【congratulations to player #007 for completing this game! you are the first player to win (ﾉ´ヮ')ﾉ*: ･ﾟ】
A huge screen floated on the sky; huge enough for people to look up and read the words written on it. Alongside the screen existence, a happy BGM played in the background, celebrating the player's success in conquering the game, yet none of the NPCs who were crowding over two dead bodies saw the screen or heard the music.
Only one person; the protagonist who does not belong to this world can see it.
『wait what happened? why did the screen turn black?』
『i saw the npc falling. did she die?』
『this season was milder than the previous ones that i almost forgot that it can get bloody』
『that stalker! i saw her pulling down kai together with her! ungrateful! even though kai just wanted to help her』
『help her after provoking her? (￢_￢) well, he deserved it』
『although the ending left me unsatisfied, our husband did a great job♡ he's the first person to clear this game. as expected!』
『can't wait to see him starring in other shows :D』
『no no no this can't be the end? why did the poor npc jumped?? what is chen miao's reaction?? is his affection a lie??? i need time to rewind back by itself damn it! give me more miao x (y/n)』
Chen Miao was gazing at the cloudy sky, reading the words on the screen and listening to the happy BGM before lifelessly moving his head down to see the two corpses that stick together.
His felt his stomach churned and his heart uncomfortable as people started to crowd over the pair. The sound of ambulance coming close can be heard loud and clear, mixing with the music.
Although the school wasn't that tall, the fall must have been hard because Chen Miao can see how a part of their body became like a mashed potato from the impact and mixed together, becoming one with each other and somewhere in the protagonist's heart, he can feel anguish, rage, and envy.
ーIt could have been him down there.
If only he was a little faster.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of the protagonist before it trickled down, yet his passive expression shown that he didn't even realize that he was crying.
Chen Miao felt so helpless.
He endured every seasons, letting his loved one murdered him each time while listening to her words of love, and despite how scared he was, he didn't harm her, didn't reach out for anything to defense himself. He let her killed him because he wanted her to stay alive but now? It all went to ruin.
And she had even died with someone else. Together.
"If I had known this day would come, I would have kill her myself instead." He heard himself muttering this.
At that moment, Chen Miao realized; although he wasn't the one that died with you, his moral sure did.
The protagonist didn't know how long he stood on the rooftop, but when he snapped back to reality, you and that actor were already gone and the crowd had long dispersed.
His brain felt numb and foggy.
Chen Miao then realized that he still had classes to attend and he still need to take down notes to help you study. Hence, he sluggishly went out of the rooftop and descended down the stairs to go to his classroom.
He doesn't know why but the NPCs seems agitated. Did something happen? A new gossip perhaps? But Chen Miao is not interested.
When he arrived at the classroom, there was a few female students with teary eyes, and the whole class looked uncomfortable. The protagonist tilted his head in confusion but doesn't ask.
Strangely, the teachers didn't come that day and the students were allowed to go home early.
Chen Miao sat still on his seat, waiting for you to go to him to invite him to go home together, but you weren't around. He wondered if you caught a cold again and had went home without him? Make sense, so he quickly pack up his things to leave.
"Chen Miao."
He looked up and saw the class monitor giving him a pitiful look. In fact, everyone in the classroom were giving him the same look that it made him uncomfortable.
"Youー Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," he answered. "Why?"
Chen Miao did look unaffected that an emotional female classmate couldn't help but berate him. "How can you be okay whenー!"
However, she was quickly interrupted by her group of friends who palmed her mouth from speaking further.
Chen Miao blinked in confusion, but doesn't pry further. "If there's nothing left, can you let me through? (Y/n) is waiting for me at home."
At his words, the emotional female studet finally understood and broke down. Sure, she wasn't exactly close to the deceased and to Chen Miao, but one doesn't need to be closed to cry, one just need to have empathy.
"Chen Miao, youー" the class monitor opened his mouth to say something but in the end, decided against it. "Be careful on the way home."
The protagonist hummed and nodded, taking his leave.
When he arrived home, surprisingly, the place was empty. Maybe (Y/n) went back to her home instead? He assumed and felt dejected. Honestly, the empty house made him felt lonely, and although he had the power to create an NPC, like how he created his 'mother', he doesn't really like using that skill. Mainly because what came out was nothing but a cheap imitation.
He wasn't like his creator. He couldn't create an NPC with wills and feelings. He could only create obedient things.
"Ah Miao."
His ears perked up when he heard that familiar voice and Chen Miao quickly turned to that source of voice to seeー
ーa round ball.
His excitement went down instantly and he felt more uncomfortable than before, because it felt like he was given hope before that hope was ripped to shred in front of him.
Chen Miao scowled, recalling the conversation he had with this thing.
「Ah Miao, have you been playing around enough?」The system spoke, this time, using a voice and tone that sound oddly similar to yours; playful and flirty.
However, Chen Miao wasn't fooled. He glared at that thing viciously. He knew this voice. He knew this woman. She was the one who pulled him apart from his beloved; from you. The one who clouded your judgement (making you obsessed to the point of killing him), tampered with your memory (erasing all the moments you had together with him in the past), and deceived your heart (making you felt attachment and dependency towards him). The one who was eager to ruin you.
「Don't you think you should be back home soon? If you delayed, your brother might do something to the company. I remember how you told me that you won't let even a single cent slip into his hands soー」
"Stop it," he told her, almost begging. "I'm notー I'm not whoever you thought I was."
The system went silent for a while before it continued.「Why is it that after that car accident, you always said that? Sunshine, You are Chen Miao. Your English name is Mikhail Chen. You are the legitimate child of the Chen family. My lover. Which part of that did you confuse?」
"I told you I'm not!"
「It's okay. We just need to get you fixed. Come back home and we will go to the hospital okay, Ah Miao?」
The protagonist can feel himself starting to get irritated. He still remembered how on that dayーon the day he ended up in the hospitalーhe had wasted his saliva trying to explain the truth to her, to the people around him, to the doctors, but they would always look at him as if he were a lunatic.
How can he make them understand that he was the NPC Mikhail Chen created? That he had always been there through thick and thin with his creator until one day, he woke up in his creator's body while his soulmate, the one who was made for him, was still in the VR? How can he make those idiots understand him?
To make matters worse, this woman started to use the VR as she pleased and turned his world into a reality show. Mikhail once told him that his soulmate was based on his girlfriend but honestly, the two were nothing alike.
「Ah Miaoー」
Chen Miao immediately smashed his fist against the screen of the television, shattering it to pieces.
"Take your actor back and leave."
Chen Miao gave the ball a glare before sighing, opting to go to bed to sleep instead. He deliberately ignored the system, no matter how annoying the noises it made, he quickly wrapped himself in a blanket and curled up like a prawn. Eventually, he did fall asleep. However, it wasn't a peaceful one, it was plagued with nightmare.
When Chen Miao woke up, he ended up throwing up, but because his stomach was empty, not much came out except liquids. He saw the ball flying towards him, probably to comfort him, and he, in reflex, slapped that thing away, causing it to hit the wall.
Chen Miao doesn't remember much after that. All he remembered was that he tiredly changed the sheet and continued to sleep, trying to shut off the world and forget everything.
The protagonist doesn't know how long was he asleep, but when he opened his eyes, his head was already lying on someone's lap, and his hair was brushed by someone's fingers.
Chen Miao tremblingly looked up and cried. "(Y/n)?"
The person in question smiled bitterly, there was a quivering in her tone of voice. "You have been sleeping for two days. I was worried."
Like a toddler, the man buried his face on her stomach and wailed.
"Ah Miao, please don't torture yourself like this. It's okay to be helpless when 'I' was here to take care of you, but the situation has changed. I don't want something to happen to you too."
The woman trembled alongside him, rubbing the back of the man to coax him, if listened closely one can clearly hear her sobbing.
Chen Miao's heart ached. Not because of her anguish, but because he knew that this wasn't you. A part of his mind blamed himself. After all, he was the one who stole Mikhail's body, even though he himself doesn't why he's in there. Mikhail should have die in that accident, but Chen Miao's existence inside that body gave this woman hope, it was natural for her to deny all the claim Chen Miao made regarding the truth.
ーbut still, just like how he is not Mikhail, this woman too is not you.
"Just wait a little while okay, Ah Miao? I'm going to cook something for you."
Chen Miao watched with tears still rolling down his cheeks as the woman left. He went to grab a kitchen knife under his pillow, something he had always kept hidden there for self-defense, but he didn't expect that he would use it on him this time.
He wondered, will things go back to how it is if he died?
And so he did.
As his life slowly was sucked out of him, a screen popped up.
「Rebooting System...
Rewind Initiated...
Data Stream Failed....
Reboot Error」
「Retrying...
Rewind Initiated...
Error Detected...
Rewind Malfunction」
Suprisingly, the woman who supposed to be cooking in the kitchen made its way to his body which gradually turn cold as seconds pass. She looked at the screen coldly.
「An unexpected error has occurred, please standby...
Attempting reboot...
Reboot failed...
Retrying...
Error Detected...
Reboot failed...」
「Interference detected」
「Please confirm deletion of world?」
「Yes」 「No」
The woman didn't hesitate to press the left button.
「Deleting world」
「Deleted successfully」
「Storing data...」
「Transferring data into the body」
Transfer complete, please confirm awakening?」
「Yes」 「No」
「Awakening complete, please confirm system stabilization...」
The woman smiled before logging out, her body glitching away as she disappeared. The world then turned pitch black, as if it was sucked away by a dark hole.
ーthis world has finally came to its conclusion.
The incubator slowly opened by itself as the man opened his eyes. The time he had spent in the virtual world and the lack of real food that was injected into his body made him thin. He was clearly malnourished and fragile, causing the staffs that crowded over him to feel distress for him.
The man observed his environment before bowing down to look at his hands. In the end, he let out a weak laugh.
It's okay, he assured himself. If people are going to interfere with his love in the VR, then he will simply bring his lover into this world.
ーhe and you were created as a pair after all.
finally get this arc done! you guys can ask questions and i will be answering them in the next chapter. if you detected plot hole or is there something i'm forgetting, i will go fix it right away :)
also a clarification; in the next arc, the ml was supposed to be chen miao (different body, same soul) but someone told me that doing that would go against the tag which is "reverse harem" and "various x reader"
thinking carefully, i agreed with them, so i decided to put another person as the next ml.
and so, as this arc end here, so does this book. the 2nd arc will be in another book so if you're a loyal type and doesn't like to see the mc with another man who's not chen miao, you can stop here and consider this as an ending
anyway, for the next ml, i know you guys can guess who is it ♡
also, a little something i made since i have a lot of free time today and yesterday. it's chen miao and mc back when chen miao is still a tsun instead of a yan