Baldy was very generous, drawing everything from Yuan Ting and the others encountering danger, Shi Deng falling into the illusion to waking and having an episode, to Shi-ge’s final appearance—all in one go.
Less than half an hour after posting, the forum was filled with discussion posts about this chapter.
Giao! Baldy, how will you repay the tears you owe me?!
Shi baby: Capgras Delusion Syndrome
Flashback to Reversal Arc: Shi baby’s new setting revealed
Zhi Ze, Grand Prophecy Technique
…
At this moment, Gong Du was browsing the forum with the Small Light Orb in his consciousness sea, clicking in with interest to look at this update’s manga.
Because the illusion contained content already drawn in “Reversal Arc,” Baldy didn’t need to draw everything out to complete the story, instead adopting interspersed memory panels.
Fragmented scenes constructed the first reset.
But with his script’s provided circumstances, Baldy also added some details this time that weren’t in the previous “Reversal Arc.”
[Zhi Ze could only hear his own heavy panting.
Cold sweat dripped onto the ground. The young leader patted his face with contempt and humiliation, disparaging him and his companions as trash and waste.
One second before life and death, the prophecy technique broke through again.
Countless threads flew out wildly.
Zhi Ze seized the chance and pulled his companion. ‘Go!’
No strong person wanted their future glimpsed, because that might expose their weaknesses.
As expected.
The young leader retreated toward the night sky, but his fingertip touched a thin thread. Bright red light blazed vivid as blood. An unfamiliar yet warm scene intruded into Zhi Ze’s mind:
In the soft golden sunset, a hooded young man turned into a flower shop by the street and bought a bouquet of sunflowers.]
[This is a detail that wasn’t in Reversal Arc. So what does the scene prophesied from Shi Deng using Grand Prophecy really represent?]
[Same question. I thought it’d be some bloody, cruel scene where Baldy would stab us again. Instead, it’s such a peaceful scene.]
[That hooded silhouette looks like Shi-ge no matter how you look at it. So was the future corrected? Shi baby became Shi-ge?]
[But they’re the same person anyway. The prophecy technique going through Shi baby but prophesying Shi-ge is also quite normal, right?]
[But this illusion awakened my impression of the first reset, the demon lord period leader Shi baby. Really has presence.]
[Because this is the first reset, Shi baby wasn’t familiar, had many concerns. In the later “Abyss Arc,” when he discovered that no matter what he was always just a bit short but couldn’t change the ending, he let loose.]
[Orange-flavored ice cream. Shi-ge also likes orange-flavored juice.]
[Abyss Arc was very oppressive. That numb, mechanical repetition of death—if not for Shi-ge, Xiao Deng, and Uncle Fu all accompanying him, he’d have collapsed.]
[When Shi-ge appeared at the end, my sense of security exploded okay?]
[Honestly, can this manga get any more knife-like? At this level, I completely don’t feel anything. Besides feeling a bit worried when Shi baby had an episode, I don’t have much else. The neighboring thread is crying oceans.]
[Everyone really has PTSD from being stabbed. Such a gentle scene—can’t see any knife anywhere. Relax, relax. The current trajectory is still good.]
Seeing this, Gong Du nodded in agreement.
Indeed, the current trajectory was still good. The big world operated normally, and the manga world was also smooth.
He clicked on a color page from the manga. It depicted the scene after he killed the elders, standing in the assembly hall. Baldy’s drawing skills were very good.
Sacred and sinister sutras, blood everywhere, the pale young leader in complicated garments. Behind him at a high place, a Buddhist shrine was enshrined, incense mist swirling.
An indescribable sense of gravitas.
Small Light Orb: “I also like this one.”
Not knowing if they’d encounter such an interesting manga world again in the future, it had saved everything to its database.
“Before coming, I didn’t expect the illness randomly generated in this world would be Capgras Delusion Syndrome. But it’s actually quite fitting…” Gong Du wanted to cross his legs, then realized he was currently a dumpling and temporarily had no legs. He regretfully gave up.
However, with divine power’s enhancement, this mental illness was also different from normal. Real-world medication naturally had no effect on him. Everything was just acting.
Small Light Orb nuzzled him. “Is it very uncomfortable?”
Very concerned, it proactively yielded its snacks to Gong Du.
“…”
For the sake of the snacks, Gong Du decided to reluctantly perform one more scene.
“…It’s okay. No one can tell anyway.” The black dumpling’s white ears moved, pretending very casually, letting Small Light Orb see his downcast eyes.
Small Light Orb: “!!!”
So this kind of tormenting mental illness really is very uncomfortable, right?!
It hurriedly flew up, pushing all the snacks over. “Eat something to distract yourself.”
Gong Du comfortably enjoyed Small Light Orb’s considerate service.
Actually, for a god at his level—just one examination away from promotion to higher deity—mental illness was far less capable of bringing him pleasant sensations than the previous world’s physical pain.
His vast consciousness sea was sufficient for him to ignore the feeling during episodes. He had no discomfort.
He violated his conscience and deceived someone, but gained snacks.
Small Light Orb was tricked out of its snacks, but its kind heart was maintained.
Win-win. Great kindness.
Gong Du clicked on the next post discussing Capgras Delusion Syndrome.
***
[…Damn, it’s actually this kind of illness.]
[I went to Baidu to search what illness it was. After understanding it and coming back to look, thinking about the earlier Youth Arc, I’m dumbfounded.]
[Wuu wuu Shi baby ran toward his friends so many times, but this time when his friends ran toward him, he was afraid.]
[Image – The youth’s trembling fingertips.
Image – Lips drained of color murmuring “don’t come closer.”
Image – The panic of continuously retreating.
Image – Stuffing pills in his mouth, the breakdown when choking.
Image – Curled in a ball, refusing everyone’s approach in loneliness.
Comparison image: Youth Arc, four people with arms around shoulders, smiling brilliantly in the sunlight.
Don’t be polite, screenshots for everyone (.)]
[We have no grievances…]
[Reason tells him those are his friends, but when having an episode he can’t control fantasizing that they’re monsters wearing his friends’ shells. Retreating and madly taking medicine is probably because he’s afraid of hurting them.]
[Actually this illness is easy to explain (smiling). It’s that Shi baby reset so many times he finally went crazy (slowly drawing forty-meter broadsword). Everyone say Baldy will like this blade, right?]
[But Shi baby ate so many at once, will there be aftereffects?]
Of course there were no aftereffects, but Gong Du could act them out.
The forum was lively, but most manga readers’ emotions were acceptable. The reason for getting Capgras Delusion Syndrome was very sufficient—after multiple resets, unable to distinguish reality from illusion, so Shi Deng fell into confusion.
Positive emotions from readers in the big world could also be collected and synthesized into luck value.
How could he let that go?
Gong Du smiled and closed the forum. “Currently, this is just the appetizer…”
The main event was still at a fairly late position in the entire script.
…
F City.
Temporary base.
Shi Deng’s room.
On the bed lay a youth with a flushed face, an ice pack on his forehead.
When Cen Le passed by, she looked inside through the window. Guarding Shi Deng’s side was the guardian who’d appeared in one second that day.
He looked like he should be Shi Deng’s older brother, otherwise there was no way to explain why the two looked so alike.
They’d guessed Shi Deng’s guardian wasn’t any ordinary person before, since Shi Deng could take out special-grade beast cores to play with. But yesterday afternoon still shocked them.
The young man wrapped them in his ability. They’d barely opened their eyes before arriving at this house’s door in F City—
That is to say, Shi Deng’s guardian knew they lived here.
This godlike ability—he was probably a special-grade ability user.
That guardian asked about what happened and said nothing more. He also had no intention of having them stay to care for Shi Deng. But that very night, Shi Deng developed a high fever that wouldn’t break.
The three of them also didn’t go out today—first to nurse injuries, second to wait for Shi Deng to wake.
“Still hasn’t woken?” Zhi Ze asked.
He’d gained a blessing from disaster this time, breaking through to intermediate prophecy.
Cen Le nodded. “His guardian is beside him. The door’s closed inside. I only looked through the window.”
That guardian who looked identical to Shi Deng seemed somewhat cold. He looked like he had experience handling this kind of situation. He simply told them about Shi Deng’s condition and closed the door.
They were all uneasy at first, secretly watching through the window.
Shi Deng was very restless while unconscious, frequently sobbing and unable to breathe. The suffocating feeling could choke him to death.
Then that guardian would pat Shi Deng’s back, expression indifferent, saying something in a low voice, never stopping.
Only after Shi Deng improved somewhat would he rest briefly, drinking water amid the concerned meows of the kitten.
They watched until nearly dawn before that guardian inside seemed to notice them. He opened the door and softly asked them to rest.
Only then did they hear the young man’s voice was much more hoarse than before.
Recollection ended.
“Sigh… Did Shi Deng’s hair turn gray-white because he saved us?” Yuan Ting was injured the worst. Now lying on the first floor living room sofa, his entire body wrapped in bandages.
He murmured, “But whether it’s true or not, I’ll never forget this lifetime—the way he walked step by step toward the three-tailed fox to save us…”
His sister and mother had died at Yuan Guang’s hands when he was young. Growing up alone and desolate, he instead developed an optimistic personality.
But Shi Deng was the first person to take even his casual words to heart.
Perhaps to others it was just two Flying Wings, but to him it was different.
Zhi Ze and Cen Le fell silent.
From what happened yesterday, clearly Shi Deng saved them. That meant Shi Deng wasn’t as harmless as he’d previously shown.
However, Shi Deng’s guardian showed no puzzled expression when seeing his whitened hair, so it should have been gray-white from the start.
Not the white of albinism, but the white of elderly twilight—very unusual in modern society.
“Perhaps it’s temporary aftereffects from using some ability.” Zhi Ze said.
“No matter what,” Cen Le said, “in my heart, he’s our friend. And for some reason, I’m always willing to trust him.”
“I have that feeling too. I always feel… does he know us?” Perhaps because his additional ability was prophecy, Zhi Ze’s intuition was far more accurate than ordinary people’s.
But he was also certain they’d never met before.
Shi Deng seemed to hide many secrets. And that talking black fog Yuan Ting told them about… all of this far exceeded their current level.
Yuan Ting: “Coach Chi was right—there are always people beyond people, skies beyond skies.”
Just as he finished speaking, all three suddenly heard the sound of a cup shattering from Shi Deng’s room, along with a faint cat meow.
Then came the sound of the door opening. The young man came out, took a dry towel, and went back in.
The three looked at each other, quickly climbing up and hurrying over.
In the room, Shi Deng had somehow already woken and was picking up shattered glass from the floor.
The youth wore only a thin knee-length nightshirt, crouching on the ground picking up fragments in a flustered manner like a child who’d just made a mistake.
Perhaps too hasty, he accidentally got a small cut. As if not feeling it, he threw what he’d picked up into the trash.
Shi-ge also crouched down, then extended his hand to grip his wrist, eyes slightly deepening. “Shi Deng.”
The instant he made contact, the youth had a very obvious recoiling movement. But as if remembering something, he forcibly stopped himself, managing to pull a strained smile.
Shi-ge’s gaze fell on the crimson at his fingertips. He paused two seconds but didn’t immediately react.
He slowly released Shi Deng’s hand. “I’ll clean up.”
The youth retreated back onto the bed, burrowing into the blankets, leaving only his head outside. He said in a muffled voice, “I’m sorry, Shi-ge. I didn’t mean to knock over the water cup just now. I can’t control it.”
“Mm.” Shi-ge responded faintly, the towel in his hand pressing against the floor, absorbing the water.
After a while, he heard another cautious sentence. “…Shi-ge, after I get better, let me buy you lychee-flavored juice that you like.”
The youth smiled at him. Nothing could be seen in his eyes—completely normal. His fingertips trembled slightly but continuously, tightly gripping the edge of the blanket. His eyes didn’t blink, as if trying to see something on Shi-ge’s face.
Shi-ge’s motion wiping the water stains paused slightly. His long brows drew together slightly. After making eye contact with the youth for a moment, he said, “I’ve always drunk orange flavor.”
The youth said quickly, “Oh, then I remembered wrong.”
He hurriedly turned his back to face the wall, even shooing Xiao Deng down. “Um… Shi-ge, I want to sleep. You should hurry and rest too.”
Shi Deng tightly closed his eyes, his lashes trembling ceaselessly.
After a long time, he finally heard faint movement. Hot water poured into a cup, placed at his bedside. Then came footsteps and Shi-ge’s cold voice from the doorway.
“Shi Deng, I’m always here.”
Before the door closed, the youth suddenly spoke. “Shi-ge, I want to hear you play the Two Realms Song.”
Shi-ge: “Alright.”
Click.
The door closed. The room returned to silence.
The youth curled into a ball on the bed, shrouded by the lonely moonlight from the window.
He bit his teeth tightly, knocking his head repeatedly, unable to suppress the sob in his throat. “It’s all… all real. Don’t think about it anymore…”
What should he do…
Who can save him?
After a long while, the youth also tucked his head into the blankets.
***
Outside.
Shi-ge looked at three pairs of expectant eyes, furrowed his brow, and said, “Why haven’t you gone to sleep?”
Perhaps because during the second reset he’d been these three’s instructor, his tone was much colder now—worlds apart from just before.
Yuan Ting shivered first. “Um, Shi Deng, he…”
Shi-ge: “This time it’s a full episode. Even with medicine, there’ll be about a week of sensitivity. During the sensitive period, he won’t have such strong aggression anymore, but since he hasn’t said to leave here, I respect his opinion.”
The phone in his pocket vibrated slightly. The young man took it out, glanced at it, and said, “I’ll step out to take a call.”
He left the room, leaving the three looking at each other.
Because her ability specialized in healing, Cen Le understood this aspect somewhat. She said, “Shi Deng was just testing.”
Yuan Ting: “Testing what?”
“Testing whether Shi-ge is the ‘Shi-ge’ he knows,” Zhi Ze’s eyes were complicated. “Using things only he and ‘Shi-ge’ know to test whether ‘Shi-ge’ is a fake.”
Rational thinking and the madness of the episode’s onset pulling back and forth in torment, then transformed into imperceptible testing. Patients doubt everyone, even doubting that they themselves have been replaced by monsters. When looking in a mirror, they feel utterly unfamiliar.
They don’t trust themselves or others, falling into immense bizarreness, distortion, chaos, and fear they can’t suppress.
Like a child alone in a dry well. Though desperately wanting rescue, when looking up and seeing people at the well’s edge extending their hands, he thinks those people are all monsters.
As long as he grasps those hands, he’ll be surrounded by monsters.
The monsters will eat him. So he smiles, refusing everyone’s help, absolutely refusing to extend his own hand to climb out of the dry well.
After those people leave, he looks up at the well’s opening again, thinking—is there anyone who can save him…
Cen Le: “From the data I’ve investigated these past few hours, Capgras Delusion Syndrome patients have a very high suicide rate. Of course, that’s for ordinary people. Among ability users, as far as I currently know, Shi Deng is the only one.”
“Then these next few days are very dangerous. Even if we need to hunt exotic beasts to complete missions, we must leave one person to watch Shi Deng.” Yuan Ting said.
Zhi Ze: “Mm, I know.”
…
Outside.
The young man answered the phone.
Old Chi’s voice came through. “Finally answering the phone. I’m saying, how did you suddenly disappear? I went through so much trouble to get the upper leadership to come over. Standing them up like this—little brother, did you think about my feelings?”
“What matter was so urgent anyway? Hey, but you have to admit, that instant vanishing move you pulled was really slick. Shocked quite a few people…”
Shi-ge listened to the incessant voice on the phone, gently pinching the bridge of his nose. “A kid at home got sick.”
“Ohhh,” Chi Yu realized. “Your kid? Daughter or son? How old? Bring them out to meet me sometime.”
“Can’t tell—you’re so young but already have a kid. I’m several years older than you and don’t even have a partner.”
Shi-ge: “…”
He avoided this topic. “I’ll return as soon as possible.”
Old Chi on the other end wanted to say two more things when he heard the beeping dial tone through the phone.
Old Chi: “…”
Phone returned to his pocket, Shi-ge leaned against a tree, looking toward the window belonging to Shi Deng.
[Shi-ge, I want to hear you play the Two Realms Song.] The youth’s words from just now gently swept past his ears.
A moment later.
The young man lightly touched the air with his fingertip. An extremely long streak of blood-red instantly appeared in the air. The sound of raging waves could faintly be heard.
He reached inside and extremely slowly drew out a reed leaf.
The instant he touched the reed leaf, white transparent chains carved with red runes instantly climbed onto the young man’s wrists, ankles, and waist—eleven chains in total.
Shi-ge frowned lightly, pulled out the reed, and the chains vanished like an illusion in the blink of an eye.
He didn’t know how to play melodies, but any sound produced using this type of leaf was the Two Realms Song.
Shi-ge placed it at his lips. Feeling the wind, the leaf began to tremble on its own. The strange and faint rustling sound was extremely light, with an unusual rhythm. Ordinary people couldn’t hear it. It easily melded into the wind and moonlight.
The manga used split panels.
Inside the room, the youth’s brows gradually relaxed. The water in the bedside cup slowly cooled.
In the living room with a small lamp on, three companions gathered around a computer writing a document.
Outside, the young man played a single leaf, leaning against a tree, deep blue eyes gazing toward the starry sky. The night was cool, the wind long.
Cool-toned brush strokes, yet with an especially tranquil and distant feeling.
The wind brought many stories. Their story would also be carried away by the wind.
***
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1