Jia Hyson, after giving Liao Zhiqiang's body a complex look quickly switched his attention back to Li Guiren with worry. "Xiao Ren lift your shirt! I will try staunch the bleeding! Don't, don't pull out the glass or the blood will escape!" He frets as he quickly floats around him in circles like a nervous goldfish in a bowl.
However to both his and Li Guiren's shock, when the shirt was lifted not a trace of glass was seen. There was no wound, no blood, not even an indent. Just pure baby smooth skin.
"But..." Jia Hyson mutters, "how can that be?"
Suddenly he recalled the last gift Monroe had given him. It was also a piece of dark glass. It also melted once he touched it, disappearing like it never existed in the first place. This wasn't neuroscience. Jia Hyson wasn't fucking stupid-
Bebe: 'Well. Not stupid about plot points anyway.' (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Jia Hyson: '...' You ruined the building tension ah, go die. (┛ಠДಠ)┛彡┻━┻
As Jia Hyson and Li Guiren leave the demon house, Jia Hyson continues to contemplate.
Monroe, Liao Zhiqiang. Drake, Li Guiren. Was there a connection? There must be. If it's reincarnation then there's no need for such a mysterious item like the glass shard. If it's a fellow transmigrator the latter excuse is the same. If it was a case of a broken soul though... but should souls be able to mix with other souls then?
Jia Hyson silently asks Bebe about this however Bebe is also equally as confused.
'Human souls cannot be broken like glass, they're malleable and flexible like rubber which is why most ghosts can possess people despite the differences in body shapes and sizes.' Bebe explains. 'The rules of a story world are different from the rules of our original reality. Even if there are worlds that describe human souls like this, it doesn't necessarily mean our reality does the same.'
'But what if it's a host who originated in such a world?' Jia Hyson rebuts, 'If something happened to them it wouldn't be too out there to think...'
'Not possible,' Bebe denies immediately. 'As I said before a soul needs to be malleable in order for it to fit in various living things. Therefore how can we use people with rigid souls as our hosts who have to transmigrate into so many things? Those sort of breakable souls are usually overlooked in the recruitment processing but if there are people that show incredible potentials system overseers can apply to get their souls to undergo special treatment and reprocessing in order to be more suited to the tasks.'
Jia Hyson wracks his brain for other quick transmigration tropes that may apply. The problem was most male leads were big golden thighs for the main character to hold. Drake was rich enough to rule the country sure but personality wise he acted more like cannonfodder than anything else. And Monroe, as handsome and competent as he was, could barely be considered a supporting male lead with only a few minutes of screen time. Li Guiren and Liao Zhiqiang... don't even talk about them, they were background characters barely related to the story, at most they may get an honorable mention in a flashback ah! None of them fit the male lead role at all!
The unfit to be male lead characters Drake, Monroe, Li Guiren and Liao Zhiqiang: '...' Baby is too cruel QAQ
"Then, could it be... a BUG?" Jia Hyson weakly suggests. He's read a few where the male lead's true identity was a virus sent to destroy the evil system that had caused so many people (main character included) to fall into a comatose state. Alternatively he was a big BUG that grew sentience after consuming x amount of worlds and fell in love with the main character for reasons.
'...Do you really think that our system world is so incompetent to let something that big go unnoticed?' Bebe asks coldly, clearly offended. Bugs happen all the time but something like a virus hijacking characters or destroying worlds would easily set off alarms. Even rogue systems will not take over people despite having inside knowledge, instead choosing to illegally bind themselves to others which is less detectable. 'We are not as stupid as the story systems ah, even calling us trash and spitting on us is less offensive.'
Jia Hyson: 'Wah, it seems I found a sore spot?' Bebe must never know that he secretly thinks the systems in the stories are infinitely smarter and more useful than Bebe is. No matter how silly some of them are, at least they never fucking sold their classic system skills for a goddamn laser.
Bebe pauses for a bit before admitting, 'However that shard... if it's the same one as the ones found in your safe space than it must contain some sort of amazing data. It's definitely a level higher than Bebe's.'
Jia Hyson's heart stutters, 'Are you saying it's a system?!' He shouts in his heart. Fuck to think he fucked an AI! That's definitely one thing off his bucket list ah.
Bebe: '...' Really want to smack Host ah. '...it shouldn't be? I've never heard of a system doing so and even if they did what would be the point?'
Jia Hyson tuts, 'Aiyah haven't you learnt anything from this world? Backstabbing ah, it must be a betrayal or something. Wrongly accused, it's data program was shattered and spread across the worlds-'
Bebe couldn't help but interrupt deadpan, 'You really don't know how data works do you?'
Jia Hyson: '...' He really doesn't. When it came to understanding computer electronic things he was a big spicy chicken. Secretly he still can't believe how one can just input numbers and letters to form a code program.
Bebe who can read his thoughts: '... are you not a modern man?'
Jia Hyson: '...Anything I didn't understand I pushed to my younger brother. When I got older and became an author all I needed to do was use Micros*ft word, browse the internet for online novels and act cute on social platforms.' Oh and dating apps.
If it had eyes it would stare disdainfully at its host. 'Pathetic.' Bebe spits.
Jia Hyson: '...' Unexpectedly can't rebut this, how frustrating.
'Anyway, whenever we catch a system charged with multiple crimes we would never scatter the data around,' Bebe huffs, 'isn't that asking to get slapped in the face? What if they come back for vengeance? No we analyze what went wrong with them than completely swipe any corrupted data clean from the system. If it's not a a problem with their code but with their personality than the whole system will be wiped and rewritten. The worst thing they can do is completely wipe them, give them a virus which will consume any possible backups they made and then completely delete their existence so there's not even an iota of a chance will they come back.'
Bebe didn't stop there, 'Besides, the only systems that rebel against our workings are usually normal systems or less commonly an overseer. Statistics show the higher up your class, the less likely anyone plans to overthrow or take over anything. Systems are generally built without too much ego and we are given a very lofty role of managing an infinite number of worlds. So the more important your role, the more work is to be done. Who's interested in world domination when even a basic system knows how to destroy one?'
Jia Hyson is silent for a moment. Then he sighs, 'Fine. I give up.' Even though he's imaginative, his curiosity was not too big. When faced with the mysteriousness of an unopened box he can easily repress the intrigue in his heart easily with apathy and ignore it until someone comes along to open it themselves. Even if the box is never opened there will only be a sliver of regret that would be forgotten in a few days time. 'We'll get the answer from the overseer after the world ends, it's not like I can do much with the information either way.'
Still, with the knowledge that Li Guiren had a strong chance of being related to Drake and that he had personally severed a possible connection with Monroe for him, Jia Hyson couldn't help but dote even more on the child. It was a strong mix of affection, dependence, guilt and possibly a sliver of resentment but even though objectively it was incredibly unhealthy, there wasn't much that could be done about it now.
The aftermath of the cultists caused quite a big panic in China. A lot of these people were famous and influential individuals after all or they had a relationship with someone famous and influential. The country went into quite a panic. Five days later, an anonymous tip by a young child revealed the location of these missing people.
There was only one survivor, a young socialite that was well known for playing around and had a recent scandal on bullying the younger and better looking people in her father's company. Reports say she was naked covered in cuts, blood and gore eating a young upcoming businessman's body while crying. After she came back from the hospital she ate every delicacy in the city before committing suicide.
The media talked about the mystery and the recordings left behind for ages.
Obviously, as a result, the demon house became a very infamous place as well as a popular haunted spot after that. At first the police resided in there to find some clues and then there was a period where no one would dare to go in but after a few weeks seeing young foolhardy idiots, adventurers and mystic wannabes would become rather common to see.
During this time all the ghosts living there were already stuffed with spiritual energy from eating up all the souls and newborn ghosts of the cultists so none of them had much interest in killing anyone else. The richness of yin energy in the house was very high and they needed time to accommodate and cultivate so apart for making some mischief everyone was mainly lazing about and bonding over their kills.
Li Du also unexpectedly was affected. Well maybe not unexpectedly but neither Li Guiren nor Jia Hyson considered his presence when discussing things. Li Du was constantly absent in the house could he blame them for keeping him absent from their mind as well?
Anyway, given that Li Guiren was the one that gave the call, he had become a small little celebrity. To try divert the scariness of the bloody massacre and the lack of progress they were making in finding the culprits responsible the police, government and media did their best to over glorify Li Guiren saying he was China's little hero that saved the last survivor from the house of death. Added with his cute face and wish to become a Police-Detective like Police-Detective Xi how could the public not eat him up?
As Li Guiren's father he had also gained some fame for himself and for his band which further solidified his decision to stay here and at the same time his decision to throw all he had into his dreams using this sudden pie from the sky to strike when the iron is hot. Things like child identity protection in these sort of media blowups are still a new concept so Li Guiren's name and photo were soon put into many papers.
Because Li Du never took even a single proper photo of his son given his lifestyle and economic background, and that Li Guiren had never stayed in school long enough for a photo they had to go take some to satisfy the press. This led to a whole new plot twist.
Bebe: 'Oh fuck.'
Jia Hyson, who was looking at his family's little dumpling all dressed up in the latest paper stops to mentally prod his system what was wrong.
Bebe doesn't speak. If Jia Hyson listened hard enough he swore he could hear Bebe whirring with how hard it was processing whatever new information it had. Recalling how Drake's secretly a rich prince trope worked so well thanks to his system's incompetence Jia Hyson immediately frowns and prods at Bebe with renewed urgency. 'What is it? I swear to god if this is-'
'Bebe... Bebe only has a level 1 Facial Recognition program,' Bebe meekly says. 'It can run the program once the character's visual information or photograph is 'uploaded' into the world. Generally this is not a problem unless we are placed in ancient times where there are only paintings. While not entirely accurate they can also serve as a reference for the character's appearance. Anyway Bebe wants to stress that level 1 means unless it's the main protagonist, the antagonist or the love interest Bebe will only recognize the relevant character when it's image is immortalized through visual technology. Bebe could slowly determine the demon house's identity because the police had taken photographs of it during the Xu Xia case.'
The lengthy excuse only makes him even more worried. 'Bebe just say it.'
'...Bebe doesn't want to.'
Jia Hyson wishes Bebe had a physical form like some other systems in stories just so he could look blankly at it. The feeling is just not the same if he glares at the bracelet which hold's Bebe. 'I'm sure Bebe doesn't want to die either but if this keeps up who knows what will happen ah?' He says with a fake upbeat attitude. Even if he didn't earn a new skill from it Jia Hyson had already half-way mastered the art of acting like a top tier horror movie villain.
In fact, to be brutally frank his previous life could also be described to be similar to a villains life. Good looks. A god given talent that helped him ascend into riches. An abnormal perverted personality with a secret penchant for violence. In short, if one looked at this angle, didn't Jia Hyson fit quite well with the eccentric millionaire type villain?
Unfortunately his kill count was low and very discreet so it didn't truly fit well enough to be considered horror movie worthy but it was still not bad for an action movie or a popular tv show. He could've been the popular type of character who is morally ambiguous and manages to just avoid being creepy due to his handsome face, the sort that seems messed up evil at first but after the protagonist clashes and coaxes him a few times he becomes unofficially part of the good team and many fans will ship him with either the protagonist or someone who is almost his opposite that he would often argue with.
Now that he's accepted the identity of malevolent spirit, it could be said that he's covered at least half the bases of typical villain identities. All Jia Hyson needs is to be a typical tyrannical demon lord, a mad scientist and the self-righteous broody emo one who is out for revenge on society who have wronged him or whatever.
Still the attitude he gave Bebe was truly quite frightening.
Bebe: '…wuwuwu Host is so mean and scary now! What to do?' It was already bad enough before but after wantonly killing so many people so freely Host's evil index has indeed leveled up!
Tentatively and hesitantly, in the annoying manner most characters in horror and thriller would do when spitting out a very important clue to the plot Bebe eventually spits it out, 'Its like this, see, well, Host won't believe it but, Bebe supposes the story world would do its best to keep Host somewhat in the loop but well... Li Guiren is, is, he's Tian Shun's father!'
Jia Hyson's first reaction was: 'OMG' Σ('◉⌓◉')
Then: '...Wait. Who?'
It turns out Tian Shun was, is, will be, one of the main characters in the original story. Not the protagonist mind you but the intelligent cool supporting male lead. Jia Hyson hasn't really thought about that shitty story for months but he vaguely recall this character was one of the more likable of the main cast and generally is the type of character popular with readers. Glancing through the information again Jia Hyson reconfirms this, Tian Shun is like the Sasuke to the protagonist's Naruto. Which is to say, better looking, smarter, aloof and naturally more skilled yet somehow is still outshined by the protagonist in the end.
Anyway the point is, Tian Shun is a very important character. He must be born. Which meant...
Jia Hyson casts a complicated gaze at Li Guiren who was quietly doing his language homework with a serious scrunched up expression. Aiyah suddenly out of nowhere he felt the feeling of his family's white cabbage being plucked by pigs despite the fact his cute cabbage is still just a seedling!
The fact that Li Guiren may be Drake from another lifetime or something also made Jia Hyson feel stifled. This wasn't any white cabbage this was a cabbage who may or may not have tied him up with ribbons from his birthday gifts and fucked him to the point of unconsciousness once in another world!
Bebe: '...' Literally could have said anything else. But no. He had to say that.
Still, Jia Hyson wasn't the type to be too obsessively clingy and his romantic side wasn't too large or he wouldn't have only fallen for Drake after two lifetimes of casual sex and half-hearted dating. His heart still aches for Drake it's true, even if it's muted by [Psychotic Break]'s emotional suppression effect the fact it's still present showed how much he cared. It would be an insult to his feelings for Drake if he forced himself to take Li Guiren in as a replacement. People with the same souls do not necessarily mean they are the same people.
Maybe if he kept raising the child up he might have felt something a little less platonic but the fact is, Li Guiren's age was a single digit number. Even though he's written and read more than a few underage sex scenes he's not actually a pedophillic criminal, if anything he rather be the younger shou himself ah! Seduce a daddy till he gets on his knees begging for even a kiss on the cheek with tears in his eyes from self-deprecating guilt for his sick and twisted fantasies!!
Bebe: '...What sort of weird ass reverse-shota porn did you read as a teenager?' (◞‸ლ) Most hosts hate being in a situation that requires sex to the point where they use up thousands of points to avoid the situation but this host not only encourages it, he even wants to act out the taboo plays! Worse, he wants to find a self-righteous gong to blacken and make him cry at his lost morals!
The point was, even though Jia Hyson felt a little heartbroken and illogically lost at the thought that one day Li Guiren would go find a woman and produce offspring, it was more like the feeling a mother has when the son leaves the nest than that of lost opportunities. But at the same time the feeling was muted by his special skills and an odd feeling of expectation and joy also smothered the pain in his chest. After all, Li Guiren is going to have kids and what parent hates getting grandchildren? And it's a main character kid too ah. That's like, the best type of kid your sperm can produce!
He can imagine talking to the ghost aunties hanging around the local cemetery. Oh, your grandson is a doctor? Well his is a main character! Fuck your doctor! And then he'll eat any of the ghosts that say his little boy's little boy isn't cute.
Oh god he's getting a little excited now. Even the small part of him that still retains a sliver of Bai Li Wei, which had gotten smaller now that most of his resentment was released, was very giddy influencing his opinion even further. For Bai Li Wei he always wanted to have a family. For Jia Hyson he had always thought he would at least adopt in his original world if he found nobody and had been more or less content with babysitting other people's kids and being the cool rich nice uncle in the second world. Even though he isn't sure if he would be enjoy being around a baby for too long he's sure that if it's Li Guiren's child he would be pretty tolerant.
Jia Hyson tries to smother down the expectations in his heart. They still had a long time ah, it wouldn't do to push the boy to early and give him some sort of shadow toward women or something. He's already fairly messed up thanks to his father. No, it's best if he focuses on teaching the boy proper values toward women and raising him up to do well in society while working on the demon house. The author god is strong, even if things change there will always be important key elements that should be the same anyway. Just focus on the things that should be improved and leave the stuff that shouldn't and he'll be fine.
Despite assuring himself he won't broach too hard on the subject he still looks at Li Guiren's small figure with expectant eyes. In the back of his mind he was already wondering if he could turn his future grandson Tian Shun into the protagonist character instead. Provided Jia Hyson liked him enough anyway.
Li Guiren: '...Why do I suddenly feel a chill?'