PSP Chapter 23: Finish

Accompanied by the whistling wind, the rain became heavier and heavier, as if it wanted to vent all of its anger into the ground.

 

At the end of the alley, the blue plastic buckets and the wheelchair were piled haphazardly to the side.
In the space where the plastic buckets had been, Liu Wangyu was kneeling on the ground and digging at the soil with his bare hands.
He was wet with the rain and covered in mud.

 

He was very embarrassed, and the rough stones had turned his hands into a bloody mess, but he didn't dare to stop.
Not too far away, Qi Mei was moving about on the wall, freezing from time to time to stare at him with eyes that seemed to display her wish to tear him apart.

 

It was obvious that it was very hard for the young lady to endure the desire to rip Liu Wangyu to pieces.
Shen Qingcheng moved a stool under the shed to sit and watch the play, dropping pumpkin seed shells on the ground¹.

 

Liu Wangyu's condition was quite bad, and he was in great pain.
His hands, face, his whole body–everywhere hurt.
He didn’t understand why things had developed to this point.
Obviously, when he had been relying on the jade Buddha he had inherited from his grandmother, Qi Mei couldn’t hurt him at all.
How had the situation become like this?

 

If he continued like this he would die.

 

He didn’t want to die.

 

The desire to live overcame his fear, and he asked with pale, bloodless lips, “Why does Shen-laoshi care so much about Qi Mei? Do you sympathize with her?”

 

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Mei appeared in front of him, her face perilously close to his as she grinned dangerously.
He could even smell the fishy, rancid smell coming from her body.
Liu Wangyu immediately lost his courage, kicking his feet and retreating desperately.

 

Qi Mei approached Liu Wangyu step by step, but right when she was about to grab his foot, she suddenly noticed something.
She screamed anxiously at Shen Qingcheng and vanished quickly.

 

Liu Wangyu, who had luckily escaped, heaved a sigh of relief–obviously he had prematurely let his guard down, because the second after Qi Mei disappeared, a young child's voice sounded in the alley.

 

“Mom.”

 

Qi Anle was here.

 

Qi Mei dared not see Qi Anle.

 

The little boy in the overalls had a fair, clean face, but his eyes were pitch black with no sclera.
He dazedly looked around the alley, and his figure continually flickered because of his emotional instability.

 

One second he was on the roof, then on the ground, then lying on the wall like his mother, then stepping on Liu Wangyu's chest.
Suddenly he lowered his head, and his white-less eyes fell onto Liu Wangyu's half-disfigured face.

 

“Mom…” He whispered.
The man's foul language and the woman's screams seemed to reemerge in his mind, and suddenly he seemed to have returned to that dark night where no light could be seen.

 

Gradually, his fair face darkened.

 

“Pa-” Shen Qingcheng threw the pumpkin seeds he had shelled aside and snapped his fingers.
Seeing the little boy looking at him, he smiled and said, “Come here.”

 

The darkness receded, and Qi Anle tilted his head to look at him.

 

This brat.
Shen Qingcheng shook his head, took out a silver needle, and poked his finger with it.
A drop of bright red, gem-like blood trembled on his fingertip.
“Come here,” he said again.

 

The boy's feet moved: one step, two steps.
He actually listened to Shen Qingcheng's words and walked towards him step by step.

 

As he stepped forward, Qi Anle's expression was peaceful, and his ghostly characteristics slowly disappeared, becoming more and more like a normal human child.
When he stood in front of Shen Qingcheng, except for those black eyes, he appeared no different from a normal person.

 

Qi Mei, who was hiding in the dark, covered her mouth and wept bitterly, but there was not a single tear flowed from her eyes.

 

Shen Qingcheng stretched out his hand.
Qi Anle watched him quietly for a minute, then lowered his head to lick the drop of blood up.
To an evil ghost, Shen Qingcheng's blood could either be weakness or tonic.

 

Qi Anle’s hands hung obediently at his sides, and he only moved his head as he licked the blood.
It was hard to imagine that that obedient-looking child was be a ghost, especially a ghost even fiercer than his mother Qi Mei.

 

Qi Mei's hands were still covered with blood, but Qi Anle, who was more vicious than her, was clean.
That was why Shen Qingcheng was moved by compassion.

 

After the child finished licking it all up, he clicked his mouth shut, unsatisfied.
He raised his head and stared at Shen Qingcheng again, and then opened his mouth: “Mom.”

 

Shen Qingcheng: “…”

 

“Little ghost, I'm not your mother,” Shen Qingcheng said, almost struck speechless, and he patted the half-empty bench beside him.
“Sit.”

 

Qi Anle sat down, not on a stool, but on the ground hugging Shen Qingcheng's leg.
His head was resting on Shen Qingcheng's thighs, and he kept calling, “Mom.”

 

Well, he could call out as much as he liked, Shen Qingcheng wouldn’t answer anyway.

 

Qi Anle was sitting with his back facing the alley, Shen Qingcheng said to the person and ghost inside, “When the corpse is exhumed, go to dig a pit wherever you want to bury it.
Oh yeah, give me that jade Buddha around Liu Wangyu's neck.”

 

“Hey!” The jade Buddha rushed through the heavy sheets of rain and flew towards him.
Shen Qingcheng raised his arm and grasped it easily in one hand.
With the other hand, he called out a silver needle, and used it to inscribe something on the Buddha.

 

Seeing Qi Anle looking curiously at the thing in his hand, Shen Qingcheng's lips curled up.
“In a moment, when I’m done carving this, it won’t hurt anymore.” His hostility would fade, and he would be able to reincarnate and start a new life, even if it was only in the game.

 

Soon, the corpse had been dug up, and a strong stench emanated from the rotting body.
Qi Mei shouted and reached her claws out at Liu Wangyu, forcing him towards her chosen location for Qi Anle’s grave.

 

Qi Anle heard the commotion and began shifting around, but Shen Qingcheng squeezed another drop of blood out, and he calmed again.

 

After an unknown amount of time, the grave was done.

 

Shen Qingcheng hung the jade Buddha engraved with a spell on Qi Anle's neck, and took his hand to find the place Qi Mei had mentioned.
They went out of the school gate, walked through the crowded streets, and finally reached a hill covered in mountain flowers.

 

After the game was over, the restrictions imposed on the players by the copy had luckily disappeared.
Otherwise, Shen Qingcheng really didn't know how to bring people out.

 

Qi Mei often brought Qi Anle here for outings and picnics in her spare time.
The hill wasn’t very beautiful, but it was a little more quiet and peaceful than the noisy city.

 

The tomb had been created.
It was a small mound of fresh soil, a wooden board with Qi Anle's name written on it in front.
It was unknown where Qi Mei had gotten it.

 

Qi Mei did not appear.
Rather, she nervously hid and watched from a distance, holding onto the dying Liu Wangyu.

 

Shen Qingcheng touched the child's head.
When he looked up, he squeezed the wound on his finger and tapped both the child's forehead and the Jade Buddha.
He then took out a prepared talisman paper from his trouser pocket, lit it, and threw it onto the mound.

 

A faint blue flame ignited, and he gently pushed Qi Anle.
“Go on.”

 

Qi Anle called to him, “Mom?”

 

Shen Qingcheng did not answer, instead repeating, “Go on.”

 

Qi Anle walked into the fire, and the blue flame steadily engulfed him.
As he held the jade Buddha, the blackness in his eyes faded, and his small body quickly turned into light spots and dispersed.

 

As Shen Qingcheng left, he found that Qi Mei, who had been hiding in the distance, was gone.
He didn't particularly care about her whereabouts.

 

The sky after the rain was clear and cloudless.
He exhaled and stretched.
“Finally, I can go on vacation!” Ah, first of all, he had to go to school and grab his luggage–the money was still inside!

 

【 He said he’d send him to reincarnation and he really did it, my Beauty is awesome! 】

 

Ten days later.

 

【 The countdown is over, the player is leaving the copy.
】

 

【 The copy data is abnormal, the system is investigating.
】

 

【Abnormal data has been found, data correction is in progress.
】

 

【 The correction failed, the copy “Xingxing Kindergarten” is now temporarily closed.
Duration: uncertain.
】

 

In his personal game space, Shen Qingcheng's figure gradually coalesced from blue light spots.

 

After the newcomer's gift package he had bought, the room no longer appeared bare.
There was a soft double bed, a large comfortable sofa, transparent windows and a beautiful sea of ​​stars outside…

 

He went to the refrigerator to get a drink, unscrewed the bottle cap, took a sip, then threw himself into the soft sofa and then opened the game terminal to check the clearance reward from his last copy.

 

That's right, he spent the remaining ten days in the dungeon playing, and he didn’t open his terminal at all.

 

【Survival Point Reward: 80】

 

【 Perfect evaluation bonus: 20 】

 

Only 100 points in total? Huh, so the reward for breaking the record last time had been quite generous? No, wait, it was clearly the game company being too stingy!

 

With his original 11 points, Shen Qingcheng now had a total of 111 survival points, and he opened the mall.

 

【 Poseidon's Trident: Attack Item 】

 

【 Price: 20 Survival Points 】

 

【 Two-meter long machete: Attack Item 】

 

【 Price: 20 Survival Points 】

 

Shen Qingcheng became a little interested.
The knife, could it be the cool one Lu Qi had? But he couldn’t use a knife.

 

He looked away.

 

【 Plastic brooch: Defensive Item 】

 

【 Introduction: Protect the player from being discovered by ghosts for 5 minutes 】

 

【 Price: 20 Survival Points 】

 

5 minutes? The price/performance ratio was just too low, might as well keep the survival points.
It didn’t take him more than 5 minutes to create a talisman…
Shen Qingcheng lost interest in it, and he turned to open the life section of the mall.

 

That set of peach wood furniture was very cost-effective, it only needed 50 survival points, the shape was good-looking and the size was large.
He could buy two sets, keep one set for use, and dismantle the other set to make a peach wood sword!

 

As a tianshi, he also had had this habit of hoarding, but unfortunately, everything that he had saved during his lifetime couldn’t be brought into the game.

 

In less than two minutes, Shen Qingcheng had squandered the 100 survival points he had obtained.
He looked at the newly furnished room and nodded with satisfaction.

 

The remaining set of furniture was placed into his inventory, next to his only prop, Mama Rong’s Silver Needle.

 

Dong.
The terminal sounded a message prompt tone.

 

Almost forgot Chen Ge! Shen Qingcheng only remembered Chen Ge after this sound reminded him, and he felt a little guilty.

 

He picked up the terminal again, and found that it was not Chen Ge who sent the message, but a stranger.
But it wasn’t really a stranger, he knew the name.

 

Unknown player 7 has sent you a message: “Agree.”

 

Agree with what? He searched through his phone and couldn't find any other messages, but there was a friend request.
The applicant was 7, and the application time was 5 days ago.

 

If he remembered correctly, this 7 was at the top of the leaderboard.
Why add him? Wait, Shen Qingcheng squinted his eyes, what had the system message been when he cleared the copy?

 

【 Congratulations to Player 7, Alluring Beauty, and Gargoyle for clearing the “Xingxing Kindergarten” copy.
】

 

?

 

Lu Qi was 7?!

 

Tsk tsk, men.
Saying one thing and thinking something else in his heart–how unnecessary, hadn’t he taken the initiative to add him as a friend in the end? He hummed a little tune proudly, his fingers flying over the keyboard, replying: “Lu-dage~”

 

7: “Did you not leave until the copy ended?”

 

Shen Qingcheng typed, “How did you know?”

 

7: “Chen Ge said it.”

 

In fact, he had sent Shen Meiren a friend request after he returned to the game space, but he never received a reply.
He waited for two days, then finally sent a message to ask Chen Ge about it.

 

Chen Ge has still been in a state of shock and ecstasy that he could pass a copy with his idol, God 7.
Although he thought God 7 was pretty nice in the game, he really didn’t dare take the initiative to talk to him outside the game, so even when he found out that Shen-ge hadn’t come out of the copy, he was so anxious that he didn't dare to ask.

 

It wasn't until God 7 took the initiative to ask that Chen Ge hurriedly explained the situation.

 

Lu Qi had much more experience than Chen Ge, and upon hearing it, he knew that Shen Meiren had not yet come out of the copy, because players outside the game could not send messages to players who were in a copy.

 

Alluring Beauty: “Chen Ge! Dammit, I said I would take him with me, but he seems to have already entered another game during the resting period…” The time flow of the copy was not synchronized with the game space.

 

7: “I found someone to take him.”

 

Alluring Beauty: “…” Why? Was it because he hadn’t shown the temperament that a younger brother should have? Why did Lu Qi prefer Chen Ge, even finding someone to take him, he felt so sour²!

 

He typed through gritted teeth: “Lu-dage is so kind to me~”

 

7: “Team up.”

 

Alluring Beauty: “?”

 

7: “My rest time is almost up.”

 

Shen Qingcheng raised his eyebrows.
Lu Qi was inviting him to form a team? So Chen Ge was just getting his reflected light³.
He had tried so hard to blow rainbow farts⁴ in the last dungeon, and it was impossible for them to be ineffective!

 

Hmm, but wasn't the rest period only 3 days? How was Lu Qi’s rest time ending today, if he had sent a friend request 5 days ago?

 

 

 

TLN:

¹ In case this is unclear, he’s treating them as entertainment, which is why he pulled out pumpkin seeds.
Roasted pumpkin seeds are eaten sort of like sunflower seeds.

² Literally, he felt “very lemon” (我好柠檬).
Means jealous, but I figured “sour” conveyed the same message and was closer to the raws.

³ As in Chen Ge gets attention/help because Shen Qingcheng likes him and Lu Qi likes Shen Qingcheng, not because Lu Qi particularly likes Chen Ge.

⁴ 吹彩虹屁 basically means acting like even their farts are rainbow-colored, like they have no faults.
Flattery.

 

My guy totally got ghosted~~

 

Power went out for a day or so.
Didn’t affect this chapter, but it definitely wasn’t fun.
Also, for some reason, scheduling is way more finicky than usual, ugh.