As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 834 A Little Treat for Couples

We have arrived in parallel universe zone 021.

This is the Fourth Age, following Bloodborne.

The teleportation ended quickly.

When Li Nuo's vision returned, the first thing he saw was a group of bewildered audience members below the stage.

He turned around and saw a horizontally placed canvas with Miaham's face staring at him, and a large "pause" symbol in the center of the image.

"In this era, the world in the painting has long become like television in our time. As long as people in this era are willing, they can pick up the handle and pause, fast forward, or rewind the beings in the painting."

Soren's trouser leg came into Li Nuo's view.

"So how do people in this era view the past? I tend to think it's a higher dimension spying on a lower one, only they don't know how powerful they are."

Suddenly, the spotlights below the stage began to flash.

Only then did Li Nuo realize what had happened. Soren had done something momentous for the times: his invention pulled the people in the paintings out of the world. As a result, having a two-dimensional wife was no longer a dream, and people could finally release their desires beyond just VR images.

All the players who were fighting Miaham in the Border Prison are here now.

Everyone was seriously injured, and even the strongest, Nanami, was unconscious. This was the first time they had ever encountered such a serious situation.

However, the people in the audience didn't care about any of this. Reporters pushed their way onto the stage, the audience erupted in uproar, and the scene was in complete chaos. Gardevoir was fulfilling her duty as the vice-captain of the host club to maintain order.

Soren looked at the group of people, put his hands in his pockets, and then turned his gaze to Li Nuo, who was sitting on the ground.

"Thanks to Captain Ma's STEAM, the world in the painting was able to rescue you all. Everyone in Border Prison is back, and the other thousands have been randomly assigned to various corners of the world. I'm sorry I didn't tell you beforehand, because the specific method..."

"It doesn't matter."

Li Nuo interrupted him.

"Anything is fine as long as we win."

The moment he stood up, everyone in the room looked at him, and the noise was immediately replaced by silence.

"We can go back, right?"

Li Nuo turned around and looked at the old man standing behind Miaham on the screen.

Soren nodded almost imperceptibly.

"of course."

I want to rest.

“There’s a hotel nearby. I booked two floors there. You can rest however you like.”

"Lend me your phone, I need to look something up."

Li Nuo took the phone from Soren, glanced at Cha Bai, and grinned, showing his teeth.

Then he jumped off the stage, because he was the protagonist of the game, and everyone was waiting for him.

Li Nuo bypassed everyone, walked to the main entrance, opened the door, and left immediately.

A few seconds later.

The audience below the stage discussed it.

"Wasn't he the main character? He just left like that?"

What's wrong with this guy?

"Who knows? Maybe it's because he's just data in a game and doesn't know what he's doing."

To these spectators, the players appearing on the big screen were simply game data; they had no idea what Li Nuo and his group meant.

"..."

Aita and the others stood up, probably too tired to speak. Their faces were covered in blood and wounds, but to those taking pictures, the blood and wounds were just "special effects" in the "game" on the big screen.

The camera flash illuminated Soren's glasses, and he realized that something was wrong with Lino.

"Are you upset because you were humiliated?"

Soren sensed that Li Nuo had a very heavy burden on his mind, a burden that stemmed from the sudden realization of his safety.

"Maybe it is, maybe it's not."

Cha Bai realized the problem earlier than anyone else. As she walked past him, she nodded to Soren and said "thank you" before chasing after him.

……

Thousands of years have passed since the Fourth Age. The world has long been highly technological, with bustling streets and skyscrapers bathed in sunlight.

Li Nuo sat on the edge of a building's rooftop with his back to the sunlight.

He lowered his head, his gaze deep.

I could hear Zuo Jing's voice in my ear.

Zuo Jing: [We've run into quite a mess here; Miaham almost crossed the dimensional barrier and came straight here.]

Li Nuo: "Ah, really? You must have had a hard time. It seems you're still alive. What a pity."

Zuo Jing: [I know what you're thinking right now. From our perspective, Miaham and the Borderlands you're talking about are just stories on a screen. We can switch channels and enter another timeline at any time; that's the arbitrariness of a higher-dimensional perspective.]

Li Nuo: "Then does our agreement still stand?"

Zuo Jing: [I'd like to break the contract, but my client wants to see what happens and expects you to kill that female demon.]

After saying that, Zuo Jing disconnected the contact. Li Nuo felt a "pop" in his mind, as if a bubble had risen in his brain.

"What's the rush..."

Li Nuo complained because Zuo Jing was a character in "Yu Yu Hakusho," and he had originally wanted to ask Zuo Jing for an autographed photo of him.

He opened the task panel and gathered his thoughts.

The main storyline, "Searching for the World in the Painting," has been completed.

Two main storyline branches.

[Kill Miaham]

[Help Miaham become a god]

As the script had planned, the original intention was to kill Miaham, but it seems that because Wells opened the gates of God, he ended up helping Miaham become a god instead.

But upon closer examination, Wells' ability to open the Gate of God is related to his yin-yang duality, while Black Brother's androgynous nature is Li Nuo's doing.

Thinking of all this, Li Nuo's dead fish eyes widened.

"So, I'm the one who helped Miaham become a god..."

Anyway, we've got the two main storylines sorted out.

Then there's another branch.

[Help Li Nuo escape Miaham's clutches]

Clearly, Soren got his hands on this deal.

Anyway, Li Nuo still has something to control Soren, so he can just get Four-Eyes to hand over the benefits when the time comes.

"And then the last..."

What Li Nuo saw was the "main storyline of life" in that script.

Then he lowered his head and sighed, then scratched his head, then gritted his teeth and sighed helplessly, "Ah..."

"Is it embarrassing?"

Cha Bai's voice came from behind.

“That’s right…” Li Nuo had known she was behind him all along: “She clearly promised Blackie and Lennie that she would save that world… but…”

Instead, it dragged that world into an even more terrifying prison, sending it to true annihilation. "Can't we still go back?" Cha Bai said, "It's never too late."

Li Nuo started to stare blankly, like an empty shell: "This is so troublesome..."

"I'm talking to you," Cha Bai urged.

"I know, I just feel like there's too much to do, and my brain can't keep up." Li Nuo turned around to complain, but when he saw Cha Bai's two white snake-like legs, his worries immediately disappeared from his mind.

Cha Bai sat on the chair constructed of magic essence. Because she was covered in dirt, she changed into a long dress and black flip-flops.

Cha Bai noticed Li Nuo's gaze and explained, "I was too nervous in the border prison just now. Changing into more comfortable clothes will help me calm down."

"Ahhh." Li Nuo nodded, his eyes fixed on Cha Bai's soft calves. He thought Cha Bai's legs were a wonderful thing, more effective than any "psychotropic drug," provided that they only worked for those who could enjoy them. Just looking at them was meaningless; you had to experience them.

"Feeling at ease now?" Cha Bai stepped down from his chair and sat next to Li Nuo, smiling as he said, "Looking on the bright side, at least our abilities have improved significantly. For example, your insight can see a lot more now, right?"

Li Nuo looked down at the street with dead fish eyes: "Ha, I see so much: the sorrow of widows, the confusion of graduates, the loneliness of bachelors, the regret of single women, the grievances and despair of married women, and the reluctance of retired cadres to part with their secretaries."

"Where's your hat?" Cha Bai interrupted his rambling thoughts.

"I gave it back to Ciri when I advanced," Li Nuo said. "It cost a lot of gold coins to unbind it...it hurt so much. Oh, right, sis, guess what good thing I did when I advanced?"

He stared wide-eyed like a child seeking praise.

Cha Bai knew the answer, but still wanted him to say it, so he said, "I don't know."

Li Nuo discovered something terrifying: his insight could see through the truth and falsehood in language, but it was useless against Cha Bai, even though he knew that Cha Bai was deliberately saying this to give him a chance to shine.

"I should be able to save Maggie's life."

Cha Bai smiled and pinched his cheek.

"So, the next step is to keep the old man alive."

"Are you acting?" Li Nuo said, glancing at her. "Sis, please, we've already passed that 'I love you because you love me, so I want to encourage you' stage."

He was being stubborn, but in reality, he loved this woman to death.

“You’re still hiding something from me,” Cha Bai said, pinching his cheek harder.

“No,” Li Nuo said. “Absolutely not.”

"Alright then." Cha Bai gave him face and offered another way out, saying, "Then I'll give you some useful information. I discovered some things when I was advancing in my cultivation."

She created a seed and threw it in the center of the rooftop. The seed immediately sprouted and grew into a small shade tree. Its roots extended out and came into Cha Bai's hand, where she ignited it with magic.

The tree was burned.

Li Nuo understood; Cha Bai meant that they had found a way to burn down the World Tree.

“But it still needs further verification,” Cha Bai said, snapping his fingers as the tree transformed into magical energy and disappeared into the air.

Then she waved her hand in front of Li Nuo, signaling him to look at her.

Cha Bai: "I've already given you this information. Now, don't hide anything from me anymore, just tell me everything."

Li Nuo: "..."

Cha Bai nodded and said, "Ever since the judge's matter caused a stir, I've stayed out of it. I understand you want to protect me, so you don't tell me your plans, but it makes me feel like 'what exactly am I?' I'm not just a pretty face; I can do things, and I don't like being protected to this extent."

Li Nuo: "..."

Cha Bai: "For example, in the script world of the Sumeru Continent, Xiao Wu and you have worked together for far more time than I have, and I am jealous of that."

Li Nuo realized that Cha Bai had misunderstood him: "I did put you outside the core to protect you, but it seems... it has nothing to do with what's on my mind."

"Tell me, what exactly is it?" Cha Bai's tone was very serious. She felt that she could no longer let Li Nuo keep her outside the "main storyline". She was very strong now, strong enough to be fearless of any storm.

The slanting rays of the setting sun shone on her face. Li Nuo kept half a meter away from her, staring blankly at her. This woman's damned appearance made Li Nuo's heart beat like a motor.

"There's really only one thing I haven't told you..." Li Nuo frowned and pursed his lips: "I've been holding this in for a long time, I'm about to go crazy, and I'm also preparing for it."

Cha Bai smiled and nodded: "Speak, put aside your desire to protect me, and tell me everything."

Li Nuo: "I miss you."

Cha Bai: "...?"

He pulled out the phone he had borrowed from Soren from his pocket and said, "So I've already found a hotel."

Cha Bai's mind was in complete disarray: "...This is what's on your mind?"

Li Nuo nodded seriously: "Yes, that's right."

Cha Bai was puzzled: "But you always seem to be avoiding me."

“That was before,” Li Nuo said. “I achieved 100% demonic power release, which comes with negative effects. For example, Xiao Wu would want to eat people. But I have the genes of the ‘Warrior of Light,’ which erased this negative effect, but it caused my dopamine function to become disordered. The neurotransmitters that transmit excitement and pleasure were too high, which triggered symptoms of pleasure. At the same time, that succubus Miaham was constantly releasing ‘control hormones’ on me, causing my hormone levels to rise. Don’t look at me like that. Even if I’m no longer human, I’m still a person with hormones. Also, because of the old man’s matter, I was too nervous. This psychological mechanism may gradually evolve into…”

Cha Bai reached out and covered his mouth with her hand.

"Don't say anymore... I thought it was because of..."

Li Nuo broke free and continued, "There's another reason, I don't know if it counts, but I think I love you even more after advancing in rank."

The implication is that after his advancement, he suddenly rediscovered the passion and fervor he had when they first got together, so he had always felt shy. But once the truth was revealed, he was no longer shy.

Cha Bai: "You weren't fully in love with me before, were you?"

Li Nuo: "I mean, the kind that overflows the Pacific Ocean, I fucking love you."

As he said this, his cheeks flushed slightly in the sunset.

Cha Bai squinted and said, "I thought you were worried about Grandpa's matter, and that your insight had seen something bad."

“How could that be?” Li Nuo spread his hands and said, “I am indeed worried about the old man. I will definitely find a way to rescue him. Besides, am I the kind of person who would be anxious about something like this? Moreover, as long as we do things seriously…” He paused, “there will be bread and milk.”

Cha Bai tilted her head, her pupils turning to one side: "But I'm really tired today, I don't want anything... milk."

Li Nuo said solemnly, "Then I'll give you some moisturizing lotion."

"Li Nuo...you're so dirty."

"Thank you, you usually play very dirty too."

"That's all because of you..."

"I didn't want to do that light bulb thing."

"That's because you want to see if I can light a lamp there!"

While Cha Bai was complaining, Li Nuo had already started drawing circles in her palm: "I've found a hotel that can withstand missile bombardment. There are two more days until the mission ends. Until then, I'm willing to be a shut-in dancing with the world of anime and manga."

Cha Bai: "But... I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."

Li Nuo flashed a sunny smile: "I could eat you."

Two days later.

Marger is working on the script he's acquired in Emil's van.

Suddenly there was a knock on the truck door. He opened the door and saw Cha Bai pushing a wheelchair with Li Nuo sitting in it.

Marger was shocked: "...Li Nuo has lost weight."

With a rosy complexion and a hint of shyness, Cha Bai thought to herself: Li Nuo has truly undergone a complete transformation after his advancement...

Li Nuo said listlessly, "Old Ma, I miss you so much..."

Marger tossed out a train ticket and said, "Hmph, look at this before you think about me."

Cha Bai took it, and she and Li Nuo stared wide-eyed at the contents of the ticket.

Marger: "Hmph, do you see now?"

Cha Bai: "Hmm... In the next scenario, all the managers might appear."

Li Nuo: "It means a decisive battle, I guess."

(End of this chapter)