CH 51

(Blood Brothers from Different Parents)

Edited by Silver Wind 

As the saying goes, it was easier to invite the devil than send him away.

The housekeeper hung up the call she had with Her Majesty the Queen and looked at the two players who had just broken another entertainment facility with a difficult expression.

In high spirits, Shen Dongqing said, “We haven’t played that one yet!” He lifted his finger to point at the far-off Ferris wheel.

Once the housekeeper heard that they wanted to destroy another item, she walked forward hurriedly and said: “Our two guests, you are already allowed to leave Dreamland.” 

Shen Dongqing: “But I still want to play.”

This amusement park was quite fun.

It was different from normal amusement parks; there were a lot accommodating staff members who made the attractions more interesting.

Housekeeper: …… No, you don’t want to.

Half of the entertainment facilities were put out of service because of them, and if they were to keep going, Her Majesty the Queen was going to go insane out of anger.

However, if the two really wanted to continue to play, the housekeeper could do nothing about it either.

The reason was that the rules of Dreamland allowed it: any player with the Dreamland invitation letter could enjoy sightseeing in Dreamland, and the NPCs were only allowed to harm the players through the various games.

But prior to this, they only had players crying and screaming about how they did not want to continue playing, not the NPCs crying and shouting for the players to stop playing. 

The housekeeper became bitter. They could not hold the two players back even if they tried.

Alas, she could not continue watching the pair smash up all the entertainment attractions, thus she could only muster up her courage, close her eyes and lie: “The other items are also in the midst of maintenance and they cannot provide entertainment services.”

Shen Dongqing: “Huh?”

Housekeeper: “It is truly regrettable! Why don’t you leave it for next time?” 

While she said that it was “regrettable”, she frankly could not wait for the pair to quickly leave.

Shen Dongqing was still not done playing but since the personnel said that, he had no choice either. Hence, he could only abandon the thought of playing more.

Zhou Wenyan said: “Next time?”

Shen Dongqing’s eyes brightened. “Yeah, did you just say we can come back next time to play?” 

The housekeeper froze entirely.

She almost wanted to give herself a slap— Who allowed your mouth to be so despicable!

“Hehe…” The housekeeper laughed dryly, “That’s right, next time, next time.”

They could disregard that in lieu of chasing the two big bosses out first. 

Clinging onto such notions, the housekeeper did not hesitate to surrender the territory under humiliating terms and gave them a huge stack of Dreamland visitor tickets in order to persuade the big bosses to leave.

As Shen Dongqing stood at the entrance of Dreamland, he pointed at the ice cream cart and said: “I want to bring it back to eat.”

By this point, there was no request that the housekeeper would not grant. “… Just take it.”

Thus, Shen Dongqing brought away the ice cream cart and the puppet making the ice cream with him. 

Deathly afraid that they would stay for a moment longer and see something else they wanted to bring away, the housekeeper quickly beckoned the pumpkin carriage and watched as the pair got on the vehicle before she dared to rest her heart slightly.

However, she did not let up in the least, and she continued to stare at the pumpkin carriage with dead eyes as it rode off to a faraway land.

Just as the housekeeper was about to breathe out a sigh of relief, another sudden development occurred.

A group of guards wielding their weapons rushed over, footsteps heavy and armours clattering with noise as they chased a person wearing a black hat. 

The behatted person was nimble in movement as he ran towards the entrance of Dreamland swiftly. Upon seeing that there were two people seated in the pumpkin carriage, joy spread across his face as he hurriedly shouted: “Save me!”

Previously, Black Hat was also one of the people who had made a wish but he was more cautious than the others; not long after he had walked out of the large hall with the maid, he realised that something was wrong and tore himself away from his dreamland forcefully.

Although he managed to break away from the dreamland that Her Majesty the Queen granted, he had gained a group of guards that were hot on his heels and Black Hat had to spend quite a few props and much effort before he managed to reach the entrance.

“Save me!” 

Black Hat shouted again but the pumpkin carriage in front did not show the slightest reaction.

That made sense too—they were about to leave Dreamland, why would they brave the danger once more to save a person who had no relation to them?

Black Hat gritted his teeth: “I have a prop that allows the user to randomly draw a copy token, I can give it to you—”

Before he finished his words, the pumpkin carriage stopped and made its way back. 

Shen Dongqing popped his head out and asked the housekeeper: “Can we bring this person with us too?”

He said it with an appearance that conveyed ‘If you don’t let us bring him away, we won’t leave’.

What else could the housekeeper possibly do?

She closed her eyes and raised her hand to command the guards to stop. 

Under Black Hat’s incredulous gaze, the once aggressive guards halted without exception.

Gnashing her teeth, the housekeeper spat out: “Not leaving yet?!”

Black Hat did not dare to delay for a moment longer as he climbed into the carriage with due haste.

He wiped away the sweat on his face and asked curiously: “What did you guys do?” Why did it seem like the NPCs were afraid? 

Vtfc Gbcudlcu: “Qf wfgfis qijsfv j ofk fcafgajlcwfca jaagjmalbcr.”

Dijmx Lja: “Rbatlcu firf?”

Shen Dongqing smiled rather happily: “Nothing ah, it’s quite fun here.”

Dijmx Lja ujnf Vtfc Gbcudlcu j vbeyaoei uijcmf. 

Qts kjr la atja ktfgf batfg qijsfgr cjggbkis frmjqfv ogbw atf vfjatr, sbe kbeiv olcv fcpbswfca ogbw la?

Itbe Qfcsjc wjvf jc jevlyif milmx bo tlr abcuef, qldefv.

Lfjglcu atja, Dijmx Lja klatvgfk tlr ujhf jcv abbx bea j yijmx ifjatfg cbafybbx ogbw tlr mtfra atfc rtbkfv la ab atfw: “Ktlr lr atf qgbq atja jiibkr sbe ab vgjk j mbqs abxfc.”

The Dreamland invitation letter he had was drawn from there as well, and Black Hat would typically use this prop to enter lower ranked copies. 

Having witnessed the two big bosses’ performance, Black Hat did not dare to renege and handed the prop over in a well-behaved manner.

Zhou Wenyan flipped through the leather notebook. After confirming that what Black Hat said about the prop was true, he kept it away.

Da da da—

The pumpkin carriage rode out of Dreamland and approached a deep fog. 

It was only then that Black Hat realised there was a furry toy puppet sitting in the carriage as well, and it looked like it was something from Dreamland. He stammered out, “This, this is?”

The toy puppet shifted and in an unexpected move, he reached out to take off his headgear, revealing a pallid and thinned down visage.

“I never thought there would be a day where I would leave alive!”

This was also a player who had received the invitation letter to Dreamland and fell for Her Majesty the Queen’s temptations by making the wish of “wanting to go home”. 

“Dreamland is made for pitting people,” that player vomited out his grievances, “The Queen’s definition of ‘escaping the System’s control’ was actually to turn into an employee in Dreamland and become an NPC.”

“During my time there, my entire person was muddled and ignorant, the work there is bitter, tiring and yet there’s no pay, I thought I had to work there for a lifetime, so I really have to thank you guys…”

As the player continued to thank them, the pumpkin carriage gradually disappeared into the thick fog.

* 

【 You have left Dreamland 】

【 Congratulations on successfully surviving, Closing in Progress— 】

【 This copy is an assault copy, no points are awarded outside of the system’s scheduled games…… 】

The game seemed to jam for a moment before it continued to say: 

【 Special item drop [Dreamland’s Ice Cream Cart*1] 】

Shen Dongqing opened his hand and looked at the small card that had appeared in his palm. The edges of the card was translucent and the middle had a simple pencil drawing of the colourful ice cream cart.

【 Name: Dreamland’s Ice Cream Cart 】

【 Abilities: Naturally, it sells ice cream, there’s no need for 998, you only need 1 dollar to buy the sweet and refreshing ice cream 】 

【 Introduction: Selling ice cream~ 】

Shen Dongqing poked the ice cream cart on the card, and after a short beat, a waffle ice cream cone appeared in his hands from thin air. He licked at it, feeling very pleased as he said: “Isn’t this too convenient?”

There was such an unexpected benefit that it made Shen Dongqing want to go back to Dreamland immediately to play a few more rounds.

He meant what he said, because he took out the stack of amusement park tickets that the housekeeper gave and tore one of them. 

… No reaction.

Shen Dongqing held the torn amusement park ticket in between his fingers and blinked at it doubtfully.

At this moment, the game’s unique sound rang out and it sounded a little exhausted:

【 Dreamland’s entertainment facilities have suffered damage and they are lacking in manpower. Maintenance is in progress, it is closed for the time being…… 】 

Shen Dongqing: “How long will it be under maintenance for?”

He really wanted to go back and play.

The game remained silent for a long while, and it was only when Shen Dongqing thought that the game had disappeared when it spoke again:

【 An estimated time of three to five copies…… 】 

Shen Dongqing stood up immediately: “Let’s not waste our time and go to the other copies to play then!”

Hurry up and brush the other copies because Dreamland would be fixed by then and they could go back.

The game was already bouncing around in anger.

【 You have three years worth of rest time, there is no need for such hurry… 】 

What other copy was going to fall into ruin because of you two?

Shen Dongqing tilted his head: “Three years is really long and it’s really boring to idle around here. It’s more fun inside the copies, there’s a lot of ghosts and monsters to play with.”

Game: … Those are not for you to play with.

The game was short of shutting itself down. 

Shen Dongqing ran towards Zhou Wenyan in a series of thumping footsteps before he laid on his back and asked: “The game said I have three years of resting time, does that mean I don’t get to play anymore?”

Zhou Wenyan: “It’s fine, if you want to play, we can just find other copy tokens.”

Saying that, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. 

Shen Dongqing consistently ate like a child, and his mouth was stained with a circle of ice cream because he was just finished with eating one, so it looked like a layer of white beard.

Noticing Zhou Wenyan’s gaze, Shen Dongqing stretched his tongue out to lap at the corners of his mouth, and as expected, he tasted the remnants of his ice cream.

Zhou Wenyan could not help but laugh when he saw his behaviour.

Shen Dongqing originally thought that Zhou Wenyan was laughing at his table manners and his cheeks reddened slightly, so he decided he might as well kiss him and directly smudge the remains of the ice cream on Zhou Wenyan’s face. 

In reply to that, the helpless Zhou Wenyan raised a finger and pointed at his mouth: “Kiss here.”

Shen Dongqing’s movements stilled before he readily accepted the good advice and shifted targets.

Probably because he had just finished an ice cream, Shen Dong’s mouth was ice-cold with a tinge of sweetness. The two tastes mixed together into an irresistible concoction, and tasting it once brought the urge to taste it a second time.

By the time the pair finally separated, Shen Dongqing’s lips had become a dark red. 

“So sweet,” Zhou Wenyan murmured as he savoured the aftertaste.

“Really?” Shen Dongqing licked at his own lips again but he did not manage to find the sweet taste that Zhou Wenyan was referring to. Thus, he used the card prop again to get another ice cream cone.

The ice cream that appeared this time around was blueberry flavoured, making it sour and sweet.

Shen Dongqing bit into it and felt that it was better tasting than the flavour from before, in which he held it in front of Zhou Wenyan’s mouth. 

As he took a bite from the ice cream Shen Dongqing offered, he flipped open the leather notebook Black Hat gave them.

The notebook was compelled to flip to a certain page.

Zhou Wenyan lowered his head and read the rows of elegant characters written in a fountain pen.

【 You are a university student from an isolated village, and you have brought a group of classmates back to your old home to experience life in the countryside during summer vacation. Your classmates are from the city and they were not adapting well to life in a village and they originally wanted to leave. At this time, however, the village wanted to host a posthumous marriage and your curious classmates decided to stay behind to observe the strange posthumous marriage custom. 】 

The scenery before their eyes suddenly changed.

Shen Dongqing found himself inside an ancient-style building; the ceilings were low and short, the windows were tightly shut. Although it was daytime, it was extremely dim and it was rather hard to breathe.

As Shen Dongqing was preparing to open the door to go out, the pendulum clock on the wall rang once and a time reporting bird poked out from the middle, issuing the game’s prompt. 

【 You have entered Four Water Village 】

【 This copy is a role playing mode, please ensure you keep to your character roles, and do not deviate from your character designs 】

【 Your identity is the second young master of the Shen Family in Four Water Village. Your body is in poor health and you have a gloomy disposition, and you have always been stuck in this small village. You seem to be aware of the strangeness within the Four Water Village, but because of certain reasons, you did not tell this information to the students who had arrived in Four Water Village 】

Shen Dongqing pulled open the door with one hand. 

It was currently a sunny day.

It was unknown why but even though the sun was shining down, there was no warmth to be felt and there was chill rising in the air instead.

They were at an old compound with four houses around a square courtyard, and there were a group of people standing in the courtyard. Upon making a careful headcount, there were five people in total and they did not really fit the image of university students. Among them was an uncle dressed in Western-style clothes, a young man with dyed hair, a housewife wearing an apron, a reticent man in leather apparel, and the only one who kind of resembled a student was the pretty young girl in a JK uniform.

【 These are the classmates your older brother brought back home, you really hate them 】 

Probably because the roleplaying mode was different from the other modes, the game was close by and serving as an offscreen voice.

Presently, the group was in a heated argument.

A shriller voice poured out from the housewife’s voice as she said: “What kind of ghost place is this?”

The pretty girl in her JK uniform was wiping her tears, afraid. 

The besuited uncle said impatiently, “You weren’t kidnapped and this is not a prank. This is the Infinite Nightmare Game, the sort where you might die.”

The hipster tried to explain: “It’s like those infinite flow novels, have you read it before?”

As the JK Belle sobbed, she said, “I’ve read some.”

The hipster informed them helpfully, “It’s similar to that. Either way, don’t treat it as a game, be serious about it or you will really die here.” 

The housewife did not believe it and she pointed at the hipster while saying: “What nonsense are you speaking, bring me out of here this instant!”

The hipster was too lazy to acknowledge her further.

If you had to know, such novices died the fastest in their first copy, and explaining to this sort of people was merely a waste of everyone’s time.

“The door is over there, you can leave if you want.” 

In the face of such words, the housewife no longer dared to leave and she kept hesitating.

It was at that moment where the driver walked in. “Are you leaving or not? If you’re not leaving, I’ll be taking my leave first.”

Hurriedly, the housewife said: “Leaving, leaving, I want to go back.”

The driver glanced at the remaining people. “The rest of you?” 

Hipster said, “We still want to stay here to watch the bustling scene.”

Driver: “Sure, I’ll come back in seven days to fetch you then.”

The housewife followed the driver closely, and when she saw the bus stopped outside, she did not hesitate in the slightest as she climbed on. 

The driver started the vehicle and drove away in a wobble.

The housewife hugged herself tightly and watched as the bus drove out of the village slowly before her heart eventually settled. Then, she stood up and walked towards the driver’s seat.

“Big brother, where are we going now?”

No reply. 

The housewife shouted again, “Big brother?”

She finally arrived at the driver’s seat but there was not a single person there. The bus was still driving forward into the abyss ahead, and it did not have any inclination to decrease in speed.

“AH—”

A scream later, the bus carrying one person dropped into the abyss. 

Four people remained standing in the courtyard.

The JK Belle asked, “Should we be doing something right now?”

The Hipster had no idea where to begin either: “Let’s go and look for our classmate first.” 

Their voices just landed when they heard a creak as a figure emerged from a dark room and walked over.

【 This is your older brother 】

【 Both of you have the same blood but your fates are complete opposites; he could explore the vast world while you were trapped in this dark corner 】

Zhou Wenyan walked out into the light. 

It could be seen that he was wearing a faint blue chequered shirt and a pair of jeans that conformed to his shape. The style of dressing was supposed to make him look like a young and inexperienced student, but he had rolled up his sleeves and he had casually undone the button at his collar, revealing a small slice of his sturdy chest which gave him a proud and overbearing taste.

The players had already integrated themselves into their roles as university students.

The hipster put on an appearance that was looking to stir trouble: “Old Zhou, when is the posthumous marriage going to be held? We ought to add more fun into the mix.”

The Besuited Uncle hesitated for a moment, “I keep feeling like there’s something wrong with this posthumous marriage, are we really going to observe it?” 

The Leathered Man folded his arms together and said: “In any case, the bus has left and we’re already here, so we might as well see what is unique to this place.”

Their performance was reminiscent of cannon fodders seeking their deaths in horror movies.

However, they had no choice because that was how the game scripted it, and even if they did not want to court disaster, they still had to act to the end. Furthermore, there was a possibility of living through seeking death; if they were to choose not to follow their death-seeking script, it was probable that they might explode on the spot.

Zhou Wenyan’s eyes swept past the courtyard and stopped at a spot in the corner briefly before he replied to their question: “They’ve left to fetch the bride. Go and prepare yourselves, the posthumous marriage will be conducted tomorrow night.” 

【 You envy him, you are jealous of him…… so much so that you earnestly wish he could drop dead 】

【 You, who know of the village’s customs well, might even borrow the posthumous marriage as a chance to get rid of some of the people you hate 】

Shen Dongqing voiced a crucial doubt he had: “But his surname is Zhou.”

【 …… 】 

【 …… Do not mind these details! 】

【 According to the needs of the plot, the two of you are blood brothers from a different father and a different mother! 】

The other players seemed to hear the game’s prompts as well, but it was unknown what the game said to them because their faces looked constipated as they went from green to white and back to green again.

The Hipster said with much difficulty: “Should we offer some help?” 

Zhou Wenyan said: “Since I went out to study from a young age,  I’m not clear about the procedures of the posthumous marriage. It would be better to ask my… younger brother.”

Hearing him say that, the other players followed his gaze and looked over.

Only to realise that there was another person merged with the corner.

Perhaps because he had always stayed in the village, he was in a Chinese-styled garment that was embroidered with dark threaded patterns but it did not look to be in poor taste. On the contrary, it emphasised his white skin and delicacy. 

The JK Belle had already recovered from her fear and she could not help sigh with emotion: “So cute.”

Just as she said that, the JK Belle shrank her neck back: “Why do I feel a little cold?”

Zhou Wenyan called out to him softly, “Dongqing.”

Shen Dongqing remained unmoved. 

He was still tangled over the matter of ‘blood brothers from a different father and a different mother’ that the game had said.

“How are we considered blood brothers when we’re from a different father and a different mother?” Shen Dongqing refuted.

【 …… 】

【 This is just a game setting…… 】 

The game had long become powerless to debate about this.

Zhou Wenyan called out to him again.

It was only then that Shen Dongqing ended the argument with the game and blurted out: “Older brother—”

Zhou Wenyan narrowed his eyes meaningfully, “Say that again.” 

Shen Dongqing did not think too much about it either as he repeated himself in a clear and crisp voice: “Older brother.”

Other players: En? How did the scene manage to become strange?