Even with his eyes closed, Song Zang could see the numbers of the transfer countdown.
Beyond that, a system prompt he had never seen before appeared.
【You received an unconditional gift from the false god · Goddess of Frost and Snow. One-time Item: Faith-and-Incense Apotheosis Method · Skill Book.】
【Use immediately? Note: Laws related to apotheosis are effective only inside specific instances containing false-god roles.】
Elio’s Notes: “Faith-and-Incense” uses “incense” in its broader devotional sense: worship, offerings, prayers, and the religious support accumulated around a deity, not simply literal burning incense.
Song Zang selected yes, but he had absolutely no attention to spare for the skill’s details.
He did not even know what he was thinking. His mind was filled with chaotic images spinning like a revolving lantern, tangled beyond repair.
Medisa’s bright, unrestrained smile. The unfamiliar warmth of soft fingers brushing over his hair. Sister Pudu muttering the Creed with a crazed expression while trying to pour poisoned milk into Lan Yu Heng’s mouth. Rough hemp rope grinding against his wrists inside the drafty carriage. A burly man handling him like livestock as he dragged him from the carriage…
Song Zang felt terrible, but he could not sob uncontrollably for her. The soreness had only just risen toward his nose before another indescribable emotion blocked and wore it away, leaving behind faint numbness.
Song Zang had secretly taken prescription medication to suppress his emotions before. The sensation was almost identical. He supposed he should be numb. At this point, he should not even need medication anymore. People he knew dying before his eyes was something he should have become numb to long ago.
So Song Zang opened his eyes.
He did not raise his head.
Instead, he turned and hugged Yin Chen with all his strength, crushing the secretly frowning baby between them. With a faint, almost hidden sob in his voice, he fiercely said, “You are never allowed to die.”
Yin Chen froze. Then he grabbed the baby by the loose skin at the back of its neck and swiftly removed the obstructive thing. He wrapped his arms around Song Zang, his expression inexplicably complicated and resentful.
“…I should be the one saying that.”
Song Zang did not care. He rubbed his face against the side of Yin Chen’s neck and continued making threats. “If you die, I’ll blow up Earth. Then I’ll dig up your grave and beat you until even your ashes are gone!”
Yin Chen stroked his hair. Being threatened actually made his lips slowly curve upward.
“Okay. If I dare die, you can do whatever you want with me.”
The next instant, absolute darkness swallowed their vision.
…
When Song Zang opened his eyes again, he discovered he was not at Crane Forest Manor.
He had returned to the familiar café. His eyes were still slightly red and swollen and had not fully recovered.
A blue system screen appeared.
【Congratulations. You are this game’s MVP. Reward: Advanced Healing Coffee ×1.】
This time, Song Zang had genuinely endured the greatest amount of mental contamination. Combined with Medisa’s substantial contribution, winning MVP was hardly unexpected.
Clerk No. 1 appeared at exactly the right time and brought Song Zang his reward, but her footsteps seemed faintly unstable. Song Zang narrowed his eyes and turned toward the direction from which she had approached… He actually saw Mr. Butler’s back.
Yin Chen was also looking at him with one eyebrow raised and a meaningful smile.
Yin Chen sat deep inside a booth. His heavy fur cloak had been casually thrown over one side of the seat.
The café was warm. Large patches of frost covering the fur were slowly melting, droplets falling with soft drip, drip sounds, yet the floor remained perfectly dry.
Clearly, they had not arrived much earlier.
Song Zang froze for a long moment before finally remembering that Yin Chen really had once expressed interest in recruiting Mr. Butler.
Yin Chen stared at Song Zang’s reddened eyes, his voice becoming exceptionally gentle. “You cried so pitifully. Come here and let me hold you.”
The programmed brilliant smile on Clerk No. 1’s face immediately froze. Her expression became strange. She discreetly glanced at Song Zang, then silently turned around and disappeared.
She fled absurdly fast, almost as though escaping for her life.
Song Zang thoughtfully put away the coffee. He stopped worrying about Clerk No. 1’s strange behavior, stood, and walked toward the booth.
He voluntarily sat on Yin Chen’s lap, directly pulled open that blood-soaked shirt, and inspected his injury.
Sure enough, the terrifying cut across his abdomen had not disappeared. Song Zang’s crude, unprofessional stitches still held the wound together, while the thick bandages wrapped tightly across it were soaking wet with bright blood.
“It’s fine. I’ll heal,” Yin Chen said carelessly. He grabbed Song Zang’s tense wrist and gently pulled his hand away.
Song Zang glared at him and helplessly changed the subject. “Why can all of you come to the café whenever you want, but I only get transferred here when I’m collecting a reward?” Mr. Butler smiled and proactively explained, “Young Master, because Master and I have both participated in special beginner-guidance instances. We are elite veteran players officially recognized by the system.”
“Mm. Like the time Brother Xie brought me through my first instance?” Song Zang understood.
“Young Master is wise.” Mr. Butler nodded.
Yin Chen’s lips twitched. He looked at the butler with an indescribable expression. “Don’t get too immersed in the role. You aren’t my retainer anymore.”
“Of course, Boss,” the butler said smoothly. “Would you still like my discounted full-service live-in household-management package?”
“…No. Stop selling it to me.”
“Of course, Boss.”
Song Zang ignored their exchange and lowered his head to study the menu. He ordered a hot latte.
He remained somewhat concerned about Clerk No. 1’s strange behavior and wanted to test her once more.
Unexpectedly, she simply refused to appear, vanishing without a trace. The steaming latte with delicate foam art slowly materialized from the center of the table.
Song Zang helplessly gave up. He lifted the cup and took a small sip, trying to calm his turbulent emotions as quickly as possible. The scent of caramel and milk lingered around his nose. It tasted entirely modern, barely bringing him a trace of real security.
【Coming out of character】 was something that required gradual adjustment. One moment ago, he had been overflowing with emotion inside an instance. The next, he had suddenly returned to the modern world. The sense of detachment created by such a drastic contrast made Song Zang, unusually, feel mildly uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Yin Chen and the others had not changed much. All three still wore elaborate clothing from the instance, looking like three people indulging in extravagantly expensive cosplay… medieval-history fanatics. Yin Chen seemed to notice Song Zang’s discomfort too. While discussing future team procedures with Mr. Butler, he tightly wrapped Song Zang in his arms and held him close.
Yin Chen’s familiar scent of blood mixed with mint. Song Zang liked the powerful restraint of being hugged like this. He relaxed cooperatively and allowed Yin Chen to hold him however he wanted.
Yin Chen, however, had ulterior motives. First he gently stroked Song Zang’s waist as though comforting him. Then he tenderly captured Song Zang’s wrist and rubbed it repeatedly. Finally, without drawing attention, he stole the caramel latte and drank the entire thing in one gulp.
Song Zang: …
Song Zang was silent for a moment before angrily scolding him. “Aren’t you afraid everything you drink will leak directly out through your stomach? Hurry up and heal yourself!”
“No. This is the first wound you ever personally bandaged for me. I’m keeping it as a souvenir.” Yin Chen rejected him decisively with a smile.
“Then from now on, every time you get hurt, I’ll personally bandage you. Happy?”
Yin Chen remained reluctant. “But I basically never get hurt, unless… you cut me open again sometime. How about it?”
“No!”
“You cutting me actually felt pretty good.”
“Don’t even think about it!”
The two became increasingly sticky with one another. Mr. Butler quietly watched from the side and slowly revealed his classic gratified expression.
He even bent down naturally, retrieved a camera from the drawer beneath the booth, and took a photograph of them.
The shutter clicked. Mr. Butler immediately placed the camera on the table and watched it slowly disappear. Then the photograph unexpectedly appeared on the café wall, transformed into one of the elegantly framed decorations. The picture was in color, meaning Song Zang and Yin Chen were both still alive. Most of the other frames surrounding them had already faded into lifeless black and white.
Song Zang forgot to argue with Yin Chen and stared in amazement. “I never knew the café had so many interesting things.”
The instant he finished speaking, footsteps sounded.
Clerk No. 1 had been forced to appear after Song Zang accidentally activated an explanation service.
She maintained her smile through obvious difficulty and loudly introduced the café’s hidden entertainment facilities.
Private cinema rooms, billiards, arcade games, hot-spring therapy, even virtual lovers… Every elite player recognized by the system could use all of them free of charge.
But only for one week every month. Time inside passed at the same rate as the outside world.
If players became addicted to entertainment inside the café and refused to return to reality, they could still be accidentally murdered outside… or simply starve to death.
There had already been far too many idiotic deaths of that kind. Clerk No. 1 solemnly warned Song Zang never to become addicted to virtual entertainment.
“She’s right. I shouldn’t get addicted. I’m leaving first. You two continue.”
As Song Zang spoke, he pulled out the Advanced Healing Coffee and placed it heavily on the table. Then he glared at Yin Chen.
Song Zang had only come to collect his MVP reward in the first place. He could remain in the café only briefly.
And he genuinely could not tolerate watching Yin Chen conduct business while carrying a severe injury. Every time Song Zang told him to heal himself, Yin Chen became reluctant and started saying increasingly outrageous things…
If he stayed any longer, Song Zang suspected he would lose control of the irritation building in his chest. Yin Chen froze for a long moment and stared at the bitter coffee in surprise. “For me?”
“Obviously.” Song Zang’s tone was completely natural. He had no idea why Yin Chen looked so stunned.
According to the system description, Advanced Healing Coffee possessed absurdly powerful effects, practically equivalent to an immortal elixir from a cultivation story. It could bring the dead back to life and regrow flesh over bare bones. Even someone whose head had been chopped in half could drink it and immediately return to perfect health, lively enough to jump around.
Song Zang generally did not participate in combat anyway. He had no use for it. Giving it to Yin Chen was obviously the normal choice.
“I’m not drinking it. It would be wasteful. I’ll keep it for you.” Yin Chen lowered his eyes and concealed his emotions, stubborn as an ox. “You can go. See you next month.”
Song Zang fell silent. He took a deep breath, then abruptly pounced on Yin Chen and rubbed his hair into a bird’s nest before viciously squeezing his soft, elastic chest muscle.
Extremely hard.
Meeting Yin Chen’s astonished gaze, Song Zang sneered triumphantly, turned around, and transferred himself away.
Back at Crane Forest Manor, that soft, springy sensation remained wrapped around Song Zang’s thoughts for an embarrassingly long time.
There was nothing he could do. It really felt extraordinarily good… After squeezing only twice, Song Zang had completely stopped being angry. If anything, he now felt strangely nostalgic.
He rubbed his fingertips together and looked out the window. The bedroom curtains had not been fully closed, allowing a narrow strip of bright morning light to enter.
He also saw Ning Ran racing down the mountain in his sports car. Perhaps something urgent had happened at home.
Song Zang was curious but did not immediately go downstairs. Instead, he locked the bedroom door and lay back on the bed, maintaining slow, steady breathing.
He had something more important to handle. Closing his eyes, Song Zang slowly entered his memory palace and walked deeper inside.
He brushed away thick layers of cobwebs and dust and opened the old rooms he had unlocked in advance.
Song Zang repeatedly took deep breaths before experimentally reaching out and touching the unfamiliar memories he had never told anyone about.
So far, Yin Chen was the only person who had accidentally heard the smallest fragment while they were in Hell. But that did not matter. Yin Chen probably understood Song Zang better than Song Zang understood himself anyway.
The memories newly unsealed this time carried enormous weight. They were much richer than the scattered fragments he had recovered before, stretching back to Song Zang’s school years and even earlier.
Song Zang had guessed correctly. He really was an orphan. His childhood had not been particularly good, but neither had it been so miserable that he lacked food and clothing.
When he was young, groups of older orphans constantly bullied him. Of course, in that environment, every little child was bullied by the older children. Large amounts of food would be stolen away, and there was nothing anyone could do. As long as one did not attract attention and behaved obediently, at least the beatings were less frequent.
Song Zang watched himself secretly digging through garbage bins. He used small tree branches to rummage around drains, collecting cigarette butts discarded by adults, roughly cleaned them, rolled the remaining tobacco into new cigarettes, then regularly offered them as tribute to the older children.
Using this brilliant trick, combined with occasionally surrendering his pocket money and acting sweet and obedient in front of teachers and the director, Song Zang successfully survived childhood.
For more than ten years, he ate institutional food containing almost no oil or meat. Group after group of bullies was eventually sent off to vocational schools, while Song Zang aggressively skipped grades, entered a boarding high school, went to university, and gradually escaped the closed environment of constant internal fighting.
Song Zang’s grades were excellent. Scholarships and government assistance never stopped, and his food gradually improved. But the foundation left by childhood had been too poor. Even after reaching adulthood, Song Zang remained the smallest and frailest among his classmates. People mocked him for being sickly, envied and insulted him as effeminate, accused him of being a crybaby. There was no shortage of opinions.
But an ordinary school environment was vastly easier than an orphanage. There were also far more upright, energetic young people. Song Zang was beautiful, and plenty of people actually pursued him purely because of his face.
All he needed to do was bite his lip, look pitiful, and leave sadly, allowing everyone else to fight among themselves… then secretly go study sanda and practical fighting techniques.
Punching a bad person directly in the carotid sinus and then sitting nearby crying helplessly could also solve a great many interpersonal problems.
Song Zang lay on the bed and watched these memories flash past. Then he discovered that his memories of the real world… were rather useless?
Even before losing his memory, he had always stayed alone and had almost no interest in other people. He only cared about protecting himself.
Aside from not being hunted by some unknown organization, his peaceful life after graduation, when he quickly cut off social contact, was nearly identical to his life after amnesia.
Even if Song Zang suddenly dropped dead inside his apartment or mysteriously disappeared, no one besides his landlord or building management would actively search for him.
Perhaps that was precisely why the system chose him.
One day, inside a dream, Song Zang became a beta player of the Infinite Game.
From that day onward, he dreamed every night. He was forced to fight through life-and-death situations, desperately become stronger, and struggle to survive mandatory instances that updated every single night.
Such a year-round game mechanism was obviously unreasonable and would gradually drive every player insane. No wonder it had later been changed to once a month, leaving players at least some room to breathe.
Song Zang watched himself begin with solo instances, gradually becoming stronger as the beta progressed, then move on to two-person instances, four-person instances… even massive open worlds containing a hundred players.
Friendships forged between life and death were the sincerest.
Song Zang had once possessed friends. Real friends. Later, every one of them died.
The two players tortured to death, their tongues rotting after horrifying punishment, had come from Song Zang’s first four-person instance. That was why his memory of them remained especially deep. They were one of the unbearable shadows of his past.
Unfortunately, as time continued and instance difficulty climbed higher and higher, even Song Zang eventually became numb.
During the final hundred-player open world, the slaughter had been so horrific that only three people successfully escaped.
Song Zang had been incapable of protecting any other player. He moved cautiously among terrifying, twisted NPCs and relied on 【Mask】 to hide everywhere. Near the end, he was even forced to crawl inside the stomach of a black ox, curling among foul, wet intestines and relying on the animal’s stubborn life force to escape alive.
There had been far too many dangerous, thrilling experiences. Yet watching them now felt like viewing everything through a hazy curtain. Song Zang remained numb and could barely empathize with his past self.
Because Yin Chen did not exist anywhere inside those memories.
Song Zang searched desperately. He carefully inspected every NPC with remotely similar temperament, along with countless strange monsters. He was completely certain there was absolutely no trace of Yin Chen.
After that, the memories broke off again.
Song Zang still had no idea why he had been hunted, why his Resistance and Life values appeared as question marks, or why he had lost so many memories of the past.
But he had not gained nothing. At last, Song Zang understood where his terrifying physical strength came from. He had earned every bit of it slowly, little by little, by gambling his life. None of it had come cheaply.
And… there was finally an explanation for the appearance of 【Mask】.
During the beta version of the game, 【Mask】 had never been Song Zang’s special title. It had been a permanent item stolen from a powerful boss during his very first solo instance!
Exactly as the name implied, it was a mask. It was made from the skin of some unidentified, eerie creature. The material felt soft and warm, exactly like living human skin that was still breathing.
It allowed Song Zang to freely alter his appearance, conceal his presence and body shape, and even transform into the appearance of monster NPCs to infiltrate their ranks.
This mask had accompanied Song Zang through countless days and nights. It had saved his life during crises again and again. Eventually… it had even slowly developed the faintest trace of self-awareness, changing Song Zang’s appearance on its own when he was severely injured and unconscious.
Song Zang had been terrified 【Mask】 might evolve in the direction of a facehugger, eventually turn against him, and begin feeding on his flesh and blood. Because of that, he had cautiously guarded against it for a very long time.
But the danger he feared never occurred. After 【Mask】 saved him several more times, Song Zang finally lost restraint and poured every usable resource he possessed into strengthening it, afraid it might someday be destroyed.
Emotionally, Song Zang depended heavily upon it. Perhaps it was the only thing he allowed himself to depend upon.
Because everyone could die. Anyone could betray him. Song Zang himself could also drop dead without warning. He could never casually form deeper attachments to people and then break someone else’s heart by disappearing.
The soft mask grew increasingly lively beneath Song Zang’s careful nurturing, yet remained just as obedient as ever, like a strange little alien puppy.
Later, it could even obey commands, independently transform into different objects or little animals, perch on Song Zang’s shoulder, settle into his hands, and imitate the flying carpets of mythology to carry him across cliffs and through starlit skies.
…
Those tiny fragments of everyday life scattered between brutal high-difficulty instances had been Song Zang’s only chances to breathe. Remembering them now, they seemed too beautiful to be real.
Why had it disappeared?
Why had it become a special title?
Did it still possess consciousness? Did it still remember him?
Song Zang repeatedly wandered through his memory palace. He could no longer find even one locked room.
The sensation of those missing sections was suffocating. Song Zang rubbed his aching temples and silently suppressed the emotional collapse threatening to rise inside him.
Only after opening the system screen and staring fixedly at the brilliant, ornate decorations around his special title did Song Zang finally rediscover a reason to breathe. Gasping, he sat upright.
“If I raise you to the highest level, will you come back and see me?”
Song Zang reached toward the intangible screen and gently stroked the dazzling golden light around 【Mask】 as he whispered.
Whether it returned or not, Song Zang would try. At least then he still possessed a sliver of hope.
Previously, he had not planned to deliberately grind experience any longer, because successfully deceiving one hundred thousand people was absolutely not an easy goal.
He had thought three abilities were already enough. There was no need to continue pretending to be weak in every single instance. He could gradually expose a little strength and improve his future clearing efficiency. But now that he thought about it… forget it. He might as well keep hiding behind Yin Chen and obediently become the despised little follower everyone looked down on.
The following month passed quietly at Crane Forest Manor.
Neither Ning Ran nor Ning Yan returned. Even Xie Chun Ye suddenly drove away during a meal one day and disappeared somewhere unknown.
Song Zang asked Chi Yan what had happened, but Chi Yan did not explain in detail. She simply smiled and said, “They’re all fighting a war for me.”
What kind of war were they fighting?
On the surface, a commercial war.
That was right. Song Zang watched financial news and discovered that Chi Yan’s family was no longer merely the wealthiest in Luo City. They had successfully become the richest family in the entire province, massively expanding production lines and enjoying incomparable momentum.
The war seemed to be going extremely well. Song Zang stopped worrying and focused on his daily training, no longer pretending to be frail as deliberately as before.
He discovered he was not strong enough.
He truly was not strong enough.
＊
A month passed quickly. No one uploaded a clearing video this time. 【Mask】 gained experience entirely from older forum news.
Song Zang had already become impatient and desperately wanted to throw himself back into his acting career.
Chi Yan prepared a White Lady for him.
Orange liqueur blended perfectly with fresh lemon juice, while milky-white egg foam floated over the top of the stemmed glass, producing an exceptionally soft, creamy texture.
A classic balance of sweet and sour. It suited Song Zang’s complicated mood remarkably well.
After finishing the cocktail, he quickened his pace back to bed and quietly closed his eyes to wait for sleep.
A blue system screen and Yin Chen’s team invitation arrived exactly on schedule. 【Instance beginning. Countdown: 3, 2, 1…】
【Game Name: “Mountain Village Oddities”
Role: Youngest Son of the Song Family
Clearance Requirement: Expose the secrets the mountain village elders are desperately hiding (0/3)
Side Mission: Rebel, rebel, rebel! Overturn this rotten Heaven!】
【Roleplay Requirement: Do not let anyone “eat up the heirless household.” Do not let any person, any object, anything at all… eat your household bare.
Failure Penalty: Deduct 90% of clearance rewards.】
Elio’s Notes: “Eat up the heirless household” refers here to exploiting or taking over the property of a family left without an heir. The system deliberately stretches the expression into literal horror-comedy with “any person, any object, anything at all.”
This was not a modern instance either… Song Zang became curious but did not immediately open his eyes.
The damp, hard bedboard beneath him hurt his waist. Something warm and wet moved across his face.
An unidentified living creature was silently standing beside his bed.
It leaned down, breathing heavily, and secretly licked the side of his face.
Its tongue was covered in clearly defined barbs.