Even If I Am Fake

"Aren't you two dead?"

With just one sentence from Ye Chuan, Father Ye and Mother Ye looked at each other in blank dismay before turning their confused gazes back to him.

"Son, what are you talking about? Are you sleepwalking?"

Luo Xi, sitting beside Ye Chuan, tugged gently at his clothes. "Chuan Chuan... don't say such hurtful things... How could you say Uncle and Auntie are dead?"

Ye Chuan remained silent, his expression cold. In the next second, he grasped at the empty air, and a spirit sword materialized in his hand. He stood up and, with a single strike, cleaved the dining table before him in two.

The dishes crashed to the floor, shattering and spilling food everywhere. Father Ye and Mother Ye froze in shock, and even Luo Xi covered her mouth in horror.

"You monsters... do you think you're worthy of shaking my Dao Heart?" Ye Chuan's voice was devoid of warmth. The momentary trance and the feeling of affection he had felt earlier vanished completely, replaced by the clarity of seeing through the illusion.

No, he hadn't left the Inner World at all!

This scene of family reunion was nothing but a deeper layer of deception!

As his spiritual power erupted wildly around him, the confusion on Father Ye and Mother Ye's faces instantly turned to terror. They stumbled back.

"Son, w-what is wrong with you? Where did that sword come from? Don't scare Mom and Dad like this!"

Ye Chuan's grip on the spirit sword tightened slightly. The terrifying spiritual power distorted the space around the blade, creating tiny fissures.

He looked at the two faces before him—so familiar, yet so strange—but he couldn't bring himself to swing the blade. Their terrified eyes, their trembling voices, and even the way Mother Ye instinctively shielded Father Ye... it was all so real that it made his heart tremble.

"Show your true forms!"

Gritting his teeth, he cast several spells designed to shatter illusions. Golden light washed over the three of them, but like a stone sinking into the sea, it vanished without causing a single ripple.

"Chuan Chuan, calm down!"

Luo Xi rushed forward, trying to grab his arm, but Ye Chuan instinctively shook her off.

She stumbled and fell to the ground, her elbow striking the jagged porcelain shards. Tiny beads of blood seeped out, and her eyes instantly reddened. "How did you become like this..."

"Monsters... it's all fake!"

Ye Chuan squeezed his eyes shut. When he reopened them, only resolve remained.

With a furious shout, he swept his spirit sword horizontally. A dazzling beam of sword qi soared into the sky, instantly shattering the entire house!

Amidst the flying debris, the street behind him, the neighbors' courtyards, and even the distant skyscrapers were ground to dust by the peerless sword qi. The ground split open, revealing a bottomless chasm, a pitch-black abyss with no end in sight.

Yet, Father Ye and Mother Ye remained standing in their original spots, their faces frozen in disbelief.

Luo Xi sat amidst the rubble, clutching her bleeding elbow. Ye Chuan felt as if something had violently clenched his heart. He suddenly stepped into the air, his figure flickering wildly across the sky.

He swung his sword and severed the ridge of Mount Everest, sending pristine snow cascading down. He raised his hand and froze the entire Pacific Ocean, turning giant waves into jagged, frozen sculptures.

He even shattered half the sky, revealing the pitch-black void beyond... But no matter how much he destroyed, this world remained intact. Those familiar figures continued to hover at the edge of his vision, appearing and disappearing like ghosts.

"Why..." Ye Chuan hovered above the fragmented clouds, his spirit sword hanging limply at his side.

Was he to be trapped here forever?

No. He had to find a way out.

A thought flashed through his mind—perhaps killing them would shatter the illusion.

But the moment he recalled the terror in Father Ye and Mother Ye's eyes, and Luo Xi's tear-streaked face, his fingertips began to tremble uncontrollably.

"It's fake... it's all fake..."

He muttered the words over and over, yet he couldn't summon the strength to swing his sword.

He needed to calm down.

...

In the park, Ye Chuan appeared sitting on a bench. He attempted to use the system to forcibly exit the eldritch dungeon, but there was no logout button.

[Eldritch World: Death Train]

[Status: Deceased]

The dungeon information indicated that he was already dead, and he couldn't access any other functions.

"Do I really have to kill them?" Ye Chuan murmured. It seemed this was the only choice left.

He stared at his slightly trembling hand. Just as he was about to stand up, the sound of rustling footsteps came from the nearby bushes. Ye Chuan turned to look—

A girl with a ponytail was walking slowly toward him. Her clothes were disheveled, and her arm was wrapped in bandages.

Ye Chuan's gaze turned cold. "You actually dare to approach me voluntarily?"

"I... I naturally know you'd be here. Whenever you threw a tantrum in the past, didn't you always run here?" Luo Xi said immediately. Seeing Ye Chuan's slightly delayed reaction, she asked softly,

"Chuan Chuan, I... I don't really understand what's happening. Can you talk to me? Please don't be like this..."

"A mere monster," Ye Chuan said, raising his sword.

"I am not a monster! Chuan Chuan! You jerk!" Luo Xi's eyes welled up with tears.

"..."

"I... I..." Ye Chuan fell silent.

"Even if you're going to kill me, aren't you willing to tell me what happened?" Luo Xi asked.

"..."

Ye Chuan took a deep breath and briefly explained the sequence of events.

"What tenants... what eldritch world... Chuan Chuan, that really sounds like the kind of daydreaming you usually do," Luo Xi said softly. Her words made Ye Chuan tighten his grip on the sword.

"But..." Luo Xi's next sentence froze Ye Chuan in place.

"But I know... you aren't lying."

Luo Xi took a step forward, pressing her chest against the tip of his sword. She lowered her gaze.

"I don't understand those things. To me, Chuan Chuan is just Chuan Chuan... and I'm not some monster... I really would never hurt you."

"Maybe my existence itself is fake, right?" Luo Xi suddenly said with a smile.

"Chuan Chuan, do it."

Ye Chuan: "..."

Squelch. The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out, stunning Ye Chuan. He looked up in disbelief, only to find that his sword had already penetrated Luo Xi's body, her blood soaking through her clothes.

Luo Xi had actually impaled herself on the sword!

"It hurts..." Luo Xi's features scrunched up in pain, and her face went deathly pale, yet she took another step forward.

"What are you doing?!"

"I don't know..." Luo Xi forced a smile, her speech becoming labored.

"Chuan... Chuan Chuan, wake up soon. I... I wanted to help you like this..."

"You dummy... I knew you couldn't bring yourself to do it..."

Overcome by pain, Luo Xi sank to her knees, and Ye Chuan hurriedly supported her.

Ye Chuan raised his hand, intending to cast a healing spell, but his wrist was firmly grabbed by Luo Xi. "What... are you doing?"

"Don't you... want to leave this place?"

"Why would you do something like this?" Ye Chuan lowered his gaze.

"Hahahaha, I don't know." Luo Xi suddenly let out a cheerful laugh, though her eyelids were growing heavier by the second. "Chuan Chuan, I'm so sleepy..."

"Hold me tight..."

"Don't forget me, okay? Hmph, even if I'm fake... I really like you..."

At the same time, as Luo Xi's life faded away, the surrounding world seemed to begin collapsing, with endless mist pouring in through the crumbling fissures.

Ye Chuan held her tightly, burying his head in silence.