𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬

14. after reaching home a system appeared

In the past, when you receiving a sudden revelation regarding your existence as a villain in a game world, it must have suprised you so much, that when a small round ball appearing before you out of nowhere, and claimed itself to be the "system," you were no longer faze. You held the ball tightly in your grips, as if preparing to throw it out of the window.

「Waー Wait!」It struggled against your iron grips.「You're not thinking of throwing me out, right?」

You smiled innocently. "So what if I did? If you really are the system, then I ought to get my revenge when you kept using the words dangerous and perverted on me."

「It wasn't me who did that!」

"The fact that you knew what I'm talking about is enough proof that you were a part of it," you sneered. "Should I drown you in the bathtub? Dismantle you to see your insides? Or stuff you inside the ass of an old man?"

「No! I don't need a closed-up view of someone's ass!」It cried pitifully.「Please, my boss would cut my salary if this avatar were to be destroyed!」

Avatar? You felt like you had read that somewhere before. It took you a while to remember that the people in the chat room also typed something regarding "avatar." What was it again? You couldn't remember much but you did remember they type that avatar is something only rich people can pay to create.

You rubbed the ball in your hands in a similar way to kneading a dough. "So you're rich?"

Its holographic mouth frowned.「I'm not though? What brings you to that deduction?」

That's not what the people in the chat room said. You frowned in confusion. "Then what are you? What is the definition of system that you are? Where are you from?"

Somehow, you had a feeling that it was excited that you took an interest on it.「Alright, first of all, a system is... uh, a system, I guess. I never think of how to explain that. Second, I was sent from, uh, above to interact with you.」

"Above?" You tilted your head. "Is it the sky or the space or higher than that?"

「Uh, probably higher than that.」It doesn't seems like it wanted to be honest with you regarding its origin.「Anyway, you must have known what you are and what this world is, right? I know you do. I was sent here to give you a task actually.」

You sneered. "And what makes you so confident I will do your task?"

「You love Chen Miao, don't you?」It said confidently.「If you do our task, we won't bound Chen Miao to the player anymore. He will be free, isn't that what you want?」

You froze upon hearing its negotiation. "How do you know that?"

「Well, we have been watching you,」it answered.「Also, not to brag but I was the one that suggested for you to have a will of your own. Thank me later.」

You frowned, is it telling the truth or is it lying just so you can feel indebted to it?

"And why would you suggest that?"

It suddenly slipped away from your grip and floated in the air.「Nothing much. I mean, for several seasons we haven't change anything at all. The protagonist had to escape from the villain, the villain would kill the protagonist. Nothing change! So I thought, why not tell our boss to give you a mind of your own? Surely it would bring something different to this show!」

"This is a game world, right?" You have always wanted to ask this. "So why are you talking as if I'm in a TV series?"

It went silent for a while as if thinking of words to respond to you.「You are in a game, but I like to word like this since technically, I am watching your life as if you're my favorite TV show? Anyway, it's too complicated to explain so you have to make do with this excuse.」

For some reason, it's like the system knew that you were not an unreasonable person demanding for an answer like how one would normally do. After all, you only have interest in giving Chen Miao freedom. It really doesn't matter if you were in a game or a TV show.

"Last question, how did you give me a mind of my own?" You have always been curious of this.

The developers decided your personality, your memory, your backstory, your way of life and after stringing you along like a puppet, they decided it would be fun to see how you would act without their instructions, so if you were coded to have a mind of your own, then was what you did after that, truly how you feel, or were you just merely, subsconsciously, following their orders to amuse them more?

After all, you may have gained the capacity to think and act freely, but as long as you were still in their hands, it would still be up to them what you do and you wouldn't even know it if they decided to change your course of actions.

The system went silent for a while, as if speechless.「How would I know? I'm not the one in charge of that. I'm just a volunteer whose task is to guide you to do your mission.」

"You're useless to me then." You gave it a skeptical look. "But alright, let's pretend that I believe everything you said right now. So what do you want me to do?"

「Remember the transfer student name Kai?」It asked.「Well, we need your help in retrieving him back from the protagonist. Afterwards, it doesn't matter what you did to him. You can keep him or kill him, it's up to you.」

You frowned, not knowing how to respond. The fact that it requested for you to save Kai was enough proof that he is important and also one of them, but then why would they disregard his safety like that by telling you to do anything you wanted to him? It's almost as if it doesn't matter what happened to the transfer student, as long as it's not the protagonist who did it to him.

But why? To preserve the protagonist's reputation? But Chen Miao would never do anything outrageous to anyone, and even if he did, so what? There must be a reason as to why he would do something like that, and even if there's no reason, you would still choose to side with him.