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teufelsabbiss · 4 months

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Story idea: Tianlang-Jun/Yuè Qīngyuán, saving the world with papapa

Yuè Qīngyuán dies in Luò Bīnghé's trap and cycles back to his disciple days. He remembers everything.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help him to change the things he wants to the most, since he's already bound to Xuan Su, Qiu manor is burned down and Shen Jiu is missing. Searching for him doesn't yield positive results, Wu Yanzi is good at hiding his tracks.

During a meeting with other sects, Yuè Qīngyuán meets Su Xiyan and nearly has a heart attack, because she looks almost exactly like Luo Binghe. Or rather, his future damn half-demon murderer looks like her. He is aware that killing her right then and there will be discovered immediately and will spell death for himself. He almost attempts it, though. The only thing that makes him hold back is that he's not a hundred-percent sure that she really was/will be Luò Bīnghé's mother.

Then he is saved from Wu Yanzi's murder attempt by Shen Jiu again. He still thinks he deserves Shen Jiu's ire for failing him, but this time he attempts to give him a more in depth explanation – and is shocked to be forgiven and scolded for hurting himself. He never thought that was an option! Now he knows he can change things and hopefully prevent the horrible fate that awaits them.

Many events happen as he remembers them regardless. But he tries to amend them differently, with mixed success. For example, he swears his fellow succeeding disciples to secrecy and reveals to them that Shen Jiu and him grew up together as slaves and that his little sworn brother was sold to an abusive noble house. Everyone's reception of Shen Jiu and his prickliness is very different this time around. Especially Liǔ Qīnggē and Qi Qingqi are more polite and Shěn Jiu far less hostile in turn.

Yuè Qīngyuán remembers from his last life what the Huan Hua palace master will tell them about Su Xiyan spying on the heavenly demon Tianlang-Jun. After seeing her resemblance to Luò Bīnghé, Yuè Qīngyuán is convinced that was either an outright lie or he omitted a lot of what happened beside this. In any case, those two must never meet so that there will never be a future mad demon-lord!

This is easier said than done, though. He has no idea where the two met. Yuè Qīngyuán had enough knowledge about establishing the importance of spy-networks in his last life. The one they had then was sadly bad. But now that he knows this, he finds some people himself who inform him about what is going on around the Huan Hua territory. Tianlang-Jun and his general are weird enough to attract attention at once, disguises notwithstanding.

Yuè Qīngyuán immediately rushes to where the demon-lord was spotted. He is prepared to find a menacing, spying monster hell-bent on conquering the human realm and plans to lure him away to an unpopulated area. Once there, he would alert the sect with an emergency flare talisman to the danger, even though he knows they won't be able to defeat the heavenly demon emperor without the preparation that went into the siege at Bailu mountain. But he hopes this will at least make it impossible for Tianlang-Jun and Su Xiyan to meet. And, who knows, maybe she dies in the later upcoming battles, thus ensuing they can't have a child later.

Instead, he finds an easily distracted, embarrassingly lewd, yet strangely charming weirdo who loves trashy romance novels and eagerly takes every opportunity to learn more about human culture. It becomes understandable why Su Xiyan had (most likely consensually) dallied with this demon rather quickly. And unless Tianlang-Jun is the best actor in all three realms, which Yuè Qīngyuán highly doubts, he's not interested in conquest or war with the human realm at all.

Yuè Qīngyuán decides the best course of action is to keep him entertained in Cang Qiong territory until he is satisfied and peacefully leaves again.

Yuè Qīngyuán has ample experience with diplomacy, decades worth. How hard can it be? As it turns out, in Tianlang-Jun's case: not at all! And after Yuè Qīngyuán finds out that beside culture and art, a bit of ruthlessness and a firm hand is appealing to the demon-lord, it works even better. He can do this!

It works far too well!

After a few weeks of dumping novels and other art on him, leading him around to theater plays and having friendly spars, Tianlang-Jun is making marriage proposals and showers him with courting gifts and bad self-written poetry. Worse yet, Yuè Qīngyuán finds that he very much would like to accept. He didn't think that was a possible result of his efforts. But then again, what better and certain way to hinder Tianlang-Jun from siring a child with Su Xiyan than capturing the heavenly demon's heart (and dick) for himself?

Tianlang-Jun is way too noticeable and too exuberant in his adoration to stay a secret for long. They manage to keep his demon nature secret, though. One and a half year after they first met, the old peak lords ascend and leave their successors in charge. As the sect leader, Yuè Qīngyuán has full access to security on the peaks and can design a space with safety measures that can hide his demon lover visiting.

They wait another 10 years until his leadership of the sect and reputation is generally lauded by the entire cultivation world, then Yuè Qīngyuán announces that he will enter peace and alliance talks with the demon realm. Eventually he announces that he will marry Tianlang-Jun for peace with the demon-emperor's domain and protection from rivaling or hostile demon forces.

The other sects are outraged once they learn about this, but can't really do much against it, since this alliance is for the safety of the human realm. Despite the former good standing, Cang Qiong and Yuè Qīngyuán in particular retain a bad rep in the cultivation world as corrupted after this, though.

Yuè Qīngyuán cares little. Their sect remains the strongest and their territory is so well protected that the mortal townsfolk loves them. Newcomers clamor to gain entry in droves. Tianlang-Jun is funny and a loving, attentive husband. The sex is awesome. Xiao-Jiu doesn't hate him and is safe. They are all safe from a revenge-obsessed Luo Binghe.

As far as Yuè Qīngyuán is concerned, the other sects can go fuck themselves if they are unhappy with the situation.

#svsss #yue qingyuan #tianlang jun #story idea #writing prompt #rare pair and crack treated seriously #two of my favorite things

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rarepears · 2 years

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Your comment on the cat Peak Lords treating the boyfriend like the robbers from Home Alone makes me think about how much a real robber would suffer trying to break into SJ's house.

Like, either an unfortunate burglar, or maybe some crazy ex or stalker of SJ. I'm thinking they'd need a hospital after.

They'd be wary of the big (normal) dog SJ got, but really should have worried about tiny Bingpup and the cats.

Shen Jiu: Everyone thinks it's the big dog that they should be afraid of. Clearly they haven't met my cats and smaller dog.

Shen Jiu: Stares at the mess of an apartment his home now is. There's broken eggs everywhere, toilet paper is hanging from the ceiling like demented party streamers, and a wine bottle with all its red wine spilled over the ground like blood is broken...

right next to the home-intruder's head. Said home intruder has been knocked out unconscious - no signs of blood, but definitely a concussion.

And a crowd of very innocent looking fluffy cats giving their biggest watery kitty eyes at him (while the Bingpup is running around in the background trying to pick up broken pieces of wood and toilet paper into the trash).

This is why Shen Jiu now pays for very very very good home insurance. And this is also why Shen Jiu makes sure to never let a stranger enter his home without him - he's very glad that he was able to pay a very large sum of money to keep the handyman happy and some amnesia from the hit to the head kept the handyman from knowing what really happened.

Guy still thinks he tripped over a cat and hit his head on the table. Shen Jiu isn't telling him otherwise.

The cats (and Bingpup) still look unrepentant, but Shen Jiu isn't surprised. It isn't like these pets can really understand what's going on.

[Read more in the #PIDW reborn as cats and Shen Jiu is the lucky cat owner au]

#svsss ideas #svsss #svsss au #PIDW #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #PIDW reborn as cats and Shen Jiu is the lucky cat owner au #scumbag self saving system #scum villian self saving system #scumbag villain

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hunxi-after-hours · 2 years

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Which do you think is more tragic, Yi City arc or BeefLeaf arc or the Fallout between Shen Jiu - Yue Qi?

you come to me with this question, me, whose first CQL fic was songxiao-centric, me, the person whose literal favorite arc of CQL is Yi City, and you expect me to be unbiased and reasonable? a bold, bold presumption to make

so actually in a surprising turn of events, my answer is still going to be Yi City, but not for reasons of favoritism (I mean, yes for reasons of favoritism, but also for reasons for personal preferences when it comes to characterization and narrative writing)

so, here's the thing when it comes to reading tragedy — nothing hits me harder than immense promise and potential that has been unceremoniously cut short. it is one thing for a character who has reached the end of their narrative arc to smile beatifically and walk into the fires of sacrifice, limned with an otherworldly halo and remembered with worshipful reverence; it is another thing entirely for a character, just barely at the beginning of their journey, filled with optimism and courage, only now daring to take that first step, or the second, or the third and yeah okay so Stormlight veterans know exactly who I'm thinking about right now, into realizing the vast potential who they could become, only to be cut down cruelly and unreasonably by the hand of fate (the author)

which is to say, death in narrative isn't necessarily tragic — the wasted potential of a person is. what could they have done? who could they have become? and how much of their greatness will we never see? that, I think, is loss — that is what characterizes tragedy in my media consumption, renders it separate from grief or sorrow or injustice

(which is not to say that other character death isn't impactful or evocative, and boy howdy do I have Strong Feelings about how grief narratives are handled in literature and media, but you asked for my thoughts on tragedy in particular so here goes)

I also must confess that I, as a person, with my particular preferences, am perennially unimpressed by the miscommunication trope. don't get me wrong, I can enjoy a moderate amount of angst, drama, clownery, et cetera based on miscommunication or lack of communication in a plot, but after a certain point I do lose my patience with it. as a very wise friend once told me, awkwardness is the price of clarity, so at some point you've just got to get over yourself and say the thing and clear the air

all of which is to say, I am unfortunately not as sympathetic to Yue Qingyuan's plight as I, ah, could be. oh dude, you cultivated too hard and ended up grounded for more time than you were expecting while you were forced to rebuild your cultivation from the ground up, and on top of that got stuck with a sword that eats your life? genuinely, that really sucks to deal with, my condolences on becoming a glass cannon in a world of stupidly OP characters. but your inability to tell Shen Jiu that you actually had very legitimate reasons for coming late to rescue him, for believing that he was dead and not looking for him for all those years? sorry mister peak lord, that's all on you. I know that attempting to reason with Shen Jiu is like trying to give a murderous cat a bath, but like. the man can't forgive you if you don't give him a chance to forgive you, and he won't have a chance to forgive you if he doesn't know that there were extenuating circumstances involved, seriously, in the ten seconds it takes for him to storm off angrily you could yell at least one (1) sentence of explanation at his back instead of bottling it all up and keeping it there until you die

anyway the whole Yue Qi - Shen Jiu business to me is like. tragicomedy at best because their inability to communicate reads as absolute clownery in my book rather than tragedy. have you met two people who wanted to forgive each other more but simply could not open their mouths about it. peak clownhood by the peak lords, rip to Yue Qingyuan but I simply would give in and start yelling because my doormat hours are finite

as for the fall-out of the Black Water Arc, the foundering of He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan's relationship on the shoals of their centuries-long blood debts is... it's not so much tragic to me as, er, "that's rough, buddy?" because here is the thing that strikes me about the Black Water Arc — there is a startling amount of agency involved on all sides, yes, even for the guy who gets his head ripped off his shoulders. Shi Wudu knows that he's committed a crime of cosmic scale, and when the reckoning comes, he owns it, claims it, declares that he does not regret it, even manages to take the shape of his death into his own hands. Shi Qingxuan freely makes the choice to befriend Ming Yi, despite Ming Yi's best attempts to push him away, and even after He Xuan reveals his true identity and purpose to the Shi brothers, Shi Qingxuan still chooses to appeal to their friendship, still chooses to believe in some deeply buried kernel of mercy. likewise, He Xuan makes the choice to seek his revenge to the utmost, despite various opportunities to give it up altogether, or to soft-pedal the consequences, especially in light of Shi Qingxuan's kindnesses

any tragedy in the Black Water Arc, I think, comes from the inevitability of it all, the house of cards that Shi Wudu built around his brother that was always doomed to collapse, but I don't find the Black Water Arc that tragic because... looking back over the narrative, I don't think any of the characters regret their choices. I think, given a second chance, Shi Wudu would still choose to protect his little brother at any cost, He Xuan would still choose to exact his revenge, and Shi Qingxuan would still choose to believe in friendship and kindness and warmth. if they regret anything, I suppose it was that it had to turn out this way, but I don't know what could be changed. and, at the end of the day — a reconciliation is not impossible. there's a hell of a blood debt stacked against it, but the ending of TGCF does leave that door deliberately open

but Yi City Arc? oh boy, now there's a masterclass in tragedy

remember what I said up there, about tragedy being by fueled by unfulfilled/truncated potential? yeah so that goes for every single character involved in this absolute trainwreck of an arc:

Xiao Xingchen: a student of the legendary Baoshan-sanren, was destined to become at least a legendary jianghu figure, only to dwindle into obscurity and a misunderstood legacy

A-Jing: the fact that she died so young is both a crime and a tragedy

Xue Yang: Song Lan's arrival caught Xue Yang in the middle of his heel-face turn; the man wasn't exactly working towards a redemption arc, but Xue Yang was just beginning to become someone more human and less monstrous before he backslides suddenly and decisively

Song Lan: I will allow the miscommunication/lack of communication trope here because it's done well — Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen split because of Song Lan's rage and grief leading him to cast misplaced blame on Xiao Xingchen, and now, years later, Song Lan is searching for Xiao Xingchen precisely to apologize. the man has every intent to resolve the miscommunication of years past! he is going to say things to Xiao Xingchen! songxiao are poised on the literal cusp of reunion and forgiveness and the narrative. denies them. this closure

because what is unfulfilled potential if not the eternal lack of closure? we'll never know who A-Jing, with her cleverness and charisma, could have grown up to become. we'll never see the sect that Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan dreamed of founding, one built on ties of belief rather than blood. we'll never know if Xue Yang could have learned to build with his hands as well break, if his genius could have created something good and right and lasting

you take all of this unfulfilled potential, this lack of closure, and then you sharpen this tragedy to a moonlit edge with sweet agony of time. how close all of them were to fulfilling their potential, to achieving their goals. songxiao were so close to reconciliation, just a name and a voice and a swordstroke away

yeah. now that's a tragedy

#ahahaha you see I am a songxiao fan first a CQL enthusiast second #hunxi thinks about svsss #hunxi thinks about tgcf #wow I haven't used those tags in a hot minute

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gravitydefyingtears · 3 years

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Quan Qiu Gao Kao | 全球高考 | Global Examination

Updated landing page: radishtears.home.blog/global-examination

Global Examination is a danmei novel written by Musuli on JJWXC, complete at 166 chapters, 589+k words (Chinese). For reference, MDZS was around 659k words. There is an audio drama and a manhua adaptation, both ongoing (as of 2021).

“Let us reunite in a world where the gunpowder smoke has dispersed.” —Musuli, QQGK (my translation)

Links

Novel: http://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3419133

Manhua: https://manga.bilibili.com/detail/mc28455

Audio Drama S1: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/25032

Audio Drama S2: https://www.missevan.com/mdrama/39622

JJWXC Description (Translated)

Global, large-scale, highly dangerous in nature, standardized examination, shortened to global examination. Real-life questions, pass to survive. Exam parameters refresh every month, occasionally at random.

Main Idea: two badasses flirting with each other.

1v1 (main characters do not have other romantic partners), HE (happy ending), lots of bullshitting.

Approach/Theme: Humans are inherently kind.

Tags: power couple, many themes/topics, 相爱相杀 (lit. “loving each other, hurting each other” aka angst), futuristic au

Main Characters: You Huo 游惑, Qin Jiu 秦究

Side Characters: Yu Wen, Di Li, Shu Xue, Wu Li

Style: light-hearted | POV: shou (bottom aka You Huo)

… … …

Radish’s Description

More Tags: sci-fi, action, mystery, romance, amnesia, enemies to lovers

A global-scale exam system is pulling people randomly into an alternate dimension, forcing them to take exams with varying (read: very high) levels of difficulty and peril. Overseen by the System’s examination officers, the only way to escape seems to be passing your exams with a total score above the qualifying threshold. The System thoughtfully provides rewards for good performance, like extra points or bonus cards for special privileges. However, if you break the System’s rules, you will also be punished accordingly. Not even examiners are exempt.

You Huo finds himself a victim of this ridiculous examination system, along with his alcoholic uncle, Old Yu, and younger cousin, Yu Wen. It’s not been long since he returned from overseas, recovering from surgery and still missing a good chunk of memories. Now, he wakes up in a snowed-in cabin in the middle of nowhere, with a room full of eclectic individuals — elderly, children, hooligans, and pregnant women. And some stupid voice is announcing the rules of an exam? What a headache. He just wants to keep sleeping.

And speaking of headaches, it’s not long before You Huo’s disregard for rules brings the System’s examiners to their door. Leading the party is the main examiner assigned to their exam, Examiner 001…

“Have we…met somewhere before?”

… … …

About the Audio Drama

The first season is complete. However, unfortunately, there was a lot of controversy regarding the quality of the production. So much so that the project switched hands. After a long wait, season 2 has finally dropped!

I translated the new team’s WB announcement post here: link

Season 2 will have 15 main episodes, airing Fridays starting Aug. 13, 2021. Given the length of this novel, I expect there to be a season 3. We’ll see!

VA Leads

You Huo: Lu Zhixing 路知行

Some other roles: Wei Wuxian (MDZS Audio Drama and The Untamed), Xue Xian (TQKS), Duan Jiayan (ILYP), Ji Xiaoli (Your Master is Stupid Rich)

I really love listening to Zhi Zhi-laoshi play a character who is so cold and aloof! And of course it was Lu-laoshi who attracted me to this story in the first place.

Qin Jiu: Zheng Xi 郑希

Some other roles: Bai Changyi (Your Distance / Ni de Ju Li), Xue Xiuzhuo (Qiang Jin Jiu), Ruan Fenghe (Your Master is Stupid Rich), Tang Suoyan (Liao Yuan), Shen Jue (Du Zhu You Bing)

Delicious voice <3

#全球高考 #qqgk #quan qiu gao kao #global examination #danmei #chinese bl #you huo #qin jiu #jiuhuo #musuli #radish translations

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tossawary · 3 years

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I was thinking about Wedding Planning AUs again because I love them, and also because I saw someone talking about Florist & Baker AUs. I’ve already talked about an AU in which Shang Qinghua and/or Luo Binghe are wedding planners and Mobei-Jun is their baker, so now I’m thinking about an adjustment to that in which Luo Binghe is the undisputed wedding planning emperor of their city (a minimum of 600 deliriously happy brides under his belt), Mobei-Jun is his right-hand man baker (insert frost/frosting pun for the bakery name here), and Shang Qinghua is the florist.

Because, like, I’ve seen people talk about flower languages and then florists complaining that flower languages are not really a thing or a part of their work, like, at all. But, tbh, I would not put it past Shang Qinghua to come up with a whole lot of bullshit on the spot about “flower meanings” to wow picky clients or persuade them to pick more reasonable flower choices.

(This is why Shang Qinghua and Luo Binghe’s working relationship actually works. They do not actually like each other, but they’re both kind of asshole visionaries who are lowkey like, “The client is an idiot who doesn’t know what they want; I know what they want. I am a master of extremely indulgent wish-fulfillment prepared to manipulate my way to success.”)

Now, Shang Qinghua and Mobei-Jun actually met before Luo Binghe took over the business (possibly from Shen Jiu | Shen Qingqiu? Possibly from Tianlang-Jun? Oh, no, Shen Jiu and Tianlang-Jun as business partners? It’s a miracle the business didn’t burn down). It’s a long story, but Shang Qinghua was 95% convinced that Mobei-Jun’s family bakery was a front for organized crime (he still hasn’t ruled it out). They’ve run into each other in the industry many times over the years, but Luo Binghe’s takeover of the business means that they’re finally meeting regularly and working together more closely.

Shang Qinghua at some point, early in Luo Binghe’s takeover, gives Mobei-Jun a flower. Maybe it’s a leftover? Maybe it’s a flower that Shang Qinghua absentmindedly brought with him because it reminded him of Mobei-Jun? Because it matched the frosting of the cake Mobei-Jun made? Mobei-Jun is just there and incredibly handsome and Shang Qinghua has this extra flower, so why not? Haha, a little gesture between work colleagues!

He does it the next time that they see each other too, when he’s providing fresh flowers for some floral cake that Mobei-Jun is making. It can be an inside joke! Shang Qinghua keeps up this “inside joke” with pretty much whatever he’s got on hand that day and can spare.

This one time, he didn’t have a flower ready for Mobei-Jun, and Mobei-Jun gave him such a terrifying look that Shang Qinghua nearly fainted. Shang Qinghua cracked a nervous joke about maybe just not liking Mobei-Jun anymore, but then Mobei-Jun stomped off and Luo Binghe texted the next morning, like, “Shang Qinghua, do you have a problem with my baker? I prefer it when we can work together in harmony. I’m disappointed to hear that you think differently.” Terrifying! Shang Qinghua delivered a full bouquet to the bakery the next day and fortunately, Mobei-Jun forgave him the unintentional insult.

Unfortunately, Mobei-Jun has somehow overheard at least a handful of Shang Qinghua’s bullshit spiels about flower meanings and bouquets being secret messages to brides who ate that shit up with a spoon. Mobei-Jun knows nothing about flowers. Mobei-Jun is going fucking nuts trying to decipher meanings out of the totally random flowers that Shang Qinghua is giving him.

Sha Hualing (who works in a wedding dress store, maybe?) is totally not helping Mobei-Jun unravel this code of Shang Qinghua’s affections. Luo Binghe wants to be like, “It’s not that deep, you fucking idiot,” but by this point, Luo Binghe is presumably embroiled in some SY-shaped drama and is having his own “Does he like me or does he want me dead?” crisis. No time to help!

Shang Qinghua is just glad that Mobei-Jun hasn’t called a hit on him or something (still kind of convinced that the Mobei bakery is a front for organized crime, but that’s not his business). He has made nothing of the fact that Mobei-Jun always has food ready when he visits. Oh, this box of custom chocolates personally delivered? Mobei-Jun is just experimenting with new recipes again and Shang Qinghua is his loyal taste-tester / guinea pig! It doesn’t mean anything! Oh, shit, Mobei-Jun totally thinks he’s a pig, huh...

Anyway, who wouldn’t give the man of their dreams a nice flower if they had the chance? Handsome men deserve pretty flower bouquets too!

#tossawary svsss #fic ideas #shang qinghua #mobei jun #luo binghe #demon trio #moshang wedding planning modern au #bingqiu wedding planning modern au #moshang

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touchmycoat · 2 years

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Kinktober!!!! Has anyone prompted whipping yet? That just screams Liujiu to me. Bai Zhan has whipping as a punishment, and if you wrong someone, the wronged person is the one to administer punishment. LQG finds out the real reason SJ goes to the brothel, and asks for punishment for unfairly impugning his honor. OR Modern AU - LQG goes to a dungeon for the first time and is exquisetly whipped by SJ. SJ hates bottoming, so he gives permission for YQY to fuck others when they go play.

You ever write for two hours only to become aware that all you've written will likely be deleted in the final draft? It's fine hahahahah it's fine. In the mean time, here's a ton of set-up with none of the whipping orz

liujiu (+qijiu), rated M, 1.3k

Liu Qingge was not Shen Jiu’s mortal nemesis because that would be giving far too much importance to this man’s presence in his life. Shen Jiu did not care enough about Liu Qingge for Liu Qingge to be his mortal nemesis. Liu Qingge was to Shen Jiu whatever the thing was called when you wanted to sabotage everything the other person did and cause the other person immensurate pain always but not in a caring way. That thing.

Really, Liu Qingge wouldn’t even be a problem in Shen Jiu’s life if it weren’t for Shen Jiu’s stupid husband. Nobody was without flaws and Shen Jiu knew better than anybody that Yue Qi was a flawed man. Untimely kindness and lack of punctuality Shen Jiu could forgive, but befriending Liu Qingge? That was surely grounds for divorce. Shen Jiu was working hard to convince Yue Qi of that fact (because then, Yue Qi would surely choose Shen Jiu over stupid Liu Qingge who’d probably never held a whip in his life and couldn’t suck a cock if someone upped and shoved one in his mouth. Useless. Absolutely useless).

Unfortunately, Yue Qi was working hard to convince Shen Jiu of not only the opposite, but also the impossible—that Shen Jiu and Liu Qingge could actually be friends. If only they tried. Bitch! Shen Jiu had tried! Was withstanding Liu Qingge’s horrible face and nasty scowl and disgusting muscly body for fourteen whole minutes last Friday at brunch not trying enough! And now he was meant to apologize for preemptive self-defense (actually he still maintained that he and Liu Qingge threw their chairs at the same time) and “try harder” to entertain the man once more? Just because Qi-ge was “sad” that his “two best friends” couldn’t “get along”—?!

(Ever since they first met at the orphanage, Shen Jiu had known he was cursed to a life of cleaning up after Yue Qi’s mistakes. Yue Qi stole the bread, Shen Jiu took the fall. Yue Qi befriended an asshole, Shen Jiu paid the price.)

Luckily, Shen Jiu had a plan. After sending Yue Qi on ahead to the club, none-the-wiser, Shen Jiu would make certain that Liu Qingge never, ever, ever tried to come around again, trying to be his friend at Yue Qi’s plaintive request.

So after Liu Qingge parked his (stupidly bulky, clearly overcompensating) motorcycle in front of Shen Jiu and Yue Qi’s apartment, Shen Jiu waved him over to an idling taxi and gave the directions to the club as well.

(Was outing Yue Qi like this kind of a dick move? Sure. But if Shen Jiu had done so much to forgive Yue Qi’s flaws already then Qi-ge could damn well deal with some of his.)

The plan was to reach its apex at the front door of the club—the atrium, if Liu Qingge was going to be particularly dense that evening. As they stepped out of the cab, Shen Jiu hurried down the steps to the club entrance, expecting the snooty jackass to recoil the moment he saw the neon sign that outlined a paddle and riding crop.

He didn’t expect Liu Qingge to freeze long before even descending the stairs and seeing the sign. As if he—

Shen Jiu’s eyes narrowed.

“Have you been here before?”

“No,” came the immediate, expected response, but for all that Shen Jiu didn’t care and knew jack shit about Liu Qingge, even he could tell that it was a lie. Shen Jiu squinted harder.

“But you know where we are.”

“No,” Liu Qingge said once more, lying again. Before Shen Jiu could say anything else, he shouldered past Shen Jiu like he had something to prove, kicking the club door open with a booted foot. “I have no idea where we are.”

This was not part of the plan. This was the tail end of the plan swerving so quickly south that it had Shen Jiu’s hackles rising. How dare Liu Qingge steal the wheel like this? Oh he should’ve known the bullheaded dunce would barrel ahead with zero comprehension or appreciation of what Shen Jiu was trying to do here, and now Shen Jiu was the one with something to prove. Scowling, he flung the door back open and stormed right in after.

“—signed agreement still on file with us. Here’s your ID back, enjoy your evening.”

Liu Qingge snatched his ID off the counter and shoved it away in his wallet like he could hide anything. He couldn’t, the liar. The hypocrite. Oh the world thought him so pure-minded, so above it all, so unlike Shen Jiu? Yeah fucking right, Shen Jiu was going to blackmail him so hard—

“Xiansheng, welcome back,” the entry clerk greeted with a demure smile. “Do you have your ID on you today?”

After a beat of silence, Shen Jiu plucked his ID from his wallet and handed it over the counter, he and Liu Qingge daring each other to say something with glares all the while.

“…Thank you. And will you two be needing a rundown of club rules tonight?”

“I’ll tell him the rules,” Shen Jiu snapped at Liu Qingge as he jerked his chin up at the heavy double doors. And as Shen Jiu busied himself with putting his ID back, Liu Qingge snorted and tossed his head, all I’m doing this because I want to, not because you told me to, before pulling open one of the doors and letting himself in.

…And letting the door slip shut in Shen Jiu’s face, the absolute brat. Shen Jiu hauled the door back open and followed that imperious ponytail, swearing to—to—

Shen Jiu halted in his tracks, and like the idiot dog barking and keening for a proper owner he clearly was, Liu Qingge halted with him, despite having his back to Shen Jiu.

They were in the central playroom of the dungeon with plenty of people milling about, congregating in hotspots around scenes that welcomed an audience. A quick scan did not yield Yue Qi, which meant Qi-ge was either around the corner, where the more heavy-duty equipment populated a smaller area, or in one of the side rooms—the locker room or one of the three small break rooms.

Shen Jiu tilted his head at the closest break room and fixed Liu Qingge with a stare. If BDSM chicken was the name of the game tonight then Shen Jiu would definitely not be the loser.

“Shall we start negotiations?”

It did occur to Shen Jiu to question exactly how much experience Liu Qingge had.

“I don’t bottom, and I don’t submit to anybody but my husband. If those are bottom lines for you then this conversation ends here.”

Because, despite Liu Qingge’s prior attendance, he didn’t seem to occupy the dungeon space with the exuded presence of a dom or the keenness of a sub.

“Those aren’t bottom lines.”

Plenty of people here simply spectated, after all.

“Good. Then I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.”

And Shen Jiu knew from experience that sometimes, those who’d thought they were happy simply spectating were just waiting for the right shove.

“I don’t have to listen to you.”

Onto a rack. Onto a bench. Onto their knees.

“You don’t have to listen, but you do have to take whatever I do to you, because that’s what you want.”

Liu Qingge was the sort of man that Shen Jiu ached to put on his knees.

“So certain of that, are you?”

“Yes.”

Liu Qingge was silent, and Shen Jiu took a measured sip of water from his bottle.

“So,” he said when Liu Qingge’s gaze finally fell onto the clipboard between them. “Last chance to tell me what’s off the table.”

#prompt fill #finish writing mido #that's a tag now #liujiu #anon #the impact (hah!) would just be better if we skipped all this #and started the scene right with the whipping #i'm fine with my writing process until moments like this sigh #when i'm so impatient to write bc it's been so long since i've written #but it's frustratingly redundant 'cause i end up deleting all my first drafts entirely #but whatever!!!! this is progress #this is warm up #now we have backstory baby #you're just going to have to pretend you never read this when i publish the real version to ao3 #thank you dear

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myheartismadeofstars · 4 years

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the MXTX couples meeting one another (various crossovers of different types etc) and one of the ones I imagined that made me want to CRY was:

Luo Binghe attaching himself to Xie Lian after his adoptive mother passed away. Xie Lian did something kind (as XL is wont to do) and LBH would follow him and try to help him. Even though XL would feel like having a small child stay with him would be a bad idea, baby BingBing would make himself useful with doing cooking and cleaning and such (and LBH would have better luck than XL, but having such an unfortunate caretaker would still fit with the protagonist’s sad backstory: once again, he would have love, but nothing else)

(Does LBH understand Xie Lian is literally a god? Probably not? At least not at first. Though I have this cute image of him discovering it after a heartwarming scene of LBH praying for their protection)

Of course, at some point LBH decides to join the Cang Qiong Sect and leaves XL’s side (gotta meet the man he will eventually marry, right?).

And then after SVSSS’s canon is completed, LBH reunites with XL and SQQ is shocked there is someone other than him that LBH reacts so happily to!

And LBH has changed so much since he was a little boy!

(bonus: if they met I think HC and LBH would have a very interesting relationship. Child!LBH wouldn’t trust Hua Cheng as far as he could throw him. As an adult, he kinda considers him “Someone I met” nothing worse or better. He might approach him ONCE during the Five Years to ask about SQQ’s soul possibly being in Ghost City and to tell him to contact him if he ever shows up (though, interesting concept: LBH finding Shen JIU there and learning he’s been there for years). I feel like it’s probably for the good of all the worlds that the two never fought. Also: LBH giving the world’s most unnecessary shovel talk to HC when Hualian get married lmao. I feel like they spend 99% of their time snarking each other. The 1% is when they are talking about Xie Lian lol)

#svsss #tgcf #Scum Villain's Self Saving System #tian guan ci fu #xie lian #luo binghe #hua cheng #san lang #HC and LBH are basically brothers lmao #''no officer I've never seen that person before in my life''#also HC treats LBH like a kid and absolutely would get sadistic pleasure from knowing LBH sucks in bed #only to turn around and offer pointers once scolded by XL #fun fact this AU came about by imagining the three couples meeting post canon and LBH and XL hit it off #and i imagine XL saying ''If San Lang and I had a child I imagine he'd be a lot like you"#and then i cried and imagined this

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natsunoomoi · 3 years

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Oh yeah, addendum to the other post from earlier because I went to bed after I found it, but yeah. I found the spot where it talks about it finally. But just annoyed because I think it was an issue with like textual clean up or my phone browser at the time screwing with me as I went back and forth to the translation notes that it probably wasn't as clearly input into my memory the first time around. I don't have ad blockers on my phone so when I was originally reading it I was having formatting issues that I think distracted my reading sometimes. I still managed to remember quite a lot of details in general for the plot, I think, but I remember it was frustrating to try to get to the end. Checking now on my desktop and the formatting issues are near nonexistent so it's easier to read and jog my memory that oh yeah I did read this part.

But also still annoyed that it's improperly cited on the wiki cuz ugh, that's not how you write a wiki. Proper chapter citations, yo. It is in 81 not 92. *facepalm* Still kind of wondering where that other part I read when I started this book was mentioned? Still haven't seen that at all.

I think also I remember I was a bit more concerned about the overall meaning of what the ending meant too than what Qinghua was saying. Like the way everything turned out in the book it was really sweet and all and I like Qingqiu and Binghe together, but I was and still am really concerned that they only really work as a couple in this book specifically because of the circumstances of the book. I can understand people IRL are repressed or don't think about their own sexuality and maybe discover it later or under the right circumstances, but at the same time the way things unfolded also gives me some concerns. It's more possible that someone who is straight might only think so because it's just the normal accepted type of relationship we see in our modern society so they don't question or explore it so they don't know, but at the same time, I'm also concerned because your sexuality doesn't just change because of one person either. IRL if someone is not into you, they're not into you. I'm a little worried as well that the relationship between the characters is also a little coercive. Like when we're talking about enthusiastic consent IRL it means for all partners and both people in a relationship should thoughtfully respect the other's boundaries and needs, and unfortunately, Binghe tends to not respect boundaries. It makes for good comedy and cuteness in a fictional work, but a lot of young people also read this book and it worries me a bit what some people might learn about relationships in that regard.

Like this maybe a separate thing, but like thinking about the consent in the relationship in this book reminds me of a Reddit post I saw where this one guy was asking for advice about a situation with his gf where his gf would only sleep with him if he put on Sasuke cosplay and she wore Naruto cosplay and basically they acted out her BL fantasy. And like he was very kind and onboard with her roleplay because he wanted her to be happy, but also like when he asked to maybe not do the cosplay, she would get upset and refuse to be intimate with him in any other way. And like, yeah, the situation is very funny, but because this is a real life couple you can see how when only one person bends to their partner's desires and needs, it can leave the other person feeling unheard and empty. As hilarious as it sounds, a lot of people were very sympathetic for the guy and feeling for him cuz like he was doing everything right and giving it a try for her and then also just approaching her maturely and trying to talk about his own comfort in that regard and she wasn't hearing him. So similar to how I feel bad and afraid for that guy, I actually feel kind of concerned and afraid for SY/Qingqiu a little. Like if both of them were my friend IRL, I would legit be worried that Binghe wasn't always listening to Qingqiu's needs. The relationship needs to be an equal give and take or at least balanced, but one side tends to take more and act more selfishly, and it's like, you only feel worried and want them to talk to each other more and grow because you want them to be able to last together.

Still kind of getting into the other books, but in comparison the other relationships in the other two books seem to be more positive and supportive. Like TGCF seems to be the most healthy and functional as an actual relationship.

Also a bit concerned that Airplane's original outline was a teacher x student relationship. Like we can argue it's okay for SY cuz he's not really Qingqiu, but that relationship being the original outline is also risque and that is NG at worst and a huge risk at best. Like it was viewed bad enough already that Qingqiu was written to eye Ning Yingying, it wouldn't be viewed any better if that part of the original outline was in it too. On the plus side the way SVSSS plays out Binghe is an adult already when the situation happens and it is at a more appropriate time, but the optics are pretty bad just because of like ideas of society that a master is like a parent and a disciple is like a child. It's also related to the titles and such that they call each other like shixiong, shidi, etc. They have family dynamics with each other so it's not great. It's not like there aren't some situations IRL where teacher and student become a couple, but in many circumstances it's highly inappropriate. The underage issue is the normal problem. But if they are grown and it is later when you are no longer their teacher I've seen some couples where it worked out, but it's a situation of consenting adults at least. Still a little concerned about the power imbalance dynamics. In IRL situations that's a big thing too. Other than age, one person being able to affect other parts of your life on a whim is a huge stressor on a relationship you don't need. I can kind of understand how it would have worked out in a positive if like Qingqiu had shown empathy for Binghe when they first met because their lives mirror each other's, but like a lot of the other things Qinghua added into the story like the extent of Qingqiu's traumas being played out as asshole behavior became huge barriers. Like I mentioned, with just his traumas it would be very difficult for him to be able to have even a deep friendship with other men, which is similar to how IRL people in real life don't have a chance to explore themselves because of various issues and stuff in society. But also Binghe being ultimately unhappy by just doing what the world thinks he should do and not what he wants on both an in-world level and a meta level. We don't get a whole lot on Shen Jiu, so I'm really curious how that would have actually worked on his end because he seemed really broken, but it's impossible to parse out what of the original plot we can imagine to remove to understand the original outline and how it would have happened. He was very alone and even though the pipa player called him a friend, it doesn't seem like he was able to have a close enough friend to talk with or confide in at all. But is that isolation part of the original outline or part of the PIDW plot?

Anyway, it's things like that that I think about all the time and that's why I end up going into dives into the wiki cuz I want to like think about something and want to check notes real quick to make sure I'm thinking about it right. But the wiki is unreliable. Like also there was one part where it says that the bad cultivation manual was only something the other disciples did to Binghe, but in SJ's POV chapter he literally says that he gave him the shitty one. The wiki also claimed that him pouring tea was also actually an application of medicine misunderstood, but I haven't found any evidence of that either and it's just stuff like that that send me into a rabbit hole that derail me from my original thoughts I'm trying to work out.

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neoblogcrying · 4 years

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“Let’s Play a Game” pt.9

Here is the next part! Hope you enjoy!

“Hm… that’s a good choice, a very good one.”

“Is it really that much different from the other one?”

“The end result isn’t much different, but the winning option gives them a chance to unlock another flashback scene!”

“Oh? Which one is that?”

“It’s a secret~ I’ll tell you later during break. For now, let’s get a move on. I’m sure they’re curious to know how the story will progress!”

If anything, this goes to show that the worst option wasn’t chosen this round, so the game was going to continue. Remember to be careful about what options you choose in the future. If you pick too many of the worst possible options, it will result in the ‘death’ end and the game will force close!

That has been another warning for you, do be careful! Be mindful of the hints that the Moderators drop for you!

BEEP!

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“Where are my souvenirs? Don’t tell me that you forgot?” Shen Yuan asked with the smallest of pouts on his face. If there was anything that Shen Jiu was weak to, it was Shen Yuan adopting his younger brother role.

Of course, his brother would never admit to it, but Shen Jiu did enjoy being an older brother. Being able to take care of someone and doing good by them was something that eased the edge off his heart. It helped him feel as though here was a part of him that could do good.

There was someone who believed in him, in his ability to be a good person.

That isn’t to say that Shen Jiu thought himself as a good person by any means. He still thought of himself to be a scummy person, but after he’d met Shen Yuan, he started to feel as though he had a pinky’s worth of goodness in his body.

“I have your souvenirs right here.” Shen Jiu revealed a vibrant red satchel from his sleeve. There was a fragrant smell coming from the satchel that sent a shiver down Shen Yuan’s spine.

The younger of the two brothers accepted the item with trepidation, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the satchel. He wouldn’t have been suspicious if not for the fragrant smell coming from the satchel. This suspiciously smelled like perfume…?

Something you could smell from a woman.

“Brother… what is this?” He asked slowly, staring at his ‘gift’ with unease.

Shen Jiu was enjoying the unease his brother was currently exhibiting, and he chose not to answer. Instead, he was reorganizing the room to his liking.

Taking the plunge, Shen Yuan opened the satchel to see… was that rouge? Face powder…? This… this is makeup? There’s more in here.

“BROTHER!” The younger brother bristled in annoyance, his tone carrying a hint of an aggrieved whine. What use did he have for make up? He no longer lived in the Red-Light District where he was at the mercy of all the elder sisters there. No longer would he be subjected to being their Barbie doll to play with. “Must you tease me like this? Your younger brother has already extended his heart to you asking for forgiveness, has he not? I am hurt. My honorable brother is finally treating me with such disdain, opting to gift me such a thing. I understand, my brother wishes for me to return to the Red-light district.”

Dramatic.

Shen Yuan was the dramatic sort, and only when the two brothers were alone, he liked to reveal this side of his. Sometimes, his dramatics annoyed Shen Jiu, while at other times, it amused him.

This time, it seemed to be the latter. Shen Jiu’s aim to annoy his brother was a success. He chuckled under his breath, reaching into his sleeves once more to pull out a different satchel, this time, it was green in color.

The color matched the bamboo forest. “Calm down, this is your real souvenir. Hide the makeup elsewhere if you don’t want it.” He lightly tossed the bag to his brother.

In truth, he had bought the make up to get information from those in the marketplace.

The demon was smart with the way he covered his tracks. Unfortunately for the demon, he was up against Shen Qingqiu. With his intelligence, no demon would be able to escape from under his nose.

He managed to find his way to a rouge shop and sniffed out some clues. To loosen the mouth of the shopkeep, he bought some rouge. In the process, he chose to use the gift to tease his brother with. This is what you call a win-win situation.

If he had to guess, if Shen Yuan had been the one to descend from the mountain, he might not have been able to figure out the identity of the demon. He may have even lost his life to the demon, in fact.

It was good that Shen Yuan didn’t replace him on this trip.

Shen Yuan was still feeling miffed by the previous satchel he was given, but he accepted the new satchel easily. The design was pretty, as a bamboo forest was embroidered in the fabric. Both brothers enjoyed the aesthetic of a bamboo forest, so he knew that whatever was inside, Shen Jiu carefully selected for him.

Inside the satchel was an assortment of items. One, was jerky that was carefully wrapped up in a cloth. Another item was a beautifully crafted fan (Shen Jiu likely had a matching one of his own). The last item was ink pots with different colors of ink. This must have been expensive and hard to find.

Shen Yuan spent a lot of his time holed indoors, and he came to enjoy writing and drawing pictures in scrolls. Sometimes he wrote stories he remembered from his life on Earth, or he’d draw images of the things he saw in this world.

Everything was so beautiful in this novel when compared to what he remembered from Earth. The air was polluted, and civilization replaced much of the beautiful scenery you could see in nature.

In a magical world like this, who wouldn’t enjoy the scenery?

You could say that of the twins, Shen Yuan was more gifted in the arts than his elder brother. Similarly, Shen Jiu was the smarter of the two twins. Shen Jiu, the main face of Shen Qingqiu built a reputation of being a strategist due to his brains.

While he didn’t mind dabbling in the arts, he spent most of his time polishing his knowledge. He did have a reputation to maintain, after all.

Of course, that meant that Shen Yuan had to study just as much as Shen Jiu did in order to play the part as Shen Qingqiu well. While he didn’t particularly enjoy studying, he didn’t mind reading piles of books and scrolls.

It was like getting your hand on a book that detailed behind the scenes information on your favorite novel. As a fan, who wouldn’t enjoy such a thing? This world was akin to getting a special OVA of your favorite donghua series, you’re an author making a statement on a question the fans are dying to know!

It was touching to know that his brother went through all that effort to find a gift that he knew that would be appreciated. What was with the jerky, you asked? Shen Yuan was the type of person who enjoyed snacking on things, especially when he was bored. The more flavorful the food was, the more he’d enjoy it.

He personally felt that a lot of the food here was bland, but what could you do about it? They didn’t have all the spices you could find on Modern day Earth.

You can simply chalk it up to the Millenial misses eating all sorts of food. Boba tea, instant ramen, ice cream, etc.

Jerky was something you could carry around with you with ease, so it was essentially like carrying snacks with you wherever you went. It was the closest alternative he had.

This was a rarity for him because Shen Jiu disliked meat jerky. It wasn’t a kind of food that fit the image of a Peak Lord. It was something you’d expect from a common day peasant. As long as Shen Yuan was never caught consuming the said jerky, Shen Jiu wouldn’t have his head for it.

Of course, Shen Yuan knew better than to consume meat jerky in front of others. It would make ‘Shen Qingqiu’ lose so many coolness points.

“Brother, you treat me so well. I am lucky to have a brother who understands my tastes so well.” Shen Yuan was currently praising his brother’s good tastes in souvenirs. Appealing to his brotherly side had its many advantages. For one, it helped Shen Jiu understand that there was another path for him that he could take, although very difficult for him on a personality basis.

Two, it did brighten Shen Jiu’s mood, even if it was by a small percentage… maybe even a fraction of a percentage. He wasn’t an easy man to deal with after all.

Finally, sometimes appealing to his brotherly side would reveal surprising information about Shen Jiu’s character. You could say that after he came to realize that Shen Jiu was not a simple canon fodder character, Shen Yuan was very curious about his backstory.

What secrets were you keeping hidden away? What happened in your past to mold you into a scummy character? Were there dangerous triggers to be aware of? Was there anything in the world that you liked?

All these questions would provide a lot of useful information to Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan was in a very good mood because of his souvenirs. He was smiling brightly to himself, quietly humming a tune to himself as he started to put the two satchels away. He carefully hid them away in a safe place. Even if one of the satchels contained aggravating items, he still kept it tucked away safely… behind all his books on the shelf.

For the blue satchel, he placed it on the table that he used as a desk. He felt as though he would be dipping into the ink bottles soon, so he chose not to stow it away just yet.

“Brother, you treat me so well, but all I do is cause you trouble with my sickly disposition. How could I repay your good will?” Yes, Shen Yuan was still appealing to Shen Jiu’s brotherly side. Even if they were twins, Shen Jiu had his pride as the ‘older twin.’

He took it upon himself to be the one to protect his younger brother and to guide him to on the ‘right path,’ disregarding how ironic it is for him to do so.

After Shen Jiu finished organizing the room to his liking, he’d sat down on a pillow on the floor. He simply patted the place in front of him, wordlessly telling Shen Yuan to sit down. Being the obedient brother that he was, Shen Yuan sat down to get a palm to the forehead.

“Ow.” “Focus on being healthy, instead of worthless things like that.”

Shen Yuan showed a foolish grin on his face, laughing quietly to himself.

“What’s so amusing to you?” Shen Jiu questioned, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Within moments, Shen Yuan wiped any emotion off his face and he sat up straight and tall. “I only thought about how lucky I was. Shen Qingqiu would not act on the behalf of another person and not expect a payment in return.”

That was a grand blanket statement if there ever was one, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong. Of course, there were exceptions, but given the character Shen Qingqiu was, he didn’t act if there were no benefits for him. If not that, he was likely acting to give Yue Qingyuan face.

“Right, how was your trip, brother? How did it go? Tell me what happened.” This trip wasn’t written in the original novel, so Shen Yuan didn’t know anything about it. He wanted to know what he missed! He couldn’t hide his excitement, and he didn’t bother with trying. Shen Jiu could read him like a book if he wasn’t diligent in controlling his facial expressions, so there was no point in trying to lie.

As such, Shen Jiu could tell that his brother was genuinely excited to hear about the trip, rather than being more curious about how Luo Binghe was treated.

The elder brother thought back to the contents that transpired during the trip. He tapped his chin with a fan matching one of Shen Yuan’s souvenirs in thought. “Yingying got captured by a demon.”

“Ying-er! I assume she’s safe now? You didn’t report any casualties, so you must have saved her in time.” For a moment, Shen Yuan almost panicked. Keyword, almost. As he said, Ning Yingying should be safe. If she had died, Shen Jiu would have reported so.

Even without that, she was one of the Protagonist’s future wives (one of many), so she had to be safe! There was no way she could die! Still, who knew that such a scene transpired in the original novel?

It was possible that she could have died! Maybe this served as a point in time where Ning Yingying’s affections for the Protagonist grew? That was what Shen Yuan was currently contemplating to himself.

“Yes, she is safe. While we were investigating the nature of the murdered women, she asked to go shopping with that brat. Later, he returned stating that he’d lost her. I almost flogged him to death right then and there.”

A shiver ran down Shen Yuan’s spine. He knew that wasn’t a joke. He had a vague idea why, but his brother had a peculiar interest in Ning Yingying. It was as though he considered her highly in particular for some reason.

He was kind to females in general, but he was very kind to her in particular. Given what he learned from the time he lived in the Red-light district, Shen Jiu had some kind of aversion to males. It wasn’t quite so much that he felt uncomfortable around them, but it was as if there was an underlying fear that he kept hidden deep down.

The man would always be on edge if he were around other males, especially any who had formidable strength. Shen Yuan had always theorized that this was some kind of a post-traumatic stress disorder that came from when he lived in the Shen household.

While he didn’t see much, as he arrived late to the scene, but his brother was in a horrid situation when Shen Yuan first found him. He could only guess what sorts of torment he was subjected to.

It took everything he had to not ask about what happened to Luo Binghe. Yes, Shen Jiu would report if anyone died, but Shen Jiu didn’t think of Luo Binghe as a person. In fact, he was lesser than a horse in his eyes. If he died… Shen Yuan highly doubted it would be reported.

Would you report if you had killed a spider by stepping on it? You wouldn’t.

Having faith in Luo Binghe’s golden plot armor, Shen Yuan patiently waited to hear more of the story.

“I left Ming Fan in charge of the rest of the disciples as I had that brat lead the way to where he’d seen Ying-er last. At that point in time, my nose caught the scent of something familiar. All the deceased women had the same smell to them, and this smell was coming from a rouge shop.” At this point, Shen Jiu realized he didn’t give his brother the background story of what was going on.

“Our client was struggling with women in his household going missing and then being murdered. A girl would disappear for a time, and then reappear later. The peculiar thing was that the body of the deceased would never reappear before someone else went missing. This is an important key point, be sure to remember this. All the victims were young women full of life. None were elderly, and neither were any of the victims male. It’s clear that whoever was murdering all these women, they had a strong preference to females. A curious thing I noted at the time was that all the women were largely lacking in injuries. There were no signs of a struggle to be found on their bodies. Poison, drowning, and strangulation were not methods of killing the women. No bodily harm came to the women either.”

This would rule out a hate crime. If someone had beef with the master of the house, he may target his many wives, and maids. Once caught, they would be murdered gruesomely to make a point. However, this was not the case.

Anyone who was driven to murder from sheer rage wouldn’t stop at just killing people. You would want your target to feel fear and pain. Shen Jiu in particular would want for his enemies to suffer the worst sort of pain before they died.

The lack of poison could reasonably rule out foul play from other members of the household. Jealousy was a dangerous drug that killed many throughout the history of mankind.

Drowning and strangulation were other possible means of foul play, but there were no signs of this on any of the bodies. It was as if all the women simply died.

Of course, as a cultivator, it was not so easy to hide certain traces. All the women were lacking in vital energy. They were sucked dry. There was a bloody smell on all the deceased women, that only a cultivator with a keen sense of smell could pick up on. The corpses all had a pungent smell that masked the scent of blood and decay.

How contradictory for the women to smell bloody, considering it didn’t appear that any of the women had any outwardly injuries.

Lastly, it was faint… but he noticed the presence of a demon in their midst. This was no work of a human, but a demon. It was possible that all these murders were related to a demon cultivator who needed the human woman for a purpose.

How dare a demon station itself so close to his mountain peak!

Shen Jiu had spent much time with Ming Fan (his Luo Binghe bullying protégée), so the young man learned a lot from him, including what sorts of things to look into. He didn’t have to receive an order from Shen Jiu. He simply went and performed different tasks on his own accord.

The elder twin started to tap his fan against the open-faced palm of his other hand. This was an action he often did when he was idling about.

Amazing how he could talk about such a gruesome case so nonchalantly!

“All the women had a stench of blood on their bodies. It was checked, and their bodies contained blood, so it isn’t the case that the faint stench of blood came from them being drained of their blood. The smell was caused by something else. Another thing to note was that all the murdered women were very similar to each other, not only in age, but in build and height. That is another important thing to note.”

He’d given Ming Fan some instructions when Luo Binghe burst into the room, crying that Ning Yingying had disappeared.

It was regrettable, but Shen Jiu had to put faith in Ming Fan’s abilities to get the job done. He had a lot of investigating to do. Testimonies and alibies to collect.

“That’s the background story of why we descended from the Mountains. I followed the brat and found a rouge shop. The shop-keep also sold an assortment of perfumes. I was made to buy some of his wares to get any relevant information from him. He said that before the murdered women went missing, someone from the mansion would come to buy some of his wares. They’d always purchase the same thing. As a man who’d been at his trade for many years, he’s very confident in his ability to distinguish between people. All the women who visited his shop, purchasing the same item had the same voice and eyes. I’m sure you’ve realized by now, brother… we were dealing with a demon cultivator that used humans to cultivate. I had given the task to Luo Binghe to relay this information to Ming Fan and have him organize the rest of the disciples to ready themselves for battle. Additionally, they were to investigate who had left the premises after our arrival.”

He didn’t know this, but Ming Fan had sent out a disciple himself to relay the information he found to Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe and this disciple crossed paths. They exchanged information and turned back around.

“The reason why all the murdered women were similar in height and build was so that he could don the skins of one of his victims and disguise a corpse of a skin that has already served its purpose. He would meticulously and carefully peel the skin off, so none of the corpses looked to have any outwardly injuries. If you looked closely enough, you’d see where he had started his skinning process. If the builds and heights are too different, the skin would not be able to wrap around the corpse of another woman so well. The rouge and perfume with a strong fragrance was used to help mask the natural scent that is unique to each woman, and to hide the stench of blood. Ming Fan was tasked to question the residents of the mansion. He asked about what all the women had been doing before they went missing. Who had they kept in contact with? What were their personalities like? Relationships with each other? Were there any particular traits about each woman that was important to note, like walking habits, the colors of their eyes, their teeth, and more.”

One may think this was overkill, but it wasn’t. This was important to solving the case. Armed with all the knowledge he gained, Ming Fan had once again looked at all the women who had passed on, and noticed that there were inconsistencies with their traits. A woman who was said to have dark brown eyes suddenly had light brown eyes upon death? One woman prided herself of her pearly white and straight teeth had a tooth that was crooked and chipped. Why did one have a crooked finger that’s characteristic of another woman whose finger was crooked because of an old injury she sustained as a child?

After careful inspection, Ming Fan then noticed that their initial verdict of no outward injuries was incorrect.

All of these women had the same cuts on their bodies.

These women were wearing the skins of another. This would explain why a missing woman wouldn’t reappear until another woman went missing. All the reappearances were offset by one missing woman.

One woman was still missing, meaning that the culprit was still looking for another victim to claim for his own needs.

With the information they gathered, it was evident that all the deceased women were not wearing their own skins. As long as the order of the disappearances and reappearances were kept in order, it would be a simple matter to return the skins to the rightful owners.

This way, the women could at least be buried as their own identity, rather than another.

There was no need for fancy technology like DNA testing to solve this case. Shen Jiu was able to use his wits to figure out that the bodies and the skins didn’t match.

This situation always served as a reminder for Shen Yuan that Shen Jiu was an intelligent man who was very quick-witted. It was such a shame that he couldn’t use this brain of his to understand Luo Binghe’s potential and hug his thighs because of it.

Alas, Shen Yuan could only hope to slowly reform Shen Jiu for the better.

Figuratively on the edge of his seat, Shen Yuan wanted to know more about this scene that never showed up in the novel. How did Shen Jiu solve the mystery? What happened to Ning Yingying? Did Luo Binghe offer his aid in saving her? Was he okay?

“With all this information, time was off the essence if we wished to save Ying-er in time. The demon must have decided it had overstayed its welcome knowing that we have descended from the mountain and decided to run away.” The demon has come this far, so it couldn’t have been an ignorant fool who couldn’t tell when danger was nipping at its heels.

Now that the infamous Shen Qingqiu has descended from the mountain, notorious for his strong hatred for demon-kind has arrived, it was no longer safe to continue to prey upon his household.

The demon would have to change tactics and choose a victim that wasn’t related to the household. At this point, it was well-believed that the women were being killed for some kind of personal vendetta against the old man.

If this were ordinary people investigating the case, they would have been successfully lured away, but Shen Jiu wasn’t so easy to fool.

Since the demon had to choose a new target to kill that wasn’t related to the old man, who else but Ning Yingying was the best option? She came down the mountain alongside a powerful Peak Lord. She was of a higher quality compared to the regular people of this town.

Shen Jiu sighed, shaking his head regretfully. He originally allowed her to go shopping alongside Luo Binghe because he felt that the mansion was too dangerous for her to stay in. With women being killed one after another, there was no saying she’d be safe.

They’d just arrived, so word of cultivators arriving to solve the murder series hadn’t spread yet. Assuming that this was an outside job, getting her out of the mansion would keep her safe. Unfortunately, the culprit had already seen Ning Yingying.

An embarrassing oversight on his part, but who would have expected for Luo Binghe to be so useless! He couldn’t even protect a single girl.

“The brat returned much sooner than I expected because he’d met with a messenger halfway. I tasked him to investigate any seemingly abandoned buildings as that would be less conspicuous, making it easier to cultivate humans. Once he found anything, he was to promptly report back. Though lacking, this served as his punishment for losing Ying-er.”

Both brothers knew that while that was partly true, there was another aspect that Shen Jiu was failing to mention. He simply did not want to waste his time and energy in running around chaotically, looking for an abandoned building.

Seeing that Luo Binghe was young and easy to bully, Shen Jiu gave him the task.

Shen Yuan understood this point, but he didn’t point it out, “I see, seeing as she was kidnapped not long after the two went shopping, that means the culprit knew of your arrival. Only those who were in the mansion knew you’ve come as you reported straight to the mansion upon arrival. Knowing that their cover would soon be blown, the only option available to them is to find another target to kill. Greedy, they set their sights on Ying-er.” This is why Shen Jiu made them investigate anyone who had left the mansion since their arrival.

He never specified they must be women because there was no telling that the demon would have shed their previous victim’s skin off in a fit of desperation. There was no way of telling just yet whether the demon had the ability to manipulate others either.

If the demon had such an ability, it would explain why all the women were killed without much of a struggle at all. Taking this into consideration, it’s possible that the demon could manipulate others into doing its bidding.

“How perceptive of you, brother. I understand. So, I take it Ming Fan narrowed down the suspects and you were able to find a culprit?”

As expected of his younger brother, he was able to catch on. It may have taken him longer to get to the same conclusion as he did, but he figured it out eventually. Saying that Shen Yuan was just as smart as Shen Jiu was too generous, but it was wrong to say that he was an idiot.

He was rather naïve and careless, however.

“Yes, Butterfly, or whatever her name was, she was our prime suspect. I’d waited for Ming Fan to arrive with his fellow disciples. We’d set off to find the brat when we felt a strong surge of demonic energy.” Shen Jiu’s well-formed eyebrows furrowed deep after saying so, which filled Shen Yuan’s heart with dread.

What could have possibly happened for him to make such a face?

Heart palpitations and sweaty palms was highly inelegant, but in the privacy of their room, Shen Yuan frankly didn’t care for appearances at the moment. “… Ying-er… I’m sure she is safe, because brother didn’t report any casualties.”

Shen Jiu’s brows flattened out, his head bobbing once in approval. His brother understood him quite well. He had to give his brother praise for not singling out Luo Binghe at this point in time. “Yes, we made haste to an abandoned building where we witnessed the brat had disobeyed my orders and confronted the demon himself.”

A look of realization dawned upon Shen Yuan’s facial expressions. Anyone who dared to disobey Shen Jiu should expect ‘bad luck’ to grace him until his dying breath. Coupled with the fact that the very one who disobeyed him was the very Luo Binghe he detested… it was obvious to know why Shen Jiu was upset earlier.

“If not for the fact he’d acted against my orders in order to save Ying-er’s life, I would have slaughtered him on the spot.”

The implicit, ‘I can’t harm him in front of Yingying lest I wish her to cry for years to come’ was understood by both parties. You could even say that it was a reward for saving Ning Yingying that spared Luo Binghe’s life.

Shoulders slumped with visible relief. If Shen Qingqiu arrived on the scene, that meant both Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying could rest easy knowing they were saved. Not even Shen Jiu would smite Luo Binghe in a situation like that.

He had an image to keep in front of Ning Yingying, and it would do him more damage to harm her little savior.

“Upon my order, the disciples attacked and made quick work of the demon. We wrapped up and reported back to the mansion. We stayed until Ying-er had recovered enough to travel back up the mountains.” While he didn’t say a word about it, Luo Binghe’s wounds were treated.

Don’t get him wrong, he’d rather leave the brat to suffer his injuries on his own, but Ning Yingying wouldn’t stop crying about it. Luo Binghe put himself at risk to save her.

Tossing a bottle of medicine his way, they returned to the Mansion to tell the old man the ‘good news.’

During the time that Ning Yingying was recovering from her horrific experience, Shen Jiu took the time to scope the various shops that he paid little attention to previously. He never forgot about his other duty, which was to find souvenirs to bring back to his younger brother.

Shen Yuan was content to know that Luo Binghe was okay. Even if his negligence led to Ning Yingying being kidnapped, he still aided in saving her from the demon. That should award him some points in Shen Jiu’s book.

Speaking of getting points… Shen Jiu hadn’t reported to Qiong Ding Peak yet to tell Yue Qingyuan the results of the mission. What did he think about the progress of the disciples? What happened to the demon that was terrorizing the city down below?

It didn’t matter if Shen Yuan hadn’t the slightest of clues as to what relationship the two had, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that Yue Qingyuan held a strong level of importance for Shen Jiu.

There were times that Shen Yuan considered the reason behind the Sect Leader being kind to him was only to garner Shen Jiu’s approval.

“Right, brother, when will you leave for Qiong Ding Peak to report on the events of your trip down the mountain?”

Silence soon made the atmosphere thick with awkwardness, but this was within Shen Yuan’s expectations. Shen Jiu would always react oddly whenever Yue Qingyuan was brought up. Whatever their relationship was, there was a thick tension between them that could be cut with a knife.

“How would you like to go in my stead?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ding!

What will you do? Will you go in his place or will you not? Is this another test he’s giving you?

What reason does he have to ask you to go in his place? Whatever could it be? Think about it and choose whatever option you think is the best!

To note, not all questions are weighted the same way. Some have more drastic consequences if you don’t choose the right answer, but that’s not true for all the questions that will be asked.

Some questions may result in a turning point in the plot, or it will give you the chance to unlock special flashback events!

Observe how the story progresses and decide for yourself how important you think a given question is!

“So...? How important to you think this question is to the progression of this game? Pay special attention to the build up of tension, that may help you decide! Hurry up and vote!”

[CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE POLL!]

[Previous Segment] [Table of Contents] [N/A]

#Scum Villain #SVSSSLifeSimProj #Neo Writes Drabbles

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thankyoumskobayashi · 5 years

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Walk a Mile in my Rainboots

Crossover between: Guardian and Kamen Rider Blade

Ships: Zhou/Shen, Kenzaki/Hajime.

Summary: Stranded in a rainstorm while driving, Zhou Yunlan shelters at a gas station and meets veteran cryptid Kenzaki Kazuma. They both agree that keeping ancient rocks around to wreak havoc is a fucked up thing to do.

The giant, heavy, modded red Jeep -the SID's official work vehicle- stalled one night while Zhou Yunlan was driving it. As the rain drummed eerie rhythms on the jeep's roof, he called SID headquarters, that eclectic old building, and Shen Wei interrupted Wang Zheng to ask if the Dark Energy Detector was working.

Dutifully, Zhou checked. "No, it appears to be a simple mistake of me not remembering to fill the gas tank this morning. That's all." He grinned, shivering. "Oh, and I forgot my coat, so I'm going to hang at the gas station down the road."

"I will go get you. Wait for me, and don't get into trouble." Shen ordered. Yunlan laughed, picturing him scowling with his eyes, his brows lowered, his lips a tight line. He cut such a noble figure even through everything, and it always made Yunlan's heart beat faster with the thrill of being by his side.

"Oh, Shun Wei, don't you know that Trouble is both my first and last name?" Yunlan teased, laughing riotously.

"This is no laughing matter," Shun Wei insisted. "Your safety is my priority. I will be there to pick you up shortly."

The phone call ended and Zhou Yunlan hung up, picking up the keys and locking the car as he left it on the side of the road. He trudged through muddy puddles which soaked through his sneakers and left his threadbare socks wet and uncomfortable.

"Damnit," he muttered as he reached the awning. He leaned against the side of the building that was in the lee of the storm, with the least rain pattering down a few inches away from his face.

"Hey. Do you need this?" He jumped as a shadowy figure appeared next to him and offered some giant rainboots. The voice was lower and less elegant than Shen Wei's, and its owner was a sorer sight for sorry eyes. The youth in question was Japanese and somewhere in his twenties, a hobo or stoner perhaps, with mussed brown hair and dark circles under his eyes.

Zhou eyed the man warily. "Why do you ask?" He burst into grin. "It's not everyday that I'm offered such fine galoshes, after all."

"Your shoes squeaked with each step," the man explained, setting the boots between them. "Take them or leave them, I don't care. You'll never see me again, anyways." A shadow of a frown crossed his brow with a spray of droplets from the gale around them.

"Ah, where are you headed? I'm off to visit a friend's," Yunlan asked.

"Who knows? I go where the wind takes me," the stranger shrugged. Undeterred, Yunlan tried again.

"Ah, same with me, unfortunate that it had to take me to the next case without regard for my recently recovered eyesight."

"You... are human, no?"

"Of course."

"I thought so. Why would a human recover sight?"

"First you visit an eye doctor, then you schedule an appointment with an eye surgeon..."

"I wasn't born five centuries ago." The mysterious man snarked. "I know what modern technology is like. Although, I haven't seen what cell phones can do in.... say.... 12 years."

Zhou whistled. "That's an enormous amount of time. Were you stuck in Azkaban, then?"

The man laughed. "No, I'm worse off than even Sirius was. He at least got to see his husband before Rowling killed him off. I'm cursed to be wandering eternally to avoid meeting and having to kill the love of my life."

...................That's tough, buddy."

"Yeah."

They both watch the rain in silence for a while. Zhou doesn't sense any ill intentions from the other man, so he tried again. "I'm Zhou Yunlan. Want to join my crew? We solve mysteries caused by the Dixings coming to the surface of the planet."

The youth laughed. "Well, Zhou Yunlan, you have noble intentions, but I'd rather not get you involved in the extinction of another species. My name is Kenzaki Kazuma, and an ancient rock fucked up my life."

Zhou Yunlan's eyes lit up. "Same here! There's this giant pillar at Dixing which tried to manipulate me-"

"The Möbius Rock tries to manipulate me-"

"-To believing my boyfriend is evil."

"-Into killing my boyfriend."

They stare at each other, shocked, in the rain. Zhou laughs and changes his wet shoes out for the galoshes. "You know exactly what I'm going through."

"You're just like me when I was still a human," Kenzaki smiled sadly. "It makes me sad to know I'll have to leave you behind in case he gets too close."

"Why leave anyone behind at all?" Jiu Zhu's voice echoed from the darkness around them. Yunlan tensed immediately as he continued, "You won't make it out of this place alive."

Zhou pushed Kenzaki behind him, pulling out his dark energy gun. The youth pulled a belt out from his back and fastened it around his waist. "I've got this." He placed the Ace of Spades card in the belt, making the words "Turn Up." Then he ran through a glowin blue rectangular window, appearing like a one-horned silver stag beetle with red eyes. His sword appeared too, which he slashed at Jiu Zhu with.

Jiu Zhu dodged, and countered with a kick that did... Nothing. Kenzaki walked forward, even when the Dixingian kicked his vulnerable belly. He pulled out a sword, swiped a couple cards, and the words "Lightning Sonic" appeared in the same voice as earlier.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY~!" Kenzaki screamed as he slashed Jiu Zhu in the elbow, right where Yunlan had shot him earlier. Zhou marveled at his ability to notice his opponent's limited range of movements and from there pinpoint a weakness. He evidently wasn't new to fighting.

Jiu Zhu winced with pain, then cursed and disappeared in a cloud of dark energy. Kenzaki pulled the card from his belt and returned to human form, collapsing to his knees in the rain.

Yunlan ran over to help him, unaware now of the rain soaking him to his core. He reached out to help Kenzaki, but was stopped by Shen Wei's arm on his at the same moment that he noticed green blood dripping from Kenzaki's mouth.

"Zhou Yunlan, what happened here?" Shen Wei scowled at him through the mask.

Zhou grinned at him, then turned to Kenzaki. "Ah, my boyfriend's here."

Kenzaki nodded.

"Stop ignoring me, I sense dark energy. Was it him?" Shen asked, kicking Kenzaki backwards and pinning him expertly. He materialized his guandao to point it at Kenzaki's throat. Kenzaki, for his part, did not resist.

"No, no, no, no, he was protecting me!" Yunlan insisted. "Jiu Zhu showed up and Kenzaki fought him off."

Shen stared at him, then narrowed his eyes at the green blood dripping from Kenzaki's mouth. "He certainly looks different than all of my people I've met so far. What powers does he have?"

"You'd have to ask him that, he's sitting right there." As hot as it was to see Shen Wei pinning someone down while using his royal persona, Yunlan didn't want to explain his boner to the wanderer he just met.

"Please let me stand up," Kenzaki asked, in a voice that was too Tired for anything.

Slowly, Shen Wei removed his guandao and released Kenzaki's wrists. He stayed between Yunlan and the newcomer and eyed Kenzaki warily, as if he would jump up and lunge for Yunlan's throat.

Kenzaki sat up slowly, as if trying not to startle Shen Wei. He had returned his cards and belt to some pocket within his torn and baggy pants before Shen Wei could notice.

"I used my basic finishing attack on him. That's all."

"What is that? Show me," Shen Wei commanded. Kenzaki opened his mouth, then jumped a meter in the air when Yunlan's cell phone rang. Yunlan retreated to the side of the gas station to open his cell phone. Shen Wei noticed the relieved face Kenzaki made when he realized ringtones were still Like That.

"Yep, I'm alright. Mhm. Uh-huh. No, don't... I'll have him report directly to you." He covered the receiver. "Babe, come over here."

Giving Kenzaki one last glare, Shen Wei strode towards Zhou and took the phone. He murmured some things, as Yunlan noticed Kenzaki had disappeared into the night. The only physical evidence he had been there was the pair of galoshes.

"Won't you need these?" He called, softly enough not to alarm Shen Wei.

"If I give up the chance to help somebody, even with something as small as this, I could never live with myself," Kenzaki replied distantly. "Farewell, Zhou Yunlan. I wish Hajime and I could have gotten something like what you have."

"Hajime? What's he like?"

"I don't know anymore. He was cold and rude at first, but over time I grew to trust and care for him, enough to protect him with my life."

Zhou whistled. "That sounds familiar."

"I know; we're the same." The laugh was evident in Kenzaki's voice now. Shen Wei passed the phone back to Yunlan as he did not know how to hang up.

"I apologize; my reflexes took over earlier," Shen Wei called to Kenzaki. "May I see just one of your abilities?"

"Sure, what the hell, why not." Kenzaki stepped out of the darkness looking the same. As they watched, he became a monstrous green bug just taller than a human.

"Now, let's test whether you are one of my people or not," Shen Wei said, summoning a ball of dark energy below his hand.

"I'm probably not; the rest went extinct about 10,000 years ago," Kenzaki muttered. Shen Wei froze.

"There was an extinction....Justiciar didn't keep any of the records on this. As the Envoy of Dixing I must atone for this grievous sin, too."

"Babe, don't keep placing the burdens of the world on your shoulders. Sooner or later, you'll fall and collapse from the stress." Zhou wrapped his arm around Shen Wei's shoulders encouragingly.

"For Dixing and for the sake of peace, I must," Shen answered, although he leaned into Yunlan's arm a bit.

"Earlier you offered to help me; now I propose we help each other. I don't want another evil rock nearly destroying the world, since I already barely scraped by with avoiding that once."

Shen Wei stared at Kenzaki breathlessly. "H-How old are you?"

"Twenty-nine," Kenzaki answered.

"What do you want in return?" Zhou asked.

"To have an evil rock destroyed so I can be with my boyfriend again," Kenzaki answered.

"Do you work well in teams?"

"I trust my coworkers with my life, even when they betray me or shoot me point-blank."

Zhou considered this, then smirked. "I'll approve your application. I feel that we can kill two birds with one stone by working together. Do you need a place to stay?"

Just like he'd use the hell out of these rainboots, he'd use Kenzaki's powers to end Jiu Zhu's plots once and for all.

#the joke is that he already knows the answer to that #gay prince of cryptids #i dont know if shen wei uses a guandao or a #puandao? i think it was???#to find those names i searched chinese glaives. or is it just a glaive instead???#kamen rider blgayde #in any case im not putting this in the main tags so people dont get smited by censors for reading it #stay safe everyone

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neoblogcrying · 5 years

Text

“Let’s play a game” pt.2

Yeah… I ended up writing the next part a lot sooner than expected because I had a lot going on today—and I wanted to write to vent my stress out. I didn’t have the mood to write anything else so here we are! Hope you enjoy the read!

The System Temp chose ‘HARD MODE’ and this was met with high praise, from System moderator #1. The other moderators were not as happy.

You win some, and you lose some.

“System Temp, be on standby.” A mechanical voice sounded overhead. A light illuminated down, onto a couch that was situated in front of a big Television screen. The couch was soft and plush to the touch with colorful, fluffy pillows.

Elevator music started playing in the background as distant sounds of people talking could be heard over the music. Perhaps the music was being played to drown out the conversation between the System moderators. It was hard to make out any words, but there were a few words that stood out:

‘Anoying,’ ‘Troublesome,’ ‘Scum,’ ‘So pitiful,’ and ‘So complicated.’

The Television screen was dark as it wasn’t powered on. Most likely, it would turn on the moment they finished…doing whatever it was that they were doing.

KEEEEN!

That was the sound of an intercom system turning on.

“Hey! Watch it! You’re doing that on purpose, #3!”

“Oh, am I? You’ve already messed up the background history this much, does it even matter at this point?”

“You make it sound as if it’s my fault. I’m not the one who chose Hard Mode. I simply suggested it as an option. It doesn’t mean it had to be chosen.”

“Both of you stop it. #3, get your finger off the intercom.”

Beep.

After that, no other words could be heard. The calming elevator music was the only thing that could be heard. It must have been boring for the System Temp to sit there with no one else to keep them company. At least a conversational partner would have been nice to have.

The room the System Temp was in had 4 walls, all pure white in color. There were no plants to decorate the room, no windows to allow in light, and there weren’t any decorative paintings to serve as a relief for the eyes!

It was a wonder how this room was lit up when there weren’t any light fixtures. Maybe the walls themselves glowed?

KEEEEN----

“Hey hey, he’s rioting.”

“Ahhh~ Transmigrators are always so willful! Give him a taste of karma, that’ll shut him up for now. They need to realize if they don’t listen to us, they’ll only suffer.”

Beep.

Whether or not someone had turned on the intercom on purposefully for the System Temp to hear that was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was a pure coincidence, or maybe they wanted to give a warning that any acts of rebellion would be met with ‘karma’.

All one could do was sit on the couch and wait… and wait… and wait. Being left alone allowed for thoughts to run rampant.

For what reason were they chosen? Is this a kidnapping? Is this Hell? Did they die? Can they even return home?

[Answer: Once you lead the game to a successful end, you will be returned home. The System Moderators were bored and enlisted you to help curb their boredom. Do your best, System Temp. Good luck on going home soon.]

A mechanical voice rang inside their head, promptly giving them the answer, but it wasn’t necessarily the answer they wanted to hear.

The elevator music suddenly cut out and the Television screen lit up without warning.

An energetic voice rang out from a mysterious source. It was hard to tell where the voice was coming from.

Welcome to the System Moderated Life Simulation game! You are our first contestant, congratulations! It’s a huge honor being able to play through the trial run, wouldn’t you know?

I know, I know, you must be overwhelmed by how honored you are. We went as far as to choose you who already knows the series: ‘Proud Immortal Demon’s way’ so you don’t need a refresher course on the main characters. Feel free to thank us for our consideration later.

To explain once more, this game will progress by pausing at random points to ask you questions. Your answers will lead characters down different paths. If you choose all the wrong answers, it may result in death! If you choose all the right answers, they will live, maybe even find love!

Will you lead Luo Binghe down the original harem route? Maybe you’ll have Shen Qingqiu fall in love with someone else.

Speaking of Shen Qingqiu, there is a surprise!

For choosing Hard Mode… you get an extra character to control! This character is… the original Shen Qingqiu! That’s right, you heard me right. The ORIGINAL.

The Shen Qingqiu that’s in a relationship with Luo Binghe… is actually a transmigrator! Unlike you, he was migrated into the novel, while you are a System temp! You have the better deal, really.

Look, when we reversed time, we kept him and adjusted the background story. We wiped out his memory, so he won’t remember his previous adventures as he’ll think he just transmigrated into a child’s body.

He must grow along with this story for a second time and you get to watch and control their fate with your decisions!

No pressure though.

Hm? Tell you the background story? That’s no fun (for us) if we tell you right away! You need to unlock that yourself! If you’re lucky, one of the characters may trigger a flashback event for you!

It’s time for our break so I’ll stop the introduction phase here. You seem like a smart cookie, so we’re sure you’ll figure out the rest on your own! Good luck!

It was dead silent as the System Moderators went on their break, leaving the System Temp alone. The Television screen flashed, and the scenery changed.

The opening scene was of Shen Qingqiu laying in bed with Yue Qingyuan sitting next to him patiently. “Ah… you’re awake Xiao-Yuan. How are you feeling? You collapsed suddenly with a high fever. Xiao-Jiu has gone out in your place.” Yue Qingyuan explained solemnly. “Some of the disciples witnessed Xiao-Jiu coming to retrieve you, and by this point, I’m sure the secret is out.”

‘Shen Qingqiu’ was a fake name that the two twin brothers have made for themselves. Shen Jiu was the original scummy goods, while Shen Yuan was the transmigrator who the plot changed to accommodate.

Slowly, Shen Yuan sat up with much difficulty, feeling his burning forehead with his clammy hand. He felt horrible forcing Shen Jiu to take his place. The two of them made up one Shen Qingqiu and they usually alternated who had the pleasure of acting the part of a Peak Master.

Shen Jiu had been playing the part for a long time now as Shen Yuan was busy cultivating to catch up to his elder twin brother. Shen Yuan went into the cultivation world later than Shen Jiu did and so it took time for him to play catch up, even with Shen Jiu taking things slower for his sake.

He’d never admit to it, but he did try to slow down his pace so his brother could catch up to him. Once they both had the same cultivation, Shen Yuan could resume playing the teacher role.

Unfortunately, he was born with a weaker body and he was prone to getting sick. That was the reason why his cultivation speed was much slower than Shen Jiu’s, but he never got mad at his younger twin over this.

In fact, Shen Yuan seemed to be the only one that Shen Jiu could be considered ‘soft’ towards.

Just when he finally caught up, he collapsed. This would’ve been the perfect time for Shen Jiu to study more on the demon kind, but Shen Yuan ruined it.

Just as he was feeling upset over this, the door quickly opened. “What’s wrong? Were you bullied?” The stern voice of his elder brother interrupted his thoughts.

Shen Yuan shook his head, looking miserable. “I’m sorry brother, I fell ill at a bad time. I’m so useless to have caused you trouble again… even though I vowed to help you.”

A sigh.

Not giving Yue Qingyuan the cold shoulder, Shen Jiu did give him some acknowledgement in the form of a head nod. Though he had many misgivings towards him, he was the reason why the two brothers could be together like this. He had to give him some merit for that.

With his fan, he smacked the top of Shen Yuan’s head. “Ridiculous. Who dares call you useless? Tell me and I will send them to hell thrice over.”

The reason why Shen Yuan fell ill was because of how hard he was pushing himself to cultivate. With his knowledge as a transmigrator, he knew that his elder brother was bullying the protagonist! He has a death wish!

Don’t you know you’ll turn into a human stick if you continue down this route!? This needs to be fixed!

Even with him imploring Shen Jiu to be kinder to Luo Binghe, it didn’t amount to much. The elder brother would apply his own flawed logic to Shen Yuan’s words.

For example:

‘Instead of beating him within a half inch of his life, I will beat him within 5 inches of his life.’

‘Instead of beating him, throwing him into the shed with no food or water, I’ll beat him him up and throw him into the shed with food!’

‘I want to kill him right this instant, but I’ll settle for having Ming Fan beat him up while I watch.’

This was his definition of ‘being nicer.’

Can you imagine Shen Yuan’s feeling of exasperation?

“You only need to focus on getting better. This Master will take care of things just fine.”

There’s no way things are going to be ‘just fine’ with the way you bully the protagonist! “…Brother… how is… Luo Binghe?” Shen Yuan asked cautiously, being sure to monitor Shen Jiu’s facial expressions carefully.

The other scowled at the sound of the name. Why his younger brother was so obsessed with that trash, he couldn’t understand. He was just trash, but he always defended him. ANNOYING!

Covering his face with his fan, he turned to look at Yue Qingyuan. It was implicitly understood that he wished to ignore the question.

That was enough for Shen Yuan to know that ‘Shen Qingqiu’ had bullied Luo Binghe once again. Can you please consider the feelings of your younger brother who will need to do damage control in your stead?

“Thank you for taking care of Shen Yuan. Since he’s awake, you should leave now. I can take it from here.” He didn’t want to be with Yue Qingyuan any longer than was necessary.

It didn’t matter what pitiful looks you gave him, he still hadn’t forgiven you for breaking your promise.

Casting a quick side glance at Shen Yuan, Yue Qingyuan smiled gently at Shen Jiu. “It was no problem at all, Shen Qinqiu. Seeing as he’s stabilized, I shall take my leave soon, but not before discussing something with you both.”

The two of them acted as one person. When one person was the public face, the other rested and hit the books, ingesting all the information they could.

Since Shen Jiu acted as ‘Shen Qinqiu’ the most, his personality was what everyone saw, which meant Shen Yuan had to adapt to this personality when he was the public face.

He was very intelligent, and he had the acting prowess of a God. Even though he was easily frightened, tender hearted, and sarcastic, he acted like a proper Peak Master when he was out as ‘Shen Qinqiu’.

He always adjusted his own personality to match his older brother’s, who was the main face of Shen Qingqiu. His skills in acting were so good, even Yue Qingyuan had a hard time telling them apart most times!

Now that the secret is out, they had to discuss on how to move going forward.

“I would suggest that Shen Qingqiu takes the title of Peak Lord while Shen Yuan acts as the second in command. It’s too late to hide the truth from your peak disciples anymore. I’ve prevented them from spreading the truth to other peaks, but you can’t continue on as you have before.”

There was truth in what he said, but they’d acted the part as one entity for so many years, it was hard to break the habit.

Nothing would have to change if they gave the excuse that there was so much work to do that one always had to stay behind. As they were identical twins, no one would be able to tell the two apart.

“Brother, I think we can accept this. No one can tell us apart, so I can take over as Shen Qinqiu, and you can take on my identity and study in solitude. With our secret being revealed, that means periodically, I can walk outside with you.” Shen Yuan displayed a gentle smile (that he knew Shen Jiu was secretly weak to) on his face.

For years, never have the two of them ever appeared under the sun at the same time. The only time they had together was in the private quarters of Shen Qingqiu.

“Hmph. Accepted.”

Yue Qingyuan slowly exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He honestly expected more resistance than this, but this worked out for the better. He would have to make the announcements soon.

“Do get better Shen Yuan. I’ll visit again at a later date. Look after your brother well, Shen Qingqiu. I’ll be taking my leave now.” He stood with no wasted movements and left the room.

Even though he preferred to refer to them as Xiao-Jiu and Xiao-Yuan, he knew that doing so in Shen Jiu’s presence would make him rave in anger, and that would only hurt the sickly Shen Yuan, so he refrained from doing so in the elder’s presence.

He so wanted to be able to refer to him as Xiao-Jiu again, but he wasn’t allowed to. He could only wait for the day Shen Jiu would allow it. So for now, he could only refer to him as Shen Qingqiu and his younger brother as Shen Yuan.

When it was just him and Shen Yuan, he liked to affectionately refer to him as Xiao-Yuan.

Shen Yuan, who had the milder personality, didn’t mind being referred to that way so he always accepted it. He never questioned why Yue Qingyuan changed the way he addressed him in the presence of his brother, because he had enough sense to realize there was some history between the two.

Not wanting to bring up bad memories, Shen Yuan never asked his brother what relationship he had with Yue Qingyuan and why he seemed so angry with him.

“Hurry up and sleep. I’ll bring you porridge later.”

Shen Yuan chuckled quietly and he laid back down.

He never knew that the original ‘scum’ goods had a kind bone in his body. This had to be information that was never revealed in the original novel, and Shen Yuan felt so bad for all the times he called for Shen Qinqiu to get castrated in the comments.

Forgive him brother, he never knew the truth! He knows his wrongs!

Admittedly, it was stifling to have Shen Jiu be so protective over him, but he could understand because as far as Shen Jiu knew, Shen Yuan was the only family he had left.

Hoping to use familial love to melt his icy heart slowly, Shen Jiu may learn to be less like a scum villain, and more like a respectable Peak Master.

DING!

The screen that was playing out like a drama froze in place.

It’s the first fate changer!

System temp, make your decision, which of the Shen brothers will you ‘Main’? Whoever you choose will be the brother you control most often. Choose wisely as this cannot be changed! Your choice will dictate how the rest of the story goes.

One brother has more death traps than the other.

[Main Shen Jiu or Shen Yuan?]

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A/N: So yeah, click on the link to choose between Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu. You will still see both in the story, but one will have more ‘screen time’ so to speak if you main them. Whenever they are both in the same scene I will refer to them as Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan, but when only one is in scene, I will call them Shen Qinqiu because that’s the persona they’re acting as. Since the point of the game is to control other characters and not just Shen Qingqiu, it would give you too much of an advantage if I tell you which brother is acting as Shen Qingqiu at any given moment, so you will have to make an educated guess!

Hopefully this idea flies well with people? If not, I’ll just discard this experimental project. If it is received well, I’ll continue with it! Until next time!

#SVSSS #Scum Villain's Self-saving system #Scum Villain #Neo writes drabbles #SVSSSLifeSimProject #((I'm a lil nervous now because depending on who you choose to main it can get very dangerous))#((Idk I personally thought adding a Twin feature would be fun! Protective SJ in the house. Tis why this is hardmode lol))

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