Chapter Text
Shang Qinghua has been a lot of things in his two lives, but an efficient planner was never one of them.
He hadn’t planned out a single chapter of PIDW past a bare-bones description, usually in the form of a funny meme or phrase to motivate himself to write. Exhibit A:
‘Chapter 465: luo binghe goes super saiyan mode on the ice demons and one-shot KO’s the flame demons. chat, i think they’re cooked’
And Exhibit B:
‘Chapter 612: bing bong rediscovers bob and vagene. wife number something. Cocky want boing boing, etc.’
So, now that he’s been tasked with assisting Shen Jiu, Cang Qiong’s legendary strategist and resident genius, in designing and implementing an array capable of capturing and restraining a creature so heinous that it scares Luo fucking Binghe, Protagonist of the World, Shang Qinghua is not feeling very confident in his planning abilities, to say the very least.
Regardless, it’s two days before their time limit to destroy Xin-Mo is up, and despite not knowing exactly what deal they’re avoiding the fulfilment of, Shang Qinghua trusts Shen Yuan enough to know that if it’s got him spooked this badly, then they better lock the FUCK in and deal with Xin-Mo before it’s too late to save them all.
After all, if Shang Qinghua is ass at planning, then Shen Yuan is his exact opposite – like goddamn , the man even wrote out his own, alternate PIDW outlines for every chapter and posted them on the wiki just to shame Shang Qinghua for his, quote, “EXTREMELY SUBPAR AND EMBARRASSING” writing!!!!
Shen Yuan is a planning beast, so Shang Qinghua is nearly certain (or at least 97.4% sure) that the plan his bro has come up with to destroy Xin-Mo will work, especially because he knows just how good at permakilling things his knock-off Mount Doom was written to be. Don’t blame him for stealing the idea, alright??? He just needed a quick fix in case some monster got too OP and Binghe couldn’t destroy it!!!! He was going to rename Mount Doom eventually, but since he never needed to actually write it into the story it seems that Shang Qinghua’s original naming choice still stands.
He’s glad he added Mount Doom to this universe, though – honestly, he can’t think of anything else that would be capable of destroying an evil of Xin-Mo’s caliber. After all, in the OG story, Binghe wasn’t ever supposed to need to destroy Xin-Mo. Xin-Mo was his golden finger, the Protagonist’s ultimate weapon!!! Shang Qinghua wrote Binghe’s entire harem all for the purpose of allowing him to purge Xin-Mo’s evil juice from his meridians often enough to not die!
…Well, maybe for that purpose and so that his pervert readers would stick around long enough to line his pockets with money to fuel his instant noodle addiction.
Anyways, all that is to say that Shang Qinghua is not having a good time helping Shen Qingqiu draw the array he’d figured out how to modify across the forest floor of a remote northern Demon Realm forest. Despite Shen Qingqiu’s incessant grumbling at the icy temperatures, he had been the one to pick the location himself, saying that “the portal needs to as far away from population centers as possible to ensure that any energetic backlash from Xin-Mo or the abyssal rift is only dangerous to us,” which, pessimistic much????
Also, scary!!! Let’s just hope that our plan is executed so perfectly that neither Xin-Mo nor the abyssal rift cause any dangerous backlash, okay????
God, Shen Qingqiu is such a bitch, Shang Qinghua thinks tiredly while he does his best to trace circles, points, and lines into the forest floor with an ink made of crushed Black Moon Rhinoceros Python tusks. “It’s the only energetic binder strong enough to contain a creature like Xin-Mo,” Shen Qingqiu had said, to which Shang Qinghua (knowing next to nothing about arrays OR binding magic) had simply responded: “Okay! ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᴗ ᵔ ).”
They’re nearly done drawing now, he thinks, after almost two days of concerted effort. They’ve had to cut the time limit a little too close to the wire, but given that they’re almost done and have two whole days to spare, Shang Qinghua thinks they’ve done pretty well!
No thanks to his absolute hunk of a husband, however – despite how helpful his sweet Mobei must think he’s being by standing to the side like a seven-foot tree and ‘keeping Qinghua safe,’ he’s really been little more than an extremely sexy distraction to Shang Qinghua’s otherwise impeccable work ethic.
Who could possibly look away from those magnificent tits, ah??????
No, Shang Qinghua is just as much of a little rat man as Shen Yuan thinks that he is, and like gross rat men do, he has been shamelessly ogling his husband’s boobs for the past thirty minutes since he’d finished his part of the array-drawing work.
Big booba… Soft booba… Pillow for my face………… Mmmffghfmmmff……
“Stop salivating at your husband, idiot, and help me finish this,” Shen Qingqiu suddenly snaps, his voice jolting through Shang Qinghua’s ear drums like a bucket of ice water directly to the face.
“Alright, geez, I’m coming, don’t get your panties in a twist,” Shang Qinghua mutters mutinously, raising a single hand to forestall the violence he knows his husband is considering unleashing against Shen Qingqiu for his insult to Shang Qinghua.
Letting out an extremely put upon sigh, Shang Qinghua steels his spine and makes his way over to Shen Qingqiu like a man approaching his own execution. Once there, he takes a deep breath and asks the only question he can think of:
“Okay, so what the fuck am I helping with?”
Shen Qingqiu does not seem to find his language amusing, but nevertheless, the preparations persist.
***
Shen Yuan, on the other hand, has been done with his preparations for days now. He’s got his Black Moon Rhinoceros Python ink ready, he’s got his calligraphy brushes, and by god, he’s got his own souls ready to offer up on a silver platter to the evilest creature in existence.
It’s the second day before the deadline of Binghe’s deal, and Shen Yuan is just ready to finally get all of this shit over with so he can move on with his life and maybe, just perhaps, FINALLY HAVE TIME TO FUCK HIS BOYFRIEND AGAIN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!
God, being a virgin was so much easier, Shen Yuan thinks bitterly as he adds a few finishing flourishes to the white lines of the array crisscrossing his arms, torso, and legs.
When he was a virgin, he didn’t think about sex 24/7 because, duh, he didn’t know what he was fucking missing!!!!! Who would’ve thought that a single night with the Protagonist would be enough to– okay, yeah, you know what? That’s so fair. Of course a single night with Luo Binghe was enough to turn Shen Yuan into some kind of perverted sex fiend, particularly now that he’s had to focus so singularly upon his end of the preparations for the Plan™. He and Luo Binghe have hardly had enough time to sleep together in the literal sense, never mind the figurative one!
“It’s cruel and unusual punishment, that’s what it is,” Shen Yuan mutters irately as he redresses himself, being careful to slide his robes on slowly over the now dry (but still rather delicate) lines of paint coating his skin. Adding a heavy fur coat, a pair of Giant Western Triple-Fanged Rabbit hide gloves, and an odd, spiky-bottomed pair of boots intended for better grip on an icy forest floor, Shen Yuan finally finishes his look by pulling his hair back into its usual half-up style, his guan seeming less shiny than usual due to his failure to maintain its luster properly.
Looking in the tall bronze mirror in his bedroom, Shen Yuan finds himself marveling at just how little of the array his outfit actually reveals externally – if he hadn’t painted the lines himself, he wouldn’t even know that he had essentially painted himself into a nasty, human-shaped honey trap for Xin-Mo!
Only now that he’s finally dressed and ready to go, however, does Shen Yuan finally begin to feel nerves set in at the prospect of the monumental task that he’s about to undertake.
Shang Qinghua had been working on cultivating the Mushroom body for the entire month that they’ve had to prepare, using a special type of accelerated fertilizer that he claimed would “absolutely make the body ready within the month, don’t even worry about it, bro! I got you!!”
And, while Shen Yuan would usually doubt any promise of competency made on Shang Qinghua’s behalf simply due to the principle of the thing, he honestly can’t afford to doubt that their innovative, never-been-tried-before, ‘Mushroom Body Double Soul Transfer’ will be anything less than 100% successful.
If anything goes wrong, even one single thing, the consequence is death.
Shen Yuan is voluntarily flinging himself into a giant volcano to be boiled alive in a lake of supernatural magma, and all he has to rely upon is the assurances of Shang Qinghua (and his brother, of course) that everything has been researched to perfection and that the soul transfer should go as planned. He’s visited his Mushroom body many times now, both to consistently feed it his energy and soul signature(s), as well as to check on Shang Qinghua’s progress more generally. Even so, there’s really no way to know how successful the body will be until the soul transfer is actually in progress and by that point? Well, there will be no going back, no matter what happens.
It’s a daunting prospect, facing death for a second (third?) time. Although facing it voluntarily is certainly much preferable to having it foisted upon him against his will, Shen Yuan still doesn’t want to die.
He’s only just now gotten his second chance!!! He’s hardly even gotten to live!!!! Only in this life, this universe, has he finally gotten to be happy – he has Binghe, his brother, and a body that isn’t broken. He even has Shang Qinghua, his (regrettable) best friend, and an entire world to explore that he’s hardly even scraped the surface of.
Shen Yuan wants to get married, goddamnit!! He wants a big wedding, and a cake, and he wants Luo fucking Binghe standing beside him to proclaim him Empress for all of the world to see.
Fuck, Shen Yuan just wants to live!!!!!!!
Please, god, whoever’s listening, just let me make it out of this alive, he thinks fervently, wringing his fingers together until his knuckles crack. Please, please let me live.
Shen Yuan has never been religious, but if praying to a god he doesn’t believe in might save him? Wow, look at him, he’s suddenly Catholic!
Shaking himself out of his mental fugue, Shen Yuan straightens his shoulders and meets his own eyes in the mirror before him, those green eyes that have always looked so much like his brother’s.
You can do this, he thinks firmly, allowing no other option to cross his mind because no other outcome is acceptable.
You will live through this, and Binghe will live with you, and you’re going to save the world together, because that’s the power of the Protagonist Halo.
Hyping himself up one final time, Shen Yuan finally swings open the door to his room and steps into the hallway, immediately turning sideways to meet the concerned gaze of a patiently waiting Luo Binghe who grabs his hand tightly.
“I’m okay, Binghe, don’t worry. We’re going to do this, and we’re going to save the world, right? I’ll be okay, I promise. I promise ,” Shen Yuan whispers softly, raising himself up on his tiptoes to press his forehead gently against Binghe’s own. He can feel his lover trembling through the touch of his forehead alone.
“Okay, A-Yuan. Okay. I believe you,” he whispers back, quietly enough that it seems as if he’s speaking to keep the universe itself from hearing and interfering with the outcome.
“We’ll do this together, and then we’ll come home and I’ll make you soup,” he says softly, and Shen Yuan can’t help but let out a choked, grateful laugh at the beautiful tenacity of his beloved.
“I love you so much, Binghe,” Shen Yuan says firmly, not a single ounce of uncertainty in his voice, and Binghe envelops him in a tight hug in response.
“I love you too, A-Yuan,” he says, and just like that, Shen Yuan knows that he will make it out of this alive.
After all, what force in this Universe is more powerful than that of the Protagonist’s Love?
Wrapped in Luo Binghe’s arms like a particularly cozy burrito, Shen Yuan couldn’t be safer anywhere else in the entire world.
“Let’s go get this done,” Shen Yuan says, and Binghe simply nods once in agreement.
“Alright, A-Yuan. Let’s get this done.”
***
Portaling two extra people at once never gets easier, Mobei-jun thinks tiredly, his qi reserves almost entirely depleted after transporting both Shen Yuan, Luo Binghe, and himself all the way from his ice palace to the forest clearing that Shen Yuan’s vicious brother had chosen for their final battle.
Watching his future Emperor and his consort stumble nauseously to their feet after their first ever experience of long-distance portal travel, Mobei-jun very nearly catches himself smiling in amusement, his nosy husband immediately latching onto his side and elbowing him lightly in the ribs to try to get his smile to reappear.
“Qinghua, it is not the time for amusement,” he says softly, almost contradicting himself with yet another smile as his lover valiantly tries to suppress his own giggles at Shen Yuan’s green, nauseous expression.
Still, Mobei-jun stands firm in his willpower; his icy facade does not crack, and to Shang Qinghua’s credit, he does not collapse into giggles either.
Obviously, they both recognize the gravity of the situation they find themselves in, and Mobei-jun can already see the simmering cesspool of anxiety and terror hiding just beneath his husband’s composed exterior beginning to grow more and more tumultuous.
In response, he simply grabs one of Shang Qinghua’s hands, enveloping his lover’s smaller fingers within his significantly larger ones, and pulls him into his chest in order to place a light kiss on the top of his head. He wraps Shang Qinghua in an embrace that he hopes is both warming, as well as comforting, and if the soft sigh that his husband lets out is any indication, he is successful on both counts.
This is a difficult thing that they are attempting — there is no doubt about that.
Despite not knowing Shen Yuan overly well, Mobei-jun is still impressed by his courage.
He has a warrior’s heart, Mobei-jun thinks seriously, his hands tightening slightly in Shang Qinghua’s outer robes as he watches an extremely worried Luo Binghe flutter around his lover like a moth circling a slowly dimming flame.
I am glad that Qinghua will live, Mobei-jun thinks, perhaps a little selfishly. If it were Qinghua attempting to gamble his life against the fate of the world, Mobei-jun thinks he might just jump into the volcano with him and spare everyone else the trouble of dealing with his miserable self if Qinghua were to truly die.
Luo Binghe is also very brave to do this, Mobei-jun thinks, feeling an increased level of respect for his future Emperor’s mettle. He would be glad to be led by a demon such as him, by one who confronts his deepest fears head on and does not waver.
Before Mobei-jun knows it, the time has come for the ritual to begin. He and Shang Qinghua will need to back up to a safe distance away from the array to keep an eye on Shen Yuan’s Mushroom body hiding within the trees. It’s unnerving to see a body so still, but hopefully within an hour Shen Yuan’s souls will complete the transfer process and arrive fully intact to bring back some life, some movement, to the husk laid out on the forest floor before them.
This will work, Mobei-jun thinks, and sees the same sentiment echoed in his husband’s nervous eyes.
This will work, he thinks, and prays to the Old Gods that the words come true.
***
“Alright Binghe, it’s time,” Shen Yuan says with an attempt at a calm facade, although he highly doubts that his expression actually conveys anything except ‘GOD, FUCK, SHIT, I AM GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!’
By Binghe’s concerned eyebrow raise, it seems that his lover doesn’t believe his performance either.
Turning next to address his brother, Shen Yuan unlatches himself from Binghe’s embrace momentarily to wrap Shen Jiu in a tight embrace of his own, clutching onto the back of his robes just like he always used to do when they were younger.
“I’m going to be okay, Jiu-ge. I’ll come back this time, I promise,” he whispers softly, hoping against hope that this time, his words aren’t a lie.
In response, he feels Shen Jiu’s fingers tighten fiercely in the back of his own robes.
“You better come back,” he whispers fiercely, the words coming out with an odd twinge that speaks of imminent tears. “You better come back this time, A-Yuan, because if you don’t I’m coming with you, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me.”
Shen Yuan doesn’t know how to respond to that in any way except with a tighter hug, and so that’s all that he does. After a few moments, he finally steps back and detaches himself from his brother’s crushing grip, the usually terrifying Peak Lord’s eyes suspiciously red rimmed and nose slightly damp-looking.
“Okay, guys, here goes nothing. Let’s get this done. Jiu-ge, go stand back behind those trees so that you’re out of the array’s area of effect. It’ll activate as soon as it detects Xin-Mo’s presence, so make sure you stay out of range. Binghe, you’re with me inside the array. Immediately after you re-summon Xin-Mo, I need you to hand it over so that I can tempt it into possessing me. Once Xin-Mo pulls me under, you’re going to cut open a rift to Mount Doom and make sure that both myself and Xin-Mo’s sword form fall into the rift at the same time. I should be able to jump in of my own volition, but if Xin-Mo possesses me too deeply and I don’t have the ability to operate my own body anymore, I’ll need you to do it for me, alright? Can you do that?”
As his brother leaves the clearing reluctantly for the safety of the tree line beyond, Shen Yuan looks at Binghe expectantly and waits for a response.
“I can do it, A-Yuan,” Binghe finally says reluctantly, his fingers opening and closing into fists at his sides. “I’ll do it for you.”
With such a sweet response, Shen Yuan can’t help but smile softly and kiss Binghe once, twice, three times on his lightly trembling lips, the Demon Lord looking terrifyingly close to tears.
“Okay Binghe, let’s do this. Together,” Shen Yuan says, grabbing Binghe’s hand like a lifeline.
“Together,” Binghe says, and just like that begins to reach a hand to the side until it disappears completely into another dimension.
“Xin-Mo,” he says forcefully, injecting so much authority into his tone that Shen Yuan shivers. “Come to me.”
With nary a second of delay, gone and then suddenly present, Xin-Mo pops back into existence within Luo Binghe’s waiting hand like a strangely cooperative puppy, its malice hidden beneath a veneer of docility that Shen Yuan doesn’t believe for a moment.
Immediately, Binghe slices Xin-Mo through the air to cut a rift into space, the Abyssal tear opening up right above Mount Doom and letting out a truly scalding blast of hot air that nearly burns Shen Yuan’s eyebrows off.
As soon as the rift is open, Binghe cautiously hands Xin-Mo over to his lover’s waiting hands, Shen Yuan smiling at him warmly in an attempt to soothe his obvious stress.
“It’s okay, Binghe. I’ll see you on the other side,” he says, and finally closes his eyes to let Xin-Mo suck his consciousness into oblivion just like he knew that it would.
And so it begins, Shen Yuan thinks wryly, drifting off into blackness before he can even count to ten.
…
……
Dark, cold, empty.
The world around Shen Yuan is constructed of nothing but muted greys, patchy whites, and vague, nebulous shapes, his immediate environment seeming to have been painted by an extremely lazy artist. Still, the tall columns and winding hallways of this space are as familiar to him as his own mind, and Shen Yuan remembers the last time that he was trapped here vividly.
This go-around, however, Shen Yuan has the advantage of foresight and preparation. Aside from trapping Xin-Mo within his own body, the array he drew on his skin hours earlier also partially serves to keep his mind lucid enough to enact his plan, even amidst Xin-Mo’s many attempts at subjugating his consciousness.
“Xin-Mo,” Shen Yuan calls out tentatively, forcing his physical body to take a step forward in the real world through the tether that his array allows him.
“I’m back to talk to you about Luo Binghe, your wielder,” he says firmly, making sure that his voice carries enough to be heard while he takes two more steps. Back in reality, he can vaguely see how close he is to the rift, only about five more steps likely being needed to begin his fall into deadly, boiling magma.
“Welcome back, Young One,” Xin-Mo says suddenly, its voice echoing around Shen Yuan like a horrible chorus from the Underworld, the discordant tones merging together in a sound that somehow lacks a single harmony.
“We are grateful that you decided to return to Us, that you realize the Truth of Our greatness. Your souls will be delicious for Us to Consume,” It says, and Shen Yuan only narrowly suppresses a shiver and forces his real body to take two steps forward instead.
“Xin-Mo, before you take me, I want to talk to you about Luo Binghe. Tell me about the deal you made, and I’ll let you consume my souls without a fight. Deal?”
Shen Yuan makes the bluff knowing full well that this particular question will be enough to keep Xin-Mo distracted while he continues his task in the real world, and waits patiently for the response that he knows is coming as he takes a third step forward.
“Oh? So the Youngling wants to understand Our Design, does He? We bartered for the Revenge of your lover, that is true, and We will Consume that Revenge as soon as his time is up,” Xin-Mo hisses out like a snake, the words floating around Shen Yuan’s mind with a twisting, sibilant sort of flow that makes him feel sick.
“He is Our greatest Design,” Xin-Mo says with something that sounds far too much like glee, and Shen Yuan shudders as he takes a fourth step forward. He’s so close to the rift now that he can feel Mount Doom’s scorching winds buffeting his real body even from within Xin-Mo’s mindscape.
“Consuming your souls will be Our second greatest Design,” Xin-Mo finally laughs with joy, and Shen Yuan knows his time is up as soon as he starts to feel the icy prick of Xin-Mo’s spiritual tentacles beginning to drain his body of its will, and eventually, of his souls.
He is out of time, but he is also exactly where he needs to be.
As he takes one last step forward, Shen Yuan can’t help but smile as he feels his physical body begin to fall forward, his center of gravity tipping over the edge of the Abyssal rift as he starts to plummet towards Mount Doom’s waiting pit of magma with Xin-Mo’s sword form in hand.
Shen Yuan finally laughs and feels tears drip and evaporate from his cheeks as he grows closer and closer to the fires of his death.
“Yeah, I’m sure you think that eating my souls would be your second greatest accomplishment,” Shen Yuan giggles out near deliriously, pitching his voice loudly so that Xin-Mo can’t help but hear it. “However, bitch, I hope you have fun being fucking dead, because that’s what you’re about to be when my body hits the lava below us in about 20 seconds.”
“You– w̵h̴a̴t̸?̶?͔̪̊̌̿͛ “ Xin-Mo says with a voice that sounds distinctly glitchy, like a speaker suffering from some serious feedback issues.
“This one cannot die, Fool. Only Mo̸͓͊r̶̨̕t̶͙͌a̴̡̓l̴̤̂s̴̙͝ may die, and this one is Anything But. We are the Infinite, the E̴v̴e̶r̴y̴t̷h̷i̴n̷g̷,̶ the All-Consuming Night that destroys your dreams and devours your soul. We are
Í̶͉̯̤̦͔̇̉͐͝ņ̷̧̞̮͉͕͇͇͙͊̕ͅͅe̸̼͇͕̮̜̝͕̍͐͐̒̊̽͑̈́̈́͂͘͝v̷͈̤̯̺̙̘͙̠͇̳̆̌͑͆̀̔̕i̶̡̡̘̫̞̥̞̐̅̈̍͂̑̎̍̄͘͝͠ͅt̷̛̹̗̪̫͚̝͓͊͊̄̾̐͂̔͊̽̚̚͝ͅå̵̘̮̈́̌̍͘b̶̝̰͊̓̀̿̒̀͗̓̆̕͠͝ḷ̷̼̺͆͑̈́͆͂̉̈́͒̄̓̓̓̚ȩ̶̡̨̯̱̙̝͉̮͕͈̑̍̌͌͊͝,”
Xin-Mo struggles to say, the words coming out quicker and more discordant than ever before as it seems to start panicking as its imminent demise approaches. Shen Yuan feels it searching his mind in a panic for anything to latch onto as a last-ditch method of survival, and all of a sudden, he knows exactly what Xin-Mo is going to attempt.
Ẅ̶̨̧̧̨͍͎̼̦̜́̉̀͐͛͌̍̐̒͑̐͜E̵̱͕͐̈́̈́̃́̍̐̓̉̂̍͐̓̚ ̸̪̦͓͔̜̳̠̰̿͛̾̌͗̽̎̀̆̊̒̉̕Ạ̷̱̝͖̘̞̰͙̝̤̲̺͈̦͛͠R̵̢̫͚͔̯͖̬͐̿̃̍͋͐́̇̈́̇̓͐̈́͝Ề̴͎͖̯͆̈́̇̏̂͘̕͝ ̴͚͈͍̙͕̗͙̿͋̂̿̀̃̽͗̂̔̂Į̵̢̥̘̻̤̳̻̺̈́̏̈́͂͂̿̅̄͛̅͜͠Ṅ̸̢̡̼̪͍̪̰̥̻͚̥͔͒́́ͅE̷͇͔̝͈̥̫̯̪͓͒̃̀̑͋̒́͘V̶̭̝̩̻͙̥̪̻̇̊͑́̂͊͗̿̃̕͘͠I̴̡̻̅̾̆̅̉̽̚̚T̵̡͉͙͌̄͑̕Ą̴͔͈̘̭̥̃͌̇̈́̏̎̆͌̾͌͘͘͜B̷̧̬̦̹͔̩̉̌͒͝͝L̸̛͓͉͙͍̮̯̜͈̈́̌̽̐̍̾̈́̉͐̓̎͘E̷̛̮͖̮̔̓͛͐͜ͅ!̶̢͔͕͌̄̄͒́́̒̚͠͠!̷̝̍̂̆̀̓̄͒̕͝!̶̯̖͕̣͇͍͎͍͈̎͋̑̈́̇͑̑̈̈̈͘͝!̴̥̫̻̲̻̈́̄̐̓̒̈͒̿̚!̶̛̳͔̍͐̍̈̃̔̽̀̾͋͘͝!̸̜̙̮̳́̎͛͆ ̶̧̼̞̻̥̮͕̘͈̭̃̀̌͊͑́̂͐̋͒̈̿͜͜͝
Xin-Mo screeches out with a horrifying, earsplitting grind of syllables, and mere milliseconds before his body hits the magma of Mount Doom, Shen Yuan feels Xin-Mo latch onto his System like a parasite and tug, the Heart Devil pulling at Shen Yuan’s defenseless computerized guide in a vain attempt to free itself from its impending fate.
From out of the darkness of his mindscape, a blinding flash of green light suddenly accosts Shen Yuan’s retinas as time seems to stop, his vision clearing as he registers an extremely familiar dialogue box hovering before him.
[Hello, User /SHEN YUAN/ (˶◜ᵕ◝˶) !!!! This /SYSTEM/ is happy to see User again, but sad that our meeting is happening under such ci̵̢͍͌͗͐̓̎r̷̨̢̗̳̬͎͇͘c̴̱͋̌̓ų̵̧͙̜͙̜͆m̸͕͚͎̹̼̐̄̔̏̑̊̕s̶̭͖̩͔͍̰̓́̐t̷̯̝͛̓͌͋̉́̎ą̷͍͓̪̱͔̰̓̐n̶̫̕c̸̛͈͊͑̈͝é̷̲̩̭̄́͛s̴̨̬̲̣͊͌…
[Even so, this / Š̷̙Y̸̦̾S̸̠̏Ṭ̵̅E̸̙̓M̶̦̅/ is happy to inform User that Xin-Mo is not able to affect User by destroying any /SYSTEM/ functions or Designs!!! After all, I was designed to support User /SHEN YUAN’S/ greatest happiness, so how c̷o̸u̶l̴d̶ ̶I̴ possibly be ṳ̵̓s̷̨̈́ë̸̳́d̶̟̚ ̶̞̓
fo̸͝ͅr ̴̜͌
e̵̲̥͔͔̗͂̃̎̆̈́́͑͠ͅv̷į̸̭̭̃̽̃̑̽̏́̿l̴̳̻̪̪̐̄̈́̈́̀͝ͅͅ ?̸͓̠̯͇̜̗̘͌?????]
[This /SYSTEM/ is proud to have served /SHEN YUAN/ well during his transition to his new life and will enact:code ‘Log.Off’ happily so that User may achieve his Maximum Possible Happiness Potential, thus fulfilling this /SYSTEM’S/ purpose in /SHEN YUAN’S/ life.
[ G̸o̶o̵d̷b̷y̸e̵,̷ ̶U̶s̴e̶r̷,̸ ̶a̷n̵d̸ ̴r̴e̶m̴e̵m̵b̷e̴r̷:!!!
Ŷ̸̢̩̼̀̀O̵͙̩̱͘Ǔ̵̠̏ ̶̠͚̈́͗͜C̶͔̘͆Ḁ̷̡̹̎N̴̹͛ ̶̼̜̃Y̶͍͎̟̓͌͊O̴͖̅́̾U̸̠̒ ̶̯͍͚͐͂̋Û̷̱̐P̵͔̺̝̌̚,̴̧̙̩͆
̴̦̏Ņ̵̛͓̙͚̭̮̖̼̥̗̝̝̒̾̿̂͋̏̅̊͛̓͒̀͜͜͝͠ͅÖ̵̖͈̹́̈́̌̃̋͌̈́͊ ̷̝̣̖͖̗̥͇͖͖͖̫̣̏̎͊̽Ċ̵̝̞̣̜̘͖̗̙͜A̶̢̛̛͉̜̙̙̲͕̼̞̖͚͖̰͕͛̈́̾̀̄̎͛̑̉̓̚͜Ņ̴̧̧͔̗̣̜͕̦̬̟̊̄̈́̈́́̓̎̄̓͆͘͜͜͝ͅ ̶̢̻̫̥̪̱͈͒̌̅͊̋̾́͒̆̈́͗͋͠ͅN̴̯̏͐̒͌͊̈́͑̽͛͒̌̍Ö̷̮̦̦̝̳̟́̔̉͗̎͝ ̷̡̧̗̠̣̺͓̭̼̭̼̿͂͌̈
B̷̨̛͖̩̖̙̣̙͓̩̝̖͊̾́̄̓̓̀́̏̕͝͝B̴̭͙̙͉̜̦̺̻̥̀̒͊̕!̴̧͍͔͖̪͙͍͓̗̘̼̳͊̒̑́͜͜͝!̵̯̽̃̃̂́̓̓͒̚͘̚!̵̢̢̛̛̬͔̳͓̝̲̫͌̉͋̀̑̃̏̇̓̾̑͘͝!̴̭̬̺̹͙͎͚͇̭͔͓̳̭͍͇̇͠͝!̵̧̣͎̘̻̳̐̎̌̈́͝ͅ!̵̺̺͊̈͌́̉!̴̧̛̙̜͎̜̭̮͕͓͍̤̦͔̗̳̒̄̉!̶̧͙̔̏͌̉!̷̨͕̱̯̤̝̹̈́̀̀̑́̓̀̈́̍͐͒͊͝!̷̤͈͉̝̋͊! !!!!!!!!!!!!] ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊ ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡ !!!!!
[This /SUPER VERSATILE SOUL SAVING SYSTEM/ wishes User every happiness!!!!!!]
With a last retina-scorching blast of neon green light, the System is gone before Shen Yuan even has time to miss it, his body finally hitting the surface of Mount Doom’s lava pool with all of the force of a twenty-thousand-ton freight train.
For a long while, there’s nothing but blackness. Shen Yuan remembers this from both times that he died, so it’s really not that surprising that it’s happening again. Blackness, emptiness, purgatory, blah blah blah, BORING. Where’s the light at the end of the tunnel, ah??? Where’s his promised soul transfer?
Shang Qinghua better not have fucked up that Mushroom body, I swear to GOD–!!!!!!
***
…Alright, so Shen Yuan might’ve been a little bit hasty with his criticism but sue him!!!!
Shang Qinghua’s plans are notoriously unreliable, and even as he sits up with both souls intact inside a fresh, perfectly formed Mushroom body, Shen Yuan still finds himself marveling at the fact that Shang Qinghua, AIRPLANE SHOOTING THROUGH THE FUCKING SKY, had successfully implemented and enacted a perfect soul transfer procedure, despite such a procedure never having been attempted before in all of recorded PIDW history.
Hmm, maybe I should recommend his medical skills to Mu Qingfang, Shen Yuan thinks wryly, amused at the mental image evoked by a ‘harried Nurse’ version of Shang Qinghua, before–
“OOF, OW!!! Alright, alright, Binghe, Jiu-ge, GET OFF!!! I can’t breathe, holy shit, gimme a minute to literally come back to life, you freaks!!!”
Damn, you’d think his brother and Binghe would at least give him a second to recuperate before tackling him, right?
…Hmm.Now that Shen Yuan thinks about it, perhaps an expectation of restraint upon his rebirth was too much to ask of these two particular people.
“Okay, geez, I’m fine, guys!!! Look, I’m all good! I even have full motor control, see??!” Shen Yuan says placatingly, sitting up taller and wiggling his fingers around like ten little worms.
“A-Yuan is back,” Luo Binghe whimpers into the lapels of his robe, the fabric already dampening with tears as Shen Yuan sighs and pets his hair indulgently.
“You came back,” Shen Jiu says quietly, reverently, as he holds onto the right sleeve of Shen Yuan’s outer robes like a lifeline.
“I came back,” Shen Yuan says, addressing no one in particular but grabbing his brother’s hand and patting Binghe’s head simultaneously. “I really came back.”
The reality of still being alive is going to take a while to set in, Shen Yuan thinks vaguely, his mind completely exhausted for all that his new body is brimming with energy.
He really made it back, huh?
After everything he’s been through, after three separate deaths and rebirths, Shen Yuan is still alive and kicking. Xin-Mo is officially dead, as Shen Yuan can no longer feel any lingering traces of possession tainting either of his souls, and his System is also gone, having saved Shen Yuan from Xin-Mo’s last-ditch attempts at clinging to life.
It’s odd, but Shen Yuan actually thinks he misses the poor little thing, dumb kaomojis, stupid quests and all.
It’s alright, though. At least the System seemed happy at the end, sacrificing itself for Shen Yuan’s second (third?) chance at life.
Rebirth is never easy, but at least this time, he has family, friends, and a beloved to keep him sane as his rebuilds himself from the ground up.
You can you up, indeed, Shen Yuan thinks wryly, and smiles softly as his brother, Binghe, Airplane, and even Mobei-jun crowd around him to express their joy at his survival.
Shen Yuan never once thought that he’d have so many people to care about him this deeply, but hey! There’s a first time for everything, and maybe a third attempt at life is as good a place to start as any.
…
FIN