Dark.
The boundless darkness, cold and sticky, enveloped every remaining ray of consciousness.
Long Jinyu I feel like I am sinking continuously, towards an abyss that even light cannot escape from.
'Am I... dead...'
When this thought came to mind, it was filled with a sense of absurd calmness.
[Ugh... scared me to death! Almost... almost...]
A crying electronic sound sounded in his broken consciousness, it was the system.
[I'm sorry... host... that attack... with the 'concept level' curse lock... my regular defense protocol... was penetrated instantly... I... I couldn't...]
Memory flashback.
The image replayed clearly in my mind:
He looked at the cave, where the hanging, impaled, and piled remains of innocent people were revealed. Extreme nausea and sadness surged up again.
'Are they just leaving? Let them expose their bodies here, and they may even be reused by Evil Soul Master who comes later?'
Just as he was fighting fiercely in his heart, a familiar and powerful aura appeared at the edge of his mental perception like a reassurance.
It's Xuan Zi! Sure enough, he followed!
At that moment, the huge sense of security almost made him collapse.
Yes, he is the closed disciple of Mu En, the dean of the Yanhuang Lingyun Medical Mansion, and the man who saved Shrek City and gave the college "Cinderflame Dragon Might" as a gift.
How could the academy allow him to risk his life alone?
'emm... Even if Xuan Zi is unreliable, at this juncture, he should still take on the responsibility of protecting me, right? After all, if something happens to me, how will he explain it to Mu En? To the entire academy?'
This realization led him to make a decision that he later regretted immensely.
He touched the feather in his arms that exuded the warm breath of life. This was the second level of insurance.
Finally, he took an inward look at the system light ball that was quietly dormant deep in his soul.
Although this idiot System Treasure is usually unreliable, he is his "gold finger" after all. He will not just watch his host die, right?
Three trump cards, layers of insurance. He thought it was foolproof.
Then--
At the moment when he was most relaxed and tired!
The space was torn apart silently like cloth!
A sword light as dark as the water of the Styx ignored the distance and the remaining defenses around him, and even... seemed to be faster than Xuan Zi's reaction?
"Pfft--!"
He lowered his head.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
But everything is too late.
'The bet... was wrong...'
'It turns out... I really... can't trust anyone...'
Endless darkness surged up, swallowing up all the unwillingness, regret, and loneliness deep into the bones.
Flashback ends.
What he really desires has never been power or strength.
What he longs for is that when he turns around to save the souls of the dead, he has a reliable companion behind him who can reach out at any time;
When you are exhausted and on the verge of death, there is a warm support in your arms that you can hold without hesitation;
In this dangerous and unfamiliar world, there is a close confidant beside him who can temporarily remove "all disguises".
Xuan Zi's reaction made him understand that the academy's protection had its limits.
Bi Ji's feathers made him understand that there are limits to others' gifts.
The system's performance made him understand that even the "golden finger" may not be omnipotent.
Three hole cards, nothing.
All the support flowed away from the fingers like sand, and in the end, what was left in the palm was only the coldness that penetrated into the bone marrow, and the almost fatal penetrating wound.
'I'm so tired...'
The thought came to mind again.
Since time travel, he has tried hard to adapt, to become stronger, and to play every role well - the master of the Medical Pavilion, the young senior sister of the academy, the disciple of Mu En, the dependence of Ma Xiaotao...
He spins like a top, wanting to protect everyone and change all tragedies.
But deep down in my heart, the Blue Star boy who holds the "Teacher Standards" and will be excited by Mother Jin's compliments -
His loneliness has never been truly understood by the world, and there is no one to talk to.
It turns out that the deepest sea is the transparent wall that can never be eliminated between Transmigrator's soul and the other world.
The consciousness is sliding towards the colder dark abyss, getting faster and deeper.
At the critical point of being swallowed up by eternity--
The flow of darkness suddenly slowed down.
Some pictures that have long since settled and are filled with warmth are like bubbles floating in the deep sea, rising up uncontrollably from the deepest part of memory.
He "saw" --
That was a few months ago, when I had just come to this world and had finished suppressing Evil Fire for Ma Xiaotao beside Sea God Lake.
The system panel flashes before my eyes:
[Task completed: Help Ma Xiaotao suppress Evil Fire]
[Reward points: 5201314] (already issued)
In the Spiritual Sea, Long Jinyu looked at the panel and breathed a sigh of relief, but then, a new task popped up, and the font became ambiguous and dazzling:
[New mission released: Guide to the main characters·Ma Xiaotao]
[Task description: Win their heart and establish a deep emotional connection. Current favorability evaluation: 20% (interest/dependence)]
[Completion reward: points x5209999, title "Feng Qiuhuang"]
The relaxation on Long Jinyu's face froze instantly.
He stared at the line of words, especially the words "Strategy" and "Favorability", his fingertips curled up unconsciously, and Soul Power moved slightly under his skin.
A feeling of absurdity, disgust, and slight offense slowly filled my chest.
"System."
His voice was very flat, but stretched like a string that was about to break. "Explain. What does 'strategy' mean? What is 'favorability'?"
[Back to the host, this is a standardized emotional interaction task template. It is designed to optimize the relationship between the host and key world characters to obtain greater survival advantages and plot benefits. The logic determines that there is no abnormality.]
"Standardization... Template? Benefits?"
Long Jinyu repeated these words and suddenly laughed lowly. There was no warmth in the laughter, "So, in your case, between me and Sister Xiaotao... all the contacts, trust, and even feelings that may occur in the future are just a bunch of data that can be planned, measured, and exchanged?"
[It can be understood in this way. Maximizing efficiency is one of the core logics.]
"Maximizing efficiency..."
Long Jinyu Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and collect all the breath from your body.
When he opened his eyes again, those gold and silver eyes had turned into two bottomless cold pools, filled with a bone-chilling chill.
He raised his hand and gently tapped the fingertips with the ice blue Soul Power on the name "Ma Xiaotao" and the "20%" progress bar. "You don't understand at all."
"Her name is Ma Xiaotao. She can laugh, get angry, give her back to her companions with trust, and be as fragile as a child when Evil Fire is heartbroken."
"Her 'feelings' are not your 'progress bar'."
"My 'heartbeat' is not your 'reward points'."
"I helped her because I saw that she was in pain, and I happened to be able to reach out. It was not because you released the task, nor was it for your points."
"If one day I like someone, it will only be because she is who she is, and I am who I am. Not because of the mission, and not for the bullshit title of 'Feng Qiu Huang'!"
His words were like broken ice:
"Human feelings are not your game progress bar. No one's heart is for 'brushing'."
"Take your mission back."
[Warning: The host strongly rejects the compliance task module. According to the underlying agreement, try to enforce...]
The system interface glowed red, and the cold mechanical sound was undeniably tough.
"Forced?"
Long Jinyu's eyes were sharp, and something more essential deep in his soul - perhaps the pure emotional cognition from the young man Blue Star, or perhaps the arrogance in the blood of the dragon clan - surged.
"You, dare!"
There was no action, just a veto that gathered all the will.
[...Error!]
[Emotional quotation... unquantifiable... cognitive conflict...]
[... Encountering the impact of unknown concepts... the 'emotion-instrumentalization' paradox...]
[...Logical chain broken... Core protocol conflict...]
Long Jinyu stared at the collapsing light curtain, word by word, as if pronouncing a sentence: "Never again treat the living human heart as your game."
[Drip, drip, drip! Forced termination... re-evaluation of host mental model...]
The red light on the system panel flashed crazily, garbled characters flew across the screen, and finally dimmed suddenly as if it was overloaded.
After a burst of wail-like data noise, the entire panel and the "Strategy Mission" completely disappeared like handwriting erased by an eraser.
The core of the system fell into a long silence, as stagnant as a format reload. After a moment, a line of slender words quietly appeared, then disappeared in an instant:
[... Model restructuring... towards a more 'human' interaction...]
The noise of the system gradually faded away, and the consciousness continued to float in the darkness. Suddenly, it touched the warmest memory fragment and was wrapped in a layer of warm breath.
A faint smell of chalk dust mixed with the scent of book ink entered the nose, followed by the noisy but familiar chirping of cicadas outside the window, and the rustle of chalk across the blackboard could be clearly heard.