Chapter 48: Crazy
Zi Che · truly tragic · Shu Bai, or also known as the ‘stupid writer’, felt his whole world crack.
My little Shan is so cute, how can he be a freak?!
This is absolutely impossible!
There must be a mistake……
Gu Bai looked at Qi Guan Rui uncertainly, his ten interlocked fingers shot out snake voodoos like that of an arrow leaving the bowstring. Each one mustered great strength to burrow into the brains of the Mo Ren.
The original work clearly stated: Aside from the bloodline of the Tun Tian Xuan Mang, no other bloodline had the ability to control snake voodoo.
The original intent was to have a unique, golden leg unlike the rest, impossible to duplicate.
But……
Fuck, I can’t deceive myself even if I wanted to!
Thinking back, Gu Bai was overwhelmed with emotions.
Damn, that’s right. If Gu Xiao Shan wasn’t the psycho protagonist but just a normal servant, how could he have that kind of temperament!
Thinking back carefully on this guy’s behavior and comparing it with the information he’d found, then setting it side by side with the memories in his mind… even the things that didn’t make sense before could be explained now. Let’s not make it worse by bringing up the details.
For example, when he had first looked into Gu Xiao Shan’s background, he had thought that someone faking their persona wouldn’t need to seek refuge with him. But if the protagonist was a psychopath, he wouldn’t even need a reason to do such a thing! Another example was that while Gu Xiao Shan’s martial arts skills seemed pretty low, Tun Tian Xuan Mang itself had the ability to conceal its powers. In the original story, the psycho protagonist relied on this very factor to deliberately trick others into thinking he was weak… it’s a must-have trait for a proper slap in the face! Yet another example was how he always ran into the protagonist’s girls no matter where he went, it must have been because the protagonist was by his side all along!
And all the ‘encountering adventure’ stuff, the ‘character’s tragic past’ stuff, the ‘important male supporting’ role stuff…… it was unbearable to watch.
That being said, sleeping with Gu Xiao Shan was always so deep, so peaceful. Could it be that he was also tampered with?!
Thinking closely, it was terrifying……
Gu Bai’s whole body felt nauseous.
This practically felt like being struck by lightning……. oh no, more like being thunderstruck as divine punishment.
He’d led a life of avoiding the psychopath, but in reality, actually kept the psychopath by his side the whole time, was he not a fucking storehouse?
Okay, he most definitely was a storehouse……ah.
Gu Bai was on the verge of collapsing, but he was used to keeping up an aloof, grandeur shell. In reality, his mind was completely blank.
He watched Qi Guan Rui control the snake voodoo, he watched Qi Guan Rui occasionally release a punch or two…… his power was no worse than his own…… and he watched Qi Guan Rui reach out his hand…… to pull him.
Qi Guan Rui didn’t know why Gu Bai suddenly stopped moving, and felt somewhat exasperated.
Although Zi Che Shu Bai did indeed like to let his mind wander, did he have to do it in a life-and-death situation…… could it be that the released force of the snake voodoo scared Zi Che Shu Bai? But logically speaking, he shouldn’t be that gutless.
Or was it that…… he was disgusted by this method?
Qi Guan Rui’s tone was very gentle: “Gege, why are you dazing off?”
Gu Bai didn’t return to his senses, but reflexively said: “……it’s nothing.”
Immediately afterwards, he also began attacking by going off his instincts.
Because Qi Guan Rui started to give free rein to his true strength, he controlled the snake voodoo smoothly and with ease, quickly seizing a good portion of the Mo Ren’s brains, turning them into his own puppets, and turning them around to attack the other Mo Rens instead.
And even though Gu Bai was only striking out with his instincts, under the circumstance of reduced pressure, it wasn’t a problem dealing with three or four intermediate Wu Jun at once. Not long after, the majority of the Mo Ren had already been killed, and it appeared as though they were about to be wiped out at any moment.
The Mo Ren made eye contact with each other momentarily, and abruptly fled in two directions.
The enemy was too strong, the Mo Ren were a byproduct of those who had gone overboard in their pursuit of martial arts and were misguided, but they hadn’t lost their minds.
Gu Bai instantly said: “Let’s split up and go after them, we can’t let a single one escape.”
Qi Guan Rui saw that Gu Bai’s expression was back to normal, and felt relieved…… looked like he was just a little shocked and stunned.
Of course, he was very obedient, so he smiled softly and said: “Okay, we’ll meet here later, Gege?”
Gu Bai agreed, glanced at Qi Guan Rui with a conflicted expression, and ran off with a “shoo” sound.
Yes, ran off.
Gu Bai ran off in the direction of the fleeing Mo Ren, and before they’d hardly made it out, he’d already killed them all off.
But after finishing them, he didn’t return. Instead, he unceasingly fled the city at an even faster pace.
Only after running for hundreds of miles, did he finally stop at a barren mountain range.
There were no more roads ahead, unless you crossed the mountain range.
Only then, did Gu Bai finally came to his senses.
He also finally came to terms with reality…… even if he didn’t want to admit it, he must acknowledge that the person he had regarded as someone just as important as his own blood, was the very psychopath that would come to sacrifice the entire world and break the void alone.
……the very psychopath he had created.
Gu Bai had never thought that the poor child he had rescued from the Town of the Blue Goats would become the cool, handsome, domineering protagonist later on.
You couldn’t blame him for being stupid, it was just that his novel was a ’feel-good’ novel[1]. There was no way it would go into detail about the protagonist’s hardship-filled youth, it started right off the bat with “The sky was dark and the winds were high, a young man stumbled through the night, behind him were chasing killers and in front of him was a bottomless cliff”. The protagonist was already 18 from the very beginning, where he would be knocked down again, okay!
As for the protagonist’s past, it was written in a narrative manner in one go. It said that he was ridiculed and looked down upon, but it never mentioned how the protagonist was mistreated. Even with the so-called Aunt, it only mentioned that when the protagonist sought revenge, he had killed the foolish woman that pushed him around, never disclosing the woman’s specific identity at all.
How was he supposed to compare one to the other, and draw the connection between a pitiful child and the eventual psycho?
Thinking about it now, perhaps this world installed its own set of logic, and it resulted in his entrapment.
But if Gu Xiao Shan is the psycho protagonist…… what should he do now?
Gu Bai cherished and regarded Gu Xiao Shan fondly, but he was also deeply familiar with the character he, himself, had created.
The psycho protagonist walked among many women, befuddling them with his refined attitude, and turning them into die-hard pawns, each thought they were the protagonist’s true love.
The psycho protagonist was loyal and caring to his underlings, attentive and considerate, willing to tolerate their all……even their most ugliest sides;
The psycho protagonist was always cordial and kind, even in the most frightful of dilemmas he was able to break away by means of his own powers.
In outsider’s eyes, the psycho protagonist would forever be a young man filled with charm, one who placed great importance on devotion and righteousness…… a leader worthy of following……
As long as the psycho protagonist wanted to, he was able to make any person develop a sense of fondness for him, making them believe they had a special place in his heart.
And because of that, he was surrounded by many followers who desperately longed to worship him. But in front of others…… except for the women and underlings devoted to him…… he would never show his true python form.
Yet, in the Demonic City, he was known as the cold-hearted Demon Lord, suppressing the Mo Ren with his powers. The infamous title of the Tun Tian Xuan Mang never ceased to circulate the city.
He was the type of person who appeared to be whatever he acted as, his lies made others believe it was the most genuine truth, and his tenderness towards women was powerful enough to melt ice and snow.
But in the depths of his heart, he didn’t care about a single person at all.
The whole world was just a big playground to him. He would get all sorts of fun and benefits from the women, underlings, and followers. And at the end, when he became the Wu Zun, he would lose interest in this world once again.
The finale was as clear as could be.
Gu Bai trusted Gu Xiao Shan, but he couldn’t trust Qi Guan Rui……. that psychopath.
And so, his first instinct was to run.
Ever since he’d come to this world, all he’d wanted was to avoid the psychopath’s sight and live happily for a couple hundred years enjoying his reborn life…… before dying once the psychopath sacrificed the whole world.
But now it was all ruined.
All his efforts seemed like a joke.
……how devastating.
Fuck, are you toying with me, you damned world?!
Gu Bai felt sick to his stomach.
Gu Xiao Shan treated him well, so well that an otaku like him felt as if no one in his past life was ever as kind, as considerate, or as caring as him. And because of that, he also cared more and more for Gu Xiao Shan, but now he suddenly realized that all of it could be fake.
If it was that psycho, he would used many different kinds of methods to his advantage. He would secretly lie low in a certain city, flirt with the high-status women with powerful backgrounds, take them into his own harem, and then naturally ease into the royal family, and take over the entire city.
So, Qi Guan Rui being nice to him all this time, was it also to take over his city, Tian Du Cheng……?
Gu Bai’s eyes were a little red.
Damn that saying, “real men don’t shed tears easily”, ah I really wanna cry right now!
With heavy steps, Gu Bai slowly headed for the barren mountain range.
Stuff like OCD, having the appearance of an unreachable flower…… he had forgotten it all, only leaving behind a lonely shadow that grew pitifully longer on the ground’s surface.
The sky had darkened.
Meanwhile, Qi Guan Rui had planted all the snake voodoo in the heads of the Mo Ren, so when he rushed back, he brought a group of puppets with him.
The place was a mess, he wanted to see Zi Che Shu Bai quickly and then take the puppets somewhere else to foster connections with them.
The whole place was trashed with flesh, and stained with blood, there was no emotional appeal at all.
But after Qi Guan Rui returned, he still hadn’t seen Gu Bai.
He paused, and stood to wait under a tree.
This time, he seems a bit slow?
Qi Guan Rui waited for many hours, from broad daylight till dark. He waited until the girls that had previously escaped finally found higher-ups to come take care of the mess.
But Gu Bai never came back.
Qi Guan Rui’s expression started to change, from a gentle smile, to a face that got more and more cold.
At last, when the people finally came to investigate, his face had become contorted beyond comparison.
If it were just the few Mo Ren, Zi Che Shu Bai wouldn’t have taken so long. Then…… he must not have wanted to return himself.
Zi Che Shu Bai had abandoned him.
……but why?
Was it because of the snake voodoo, he thought that snake voodoo was disgusting, and dirty, and evil, so he couldn’t stand the snake voodoo, and thus Qi Guan Rui either?
Ah, how lofty of the Tian Du Cheng city lord, he couldn’t even stand a little bit of filth.
His patience, his constraint, none of it stood a chance against Zi Che Shu Bai’s disgust of the snake voodoo.
That’s really…… unforgivable.
Qi Guan Rui covered his face with one hand, his body slightly trembling.
Ten or so puppets surrounded him, standing there quietly. Out of the whole venue, this scene stood out a little too much.
The city guards came late, but the second they saw them, they immediately rushed over to outflank them.
“Who are you people? Why have you caused such a murderous scene?!”
“Capture him! Take him back to the City Governor’s Palace!”
“He must be taken to prison, and served the heaviest punishment!”
Qi Guan Rui’s voice was low and heavy, “……Leave.”
The city guards didn’t hear him clearly, and encircled them even tighter.
The ten or so puppets exploded with a “bang bang”, bursting into clumps of flesh.
A lot of the closer city guards were taken out with them, exploding in the same manner.
In such a strange situation, the city guards couldn’t help but give into their fear.
In the next second, the trembling young man suddenly transformed into a mountain-sized python, with blood-red pupils, and an aura of boundless power and overwhelming force.
The python opened its mouth, taking in a sudden breath…….
All the guard’s faces showed incredulous fear, their bodies floated up against their will, and they were all swallowed by the python’s gaping hole.
The flower viewing venue and the beautiful gardens that had been preserved for thousands of years were turned to ruins.
And in a nearby city was a humongous python behaving in a crazed state, wreaking havoc the whole way.
The large python consumed nearly all the martial artists that came forth to attack, showing no signs of exhaustion, thrashing toward a certain direction.
And no one was able to catch up to it.
Translator: Tuna
Proofreader: Grumpykit
QC: Xiao
Xiao’s Comments: Oh oh…the snake’s out of the bag…run, run, run!
Translator’s Notes:
[1] *In chinese, “爽文” directly translates into a “feel-good story”, which refers to the type of novel that writes about the protagonist’s story from start to finish in a smooth, fast pace. These novels are incredibly popular, as their sole intention is for readers to ‘feel good’ once they finish reading it.
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