Chapter 7.1 The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love

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Chapter 7 – Reader: This is not the undead … Too handsome, it’s unscientific!

The skeleton was holding the limp body of a young man, the soft black hair falling in between the bones of his hand.

Suddenly, there was a sound from above their heads: “Meow?”

The strong sense of being watched put Xiu on the defensive. He looked up, instinctively covering Du Ze with his his black cloak. He saw a creature above them.

It was … a cat? It was dark-furred, with one golden and one blue eye. Xiu’s attention was immediately caught by the creature’s tails. Although it looked like a cat, it had nine tails. The demon¹ was crouching down on top of the statue, tilting its head and looking down at the skeleton who was guarding his food². Seeing Xiu looking at it, the monster’s eyes were full of joy and love.

“Meow!”

Xiu stared alertly at the enraptured demonic beast. The light element had finally left his body. The death aura around his body started to seethe with renewed energy, becoming darker and more intense, as the soul energy had now been fully assimilated. The black aura then gathered itself to cover the bones by weaving flesh and blood until the death aura that covered the sky dissipated without a trace, having been drawn into Xiu’s body.

The abandoned temple became quiet and still once more, except for the demon beast and Xiu, who was still holding the sacrificial offering, silently confronting each other.

Xiu now had long black hair that curls back from his forehead and profound jet black eyes, from the depths of which flashed a blue light.³ His expression was very somber, and the pale skin of the undead had added a melancholy air to his looks, but his beauty remained intact. The Lich and human look the same, like something that walked out from an ancient painting of a decadent aristocrat. But when Xiu stretched out his right hand to push his hair back behind his ear, he found that it was still bone, not flesh, betraying the essence of his undead nature.

The last bite of his meal was interrupted by the demon beast, and the soul that he had devoured was not enough to completely restore his entire body so the right arm was still made of bone. Xiu tightened his hold on Du Ze. As long as he kills the demon, he can swallow the rest of the soul and fully recover.

Xiu grabbed the giant death scythe which made an arc in the air. A crescent-shaped beam of dark energy flew straight towards the demonic beast. The cat-like monster moved nimbly away from the beam’s trajectory, jumping from the pedestal. It landed lightly on its feet, opposite Xiu. Its eyes were sparkling, as if it wanted to play more with Xiu.

“Meow!”

The dark force Xiu released broke the ceiling of the temple ruins, revealing the black night sky. The purple moon was at its zenith and the moonlight shone down on the statue and the Lich.⁴

The cat-like demon’s ears twitched and its eyes widened. It glanced at the dark-robed Lich once more before it ran away. Xiu did not notice that demon beast had left. He was standing under a ray of moonlight, sensing a fluctuation in the soul energy of the youth in his arms.

Xiu lowered his head, the long black robe spread out around him, and looked into Du Ze’s eyes. This time, he saw a pale, black-haired, black-eyed human form reflected in the darkness.

He was still a terrible, evil, terrifying undead, now covered with human skin.

That was the Lich’s thought. Then he heard the owner of the eyes⁵ say, “Let go of me.”

Xiu held Du Ze’s hand tightly at first, then slowly let go. He looked at Du Ze gloomily as the latter left his arms. Xiu’s right hand still held his scythe, ready for trouble.

Du Ze looked for his glasses, put them on, and when he could clearly see the protagonist, the rabid “Mixed Blood” fan⁶ froze.

This can’t be undead! This can’t be undead! This can’t be undead! … Holy c**p, it really is a Lich, my goodness! A Lich being this handsome is unscientific!

In “Mixed Blood” there were different forms of the undead race: skeletal, spectral, and dead bodies. The members of the Department of Bones were skeletons. The Spectral Department was composed of bodiless phantoms. Lastly, the Department of Dead Bodies was made up of moving corpses. The most powerful of those was the Lich which was an animated body.

Although the Lich was similar to the human form, was it really supposed to be this good?! Even if it’s a freshly killed body, it can’t change the fact that it’s a corpse, okay?! The undead, they are inanimate inorganic things!

So an inorganic substance⁷ is better than this organic organism.⁸ The Lich looks alive, eye-catching, and unscientific!⁹

What about the sunken eye sockets of the Lich King? Although the lead character’s eyes were deep set, his Westerner’s eye shape¹⁰ was really good!

What about the pale skin of the Lich? Although the protagonist’s white skin was indeed a bit unhealthy-looking, it wasn’t bad at all and just added to the protagonist’s somber beauty!

What about the gloomy and unpleasant character of the Lich? Although the protagonist’s expression was indeed very gloomy, the protagonist made even that look like an elegant melancholy!

In that moment, Du Ze gained a new insight into the concept of the protagonist’s “golden finger” and was deeply envious.

Face to face with the protagonist, Du Ze wanted to overcome the social barrier.

A person who stayed at home wallowing in the male’s 2D paradise will have the following attribute: social activities are equal to less than 1. They can chat with others over the internet a lot, even to the extent of sexually harassing other people, but when faced with a sister in real life, they will blush and stutter. Du Ze was that type of mysterious living thing, and because of his ears¹¹, his social barriers were higher than normal.

The concrete manifestation of this stay-at-home’s social barrier is this: a deadpan face, and “Mensao” – meaning an introverted person who is calm on the outside but the inside is full of passion. In other words, even when his heart wants to cry out 1,000 times or even 10,000 times, his face still showed no expression.

Right now he was suffering on the inside but on the outside his face was still impassive. Du Ze looked at the other person and his innermost feelings were already in disarray. What could he say? The weather today is very good? How has your day been? Hello, Hero, I am the reader?

Who can give him an opening line that can help him save the (to be destroyed by the blackened protagonist) world?

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1. Du Ze called it a spirit beast but it seems Xiu thinks of it as an “evil spirit beast” which I have translated as demon or monster.
2. food = Du Ze
3. In pure bone form Xiu’s soul light is in his eyes and it is blue.
4. I omitted a phrase here “like some pilgrimage” since it doesn’t sound good in English.
5. Xiu seems obsessed with the eyes.
6. The term used was 脑残粉 (brain powder), literally meaning a super obsessed fan (normally of a celebrity) who can be prone to violent attacks or hurting other people in pursuit of their idol but it also used by fans themselves in a more casual, self-deprecating way.
7. Xiu
8. Du Ze
9. Du Ze likes to use the word “unscientific.”
10. From the art Xiu seems to be European so his eye shape is different from Asian eyes.
11. Meaning his deafness.