Hiso felt that the Chenzhong family were truly extraordinary people.
He had only put on the act of a returning son because the Destined Crown quest requirement stated: 【Approach Chengzhong Dino as the eldest son of the Chenzhong family】.
He assumed this was a restricted identity for the specific scenario of resolving the “Collateral Branch Siege.”
After all, Hiso didn't actually intend to call a group of NPCs “Mom” and “Dad.”
He was simply here to steal their prize daughter.
But after he drove away those collateral relatives, the formal self-introduction Hiso had prepared was unceremoniously stuffed back down his throat.
“Little Suo, you’ve been away from home for so long, your memory of home must be quite faint,” Chenzhong Ze said. “I’ve even forgotten what kind of puppets you like. If you could tell me, I would be very grateful.”
“Little Suo, Mama also forgot what kind of food you like to eat,” Chenzhong Saori added. “Won't you let Mama show off some cooking that will shock you?”
“Elder Brother.” Chengzhong Dino looked up. “I will teach you the inheritance. I have already fully mastered it, so you, with your superior talent, will surely be able to as well.”
What... what was going on?
Was this the Path of Sitting in Forgetfulness?
The Chenzhong elders were playing their parts far too well.
Hiso couldn't quite figure it out.
The Chenzhong family was considered one of the top wealthy families.
If any random stranger from the streets could just wander in as the eldest son to freeload, eat their food, and learn their inheritance, wouldn't the Chenzhong family have been bankrupted long ago?
Furthermore, this wasn't an identity the system had specifically prepared for the player.
The “Destined Crown” quest series referred to a sequence of tasks involving heroines who possessed the right potential.
In every era of the game, entirely different Destined Crowns existed. He could trigger the quests, and the quests could fail.
Aside from the fact that seven were required to unlock the main storyline, there were no fixed heroines; it simply depended on which seven Hiso chose.
For instance, in several cities neighboring Ming City, Hiso had triggered the system's cultivation quests, but he hadn't accepted them, coolly stating that his blade did not strike the elderly.
Yet, when he arrived at Ming City, he was immediately captivated by this young girl in a small top hat, performing so seriously with her silk threads.
After adjusting his vampire body's skeletal age, he began the 【Main Quest: Puppet's Vow】.
However, Hiso soon understood why they were like this.
At first, he had resisted.
“I’m really not your son.”
Hiso had tried to clear things up at the dining table more than once.
He didn't want to turn a cultivation game into a game of house; it was far too much of a drain on his energy.
“I look nothing like you, and I can't even recite a single symbol from your family's secret techniques or mental methods. Isn't that enough to prove my point?”
In the face of Hiso's confession, Chenzhong Ze merely offered a slight smile and placed a piece of braised pork drizzled with fresh blood into Hiso's bowl.
“Oh, Little Suo, you’ve just been traveling for too long and forgotten those formalities. It’s alright, Father understands.”
Chenzhong Saori immediately nodded vigorously beside him, her eyes welling up with tears again.
“Yes, yes, our Little Suo must have suffered so much out there that he forgot even the mental methods. But it doesn't matter. As long as you’ve come back safe and sound, that’s better than anything. Eat more, look how thin you are.”
“Then how do you explain my surname and name? My name is Hiso, not Chenzhong Suo!”
“When away from home, it’s only reasonable to use a pseudonym. You’ve just stayed in character for too long and forgotten your original name.” The father looked at him with a benevolent expression, even reaching out to pat Hiso on the shoulder. “Young people, I understand.”
You don't understand a damn thing.
Hiso looked at his Acting skill, which had already reached Lv 4 after staying in the Chenzhong house for a week, and found it hard to keep a straight face.
No matter how absurd the loopholes he pointed out, this couple could use a nearly pathological tenderness and logic to forcibly smooth them over for him.
As long as he didn't pull the rug out from under them, no matter how ridiculous the setting he threw out, it would be accepted.
Hiso grumbled and began to eat.
Since this was Hiso's first Destined Crown quest, he didn't dare skip any part of this life.
It had to be said that Chenzhong Saori's culinary skills were indeed top-tier.
Every day, she came up with new ways to prepare exquisite delicacies that Hiso had never even tasted in his previous life. Stewed snow chicken with winter snow lotus, roasted bear paw with truffles—any dish Hiso spared a second glance at would absolutely be served the next day using various cooking methods.
Moreover, the food was always covered in the fresh blood of sheep or other livestock; to put it bluntly, it was food prepared specifically for him alone.
Did they want to capture his heart by capturing his stomach?
Hiso was dismissive of the idea.
However, that night, while Hiso was idly playing with a sculpture in the living room...
Chenzhong Ze happened to pass by and asked him if there was anything he wanted.
Hiso casually mentioned a Gundam model.
The next morning, he saw a mecha model in the living room, carved from high-grade paulownia wood and polished to a mirror-like finish.
Wait, is this even part of your world's setting?
Hiso was stunned. He had only given a brief description, and they had already made it?
It had a square chest plate and angular shoulder armor. Although it wasn't painted, the joints were all connected with fine puppetry threads, and it even carried a large wooden Ship-Slicing Sword on its back.
Chengzhong Dino appeared in the living room at some point. With a slight twitch of her index finger, the Gundam model began to move.
Then, as she extended all ten fingers to manipulate it, all the wooden puppets arranged in the living room also moved, surrounding and attacking the Gundam puppet.
The Gundam puppet pulled the Ship-Slicing Sword from its back, swung it twice, and struck an incredibly dramatic pose.
“Does Elder Brother want to play?” she giggled. “As long as Elder Brother accompanies Dino in her training, you can become this powerful too.”
Hiso: ...
This feeling reached its peak when he saw Chenzhong Ze appear with dark circles under his eyes.
Something hard in his heart seemed to crack open a little.
And as the eldest son, the only thing he needed to do was learn the inheritance.
As the eldest son who had “forgotten” the inheritance, it was only natural for him to learn it again.
Hiso sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, holding several thin, pale silk threads in his hands.
Those threads were incredibly tough, yet extremely difficult to control.
Hiso had the stats, but at this moment, he hadn't developed many skills, and the combat-oriented skills he already had were completely useless here.
“I just need to grasp the basic skill,” Hiso thought.
Once he learned the Lv 1 skill, he could just dump his Free Attribute Points into it to speedrun the “Learn the Inheritance” step.
“Elder Brother, that’s not right. The mana for the lead string isn't infused like that. If it's too violent, the puppet will fall apart.”
Chengzhong Dino stayed right by his side.
She still wore that small top hat, but she lacked the cold, intense focus she displayed on stage.
She was simply enjoying the process of being with her brother, as if she wanted to pour all the missing emotions from her past performances into the brother standing before her all at once.
Her slender, fair hands guided Hiso's movements bit by bit.
“It must be like flowing water, slowly bypassing the joints. The lead string is the skeleton, and the support string is the flesh.”
Hiso could feel the support strings extending from Dino's fingertips slowly intertwining with the clumsy lead strings in his hands.
They didn't tangle or conflict.
Instead, they seemed to be performing a mysterious fusion. The mana of the two people connected in mid-air through those threads as fine as spiderwebs.
“Look, Elder Brother, just like this.”
Following Dino's movements, the stiff-jointed Gundam model in front of them actually began to smoothly strike a defensive sword pose.
Hiso followed suit, and the Gundam also began to swing its weapon under his command.
In that instant, Hiso obtained the Puppetry Lv 1 skill.
Hiso turned his head and looked at the smile on Dino's face.
It was a sense of focus and happiness he had never seen before.
When she saw Hiso succeed, she was even happier than he was.
It was as if she had finally found the missing half of her soul.
So, Hiso gave up on using his points.
He could stack up high-level skills through proficiency alone, and he could save his attribute points.
That wasn't a bad deal either.
Realizing she was being observed, Chengzhong Dino immediately put on a stern face again.
“Elder Brother mustn't slack off. This is only the entry level.”
She raised her fingertips, and the Gundam in front of them brandished its blade with lifelike precision.
“Elder Brother, the next step is to reach this level~” she said coaxingly.
“I know.” Hiso nodded.
—Because it was his first Destined Crown quest, he had to understand the details properly to prepare for future tasks.
That was what Hiso told himself.
Even as the time he spent playing 《Red Moon》 took up more and more of his life, Hiso steadfastly told himself that he was just laying the foundation for future speedruns.
Though this so-called “laying the foundation” consisted of nothing more than waking up early every day to sit with Dino all day long, tirelessly letting those threads wind around his fingers, often getting himself tied up like a zongzi.
Every time he made a fool of himself, Dino would cover her mouth and giggle secretly.
And Hiso would respond with an embarrassed smile.
“You just forgot, right, Elder Brother?” Chengzhong Dino asked softly.
“Ah, yeah. I just forgot,” Hiso replied in a low voice.
What was the truth? What was a lie? To this family, did it really matter?
And so.
Hiso spent much more time than planned, relying purely on practice to stack Puppetry to Lv 4 before this stage of the main quest was declared complete.
It was on a certain afternoon—he couldn't remember the exact time, only that they were watching the sunset together.
“Does Elder Brother have something to say?” Chengzhong Dino asked suddenly, watching the slowly setting sun. “Tomorrow is the first time Elder Brother and I will perform on stage. Are you feeling a bit nervous? I was very nervous the first time I went on stage.”
Hiso shook his head. “How could I be? I’m just feeling a bit melancholy looking at the sunset.”
Chengzhong Dino puffed out her cheeks. “I know in my heart that I am not as interesting as those other sisters. In the end, your heart simply has no room for me.”
She paused and then added, “If Brother is going to be this way, it would be better to ignore me entirely, lest I seem to be making a scene over nothing.”
Hiso’s eyes widened, and he pinched Chengzhong Dino’s face. “Well now, you’ve learned to speak to me in that tone.”
“It hurts, it hurts! I won't do it again!” Dino said piteously.
“But, Elder Brother. If you have something to say, you can just say it. After all, we are family.”
“It’s nothing, I just feel like time is passing so quickly.” Hiso withdrew his hand and shook his head at the sunset. “Sometimes I feel like it would be nice if time could move a little slower, or just stop at this moment forever.”
“I see. Dino will remember that,” Chengzhong Dino said solemnly, adjusting her small top hat.
“What?” Hiso was confused.
“Nothing.” Chengzhong Dino’s lively and soft eyes revealed a mysterious smile. “But let’s rehearse one more time before we go on stage. After all, it is our first performance together.”
“Okay.”
Hiso nodded and reached out his hand.
Threads made of mana extended from his fingertips.
Chengzhong Dino also reached out her hand.
The inheritance that could only be activated by a brother and sister who shared a mental connection yet remained distinct was set in motion.
Threads made of mana fell from the sky.
...
Threads made of mana fell from the sky.
The Count’s screams were high-pitched at first, but they gradually faded into a weak whimper.
A Tenth Generation Vampire, a superior existence who had once dominated the shadows and been worshipped by countless Low-tier Vampires, had now been turned into a translucent work of art hanging in mid-air.
The threads shaved away flesh and soul, and every joint and nerve node was pierced by thousands of pale silk threads. Like a large marionette, he swayed nimbly in mid-air, driven by a will that was not his own.
His eyes had completely lost their luster, and those crimson pupils had dimmed until only two faint glimmers remained.
“There.”
Chengzhong Dino lightly twitched her index finger.
“Now, don't refuse me again. Tell me, how did you get this thing?”
The Dilapidated Dark Gold Greave Fragment lay quietly in Dino's palm.
The Count's lips were forced open by the pull of the threads.
“I... I really don't know...”
“Hmm?” Chengzhong Dino’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I really don't know.” There was no longer any fear or any other emotion in the Count’s voice. “I received a bloodline summons from a twelfth-generation descendant, Elizabeth, and descended upon this wasteland.”
The puppet Count’s hollow eyes turned with difficulty. Under the control of the threads, he tilted his head and looked into the distance.
“After discovering that the opponent was merely a weak vampire fledgling, I was very angry, so I intended to... However, we only made brief contact. I didn't even have time to completely crush her.”
“Then, this thing... just mysteriously appeared on my person.”
This was already the truest and most detailed truth the Count could reveal.
To be honest, he didn't even know when the item had appeared on him. Could that little vampire have stuffed it into his pocket when she punched him in the chest? How could it have appeared in his pocket?
But he could no longer think.
Following the puppet Count’s gaze, Chengzhong Dino slowly turned her head.
Those hollow and obsessive eyes fixed upon the distant, stilled figure.
Sophie's body was still unable to move.
Looking at the gaze Chengzhong Dino cast her way, she could only give a bitter smile in her heart.
She gave this trump card of hers an 8.6 out of 10—because Dino herself was the remaining 1.4.
It was precisely because all her trump cards were dangerous to use that she relied so heavily on the Hero.
It was like a science fiction novel she had read in her previous life.
The young Luo Ji: “Auntie Ye, you wouldn't want people to find out about the Trisolarans, would you?”
Auntie Ye smiled bitterly: “Little Ji, you finally understand what deterrence is. It is time for you to learn about the Dark Forest.”
In the end, that entire story concluded with the exclamation, “It’s dark, far too dark.”
And the Dark Forest concept from that story could similarly be used as a metaphor for Sophie’s situation.
When Sophie revealed her coordinates, she was bound to be plagued by trouble.
Those various events of the past, that history she had never forgotten, were merely a tangled mess of threads she had wanted to resolve once her level was higher.
They would continuously and inevitably enter her life ahead of schedule.
Rate on N.U.
