Tang Ning listened to the story in a daze. If he hadn't figured out who the protagonist of this story was at the beginning, the answer became clear when he heard the last sentence from "him".
… What
What does "he" mean? Is this true or false? Is "he" lying to him again
I don’t want to kill you today, maybe I will tomorrow, but right now, at this very moment, I really don’t want to kill you. “He” said.
What is going on? Is “he” another me? If “he” kills me, “he” will be able to rise to prominence
Tang Ning's mind was in a mess. At this moment, the system voice that had disappeared for a long time suddenly appeared: Are you sure you want to give up control of your body
, I am sure. "He" said calmly: I am tired.
The two voices appeared almost at the same time. If this was not directed and acted by "him" alone, then all this should be true.
Tang Ning was still a little confused.
What do you think? The system turned to Tangning and asked, "Now that you have the initiative, do you have the right to choose whether to merge with him?"
"He" said directly: Don't merge with me, there are too many painful memories in my mind -
The next second, "his" voice seemed to be suddenly muted.
The system muted his voice and said to Tangning: Now the real choice is in your hands. If you merge with him, you will have great power.
Strong force
This is an extremely tempting proposal.
You deserve this reward, you have won the psychological battle with "him" this time. The system said sincerely: But there is no such thing as having the best of both worlds. In addition to strengthening "him", you will make "him" suffer, but with such a strong power, this kind of pain is bearable, isn't it
Tang Ning stared at the magic mirror in a daze. Perhaps because "he" had voluntarily given up control of his body, only "his" figure was reflected in the mirror. The man with white hair and black robe frowned and shook his head at Tang Ning in the mirror.
Although he was a loser now, he looked like a winner and could give Tang Ning orders at any time.
Because you won, this time you merged into one, and your consciousness took the lead. If you are worried that you will be influenced by "him" and become unlike yourself, I have two solutions here. One is to remove "his" memory and only let you merge "his" power and painful emotions. This painful emotion is very separated.
Tang Ning didn't say anything. There was no emotion on his face or in his mind.
The system continued: There is another way that allows you to directly obtain "his" power without enduring pain, that is, let "him" continue to get along with you in the same way as before in the copy, and when you need strength, "he" will control your body.
The system made this more tempting suggestion. The two of you get along surprisingly well. If you do this, you can go to "him" and chat with "him" later.
"He" seemed to be able to hear the system say the second plan. At this moment, "he" who was shaking his head just now stopped, as if he was persuaded.
Because this was indeed a very tempting proposal for him. He liked to watch Tang Ning going through the challenges and give him some advice from time to time, so that he could avoid taking detours. Those were the detours he had taken in the past. When he was struggling alone, no one had ever taught him.
Both the system and "he" remained silent.
Tang Ning can now make a decision.
"... I refuse." Tangning said softly.
After Tang Ning said this, the "him" in the mirror looked very calm, as if he could accept any outcome.
"He" is already very tired.
The system sighed with some regret and asked, "Are you sure you want to give up on fusion and give up on the powerful force?"
The more the system said this, the more Tang Ning wanted to give up, because Tang Ning felt that the system would not be so kind.
I'm sure.
The system is very regretful.
But Tangning's next words made the system's cold voice suddenly excited, and it couldn't even contain the joy in its voice, because Tangning said: By the way, can you tell me why "he" is in so much pain
The cold male voice was distorted by too many emotions at this moment: Do you really want to know
In the mirror, the white-haired, black-robed "him" opened his eyes slightly. He looked at Tang Ning who was so close to him, and for the first time, he shook his head helplessly, as if begging Tang Ning not to ask any more questions.
Tang Ning said: I really want to know.
He really wanted to know why such a strong "him" would feel pain.
Because he didn't root out the problem, his enemies took the opportunity to kill your mother. Your mother didn't die accidentally. He was negligent. The system said quickly.
"He" in the mirror lowered his eyes.
Tangning blinked when he heard the news.
Anything else? Tangning continued to ask.
The system was obviously stunned by Tangning's overly calm reaction.... Of course, the prince that is now bound to you was killed by "him". "He" passed the level and stepped on your prince's body and left.
"He" still lowered his head quietly and did not refute.
Tang Ning asked: Anything else
The system remained silent for a while. It was a little puzzled as to why Tangning was so calm. Logically, Tangning should not be so calm. He still had some pain that he had accumulated since he was a rookie. It would take a long time to talk about it one by one.
Tang Ning nodded quietly, he looked at the person in the mirror quietly and asked a stupid question: "What is his relationship with me?"
Tang Ning could guess some of the answers, but he was worried that he had misunderstood. Tang Ning always liked to ask more questions when he was not 100% sure of something.
To introduce "him", I first need to introduce your identity. The system said: This is your second time entering the card game. To ensure the fairness of the game, I have sealed your memory and power from your first game together. The sealed part of you is "him".
The system still persisted in persuading him: By merging with "him", you will gain your true power.
So, “he” past me
You can understand it this way, the system said.
When Tang Ning was talking to the system, the "him" in the mirror kept his head down.
Tang Ning stared at him without blinking as he lowered his head. Suddenly, he understood why he had instructed Tang Ning to hold her head high and chest out.
It turns out that looking down doesn’t look very good.
Tang Ning took a step in front of the mirror, straightened his back and raised his head, just like "he" had repeatedly told him to do.
"He" frowned and looked up in confusion, looking at Tang Ning standing in front of him. Tang Ning's dark eyes were gentle and bright outside the mirror, and those gentle eyes stared straight at "him" in the mirror.
Tang Ning said: System, give me "his" pain.
As soon as these words came out, both "he" and the system were stunned.
Tangning was afraid that she had misunderstood, so she explained seriously: "You just said option one, can't you just give me the painful emotions alone? Is this possible?"
Yes... Yes, but... the system is a little slow.
Then give them all to me.
The "him" in the mirror opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but it was difficult for him to speak. Even if he did, Tangning would not be able to hear him.
Tang Ning stood in front of the mirror calmly, and even urged the system calmly: Did you encounter a bug
After a moment of silence, the system informed Tangning of the method. All she had to do was place her hand on the mirror.
Tangning stretched out her hand, and her warm palm fell on the cold mirror.
The next second, countless pale flames surged out, almost breaking through the mirror and burning towards Tang Ning. Tang Ning subconsciously wanted to retract his hand, but he used his other hand to hold down the hand he wanted to move away.
This kind of pain that went straight to the soul made veins pop out on Tang Ning's forehead, and his whole face turned pale in an instant. He took a deep breath and felt something heavy and depressing falling from his heart. It seemed that countless worms crawled out of his bone marrow, and a huge feeling of powerlessness spread from his limbs.
He was very familiar with the emotion of pain. Although the pain at this moment was fierce and numerous, it was not as terrible as Tang Ning had imagined.
Because of this painful emotion, there is no sense of pain, but torture is used directly on the body, such as using needles to drill into fingers and using knives to cut flesh piece by piece. Tang Ning felt that he would cry out in pain.
But these things are used on more ethereal souls.
It didn't seem to be hard to bear.
Maybe he's used to it.
He was used to this feeling and had started to accept it two years ago. When he was finally getting used to it, he was suddenly dragged into the card game, and his pain threshold was suddenly raised a lot.
In this game, his own strength improvement is always very slow. Maybe he makes a little progress every time he passes a level, but every time he makes a little progress, he is thrown into a more difficult environment the next time, and it is difficult for him to get any breathing space.
So he has only the choice to accept this pain.
This feeling of powerlessness, weakness, and clumsiness can easily make people suffer, but if you try hard to accept it, it seems to be okay.
Very good.
Tang Ning was somehow able to tell that part of his pain was the hatred for the weak. This pain might be unbearable for him, but Tang Ning was used to it. So even if it was overwhelming, he would try his best to keep his hand on the mirror.
Tangning looked at "him" in the mirror and smiled softly, saying from the bottom of her heart: That's great, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle it and would collapse on the spot.
"He" was stunned.
He raised his hand blankly, and his palm touched Tangning's through the mirror.
Tang Ning couldn't bear to see "him" in such a dazed look. He always felt that "he" should be in high spirits, which was not good. Tang Ning tried hard to say something to stimulate his emotions and at the same time distract himself.
Too much pain made his mind a little confused and jumpy. Tangning asked, "Am I not going backwards in life now? It seems that I am not as confused as before. However, I should still be better than you now? So I should be your brother, right?"
"He" in the mirror stared at Tang Ning in a daze.
The continuous pain made it impossible for Tang Ning to remain calm. His eyes could not help but turn red. He looked very fragile and useless, and spoke very slowly. In fact, if an ordinary person were to suffer this kind of pain, he would not even be able to utter a complete sentence.
When I was very young, I thought, it would be nice if I had a brother or sister. This would make the family more lively. If I had a younger brother, I would definitely protect him well. Although I am not very smart in studying and not good at fighting, I still dream of protecting others. You should know this.
Tangning raised her other hand and made stroking movements with difficulty.
He wanted to touch his beautiful white hair, but he was worried that he would not like it because he looked very sad.
No, I can’t think of how to protect you. I don’t quite understand what you have been through, but I know it must have been very painful. No, I’m not very smart and don’t know how to come up with a better way to stop you from suffering.
Will this make you feel better? Tangning looked at him with sparkling eyes, tears sparkling from the pain.
"He" seemed to be stunned and couldn't say a word. This silly expression made Tang Ning feel that this was his real self.
Then Tang Ning couldn't think any more because it was so painful.
It's so painful.
A new intense pain surged over me, the pain of victory as I stepped on my partner's corpse.
Tangning closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the mirror. He began to cry in pain.
But after a while, Tang Ning took a deep breath and tried to calm down again. He thought, That's great, I'm used to the pain now.
Compared to his partner "him" who had only harmed him once, Tang Ning had a lot to say about this kind of pain, because he always let the prince die and sacrifice himself, time and time again. At the beginning, he didn't know that they were the same person, so the pain became more severe.
I didn't know why the prince was so good to me before, but now that I know how good I was in the past, I feel much better. Tang Ning smiled, his eyes and nose were red, but the smile was pure, "Thank you, you deserve to be liked."
The white-haired and black-robed "he" wanted to pull his hand away to end the transmission of this painful emotion, but "he" could not stop it from happening.
It was obvious that his pain was getting weaker and weaker, but there was no sign of happiness on his face.
Another wave of pain came like a huge wave.
The guilt and remorse for killing his mother made Tang Ning feel so intense. Even though he had been through two long years and even though he had hugged his mother, he could hardly stand when the intense pain came. He slowly squatted down, his palms still pressed against the mirror.
After sharing my pain, can I share my happiness with you this time
I got to mom.
I used to think about my mother every day, but later I didn’t dare to think about her at all. But now, I can think about her very calmly. She is the best mother in the world. She said to me, Ningning, my happiness in this life is to be your mother.
Tang Ning slowly knelt on the ground, tears falling like pearls from a broken string. I told her I love you, mom, and I hugged her.
Many times, I feel that all we lack is a hug and a "I love you".
Tang Ning raised his head with great effort, opened his eyes, and looked at "him" who had squatted down at some point in time.
Don't be so miserable.
The raging fire seemed to vaguely convey to him some of the pain he was still feeling.
Something that troubled Tang Ning for a long time.
Tangning looked at the tearful "him" in the mirror and said: Tangning, I hope you remember that even if your mother leaves you, even if all the people who love you in this world cannot disappear, there will always be someone who will love you.
I love you.
Now I, forever and ever, love you in the past.
He said this to "him", to countless past "him", the one who had been a burden to his mother since birth, the one who always had poor grades in school, the one who was tongue-tied when arguing with others, the one who killed his mother, the one who was helpless when living alone, the one who was always scolded by the director when filming...
Countless and countless people, who were once deeply despised by him, all seemed to stand in front of him with their heads lowered, as if they had done something wrong.
He could easily despise himself.
But when this hated "him" actually appeared in front of him, Tang Ning realized that he could actually choose to hug "him".
In fact, "he" has done a very good job.
It's already within his ability, why should he still hate him
Tangning hugged the cold mirror.
The raging fire slowly died down at this moment.
All that immense pain came back to Tang Ning all over again. He had felt so relieved when he got rid of it, but when the pain came back again, it didn't seem to kill him immediately.
System, let "him" take me. Tangning didn't have the strength to stand up anymore. He closed his eyes and whispered.
From the moment Tangning heard about the system solution, he made his choice.
They don't need to merge.
Because he was really useless, the two of them together did not have the effect of one plus one plus two. Tang Ning felt that even if they merged, even if he had "his" power, he would definitely not be stronger than "him" now.
In the card game, every bit of strength is important. Since “he” was able to clear the game last time, he will definitely be able to do it this time.
So just leave those fragile, painful and useless parts to him, so that "he" can go to the next copy invincible. "He" is very powerful, if "he" wins, "he" will definitely win.
Inside and outside the mirror, there were two almost identical figures kneeling, except that one had white hair and black robes, and the other had black hair and white robes. Their foreheads were against the mirror, and the word "give up" was on their lips.
This time, the system watched in silence a scene it had never expected.
…
It was getting dark, and the room where the magic mirror was located was filled with a strong smell of pain. No player or NPC dared to approach it easily, because once anyone took even one step into the room, they would fall into a strange illusion and recall the countless painful memories of their life.
At this moment, a black shadow on the forbidden land was spreading its power almost endlessly.
When the black shadow was spreading its power wantonly, it could not maintain its human form. It expanded extremely rapidly, like a terrifying mountain of flesh. On this mountain that made people feel depressed at the sight of it, there was a flower of light that was easily overlooked.
The little flower that emitted a faint light was struggling to communicate with the hill that no longer had a human shape: "Don't... lose control..."
"I knew it! I knew he wouldn't come!!!"
"He...will..."
"Only pollution can bring him back." The dark shadow like a hill was particularly cold: "Only pollution can bring him back."
"No... You shouldn't lose control..."
"You are already dead, I am a priest, what qualifications do you have to stop me? What qualifications do you have to stop me from going to him? I know you like him no matter what he looks like, but from the beginning, I fell in love with him, I fell in love with him, I fell in love with this side of him!!! I only want to see this side of him!!!"
…
In this copy, there are two kinds of pollution, one is the curse in the castle as mentioned in the system rules.
The other possibility is the monster attack mentioned by the Duke.
The players believed the Duke's lies about the monster attack, and after being polluted, their cognition was distorted and the Duke gave them wrong information.
In fact, these two types of pollution really existed a long time ago, and even the monster attacks mentioned by the Duke appeared.
The curse of Guangu Castle was brought by the priest of light.
The player who plays the Priest of Light brings new pollution from another dungeon world.
He was heavily contaminated in that copy.
As bright as his true character is, in that copy world, his monster side is as dark as it is.
He turned dark and became a monster. In that copy, he met a teammate who was said to be extremely mercenary, cold-blooded, and extremely strong. The teammate's name was Tang Ning.
Unfortunately, Tang Ning was affected by the curse.
He became a "naive and innocent" person in the card world who couldn't be found even with a lantern.
They met.
Then they fell in love.
To be more precise, the cursed monster fell in love with the stupid Tang Ning unilaterally, and the timid Tang Ning was always afraid of it.
This is the beginning.
…
The huge black shadow crushed the faint light at once.
Then he rushed towards the silent castle with surging and overwhelming darkness.