Chapter 6: Setting Six

Setting Six: Toy Town (Part 2)

The two white-haired young men stood facing each other like mirror images, their hands clasped together.

Shan Ziwei shuddered. He took a deep breath, suppressed his pounding heart, and his eyes lit up.

Great—the lower half in this game really is just for show.

But after the relief, his condition inevitably brought on a wave of melancholy. The game developers had indeed kept their integrity and left out that shameless function—but just because it wasn’t displayed didn’t mean the sensations weren’t there. Even facing “himself,” his body still responded to the closeness with faint waves of pleasure, spreading subtly across his entire being and tickling his heart.

“Hoo…”

Shan Ziwei slowed his deepening breaths. With this level of contact—as long as that most embarrassing and uncontrollable reaction didn’t happen—he could suppress everything else. Others might think he was acting a little odd, but they wouldn’t mistake him for a pervert. So what he needed to do now was find his limit.

Hand-holding was fine. Time to up the stakes.

Burning with intense shame, Shan Ziwei said to his mirror image: “Hug me.”

The white-haired youth blinked his lead-gray eyes, opened his arms wide, and enveloped his original self completely, leaving no gap between them. Their white hair intertwined, intimate beyond distinction.

For a moment, Shan Ziwei’s mind went blank. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been held like this—so fully, so genuinely. Even though it was a soulless game avatar, the soft warmth of a human body was transmitted to him without reservation.

And then, this particular sufferer who’d overestimated himself met his tragic end.

“!!!”

His moment of reckless daring brought devastating consequences.

“Le-let go—let go right now!!!”

Shan Ziwei stumbled back and crouched down, burying his face in his knees. Beneath his white hair, his ears were burning red.

Damn it, he was so aroused even his Heart SP (Joy) dropped! QAQ

Shan Ziwei was trembling all over from the excitement. With no outlet for release, the sweet rush of desire circulated through his body endlessly, leaving even the roots of his hair tingling with numbness.

Wahhh, why did someone with this much integrity have to be stuck with a body this shameless…

Just as Shan Ziwei was wallowing in internal tears, he felt the tips of his hair stir—as if someone had patted his head.

He looked up. There was no one around. Even the mirror image had vanished when its summoning time expired.

Probably just the wind.

[Setting 3: You are afraid of red puzzle pieces. (00:00:05)]

Just then, the system added a third setting. Shan Ziwei scrambled away from the red puzzle piece beneath his feet. Judging by the trend, the system would likely cycle through every color—then he’d be afraid of red, yellow, blue, green, cyan, purple, black, and white, leaving him nowhere to stand. The game was clearly designed to push players through the Chessboard quickly—the longer you stayed, the harder it got, and the thought of dozens of stacked system settings made his scalp tingle.

No time to waste—he had to find Toy Town now.

Shan Ziwei stuffed the remaining mirrors into his vest pockets, rested briefly, and started heading west as the sign directed.

The space was dreamlike and bright, with bubbles drifting by from time to time. The ever-present cheerful singing and sweet scent made it feel like stepping back into a childhood dream—the whole heart softened.

Shan Ziwei’s own childhood had been like any other boy’s—full of toys, mischief, and boisterous energy. Before his condition appeared, he’d been active in all sorts of groups, with boundless energy to burn. Psychologically speaking, he was a classic choleric type. But after his condition developed, his life was turned upside down. He never dared show up in crowded places again, and his personality grew neurotic—he wanted friends, but fear of being seen as a pervert kept him at a distance. The one time he’d mustered the courage to pursue true love, it ended before it even began.

—That guy actually got “excited”… Eww… what a pervert!

Shan Ziwei shook his head to banish the bad memories. In the distance, he could now see Toy Town, built from stacked building blocks. But he couldn’t take another step—between him and Toy Town lay an expanse of black-and-red checkered puzzle tiles.

[Setting 1: You are afraid of black puzzle pieces.]

[Setting 3: You are afraid of red puzzle pieces.]

Shan Ziwei tapped a red puzzle piece with his toe and immediately saw his Diamond SP (Fear) drop a chunk. Combined with the earlier consumption, his Diamond SP was now below 50%. If he tried to charge through, he’d definitely suffer Spirit Collapse before reaching Toy Town.

He pulled a Poké Ball—no, a mirror—from his pocket. This was the time to call on you, Mirror Image!

The identical mirror image appeared once more. Shan Ziwei had a clever plan: he couldn’t touch the tiles, but that didn’t mean the image couldn’t. He could just have the image carry him across. There was no one else around, so even if he crawled off the image looking like a beast in human form, no one would see.

Following his command, the mirror image took a step forward onto the red-and-black tiles. Instantly, Shan Ziwei saw the image lose SP just as he would.

…Fine. The image inherited his settings too.

Shan Ziwei didn’t call it back—instead, he had it keep running. He wanted to see how far it could go. If possible, he could have the image carry him partway, then finish the rest on his own to reach Toy Town.

At about one-third of the way, the image’s Diamond SP hit zero. In that instant, it froze in place like someone had pressed pause, ignoring even Shan Ziwei’s commands.

Was this Spirit Collapse?

Just as Shan Ziwei thought his image was done for, he saw the white-haired youth on the tiles turn around, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes.

His mirror image smiled at him—a smile as crimson as its eyes—and began walking toward him.

“Do you want me to leave you?”

His mirror image could actually talk!

“No, no, I can’t leave you.”

“Without you, I can’t go on living.”

Shan Ziwei instinctively stepped back. The image’s presence was overwhelming—he could even see black energy swirling around it!

“Don’t…”

Shan Ziwei’s retreat acted like a switch that fully ignited the white-haired youth’s madness. Eyes blazing red, the image charged at him with desperate intensity.

“If I dig a hole in both our bellies and tie our intestines together, we’ll never be separated again.”

Holy crap!!!

Shan Ziwei turned and ran.

Mom, a lunatic is chasing me—and the worst part is, the lunatic has my face!!!

He was going to have nightmares—definitely going to have nightmares!!!

Shan Ziwei pulled up the summon panel and found to his horror that there was no “Dismiss Summon” function! Fortunately, the image’s MP was only half of his own. In their frantic chase, the image’s MP ran out first from the strenuous activity.

Panting heavily, Shan Ziwei watched his mirror image dissolve into blue particles. He no longer had any thoughts of using it as cannon fodder to cross the puzzle tiles. In fact, he probably wouldn’t be using the Mirror Image skill for quite a while—this particular sufferer had deeply understood the malicious intent of the game developers.

That wasn’t called Spirit Collapse—that was called having a screw loose! =皿=

Shan Ziwei trudged back to the red-and-black puzzle zone and stared with profound weariness at Toy Town, so close yet so far. Though only minutes had passed, the experience would be etched into his memory for life.

There had to be another way through.

He sat down to recover his nearly depleted MP. Once it was full, he began circling the edge of the red-and-black puzzle area, making a large loop around Toy Town. After about ten minutes of walking, he finally spotted a “living creature” other than himself (and his mirror image).

It was a teddy bear, holding a handful of balloons in one paw and squatting on the ground, staring at something.

[You have encountered a “Chess Piece.”] The system immediately provided an explanation: [On the Chessboard, you will encounter various Chess Pieces. Their stances toward players can be “Friendly,” “Neutral,” or “Hostile.” You may interact with Neutral and Friendly pieces.]

So “Chess Pieces” were the game’s NPCs?

Shan Ziwei approached the teddy bear cautiously—he couldn’t guarantee the cute thing wouldn’t suddenly attack him. Once he was within range, he closed his left eye and used Reconnaissance.

[Teddy Bear
Attribute: ?
Type: ?
MP: ?
SP: ?
Stance: Neutral
Description: A Chess Piece who likes making friends.]

The string of question marks from Reconnaissance made Shan Ziwei want to bolt, but the Stance and Description reassured him.

Sensing his approach, the teddy bear lifted its fuzzy head.

“Rawr~ Hello.”

“Uh… hello.” This was Shan Ziwei’s first time face-to-face with a game character. From what he’d heard, NPCs in full-immersion VR games had simple behavioral templates—they would trigger the next stage of the plot when the player said a keyword or performed a corresponding action. Shan Ziwei had no experience, so he cut straight to the chase: “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“Rawr~ You’re willing to help?” The teddy bear stood up happily at his words. “Teddy is missing a few chess pieces. Could you go find some for me, rawr? As thanks, Teddy will give you some balloons, rawr~ Teddy’s balloons are super powerful—they can fly, fly~”

Shan Ziwei was moved to tears. Finally—finally it was going to follow the traditional RPG route! Take a quest from an NPC, go kill some monsters, get a quest item to advance to the next stage—so familiar and comforting!

“Leave it to me!”

“Rawr~ You’re such a good person! Teddy likes making friends with good people, rawr~”

The teddy bear handed Shan Ziwei a stack of cards. Not a metaphor—Shan Ziwei stared at those playing cards in the bear’s paw and had a sinking feeling of foreboding.

[You have obtained a special Setting Card—Relationship Setting Card. On the Chessboard, you can use Relationship Setting Cards to add a unilateral relationship from yourself toward another. Once the relationship is established, you can periodically restore the corresponding SP by role-playing the relationship. (Note: This is the only way to restore SP.)]

…So his already cramped “Personal Settings” slots had to make room for Relationship Settings too?

Shan Ziwei complained inwardly while taking the cards from the teddy bear. After reading them, his expression cracked completely.

[A Friendship
Type: Active Relationship
Effect: When you help him, restore 10% of Spade SP.
Description: You are my friend. I am very happy to help you.]

[A Crush
Type: Active Relationship
Effect: When you express affection toward him, restore 10% of Heart SP.
Description: I like you. I like you so, so much.]

[A Possessiveness
Type: Active Relationship
Effect: When you harm someone close to him, restore 10% of Club SP.
Description: You are mine. I will never give you to anyone else.]

[A Possessiveness
Type: Passive Relationship
Effect: When someone close to you is harmed by him, restore 10% of Diamond SP.
Description: I am yours. Only yours.]

How shameless can this game get?! Shan Ziwei wanted to throw the cards on the ground. Aside from the first one, the other three were practically harassment!

“Rawr?”

Shan Ziwei suppressed the urge to shred the Relationship Setting Cards and looked at the teddy bear staring up at him with big black eyes. Perhaps because his favorability had increased, this time Reconnaissance returned something other than question marks.

[Teddy Bear
Attribute: 5
Type: Bishop
MP: 5000/5000
SP: (100%), (100%), (90%), (100%)
Stance: Friendly
Relationship: Friendship (Passive)
Description: A Chess Piece who likes making friends.]

A 50-fold MP difference! Shan Ziwei nearly peed himself—this adorable little thing that looked like a single push would knock it over was as powerful as fifty of him! Thank goodness he didn’t have to fight it. Shan Ziwei breathed an immense sigh of relief. He noticed a new line under “Stance”: Relationship. Currently, the teddy bear’s relationship toward him was “Friendship (Passive).”

Clearly, the right move was to use [A Friendship (Active)]. According to the card’s info, as long as he completed the quest (= helped Teddy), he could restore his Spade SP.

So Shan Ziwei pulled out [A Friendship (Active)] and, under the teddy bear’s shiny black gaze, used the Relationship Setting Card.

[Setting 8: You are the teddy bear’s friend.]

“So happy—Teddy has a new friend, rawr~” The teddy bear spun around joyfully and held up the box it had been staring at earlier. “Then Teddy will leave this to you, rawr~ Teddy is missing six chess pieces—rawr, you can try looking north.”

The box held ten black chess pieces neatly arranged. Shan Ziwei remembered that in chess, both sides had sixteen pieces. He examined them closely and found a knight piece and five pawn pieces missing.

“I’ll go find them right away.”

“Teddy will wait for you, rawr~”

With the teddy bear watching him off, Shan Ziwei stuffed the remaining Relationship Setting Cards into his pocket and set out on a journey that was about to open a whole new world for him.