The two Xing Ye finally met.

 

“That was so dangerous!” Lu Mingze ran a lap inside “Xing Shuo’s” rear-view mirror, then came back and said to Xing Ye, “I checked with ‘ Eye of Truth’—that machine gun wasn’t a phantom, it was real. The first snap of his fingers wasn’t firing bullets at all; it was activating the ‘Holographic Projection’ QR code. The moment you resisted or attacked him, he would have launched a real attack.”

Not only that—because “Xing Shuo” used the ‘Holographic Projection’ QR code, even if Xing Ye had used ‘Mirror Reflection’ to bounce the attack back, it would only have reflected the illusion, causing no real harm to “Xing Shuo,” and would instead have enraged him.

Lu Mingze sighed in admiration. “Your brother is really smart. This is the first time my ‘Eye of Truth’ failed to see the other party’s real intention.”

He had ensured his own safety, tested Xing Ye’s sincerity, and avoided harming him—all at once.

The killing intent was real, the weapon was real; it was only at the instant of attack that it was swapped for a QR code. Even while using ‘Holographic Projection,’ “Xing Shuo” never let his guard down—if Xing Ye had resisted, he still had many backup plans.

It was only when Xing Ye calmly closed his eyes and allowed the illusory bullets to pass through his body that “Xing Shuo’s” killing intent finally dissipated.

After the effect duration of ‘Holographic Projection’ ended, “Xing Shuo” reached out and patted the armoured vehicle, which instantly reverted back into an ordinary car.

He explained, “My initial skill is ‘Knowledge Power.’ It allows me to turn what I’ve learned into objective reality. I was originally a liberal-arts student; after gaining this ability, I’ve been studying science and national defence subjects non-stop. I just modified this car a bit.”

“So,” “Xing Shuo” said, holding a pencil as he walked up to Xing Ye and smiling lightly, “I can kill someone with a pencil.”

Xing Ye saw the pencil tip glinting—it was obvious the graphite had been transformed into diamond.

If this initial skill were used well, it would be terrifying. Any ordinary object around Xing Shuo could become a weapon; even a piece of scrap metal could be turned into a steel blade.

Xing Ye remained expressionless and said, “If my guess is right, you once died because of this game. Someone revived you. You should have forgotten the memories from before your death—but you didn’t.”

“Xing Shuo” didn’t deny it, merely studying Xing Ye carefully.

Xing Ye continued, “I need to understand the power system of this world—how far the app in your hands can go, and what you’ve done in the past. Can you tell me? Also, I want to meet the other me. I hope you can help me contact him.”

“Xing Shuo” did not answer immediately, but looked at Xing Ye warily. “What is your purpose in coming to this world?”

He believed Xing Ye wouldn’t hurt him right now, but he didn’t believe Xing Ye wouldn’t become an enemy in the future for some ulterior goal.

Looking at the brother from another world, Xing Ye sighed inwardly. So this “Xing Shuo” was cautious, meticulous in thought, and highly suspicious.

“I don’t know,” Xing Ye said. “I only know that I can’t follow the system’s wishes. Otherwise, I’ll only fall into its trap. That’s why I want to meet the version of me in this world. Sometimes, one person’s way of thinking isn’t broad enough—you need another angle.”

After staring at Xing Ye for a while, “Xing Shuo” said, “My brother said the same thing. After I told him about you, he also wanted to meet you.”

Lu Mingze froze for a moment, then said to Xing Ye, “I feel like you in this world is pretty smart too.”

Xing Ye smiled without replying, but Lu Mingze heard him say inwardly, “After all, it’s still me.”

After contacting the “Xing Ye” of this world, “Xing Shuo” drove ahead to lead the way, and the two of them went straight to Xing Ye’s home.

“Is your house here too?” “Xing Shuo” asked after getting out of the car.

“The same,” Xing Ye said as he looked at the house. “I didn’t move—though the furnishings have changed a bit.”

A familiar voice came from ahead: “Different worlds naturally come with subtle differences.”

Xing Ye and “Xing Shuo” followed the sound and saw someone standing at the doorway, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

It was Xing Ye’s first time examining himself face to face. The feeling was novel. He looked at the familiar face before him, smiled amicably, and extended his right hand. “Hello.”

At the same time, he saw the other person show the exact same smile, raise his hand at the same moment, and say the same two words: “Hello.”

If Xing Ye hadn’t been over twenty jin thinner (NT: about ten kilograms), the two of them would have looked like copy-and-paste duplicates, with no visible difference at all.

“After I learned of your existence, I’ve wanted to meet you,” the other Xing Ye said. “I was just keeping my guard up. I didn’t know what scheme the system might be plotting, so I needed more intelligence before making a decision.”

“After I learned of your existence, I’ve wanted to meet you all along; I was just keeping my guard up. I didn’t know what kind of scheme the system might be plotting, so I needed more intelligence before making a decision.”

Two identical voices sounded at the same time.

Xing Ye: “……”

“Xing Ye”: “……”

“Let’s take turns, one sentence each.”

“Let’s take turns, one sentence each.”

Once again, they spoke in unison.

Xing Ye politely extended his hand. “You first.”

“Xing Ye” politely extended his hand. “You first.”

“Stop!” “Xing Shuo,” who was watching from the side, called out in time. “If this keeps up, it’ll never end. Don’t stand in the doorway—go inside, sit on the sofa. My brother goes first.”

The two nodded in agreement and walked into the room one after the other. Xing Ye saw the seat he usually occupied and instinctively walked over to sit down—only to find that the other “Xing Ye” had already settled into it in the exact same posture.

Xing Ye: “……”

What a strange feeling.

Xing Ye sat on the other side. “Xing Shuo” brought over two identical cups of tea, in Xing Ye’s favourite flavor. “Xing Ye” had already given the housekeeper time off; now, inside the house, there were only the two Xing Ye, one Xing Shuo, and Lu Mingze hidden in Xing Ye’s pocket.

The two Xing Ye simultaneously picked up their teacups and took a sip. Sitting opposite them, “Xing Shuo” sighed. “One is clearly much thinner than the other, yet they give off exactly the same feeling. It’s really strange.”

Earlier, “Xing Shuo” had stipulated that the Xing Ye of this world—referred to as Xing Ye B—would speak first. Xing Ye therefore remained silent and waited for Xing Ye B to talk.

Xing Ye B pondered for a moment, as usual, before speaking. “Where should I begin? Let’s start with when I noticed the sense of disharmony in this world.

“In my memory, after my younger brother died, I discovered a QR code on his phone. After scanning it, I gained miraculous powers. The system would periodically issue me tasks; completing them earned rewards. After finishing one task, I revived my parents and my brother. Later, I discovered that Lu Mingze, whom I knew from childhood, had become a vegetative patient—he was actually trapped in the game. I freed him. After he woke up, he didn’t remember being trapped in the game, though my brother still did.

“We cooperated with each other to complete the system’s tasks. I remember the task content clearly, but there was always this… sense of incongruity.”

Xing Ye asked, “May I ask—what tasks did you complete?”

Xing Ye B replied, “Sometimes I entered a school campus to search for items; sometimes I received an invitation to board a cruise ship for gambling; sometimes I was trapped in a sealed-off mountain village. There were even more outrageous ones—entering a book to rewrite its ending.”

“All within this world? No system space?” Xing Ye pressed.

Xing Ye B shook his head. “All within this world. There’s no system space like the one you mentioned—only a mobile game with a black-and-white grid interface.”

Seeing that Xing Ye didn’t continue questioning, Xing Ye B went on. “I originally thought this was an opportunity—an opportunity for family reunion. But around late last night, right after I completed a system task and obtained a large number of points, the achievement title ‘Stealing the Sky and Swapping the Sun’, and a skill called ‘Kuafu Chasing the Sun’, I began to sense that something was wrong.”

Late last night was precisely when Xing Ye had just arrived in this world. It seemed that when he entered the final stage, the system created a time gap, giving Xing Ye B the chance to complete a task. By the time Xing Ye arrived at the final stage, Xing Ye B had just finished the mission, and the system treated Xing Ye’s skills, points, and achievement titles as rewards and transferred them all to Xing Ye B.

“What task did you complete?” Xing Ye asked.

Xing Ye B said, “It was the simplest game I’ve ever played. I defeated a monster in the mobile app. The monster had extremely high HP and was very cunning—it kept hiding around the map and used all kinds of skills and traps. I only defeated it after teaming up with ‘Xing Shuo’ through the mobile game. What’s interesting is that I didn’t kill the monster. Instead, it collapsed weakly on the ground, transformed from a monster into a ragged man, and escaped from my phone app.

“At the same time, the system issued a new task, ordering me to hunt down the escaped monster in reality and kill it. Doing so would count as clearing the game.”

A ragged man… Xing Ye recalled how he had woken up on a park bench. It seemed that the monster had been him.

Taking advantage of the moment when Xing Ye had just entered the game—or before he had reached the final stage—the system designed a monster and had Xing Ye B defeat it on the phone. At the instant the monster was defeated, the system inserted Xing Ye into the game at that point in time, binding him to the monster. Through this time difference, Xing Ye lost everything without knowing it and became Xing Ye B’s final target.

Xing Ye B continued, “When I obtained those skills, I began to feel puzzled, because they were exactly the same as the ones I had. The difference was a mirror. After defeating the monster, a mirror named ‘The Most Beautiful One Whose Heart Does Not Belong to You, Yet Possesses Absolute Freedom’ appeared in my previously empty item slot.”

Xing Ye: “……”

Whose heart does not belong to you… Xing Ye suddenly felt the urge to touch the little mirror.

Xing Ye B said, “The system prompted me that I could forcibly strengthen my bond with the item. But if I wanted the item to become my power, I had to love him, pamper him, treat him wholeheartedly well, trust him completely, and be willing to give up my points and QR-code usage rights. Once I gave all that, the mirror would also give me everything he had.

“If I refused, the item would leave me and search for someone willing to give everything for him.

“At the same time, I could also choose to erase the item’s consciousness and turn him into a soulless accessory.”

Hearing this, Xing Ye couldn’t help but tense up. Without his knowledge, the little mirror had faced such danger.

Fortunately, Xing Ye B continued, “The system only said he was an item, but I suspected he was someone trapped in the game like Lu Mingze. I wouldn’t casually erase anyone’s consciousness, so I chose to give up the item and let him go free.”

Both Xing Ye and Lu Mingze let out a sigh of relief at the same time. Inside Xing Ye’s mind, Lu Mingze said, “No matter which world you’re from, you’re a person with principles!”

 

Translator : DarNan