Chapter 96: Butterfly Paradise (End)

Chapter 96: Butterfly Paradise (End)

◎A Glimpse of the Truth.◎

After all players had left, the flames from the cocoon pavilion began to spread throughout the entire paradise, and Shi Youqing, standing above the pavilion, finally came to his senses.

After transforming into his true form using runes to control his power, Shi Youqing had erased all the runes here. Sensing this, the giant butterfly tried to flee, only to be caught by him and personally fed into the swarm of butterflies.

However, it wasn't long before the small butterflies, having devoured the giant butterfly, started following him. Initially, he thought they were going to feed on his blood, but soon discovered that the swarm was transmitting memories to him through their collective consciousness...

A multitude of memories.

His capture by that man into a dark world, a period of chaotic consciousness, reuniting with Bao Huai... and finally returning to reality.

It was then that Shi Youqing understood why Bao Huai was reluctant to let them in.

These butterflies existed because of him—born from a fleeting desire to see butterflies in his chaotic mind, materializing into this form.

These butterflies had always accompanied him.

They held all the memories about Shi Youqing.

...They were his subordinates, and also his companions.

As flames soared into the sky and butterflies fluttered their wings, it was as if they were saying: "Let's go home."

Overwhelmed with information, Shi Youqing's mind was numb and blank. He then stepped into the cocoon pavilion, looking towards the man inside.

After the death of the giant butterfly, the man gradually regained consciousness.

As soon as he opened his eyes and saw Shi Youqing, he instinctively drew a rune and was about to leave, but was swiftly ensnared by Shi Youqing’s hair and yanked up.

Startled, he then sneered, "You can't kill me, just like I can't kill you. Don't waste your effort! Unless you want to completely disrupt the gaming world. In that case, all players will die!"

"Who said I want to kill you?" Shi Youqing looked down at him, "Your body is many, but your consciousness is one. Killing you would just make you find another shell. I won’t bother."

"Smart of you. I advise you to come back with me..."

The man didn’t finish his sentence, his expression suddenly turning to one of terror.

Shi Youqing bent down slightly and, to the man’s horror, picked up the only intact cocoon, his mouth curling slightly, and moved it towards him.

"No—"

The cocoon of the giant butterfly had the power to resurrect the dead, and naturally could also heal his wounds.

But... it also possessed the ability to imprison souls.

His life was infinite, but the conscious soul he possessed was unique!

The man screamed in horror, never expecting the shortcut he had taken to be exploited by Shi Youqing, turning into a prison that trapped him, "No—"

Shi Youqing moved swiftly, enveloping the man's body with the cocoon in an instant.

With a swirl of his long silver hair, the cocoon was tightly wrapped without leaving any gaps, soon transforming into a white sphere. Attached to a strand of hair near his ear, it resembled a delicate hair clip.

A rather intricate hair accessory indeed.

However, this “hair clip” was far from peaceful, with the man's enraged screams continuing from within.

Shi Youqing removed the “hair clip” and held it over the fire.

“Ah—”

The man's screams were relentless.

This method couldn’t kill him, but the agony of a soul being scorched was unimaginable.

“Don’t...” the man’s voice trembled, “Youqing, how can you do this to me?”

“Why can’t I?” Shi Youqing questioned, puzzled, “I thought of dismembering you piece by piece, but a soul has no physical form, which makes it too troublesome. If you prefer that, I can think of a way later.”

“Shi Youqing... I will never forgive you!” Another wave of pitiful screams followed.

Uninterested in further conversation, Shi Youqing, with the fire blazing intensely, flipped the cocoon over to continue roasting it.

As time ticked by, the entire cocoon pavilion was engulfed in flames, except for the glowing exit and the ground beneath Shi Youqing's feet, leaving almost nowhere untouched.

The man inside the cocoon gritted his teeth, enduring the torment while waiting for Shi Youqing to vent his anger and leave. But after enduring agonizingly for so long, there was no sign of Shi Youqing planning to depart.

It was as if he intended to stay there, torturing him eternally!

He might not die, but that didn't mean he could endure endless torment.

For the first time being so utterly controlled, he finally felt absolute fear: “Youqing, what exactly do you want?”

Shi Youqing asked coldly, “Where is my mother?”

The person inside the cocoon fell silent.

Shi Youqing tightened the cocoon further, placing it into an even larger fire.

The man couldn’t endure any longer, "No—don’t— I’ll tell!"

Shi Youqing repeated his question: "Where is my mother?"

"At the... very end of the game! That's all I know!"

Even after getting his answer, Shi Youqing didn’t rescue him from the fire but flipped the cocoon over, continuing to roast it for a while, then stepped into one of the four rooms leading to this place.

The seven NPCs were already trapped in a sea of fire, reduced to ashes. Jiang Zhanpeng, “revived” after the death of the giant butterfly, had extricated himself from Fang Jiang’s corpse, reuniting with his three friends.

As Shi Youqing approached, they huddled together in fear.

However, the terrifying deity only squatted down in front of them, then unrolled a piece of paper with his long silver hair, asking, "Do you recognize him?"

Ding Tianjiao stammered in a trembling voice, "After I died, it was he who approached my parents! He's responsible for all this..."

Wu Wanglong added, "Before my soul was imprisoned, I secretly followed him for a while. His name is Cheng Yang! He’s the one who created this paradise!"

Zhu Chenggong and Ding Zhanpeng echoed, though hesitant to look directly at him.

From the cocoon behind, the man’s angry shouts resonated, "Shi Youqing— you’re untrustworthy!"

Shi Youqing retorted without turning back, “I’m not.” He never said he wouldn’t roast him after getting the location of his mother; there was no breach of trust.

The four boys, initially terrified of him, paused and then looked at him with curiosity and inquiry.

"Where will you go after this place is destroyed?" Shi Youqing asked.

"Once our souls are free, we should be reborn," said Ding Zhanpeng. "Since we still have souls after death, it means there is reincarnation."

Watching their figures gradually fade, Shi Youqing thought it made sense.

"Thank you," the four boys bowed to him and then vanished.

With the matter resolved, Shi Youqing opened the blue floating frame.

[Black World Copy: Butterfly Paradise]

[Game Progress: 100%]

Regarding the background story, he really didn't want to experience it first-hand anymore and only read the text version.

The deaths of Ding Tianjiao and Zhu Chenggong were as Chen Lan and Feng Bin had described. Wu Wanglong's story also aligned with their speculations. His parents, spying on his phone while he slept, discovered his online flirtations with a man and learned of his sexual orientation.

Wu Wanglong was their only son. They couldn't accept his attraction to men, viewing it as a perversion, a mental illness. They attributed all his shortcomings to his same-sex attraction... After hearing that the web addiction treatment center could "cure" homosexuality, they sent him there.

Sure enough, a few days after electrotherapy, their son apologized to them. They were satisfied and "encouraged" him to keep it up, until one day they received the tragic news — their son "accidentally died" during "punishment."

Jiang Zhanpeng, feeling neglected by his father's absence from parent-teacher meetings for a year, began a "rebellious" phase in his adolescence to draw his father's attention.

Their father-son relationship was vastly different from what Jiang's father had described.

Instead of spending time with his son and maintaining a healthy relationship, he reprimanded him after coming home from work and took him to his superiors' houses during holidays to grovel with gifts, teaching him how to play "adult games."

The reason Jiang Zhanpeng was sent to a web addiction treatment center wasn’t that Jiang's father thought him irredeemable; he was just too busy that summer and sent him there for peace of mind, fearing his son would cause trouble.

Jiang Zhanpeng suffered immensely in the center, his dignity trampled repeatedly, until he couldn’t bear it anymore and escaped with a girl who was also suffering.

Assuming the two were involved in a teenage romance and had eloped, Jiang's father and the girl’s parents caught them and brought them back the next day.

Jiang Zhanpeng told his father everything he had endured, but Jiang's father saw it as excuses for his son's bad behavior and decided to send him back for stricter discipline.

"So many students stay there just fine; why is it only you who suffers? Doesn’t that mean the problem is with you?"

Jiang Zhanpeng didn’t understand why he burst into tears at that moment.

Nor did he understand why his father, whom he had always relied on, chose to believe those who tormented him rather than his own son. His hatred boiled over in the silence, nearly uncontrollable. He looked at his father’s moving lips and blurted out that he wanted to kill him.

How could he say such a thing? He had only one father, who he wouldn’t even dare to talk back to... How could he say such a thing?

Later, Jiang Zhanpeng remembered that as a small child, he had said something similar when his father embarrassed him in front of relatives. Furious, he yelled, "I hate you so much!"

It wasn’t true hatred, just an inability to express his hurt, a plea for his father to truly care for him.

But it never worked.

That harsh retort earned Jiang Zhanpeng a slap, and he was taken back home. That very night, Jiang Zhanpeng died.

Jiang Zhanpeng’s mother had passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage. He didn’t know if he had inherited the condition, but that night he felt a severe headache, initially thinking it was due to his father's harsh slap. He endured it until he could no longer bear the pain.

Unable to move, he then started vomiting. Realizing something was seriously wrong, but completely drained of strength, he cried out weakly, “My head hurts, Dad, my head hurts…”

The man in the living room seemed to hear him and shouted, “Why are you crying? Didn’t you want to kill your dad? You still have the face to cry?!”

By the time Jiang Zhanpeng stopped crying, it was already too late.

Jiang Zhanpeng missed the critical window for medical intervention.

……

Shi Youqing looked up, lost in thought as he gazed into the firelight of Butterfly Paradise.

The scales tightly wrapped around him, embracing him as they once did.

As the eaves collapsed, numerous tentacles sprouted rapidly from the scales, pushing the burning embers away.

Bao Huai had become his scales.

...No, the current Bao Huai was merely a part of those scales.

Since his departure, the second-generation evil deity's true form had been guarding the deepest part of the black world for him. A year ago, the player Bao Huai, who should have completed the game, found him at the game’s end and exchanged identities with his chaotic consciousness.

Just like in their childhood, the boy who carried him on his back hid him away, then turned to lead the bad guys away.

Thus, Shi Youqing acquired the player’s identity, returned to the past with his mother, and grew up safely, without crossing paths with the villains.

Until his mother entered the game and remembered everything...

Through this, he too glimpsed a corner of the truth.

The cocoon in the fire was rolled up by the long hair, turning back into a hair clip.

A system voice echoed in his mind: “Game settlement beginning... Congratulations to player Shi Youqing for such an impressive completion! As player Shi Youqing achieved the highest completion rate for this copy, resolving both butterfly and cocoon issues and capturing the BOSS with the cocoon’s properties, you will receive the highest reward! It has been sent to your backpack, please check!”

Shi Youqing walked towards the exit while simultaneously opening his backpack.

There were 28 more black chess pieces.

In addition to the black and white chess pieces, the backpack now contained an extra card.

[Ultimate Level Entry Ticket: This ticket can be used to enter the ultimate level once the total number of chess pieces reaches 100!]

[Friendly Reminder: The ultimate level is extremely dangerous. Players are advised to use this ticket with caution if they lack sufficient experience.]

Closing the floating frame, Shi Youqing continued walking forward.

For the first time, the corridor to the exit seemed incredibly long. He felt thirsty and wanted a drink but then remembered he hadn't learned how to shrink himself yet. Even if there was water, it would probably be just a drop of dew for his current size.

He wandered in a daze, unaware that he had returned to his original form, moving forward with his head drooping like a penguin.

Bao Huai followed closely behind, matching his steps.

"Why haven't we arrived yet?" Shi Youqing muttered, then felt a warmth in his hand as someone firmly took hold of it.

"I'll carry you, we'll be there soon." As if nothing had happened, Bao Huai bowed his head to wipe Shi Youqing's eyes. He was about to wipe them again when Shi Youqing looked up at him, a face full of grievance.

"Why haven't we arrived yet?"

Frozen in motion, Bao Huai's eyes reddened as he gazed at him, no longer able to hold back, suddenly cupping that face and leaning down to kiss him.

A warmth spread over his eyelids, followed by lips that initially trembled lightly upon contact. Their breaths grew heated, and then, Bao Huai bit Shi Youqing's lips.

Wanting to bite but not daring to, kissing yet feeling it insufficient, prying open the teeth, unable to control themselves anymore...

Shi Youqing's breathing became ragged, and his eyes started to feel sore.

The arms embracing him were incredibly strong, filled with a love so intense it felt like he wanted to embed Shi Youqing into his body, so much so that... Suddenly, the scenery shifted, and they found themselves back in reality.

It was their bedroom at home.

The landline phone nearby kept ringing incessantly.

...The atmosphere was tense.

Shi Youqing, still in Bao Huai's embrace with tear-stained eyelashes, spoke with a nasal voice, “I thought you would kiss my cheek... why did you kiss my lips?” He wasn’t unaware of the kind of affection that exists between people of the same sex, but his perception of Bao Huai had always been that of a childhood friend. Yet, with that kiss, many things had changed.

What if they got along so well that they ended up in bed together? Could his fragile heart handle that?

...Such a worry.

Bao Huai, unaware of Shi Youqing's tumultuous thoughts, was anxious and flustered; anxious over Shi Youqing's obliviousness and afraid that his actions would lead to rejection, his mind in complete disarray. Yet, he didn’t regret his recent actions in the slightest. Even if the person before him stabbed him right now, he would still be willing.

No, it wasn't that he didn't regret it. Seeing Shi Youqing's seemingly aggrieved expression, he was filled with remorse!

"I," overwhelmed with emotion, Bao Huai leaned close to that tender face, their cheeks touching. Resolutely, he said, "I really..."

The stopped ringing of the phone was replaced by the loud doorbell: "Youqing, are you back?"

"Brother Qingqing—"

...It was Feng Bin and Hao Tianshuo.

[Author’s Note]

This is Monday’s update, the next chapter will be updated on Tuesday morning, muah