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Chapter 63: The Final Promise – Part 2

Shu Jun remembered every detail of their parting.

In fact, he had a faint premonition about their separation. After the Reunion Festival, Smoke’s mood became increasingly sour. Smoke’s explanation was that his mother’s condition worsened, causing worry in his heart, but Shu Jun knew that wasn’t the whole story.

Smoke was hiding something, burying it in his heart like a hidden blade, the pain concealed beneath a forced facade. Shu Jun watched him suffer, feeling a burning anxiety in his heart, but he couldn’t forcefully press for answers—he had asked countless times, but Smoke refused to speak.

Smoke was usually closest to him, so he must have his own reasons.

All Shu Jun could do was be a little kinder to Smoke, attempting to dilute his sadness.

Shu Jun used to fall asleep quickly, but before their parting, he found himself unable to sleep. He would purposely listen to Smoke’s breathing rate, and if he noticed that Smoke wasn’t asleep, his chest would tighten, and he had no choice but to pretend to be asleep—if Smoke discovered otherwise, he would surely take the blame for the impact and feel even more sorrowful.

Thinking that Smoke was asleep, Shu Jun would gently kiss the top of his head and awkwardly embrace him, holding him tightly even if it caused discomfort. Once he was sure Smoke had fallen asleep, he would get up, adjust the blanket, and gently hold him against his chest.

As long as he did this, Smoke’s troubled brows would relax a bit.

Shu Jun did everything he could, trying to share all the interesting things he encountered with Smoke. But for some reason, even though Smoke would respond with a smile on his face, the sadness in his eyes grew deeper.

“Tomorrow, I have something important to tell you,” Smoke said after almost a year since they met.

It seemed that Smoke couldn’t bear it any longer and intended to come clean with him.

Shu Jun sat properly at home early, even preparing two cups of tea and adding some sugar, trying to make everything look presentable. But the tea grew cold, and Smoke didn’t show up—Smoke was a very punctual person and had never been late in the past year.

Finally, as Shu Jun pondered whether he should go out to look for Smoke, there was finally a knock at the door.

Smoke’s appearance frightened Shu Jun—he was gasping for breath, covered in sweat, and his expression appeared both frightened and desperate.

“Come in quickly.” Shu Jun quickly fetched a hot towel and poured the two cups of cold tea together, heating the mixture to a warm temperature, then handed it to Smoke. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“I can’t stay here for too long.”

Smoke gulped down more than half a cup of tea, wiped his face, and then placed his hands firmly on Shu Jun’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry.” He choked for a while before finally speaking, his eyes slightly red. “…<Erosion> isn’t just a game. Your world is.”

“A’Yan, what are you talking about?”

“I lied to you. I’m not from this world. I come from <Erosion>. Shu Jun, this world is all fake. Its education, propaganda, everything is tilted towards <Erosion>. But have you seen any other games? There’s only one dominant game, and it has lasted for over a hundred years, which is completely abnormal…”

Shu Jun had never anticipated that Smoke was holding such a shocking secret inside. Smoke’s state seemed off, perhaps he had experienced some major shock. Should Shu Jun apply for medical assistance?

“I’m begging you.” Smoke’s voice trembled with a sob. “Please believe me.”

Shu Jun bit his lip and withdrew his hand. “Go on.”

“You were trained as ‘living weapons’, much stronger than ordinary people, which is why you’re carefully controlled like this. In <Erosion>, when you die, you’re truly gone. There’s no changing professions, and real-life players simply don’t exist…”

“But on the Reunion Festival day, we saw Xu Kan.” Shu Jun murmured. “A’Yan, are you feeling unwell? Xu Kan did die in <Erosion>, but he seemed fine. There are so many people here, not everyone is a player…”

“That wasn’t Xu Kan at all. They were artificially created NPCs. Their entire family is. In this city, the vast majority of people are real NPCs.” Smoke closed his eyes in anguish. “Do you remember the night you took me home in the beginning?”

“I remember.”

“My mother was in such pain from her illness, so she came here to escape it, and I came to accompany her.” Zhu Yanchen spoke softly. “She always wanted me to explore more. On the night we met, I was alone and feeling sad, so I took a walk and got on a bus. You should have noticed something that night.”

Indeed, as Smoke mentioned it, Shu Jun also felt that something wasn’t quite right. The security in this city had always been good, and there was sufficient lighting at night. There were many shops open 24 hours, and there were people on the streets at all times. Shu Jun met Smoke near the city center, and Smoke looked terrified.

After knowing each other for so long, Shu Jun was quite familiar with Smoke’s personality. Smoke didn’t like to trouble others, and their initial encounter was quite coincidental, so his sudden request to stay overnight was a bit unexpected.

It wasn’t a big deal, and Shu Jun was having a good time, so he gradually forgot about it.

“I only found out later. To reduce monitoring difficulty, only the world around the ‘players’ is in operation. There was a player near where my mother lived, and when the bus went out of his perception range, everyone on the bus froze instantly. I was terrified at that time, which is why I wanted to be with you… As long as I’m by your side, the world is normal.”

Shu Jun’s head buzzed, and he instinctively found these things hard to believe. But upon careful listening, Smoke didn’t sound like he was talking nonsense. Years of common sense clashed with trust in his friend, making it difficult to determine who would win or lose. “I… I don’t know. I need to think about it…”

Smoke let out a long breath. He picked up the fruit knife on the table and stabbed it straight towards his chest.

Shu Jun was terrified, and he quickly snatched the knife. Before he could react, the tip of the knife stopped at Zhu Yanchen’s chest—a barrier appeared out of thin air, blocking the tip of the knife with a sharp sound. The tip of the knife barely pierced the skin, causing a small amount of blood to seep out.

“What are you doing?!” Shu Jun snatched the knife back and carefully examined the wound.

“This is the special insurance given to us as ‘humans’ from the other side.” Smoke clenched his fists, resting his chin on Shu Jun’s shoulder, his voice choked. “Both my mother and I won’t suffer fatal injuries here, I…”

Unfortunately, Shu Jun couldn’t finish hearing this sentence. He felt a sudden pain at the back of his head, as if he had been hit with a blunt object. The world spun, and he opened his eyes wide, trying to look towards Smoke’s direction.

In his blurred vision, Smoke’s feet emitted a circle of blue light, and he disappeared directly inside the room.

When he woke up again, Shu Jun slumped in the chair, and the room was empty. The fruit knife had no trace of blood, the two cups of cold tea were still on the table, and everything that happened seemed like an illusion, except for the definite passage of time.

Was it a dream?

The hot towel was in its original place, and the floor was spotlessly clean. Shu Jun slowly touched his shoulder. There was a slightly unnatural dampness on his shoulder, cold to the touch, like tears.

Shu Jun took a deep breath.

That night, he slept alone for the first time. Shu Jun tossed and turned, unable to sleep, as Smoke’s words echoed in his mind.

It was too absurd, lacking any sense of reality. But Smoke had suffered for months because of this, and it didn’t seem like a whim or a sudden breakdown. It was actually quite simple to verify—if he could see Smoke again and ask about what happened tonight.

However, Shu Jun had a bad feeling. He didn’t know if they would ever meet again.

Shu Jun covered his head with a pillow, holding onto Smoke’s cup, and began to think seriously. If it was all fake, it would be fine, but what if Smoke’s words were true? Smoke’s tears on the night of the Reunion Festival, Smoke’s changes over the past half year, the strange rules of <Erosion>… Everything had an explanation now.

Shu Jun closed his eyes, and his heart sank slowly.

Smoke didn’t come the next day, nor the day after. He was like a non-existent ghost, passing through his own life like this. About a week passed, the winter snow completely melted, and the final simulation test was about to begin, but Smoke still hadn’t shown up.

The two pots of bellflowers were placed side by side, thriving. Shu Jun stared blankly at the sand table game without an opponent, then stood up.

Shu Jun had been given enough clues by Smoke that he could use—Smoke’s mother would be recuperating somewhere with a nice view outside the window. Smoke had taken the bus here that night, and he was scared, so he wouldn’t have been on the bus for too long.

Moreover, there were players living near his residence.

Shu Jun changed the sand table to a map of the city center and began to investigate one by one.

There was only one place that met all the conditions. The Garden Hotel in the city center, where a member of the Blackbirds had booked a room and stayed there for a long time.

“A shy and handsome young boy?” When asked by Shu Jun, the team member was momentarily stunned. “I don’t have any impression, but apart from me, there is indeed someone else living here. Several times, I saw a maid taking meals upstairs. I had a few conversations with her, and her employer is staying in V4… V4 something? Anyway, it’s in the V4 area. I don’t know the specifics.”

“Thank you.”

V4 was the most upscale area, with only five rooms. Instead of knocking on the door immediately, Shu Jun quietly followed behind the cleaning staff and peered into each room.

Only Room V41 was never cleaned. The cleaning staff seemed hypnotized, not even sparing a glance at it.

“What are you doing?” Just as Shu Jun was about to further investigate, he was caught by someone dressed as a manager. “This is the VIP area, not a place for children to play around.”

Shu Jun laughed awkwardly and was dragged by the collar to the main entrance.

“Sorry, sorry.” He grinned, his voice apologetic. “I was just looking for my brother on the Blackbirds and got the room wrong.”

The manager nodded with a stern face and turned back to the hotel.

…Yeah, right. Shu Jun rolled his eyes and, relying on his thick skin, sneakily returned like a piece of toffee. The manager probably didn’t expect him to come back so soon. After returning to his seat, he smoothly activated the holographic screen, completely unaware of Shu Jun squatting in the decorative shrubs.

“Shu Jun, no, S-001 is still tracking Zhu Yanchen’s whereabouts and has now found the V4 area.”

“Empty the room as soon as possible.”

“What about Zhu Yanchen?”

“Mr. Zhu has already dealt with him. Zhu Yanchen will come on the 17th to handle Mrs. Xia’s belongings and keep the data as a memento.”

“Why wait until the 17th? Wouldn’t it be better to resolve it earlier? We have to wait three more days like this.”

“The 17th is the simulation test time for the training school. S-001 won’t come to disturb.”

“Understood, then I’ll be the manager for three more days. Regarding S-001…”

Shu Jun didn’t listen any further.

He only remembered that he had wandered around the area a few times to appear more natural. After that, he didn’t remember how he got back home, nor did he feel hunger or thirst. His world had completely shattered, but the surrounding environment was too peaceful and beautiful, making the impact even more unreal.

In the past, he only needed to worry about his school grades and his daily meals. Now, when he looked at the busy people in the distance, he couldn’t help but feel fear from the depths of his heart.

…Smoke had endured for so long, and Shu Jun’s heart twisted in pain.

Smoke had come that night and was discovered by his family. The people from <Erosion> definitely wouldn’t want the players to uncover the truth. Smoke had essentially betrayed them, and he would probably face punishment. It seemed unlikely that they would see each other again.

He knew things he shouldn’t know. If he acted too obvious or told others about this matter… Setting aside whether others would believe him, everyone might end up being dealt with.

Perhaps this was the most logical outcome. Smoke would disappear, like a cluster of fireworks in his life. And he would embrace this terrible secret, pretending to be ignorant, slowly seeking a way out, or simply resigning himself to fate.

…Pretending? Resigning?

He couldn’t pretend, and he couldn’t resign.

He was powerless to change the reality, and Smoke, who was born on the “other side”, was being crushed by guilt.

He was too weak now, unable to save his fellow compatriots. But he still had the power to save the most important person to him.

Knowing that this world was fake made many things easier. Shu Jun looked at the luxurious hotel building and had an idea in his mind.

He wouldn’t accept this separation.

The simulation test was held on campus. The test consisted of individual simulated combat and tactical planning. For children, monster projections and miniature sand tables were enough. The school didn’t have examination rooms set up inside <Erosion>.

Shu Jun put on the ability simulation wristband, and the examiner activated it. According to the rules, he was supposed to enter the combat room next and fight against the monster projection.

However, Shu Jun smiled at the examiner and soared into the sky.

This was the “game” here, and the so-called “ability simulation” wristband was a real skill item. And theoretically, this wristband could be used outside the simulation. So, he would make good use of it.

Ignoring the angry shouts of the examiner, Shu Jun flew towards the hotel in the city center.

The V4 area was on the top floor of the hotel, offering a magnificent view with beautiful large windows. Shu Jun floated in the air and looked into the window.

His Smoke was standing on the other side of the window. After not seeing each other for more than ten days, Smoke had become gaunt, his once solid body had become thin again. He looked at Shu Jun in astonishment, and his eyes still showed signs of swelling.

Shu Jun could hear the alarms getting closer. He took a deep breath and smiled at Smoke.

“A’Yan, stand back.”

As Smoke took a few steps back, a gust of wind shot out, shattering the glass.

“Shu Jun, you…”

“Let’s go.” Shu Jun helped Smoke up onto the broken window frame. “I’ll take you away.”

Smoke shook his head vigorously. “My father already knows about you. I… I begged him. If you continue like this, you’ll—”

Shu Jun smiled.

He reached out and grabbed Smoke’s wrist. The wind gathered between his body and the wall, propelling him away from the window.

Once the skill was activated, it couldn’t be stopped immediately. The wind pushed Shu Jun out of the city, his pale-faced dear friend hanging from his wrist. The two flew in the air above the city, with numerous tracking devices following them from behind, each one shot down by Shu Jun’s wind blades.

The remaining trackers began to counterattack, and searing beams of light pierced through Shu Jun’s body. His student uniform became soaked with blood, but Shu Jun only gritted his teeth, his eyes always looking ahead, without letting out a scream of pain.

Afraid of releasing Smoke in the midst of the pain, Shu Jun wrapped his arm around Yanchen’s waist, holding him tighter.

“Stop messing around,” Smoke shouted in anger. “Stop it now!”

“I know. If I let go of you, you’ll run away… Smoke, what did you beg for?”

“…”

“Tell me.” Shu Jun took another blow, gasping for air in pain.

“My father asked me to choose.” Smoke averted his gaze as if centuries had passed. “As long as you don’t make a big fuss, he can erase your memories about me and the truth… I can also choose to take you out, as he put it, to be a ‘pet’ kept at home.”

He squeezed the words out between his teeth.

“Your wind ability is powerful, and he wants to keep it. He will choose an inferior body that he doesn’t need and stuff your consciousness into it.”

“Oh, so you’ve reached that point already.” Shu Jun smiled stiffly as he swiftly turned in the air, dodging several beams of light. One beam pierced through the sole of his foot, causing great pain.

But he had never been so clear-headed.

“So, which one did you choose?” he asked.

Smoke reached out and covered his eyes. “You can guess.”

Shu Jun sighed and kissed the top of his head. “Yeah, I can guess.”

“But I don’t want to choose either one.” Smoke’s body trembled slightly. “I—”

“That’s fine. At least we still have time to say goodbye.” Shu Jun grinned. “I also know what you’re thinking. If it were me, I would feel the same… A’Yan, you made the right choice. If I were to become your pet, I would end up hating you sooner or later… I don’t want to hate you.”

He suddenly accelerated and left all the trackers behind. With the wind pressing against them, Smoke buried his face in Shu Jun’s neck, still crying silently, with more and more tears.

“If only I were stronger…” he whispered softly.

“We’re here,” Shu Jun interrupted him.

Smoke raised his head and stood still in place.

Shu Jun flew all the way outside the city, easily bypassing the ground checkpoints and headed towards the garden outside that only adult players had access to.

The flower fields stretched endlessly, adorned with numerous round glass domes. Shu Jun landed on the highest dome, arms wide open. The surrounding flowers swayed gently, their sweet and refreshing colors colliding with each other. Thin mist spread along the ground. Against the transparent blue sky and fragrant breeze, the scene in front of them resembled a paradise.

It was a sight that could never exist in <Erosion>.

“We had agreed to come here together when we grow up,” Shu Jun wiped the blood from his mouth. “But now it seems our time is limited… It looks like you really didn’t deceive me; this world is indeed not very real.”

Smoke had “Human Protection”, but he didn’t. Those tracking devices nearly turned Shu Jun into a sieve, causing him to bleed profusely, yet he felt no sense of weakness, only waves of pain.

It was irrefutable evidence.

“You are the most important person to me. I want to bid you a proper farewell.” Seeing Smoke remain silent, he continued.

Smoke sat on the glass dome, staring blankly at the blossoming flowers around him, then at Shu Jun’s battered body covered in blood. Shu Jun’s blood had splattered all over him, and he seemed stunned by reality, unable to say anything.

“Don’t you hate me?”

After a moment, Smoke cautiously confirmed, his voice trembling.

“I’ve known about these things for a long time. I’ve been hiding them from you… Don’t you hate me?”

“Of course I do. You should have told me earlier.” Shu Jun sat down in front of him, his blood dripping down the glass dome. “Although I understand that you must have had your reasons—if only you had told me earlier, you wouldn’t have suffered alone for so long.”

“You…”

“You haven’t done anything, have you?”

“You don’t understand!” This time, Smoke didn’t hide his tearful voice. “I… I’ve been studying—studying hard recently. But the more I study, the clearer it becomes to me that I can’t save you, Shu Jun. I don’t have enough time to save you!”

The rustling of the flower leaves enveloped them, creating a soothing sound. The pain that had accumulated for a long time broke open a point, bursting out from the cracks.

“Even if I… If I stop eating, stop sleeping, and I’m a once-in-a-millennium genius, I still… still can’t save you. I can only access advanced equipment when I become an adult, but my father won’t allow me to focus on studying them. I won’t have the support of a formal team… There’s too much to research. At the current pace, it’s impossible to complete within one generation… Why are we almost the same age? I don’t have enough time…”

Smoke’s voice seemed to carry a hint of blood as he slowly clenched his hand on the glass dome.

“…I can’t save you…”

“A’Yan,” Shu Jun reached out his bloodstained hand and wiped away Smoke’s tears, smudging his own face even more. “On the night of the Reunion Festival, you asked me, ‘If everyone tells you it’s right, but you feel something is off, what would you do?'”

Smoke choked up, nodding.

“I want to give a different answer now.” Shu Jun blinked hard, trying not to burst into tears. “If you think the player system isn’t good, it’s already remarkable as long as you can persist in your own beliefs.”

He tried to make his voice sound lighthearted.

“It’s okay if you can’t save me. If Xu Kan can strive for so long, I’m sure I can too. So, let’s make a promise.”

“What…?”

“I promise you.” Shu Jun raised his blood-soaked pinky finger. “What you’ve taught me, I’ve engraved it in my bones. They are mine now. Even if I forget you, I’ll keep winning. This way, even if I can’t be with you, I’ll try to stay with you for as long as possible, okay?”

“You… You haven’t seen the battlefield. You can’t guarantee…”

“If I achieve it. I’ll keep on living.” Smoke suppressed the sourness in his eyes once again. “As an exchange, don’t forget about me, and don’t forget your current mindset. Be good to my friends at school, to my brothers and sisters in the team… When you grow up, for my sake, be kind to them. Okay?”

“You can’t keep winning forever.” Smoke wiped his tears haphazardly. “I can’t reach a high position either.”

“Come on, let’s pinky promise.” Shu Jun raised his voice. “Stop talking nonsense. You’re the most handsome and formidable person I’ve ever seen. You will definitely become an extraordinary individual.”

Smoke remained silent for a long time, until the shadows of the guard trackers appeared on the horizon.

He reached out with his cold and trembling hand, gently hooked his pinky with Shu Jun’s. “Alright, this is your promise to me…”

His voice trembled even more. “You will never lose.”

“We’ve bid farewell properly.” Shu Jun held on, taking a deep breath. “I’ve said everything I wanted to say. At least… At least there are no regrets.”

The guard trackers were getting closer and closer.

His heart pounded frantically in pain. ‘Not like this,’ Shu Jun thought. It wasn’t what he wanted to say. He—

Smoke made a move.

“Do you know?” His voice still choked, as a cold hand gently caressed Shu Jun’s face. “My teacher told me that if you leave behind a huge… A huge emotional impact, maybe you’ll remember a bit about me.”

He leaned in closer, awkwardly leaning his body forward, and kissed Shu Jun’s cheek.

[Our teacher said that a kiss means ‘like’.]

[A kiss on the cheek means ‘like’.]

Something exploded in Shu Jun’s chest, and he could no longer maintain a smiling face. He tightly embraced Smoke, holding onto him tightly.

“I like you too!” He cried out loud. “Can you not leave? I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to forget you.”

He held onto the other person with all his strength, crying with tears and snot covering his face.

“I don’t want to forget you, A’Yan—”

Then his world plunged into complete darkness. It wasn’t the void of nothingness, but genuine darkness. When he woke up again, he was faced with a makeup test for the school’s simulation examination.

Since that day, he had forgotten the most special person in his life.

Now, he had finally found that person again.

Blood and gruesome scenes continued to swirl in his mind, and Shu Jun couldn’t feel his own body. Memories fell back into place, and his body completely shattered, dissolving into the Erosion Swamp. His thoughts no longer operated like those of a human, his brain seemed to be spread out, and his body merged with everything. He extended his “body”, and his soul floated like a drunken bubble, light and airy. Despair and hatred turned into an exhilarating thrill. Shu Jun had never felt so at ease.

The former nightmares solidified into reality, accompanied by whispers of despair and hatred that flooded his ears.

No, perhaps that wasn’t a nightmare; maybe it was himself as well. Ever since he destroyed the other two Erosion Swamps and transformed into an Erosion Swamp himself, many instinctive-like messages flooded in. In the center of the pitch-black vortex, a voice without sound grew louder and louder.

This is your rebirth, and you can become anything. Just like Sweet Edge or the Mirror Erosion Swamp, you can obtain a completely new form—a powerful form.

If you make the right choice, you can destroy Sigma, destroy everything—eliminate all enemies, and exist in this comfortable form eternally.

Dipped in intense hatred, this proposal was indeed tempting. However, he could feel the temperature of another person; Zhu Yanchen’s temperature dropping. He knelt in the cold Erosion Swamp, just as desperate as when they parted ways.

“That’s a tempting proposition.”

He answered decisively.

“But I prefer my original self—things would be troublesome if I can’t hold the person I love.”

The black, withered hands on Zhu Yanchen gradually merged and twisted. The Erosion Swamp surged and transformed into human bones, skin, and then clothing. Shu Jun opened his arms and tightly embraced Zhu Yanchen.

The heavy negative emotions made him feel a bit dizzy, and the returning memories stabbed his chest. In the process of regaining his form, Shu Jun had thought of countless long speeches, but after embracing Zhu Yanchen, he couldn’t say a single word.

He sighed, lowered his head, and firmly kissed Zhu Yanchen’s lips.

Kinky Thoughts:

I ugly cried this chapter.