Receiving no response whatsoever, the questioning voice beside Song Zang’s ear grew increasingly agitated, thick with resentment and grievance, as though denouncing an unfaithful lover.
The noise made Song Zang’s head buzz. He felt as though he had been dragged into a hazy waking dream, everything carrying a strange sense of unreality.
He was not actually worried about his own safety, because Song Zang knew perfectly well what was happening.
Under the effect of his special title bonus, the 【mid-stage boss】 who had been forcibly bound to him and compelled to fall in love with him had finally appeared.
Song Zang was more worried that Yin Chen might become the target of the other party’s anger and get hurt, so he hurriedly tried to struggle out of his embrace. But the more he struggled, the tighter Yin Chen held him. And the tighter Yin Chen held him, the more intense the questioning voice beside his ear became…
Just then, the double-decker yacht that had gone out early that morning to investigate the “dark clouds” slowly returned to its mooring.
“Hey, are you two filming an idol drama or something?”
Chi Yan appeared on deck with two fishing rods over her shoulder. Seeing Song Zang and Yin Chen already hugging in broad daylight, she could not help looking puzzled.
Yin Chen said nothing, his expression cold and grim.
He picked up the shattered conch shell from the ground, then hauled Song Zang up as if he were a sack, firmly pinning a hand against his lower back so he could not run off on his own.
Chi Yan frowned slightly and immediately sensed that something about the atmosphere was wrong. She turned and shouted into the yacht, “Lu Xing You, stop sleeping! Get out here!”
Bang!
A moment later, Lu Xing You kicked the door open with a dark expression, his hair sticking out like a chicken’s nest. “What now? Who died this time?”
Before Chi Yan could answer, Yin Chen spoke in a low voice. “Li Jun is going crazy again. I need to know what he saw.”
Lu Xing You froze. His gaze shifted toward Song Zang, who had silently given up struggling, and he immediately woke up a little more. “What happened? Is Xiao Song being controlled?”
“No, but he can’t hear me.” Yin Chen answered slowly, meeting Song Zang’s eyes with his thin lips pressed into a tight line. His tone was not impatient, but beneath his narrow eyes churned a restless, vicious darkness.
There were many things in this world that even absolute strength could not solve. This was something Yin Chen had only recently learned.
“Help! Aaaah, no!! Kill him! Hurry up and kill him!!”
Li Jun’s hysterical screaming approached from a distance, echoing across the beach.
Before the three of them could even turn around to deal with Li Jun, he came charging over on his own, having lost one shoe somewhere along the way.
Chi Yan jumped down from the yacht with her fishing rod and knocked him to the ground with a single strike. Expressionless, she asked, “Calm down. What kind of future did you see?”
“Song Zang is a demon. He’s a demon…”
Li Jun lay curled on the ground, trembling as he muttered.
Song Zang himself heard that sentence perfectly clearly.
Once Yin Chen had him firmly trapped in his arms, Song Zang bit his lip and stubbornly refused to make a sound. No matter what happened, he ignored the incessant noise beside his ear, fully intending to give the other party the silent treatment until the bitter end. The tactic worked somewhat, and the crazed, resentful questioning finally began to quiet down.
Song Zang did not doubt the adjective Li Jun had blurted out. He thought that perhaps the future scenes Li Jun had seen earlier had never been him at all, but rather an Aberrant who looked exactly like him.
An exceptionally powerful, terrifying, bloodthirsty Aberrant.
So annoying. But his most urgent task right now was to calm Yin Chen down before he completely lost his temper.
“Yin Chen, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Song Zang stroked Yin Chen’s tense back and spoke softly.
Unexpectedly, the moment he finished speaking, that irritating voice started up again. “Why are you ignoring me? Why won’t you talk to me?”
Song Zang was genuinely fed up. He had never expected his own voice could be this annoying. His face immediately went cold as he raised his voice and threatened, “Shut up! You’re so annoying. Say one more word and I’ll never fall in love with you for the rest of my life! I mean it!”
…
The next second, the entire world fell completely silent.
The players gathered around Song Zang and observing him closely were also stunned into silence by the scolding.
Yin Chen pressed Song Zang down into a chair and pinched his cold cheek. “Who were you talking to?”
“A really noisy monster. He’s annoying me to death,” Song Zang replied irritably, practically fuming.
Chi Yan frowned. “Where is he? Why couldn’t any of us hear him?”
“He came out of that broken conch shell.” Song Zang looked at the fragments in Yin Chen’s hand. “You all need to be very careful. Li Jun suddenly seeing the future is probably his doing too. That monster definitely looks exactly like me.”
Yin Chen’s attention, however, was not on that. He continued staring down at Song Zang and pressed him, “You just said you would never fall in love with him for the rest of your life. What does that mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. He kept screaming in my ear that he loved me, so that was the only way I could threaten him into shutting up.” Song Zang glared at Yin Chen. “I told you to stay farther away because I was worried he might deliberately hurt you. But you insisted on holding me so tightly… He made my head hurt from all the yelling.”
“Hurt me? Other than you, who could?” Yin Chen’s expression darkened as he sneered.
Song Zang quietly reminded him, “Yin Chen, he definitely looks exactly like me. If he suddenly ambushed you while wearing my face, could you really kill him on the spot without hesitating?”
“…Of course I could.”
Hopefully Yin Chen would keep his word.
“Really? How ruthless.” Song Zang gave a soft snort, though a smile gradually appeared in his eyes.
Song Zang had returned to normal, but Li Jun was still curled up on the ground gnawing his fingernails.
Chi Yan endured and endured, doing her best to patiently ask Li Jun exactly what sort of future he had seen. Instead, Li Jun immediately burst into loud sobs.
He said “Song Zang” had peeled off his skin, hung it on the beach, and dried it into a stiff slab of salted meat.
Song Zang: …
That really did sound like something a demon would do.
This time, Chi Yan did not knock him unconscious. Utterly speechless, she simply had the staff help him back inside to rest.
As for the conch shell, it was nothing more than an ordinary conch. Aside from its glossy surface being capable of reflecting light, there was nothing special about it whatsoever.
So Yin Chen personally ground the shell fragments into an even finer powder and disdainfully tossed them into the sea.
After all the commotion, it was nearly noon.
The sky remained dull and gray, and the formerly beautiful golden beach had become terribly dim.
The kitchen had been repaired and could now provide food normally. No one was in the mood to cook for themselves, so they simply joined the staff and ate the basic employee meal.
“Xiao Song, are you sure that monster won’t actively hurt you?” Chi Yan asked.
Song Zang nodded lightly. “He won’t.”
He trusted the power of 【Mask】.
“Fine. We’ll put your problem aside for now and talk about the giant eyeballs in the sky.”
That enormous thing floating overhead was the real presence making everyone’s skin crawl. No one knew why it had appeared or what terrifying things it might do next.
If they wanted to clear the game, they would definitely have to kill it completely. Unfortunately, humans needed tools in order to fly into the sky.
Chi Yan’s idea was simple and brutal. There was no need to personally go up there and fight the thing head-on. They might as well break into the Ministry of Defense and see whether a missile could injure it.
Chang Mei Jiang, however, was somewhat worried. “What if all the eyeballs that get shot down turn into even stronger Aberrants…?”
“If missiles aren’t powerful enough, that’s fine too. The Points Shop has even stronger heavily modified fusion bombs. One shot and you could blow millions of holes through the sky.”
“How many points?”
“Around a hundred thousand.”
“…Can’t afford it. Next.”
The two began discussing all sorts of alternative plans. Meanwhile, Lu Xing You was monitoring the endless stream of real and fake news appearing online.
The Northern Hemisphere had now been cut off from the internet and completely out of contact for more than twelve hours. Websites whose servers were located in the Northern Hemisphere had also all shut down and become inaccessible.
Government troops were livestreaming from customs checkpoints. They opened fire and sank a small boat attempting to cross illegally.
A survivor struggled in the sea, rising and falling with the waves. Before long, a burst of machine-gun fire brutally swept through him.
There was no mosaic censoring the scene and the camera never turned away. The dense cluster of bloody holes across the man’s body was clearly visible beneath the high-definition lens.
His pupils dilated and his body went rigid. Just like that, he quietly sank into the depths of the sea, with no one coming to retrieve his corpse.
Thick blood spread through the dark seawater. The surface gradually returned to calm, looking eerie and ominous beyond description. No one watching the livestream could believe their eyes.
Did this world still have laws? Did it still have order? What terrifying thing had happened? Arguments and conspiracy theories flooded the internet, with no side capable of convincing the others.
At the same time, the volunteer rescue team founded by Wang Corporation had successfully returned from the equator, bringing the latest news.
The Northern Hemisphere was about to completely submit to the rule of 【God】 and sever all ties with the rest of humanity.
As for the red-gray “dark clouds” hanging in the sky… the rescue team also provided an explanation, one simple enough for anyone to understand.
That was the sacred and inviolable true form of an angel.
The two pieces of news sounded utterly absurd, but they were not unsupported claims.
Mayor Wang was also conducting a livestream in City A, showing the entire internet the video evidence provided by the rescue team.
One side of the equatorial monument was completely deserted, while the other was packed with people kneeling in submission before God.
Huge crowds of pilgrims wore pale, coarse-cloth garments and carried no electronic devices. Their expressions were peaceful and devout.
The so-called Gods were not the same God described in the Bible. In appearance, they were actually indistinguishable from ordinary humans. Lu Xing You could tell at a glance that every one of these self-proclaimed Gods was an Aberrant.
They merely used “God” as a title because it was easier for foolish humans to understand and carried greater power to intimidate.
When rescue-team members tentatively interviewed them, the pilgrims behaved with extreme arrogance and condescension.
They believed 【God】 was a life-form tens of thousands of times more advanced than humanity and therefore had every right to descend upon Earth and rule over frail human parasites.
The Southern Hemisphere, meanwhile, consisted of defective products abandoned by God, unworthy of bathing alongside them beneath the protection of the angels.
After watching the video, netizens across the Southern Hemisphere exploded into heated debate over whether any of it was real.
Some said Mayor Wang had fabricated the entire thing as a publicity stunt, manufacturing false evidence to justify openly establishing himself as a ruler in City A. Others claimed the fall of the Northern Hemisphere was the work of a mysterious cult or a meticulously organized terrorist group.
Still others firmly believed they were finished and that aliens were about to rule Earth.
Every possible opinion clashed endlessly, while the government’s terrifying iron-fisted methods actually served to reinforce Mayor Wang’s claims.
Lu Xing You thought for a moment, then activated his bot army and began flooding every discussion thread, sharing the recorded link to the first episode of Cupid’s Kiss everywhere like stray dogs marking their territory.
No matter how popular a dating show became, it normally occupied only the hottest entertainment headlines. Compared with matters affecting people’s lives and major social news, it was still niche content.
The real-name whistleblowing video had served as the first bundle of kindling, and this new flood of bot posts successfully focused the attention of half the world on the dating show.
Gradually, more and more viewers became willing to believe that the corpses shown dying on the program were not special effects, not mannequins, and not part of some deliberately mysterious horror script.
Humanity was finally beginning to seriously confront the existence of 【Aberrants】 and the appearance of impostors.
The resulting panic spread across half the world like a rising tide.
“Director Chang, believe it or not, our ratings for the next episode are absolutely going to explode.” Lu Xing You turned his screen toward the dining table, grinning as he took credit.
“What, you’re still planning to do the side mission?”
Lu Xing You nodded, nowhere near as serious as the two women. “I can deal with those disgusting eyeballs. There’s no reason to waste points. We can fly a plane up there, have President Yin beat me half to death first, and then I’ll be able to punch every last one of them apart.”
Chi Yan punched him, thoroughly annoyed. “Shut up. I indulged you the first time, and now you want to pull that stunt again? Aren’t you afraid you’ll actually die?”
“Death is just eternal sleep. What’s there to be afraid of? I’d love that.” Lu Xing You shrugged indifferently.
“Even if we really do fly a plane up there, you wouldn’t be the one solving the problem. President Yin hasn’t even made a move yet. Even half-dead, you still couldn’t beat him. Go play with your computer and stop radiating your miserable death-wish energy in front of me!”
“Sis, sis, sis, stop pulling my ear…”
The dining table was lively, but from beginning to end, Song Zang offered no opinion.
After finishing his meal, he remained curled up in Yin Chen’s arms, silently scrolling through Yin Chen’s phone.
There was not much useful information. He saw laboratory results showing that Aberrant bodies were no different from human bodies, reports on various research and development projects, a drafted itinerary for assassinating Chairman Wang, and all sorts of miscellaneous company affairs.
Yin Chen really was very honest with him, Song Zang thought. He was the bad one who always liked hiding half the truth and did not even want Yin Chen looking at his phone for more than a moment.
Just as Song Zang’s thoughts began to wander, a text message with no displayed number appeared at the top of the screen.
【Why are you sitting in another man’s lap? Isn’t having me enough? I’m the one who understands you best. I’m very sad.】
Song Zang’s expression stiffened. The hand loosely resting around his waist also abruptly tightened.
He knew Yin Chen had seen everything. I’m finished. Yin Chen is definitely going to be furious.
“What are you waiting for? Say something nice and lure him out.” Yin Chen tightened his arm around Song Zang’s waist, his lips curling into a mocking smile, his voice icy. “I’m going to kill him.”
Before Song Zang could answer, Yin Chen suddenly pinched his chin from behind. His warm lips came so close they nearly brushed Song Zang’s cheek. “Not talking? Are you planning to cuckold me a second time?”
Bang!
Boom!
The next instant, more than half of the employee cafeteria collapsed.
This was nothing like earlier, when Yin Chen had merely smashed through a single wall. More than half the entire building came crashing down in one clean sweep.
Dust surged into the air as concrete and masonry shattered into rubble. The staff members who were still cleaning in the kitchen had no time to react before being buried beneath rebar and debris. Only the dining table where the players sat remained completely untouched.
Even more absurdly, the mission panel refreshed.
Of the four employees who had just been crushed to death, three were impostors. They had died just like that, effortlessly!
“Holy shit?!” Chang Mei Jiang covered her nose, eyes wide. “President Yin, you’re freaking amazing! Do you know magic?”
To everyone’s surprise, Yin Chen’s expression was extremely grim. He pulled the startled Song Zang protectively into his arms and slowly said, “…I didn’t do that.”
“Huh? Then who did?”
Right. Who else could it have been?
Vaguely realizing something was wrong, everyone’s expressions grew increasingly ugly. Their entire bodies tensed as they prepared for an enemy to appear.
Just then, a clear, springlike young man’s voice sounded above their heads. It was gentle and seemingly harmless, yet sent an even stronger chill down everyone’s spine.
Because that person’s voice was identical to Song Zang’s, except it lacked the soft, constrained awkwardness Song Zang deliberately affected. In its place was a trace of lofty, languid arrogance.
“Don’t mistake who your benefactor is. Song Zang, I’m right here.”
Everyone looked up in unison and, sure enough, saw another “Song Zang.”
No one knew when he had appeared. “Song Zang” stood atop the ruins in black clothing, a casual smile tugging at his lips. His ink-black eyes, like polished jade, stabbed directly toward Yin Chen, filled with outrageously blatant provocation and killing intent.
“Lowly human, who gave you permission to speak to him like that? Get your filthy hands off him. Let go.”
Clearly, that threat was aimed solely at Yin Chen. The other players stood on guard with every nerve taut, yet “Song Zang” did not even bother looking at them, as though they were no different from the sand and rubble beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, the real Song Zang, wearing a puppy-print T-shirt… could only huddle trembling in Yin Chen’s arms with a blank expression. Although he was acting, the contrast between the two of them was still strikingly bizarre.
As expected of a boss-level character, he was even more overbearing than every Aberrant who had appeared before. He had not bothered copying Song Zang’s temperament or clothing at all. It was almost as though he was intentionally making the distinction obvious, determined to let the entire world know they were not the same person.
Amid the silence, Song Zang secretly observed Yin Chen’s expression. He knew Yin Chen far too well, so he keenly caught several strange, subtle, almost imperceptible changes.
Despite being insulted like that, Yin Chen’s instinctive reaction was not anger or irritation. Instead, absurdly enough, he went blank for one second.
Only one second. He stood there foolishly frozen, his lashes fluttering slowly in confusion, while a fleeting, bewildered sense of loss passed through his phoenix eyes.
But Song Zang did not believe Yin Chen could simply be bewitched by an impostor wearing his face. If he had to come up with a reasonable explanation…
Song Zang suspected that before losing his memory, he might once have been just as arrogant. After all, when it came to fighting, he was pretty formidable himself.
While Song Zang was still letting his thoughts run wild, Yin Chen had already returned to his usual state.
Not the slightest anger had been provoked in him. He merely pulled Song Zang closer and curved his lips into an even more arrogant smile than the impostor’s. “You can’t take him from me. If you’ve got the guts, come try.”
Song Zang: …?
Why is he provoking the enemy now?!
Even more absurdly, Chang Mei Jiang was secretly rummaging through her handbag. Like a magician pulling out a prop, she produced a portable handheld camera. The fear in her eyes rapidly transformed into a blazing light of gossip. Without saying a word, she began secretly filming the explosive scene.
“Song Zang” lifted his chin, his voice dripping with mockery. “Hah. What a stupid provocation. Do you know something? I don’t need to compete with you every moment.”
The instant he finished speaking, his figure vanished from above. In the blink of an eye, “Song Zang” had somehow appeared on top of the dining table.
No one could see his movement trajectory at all. It made no sense. He seemed innately capable of something resembling teleportation.
Standing on the dust-covered tablecloth, “Song Zang” looked down from above with a smile and continued, “Because I am always beside him. I watch him, from night until day. Every minute, every second, I am watching. His good and bad, his falsehood and sincerity, I know all of it.
“So I fell in love with him. I love every side of him, while you… are nothing but a human who understands nothing. Stop dreaming of competing with me.”
The words sent waves of revulsion through Song Zang.
What does he mean, every minute and every second? That’s terrifying!
He pressed down on Yin Chen’s slightly tensed hand, looked up at his impostor with a pale face, and demanded one word at a time, “You watch me shower every day?”
“Yeah. You’re my lover. Why wouldn’t I be allowed to watch?”
“Song Zang” confidently confirmed his suspicion, his voice turning gentle. “I’m not secretly watching. Every drop of water you’ve touched, every mirror, every pane of glass, all of them contain my eyes.”
The arm around Song Zang’s waist tightened even further. Song Zang quickly stroked Yin Chen without drawing attention to it, seizing the opportunity to continue questioning him. “Your eyes? What’s your relationship with that disgusting mass of eyeballs in the sky?”
“That thing? Just some worthless trash that doesn’t love you. No wonder it looks so disgusting. Unlike me. I’m as beautiful as you are. Every part of me is pretty and absolutely perfect…”
The black-clothed youth loftily criticized the 【Sacred Angel】 worshipped by the people of the Northern Hemisphere, his attitude utterly contemptuous. Compared with that dense mass of clustered eyeballs, he was clearly far more satisfied with his own appearance.
After casually finishing his judgment, he did not forget to turn gentle again toward Song Zang. “Why are you asking about it? Do you hate it? I can kill it for you.”
“Yes, I hate it very much. Will you kill it for me?” Song Zang answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Sure.”
“Thank you. You’re so nice. I think I’m starting to like you a little. You’re amazing.” Song Zang rattled off a string of praise in one breath, his shining eyes brimming with admiration.
Yin Chen could hardly believe his ears. His expression instantly darkened like deep water. “…What did you say?!”
Song Zang glared back at him, conveying everything without words: What’s wrong with saying a few nice things? Only a complete idiot would pass up a free advantage!
The wildly praised “Song Zang” immediately became even more pleased with himself, a faint blush quietly appearing across his porcelain-white cheeks.
He looked extremely easy to fool, both innocent and cruel. Lifting his chin, he mocked Yin Chen. “Hmph. Stupid human. Now you understand, don’t you? You aren’t worthy of comparing yourself to me.”
Before Yin Chen could answer, the smiling black-clothed youth jumped down from the table and lightly brushed his pale fingertips across Song Zang’s face. “Song Zang, wait for me. I’m going to kill that trash for you right now.”
He seemed to have already regarded Yin Chen as a defeated rival, to the point that he simply ignored Yin Chen’s existence. Before leaving, he carefully patted Song Zang’s head, then turned and disappeared beyond the collapsed cafeteria.
Yin Chen’s face became even darker. The equally ignored players exchanged awkward looks as embarrassment spread wildly through the air.
Still holding up her camera, Chang Mei Jiang gave a small cough. “Xiao Song… you’re the most badass person I’ve ever met.”