"Sir, system is malfunctioning!"
"The bait is going off-script! The hook is only 40% in!"
"That's not good enough! Disengage the bait! We need a system restart!"
"How will we do that, sir?"
The big boss pushed up his glasses. "Let me take over the system."
-----------------
Hu Chuntian felt that something shattered inside him when Mo Aini said those words.
Did he know? Did he know all along? Did he know even before he realized it....
Mo Aini left him in that bench by the cherry blossom tree, not even looking back once.
Hu Chuntian gave a bitter laugh. "Did I just got rejected even before I confessed? Me?"
His bitter laugh turned into a small sob. He tried to suppress it, but it kept falling. His whole body shook trying to bottle it up, but it end up exploding.
Hu Chuntian genuinely cried for the longest time in his life, alone.
"How dare he!? He made me fall for him! He tricked me into it! I am the great Tiger Emperor of Nushen High! How can someone like me fall for that.... That....." Hu Chuntian could not even find it to himself to insult Mo Aini. He had fallen hard.
And Mo Aini did not break his fall. He let him crash into the ground.
"I thought he also enjoyed our times together.... That he was just afraid like me....." Hu Chuntian roughly wiped his tears away, gritting his teeth. "Mo Aini, how could you expect me not to hope for you to love me back!? That's too cruel. I was ready to change everything for you! Just say the word and I'll be a good person deserving of your love!"
He curled up and said and soft voice: "Mo Aini.... Don't you even love me for just a tiny bit? Don't I have any space in your heart?"
---------------
Mo Aini ran back to his dorm, heart pounding.
"System, what should I do!? You didn't tell me a Love Interest could fall in love with me for real!!!"
[That's because they are not just character art with dialogue or programmed AI characters of an otome game.]
The system revealed something that Mo Aini had never expected:
[This is not a game. This is an alternate reality that is connected through your sister's playthrough.]
Mo Aini's eyes widened, unable to believe it.
"So they're basically the same as real people!? Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" Mo Aini complained to the holographic screen.
[It does not bring advantage to the user's main objective of playing Cupid.]
"Then how come they all helplessly fell in love with Mo Jiagei!?"
[Shuaige can manipulate the 'stats' of this alternate world's entities to get the outcome that we want. We can raise their 'Affection for Mo Jiagei' stat, but that stat must already exist before we can change it. You helped us successfully make that stat come into existence. That is the main purpose of Cupids.]
Mo Aini realized in horror what the system meant. Gou Manchu wouldn't have noticed Mo Jiagei if they didn't stop to look at her before going to class. Shu Chuanli would not know that there was a new student who looked like his favorite anime character if Mo Aini did not show the picture. Same goes for She Haoran.
"But what about Ma Jianyu and Hu Chuntian?"
[Is it so impossible for young, foolish men to like someone base from attractiveness? It's not 'love' yet, but teenagers easily get infatuated all the time. We just up that infatuation by a few notches to become love.]
"Then...." Mo Aini was still dumbstruck by all of this. "How can I make sure that Hu Chuntian's level of affection for me was not manipulated?"
[It would not benefit Shuaige in any way if we change it, so why should we? His feelings for you were not heightened nor lowered. ]
How much love does Hu Chuntian have for him? He didn't even let him confess, so he couldn't tell for sure.
There's so many questions running in Mo Aini's head right now. He started with the most important ones. "What will happen when you reach 'endings' if it's not really an otome game? How will the game 'restart'?"
[You will be sent to a parallel universe similar to this, where Mo Jiagei had just entered school and you haven't intervened yet. Unless you use the Cheat pass, which, as we said, would make it glitch so that Mo Jiagei would 'pick Shu Chuanli's route'. With the Cheat Pass, you'll be directed to the beginning of their 'route', not the prologue, meaning it's no longer the first day of school when you get there.]
"A parallel universe? Is it a world 100% identical to this?" Mo Aini asked.
[ The parallel universes for each 'route' will have the same people and construct of this world, 1.0. They are like clones of each other. But the version of a character in the other universes may have different stats from the first one depending on your interaction with them.]
"Then the Hu Chuntian there is not the same as the Hu Chuntian here because they have different stats?"
[It depends on your perspective. There are many variables that make up a person, the only thing each version share is their identity. So it is up to you to answer that question. Hu Chuntian 1.0 and Hu Chuntian 2.0 share the same identity, but would you still consider them the same person? Can clones be considered one and the same? Even Shuaige doesn't know the answer to this.]
"Fuck this!" Mo Aini cursed, walking back and forth on the room. His brain is processing all these information at once, thinking of all the possibilities. "You guys fooled me!!!"
He yelled at the screen: "This is all messed-up! No wonder Shuaige could develop otome games so fast. So you just make your players interact with guys from an alternate reality and call it an otome game? I did not sign to be your inside helper in alternate worlds that you use for entertainment!"
[They are not real in our reality. Therefore, they are still considered 'fictional'. Why are you so affected by Hu Chuntian falling in love with you? Didn't you despise his character?]
"It's not that! The fact is that this is so unethical, if people knew about this—"
[What? What will you tell them? Who would believe you, an unemployed alcoholic who desperately signed a contract in park bench from a stranger?]
The robotic voice of the system was cold and apathetic, but it somehow sounded mocking and sinister.
Mo Aini gritted his teeth. "I refuse to continue this bullshit!"
[You have no choice. Do you think we will let go of you easily? You are an entity of the system now, the bridge we have between the our world and this alternate universe, meaning we have full control of you stats. That's why we can easily kill you.]
"Go ahead then!" Mo Aini slammed his fist on his chest. "You're not going to return me to my world anyway, you evil system! Might as well just kill me!"
[Though we could, we wouldn't do that. All the Cupids are valuable assets to our company. We will not discard you. Please cooperate.]
"How about you all go fuck yourselves and rot in hell!?"
[So you would remain stubborn. That is alright. We have other ways to convince you to be compliant.]
"What ways—" Mo Aini felt his hand move without trying to do so, like he was possessed!
His feet also moved on it's own, walking to the kitchen. He wanted to grab his possessed right hand but his other one remained limp to the side. His right hand rummaged through the drawers, and raised.....
A sharp, long knife!
"What are you doing to me!?" Mo Aini screamed at the holographic screen.
[Now that you learned Hu Chuntian is his own person and not as fictional as you thought, did you not despise him anymore? Will you be willing to accept his feelings now?]
"What does Hu Chuntian have to do with this!? This is between you and me, stop controlling me!"
[ Your affection for Hu Chuntian is only 40℅. That means you don't really love him or care about him. You regard him as an acquaintance, or a casual friend at most. So..... you wouldn't be devastated if something happens to Hu Chuntian at all, right?]
"Don't you dare think of doing something to Hu Chuntian! I'm telling you to stop it!" Mo Aini shouted, but the system kept controlling his body like a puppeteer.
Mo Aini's hand tucked the knife on his hoodie pocket. His feet were walking on their own, leaving the dorm room and going down the stairs. Sweat poured on Mo Aini's head. He tried so hard to gain back control of his body, but he can't.
He realized that he was going back to the bench near the cherry blossom tree.
Hu Chuntian had just finished crying, his head buried with his hands. He looked up, and his mouth gaped open when he saw that Mo Aini was back.
"Why did you come back?" Hu Chuntian sniffed, and tried to hide any signs that he were crying. But his face was pitifully red, and his eyes were puffy.
"Don't you dare do it! I'm begging you, spare Hu Chuntian!" Mo Aini said to the empty air, his whole body shaking.
Hu Chuntian knows something was wrong, but didn't know what. He worriedly approached the terrified Mo Aini. "Are you alright? What's wrong—"
"No!"
Hu Chuntian reached out for his shoulders, and Mo Aini's hand swung the knife at him!
"Urk!" A large gash came at Hu Chuntian's chest. The blood soaked through his ripped shirt, splattering to the grassy field. He fell backwards from the impact.
"Hu Chuntian!" Mo Aini wanted to catch him, but instead his hand continued slashing forward. This time he wounded Hu Chuntian's knee, then his arm, and even the side of his gut.
"Mo Aini.... Why are you doing this?" Hu Chuntian's watery eyes stared at him, but he did not even defend himself from Mo Aini. "Do you hate me that much? Enough for you to kill me?"
"No, it's not me! It's not me! Hu Chuntian, defend yourself! You're stronger than me, why aren't you fighting me off!?" Mo Aini did all he can to stop himself from slashing forward, but the system's control was too strong.
"If it's not you.... Is it the one who brought you here? Are you being controlled?" Hu Chuntian finally grabbed his wrist, but yowled in pain. "AHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"What are you doing to him!?" Mo Aini screamed at the system.
[Increasing his Pain stat and decreasing his Health. Make a choice, Mo Aini.
> Remain stubborn and kill Hu Chuntian with your own hands
> Or surrender to us, and be a good Cupid to spare his life]
The system used Mo Aini's hand to aim the knife at Hu Chuntian's heart. As it were about to plunge, Mo Aini yelled.
"Don't kill him! I'll do anything you ask from now on!"
------------------------------------------
Read The Mafia Boys' Contract Marriage which is joining WPC right now XD
I know it's shameless of me to advertise like this but I'm desperate :)))) Plus it'll be a pretty fun book, I guarantee you.
If you're a fan of mafia, criminal investigations and detective stories, please check it out and support it.
PS: It will also be a whole lot more spicier than any of my books so far cough cough How much spice? You'll see.