Ye Delun slowly walked down the empty corridor. The wall's intricate design seemed to dance along with his movement. The swirls whirled and spun, almost as if they were alive. The fire in the lanterns blew like wild grass in the wind, even though the air in the whole house was still.
This was very entertaining to Ye Delun, a lot more interesting than the boring people in this house.
He thought to the Xue Peng from before, the way he pointed at him and called him weird. He didn't care, it was a natural thought to have. He didn't care.
Ye Delun didn't care for a lot of things. In his mind, there were different kinds of people out there to care about different kinds of things. People to care for animals. People to care about health. People to care about the environment. And people to care about history. Things like that.
But when it came to him, Ye Delun cared about himself.
He didn't exactly think of it as selfishness, nor was it pride. It was just that, just like those people had something to care about, he also did. It just happened to be himself.
Ye Delun was the kind of person who did what he wanted, a 'passion' follower. If there was something he wanted, then he would work to get it.
And there's been something he has wanted for so long. And that want being, some excitement in his life.
It's not like he hated his life, no. He loved living. Living was what gave him the chance to feel the thrill of life. Without it, the only thing left would be death.
He's always thought that death was too calming.
A sound reverberated throughout the house. It was low and deep, sounding close to a hollow bell.
[The clock has hit two in the morning! The first 'killing' shall commence!]
Ye Delun felt the sound in his feet. The vibration traveled into his toes and up through his ankles. He shook his feet thinking that it's too ticklish. He walked a little faster to his room.
'That Gao guy said that I should have been in bed by two.' He thought.
The ground beneath him seemed to breathe with each step, rising up and down with his shoes. He turned the corner to meet in the same hallway end he was at a couple of hours ago. He stood in front of his door and looked back at where he came from. Just like he thought, the corridor had straightened itself out again. The twists and turns were gone and the long lining of doors was back.
'I wonder if everyone else was able to figure it back to their rooms.' A passive thought quickly passed through his mind.
His eyelashes lowered slightly and he twisted the door handle.
He stepped through the entrance and closed the door behind him. A familiar silhouette stood in his room. He recognized it as Host, who was admiring the portrait painting of Ye Delun on the wall. "What took you so long to get back?" He asked. His head turned to look at Ye Delun. His iconic insincere smirk on his face was missing and replaced with a soft smile.
"I got distracted." Ye Delun replyed. He stared at the rare expression on the man's face. He used his long legs to stride closer to Ye Delun and stand in front of him. From this distance, Ye Delun could see the same intricate designs that were on the wallpaper on the mask covering his face.
"That sounds like something you would do." He raised his hand to move back a stray hair on Ye Deluns head. Ye Delun slightly raised his eyebrow in confusion. Host put a hand on his back and led him towards the bed. He softly pushed onto his shoulders and made him sit down.
He kneeled in front of him and took his hand, "Now, as my master, it is time for you to tell me who should be the first victim."
A panel appeared in front of him.
[Choice! Choice!]
[Pick which character to 'kill'!]
[Xue Peng; favorability -20]
[Duan Li; favorability -10
[Li Yusheng; favorability 0]
{-Characters are chosen by the last three on 'Yang Lan's' favorability scale-]
Looking at the screen, Ye Delun faltered slightly.
'What does it mean by killing them?'
[Characters are currently strings of data, there is technically no death!]
[Safety protocol is put in place to save any soul attached to a character in danger!]
"Alright," He said. He didn't care about any of these characters, so killing them wouldn't harm him mentally. But his mother would cry if she heard that he had taken a life, he wouldn't want to make her cry. But if they weren't real, then they didn't count.
"Then kill Xue Peng."
A sinister smile widened across his face, evil and dangerous. He brought Ye Delun's hand close to his mouth and gave it a small kiss. "I shall do whatever Master bids of me." Even with the mask on, Ye Delun could tell the man was looking at his face through the black material covering his eyes. He could feel a strange sense of joy coming from the man's stature, strong enough that even Ye Delun could feel it.
A familiar panel showed up and took up part of his vision.
[Zao Xing
Traits: Dangerous, Unsympathetic, Adherent
"I'll follow you forever, no matter what happens to the both of us. Because I have to, no matter what."
Zao Xing is too loyal for his own good. But not towards just anyone, but only towards the one person he loves. He has a past that he'll never forget and a problem he can't get past. His natural behavior became menacing because of the time alone and his sadistic nature is a hard thing to hold. But only towards that one person, he will never be willing to hurt. Will the two of you be able to make it past that problem and escape this world together?]
[You've found a hidden capture target! Congratulations Ye Delun!]
His eyes widened slightly. 'The masked guy was also a capture target?' Suddenly, the system bombarded him with more messages.
[+10]
[+10]
[+10]
[+10]
His sight filled with '+10's, making it hard to see.
"..." 'This guy must really love his 'master'' He thought. The system put up another panel.
[Your favorability with the character 'Zao Xing' has skyrocketed!!]
[Congragulations! Your favorability with the character 'Zao Xing' has reached the highest it can get!]
[The character 'Zao Xing' is in love with you!]
[Congratulations for capturing his heart!]
"..." The screens dissipated and Ye Delun was met with Host's face smiling at him. He could swear that he could see some blush coming from the tips of the man's ears.
'...eh?'
Zao Xing raised his hand and placed it over Ye Delun's eyes. "Since I have been given an order, I will complete it with zest. But now is the time for you to sleep." Suddenly, he felt his body go limp and his mind lose consciousness. In Zao Xing's arms, Ye Delun saw one more message from the system.
[You've completed chapter one! Sending, Ye Delun, to HQ!]