Chapter Text
Dan Heng’s umbrella does nothing to prevent the rain from soaking his right side. Or his left side for that matter, given that it is sitting primly over the heads of March and Stelle, leaving him at the mercy of the very expected afternoon downpour that only he bothered bringing an umbrella for – despite reminding his friends to do the same before they met up for lunch. Three times!
He might be a little bitter. He has only himself to blame.
He’s known these two long enough to know better than to expect them to have the common sense to bring an umbrella on a day it’s going to rain. No less than a victim of his own hubris, honestly.
He sighs, tugging his hood down further over his face, enviously eyeing March’s immaculately dry outfit while he may as well have been swimming in the canal they were walking alongside.
“Dan Heng!” March spins around and accosts him, “Jing Yuan or Blade?”
Two phones are thrust in his face only to be immediately withdrawn back under the coveted protection from the rain. Not knowing what they’re dragging him into he leans in to get a better look. March’s phone boasts the image of a handsome, white-haired man adorned in elaborate armor, the easy smile gracing his face a stark contrast to his tired eyes.
Stelle wiggles her phone, forcing his attention over to yet another attractive man who furiously tries to murder Dan Heng through the screen with his eyes alone, the double-edged sword held loftily in his hand only a vague threat in comparison.
“Who are these people and what exactly am I meant to be choosing?”
March groans while Stelle takes pity on him and answers, “Our poor old man, Dan Heng. Always behind the times… They’re promo pics of two characters from the new live action adaptation of Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection! Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Stelle echoes.
Dan Heng gives pause at the awful title, but clears his throat and asks, “Am I supposed to know what that is?”
March elaborates, shaking Dan Heng’s umbrella in emphasize with her words, “The most popular web novel of the past couple years? The story of the undying, revenge-seeking swordsman who finds himself tangled up in ancient conspiracies over the course of a millennia that could unravel and destroy the fabric of reality itself?”
“Sounds… Fantastical. I prefer non-fiction.”
March groans even louder, “That’s the saddest thing you’ve ever said. But I bet even you would like this one! Lucky for you, I happen to have a copy of it, uh, riii-iiight… here. Somewhere. Hold this for a sec, Stelle.”
Stelle happily snatches the umbrella from March’s hand before she can start shaking it again and Dan Heng takes the opportunity to scoot in closer to get some relief from the wind and rain whipping him in the face while March digs through her tote bag. Stelle mercifully angles the umbrella to accommodate him, both of them twisting around to watch the drama unfolding at a nearby stoplight across the road verge, the blinking red light infuriating impatient drivers who don’t believe in traffic laws.
“Aha!” March tugs out a surprisingly thick paperback book that has Dan Heng questioning how large the inside of the tote could possibly be. “Here is the beginning of your new life. You can thank me later.”
“I thought you said it was a web-novel,” Dan Heng hesitantly accepts the brick disguised as a book. The glossy cover art depicts the ominous silhouette of a man backlit by the moon and encircled by the hazy shadow of a dragon.
“They can get physical releases too, you know – but that’s beside the point! You never answered our question! Jing Yuan or Blade!” March digs through her tote again, probably trying to find the phone she sacrificed in exchange for the book.
“What about them? Also, this is the third volume. Wouldn’t it be ideal to start with the first?”
March shrugs him off, “Eh, the third’s a prequel anyways. But don’t worry! I’ll give you the other four books later!”
“Four?” Dan Heng questions wearily, “There are five of these?” The book feels heavier in his hand with the revelation.
“Six, so far,” Stelle corrects, “But the sixth one is only online right now. And about Jing Yuan and Blade: we made a bet about who you’d think was hotter.”
Unsurprised, Dan Heng lets out an amused huff of laughter while absently flipping through the pages of the book, stopping once to backtrack when he thinks he sees his name. “The one with white hair.”
Stelle looks aghast while March punches the air with a celebratory cry.
“But Blade’s the main character!” Stelle argues, “He has that irresistible protagonist charm.”
“He looks like he wants to eviscerate me. Slowly. While feeding me pieces of myself,” Dan Heng says.
“Yeah, he’s definitely done that to at least a few people in the books,” March casually adds.
“Some people are into that! And - and - he’s the hero! Everyone loves the hero!” Stelle tries again.
March sighs and pats Stelle on the shoulder, “Is he really a hero? He’s kind of a lunatic. Heh, lunae-tic, get it?”
Dang Heng doesn’t.
Pouting, Stelle says, “Fine. An insane anti-hero then. I can’t believe I lost. I really thought I had Dan Heng’s type all figured out.” She kicks the ground and mumbles, “He always plays the edgy, yandere characters in games…”
Dan Heng pretends he can’t hear her while March smugly says, “I met Dan Heng before you, so obviously I am the authority on this subject.”
“You met him maybe two minutes before me.”
“It was a crucial two minutes!”
“What great and terrible secrets did he impart in those crucial two minutes?”
“That he sucks at small talk for one. And that he thinks Jing Yuan is hotter than Blade for two!”
“Amazing. Dan Heng foresaw and revealed the existence of two Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection characters nine years before the first chapter came out? Dan Heng, quick, to the horse races with you! Make us rich.”
“If it takes nine years for his predictions to mean anything, is it really even worth it?”
“Of course. The time will pass anyway.”
Dan Heng continues not to validate any of that with a response and tucks the novel into his jacket before he loses his unpredictable cover from the rain. He asks, “Can we get to whatever store you wanted to go to before we catch pneumonia? Or was pneumonia part of today’s agenda?”
“Aw, c’mon Dan Heng,” March simpers, but hooks her arms through both his and Stelle’s, dragging them in the direction they’d been walking before deciding to initiate Dan Heng into their book club. “A little rain won’t kill us! Besides, we have to get you up to speed on CIDR so you can watch the drama with us when it’s out in a few months.”
“Not sure how much I’ll like it based on what you’ve already said about the main character, but I’ll give it a shot.”
“Blade’s a revenge-obsessed basketcase,” Stelle confirms, “But once that prequel story hits, you’ll be crying, calling him your son, and wanting to protect him from the evil, evil world.”
“There are more interesting ways to write a complex character than making them psychotic,” Dan Heng says.
“Shush! You haven’t even read anything yet you blasphemous non-fiction enjoyer! You’ll love him more than Jing Yuan in the end, just wait. March thinks she knows better, but victory will be mine.”
March rolls her eyes, “Are you still not over that? Jing Yuan was always going to be the fan favorite. Main characters are written to be matched with their main love interest in the story, and the secondary characters are written to be terminally attractive and woefully single for us, the readers, to fall in love with!”
“This isn’t a romance series! There are no love interests!”
“Tell that to whatever Blade and Kafka have going on.”
“Kafka is a lesbian.”
“In your hopes and dreams, maybe.”
“Yes, in my hopes and dreams, definitely,” Stelle says mournfully, pretending to wipe tears from her eyes.
“Anyway,” March turns her attention back to Dan Heng, “Even if you don’t like Blade, there’s so much going on in the series you’ll find something to keep you reading. Lots of side characters get huge sections dedicated to them, it’s not all about Blade, you know.”
“When’s the Kafka arc gonna be…” Stelle’s question trails off as she stares morosely into the distance.
Dan Heng suppresses a laugh. “I’ll read it, but I reserve the right to be critical of everything that happens in the story.”
“We wouldn’t expect anything less,” March says with the roll of her eyes, voice dry. “Though if you really can’t get into it, you still have to watch the drama with us! No excuses now that you’re out of school and bumming around with Stelle every day!”
“We are not bumming around, we are professional job hoppers!” Stelle interjects, “Who wants to be stuck in the same nine to five their whole life? Not I. And not Dan Heng! Our resumes will be unparalleled. Everyone will want us, but no one will deserve our extensive, intimidating list of experience. There is still time for you to join us, March. Come and live your best life, free from the shackles of a regular schedule!”
“No thanks. Weren’t you two picking up trash all last week? I don’t want to smell like a dumpster.”
Stelle sniffs, twirling the umbrella in her hand and inadvertently flinging drops of water directly into Dan Heng’s face. “Your loss.”
“I doubt it,” March says, quickly zipping her jacket and pulling her hood up when Stelle aims the drops of water at her instead. “Hey! I’m revoking your umbrella rights! Hand it over, it’s mine! Argh, you’re ruining my makeup! Give it back!”
“Shoulda used the waterproof stuff!” Stelle retorts, careless to the rain soaking her hair and laughing as she haphazardly dodges March’s attempts to reclaim what is actually Dan Heng’s umbrella, but he doesn’t bother pointing that out. He knows how to recognize an exercise in futility.
“Dan Heng, help! She can’t escape us both!” March spins around to him, the grin on her face belying the urgency in her voice. That grin is quick to drop when her gaze snaps behind him, eyes widening.
“Dan Heng! March!”
He doesn’t have the time to turn and see what March sees, but in that instantaneous moment he does register the squealing of tires and grinding of breaks, and feels the desperate grip of a hand on his arm trying to pull him out of the way in what must be far too late for both of them.
Maybe it’s shock, maybe it’s the mercy of a higher power, but he doesn’t feel a thing even as a broken part of him is aware he’s been struck and knocked into the canal, his body swept up in its gentle current, cradling him as darkness creeps into his already blurred vision. The water is dark but there is enough light piercing the clouds for him to see the underside of the surface of where turbulent rains meet the lazy waters of the canal.
Before his eyes close for good, the darkness in his periphery almost seems to move around him, encircling him with a melancholy murmur.
And between that bleak lullaby and the muddled white noise of water lulling him into his final rest and fleeting thoughts of March, Stelle, and making plans to watch a drama together - a chipper, mechanical voice rang impossibly clear through his ears.
[Activation code: “There are more interesting ways to write a complex character than making them psychotic.” System automatically triggered.]
“What?” Dan Heng asks, his voice unmuddled by the water he’s certain he’s still sinking under. Surprised he can speak at all he asks, “What’s happening?”
[Welcome to the System. This system operates in line with the design concept “YOU CAN YOU UP, NO CAN NO BB”; we hope to provide you with the best possible experience. It is our sincere wish that during your time, you can fulfill your desires and, in accordance with your wish, transform a lunae-tic anti-hero into a properly complex protagonist equipped with the mental faculties required to fully realize their potential! We hope you enjoy!]
Dan Heng’s thoughts are nothing but stunted questions as his fading life is revitalized, the water burning his lungs shifting through his airways as if it’s meant to be there, his water-blurred vision now sharper than his first time wearing a pair of prescription glasses. The shadows that encircled him now move with purpose and form - the sinuous shape of a long, coiled dragon swimming protectively around him.
And - A disturbance. Something from above strikes the surface of the - canal? No, he can see the water extend far beyond the restrictive width of a canal, can taste the salt of the sea. And there - two bodies sinking into the depths, partially obscured by the turmoil of water they’ve plunged into.
“March? Stelle?” Dan Heng shouts with desperation, confusion overwritten by concern, instinctively swimming towards them with a speed he knows shouldn’t be possible, but doesn’t think to question.
Pale blue eyes lock with his, and even as disappointment and nausea fills Dan Heng’s gut with the damning uncertainty of what might have happened to his friends, he grabs the arms of the man and his flailing companion and hauls them to the surface.
Or… above the surface, Dan Heng finds, his bare feet somehow standing steadily atop the waves of the verifiable ocean around him. The coughing and sputtering of the rescued man and woman still halfway submerged drag him out of his short-lived stupor.
“Oh, we’re really in it now, aren’t we?” the purple haired one wheezes. She blows water out of her nose. Dan Heng drops them, watching them with morbid interest as they briefly struggle to reorient themselves in the water.
The ocean, Dan Heng corrects himself, looking around in distress and no small amount of shock until he catches sight of a landmass in the distance. He takes a single step before remembering he’s walking on water and he’d rather not test the limits of how long this neat trick is going to last before he finds himself miserably treading water alongside the freshly rescued duo.
The man in the water opens his mouth to speak but is delayed by his own watery cough. “What’s the one thing Jingliu ordered us not to do?” he drawls when he rediscovers his voice, his tone dripping with bravado even as he eyes Dan Heng warily.
“...Don’t touch the sacred waters of the Scalegorge Waterscape?”
“And what have we done?”
“Crashed into the sacred waters of the Scalegorge Waterscape? There’s a difference! Touching is deliberate! This was an accident!” the woman says, pausing to take a breath before pitifully tacking on, “Please don’t kill us.”
Dan Heng blinks a few times before comprehending the request was addressed to him. He opens and closes his mouth as he gives them both more than a cursory glance. The woman’s ears twitch nervously before falling flat against her head.
A catgirl? Doggirl? Is there a cosplay convention happening in the middle of the ocean? How’d she get the ears to move so naturally? March and Stelle would be jealous.
“If he wanted us dead he would have let us drown,” the man says, pulling a wet strand of inky hair out of his face.
“Oh, good point.”
Dan Heng should probably say something but his brain is not quite up to date with the circumstances. He crosses his arms and ignores the dual stares boring into the side of his head as he waits for the world to start making sense.
And wait in vain, he does. March’s grin turned wide-eyed stare plays on loop in the back of his head as he examines himself. His warm jacket is gone, replaced by a few layers of thin, airy, white fabrics that are already drying even as the sun cowers behind the last clump of dwindling stormclouds.
And his hair! Impractically long, wet strands of black hair pull heavily at his scalp, stuck to his skin and new clothes alike. How long was he underwater for? A decade? Did he get swept up in a current and spat out into the ocean over the course of several years? He can’t even stand it when his hair grows too far down the nape of his neck, what is he going to do with this tangled mess?
These useless thoughts flitter through his head, keeping the real questions at bay before he collapses under the weight of them.
The woman eeps!, clinging onto her companion when a draconic shadow darkens the water beneath them. Logically, Dan Heng should also be concerned, but as he watches the monstrous shade effortlessly glide beneath the choppy waves he can somehow sense it is nothing more or less than an extension of himself.
…
And this fact should also worry him! How does he know this? Why isn’t he running (swimming?) as fast as he can? He’s been terrified of the ocean his entire life because he can’t see what’s under the water! He even gets suspicious of perfectly clean swimming pools if Stelle’s been anywhere near it!
After what is probably an uncomfortable silence to anyone other than Dan Heng, the man grumbles, “At least it stopped raining.”
The doggirl stammers something that is an unfortunate mix between nervous laughter and gibberish as her eyes remain glued to the shadowy waters.
And yes, Dan Heng thinks, critically watching the sun finally begin to peek out from behind the edge of the last thick cloud, thank God it’s stopped raining.
An unnatural chill bites into Dan Heng’s back, drawing his attention to more figures flying on swords in their direction. Because why not? If nothing has made sense this far along, why would it suddenly begin to do so? Dan Heng rubs his eyes to help suppress the inevitable headache. Or the panic attack.
The wind carries snippets of a heated argument to them before the figures themselves gracefully come to a halt in front of him.
“These two are mine,” an intimidating woman demands more than says with a low but even voice, hand pointed at the pitiful pair behind him.
“Okay,” Dan Heng easily replies, earning multiple bemused stares. Is it so hard to believe he just wants everyone to leave him alone? And why would he say no to a woman who looks like she is willing to snap him in half for fun? Who even are these people? He just wants to figure out what happened to March and Stelle.
His response seems to meet the approval of the woman, whose hardened gaze eases into a steely contemplation before nodding and flying her sword over to her friends.
“Oh, Jingliu! Our leader, our savior, my favorite person in the whole-wide world, boohoohoo,” Doggirl fake cries, but Dan Heng can tell her nerves have been genuinely soothed just by the sight of her. She lets go of the man she was still clinging to and reaches up, kicking her legs in the water with extra force as if to propel herself up and out into the air.
The man rolls his eyes as Jingliu brings her flying sword as close down to the water as she can before effortlessly plucking the doggirl out and helping her stabilize herself on the sword. The doggirl musters up more crocodile tears as she immediately begins wringing the water out of her tail.
“Hey, brat!” the man calls out to one of the others still hanging back on their sword. A teenager with a mess of white hair perks up and rips his eyes away from Dan Heng at the address.
“Yes?” he asks. The drowned man glowers, hair flowing around him like a dropped bottle of ink. “If there’s something you need help with, you need only to ask,” the brat adds with a quirk of his lips.
One of the other three who’d been hanging back with dumbfounded expressions on their faces ever since Dan Heng spoke finally found their words, “This - this is sacrilege! How dare you defile our waters and treat the High Elder with such blatant disrespect!”
Who? Dan Heng wants to ask. He doesn’t get the chance because he’s immediately distracted by the new speaker’s elongated ears. He furrows his brow. First doggirls and now elves?
He doesn’t get to ponder long as that strange voice from earlier makes a sudden comeback along with a silvery blue screen popping up in front of his face.
[The System was successfully activated!] the voice says along with a celebratory chime. Dan Heng watches the strange screen in front of him with hope that this will be the moment he’s been waiting for - the moment things finally begin to make sense! [Bound Role: High Elder of the Vidyadhara, Imbibitor Lunae, “Dan Feng.” Starting B-Points: 100.]
Of course it doesn’t make sense. Vidyadhara? Imbiba what? Dan Feng? Who signed him up for this hell and had the audacity to misspell his name?
[Wrong! “Dan Feng” is the account you have been bound to. Please enjoy using your knowledge to influence the world of Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection as the plot progresses. You will be awarded various points based on your achievements and quest completion that you will be eligible to redeem for special privileges and rewards.]
Dan Heng stares slack-jaw at the words on the screen long after the voice’s tinny echo fades from his skull.
Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection???
That’s unmistakably the awful title of the book series Stelle and March were conning him into reading. Is the implication of this that he’s now living as a character from the series? He’s been isekai’d? Into a character that has nearly the same name as him? Does that mean he’s really dead? No, absolutely not - everything happened so fast, this is simply some bizarre dream stirred up from an unfortunate mixture of pain induced neurotransmitters and life saving drugs as his body is safely recovering in the hospital. These things only happen in gimmicky novels and TV shows.
The System is not real.
[The System is real!]
Dan Heng closes his eyes and ignores the decidedly not-real voice.
[The System is real!!! ૮₍ꐦ -᷅ ⤙ -᷄ ₎ა ]
How is he seeing the kaomoji with his eyes closed? He glares at the screen.
[OOC Warning! Dan Feng would not remain silent under these circumstances for this long! If you do not play your role you will be penalized!]
Dan Heng doesn’t even know who Dan Feng is! Even if he wanted to indulge this fantasy his dying brain is conjuring up he wouldn’t be able to!
[Dan Feng, Imbibitor Lunae, High Elder of the Vidiyadhara. Introduced in book number 3.]
That doesn’t help him! He hasn’t read the books!
[Processing … Processing …]
Processing what?
[Confirmation required: User_02 has not read book number 3?]
He hasn’t read any of the books! He’s only just heard about them!
[...]
… !!!
“High Elder, you need only say the word and we will have these four strung up in the dungeons! That they’d dare disturb your secluded cultivation, let alone submerge themselves in our waters -”
The elves shrink under the glare meant for the system that is still engraved into Dan Heng’s face. And - ah, the situation has certainly escalated since he’s last paid attention. Weapons are drawn, and a not insignificant portion of seawater has somehow turned to ice beneath where Jingliu and her companion hover. The dark haired man has since been pulled out of the water, standing precariously with the teenager on his flying sword.
The odd ensemble of characters all watch him with nervous anticipation.
Dan Heng hates being the center of attention, but he doesn’t think this dream will let him get away with being silent much longer.
“Let them go,” Dan Heng says. The simplest solution is often the best solution.
“But High Elder!” “Yahoo!” “This is unheard of!” “We’ll be off, then.” “High Elder, your prolonged, secluded cultivation has been rudely interrupted and you are yet to shake off the vestiges of your meditation. It is my recommendation that you reserve your judgement for these interlopers until after you have fully awoken and are able to appropriately process the situation.” “Hmph. Are you doubting the judgement of your High Elder?” “Watch your tongue!”
Dan Heng rubs his temples as they regress to exactly how they were before he said anything.
Well, that solved nothing.
“High Elder, please allow us to escort you back to your chambers so that you may convalesce away from this rabble before returning to your duties. We will be in touch with the Six Charioteers of the Xianzhou to discuss a punishment that reflects the severity of this breach in our alliance.”
Dan Heng stares down at the waters and wonders if he would have been better off diving back beneath the waves as soon as he dragged those two back up to the surface. And, ah, that could work?
“I’m going back into seclusion,” he says after another weighty silence, deliberately avoiding eye contact. “Goodbye,” he quickly tacks on before turning around and wondering how to stop walking on water to go back under without looking like a fool. What if he tries to dive in and slams his face into it like it’s solid ground? Does he really even want to go back in? What if he drowns? Again?
He shakes the thought off.
“High Elder!” three desperate voices cry in unison as he finds himself grappled by three pairs of hands. “Please! You’ve been in seclusion for nearly two years! Much has happened and we have been patiently waiting for your return and blessings!”
So much for that plan, Dan Heng thinks as he is manhandled back to his starting position. Now that he has a much closer look, his three overzealous cling-ons are quite young, likely still teenagers themselves. He begins to feel a little bad.
“...It was a joke,” Dan Heng says with a guilty heart as he looks into their tearful faces. Perhaps he’s grown immune to March and Stelle using this very same tactic time and time again, but that’s only because he knows for certain he’s being played. Noticing the poorly concealed amusement on the faces of the other half of this disaster group, he’s increasingly uncertain that isn’t what’s happening right now.
Isn’t Dan Feng supposed to be some important guy? Why is he being wrestled around like someone’s pet dog that got off the leash and is trying to make a break for it while he still can?
“You’ll return with us? And allow us to process these criminals?” the girl clinging to his left arm begs more than asks.
“I’ll return, but my decision to let them go still stands. They’ve done no harm.”
He doesn’t want this responsibility!
The boy with a death grip on his right arm says, “This humble one feels it is necessary to remind our venerated High Elder that the Vidyadhara’s agreement with the Xianzhou very specifically states the waters within the perimeter of the Lunarescent Depths are not to be approached or entered by anyone not of the Vidyadhara without explicit permission and surveillance.”
Once upon a time, Dan Heng would have fallen over and died before daring to imagine deliberately breaking any law at all, let alone giving someone else a pass to do so, but a decade long friendship with two people who are of the impression that laws are suggestions at best and exist to be subverted at worst leaves him feeling sympathetic for these people who clearly don’t want to be here any more than he does.
“The waters don’t care and neither do I,” Dan Heng says tiredly. If nothing else, he is becoming curious about the importance of this place. And there’s the fact that he’s apparently been sleeping here for two years? “Consider this their explicit permission and the four of us their surveillance,” he says, hoping the position of High Elder is something that is able to grant such a thing. “And surveillance will no longer be needed because they are leaving, yes?”
Quick on the uptake, Jingliu says, “Correct. We apologize for the disturbance and will be taking our leave.”
“But High Elder!” says the boy standing strategically behind Dan Heng to block him in, “Think of the paperwork we’ll have to do if we let them go.”
Dan Heng can’t see the boy’s face but the pitch of his voice suggests he’s even younger than his peers. What were these kids even doing out here? Shouldn’t they be in school? “Thank you for your sacrifice,” Dan Heng says.
The trio gasp in betrayal and Dan Heng turns his attention back to the four who, for some reason, have yet to fly away into the mottled, gray horizon at the first opportunity.
His expectant stare has the white haired teenager shifting into a bow. He says, “Paying my respects to High Elder Imbibitor Lunae. Should an occasion arise where we may be of service, please do not hesitate to call upon us so that we might someday repay your generosity. We genuinely apologize for the trouble and hope this experience does not leave any negativity between the peoples of the Vidyadhara and the Xianzhou. If there are amends to be made, we will not hesitate to go out of our way to make them.”
Not for the first time Dan Heng thinks to himself, I don’t even know who you are. How is he supposed to call them? They never introduced themselves. He doesn’t think he even has a phone to call them with.
The girl attached to his arm darkly mutters, “Amends can be made if you come with us and walk into a prison cell.”
The white haired teen’s easy smile brightens.
“Ah, thank you! High Elder!” the purple haired woman speaks up when the sword she’s on begins to ascend. “Thank you for pulling us out of the water! I really thought we were going to drown!”
Now that he’s thinking about it, how and why did they crash here? Basically right on top of his head? There’s nothing around them but water and more water! If this really is some novel-world, then that makes this a poorly thought out plot device. And if this situation is a plot-device then everything that just happened has somehow affected the plot? How did this meeting originally go? He would very much like to stay as far away from the plot as possible.
Not that he believes this or the system are real, of course. But, just in case.
The leader, Jingliu, meets his eye once more and offers one last respectful nod before shooting off with a burst of speed that leaves him blinking away their afterimage. The remaining two are quick to follow.
Leaving him, Dan Heng, stuck with three armed and armored children clinging to him in the middle of the ocean.
He sighs.
Somehow still not the strangest situation he’s ever found himself in.
[Processing…]
Still?! Really?
…System?
[Processing…Pro-]
[Processing Complete!]
Dan Heng waits a moment. Then a little longer.
Well? What was all that processing for?
The system remains quiet.
The boy finally releases his arm and manages to retreat to a respectful distance. “High Elder, you must be exhausted after being so troubled immediately after exiting your seclusion. Please, allow me to fly you home. The preceptors will be overjoyed with your return. There has been…unrest as of late. Your presence will quell many of our people’s worries.”
No thank you, that sounds extraordinarily plot relevant.
[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!]
What?
“Ah, High Elder, where are your shoes? Please be careful when stepping onto the flying sword!”
[OOC feature unlocked! Penalties for not meeting quest requirements mitigated!]
Okay?
“Chen Taosheng, the High Elder doesn’t need you to fly him anywhere.”
[B points awarded - awarded - awarded -]
… Okay?
“Wasn’t talking to you, Yueyue. A-Lan, give the High Elder your outer robe to stand on.”
“Why don’t you offer your own robe?”
“He needs new ones anyways, he’s growing like a weed.”
[+10,000 B-points awarded as consolation! Congratulations!]
So many points? Consolation for what?
[System acknowledges an error has been made and is offering reparations!]
An error?
[User_02, Account name “Dan Feng” has not read the series Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection, correct?]
Correct.
[LOL!]
…
Excuse me?!
Did this thing just LOL at him?
[User “Dan Feng” has been relieved from OOC restrictions and quest penalties and is free to live as he pleases without interference from the system. Our sincerest apologies for the trouble.]
Dan Heng really wishes people (and systems) would stop apologizing to him and start helping him understand - really understand what’s going on.
[User “Dan Feng”, formerly known as Dan Heng, was improperly transmigrated into the world of Cursed Immortal Demon Resurrection upon his death. Our sincerest apologies! Please continue to enjoy the experience of your new life as Dan Feng! Quest objectives will be updated as the plot progresses, but System will no longer require them to be fulfilled! Congratulations!]
Formerly Dan Heng…transmigrated into this world upon his death.
Dan Heng’s mouth goes dry.
[ (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ]
“High Elder?!”
So, he’s really dead?
March’s grin, eyes snapping behind him. Tires squealing. Stelle’s shout.
[Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!]
Water, water, water.
“High Elder!”
He becomes unsteady on his feet, a roiling ocean wave finding weakness in the onset of his panic. Hands grab his arm, too late. He’s drowning.
He wakes to the rhythmic sound of waves breaking the shore. The diminuendo of waves receding, the crescendo of their return. It’s predictable. It’s familiar. He’d be content to stay in the steady embrace of these repetitive sounds forever if the anxiety churning in his gut and his own strength of will didn’t press him to get up, to find his friends .
[Good morning! ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜ ]
The silvery screen appears beside him, but after a cursory glance with sleep-riddled eyes, he pushes himself up from the mat on the ground to examine his surroundings, the luxurious sheets draped over his body left pooling on the floor in a uselessly shimmery heap of fabric. He’s in a large bedroom, sparsely decorated but with just enough personal touch to leave him feeling like an intruder.
Using a hand to steady himself against the wall as he takes a deep breath, he stumbles to the open, glassless windows carved into the intricate stonework of the room, brushing aside the flittering, gauzy curtains that impede his view.
A few stories below, the ocean greets his eyes, the prior gray sky banished by cheerful blue and a smattering of fluffy, white clouds. He resists the compulsion to sit and lose himself in the breath of the ocean yet again, pulling himself away towards a large dresser fitted with a long mirror etched with intricate lotus patterns along the edges.
His face stares back at him.
His face, albeit some rather…notable differences.
Dan Heng is twenty five years old, and while he’s long since shed the baby-fat that once stubbornly clung to his cheeks, he’s certain there’s something about the face in the mirror that implies maturity that he’s never possessed. A timeless face. Neither a blemish nor wrinkle to be found, yet unthinkable to be mistaken for a youth.
And his eyes - unsettled, he struggles to meet his own gaze for a moment, his dark pupils substituted by an almost luminous pale green anchored amidst the ocean green of his irises. A sharp line of red follows the curve of his eyes that he scratches at with the nail of his thumb, but the color remains uncompromising.
Then there’s the ears - and the horns. The ears he might have predicted had he been of sound enough mind to wonder about such things, but the horns - those clingy children constantly shouting High Elder, High Elder! most certainly did not have these.
He runs his fingers along them, surprised his hand doesn’t pass straight through given their almost ghostly appearance. They remain solid and smooth under his touch, and he’s surprised even further when he realizes they have some small bit of sensation. Gold clasps encircle near the base, almost as if to remind him that yes, these horns we are decorating are quite real, thank you!
His ears, aside from their elvish shape, offer no new revelations - with the small exception of discovering that they are pierced. He almost laughs, having spent ten years alongside Stelle denying March’s pleas to get their ears pierced so she could please buy them all cute, matching earrings. Dan Heng’s controlling parents would have ripped them out of his ears when he was still living with them.
He shakes his head to clear his thoughts.
“System?” he tentatively asks.
[System is here! ♡⸜(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ )⸝ ]
“My friends, March and Stelle, they were with me when - well, when everything happened,” Dan Heng says, trying to swallow some of the dread. “Do you know what happened? Are they here too? Are they safe?”
And it’s complicated, both the grief and hope raging in his chest. He prays they got out of the way in time - he prays they were here stuck in this nonsensical world with him - he prays they’d never have to live to grieve his passing - he prays and prays all these conflicting impossible things.
He continues, “You…called me User_02 before. That means there is a User_01? Maybe even a User_03?”
[...]
[System is prohibited from answering questions about User’s former life or other Users.]
“System, please. I need to know.”
[But system is not prohibited from saying there aren’t not other users! (˶◜ᵕ◝˶) ]
“Isn’t that the same thing as saying there are other users?”
[ ( ｡•̀_•́｡) ]
[System requires User_02, “Dan Feng” to cease criticizing System’s semantics for System’s sake.]
“...Understood.”
[B-points +100 for understanding!]
…
It’s not much, but if the System is going out of its way to try to tell him something it’s not allowed to, there’s a good chance that at least one person came to this world with him. Whether it’s March, Stelle, or someone else -
He’ll figure it out. Whether by picking away at the System until it slips up or simply living as Dan Feng, answers will come.
He’ll make sure of it.