APP: Chapter 106

[I always feel that there is something wrong with the conversation just now but I can’t say it. In any case, I don’t care. There is my CP. Why think so much?]

[The two of them are too familiar with each other. I originally suspected that they had a secret relationship but the result of their body language tells me they have had no physical contact before. How can they have no physical contact if they really knew each other?]

[Yes! There is a theory. On the surface, the reaction is big but there is nothing in private. If there is no reaction on the surface then everything is done in private. Xiao Chi is too innocent.]

[Then why can they talk like an old husband and wife?]

[I can’t figure it out. Headache.]

Xie Chi was looking at what Xie Xinglan was writing when a hand suddenly grabbed him.  Xie Chi was stunned.

“Don’t move.” Xie Xinglan lightly pressed a hand to his shoulder. “I’ll look at your mark.”

“Don’t.” Xie Chi frowned. “If you tell me the mark, I should benefit but you might experience a loss.”

If looking at each other’s marks was beneficial to both parties, the old man wouldn’t have deliberately used deception to get his help. It was harmful which was why he hadn’t mentioned this matter before.

“It’s fine,” Xie Xinglan insisted.

Xie Chi stopped moving and lowered his head cooperatively.

[Wow, Son Chi trusts him so much?]

A hand gently pulled away the collar at his neck and Xie Chi felt a bit itchy.

“How much?”

“24.” The moment Xie Chi’s number was said, a piercing pain suddenly spread from his chest. Xie Xinglan frowned and said nothing.

“What’s wrong?” Xie Chi sensed something strange.

“Nothing.”

Xie Chi obviously felt that his energy had increased. Xie Xinglan’s energy might’ve decreased but Xie Chi didn’t feel this subtle change. Perhaps it was because Xie Xinglan had too much energy.

Xie Chi turned around. “I’ll look at yours.”

“No, I’m not bad for energy.” Xie Xinglan suddenly retreated and sat down. Xie Chi was stunned. He became aware of this person’s abnormality and glanced at him with a smile. Xie Chi pulled the man back without saying anything and pulled at the collar.

Xie Xinglan was surprised. “I said—”

“18.” Xie Chi pulled the collar and reported the number directly.

“Does it hurt?” Xie Xinglan hurriedly asked.

Xie Chi stared at him blankly. “What pain—”

Two phones rang at the same time. Xie Chi and Xie Xinglan stared at each other and immediately looked down at the new information.

[Congratulations to you and actor Xie Xinglan for finding the clue to the spider silk ladder. The current progress of the spider silk ladder is 1/3. After the progress is 3/3, the spider silk ladder will officially open.]

Xie Chi put down his phone. “So the condition for opening the Spider Silk Ladder is for three pairs of people to look at each other and say the marks?”

He trusted Xie Xinglan and looking at each other’s marks was as simple as eating, sleeping and breathing. However, it was different for others. In other words, building trust with the other person in a very short time was the problem.

“Did it hurt?” Xie Chi stared at Xie Xinglan.

“Yes.”

“How does it hurt?”

“There will be less energy.”

Xie Chi automatically interpreted the words that avoided the important parts. “People who actively look will feel particularly painful and have less energy. Those who are passively looked at must expose their weak point. This makes it more difficult to achieve a mutual viewing. I didn’t feel pain so the ‘sacrifice’ is the side that actively looks while the ‘trusting’ side is the one who is passively looked at. It is only when the sacrifice and the trust occur at the same time that mutual viewing can be achieved.”

Xie Chi finished speaking and vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Xie Xinglan told him, “Ren Ze and his cellmate should be able to do so. Su Qing can probably do it as well.”

“Then we have one more thing to do.” They needed to urge other actors to look at their marks.

Xie Chi and Xie Xinglan had both killed people and they could only complete the instance by entering the world of Paradise. This meant the spider silk ladder was very important for them. Xie Xinglan saw him tense again and showing fatigue in his expression. “Rest first.”

Xie Chi looked at the notebook in his hand. “I haven’t copied it yet.”

“Sleep,” Xie Xinglan ordered indifferently. “I will get up in the middle of the night to copy it.”

Xie Chi stared at him and smiled. “The ‘outer packaging’ of the ‘commodity’ must not be ugly.”

Xie Xinglan gritted his teeth. Even though Xie Chi said so, he still obediently put down the small notebook and nestled in a corner of the cave to sleep.

“Is it cold?”

In the silent cave, Xie Xinglan’s very low voice echoed slightly and it was hypnotic. Xie Chi had been given a lot of energy by Xie Xinglan previously and his body was very  comfortable. He was about to instinctively say no when he stopped.

“It is cold, right?” Xie Xinglan asked again. The end of his words had a slightly raised tone that was filled with ulterior motives.

Xie Chi understood and was silent for a few seconds before looking up at the sky. “…Yes, it is a bit cold. The wind at the entrance of the cave is strong.”

Without a word, Xie Xinglan moved forward and held this person in his arms. He smiled and said, “I am warm. I will hold you to sleep.”

Xie Xinglan was a bit bigger than him. The long arms and legs wrapped around him generously and Xie Chi felt like the stuffing in a dumpling wrapped. He was tightly wrapped and it was hard for air to get in.

Warm and forceful. There was the illusion of being protected. He didn’t provoke anything undesirable, Xie Chi thought.

[Hahahaha is it cold or not?]

[I’m sure Chi Chi understands hahaha.]

[Son Chi, don’t you feel ashamed sleeping together at the second meeting? Don’t you want to round it up to a bed? Do you understand me, baby?]

[Now people should pay attention to efficiency.]

[The shou and gong are clear.]

[I even suspect that they would do something exciting if we weren’t watching.]

[Ahh, why do we have to be watching? It’s so annoying. If we aren’t watching then they can do whatever they want?]

[How can we look at them do it? We can’t be excited without watching.]

[How can we look at them do it?]

[…Can you stop the matryoshka doll? The conclusion is that it is impossible to see them do it.]

[My heart is struck.]

Time passed and Xie Chi didn’t fall asleep. He heard steady breathing and turned slightly, his forehead just pressed against Xie Xinglan’s chin.

He hadn’t expected Xie Xinglan to find him in this way. In fact, he wouldn’t have minded if Xie Xinglan didn’t come to him. It was like him not caring if he got zero points in the test but he ended up getting 100 points.

Xie Chi saw the bright star-shaped earrings he drew on this person that shone in the dark night. Xie Chi’s eyes were dazed and they overflowed with tenderness.

Xie Xinglan was named by him.

Xie Chi was a human being but he had been raised as a pet since he was a child. He was dispensable and came and went when they called. He had parents but no affection. What he had was the ‘love’ and ‘desire to play’ that people had for pets.

It was just like how cats and dogs with pedigree had a different price. He was the same. He was measured by some cold numbers. If he failed to meet the expectations of the ‘master’, the ‘master’ could even return the goods. He could even be sent to the factory to be rebuilt.

His parents were his masters. His parents wanted him to love cleanliness and he loved cleanliness. They hoped he would pretend to be like the children of other people and he would do so. They hoped he wouldn’t cry and he wouldn’t cry. They hoped he would be engaged in a certain career and he would pick that career. These things were written into his genes.

He was only seven or eight years old at the time and he was too fragile and full of resentment. The less he could get something, the more he wanted it. He fantasized about having an older brother with him. This relative would love him and could do everything.

He accidentally read some male protagonist novels that he couldn’t remember the titles of. He saw the male protagonist had no parents and was envious. He thought his brother should be like this, strong and indifferent, not restrained by emotions or anything in the world. There was nothing in his eyes.

It wasn’t until one rainy night when he was kidnapped and he thought he was going to die. He wasn’t afraid because life meant only one thing to him—please the owner who spent a lot of money to buy him.

The kidnapper’s price was higher than the price his parents paid to buy him so they were naturally unwilling to buy him back. He was originally a commodity and wasn’t worth the price. Thus, his parents gave him up.

Even if they had feelings for ‘Xie Chi’ and liked the pet ‘Xie Chi’, they just needed to spend less than the kidnapper’s request to buy a pet that was exactly the same. His memories were stored in the chip so his body could be copied and his memories restored intact from the backup. They could even buy more advanced pets of the second or third generations. These pets were more obedient, considerate and developed more stably.

The moment Xie Chi closed his eyes, he could clearly see his pale past but he couldn’t see the future. People without hope weren’t afraid of death. At least, until Xie Xinglan came.

The dark emperor of the night was real, the dark killer was real and it was also real that he was proficient in 18 types of weapons. These were the contents of the book and it was also the ‘personal design’ that Xie Xinglan believed to be his real life.

Xie Xinglan came from another society where cold weapons and hot weapons were mixed. It was a place where the law of the jungle was advocated and society was low. There was no hypocritical confrontation. They were all real fights with weapons. Xie Xinglan was the winner of the law of the jungle.

This was Xie Chi’s fantasy that was turned into reality. Xie Xinglan casually killed the two kidnappers and told Xie Chi to call him Brother. He would protect Xie Chi for the rest of his life.

At that time, Xie Xinglan was still very arrogant and chuuni.

Xie Chi remembered that on the day home that evening, the heavy rain stopped, the stars in the sky shone and dawn was coming.

Xinglan meant the end of night. The long night ended and the world was as bright as day. There was hope to recover and the future could be expected.

He wasn’t accustomed to Xie Xinglan leaving his body previously because they were too close. Parting was extremely unbearable and he didn’t know what Xie Xinglan was thinking, making him flustered. Even so, Xie Xinglan came to him despite knowing that the probability of Xie Chi having an accident was slim.

Xie Chi smiled. He had just figured it out. It didn’t matter if Xie Xinglan was in his body or not. Xie Xinglan would always protect him and would never change. This was his brother.

Xie Chi touched the star-shaped studs. He remembered Xie Xinglan’s previous question about why he wanted to draw this and silently thought, ‘Because you are hope’.


Proofreader: Purichan

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
12 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
amyes
amyes
2 years ago

this hit right in my kokoro

Moon
Moon
2 years ago
Reply to  amyes

Same. Plus the music I was listening to happened to be a sentimental one

NeroLotus
NeroLotus
2 years ago

I love how they keep the thought in mind that when someone has Dissociative Identity Disorder, the first personality that is created is usually the ‘Protector’ and they are there to protect the original. Xinglan is Xie Chi’s protector and brother and that is how they fell in love. Beautiful

ctomes
ctomes
2 years ago

Xie Chi’s life with his family is so scary. Constantly trying to meet expectations so you don’t get factory reset or just killed outright. Not surprised he needed Xie Xinglan.

nico
nico
2 years ago

i love them wuwuuu

RainBow3UnicirnKitty
RainBow3UnicirnKitty
2 years ago

I just remembered what this arc reminded me of. it reminded me of a movie called “The Platform” it’s on Netflix, but if you don’t want to watch the full movie, you can go to the YouTube channel FoundFlix. but basically it’s about a place with about 200 something floors that are just small rooms and have a square hole in the middle of it. everyday a platform with food on it, enough to feed all of the people for the day. they may not be full, but they’re prisoners with a certain sentence for how long they need to stay and it would be enough for them to eat until their sentence is over. the platform comes from the top layer of the building all the way to the bottom then quickly up again. each floor has 5 minutes to eat and they can’t horde food on the floor or it will be detected and the floor will start to get either extremely hot, or extremely cold until they die. anyway, every moth, gas will be let out through the building and everyone will be knocked out and they will be randomly put on a floor. the higher up they’re put, the more likely they’ll get enough food. the lower they are, the less food they get and some of the lower floors don’t get food at all. and sure, the higher floors could reach out a hand to the one’s on the lower one’s so that they have more of a chance to eat, but why should they do that?

Saltyduccs
2 years ago

Wow if I was ever put in that situation, I would just kill myself first to save the trouble.

ae
ae
1 year ago

this made my heart both sad and happy. sad for the suffering he had to experience and happy because someone was still there for him. i don’t know why we all have to suffer just to be strong. why we need to suffer just to be happy. like we’re in game that when we won a certain level we will receive an award just to suffer again in the next level…

Golex9000k
Golex9000k
1 year ago

🌟 aww

Nian
Nian
1 year ago

The pet system sounds sinister and honestly very tragic especially since as said the later generations of such human pets were made to be more obedient and stable meaning no more independence or thoughts of breaking away can happen 💔 heartbreaking 💔 it literally like a child abuse industry 💔

Mei
Mei
8 months ago

Well that’s it he should kill his parents and destroy the eugenics lab💀 so cheap tho?! The models must be riddling the earth

Mei
Mei
8 months ago
Reply to  Mei

I’m assuming it’s from Chinese currency as it’s set at the start in Qingyan City meaning a whole childs less to make then 542,758.23 pounds , a basically perfect child, ngl my mum would kill to be able to make me a doctor and a good child for this amount of money😭 she would 100% do it in a heart beat and get rid of me