Chapter 9: I Only Need 72 Hours To Fall In Love With You (IX)

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Chapter 9: I Only Need 72 Hours To Fall In Love With You (IX)

The instant he was struck, Shang Ke’s soul left his body. He simply hadn’t returned to the System Space yet. It wouldn’t be long, though. At most, he would only have to wait another ten minutes or so before completely leaving this world.

“Save him. I don’t care what method you use—you have to bring him back!” Ravel seized Benny by the wrist, his gaze terrifyingly cold.

Ignoring the pain in his wrist, Benny patiently said, “Your Majesty, please accept your loss. Cage truly cannot be saved. If we force treatment now, we’ll only damage his remains. Is that really what Your Majesty wants?”

Ravel slowly released his hand and turned his gaze back to the young man on the ground. Encased in transparent ice, Cage still wore a smile, his gaze gentle and lifelike as ever. Only a few minutes ago, he had been standing beside Ravel, leaning on his hand as they offered flowers to the fallen heroes together.

And in the next instant, Ravel had watched helplessly as he died in his arms.

This fool. He could barely even walk, yet he still tried to save me!

The image of Cage throwing himself in front of him replayed endlessly in Ravel’s mind. A faint mist seemed to veil his ice-blue eyes.

If he had reacted just a little faster, if he had moved just a little quicker… would Cage still be alive?

If Ravel had known this would happen, nothing could have persuaded him to bring Cage to the memorial service.

In the end, Cage hadn’t even had the chance to say a single word.

“Your Majesty.” Kahn approached and said quietly, “It isn’t safe here. I’ll escort you back to the official residence.”

Ravel was silent for a moment. “Bring an ice coffin.”

Shang Ke, still in spirit form, crouched beside Ravel.

This guy isn’t planning to keep Cage’s corpse frozen forever, is he?

He poked at the frozen body on the ground. His finger passed straight through the ice and touched the corpse’s skin, and he immediately felt a powerful suction.

Before he could react, he was pulled straight back into Cage’s body.

【Congratulations, Host. Additional mission completed, and resurrection successful. The System awards the Host an additional fifteen-day stay in this world.】

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! I can still come back to life like this?

He had thought having paralyzed limbs was already miserable enough. He hadn’t expected the System to come up with something even worse.

Another fifteen days as a frozen corpse? What the actual fuck?!

Shang Ke wanted to cry, but no tears would come. He could only curse his own meddlesome hand.

Why the hell did I have to poke it?!

Through the ice, Shang Ke’s eyes met Ravel’s. Something shifted in Ravel’s gaze, and he leaned forward slightly.

“Cage?” he called softly.

Hehe, sorry about that. This humble one can’t move his hands, can’t speak, can’t blink, and can’t move his head. I’m afraid I have no way to answer your summons.

“What is it, Your Majesty?” Benny asked when he noticed the change in Ravel’s expression.

“I don’t know why.” Ravel stared into Shang Ke’s eyes. “But I feel like he’s still conscious.”

“That’s impossible. The Cryo-Devil freezes even the brain. How could…”

Before Benny could finish, he noticed Shang Ke’s eyes as well. Only moments ago, they had been frozen and lifeless. Now it was as though vitality had been poured back into them, light flowing through those clear, lively eyes.

Benny’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Ravel turned toward him and asked in a grave, tightly restrained voice, “He’s still alive, isn’t he?”

Benny was speechless.

“Save him.” Ravel’s voice hardened. “Save him!”

Benny looked at Cage encased in ice. Gritting his teeth, he finally nodded.

“I’ll do everything I can.”

Cage possessed a degree of vitality Benny had rarely encountered in his entire career. Perhaps this time, too, the young man could create another miracle.

The chances of successfully thawing him would depend on how long he could hold on.

Before long, the ice coffin arrived.

A body frozen by a Cryo-Devil was extraordinarily brittle, so special methods had to be used during transport to ensure it remained completely intact.

Ravel ordered his men to carefully lift the frozen Cage. Hope reignited in his heart, and all he wanted was to get him to the hospital as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Benny contacted the hospital and instructed them to prepare for the necessary treatment.

When the reporters outside saw this, a daring possibility immediately occurred to them.

Could Cage actually still be saved?

This was huge news!

They all raised their cameras. Despite the chaos and the guards’ strict security, they seized every possible opening to capture footage.

Cage’s body was placed inside the ice coffin, and the guards began pushing it toward the shuttle. Ravel and Benny followed close behind.

【Additional Mission 2: Help Ravel survive a bomb attack. If the Host completes this mission without dying, the Host may choose to remain in this world and live out the rest of this life however he pleases.】

System, I’ve put up with you for long enough! Are you ever going to fucking stop?! Why don’t you turn yourself into a corpse and show me how you’re supposed to protect Ravel from a bomb?!

Lying inside the ice coffin, Shang Ke was furious beyond words.

Living people have dignity, and corpses do too, okay?!

Just then, a sudden commotion broke out outside the ice coffin. Someone seemed to have fallen, setting off a chain reaction.

Then something slammed heavily into the ice coffin with a loud bang .

Immediately afterward came Ravel’s furious roar:

“DON’T!”

Shang Ke was certain that this was the most emotionally charged shout Ravel had ever let out in his entire life.

Then the world spun. His body tipped and plunged downward.

Amid the sound of something shattering into countless pieces, his consciousness sank completely into darkness.

Finally… I’m free…

Ravel watched helplessly as Cage tumbled from the overturned ice coffin, struck the ground, and shattered into countless crystalline fragments mixed with blood, glinting harshly beneath the sunlight.

Everything around him seemed to freeze.

Ravel stood rigidly in place, his eyes completely unfocused.

Just as he was about to move, a deafening explosion erupted nearby. One of the shuttles was instantly engulfed in flames.

It was the very shuttle that had been prepared to transport the ice coffin. Because everything had been arranged in such a rush, no one had had time to inspect it properly. Ravel would certainly have boarded the same shuttle.

Had the accident with the ice coffin not occurred, both Ravel and Cage would have been blown to pieces.

“Your Majesty, Cage saved your life again,” Benny said heavily. “I think… that was his final wish.”

His body shattered to pieces, all to protect his sovereign.

Ravel’s vision blurred. The only color that had remained in his eyes disappeared along with the withering of that Crimson Skyfire.

From that moment on, his world held only black and white…

【Congratulations, Host. Mission complete. Although the Host’s body was ultimately shattered beyond any possibility of resurrection, the Host will still receive triple rewards.】

“Thank you so very much!” Shang Ke was practically in tears. This mission had lasted barely twenty days, yet by the end, there wasn’t even a scrap of his body left. “System, don’t tell me every mission from now on is going to be this brutal?”

【No. The first world came with special benefits, which is why the Host was able to complete it so easily. Furthermore, the Host successfully elevated the art of dying to its absolute pinnacle.】

“You call that a special benefit?! And you call that easy ?” Shang Ke could hardly believe what he was hearing.

【Of course. The missions in the first world could be completed while sitting, while standing, or even while lying down.】

Shang Ke’s expression went completely blank.

Hadn’t his three missions been completed exactly like that—one “sitting,” one “standing,” and one “lying down”?

Sitting through torture, standing to take a shot, lying down to shatter into pieces…

Hehe.

He really had taken dying to an artistic extreme.

【Starting with the second world, these special benefits will no longer be provided. The Host will have to find ways to court death entirely on his own.】

Why does that sound so fucking unpleasant? What do you mean, “court death on my own”? Do you think I actually enjoy trying to get myself killed? Besides, how hard can dying possibly be?

【Please remember, Host: your death must meet the requirement of being “heroic.” An ordinary accidental death will be regarded as mission failure. Suicide and dying peacefully of old age also violate the two fundamental rules and will result in corresponding penalties.】

“Isn’t the punishment just adding more missions?”

【Do not become complacent. If the Host continues failing missions, the penalties will accumulate. The Host may eventually become trapped in an endless cycle of death.】

Shang Ke: “…”

All right. That actually does sound pretty serious.

【Now, please receive your rewards.】

Finally, something pleasant.

【In the first world, the Host completed one Main Mission and two Additional Missions. Constitution +10 (+5 +5), Memory +20 (+10 +5), Mental Power +15 (+5 +5), Appearance +15 (+10 +5), Lifespan +5 (+1 +2). The values in parentheses are rewards from the Additional Missions.】

“Weren’t there supposed to be skills too?”

【Yes. The Host may also choose two skills to study.】

The System opened the entire skill catalog, revealing a total of seventy-seven options. Shang Ke had never even heard of some of them.

After thinking it over, Shang Ke decided that improving his combat ability would be the most practical choice, so he selected “Martial Arts” and “Magic.”

【Sorry. The Host’s constitution has not yet reached the minimum requirement for studying Martial Arts or Magic.】

“What? There are constitution requirements too?”

【Of all the available options, only illuminated skills may be selected. A grayed-out skill indicates that the Host has not yet met the requirements to study it.】

Shang Ke looked over the skill catalog again. Of the seventy-seven skills, only Musical Instruments, Cooking, Painting, Acting, Racing, Makeup, and Swimming were illuminated.

He asked, “Can I see my physical stats?”

【The Host is currently in spirit form, so physical data cannot be viewed. The Host’s physical condition can only be assessed after returning to the original body.】

【Has the Host decided which two skills to choose?】

Shang Ke thought carefully before finally choosing Cooking and Musical Instruments.

【Selection confirmed. The Host will now enter the Hundred Training Space.】

“Hundred Training Space?”

【All skills must be studied and practiced in the Hundred Training Space before they can be fully mastered.】

Shang Ke found the arrangement quite reasonable. Skills obtained out of nowhere could never provide the same sense of confidence as abilities genuinely learned and practiced.

What Shang Ke hadn’t expected was that he would spend an entire ten years in the Hundred Training Space. The System later explained that time flowed at a different rate there than in the outside world, but that did little to ease his frustration.

Who could endure ten straight years of studying cooking and musical instruments?! Worse yet, he wasn’t allowed to leave until he reached master-level proficiency.

Cooking wasn’t too bad. Most of his time went into learning instruments. Fortunately, he had chosen only the piano and flute. If he had picked several more, he probably wouldn’t have gotten out for decades!

After ten years of grueling training, Shang Ke officially entered his second world.

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