CH 7

Chapter 7: System Vs System.

Guan Xi ran away.

The manager of the convenience store had just finished scanning the last item, but as soon as he raised his head, he saw how the customer had suddenly ran away.

“Psycho!” The store manager rolled his eyes and simply placed the items on the silver counter next to him. As he opened the snacks, he sat down to eat and began scrolling through the internet.

At that moment, social media had been turned upside down.

Yesterday, a person who claimed to be Bian Yi appeared at an intersection, saying that he had been kidnapped. Later, the news that ‘Bian Yi’ had suddenly disappeared from the variety show in Y City had spread everywhere. This matter started to spread yesterday on various websites, and even today, the excitement remained high. By everyone’s surprise, an update was immediately uploaded today.

The updated content was even more amazing. One by one, ‘explosive’ online articles appeared, attracting the interest of countless netizens.

It was a video interview of Bian Yi, who talked about his kidnapping and how he managed to escape.

Bian Yi spoke about when and how he was kidnapped, along with the shameless thief that dared to pretend to be him. That thief’s name was Guan Xi, and according to Bian Yi, that man was extremely good at disguising himself. To the point where his appearance and body shape were exactly the same as Bian Yi’s.

Bian Yi’s interview showed him having a constant smile on his face, but it was quite obvious how unhealthy pale he looked at the moment. Occasionally, the gauze wrapped around his neck would be revealed, while his hands showed fresh wounds. Just by looking at his current appearance, one could tell the horrible things he had to experience the past year. Yet, these were only the wounds that could be seen on the surface. It was unknown whether there were deeper, heavier wounds on his body and in his mind.

Even though the manager of the convenience store was a straight man, when he saw Bian Yi in this state, he couldn’t help but feel extremely heartbroken. Let alone those fans who sincerely liked Bian Yi.

The pop-up comments underneath the video had long been filled by a chorus of cries and curses.

“Oooooooo, please stop smiling! Cry, please cry. My heart hurts so much!”

“Guan Xi, that bastard! He doesn’t deserve to die a peaceful death!”

“It must’ve been so hard. He was kidnapped, and the people close to him never noticed! The impostor had been using his identity all this time, taking everything that belonged to Bian Yi! Oh God, I’m suffocating!”

“Xiao-Yi, why do you have to suffer like this?! Please ask the police to arrest that man as quickly as possible!”

“I’m going crazy! What’s Guan Xi’s disgusting business?! He used Xiao-Yi’s identity to hook up with one man after the other. I told y’all that the boy I loved could never do such a thing! Fuck you Guan Xi. I feel like throwing up!”



Guan Xi ran until he found an alley, which was very dark. There were garbage cans at the entrance, the environment was dirty and bad. However, such a place actually gave Guan Xi a sense of security.

Guan Xi gasped for breath several times, only to inhale the strange smell of the alley, making him cough uncontrollably.

After a while, he determined that no one would come to this alley, so he squatted down to hide in a corner. Then he took out his phone to search for Bian Yi’s interview.

This phone was the most expensive item he had at the moment, which he bought by selling his original phone in a second-hand store. Now, when he recalled the moment he sold the phone, he was afraid that the shopkeeper would find something inside his phone that could expose him. Guan Xi was afraid of the shopkeeper finding him, then informing the police, Bian Yi and Kou Li of his whereabouts.

Guan Xi wanted to bite his nails again, but when he remembered Bian Yi’s words, he held himself back.

As Guan Xi hugged himself tightly, for the first time, he felt that this world wasn’t his world anymore. After all, he came from another world, and as an outsider, this world began to reject him.

How could he even think that snatching Bian Yi’s identity back was a good idea? Now, Guan Xi didn’t even dare to think about it. Even though he wanted a glamorous life, he was even more afraid of going to prison. Guan Xi was afraid that his secret would be discovered and he would suffer all kinds of inhuman tortures.

Guan Xi was afraid of tiredness, feeling pain and dying. Now, when he doesn’t know what to do, he becomes afraid of everything. Just by thinking of the horrible tortures he could experience, his legs began to soften and his forehead became covered in sweat.

‘No, I have to leave the city.’

‘Escape. Run far away. Escape to a place where no one would be able to find me.’

[ Escape? Where to? ] A cold voice suddenly spoke inside Guan Xi’s head.

Guan Xi was taken aback and hurriedly shrank himself into the dirty corner. Only to realize that it was the System, which had been disconnected until now, that had finally returned.

However, Guan Xi ignored the System’s voice, which was even colder than before, and wept bitterly. He rambled on about the shock and fear he felt for the past two days.

The System remained silent until Guan Xi began to say the word ‘escape’ again, coldly interrupting him.

[ Host, did you forget? If you don’t complete the task, you will be erased. ]

Guan Xi stopped crying all of a sudden. Like a duck whose neck was suddenly strangled, his mouth was wide open, but he couldn’t produce a single sound.

The System simply ignored his fear and continued emotionlessly: [ Go back. Use the identity you’re using now, and go back to Bian Yi or Kou Li’s side. ]

Guan Xi’s lips trembled incessantly. This was the first time he had faced such a cold System, and he was so scared that even his teeth began to chatter: “I, I…. But Bian Yi knows, and he’s— he’s back. Moreover, I always felt that Kou Li already knew for a long time that I wasn’t Bian Yi. My task—-”

[ Oh, you think that you can keep playing dumb with me? ] At that moment, the System no longer hid its malice. [ Have you really never felt that there was something wrong with the task I gave you? Have you ever wondered why the main missions never gave you any points, but sleeping with tons of men did? ]

[ Are you really stupid? Or are you just plain ignorant? You humans always liked to find a bunch of beautiful excuses for your own actions, to cover up your own guilt. Host, there’s no need for you to pretend in front of me. In my eyes, you’re no different from any other insignificant human. ]

Guan Xi’s mouth moved, but even after a long time, he couldn’t say anything.

‘Did I really not know?’

‘At that time, I was told that I had to transmigrate into a book, to replace an evil character. But why did I never think about where the System was going to send the man I was going to replace?’

‘Even though I didn’t know, I also never dared to think about it. I didn’t dare to know. I was presented with the opportunity to come back to life, so why should I give up that chance? Just for the sake of the character of a book I wasn’t even familiar with? Besides, I’ve always dreamed of having the kind of life that character had already possessed.’

‘But, but…. ah, as long as I didn’t know, I could deceive myself and others. I could say to myself: You didn’t know. You didn’t know that your arrival would trap the original owner somewhere for the rest of your life. If you knew, you would’ve returned the original owner’s identity to him without hesitation. How could you be so selfish and take everything from someone else?’

‘After all, I can’t be deemed guilty if I wasn’t aware.’



Finally, everyone who came had already left.

Bian Yi was sitting in the courtyard to bask in the sun, which came out in the afternoon, so the light temperature was quite comfortable.

As Bian Yi closed his eyes, he finally put away the smile that had creeped his parents.

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At that moment, when the nurse next to him saw that Bian Yi’s face was finally free from that strange smile, she was a little relieved. After all, Bian Yi had such a beautiful face. It felt unnatural for a psychotic smile to be there.

After thinking about it, Nurse Xiao-Zhou stopped her line of thought and hurried to help Bian Yi apply the medicine.

Bian Yi didn’t know what the nurse was thinking about, nor did he care.

Thanks to the sunlight, after Bian Yi closed his eyes, his eyes weren’t submerged in darkness. The breeze was mixed with the faint smell of flowers and trees. If Bian Yi listened carefully, he would be able to hear the subtle chirping of the insects and birds.

This made Bian Yi feel as if he was still alive, living under the Spring sun.

Bian Yi rarely relaxed, and because of this, sleepiness came to him. But it could also be related to the medicine, since the nurse did say that it would make him feel sleepy, which made Bian Yi want to sleep even more.

At that moment, someone walked towards him, but it wasn’t the nurse, since she wouldn’t look straight at him. All of a sudden, Bian Yi felt that something soft was covering his body.

Bian Yi immediately opened his eyes, and as expected, Kou Li was there.

Bian Yi then looked at the blanket placed over his body, picked it up with disgust, and threw it onto the grass.

Kou Li’s eyes fell on the ground, where the blanket was: “Let’s talk.”

Bian Yi sneered: “Talk? What do I have to talk about with you?”

Kou Li was silent for a while. The same way he did every time Bian Yi was upset and throwing a tantrum. He didn’t refute or coax Bian Yi, since Kou Li knew that silence made him look aggrieved and pitiful, which would always make Bian Yi give up.

However, this time, Bian Yi’s anger intensified. But then he remembered the words of Xia Xuan, his mother, who advised him to reconcile with Kou Li.

She said that Kou Li had come to see her the day Bian Yi disappeared. Saying that the ‘Bian Yi’, who had come back, was fake. But, at that time, she didn’t believe him. Only after getting along with Guan Xi did she begin to suspect him. Secretly, she conducted a DNA test, but the results came out saying that Guan Xi was indeed her son. However, she never buried the suspicion.

After the real Bian Yi disappeared, Kou Li never allowed Guan Xi to get close to Xiao-Shu. Kou Li also never allowed Guan Xi to touch the things in the house, let alone talk about his family with others, because these family members didn’t belong to him.

Xia Xuan must not know that Kou Li was reborn.

But Bian Yi knew. 

However, this knowledge only made him feel that everything was ridiculous as hell.

“You really thought that I would forgive you after hearing my mother speak highly of you? You think that simply because you never slept with that impostor, and kept him away from my son, that I won’t be mad?”

Bian Yi tilted his head to look at Kou Li, and the sunlight forced him to squint. Kou Li’s face was blocking the light, which made it difficult for Bian Yi to see the expression Kou Li had on his face.

As he looked away from Kou Li, Bian Yi lowered his voice and continued: “Did you know? I actually escaped twice. Yes, twice. Do you want to know what I saw both times?”

Kou Li suddenly clenched his hands and looked straight at Bian Yi.

Bian Yi had already closed his eyes again, with the intention of putting an end to this conversation: “We have nothing to talk about. Please hurry up and leave. If you don’t go now, I don’t know what I’ll do.” After saying that, Bian Yi no longer cared about Kou Li’s presence.

After a long time passed, long enough that Bian Yi had almost fallen asleep, the scorching light that was on his body was pulled away.

After a while, footsteps were heard again. This time, the one who came should be the nurse. After feeling how a blanket was put on his body, Bian Yi didn’t move again.

[ Stay with him. ] A clear voice sounded inside Bian Yi’s head. That voice was really nice and clear. If it had belonged to a human, it must have been a handsome young man speaking.

When hearing such words, Bian Yi was suddenly awakened. As Bian Yi opened his eyes again, his hands squeezed the armrest of the chair.

‘Finally. The Revenge System came to get paid.’

“Is that the task you’re giving to me?” Bian Yi spoke extremely low, but he knew that the System would be able to hear him.

The Revenge System didn’t reply to Bian Yi’s question. It only repeated over and over again: [ Stay by his side. Stay by Kou Li’s side. ]

As he heard this, Bian Yi suddenly smiled.

The System in Guan Xi coveted something from Kou Li, which was why Bian Yi was kidnapped and replaced in the first place. This Revenge System had no relation to Bian Yi, nor was it even the same species as him, so why would it help Bian Yi? Of course, there were so many miserable people in this world, so why would it choose Bian Yi out of all people? Why would it spend so much effort on him?

‘I see. So I caught the System’s attention simply because I’m Kou Li’s lover.’