She timidly turned her head and, behind her, three men had appeared at some point.
On her left and right were two men dressed in suits, one in black and the other in white.
Standing in the middle of this black-and-white pair was a man in ancient-style robes. His gaze was malevolent, as if he wished to tear her apart.
“Who are you people?” Rumian instinctively shrunk her neck, cautiously asking.
The young man in the black suit jingled the chain in his hand and mechanically recited, like rehearsing lines, “Rumian, female, born in S1920. According to the records in the Book of Life and Death, you were originally supposed to die in S1945. Rumian, you’ve lived long enough, come with us.”
Rumian was momentarily stunned. “Are you the Black and White Wuchang?”
“Then who are you?” Rumian stared at the man in the middle. “Are you the Judge? Or the Bull-Headed Horse-Faced ghost messenger?”
The man cast a contemptuous glance at her, as though she were livestock. “Who I am is not for you to know. Take her away!”
When Bai Lixin and Xia Chi caught up, they saw Rumian being taken away by the Black and White Wuchang.
Even at this crucial moment, Rumian remained unconvinced. She kept shouting phrases like “I don’t want to succumb to fate,” “I refuse to accept this,” and “I don’t believe in fate.”
When the Taoist arrived, Rumian had just been taken away. He looked at the spot where Rumian had disappeared, then sat on the ground, distraught.
Bai Lixin glanced at the Taoist and silently approached Young King Yama. “Thank you for your help. You’ve been a great assistance.”
“It’s us who should be saying thank you,” Young King Yama immediately transformed from a wild beast into a little wolfdog when he saw Bai Lixin. He stood in front of Bai Lixin, shoulders stiff, like an obedient child. “We’ve been chasing after Rumian for many years and couldn’t find her. It turns out she was hiding by switching bodies. Thanks to you, we finally found her. We’ll investigate all the crimes she committed during this time. We won’t let a victim die in vain, nor will we let any perpetrators run rampant. You can rest assured.”
Hearing Young King Yama’s words, Bai Lixin hesitated for a moment, and a look of nostalgia flickered in his eyes.
Young King Yama asked, “What’s wrong? Did you remember something?”
Bai Lixin replied, “The look on your face when you said this is really similar to that of Yama Dijia. I can’t remember when, but he also said something similar to me. He was very just, just like you.”
Young King Yama blushed instantly and scratched his head in embarrassment. “Uh, actually, he taught me that phrase. He was my mentor in life, even though I didn’t like him. But thanks to him, I became the person I am today.”
“That’s how inheritance works,” Bai Lixin patted Young King Yama’s shoulder. “Like a big tree supporting a small sapling, nurturing it with kindness and responsibility, passing down that sense of duty and justice. Time changes, lives come and go, but the legacy endures.”
“Although you say you dislike him, your words and actions unintentionally imitate him. Don’t be stubborn, deep down, you probably admire him, right? You’re just too embarrassed to admit it.”
Young King Yama blushed like an apple. He stammered and said, “N-no, it’s not like that. I don’t admire him, only a fool would admire him.”
“Alright, alright. You can keep your love hidden. I won’t interfere.”
Young King Yama, still red-faced, looked at Bai Lixin. “Papa, I know you’re about to leave. But since I know you’ve been living an exciting life in other worlds, I feel relieved. I believe we’ll meet again in the future.”
Behind Young King Yama appeared a door shrouded in black mist.
Knowing that Young King Yama was about to depart, Bai Lixin smiled faintly. “Of course, I hope that the next time we meet, I’ll see your Queen.”
Little King of Hell who was about to leave stumbled, speaking incoherently, “W-what, what are you saying? I-I’m still a child, don’t corrupt a child. You really are…a disrespectful elder! I’m leaving!”
Muttering complaints, Young King Yama swiftly entered the black hole and departed.
Watching Young King Yama leave, Bai Lixin finally heaved a sigh of relief.
He called out to the system in his mind several times before it reluctantly responded, [Do you have any questions, Player Bai Lixin?”
Bai Lixin: [I want to know if the player who just died was originally the one meant to be punished?]
System beeped twice before replying, [No. You’re quite clever, player Bai Lixin. As a reward for your outstanding performance, I can make an exception and tell you that the one originally meant for punishment was you. You and this female player had a difference of only 1 point. She had just one point more.]
One point determining life and death.
Bai Lixin’s eyes flashed with a hint of sarcasm. [I understand, thank you.]
System: [A Friendly reminder, you still have one last question to answer. There are 8 hours left until the game ends.]
Bai Lixin: [Understood, thanks for the reminder.]
System: [You’re welcome. Looking forward to meeting you again.]
Bai Lixin opened the task list.
[Task One: Survive for seven days and seven nights (currently survived for six days and seven nights, 8 hours remaining until the game ends)]
[Task Two: 1. Find the owner of the eyeball (completed); 2. Find out the reason for the removing the eyeball (completed); 3. Who murdered her (_______)]
[Game Progress: 60%]
Bai Lixin manipulated his consciousness and filled in the last blank with the one word: “Rumian.”
[Your answer is “Rumian.” Please verify if it’s correct. Yes/No]
Bai Lixin pressed “Yes” and submitted.
[Ding! Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, your answer is correct.]
[Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, game progress reaches 100%, Task Two is successfully completed. There are eight hours left until the end of the copy. Enjoy your remaining time!]
In the remaining eight hours, Bai Lixin attended a press conference.
It was Shen Mo’s press conference.
When the media thought Shen Mo was going to speak for himself and scold netizens for cyber bullying, he calmly expressed his views on the incident.
He appeared like an outsider, analyzing the appearance, brewing, fermentation, and boiling over of this false accusation.
“…In this storm of public opinion, people’s focus is no longer on the incident itself but on the impact it has caused due to the rising popularity. The fall of a movie star has ignited a frenzy across the entire internet…”
He spoke eloquently, but the media was somewhat puzzled.
He spoke for over ten minutes.
When the media caught onto the context that Shen Mo was about to conclude, they eagerly racked their brains on the various peculiar and provocative questions they could ask him.
—“Did you cry or get angry when this happened?”
—“Do you know who harmed you? Do you have anything to say to them?”
—“Why did they only target you and not others? Did you have any wrongdoings? A seamless egg doesn’t attract flies.”
Like a pack of hyenas, they aimed at his vulnerabilities, trying to provoke this composed man into exposing his flaws in public.
However, Shen Mo didn’t give them the opportunity to ask questions.
He stood up from his chair at the end and, under the continuous flash of magnesium lights, spoke calmly, “Next, I’m going to announce something. From today onwards, I will completely withdraw from the entertainment industry.”
His words sent shockwaves through the room.
“I mean a complete withdrawal, including but not limited to music, advertisements, TV shows, movies, and all media platforms. I will never return. I will leave the compensation from the breach of contract with advertisers to my management company. After deducting the compensation, all the remaining money will be used for charitable causes, to help those who truly need it.”
“I’ve said what I wanted to say. Goodbye, everyone.”
Shen Mo walked away, leaving behind a room full of stunned reporters.
It took the reporters quite some time to realize what Shen Mo had said.
“Shen Mo is leaving the industry? Why… it was just a single scandal. Explain it, clear your name, and that should be enough. There’s no need for this.”
“He’s doing this to torture his fans, right?”
“Fuck, what’s with this fan torture? Can’t you see that Shen Mo is angry? He’s telling the public in his own resolute way: ‘You’ve insulted me.’”
“It’s over, the entertainment industry is about to change drastically. Luo Mei committed suicide out of fear, and Shen Mo decisively left the entertainment industry.”
“Help! Don’t discuss Luo Mei and Shen Mo together. Shen Mo will really retire; don’t fan the flames now.”
The discussions were buzzing, but the person involved no longer cared.
Shen Mo drove away from the scene with Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin turned to look at the reporters who were pushing and shoving to get out, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you really retiring? Is it as what they speculate, that you’re doing it to torture fans or prove your integrity?”
“Ha,” a derisive chuckle escaped from Shen Mo’s lips, “Narrow-minded folks only care about how many clouds are in the sky today and if the moon will be full tomorrow.”
“They live in a confined space, unaware of how vast the world truly is.”
“The world in the eyes of an eagle is fundamentally different from that in the eyes of a sparrow. They analyze me with their own limited perspectives, it’s simply laughable.”
Bai Lixin replied, “Don’t give me a bunch of life philosophy soup. I just want to know why you’re retiring.”
“…Fine,” Shen Mo, who was making grand statements, suddenly became hesitant. “Uh, well, mainly to prepare to leave with you. I can’t just leave everything hanging, I have to wrap up everything.”
Bai Lixin retorted, “That’s it, now why were you putting on airs in front of me?”
Shen Mo: “…”
‘Enough with the act; any more, and he’d say I’m acting like a grandchild.
Wife was so fierce!’
—————————–
In the live broadcast room.
[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter! The big boss is a henpecked husband.]
[The big boss in front of others: elegant, reserved, noble.
The big boss in front of God Xin: Well-behaved, sensible, submissive.]
[That damned survival instinct.]
————————–
[Ding! Congratulations to all players for successfully completing the copy [Urban Beauty]. The initial number of players was 10, and the current number of remaining players is 4. Since all the secrets of this copy have been unlocked, the copy will be completely closed from today onwards.]
[The teleportation is about to begin. Destination: the players’ game lobby dormitories.]
[Friendly reminder: During the teleportation process, players can review the storylines of this copy.]
[Players’ mall points and performance points will be settled after returning to the dormitories.]
[The teleportation process will cause discomfort; please bear with it.]
As the system’s voice echoed, vortexes appeared beneath everyone’s feet.
Before they could react, they had all fallen into the vortexes.
…
When Bai Lixin finally woke up from his dizziness, he found himself back in his own dormitory.
The escape system’s voice rang out: [Ding, welcome back to the game lobby, Player Bai Lixin!]
[Now, let’s settle player Bai Lixin’s performance.]
[Due to player Bai Lixin’s outstanding performance in this copy, he has received an MVP rating. Because of your excellent performance this time, you will receive double rewards. Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, you have earned 500,000 performance points and 400,000 mall points.]
[Ding! Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, your progress in the Tower has increased from level 430 to 480. Your speed is so impressive that it makes me want to take my eyes off, wash them, and put them back on. I hope you continue to excel and achieve greatness!]
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘What kind of expressions are these?
Taking your eyes off, washing them, and putting them back on? Are you acting in a horror movie?’
S419M: [Master, may I ask something?]
Bai Lixin: [Go ahead.]
S419M: [I have one thing that’s unclear, where did you place the soul of Luo Mei, also known as Lady Yuexian?]
Bai Lixin: [About that, you’d better see for yourself.]
With that, Bai Lixin summoned a derived image of [Urban Beauty] on the large screen in his mind.
As the camera slowly moved, it finally reached beneath the soil.
The worker ants tirelessly transported food into the nest. In the depths of the nest, the enormous ant queen struggled to move her body.
She gruesomely tore her own abdomen from the massive oval structure.
Desperately, she crawled outward, seemingly trying to escape this dark underground world.
But she didn’t crawl far before her entrails began to spill from the severed place. Just as she finally crawled out of the ground with all her strength, a massive foot suddenly descended from the sky.
The queen didn’t even have time to evade and was flattened into a patty.
“Ah! Mom, I stepped on an ant!” a timid voice shrieked in fear, rushing to find her mother.
Behind the little girl, a familiar old woman slowly over.
The little girl hid behind the old woman, trembling, and peeking forward.
The woman crouched down and observed for a moment. “It’s alright, just be more careful next time. This is an ant queen, but her body was severed; she probably wouldn’t have lived much longer.”
The innocent little girl asked, “But why was her body severed?”
The woman replied, “I remember your dad saying that a nest only has one ant queen. If there are two ant queens, either the new one leaves, or the two queens fight to the death. The one that survives becomes the new queen. Maybe this nest had a new queen emerging.”
The little girl looked up In admiration. “Wow, Mom, you’re so amazing, you know everything, so great.”
The woman said, “The amazing one is your dad. If he hadn’t pushed me to learn, I wouldn’t have known these things. But don’t underestimate them; when you learn these things, they might seem useless, but they can come in handy when it matters.”
The little girl exclaimed, “Then I want to learn too, I want to learn lots of things!”
She timidly turned her head and, behind her, three men had appeared at some point.
On her left and right were two men dressed in suits, one in black and the other in white.
Standing in the middle of this black-and-white pair was a man in ancient-style robes. His gaze was malevolent, as if he wished to tear her apart.
“Who are you people?” Rumian instinctively shrunk her neck, cautiously asking.
The young man in the black suit jingled the chain in his hand and mechanically recited, like rehearsing lines, “Rumian, female, born in S1920. According to the records in the Book of Life and Death, you were originally supposed to die in S1945. Rumian, you’ve lived long enough, come with us.”
Rumian was momentarily stunned. “Are you the Black and White Wuchang?”
“Then who are you?” Rumian stared at the man in the middle. “Are you the Judge? Or the Bull-Headed Horse-Faced ghost messenger?”
The man cast a contemptuous glance at her, as though she were livestock. “Who I am is not for you to know. Take her away!”
When Bai Lixin and Xia Chi caught up, they saw Rumian being taken away by the Black and White Wuchang.
Even at this crucial moment, Rumian remained unconvinced. She kept shouting phrases like “I don’t want to succumb to fate,” “I refuse to accept this,” and “I don’t believe in fate.”
When the Taoist arrived, Rumian had just been taken away. He looked at the spot where Rumian had disappeared, then sat on the ground, distraught.
Bai Lixin glanced at the Taoist and silently approached Young King Yama. “Thank you for your help. You’ve been a great assistance.”
“It’s us who should be saying thank you,” Young King Yama immediately transformed from a wild beast into a little wolfdog when he saw Bai Lixin. He stood in front of Bai Lixin, shoulders stiff, like an obedient child. “We’ve been chasing after Rumian for many years and couldn’t find her. It turns out she was hiding by switching bodies. Thanks to you, we finally found her. We’ll investigate all the crimes she committed during this time. We won’t let a victim die in vain, nor will we let any perpetrators run rampant. You can rest assured.”
Hearing Young King Yama’s words, Bai Lixin hesitated for a moment, and a look of nostalgia flickered in his eyes.
Young King Yama asked, “What’s wrong? Did you remember something?”
Bai Lixin replied, “The look on your face when you said this is really similar to that of Yama Dijia. I can’t remember when, but he also said something similar to me. He was very just, just like you.”
Young King Yama blushed instantly and scratched his head in embarrassment. “Uh, actually, he taught me that phrase. He was my mentor in life, even though I didn’t like him. But thanks to him, I became the person I am today.”
“That’s how inheritance works,” Bai Lixin patted Young King Yama’s shoulder. “Like a big tree supporting a small sapling, nurturing it with kindness and responsibility, passing down that sense of duty and justice. Time changes, lives come and go, but the legacy endures.”
“Although you say you dislike him, your words and actions unintentionally imitate him. Don’t be stubborn, deep down, you probably admire him, right? You’re just too embarrassed to admit it.”
Young King Yama blushed like an apple. He stammered and said, “N-no, it’s not like that. I don’t admire him, only a fool would admire him.”
“Alright, alright. You can keep your love hidden. I won’t interfere.”
Young King Yama, still red-faced, looked at Bai Lixin. “Papa, I know you’re about to leave. But since I know you’ve been living an exciting life in other worlds, I feel relieved. I believe we’ll meet again in the future.”
Behind Young King Yama appeared a door shrouded in black mist.
Knowing that Young King Yama was about to depart, Bai Lixin smiled faintly. “Of course, I hope that the next time we meet, I’ll see your Queen.”
Little King of Hell who was about to leave stumbled, speaking incoherently, “W-what, what are you saying? I-I’m still a child, don’t corrupt a child. You really are…a disrespectful elder! I’m leaving!”
Muttering complaints, Young King Yama swiftly entered the black hole and departed.
Watching Young King Yama leave, Bai Lixin finally heaved a sigh of relief.
He called out to the system in his mind several times before it reluctantly responded, [Do you have any questions, Player Bai Lixin?”
Bai Lixin: [I want to know if the player who just died was originally the one meant to be punished?]
System beeped twice before replying, [No. You’re quite clever, player Bai Lixin. As a reward for your outstanding performance, I can make an exception and tell you that the one originally meant for punishment was you. You and this female player had a difference of only 1 point. She had just one point more.]
One point determining life and death.
Bai Lixin’s eyes flashed with a hint of sarcasm. [I understand, thank you.]
System: [A Friendly reminder, you still have one last question to answer. There are 8 hours left until the game ends.]
Bai Lixin: [Understood, thanks for the reminder.]
System: [You’re welcome. Looking forward to meeting you again.]
Bai Lixin opened the task list.
[Task One: Survive for seven days and seven nights (currently survived for six days and seven nights, 8 hours remaining until the game ends)]
[Task Two: 1. Find the owner of the eyeball (completed); 2. Find out the reason for the removing the eyeball (completed); 3. Who murdered her (_______)]
[Game Progress: 60%]
Bai Lixin manipulated his consciousness and filled in the last blank with the one word: “Rumian.”
[Your answer is “Rumian.” Please verify if it’s correct. Yes/No]
Bai Lixin pressed “Yes” and submitted.
[Ding! Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, your answer is correct.]
[Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, game progress reaches 100%, Task Two is successfully completed. There are eight hours left until the end of the copy. Enjoy your remaining time!]
In the remaining eight hours, Bai Lixin attended a press conference.
It was Shen Mo’s press conference.
When the media thought Shen Mo was going to speak for himself and scold netizens for cyber bullying, he calmly expressed his views on the incident.
He appeared like an outsider, analyzing the appearance, brewing, fermentation, and boiling over of this false accusation.
“…In this storm of public opinion, people’s focus is no longer on the incident itself but on the impact it has caused due to the rising popularity. The fall of a movie star has ignited a frenzy across the entire internet…”
He spoke eloquently, but the media was somewhat puzzled.
He spoke for over ten minutes.
When the media caught onto the context that Shen Mo was about to conclude, they eagerly racked their brains on the various peculiar and provocative questions they could ask him.
—“Did you cry or get angry when this happened?”
—“Do you know who harmed you? Do you have anything to say to them?”
—“Why did they only target you and not others? Did you have any wrongdoings? A seamless egg doesn’t attract flies.”
Like a pack of hyenas, they aimed at his vulnerabilities, trying to provoke this composed man into exposing his flaws in public.
However, Shen Mo didn’t give them the opportunity to ask questions.
He stood up from his chair at the end and, under the continuous flash of magnesium lights, spoke calmly, “Next, I’m going to announce something. From today onwards, I will completely withdraw from the entertainment industry.”
His words sent shockwaves through the room.
“I mean a complete withdrawal, including but not limited to music, advertisements, TV shows, movies, and all media platforms. I will never return. I will leave the compensation from the breach of contract with advertisers to my management company. After deducting the compensation, all the remaining money will be used for charitable causes, to help those who truly need it.”
“I’ve said what I wanted to say. Goodbye, everyone.”
Shen Mo walked away, leaving behind a room full of stunned reporters.
It took the reporters quite some time to realize what Shen Mo had said.
“Shen Mo is leaving the industry? Why… it was just a single scandal. Explain it, clear your name, and that should be enough. There’s no need for this.”
“He’s doing this to torture his fans, right?”
“Fuck, what’s with this fan torture? Can’t you see that Shen Mo is angry? He’s telling the public in his own resolute way: ‘You’ve insulted me.’”
“It’s over, the entertainment industry is about to change drastically. Luo Mei committed suicide out of fear, and Shen Mo decisively left the entertainment industry.”
“Help! Don’t discuss Luo Mei and Shen Mo together. Shen Mo will really retire; don’t fan the flames now.”
The discussions were buzzing, but the person involved no longer cared.
Shen Mo drove away from the scene with Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin turned to look at the reporters who were pushing and shoving to get out, and he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you really retiring? Is it as what they speculate, that you’re doing it to torture fans or prove your integrity?”
“Ha,” a derisive chuckle escaped from Shen Mo’s lips, “Narrow-minded folks only care about how many clouds are in the sky today and if the moon will be full tomorrow.”
“They live in a confined space, unaware of how vast the world truly is.”
“The world in the eyes of an eagle is fundamentally different from that in the eyes of a sparrow. They analyze me with their own limited perspectives, it’s simply laughable.”
Bai Lixin replied, “Don’t give me a bunch of life philosophy soup. I just want to know why you’re retiring.”
“…Fine,” Shen Mo, who was making grand statements, suddenly became hesitant. “Uh, well, mainly to prepare to leave with you. I can’t just leave everything hanging, I have to wrap up everything.”
Bai Lixin retorted, “That’s it, now why were you putting on airs in front of me?”
Shen Mo: “…”
‘Enough with the act; any more, and he’d say I’m acting like a grandchild.
Wife was so fierce!’
—————————–
In the live broadcast room.
[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter! The big boss is a henpecked husband.]
[The big boss in front of others: elegant, reserved, noble.
The big boss in front of God Xin: Well-behaved, sensible, submissive.]
[That damned survival instinct.]
————————–
[Ding! Congratulations to all players for successfully completing the copy [Urban Beauty]. The initial number of players was 10, and the current number of remaining players is 4. Since all the secrets of this copy have been unlocked, the copy will be completely closed from today onwards.]
[The teleportation is about to begin. Destination: the players’ game lobby dormitories.]
[Friendly reminder: During the teleportation process, players can review the storylines of this copy.]
[Players’ mall points and performance points will be settled after returning to the dormitories.]
[The teleportation process will cause discomfort; please bear with it.]
As the system’s voice echoed, vortexes appeared beneath everyone’s feet.
Before they could react, they had all fallen into the vortexes.
…
When Bai Lixin finally woke up from his dizziness, he found himself back in his own dormitory.
The escape system’s voice rang out: [Ding, welcome back to the game lobby, Player Bai Lixin!]
[Now, let’s settle player Bai Lixin’s performance.]
[Due to player Bai Lixin’s outstanding performance in this copy, he has received an MVP rating. Because of your excellent performance this time, you will receive double rewards. Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, you have earned 500,000 performance points and 400,000 mall points.]
[Ding! Congratulations, player Bai Lixin, your progress in the Tower has increased from level 430 to 480. Your speed is so impressive that it makes me want to take my eyes off, wash them, and put them back on. I hope you continue to excel and achieve greatness!]
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘What kind of expressions are these?
Taking your eyes off, washing them, and putting them back on? Are you acting in a horror movie?’
S419M: [Master, may I ask something?]
Bai Lixin: [Go ahead.]
S419M: [I have one thing that’s unclear, where did you place the soul of Luo Mei, also known as Lady Yuexian?]
Bai Lixin: [About that, you’d better see for yourself.]
With that, Bai Lixin summoned a derived image of [Urban Beauty] on the large screen in his mind.
As the camera slowly moved, it finally reached beneath the soil.
The worker ants tirelessly transported food into the nest. In the depths of the nest, the enormous ant queen struggled to move her body.
She gruesomely tore her own abdomen from the massive oval structure.
Desperately, she crawled outward, seemingly trying to escape this dark underground world.
But she didn’t crawl far before her entrails began to spill from the severed place. Just as she finally crawled out of the ground with all her strength, a massive foot suddenly descended from the sky.
The queen didn’t even have time to evade and was flattened into a patty.
“Ah! Mom, I stepped on an ant!” a timid voice shrieked in fear, rushing to find her mother.
Behind the little girl, a familiar old woman slowly over.
The little girl hid behind the old woman, trembling, and peeking forward.
The woman crouched down and observed for a moment. “It’s alright, just be more careful next time. This is an ant queen, but her body was severed; she probably wouldn’t have lived much longer.”
The innocent little girl asked, “But why was her body severed?”
The woman replied, “I remember your dad saying that a nest only has one ant queen. If there are two ant queens, either the new one leaves, or the two queens fight to the death. The one that survives becomes the new queen. Maybe this nest had a new queen emerging.”
The little girl looked up In admiration. “Wow, Mom, you’re so amazing, you know everything, so great.”
The woman said, “The amazing one is your dad. If he hadn’t pushed me to learn, I wouldn’t have known these things. But don’t underestimate them; when you learn these things, they might seem useless, but they can come in handy when it matters.”
The little girl exclaimed, “Then I want to learn too, I want to learn lots of things!”
