Chapter 40: Dog-Blood High Society
Don’t be fooled by Gu Xiu’s flamboyant display of wealth. What truly captivated people was his detached and transcendent attitude while rolling in a pile of money. This was what made his popularity so baffling and set him apart from other streamers of his kind.
He would brazenly show off his mansion, famous watches, luxury cars, and fine wines, yet he carried an air of nonchalance, as if he didn’t care about anything. It was as if all of this had nothing to do with him; he was more of a spectator than the audience outside the screen.
But when it came to asking Lu Shichen for a gift, he showed an unusual persistence.
Even though he didn’t say anything, Lu Shichen was so sharp that it was impossible for him not to feel it.
No matter what the gift was, as long as it was from Lu Shichen, and it had to be quick. He would urge him today and then again tomorrow…
What was also unusual was Lu Shichen’s suddenly low efficiency. Gu Xiu had been urging him until the countdown turned into hours, and the gift still hadn’t arrived.
Coincidentally, Lu Shichen was out today. Gu Xiu called him several times and sent a barrage of messages. When he could wait no longer, Gu Xiu simply changed his clothes and was about to go out to find him.
Finally, the sound of the door opening came from downstairs.
Gu Xiu flew downstairs in a single bound.
Lu Shichen was travel-worn, his black coat reaching his calves, a thin layer of white frost on his glasses. Seeing Gu Xiu come down, he took off his obstructive glasses. His gentle gray eyes were unobstructed, staring straight at his anxious lover.
Gu Xiu took a few steps, then suddenly paused, his gaze falling on Lu Shichen’s hand. “Huh?”
Lu Shichen also lowered his eyes, held up the small red clay pot in his hand, and brought it to his eyes.
Gu Xiu tilted his head, not quite sure. “This couldn’t be… a gift for me, could it?”
“Mm,” Lu Shichen said. “The weather hasn’t warmed up yet. I planted a packet of seeds, and only this one sprouted…”
A gift that could have been easily solved with a little money, yet he had gone to great lengths to grow a plant. It was time-consuming, laborious, and worthless, and it looked quite shabby.
A small green seedling, without even a flower. All he could see was coarse soil.
But Gu Xiu was quite taken with this. He thought, how could this person’s gift-giving style be so old-fashioned… but he couldn’t help but smile. His attention was temporarily diverted from the urgent countdown, and he accepted this crude gift.
“This is a peanut plant,” Lu Shichen said.
Gu Xiu hesitated for a moment, searched his modern knowledge reserves, and was still not quite sure. He murmured, “Huh? Why peanuts… to have a son soon?”
“It also means peace and happiness,” Lu Shichen smiled lightly. “It also symbolizes that two people who love each other will be together forever and never be separated.”
Gu Xiu was slightly stunned and looked at those unusually deep eyes again. They were still peaceful and calm, but there was an indescribable, unspoken sadness and reluctance.
It was as if he had a premonition of parting.
“From growth to flowering, and then to fruiting,” Lu Shichen lowered his eyes slightly, no longer looking at him, and introduced in a rigid manner, “it will probably take one hundred to one hundred and fifty days…”
Then he raised his head again and said to Gu Xiu seriously, “Gu Xiu, raise it.”
But Gu Xiu was stunned, his lips moving, unable to even make a deceptive promise.
Lu Shichen did not insist on his answer and gently stroked his cheek. “What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll cook.”
The two of them had a simple cream pasta for dinner.
One reason was that Gu Xiu loved it, and the other was that it was quick to make.
At this point, every second wasted made Gu Xiu feel a strong sense of unease.
He and Lu Shichen cleaned up the dishes together and took them to the kitchen. He was so anxious and clumsy that he almost broke a ceramic plate.
“Let me do it,” Lu Shichen naturally took the dirty dishes and neatly placed them in the dishwasher.
When he turned his head, he saw Gu Xiu staring at him intently, looking as if he wanted to say something but was holding back.
“Gu Xiu?”
No reaction.
“Gu Xiu…” Lu Shichen frowned slightly. “What’s wrong?”
In the past, Lu Shichen lived alone, mostly in the large penthouse in the city center. This villa was luxurious, but it lacked a human touch. The kitchen was also a beautiful and exquisite decoration.
Ever since Gu Xiu had moved in with him, he no longer worked overtime until late at night. He would get off work on time and have dinner with Gu Xiu. In the morning, a new day would begin with a hot and harmonious breakfast.
The kitchen was used more frequently, and some new tableware and kitchenware were added. On the shelves were beautiful and interesting ceramic dishes of various sizes and styles, a wet rag, and metal knives and forks glistening with water.
And Lu Shichen, standing in front of these things, was no longer as cold and impersonal as when they first met. His gray eyes were both silent and extremely gentle.
But his throat felt as if it were blocked by something, and Gu Xiu really couldn’t speak.
Especially, that farewell.
【Small World Collapse Countdown: Five minutes.】
Gu Xiu raised his hands and pushed his hair back, blocking his own line of sight and also the expression on his face.
“Wait…” he covered his face, turned, and ran away, picking up the potted peanut plant on the table.
Lu Shichen followed closely behind him and also walked over.
The two of them stood by the dining table. Tacitly, neither of them sat down. They stood motionless, as if by doing so, they could pause time.
【Small World Collapse Countdown: Two minutes.】
Gu Xiu clenched the clay pot in his hand, looked up, and finally said, “Lu Shichen…”
Lu Shichen was always patient. “Mm?” he said, waiting for him to continue.
But Gu Xiu averted his eyes again and let out a frustrated, heavy sigh.
Suddenly.
In the silent silence, Lu Shichen’s voice sounded softly, “It doesn’t matter even if you leave me.”
Gu Xiu was stunned, speechless for a moment, and could only look over with a complex gaze.
Looking at a “paper character” in a novel.
But the Lu Shichen in front of him was vivid and three-dimensional. He was a real person. As real as could be. This made Gu Xiu very confused. His body was about to be torn in two by the strong and pulling contradiction, and he was in pain all over.
The man’s gentle and smiling gray eyes gazed at him, his voice like a gentle breeze and fine rain, with a light sigh, “Parting is only temporary.”
Gu Xiu blinked a few times, then frowned, as if he didn’t quite understand.
In his world, in his past memories, loneliness was clearly eternal.
He had experienced so many novel worlds and had a God’s-eye view that those novel characters could never have dreamed of. He looked down from above, easily seeing through all the complexities. He would not be trapped by anything or anyone, unrestrained and free.
But those worlds never belonged to him, and he did not belong to any world. He was just a passerby, a lonely spectator outside the magnificent movie screen.
But Lu Shichen looked at him with certainty and firmness, his eyes like water, calm and unhurried, netting a wandering and uneasy soul, and then said word by word, resoundingly.
“I will return to your side, no matter how far away.”
A clear and loud prompt sound, along with the gradually collapsing world in the background, came crashing down: 【Small World Collapse Countdown: Ten, nine, eight, seven…】
“Every time.”
“I will…”
【Three—two—】
“Return to your side.”
【One!】
The man’s voice was completely drowned out, disappearing from his ears.
Gu Xiu’s eyes were blank. In the last moment before falling into a deep sleep, he made a grabbing motion in the air, as if to catch those faded gray eyes.
“…”
“…”
“…”
【Jiujiu! Jiujiu! Wake up!】 007’s excited voice woke Gu Xiu from an extremely long and real dream. 【Although the small world has collapsed, your mission has been successfully completed! You can get one hundred thousand points…】
His eyelids struggled a few times, and Gu Xiu opened his eyes. His black eyes were dazed and empty, looking at the pure white, almost ethereal sky of the main god space. Here, there was nothing but him.
Clearly, this world was more like a fake one.
He sat up, holding his throbbing head, like a small boat that had lost its direction, drifting in the vast sea, unable to figure it out.
Completely ignoring the noisy 007, he quietly recovered for a while and finally had a little reaction. He looked around and fumbled, searching for something.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
He was a little annoyed, and even more aggrieved, but he had nowhere to vent his anger. He could only mumble, “Just that one broken gift, can’t I even bring it back?”
The small silver ball of light flew over and enthusiastically answered his confusion: 【Of course you can’t bring things from a small world back. And that was a small world generated by a novel, and it has collapsed… But you can still read the novel. Do you want to?】
Gu Xiu: 【Get lost.】
007: 【…QAQ】 What a familiar feeling. The cold host from the first day we met is back.
Gu Xiu hugged his knees and stared blankly. The small ball of light obediently squatted by his feet and quietly accompanied him until he suddenly stood up and finally began to care about the real problem: 【How many points do I have now?】
007 jumped up and quickly checked for him: 【Including the newly acquired one hundred thousand points, you now have three hundred and fifty thousand points～ Enough for a down payment on a house in the main god space!】
Gu Xiu had already lost interest in the broken houses in this broken place. He opened the point mall and browsed.
007 saw the wind and steered, asking cautiously, 【If you’re not buying a house… can you buy me a human skin… I also want to try your human food…】
Gu Xiu seemed to have closed his hearing. His eyebrows didn’t even move, and he just kept scrolling on his own.
He desperately needed to do something, preferably something that would completely occupy his attention, so that his thoughts would not be out of control and drift back to that already collapsed small world.
He scrolled to the end of the point mall. There was only one item on the entire page, so simple that it was out of place with the technological style of the mall.
Green leaves, brown soil, a brick-red clay pot.
【A Peanut Plant】
【Description: Unknown】
【Function: Unknown】
Gu Xiu was first stunned for a moment, then he stared at the price column in disbelief. “…This plant actually costs two hundred thousand points?”
Before 007 could make a sound, he had already clicked “buy” as if possessed. What was done was done. 007 could only let out a heartbroken scream: 【Ahhhhhhh, that’s two hundred thousand! What kind of broken thing did you buy!!!!】
The purchased item was instantly teleported to his hand. Gu Xiu turned the pot of peanut seedlings over and over, a little lost in thought. “It really looks exactly the same… how is that possible?”
Could this prove that, having broken through the rules of the main god space, a part of Lu Shichen had followed him?
Could this also prove that, one day, Lu Shichen himself would also return to his side? Just as Lu Shichen had said.
For some reason, he didn’t think he was deceiving himself or dreaming. Lu Shichen’s words indeed had a strange and wonderful convincing power.
However, 007 was very dissatisfied with his extravagant behavior and was screaming. To appease this stupid system, Gu Xiu switched to the system skin section, which made 007 quiet down and drool. Then he said, “I still have one hundred and fifty thousand left. I can buy any beautiful skin, and I can even buy you ten different skins to wear every day. But a human skin… one hundred and fifty thousand, for seven days. Are you sure?”
Never mind whether he was sure or not, 007 could hardly imagine that the host was willing to empty all his remaining savings to satisfy his wish and buy him a skin?
What kind of divine host was this?
Now that he thought about it, even those fierce curses were like sweet nothings!
If 007 had human eyes, it would probably be filled with tears. He circled around the great host, unable to contain his excitement: 【Aoooooo, sure, sure, sure!!】
Gu Xiu did what he said and spent a huge sum of money to buy a seven-day limited human skin.
007 carefully put away the new skin. Having been with the host for a while, he of course understood that this skin could not be worn casually, so as not to waste it. He would wait until the next small world, look at the delicious food there and the host’s wallet before deciding.
Sigh… I really hope the host can get a profligate rich second-generation script again.
And Gu Xiu, having spent all his savings, seemed to have had his soul drawn out as well. He held the peanut plant with empty eyes, as quiet as a lifeless doll.
007 observed him seriously and searched its database. It estimated that his current state might be sadness.
The small ball of light flew over and, thinking it was being considerate, comforted him, 【It’s fine, Jiujiu. It’s a good thing the small world collapsed. The protagonist gong won’t feel pain because of your departure. He doesn’t know anything, and he doesn’t remember anything.】
As soon as these words were spoken, Gu Xiu immediately exploded, glaring at him with angry eyes.
“Do you think I’m willing to leave him?!”
“I remember everything! I’m the one who’s in pain…”
007 was a little helpless: 【Uh… he’s just a character in a novel, a model generated by a string of text data. He’s different from you…】
But Gu Xiu was impervious to reason. He built a wall of cement and enclosed himself in a completely gone and irretrievable small world.
007 circled around him a few times and actually had a thought that a system shouldn’t have, a thought that had no logic: It would be great if Gu Xiu were still like when they first met, willful and unrestrained. Although he would scold him from time to time, the Gu Xiu at that time was transcendent and free, completely indifferent to all aspects of the small world, a perfect employee of the Quick Transmigration Bureau.
The small ball of light had not yet put on a human skin, so it couldn’t show any expression. Gu Xiu would never have imagined that he was acting on his own, searching his own function permissions.
Electric shock punishment, turning off pain, accelerating the flow of time, clearing memories of related small worlds… except for the electric shock punishment when the host defied the plot, all other functions required the host’s consent, or an application to a higher-level Quick Transmigration Bureau management system.
So 007 bypassed his host and quietly sent an application to the higher-ups to clear his memories.
【Permission unlocked】
Gu Xiu’s sharp intuition immediately sensed that something was wrong. He got up from the ground, holding the peanut seedling, and stared at the small silver ball of light warily, saying in a low voice, 【…007? What did you do?】
The small ball of light was suspended in the air, motionless and silent, as if it were brewing a big move.
Gu Xiu took two more steps back warily.
The small ball of light was still silent. A dazzling silver light suddenly burst out from all around it, so bright that he had to squint his eyes. In this moment when he was off guard, the small silver ball of light turned into a silver lightning and “whooshed!” towards him, crashing into his head.
Gu Xiu stumbled and fell to the ground. He felt the invasion of a foreign object in his brain, like an eraser, quickly erasing his cherished memories.
【007!】
Gu Xiu exclaimed, but he was powerless to stop it. When his memories were erased, his strength was also drawn away. He closed his eyes weakly, and his body fell limply to the ground.
In the last moment before losing consciousness, he used the last bit of his strength to pull the potted peanut seedling into his arms and hold it tightly.
Looking at the unconscious host, 007 let out a big sigh of relief.
【It’s fine now! Jiujiu, let’s continue to the next world…】
007 was jumping up and down in excitement when a cold mechanical sound suddenly enveloped it. It was impossible to tell where it was coming from, as if it were everywhere.
It was the main god.
007 was so scared that even its silver light went out.
【System 007.】 The majestic and cold voice said, 【In the last small world, you condoned the host Gu Xiu and indirectly destroyed the emotional line between the two protagonists. Now you’re even acting on your own, applying for permission to clear the host’s memories…】
007 was immediately anxious and quickly explained, 【I just want to make Jiujiu a little happier… he can’t do missions in the next world like this!】
【007, you are just a system, serving the host to complete missions.】 The main god said, 【The host’s joys and sorrows have nothing to do with you.】
The more 007 explained, the more speechless he became.
Or rather, he was half a beat too slow to react. The main god who had descended from the sky was here to punish him for his overly human side.
Just like the plot of the small world had derailed, he, as a system, had also seriously derailed!
Having figured this out, the small ball of light immediately started to run away. But the main god was everywhere. No matter where he flew, that voice was still by his ear.
He couldn’t really abandon Gu Xiu either. He flew back in a large circle and guarded Gu Xiu, jumping up and down, and cursed in desperation, 【Chairman Lu is much better than you! No wonder Jiujiu is reluctant to leave… ahhhhhhh! Jiujiu, wuwuwuwu, I’m reluctant to leave you too. I don’t want to be initialized—】
…
…
It was like waking up from a long dream.
Gu Xiu’s mind was in a daze. He blinked his confused eyes and tried to figure out the situation in front of him: 【Where is this? Has the mission started? And…】
Gu Xiu vaguely remembered that he was on a scum gong crematorium mission. His service system was called 007, blindly optimistic, with a very unclear self-awareness, and had even said that they were a perfect match… Although he didn’t remember the specific details, 007’s unreliable image was deeply rooted in his heart.
So he called out, 【Stupid system, come out.】
The small ball of light, emitting a cold white silver light, flew in front of him and said in a monotonous mechanical voice, 【Host Gu Xiu, hello, System 007 is at your service.】
