The Lonely Soul

When Ji Xiaodao came to her senses, everything was over...

More than a dozen knights and their warhorses lay fallen in a vast pool of blood, scarlet and ghastly like a hellish painting. Mo stood at the center of this abstract work he had woven himself. His hood had fallen back, and he smiled as he spread his arms toward the sky, as if he wanted to embrace something. Half his face was hidden beneath a black mask that covered only his eyes, while his gaze was filled with irrepressible madness and a deep, abyss-like calm.

Contradictory yet harmonious...

For some reason, looking at the man standing in the blood with an expression of pure enjoyment, Ji Xiaodao suddenly felt a strange, utterly unreal pain. This girl, who had rarely grown close to anyone besides her parents and elder sister since the moment she was born, could somehow see the soul of the person in the distance. There was nothing there but loneliness and despair...

She wanted to turn around and leave, afraid that the soul, seemingly howling soundlessly, might swallow her at any moment.

But she did not want to leave either. Deep in Ji Xiaodao's heart, she somehow could not let go of that figure who made her feel such immense loneliness and despair...

That person seemed to be rejecting this world, or perhaps... hating this world...

Whatever the case, she did not want to abandon him like this!

What am I thinking...? This is obviously just a game, isn't it? That person is only a player, just like me. Am I imagining things too much? Has my delayed chuunibyou finally started acting up or something...?

She rubbed her temple and inwardly complained about herself, who had suddenly become somewhat abnormal.

By then, Mo had also returned with the sole survivor among the ordinary knights. He was a young man with short chestnut hair. Although he had not suffered any injuries in the earlier battle, which could only be described as a massacre, he still looked as though he had lost his soul. His face was utterly bloodless, and his right hand, gripping his longsword, trembled violently. Clearly, he could not accept the reality that his companions, whom he had spent every day with, had been slaughtered in an instant.

"I'm going to take care of my own business now. I hope you can leave immediately." Mo looked at the stern-faced Dark Elf girl, who seemed to be spacing out, and spoke softly. "My patience is poor. Very poor."

Ji Xiaodao bit her lip and shook her head lightly. Although her elder sister had dragged her into quite a few mental-simulation games before, this was the first time she had seen a scene so terrifyingly realistic. An ordinary girl from a normal family might have been unable to endure it and forcibly disconnected, yet she quickly overcame the psychological barrier. Staring stubbornly into the eyes behind Mo's mask, she said, "What I do is none of your business!"

Yet after she finished speaking, Mo, who had claimed to have very poor patience, did not raise a hand and send her off to respawn as she had expected. He merely shrugged and said flatly, "All right."

He's ignoring me now...

"Look at me." Mo turned to command the survivor he had deliberately left alive. "If you don't want to experience a death lasting several dozen minutes, you'd better do as I say."

The soldier, whose mental defenses had already been completely destroyed, raised his head and stared blankly into Mo's eyes.

They were eyes beyond description. It was as if the most primal terrifying entity in existence revolved within them—something like... evil given form.

"Watch her here." Mo pointed at Ji Xiaodao, who was standing nearby, and spoke softly to the young soldier. "Don't let her disturb me. Of course, you don't need to stop her from leaving. Once I return, kill yourself."

Original Sin

Talent Skill

Note: The original sin you represent can also corrode others. This allows you to make a target obey one command of yours regardless of any conditions. Cooldown: 24 hours. It can never be used on the same target again.

Although it said "one command" above, after testing it during Mo's next login, Mo discovered that this talent had many hidden effects. For example, when a target's mind was extremely fragile, activating it could make them obey every command he issued in rapid succession for a short period, as long as they could understand the commands. It was extremely useful.

Ji Xiaodao saw the soldier's entire body stiffen, after which he nodded naturally and replied respectfully, "All right."

He then came over with his sword raised and stood there, staring at her with absolute focus.

Meanwhile, Mo dragged the knight commander, whose right forearm had been blown apart at the very beginning, into a side street. A moment later, he disappeared from the girl's sight.

Ji Xiaodao instinctively tried to follow, but a longsword blocked her path.

"You can't go over there, Elf." The young man with chestnut hair spoke to her seriously. "You can stay here or leave, but you can't go over there."

Ji Xiaodao glanced at the knight who had been so distraught moments ago that he had nearly collapsed on the spot. "Are you all right?"

"No." He answered lightly. "The squad I belonged to was completely wiped out. They say Banse City has already been destroyed, and it looks like the captain won't survive either. He usually took care of me like an elder brother, but..."

He calmly looked at Ji Xiaodao. "You still can't go over there."

"You're insane." Looking at his placid eyes, Ji Xiaodao could not imagine what sort of mental state he was in.

"Insane?" The soldier shook his head. "No. Of course I'm not insane. In fact, I've never been more clearheaded."

"If you would, Sir Knight~" Mo bent over and smiled at the nearly dying knight commander. "Please share the information you know with me."

The response was a mouthful of bloody spit, followed by a cold retort: "Why don't you ask someone else? How about the souls of those you killed? You bastard!"

"I made a mistake." Mo spread his hands. "My first stop was the banquet held by the city lord. Unfortunately, nearly everyone who possessed valuable information was there—the city lord, the finance minister, hereditary counts, trade guild leaders, beautiful women... There were too many of them. In short, just when I realized I needed some information for reference~"

His eyes flashed with chaotic light, along with something else, and he bared his teeth in a grin. "They all died."

"Pure evil..." The knight commander sighed. "Kill me. I won't tell you anything."

"You will." Countless fine incantations appeared at Mo's fingertips as he chuckled. "Here's some good news: Banse City has a large Dark Warlock association. Apparently, those clever people caused a great deal of trouble for local security. Now that problem has been solved. Oh, by the way, would you mind telling me your name?"

"Ou." The young knight's face had already gone pale to the point of translucence. He glared fixedly into Mo's eyes. "I swear I'll curse you!"

Mo merely whistled and nodded. "I believe you will. But before that, we have plenty of time to try out the good things I picked up from the Dark Warlock association..."

You have logged out of the game. The mental connection has been severed. Have a good morning.

The familiar dizziness struck him. Mo Tan covered his head as he sat up from the gaming pod, immediately glancing at his phone. "If the first time was an accident, then the second time means there's a problem or an incident." He muttered under his breath, then hurried into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Afterward, wearing only his underwear, he washed a few clothes, hastily ate a couple of slices of bread, and rushed out.

He was going out to feed the cats.

The residential complex where Mo Tan lived was on the poorer side. The environment was bad, transportation was inconvenient, and the buildings were old. There were also many stray animals that liked to gather nearby. Whenever he had the chance, he would squat at the entrance early in the morning to feed the cats. If he saw plastic bags, empty drink bottles, cigarette butts, or similar trash along the way, he would clean those up too.

From this, it was clear that after waking up, he was currently in the Lawful Good personality. After all, under his other two personalities, Mo Tan was extremely unwilling to go outside early in the morning and freeze, let alone casually do charity work.

This change in personality was difficult to explain. As mentioned before, his split personalities did not have anything resembling independence. Every personality was Mo Tan himself. No matter the time, he knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. It was merely a difference in his state of mind.

Perhaps every one of us suffered from this condition to some degree. To give a simple example, perhaps one day, while riding a bus, you saw an elderly person walk on. Influenced by your personality, moral values, habitual thought patterns, and many other factors, you might naturally give up your seat. But perhaps if the situation changed slightly, and you encountered the same person and the same matter in the same setting, you might make an entirely different decision~

You might even get into a fight with them. If you happened to be a little smarter, you might even have to pay compensation.

Perhaps this example was enough to prove that our state of mind and personality were constantly undergoing subtle changes. These changes were not obvious, but sometimes they could produce completely different results.

The same person might give up their seat to the elderly, the weak, the sick, or the disabled ninety, eighty, or seventy times out of a hundred trips by bus or subway. Mo Tan, however, was different~

His personality had never undergone the subtle changes of an ordinary person. Instead, it was completely divided into several modes.

To use the faction classifications of Innocent World as an example...

Lawful Good Mo Tan would give up his seat one hundred percent of the time, no matter the circumstances.

Chaotic Neutral Mo Tan would decide based on his mood, the other person's appearance, and various other factors. But this was absolutely not random. Under exactly the same circumstances, his choice would always be the same one, one hundred percent of the time.

Absolute Neutral Mo Tan would choose to give up his seat one hundred percent of the time under the influence of the moral standards recognized by ordinary people. He might complain inwardly, but he was simply the sort of person who followed the crowd. He would do whatever most people considered correct, and would not do what they considered incorrect.

In short, Mo Tan was currently surrounded by a group of stray cats. He happily patted and fed them, occasionally greeting neighbors who passed by, carrying groceries for one elderly man, dancing with another middle-aged woman, and so on...

He was practically a model young man.

Then, as noon approached...

"Ah!" He slapped his forehead and muttered to himself, "I didn't log into Mo's character yesterday. I wonder how things are going with the caravan. The caravan members should have managed to break out successfully, right...? I wonder what kind of situation my other account is in..."

His mouth suddenly tasted bitter, and he rose with a sigh. "Hei Fan's account still has to hurry over for the gathering, and Tan Mo's account has only just begun setting things up. Being able to create several characters because of this illness should obviously be protagonist-level treatment, so why does it feel so miserable for me...? Playing is so exhausting, and..."

The phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

"As expected..." Seeing Buddy A's name on the screen, Mo Tan answered the call. "Hello, Yi Dong. What's up?"

The friend on the other end chuckled. "What, are you an honest man right now? Feeding cats?"

"You're the honest man. Your whole family is full of honest men." Mo Tan tossed the empty bag of cat food into a trash can as he replied. "How did you figure out what state I'm in right now? I've been doing pretty well with this."

Yi Dong answered crisply, "It's simple. You only properly call me by name in the first sentence after answering the phone when you're like this, instead of calling me Buddy A or some other nonsense. By the way, why couldn't I add you as a friend after logging in yesterday? Weren't you playing?"

"That's a long story." Mo Tan had no reason to hide it from him. As he climbed the stairs, he said, "It wasn't convenient to explain yesterday. Actually, I ran into a bug..."

He then told Yi Dong that he could create three characters. He even switched personalities once during the explanation, but Yi Dong was already used to it. Aside from the change in style, there was not much else different.

"So that's roughly what happened." Mo Tan swiftly switched between computer systems as he spoke. "You created a character too, right? Let me guess—Chaotic Neutral faction, correct?"

Yi Dong exclaimed, "Damn, you really are a genius! You actually guessed it!"

"It's nothing..." Mo Tan rapidly tapped away at the keyboard and replied absentmindedly, "You're too transparent and too carefree. It wasn't hard to figure out with a little deduction."

Yi Dong laughed awkwardly and said helplessly, "Fine. Anyway, you and I are complete opposites. My character's name in the game is Rin Wintercrow. I'm planning to take the ice mage route. I'm currently a level-three mage of the Eternal race, and my current location is Icewind Hold. I haven't found out anything else."

"What the hell is the Eternal race?" Mo Tan asked with a laugh. "Zombies?"

"You could put it that way." Yi Dong replied irritably, "Basically, my character's soul is attached to my character's corpse. Fortunately, it doesn't look much different from when it was alive... Forget that for now. How about we meet up in the game?"

Mo Tan rolled his eyes. "I still haven't figured out exactly where any of my characters are."

"Player Independent Space." Yi Dong said, "Didn't the official announcement mention it before?"

"We'll see." Mo Tan narrowed his eyes slightly at the screen. "I'm hanging up. I'm a little busy here..."

After putting down the phone, he braced both hands on the desk, leaned forward, and pressed his face close to the monitor. In a low voice, he muttered, "I seem to have underestimated you a little, Shuangye!"

The End of Chapter Twelve