novelThe Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (20)
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Chapter 106 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (20) translator: baumkuchen editors: serefina, glitterypanda
When they'd entered the world, there had been a cicada on a tree outside the window, greedily sucking up tree sap, flicking its wings as it sang.
When they came out, that cicada fluttered its wings and flew off into the night.
With the end of the task, Guan Qiaoqiao and Liao Wu slowly disappeared from the others' views, their figures rubbed away by an invisible eraser, not leaving even a single bit of residue behind.
Their deaths were as light as paper or cotton, dissipating in the wind, leaving nothing behind.
Even the pain of those living was dulled.
Chi Xiaochi looked at where Guan Qiaoqiao had disappeared. He murmured, "She's really gone."
He looked up at Yuan Benshan standing next to him, a dazed look in his eyes."She was just talking to me."
Over the past days, Yuan Benshan hadn't overlooked his becoming close with "Guan Qiaoqiao". Disregarding his fear and shock, he could actually understand it, but he'd just taken it as nothing more than him using "Guan Qiaoqiao" to pretend that Guan Qiaoqiao was still alive.
Yuan Benshan wrapped an arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the top of his head."Alright, alright, be good."
After his mood stabilised, Chi Xiaochi returned the broken dagger to Tan Yue's group."She asked me to give this to you."
Everyone had noticed that right before they had left the task world, Song Chunyang had talked for a very long time with "Guan Qiaoqiao". Their relationship had been rather good the entire time as well. Thus, Guan Qiaoqiao entrusting him with the dagger to return it to them was rather reasonable.
Tan Yue quietly accepted the dagger and placed it into her backpack.
She didn't even have the energy to thank him anymore. After a short rest, her group made their way down the mountain in the night.
Watching as that precious tool was given up, Yuan Benshan was a little regretful, but it was only a little.
Chi Xiaochi turned to look at him."Does me doing this make you unhappy?"
Yuan Benshan shook his head."Having you is enough."
Then, he kissed Song Chunyang's eyes.
Chi Xiaochi, "......"
Warrior, if you have something to say, just say it, use your noble mouth to speak praises.
What was more tragic was that Chi Xiaochi, who had eaten his fill of barbecue, was actually still hungry in reality.
Song Chunyang had discovered Guan Qiaoqiao and Yuan Benshan's vile deeds before entering the task world, and hadn't taken more than a few bites of his dinner, so even though he wanted to throw up, there was nothing to throw up.
At that moment, the Gan siblings walked down from the upper levels of the ancient castle. Gan Tang even gently greeted Chi Xiaochi.
Chi Xiaochi was stunned, even forgetting his urge to vomit.
The four of them came from the same city, and had just so happened to have bought the same high-speed overnight rail back to the city. So, as they wanted for the train to arrive, they officially formed an alliance.
This so-called alliance required mutual authentication and connection through their systems.
Chi Xiaochi was observing the Gan siblings' reactions the entire time, but they were calm throughout, and within a moment, Xi Lou sent out a binding success notification.
Chi Xiaochi, "...... It succeeded?"
How could Gan Yu have a system?
This entire time, Chi Xiaochi had thought that Gan Yu was a fake identity 061 had come up with to fool him, but judging from the current situation, he actually existed in reality? And he even had a system that he had passed through eight tasks with?
Chi Xiaochi thought about this problem until he got a headache. After making the excuse of going to the bathroom, he took out his phone, which had already recovered all functionality, and searched up Gan Yu.
In the bathroom, Xi Lou complained, "You were staring at Gan Yu until your eyes were about to fall out of your sockets just now."
Chi Xiaochi put down his phone. On the screen was the results of searching up Gan Yu. He was a neurosurgeon in a top hospital, thirty two years old. There were records of his lectures and papers that could be verified. He was young and full of promise.
He said, disappointed, "I thought Gan Yu was my system."
Xi Lou said, disappointed, "Oh."
He had actually also really hoped that Gan Yu was 061, that system that he had gone on for so long about.
Chi Xiaochi used two goodwill points to manually buy a loofah. He dipped it in water and carefully scrubbed at his eyes.
Xi Lou could feel his desolation. He tried to comfort him, "If you think about it, it's obvious he's not him. From what I can see, he's just a normal person, what sane, ordinary person would purposely come to such a dangerous place for the sole purpose of accompanying a single person?"
...... It could be said that he'd really learned how to comfort people.
But Chi Xiaochi uncharacteristically didn't quip back.
He touched a hand to the reflection of Song Chunyang's right eye in the mirror. Thinking of those damn emoticon stickers that had saved him countless times, he couldn't help but laugh.
Maybe he really had just been thinking too much.
Only the emoticon stickers were what would be within 061's authority to do.
He remembered 061 once saying that forming a body in reality was against the rules of the systems.
As for Gan Yu, he was probably just a playboy who was good at flirting with men and knew how to take the opportunities given to him.
Yes, Gan Yu was fine and Dong Feihong was also fine, but they were all real people. He probably just missed Lou Ying too much, and was always trying to find shadows of him in other people.
This was really unfair to everyone.
So when Gan Yu offered to upgrade their second-class seats to business class where the Gan siblings were after getting onto the train, Chi Xiaochi declined him, "I'm perfectly fine here."
Gan Yu's expression hadn't been very good since before he got onto the train, but after being rejected, he still respected his opinion, even giving him the boxed meal that he'd bought at the station, telling him to sleep early after he'd eaten.
After he left, Chi Xiaochi handed the meal to Yuan Benshan, saying that he wasn't hungry, he just wanted to sleep.
Seeing this, Yuan Benshan was very happy.
He pushed up the armrest."You'll get shaken up by the vibrations a lot if you sleep against the window, and it's not comfortable. You should sleep on my lap."
Chi Xiaochi said, a little embarrassed, "Other people will stare at us. Nevermind, nevermind."
Thinking about it, Yuan Benshan thought he had a point. He pulled out a neck pillow from his carry-on and handed it over to him.
Chi Xiaochi pretended to close his eyes, while he was actually watching the display screen before him.
Yuan Benshan's goodwill level towards Song Chunyang was 75 points, while his regret level was 7 points.
With his ally, Guan Qiaoqiao, being sacrificed, Yuan Benshan only had Song Chunyang left as his sole partner, actually making him love him more.
And with there no longer being a need to steal his eyes, Yuan Benshan's regret value had dropped drastically.
It could be said that the current Yuan Benshan was very much at ease, because Chi Xiaochi could also clearly feel the form of "Guan Qiaoqiao" gradually becoming hazy in their minds.
In such a short time, he actually couldn't remember what she looked like anymore.
It had probably been like this when Song Chunyang had died in his last life. After some time, they would even have forgotten their own evil itself and could start their beautiful lives.
He said to Xi Lou, "Remind me every day, don't let me forget about Guan Qiaoqiao."
Xi Lou agreed.
Even though he had some doubts about Chi Xiaochi's character, Xi Lou absolutely didn't doubt his tactics.
Xi Lou already knew about his entire plan. To be honest, he was a little amazed.
When Xi Lou had died, he had just been a third year university student who had yet to graduate. After more than ten years of tasks, Xi Lou had gotten used to the baseness of human nature, and seen all kinds of internal strife. He'd thought that his heart had already hardened, but when he heard Chi Xiaochi and "Guan Qiaoqiao"'s conversation, his whole body had broken out into cold sweat.
After returning to the city they'd come from, Chi Xiaochi requested for a few days of sick leave from the hospital and went straight to sleep.
Yuan Benshan was unconcerned. Everytime Song Chunyang finished a task, he would be incredibly sapped of strength. Sleeping for three days straight was on the short side.
He was in charge of directing the moving company to get them to move out all the extraneous things that had belonged to their "tenant" and dispose of them.
While Yuan Benshan busied himself outside, Chi Xiaochi laid on his bed, sorting out his thoughts.
A few days before the eighth task ended, he'd asked Xi Lou about how their system worked.
Originally, he hadn't expected Xi Lou to be able to explain it fully, but who knew that Xi Lou would say directly, "The task the Lord God gave us is to give our hosts the relevant guidance so that we are able to extract fear energy."
"What do you need the fear energy for?"
Xi Lou replied instantly, "To maintain the peace and stability of the world."
Chi Xiaochi, "Your Lord God seems very concerned for the people and the country. He must have been in service to the Party for at least ten years."
Xi Lou was unruffled."Not just the Lord God, every one of us systems are trained upon joining. We're all firm materialists."
Chi Xiaochi, "...... You don't feel guilty saying that?"
Xi Lou said calmly, "When people die, they'll transform into corresponding energy and form spiritual bodies, also known as what people call 'ghosts'. If their resentment is slight, this energy will naturally dissipate after some time; when malicious ghosts die, their emotions are in flux, releasing a unique and abnormal energy. This energy is naturally stronger, and they can use their own energy to do things that ordinary ghosts can't do."
Chi Xiaochi, "......" It even sounds so fucking scientific.
Upon hearing this, Chi Xiaochi already had a rough grasp of the situation."That Lord God collects this so-called fear energy in order to......"
"The Lord God is in the position where it needs to contain these unique energies in another space in order to prevent the malicious ghosts from losing themselves and killing people, resulting in uncontrollable losses, " Xi Lou said, "This other space, to put it bluntly, is the malicious ghosts' prison. The Lord God is the prison warden. We work for the warden and the task takers are workers in charge of strengthening the walls of the prison."
Chi Xiaochi, "...... Workers?"
Xi Lou, "Do you think the power of love is enough to maintain the security of a prison?"
Xi Lou then explained further, "Fear energy is the most effective coagulant to maintain the boundary between the other worlds and the normal world."
...... No wonder.
No wonder that even though Song Chunyang was born with a pair of Yin-Yang Eyes, he'd never seen a malicious ghost in the real world from his birth until now.
The bottle women playing hide-and-seek, the resentful spirit in the library and the female balloon ghost, were all members of the prison, while Song Chunyang, Yuan Benshan and the rest, were just temporary workers that had been forced into working there.
Even though everything had been explained, Chi Xiaochi still had some reservations, "Isn't forcing people into a contract like this an unlawful contract?"
Xi Lou returned his question with another question, "What else are we supposed to do? Should the Lord God set up a referendum and ask who would be willing to enter this world and donate their fear energy?"
Chi Xiaochi thought for a moment and found that he had a point.
He then asked, "Then wouldn't it be better to find people who've committed evil acts and send them off to their deaths?"
Xi Lou replied, "The Lord God isn't a world judge. Who has done evil, whether it can be counted as evil, whether it's a serious evil or a slight evil, are all something that can never be judged by a single person. For the sake of fairness, it can only be random, whoever gets picked is whoever is doomed. If the energy of the border becomes unstable, and those malicious ghosts are released, most of them won't care whether the people they're killing are good or evil."
Seeing the thoughtful expression on Chi Xiaochi's face, Xi Lou couldn't help but become curious, "When you and your Lord God signed the contract, didn't they explain the mechanisms and basic requirements of your world's operations? We all get a pamphlet, and when our host asks, we have the obligation to inform them."
Chi Xiaochi waved his hand in dismissal."I'm not familiar with our Lord God, we've never met."
Xi Lou said, "The very first line of our pamphlet is very clear, stating that if we don't answer what our hosts ask, then it is a violation of our fundamental laws."
Chi Xiaochi, "I understand."
It really was that some people were more deserving of death than others, and some things were more deserving of being thrown away than others.
His thoughts moving back from a few days ago to the present, Chi Xiaochi covered his face with his hands, murmuring to himself, "...... Energy, huh."
This operation mechanism could be said to have given Chi Xiaochi a huge burst of enlightenment.
061's Lord God was such a toady, was what he was looking for perhaps also some kind of energy?
He didn't know.
But this could also be considered a new line of thought.
Without a change in his expression, Chi Xiaochi silently noted this down. At the same time, he thought over what he and "Guan Qiaoqiao" had agreed on, planning on verifying some of these possibilities in the next task world.
Xi Lou couldn't help but ask him, "Are you sure that your plan will work?"
"Let's try it out and see, " Chi Xiaochi said, relaxed, "This kind of 'sacrificing myself to explode manure pits', I've done it many times. If I can't blow it up in my first try, then I'll just think of another plan."
Xi Lou, "......" What kind of vivid metaphor is this.
After he recovered from his "illness", Chi Xiaochi went back to work at the hospital, and as expected, he "coincidentally ran into" Gan Yu, clad in a white doctor's coat, in the canteen.
Only when he saw Gan Yu in uniform did Chi Xiaochi realise how wrong his original thoughts had been.
He was probably born for this uniform.
The white coat magnified the cold, ascetic air about him. Clearly all his clothes had been properly buttoned up, but it made one's imagination run wild, wanting nothing more than to strip him naked.
And when this cold person saw Chi Xiaochi and shot him a bright smile from far away, the spring winds turned to rain, and he could easily make one's legs go weak and their heart skip a beat.
However, Chi Xiaochi only looked, he was just getting his fill of eye candy.
In order to avoid having to engage in PDA with Yuan Benshan, he threw himself into working overtime. He neither went to Gan Yu, nor did he go home, resolutely exhibiting the principal of "I can go for three and go for four but I won't go for gay, I'll fuck dogs and fuck cats but I won't fuck you", only peacefully waiting for the arrival of the ninth task.
As for how Gan Yu felt about that, we won't mention for now. Because of Guan Qiaoqiao's death, Yuan Benshan had actually remembered most of the warm feelings that had been between the two of them and was especially good to Chi Xiaochi.
It had to be said, ignoring the fact that he was scum, Yuan Benshan was actually a very charming person. Even though he was busy, he didn't forget to send food to Chi Xiaochi, go out with him to watch a movie to relax, and go out of his way to look up and collect jokes to make him laugh.
Of course, he himself thought this way as well, and thus was very confident. In response to Chi Xiaochi's unwillingness to share a bed with him, he thought that it was because Song Chunyang was sad about Guan Qiaoqiao's death, and thus showed great understanding and tolerance.
Xi Lou's opinion of this was: "Draw a nose on the sky, he really has such a fucking huge face."
Chi Xiaochi just smiled, declining to comment. He also used the extra goodwill points to buy a card.
Fortunately, the interval between the ninth task and the last wasn't very long.
About two weeks later, Chi Xiaochi was giving a patient an injection. Just as he started drawing blood, Xi Lou said to Chi Xiaochi, "...... It's here."
The author has something to say:
Transition chapter!
This Lord God, compared to the spicy chicken Pig Brain, can be said to be fair, transparent and just!
Liu-laoshi has suffered for these past few days, one day before his liberation, his heart is bitter.
sere: the author's note has everything i was gonna rant about. But also i'm so in love with CXC's humor and intelligence
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