IWYTBW - Chapter 5

 

Chapter 5

Ended up Being Beaten by the Male Lead

Cultivation system... What is that exactly?

And that strange, out-of-the-blue hidden hidden mission—could it be that just by verbally sparring with the male lead, he could change the world?

If so, then this seemingly complex hidden mission was a bit too easy to complete...

[Impressive, player.] Tai'a spoke up, [You so easily shook the male lead’s beliefs and even obtained the right to choose a cultivation system. You truly have the potential to become a top player.]

Yi Zhen noticed that while he was conversing with Rong Hongxue, Tai'a wouldn’t interrupt. It only offered its evaluation after their confrontation had come to a pause.

From this point alone, this guide system of his was quite professional.

Rong Hongxue remained silent for a long time.

He was caught in deep doubt, about himself and about others.

At the beginning of time, people said darkness was invincible. Thousands of years ago, people said natural disasters were invincible. A thousand years ago, people said the sun was invincible... And now, humans had conquered darkness, natural disasters, and the sun, their footsteps traversing the deepest seas and the highest mountains.

During his drifting and turbulent youth, Rong Hongxue had witnessed many different forms of life, with different appearances, different personalities, different civilizations and languages. He had once scanned a giant interstellar beast called Leviathan from thousands of light-years away, which lived by devouring cosmic storms. He had also seen united life forms only a few microns in size, living on a kingdom the size of a fingertip.

Human society has never been as prosperous and diverse as it is now, so why did he believe that a reputation of “wantonness” could be used to threaten someone living in Star Calendar Year 3680?

… Actually, he had never concealed this matter. Everyone who knew about his relationship with Yi Zhen—those court nobles, those business partners, those Drivers in the same echelon as him—couldn’t help but hold some disdainful thoughts towards Yi Zhen, believing that his partner had just passed away and he had already climbed into his brother-in-law’s bed, being excessively promiscuous and unable to endure loneliness.

Rong Hongxue didn’t give the rumors any overt attention, nor did he refute them. Instead, he indulged in malicious pleasure, enjoying the embarrassed expression on Yi Zhen’s face when he heard them. After all, as Rong Huaiyu’s remaining legacy, he only deserved this kind of treatment.

...Could it be that those people were also wrong?

If neither he nor the aforementioned people were wrong, then this was indeed a glaring paradox: in the interstellar age, humans could marry AI and extraterrestrial beings, polygamy and polyandry were legal on at least three thousand inhabited planets, marriage was nothing more than a fragile two-way contract, open relationships were commonplace... and yet, he had actually used the reputation of a "slut" to threaten Yi Zhen, and it had worked?

“You...” Rong Hongxue was rarely speechless. He stared at Yi Zhen, the elegant disguise gradually fading from his face.

He gradually thought of something even more sinister.

What was his life filled with?

Revenge, death, endless hatred. Now that Rong Qing was dead, and Rong Qing’s proud eldest son was also dead, he had replaced everything of the Rong family. But after achieving these goals, he seemed to have lost his motivation to move forward. Only Yi Zhen was somewhat interesting, capable of arousing a shred of excitement in him...

But besides that?

What should he do now, what did he want to do? After careful consideration, he couldn’t come up with a clear answer.

This wasn’t his style. He's ambitious, his avarice always ravenous. So far, he had swallowed up the Rong family and would swallow up more things in the future. How could he not even come up with a plan for the future?

He had touched upon something... a contradiction, he had touched a loose thread that threatened to shatter his psyche completely!

[Quickly interrupt him!] Tai'a’s speech suddenly accelerated, [He’s about to touch upon the secret of this world. It’s not the time yet- if you don’t interrupt, the plotline will collapse!]

Yi Zhen was taken aback: "What's wrong with the wiring in this guy's brain? He's skipping around way too fast!"

This wasn’t the time for unnecessary chatter. He jumped up and clapped loudly in front of Rong Hongxue: “Hey, snap out of it!”

Rong Hongxue's whole body trembled. He struck out like lightning, grabbing Yi Zhen’s wrist. Yi Zhen felt like his bones were about to be crushed. The pain caused his facial muscles to twitch uncontrollably. As the grip tightened, he endured the sharp agony again and again, barely managing to hold back the curses threatening to spill out of his mouth.

Legend had it that a top expert, even by just casually grabbing a person’s little finger, could force the most ferocious outlaw to submit obediently. Yi Zhen originally thought there was some exaggeration to this statement, but after experiencing it firsthand, he realized how much truth it held.

“Who are you, really?” Rong Hongxue stared at him, his gaze venomous and fierce.

It seems like there are some people who are inherently meant to wield their smiles as a veil. A killer might not need a gentle smile to camouflage themselves, but a sadistic killer smiles as innocently as an ordinary person, all the better to achieve their sinister goals.

Right now, Rong Hongxue was the latter.

He had asked Yi Zhen this question three times. The first time, he was gentle and amiable, like a satiated wolf lazily comforting its prey. The second time, he was covered in dirt, and although he was in a sorry state, there was miraculously not much killing intent, just a thread of prevailing curiosity. The third time, ah, Yi Zhen was currently having difficulty breathing and couldn’t really summon the oxygen needed to describe it.

—Without the protection of the Peerless Invincibility Buff’s, Rong Hongxue could indeed crush him to death with ease.

“A sudden burst of strength, and an antidote out of nowhere... Do you really think I’ll let you off so easily?” His eyes were like dark, burning will-o'-the-wisps, “What do you know?”

Yi Zhen struggled to breathe but still managed a smile: “As the saying goes, an elder sister-in-law is like a mother. Good son, do you really have to hold your mother so tightly?”

Rong Hongxue’s eyelids twitched, and he almost crushed Yi Zhen on the spot. He heard Yi Zhen continue: “As the saying goes, a day as husband and wife means a hundred days of grace恩 in this context means grace, kindness, or favor. The idiom originates from the idea that even if a couple only stays together for a day, the 恩 they share will last a hundred days. Rong Huaiyu is dead, so you can look down on him, but you can’t look down on what he left me. These are all private gifts between husband and wife, you can’t have both the person and the wealth, right?”

“Rong Huaiyu?” Rong Hongxue’s lips slowly approached Yi Zhen’s ear, scorching breath spraying over his skin, “If there were such good things, that useless trash would have used them against me himself, why leave them for you? Xiao Zhen, are you overestimating yourself, or overestimating him?”

His voice carried intense malice. Yi Zhen chuckled, “Look down on myself, look down on him, but should I look up to a little bastard like you who likes to play blame game? In the past, I was indeed weak and easy to bully, but thinking about it today, I’ve decided to go all out, and fighting back doesn’t seem so scary anymore. About next time- I still want to try breaking your left hand. Dare to let me tryAlternatives were: Would you like to try(​?) Would you like to experience it(?), ah, it’s a tricky sentence…?”

The words had barely left his mouth when he felt an unknown force squeezing together every bone in his body, making his flesh and blood creak, like the sound one might imagine coming from coal as it was steadily crushed into becoming diamond.... Yi Zhen’s lips turned pale, his eyes becoming bloodshot, the only movement came from his nostrils emitting a snowy breath- even his painful screams seemed to have become trapped in his throat.

Although fortunes风水轮流转 , (fēng shuǐ lún liú zhuàn), which literally translates to ‘wind and water rotate in turn.’ change like the turning of the tide...this turnaround is way too fast!

“Do you think everyone else is an idiot compared to you? I may not know the number of times a physical outburst can occur, or its cooldown period, but don’t you know? If you could really use it whenever you wanted, why would Rong Huaiyu leave it to you? Wouldn't it be put to better use as a means to directly let the Rongs establish their power in the Azote Capital?”

“What else could you possibly come up with?” Rong Hongxue chuckled softly, “I’m just waiting for you to beg for mercy.”

“I…” Yi Zhen barely squeezed out a word, and the pressure on his body eased slightly, “I still want to say…”

Rong Hongxue: “Hmm?”

“Thank God your parents died early, so I, your sister-in-law, can reluctantly take on the part-time role of your mother to make up for your deficient family education-- Ah!”

Rong Hongxue’s face was expressionless, and a pitch-black haze seemed to surround him- his mental power as dark as the abyss descending from the void into the mortal world.

‘Might as well kill him’, he thought absentmindedly.

To be honest, Rong Hongxue was still a bit surprised. After all, many Drivers with physiques close to A-class couldn’t help but wail and show weakness under his pressure. This little sister-in-law, whose physique was much worse than ordinary people, suddenly grew a backbone, not only refusing to beg for mercy but even having the energy to continue provoking him.

…Kill, or wait until he personally revealed the secret of the unknown strengthening agent before killing?

During this rare moment of hesitation, the communicator at his waist suddenly flashed.

“Mr. Rong,” the adjutant urgently entered his communication channel, “Due to the unexpected intervention of a third party, Lady Yun Xingchen has put forward new demands regarding the mining rights of the Crimson Cloak Galaxy’s bio-mine!”

Rong Hongxue’s fingers involuntarily loosened, and Yi Zhen fell to the floor with a thud.

“You’re really lucky… Xiao Zhen.”

He looked at Yi Zhen, a smile blooming on his face again. He pulled out a clean white handkerchief from the side and wiped his hands slowly and methodically, “About this matter, we’ll talk about it when I get back, alright?”

Yi Zhen struggled to gather his strength, attempting to rise. He didn’t need to look in the mirror to know that he must currently be a ghastly sight to behold, with bulging eyes and blood oozing from his nose and mouth.

Rong Hongxue looked straight ahead, stepping over him and vanishing into the distance as the sound of his unhurried footsteps faded away.

[He’s gone, player.]

As Rong Hongxue left, Yi Zhen’s vision gradually regained its brightness. He lay curled up on the ground for a long time before he dared move. Trembling, he lifted his clothes to look at the damage, only to discover horrifying large swathes of swollen red and purple bruises on his thin, pale skin.

He muttered a curse, swallowed the blood in his mouth, and said, “Little beast, he’s too resistant to beatings.”

Broken hands, pummeled with ‘peerless’ fists, yet the guy recovered in just a few sentences and even had the strength to counterattack with gusto. To say his healing ability was on par with Wolverine'sWhy not Deadpool? Lolol. And for anyone totally clueless, these are characters that are nearly unkillable wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.

[If you don’t think it’s enough to break it, you can try chopping off his hand next time,] Tai'a calmly suggested, [The partial loss of limbs is much harder to heal than a simple broken bone.]

“...Thanks, but I’m really not interested in making things bloody.” Yi Zhen stumbled to his feet, “And he’s right, the Peerless Invincibility Buff isn’t something I can use whenever I want. Who knows when I’ll get this kind of quest reward again.”

Rong Hongxue had wanted to kill him—in that moment, he distinctly and clearly perceived the other's intention.

Even if he was lucky this time, what about next time? After all, Rong Hongxue wasn’t him, and the rule that protagonists couldn’t kill each other didn’t apply to him.

Yi Zhen supported himself against the wall, limping towards the exit. The time spent matching wits and courage with Rong Hongxue was tantamount to both mental and physical torture. He was in desperate need of nourishment, truly desperate.

“Also, did you hear that just now?” He asked Tai'a, “That name, and something about a biological mine…”

[I heard it.]

“Yun Xingchen, right?” Yi Zhen pondered as he walked, “There was no such character in the original work. Could she be one of the players?”

[I can’t be sure.]

“I know you can’t be sure, I’m just letting you know so we can keep it in mind.” Yi Zhen walked slowly, “If there are many transmigrators who came here, then for as many people that wish for Rong Hongxue's death, there are just as many who wish for mine… Thinking about it, it's really a bitter pill to swallow. The best solution at the moment would be for him and me to join forces, but would he actually cooperate with me willingly?”

[Obviously not.]

Yi Zhen was helpless: “I was just saying it casually, don’t always tear down my stage, okay…”

He suddenly stopped.

“Tai'a,” Yi Zhen slowly spoke, “You… tell me again about that, what was it, the High-Quality World Law?”

[A high-quality fictional world needs to meet three conditions: a simple plot, rough logic, and a small number of protagonists. And this world the player is in, the main plot is just: the male protagonist seizing his older brother’s spouse after his death, they eventually fall in love over time. All the twists and turns exist for the interaction between the two, which is equivalent to no logic, and finally, there are only two protagonists. Therefore, the work “Breaking Through the Love Barrier: Little Uncle, Let Me Go” fully meets the standards of a high-quality world.]

“In other words, this is just the standard criteria for a world recruitingAdded to possibly further understanding… tbh I don’t get it exactly- We may learn this later on, but it seems like some transmigrators come into the world willingly? Or are already aware of the goals of transmigration? Ah, seems like the missions may be related to stabalizing the world to make it more fleshed out and suitable for ownership?? Ah, do people transmigrating into different characters get different missions leading to world supremacy? Damn, I’m so curious transmigrators, whose goal is to seize ownership of the world.” Yi Zhen said.

[Yes.]

Yi Zhen was silent for a long while, then suddenly covered his forehead.

…He should have realized it sooner!

A brainless erotic novel, yet for the sake of being trendy, it had a high-tech interstellar background. What kind of stupid and rich configuration was this? Like a baby holding the switch to a nuclear weapon, who wouldn’t want to fight for it, who wouldn’t want it?

To be fair, if Yi Zhen wasn’t Yi Zhen, but some other unimportant transmigrator, facing such a big piece of pie, he would also be very eager to take a bite. The vast interstellar space, as long as you kill two people, the entire universe, all the technology, all the resources would be his. There was such a good thing in the world!

With wolves in front and a lone tiger behind, while others walked the bright path, Yi Zhen chose a black hole.

“I should have thought of it earlier…” Yi Zhen dragged his steps weakly, “Heavens, I really have no future…”

[Don’t be discouraged, player,] Tai'a gave a timely cheer, [You’ve already triggered hidden task and facilitated the protagonist's first awakening. What’s more, you can also have a special cultivation system. If compared to you, many transmigrators would be found lacking.]

“……Oh, right,” Yi Zhen perked up. “That cultivation system, what’s that all about?”

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