One: IV
Silence enveloped the room as Bai Mo removed the wet rag from his forehead. Adjusting his legs out of the blankets he stood out of bed.
"Do you want to explain more to me or are you going to stay silent." He said to Lu Mao while fixing his wrinkled shirt, which was drenched with his sweat.
[Uh, yeah, I can explain.] Lu Mao quietly said. He himself was stunned at the sight of Xue Zhiqiang.
Bai Mo opened his closet and grabbed a random shirt. He ignored the intense pulse from Lu Mao and changed. Afterward, he walked into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He looked completely different from who he was before. He looked like a typical rich arrogant man who was ready to show the world how he plans on changing it. His face looked inexperienced and was currently hitting its last growth spurt. Bai Mo thought that he looked too young for his age.
[The worlds that were going into are the same ones that I used to be the protagonist of.] Lu Mao explained.
"Yeah, I understand that, but why are we here? What's the point when the story is already completed? Is there something you're not telling me?" The person in the mirror was unfamiliar. Yet it matched the person in the memories that he was given. This person was Xue Bolin, the third son of the Xue family, destined to be thrown into prison for abandoning his younger stepbrother, Xue Zhiqiang. His hair was matted to his forehead and his skin was pale. It was clear that the person was sick.
[No, no there's nothing. There's no point in hiding anything from you anyways.] He paused. [But yeah, you're right. These worlds have already been completed, but that doesn't mean it's permanent. Think of it as a VHS tape, even if you record on it once, it can always be recorded over with a different video. Before we leave the system completely I thought I could have a little bit of my own revenge, yeah? It makes it more satisfying that way.]
"And so you're using me for that revenge."
[Didn't I say it before? I can't help you for free, that would be a waste of a perfectly good chance to exploit someone!]
Bai Mo sighed. He was expecting that. It wasn't that he was against Lu Mao's revenge. In fact, he also thought that it was well deserved. It was just that he didn't know why it had to be him. Couldn't it have that comatose man from before? If Lu Mao could turn himself into a system with just a little bit of help and information, couldn't he easily be able to turn Leng Zheng into some kind of transmigrator in his stead?
"Alright then, what is it I need to do?"
Lu Mao's voice became noticeably happier, [Right! Your job is to change the plot! Just like what happened to me in the world from before, you have to change the protagonist from Xue Zhiqiang to someone else. Which should be easier in this world since the plot is dependant on the protagonist's change. Which is caused by you! Xue Bolin!]
Bai Mo cleaned his face and neck with water, the spare water droplets dripped down his clavicle and disappeared into his shirt. "What do I get in return? Despite the final reward." Usually, a system would reward a transmigrator with points, or in some cases, a skill. But with Lu Mao not being an official system it was unknown whether or not he would have access to the same privileges.
[Oh, I know what you're talking about. Give me a second, let me check.] The voice in his head went silent. Bai Mo grabbed a nearby towel, dried his face, and headed back into the bedroom. His eye's spotted the warm uneaten porridge set on the dresser. A thought passed through his mind before he walked up to it and held it in his hand.
The warmth from the porridge traveled from the bowl into his hand. He lifted the spoon, blew on it a couple of times, and scooped a small amount into his mouth. Once finding it satisfactory, he consumed the rest of the bowl.
After a short amount of time, he placed the now-empty bowl back onto the dresser and licked the extra off of his lips.
[I'm back, I'm back!] Lu Mao transmitted into Bai Mo's head. [And I've got good news! Do you want me to tell you?]
Bai Mo's eyebrows furrowed slightly at Lu Mao's exaggerated voice. "Just tell me already."
Lu Mao gave out a small chuckle, [Yes, yes. Oh, dear Host of mine,] He paused for a second and a translucent screen revealed itself to Bai Mo. [I found this, an old reward system!]
Bai Mo's mood dissipated at the sight of the screen. He remembered these. Years back when he first showed up at HQ. He remembered following System 278 to a meeting on where they had replaced them because of their faulty programing.
Host Name - Bai Mo
Level - 1
System Number - #̶̬͚̓͋̄̈́#̸̬̹͍̰̂ͅ#̸̜̺̌̃#̶̨̥͖̤̹͑ (Lu Mao)
Level - 1
Occupying World - The Rising Abandoned Son
Current Points - 0
Current Worlds Completed - 1
World's Objective - ̷C̷o̷m̷p̷l̷e̷t̷e̷ ̷S̷t̷o̷r̷y̷ Destroy Protagonist's Halo
World's Tasks - 1) Prevent Xue Zhiqiang's Character Development (100pts)
2) ████████ (Task Will Reveal Itself Once The Task Above Is Complete)
3) ████████ (Task Will Reveal Itself Once The Task Above Is Complete)
Bonus Tasks - Gain Bonus Tasks at Level 3
And at the corner of the screen sat the word (store) in a small font.
"Seems simple enough." Bai Mo said.
[Eh? Really? You don't need me to explain anything to you?]
"Of course not, this isn't the first time I've seen this system. I know how they work." He took one last look at the screen and asked. "But, why is it that we've completed a world already?"
Lu Mao brightened up at being asked a question and enthusiastically explained. [Well, when I first became your system we had already technically completed that world, but because none of the tasks were done within those last couple of seconds, you didn't gain any points. But don't worry! Leveling up with this system works along with how many worlds you've completed! So leveling up is easy!]
That was something Bai Mo had already known. Because that was the reason that they had gotten rid of the system in the first place. It was too easy to level up. People who had failed the world tasks and moved onto another world were still able to level up. That, and there was a glitch involving the store. He'll have to explore it later.
But before that, Bai wanted to explore the household first. Although it was integrated into his mind, it wasn't through his vision, so there was no way that he could trust it. He took the empty bowl and spoon with him and headed towards the kitchen.
[Why are you going to the kitchen? You can just get some other maid to bring that bowl there for you.]
Bai Mo ignored the voice and opened the door to the kitchen. Several cooks were preparing lunch for the day and several of them looked back and recognized Bai Mo. Bai Mo ignored them and walked past them and towards the sinks.
He stopped a maid who was currently washing the ditches and asked her, "Who will be washing these dishes after dinner?" The maid in question stopped and recognized Bai Mo. "Oh, Master Bolin!" She took her hands out of the water and dried them with a towel. "Tonight? Do you have so have something to tell them? I'm sure I can relay it to them for you."
"That would be great, thanks." He said back, although the wording was polite, the way that he spoke made it sound like it was because he was obligated to. Although Xue Bolin didn't have the need to be polite, it was because he was in need of supporters from all places, and the best way to try was to at least use polite wording. "Please tell them to leave this dish and spoon uncleaned until tomorrow morning, that would help me a great deal."
The maid smiled at his polite tone and chuckled slightly, "What a strange request. Of course, I can do that for you. I'll make sure it stays here all night." She then took the bowl away from him and stored it right behind the kitchen faucet.
And with that, Bai Mo took his leave. He casually, on his way out, took a couple of sandwiches on a tray for him to eat as lunch. "I will be too busy to eat together with father today, please send him my regards." He told the chef who was carrying out the tray. Without a care, he took a couple of looks around the house and ate his sandwiches.
[Aish, those sandwiches look really good... I want one...]
Bai Mo didn't blink before he responded with, "You aren't human, you don't have a digestion system, nor do you have a mouth. And how are you support to hold it? You said it yourself, you don't have any arms."
[...]
He just wanted a sandwich.
[Maa~ Maa~ It doesn't matter anymore.] Lu Mai said, trying to make it seem like he really wasn't craving to be in a human body again. [Why don't you tell me what you're doing? Why would you ask that lady to leave the bowl there? What's that supposed to do?]
"Shouldn't you already know?" He responded. He took another large bite of his sandwich and thought that it tasted blander than the porridge from before. How was that even possible? "After all, you were Xue Zhiqiang at some point, weren't you?"
[That doesn't mean that know what's going on this timeline you-] Lu Mao stopped himself as a memory came back to him.
Back in this world, he wasn't able to eat at the same time as his family. Nor was he allowed to eat the meals that the chefs had prepared. So ever since he was a child, he would go into the kitchen late at night to make meals for himself.
[But how would you know that? Xue Bolin shouldn't know about that..]
"He came home late one night and was craving some food. Ended up spotting you in the kitchen. The memory stuck with him ever since."
Another intense pulse hit Bai Mo in the head, but he didn't question it.
Opening the door to his room, Bai Mo tossed the remaining sandwich into the trash. For some reason, it just wasn't appetizing to him anymore. He wiped his mouth with his hand and laid back in bed.
[Eh? That's it for today? No more?]
Bai Mo closed his eyes and rested his head against the pillow. "I don't need to do anything."
[But it's only just past lunch! We can do so much more! Come one. Let's go and explore the gardens outside, yeah? It'll be fun, I swear!]
Instead of listening to him, Bai Mo grabbed the wet rag that he left on the bedside dresser. "I'm still sick, if Auntie Dai caught me outside I'll be done for." And with that, he fell asleep.
Lu Mao sat in Bai Mo's head in silence. What happened to his all-powerful host? He's scared of an old woman?!
-
Xue Zhiqiang woke to his stomach growling. This was a usual occurrence. This longing for food and the light of the moon shining from his window as he sat in bed was one of his most recurring memories. Sometimes he even joked to himself, saying that even as an old man he wouldn't forget that feeling. Of course, it was only him laughing, no one else was there to listen to him.
There were times that he thought that if he told Xue Bolin that joke, he wondered if he would laugh. Would he laugh at any of his jokes? Would he think they would be funny? 'That would be nice.' He thought. An involuntary smile crossed his face at the scene in his mind. The sight of Xue Bolin smiling at something he said. The crease his eyes and the sight of his perfect teeth. Xue Zhiqiang promised that if he was even able to see that scene, he wouldn't ever forget it.
Xue Zhiqiang slipped out of the thin blankets covering his skinny body. He had to be quick and quiet like always, or else he might run into an employee that wasn't favorable of him and they would tell the master of the house. He had gotten scolded by that 'father' of his once before, and he was too scared to stand in front of him once again.
He moved around the hallways with practiced footwork. He was well aware of the floorboards that creaked and was adamant that he avoided them. He slowly slid open the kitchen door and stopped right before it squeaked. Using his thin body, he easily slithered in. He gave out a sigh of relief once he had safely arrived in front of the refrigerator.
He made sure to only take foods that the people would notice missing, like carrots and other raw edible vegetables, several small fruits, and to spoil himself, a single mangosteen. He ate his batch quick and made sure to be quiet. At the end of his meal, Xue Zhiqiang opened the mangosteen with his bare hands. He usually rewards himself with one when he thought he had a good day. And according to him, today was one of them.
Although he always wanted more, he had to stop himself. He never wanted to get caught sneaking and stealing. That would mean the end for him.
After burying the unedible parts in the trash, Xue Zhiqiang sneaked to the sink to clean his hands.
But once at the sink, the sight of a familiar bowl met his eyes. It was coincidentally, the same bowl that he had given Xue Bolin. All of the porridge was gone and no residue was pooling at the sides, so it wasn't dumped in the trash. All of it had been eaten by Xue Bolin.
Inexplicable feelings rose up in Xue Zhiqiang. It was unakin to happiness, but nor was it sadness. He wanted to smile, the joy that it made him want to feel at the thought of his brother eating the food he had given him. But at the same time, for a reason Xue Zhiqiang couldn't explain, he wanted to cry. The feeling was so complicated to him, that instead of washing his hands, he openly left the kitchen and went back to his room.
He slowly slid into his bedsheets and covered his curled-up body from head to toe with his small blanket. In the darkness, he could see his shaking hands. The way that they trembled for a reason he didn't understand. He was happy. He really was. But a part of him he didn't know felt an inexplicable type of sadness.