Chapter 1: The End of the World

Chapter 1: The Apocalypse

*Glug.*

Water surged from all directions, pressing against his chest. Suffocation enveloped him, his heartbeat growing heavier with each throb.

His hand groped blindly a few times before finally pushing against the bottom of the bathtub, breaking through the water’s surface.

*Splash—!*

Qi He wiped his face, swept his wet hair back, and coughed harshly a few times.

He was going to die.

No, he was already dead. After pulling two consecutive weeks of all-nighters reviewing games.

…Work kills! Qi He lamented inwardly.

In any case, staying up late wasn’t wrong.

The water stung his eyes, and it hurt a little. He blinked hard, finally able to see his surroundings clearly.

It was a dingy bathroom. White porcelain floor tiles were splashed with water, and he was kneeling on the ground, his upper body draped over the edge of the bathtub, which was still mostly filled with water.

—Apparently, he had just submerged himself in this headfirst, “guzzling” posture.

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was—where was this?

Qi He leveraged himself up on the bathtub and realized his knees hurt too—probably bruised. His shirt collar was drenched, clinging to his skin. He undid the top two buttons and tugged at it.

There was a mirror on the vanity behind him.

Qi He walked over and took a look. His wet hair was tossed back, revealing sharp, handsome features—raised eyebrows, a straight nose, and a naturally devil-may-care demeanor.

It was indeed his own face.

Before he could figure out the situation, an interface suddenly appeared before his eyes.

【*Bzzt! System initializing...*】

【■■■*Loading successful*■■■】

【*Hello.*】

A mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

A spherical electronic device appeared on the vanity.

Qi He stared at it for a few seconds, then tugged at his dripping clothes: “Not so good. And you are?”

Seemingly caught off guard by his blunt response to the pleasantry, the mechanical voice paused subtly: 【*The System. Host Qi He, your identity in the original world has ended. This is another dimensional world—Apocalypse.*】

Apocalypse. Qi He’s brow quirked.

In his previous life, he had been a game tester for twelve years, specializing in finding bugs in all sorts of games: shooters, action games, puzzle adventures, simulation or management games... but he reviewed MMORPGs the most—massively multiplayer online role-playing games set in open worlds.

An apocalyptic setting was nothing unfamiliar to him.

In those few sentences, the System had roughly explained the situation:

After he died from consecutive all-nighters, an important side character in this world named "Qi He" had also died. And he died in a rather unexpected way—after starving for four days, he fainted while trying to get water from the bathtub and drowned.

【*Setting the 'Uselessness Stat' too high was our mistake.*】

The System reflected on this briefly, then added emotionlessly, 【*Now you have taken over this role and gained a second life. You must strictly follow the script to advance key plot points, word-for-word.*】

Qi He was a born contrarian. “What if I change just one word?”

System: ……

The next moment, a jolt of high-voltage electricity surged through his entire body!

*Shit!* Qi He frowned, his muscles twitching in pain. The electronic sphere in front of him reflected a cold glare, as if utterly pitiless, and let out a mocking sound: 【*Hah...*】

But the next second, a hand grabbed it.

Acting on impulse, Qi He turned around despite the soreness, shoved the sphere into the tub of water behind him. *Splash!*

The electric current instantly surged through the entire tub of water.

【*Werua! Werua! Werua! Werua—*】

The mechanical voice glitched and fizzed from the electrocution, but the electric current on his body didn’t weaken. Qi He understood: it seemed the "punishment" wasn’t issued by the System itself but from a higher dimension...

Probably just to serve as a warning, the electric current soon stopped.

Qi He fished out the fizzing sphere, casually shook his arm a couple of times, and walked out of the bathroom.

Outside was a one-bedroom apartment, with the dining table facing the main door.

He walked to the table and sat down, tossing the sphere onto it. “First, let me see—what’s the plot?”

【*Okay.*】

The System, having just been drenched, now had a garbled, static-filled voice.

【*"You" are a complete loser. After reaching adulthood, you moved to City H to rent a place and live alone. Your parents once sponsored someone named "Yan Chuanbai," and after learning that he later joined the military, you repeatedly went behind your parents’ backs to ask him for money.*】

【*Yan Chuanbai loathed you, but out of gratitude for your parents’ kindness, he gave it to you every time.*】

【*After the zombie virus outbreak, your parents tragically died. But you, selfish and despicable, once again cashed in on their goodwill to demand that Yan Chuanbai, who was far away in City Y, come pick you up and escort you to a safe zone.*】

But later, the comms went dead. Before Yan Chuanbai could arrive, the original host died in such an absurd way.

…

Qi He leaned against the table, tapped a finger.

It was a professional habit of his when analyzing information.

According to the System, he was an important cannon fodder character, stirring up trouble nonstop with plenty of plot presence.

Qi He was pleased.

Stirring up trouble nonstop meant he stuck around a while.

The important cannon fodder’s plot revolved around "Yan Chuanbai," so Yan Chuanbai was most likely the world’s main character.

【*Yan Chuanbai is here.*】 A voice cut in.

It was unclear whether the person had arrived somewhere, but the system's speech sped up, summing things up in a couple of lines: 【*After Yan Chuanbai arrived, he gave you food, but you saw that it was expired and tossed it out right in his face.*】

Qi He found this unreasonable. “But ‘I’ was starving to death.”

Besides, so what if it got tossed?

The room was small—he could’ve just picked it back up.

As if seeing right through him, the system reminded him: 【*The script later will have a more precise description. Remember! You must act exactly according to the 'script,' word for word.*】

As soon as it finished speaking, a panel popped up before Qi He’s eyes.

『*Script loading:*』

『*In the cramped rental room, Yan Chuanbai kicked the door in. His gave a dismissive glare as he tossed a bag of bread in front of you. This was Yan Chuanbai’s last bit of food, yet you wasted—*』*Bzzt*—static crackled.

The panel glitched, beeping erratically.

System: ?

Qi He: ?

Qi He remarked pointedly, “…A more precise description?”

【*……*】

A series of beeping sounds followed, but the last few words still failed to appear. The system’s voice quivered in shock: 【*What’s going on? Could it be because I was thrown into the water earlier and electrocuted……*】

【*Did you break me!?*】

Well, that’s not good.

Qi He grabbed the sphere, egging it on while pretending to comfort, “Why’re you talking like that?”

The response was a sharp, piercing alarm sound.

Qi He looked up at the panel again, his gaze lingering on the final word "waste," mulling it over.

…Waste?

Perfect, he was an expert at wasting.

Patting the sphere gently, he smiled slightly. “Then I’ll wing the script my way.”

【*Wait—*】

The next moment, *bang!*

A loud noise drowned out the system.

In the cramped rental room, Yan Chuanbai had burst through the door.

Qi He looked up and met the gaze of the tall man in the doorway—

Yan Chuanbai was fully armed, looking down scornfully.

His eyebrows were thick, a faint scar slicing through the end of one brow. His eyes briefly swept over Qi He before a bag of bread, still carrying the lingering scent of gun smoke and blood, was thrown before him.

He drawled from above. “Oh, still alive?”

Qi He shook his head. “As good as dead.”

“……”

Yan Chuanbai narrowed his eyes.

He had never met Qi He before.

In his imagination, the other should have been a timid, pitiful mess.

But now, the young man sat casually by the table, two buttons of his collar undone, revealing delicate collarbones. His features were exceptionally good-looking, his eyes and brows especially resembling those of the Qi couple, radiating calmness.

Yet the faintly curved corners of his lips carried a hint of nonchalance.

But that was all. Yan Chuanbai looked away.

In this world, too many people were not as they appear.

Crossing his arms, he said, “Eat. Once you’re done, it’s time to hit the road.”

Qi He took the bread, quite amiably. “You have such a way with words—hard to tell it’s even human language.”

Yan Chuanbai, “……”

Qi He ripped open the bag and was about to eat.

A reminder chimed in: 【*Don’t forget the script.*】

He paused: Oh right, he needed to confirm first that this was a bag of expired food. Then, right in front of Yan Chuanbai, he would waste—

He stopped and glanced at the expiration date.

A few steps away, Yan Chuanbai’s eyes flickered with mockery. “What are you looking at?”

“Aged nicely,” Qi He remarked after checking the best-by date, praising, “A fine vintage!”

Yan Chuanbai, “……….”

Ignoring the speechless stare before him, Qi He ripped open the bag, wolfed down the bread in a few bites, and even tapped out the crumbs to eat them.

The system freaked out: 【*What happened to wasting it!*】

“Who promised anything?” Qi He retorted. “The script didn’t say what came after.”

【*Then what are you going to 'waste…'?*】

Before Qi He could answer, he heard a question from ahead:

“What’s this?”

Yan Chuanbai had wandered over to the table, his gaze fixed on the system’s spherical form. In the apocalypse, resources were scarce, communications were down, and any usable equipment needed to be maximized for efficiency.

Seeing that Qi He didn’t stop him, he picked up the sphere and tinkered with it.

Then, following a seam, he popped it open with a click.

The sphere unfolded, transforming into a watch-like band.

“……” Qi He, who had been scrambling for an explanation, said, “My Little Genius Watch.”

System: 【*. *】

Yan Chuanbai looked up.

Qi He gave him a smile, “If you like it, you can have it.”

Yan Chuanbai also smiled, “Oh, is that so?”

He lowered his gaze cryptically, “Since when did you get so generous? I had no idea...”

Qi He said pityingly, “You just don't know me well enough.”

“…”

“Besides, you’re the most important person to me now,” Qi He added, gazing sincerely into his eyes. “Without you, I wouldn’t want to go on living.”

Yan Chuanbai curled his lip, “It’s not that you wouldn’t want to—you couldn’t survive.”

Caught, Qi He gave a faint smile.

Yan Chuanbai had no interest in his things and tossed the system back, “Get ready to go.”

Qi He retrieved the system, which was screaming alarms in his head, and casually put it on his wrist. He didn’t mind Yan Chuanbai’s attitude anyway—he had already followed the script and “acted recklessly” as required.

From the moment he started with the sweet talk, the system was thrown for a loop: so "flirting" was the verb!

It said coldly, 【*Attention: five minutes left until the key plot point concludes.*】

Qi He paused almost imperceptibly: ?

The system egged him on: 【*The original host threw away the supplies Yan Chuanbai gave him. This was their first big blow-up.*】

Qi He: “They argued for five minutes?”

Yan Chuanbai wasn’t one for long arguments; he’d more likely settle it with force in five seconds flat.

【*In the original plot, the original character was very clingy.*】

“…” Qi He understood, “Alright. In the new plot, I can be very clingy too.”

The system: 【*?*】

With that, he stood up.

Yan Chuanbai was standing right there, one hand habitually resting on his holster, looking around the room to see if there was anything useful.

Qi He called out, “Yan Chuanbai.”

Yan Chuanbai turned to him.

Once standing, the distance between them narrowed. Yan Chuanbai frowned slightly, “What?”

Qi He leaned back against the table, “Yeah.”

He braced one hand on the table, his gaze falling on Yan Chuanbai’s tactical harness. The strap was snug against his chest, the muscles beneath slightly tensed. Suddenly, he reached out and pinched the end of the strap between his fingers.

The nylon webbing was smooth and sturdy, high-quality.

His fingertips stroked it twice.

Yan Chuanbai’s eyes darkened, filled with danger and warning, “What are you doing?”

Qi He feigned innocence, looking back at him.

The traces of water hadn’t dried on his face, and his eyes were bright as if washed clean. Under Yan Chuanbai’s gaze, which seemed ready to erupt at any moment, he gave a coy smile.

“We make a deal.”

Author's Note:

Qi He: Hinting.jpg

Yan Chuanbai: ?