Don't Lie to Your Therapist—She Already Knows Your Fate

"You won’t have any use for it if it stays here. Or are you saying you want to abandon me and the kids to go have fun with Dad?" Aunt Zhang’s gaze grew increasingly intense...

"No, no, no! That’s not what I meant, I just... I was wrong! How could I ever abandon you and the children! It was my fault for running my mouth! Please forgive me, dear! Whatever you say, goes!"

Putting down the cleaver, Aunt Zhang looked at her husband, satisfied. "Alright then. Just burn it tonight. And tell Little Ying to take her time with the rest; there’s no rush. This money will last the old man for a while."

Uncle Zhang sighed. "Honey, have you never been suspicious?"

"Suspicious of what?"

"About Dad’s situation. Don’t you think it’s a little outrageous?"

"It is outrageous. But that’s our dad. No matter how outrageous it is, we still have to do our duty as his children, right? I know what you’re thinking. You’re just overthinking it. Just think of it as Dad living in another world, and we just need to send him some things every now and then. Why worry needlessly?"

Uncle Zhang sighed again. ’First, I get lectured by the little lass, and now my wife is lecturing me?’

’Am I really getting more muddled with age?’

"Fine! I get it. Tonight, we’ll burn the offerings for Dad together. We’ll try to get him on some kind of Forbes list down there! Let him have his moment in the sun!"

-

「Night fell.」

The lights of Wenxiang Street were hardly bustling. Wen Ying sat on the beanbag chair she had bought, planning to watch a variety show. After all, she hadn’t seen one in decades.

[Host, you really don’t want to know what’s happening down below? It’s just a bit of reputation value. Look at all the reputation value you have. Are you just going to let it collect dust?]

[Uncle Zhang and his wife will be burning joss paper for the old man tonight. Do you want to watch the livestream? If you don’t want to watch the stream up here, I can let you see what’s happening down below!]

"Is it free?"

[This is a fragmented world! Me staying here to help you is constantly consuming energy! I can’t explain the situation down below in just a few words, but it’s absolutely crucial for you to understand this world!]

"A few hundred?"

[A direct line to the underworld is no easy feat! You have to know that the underworld you’re aware of right now might not even be the real underworld!]

"Tens of thousands? Any more than that and I’m not watching."

[Deal! One hundred thousand reputation value has been deducted!]

"..." ’Of course. Besides being long-winded, it’s still the same old scummy system.’

Wen Ying saw a screen of light project itself before her. The image that appeared on it was...

Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang were kneeling in a side room of their house. In front of them was a porcelain basin where they were burning joss paper.

He seemed to be muttering something. "Dad! If you need anything, just send us a dream! Don’t you worry about anything else! The important thing is to buy a few more villas."

Wen Ying was speechless. ’I thought Uncle Zhang was an honest, simple man, but who knew... he also has a dream of living in a villa!’

’I have that dream too!’

’I want to live in the most luxurious villa in the world! I hope the author gets the hint!’

"Weren’t we supposed to be looking down below?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

[My mistake, my mistake! It takes a bit longer to connect to what’s down below. Host, please be patient.]

The image of Uncle Zhang on the light screen vanished, and when it reappeared, it showed a boundless... desert?

It didn’t quite look like a desert, though. It was different from deserts in the real world—a desert without sun or sky.

The view slowly zoomed in. Just as Wen Ying was about to see a head, [Warning! Warning! System has triggered a rule. 100 Life Value deducted.]

POP!

The light screen vanished instantly.

"..."

[!!! My Life Value! Host, you have to compensate me for my Life Value!]

"So, how much of my reputation value are you planning to refund?"

[I’ll return fifty thousand at most! My Life Value is really important! If my Life Value hits 0, we’re both goners!]

"Then what’s your Life Value right now?"

[You wouldn’t understand this kind of thing even if I told you. The Host’s reputation value has been returned. The next system upgrade will require one million three hundred thousand reputation value~]

"..." ’She knew it. The scummy system was always coming up with new ways to trick, swindle, and cheat her out of her reputation value.’

’It might have even staged the whole thing. After all, if its Life Value was really that important, it wouldn’t have just settled for fifty thousand reputation value.’

*

「Twelve o’clock midnight.」

In the boundless dark night, an old man with white hair and a white beard stood beside the thatched hut he had built himself, his heart pounding with lofty aspirations!

This was a wasteland, an abandoned wasteland.

But upon this boundless wasteland, there were countless souls just like him.

Some were muddled and had lost their minds, while others were lucid like him. And his own lucidity had only begun on that day.