Chapter 96, Chapter Forty-Three: The Fantasy Mansion
Wen Ting turned her head away, feeling inexplicably awkward and embarrassed.
The white ice butterfly froze most of the white butterfly's body, while the green code chain continued to operate beneath it.
The garbled text above has been completely fixed and is now clear and legible.
Starting from his toes, his body gradually disintegrated, disappearing slowly but visibly, like chalk being erased bit by bit by an eraser.
The blood and water on the ground were decomposing, turning into tiny white specks like fireflies. Gong Baidie did not belong to this world, and all traces she left behind needed to be erased.
He lay on the ground, his right arm pinned down by seven or eight ice butterflies, while his left arm was better off, with only two or three ice butterflies pressing down on it, and he could still move it.
"Give me a hug." He stretched out his left hand to Wen Ting, his voice a broken electronic tone, but his smile was as warm as an autumn sun and a spring scene.
Having grown accustomed to his cold, sinister, and ghostly smiles, Wen Ting felt inexplicably disgusted upon seeing such a sunny and cheerful smile.
"What were you thinking?" she asked, surprised. "Why would I agree?"
Gong Baidie pursed her lips, and after a moment of silence, she spoke awkwardly, "Give me...give me a hug, please."
The hoarse, worn-out electronic voice became thinner.
He couldn't act coquettishly or use a soft tone; he felt ashamed and awkward.
The first time he mentioned it was in the 12th level of the illusion. At that time, he said to Wen Ting:
"Don't go, please..."
She ignored him, dismissing his first attempt at coquetry. Gong Baidie was furious and humiliated, and cursed him out in anger.
Radiant white dots floated from his body and the ground. The night sky was overhead, but those white dots were blocked by an invisible wall, dissipating and shattering before they could fly out of this reinforced concrete box, like dreams that leave no trace after waking up.
Wen Ting confirmed: "Are you going to die?"
Gong Baidie stretched out her hand and smiled: "Yes."
"Completely dead?"
"yes."
"Will I leave here unscathed?"
"Yes." He took a breath before he could finish the sentence, "You will forget this place."
With the dust settled, Wen Ting breathed a sigh of relief.
This strange tale left her exhausted. As soon as she relaxed, she lost even her sense of direction and collapsed onto Gong Baidie, as if she were lying on a robe soaked in foul blood.
The ice butterflies on his body were uncomfortable to her, and the pungent smell of snow orchids and the stench of decay filled her nostrils.
She didn't care anymore, collapsing onto Gong Baidie like a limp rag, too weak to even move a finger.
They lay there for a while, and when Gong Baidie's calves had completely disintegrated and disappeared, Wen Ting asked again, "Would I forget this place?"
"Mmm." He said a single word, and her chest beneath his face vibrated slightly.
Wen Ting's face went numb from the shock. She turned her head and changed her pillow. "I don't want to forget."
His tone immediately rose: "You don't want to forget me?"
"Well, in case you crawl out of your phone again, I don't want to face you without knowing anything."
When he wasn't speaking, he stopped breathing, becoming like a sheet of ice, cold and hard.
After a long pause, he said, "It doesn't matter. You're used to it."
He kept erasing her memories, in ghost stories and dreams, but no matter how many times he erased them, her choice never changed.
Even now, she doesn't know that they had memories of each other in their first few dreams.
It's not a pleasant memory, not in my dreams, and it's here too.
"Forget about it, Wen Ting." He reached out and touched her amidst the encirclement of the Ice Butterflies. "...Live your life the way you want."
He can't keep looking at her on his phone all the time anymore; he can only feel at ease if she's a little selfish and cold-blooded.
“Use the same ruthlessness you showed me on everyone.”
Wen Ting hooked his hand as it was about to fall, "Am I cruel to you?"
She looked down at his skinless face. "Butterfly, I'm not being cruel to you."
Regardless of his identity—whether he was a non-human crawling out of a cell phone, a strange and eccentric boss, a gentle and virtuous husband, a crazy villager, a man-eating monster, or a hysterical demon—she accepted Gong Baidie no matter what his purpose was.
"...I was wrong?" Gong Baidie was confused and at a loss. "Did I mess it up?"
No one would gladly accept the appearance of a non-human monster in their life.
Besides, she disregarded his love, and since love couldn't hold her, he could only hate her.
Wen Ting was silent for a moment, then closed her eyes. "You did nothing wrong."
His biggest mistake was not hating her.
But it wasn't Gong Baidie who caused this; it was she who gave him this kind of perception and personality.
"You're too tired, get some sleep." She patted him gently, knowing that Wen Ting would definitely be a good person whenever possible.
“I know you’re upset, Butterfly.” She looked up and kissed the corner of his lips. “You don’t have to work so hard anymore, you can rest now.”
Gong Baidie lowered his eyes; he could no longer see or feel Wen Ting's lips, but he knew that at this moment she was softening. Just like after she killed Chaochao, she carefully tended to the potato seedlings left behind by him.
She doesn't farm at all back home and doesn't even know that potatoes can't be watered every day, causing him to spend so much effort trying to save those seedlings.
Their lips touched, and a few shimmering white specks of light rose from them, only to vanish before reaching the heavens.
This belated kiss came from a world apart, unnoticed by anyone.
"Did I do a good job... Wen Ting?" he asked.
“Of course,” Wen Ting replied softly, “no matter how much you hate, you didn’t actually kill anyone. If I were you, I might not be able to do it.”
He is still the same Gong Baidie from the game, whose fate is full of twists and turns, yet he remains resilient.
"No, I'm asking, over the years, have I been of any help to you...?"
Wen Ting was taken aback: "What?"
His voice was so faint it was almost extinguished, as weak as a whisper: "I've been watching you... watching you all this time... you've had such a hard life, Wen Ting..."
"Did the money I earned help you at all...?"
Wen Ting looked up, gazing at the direction where the thousands of points of light were flying.
After a moment, she said, "Yes, of course, you have no idea how much you've helped me."
If it weren't for Gong Baidie's immediate profitability upon launching her product, she would likely be a mother with a child, struggling with the dilemma of managing three families and her career.
If it weren't for the somewhat famous Gong Baidie, she wouldn't have been able to get into a big company like Green Forest.
Without the money Gong Baidie earned, after sending her first love to detention, she would either have returned to her hometown dejectedly or been squeezed into a youth hostel in the capital.
Wen Ting had never seen a shooting star before. The white dots rising into the air around her looked like a meteor shower going against the current.
The sky was beneath her, and stars flowed down from her to the earth.
“You changed my life,” she said sincerely, gazing at the tiny lights. “You’ve helped me so much.”
After she finished speaking, she didn't hear a response for a long time.
Wen Ting looked down and saw him nestled in her arms, his face showing a sweet, innocent smile like that of a child.
He seemed about to ride these shooting stars to Earth for a fairytale dream. His dream was filled with tenderness, whether love or hate.
Love and hate are both acceptable.
Wen Ting hugged him tightly, the light spots had already completely disintegrated his legs.
As she accompanied him on his final journey, she unconsciously murmured, "...I'm sorry."
He couldn't answer her, he just laughed even harder.
They quietly completed their final journey—as they should have.
As Wen Ting stared blankly at the rising light, a bloodless face suddenly appeared in the corner of the square wall.
"Ah!" Wen Ting's heart stopped. She immediately pushed Gong Baidie out and got up to leave.
Gong Baidie, who had been pushed away, was left with only half her body. She rolled twice on the ground, ice and all, before landing face down with a thud, and light spots on her body appeared rapidly.
Wen Ting had no time to care about the dead man; she pressed herself against the corner of the wall, watching with fear and war as the girl peeked out from the top of the wall.
The girl's skin was pale, so pale it didn't look like a living person, and her eyes were so black they had no light at all.
Upon seeing Wen Ting, her pair of dark eyes widened slightly, like a cat's pupils dilating in fright.
He immediately ducked down from the wall.
Wen Ting didn't relax, keeping her eyes fixed on that direction.
The girl did not reappear. About two minutes later, a line of text formed by black smoke appeared where she had left:
[Human?]
Wen Ting stared at the three characters.
Clearly, anyone who says something like that is not human.
What is she...?
Composing herself, she raised her voice, "Yes, I am human. And you are?"
The words spread out, and wisps of black smoke forming the words reached into the stairwell, like outstretched tentacles drawing information from the space.
One wisp of smoke brushed past Wen Ting, and she shifted a few inches, avoiding it imperceptibly. The black smoke didn't entangle her, but instead stuck to the wall behind her.
Before long, the black smoke receded like a tide, returning to form new characters:
[The Ghost Stories You Solved]
[sharp]
You can have one wish.
Wen Ting was astonished. What did this mean? Did she get a system reward for completing the game?
Are there such mechanisms in ghost stories?
Could her guess about the selection of ability users be correct?
"May I ask some questions?" she tentatively asked. "After all, I've had experiences that most people can't imagine, so I have many questions. Please rest assured, if you don't want me to know, I will immediately stop my curiosity."
The grayish-black smoke paused for a moment, then formed new characters:
[Can]
Although it was just some smoke, Wen Ting sensed a hint of unease in its slow movements.
It seemed the other party wasn't too keen on providing answers, so she tried to keep it brief.
"thank you."
"I want to know, will I be able to return to my original world safely? And will I be involved in these kinds of things again in the future?"
[Um]
[Not necessarily. If you wish not to get involved, I will grant your wish.]
This wish is worth considering.
Thank you. I'm not sure how to address you yet.
[pickup]
"Ms. Shi?" The girl looked far younger than her age to be addressed as "Ms." "May I call you that?"
[Um]
"Thank you," Wen Ting said politely. "Ms. Shi, how did you get in?"
Shi Shi wrote down concisely and succinctly:
[I Exorcise Ghost Stories]
Wen Ting's eyes darkened slightly; this answer was not unexpected.
She had long ago speculated that since there were "evil" supernatural forces in the world, then nature must have "righteous" forces to resolve supernatural phenomena in order to balance the balance.
Haha, you're early enough. If you were a minute later, she would have left on her own.
Wen Ting asked a few more questions, but the answers were all brief. The girl seemed to be not good at talking to people and had average language skills.
There's no time left.
They communicated for three minutes through the wall, and then Shi received a new task from [World]. She urged, "[State your wish]."
Wen Ting still had a lot to learn, but according to the girl and Gong Baidie, she would forget everything that happened in the ghost story after leaving, so knowing too much now seemed pointless.
“Thank you for patiently answering my questions.” She stopped the conversation and stated her wish without hesitation, “I want money—the currency circulating in my country in a legal and legitimate way, the more the better.”
[no problem]
Shi skillfully wrote: [Saving one life costs 30,000, killing a lord costs 2 million, you can get 2.36 million]
"Wait a minute!" Wen Ting exclaimed in surprise, "The number of people who left the ghost story should be more than 12..." She realized what she had said after she finished speaking.
The number 5 represents the number of people she killed by logging into the OA system. The others were killed by the lord and had nothing to do with her!
"Only two million?" She couldn't believe it. Such a small prize for achieving a complete victory in such a difficult survival competition?
[Two million three hundred and sixty thousand]
The tone of the text was somewhat cold:
These are the rules set by [the world].
Wen Ting, with her keen perception, immediately softened her stance: "I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. Please forgive me if I have offended you."
Have you decided on your wish?
Is she sure...? Is she sure she can trade such a bizarre and terrifying experience for three years' worth of income?
Wen Ting was unwilling to accept it; no matter how you looked at it, she was the one who lost out.
"Or, can I wish to become the art director of Midorimori?"
This is beyond my authority.
I find it difficult to interfere with the existing rules within the world's life system, let alone change the fate of other life forms.
Wen Ting became the chief beauty, and the fate of the original chief beauty changed drastically; Shi no longer had this power.
"So, you mean you can only give me disposable inanimate objects?"
[I can also share some of my power with you within the rules to make you more beautiful and healthier.]
Besides money, she had no other more practical desires. Wen Ting was very disappointed.
A white dot of light flew past her eyes, and only then did she remember that there was a person lying on the ground.
Gong Baidie's body had decomposed down to her heart; with such a small body, she couldn't even turn over. After being pushed away, she remained face down.
2.36 million —
According to her previous calculations, with Gong Baidie's embroidery skills, earning 60,000 to 70,000 yuan a month would not be difficult.
If she keeps him, she can gain more than the reward in just three years.
Wen Ting looked up at the gray-black text, "Then, can I take him away? Let him retain his memories and live in my world as an ordinary human being."
The smoke paused for a moment.
[good]
She was used to this kind of wish, which was the wish of many survivors in non-malicious ghost stories, but she rarely saw anyone in malicious ghost stories choose this kind of wish.
Wen Ting wanted to confirm further, when she saw a jet-black feather fly in from outside the wall and shoot into the remains of the white butterfly.
In an instant, the floating white light spot was frozen in time.
Accompanied by the sticky sound of flesh and blood flying, Gong Baidie's remains rapidly grew muscles, bones, and nerves, creating a body as if 3D printed.
Wen Ting watched this scene in astonishment, becoming increasingly curious about the girl's origins.
She suddenly realized something was off—
The girl has a well-established system of material rewards; killing a lord for two million is no problem, but "rescuing" someone costs thirty thousand...
The way to escape the ghost stories is death; the so-called "rescue" is, in reality, "murder."
It cannot be ruled out that some clever people have discovered the exit mechanism of the ghost stories and helped others leave by "killing" them;
But what percentage of these kind-hearted people are courageous and resourceful?
Wen Ting believes that most people in ghost stories have the same motive for killing as she does: purely for themselves.
Is this girl really from a "just" organization?
An organization that rewards "murder"?
The girl's self-designation was also not respectable; she called herself "[the world's henchman]".
"Henchmen" is clearly not a positive term.
Wen Ting felt a little uneasy as her heart, which had eased slightly during the conversation, started racing again.
She had glimpsed a corner of darkness, but there was little room for resistance. She could only hope that she would never have anything to do with these supernatural beings again.
With one arm crossed, she stood aside waiting for Gong Baidie to recover.
The repair process was much faster than the decomposition, which indirectly proved that the girl's abilities were much stronger than Gong Baidie's.
When Gong Baidie grew his upper body, Wen Ting immediately moved closer to him.
If the girl were to harm someone, he might, perhaps, be able to help her.
Her legs weren't fully grown yet. Gong Baidie braced herself on the floor with her arms and gave her a sinister look.
He wasn't unaware of her initial wish.
Wen Ting smiled ingratiatingly at him, then clasped her hands together innocently, "Oh, aren't you going to thank me?"
Gong Baidie lowered her eyes, looking at her body slowly returning.
He wasn't angry at all; he was just stuck in a dazed and disbelieving state.
She gave up the money and chose him?
who?
Wen Ting?
The woman who had pinned him to the ground, beaten him, called him a piece of trash, and vowed to die with him just fifteen minutes ago, chose him?
He was so conflicted that he didn't know what expression to wear, and there was a hint of worry in his eyes.
Wen Ting immediately noticed his hesitation. He still didn't believe her.
A sudden gust of wind swept in, pulling the two of them so hard they stumbled and staggered.
The familiar strong wind told them that the ghost story was about to be shattered.
Wen Ting opened her mouth, but the words she was about to say were all blocked by the wind.
Unable to offer any comfort or explanation, she simply shouted at Gong Baidie, "Come find me!"
Gong Baidie gave a weary smile. "I found you, but you don't remember anything."
How could Wen Ting, who knew nothing about it, possibly accept something that suddenly came out of her phone?
His hair and tattered robe danced wildly in the wind, like two splashes of black and red ink.
Wen Ting shook her head, her cheeks stinging from the wind. Unable to speak, she stretched out her index finger and drew a circle in the air.
It won't have any impact.
Her memory will not influence her choices.
Against the wind, she shouted to Gong Baidie at the last moment, "Gong Baidie! Let me know that you are Gong Baidie!"
Like the bet they made before entering the tenth floor—
He bet that once she found out he was not human, she would be eager to get rid of him.
She gambled that as long as she knew he was Gong Baidie, she could live with him.
Wen Ting pointed upstairs and crossed her hands over her chest.
He doesn't need to be a rich second-generation, a director, or a noble young master. He just needs to let her know that he is Gong Baidie.
Gong Baidie was puzzled, her eyes behind her black hair filled with incomprehension.
Why, why would she be so averse to and resistant to the wealthy and powerful "Director Gong," yet accept a non-human monster?
Isn't money what she loves most...? After a moment of thought, Gong Baidie suddenly remembered the resolute way she took off her employee badge.
At that time, Wen Ting was in full bloom, as vibrant as a blazing fire lotus, refusing to bend even an inch, even at the cost of her life.
"Money—"
"Darling, whether in the game or in real life, what allows people to live with dignity in any world is money!"
At this moment, a series of seemingly minor details come together.
Gong Baidie suddenly grabbed Wen Ting's wrist, flustered and anxious.
What she wanted wasn't money, what she wanted was...
Why does she emphasize "living with dignity"?
What happened to her? What happened to her before he awakened, during the time when Wen Ting uninstalled the game?
The wind was strong.
Wen Ting's eyes curved upwards, her consciousness gradually fading.
I didn't have time to tell him, but I believe there will be a chance in the future.
With her last bit of strength, she gripped Gong Baidie tightly.
You must come and find her, you absolutely must come and find her. Given Gong Baidie's status, don't let her two million go down the drain.
He is the soul of her creation, stroke by stroke, bit by bit. Every strand of Gong Baidie's hair belongs to her; he is a part of her.
She doesn't trust anyone; she only trusts herself, even if a part of herself is a monster or a worthless piece of trash that nobody wants—that's still herself.
She felt perfectly justified.
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Author's note: In short: Wen Ting only accepts narcissus.
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