Zero (Part 1)

"Alright, I just thought you were acting a bit strange and wanted to snap you out of it. Don't be mad at Brian anymore; that uncle of yours is actually quite decent, maybe even... hmm, strangely cute?"

Liao Ji recalled the brief but very pleasant exchange he had with the bearded uncle in the private room, and offered this adjective.

However, once this reached the ears of Irin across from him, it only earned the girl a roll of her eyes.

Cute?

One of you calls the other cute, and the other calls you a naive fool. Fine, so I'm the only big bad villain who isn't liked by anyone!

But in truth, these things were secondary; what Irin cared about more right now was something else.

"O-Old timer, you wouldn't actually believe his nonsense, would you!"

"That wouldn't go that far. After all, we've barely known each other for half a day, counting everything. While I'm quite confident in my charm, I'm not narcissistic to that degree."

Liao Ji shrugged, but his tone quickly took a sharp turn.

"Though, looking at you, Miss Irin, your state is so strange. Could it be... that you really have fallen for me at first sight, and are just a lovesick girl dazzled by my handsome face?"

"I--Ptooey!"

Receiving the expected flowery language from the girl, Liao Ji felt a sense of relief in his heart.

Because—

"Just as a precaution, I should tell you, Miss Irin: I already have someone I love." Liao Ji wore a very serious expression as he said this.

With over ten thousand hours of playtime, even if one played twenty-four hours a day without eating, drinking, or sleeping, it would take over a year. Not to mention that such a thing was impossible; it actually took Liao Ji four or five years to reach that goal.

Spending so much time on a niche single-player game wasn't really Liao Ji's style, but at that time, he happened to be in a rather dark phase of his real life. So, rather than saying he was playing a game, it was more like a spiritual sanctuary and a harbor to escape reality.

Precisely because of this, Liao Ji held deep feelings for Falling and the characters he had cultivated. During that time, they truly brought Liao Ji joy and healing. The feeling of raising the wives he loved step-by-step and watching them grow stronger was something he truly enjoyed; this was perhaps what they called being a character-stan.

Although later on, after they helped him walk out of his low point, he began to put more energy back into reality, and the game became more utilitarian, with him just thinking about clearing it as quickly as possible.

Pfft, this really lived up to that image often posted by silly netizens.

[Don't you get fooled by women in the 3D world!]

Liao Ji laughed at himself inwardly, but regardless, the regrets of his first playthrough were something he had already made up his mind to fix when he chose the second. This time, no matter what, he would make it up to them; no matter what, he had to get close to his wives!

Liao Ji did not deliberately hide his expression, so the girl beside him saw clearly the involuntary, heartfelt smile, the nostalgia, and the happiness on his face as he recalled his gaming experience. Moreover, the girl knew very well that such emotions were hard to fake.

"But didn't you say you came from the Wasteland five hundred years ago?"

"That's right, so the person I love is also from five hundred years ago."

"Then... then isn't she already..." Irin's voice suddenly dropped, and the girl felt as if her chest were blocked by a heavy stone.

Through Liao Ji's few short sentences, Irin had already sketched out the outline of a story in her mind.

Two people who were clearly very much in love were separated for various reasons, and by the time the other party woke up and tried to find them, they discovered that the obstacle between them was the furthest and most unreachable distance in the world—time.

Thinking of this, Irin was instantly filled with an indescribable sense of sorrow, as if she had returned to the time when she was a child, hiding under her covers, secretly reading romance novels and crying her eyes out over the tragedy.

Irin never expected that such a thing would actually happen in reality, and it was happening right before her eyes.

In an instant, the way the girl looked at the young man across from her softened significantly.

As for Liao Ji.

Uh.

Looking at the heartache and sympathy on the girl's face, Liao Ji thought about it and decided it was better not to clarify.

After all, if Irin knew that "they" were actually all still there, and that it was the plural "they," it would kind of ruin the atmosphere.

However, Liao Ji didn't speak, but Irin immediately took the initiative to ask:

"So you said you were going to find them... that is, the Great Emperor's five personal guards—it's actually to find clues about your beloved through them, isn't it!?"

Uh.

Liao Ji looked up slightly into the distance, the moonlight spilling onto the young man.

He first let out a long sigh, then shook his head and chuckled, creating the image of someone who knew the path ahead was a dead end but still insisted on moving forward without hesitation. Finally, he nodded to Irin and said:

"Indeed."

Having received the answer she expected, the girl nodded in understanding.

With this, all the doubts in Irin's heart were resolved. Why Liao Ji was so obsessed with the Great Emperor's personal guards, and why, even after she had told him about the noble and exalted status of those five guards, Liao Ji still refused to give up.

Irin tried to put herself in Liao Ji's shoes. If the person she loved required her to face the five people at the pinnacle of the world's power and strength in order to be saved...

In the end, the girl concluded that she would definitely make the same choice as Liao Ji. Even if they were the legendary personal guards of the Great Emperor, Irin firmly believed she would be fearless.

Thinking of this, the girl instantly felt the image of the young man across from her grow taller in her heart.

"Hmph, alright, alright. I admit I misjudged you before. I didn't expect you, old timer, to be such a devoted person. Based on this sentiment alone, I, Irin, acknowledge you as a good brother!"

Irin extended her pink fist toward Liao Ji, then glared at the young man who hadn't reacted yet. Not until Liao Ji also extended a fist did the girl forcefully bump her fist against his.

"This is our Scavenger Contract. From now on, you are my brother, Irin's brother. And a brother's business is my business, so don't worry, I will help you! No matter how crazy things get, I will go crazy with you!"

"Thank you."

"But, uh... cough cough, before that, old timer, you still have to help me cure my mother first." Irin's face turned red; she seemed to realize that she had just made a grand, boastful speech, only to immediately have to ask for someone else's help, which made her a bit embarrassed.

But after all, we're buddies now, so it's only natural for good brothers to help each other out!

Besides that, "Actually, curing my mom is also beneficial for us finding the Saintess!"

"Oh? How so? Don't tell me your mother is someone from The Church?"

Liao Ji asked that quite casually, but to his surprise, the girl actually nodded.

"Heh heh, your brain turns pretty fast, you're right. My mom used to be an official nun of The Church, and she even went to Michelle City once, where she was praised by the bishop there!"

"That was a bishop, you know? Not even in the same league as the trashy priests here in the Black Cave!" Irin's face was full of pride.

For Liao Ji, this was indeed a pleasant surprise, like finding a hidden reward halfway through a quest.

If he could use the connection to Irin's mother to infiltrate The Church and quickly establish contact, the time it would take for him to see Stia should be greatly shortened.

However, Seeming to notice Liao Ji's doubt, Irin's expression dimmed a little as she turned her head away and said:

"Six years ago, my scumbag of a dad, who had become a Corrupted, went berserk and lost control. After he was gunned down by the Knights Order as a Corrupted Corpse monster, my mom was implicated. That damn priest stripped her of her status as a nun and, under the charge of blasphemy, confiscated all the savings we had worked so hard to scrape together! Our lives plummeted from that point on. If Brian hadn't helped us back then, we might have just starved to death on the streets."

"So, ever since then, even though my mom kept hoping I would study and grow up to be a nun for The Church, I had already seen through them. The so-called Church is just a bunch of hypocritical bastards! Helping the suffering, bringing us happiness—what a load of crap! After I dropped out, I went to the Wasteland with Brian and started learning Scavenger skills from him, and that's when our lives finally started getting back on track. But who would have thought, just when everything was finally looking up, my mom would suddenly..."

Irin gritted her teeth at the end, and Liao Ji finally understood why the girl held such deep resentment toward the priests and The Church.

"Alright, you've already made it through the hardest part, haven't you? Once we get to the auntie and cure her illness, and leave the Black Cave, you two will be able to welcome a new life."

"Also, I want to say that even if your mother were just an ordinary person, I would treat her with the same level of care and do my best to cure her. After all, this is what I promised you from the start. Our employment contract... uh, should I change that to 'brotherly bond' now?"

Liao Ji's sincere words hit like a powerful electric shock, making Irin's heart pound in her chest. She hurriedly muttered to herself that they were just buddies and brothers, while feeling a bit shy and annoyed:

"Old antique, you must have used that line to trick plenty of young girls, right? You just rattle off those smooth-talking lines that leave people all dizzy and confused!"

To this, Liao Ji nodded and admitted quite generously: "Indeed, that might just be the value of having read two hundred romance manga."

"Heh, two hundred romance manga? Forget about the Wasteland era five hundred years ago, even today, five hundred years later, those authors are lazy as hell! They act like updating one extra chapter a day is like killing them! It's bad enough they update so little, but they also drag things out like squeezing toothpaste! They keep writing about these female supporting characters who have no skills but have the worst tempers. You read a few chapters and the main plot hasn't moved an inch. I really admire those dog-shit authors! I just want to lock them in a dark room and whip them with a lash!"

"If it's still like this five hundred years later, you're telling me there were two hundred manga five hundred years ago? Not even a dog would believe that!"

From the dangerous remarks Irin made through gritted teeth, it was clear that web novels and manga weren't exactly thriving in this era.

Liao Ji: "."

"Alright, let's go. The clinic where the auntie is should be just around the next corner."

At the same time Liao Ji and Irin were rushing to the clinic, perhaps even a little earlier.

Haisha Bar.

The bar was pitch black, and only by the moonlight filtering in could one see the scene, which was in complete shambles after the battle and the Knights Order's investigation.

Tables and chairs were overturned, shards of wine bottles covered the floor, the neon tubes on the ceiling had long since broken, with several smashed on the ground, and one could see filthy stains on the floor where blood and alcohol had mixed.

In such a desolate, empty bar.

Suddenly.

From somewhere in the corner of the wall, a red light flickered, appearing particularly conspicuous in the dim bar.

It was a.

Security camera.

The bar's original surveillance camera.

When Brian left, he had turned off all the electrical appliances in Haisha Bar, and later even shut off the main power switch. The entire bar should have been in a state of power failure, and logically, no electrical equipment should have been able to function.

However.

Yes, as part of the "security system," even after the power was cut, the surveillance camera had an emergency backup power supply, so if one really wanted to turn it on, it was possible.

But the problem was.

It was supposed to be "broken."

Things as obvious as surveillance records had already been destroyed by Liao Ji when he used the [Calamity Magnetic Pulse]; otherwise, when the Knights Order arrived, wouldn't they have known everything by looking at the footage?

The Knights Order didn't really doubt this.

Because when a Corrupted goes berserk, they release intense Corrupt Calamity pollution, and many case reports have shown that Corrupt Calamity pollution does indeed affect inanimate objects like electrical appliances, causing permanent failure and damage.

Precisely because of this.

It made the camera that had suddenly "lit up" in the darkness appear so eerie and bizarre.

The surveillance camera glowing with red light was just the first step of everything beginning.

Immediately following this, the electronic screen in the surveillance room corresponding to the camera also lit up, and lines of text began to appear on the screen.

[Hacking successful.]

[System reboot successful.]

[Attempting to repair corrupted data. Current progress 14% 29% 40%]

[Maximum data recovered: 91%]

[Starting image analysis.]

The image on the electronic screen shifted, and the surveillance footage from Haisha Bar over the past month flashed by rapidly, finally settling on the last frame of the video: the moment Liao Ji unleashed the Calamity Magnetic Pulse.

The subsequent footage belonged to the 9% of data that "it" had failed to recover.

But.

This was enough.

In the empty surveillance room deep in the night, the computer seemed to possess a consciousness of its own, operating autonomously. It zoomed in on a specific shot in the recording, again and again.

Until finally.

What "it" had magnified countless times, and what now filled the entire electronic screen, was.

The slender, fair neck of a young girl.

Of course, this was not the point.

The point was.

On the back of that girl's neck, there was a complex and profound shackle-shaped pattern. Although it had become incredibly blurry due to the surveillance quality after being magnified so many times, only the outline could be vaguely discerned.

But this was enough.

[.]

[.]

[ID: 857956. Cumulative deployment time of this "Observation Subject": 4,690,032 hours.]

[Successfully retrieved "Calamity Magnetic" pulse ripple...]

[Suspected "Contract" structure discovered. Comparative analysis shows a 95% similarity to database records.]

[Meets the highest call criteria. Requesting execution of "Ash" protocol.]

[Request approved. Call preparation in progress.]

[Temporary virtual platform construction. Complete.]

[Anti-virus network setup. Complete.]

[Brain-machine "S-11" combat chip pre-download. Complete.]

[Energy monitoring. Complete.]

[.]

[.]

[Waking up the main motherboard. "Zero".]