Chapter 13: Setting Thirteen

Setting Thirteen: The Prisoner and the Prison (Part 4)

[Setting 7: You hate hiding and skulking. (00:00:21)]

With Setting 7 not yet activated, Shan Ziwei made a desperate last-ditch effort to hide for another half minute—but he was still more than halfway from the cafeteria.

Seeing that he was about to be saddled with the “hates hiding” setting, Shan Ziwei glanced at a patrolling guard not far away and, after much internal struggle, summoned his mirror image.

The two white-haired young men crouched side by side in the shadows. Shan Ziwei looked at his mirror image’s obedient little expression—the white-haired youth sat quietly beside him, tilting its head as if to say “whatever you wish.”

Black eyes meant docile; red eyes meant madness—truly, the type that wasn’t a pervert normally, but when they went pervert, they went beyond human.

Knowing that he was the one who sent the image into berserk mode each time, and that he was about to use it as bait again, Shan Ziwei’s conscience pricked him. But he had no choice—it was the only thing he could do right now.

“Lure the guard away.”

The mirror image obediently ran out of the shadows and headed straight for the guard. Once it had the guard’s attention, the image quickly fled in the opposite direction. After the guard chased the image away, Shan Ziwei stepped out of the shadows with a solemn, heroic resolve.

The wind sighs, the river runs cold—a hero once gone never returns.

Now Shan Ziwei walked openly down the center of the corridor, accompanied by his own tragic background music.

“System settings aside—can’t I even cancel Personal Settings? Doesn’t that mean once you equip something, you can never take it off?!”

Shan Ziwei stared at his Personal Settings panel. Since the prison uniform involved Evil and Justice values, he thought about taking it off—maybe then the guards’ stance toward him wouldn’t be “Hostile.” But after looking around, he couldn’t find any button to cancel Personal Settings.

He wanted to ask his Toy Box, but Little Gaia was still asleep and couldn’t respond.

“I’ll ask Dragon Emperor Unrivaled when I see him. He’s not a newbie, but he seems a bit hard to approach…”

Shan Ziwei walked and thought. He descended a staircase, and the moment he turned the corner, he came face-to-face with a guard who was beating a prisoner.

[Guard
Attribute: 3
Type: Knight
MP: 290/300
SP: (100%), (100%), (100%), (100%)
Stance: Hostile
Description: Eat, sleep, beat prisoners.]

“…”

After reading that lively and adorable description, Shan Ziwei turned and ran. The guard dropped the half-dead prisoner in his hands and chased after him like a hunting dog spotting prey.

“Mi-mi-mirror image—”

In his panic, Shan Ziwei stammered while summoning the image.

“Split up.”

The newly summoned image ran in the other direction as instructed. The guard didn’t hesitate for a moment—he stayed hot on Shan Ziwei’s heels like a man pursuing true love.

Wh-why are you fixated on me?! Officer Guard, look—there are so many prisoners here, surely one of them is a better match for you!

The guard smirked devilishly: No.

Shan Ziwei ran in tears, circled around, met up with his mirror image, and gave an order born of desperation.

“Stop the guard!”

The image overtook him and charged at the guard. Shan Ziwei only heard two clangs behind him before silence fell. He looked back in disbelief—holy crap, the image was taken down that fast?!

In his jostling vision, two figures chased him—one behind (the guard in pursuit of true love), and one ahead (the mirror image, eyes blood-red and radiating madness)!

Help—!!!

Shan Ziwei almost spat blood. Mirror image, why aren’t you going after someone else this time?! How does Spirit Collapse even determine the berserk target?!

“Huff… huff…”

In this cross-century three-way chase, the mirror image ran out of MP first and dropped out. That left Shan Ziwei and the guard continuing their game of cat and mouse. Shan Ziwei was running at maximum speed, but the guard couldn’t be shaken off—still hot on his trail. Watching his MP drop below half, Shan Ziwei grew worried. The guard, with nearly 300 MP, could easily chase him to death. And running around like this made it all too easy to run into other guards.

He had to find a way to stop the guard. The soap might be useful as a thrown item, but he didn’t know if that counted as “using his hands”! His Spade SP was only at half—if it counted, he was done for!

Shan Ziwei panted and cursed the game developers: if it weren’t for that damned “gentleman uses his words, not his fists,” he would’ve—

A gentleman… uses his words… not his fists?

A flash of inspiration struck Shan Ziwei. He stopped, pulled [5 Deception] from the Toy Box inventory, and used it.

[Setting 7: You are skilled in deception, adept at using winks and verbal hints to make others believe your lies.]

Shan Ziwei turned to face the approaching guard, winked, and shouted, “Stop chasing me! I’m friends with Siren!”

Siren was the unlucky guard who’d been deceived, according to the white book—apparently a very popular officer.

Hearing Shan Ziwei’s words, the guard did indeed stop—so he could start beating Shan Ziwei.

“Hiss—”

Shan Ziwei rubbed the spot where the baton had hit him and sucked in a breath. 100% pain sensitivity was no joke. But for someone with his condition, it was actually better—the pleasure was doused by pain before it could rise.

“Wait, you don’t know Siren? He’s a guard like you!”

The guard ignored him completely, faithfully following the “eat, sleep, beat prisoners” routine. Shan Ziwei yelped under the beating. The one small comfort was that the guard’s attacks weren’t as damaging as he’d feared—the mirror image had Spirit Collapsed so quickly because it had violated the setting by using its hands.

But no matter how low the damage, the guard was still an elite. If this one-sided beating continued, Shan Ziwei’s Diamond SP would be fully contaminated in no time. He had no choice but to find a gap in the guard’s attacks and escape, then run for his life again.

Why isn’t it working? Shan Ziwei checked the Deception skill description while running. His MP had dropped just now, meaning he’d used the skill—but the guard was acting like a mindless mob in a regular MMO, only fighting and never interacting.

…Wait. In the newbie tutorial, the system had said players could only interact with “Neutral” and “Friendly” Chess Pieces.

Where was he supposed to find Neutral or Friendly Chess Pieces now?! Siren should be Friendly toward him, but that guard seemed to be in the unreachable cafeteria!

Shan Ziwei’s vision flickered black and white. He slowed down, dazed.

—Actually, weren’t there plenty?

Ever since he’d put on the prison uniform, the prisoners who no longer attacked him had become background noise. But now, they were the perfect targets, weren’t they?

Steeling himself, Shan Ziwei suddenly blocked a prisoner passing by. The prisoner glared at him with wide eyes.

“Looking for a death wish?!”

The prisoner looked ready to turn hostile—but that was exactly what Shan Ziwei needed: someone he could talk to. He winked and shouted in one breath without punctuation.

“I know a secret escape tunnel but I’m being chased by a guard right now help me take care of him and I’ll take you with me to break out!”

Instantly, the prisoner went from hostile to friendly.

“Really?! I’m in!”

He rolled up his sleeves and charged at the pursuing guard with a battle cry—and was promptly beaten to a pulp.

Seeing the situation turn bad, Shan Ziwei quickly duped another prisoner into joining. Two prisoners fought the guard. The rank difference was somewhat offset by numbers. Shan Ziwei sat on the sidelines and watched—not because he didn’t want to recruit more, but because his MP was bottoming out. Using another skill would be suicide.

After recovering, Shan Ziwei conned a third prisoner into the fight, and the battle was no longer in doubt. Shan Ziwei picked up the Knight piece from the guard’s corpse and glanced at the two prisoners following him—one had died heroically in the fight.

In a sense, he seemed to have gained two henchmen.

“What are you waiting for? Take us to the escape tunnel!”

…Okay, make that two bosses.

The two prisoners strutted ahead, clearing the path with great fanfare. Shan Ziwei followed behind like a weak little chick. Along the way, he tricked two more prisoners into joining—this was the limit of Deception. The skill’s cost doubled for each successful use on a new target: first use 10 MP, second 20 MP, third 40 MP, fourth 80 MP. For a fifth use, his MP cap would need to exceed 120—or he’d have to kill off a previously conned prisoner.

With four bodyguards by his side, Shan Ziwei smashed through everything in his path. The only downside was that the conned prisoners didn’t take orders—they only passively attacked guards that came at them. But this particular sufferer was already more than satisfied; it was a world apart from his earlier desperate fleeing.

Shan Ziwei silently clutched his chest: Oh no—he was starting to like being a con artist.

Let’s just cruise to the finish line happily like this~

System: Heh.

Shan Ziwei looked at the cafeteria across from him and the four guards walking toward him. His nerves, already numbed by the system’s abuse, were brutally stabbed once more.

The guards’ stance: Why play group vs group? 1v1 is the way to go.

Shan Ziwei watched wearily as the prisoners and guards clashed. He couldn’t even run—the moment he showed signs of leaving, the prisoners would stop fighting and give him a look that said, “If you dare abandon us, I’ll kill you even if it means I can’t escape.”

Right now, Shan Ziwei felt like he was solving an incredibly complex math problem. He couldn’t interfere, couldn’t command the prisoners—all he could do was race against time to recover MP, seize opportunities to con a few prisoners when his MP allowed, and see who would run out first: the guards or his MP.

What Shan Ziwei never expected was that neither the guards nor his MP would be the first to run out—it would be the wild prisoners.

“Hah—”

The last prisoner took down a guard in mutual destruction. Two guards remained on the field, both on low health. But Shan Ziwei couldn’t land the finishing blow—he could only watch helplessly as they leisurely blocked the path to the cafeteria, apparently planning to recover from contamination before coming after him.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, one of the guards screamed and collapsed, revealing the black-haired youth behind him.

“Host!”

The surprise came so swiftly that Shan Ziwei couldn’t help shouting his name. The black-haired youth glanced at him, smoothly pulled his weapon from the guard’s body, turned, and slit the other guard’s throat.

Both guards were driven into Spirit Collapse. As they went berserk and charged at Host, he raised his hand and sprinkled a handful of powder over them.

Then Shan Ziwei watched the two guards stagger like drunks and collapse—never to move again.

Shan Ziwei was stunned. “What… was that?”

Host silently put away his weapon. His weapon was unusual—cross-shaped, with four edges that could extend and retract at will, switching between long spear, longsword, and short sword. He walked over and held out his open palm for Shan Ziwei to see.

The black-haired youth wore black gloves. In his palm lay a small amount of gray powder, about the size of a thumb. Shan Ziwei closed one eye and used Reconnaissance.

[Death Powder
Attribute: 5
Type: Thrown Item
Effect: Instantly kill any Spirit-Collapsed Chess Piece within range 2
Description: Powder ground from the ashes of executed prisoners]

“Found it in the workshop,” Host added.

“I—” Shan Ziwei was about to say he’d found things in the library too, but remembering his damned “con artist” setting, he changed course: “Let’s go into the cafeteria.”

But Host didn’t move. His eyes were often half-hidden by his disheveled bangs, but when he fixed his gaze on someone, it felt razor-sharp. Shan Ziwei was frozen under those golden eyes, feeling completely seen through—wait, golden?

Weren’t Host’s eyes black?!

As if confirming Shan Ziwei’s memory, the gold in Host’s eyes gradually faded back to black.

“Your Heart SP is only 1%,” he said.

“Uh, there was a little accident…”

More like a disaster. Shan Ziwei laughed it off—the golden eyes must have been an effect from some kind of reconnaissance skill.

Host didn’t press further, as if merely stating the fact that Shan Ziwei’s Heart SP was critically low. He took out two Setting Cards and offered them to Shan Ziwei.

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

[A Crush
Type: Passive Relationship
Effect: When he expresses affection toward you, restore 10% of Spirit Points.
Description: You like me, you don’t like me, you like me, you don’t like me… you like me?]

“Pick one,” Host said.

“…”

Shan Ziwei stared blankly at the two Relationship Setting Cards, his mind struggling to catch up.

“Are we… each using one?”

Host nodded. “Your Heart SP is only 1%,” he repeated, adding, “You’ll die easily.”

…Thanks for the concern, but kid, do you even realize what this means?

“It’s just a game.”

Host’s eyes were so black that Shan Ziwei couldn’t see his own reflection in them. His voice was deep—so deep it seemed to pull you into an abyss without bottom.

“Are you overthinking it?”

…Yeah, it was just a game. Nothing to be afraid of.

Steeling himself, Shan Ziwei grabbed “[A Crush (Passive)].” A faint ripple passed through the black-haired youth’s dark eyes, carrying a hint of regret.

[Setting 8: You are adored by Host.]

As blue particles enveloped him, Shan Ziwei saw Host use the other Setting Card.

In the firefly-like blue light, Host slightly lowered his gaze to look at the shorter Shan Ziwei. The light particles cast a blue shimmer over his fathomless black eyes, creating the illusion of tenderness.

“I like you.”

Shan Ziwei’s heart gave a small jump. Even though he understood it was just goodwill, he still felt unbearably embarrassed. To hide his blush, he stammered out a thank you: “Th-thanks! Let’s hurry to the cafeteria!”

With that, Shan Ziwei strode forward, a hint of fleeing in his steps.

“Are you unhappy to be liked?”

Shan Ziwei froze. Host’s words were like a light hammer, unwittingly striking the place he’d once cared about most.

To be liked… unhappy?

Happy.

How could he not be happy.

He had once desperately longed to be liked—dreamed of someone who wouldn’t reject him, who would simply like him and stay by his side.

Until one day, that “dream came true”—and he discovered it was a heavier feeling than he’d ever imagined.

—If everyone else in the world disappeared, would you like me then?

“Hey—why are you both stopped at the cafeteria entrance?”

Dragon Emperor Unrivaled’s shout snapped Shan Ziwei out of his thoughts. He turned right and saw Dragon Emperor Unrivaled and Rice Grain Darling approaching.

Meeting his gaze, Rice Grain Darling flinched and hid behind Dragon Emperor Unrivaled.

…He had a feeling he was destined for a life of solitude.

Dragon Emperor Unrivaled looked at Shan Ziwei, then at Host, and finally walked over to Shan Ziwei.

“Why aren’t you going in?” Dragon Emperor Unrivaled suddenly grew tense. “Is there a boss inside?”

“Uh, no… we just got here.”

“Then let’s go in together.” Dragon Emperor Unrivaled urged everyone into the cafeteria. “Time’s almost up.”

Looking at Setting 6—there were indeed about 2 minutes left before activation. Shan Ziwei walked in front and was the first to push open the cafeteria’s iron door.

“Clang—!”

Shan Ziwei hadn’t expected the seemingly heavy iron door to be so light—he pushed too hard, and it slammed against the wall and bounced back. He scrambled to catch it, finally managing to look inside.

Among the rows of square tables and benches, Shan Ziwei’s eyes landed immediately on the guard seated directly across from the door. He wore a black uniform, his skin as white as fine pearl—he looked less like a prison guard enforcing violence and more like a nobleman in high office. At that moment, the guard had his long legs crossed, reading a magazine called HKA. His long hair cascaded behind him, blue so deep it appeared nearly black.

Shan Ziwei was stunned. Though the guard had long hair and was undeniably beautiful, it didn’t change the fact that he was male.

This wasn’t Siren, this wasn’t Siren, this wasn’t Siren—if this was Siren, then his (character’s) self was gay, holy crap!

Hearing the door open, the guard looked up. Seeing Shan Ziwei, he slightly adjusted his cap and flashed a beautiful, somewhat sinister smile.

“You’re here.”