There are many kinds of dogs in the world.
Single dogs.
Taken dogs.
Lovey-dovey dogs.
Losing dogs.
In this case, Ru Yijing was a very love-sick dog. His owner was someone who was not interested in a pet. A rather lackluster man whose primate goal was his own self-enjoyment. There was nothing wrong with indulging oneself, but overindulgence in your own could only be regarded as a problem if it started to put others at stake too.
Do not mistake it. Ru Yijing was actually a full-fledged human, not a hybrid crossbreed between the human species and dogs. He was called 'dog' for a specific reason — like how dogs are purely devoted to their masters, with a one-track mind that only stayed dedicated to one person and one person alone, Ru Yijing was the same. His leash belonged to someone with an immovable heart. No matter how much Ru Yijing tried to carry favour through acting cute, or providing acts of services, in the end, it only served to as a convenience to his master, but never rewarded himself.
To others, living a life solely for one person would be too grave of a responsibility, but Ru Yijing was a top contestant, ready to pluck the stars and the moon to satiate his little lover. But, his little lover was cut-throat to the extreme, bearing resilience similar to a boulder.
Others looked down upon on Ru Yijing's devotion, due to their preceding concepts that a conceptual existence like 'love' was no better than a materialized hand-bag. Regardless, Ru Yijing was astute, and continued to disembark on the journey of a faithful dog.
He probably would've continued living as so, if it weren't for an abrupt interference, one that ended his life prematurely.
Ru Yijing saw that a car was heading straight for his little lover, who was more engrossed in his mobile phone, than the incoming horde of vehicles. In a desperate attempt, Ru Yijing lurched forward, grabbing his lover's arm backward and thrusted himself forward, substituting his favourable position and exchanging fates. It then became Ru Yijing's fate to die in the stead of his beloved.
As he laid on the ground, afterimages of bystanders that came to swarm him, flickering like the dying fire of an incense, he did not see his beloved in his vision that was coated by a thick sheen of blood. Even on his last breath, Ru Yijing wondered: Could this possibly move his beloved's heart? Then, he ended up laughing bitterly. What use was it if it showed his sincerity? He was dead, or at least that was what he thought before his eyes came to a still shut.
His ears picked up on the faint rustles of clothes, and indiscernible chatter. Far away from his hearing, a bird's crisp, but melodious chirp resounded, seemingly far away, but simultaneously right beside him. Ru Yijing tried to open his eyes, to attempt to make sense of what was going on, but no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to lift his eyelids for the time being. It was as though he had rocks for eyes instead; a bleak darkness that he was unfamiliar with.
Discomforted, Ru Yijing tried once more to open his eyes. This time, it actually worked.
Dark lashes twitched with a hint of annoyance. This pair of lashes were long, only slightly curved at the end naturally. Beneath those black lashes revealed a set of almond-shaped eyes. Coloured like a splash of dark brown, his irises were a lighter shade than the rest of his pupils, which resembled cut oak. A murky tint that hid his innermost thoughts. When others looked into this eyes, they would be comforted by its earthly nature, yet feel distant, like watching a scenic landscape from afar. Beautiful, but detached.
Ru Yijing at first saw a white ceiling, noticeably clean, even seemingly shedding a lustrous gleam, showcasing how meticulously it must've been cleaned over and over again to emit this kind of shine. His eyes glossed over, thinking that the with the appearance of a ceiling in muted colour, he must've found himself at a hospital after the car incident. That must explain why his limbs felt so heavy. They felt as though they had been weighed down by a ball-and-chain, causing Ru Yijing to experimentally flex his fingers to test whether he had became permanently paralyzed.
To his relief, his fingers could at least perform the little activity of twitching into motion, but what did not change was the immediate discomfort that coursed through his body.
Before he could fully examine his own surroundings, a knock echoed from his left. He slowly craned his head over to the direction of the soft noise, only to find that.. he was probably not at a hospital.
It did not look like a hospital at all. Usually, hospitals were all about professionalism and cleanliness, which was why they were incessant on adopting a very monotonous colour palette of primarily using white, which was used to instil a sense of freshness. Where he found himself was the exact opposite. He seemed to be in more of a room, lived-in, judging from the way it was sufficiently cleaned. Books were tidied in a straight line along a bookshelf that had its back against the wall on the same height as a grown man.
There was a table with only two chairs, indicating that whoever set this up, probably only intended it for his personal usage, unwilling to let others set foot into his space.
There was only one window, which was on the right wall of the room, currently opened, letting a gust of fresh breeze roll in. Sunlight filtered in through the opening, landing on the wooden floorboards in sparse, interrupted stripes due to the obstruction of tree branches.
Ru Yijing looked down at himself. The mattress that he laid on was not that soft, a bit hard and uncomfortable to the touch. Only a thin sheet of blanket covered his body from the waist down. His arms were laid on either sides of his torso. Ru Yijing was quiet at first.
Didn't this look like he had just died?
Before he could ponder on his whereabouts after death, the knock on the door sounded, this time with more vigour behind it, expressing the person's growing impatience. As though realizing the ferocity of the knocks had increased, the person must've been a little flustered, for their knocks were cut shortly, only to sound more considerably softer in the next second.
"Shixiong, are you feeling alright?"
Shixiong? Ru Yijing's eyes flashed. Since when did modern people start using that archaic term that belonged to the early Chinese centuries? If this was a prank, then they've successfully disoriented Ru Yijing. But, it would only appear more abnormal if Ru Yijing didn't respond, so he opened his cracked lips, slicking his bottom lip with his saliva and replied hoarsely.
"What is it?" A raspy voice that was still twinged with sleepiness. As soon as the voice came out, Ru Yijing was on high-alert. After living for over twenty years in his body, how couldn't he recognize himself? But, the voice that just was produced was certainly not his voice!
Ru Yijing's own personal voice seemed to be rotund in tone, like a person who spoke with their mouth full, a loud and clear voice. Some people would say he was suited to be a news anchor that could prattle on about the weather. Drawn with a magnetic drawn, it could catch anyone's attention with the first syllable. However.. now, the voice coming from him was not that clear. It was a little hoarse but pleasant to listen to, like gold and jade clinking against each other, overwhelmingly filled with a sense of amicability. Whoever listened to this voice would feel happy.
The main point Ru Yijing realized was — this was not his body. He seemed to have.. possessed someone after death. Although his mind was in a turmoil from the overload of questions, the voice beyond the door was unaware, blissfully calling out to him.
"Shixiong, you've been very quiet, so I was sent to check up on you. Please tell me if you're feeling any better. Breakfast is being served right now, so would you like to eat it together with me?" A youthful voice with clear connotation. No one would be able to refuse that voice.
But, Ru Yijing knew he could not reveal his weakness — that he was not in fact, this 'shixiong' that the voice affectionately labeled him as — alas, he had no choice but to flatly turn them down.
"No," he said. Worried whether he might've have offended the other party, he quickly added in an audible cough, and purposefully made himself sound more hoarse, like a patient suffering from a cold. "I'm feeling very light-headed right now, so please do not take this into offence if I have turn down your offer."
"I see..." The youthful voice was noticeably despondent, but soon picked up an upbeat tune in a matter of seconds. "Very well, I'll leave you be, please recuperate well, shixiong."
Without much hurry, the other party must've returned. Ru Yijing released a breath of relief, seeing that the person did not catch onto his abnormality. Now, circling back to the problem at hand... no matter how much he wracked his brain, he only arrived at one cliche assumption.
"I've transmigrated." This strange, but friendly voice proclaimed. Saying it out loud made the revelation more anti-climatic than expected. There were no people bursting out of the closet with party poppers, cone-shaped celebratory hats, and a banner that read 'it was all a prank!' meaning that Ru Yijing was indeed entrapped in a world far beyond his comprehension. The fact that he was in total solitude, separated from the world he once knew, left Ru Yijing feeling a little.. desolate.
The loneliness permeated like an elephant in the room. The sound of nature; the tranquil chirps of the songbirds; the infrequent tapping of the wind against the window; all those noises were familiar, yet deeply embedded in his heart, Ru Yijing knew one standalone truth: he had was alone.
He had read a handful of transmigration stories in the past, one novel he particularly liked, but those were of fictional origins. There was no believable way that a person could lose their life, then find out that they had been inhabiting the body of a book character. Completely impossible, yet that once in a million opportunity had landed in the lap of an unwilling participant.
But, one factor that set his situation apart from those usual transmigration stories was that he did not seem to have a mechanic ruler called a 'system' narrating inside of his head.
[ Ding! System has come online. ]
Fuck. Maybe this really was a cliche I've - transmigrated - into - a - cultivation - story.
'Can you hear me?' Ru Yijing tried his hand at communicating with this alien machine that lingered in the depths of his consciousness.
[ Yes. ] The mechanical voice replied coolly, much unlike the eager and naive systems he had known about.
Initially, Ru Yijing was quite nervous, considering this was a being that was imbued inside of his head, acting as the judge of his actions. In most stories, systems acted as 'golden fingers,' or what you would call an OP perk. An overpowered tool, being able to materialize things out of the air, or perhaps, momentarily give their hosts pieces of information that would lead to the success of the mission. Even if they were useless, at least they were cute enough for the additional moral support. This made Ru Yijing wonder if his system would be anything like the listed sort.
'Uh...' Ru Yijing did not know how to kickstart the conversation. Should he list how he died? How did people really communicate with their systems? Whilst he was storming for conversation starters, the system was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.
[ My name is System 0900. I am the one in charge of your mission. Host is very adept at adjusting to his surroundings. I am quite pleased to see that Host has not lost his wits immediately. ]
The robotic voice commended his feats, causing Ru Yijing a bit of fluster. The way it complimented him so seriously gave Ru Yijing an image that the system was his stoic-faced superior—in this case, he actually might be.
'Thank you.. I guess.' Ru Yijing responded awkwardly. System 0900 did not seem bothered by the rigidity of their introductions, and directly went straight to the point without waste.
[ I am plenty sure you're confused about your situation. Allow me to coin it in simple terms for your comprehension. Host died in a car accident, and miraculously, your soul has been captured into a program. Though I do not know how this kind of program began, rest assured, if you complete your mission without a hitch, we will be able to revive your human body. Will you consent? ]
Ru Yijing wondered.. what choice did he truly have? They had already suspended him in a foreign body, and only now chose to ask his permission. If he had said no, they would've just thrown his soul out like a plastic bag, then he might truly die.
'I...' Ru Yijing did not know what to say at first.
Back in the previous world, there was no one that Ru Yijing could've said he confidently confided in. It was not as though he were at a lack of people. In fact, he was always surrounded by people. But none of those he knew, he could've honestly wished to returning, except for his beloved, though even he recognized they might've been better off with his death. If they too had hated him, then.. what worth was he in that place?
'I'm not sure if I even want to return in the first place..'
The system was unfazed as it calmly repeated.
[ You're not sure that you want to live? ]
When Ru Yijing delved into silence, the system too, went quiet. Then, after a few seconds of that prolonged period, system 0900 finally spoke up once more.
[ In my short career as a system, I had once encountered a host that was also unwilling to live. He was certain there was no point in living anymore. Of course, he refused and naturally died. I saw in him a hopelessness uncharacteristic of a normal human. That person had truly wanted to die, but I don't see that kind of forlornness in you. So, even if it's just for a little while, will you still live? There always lies a hope in tomorrow, a newfound purpose, that might make you want to live again. ]
Ru Yijing was admittedly a little moved by the system's words. Albeit its voice was what you'd expect from an emotionless robot meant only to assist, its speech was unexpectedly hearty and sentimental. Seeing that his system seemed to be rational, Ru Yijing was half-heartedly convinced.
'Alright. I will do it.'
[ Great. ]
And then their harmonious cohabitation inside Ru Yijing's head began just like that.
'By the way, since I did transmigrate after all, did I transmigrate into a novel?' Ru Yijing inquired with a dash of enthusiasm. Having read a few transmigration stories, he came to find one eerie similarity was that the novels that the protagonists transmigrated to always seemed to be one they knew best, making it easier for them to manoeuvre and con the world's characters.
As expected, he was not let down!
[ Yes, you've transmigrated into the story of 'The Male Leads want to push me down everyday.' ]
Ru Yijing: ... Very disturbed.
This story with the raunchy title 'The Male Leads want to push me down everyday' was a novel that Ru Yijing knew very well. It was also quite well-known in its genre, most notable for the excellent array of different love interests provided for the protagonist shou. Each and every of the gongs were superiors in their own fields — some immortal masters, others devilish rulers. There were both androgynous beauties to manly hunks. Both righteous and wicked fought against each other like stray dogs in a barnyard for the affectations of the protagonist shou who remained clueless until the very end, which made it a suitable platform for many misunderstandings!
What kind of novel was it then?
It was dog-blood. Dog-blood to the extreme. So much so that all dogs in the world would spit blood on it, including Ru Yijing, the self-proclaimed love-sick dog.
If it was just a mass produced piece of crap that followed the same formula over and over again, why was it so popular that it ended up catching his interest? There were a myriad of reasons that fans could supply, but as for Ru Yijing, there was only one.
A character by the name of An Shirong piqued his interest. An Shirong was one of the male leads out of the protagonist shou's harem. More precisely, he was the third male lead, because he was the third gong to be introduced. A clear, self-explanatory label. There were many CP pairings that were formed from the book alone. The most popular one he knew of was the CP of the protagonist and the demonic cultivators' ruler. Many fans quite admired his straightforward and flirtatious personality of farming cutesy points and calling the shou 'wife' in a nasal voice.
An Shirong was one of the underdogs of the CPs. The reason why he wasn't so popular was mainly because of his lack of presence. Throughout the entirety of the novel that was tantamount to over 100k words, he only appeared for a few handful times, only when the protagonist found himself in dire straits, An Shirong would come down saving him on a flying sword. Needless to say, even with his sporadic appearances, he had garnered a certain type of fan base that much preferred righteous and restrained 'gongs.'
The reason why Ru Yijing liked An Shirong was because.. the other reminded him of himself.
A person, who in his selfless pursuit of devotion, only ended up losing himself in the midst, becoming a shallow husk of a man, and never ended up winning the affectations of the shou.
An Shirong's ending was the most miserable out of all the extra gongs. The last passage of An Shirong depicted the character stranded in solitude of his own floating base, far beyond the reach of anyone. Just as he was a celestial being, no one would be bothered for the state of this powerful entity.
An Shirong's life was filled with regulations, suppression of his own desires, and through his fidelity to his duties, had reached the pinnacle of a life form. As successful as he was, in the pursuit of Dao, An Shirong had came to a realization how bleak and lonely this life of his was. The protagonist shou was like a beam of light that collapsed into his eternally gray surroundings, but the sun would always have a cue to leave, caring less about the incentive of those it blessed.
But, An Shirong was unlike the other gongs, whose first thought after a heartbreak would be to imprison the protagonist shou. He never once stepped over lines, keeping a respectful distance. Even after he confessed to the protagonist shou, and was decisively turned down, he only expressed his grievance in a silent, but still, extremely repressed way.
In the end, An Shirong was held captive in his own position, right back where it all began — that floating island, where no other presences except his own existed.
Thinking of An Shirong's doleful ending, Ru Yijing was still filled with a sense of sadness. He saw himself in An Shirong in many manifestations; like how the man never possessed the heart of the protagonist shou, even after sacrificing much on his heart. Of course, one's self sacrifices on their own part did not mean one was entitled to another person's affections, but it would still be a little saddening to come to a belated realization that that person would never look your way, regardless of what you had done for them.
Ru Yijing ended up dying for his cherished one, but he knew in that lifetime, he would never capture their heart, just as An Shirong realized he would never become the one inside of the protagonist shou's heart. An Shirong had let him go, because forcefully seizing a body was not equivalent to permeating into the inner depths of the protagonist shou's consciousness.
'An Shirong..'
Enough reminiscence. Ru Yijing still had a mission to accomplish.. only he still hadn't a clue what kind of task would be entailed upon him.
'System, what is this mission that you speak of?'
[ I am glad you've found the heart to ask. The mission that's been assigned to you is 'Make An Shirong find his own happy ending.' ]
Ru Yijing was visibly surprised. In most transmigration stories he read, it was all about perishing the villainous character, or helping the protagonist rise to the top. Why was his mission to help An Shirong achieve a happy ending?
The system could sense Ru Yijing's surprise, but even it could not fathom why this specific mission was displaced.
[ I don't know why this mission was given, but will host accept accomplishing it? ]
'Of course.' Ru Yijing agreed in a heartbeat. No matter how silly the mission sounded in hindsight, Ru Yijing was more than glad to lend a helping part in preventing his favourite character traversing down his original route of solitude and desolation.
[ Then, it's been settled. Operation 'Make An Shirong find his own happy ending' shall commence. ]