Chapter 11
Chapter 11
The two of them eventually called a truce.
After all, asking Ning Shuo to defeat his past self at the peak of his martial prowess was a tall order.
Winning a battle of wits was one thing, but a physical fight was another matter entirely.
Ning Shuo said, “How about this? We won’t use force. Let’s just have a heart-to-heart, okay?”
Ning Wang replied, “Fine.”
Ning Shuo countered, “You’re lying. When I lie, I have that exact same look on my face.”
Ning Wang: “…”
Ning Wang finally remembered that he had once specifically practiced his ‘perfect’ lying face in front of a mirror. Realizing he couldn’t outmaneuver his own mind, he gave up. “Fine. One question, one answer. But let me get up before you start asking, alright?”
They finally reached a consensus. Ning Shuo knew he was naturally suspicious, so only after confirming their mutual sincerity did he pull Ning Wang up.
Ning Shuo asked, “Are you a Player?”
Ning Wang scoffed, “I’m standing right here, aren’t I? Is that even a question? Did you get hit so hard you’ve gone stupid?”
Ning Shuo said calmly, “You should understand what I mean. I’m asking if you were a Player before you were trapped in that world.”
Ning Shuo was well aware that he had lost his memory. He had been nineteen when he attempted to assassinate the Emperor; the next moment, he had opened his eyes in the modern world with a much more mature appearance and a body that had inexplicably deteriorated. However, being an amnesiac didn’t make him a fool.
Although his original world had been a Script, the world had functioned normally. It was nothing like the situation Ning Wang had described, where “the whole world went crazy overnight.”
Back then, Ning Wang had simply been trying to fool a stranger who happened to look exactly like him.
The title “Number One Swordsman in the World” had been chosen by the Ning Shuo who first entered the Script-which was to say, the previous Ning Shuo.
Seeing he couldn’t hide it anymore, Ning Wang admitted frankly, “Yeah.”
Ning Shuo immediately grabbed him by the neck, but before he could speak, Ning Wang anticipated his question. “I don’t have many memories left. Aside from things related to this System, there are only a few scattered fragments. I guess the System didn’t do a very good job of brainwashing us when it sent us away. There aren’t any useful items in my Backpack either-just two needles, a bolt of cloth, and a bottle of wine I’m not sure is even drinkable.”
Ning Shuo said, “While those were all things I wanted to ask, my main question is: how much money do you have left?”
Ning Wang checked. “A few million, I think.”
Ning Wang added, “It’s not much, right? I saw that the top people on the Ranking List have hundreds of millions.”
He was clearly humble-bragging while mocking Ning Shuo’s current lack of funds. Ning Shuo remained expressionless. “Yeah, it’s real little. So little I could just die.”
Ning Wang: “…”
On the way there, Ning Shuo had talked to Li Ziqian about whether it was possible to leave. Li Ziqian had said that once a Player’s Points were high enough, the Main System would grant their wish.
Although no one had ever seen it happen, it was a common consensus-a kind of hope people clung to.
Ning Shuo pointed at the Ranking List and asked if several hundred million wasn’t enough.
Li Ziqian replied, “It’s not. If it were, the top people on the Ranking List would have left already.”
It was hard to say for sure.
Ning Shuo had discovered three Hidden Rules at once and completed his mission in a bizarrely efficient manner, yet between the Script rewards and tips, he had earned less than fifty thousand.
To reach hundreds of millions, one would have to clear an almost countless number of Scripts.
Furthermore, there were already six Players on the Ranking List whose Heat had reached the “hundreds of millions” unit.
For people who had survived countless Scripts and gained so much experience that they could easily navigate the System, was it that they couldn’t leave, or that they didn’t want to?
And why had Ning Wang been trapped in that Script by the System in the first place?
Then there was that Additional Rule-
[The use of lethal weapons is prohibited, especially swords.]
In a world where most people were modern and had no idea how to use a sword, Ning Shuo-who was incredibly vain and confident about every single strand of his own hair-was absolutely certain: this rule was aimed at him.
Or rather, it was aimed at his past self.
His memories, which had been wiped by the System, surely contained the truth of how his body had ended up like this-and why, despite his own poor health, Ning Wang’s body still looked like it was in peak condition.
One moment Ning Shuo had been about to commit an assassination in the Script world, and the next, he had woken up in the modern world, sickly and weak, possessing a mysterious and temperamental Word Spirit ability.
This unreliability manifested in a specific way: the good predictions never came true, but the bad ones always did.
Looking at it this way, he must have entered the System first before going to the modern world.
Ning Wang was in excellent health, and he possessed more memories related to the System than Ning Shuo did.
Between Ning Wang being trapped in the Script and Ning Shuo being sent out of the System, the former must have happened first. Otherwise, Ning Shuo would have surely found the answer in his memories after being sent out of the Script.
Ning Shuo sat there lost in thought, failing to notice a dark shadow slowly approaching from behind.
By the time he noticed, Ning Wang’s sneak attack was already a success.
Ning Shuo was tackled onto the bed and wrapped up in a quilt like a rice ball in a matter of seconds. Ning Wang’s voice came from above: “Gotcha!”
Ning Shuo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Aren’t you being a bit childish?”
He let Ning Wang have his way; the atmosphere was no longer as tense as it had been before.
Ning Wang asked, “So, how did you know that killing that Emperor would let me out?”
Ning Shuo replied, “Silly child, killing the Emperor wasn’t for you. I just wanted to get my own revenge.”
He paused, then added, “Fine, since you are the ‘me’ from the past, I suppose it counts as being for you too.”
“You’ve killed so many NPCs before, so you probably killed the Emperor too. After all, we have a grudge against him. But when the Script reset, did you notice that the Emperor would just resurrect? Just like that female ghost who was killed by you countless times and eventually came to seek revenge on me.”
Ning Wang picked up the thread: “Because this time, the one who killed the Emperor was no longer an irrelevant person, but the Clown-the manifestation of the System’s will?”
Ning Shuo nodded. “When the Clown killed the Emperor, it evolved into the System itself deciding to obliterate an important NPC of this Script. Once an important NPC dies, it becomes very difficult for the Script to continue running.”
“This is my current theory: In the last game, the System sent Xie Ning out, but something went wrong in the middle. The memories that were supposed to be destroyed weren’t completely wiped, and the Backpack was tossed into the recycle bin like a half-finished product slated for destruction. Xie Ning was also split in two-one healthy version trapped in the Script, and one sickly version sent to the modern world with no memories.”
“Since you can see the Virtual Screen, it proves that you are essentially still a Player. You just lacked an anchor, which is why you couldn’t leave.”
“And isn’t it a coincidence? At that moment, I-the other half of you-was sent into the Script where you were trapped.”
“We were originally the same person. So, when the System sent me out and shredded the Script, it scanned you. To the System, we share the same source code. That way, it makes sense that you could be sent out as well.”
Ning Wang caught a detail. “It ‘makes sense,’ but it wasn’t a hundred percent guaranteed. You were just pure gambling?”
Ning Shuo acted like he hadn’t heard him. “Since you were able to be sent out, your status as a Player was also reactivated. Your original Backpack and whatever else hadn’t been fully destroyed were restored along with it.”
“You were pure gambling. You just felt it would be fine even if I died.”
“…”
Ning Shuo gave up and played the villain. “So what if I was? I’m selfish. As long as I could get out, wasn’t that enough?”
Ning Wang suddenly laughed. “Fair enough. That is indeed my personality.”
Ning Wang’s understanding of the System was about the same as Li Ziqian’s, but at least it was more than Ning Shuo’s. Ning Shuo asked him, “Is there a frequency for entering Scripts?”
Ning Wang replied, “You enter at least once a month.”
No wonder Li Ziqian said this was her first time entering a Script this month.
Ning Shuo pulled up the System interface.
The calendar was similar to the one in the modern world, perhaps to give more people a sense of familiarity. Ning Shuo asked, “Do you remember if you knew anyone else in the System before?”
Ning Wang said, “I forgot.”
Ning Shuo countered, “You’re being dishonest.”
Ning Wang admitted, “Fine, I do remember, but they’re dead.”
Ning Shuo blinked and silently changed the subject. “What are we having for dinner?”
“Your subject-changing skills are terrible.”
“Right back at you.”
Ning Wang looked at him and suddenly asked, “In their world, what would you do?”