Chapter 46: Congratulations, Player, You Have Won the Game

Fang Siqian barely had time to react before he was caught by the hunter.

[Fang Siqian OUT]

Fang Siqian: “???”

Was he really eliminated, just like that, right before the game ended? And right in front of so many cameras, did Zhou Yili really dare to openly and blatantly set him up... or rather, sabotage him? Was he insane?

Undoubtedly, he was.

Sheng Que, having witnessed Zhou Yili’s crime, ran at his side and asked, “You’ve gone so far as to kill your own teammate now?”

There was a wild, untamed madness about Zhou Yili, as if he had transcended all worldly constraints.

“Yeah, so it’s best not to provoke me. Otherwise—”

Fang’s fans: Really? You dare say that?

“When I go crazy, I’ll even kill myself.”

“...”

If you’re going to kill yourself, then eliminating my idol seems... Wait, that’s not the point.

With only fifteen minutes left until the game ended, the guests still hadn’t found any clues about the last verified NPC.

“That’s weird. It shouldn’t be this way.” Cen Susu scratched her head.

She’d always loved this type of challenge game—how could there be not a single clue?

“Look out!”

Suddenly Cen Susu dashed toward Qi Yan, who was in the pavilion, and before the latter could react, she spun her around in her arms—

The hunter’s hand landed on Cen Susu’s back.

[Cen Susu OUT]

Qi Yan frowned slightly.

Cen Susu, on the other hand, was carefree. She waved her hand. “I’m offline now, offline now. Good luck, little sister.”

Qi Yan had wanted to ask why she took the fall for her, but was caught off guard by the words and turned away slightly.

“Don’t call me little sister.”

“All right.” As the staff escorted Cen Susu away, she gave a lazy, casual wave. “Then good luck, big sister.”

Qi Yan said nothing, picked up Cen Susu’s clue card, and tucked it absentmindedly into her pocket.

With only ten minutes left, the town began closing off areas.

The guests were forced to head toward the beach and the coastal highway for the final activities.

“If we fail the mission, do we just run for our lives?”

Sheng Que looked at the endless expanse of beach and highway and decided to bury himself in the sand.

Halfway buried, he died.

The guests were eliminated one by one. Zhou Yili glanced carelessly at Shen Jixing.

“So, what now, Strongest Brain?”

The Strongest Brain gave him a languid glance, then pulled a sea-blue bead from his pocket.

It was the reward he’d received during the undercover segment.

“I’m wondering what it’s for.”

Zhou Yili’s brain kicked into gear. “Does it turn into a person?”

Shen Jixing replied calmly, “Do you turn into a bead?”

Zhou Yili lifted his long leg and gave him a nudge. “Who are you calling a pig?”

“...”

Shen Jixing ended the pointless conversation.

He looked up toward the distant beach, where the mermaid had once been, a boundless stretch of sand.

Now, with only a few minutes left, ten hunters drove off-road vehicles into the zone, beginning their final pursuit.

Qi Yan, unlucky, was cornered on the road and eliminated.

Soon, only the two of them remained.

“All right, game over.”

“We lost, we lost, we lost! This show is so buggy, I’m giving the director a bad review.”

“Fourteen hunters chasing two people, and it’s a boundless beach. If they win, I’ll eat dirt on livestream. This is just bullying my idol.”

“Back to mooching food and drink, huh?”

Shen Jixing gazed at the blue bead in his palm. With such a high-production game, there couldn’t possibly be such a basic bug—especially since the two designers were both computer science prodigies from Tsinghua and Peking University.

The clue was hidden within the clues.

He was a man, and yet... seemed a woman.

He liked dyeing his hair, he could dance, he could do twenty backflips, he was cold-faced but soft-hearted, he was a two-timing scoundrel...

A faint smile traced Shen Jixing’s lips. “I understand now.”

Zhou Yili was still munching on a prop under the stand. “?”

“Zhou Yili.”

“Yeah, speak.”

“Three minutes—can we make it to the verification point?” Shen Jixing asked him, glancing sideways.

“Baby, you’d need to launch a rocket to get there.”

“At this distance, I’d need at least ten minutes to run—what is Shen Jixing talking about?”

“Better just hide. If the mission can’t be completed, so be it.”

In the distance, the mermaid’s singing echoed, searching forlornly for traces of a lost lover.

“Is unrequited love the mermaid’s eternal fate?”

Zhou Yili assessed the distance. “We can.”

“???”

“What? Are you two about to fly over there?”

Then Zhou Yili vaulted over the coconut stand with one hand and dashed in the opposite direction from the mermaid’s beach—

Across a vast, open, empty field, the hunters locked onto his position and chased after him.

Zhou Yili leaped into the hunter’s off-road vehicle.

The engine roared to life. He floored the gas and sped into the distance.

Hunter: “?”

The off-road vehicle drifted to a halt, and before Zhou Yili could say a word, Shen Jixing had already jumped in.

“Go.”

Fourteen hunters locked onto their position and ran toward the vehicle.

Shen Jixing glanced at Zhou Yili. “Why aren’t we moving?”

With sandy fingers, Zhou Yili knocked lazily on the steering wheel. “Let’s wait for them.”

“...”

This little lion really enjoyed showing off.

When all the hunters converged on the off-road vehicle, Zhou Yili slammed the gas pedal, and the car shot forward like thunder—

Hunter: “...”

You really do like showing off.

But the hunters could only follow the game rules and chase after them, a cloud of sand rising behind. Fourteen hunters gave pursuit, Shen Jixing glancing back at the distance.

Zhou Yili’s voice sounded in his ear. “Shen Jixing, do you see that flag over there?”

Shen Jixing glanced across. “What is it?”

“The best time for a short-distance off-road sprint.” Zhou Yili narrowed his eyes, gripped the steering wheel, and floored the gas. “I’ll help you break that record today.”

The best time on the flag was one minute and thirty-two seconds.

Zhou Yili arrived in one minute and fifteen seconds.

“So—” Zhou Yili turned to look, seeing Shen Jixing jump out and run toward the mermaid without looking back, “—how was that?”

The hunters, hearing the commotion, rushed over as Zhou Yili jumped out of the car.

“Why get out? You could have won outright!”

“If he doesn’t, the hunters will give up on him and go after Shen Jixing instead, right?”

“I’m shipping it.”

“You’re finally here.” The mermaid looked past Shen Jixing, blue eyes dimming slightly. “You didn’t bring them with you?”

Shen Jixing gazed at the mermaid with calm composure.

“I am them.”

“Is that so?”

The mermaid looked at him, perplexed, but suddenly her eyes lit up with a faint glow. “I remember now. It’s you. I remember everything. The one I was searching for was you all along...”

Not only him.

Each time the verification succeeded, it wasn’t the NPCs, but the guests themselves.

The director tailored the clues to each person’s mission. Each guest received a set of clues unique to themselves.

Zhou Yili completed the fishing mission.

So why was he the one singing in the end?

“Why didn’t I get a clue?” This was what Shen Jixing didn’t understand.

The mermaid, adorned with jewels, looked at him with a gentle smile.

“Because no one is like you. You are one of a kind.”

Shen Jixing gazed quietly at the breathtakingly beautiful mermaid, born from lines of code.

Perhaps this was the director’s gentle help to him amid the raging storm.

[Mission Complete]

The hunters chasing Zhou Yili finally stopped in their tracks.

They thought: perhaps this, too, was a kind of release.

The mermaid’s gentle blue eyes lingered on Shen Jixing.

“Goodbye now. I’ll go to the next world to find them.”

A mermaid’s life was endless; what it sought was a lover, reincarnated time and again.

[Ultimate Mission: Use a Siren’s Tear to erase the mermaid’s memories, helping it escape the pain of eternal longing for its lover]

Shen Jixing held the sea-blue bead in silence for a moment, then called out.

“Wait. I have something for you.”

“What is it?”

The mermaid turned, surprised at the sight of the sea bead. “Is that... a merman’s tear?”

“Yes. It can help you erase their memory. Didn’t you want to change the fate of unrequited love?”

The mermaid gazed at the crystal-clear bead. “But then, no one would remember them... No one would remember the traces of our love. Do you want me to forget them?”

There was struggle and hesitation in its eyes, but it still wanted to follow the system’s instructions.

“I’ll listen to you.”

[Game countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five...]

“Ahhh, I’m going crazy! What will Shen Jixing choose?”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t know either. The little mermaid wants to change her fate, but the price is to forget her lover forever.”

“I think Shen Jixing won’t let it forget. The end of death is oblivion—he’d rather lose than erase the mermaid’s memory, or else their love would be lost forever—wait, what?!”

Shen Jixing pressed the sea bead to the mermaid’s brow. In an instant, azure light burst forth.

The blue bead turned clear and slipped from his palm into the sand.

[Memory erased successfully. Congratulations, player: You win the game.]

The mermaid gave him one last embrace. “Actually, I don’t want to forget you. I love you.”

It dissolved into a thousand lines of code that scattered across the sea. Shen Jixing paused for a moment, then turned around.

He suddenly met Zhou Yili’s gaze.

The roar of the waves echoed in the distance, white foam washing over his ankles. Shen Jixing heard Zhou Yili ask him, in a quiet voice,

“Shen Jixing, have you always been this ruthless?”