Wang Fei suddenly woke up in the morning. He immediately looked around but couldn't find Hui Jie, who was supposed to be sleeping next to him. However, when he heard the sound of food being stir-fried downstairs, he instantly realized that she must be awake and cooking for him.
"System... What just happened? Why couldn't I control myself during that simulation?" Wang Fei asked irritably, placing a hand on the left side of his chest where he had just been stabbed. Even though the simulation had played out like a fairytale storybook, after reading the final sentence, the pain he felt was very real—just like in the first simulation.
Getting stabbed to death twice in a simulation isn't exactly a pleasant experience...
(That was due to the Legendary-tier ability that the host selected. Its restriction is that it severs perception from rules and reality. As a result, the host's consciousness does not merge with the main body during the simulation, causing the memory to be perceived like a visual hallucination.)
"So you're saying I got screwed over by the SSR I chose? Then why was my evaluation rated F? What exactly is your evaluation system? I was strong in that simulated world and accomplished a lot... though, admittedly, most of it was pretty awful."
(The evaluation isn't based on achievements or the strength of the simulated persona. It's based on the host's decisions—such as satisfaction, growth, and choices. The simulated Lucille had none of those.)
(He was never satisfied with anything and only sought his own amusement. His growth was effectively zero, aside from his obsession with experiencing emotions like a human. Yet he acted utterly inhumane just to understand regret—a feeling normal people naturally have. He never made a decision for himself. Every choice stemmed from lust or selfish emotions, which blinded him to the happiness right in front of him. In the end, he died because of his own deluded convictions.)
(That's why the evaluation was F. The system concluded that Lucille was merely garbage with no humanity—just a twisted pervert who was satisfied only with his own warped desires.)
"...I'm not imagining this, right? You're definitely insulting me right now." Wang Fei frowned, even though he hadn't been the one controlling Lucille. Still, everything the system said stabbed right into his heart.
(The host is imagining it. The system is merely providing objective analysis.)
'Yeah, right. That "analysis" felt more like a full-on roast...'
(Thank you for the compliment.)
"That wasn't a compliment!!"
Knock knock
"Fei Fei, are you on the phone? I've finished cooking," Hui Jie called through the door. She didn't come in immediately, instead waiting outside for a moment until she saw her younger brother emerge with slightly messy hair.
"Hm? You weren't on the phone? I could've sworn I heard you talking to someone," she said, puzzled, glancing past him and seeing that his phone was still sitting in its usual place on the table.
"Ah... I was just talking in my sleep," Wang Fei said, scratching his head and pretending he had just woken up, almost forgetting that he had been talking to the system. So he decided to brush it off.
'I'd better be more careful next time...'
Then he and his sister headed to the kitchen. Wang Fei was stunned by the amount of food on the table. He turned to look at his sister sitting across from him.
"Why are you just staring? Eat before it gets cold," Chen said casually, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
'Eat? All of this? Is she planning to feed an entire office?'
Despite his reaction, his sister was an excellent cook—maybe even as good as Fumizuki-san. She had once told him that when she was at university in Victoria, her friends only ever ate instant food, which drove her to learn to cook properly out of frustration.
Yes, his sister Hui Jie had that kind of adorable side. She was such a good person. It was a shame that no one else ever got to see that side of her—only him.
"It's been a while since I've had your cooking, Hui Jie. Let's see if it's still as good as before!" Wang Fei said cheerfully, sitting down and taking a bite.
But his expression changed instantly.
The taste was completely off. It felt like he was chewing on jelly, but the flavor was as bland as plain water mixed with flour.
And just as he was about to question it, a system message popped up.
(Host, did you forget you're under punishment? You can't taste food for 24 hours.)
'Oh come on, system! Can't you cut me some slack? I'm finally eating my beloved sister's cooking after so long!' Wang Fei cried out internally, holding back his frustration.
(Apologies, host. The penalty cannot be lifted.)
"Fei Fei, what's wrong? It doesn't taste good?" Chen asked, concerned at his strange reaction.
Wang Fei shook his head quickly.
"No, no! I'm just amazed that your cooking has improved so much! Are you trying to take over the role of family chef from your little brother? With this level, you could be a top chef in Lungmen!" Wang Fei forced the brightest smile he could, then began to eat ravenously, tears streaming down his cheeks—not from joy, but from suffering.
"You big dummy... You're such an exaggerator," Chen replied, though she smiled at his praise. It seemed Wang Fei's overwhelming compliments had distracted her from her earlier suspicion.
That was until her expression changed again at his next comment.
"I'm serious! If I could, I'd want to eat your cooking for the rest of my life!"
For a brief moment, a surprised expression flashed across Chen's face—then she smiled warmly.
"Then you just have to—"
Ding dong!
Before she could finish, the doorbell rang.
Chen's expression shifted immediately.
"I'll get it," Wang Fei offered, getting up.
But Chen stopped him.
"No... you stay here. I'll go." She got up, gently pushed him back into his seat, and went to the front door.
Curious, Wang Fei turned to watch. The kitchen was close enough to the front door that he could see her looking through the peephole.
He couldn't see her face, but her annoyed body language told him exactly who was at the door.
Ding ding ding ding!! The doorbell rang persistently.
Chen opened the door and shouted, "You're so annoying! Go away!", then slammed it shut and returned to the kitchen as if nothing had happened.
"All taken care of. Let's keep eating."
'Taken care of, my ass...' Wang Fei thought.
He quickly said, "Hui Jie! If I had to guess, that was Beatrix at the door, wasn't it?! Do you know that if you say something like that to her, she'll—"
BAM!! Before he could finish, the front door was kicked open, and a furious blonde woman in a uniform stormed in.
"You damn walking sausage! How dare you slam the door in my face!!"
"You hairy beast! You really had the nerve to kick down my door?!"
"Damn right! You think I can't afford to pay for the damage?!"
"I'll have you arrested for home invasion!!"
"Then I'll have you charged with kidnapping a patient!!"
The two women stood face-to-face like mortal enemies. Wang Fei didn't need to see guardian spirits emerge from them to envision a tiger and a dragon clashing behind them.
"Ladies, please! Let's calm down and talk this out!" Wang Fei rushed between them. If he didn't, he was sure they'd start swinging weapons—and his house would end up a battlefield, costing a fortune to repair.
"Fei Fei! You too!! How dare you sneak out of the hospital while we weren't there! Do you know how much trouble you've caused?!" Beatrix yelled at him, just as furious.
Wang Fei quickly apologized.
"I'm really sorry, but staying in the hospital was boring! And look—I'm completely fine now!" He tried to smile, not daring to tell her the real reason he left: he was worried about his sister. If he said that, Beatrix would definitely start another round of fighting with Hui Jie.
"Even so, you should've waited for the doctor's approval! You can't just leave on your own! Do you have any idea how much I—hic..."
Beatrix's voice cracked, and her eyes welled up with tears.
Wang Fei froze in shock. Even Chen didn't know how to respond—she'd never seen her like this before.
"Beatrix, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to upset you like this," Wang Fei said, approaching to comfort her, only to be shoved away.
"Don't come near me, you idiot!! Go die somewhere for all I care! I'm done with you!!" Beatrix shouted, covering her tearful face and running out of the house.
"What's her problem...? Is it that time of the month?" Chen muttered irritably, watching her leave.
"Maybe it's just stress from work," Wang Fei said with a dry laugh. He didn't dare tell his sister about the infection in his brain. It wasn't surprising that Beatrix had reacted like that—she probably thought he had vanished from Lungmen for good, like some melodramatic tragic protagonist.
Sigh... I wish I could tell her I'm not that kind of guy. Sure, the thought of leaving crossed my mind... but not to cause trouble. I just didn't want to burden anyone. Still, if I'm going to die, I'd rather die as an infected person than waste away alone in the wilderness.
Not long after, Hui Jie excused herself to go to work. She reminded him that he didn't need to show up today and promised to come back in the evening to cook for him. Before leaving, she emphasized again that Wang Fei must not overexert himself while she was away—and if he felt any pain or discomfort, he should call her immediately.
Wang Fei nodded in agreement and walked his sister to the broken front door. He had already called to report it and expected someone would be sent to repair it soon.
After that, Wang Fei returned to his room and picked up his phone. He found a flood of missed calls and unread messages—all from Beatrix and Yuxia. He had probably silenced and muted the device, which explained why he hadn't noticed any of it all morning.
He quickly replied to their messages and sent an apology to Beatrix, but she didn't read or respond. So he messaged Yuxia, hoping she could help. His adorable pink-haired tsundere little friend replied with a long wall of text that almost overflowed the message limit. All of it was scolding him for escaping from the hospital and making them worry. Wang Fei kept apologizing until, finally, Yuxia told him that if he wanted her forgiveness, he had to come over for dinner tonight.
Wang Fei, seeing it as a small price to pay, immediately agreed. Yuxia reverted to her usual tsundere self and made no promises about persuading Beatrix—but Wang Fei already knew she would help him for sure.
Relieved, Wang Fei decided to take care of another lingering matter:
Apologizing to Exusiai in person at her company.
Wang Fei dressed in his usual bodyguard uniform and left the house.
Even though he wanted to wear normal clothes, he felt most at ease in his uniform. Perhaps it was because he had worn it for the past four years—it had become like a second skin.
After leaving the house, he stopped by Lungmen's famous bakery to buy four boxes of apple pie before heading to Penguin Logistics. He knew the location well since he had come here often during his first few years on the job, mostly because one of the employees here had given the Lungmen police many headaches.
When he arrived at the front of the company—which looked more like a regular apartment building—Wang Fei reached out to grab the door handle. But just then, the door swung open, and a girl stepped out.
"I'm off for now—Ah, crap!!"
"..." Wang Fei stared at the startled girl who had just stepped out. Her brown hair and twin horns stood out, but her outfit stood out even more. If there were a hundred women brave enough to wear such revealing clothes in public, every man in Lungmen would've turned their heads—if they weren't snapping their necks first. Unfortunately for her, Wang Fei wasn't one of those men. He simply greeted her politely.
"Good day, Miss Croissant."
"Whew... Oh, it's just you, little Fei! Don't scare me like that. I thought the officers were coming to arrest me or something!" Croissant let out a breath of relief when she recognized his face.
Wang Fei's eye twitched slightly at that comment.
"Normally, people who haven't done anything wrong wouldn't be so worried about that, would they...?" Wang Fei remarked.
"And whose fault do you think that is, huh?!" Croissant snapped back.
Wang Fei sighed and launched into a lengthy explanation for what must have been the hundredth time.
"Well, you're the one who kept exaggerating your product claims to your customers. According to Lungmen Law No. 23, merchants who make false or misleading claims about their products face at least three years in prison and a fine of no less than 100,000 Lungmen credits."
"I never exaggerated anything! It's the customers' fault for taking it too seriously! I just put up some clickbait signs and they came and bought the stuff. I just sold it! What did I do wrong?"
"Everything!! You wrote that it was 'a top-tier hair growth serum'—but in reality, it was only meant for Lupers (wolves)! And the buyer was a Salus (mouse), and it caused their fur to fall out! Do you know how many reports we had to deal with because of that product?!"
"T-There was a case like that? A-Are you sure you're not confusing me with someone else, little Fei? I might be greedy, but I've never cheated or hurt anyone!" Croissant replied sheepishly, still clinging to her story with an unconvincing expression on her face.
Naturally, Wang Fei was furious. She had no idea how many sleepless nights he and the other officers had because of all the false product reports they received thanks to her antics. If it weren't for the Emperor's compensation policy for victims, Wang Fei would've tossed her in jail ages ago.
"Ugh... Forget it. I'm too tired to argue with you. Is Exusiai home today? I brought something for her and came to visit."
"Oh~ So you're here to visit your girlfriend, huh? If it's Exusiai, she's lying around in her room because—" Croissant suddenly stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening as she turned to look at him.
"Wait!! Shouldn't you be in the hospital right now?!" she blurted out in alarm, rushing to inspect him all over.
"What is this? You're not a ghost, right? Didn't Exusiai say you were shot in the head and might have an infection? But you look totally normal!"
"Uh... Ahem. My body recovers quickly, so I was discharged not too long ago," Wang Fei said while avoiding her gaze, using the moment to lie about not having any infection.
Croissant, sensing something off about him, smirked and pointed a finger at him like a detective exposing a suspect.
"Aha! So you're trying to take advantage of Exusiai while she's weak, huh?! Too bad! Before you can get to her, you'll have to go through me—Ack!"
"She's on the second floor. You can go up," said a black-haired girl who had appeared behind Croissant. She locked the other girl in a chokehold and covered her mouth. Her arrival was so silent and stealthy that no one noticed her coming.
"Miss Texas. It's been a while," Wang Fei greeted politely.
Texas, a black-haired girl with red streaks who looked more handsome than pretty, had a famous Lungmen-brand chocolate Pocky in her mouth.
Wang Fei hadn't seen her in a while. Most of the times he did were when he visited Exusiai, which was how he knew they were fairly close.
"Mm." Texas nodded in reply, her eyes narrowing as she glanced at the scar on his forehead. Then she turned and walked back into the office, dragging Croissant along without a care for her muffled protests.
'...No matter how many times I come here, Penguin Logistics is still the strangest place in Lungmen,' Wang Fei thought to himself.
Then he walked upstairs on his own—no need for a guide. He had been here enough times to know the way. After all, this place was infamous for being one of the first places in Lungmen to experience explosions, and had been blacklisted for all rookie officers with strict orders: do not approach under any circumstances.
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Now : (ZAW)System Acting Zhongli in arknights World? (Now Chapter 50)
Now : (INSL) I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!! (Now Chapter 40)
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Coming soon : Texas Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)
Coming soon : Exusia Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)
Coming soon : Lapland Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)