Chapter 63: Chapter 63: That’s Right, We Are Friends
Duan Fei stroked his chin, trying to channel the composure of the Godfather from the movie he’d just seen, all to make himself look a little calmer.
’But there was no way he could stay calm!’
As a veteran player with twenty years of gaming experience in his past life and fifteen years of exploiting bugs in this one, Duan Fei felt he shouldn’t have misjudged Jack. He never imagined the guy would turn out to be the final boss.
’You devs are inhuman!’
’What color is your blood, anyway?!’
’Is toying with the players’ emotions really that much fun?!’
’Okay, I’ll admit, if I were on the other side, it would be pretty fun. But I don’t want to be the one getting played!’
After a few moments of awkward silence, Jack was the first to speak. "I know you’re filled with rage right now, and I understand your anger. But no matter how furious you get, please don’t pick up that ceremonial dagger over there and pierce my chest, can you?"
The bizarrely specific request made Duan Fei sense that something was wrong. He frowned, his eyes fixed on Jack.
Jack gave a slight nod. "Duan Someone, do you remember that movie we watched in the screening room? The one you recommended, *Night of the Living Dead* starring Zhou Xingchi. Do you remember the ending?"
With a hint that direct, Duan Fei understood what he meant.
’Jack wanted me to kill him.’
According to Jack’s implication, the Evil God was inhabiting his body and was temporarily trapped inside.
All Duan Fei had to do was pick up the nearby dagger and finish off Jack. The Evil God would be destroyed along with him, and everything would go back to normal.
Picking up the dagger, Duan Fei didn’t strike immediately. Instead, he asked, "Why?"
"*Witch Carrie*, *Monster*, *Shaun of the Dead*..."
He listed off one horror movie title after another. It sounded bizarre, but Duan Fei understood. This was Jack’s way of conveying a message.
By stringing together the key points of these films, he could piece together the meaning Jack was trying to convey.
He’d seen some of the movies, and for the ones he hadn’t, he could quickly ask the other players to get a rough synopsis.
After a bit of deduction, Duan Fei figured out the hidden story of this instance.
「First, let’s rewind time a bit, all the way back to before Duan Fei and his group arrived.」
Jack was an otaku.
To be more precise, he was a horror movie otaku.
Gory B-movies were his favorite, and he devoured Japanese horror like it was comfort food.
Only when immersed in horror films could he forget his unfortunate appearance, his nonexistent social life, and the fact that his knowledge was limited to nothing but horror.
To combat his loneliness, he started doing what every melodramatic teenager does.
He set out on the ambitious project of weaving together every horror movie he knew, trying to create his own cinematic horror universe.
In this universe, Sadako and Kayako could be neighbors, Mask and Freddy were best buds, and Vampires and zombies could hit on girls together at a bar.
This world was absurd and untamed, but it was Jack’s greatest source of comfort. Every day after his part-time job, he would come home and write endlessly, building his personal horror movie universe.
If things had gone differently, Jack the otaku might have gradually cultivated a talent for screenwriting and eventually embarked on a career as a scriptwriter.
If only.
One day, after his shift ended, he came home ready to continue writing, only to find that his notebook was gone.
Thinking back, he remembered taking his notebook out once at the convenience store. A customer had shown up, so he’d hastily stuffed the notebook into his pocket before going to the register.
’He’d put it in the wrong pocket!’
Rushing back to the convenience store, he saw a sight that made his blood run cold.
His coworkers, who had come in for the next shift, had found his notebook. His amateur writing and wild, imaginative plot sent them into fits of laughter.
When they saw Jack standing frozen in the doorway, they waved his notebook in the air and laughed. "Look who’s here, the great producer."
In front of Jack, the blond youth Kim tore out a page from the notebook, slowly crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at Jack’s head.
"You’re obsessed with gore. Why don’t you just hire a bucket of blood to be your star, ’Mr. Director’!"
"You really think you’re some misunderstood talent? You’re just worthless trash."
"This stuff you write is total bullshit, and you think you can be a screenwriter?!"
With every sentence, he tore out another page and threw it at Jack’s head.
When he finished, the entire notebook lay in shreds, to the sound of the group’s cheers.
Watching his labor of love get torn to shreds right before his eyes, Jack felt something inside his head snap.
As everyone stared, the air around Jack began to warp, and several arms extended from his mouth.
Amidst everyone’s screams, the arms, like a writhing black mass of worms, forced their way out of Jack’s mouth.
It was an unnamable entity. The mere sight of its shadow was enough to drive a person mad—in fact, even not seeing it could drive you mad.
The moment it appeared, the entirety of Xuanxiao Mountain descended into chaos. The Evil God’s madness began to radiate from its core, dragging the whole of Xuanxiao Mountain into a state of insanity and despair.
Everyone was driven into a frenzy. The world itself had been twisted out of shape, becoming a mere plaything in the Evil God’s grasp.
Looking upon its creation, the Evil God let out a string of maniacal laughter, then said to Jack, "Thank you. Your despair and rage gave birth to me. In return, I shall devour you completely. But before you vanish, I will grant you a single wish."
Facing the Evil God, Jack stood stunned for a long moment before finally speaking. "Friends."
"I want friends."
"They don’t have to be friendly. They don’t even have to be from this world. But they must share my hobbies. And if possible, I’d like them to take the initiative... to ask me to hang out when I’m by myself, no matter what it’s for."
"They don’t have to be good people; they can be magnets for trouble. But when things get rough, they won’t abandon me."
"I want them to remember me, to think of me kindly. They won’t look down on me for being a good-for-nothing otaku. They’ll see me as a friend, too."
The Evil God looked at Jack and suddenly let out a low chuckle. "Very well. But I will make you understand that sometimes, having friends is the worst thing that can happen."
Then came the arrival of Duan Fei and his group.
Of course, Duan Fei couldn’t have known all these details just from piecing together movie plots, but he understood the general outline of events.
Jack’s face was already becoming unrecognizable. Marks that looked like burns were appearing on his body.
With bloodshot eyes, Jack stared at Duan Fei and roared, "Kill me! Now! I know you’re not from this world! But if you kill me, you can go home!"
"No need for that, Jack Rabbit," Duan Fei said casually.
"I’m not Jack Rabbit, I’m... Wait, am I actually Jack Rabbit?"
While Jack was still reeling in confusion, Duan Fei casually changed his own name to "Jack."
’It’s just a name change.’
’So simple.’
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