Chapter 91 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (5)
Ch91 – The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (5)
In response to Xi Lou’s question, the air in the room freezed for a moment.
But very quickly, Chi Xiaochi started introducing himself, saying, “Chi Xiaochi, I come from another Lord God’s system that operates similarly to yours. Song Chunyang, who was killed in the eighth task world, signed a contract with my immediate superior to commission me to help him get through the ten tasks. After my mission is complete, I’ll leave and return this body to Song Chunyang. ……Any more questions?”
Xi Lou, “……”
Chi Xiaochi was indeed sufficiently frank, but this huge information dump almost made Xi Lou shut down.
This person being able to invade Song Chunyang’s body without a word, indicted that access rights to Song Chunyang’s mind had probably been opened to him of Song Chunyang’s own accord.
Of course, he couldn’t eliminate the possibility of Chi Xiaochi being a ghost.
But to be able to enter Song Chunyang’s body without Xi Lou’s notice, this ghost would have to be abnormally powerful, and in the early stages of having just entered this world, such a ghost with such an overwhelming advantage wouldn’t appear.
What’s more, even if a malicious ghost had seized his body, what’s seized was seized, why would it have to bother making up this story.
Drawing from all the signs, Xi Lou, as a supernatural system that had seen all kinds of grotesque and variegated creatures, felt like what Chi Xiaochi had a particular trustworthiness to it.
But Xi Lou still wasn’t willing to relax, asking a lot of questions only him and Song Chunyang would know the answers to. Chi Xiaochi answered one question after another according to Song Chunyang’s memories, getting all of them correct.
Only after repeated confirmation did Xi Lou half-believe Chi Xiaochi.
He quickly extracted the key bit of information in Chi Xiaochi’s words, “Chunyang…… died?”
Chi Xiaochi casually tossed the empty beer can to the side. “He died once.”
“……Yuan Benshan and Guan Qiaoqiao did it?”
“Yes.” Chi Xiaochi reached out a hand to rummage through the makeup case on the table. “They teamed up to rob Song Chunyang of his eyes. Otherwise, going by his character, he wouldn’t have been so hateful.”
Xi Lou then asked, “Why did you say that there’s no need to pay attention to the time filming starts?”
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Have you ever worked on a film set?”
Xi Lou, “……” I really haven’t.
Chi Xiaochi looked at himself in the mirror, examining his half-made up face. He then pulled down the filming schedule pasted to the wall and held it close to examine it.
Given Chi Xiaochi’s abundant experience with acting, with a single look, he could tell that this was a third-rate drama, which could be seen from the crude movie title of 《Fear in an Ancient Castle》. The selling point of that market was sex appeal, and the horror atmosphere was basically only dependent on screaming. Unfortunately, the director’s consciousness and that of the pretty and flirtatious cheap goods who would do anything for money in this market weren’t the same. He wasn’t willing to use a set, wanting to film in a real ancient castle and nowhere else, or also known under the prettier name of “the pursuit of art”.
However, in order to film in this castle, they needed to pay an exorbitant rental fee. Hence, in order to save money, they only had half a month to film.
Today was the first day, where the actors and the crew would arrive at the set. The director was in a hurry to declare the start of filming, so as a result, everyone was in a mess. There was a problem with setting up the lights, the cameras kept needing to be adjusted, the actors couldn’t get to their proper places, everything was in chaos.
Chi Xiaochi said, “Right now the director is probably already losing his top on the set. Even if I hurry over with a face of half-done makeup or not, when I get there, the director will be furious. In conclusion, no filming is going to be done today. Regardless of how early or late I am, there won’t be a difference.”
When Song Chunyang was still alive, he’d raised his spirits and rushed over to the film set, but by the time he got there, everyone had already scattered.
Judging from the various circumstances, he wouldn’t trigger a death flag by not participating in the first day’s filming. Instead of looking for that human head balloon, he might as well take a look at the script here.
But after watching him for a while, Xi Lou said straightforwardly, “You’re not scared, are you?”
Chi Xiaochi said calmly, “……Who’s scared, I’m not scared.”
Xi Lou was silent for a moment. “They you should go out.”
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Seeing Chi Xiaochi adamantly bite into the green hills and not move, Xi Lou’s head hurt. “Why did that Lord God of yours assign you here?”
Xi Lou was really dissatisfied with Chi Xiaochi, murmuring to himself, “……Nowhere as good as Chunyang.”
Even if Song Chunyang was even more dumb and more afraid, in any case, he had the drive to press forward courageously. He wasn’t at all like this person, who just laid there lazily, with no drive whatsoever.
But the moment the words left his mouth, Xi Lou felt like something wasn’t quite right. He followed up by asking, “Is Song Chunyang still in this body?”
“Yep.” Chi Xiaochi grabbed the script he’d placed down next to him and began looking through it again as he said in deadly earnest, “But don’t worry, his senses are all sealed off. He can’t hear a single word we’re saying.”
Xi Lou let out a sigh of relief, and began trying to find out more about what was going on with Song Chunyang from Chi Xiaochi, “When he signed a contract with you, what did he have to give up?”
Xi Lou still couldn’t fully trust this Chi Xiaochi who’d suddenly appeared and took over from Song Chunyang.
Chi Xiaochi looked down at the script and said, “I’m also a casual worker. I don’t know.”
Xi Lou said in a small voice, “……That idiot.”
If it was in exchange for a chance to be reborn, the price was bound to be exorbitantly costly. What was the force driving his return? Was it vengeance?
It was as if Chi Xiaochi could guess everything he was thinking. He replied, “I’m guessing that the reason behind him agreeing to the contract, was one part because he wanted to keep on living, one part because he wanted vengeance, and one part because of you.”
Xi Lou, “……Me?”
Chi Xiaochi, “I read through his memories. He promised to give you a body. He probably feels very sorry for not being able to fulfill his promise before he died.”
Xi Lou’s heart warmed slightly, but it also couldn’t help but ache. “I shouldn’t be his burden.”
Chi Xiaochi quickly flipped through the script, then closed it once more. “You’re not his burden. You’re his friend who he cares a lot about.”
Xi Lou barked out a laugh, “But we’re just friends, nothing more.”
Chi Xiaochi seemed to catch some ambiguous clues from Xi Lou’s words. With a face full of shock, he said, “Yi, you——”
Xi Lou thought for a moment. Anyways, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t confess to a stranger. What’s more, he’d been with Song Chunyang for so many years, and had only been able to speak with him alone. He had many things that he’d been unable to say, and keeping them pent up inside of him was incredibly hard to bear.
So he said, “I like Song Chunyang, but what use does that have?”
The one Song Chunyang cared the most about in his life was Yuan Benshan and Yuan Benshan only. He could only be his friend.
So he had properly hidden these feelings at the bottom of his heart, never once willing to say them out to Song Chunyang.
Chi Xiaochi covered his mouth with one hand and let out a light cough. He raised his pinky finger lightly, covering the slight smile at the corners of his lips.
……
At the same time, in the “Space Between Moments”.
The Lord God stared at the real-time footage on the screen and sneered coldly, “He still has the heart to care about other people?”
Sinc Chi Xiaochi had entered this world, so far, every development had gone as the Lord God planned.
From the influence of the Trojan on 089’s random assortment system, Chi Xiaochi was placed into a supernatural system, and from the operating rules of systems and data, Xi Lou’s priority was much higher than that of 061. Hence, 061 was unable to communicate with Chi Xiaochi in this world, and a lot of his abilities were limited by the rules of this other world.
If he became a ghost, it would be easy for him to become infected by the Yin qi in the system, and slowly lose his mind and become a malicious ghost.
If he became a human, he would just be a person in slightly better physical shape than others.
A human only had one pair of eyes, it would be impossible for him to keep an eye on and protect Chi Xiaochi at all times.
What’s more, going by the confidentiality rules, he wouldn’t be able to expose his real identity to Chi Xiaochi. In a supernatural world where you could sink into the mire with a single misstep, how would Chi Xiaochi immediately be able to fully trust a complete stranger?
In summary, according to the Lord God’s judgement, the ghost-fearing Chi Xiaochi wouldn’t be able to survive in this kind of world.
As long as he died, he would be forced out of the world, and his spiritual body would end up damaged.
Damage to the spirit was irreversible. If Chi Xiaochi could be forced to die again in the next world, he would definitely sink into stupidity or even insanity, and the Lord God wouldn’t have to worry about the risk of him catching on to its secrets.
Just as the Lord God was happily planning out his scheme, his personal AI said, “Hello, 061 has vital signs.”
The Lord God asked, “What identity did he choose?”
The AI answered, “Human.”
The Lord God shook his head a little regretfully, thinking, if he’d chosen to become a ghost, it would have been more interesting.
Just as the Lord God was sighing over this, on the big screen, a tall figure appeared at the door to Chi Xiaochi’s dressing room, and politely raised his hand and knocked.
Chi Xiaochi was just hesitating over whether to go to the film set to take a look when he was so shocked by the sudden knock on his door that cold air rose from his head.
But when he turned, the person that entered his vision left him slightly stunned.
A young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses looked at the name plate hanging by the door. After confirming that he hadn’t gotten the wrong room, he walked in. He had toned legs and broad shoulders, and a scholarly temperament. With that pair of glasses perched on his gall-bladder shaped nose, they made his pair of narrow peach blossom eyes look even more noble.
He had a huge makeup case slung across his back. He gently and politely greeted Chi Xiaochi, “Hello, Song Chunyang. My name is Gan Yu, I’m your personal makeup artist.”
In the past, during his tasks, Song Chunyang would take on a pseudonym. However, he clearly couldn’t use a pseudonym in this task, because their real names were used for the characters in the movie, probably to help them get into character easier.
Chi Xiaochi looked over with Song Chunyang’s eyes. Upon confirming that the person standing before him was a human, only then did his tensed spirit relax slightly.
But searching through Song Chunyang’s memories, he could confirm that when everyone had gathered in the main hall of the castle, including Song Chunyang, Yuan Benshan and Guan Qiaoqiao, there were seven people taking part in this task.
……And in this group of seven people, there had been no such person called “Gan Yu”.
What’s more, his appearance was this dazzling.
As Chi Xiaochi’s brain churned at full speed, Gan Yu walked over to him, moved the makeup case that had originally been in front of the mirror aside, and opened his own carry-on makeup case.
Compared to those broken bottles and spoiled cans, the cosmetics Gan Yu had brought with him couldn’t be considered the top notch type that would be allocated to an A-list celebrity.
Gan Yu knelt down on one knee, and gently raised Chi Xiaochi’s chin. After giving the makeup on his face a once over, he pulled out a compact. As he helped him do his makeup, he said, “If the director asks, just say that I was late, it’s my fault. Got it?”
……This person’s temperament and tone made Chi Xiaochi think of one person.
“Liu-laoshi?” Chi Xiaochi’s eyebrows raised slightly. He grabbed his arm. “Didn’t you say that it’s against the rules to form yourself a body in a mission world——”
“……I’m not.” Gan Yu’s brows furrowed slightly. “‘Liu-laoshi’? Are you talking about your cardiology department’s Director Lu?”
Song Chunyang was indeed working in the cardiology department, and his director’s surname was indeed Lu.
But how did he know that?
Upon noticing that the person before him didn’t seem to remember him, Gan Yu said gently, “Have you forgotten? I also work in the city’s third People’s Hospital, in the neurosurgery department.
In the “Space Between Moments”, as the Lord God listened to the two’s conversation, he let out a subconscious sneer.
……Pretending to be an acquaintance to get closer to him?
It wasn’t a bad idea.
But in the end, he was just an ordinary human, what could he possibly do?
On the big screen, Chi Xiaochi did as the Lord God expected, raising his suspicions against Gan Yu, “Then why didn’t I see you when we gathered in the main hall just now?”
The Lord God let out a prideful snort.
Once the logic of Gan Yu’s existence was questioned, Chi Xiaochi would naturally distance himself from him, which would be equivalent to breaking off his own arm when the time came……
However, before it could continue on that train of thought, it heard 061’s incarnation, Gan Yu, say calmly, “You guys only set the meeting location after getting to the castle, right?”
Chi Xiaochi nodded.
Gan Yu said, “My younger sister and I arrived earliest, so we went to look around the second and third floors of the castle, and didn’t go to gather in the hall.”
The Lord God who was watching all of this, “……”
……Younger sister? What younger sister?
By the time it noticed its AI’s extraordinary silence, an elegant and soft girl had appeared at the door to the dressing room.
She was a beauty with the slight softness of Jiangnan’s misty rain, but she looked just as graceful and gentle as Gan Yu, incredibly beautiful.
Even more importantly, her facial features were practically a softer version of Gan Yu’s. There was a tear mole below her left eye, matching the tear mole below Gan Yu’s right. Who she was could be told from a glance.
The girl also checked the nameplate temporarily pasted to the door before smiling softly and saying, “Hello, Song Chunyang. My name is Gan Tang, I’m your stylist.”
The author has something to say:
Xiaochi: #My stupid superior is trying to pit me every day#
Lou-ge: If one pair of eyes isn’t enough, I’ll use two. With two people for company, the double the happiness qwq
After hesitating over whether to make Liu-laoshi split into a pair of twin brothers or a pair of twin sisters, I decided that a pair of brother and sister would seem more harmless. Otherwise, if he was being guarded by two men, Xiaochi might have to worry about his little