Chapter 84- Who is the Murderer?
After Mao Zixie left, Xi Guican asked He Ruge, “He didn’t ask about your privacy, did he?”
He Ruge’s role assigned by the game was a resident of the Seventeen Stars. Since the fall of the Seventeen Stars two years ago, He Ruge had been wandering around.
Although the energy of this game was immense and arranged He Ruge’s identity seamlessly, making it impossible to find any flaws, if probed closely, the fabricated wandering journey could easily reveal loopholes. Xi Guican was worried that He Ruge would be tricked by Mao Zixie.
Not only was he not asked about his privacy, but He Ruge also managed to ask about Xi Guican’s privacy from Mao Zixie.
“No, by the way, Guican, I’ve been puzzled since the end of that game, and I wanted to ask you about it.”
Since he asked Mao Zixie, he should ensure the other’s personal safety.
He Ruge quickly changed the topic, “In the game ‘Your Exclusive Lover,’ I obtained many items, one of which is called ‘Who is the Murderer.’ As the name suggests, it’s an item that can confirm the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes. Maybe for game balance, this item has restrictions. It can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and cannot directly reveal the identity of the murderer.”
“I initially thought that Vulture was the murderer.” When He Ruge mentioned the Vulture, Xi Guican’s pupils contracted slightly.
It seemed he had realized something and unconsciously held his breath, looking at He Ruge.
“However, when I used this item on the Vulture, it told me that he wasn’t the real mastermind.”
He Ruge wondered, “Then who is the real murderer? Guican, can you tell me the answer?”
“I… don’t know.”
With a stunned expression, Xi Guican stood like a statue, silent in place. He recalled many things, about the Vulture and about the Federation. Many things couldn’t be thought about deeply, and the more he thought, the more flaws he found.
Why could a star pirate leader organize such a vast and tight experiment, even acquiring the brainwashing machine that the Federation wanted to destroy? Why had he never doubted the identity of the Vulture all these years?
… Right, it was that brainwashing machine.
That machine ultimately had an impact on him. Even though the brainwashing was ineffective due to his soul fragmentation, he remembered many concepts instilled by the machine during the one-day brainwashing process, such as the supremacy of the organization, the supremacy of the Cleaners, and the supremacy of the Vulture leader.
Due to soul fragmentation, brainwashing was ineffective for him, as he wouldn’t become a puppet completely devoted to the organization.
However, the brainwashing was effective because he remembered that the Vulture was the source of all suffering and evil, firmly believing so, attributing all his hatred to the Vulture.
So all these years, he was actually a ridiculous puppet.
The mastermind behind the scenes quietly watched him, manipulating him with a thin thread spanning time and distorting memories.
From signing agreements with the Federation, entering military school and having his insect wings forcibly severed, to suddenly being stimulated during the second star war and being diagnosed with Vortex Mental Devouring Syndrome…
Behind all these, there was an invisible figure.
He was being controlled by someone, from birth to death, unable to resist. He was dominated by someone, in the brightest moments of his life, heading towards destruction.
If this mysterious game hadn’t appeared, what awaited him?
As his condition deteriorated, he would silently die on this planet, just like those experimental subjects who died silently on the Seventeen Stars, in the Star Sea Orphanage.
His death was just another part of a larger cage. His funeral had more crying than those experimental subjects, but he was still the No. 20, trapped in a small compartment, bewildered and helpless, fearing and anxious all day long…
Xi Guican suddenly felt a bit cold, his teeth chattering, endless darkness and negative emotions engulfed him. It seemed he was sinking into mud again, unable to see his fingers in the pitch-black darkness, countless traps hidden within. The cold, damp mud overflowed into his mouth and nose, pouring into his heart, riddled with holes.
The monster in his heart seemed to have emerged again, a black mass with blood-red eyes and a mournful roar. When the monster tried to occupy his body, Xi Guican fell into a warm embrace.
Someone gently touched his head, patting his back like comforting a child. With each pat, a layer of darkness in his heart peeled away.
“It’s okay not to know who the murderer is. It’s not your fault. We’ll find out slowly. We still have plenty of time. We’ll eventually find the real murderer.” The gentle voice, the warm embrace.
When all the darkness withered away, the monster revealed its original form, a red-eyed, aggrieved little white tiger, himself, who had suffered grievances but had nowhere to express them.
“Okay.”
Xi Guican reached out and hugged He Ruge, giving a low hum.
“Weren’t we going to soak in the hot springs? How about we go now?” He Ruge could feel Xi Guican’s anxiety and fear. If he wasn’t particularly upset, Xi Guican wouldn’t have hugged him so tightly.
“Okay,” Xi Guican said gloomily. “I want to hold you all the way there.”
“Hold onto me the whole way? I’m not legless. Being carried by you would be laughed at if others saw.” He Ruge chuckled.
“Here’s no one else.” His blue eyes carried a hint of pleading, “He Ruge, I want to hug you.”
He Ruge was relieved that it was “I want to hug you,” instead of “I want you to hug me,” or else this old man’s waist would really be crushed by the big baldie.
“Then, this time, I’ll let you hug me.” He Ruge said helplessly.
He was carried by Xi Guican to the mecha room, where he saw the gorgeous silver-white mecha, ten meters high, filled with a sense of technological beauty, sleek lines hiding lethal potential, and the silver-white mecha shell gleaming like new.
He Ruge couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement. This was his first time seeing a real mecha in reality, especially one as sleek as this.
“This is my mecha, its name is No. 20.”
For a mecha pilot, the mecha was like a wife, untainted by anyone else, and only the pilot and perhaps their spouse could enter the cockpit.
The cockpit of “No. 20” was opened for someone other than Xi Guican for the first time.
“It looks as new as when I first got it,” He Ruge praised. Mao Zixie had said that Xi Guican couldn’t pilot the mecha anymore after falling ill, so He Ruge thought that after two years, Xi Guican’s mecha should have been covered in dust.
He didn’t expect No. 20 to be so clean, shining brightly.
“Because I piloted it to the Seventeen Stars not long ago.” Xi Guican inserted the energy crystal into the energy slot.
“I went to the Star Sea Orphanage.”
He Ruge looked at Xi Guican, and Xi Guican also looked at him quietly. His blue eyes were calm, like a calm sea, a cloudless blue sky.
Xi Guican’s voice was calm as he recounted his story, “I wanted to revisit the old place, but it has become a ruin. There’s nothing worth revisiting there.”
“Are… Are the… bones of those children still there?” He Ruge asked softly.
“The Federation cleaned it all up.” Xi Guican’s blue eyes narrowed slightly, his expression blank.
“Seventeen years ago, they dug up the bones from the ruins. They were all bones because the flesh had been eaten clean by the insect race they were bred for. The bones were piled up high, forming small mountains.”
“Then they were cremated and scattered into the Star Sea.”
Xi Guican closed his eyes and leaned his head on He Ruge’s shoulder. His voice was as light as a dream.
“Maybe there’s the ashes of the Golden Python in there. Didn’t he always want to become a star? His dream came true.”
“He Ruge, I actually hate the Federation.”
His sharp brows furrowed, sharp enough to scratch himself.
He Ruge smoothed his furrowed brow with his fingers, not saying a word. He knew he didn’t need to say anything at this moment; the other person just needed someone to confide in. It would be too exhausting if one person had to bear everything alone.
“I hate Mao Zixie too.”
“I really…”
I really want to tell this unknowing search mouse about the sins of his elders, about the dirtiness of being alive, about how he could live carefree in the sunlight because he was stepping on the corpses of countless people.
I really want to destroy the Federation.
Destroy this Federation that knowingly condones all evil, destroy this Federation that cultivates fruit from evil soil, and destroy the interstellar people who live unknowingly under the protection of the Federation.
I really want to find the real murderer, tear him apart alive, and make him beg for life and death.
All the dreadful words were stuck in his throat, and Xi Guican trembled as he said, “I really… really like you.”
He Ruge touched Xi Guican’s head and said softly, “I like you too.”
The silver-white mecha flew on this lonely planet, finally landing by the hot springs. He Ruge turned into a mermaid and happily soaked in the hot springs, while Xi Guican helped He Ruge comb his hair.
The soft black hair slid through his fingers, the hands accustomed to weapons touching long hair for the first time. Xi Guican’s mood strangely calmed down as he looked at He Ruge, who was outlining the plot.
“What kind of story are you planning to write?” Xi Guican asked.
“A rebirth story related to the star war with a protagonist who’s overpowered.”
He Ruge planned to follow the trend. Since star wars were a hot topic now, he would ride the wave of popularity.
“I already have a rough idea for the plot. The protagonist was just a small soldier in the star war before his rebirth.”
Xi Guican nodded earnestly.
“Then he was killed by the insect race.”
Xi Guican: “Ah?”
“And then he gets reborn with a system. The system is the protagonist’s golden finger. As long as the protagonist kills the insect race, the system will give him experience points, just like in a game, you know?”
Xi Guican nodded.
“With experience points, he can level up, become stronger along the way, defeat the insect race, and become a hero of the Federation.”
The plot line was similar to the typical wish-fulfillment stories, not requiring much logic, just enough to be exciting.
“Is there really such a thing as a system?” Xi Guican was astonished at this concept for the first time.
“It’s fake.” He Ruge clapped his hands.
“Then comes the romance line. What kind of person do interstellar people generally like?”
Xi Guican replied seriously, “I like you.”
He Ruge coaxed him like a child, “Hmm, I know, I like you too.”
As he spoke, he typed “popular goddess” into the search bar on the Star Network and saw many busty and long-legged mature women.
“Okay, the female lead will be a beautiful mature woman.”
“No.” Xi Guican objected, “It can only be you.”
He Ruge helplessly said, “…Baby, I’m writing a novel, it’s all fake. It’s enough for the male lead to like the female lead, why come here to like me?”
“I am the male lead, and I like you.” Xi Guican automatically assumed the role of the male lead.
“Both of us are reborn, both will exterminate the insect race to become heroes, and both will become stronger by killing the insect race. If the male lead isn’t referring to me, then who else?”
Xi Guican had a wise expression as if he saw through everything, “I know you’re writing about me.”
He Ruge: “…”
You must have been blown away by the rainbow farts of your fans.
If I were really going to write about you, I would have to set the male lead as a bald tiger.
I even thought of a name for it…
“The Chronicles of the Bald Lieutenant General Tiger.”
“You can’t go behind my back and secretly write about other men.”
Xi Guican took He Ruge’s hand, full of possessiveness, “You can only write about me.”
“Baby, I’m writing about paper people.”
“What’s wrong with paper people? You might even fall in love with paper people.”
He Ruge found himself unable to retort for a moment. Well, since he’s bent now, might as well bend more thoroughly, from a romance writer to a BL writer.
Dear Benefactors💌🙇♀️ ,
I will officially start daily updates for this novel since I’m on a vacation! ^___^ Hope you enjoy all the chapters ahead 💗
