Chapter 22: Regret Medicine
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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The sky gradually darkened, the night draped in shades of indigo velvet, with a few small stars scattered like shattered diamonds.
Click. Chu Feng also took a picture for X; having both their photos increases the chances of winning the lottery.
“Now, please put the photos you took into our Wish Pool,” announced the NPC prince.
As soon as he finished speaking, the magnificent marble floor of the palace suddenly turned into a lake, causing all the guests to gasp in surprise. They stood on the water, their shiny shoes treading on the translucent surface, creating gentle ripples.
Buzz… Buzz…
The in-game phone instantly printed out the photos taken just now. One was of Chu Feng in his black cat costume against the dusk sky, and the other was of X, the vampire, under the night sky.
Chu Feng first tossed his own photo, dressed as a little cat, into the lake. The light blue water was filled with many golden, silver, and red carp swimming back and forth, moving through the falling photos. Whichever carp grabbed a photo could determine what item the player would draw.
There were very few golden carp, representing the chance to draw the first prize, the Time Machine. Silver carp represented the Regret Medicine, while red carp represented the Lucky Buff. Chu Feng stared at the carp swimming beneath his feet. His photo was falling right in the middle, and a golden carp swam over…
Chu Feng watched as the small fish glanced at the fluffy cat ears in his photo, seeming a little startled. It quickly flicked its golden fins and swam away. Then a silver carp approached, but it didn’t even glance at Chu Feng’s photo, simply passing by. Following the silver carp was a red carp, which pecked at Chu Feng’s black cat photo, showing some interest. It then opened its mouth and picked up a corner of the photo, floating to the surface and blowing bubbles at Chu Feng’s feet.
【Congratulations to player CF4088 for obtaining the Lucky Buff. With this buff, you will be able to avoid danger 100% of the time, and you will also have the luck of the gods.】
A chorus of astonished voices quickly spread around. It was already remarkable to draw something, and in such a vast lake, there were only a few carp. The chances of colliding with one were extremely slim. Not only did this person manage to draw something, but they also drew the Lucky Buff directly. With this buff, they wouldn’t have to worry about drawing cards, lotteries, or exclusive sets ever again.
However, Chu Feng felt a little disappointed. His heart felt like it was submerged in ice water. He wanted to reverse time and space, preferably with a Time Machine, but at the very least with a Regret Medicine. The Lucky Buff wasn’t very useful for him; it could only ensure that one of his little Xies wouldn’t be endangered.
“This is pretty good,” X reassured him. “If you want to save a character from death, you might not necessarily need to reverse time and space. You can restore to factory settings.”
—Every Dream City player’s dream city has one chance to restore to factory settings, only once, which can restore everything to its initial state, essentially rebooting life. At the same time, all the props, costumes, and buildings constructed in the city will disappear, and most players would not want to restore to factory settings.
But judging from Chu Feng’s attitude, he probably didn’t care about the money, only about the character itself.
“It won’t work,” Chu Feng said, looking down at the little red carp at his feet. “I’ve already used that one chance.”
X was taken aback. “I thought you just started playing Dream City.”
“I’ve been playing for two years,” Chu Feng said with a bitter smile. Perhaps because X was willing to remove his bandages today, he also felt a bit more open:
“It’s not the first time I’ve experienced character death. The previous time… was more severe. They… were all gone, the whole city was gone, and I could only restore to factory settings. If it happens again this time…”
If Xie Shiyu dies again this time, then it really will be all over.
The game system load of Dream City has its limits. Extracting and fully restoring twenty years of memories from Chu Feng’s brain in a 100% true-to-life manner is a massive computational task that the system can only handle twice at most. If attempted a third time, there will inevitably be degradation, and the restored Little Xies may not be like the original Xie Shiyu.
If Chu Feng raised an ordinary character and added some elements himself, such as aloofness, charm, or girlishness, a virtual character composed of these elements could be recreated by the system no matter how many times they died. But Chu Feng liked the vibrant Xie Shiyu.
They had been together for twenty years, and if the restored Little Xie deviated even slightly from the original, Chu Feng would feel it. The restoration must remain 100% accurate for the game to continue. If Chu Feng ever felt that the one accompanying him wasn’t truly Xie Shiyu, he would feel nauseous and want to vomit.
“About that time…” X tentatively asked, “what happened?”
Chu Feng fell silent.
X: “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.”
“It wasn’t an accident.” Chu Feng gazed at the red squares on the stained glass window, red like blood. “It was suicide.”
The entire city’s Little Xies, collectively committed suicide.
X: “Why…?”
Chu Feng paused, his expression slightly pained, as if reluctant to remember. X timely stopped pursuing this question and changed the subject: “Let’s draw again. And here’s a picture of me.”
***
One hour later.
“Cousin! Cousin! Did you win?”
Lin Lan crouched at the entrance of Chu Feng’s Dream City, sending messages to his cousin. He was waiting for his cousin to use the time machine or regret medicine from Hudson Castle, then twist time and space to rescue Brother Xie.
Less than 10 seconds after sending the message, a square of blue light suddenly cut through the air in front of Lin Lan, opening a portal!
Chu Feng and X stepped out of the portal.
“Hey! Cousin, you’re back… Ah!!”
Lin Lan’s mouth formed a perfect ‘O’, unable to close it. He saw X, the great god, wearing a vampire count costume, while his six-foot-tall cousin was wearing…
A black fluffy kitten suit.
Away from the costume party, Chu Feng once again realized how… unconventional this outfit was. He opened his backpack, looking for a normal shirt and pants, and clicked [Change Clothes with One Click].
Ping—
A prompt popped up from the backpack: [The party is not over yet. You cannot change out of the couple’s costume without authorization~]
Chu Feng: …
He and X only participated in the lottery event. He wasn’t interested in the formal dancing and dining that followed, so he returned early.
Lin Lan was wearing a normal T-shirt and shorts. Looking at his cousin, who was a head taller and dressed as a black cat, he wanted to laugh but didn’t dare. He forced himself to ask seriously: “Um, did you win?”
Chu Feng’s hand was forced into a furry cat paw glove, and he used the cute cat paw to take out a delicate little box.
Lin Lan: “Did you really win? That’s great! Brother Xie is saved!!”
“At first, I drew the Lucky Buff,” Chu Feng said. Later, he transferred this Lucky Buff to X, and then threw X’s photo back into the wishing pool, so X drew the Regret Medicine.
Chu Feng opened the exquisite golden box. Inside the soft purple silk lay a small pill, half red and half white.
[System prompt: Congratulations on obtaining a five-star rare item, Regret Medicine]
[Usage: Change one of your last three choices]
[Note: The Regret Medicine can only be used once. After changing your choice, it will expire. Please cherish it!]
Chu Feng swallowed the Regret Medicine, and immediately three options appeared before him:
The third-to-last option: In the small forest by the abyss, Little Shiyu is about to fall – do you choose to save him?
Chu Feng immediately rushed up to grab Xie Shiyu’s hand. This choice couldn’t be changed.
The second-to-last option: Pushing time a bit further back, at the entrance of the hospital’s ground floor, seeing [Ghost Lin Lan] carrying four Little Shiyus rushing into the woods, do you choose to follow?
—At that time, Chu Feng chose to follow in pursuit. This choice was also correct.
The last option: On the second floor of the hospital, Room 208, at the door of Little Shiyus ward.
At that time, Chu Feng was about to leave the hospital with four Little Shiyus to go to a safe place when he encountered [Ghost Lin Lan] disguised as the real Lin Lan, [Ghost Lin Lan] clutching his belly wound, shouting to him: “There’s a ghost over there! Brother Xie has turned into a ghost!! It’s in the staircase between the second and third floors.”
Do you choose to go check?
At that time, Chu Feng chose to go.
Now, Chu Feng clicked [Change Option]—returning to the scene, he chose: [Don’t go]
***
On a summer night, the air was filled with the damp smell of soil, moist and chilly.
Raindrops pattered on the glass of the hospital corridor’s ventilated windows. Chu Feng stood on the pitch-dark second floor of the hospital.
“Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah——!! There’s a ghost! There’s a ghost!”
The screams of [Ghost Lin Lan] echoed from outside the corridor.
Drip drop, drip drop.
Chu Feng saw [Ghost Lin Lan] clutching his stomach, blood flowing from his abdomen, in a panic running towards him from the other end of the corridor:
“Cousin! Cousin!! Save me!!”
Without a word, Chu Feng grabbed the axe he had bought with in-game currency from the store and aimed it at [Ghost Lin Lan]’s head, delivering a heavy blow!
Crack——
[Ghost Lin Lan] screamed, falling to the ground, and Chu Feng quickly stepped back. [Ghost Lin Lan]’s body oozed black liquid all over, melting away the Lin Lan disguise and revealing the black entity. Chu Feng waited for the black liquid to corrode completely, then swiftly raised the axe and struck the entity twice, cutting it down on the spot!
Still unsatisfied, he pounded the axe on the entity’s body repeatedly, smashing it into pieces, until the black figure made a crackling sound, its entire body fragmented into black data shards, and vanished.
With the heavy axe in hand, Chu Feng breathed heavily, gasping for air, and suddenly felt a warmth behind him. It seemed that there was something cuddling up against the edge of his pants…
Little Shiyu was curled up behind Chu Feng in the hospital room, reaching out with a tiny hand, grabbing onto his pant leg.
With a water gun in the other hand.
“…Xie Shiyu?”
“What’s up.”
Chu Feng immediately dropped the axe and squatted down, tightly hugging Little Shiyu with the water gun:
“You silly fool.”
Little Shiyu: “?”
Chu Feng hugged this character in the game tightly, as if trying to reach out to the real Xie Shiyu through him. After twenty-four years, he finally knew the secret of the five-year-old Little Shiyu.
“Ah! Why only hug him! Chu Feng, you’re biased!” Popsicle Little Shiyu was unhappy.
Red Cap Little Shiyu: “Yeah, I want a hug too!”
Squeaky Shoes Little Shiyu: “I want a hug too!”
Chu Feng opened his arms and embraced all four Little Shiyus tightly.
He hugged them for a while before letting go, letting the system’s little spirit send them to the second middle school in the east city, temporarily staying in the dormitory there. With Dr. Xie’s boundless combat power in the west city and the School Bully Xie in high school, it should be relatively safe in the east city for now, considering that the virus outbreak occurred in the west city.
“The most urgent task now is to quickly find Dr. Xie, who is most likely to be the original body!” The black little system spirit laid on Chu Feng’s shoulder: “Currently, your Dream City is in a state of high alert, and the Monitoring Center has activated S-level protection for you, dispatching the strongest monitor, X, to work with you to eradicate the virus!”
X, Chu Feng, and Lin Lan stood at the entrance of the hospital.
Dr. Xie wasn’t in the third-floor clinic room, he must have gone out, but Chu Feng didn’t know where. Chu Feng thought to himself that Dr. Xie had already been infected, and wherever he passed by, if he encountered other Little Shiyus, those Little Shiyus would also be in danger.
“Cousin, do you know where Dr. Xie would usually go at this time?”
At this time…
Chu Feng suddenly realized, immediately lowering his head to check his watch.
The little Xies in his Dream City are 100% lifelike, with personalities and behaviors identical to those of the real Xie Shiyu. Different Xies are extracted from different memory fragments, and these Xies are very likely to repeat the actions they did in their past memories.
—The current time is 22:00.
Immediately, Chu Feng remembered a certain day when he was twenty-four years old. He came out of the company after working overtime, exactly at ten o’clock at night. He walked past the slope, past the steps, walked home alone, and then suddenly—
At the corner of the street, Chu Feng saw Xie Shiyu waiting with flowers in the rain for four hours.
That day, Xie Shiyu held a bouquet of pale purple baby’s breath, dressed in a casual white suit. In Chu Feng’s impression, Xie Shiyu rarely wore white, but only on that day, it was particularly conspicuous.
The white coat of Dr. Xie was taken from Xie Shiyu who waited with flowers in the rain.
“To the flower shop!” Chu Feng commanded the system, “Search for all the flower shops in the city that have purple baby’s breath and the route to the flower shop.”
The black little spirit erected its hair into antennas and quickly reported, “All the flower shops in the city have been searched… there are 9 shops, 2 of them have baby’s breath, and only 1 has pale purple baby’s breath, located at No. 25 Fenghua Road in the East City. There are a total of 3 routes to get there from here.”
Chu Feng, X, and Lin Lan exchanged glances, then split up to search. The little spirit turned its hair back into antennas and distributed them to X and Lin Lan, so that they could be notified of any news.
X headed to the back door of the hospital, Lin Lan went from the side door direction, and Chu Feng ran down along the hospital gate.
The cool summer night rain pattered on them, and the roadside was lit with dim yellow lights. In front of the hospital gate was a flat ground, and at the end of the flat ground was a flight of stone steps. Chu Feng had tripped on these steps last time, causing him to leak out in X’s arms…
After this flight of stone steps was a long slope and narrower steps, continuously descending. In the night rain, the yellowish street lamps reflected the slanting rain. Chu Feng ran down along the stone steps, and the scene in front of him gradually overlapped with the memory.
After Chu Feng finished the last step of the stairs and just raised his head, a familiar figure appeared at the corner.
Dr. Xie was wearing a white coat and holding a bunch of pale purple baby’s breath.
In the drizzle of the night, the slightly moist air came, and the wet light of the yellow street lamps fell on them.
Chu Feng opened his mouth but didn’t speak.
The system spirit quickly notified Lin Lan and X to come back: Dr. Xie had been found!
Dr. Xie saw Chu Feng’s surprise, but more of it was pleasure:
“Here to pay again?”
Chu Feng remained silent with his head down, standing still, his body being drenched in the rain. Under the dim light, Xie Shiyu looked at him, his amber eyes showing a hint of champagne gold. Chu Feng didn’t dare to meet such eyes directly, afraid of getting drunk.
Xie Shiyu looked curiously at Chu Feng, who was wearing a cat costume, with cat ears on his head, cat paws on his hands, furry all over, and even a tail on his lower back, swinging back and forth, clearly a costume for intimate occasions.
Xie Shiyu reached out and grabbed the fluffy tail on Chu Feng’s back, pinching it between his slender index and middle fingers, gently and leisurely stroking it up and down, hinting at something inexplicable:
“Tell me honestly, just finished playing with someone?”
Chu Feng: “No, I haven’t.”
Dr. Xie noticed that Chu Feng was carrying a red blood bag behind him. Cat costumes were quite common, anyone could play with them, but carrying a blood bag was not common.
Dr. Xie furrowed his brows slightly. In the lower right corner of the blood bag, there was a line of calligraphy:
-Exclusive for Mr. Vampire
Xie Shiyu’s brows furrowed even deeper.
Just then—
X, who received the system notification, rushed over.
Dr. Xie lifted his head and saw a man standing on the top of the slope, the man who had waited for Chu Feng downstairs during the fire rescue.
He was wearing a complicated and gorgeous vampire costume.
“Cousin! Did you find Dr. Xie…”
Lin Lan ran over from the side door, but as soon as he saw the scene in front of him, he fell silent.
Dr. Xie stood at the bottom of the slope, Mr. Vampire X stood at the top of the slope, and his cousin was in front of Dr. Xie, wearing a small cat costume exclusively for Mr. Vampire…
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