ko-fi 2/2! Sorry it’s coming out at a weird time but I wanted to get it out tonight ^^’
CW: Mentions of nonconsensual sex
“What the fuck? Is it Schezar’s dream world again?” Shao Ci would never have thought that something so high-energy would happen when he was just going to sleep normally. Could it be that he would be able to see Schezar this time?
Shao Ci took a few steps forward, feeling perturbed, and spotted a blond youth laying in the shrubs, asleep. His soft blonde hair fanned out on the grass, his expression serene. He was sleeping deeply.
“What’s wrong with Schezar?” Shao Ci walked over slowly. “Is this not his dream world? Why does he look like he’s still sleeping? It can’t be that it’s my dream world, right…”
[Through examination, the previous capture target Schezar (the system always had some evil intentions in this aspect) had some instability in his genes that led to a congenital disorder. It wasn’t just that his eyes couldn’t see. It would also cause his lifespan to become extremely short. He probably wouldn’t live past thirty.]
No wonder Schezar already got his lunchbox before the protagonist was born in the original novel…Wait, this kind of thing should have been said way earlier, right!
[Earlier on, there wasn’t enough data collected about this world. It couldn’t be calculated.] The system said, [Before, the reason the previous capture target Schezar would take a youth’s appearance was also in order to alleviate his illness. He also used the holy stone to force his body’s condition to regulate itself as it did when he was young.]
“So that’s what happened. Then how is he still alive…” Shao Ci suddenly felt that the most miserable person in this novel must be Schezar. He was clearly a prince, but he was always being bullied by other people. Then, after managing to take the throne, he got his lunchbox before he could enjoy his life.
[Because the host used too much of his ability at first, it improved the previous capture target Schezar’s body slightly, so he just sank into a coma later, relying on nutrient liquid to maintain his body’s functions. Although he won’t die, there’s also no way for him to wake up.]
“…Maybe I shouldn’t have saved him at first.” If he was living like a vegetable, it would be better to just get his lunchbox… No, Shao Ci suddenly realized something very serious. “Wait, then why would I come here?”
[It’s probably because the host arrived within the scope of the area that his spirit energy covered and was pulled in unconsciously,] the system said. [By the way, host, your body also has a bit of risk.]
“Huh? Wait.” Shao Ci was shocked. “You mean that I might become a vegetable?!”
[Host’s genes were transformed thanks to the holy stone. Although at the moment it doesn’t look any different from a normal Zerg’s, in fact your body will quickly have no way to endure it. After a period of time, you’ll sink into situation just like the previous capture target’s.]
“But the rumors outside don’t say anything like this? And the original protagonist didn’t either!” Shao Ci looked at Schezar on the floor, his heart tightening. Could this turning-into-a-vegetable plot continue to develop?!
[When all is said and done, the number of lower class Zerg who used the holy stone to transform into normal Zerg is too low. Most died because of other reasons before their lifespan was exhausted… Since the original protagonist had the protection of the world’s consciousness, he naturally didn’t worry about these kinds of things.]
How cruel!! Did people without the protagonist halo have to eat their lunchbox whenever? Shao Ci was indignant.
“Then can I go straight to the next world in the future?” Shao Ci asked, upset. “I’ve already met the original protagonist. There aren’t any problems, right?”
[To be honest, the host can only count as fully completing the task when the original protagonist has reached the pinnacle (about at the end of the novel).]
Shao Ci felt that the system wanted to force him to death. “…Fine, what hope do I have left for completing the task? I’ll probably become a vegetable in a few days… By the way, is there anything like fast-forwarding?”
[There’s not quite enough energy left, but in the future I’ll find a way to activate the host’s latent potential. Although in the short term it will exhaust the host’s lifespan, it’s enough time for the host to see the original protagonist one last time.
Why did it sound just like he was going to be eating his lunchbox tomorrow!
After learning these ruthless tidings, Shao Ci suddenly woke up. When he felt his forehead, he realized his head was soaked in cold sweat.
Although he wanted to tell himself that everything that had just happened was just a dream, how could a dream have such clear contents?
The system sounded as though it was easy to do, but in fact who knew what would happen? So what if it could activate his latent potential? Under those circumstances, if an accident occured, he wouldn’t have a way to recover.
Shao Ci got out of bed, going outside to drink a cup of water and calm down. He sluggishly walked back with the cup. When he pushed open the door, he spotted Islair sitting inside his room, looking as though he had been waiting for him for a long time. He was given such a fright that he nearly dropped the cup.
When Islair’s gaze landed on the cup, his eyes finally relaxed. He said quietly, “I even thought you left again.”
Shao Ci didn’t know what Islair was worrying about. “How could that happen? And at this kind of place, even if I want to leave I can’t manage it.”
Immediately, Shao Ci wondered, How did Islair know even when I left to get a cup of water? If he thought about it carefully, he would think of some scary things… It was better not to continue thinking. Being ignorant was good too.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“You’re right. I was thinking too much.” Islair chuckled quietly. “…There are only a few days before our wedding, but I feel more and more restless.”
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Now, other than the fact that he was going to turn into a vegetable, there weren’t any problems! {Although this kind of problem was very big, okay!}
Islair took Shao Ci’s hand naturally. “Sometimes, I don’t even know whether I’m dreaming or not. I’m always afraid that someday, after I wake up, you’ll disappear… You’ll think I’m ridiculous for actually having these kinds of thoughts, right? At first, I didn’t want to say it, but at night, I can’t stop myself from saying it. If I wasn’t always holding back, I would really want to always stay by your side.”
That’s not necessary!
“Of course, I won’t. After all, we’ve only met again for two weeks…”
Shao Ci thought that Islair should be having some pre-wedding jitters, right… No!! “Wedding? Wait, only been two weeks? So soon? Is it really okay to have an important event in your life so casually…”
“Right, I forgot to tell you. Actually, I started to prepare when I discovered your identity at the mining planet,” Islair said, smiling slightly. “I already had people forge an identity for you, and the wedding location is pretty much decorated… Because I’m a little bit anxious, you know. I want to be with you soon.”
He was preparing too early, wasn’t he? Besides, how could he randomly forget about something like this?
Shao Ci had thousands of things he wanted to say. In the end, they became one sentence. “…As long as you’re happy.”
After, Islair still didn’t leave the room. He insisted on staying to watch Shao Ci sleep. Shao Ci was afraid of provoking him, so he obediently got on bed and slept.
A few days passed in the blink of an eye. These days, Shao Ci didn’t dream of Schezar. He thought things would pass like this.
The location of the wedding wasn’t in the capital planet, but rather another private planet that Islair owned. Supposedly, it started as a sacred place for marriages. Every year, there were countless couples that went there to get married. But later it was bought by Islair for a high price.
Shao Ci could only sigh at the willfulness of the rich…
Now, there were practically no outsiders on the planet. There were only the guests that had been invited later. Practically all of the members of the empire’s high society had come.
In fact, when everyone had received the invitation, they were dumbfounded. Although they had seen the gossip about Islair, they thought he was just playing around… Who would have thought that someone like Islair would really marry a commoner?! This was too abnormal.
The wedding would also be livestreamed on the star net. Most of the people in the empire were watching. Several people began to wail when they saw the news, vowing that they absolutely wouldn’t watch, but in reality the number of viewers was still high. It was practically enough to crash the website.
Almost everyone was unsure about how their male god was about to marry after just half a month. They had still thought this might be a rumor. Now, in the end, it was obvious that everything was real.
As a key figure in the situation, Shao Ci also felt uncomfortable all over. Why was he marrying a man when he hadn’t even been in love before… And he was going to be watched by so many people. It was crazy. How was he supposed to forget about this!
And in the few days before the wedding, Islair even had people keep watch on him at all times. Even if Shao Ci said he didn’t want to get married, he would probably get knocked straight out. Shao Ci guessed that he understood Islair pretty well. He could only let nature take its course and let things happen.
After Shao Ci finished changing in the lounge, he was pushed into an empty space outside.
It was decorated romantically. Countless flower petals floated down from the sky. Islair, wearing a white suit, stood across from him, looking over with a smile.
Shao Ci walked over nervously. Islair tugged his hand, easily plucking off the glory ruby ring that had puzzled Shao Ci for days… In any case, Shao Ci couldn’t figure out how these kinds of high-tech rings worked.
Islair took out another ring. He seemed a little bit nervous, slowly sliding the ring on Shao Ci’s finger.
Shao Ci similarly took out a ring that had been prepared earlier, putting it on Islair’s finger. He could also feel that Islair’s breathing was rapid.
Shao Ci couldn’t tell what material the ring was made of this time. In any case, no matter what it was, it was fine as long as it wasn’t as scary as that glory ruby ring from before.
The invited audience began to applaud fiercely. No matter how they thought of Shao Ci, now, they had no choice but to believe that Islair really wanted to marry a commoner. And he was wholeheartedly infatuated with the commoner.
Since it was someone that Islair sincerely liked, then no matter what his original status was, Shao Ci wasn’t someone they could displease.
After he put on the ring, Islair was ecstatic. He pulled Shao Ci into his arms, his voice low. “Xiao Ci, I love you.”
Although he had already gone so far, no matter what, Shao Ci couldn’t say those three words. He could only respond with silence. “…”
Because Shao Ci didn’t respond, Islair’s mood sank down significantly. He said quietly, “I know that for a long time I always thought I was doing the best for you, but I forced a lot of bad things on you. Many times, I didn’t respect your wishes… But from today onwards, I’ll amend those wrongs. I believe that one day, sooner or later, you’ll like me, too…”
“I…” Shao Ci was moved hearing Islair’s words, but he really wanted to ask Islair how they could be together if their sexual orientations were different.
Suddenly, Shao Ci’s head burst with pain. His vision turned black and he fell towards Islair, unable to control his movements. His entire body was throbbing with pain, like it was spreading from the depths of his body.
Fuck, Shao Ci thought, were the rumored side-effects about to come?!
At first, Islair was pleasantly surprised that Shao Ci had thrown himself at him, but he quickly realized that there was something wrong. He propped Shao Ci up, his voice flustered. “Xiao Ci? What’s wrong?”
Shao Ci could feel that he was about to faint. He hurriedly grabbed Islair, struggling to speak. “…I’m sorry…”
Shao Ci could imagine how tragic the headlines would be tomorrow. Something scary like “The Day the Empire’s Male God was Married, His Partner Turned Into a Vegetable”… But he didn’t want to faint at such an important moment either!!
–
After he fainted, Shao Ci unexpectedly arrived in the middle of a flower garden. He suspected that he might have been bound to this place.
But this time, Schezar was actually awake. He was sitting in the flower garden.
Schezar was still using the form of a youth. He was sitting agreeably on the chair, holding a teacup. When he saw Shao Ci walking closer, he immediately let out a bashful smile, just like he had when they first met. Back then, Shao Ci didn’t know what a terrifying identity this teenager had.
Schezar said, “You finally came.”
“How did you wake up?” Shao Ci looked at him in shock. “You hadn’t yet before.”
“At first, I wouldn’t have woken up. But because you came and stimulated my dream world, it let me wake up temporarily.” Schezar said slowly, “Ever since then, I’ve been waiting for you.”
Shao Ci knew that he wouldn’t be able to run away in any case, so his mood calmed significantly. He questioned, “Waiting for me for what?”
“I want you to kill me,” Schezar said leisurely.
“Wait, what?” Shao Ci didn’t understand. “Why?”
“Naturally, it’s because only you can kill me,” Schezar said. “And I only want you to kill me… If it’s someone else, I might not be happy, but if the person who acts is you, I think I’ll be very happy.”
Shao Ci hesitated for a moment. He blurted, “But if you keep living, there might be a way for you to survive in the future. If you die now, there’s no chance.”
Schezar set down his teacup, walking slowly to Shao Ci’s side. He hugged Shao Ci, pressing his ear against hs chest. “…I don’t want to live anymore… Besides, if I can make you die with me, I won’t have any regrets.”
Shao Ci’s body stiffened from Schezar’s actions, but he cared more about what Schezar was saying. “You know the holy stone’s side effects?”
“Yep, I know. Because my mother died because of this too.” Schezar smiled slightly. “When I was first born, I should have died, but because I survived until now… In fact, I should have gone crazy a long time ago. At first, I wanted to have everyone on the capital buried with me, but after I met you, I had a new resolve.”
“…You…” Shao Ci found his sincerity weakening. He knew Schezar had some problems, but he didn’t expect he was so insane.
“You’re starting to hate me, aren’t you? It doesn’t matter. Even if you hate me, I’m very happy.” Schezar pressed a small knife into Shao Ci’s hand, a sincere smile exposing itself on his face, and gripped his chest. “Come on. Aim here and stab me. As long as you kill me here, the real me should die like this, too… Otherwise, you can only stay here with me until you die.”
“Since this is what you want me to do, then I won’t say anything then.” Shao Ci sighed. If it wasn’t for him, Schezar would probably have died peacefully a long time ago, not like how he was in a state no better than death.
Shao Ci held the small knife, taking a deep breath, and stabbed down towards Schezar’s chest.
Probably because he was in a dream world, stabbing down didn’t have any true feeling. It was just a light, buoyant feeling.
In any case, it wasn’t his first time doing this kind of thing. He didn’t know whether it was because of the dream world, but Shao Ci could feel that he was actually getting extremely cold.
Schezar’s body and the surrounding flower garden began to slowly dissipate. In the last moments, he looked at Shao Ci with a slight smile. “In fact, I really like you…”
Shao Ci: “…I couldn’t feel it at all, okay!”
–
Unlike what Shao Ci had thought before he fainted, Islair blocked all news the next day. Nobody knew what had happened to Shao Ci. Although everyone had many different guesses, Islair never came out to make a statement, and nobody knew whether Shao Ci was still alive.
Afterwards, the plot followed the original novel. Because Islair had ignored them in the beginning, the rebel army developed rapidly. When the upper levels of the empire realized what was happening, it was already too late to stop.
The higher levels of the empire seized Pei Fan and thought everything was finally resolved. They didn’t expect that Pei Fan had let himself get captured, and thus recruited several noble Zerg to be his subordinates. He even infiltrated into the imperial family. Several princesses were fighting to be the first to renounce their statuses and follow Pei Fan.
After all, the author was probably trying to play up the extravagance. What was written in the original novel was that the princesses were convinced to follow Pei Fan because of his charm, so now that Pei Fan didn’t want to have a harem, he really was able to stay single. All of the people who were in his harem in the original novel became his subordinates.
In just a few years, Pei Fan’s power grew strong. Other than the capital, everywhere else was pretty much already under his control.
This was something simply impossible. A few years ago, nobody would believe that a mere lower class Zerg was actually able to get so far, but Pei Fan really did it.
But nobody would believe it if they were told Pei Fan was just a lower class Zerg. There were even some people who thought he was descended from the most noble lineage. Otherwise, how would he have such power and charm?
In such a chaotic time, Islair didn’t think of dealing with Pei Fan at all. Every day, he just stayed in the room with the comatose Shao Ci, continuously sensing his body. This was the only way that he could feel Shao Ci was still alive, that he hadn’t completely left.
Ever since the beginning, he had understand that Shao Ci had fallen unconscious for the same reason as Schezar. Even someone like Schezar couldn’t wake up. Naturally, the chances for Shao Ci to wake up were uncertain.
“If I had known something like this would happen, I wouldn’t…” Islair mumbled, kissing Shao Ci’s unconscious body. Even he didn’t know what it would be like now if he had known earlier.
Islair didn’t leave Shao Ci’s side until the rebel army fought their way to the capital planet. He cupped Shao Ci’s cheek, wishing he didn’t have to leave, and kissing his forehead and cheeks continuously. “Wait for me to come back.”
Despite his words, he already knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to come back. But he couldn’t make himself kill the unconscious Shao Ci… He always thought that maybe Shao Ci would wake up one day, facing him once more just like he had in the beginning.
Some time after Islair finished getting dressed and left, Shao Ci stirred from where he was lying on the bed, his eyes opening gently.
To Shao Ci, he had woken up in the blink of an eye since he stabbed Schezar in the garden. If it wasn’t for the system’s prompt, he wouldn’t be able to tell that several years had already passed.
“It’s already the time where the original novel would end? It’s so soon…” Shao Ci struggled into a sitting position, feeling like he had been run over by a truck. He looked down and saw that his entire body was full of marks. When he moved slightly, the region below his neck that couldn’t be described was especially painful.
“What the fuck?” Shao Ci was completely flabbergasted. After a long time, he couldn’t understand what had happened. “W-what happened to my body?”
[When the host was in a coma, the capture target did things below the neck that can’t be described every day. Still, at any rate, the host wasn’t aware, and couldn’t feel it, so it doesn’t matter.]
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter! This is obviously a very big problem!” Shao Ci’s face flushed red, then turned white. When he thought about what might have happened, he wished he could run into a wall and die. “I was… So casually… And every day… I thought that being a vegetable would let me avoid these things, but Islair actually… Is he even a human? System, shouldn’t you prevent these kinds of things from happening?!”
[In any case, host, you and him are married. It’s very normal to do these things.]
“Wasn’t that just a stopgap!” Shao Ci regretted not being more strong-willed before. He should have just turned him down and become a vegetable. Now, he was both angry and regretful enough that he could spit blood. “That’s not…” Shao Ci began to cough. “This is…” He wiped the blood from his lips. This wasn’t blood from anger. It was his body being unable to hold on.
There was no time to stay here ridiculing and grieving over his lost chastity. Shao Ci hurriedly crawled up from the bed, ignoring the marks on his body and hurriedly finding some clothes to put on. Because there were only Islair’s clothes, they were a bit big on him, but he couldn’t care too much about it.
Shao Ci was afraid he wouldn’t be able to see Pei Fan dying. He hurriedly used his ability to heal himself and extend his life a bit before he felt a little bitter. The sad thing was that it caused him to go into the heat he had always worried about. His body began to feel warm.
“Why do I have to go into heat at such an important moment!” Was it because it was the Zerg’s specialty, so he was getting a sampler before he died?!
Shao Ci walked down two flights of stairs with difficulty. At that moment, the main hall was a mess. He didn’t know what had happened.
When Shao Ci went out the door, he saw that the garden that used to be beautiful and exquisite had pretty much been turned into ruins.
And Pei Fan, wearing all black and with a grave expression on his face, stood in the midst of the ruins. When he heard the noise, he turned around to look.