Tn: I know I said the weekend, but I was too exciteddddd<3
996 walked with an elegant cat’s gait towards the deepest room in the long corridor. Along the way, it encountered many colleagues.
These colleagues all had very strange and unusual appearances. Some were little golden spheres, floating in the air like specks of dust, sharing a common name: Systems. Others resembled large octopuses, with many slimy, terrifying tentacles writhing around their round heads, also sharing a unified name: Cthulhus. Still others had no physical form, merely wisps of black shadow, like ghosts.
996 brushed past these colleagues without looking sideways, glanced down at its own snow-white paws, and chuckled inwardly: “I am truly the most magnificent divine envoy, meow. No one’s beauty can compare with mine~”
996 swallowed the rest of the sentence with a gulp. By now, it had entered the vast space where the Main God resided. This space had no light source, yet it was filled with a faint, soft white glow. Within this gentle white halo stood a jarringly massive, pitch-black, egg-shaped object. This object was over ten meters tall. Although egg-shaped, its outer layer lacked a hard shell. It resembled more closely a miniature universe condensed from chaotic gases, brilliant stars, and vast galaxies.
The surrounding soft white light, upon touching this little universe, was absorbed into it, forming swirling nebulae and galaxies. Billions of stars twinkled, like fine diamonds scattered upon black velvet. This sight was too beautiful for words. However, the reason 996 abruptly fell silent and felt humbled was not this elliptical miniature universe, but the man standing before it, looking up at it.
Black hair, reaching his ankles, held a lustrous sheen, cascading down his slender shoulders. A snow-white face was hidden within this excessively thick and excessively beautiful hair. His attire, figure, and features were all obscured by the cloud-like, mist-like hair, yet one could still, upon the very first glance, deeply realize that this was a beauty. A top-tier beauty.
996’s self-praise was precisely cut off by this breathtakingly elegant sight. There was originally no light source in the room, but when this person appeared, light came into being. A magnificently beautiful universe was hidden within the room, but when this person stood before it, the stars themselves dimmed in comparison.
996 gulped, swallowing its saliva. Hearing the sound, the person slightly turned his head to look. His misty eyes, originally without focus, suddenly overflowed with fragmented light. His thin, pale lips curved into a slight smile. The moment a flower blooms is no more beautiful than this.
“Hello, I have been waiting for you for a long time. How should I address you?” The man parted his vermilion lips and spoke a soft, gentle sentence.
His voice was like jade falling into a clear spring, low and husky, floating lightly in the air. 996’s ears immediately flattened against its head – not from fear, but because the voice genuinely tickled its eardrums. For a moment, 996 couldn’t find words to describe the other party. A seductive ghost? A spirit? A monster? In any case, 996 was no longer the most magnificent creature in the Love-for-Power Bureau.
“Hello, you can call me Divine Envoy.” 996 puffed out its chest and greeted him coldly.
The man turned to face 996, his thin, pale lips pressed together in another gentle smile: “The Divine Envoy is indeed remarkably elegant.”
Only then did 996 notice that the man’s white robe was stained with blood. Those crimson blood spots were like red plum blossoms blooming in the snow – clusters, bunches, shocking yet tinged with a poignant beauty. There was a bloody hole in his chest, as if a sharp weapon had pierced his heart. A sword scar slanted from his left shoulder, splitting his entire upper body, revealing the stark white bones hidden beneath the flesh and skin…
The man was severely injured, so much so that his soul could barely maintain a physical form. His beautifully curved, thin lips were utterly bloodless, his already fair skin rendered almost transparent by the soft light, as if he had lost all vitality. Yet these fatal wounds and bloodstains did not detract from his appearance; instead, they added a certain fragile quality to him. He was beautiful, ethereally beautiful, mysteriously beautiful, and fragilely beautiful.
996 instinctively held its breath and asked softly, “Are you already dead, or are you about to die?” It feared that speaking any louder might blow the man’s soul away.
The man looked down at the bloodstains on his robe, then touched his heart, which was constantly throbbing with severe pain, and smiled helplessly: “It seems I am about to die.”
“So you’re here to extend your life, meow.” 996 nodded.
The man gently stroked a bloodstain on his cuff with his slender, long fingertips. “Yes,” he said, eyes downcast, brows furrowed, as if lost in a bad memory, yet he smiled in the next instant: “I don’t want to die just yet.”
As he spoke, a thread of blood seeped from the corner of his lips, which he elegantly wiped away.
“No one who comes here wants to die. It is precisely because the Main God heard your cries for help that He summoned you here.” 996 pointed at the egg-shaped universe.
“So this is a deity?” The man looked at the mysterious, star-filled sphere with curious eyes.
“Yes, this is our Main God. He can grant you divine power to repair your broken body and soul, but on the condition that you do His work.”
996 looked down at the smart brain on its little paw and reminded him, “Your situation is very serious. The data shows your internal organs are shattered, and your divine soul is severely damaged. If you want to survive, you must follow me to various small worlds to do missions. Of course, if you don’t want to do missions, you can leave now. But if you leave, there is only one path for you: death.”
This tactic of coaxing mixed with threatening usually made desperate wandering souls completely obedient to 996. 996 looked up, ready to enjoy the man’s expression of fear and unease.
But the man merely lowered his head in thought for a moment, then asked in a gentle, water-like voice, “So what are my missions?”
“Our company’s slogan is ‘Love and Peace.’ Our mission is to help destined couples get together. Simply put, we tie the red string of fate.” 996 raised its head proudly.
“Tie the red string? You want me to become a matchmaker god?” The man was slightly surprised.
He hadn’t expected the Main God’s missions to be so simple.
“It’s not simple at all, meow! You’re underestimating this job way too much!” 996 puffed out its already very puffed-out chest even further and subtly showed off its heavily tattooed-looking arm.
It was an American Shorthair cat, wearing a black tie around its neck. Its chest and belly were pure white, but its left arm was covered in tabby-like markings, like a large tattoo. The markings on its head were also quite striking; right in the middle of its forehead was a character that looked like ‘王’ (king), making it look very imposing.
Of course, only it thought it looked like ‘王’. In reality, to others, the character was missing its most important horizontal stroke, and clearly looked like ‘土’ (earth). The man looked at the chubby little cat with the character for ‘earth’ on its forehead, and the corners of his lips curved slightly, as if he wanted to laugh, but he restrained himself.
“What exactly is my mission?” He bent down slightly and asked very seriously, his long, smooth hair cascading like a waterfall, bringing with it a rich, heady fragrance.
996 felt dizzy from the smell, covered its nose with its chubby little paw, and said in a muffled voice, “Your main mission is to promote the romantic development between the destined couple. In short, you’re going to be a supporting male character.”
“Supporting male character? What’s that?” The man blinked his peach-blossom eyes, which were full of tiny, fragmented lights.
996 waved its little paw: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know. You just need to do the missions well. But that face of yours…”
996 walked around the man twice, staring intently at his face, muttering with slight dissatisfaction: “That face of yours isn’t really suitable for a supporting male character. But it’s okay. I’ll let you use the body and appearance of the story’s characters. No matter how beautiful this face is, it won’t get in the way.”
The man raised a slender eyebrow, a flash of shrewd light passing through his eyes.
996 was completely oblivious and continued on its own: “Alright, you hand over your body to me for safekeeping, and I’ll take your soul through the transmigration.”
The man frowned and asked, “Do I have to hand over my body to you?”
996 scratched the ground impatiently with its paw: “You don’t have to hand it over to me, as long as you can find a place safer than my pocket dimension.”
The man lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then finally smiled bitterly: “Then I’ll entrust it to the Divine Envoy. Indeed, I cannot find a safer place than yours.”
There was no place left for him in the entire world. The man turned his head to look at the star-strewn miniature universe, his gaze deep and distant, then looked back at 996. He opened his palm and summoned a milky white seed from the depths of his soul.
“This is my original form.” He handed the seed to 996.
996 held the seed and asked doubtfully, “What is this?”
“My original form is a rosebush. To preserve my last wisp of vitality, I regressed into a seed.” The man sighed softly and asked, “Divine Envoy, may we depart now?”
“You’re a flower spirit?” 996 stared at the man’s flower-like, beautiful face and nodded in sudden understanding: “No wonder, meow! Alright, come with me. Once you’re in the small world, you must listen to me. Every mission must be carried out diligently. If you fail to complete a mission and don’t earn points, you won’t be able to exchange them for divine power.”
“May I ask, what exactly constitutes completing a mission? How many points can I earn per mission, and how much divine power can I exchange them for? In total, how much divine power will I need to repair my body and soul? Once I’m fully healed, can I leave?” Qin Qing inquired carefully.
“Completing all the plot points for the supporting male character and successfully bringing the destined couple together counts as completing your mission. One plot point is worth 10 points. Your score for each mission depends on how many plot points you have. If the destined couple doesn’t end up together, then your mission fails. If you fail three times in a row, the Main God will send you back to your original world. Once you’re back, there’s only one path: death. 100 points can be exchanged for one unit of divine power. Your body and soul are severely damaged. Based on my estimate, you need to accumulate at least 100,000 divine power points to survive. Once you’re fully recovered, the Main God will let you leave. Our company is a company that spreads love, not some terrorist organization.”
While answering the questions, 996 stored Qin Qing’s original form into its tie. This tie was its pocket dimension.
“Spreading love? It seems your company and I are fated. Okay, I understand.” The man smiled meaningfully and said softly, “It seems I forgot to mention, my name is Qin Qing. Qin as in ‘the bright moon of the Qin dynasty’, Qing as in ‘the mountain’s green, the flower ready to blaze’.”
“‘The mountain’s green, the flower ready to blaze’? You are a rosebush. Why aren’t you called Qin Qiang or Qin Wei? Or Qin Qiangwei would be good too.” 996 remarked casually.
Qin Qing: “…”
After a moment of silence, he chuckled softly: “The Divine Envoy truly has exquisite taste. If only the person who named me back then had been as thoughtful as you.”
This blatantly flattering remark immediately made 996’s tail shoot straight up.
“I’ve always had excellent taste, meow. Let’s go. As long as you listen to me, I’ll protect you over there.” 996 said with great arrogance.
A time-space tunnel filled with shooting stars appeared within the enormous milky-white room. 996 walked in first, with Qin Qing strolling behind it, casually taking off his bloodstained, tattered outer robe. The light robe slid down his arm, fell into the time-space turbulence, and was torn to shreds. With the robe gone, Qin Qing’s scar-covered body was revealed under the flickering starlight – thick, thin, long, short, shallow, deep… countless sword scars, knife scars, and palm prints were branded onto his pale white skin. 996 looked back, and its steps faltered.
It waited until Qin Qing had walked ahead before following, asking with a pained expression, “Were you ambushed?”
“You could say that.” Qin Qing said calmly.
“Then you’re really in a bad way!” 996 exclaimed. Seeing Qin Qing’s back, its expression became even more surprised. “What is that on your back? A tattoo?”
On Qin Qing’s back were countless interwoven vines, crisscrossing. The vines bore sharp thorns and emanated a withered, decaying aura. Compared to mysterious runes or beautiful patterns, this tattoo, composed solely of withered vines, looked extremely eerie. 996 looked away uncomfortably after just one glance.
“My heavily tattooed arm is way cooler!” it muttered.
Qin Qing glanced sideways at the withered vine tattoo branded on his shoulder, curved his lips into a smile, but a hint of obscurity spilled from his pupils.
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