C65 — The Hope Dependent
by UntamedS“What did you say? How could Xiangping Town…” The maid revealed a disbelieving look.
She looked very confused, obviously unable to bear the blow.
Mu Sichen asked, “System, can I show her that book?” Can her spirit withstand the truth behind The Embrace?”
[Scanning her mental energy…]
[Pillar-level mental energy, enhanced by “Relative Reasoner,” able to withstand it].
Although the system was still unable to tell the truth about some things, it could finally play a role.
Mu Sichen’s mind moved; the book “I can finally embrace him after growing tentacles” appeared in his hand, and he handed it to the maid: “Although this is only a bedtime story, it should be able to give you the answer.”
The maid quickly opened it, and when she saw the original ending with a red cross, she frozen.
The maid had also changed the ending of many books in the library, so she naturally knew exactly what this ending meant.
“Before coming to Tongzhi Town, Admiral Qin said that the ‘Pupil of the Sky’ has a certain precognitive ability; he told us to put away our belongings and try not to let Him see items related to us as much as possible, or else there’s a possibility that He might discover us through the future of such items.” The maid murmured.
She was already convinced that the future depicted in this book wasn’t false.
Mu Sichen accompanied her quietly from the side.
After a long time, the maid whispered, “It turns out that we have always been Admiral Qin’s burden… Xiangping Town…”
“The situation isn’t that desperate.” Mu Sichen softly comforted her, “As long as it hasn’t happened, there is the possibility of change.”
The maid lowered her head; it wasn’t clear what she was thinking.
But Mu Sichen clearly saw that since Qin Zu’s totem left her body, a small, fuzzy totem also appeared at her heart.
Although it wasn’t clear enough, it was very much like the self-totem.
This was probably the reason why the little octopus had to rely on him; if Qin Zu’s power didn’t leave her body, she would definitely continue traveling to the next town, would take over the other side’s pillars, and would dedicate her life to Qin Zu.
Qin Zu’s mind could hardly bear the burden of life anymore.
Leaving her in Hope Town would be good for both her and Qin Zu.
Mu Sichen spread out his hand, and a small pillar appeared in his palm.
This was a power that he had naturally learned after the establishment of the town, and he didn’t have to rely on touching the pillar proper in order to activate the power.
“Expel.” Mu Sichen said softly.
Several people were expelled from Hope Town, which at the moment was filled with people with self-totems.
“System, why is it that I can find out who is a dependent from another town with a single thought, but Big Eye didn’t have this power?” Mu Sichen asked.
[Because of the self.]
[A person who lacks self-awareness and is dominated like a puppet, among a group of people who have their own selves, the strings on their body will become very obvious, and their differences can be seen at a glance.]
[In a town where everyone has puppet strings attached to them, to tell who the strings are coming from, one would have to stare at the strings and carefully identify them.]
“It seems like there are a lot of benefits to choosing option two.” Mu Sichen asked, “There were players who completed all the newbie quests before me, right?”
The system was silent for a while before replying: [There were.]
“They all chose option one? As hard as it is to choose, as tempting as the power is, there should always be someone who desires to retain their humanity.” Mu Sichen asked.
[They didn’t have an option.]
Mu Sichen thought that the system had been waiting for someone to choose option two, but he never expected that the others didn’t even have the right to choose.
“Why?” Mu Sichen was very puzzled.
[90% of the players who participated in the internal test died without knowing anything about it. 9% became residents of different towns and lived in a muddled way, unable to leave. More than 0.9% of the players became dependents of some godly monster, possessing powers and either dying or continuing to fight. Only less than 0.1% of players successfully completed the Novice Quest but failed to open the door to Option 2 after successfully capturing the first pillar.]
Mu Sichen remembered that after completing the first novice quest, he felt the pressure from the townspeople and saw them trying to make sacrifices to him.
At that time, he had two choices: the first, to take everything on and set harsh rules so that the townspeople had to listen to him and trust him completely. As long as they listened to him, there would be no more sacrifices and nothing that would make things difficult for him.
The second one was what Mu Sichen did, only guiding and not dictating, allowing the townspeople to learn to live on their own.
“It takes enough courage to take everything all on yourself.” Mu Sichen thought somewhat forlornly, “I was just thinking that I was an ordinary person; I couldn’t take on such a terrible responsibility; I didn’t have that kind of courage.”
[Taking on everything is sometimes a form of arrogance, a form of distrust.]
“Listening to your tone, it seems that some people successfully completed the novice quest and chose option one; how many were there? What happened to them afterward?” Mu Sichen asked.
[Once one becomes a dependent of another god-ranked monster or becomes a god-ranked monster itself, the system will no longer pay attention to that player. The current number of people who have become dependents of god-level monsters is 47; development unknown; life and death unknown. The number of people who have successfully seized the town to become god-level monsters themselves is one person, development unknown, life and death unknown.]
One person… Mu Sichen thought of the title of the book that the library had given him, which was **A02, meaning there was an 01 in front of him that couldn’t be found.
This 01, could it be that person? The one who chose courage, chose to take it on, but lost the system?
“Is He Qin Zu?” Mu Sichen couldn’t help but ask.
“No, the ‘Relatively Rational’ has nothing to do with the real world; he belongs to this world.”
It wasn’t Qin Zu; Qin Zu wasn’t a person from the real world who was lost in a different world.
After clarifying this point, Mu Sichen was slightly relieved, but there was also a trace of disappointment in his heart.
The relief was that Qin Zu hadn’t missed out on the key option; he was born in this world and had no choice from the start. The disappointment was that the little octopus didn’t belong to the real world after all; even if he brought it back, it was nothing more than a stowaway.
Since it wasn’t Qin Zu, it meant that there was someone who had come here because of the internal game just like him and had lost his humanity because he had enough courage and chose to take responsibility.
Since the system said that it would no longer pay attention to the player who had become a god-level monster, it meant that this person would probably never be able to call up the system panel and would never be able to press the “exit game” button. If Mu Sichen chose option one, he would have probably been discarded by the system.
Mu Sichen didn’t know who that person was, but their similar experience made him feel inexplicable sadness.
The other party didn’t know his sadness, and perhaps he also didn’t need his empathy; this was just his own frustration.
“Then it’s better to ask again; it’s not the ‘One-Pupil Moon’, right?” When Mu Sichen asked this question, he was afraid that the system would answer “yes.”
[No.]
Mu Sichen let out a long breath.
When it came to Shen Jiyue, he couldn’t accept that he was from the same world as him.
Because Shen Jiyue knew about the system, Mu Sichen was afraid that he had been a player; it was great that he wasn’t a player.
Even if Shen Jiyue wasn’t a player, the fact that he was clear about the system could be rationally explained at this point.
There were 47 players who had become god-level monster dependents alone, and based on a 0.9% ratio, at least four to five thousand people had participated in the game’s internal testing.
With such a huge number of people, it would be too easy for Shen Jiyue to meet one or two and know about the existence of the system.
It was even possible for him to have dependents who had been players.
The questions in Mu Sichen’s heart were finally answered, but then an even bigger question arose.
He had suspected in the past that the system was the power of the game world, which was why it was able to bring them to this other world and put them in danger.
But now, it seemed that the system would abandon players who were thoroughly integrated into this world and not allow those who possessed the power of this world to travel to the real world.
The system was kind to the real world; it was guarding it.
If that was the case, what was the deal with the Butterfly Pillar? And why did the system keep pulling people from the real world to come here?
[Player, please stop thinking and at least reach level 50 or above before considering these questions.]
The system voiced out in time to stop Mu Sichen from thinking, which meant that these things were areas that Mu Sichen couldn’t get involved in anymore.
There were only three awake people in the library; the maid was reconstructing her worldview; her mind was probably going through a baptism of thought storms; she didn’t say a word as she held the book; she only blankly stared at it.
Mu Sichen was busy conversing with the system in his mind and also stood still.
Only He Fei was full of questions, wanting to go offline but not wanting to leave Mu Sichen alone. He was so anxious that he scratched his ears and jumped up and down like he had ADHD, almost hitting his head against the wall.
At this time, the door of the library opened. He Fei’s heart was startled. He jumped behind Mu Sichen, took out his g-un, and aimed it at the door, wary of the incoming people.
He saw a man and a woman running into the library. The man breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Mu Sichen sitting on the ground without any image and said with relief, “As long as the captain is okay.”
The female rushed to Mu Sichen, seeing that he was thinking about things; she didn’t bother him. She had nowhere to vent her emotions, then she suddenly saw the gu-n in He Fei’s hand. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she didn’t care if He Fei aimed the gu-n at her and rushed over to hug him, crying loudly. She even used her hand to hammer his chest.
He Fei: “……”
He put away the gu-n, hands upward in a surrender posture with an innocent expression on his face: “I have no relationship with her; I haven’t had a girlfriend; I’m not a scum!”
The woman was exactly Chi Lian, and the man was naturally Cheng Xubo.
Cheng Xubo was also excited when he saw the gu-n in He Fei’s hand, but after carefully observing He Fei’s face, he went up to Chi Lian and tugged on her, persuading her, “You recognized the wrong person; he’s not the gu-n-using player who was ki-lled by that dependent; it’s another person.”
“Huh? He isn’t?” Chi Lian brought out a tissue and wiped her face, instantly changing her expression. “I was excited for nothing; I really thought it was the resurrected player.”
After saying that, she pushed He Fei away with one hand and didn’t give He Fei another look.
He Fei: “……”
“You guys are here too?” Mu Sichen asked.
Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo made such a loud noise; of course Mu Sichen heard them.
It just so happened that the system had pretty much answered the questions he wanted to ask, so he warmly embraced his two teammates and introduced them, “This is the ‘Your Brother Fei’ of the group, and my good friend He Fei.”
The three of them had a misunderstanding as soon as they met, which in turn dissolved the awkwardness of strangers meeting for the first time; they quickly introduced themselves.
“Chi Lian, level 20, Initial Tool Scissors, Ability ‘Cut and Paste’.”
“Cheng Xubo, level 20, Initial Tool Barrow, Ability ‘Spatial Transportation’.”
“He Fei, level 20, Initial Tool Gu-n, Ability ‘Expulsion’.”
“Why are you on level 20?” The three of them, including Mu Sichen, asked in unison.
One had to know that the three of them had gone through a lot of trouble to reach level 20 or above. Mu Sichen was only level 15 before he entered the library, so how come He Fei was level 20 as soon as he arrived?
He Fei: “Just now the system prompted me that I assisted Mu Sichen in completing the quest to establish Hope Town, earning the title of ‘Hope Dependent’, which directly boosted me to level 20.”
Chi Lian: “I’m also a ‘Hope Dependent’.”
Cheng Xubo: “I’m also…”
Chi Lian: “The names of other people’s dependents are so rich; what with their feathered eyes and heavy pupils, why do we have the exact same name? How are we going to categorize them in the future?”
Cheng Xubo: “Let’s divide them according to the serial number; you are the first follower of Mu Sichen, that is, hope dependent 001, I am 002, and He Fei is 003.”
Chi Lian suddenly retorted, “He Fei is 004, there is a Ying Mao in front of him.”
Cheng Xubo despondently nodded and said, “That’s right.”
He Fei, still confused, retorted, “Wait, you guys just numbered me and gave my original number 3 to someone else? Since I can change my number, I’m going to be 007; I don’t like number 4.”
Mu Sichen couldn’t help but smile as he looked at the three people who were arguing over the numbering.
He finally felt like he had returned to the human world.
Heh. Thank you for the chapter!