Chapter 12: Setting Twelve

Setting Twelve: The Prisoner and the Prison (Part 3)

With a boom, this particular sufferer felt like he’d been hit by a nuclear bomb—his entire being was about to explode.

“Wh-wh-what are you… mmph… doing…!”

Shan Ziwei’s voice cracked. His body was tightly bound, and two soft mounds pressed against his chest, sending waves of intense pleasure crashing through him. Through his desire-distorted vision, the Heart SP representing “Joy” was plummeting in a straight line.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Rice Grain Darling buried her face in Shan Ziwei’s chest, so nervous and embarrassed she didn’t dare look up—completely oblivious to his distress. “The system just added a new setting for me—I, I have to ‘force’ someone of the opposite sex right now! You can resist!”

No, no, no—you definitely picked the wrong person!!! The guy you’re holding has a completely shameless body! He’d be totally happy to go all the way with you!

“Mmph…”

In his excitement, Shan Ziwei couldn’t help letting out a small moan. Rice Grain Darling froze for a moment and unconsciously loosened her grip a little. The sound struck her as oddly seductive, making her blush without realizing why.

Seizing the chance, Shan Ziwei tried to push her away—but the moment his hands made contact and he exerted force, his Spade SP dropped by half in an instant.

He stopped immediately, terrified.

[Setting 5: You believe that a gentleman uses his words, not his fists.]

…Are you people trying to completely destroy someone with this condition?!

“Le-let… hah… let go!”

Rice Grain Darling said weakly, “I can’t stop the ‘force’ on my own—you can stop me!”

—But the problem is I can’t stop you, girl!

Shan Ziwei couldn’t say anything more. Just getting that relatively normal sentence out had taken all his strength. Now his mind was filled with nothing but sticky, cloying desire. He had to dig his nails into his palm to keep himself from doing something inappropriate—like pushing the soft girl in his arms to the ground.

Heart SP left: 10%, 9%, 7%… He was about to Spirit Collapse, hahaha…

Shan Ziwei had once imagined what his first death in Role-Play would be like. He’d thought about being killed by monsters, dying from violating system settings—never, in his innocence, had he imagined dying from a bosom hug. Could he die with any less dignity… QQ

Just as Shan Ziwei was about to meet his end at the hands of Rice Grain Darling’s weapon of mass destruction, Gaia’s impossibly perfect face appeared before him. The silver-haired black-robed doll, hanging upside down from atop his head, was looking at its owner. Seeing that it had caught his attention, Little Gaia opened its mouth and spat out two Setting Cards.

[2 Mirror Image] and [2 Magic Mirror].

“!”

Even though Little Gaia said nothing, Shan Ziwei understood instantly. Moving at unprecedented speed, he activated both cards.

[Setting 5: You can use a mirror to create a mirror image.]

[Setting 6: You carry a Magic Mirror that reflects truth and endlessly restores itself.]

“Shatter—”

Amid the sound of breaking glass, the white-haired mirror image picked up the restored Magic Mirror and quietly looked at its original.

“Separate us—now—”

At Shan Ziwei’s agonized cry, the mirror image acted. It grabbed Rice Grain Darling’s arms and pried them apart without mercy, pulling her away from him.

“Ah!”

Rice Grain Darling was dragged away by the image. Having narrowly escaped death, Shan Ziwei gasped for air, his Heart SP down to only 2%. He’d been grasping at straws—he hadn’t expected it to work. Without pausing to recover, he quickly checked on the mirror image—his image inherited his settings. That action just now would definitely have dropped its Spade SP to zero!

Sure enough, the image’s eyes had already turned red—clearly in Spirit Collapse. Shan Ziwei braced himself, ready to be chased by the mad image again. But to his surprise, the white-haired youth’s focus wasn’t on him—it was on… Rice Grain Darling?

Rice Grain Darling stared in shock at the white-haired youth who looked exactly like Fanzi. The hand gripping her arm felt like iron shackles—even with her pain sensitivity lowered, she could still feel a dull ache.

“He told you to let go. Why didn’t you let go.”

The white-haired youth’s red eyes were tinged with bloodlust. After a moment’s thought, it cracked a disturbing grin.

“Is it because your ears don’t work?”

The white-haired, red-eyed youth released Rice Grain Darling, drew its longsword, and sliced off its own left ear as easily as cutting tofu.

“Here—I’ll give you my ear.”

It offered the bloodied ear to Rice Grain Darling. Blood streamed down from the wound, staining its smile crimson.

“You should cut off your ears too, and put mine on—then you’ll be obedient.”

Its smile was sweet and innocent, yet brimming with twisted, mad emotion.

“Because I’m the one who obeys him the most.”

Rice Grain Darling stared for a moment, then screamed and ran. The smile on the white-haired youth’s face vanished, leaving only madness behind.

“If you won’t obey, then don’t come near him.” It tossed its own ear away like trash and gave chase, black energy swirling around it like a physical presence. “Since you came near him, then go die.”

Shan Ziwei stared blankly as the white-haired youth, wearing his face, acted like a complete psycho—he was no less horrified than Rice Grain Darling. He ran over to stop it, but the moment Rice Grain Darling caught sight of him, she let out a scream like she’d seen a ghost and hurled a bottle at him.

“Cough, cough, cough—”

The bottle burst open, releasing white smoke. Shan Ziwei coughed helplessly in the cloud. By the time the smoke cleared, the girl and his mirror image had both disappeared.

“…”

Shan Ziwei stood alone in the bathhouse, feeling inexplicably forlorn. He had a feeling the girl would probably never come near him again for the rest of her life.

Little Gaia jumped to the ground, dragging its long sleeves to retrieve the fallen Magic Mirror. Halfway there, it was drawn to something on the ground—Rice Grain Darling’s bath basin, knocked over in her panicked flight. Little Gaia lifted the basin and crawled under it. After rummaging around for a bit, Shan Ziwei saw his Toy Box happily running back with the basin on its head like a turtle shell.

Shan Ziwei bent down and flipped the basin over, revealing Little Gaia in all its pink, adorable glory. The silver-haired black-robed doll sat on the ground, the Magic Mirror strapped to its back, clutching three pale yellow oval objects like precious treasures.

[Soap
Attribute: 5
Type: Thrown Item
Effect: Force a male within range 3 to bend over.
Description: Hey, there’s a bar of soap here. Wait—my hand… why is it uncontrollably reaching down to pick it up…]

Seeing the effect and description, Shan Ziwei felt his sphincter tighten and immediately changed from bending to a squatting position. Little Gaia held the soap and looked up at him with its usual expressionless face, but the mask on its head wore a look of “praise me.”

“Thanks.”

Shan Ziwei took the Magic Mirror and hung it around his neck, patting Little Gaia on the head in appreciation. Instantly, flowers bloomed on the mask atop the doll’s head.

Shan Ziwei was about to have Little Gaia store the soap, the white book, and the [5 Deception] Setting Card when he realized the Toy Box inventory was full. Little Gaia’s Toy Box had five slots, currently occupied by the golden arrows, the chess box, and the Bishop piece. The chess box could only hold one set of each chess piece type—that is, one King, one Queen, two Castle pieces, two Bishop pieces, etc. Since the chess box already had two Bishop pieces, the one dropped by the teddy bear couldn’t fit in, occupying a slot unnecessarily.

Shan Ziwei put the other items away and took out the Bishop piece, handing it to Little Gaia.

Little Gaia tilted its head and floated a speech bubble: [?]

“A reward for you. Go upgrade.”

[~]

Little Gaia happily floated a speech bubble. It leaned in, opened wide, and swallowed the Bishop piece—along with Shan Ziwei’s finger.

“…!!!”

Under Shan Ziwei’s horrified gaze, Little Gaia obediently spat his finger back out. It licked its lips—whether it was more tempted by the chess piece or the finger, it was hard to tell.

Shan Ziwei instinctively hid his hand behind his back and silently watched his Heart SP drop another 1%. He’d always thought Little Gaia’s mouth was a pocket dimension—he never expected it to feel like a real person’s mouth. The warm, soft oral cavity enveloped his finger, sending intense stimulation from his fingertip all the way to his heart—a vivid lesson in how the ten fingers were connected to the heart.

After eating the chess piece, Little Gaia seemed sleepy. It yawned, rubbed its eyes with its sleeve-covered little hands, and soon fell asleep sitting up. Shan Ziwei wasn’t sure if this was part of the Toy Box’s upgrade process. He picked up the sleeping Little Gaia and placed it back on his shoulder, then stood up to continue clearing the Chessboard.

[Setting 4: You have made preparations for the escape in the library. (00:11:12)]

Eleven minutes left until Setting 4 was fulfilled. Though he felt there were no more clues in the library, just to be safe, Shan Ziwei ran back. The moment he arrived, Setting 4 lit up. He checked his four SP bars—none had changed—and breathed a sigh of relief. His Heart SP was currently at only 1%; one violation would mean instant death.

[Setting 5: You have rendezvoused with your companions at the appointed place. (01:00:00)]

“The appointed place…”

Shan Ziwei thought for a moment. Based on current information, the most likely destination was the cafeteria. Thinking of the cafeteria made him think of the prison guard “he” had deceived in the white book—and that gave him a bad feeling.

“First, I need to regroup with Rice Grain Darling and the others.”

Shan Ziwei withdrew his foot from the library entrance, turned, and hurried toward the cafeteria without stopping.

And then he encountered the biggest challenge of this Chessboard.

Shan Ziwei hid in the shadows and peered at the guards outside. Yes—guards. After a few hours of chaos, the prison administration had finally intervened. The number of prisoners running through the corridors had decreased significantly, replaced by patrolling guards. These guards would charge and beat any prisoner they saw without hesitation—clearly holding a “Hostile” stance toward prisoners. Worse, they were “Knight”-rank Chess Pieces.

A group of Knights—one rank higher than the prisoners, equivalent to Mr. White Rabbit from Toy Town.

This shattered any thought of brute-forcing his way through. His SP was a mess—his Heart SP was down to 1%. One Heart-attribute attack from an enemy would instantly turn it black and then zero. Role-Play’s combat system was this bizarre: each suit’s SP functioned like a health bar. Once SP dropped, that meant the upper limit of the health bar had decreased.

But that wasn’t even the biggest problem. The real issue was that he absolutely could not use his hands now!

One action meant Spade SP loss! And it dropped by half at a time! Two actions and he’d Spirit Collapse! And Spirit Collapse meant turning into a complete psycho like his mirror image!

Shan Ziwei had never imagined he’d come to hate a saying so much—a saying that embodied the traditional virtues of the Chinese people. At this moment, he only wanted to blacklist it forever.

—Screw you, “a gentleman uses his words, not his fists”!

There was no choice. Shan Ziwei had to shuffle along in tiny steps and play hide-and-seek with the guards. It had taken 20 minutes to get from the cell to the library; now it would probably take several times that. Shan Ziwei finally understood something: when the system gave a very long activation time for a setting, it meant that setting was exactly that time-consuming and that awesome.

[Setting 6: You hate hiding and skulking. (00:01:00)]

…

… …

Game developers—don’t you dare leave after class!!!