"Get up," Wu Yanzi snapped and kicked him in the ribs.
Shen Jiu was up immediately. "What's -"
happening?, he started to ask before Wu Yanzi shushed him and dragged him into the woods.
Well apparently the remaining servants from Qiu Manor aren't about to show up and kill them both. Why were they traipsing through the woods though?
He was collecting himself to ask again when they arrived.
There's a massive shiny black box jutting out of the ground. It's easily as big as a house but Shen Jiu somehow knew instinctively that it wasn't a building at all.
Wu Yanzi lead him around to the back of the strange black box- where there was a jagged hole in the shiny black material.
"There's something in there," Wu Yanzi said. "I can sense it- go see what it is!"
Shen Jiu obeyed, he was too tired to argue. He crawled into the hole. It was a tight fit, too tight for Wu Yanzi, but Shen Jiu was able to pull himself through the weird black material. From the outside it had looked like lacquered wood but inside there wasn't a grain, more like it was a metal or stone...
There's a glow ahead- and suddenly Shen Jiu was spilling out onto the floor of a strange room.
The whole room was a soft glowing grey, like the sky before dawn. It's cold in the room and the only features besides the crack he fell out of are a bright blue panel on the opposite wall, and words above it in black that say 'You must earn your ending'.
He approached the panel and recognized words on the glowing panel.
[BREACH IN NARRATIVE CONGRUITY DETECTED] it said. Below that were two rectangles containing more words. One said RESTART and the other said EDIT.
Were they switches? He prodded the closes one to see if it was raised-
"Edit Mode Activated!" a cheerful woman's voice said. "Identifying User..."
Role: Minor Antagonist (Scum Villain)
What would you like to edit?"
Dies alone. Shen Jiu felt his eyes water and rubbed at them furiously. So what? Even if this voice was telling the truth what of it? He knew he was a vicious unlovable thing, of course he'd die alone. Who would want him?
"What would you like to edit?" the voice repeated.
"What can I change?" he asked.
"All access editing currently available as protagonist has yet to arrive."
He didn't know what some of that meant but he got the idea. He could change almost everything.
"I-" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "I want to be safe, and I want to be happy, and I want to be loved."
[RECALCULATING....] the screen said.
"Please note," the voice said. "Some plot points are unavoidable. Nothing can be guaranteed. You must earn your ending."
There was a musical chime.
Shen Jiu reached out and pressed the rectangle that said USE.
A red box popped up. [ROUTE REQUIRES REWRITE OF PAST DATA- PROCEED?]
How would you rewrite the past? ...It didn't matter. He pressed YES.
The blue screen dimmed until it nearly matched the other walls, numbers appeared on the screen in bright blue, counting down.
"Initializing..." the woman said.
His own skin was glowing, he realized. The light was gradually getting brighter and brighter.
"Past Rewrite Beginning. This Will Hurt."
The light ripped him in two.
He was beside himself watching his past living his past again, but different this time.
He and Qi-ge begged at a corner he and Qi-ge and didi begged at a corner. The two the three of them curled up together to sleep.
It all happened again with a twin who was always by his side. Who never left even when the worst happened.
Didi kicked Qiu Jianluo when he grabbed Shen Jiu and the older man put Didi in a headlock as he dragged them both over to the slavers.
It all happened to him them. He gripped didi's hand so tight his nails cut into his hand leaving little bleeding marks. Didi hid his face in Shen Jiu's hair so he didn't have to watch.
Qiu Jianluo knew Shen Jiu would fold easier if he hurt didi- but this time he was mad, so mad. He didn't stop kicking didi even when Shen Jiu begged. When he jumped the older man he threw Shen Jiu back into a wall and kept hitting didi.
The sword clattered to the ground beside him...
He woke up flat on his back in that strange gray room.
"Rewrite Complete! Narrative Integration Complete! Congruity Restored!"
Shen Jiu turned his head and met his twin brother's eyes.
"Shen Jiu," his twin replied.
"You didn't exist before now."
Shen Yuan shook his head. "I did but I wasn't here. I still remember it. Being not here. Being here."
"Me too." Shen Jiu said. He reached out and took his twin's hand.
Shen Yuan squeezed his fingers. "Will everyone remember both?" he asked.
"No," Shen Jiu said. "I think just us. I think everyone else will just remember you always being here."
They sat up and Shen Yuan leaned against him. He still had two black eyes and other fading bruises from where Qiu Jianluo had attacked him the final time.
They pressed their forehead together for the first time, like that had nearly every day of their lives.
"I don't know how this fixes anything though," Shen Yuan frowned.
You must earn your ending, the wall said.
"I do," Shen Jiu said. He hugged Shen Yuan close. "You make me so happy."
Shen Yuan grinned at him. "Well good. I suppose we'll have to figure out the rest."
Shen Jiu nodded. "I think we need to kill Wu Yanzi."
Shen Yuan sputtered. "I mean you're right gege, but it couldn't wait until we finish the hug?"
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