain calmed him down. 

The world was already so fantastical, you could even become a monster. A romance game sending you a holographic game helmet was very normal…… Like hell! ! ! 

Had he been under too much pressure recently and was now hallucinating? 

Or did Global Technology suddenly leap forward a huge step while he was unaware and squeezed out a quality virtual reality game? Was he too self-unaware and haven’t seen enough of the world? 

While his head was full of messy thoughts, a floating frame emerged in front of his eyes: 

【Daily Task: 0/1 (Dinner)】 

He Ruge subconsciously walked to the door. A blue light on the door shone upon him, and a very light “Di” sounded. The door then opened automatically. 

His heart followed with a jump. 

He Ruge put his hand on the doorknob. He didn’t know when sweat appeared on the palm of his hand, but he held his breath and opened the door. When he entered the room, he smelled a very stuffy scent which was the unique unpleasant odor of a closed, airtight room. 

The room was void of decor except for an iron cage that could potentially fit a pet cat. The metal bars of the iron cage were bright, black and glistening. It looked very expensive. 

A little white tiger, four times the size of a regular pet cat, was sprawled out on the ground. He used the cotton nest as a pillow to support his two front paws. His forlorn and violent blue eyes were like sharp knives staring right at He Ruge. 

He Ruge had never come into contact with a real beast before and the most ferocious animal he’d ever seen was a large dog that looked ferocious but didn’t bite. 

He had never seen such a pair of cold and hostile eyes, which appeared to suck in all the world’s malice. It was the bloodthirsty eyes of a beast who ate people. Without the barrier of a screen, those eyes seemed to have enough presence to shoot out sharp thorns. His heart felt like it was gripped hard by a hand. The feeling of suffocation made his lower abdomen contract and sore, and the skin on the back of his neck tightened subconsciously. 

The stare air in the room seemed to have turned into a rag at this moment, covering He Ruge’s mouth and nose. After three seconds of blankness in his mind, He Ruge used all of his strength to maneuver his noodle-soft legs and walked out of the room strenuously, quickly closing the door behind him. 

When the door snapped shut with a Ka-da, He Ruge pressed his back against the door panel, panting rapidly like a dying fish. He practically slid to the ground feebly as his heart pounded and ached. 

……Too stimulating. 

He Ruge fell into a daze for a long time before he looked at the nutrient solution in his hand again. He thought that this daily task’s difficulty was a bit high. 

Too difficult, it was simply death’s level of difficulty. 

Could he just open the door and slide the nutrient solution through the crack of the door? 

    ＊

The little monster had been hungry for a long, long time. He waited for dinner to appear. Even if it was the tasteless, disgusting nutrient solution, he still wanted to drink it now. 

While yearning long and hard in his heart, the door was finally pushed open, and the man with black hair and dark eyes walked into the room holding the nutrient solution. 

The little monster glared at the man with some resentment. 

Why didn’t you come earlier, I’m almost flattened from hunger. 

The next second, the other party suddenly closed the door and scrammed. 

Little Monster:”……?!” 

Leave the nutrient solution before scramming, Aaaahhhhhhh you bastard!

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The author has something to say: I thought of a small theater: 

A fierce, bad, poisonous, naive and poor little monster: I just came back from committing murder, and I picked up a strand of hair off the corpse for you

He Ruge: ……Thanks

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Chapter 30 Part 2 Pain Nullifier

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Trigger warnings: Blood, graphic injuries, death (not for any major characters)

TL note: There were many instances of implied context in this chapter, so I included (—) to clarify

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

The way the little monster cried also…… made one distressed. He Ruge had never seen Little White Tiger cry. The little monster looked exactly like Little White Tiger, and at this moment it looked like Little White Tiger was crying in front of him. 

Crying so much that He Ruge’s heart softened. 

He Ruge wanted to walk into the room to comfort the little monster, touch his head and feed him candy. However, the little monster was not the Little White Tiger, and walking into the room may be just adding fuel to the fire.

The self-knowledgeable He Ruge exited the game and wrote for a while before opening up the ‘backstage’ page (admin panel) to examine his profits. 

In fact, if he tried to maintain 20,000 words a day…… as long as he closed his eyes and stomped his feet hard, he could still purchase the “holographic gaming helmet”. 

He looked at his current 20,000-character manuscript, and he felt his heart move slightly. 

I must be insane. 

He Ruge pushed at his glasses frames, pained, and asked himself whether the self-inflicted agony would be worth it. In his mind, the little white tiger and the little black house appeared in turns as he considered it carefully. The game’s production was very conscientious, so the props being sold should not be too shady. If it’s expensive, it must be for a reason, and an RMB (paid) player’s experiences must definitely be different. 

If he bought the props, he could potentially let Little White Tiger out. 

As a human being, it isn’t easy to obtain a source of happiness. Since he could obtain full happiness, he shouldn’t just be satisfied with a third of the happiness. 

The hand that opened up the writing program’s Little Black Room trembled slightly as He Ruge entered the number “20,000” into the required character count box and directly clicked confirm before he could hesitate. 

    ＊

In Room 104, the little monster cried silently for a while in his cotton nest. The tears on his face had yet to dry when he slowly stood up. The action of getting up seemed to be very difficult for him, and all four of his paws were trembling. 

He had suffered a very severe injury. He was supposed to be asleep for a long, long time in his spiritual consciousness, but he was forcibly awakened due to an accident. 

And he even lost one wing. 

The little monster didn’t really want to wake up and take over this body because he hadn’t completely healed yet, and Xi Guican had also told him that he hated him very, very much. 

Just the thought of sharing a body with him made Xi Guican feel sick.

 …….He had indeed done a lot of bad things (in the past), but he really couldn’t help it. 

The little monster was like a child who had caused trouble, as he muttered to himself in his heart: “I didn’t want to come out. I didn’t even come out with wings this time. You, you stop being so mean to me.” 

No one responded to him. 

The little monster plucked up the courage to continue muttering: “I will definitely take care of myself this time. Do you like that black-haired person? Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to hurt him.” 

Without receiving any response, the little monster cautiously said: “Can I take it as you agreed?” 

Then, he turned his head and looked at the beautiful Zerg wings behind him in confusion: “Strange, why do we have wings again? I’ll behave this time, so can you… not break the wings again?” 

His expression became dimmer and dimmer: “When you broke the wings that time, I really, really hurt. You like that black-haired person, I like my wings. You should understand the love I hold for the wings, right?” 

The originally wronged voice suddenly shifted to a strange tone, “If you break my wings again this time, then I will tear that black-haired person in half……”  (*TL: A WILD YANDERE HAS APPEARED??!!)

“However much blood the wings shed, I will make that person bleed just as much.” 

The little monster’s voice then became extremely soft, almost as if he was afraid of disturbing a sleeping individual: “You actually have a weakness, so this time, I don’t need to be afraid of you~” 

The end sound carried a cheerful uptilt. 

The little monster gave a small and innocent smile, but his azure blue eyes contained a maliciousness that refused to melt. 

Although his entire body hurt each time he moved, his joyful mood couldn’t be reined in, and the little monster reluctantly walked to the nutrient solution on the ground, grabbing the solution and downing it. 

Once he tasted it, the little monster smacked his lips strangely. 

This wasn’t right. When he fell asleep, he seemed to have tasted something sweet and strong. Why did it taste like plain water now? 

The emptied nutrient solution bottle was thrown to the ground angrily by the little monster, and it shattered all over the floor. The little monster who had been puffed up angrily saw the broken bottle and actually began to smile. 

Before the smile completely faded, the door of the room opened, and a new staff member walked in with the gene altering solution. The little monster examined the other’s face carefully. 

Not black hair, black eyes. 

Not the one Xi Guican liked. 

In his heart, he couldn’t recognize if he felt regret or relief. Since Xi Guican liked a person, he wanted to do something to them. Would that person’s blood be especially sweet, or meat especially tender? Why would Xi Guican like them? 

Hah, he was most afraid of yet most hated Xi Guican, just like how Xi Guican hated him the most. 

When Xi Guican broke the Zerg wing back then, he felt extremely, extremely pained. It was so painful that he cried for a very long time, yet Xi Guican didn’t shed a single tear. 

Just thinking about it made him unhappy. 

If he killed that person, would Xi Guican also cry? Would he cry until his face was streaming with snot and tears? Would Xi Guican cry and beg him like he (the little monster) cried and begged then? 

Sharp claws popped out and gouged into the ground. Because of this train of thought, the little monster shuddered with excitement, and the little claws strengthened by the power of the Zerg wings left deep scratch marks on the floor

No, he couldn’t do that. Xi Guican would wake up again. 

After the staff member saw the glass fragments on the ground, he glared at the little monster who was increasing his workload and said indignantly: “So, this is the so-called high-quality product? Here I was wondering exactly how perfect it was.” 

The staff felt it was a pity to use the priceless gene medicine in his hands, but according to his instructions, he still injected it into No.20’s body. 

The gene altering solution had extremely high efficacy speed. One injection could shorten the body’s natural development duration by one year. However, the side effect was an overdraft of life force and severe suffering. 

The needle was pierced into his flesh, and the purple gene altering solution was slowly injected into his body. It was cold, like a poisonous snake, slithering all the way from his paws to his shoulders, freezing his body with the iciness. 

The little monster squinted his eyes and stared at the vial of solution. In his mind, he tried hard to stretch out his claws and grab at the shards of memories fluttering about in his chaotic sea of shattered memories. 

He also seemed to have been injected with this medicine many years ago. 

He raised his head and looked left, then looked right. The more he looked, the more familiar this small room became. 

Wasn’t Xi Guican quite rich and powerful? Why did he take him back to this broken little house again? 

Like in his memories, the medicine solution changed from being icy cold to burning hot, and the pain seared into his skin. The little monster, who was already in pain, at this moment was suffering more pain on top of pain. 

A dark red, vertical slit appeared in the expanse of blue pupils, and the little monster who liked to be angry looked straight at the unsuspecting staff member. 

“This person is bullying me.” The little monster whispered in his heart to the sleeping Xi Guican, “I’m scared. In order to protect myself, I must drive him away.” 

“So this isn’t my fault.” The tip of his tongue licked sharp tiger teeth. 

“Roar.” The brief tiger howl was filled with suffering. 

The little monster slumped to the ground pretending to be weakened, his limbs trembled convulsively, and his acting was good enough to turn a lie into truth. When the staff squatted down to check on the little monster’s situation and covered the camera (with his body), a dark shade of red appeared in the center of those azure blue eyes, like a drop of blood splashing onto the surface of water. The blood red color spread rapidly. 

Capillaries of red blood entangled the whites of his eyes, making his eyes look the veins on blood agate. 

Upon making contact with these pupils, the staff member’s eyes suddenly lost focus. He moved stiffly like a puppet, as he walked towards the broken glass on the ground in a daze and picked up the glass shards directly with his hands.

*Trigger warning start*

The palm of his hands held onto the sharp fragments tightly, as if he couldn’t feel any sense of pain. When the fragments gouged out wounds and pierced into the bones of his fingers, causing thick blood to drip from his fingertips, the staff still sported a dull and blank expression. 

The little monster rubbed his nose and turned his head away critically. 

The staff member brought away all the broken glass shards with his blood soaked hands and hobbled out of the room. Just as he stepped out of the room’s threshold, his ankle twisted in a strange bend, and his whole person suddenly collapsed. The glass shards in the palms of his hands scattered all across the floor. A triangular shard fell onto the ground upright, aimed directly towards the falling body, and plunged straight into his fragile throat. 

Warm blood gurgled out onto the gray flooring and bloomed a wet, bloody flower. 

From beginning to end, the little monster lay innocently and tenderly in his cotton nest, watching the staff member timidly. He was like a curious and scared cub as he trembled beside the corpse and stretched out his little paw to tentatively pat the other on the back—— 

This was the scenario captured by the cameras. 

— 

Scorpion analyzed coldly: “This accidental death is full of strange areas.” 

“Why did the Zerg wings on his body suddenly shrink? The nutrients of the Zerg wings had been drained clean. Zerg wings, this kind of thing, could even live well if the host itself dies.” 

The Medicine-seeking rat sat on the robotic arm, took a sip of the hot milk tea, and said: “You should look for Zhu Yeqing (Green Bamboo) for this type of matter. I am only responsible for the aspect of Spiritual Mental Consciousness.” 

“Look for him?” Scorpion rolled his eyes, “I personally don’t want a pair of Zerg wings appearing on my body.” 

Taking another sip of hot milk tea, the Medicine-seeking rat let out a contented sigh, “If you are not willing, who can force you.” 

A small wheel emerged from the base of the robotic arm. When the Medicine-seeking rat controlled the robotic arm to leave, he turned around and took another look at the frozen shot of the little white tiger on the monitor screen. 

He said to Scorpion: “Sometimes, I feel like me being alive is a crime on its own.” 

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Gosh……. little monster is uh… something else…..

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

Xi Guican was imprisoned inside the icy cold machine, and a piercing white light shot into his eyes. In the brief moment before he lost consciousness, waves of spiritual energy poured into his spiritual sea of consciousness. 

This was…… 

The real brainwashing procedure! 

Because of this terrible realization, Xi Guican felt his whole body turn cold. He desperately and recklessly tried to break free, but the previous automatic ‘quit game’ function that worked with just a thought was now completely unresponsive.

A robotic voice then extinguished Xi Guican’s last hope. 

If you can read this, you are reading on an aggregator site that stole the translation. Please read on the original site. Thank you!

[Di–intense mood swings from the player has been detected] 

[Warm reminder, this game will not conduct any actions that will harm the player. Everything is done based upon your illness and in consideration of you. Wishing you happy gaming and good health! 】

 A whirlpool silently appeared above his spiritual sea, and it continuously emitted spiritual waves. 

A spiritual pulse that overturned oceans and lands rose up from his bone marrow, overlaying his white bones with a coat of fake flesh, and building layers upon layers of phantom images within his desolate spiritual sea.^[1]

This was a terrifying brainwashing experiment that could even tamper with the depths of the soul.

Almost no one was immune from this brainwashing experiment, except Xi Guican. 

Because his body actually contained two souls. 

The memories belonging to Xi Guican began to blur and were wrapped up in layers of silk-like spiritual waves.With all the memories covered in a thick gauze, his world looked like it was painted with a heavy snowfall. The sky above, the Earth below, and encompassed in all four directions by snow-white surroundings, all was wrapped together in a silver lining as pale as a piece of white paper, willing others to blemish it.^[2]

Just as everything was about to be rewritten, a small hole suddenly appeared amidst the thick snow. A little white tiger with red eyes popped his head out of the snow. He seemed to have just been awakened from a deep sleep, muddled and unaware of the situation.

A fine piece of snow drifted onto the tip of his nose, and the red-eyed little white tiger sneezed. This sneeze drove away his sleepiness, and the little white tiger, who finally realized what had happened, was surprisingly angry—— 

ROAR! Who was it? ! Froze me again! ! ! 

A childish tiger roar resounded through the lonely world of ice and snow. With great difficulty, he pulled his paws up from the snow and tried to get out. However, he seemed to be injured and every time he moved, he would feel a heart-piercing pain all over his body. 

The red agate-like eyes were angry enough that they were about to spew out flames. With a sudden burst out of strength and a loud bang, he lifted his whole body out of the snow——

A pair of very, very large Zerg wings suddenly popped out from the snow! The wings were beautiful and slender, but the only regrettable thing was that one wing was broken at the root, tattered and stained with flesh and blood. 

The little monster tried hard to fly upwards with his remaining Zerg wings. But, each time he tried, he would shake and stumble, as if he would fall from the air at any moment. 

His red eyes were full of violence and intent to kill. He desperately flapped the Zerg wing in mid-air. 

He flew halfway and fell. Then, he gritted his teeth and got up before taking off again while filled with murderous intent. Because of the broken wing, the little monster could not control the balance of his body, and every time he fell, the broken wing would bleed out. 

The pure white snowy field was covered with splatters of blood, like a painting of plum blossoms in the snow^[3].

Numerous falls and numerous injuries, but the little monster became increasingly violent with each, and took to the air stubbornly even after repeated defeats. After a countless failures, he was finally able to control the broken wings and fly shakily towards the whirlpool in the sky—— 

He blocked the whirlpool with his own body. 

Under the impact of the violent waves of spiritual energy, the originally already severely damaged wing was ripped off from the roots and fell from his back. It floated gently like a fallen leaf onto the blanket of snow. 

The little monster who never cried no matter how much pain he was in, the moment he saw the wings break off, he finally broke down and cried loudly. 

He sat on the whirlpool in the sky, crying loudly. In the expansive world of ice and snow, the immature cries of the little monster echoed outwards over and over again.

    ＊

For an entire day, whenever He Ruge opened the game, he couldn’t see Little White Tiger. Each time, (the game) showed that Little White Tiger was still in the middle of undergoing the brainwashing experiment. 

What will change after the brainwashing experiment is over? Would Little White Tiger completely…… forget about him?

And what was a little monster? 

When He Ruge thought about this, he removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose a little irritably. Under these circumstances, he didn’t really have a choice. The game didn’t give him any other options, so he could only click to complete the task. 

It would be great if this was not a game. 

It would be great if he had the ability to act according to his own wishes in the game.

He Ruge once again remembered the holographic gaming helmet with the asking price of “8888.88 RMB”. What was the true role of that helmet? Would there be more available options? In this way, when faced with a situation similar to today’s, he will not be pushed towards a cliff with no choice but to bite the bullet and complete the task. 

8888.88.

Why so expensive? It must be expensive for a good reason. But, why was it so expensive?

He Ruge was uneasy while writing today and couldn’t concentrate at all. As soon as he thought about the little white tiger who was about to be brainwashed and lose his memory, his heart would instantly become numb, carrying a degree of anxiety and irritability.

This feeling wasn’t the same as the restlessness that came with “returning to the pre-liberation period”, but rather was an even more inexplicable self-blame as if having lost something very important. 

However, there was nothing he could do because it was just a game, and there was no second option available to him in the game. Thus, he could only helplessly choose to complete the task. 

From the very beginning of the experiments, he was never given the option to refuse. 

It was also impossible for him to jump into the game and pull Little White Tiger out of the brainwashing room.

He Ruge glanced at the picture of the little white tiger on the writing program’s interface, but his creases between his eyes didn’t relax. Decisively, he closed the document and opened up the game again. This time, Little White Tiger finally came out. 

The little white tiger who came out was not contained in an iron cage this time. He had completed the brainwashing process, and so his identity had undergone some subtle changes. 

Though he was still an experimental subject, he didn’t have as many constraints as before. However, Little White Tiger still took the initiative to walk himself into the cage and even sat down inside like a little master. But, the good habit of closing the door on his own initiative had disappeared. 

He didn’t know if it was an illusion or due to the brainwashing experiment, but He Ruge kept feeling like……

The Little White Tiger in front of his eyes was very unfamiliar. 

It’s not an unfamiliarity caused by a loss of memories, but rather an unfamiliarity of a whole different person. 

[“Rebirth” has been completed successfully! 

Total experiment time: 1*24 hours 

Survival rate: 100% 

Surviving subjects: No. 20, etc. 

Your performance in the experiment: satisfactory (sent the experimental subject to the brainwashing room)]

[Your performance in the first three experiments was overall excellent, and you have obtained the opportunity to participate in the fourth experiment “Accelerated Growth”: 

It is said that weeding out bad seedlings encourages growth, but the degenerate people of the Starry Sea Orphanage do not have the patience to wait for young experimental subjects to grow up slowly. The degenerates decide to inject gene altering solutions into No.20, allowing him to complete seven years of growth in one week. 】 

【Daily Task: 

Responsible for No. 20’s three meals a day, and injecting him with the gene altering solution on time] 

He Ruge clicked on the cage and walked towards the location of the new experiment on the first floor.

After arriving at Room 104, Little White Tiger himself opened the cage, dragged his small cotton nest out from the cage, dragged it to a corner in a daze, and sat down on the nest, staring at He Ru Ge indifferently. 

This was an aggressiveness displayed by a beast who was dissatisfied with the invasion of its territory. 

He Ruge had no doubt that if he took one more step forward, he would be attacked by Little White Tiger. 

Those blue eyes were as cold as ice, but it was different from the pure indifference and disgust when they first met. The gaze from those eyes, at this moment, carried a manic and scorching wildness, like a fire blazing beneath the surface of the ice, where the flame could melt through the ice at any time. 

He Ruge clicks on Little White Tiger’s status.

No.20 

[Disgusted]: No.20 wishes to kill everyone in Starry Sea Orphanage, including you 

[Awakened]: The little monster is finally awake, he desires to carry out an act that will overturn the heavens and Earth. 

……It turns out that Little White Tiger was really gone, and what appeared now was the little monster that the game had been foreshadowing. 

He Ruge had always thought that the status of a sleeping “little monster” meant that the little white tiger would transform into a little monster, or that he would gradually become a little monster due the repetitive experiments, causing him to become physically and psychologically distorted into a little monster. 

However, He Ruge never would have thought that a little monster actually lived inside Little White Tiger’s body. If the little monster woke up, then where was his little white tiger? 

He use the mouse and randomly clicked all over the little monster at a loss. 

【Touch Head】(locked) 

【Touch Back】(locked) 

【Squeeze Paws】(locked)

    ……

All of the options for intimate interaction were locked and in a gray-colored state. 

The little monster’s initial affection level for him was lower than that of Little White Tiger’s. At least, when He Ruge interacted with Little White Tiger in the beginning, Little White Tiger would still let him touch his head, although he would be swiped at if he patted his head. 

Why didn’t Little White Tiger continue to scratch at him then? 

He Ruge reached deep into his memories. If he recalled correctly, it seems to be when his glasses had fallen off? 

……Did the glasses have some sort of special settings?

He Ruge clicked on his outfit, took off his black glasses, and looked back at the little monster expectantly. The little monster in the cotton nest appeared indifferent and gave He Ruge a vicious glare. 

When the little monster, who looked exactly like Little White Tiger, made such a fierce expression, He Ruge really felt hurt. It was a heartbreaking feeling. 

He clicked on [Talk] with his mouse. 

No.20 

【Roar! “Roll!” 】 

He Ruge: “……” 

He Ruge then clicked on [Feed], and the game automatically placed the solution one meter away from the little monster by default. Thus, He Ruge wasn’t even given a chance to interact with the little monster.

The game arranging everything automatically was probably for players’ sake. If one finally managed to fill up their favorability levels, but then ended up being attacked by the other in the next second, even if they had a heart of steel, it would still be shattered into pieces under this huge change. 

Although he understood the logic behind this, when he saw the little monster full of hostility and separated by a whole diagonal length of the room, saying that He Ruge wasn’t sad would be a lie. 

He doesn’t want a little monster, he only wanted Little White Tiger. But, he also doesn’t want to be hated by the little monster because the little monsters looked exactly like Little White Tigers.

He Ruge felt like he was a scumbag. His White Moonlight (lover) had left him, so he found a perfect substitute. Yet, while complaining that the substitute was not the same as the White Moonlight, he was saddened that the substitute did not love him.

Depressedly, He Ruge moved the character to leave the room. After leaving the room, He Ruge wanted to walk back into the room to look at the little monster. 

However, the little monster had made it very clear he did not want to see He Ruge. 

Thus, the witty He Ruge held down the space bar and used the Secret Observation skill. 

In the old, black-and-white camera-like lens, the little monster turned its head laboriously, licking his right Zerg wing cherishingly. He licked it in solitude for a while before he began to cry silently. 

Crying pitifully.

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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The previous chapter was a bit short, but that gave me enough time to finish translating the entirety of chapter 34 in one go ^^

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

Xi Guican was sent to the familiar brainwashing room and saw the machine that he would never forget in his lifetime. The only weapon against humanity, brainwashing machine manufactured in violation of the Federation’s regulations.

This machine had the most advanced technology in relation to the spiritual sea of consciousness that allowed it to block and rewrite memories through manipulation of one’s spiritual awareness.

There was almost no one invulnerable to this type of high-level brainwashing, as the intensity of this type far exceeded the mass-brainwashing type experienced by Crow.

The only drawback was that the energy cost was enormous, and only the most precious experimental subjects were eligible to be brainwashed by this machine. 

Unfortunately, Xi Guican was one such precious experimental subject. 

He knew what he was about to face next, but also didn’t care much for it. This brainwashing machine was extremely rare and expensive to build, and it violated the Federation’s regulations. Only rich and frantic lunatics could bring such a brainwashing machine into existence. 

Moreover, when he destroyed the Starry Sea Orphanage, he had placed a lot of attention on completely obliterating this brainwashing machine without leaving even the slightest residue in order to prevent anyone from restoring the machine to do more unscrupulous things.

It was just a game. No matter how much information was collected, it was impossible to recreate the brainwashing machine. 

It was even more impossible for the brainwashing effect to carry through the virtual network via virtual holographic games, without any physical contact and just through mental waves. 

If they had this type of strength, they could directly trick the people in power within the Federation to play this game, and then control the entire Federation with just a little brainwashing. 

With this perfect train of logic, Xi Guican entered the brainwashing capsule with confidence. Just as the door was about to close, he even turned around and gave He Ruge, who was outside the door, another glance. 

The set brainwashing duration was one day and one night. If this game perfectly reflected reality, then Xi Guican should not be able to see the youth he liked for one day and night. 

Yes, like.

With a sense of indescribable throbbing, vines of pale pink branches bloomed on the tip of his heart and, step by step, enveloped his whole heart with emotion. It was ‘like’. 

He liked He Ruge, which was why he immersed himself in the game from morning to night, which was why he was always happy with that person’s arrival and anxious with that person’s disappearance. 

In this lifetime, he had never liked anyone before. Thus, in the beginning, he didn’t realize that he had come to like this person. Even if the other party was just a virtual character, even if they couldn’t embrace each other in reality in this lifetime. But, ‘like’ was ‘like’. 

He liked He Ruge.

Maybe this like could not be given in the same amount as others, could not be given as gently as others, nor as skillfully as others…. 

But, he was willing to give all of his love and tenderness to this person. 

Yesterday, when Xi Guican raised his head and looked towards the sky, he saw the white petals float away, but he also saw the gentle smile of the young man from when they first met. 

The youth was dressed in all white. Behind him was a halo that dispersed the endless darkness, and the depths of his eyes carried a brilliance greater than the starry skies during wartime. 

His previously silent heart suddenly began beating, and the indescribable throbbings of his heart could now all be named at this moment. They were bathed in light as they all whispered simultaneously, “like”.

    ＊

The door of the brainwashing capsule closed abruptly, and He Ruge, who was sitting in front of the computer blankly, was stiff to the point of being motionless. 

It was because he saw Little White Tiger’s Status: 

No.20 

[Love]: No.20 loves you, a love deeper than chasing light¹, because even if the world was an expanse of darkness, you will always be the pure light in his heart. Favorability: 100 

[Awakening]: No one has discovered that No. 20 is a little monster, except you. Now, the little monster in his body was about to wake from deep sleep.

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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The author has something to say: 

Little theater: 

Little White Tiger: Yi, I am officially going offline 

Little Monster: AHAHAHAHAHAH I AM FINALLY ONLINE!!

Author: Is it exciting, is it stimulating, is it unique enough?

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Footnotes: 

1. ‘Love deeper than chasing light’: multiple connotations. 1)XGC’s love for HRG is more intense than his desire for ‘light’. 2)The love he feels is stronger than a need for anything else)

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Took a small break to recover from the holidays. The chapter releases should be regular again! ^^

Also: the final batch of giveaway items have been shipped out! Everyone who participated and replied should have received a confirmation email.

Trigger warnings: side character killings, depictions of death and implied brutality

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

When He Ruge logged into the game again, the time inside the game showed that one and a half days had passed since Crow’s death. As soon as he went online, he found that the “Death God’s Wings” experiment had come to an end.

New staff members came and took away the other experimental subjects while He Ruge carried Little White Tiger’s iron cage and followed behind the staff. They walked all the way from the second floor to the top floor. 

The traces on the rooftop that were left behind by Golden Python had already been cleaned up. On the empty top floor, there was an eggshell-shaped military-grade reinforced glass ceiling cover, like an upside down glass bowl cupped onto the building.

There was a large area on the top floor that was crafted with all metal, and dense, complex lines were carved on that metallic space. From that metallic area, a metal lump gradually emerged and turned into an iron square, and then, in the center of that cube, there was a circular opening.

A strong air current continuously streamed out from the opening.

The staff placed the experimental subjects into the airflow in turns. Though inferior Zerg wings provided no flying ability, with the assistance of the airflow, they could float short distances as long as they could control the Zerg wings.

This test simulated a flight environment, and the test subjects capable of controlling their Zerg wings would all be considered successful products with a high degree of integration. If they couldn’t even flap their wings and were just barely hanging on to stay alive, then they were only the most useless of failed products.

The subjects awkwardly and anxiously tried to “learn to fly” in the airflow. The subjects with a higher degree of integration experienced an initial helplessness, but quickly found their own rhythm.

For example, Little White Tiger.

Little White Tiger was the most conspicuous out of all the experimental subjects. His Zerg wings were longer than all the experimental subjects’, and was a dazzling white amidst a field of black. His flying posture was also the most skillful, elegant, and collected among all the experimental subjects, as if he was born with those wings.

While the silver-white Zerg wings were in flight, the golden patterns on the wings reflected brilliantly in the sunlight.

Then, under everyone’s astonished gaze, Little White Tiger flew out of the airflow range. Carrying the sunlight behind him, he flapped his wings and flew towards He Ruge and soared directly into He Ruge’s arms. 

No. 20 

[Rawr “I waited for you for a long time”] 

A little paw rested on He Ruge’s shoulder. The rotund tiger face was full of unhappiness, but when the little white tiger flew into He Ruge’s embrace, the bad expression on his face was visibly relaxed.

It was so obvious that he couldn’t hold in his happiness anymore, but he still tried to put on a look of “I’m very angry and need you to coax me”. 

He Ruge: “……” 

This game was too sly. He only just didn’t show up yesterday, but (the game) made Little White Tiger sell meng this shamelessly! 

Selling meng is super effective. 

I was wrong, I will come to see you every day QAQ

He Ruge held the Little White Tiger and watched the other experimental subjects’ tests from one side of the top floor. The main intention of this small test was to check the integration level of each subject’s Zerg wings. The failed experimental subjects needed to be cleaned up. 

Little White Tiger has already been identified as a successful product, and his staying in He Ruge’s arms was just an unexpected situation. The busy staff members didn’t care about the trivial details. They were fully occupied with cleaning up the failed products. 

Experimental subjects with low integration levels were waste products with extremely weak combat effectiveness, and neither their deformed appearance provide them with a compensatory increase in power. 

It was troublesome to keep the failed products, so the most time-saving method of action was to clean them up. A butcher’s knife was currently aimed towards these unsuspecting failed products.

Those cubs might not be able to understand why, although everyone here had transplanted wings, everyone had experienced the same pain, and everyone had survived the same torture, the end results were a world of difference, a polarity of life and death. 

They were stuck in the torrential updraft, unable to tell where the boundary of life and death lay. 

The scene became chaotic, and the failed subjects scurried about like headless flies. They flew upwards but couldn’t fly over the glass window cover. Some flew downwards, but experienced staff members were guarding the stairs with sharp, chainsaw-like cutting machines in their hands. 

He Ruge suddenly recalled the bat-like monster he saw when he was completing the “Mysterious Infirmary” side mission. 

…That should have been an experimental subject who escaped from the Destruction Plan.

When the cutter swung down, blood splattered and the still warm Zerg wings were removed from the body of the failed test subject. At this moment, these experimental subjects were deemed to have absolutely no left-over value and became waste products. 

They were all caged birds. Even in the last moments of their lives, they could never escape from the cage.

[“Death God’s Wings” completed successfully! 

Total experiment duration: 4*24 hours (4 days)

Survival rate: 7% (Crow’s actions lowered the overall survival rate of the experimental subjects) 

Survived Subjects: No. 20, etc. 

Your Performance in the Experiment: excellent (did not violate experiment regulations, successfully took care of the subject with highly-integrated Zerg Wings, No. 20)] 

[Your excellent performance in “Death God’s Wings” has been validated, and you have obtained the opportunity to participate in the third experiment: “Rebirth”: 

This is a cold-blooded and horrific brainwashing experiment. The degenerate people of the Starry Sea Orphanage need a fighting machine who would risk their life to work hard for the organization. The memories of the successful experimental subjects will be completely locked, and only thoughts beneficial to the organization will be instilled. Be loyal to the organization, the organization is supreme. 

As the first subject with perfectly integrated higher-tier Zerg wings, No. 20 will not receive the same simple brainwashing experiment as the inferior products, such as Crow, but will receive the most costly, and complex brainwashing experiment. 

[“Even when I forget everything, will I still remember that I love you”] 

He Ruge: “!!!”

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, I just knew this stupid game wouldn’t give praise for nothing! ! ! This colossal measure is too ruthless! ! ! 

The staff members carried the cages of the successful experimental subjects and signaled He Ruge to follow. However, Little White Tiger refused to get back into the cage. Perhaps because he was about to undergo the brainwashing experiment, at this time, no one interfered with his wishful behavior. 

No one would care about an individual who was about to lose their memory, nor care about their current emotional status. 

Because it was meaningless. 

He would soon usher in a new life, and all the dust of the past will return to dust, dirt will return to the ground. The things they liked, disliked, cared about and disregarded would all be rewritten. 

What He Ruge was tasked to do was to personally send Little White Tiger to the brainwashing location and wash away all the love Little White Tiger held for him. 

Little White Tiger nestled quietly in He Ruge’s arms, and his head pressed against He Ruge’s chest while he looked at the person in front of him with fondness. 

No. 20 

[Hou~ “I never understand before, the emotions I held in my heart for you”] 

[But now, I understand a bit] 

[It should be……] 

A pair of blue eyes overflowed with a soft smile. 

No.20 

[Should be affection¹. 】

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Footnotes:

1. “Should be affection”: the more direct translation would be “”should be like” but that doesn’t exactly reflect the emotions that Little White Tiger wanted to present. Thus, i went with ‘affection‘

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QWQ this chapter was so beautiful (mainly part 2) I didn’t know where to cut the chapter, so I ended up finishing the entire chapter before posting it. Part 2 will be posted within 24 hours >w<

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

He Ruge, who had just come to the realization that he might be a Koi, fell into a strange mood. He refused 8 Leg’s joking invitation for an in-person meet up and turned off Penguin with a headache.

He’d exposed quite a bit of information. At first, he discovered that 8 Legs might have been the same kind as he was, so he shared his Bloodline pattern without much caution.

8 legs said that Koi spirits were very rare. Because the luck of a koi spirit was insanely high, a powerful koi spirit’s Chi could even affect the luck of others. Lucky Chi was invisible and intangible but was vital to every creature.

The requirements for a Koi spirit to mature were highly demanding. 8 Legs knew that there used to be a koi spirit who lived in the wishing pool of an ancient temple. Because the wishing pool was bathed in the faith of devout believers all the year round and the land was rich in Feng Shui, it was easy to cultivate faith. 

It was due to the compilation of all these various coincidences that a Koi Spirit was cultivated.

After that koi spirit went into society, it generated great influence within the monster circle. Those who were wealthy paid money; everyone worked hard, hoping to rub off some good luck from the Koi spirit.

Then, that koi spirit vanished. 

There were rumors that say a big-shot monster wanted to complete the medicine of life and death and made the medicine using the Koi Spirit’s flesh. Others say that a big-shot who wanted to change his fate used the Koi Spirit to ascend to the Heavens. Either way, the Koi Spirit always met a miserable end.

Knowing the tragic ending of his predecessor, He Ruge was afraid of repeating the same mistakes. Although 8 Legs promised to never reveal He Ruge’s identity, He Ruge was still a little uneasy.

After eating dinner, he saw the increasing number of bookmarks for his work and became happy again. After reading through the reader’s comments, He Ruge lay down to sleep.

He had a dream. 

He dreamt that when his work reached the pinnacle of its popularity, he crossed through the dimensions and landed in Little White Tiger’s world. Little White Tiger turned into a male god wearing a military uniform and they ended up in a romantic relationship. The male god was a cat and he was a fish; whenever he saw his male god, his legs would grow weak. As the male god walked domineeringly towards him with the intention to do something indescribable, the sky suddenly rained down knives.

A splattering of knives slammed into the ground and shaved the thick hair on the male god’s head clean off.

Following that, a huge sinkhole suddenly opened up on the ground, and a man wielding a blade emerged and asked darkly: “Who is Ruge?”

The countless people who had fallen into the pit gritted their teeth and said: “This author isn’t human. He’s too conniving!!!”

“If you dig a hole and don’t fill it, it’s better for you to be hacked to death.”

He Ruge was scared awake. From the beginning of his career as a writer till now, as an honest pigeon who had never gone on hiatus, why did he end up with this strange dream? Sure enough, dreams reflected the opposite of reality.

Did he forget something?

*

Xi Guican waited a whole day in the game, but He Ruge never appeared. The three daily meals were all brought over by a staff member, but the other party was never the He Ruge that Xi Guican was yearning for. Was there another bug in this damn game?

Xi Guican, who regarded the game as his daily spiritual nourishment, was very angry. He came out of the game cabin unhappily and stared at the strawberry-flavored nutrient solution in his hand.

After Xi Guican tipped his head back and downed the nutrient solution, he shifted into his true form and went to the bathroom to take a bath. The hair growth bath solution had worked quickly. A short layer of fine hair had already appeared on a good part of the originally bald areas. But this kind of big white tiger…

Appeared even uglier.

Some hair here, no hair there. Being uniformly bald was more natural looking.

The ugly and fierce white tiger soaked in the bathtub as he turned on his light brain to watch the live broadcast. The Seventeenth Star had completely fallen, and the Sixteenth Star was mostly gone. The people of the Federation weren’t too optimistic about the future of this war. 　　 

The Zerg were too skilled at combat. It’s unknown what happened, but the Zerg with only brawn and no brains from the First Star War had suddenly developed a lot of brain. 　　 

Their combat effectiveness dropped…. No, it can’t be said that their combat effectiveness has dropped, but rather that their way of fighting has changed.

The Zerg now had a sense of reason and measure, and could now……think for themselves.

This terrifying discovery was disclosed only to the Federation officials of the General level and higher. Although the Federal Army suppressed this information and hid it from the public so as to not shake the army’s morale, the soldiers fighting on the front lines all had an intuition built upon experience. 　 

A rumor about the Zerg secretly and quietly spread from the army: 　　 

“They’ve escaped ignorance through violence, and obtained new life amidst killing.”

However, such news weren’t of much interest to Xi Guican. Nothing was truly interesting. He usually watched the Star Wars Frontline live broadcast just because he was bored and only occasionally watched it to pass time. 　　 

The him from before was indeed a boring person. 　　 

He didn’t pursue entertainment, nor dramas, nor chased stars, nor went out, nor socialized, nor played games. He’d finally found a source of happiness, and actively logged in to play the game every day. But, he didn’t expect there to be bugs in the spicy chicken (trash) game. 

The Big White Tiger expressionlessly turned off the live broadcast as he calmly finished his medicated bath and turned back into human form. The handsome man with silver hair and blue eyes opened the closet and grabbed a black military uniform. He roughly tore off the golden military rank and tassels. Only when the sole color that could be seen on the uniform was “black”, did Xi Guican satisfactorily drop his hands. 　　 

He didn’t wear a military cap, only the pure black military uniform set and pitch-black leather boots. The man covered from head to toe in a serious, abyssal black walked into the dusty mecha room. 　　 

Ever since he developed Spiraling Mental Consciousness Deficiency years ago, he hadn’t touched a single mecha. 

Mechas needed to establish a stable spiritual link with the operator’s spiritual sea of consciousness. Since Xi Guican’s spiritual consciousness was full of cracks and holes, spiritual vortexes and storms would appear whenever he was emotionally unstable.

If he established a link with the mecha in such a bad state of spiritual consciousness, it would end with either the mecha exploding or him self-exploding. Or, he might die upon crashing landing. 　　 

He was warned by his doctor to not touch a mecha before his condition had improved. 　　 

Thus, Xi Guican had sealed the mecha room and hadn’t visited the mecha room for a long time. When he looked at the closed door in front of him, he suddenly felt like the past was a world away. 　　 

“Beep —ID verification passed!” 

The door to the mecha room opened, and inside, there was only a single silver-white mecha in the empty room. The mecha sported golden designs which were made of rare, memory-retaining metals. Even a small gram was worth a thousand gold, and it wasn’t available on the market because these precious metals needed to be supplied to the military first and foremost.

Adding memory-retaining metal to a mecha could allow the mecha to have an automatic self-repair function. The more that was applied, the faster the repair speed and the more perfect the repair results would be. 　　 

This specific mecha was the magnum opus of one of the most outstanding mecha mechanic masters within the Federation, and it was gifted to Xi Guican by the Federal Army as a way to win his loyalty. 

Xi Guican had always cherished this mecha. It wasn’t because of how precious it was, but rather because the appearance of the mecha was very similar to his past Zerg wings.

The Zerg wing that had accompanied him through the most helpless years of his life, and the Zerg wings that were finally ripped off by his own hands. That pair of Zerg wings was clearly implanted violently into his body without his permission, but when Xi Guican truly bid farewell to the Zerg wings, his heart felt hollow. 　　 

The perfectly fused Zerg wings allowed his body to function equivalently to an advanced mecha. After losing the Zerg wings, this mecha became the wings’ replacement. 　　

High-level mechas all had a name, such as The Apocalypse, The God of Destruction, and other such domineering names. 　　 

However, this specific mecha was named “No. 20”.

Xi Guican hid his unmentionable past, his desire for strength, and his previous code name that once represented his suffering and humiliation into this one mecha. 　　 

During the time when he had first fallen ill, Xi Guican never dared to look at this mecha because he was afraid to see his own vulnerability and helplessness in the world. But now, because of the impact of “Your Exclusive Lover”, his condition had improved significantly, and even half of his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness had been repaired. As of now, he could just barely establish a stable connection with the mecha. 　　 

The palm of his hand lightly fell upon the cold metallic surface, and Xi Guican inserted a bit of internal spiritual power into the mecha.

“I’m back,” he whispered.

A sequence of bright lights suddenly appeared on the surface of the metallic gray mecha, and the cockpit door opened towards Xi Guican—— 　　 

“Welcome back, Major General Xi.”

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

He Ruge placed the prop back into the backpack with a complicated mood. When he turned off the game, using his amazing self-control, to go work on writing he saw a huge number of unread messages jumping up and down on the Penguin App. 

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Congratulations on making it onto the Shelf!” 

“Shelf” is Jinjiang’s (JJWXC) ‘thousand views trending list’, located in the upper left-hand corner of the Bookshelf page. Each official V work only had one chance to make it onto the list- that is, from the early morning to the evening of the fourth day upon entering V. They can then stay on it for a full 24 hours, which was practically equivalent to being ‘published’.

The Shelf covered all genres, and the top six could be seen on the first page of the Shelf. On JinJiang, there was no other listing that allowed more exposure than the Shelf.

There is even a saying in the writer’s circle, which was ‘The Shelf determined life or death’.

He Ruge has been so obsessed with the game until late into the night that he even forgot he’d made it onto the Shelf. 

Sure enough, games are the cause of many troubles.

He scrolled through the chat log in a calm manner, but when he saw the following messages, his calm facade was utterly shattered. 

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Third on the Shelf! You are on the first page! You’re Set! Set! You’re gonna soar!!!” 

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Picture jpg.” 

It was a screenshot of the Shelf which had just refreshed at midnight exact. He Ruge’s work was ranked third, and the first and second placers were both well-received authors. His hand which was holding the screen trembled slightly, and He Ruge cautiously continued to read the following news.

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Ah, ah, ahhhh a counterattack! You’ve usurped the second placer! CHARGE!! I won’t allow you to stop!!!” 

That message was sent at three in the morning. 

The rankings on the thousand views trending list was ever changing. When a work’s views became higher than the work ranked above it, it will advance one place. However, usurping positions was very uncommon. 

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Ah, watching you grow is also making me so excited and anxious. Yet, you, this stinky pigeon, why haven’t you replied to me? It can’t be that you forgot you were going to be Shelved, right?!”

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Good night! I’m exhausted! I’m going to sleep first!” 

The chat records ended there. He Ruge opened JinJiang in a daze, and when he first looked at the thousand views trending list, he found —-

Hmm, why was the cover of the first place work so familiar? ……It seemed to be a cover he made himself. 

He, He Ruge, a common, everyday street writer, at 9 o’clock this morning, usurped first place in the thousand views trending list. 

The number of searches for this work was increasing every second, every minute. Last night, the number of bookmarks was only a 4-digit number, but now it had already skyrocketed to a 5-digit number. 

Emotionless Coding Machine: “Soon, I will have a close friend who is world-renowned for a popular work!”

At noon, 15,000 bookmarked. 

At 10:30 in the evening, 19,000 bookmarked. 

In the last minute before twelve o’clock midnight, 20,000 total bookmarked. 

Thus far, his single-day bookmarks had increased by more than 10,000. In recent years, with the explosion in popularity of online literature, the first work that garnered more than 10,000 single-day bookmarks while on the Shelf appeared and caused a sensation in the author’s forums. Although it wasn’t uncommon for a Shelved work to earn more than 10,000 bookmarks in the current times, it was still by no means a common occurrence. 

He Ruge was truly soaring.

This was the first year since he had graduated that he experienced a smooth take-off. 

New lines suddenly appeared on his legs. Now, in addition to red lines, there were also silver-white lines. 

Was this the change brought about by “collecting the power of faith” during the “awakening period” which 8 Legs had originally talked about? 

He Ruge also discovered that his hair was growing longer.

In the past, He Ruge’s hair had never exceeded his ears, but now it had already reached the sides of his shoulders. He Ruge wanted to use scissors to snip his own hair, but when the blade was aligned at his hair, He Ruge hesitated. 

After all, it was his first time being a monster, he shouldn’t be too reckless. 

What if there was something special about a monster’s hair? What if it was taboo, like “One cannot cut their hair in the first month of life, once cut an uncle will die.” 

The scissor that was lifted up was once again placed down silently. 

He Ruge looked at himself in the mirror and also noticed that his ears had become slightly pointy, reminiscent of elves from fantasy worlds. 

It was a very strange feeling. Although his own appearance hadn’t changed much, his hair only changed slightly and his ears became slightly pointy, but it was as if his entire temperament had suddenly transformed. 

Carrying the mentality of ‘if you don’t understand, then ask’, He Ruge went onto Penguin to reach out to 8 Legs. 

Ruge: “I have some questions. Do Bloodline patterns only have one color, or do they have multiple colors? After becoming a monster, will one’s hair suddenly grow longer and denser?” 

8 Legs: “…”

8 Legs: “If after becoming a monster, my hair will become denser and longer, then I wouldn’t have to worry that I’ll go bald from stress writing late into the night. We are monsters, not hair spirits. Since you are asking this, is it possible you can make hair grow longer denser? (Suddenly excited.jpg.)”

He Ruge subconsciously touched his lush hair in the next moment then glanced at the couldn’t-wait-to-jump-on-this-opportunity 8 Legs’ comment on the screen. His eyes landed on 8 Leg’s head. The big and round head was as bright as a light bulb, like the head of an octopus.

If his original form was like this, then 8 Leg’s excitement can indeed be understood.

Ruge: “I’m not sure, but my own hair has become denser. Oh yes, and my ears have also become pointy.”

Worried that his text description wasn’t clear enough, He Ruge sent over a photo of his ears and long hair. 

8 Legs: “These ears……Where have I seen this kind of ear before…… Are you a very good looking person?” 

Ruge: “……En.” 

8 Legs: “Then, you might belong to the Merfolk/Siren race. But, the Merfolk/Siren race haven’t been seen for a long time now. The conditions for Merfolk/Sirens to become adults are very harsh. I’ve never seen any remaining information on the Merfolk/Siren race, so I am unsure of the specificities.”

8 Legs: “But, I do know that for Sirens, one is even better looking than the other. Their average face value could crush any fox spirit. They have pointed ears and long hair……Damn, I really want to run over to see what you look like to personally determine if you are indeed a Siren.” 

Siren? 

Fish people? 

Mermaids? 

He Ruge looked down at the lines on his ankles. The red and white stripes were indeed similar to the appearance of fish scales, like using paint to outline the edges of fish scales in an artwork, but not yet filling them in with color.

8 Legs: “Also, the first question you asked me. Bloodline patterns do have different colors, but whatever colorations you have on your true form will reflect the colors of your Bloodline pattern. This is also why I said to not casually tell outsiders about your Bloodline pattern. Bloodline patterns are a very private and personal thing, comparable to personal account books. If someone sees your Bloodline pattern and understands the information exposed by them, it is very easy to guess your race.” 

8 Legs: “One’s true form can’t be exposed casually. For example, if there was a rat monster and a cat monster, even if they were equal in pure strength, the cat monster will still easily win. If one of the weak, aquatic races like us goes out randomly, what would they do if they were locked on by a cat or tiger race?” 

The amount of information in those words was a bit heavy, and He Ruge looked at his red and white lines in contemplation.

What kind of fish has both red and white colors, and has the natural skill of luck? 

The answer was practically glaring — 

Isn’t it a koi?! 

8 Legs: “I just scrolled through the chat records. You told me previously that you become lucky every time the Bloodline pattern glows, right?” 

8 Legs: “I’ve thought about it, and I think your true form might be a koi fish.” 

8 Legs: “When can we have a face-to-face meet up.  I want to shake hands with a Koi race to exchange some luck QAQ.”

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Chapter is unedited. I will come back and edit this soon!

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

In fact, Little White Tiger and Little Rabbit would often secretly compete to see who ate faster. The tiny game secret was discovered by He Ruge very early on. Since the beginning, He Ruge had always felt that this game was very realistic and detailed. As long as one observed closely, even if it was just watching the cubs drink milk, they would be able to find all sorts of Easter eggs.

But at this moment, when He Ruge saw Little White Tiger turn his head subconsciously, the once intriguing Easter egg he had found was cracked open. The egg shell broke and revealed a knife. He Ruge felt distressed.

Little White Tiger stiffened for a moment before turning his head back around as if nothing had happened. .

It would be best if Little White Tiger could see the Goblin Ball. Thus, He Ruge clicked on the little Goblin Ball in his backpack and wanted to place the ball in front of Little White Tiger, but it was useless. Little White Tiger seemed unable to see the prop.

He lay quietly on the cotton nest, his tiger ears drooped down without much energy. He appeared pitiful and in need of comfort.

He Ruge quickly clicked on [Touch Head].

Every time he patted Little White Tiger’s small head, the dullness in his blue eyes would diminish minutely.

No.20

[Roar “It’s warm and comfortable”]

[No. 20’s mood becomes gradually better]

[Roar~ “Touch back, too”]

He Ruge: “……!”

Was this ‘acting cute to beg for pats’? Is it? Is it? It must be!

During his lifetime, he could actually see the image of Little White Tiger actively begging to be petted. He really wanted to bawl (in happiness) on the spot. He Ruge excitedly clicked [Touch Back].

The palm of his hand brushed across Little White Tiger’s back. But, because of the Zerg wings, there were many places on his back that couldn’t be reached, making Little White Tiger unhappy.

No.20

[Rawr “The Zerg wings are really hateful”]

[No.20 looks at you]

[……Ao “Do you truly like these Zerg wings?”】

The originally unhappy Little White Tiger became more cautious at this moment, like a little hedgehog just starting school and sitting in his seat nervously, for fear that his spikes would hurt his own deskmate.

He Ruge couldn’t help sighing.

My little white tiger, ah, in what way can I make you understand and believe that you are the cutest little kitten in my whole world, that I like everything about you?

Because this was a game, He Ruge used the game’s method to express himself. He clicked on [Touch Wings], and under Little White Tiger’s calm facade, he gently touched the silver-white Zerg wings.

It was a very gentle touch, as if he regarded the Zerg wings as a precious and fragile existence. Every action reflected cherishment.

No.20

【……】

[No. 20 has not spoken in a long time]

[No. 20’s stiff body begins to relax]

[……Ao “Except for the wing tips, the other parts of the wings……I also allow you to touch them”]

He Ruge almost shed fatherly tears. After so many years, his rebellious son was finally willing to get close to him, even if it was just awkwardly calling him father, it could make him teary.

Too soft, too cute. How could such a meng Little White Tiger really exist? He Ruge was almost floating. It was only his remaining reason that prevented him from clicking on [Breath on Belly] and the other selectable options,too.

Because it had been a while since he’d checked Little White Tiger’s favorability, He Ruge clicked on Little White Tiger’s status.

[Favorability]: Maybe it’s the love of a friend, or the love of a lover, or the love of a family member. You are an inseparable existence to No.20. Favorability level 93

[Unawakened]: No one has discovered that No. 20 is a little monster, except you

Even though He Ruge had mentally prepared himself a while back, he was still a little surprised at Little White Tiger’s favorability level. He always felt that this game gave out favorability points too willy-nilly, so much that it was comparable to something as unscientific as pie falling from the sky.

…… But, he had indeed become super lucky…….

He Ruge, who became a European¹, began to deeply contemplate the possibility of receiving pie from the sky. 

Then, he suddenly remembered that he still had five unopened pink Gacha eggs. Today was a new day, so he could harvest some new rare items.

He Ruge clicked on the pink Gacha button. After the red streaks on his legs glowed and burned, two new, rare items were obtained.

[Name]: Pain Nullifier 

[Quality]: Rare

[Evaluation]: If you turn yourself into a robot, would you be able to adjust the stats of your own body? Then, just reduce the pain to the minimum setting, zero! I am now a brave baby who is unafraid of shots~ Hmm? Robots don’t seem to feel pain……

—

[Name]: Miniature Energy Bomb

[Quality]: Rare

[Evaluation]: Have you never seen such a tiny energy bomb? You can even put it in your pocket~ But, it’s not a child’s toy, BANG BANG BANG ~ It’s a weapon that can kill people~

[Limitations]: Only three energy bombs

He Ruge fell silent.

He had been playing this broken game for a while now, so he discovered some hidden contingencies, such as: every time he gets a new rare prop from a pink Gacha egg, it wouldn’t even have time to warm up in his backpack before it would have to be taken out and used.

An analgesic prop, an energy bomb.

What kinda insane crap did this spicy chicken game want to make him do next? Was it going to throw him into a duel? !

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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Footnotes:

1. IDK what pie in the sky has to do with being European, but that’s how the raws had it.

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Also, check out the amazing participating artists on the ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Page!

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{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

Crow

[Is to bomb this laboratory.】

He Ruge was startled when he saw Crow words and suspected that his sight was blurry.

……b, bomb?

The huge pile of weapons and energy bombs in the staff dorm proved that Crow wasn’t joking, but how did he get his hands on this many weapons?

Crow

【Will you go with me? 】

[The memory-restored Crow is filled with resentment towards Starry Sea Orphanage’s laboratories. Golden Python’s rebellion became the fuse that sparked Crow’s desperate decision to seek revenge. He invites you to join him before taking action. Your options are:

A. Join Crow

B. Reject to protect oneself]

Although He Ruge was very moved by Crow’s proposal and also believed that this spicy chicken laboratory, this spicy chicken orphanage, should have been bombed long ago, but this plan was a road of no return. 

He wasn’t alone. He had to consider Little White Tiger and Little Goblin Ruan Ruan. If he went off with Crow, what would happen to Little White Tiger?

He Ruge ended up rejecting the exhilarating plan.

Crow took a long inhalation of his cigarette. He coughed a little uncomfortably before tossing it away. The cigarette butt was accurately thrown into the trash can. 

He then slipped off the energy cannon and mounted all the weapons onto himself- onto his arms, back, legs, and even his head.

Crow, who had turned himself into a turret in the blink of an eye, also carried a large-scale energy cannon on his back. From the back, he gave off a majestic and tragic image of a valiant man who pursued a route of no return. He was still as quiet as before but was no longer comparable to a ghost that shuffled through the dark. No ghost could carry such a murderous intent and brave aura.

Crow kicked the door open with one foot and waved back to He Ruge without turning his head.

He opened the cages of all the experimental subjects on Basement Level two, and asked the experimental subjects who were close to successful transplant integration if they wanted to join him in bombing the lab.

Little White Tiger’s iron cage was also opened.

Little White Tiger squatted on the ground and observed Crow for a long time. He watched as more and more experimental subjects gathered in a row behind Crow. He snorted slightly, and instead of joining the group out to seek retribution, he turned around and ran towards He Ruge.

He Ruge held the little white tiger and stood at the far end of the corridor, watching as Crow gradually walked away. The last he saw of Crow was when a pair of dark Zerg wings broke through his clothes and opened up slowly.

Shrill sirens sounded throughout the orphanage. The roar of explosions obliterated everything in its wake, and the corridor of Basement floor two almost completely collapsed.

    ……

Crow is dead.

The experimental subjects who followed after Crow also died. 

They dragged the demons (scientists) of Basement Level Three with them into hell, but unlike those devilish monsters, each of them has Zerg wings, so they could fly. Fly from hell all the way up to the heavens.

[Crow has blown up the laboratory on Basement Level Three and personally admitted that Golden Python’s escape was related to him. It was he who opened the door of the carriage channel and let Golden Python break through the ceiling. You have gotten rid of your suspicions and pretend that nothing is wrong. 】

He Ruge didn’t see the image of Crow’s death, but the game’s narration allowed his imagination to fill in the blanks.

…… Crow, really was a person who repaid gratitude with favor and grudges with vengeance. He said that he would bomb the laboratory and so he did. But, he didn’t even forget to help him resolve some of his suspicions before he died.

He Ruge pushed at his glasses frame. A pang of soreness accumulated in his chest. He knew he should be happy for Crow. For someone like Crow who was clear about his grievances and never went back on his words, being able to reap his vengeance on the spot was his most desired ending. If you wanted him to just tolerate it, even if he survived, he would never be happy.

However, He Ruge felt terribly uncomfortable in his heart, to the point where he didn’t even want to continue playing the game. He checked the time and found that it was already very late. Thus, He Ruge turned off the game. 

He tossed and turned on the bed for a long time, unable to sleep. 

The grievances he held in his heart was like a breath caught in his throat. He Ruge got up and walked to the window. He pulled open the curtains and looked up at the starry sky.

When people die, can they really become stars? Will the deceased meet again as stars? Then, which stars were the deceased Crow and Golden Python on?

Clearly, this was just a game. But, He Ruge kept feeling that all the NPCs in the game had once existed in real life.  

Becoming immersed in a game to this extent also wasn’t good and caused him to feel anxious.

Since he couldn’t sleep, then let’s write!

It’s sexy for authors to write late into the night. After He Ruge entered V, he had continuously been above ten thousand words. Although he spent a significant amount of time typing every day, he actually didn’t have many saved manuscripts (as backlogs).

With a speed of 1,500 words per hour, it actually took eight to nine hours each day. He Ruge was not a typing machine. Continuously typing for long hours would give him an illusory sense of emptyheadedness.

Everyday, other than writing, his daily life consisted of Little White Tiger. But, based on his current daily, ten thousand word speed, he estimated this book would be complete in another two months time, and he wanted to give himself a vacation after it was over.

Thinking of Little White Tiger, He Ruge remembered the screenshots he had taken in the game. He found the screenshots and made them into the background of the typing program so that whenever he was typing up manuscripts, it would be like Little White Tiger was accompanying him.

Looking at the typing interface’s background, He Ruge’s heart felt warm. He finally thought of a word to describe Little White Tiger’s smile.

It was healing.

He hoped that Little White Tiger could laugh this happily every day.

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

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The Thanksgiving Giveaway Event 2020 Page is now up and running! Make sure to check it out! Event officially begins November 16, 2020 and closes on November 30, 2020. The page can be accessed from the top menu bar, under EVENTS!

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