Chapter 177
Editor: Sahloknir
The game ‘Descent of Chivalry’ remained highly popular. Even though it didn’t have as many players as it did in its first year, the overall player base remained constant.
And today, to everyone’s surprise, the NPC tasks that had been missing so long from Myriad Flower Valley actually reappeared.
Players excitedly converged on the location, only to discover that it wasn’t filled with a variety of weird NPC tasks like before. Instead, what greeted them was a series of difficult questions.
A puzzle game.
Solving one question would lead to another, and another, and another…
There seemed to always be another layer, like an endless series of Russian nesting dolls.
When news of this spread, it drew another large wave of curious players.
They all wanted to know what kind of reward completing the last round of this task would be.
Everyone put their heads together. Some players live streamed themselves going in and set up a discussion post in the forums as well. This way, everyone could quickly have access to new questions and help brainstorm potential answers.
Finally, on the night where the developers scheduled a meteor shower event in-game, one player completed the task.
He got a stick of tanghulu as a reward.
The player, who suffered so many hardships and only managed to power through out of sheer antic.i.p.ation: “…”
Trash game, I hope all your servers shut down!
The forums also exploded, but few people were truly bothered. Most just laughed it off.
None of them knew what this stick of tanghulu meant, what it represented.
That night, the miserable player who got the tanghulu went to Myriad Flower Valley again to vent his frustrations at the game.
Only to discover that two people had beat him to the peak of the mountain situated in the Valley.
A pair of very handsome and well-built men were leaning against each other, watching the meteors shoot through the sky above.
You couldn’t be a devil or a demon in this VR game. It was apparent that these two were bonafide men.
The straight player who just tragically received the tanghulu felt like he might go blind.
In the end, he logged out after cursing up a storm.
Little did he know, as soon as he uttered the first swear word, Gong Yu tensed from where he used to be quietly sitting and watching the meteor shower. He looked in that player’s direction.
With just one movement, the player would’ve been able to curse to his heart’s content in the Reincarnation Centre.
Yet before Gong Yu could make a move, Shi Qing already reached over and grasped his hand.
“Don’t mind him. Just focus on watching the meteor shower.”
Immediately mollified, Gong Yu smoothed down all his hackles and nodded obediently, turning back to look up at the game’s sky.
But as time pa.s.sed by, his eyes drifted to the side and settled on Shi Qing again.
Shi Qing was already beautiful to begin with. At the moment, his slightly upturned face and the stars reflected in his eyes made him the most beautiful sight Gong Yu had ever seen.
Meteors rained down across the sky.
Shi Qing watched the meteors, and Gong Yu, Shi Qing.
A comfortable silence fell between them.
After the meteor shower, the sky settled down once more.
Shi Qing turned his head in Gong Yu’s direction, his lips quirked as he asked a question he already knew the answer to. “Why were you looking at me instead of the meteor shower?”
Gong Yu’s ears flushed a delicate shade of red, but he didn’t avert his gaze like he would’ve before. Instead, he sincerely stated, “If you like meteor showers, I can hack into the system and have it show you one every night.”
“What I like isn’t the meteor shower.”
Shi Qing had grown accustomed to Gong Yu’s desire to bring him the world.
He smiled and nuzzled the other person’s shoulder slightly with a sigh.
“I like being with you.”
“I’m up for anything as long as we’re together.”
His close proximity made Gong Yu’s cheeks flush more.
He turned ever redder when he heard what Shi Qing was saying.
“Me too.”
He mumbled timidly before trying his best to scoot closer to Shi Qing.
The two of them huddled together like two little animals.
Nighttime brought out a unique beauty in everything.
Shi Qing spoke, “Let’s visit the small worlds together once I finish taking care of things in real life.”
In order to save him, Gong Yu decided to use himself as a template. One by one, the small worlds were generated using his power and memories.
There was a rhyme and reason for everything.
The Main System he had caught also issued tasks, but those tasks took place in actual small worlds. The Hosts repaired these small worlds because the Main System told them to, and the merits gained from the repairs would go to the Main System.
Then the Main System would divvy up the rewards accordingly to the Hosts.
Back then, Gong Yu had three options.
First, he could send Shi Qing to those real small worlds, and they would both be safe after Shi Qing completed the task.
He immediately discarded this option. Those little worlds were real, not stories with a predetermined plotline.
Hosts faced the very real danger of dying in this type of small world. And as the issuer of the task, the World’s Consciousness would not have let Gong Yu tag along.
Second, he could send other Hosts to the small worlds and use the acc.u.mulated merits to save Shi Qing.
This option wasn’t viable either because Shi Qing was on his deathbed. Who knew how long it would take for those other Hosts to complete their tasks?
And finally, he could shatter himself into tiny fragments to use as templates, download vast quant.i.ties of novel settings from the major websites, and use his memories to construct small worlds.
Gong Yu considered the last option the flawless, obvious choice.
This way, Shi Qing wouldn’t be in any danger. He would be protected in the worlds of Gong Yu’s memories. Additionally, because these weren’t real small worlds, they could buy time in real life as well.
As long as Shi Qing agreed to do the tasks, even if he failed every single one, Gong Yu could forcibly mark them all as successfully repaired at the end as the issuer of the tasks.
And after deceiving the World’s Consciousness, he would use the acc.u.mulated merits to save Shi Qing.
However, he might be able to fool the World’s Consciousness in that scenario, but he wouldn’t be able to fool himself.
As an AI, Gong Yu’s memory bank and database were what made him, him. Even the slightest of errors would cause him to crash completely at the end of the small worlds.
In other words, he would probably disappear.
Still, he was more than willing to risk that if it meant saving Shi Qing.
Shi Qing didn’t know how to feel once he learned of this.
Under the moonlight, he glanced to his side at Gong Yu, who couldn’t bear to even lean on his shoulder too much for fear of crushing him.
He once asked Gong Yu why he hadn’t told the System to tell him everything.
If Shi Qing had known that someone was risking their life to save his, he would’ve definitely devoted his full attention to the tasks instead of playing around.
But Gong Yu told him that his memory became fragmented after splitting himself into pieces.
He had to fully devote himself to maintaining the virtual small worlds in order to deceive everyone.
But his world was just too small.
His memories, his data, even his body was filled with nothing but Shi Qing.
And unfortunately, the two of them were always enemies in those games they played.
Gong Yu couldn’t change his memories.
After dividing himself into memory fragments, he couldn’t even control whether his fragments would hurt Shi Qing.
He could only try his best to let Shi Qing be a person of high status and put him at an advantage right at the start.
However, even he didn’t know if he would still be attracted to Shi Qing without his memories or if the animosity value would decrease.
If he really told Shi Qing everything, and Shi Qing failed to complete all the tasks…
He would be sad after waking up, right?
Gong Yu knew all too well the feeling of knowing you would never see your most important person ever again.
He didn’t want Shi Qing to ever experience that.
That was the rationale behind what he did.
Remaining silent, he let the Shi Qing who had forgotten him do the tasks in peace.
If Gong Yu was still alive at the end, he would do everything in his power to find Shi Qing.
And if Gong Yu were to perish at the end, Shi Qing would live on, never the wiser.
Shi Qing’s heart felt like it had been drenched in acid.
All he had done was given Gong Yu a stick of tanghulu back then.
But Gong Yu gave him everything in return, even risking his life to protect him.
Gong Yu knew he was taking a gamble.
He also knew that the first two options were obviously safer.
However, he could never put Shi Qing’s safety on the line.
Even if the only way to guarantee Shi Qing’s life would be saved was to sacrifice himself, Gong Yu would gladly pay that price.
After learning of all this, Shi Qing only needed a moment to decide to visit those actual small worlds with Gong Yu.
“We’ll find you a human body. Together.”
How could he bear to watch Gong Yu be trapped in this game forever? He had to get him out.
And doing tasks in those small worlds was their best bet.
Now that they didn’t need a template and with a System by their side, they could enter the small worlds together.
Gong Yu appeared hesitant. “But those small worlds are real. I can’t guarantee they’ll be free of danger.”
Shi Qing laughed and looked up, his characteristic flamboyance making itself known.
“I’ve never been afraid of danger.”
“Even if it is dangerous, I’m sure we’ll be fine. I’m good at a lot of things and you can access any and all data. And with the System as our golden finger, we can skedaddle if the going gets too rough.”
Gong Yu was moved.
But he was still afraid to take this step.
Shi Qing had a perfectly fine life here. Was it really okay for him to leave it all behind, venturing into foreign small worlds for Gong Yu’s sake?
“It’s not like I have any family left. You’re the only one in my heart. I’m willing to go anywhere as long as we’re together.”
Shi Qing’s always been the domineering type, but every smooth word from his mouth was coated with honey when they were meant for Gong Yu.
He leaned on the man’s shoulder and gazed up at the starry sky.
“I’ll use the rest of my life to make up for forgetting you.”
After remembering how Hosts were practically immortal, Shi Qing corrected himself, “No, perhaps it’ll be every life to come.”
Gong Yu gradually relaxed. With bright eyes, he gazed trustingly at his lover and sincerely nodded.
“Okay!”
“Let’s make our preparations. We can take some items along according to the rules.”
Shi Qing’s mind quickly turned to the various types of weaponry in the real world, including machines like tanks.
But when he met Gong Yu’s bright and joy-filled eyes…
Something stirred within him.
The corners of his lips quirked up into a wicked smile. “There’s one more thing.”
Gong Yu was completely oblivious. “What—”
Shi Qing had already pounced on him and pinned him to the ground. He looked down at Gong Yu, gazing into his soft eyes.
“I’m really curious about something. Since players can get married in-game, can AIs go one step further?”
Gong Yu’s face flushed completely.
Still, he stammered a response to the mischievously smiling Shi Qing, “I c-can.”
He had all the memories from the small worlds, so he naturally knew what Shi Qing wanted.
Although he was still embarra.s.sed, Gong Yu tried his best to say, “I’m really strong. No worse than I was in the small worlds.”
Shi Qing lowered his head to meet Gong Yu’s eyes. He smiled.
“Then let’s test it out.”
Outside of Myriad Flower Valley, a player came to take a look around this location he’s heard so much about.
However, he was repelled by a protective barrier before he could even get close.
“Strange…another bug? Is there a virus in this Myriad Flower Valley or something??”
He left, very unhappy.
Two days later, the barrier disappeared.
When the players went in again, they discovered that even the NPCs were absent this time. There were no tasks either. The whole place was completely empty, save for a dragon throne.
And over in the real world, everyone was puzzled by the sudden disappearance from the public eye of that Shi family chairman after his miraculous recovery.
Almost no one ever saw him again.
Almost, because sometimes people would say they did see the chairman.
But everyone dismissed it. It was probably a person who just looked similar anyway.
After all, have you ever heard of someone looking the exact same ten, twenty, even thirty years later?
But those who said they saw him all had very congruent stories.
They all mentioned how Shi Qing was still as young as ever, with a tall, well-built and very handsome young man by his side. The two were very intimate and seemed to be companions.
According to the person who could pa.s.s for Shi Qing’s doppelganger, they came back to take a vacation.
Were they really on vacation? Was this really the Shi family chairman?
No one knew for sure.
However, they could definitely tell that the duo loved each other deeply. Every glance they shared was tender and sweet.
Peipeipei.
That’s the unmistakably sour scent of love in the air, ah.
Author’s Corner
[I’ve found Buddha. All I did was change the tag to completed and the novel got locked again. It’s so frustrating. Why didn’t I update the summary earlier wuwuwuwu]
Finished!!!
For real this time!!!
Please rate this five out of five starts muamuamuamua
Next up is ‘Cultivating in a Scientific World [Transmigrating from ancient to modern times]. There’s not many bookmarks and I haven’t decided on when to start yet, but it’s okay! I’ve found Buddha~
Congratulations to me for completing my first sweet BL QT novel! I’m so, so happy!
Thanks for tagging along everyone. I really want to write an entire essay right now, but I don’t know what to say. I can only say that I love little Shi Qing and I’m happy that I was able to give him a perfect ending. Actually, he’s not all that concerned about living forever. He just wants someone by his side. He only gave up on life before because he forgot about Gong Yu. But now that he has Gong Yu, the two of them will happily go to various small worlds and playact to their heart’s content!
All comments made within 24 hours of this chapter going up will get red pockets
Good night little angels~
And finally, rate this five out of five stars! Ratings after completion are very important!! Thanks everyone~ *bows* (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Rain
Aaaaaand I already miss Shi Qing. QAQ
Had a really hard time translating this extra because I didn’t want it to be over. Still, I’m glad everything ended on a positive note! May Shi Qing and Gong Yu live happily forever.
Please give a big thank you to Casey and Sahl for all their hard work! ♡
Sahl
Oh man, I miss Shi Qing too! This is the second Chinese novel I’ve completed editing and my second with the lovely SilverRain ?. Huge thanks to Casey/Xiao for her awesome co-editing. ?