Finale (2)
After saying this, he looked up at the sky and was shocked to see the terrifying Horror Game’s monstrous core, once fierce and disgusting, now looked like a frostbitten eggplant.
Its cloudy yellow eyes had shriveled to just a few, barely peeking out from layers of wrinkled flesh.
Fu Moyang narrowed his eyes. Though he softened his sharp edge only toward his little lamb, when he looked up at that ugly thing in the sky, his gaze was still filled with fierce hostility.
He lowered his head to look at Chen Li, a rare moment of acknowledgment toward another being: “Yeah, they helped a lot.”
Chen Li: “Who did you just go to save?”
Fu Moyang’s face, which had relaxed moments before, darkened again.
When Chen Li got on the bus, he understood why the man looked so uncomfortable.
The one rescued was Gu Fu.
Fu Moyang’s tone was icy cold: “If I’d known it was him, I wouldn’t have gone.”
Gu Fu was in terrible shape. Old wounds had burst open, bleeding heavily, and his arm was unnaturally twisted backward.
But compared to the others who died in this space, he was still lucky.
Someone on the bus skilled in emergency medical care began bandaging and treating him.
Players’ vitality was stronger than ordinary people’s. Gu Fu’s breathing was weak, but he still managed to open his eyes slightly and lift the one arm that wasn’t completely ruined. He pointed feebly in a direction: “That way…”
Chen Li: “What’s over there?”
Fu Moyang closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, he said with certainty: “The space leading to the core.”
This central instance was connected by several spaces. The core itself seemed to hover mid-air, following their jumps across the spaces to watch over them. But no one could touch it directly because it hid itself inside one of these spaces.
“I’ll go with you!” Chen Li reached out and grabbed him.
Fu Moyang didn’t refuse this time: “Mm.”
The others were sent off to keep searching for survivors in other spaces.
Standing in front of the space’s entrance—a pitch-black hole—Chen Li felt an eerie, crawling sensation, as if he were being watched.
Fu Moyang: “Scared?”
Chen Li admitted honestly: “I’m scared.”
The hand holding his didn’t loosen—in fact, it gripped tighter.
“Heh.” Fu Moyang suddenly chuckled. “You little lunatic.”
His willingly captured little lunatic.
Chen Li scowled at him, but then a wave of dizziness hit and before he knew it, he was lifted off the ground.
Fu Moyang carried him straight into the darkness.
. . . . .
Facing the indescribable monster before him, Chen Li showed genuine disgust for the first time.
His face scrunched up like a little bun.
He didn’t even notice when a black dagger with a dragon pattern was slipped into his hand. Fu Moyang lifted his arm, aiming the sharp tip straight at the creature’s core.
Chen Li’s wrist tensed, and he thrust the dagger forward.
“Wahhh—”
From the core came a sound like a baby crying.
Neither of them flinched.
Chen Li already knew this vile thing was constantly absorbing human emotions and knowledge. It knew how to make humans soften, but unfortunately, it looked so grotesque that even mimicking a baby’s cry was useless.
The dagger pushed two more inches deeper.
The baby’s cries stopped abruptly. The Horror Game’s core, realizing this tactic had failed, switched strategies, emitting a venomous low growl: “If you kill me, everything I created will disappear— including those guide NPCs who care deeply for you.”
At those words, half of the strength left Chen Li’s hand.
He pictured those clumsy NPCs trying to befriend him, but he also understood their very existence was a mistake.
The dagger’s tip got stuck and couldn’t move forward.
That ugly mass writhed proudly, trying to squeeze the blade out with its flesh. But in the next moment, a flash of red light shot through, and the dragon pattern on the dagger seemed to come alive, striking straight at the core. The creature only managed to let out a final scream before the blade pierced through its entire body.
Everything ended so suddenly.
Chen Li looked down in shock at his pocket, which was glowing red. Inside lay a single rose—the one Joker had given him.
. . . . .
The surrounding space began to collapse, everything visible was vanishing rapidly.
The terrifying Horror Game had never imagined that the thing that would kill it in the end was its own “weapon.”
Chen Li was held tightly by Fu Moyang as a white door appeared before them.
Even as everything disintegrated like a virus being wiped out, that door stood firm.
Chen Li stepped forward: “Wait, I want to go through!”
His heart raced uncontrollably.
Fu Moyang said nothing and opened the door for him.
His intuition had been right.
A gentle breath brushed through countless barriers and caressed this place.
“We’ve been waiting for you.”
Hearing this, Chen Li’s eyes widened slightly: “…You’re leaving?”
He still had so much more he wanted to say.
“We’ve simply returned to our true selves, existing in a different form. This is the best resting place for us.”
All their obsessions began to fade the moment they saw him.
Chen Li silently stared at the pure white room.
This had once been his resting space in the game, but now it was filled with objects of all sizes.
A swan music box with a missing beak, strange magical dolls, and a teddy bear with button eyes…
Each item bore the marks of time and stories, some even ancient artifacts hundreds or thousands of years old.
Chen Li murmured: “Every guide NPC is an object that once witnessed tragedy—things attached with lingering grudges…”
His mind flashed with the system’s words to him.
His eyes gradually brightened again.
“So they don’t truly disappear. They can even break the rules of Horror Game because they all really existed in the real world!”
“Hm.” Fu Moyang’s gaze held a faint indulgence. “Now they’re all ownerless.”
Even the grudges that once clung to them had been cleansed, leaving just ordinary objects behind.
Chen Li pondered this deeply.
. . . . .
Several days passed.
It had been ten days since they eradicated the Horror Game.
After verifying a series of details, the authorities finally decided today to continue keeping the Supernatural Regulation Bureau active.
No one knew when the next supernatural event would strike.
Here’s the translation of your sentence into English:
After clearly refusing some official award and announcement activities, Chen Li still reluctantly accepted the huge cash prize and the title of an external advisor to the Supernatural Regulation Bureau.
Fu Moyang had directly replaced Gu Fu as the highest authority in the Supernatural Regulation Bureau. He needed a new identity to better blend into human society.
Gu Fu had been too badly injured and no longer fought for the position.
System 001: [Hmm, foolish humans. In the end, the Supernatural Regulation Bureau actually fell under the Ghost King’s control.]
Chen Li laughed at System 001’s comment, smiling with eyes curved for a long while before picking up his phone and opening his livestream.
Many viewers were already waiting eagerly in the chatroom, flooding the comments with “Pants flying!1”
Some more serious comments asked: [Will the streamer tell us a story and do some drawing today?]
Chen Li replied earnestly: “Yes.”
He held up his phone and walked into a special art studio. Beautiful wooden cabinets held many items.
Oddly, these things seemed unrelated at first glance, yet somehow formed a magical harmony.
Chen Li took out a teddy bear with button eyes and introduced it: “This is Wendy, a little girl. She’s the one I’m going to draw today.”
His earnestness melted the hearts of the viewers.
[Aww, he’s so cute and well-behaved, so imaginative.]
[Wife, come closer.]
[Seeing the streamer gives me toothaches, need emergency…]
[The bear is cute, but the streamer is cuter.]
Just as Chen Li was about to prepare his paints, suddenly a large hand grabbed him by the waist.
He let out a small startled sound and turned around, holding his phone.
Fu Moyang was dressed sharply in a suit, a smile playing on his lips: “I’m back.”
Before Chen Li could say anything, the live chat exploded.
[Who is he?! Who is this man?!]
[Just from his voice, you can tell he’s a total heartthrob.]
[I’m jealous, I’m jealous! My wife’s living with someone else?!]
Chen Li glanced at the comments and smiled a little embarrassedly, pressing his lips together: “He’s my partner.”
Fu Moyang’s lips curved into a smile: “I discussed your art exhibition next month with Omicho, and this time it will be funded by the Fu.”
Chen Li’s eyes lit up, and the warm, romantic vibe between the two of them was felt by every viewer watching the livestream—even through the screen.
The live chat, caught completely off guard by the public display of affection, suddenly went quiet for a few seconds. Then the camera shook slightly and unexpectedly caught Fu Moyang’s face.
Even though it was only for a few seconds, the comments went wild again.
[Mom agrees to this marriage!!!]
The message flooded the screen, mixed with congratulations on Chen Li becoming Master Omicho’s disciple and on his upcoming exhibition.
Chen Li glanced at the screen, blushing fiercely, and hurriedly told everyone to calm down.
A lazy voice whispered by his ear as Fu Moyang hugged him and took the phone: “They’re not wrong.”
He glanced at the comments again, then, in front of tens of thousands of viewers, planted a kiss on Chen Li’s lips like staking his claim.
“Going offline now. What comes next is not suitable for kids.”
Author’s note:
THE END (Applause!)
This was a great story.