Volume 1, Chapter 77 – The Game Interferes with Reality

In the end, things were left as they were. Under Tianyin’s deliberate guidance, the slightly worried Mengyao had no choice but to let go of her suspicions about Bingxue.

That said, the undead girl herself still wore a dazed expression, clearly unaware of what she had just done.

Naturally, that was where the matter ended. Originally, Tianyin and her group had been prepared to struggle their way through the monster nest that blocked the main route forward. But thanks to Bingxue’s overwhelming power, they had managed to clear the seemingly difficult area perfectly.

Their destination, Snow White City, lay ahead. And now that the monster nest was gone, there were no more dangerous lairs along the road, only a few scattered monsters that weren’t worth mentioning.

After leaving the monster nest, time slowly slipped into night.

“Wuu… I’m bored… Xiaomengyao, why don’t we play a game to pass the time~”

Gathered around the crackling campfire, Tianyin, feeling idle, perked up with a sudden suggestion.

“A game? Eh, Master, just go to sleep already. If you don’t sleep soon, you won’t be able to get up tomorrow!”

As someone who had taken it upon herself to look after Tianyin, Mengyao didn’t take the suggestion seriously.

“And besides, Master, if you don’t go to bed, you’ll never grow taller, you know? How can you keep being my Master if you stay short forever?”

“Wuu~”

Hearing Mengyao’s reasoning, Tianyin pouted, looking disappointed.

“Geez, my disciple never listens to her Master. Saying it’s for my height… that’s just an excuse!”

Actually, Tianyin wanted to tell Mengyao the harsh truth that she would never grow taller, ever. But she knew that would be too cruel, and if Mengyao found out, she’d probably stop taking her seriously entirely.

So, Tianyin decided to hide her insecurity behind simple words.

Grow… taller… whatever, it’s not like I care anyway!

Thinking that, Tianyin’s mood began to ease.

“Alright, alright… then what does Master want to play? But remember, it’s nighttime now, so we can’t play hide-and-seek or anything that involves running around in the dark~”

“Eh? Why not? Isn’t hide-and-seek fun?”

Honestly, that was the first game that came to Tianyin’s mind.

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“Hah? Master, I already said you can’t play that at night~ If you got lost, it’d take forever to find you again~”

Her loli disciple smiled, warm and adorable like spring sunlight.

“Well… you have a point. Then I guess we’ll play something else instead… let’s see…”

“Then let’s play the sleeping game, Master~”

Mengyao cut her off neatly.

“Eh, that’s not even a game!”

“Of course it is. It’s late, Master. Go to sleep already~”

“But I’m not sleepy!”

“Even if you’re not sleepy, you have to sleep. Or else you really won’t grow taller~”

“Wuu… but I can’t fall asleep~”

At some point, Tianyin had started treating this kind of playful back-and-forth with her loli disciple as something completely natural.

When they had first met, Tianyin still thought of herself as a boy and hadn’t talked much to Mengyao.

But truthfully, “not liking to talk” was just an excuse. She did talk, just not like now, with such easygoing warmth.

“Wuu… Xiaomengyao, fine, I’ll sleep now…”

After bickering for a while, the discussion finally ended with Tianyin giving in.

“Seriously… Master, why can’t you be as dependable as Xiaobingxue? Look at her. She’s already found a spot by the fire and gone to sleep quietly. But you, Master, won’t even go to bed properly. If this keeps up, you’ll stop being cute!”

“Cute, cute, what’s so cute about me? I’m not cute at all…”

Tianyin pouted again, pretending to be indifferent.

Though her words sounded stubborn, her body still obediently followed through with what she’d said.

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She took out a blanket from her inventory, hugged it close, and crawled into the small tent she had set up before dark.

The tent was a single-person type, firmly staked to the ground. Its outer color was a simple white. But once Tianyin slipped inside, considering how small she was, Mengyao figured there was enough room for at least two more Tianyins to fit comfortably.

“Wuu… Xiaomengyao, aren’t you going to sleep? You can come in if you want~”

Peeking her little face out from under the blanket, Tianyin looked curiously at Mengyao.

As for why she didn’t invite Bingxue to join, the reason was because Bingxue was undead.

And it wasn’t just that she was undead; the problem was what that meant. An undead’s body had no warmth.

A body without warmth… if she invited Bingxue to sleep beside her, Tianyin was pretty sure she’d be frozen solid into an ice block by morning.

“Uu…”

Judging from the way Mengyao’s eyes wavered, she seemed a little tempted by the invitation.

“No can do, Master. There are enough tents for everyone. Even if Xiaobingxue doesn’t need one, I can’t just not use mine. Besides, Master, you’re old enough to sleep alone, aren’t you?”

In the end, she rejected Tianyin’s offer with those words.

Being able to resist Tianyin’s “let’s sleep together” invitation required pretty strong willpower.

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything else then. Go to sleep, disciple. I’m going to bed too.”

Tianyin sounded a little disappointed, though Mengyao couldn’t quite figure out why.

“Master, we’ve got more traveling tomorrow. Rest early.”

“Mhm.”

For Mengyao, “resting” just meant logging out and sleeping in the real world. In a way, no matter where she was in the game, logging out always took her back home, that much never changed.

She crawled into another tent and logged out.

A white light flickered before her eyes, and the next instant, the world around her completely changed.

……

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In reality.

Logout complete.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar ceiling above her. Slowly sitting up, she noticed her brother sitting by the bedside, head resting on his hand, fast asleep.

Beside him, the food he had prepared was still warm, faint wisps of steam rising from the dishes.

“Uu… Brother… so you logged out a while ago, huh…”

Before Tianyin, Mengyao showed her truest self. But before her brother, she showed her obedient and gentle side.

The well-behaved Mengyao picked up the blanket that had been draped over her and gently placed it over her brother, who was sleeping deeply beside her.

“Sleep well, Brother. You’ll catch a cold if you’re not careful~”

With a soft smile, she straightened up, leaned against the wall, took the food her brother had made, and began to eat in small bites.

The window was open. Outside, the world was cloaked in darkness. A cool breeze drifted in with the night light, brushing gently through the girl’s dark, silky hair.

“Uu…”

The gentle wind made her close her eyes slightly, letting out a sound of quiet contentment.

But in a place Mengyao couldn’t see…

The wind also stirred the hair of the boy sleeping under the blanket beside her.

Beneath those strands of hair, unnoticed by anyone, faint bluish flames flickered quietly.

And his heartbeat…

Was growing weaker and weaker.

If Tianyin had been there and seen this, she would have cried out in shock.

Because this exact phenomenon was clearly described in the System’s documentation.

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It was…

The sign that appeared when a human was being transformed into an undead.

Yes, transformed. Not the kind who had died and passively become undead, but one who was being converted while still alive.

However… that boy, Mengyao’s brother, had indeed reincarnated as one of the Undead in the game, joining the Graveyard faction.

But that was in the game. Even if it was a virtual world that perfectly mimicked reality, it was still just a game, wasn’t it?

Then why, in the real world, was a player who had only transformed into an undead in-game showing the same transformation in reality?

For now, Xiaomengyao hadn’t noticed anything. Nor had Tianyin.

Even the boy, Mengyao’s brother, who was slowly being influenced by the game and gradually turning into an undead, hadn’t realized what was happening to him.

And until that day in the future…

When all the players, as if suddenly awakening together, noticed something strange, everything hidden beneath the surface was revealed.

Because the game… was interfering with the real world.

By that point, it had already become an unstoppable trend. No one could change the fact that the game world was encroaching upon reality. The only thing people could do was adapt.

But that’s a story for another time.

After finishing dinner, Mengyao felt sleepy and soon drifted off.

…

Meanwhile, in the game world, Tianyin, who had been tossing and turning and couldn’t sleep, suddenly ran out of her tent. Under Xiaobingxue’s blank, bewildered gaze, she dashed straight into Mengyao’s tent.

“Umu~ as I thought, it’s impossible to sleep without a cuddle pillow~”

Since she had already logged out, Xiaomengyao had no idea what was happening to her tent in the game world.