RALP Chapter 3

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Xiao Tiantian closes his eyes, utterly dejected. He readies himself to accept this insulting kiss.

Since the moment he was chased away, his heart has grown cold and he no longer has any unrealistic expectation.

Yet, why is this person still unwilling to let him go? Still coming here to insult him in particular?

Xiao Tiantian is afraid. He is afraid he will fall for it once again.

The breathing comes closer.

His heart starts racing, and so he sinks further into his dejection. His body is out of his control. It is automatically reacting to the presence of this man.

Helpless, a tear rolls down his face, marking a trail.

At this critical moment, Xiao Tiantian suddenly feels that his arms are unbound. The scent that was so close to him has gone.

He released his hands?

Openinig his eyes in disbelief, he can see a tall, wide and familiar figure in front of him. The man tilts his head to look at him. His iris is somewhat pale in colour. His nose bridge is tall and firm. His jawline is rigid and defined. His side profile forms an attractive curve.

He feels cold and distant, but Xiao Tiantian could see an intense amount of love in the bottom of his eyes (TL: Excuse me for so rudely interrupting your thought process here, but what the actual fuck?!).

It’s You.

But, why is You here? He’s detached from that world a long, long time ago.

Xiao Tiantian is stunned, frozen on the spot.

Shen Chen takes a few steps back, and sees clearly for himself the man blocking his way. He can’t help but raise his eyebrows at him, “it’s you?”

Du You looks at Shen Chen, silent. Yet his attitude is clear from the defensive posture protecting the boy behind his back.

Shen Chen’s mind that was muddled greatly by Xiao Tiantian finally calms down.

“Interesting tastes, Mr. Du. Coming along at night to listen to songs.”

Du You looks at the trembling little bunny behind his back, pulls him by the arm. He is clearly trying to leave.

While his bossy CEO character profile has clashed with Shen Chen’s a bit, but they are different in personality. He is a glacier-type bossy CEO. He must fulfil his glacier character to the end.

Du You is pulling a bit too strongly, and Xiao Tiantian stumbles, almost falling over, “wait, why are you here?”

Du You “…”

The system says in his mind, [Host, reply, the Bottom is asking you.]

Du You replies in his mind, [I am a glacier…]

System [Glacier my ass! You’re a glacier in front of others, and of course a boiling inferno in front of the Bottom.]

Seeing the host not interested in speaking, it sighs, [Fine. Repeat each sentence after me.]

The system clears its throat, [Perhaps you should tell me, why you are still alive.]

Du You repeats, “… perhaps you should tell me, why you are still alive.”

System [Your tone! Pay attention to your tone! There is an underlying frustration, but it all stems from love. Just a year off practise and you’ve worsened this much?!]

Thankfully Xiao Tiantian does not seem to notice the subtle difference right now. He is panicking inside. How is he supposed to explain his fake death and detachment?

“Stop.” Shen Chen does not let the two of them off the hook easily, blocking their way, “did I allow you to leave?”

He narrows his eyes, and extends his hand, “Xiao Tiantian, come here.”

Xiao Tiantian’s body shudders, and he moves further into the shadow of Du You’s back.

Seeing this, Shen Chen is even more enraged. This damned seductive fae dares to ask other men for help in front of him.

Good, very good!

“Xiao Tiantian, I am warning you for the last time…”

“We’ve broken up already!” Xiao Tiantian screams out, wailing, “I don’t love you anymore. Please, stop following me!”

Shen Chen appears petrified.

Not love him anymore?

He thought he would be rejected, he thought Xiao Tiantian would get angry, but he never imagined the boy would say such a thing.

Not love him anymore? How could that be possible. Every conversation in the past, every embrace, he could feel the deep, raging love etched inside of him.

He got it, all too easy, so he never did treasure it.

But now… why, is it the person in front of him?

Shen Chen’s gaze sweeps over onto Du You.

Younger than him, talented, handsome, rich. Perhaps his only advantage is the many connections and power he’s secured over the years.

He tightens his fist, and his tone grows lower in pitch, “you’ve just left me, and you’ve already found a new man?”

“No, I didn’t.” Xiao Tiantian cries while shaking his head.

“Then this guy, what is he to you?!” Shen Chen often prides himself on his maturity and calmness. Yet, when it comes to Xiao Tiantian, he would be unable to hold back his reckless self time and time again.

“He, he is…” Xiao Tiantian is crying so much he has difficulty breathing.

He can’t explain it. How can he explain it? He can’t just say he’s his ex-husband, can he?

Du You, a main participant, is acting like a curious onlooker, [Why is his crying mixed with panting, is he sick.]

System [He is really sad because he was misunderstood.]

Du You [There isn’t. The setting says I am his man, am I not.]

System – I actually can’t counter that.

But of course it can’t just look on as the Bottom’s breathing grows more and more haggard. It says, [Host, it is time to declare your possession.]

Fine.

Du You blocks Shen Chen’s sightline, “he is tired. If Mr. Shen has nothing else to do here, then please leave.”

Shen Chen is livid, “you’re just picking up something I threw away, what right do you have to intervene in this.”

‘Slap!’

Just after saying that, a crisp slapping sound rings under the night sky.

Both Shen Chen and Du You appear shocked. Before anyone noticed, Xiao Tiantian ran, making his way between the two, and slaps Shen Chen right on his cheek.

The slap was with so much force that the cheek in question is lightly marred with a handprint.

“I am not something you threw away! Please stop pestering me, no more!” Xiao Tiantian’s hand hurts, but his heart aches even more.

Then he looks back at Du You, his expression is so fragile it looks as if it would shatter with a simple touch, “I’m sorry. I am not the person you once knew.”

After saying that, Xiao Tiantian picks up his broken heart, and runs away covering his face with his palms.

It’s perhaps the first time ever Shen Chen has ever been slapped in his life. He is still petrified and not himself.

Du You feels a coldness on his nose. It seems to be a droplet of water. He looks up, and sees that the resplendent moon has been hidden behind dark clouds (TL: To be fair, aren’t all clouds black in colour at night?).

It seems like rain will be imminent.

Du You sees Shen Chen still dazed where he stands. Given he’s the head of the company he’s making a deal with, so he reminds him out of politeness, “it is about to rain.”

The man looks as if he’s finally snapped back from his dreams. He looks towards him. When he sees Du You’s expression unchanged, he feels like he’s been shamed.

“Du You,” this time, he doesn’t say ‘Mr. Du,’ but calls him by his full name, “I will not give up on Xiao Tiantian, he is mine.”

“… oh.”

The system is shocked, [What the heck is an ‘oh’! Shouldn’t you retort in return right now?!]

Shen Chen sees him looking like he’s absolutely unfazed by him, and grips his fists tightly.

“You will regret this.”

Leaving this provocation behind, he turns around and leaves.

Even if he’s just been slapped, he is still standing tall, walking away proud.

Du You sees him off, then takes a look at his watch. It’s been about ten minutes from start to finish.

The snacks should be done.

The system looks like it’s going to cry, [Host, I beg you, at least be more imposing when declaring your possession, please.]

Yet its wails go unanswered.

Du You walks out of the back alley. Neither Xiao Tiantian nor Shen Chen are here. Returning to the bar, there’s not many customers left.

On stage is someone playing a piano, yet there’s not many people listening.

Du You goes back to his empty seat.

The bartender sees that he’s back, and immediately presents the food. Fried chicken, French fries, popcorn, a whole pile on the small counter.

Not many people were paying attention to Du You at first, but when they see a fit young man steadily chomping down on junk food without stop, and then finishing within ten minutes, all their jaws drop to the ground.

The system knew for a long time its host has an amazing appetite. At home, he would eat as much as the servants cooked. He would not waste a single rice.

Yet it didn’t think that much of it. It thought he probably starved a lot in the apocalypse, so that’s why it’s become this extreme here.

But, when he sees Du You finishing his layer of meal and then orders them all again all over, the system is shocked, [Ho-, host, practise restraint.]

Even if he isn’t the type that gets fat, that’s still too much! Plus all the alcohol from earlier.

Du You [Because I’m stressed.]

System [I’m more stressed out than you, ok?!]

Du You sighs deeply [Love triangles are more difficult than I imagined.]

The system seems apologetic, [It’s the climax of the whole novel, after all. Host, you would only appear so often at the beginning. When the other Tops make their way here, you would have more time to rest.]

Though, the love triangle is really nothing. When they all make their way here by the end, it will be a love pentagon, or a love hexagon. It’s going to be chaos.

And, in the end, the host will fuse together with the other Tops…

Du You [Fuse together?]

The system pauses, before suddenly realising it must have accidentally said out loud what it was thinking. When they were talking it’s already similar to telepathically talking through their minds, so it was hard to delineate between its ‘inner thoughts’ and its ‘thoughts to share as conversation.’

The system tries to change the topic, [Wow, they’re fast. The snacks are all here. Host, eat them while they’re still warm.]

Du You [Fuse together?]

System [These French fries look golden and crunchy. Even I want a bite.]

Du You [Fuse together?]

System […]

After pausing for a bit, it answers, [it means that you will become best buddies, so inseparable like you’re fused together.]

Du You […]

System […]

It knew the excuse wouldn’t work. The host might look slow all the time, but he’s not a dumbass.

The system cries, [Listen, for real!]

Then, Du You finally hears the whole truth about this.

Apparently the ending of this QT novel is that Xiao Tiantian could not make a choice between the excellent Tops, and social harmony dictates he can’t NP, so it can only be arranged for all the Tops to fuse into one, and meet a perfect 1v1 ending.

Though all the Tops romantically pursuing Xiao Tiantian are different in appearance, memory, personality and whatnot, but that doesn’t matter.

Post-fusion, the person left is the one combining all their good points without all their undesirable qualities. Most importantly, there’s still that deep-seated love for Xiao Tiantian.

The system hesitantly says, [umm… Host, even if you’re fused together, but you’re still alive in some sense. You can stay in this world forever.]

Du You [Shit.]

The system rarely hears Du You curse, so it knows he’s really pissed off. It cries, [uuu Don’t be so mad. I’m also just a working-class underling.]

Du You [For whom?]

The system is sobbing without an answer.

Du You [I’m not doing this anymore.]

[You, do you want to return to that scarce post-apocalyptic world?] The system threatens him but doesn’t sound much confident.

Du You looks at the phone in his hand and the food in front of him.

These two are what he doesn’t want to let go the most in the modern world.

He painfully pulls his gaze away, [Yes.]

The system knows that even this threat is useless now, so it just reveals the whole truth, [Even if you want to I can’t do it. All the energy for transmigrating is borrowed. If you listen obediently then I can still help you. If you don’t… Then when the time comes, and you’re still in this world, then you’ll be fused with everyone else!]

“…”

After beating him down, the system gives him the benefits, [Don’t worry, host. Even if you’re fused, you will still have the memories from before. In other words, you can just treat everyone else as you from a parallel universe. You’ll just have a few extra sets of memories, essentially.]

Du You [No.]

[Host…] The system is still trying hard to persuade.

Du You [They’re not me. I’m not them.]

If he can’t escape, then there’s only one way out.

He will interfere with Xiao Tiantian’s progress. He will break up this love polygon. He will chase all the transmigrated Tops back into their own worlds.

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TL’s notes: So from now on Du You will no longer be starring in the cringey puppet show! But of course, there’s more mysteries going to surface later. So stay tuned!