Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 80

From the perspective of Miss Tentacle, Si Xiaoxiao had also finished reading the story in the diary.

Her emotions were complicated.

She knitted her brows as a long-standing doubt resurfaced in her mind.

From the first world, which had nothing but a basic setting, to this current grand narrative containing stories within stories—a world so abnormally realistic and filled with detail—she felt that something was “off” about these scripts.

She turned toward the omnipresent System consciousness, her tone more serious than ever: “So, System, the sisters written in that diary… what is their relationship to me and Li Ting? Did that story actually happen? Or… did you just fabricate it to satisfy the needs of the plot?”

The System’s electronic voice didn’t beat around the bush this time, answering crisply: “Host, you can understand it as one possibility among countless parallel dimensions. On that worldline, they were sisters who relied on each other and made those specific choices. You two are ‘them’ on a different worldline. The story is not a fabrication; it simply does not belong to the ‘present’ you.”

That’s quite philosophical, she thought. But what about the other scripts?

Are they all related to us as well?

Si Xiaoxiao pressed further: “So, are the other worlds like this too?”

“You are very clever,” the System confirmed.

So that’s how it is!

Si Xiaoxiao was hit by a wave of realization. She was just about to excitedly ask for more details—about the aftermath of that world or more settings regarding parallel dimensions—when her eyes inadvertently swept across the screen. Her heart suddenly constricted.

In the frame, the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse!

That avatar of the Evil God, the so-called Dr. Chen who was supposed to be deep within the church—why did he suddenly appear near the clinic where Li Ting was?!

The twisted, eerie smile on his face sent shivers down her spine even through the screen.

On the screen, Li Ting’s face was deathly pale, but her eyes remained abnormally calm. She lowered her voice, urgently asking the tentacle hiding in the shadows: “Are you okay? Can he sense your presence? Can he control you?”

Only then did Si Xiaoxiao notice that the tentacle representing her own split consciousness was actually trembling.

It was a fear originating from the depths of the soul, the kind felt when encountering a natural predator. The pinkish flesh had even turned slightly white from extreme terror, its suckers contracting nervously.

Anxious, Si Xiaoxiao sought an answer from the System: “System! Can I beat that bad guy?”

The System’s reply was cold and cruel: “Highly unlikely.”

“Then what do I do?!” Si Xiaoxiao’s voice carried a hint of a sob as she stared at the screen in total panic.

They were about to fight the final boss. Was she really going to be a mere bystander again, forced to watch Li Ting face the danger alone without being able to participate at all?

Sensing the tentacle’s fear, the Li Ting on the screen suggested that the tentacle leave first, even laying out the stakes involved.

How could I?!

Dammit!

Si Xiaoxiao instantly flared up! Letting Li Ting face that terrifying thing alone while she hid like a coward? Absolutely not!

On the screen, the tentacle expressed its opposition just as Si Xiaoxiao did. However, it didn’t seem enough to dissuade Li Ting from her plan to make her leave.

Si Xiaoxiao punched the invisible “floor” in frustration, then looked up at the void and shouted: “System! Off-site assistance! Any hints?! What should I do now?!”

The System fell silent for a moment before proposing a deal in a tone that sounded almost like a profiteer: “One punishment in exchange for one hint.”

“???” Si Xiaoxiao hadn’t expected a “pay-to-win” hint mechanic here. Without even thinking of haggling, she agreed immediately: “Fine! Just give me the hint!!”

“Go to the church and destroy that coffin. You will obtain further power,” the System replied without hesitation, genuinely helping this time.

Fine!

Having received the hint, Si Xiaoxiao’s gaze became sharp. No longer hesitating, she focused all her mental energy, desperately projecting it toward the trembling tentacle consciousness in the script world.

The good news was that perhaps because the main body’s will was strong enough, or perhaps because the desire to win and save Li Ting overwhelmed everything else, she once again successfully took control of Miss Tentacle’s actions.

She sent a promise to Li Ting:

[I have a way to resist his control. You must wait for me to come back.]

The message delivered, the pink tentacle suddenly lunged out from the shadows before Li Ting could respond. It dashed away, bolting straight toward the spire church.

Because Li Ting successfully drew the Evil God’s main attention and fury, Si Xiaoxiao’s control over the tentacle allowed it to proceed with surprising smoothness. Like a flash of pink lightning in the dark night, it broke through all obstacles and burst once more into that gloomy, eerie spire church.

The church remained empty and deathly silent. That ornate, demonic crystal coffin still lay quietly upon the reef altar.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Si Xiaoxiao maneuvered the tentacle to gather all its strength, smashing it recklessly against the coffin.

“CRACK—BOOM!!!”

Accompanied by a heart-stopping sound of shattering, the eerie crystal coffin broke apart. Countless shards flew in all directions. The moment the coffin was completely destroyed, a majestic yet cold and incredibly powerful energy erupted from within, pouring into Si Xiaoxiao—into Miss Tentacle—like a burst dam.

“Ugh—!”

Si Xiaoxiao’s main body in the System space simultaneously felt a tearing sensation of pain and a surge of power, as if her soul were being forcibly stretched, but she gritted her teeth and endured it.

Destruction complete!

Power obtained!

Without stopping to savor this new, ominous, yet immensely powerful aura, Si Xiaoxiao piloted the tentacle to rush back even faster than she had come.

Fast! Faster!

Finally, at the critical moment!

Just as the Evil God’s avatar was about to strike Li Ting, Si Xiaoxiao arrived!

What a stroke of luck!

Having absorbed the coffin’s power, the tentacle had become larger and more formidable than ever. The pink-purple flesh shimmered with a dark light. Carrying a momentum of absolute determination—like a berserk dragon protecting a princess—it violently slammed into the Evil God’s attack, shielding Li Ting firmly behind it.

Battle! Erupted!

Protection! Conviction!

Si Xiaoxiao could no longer distinguish who she was.

Was she the main body anxiously watching from the System space? Or was she the sister who had turned into a tentacle, currently locked in a bloody, desperate struggle against the Evil God?

The extreme empathy caused her main body in the System space to feel every agonizing impact as if her soul were being shredded. Ethereal wounds even began to manifest on her consciousness, mirroring the damage taken by the tentacle.

Clearly, even after destroying the coffin and gaining a temporary boost, they were still no match for the Evil God’s true form. The opponent’s strength was beyond imagination!

The tentacle’s body was becoming increasingly tattered, its glow fading rapidly. Si Xiaoxiao’s main body curled up in pain within the System space, her consciousness starting to blur.

At the moment she was about to lose consciousness and slip into a coma, Si Xiaoxiao exerted the very last of her strength. Through the mangled tentacle, she let out a heart-wrenching, almost pleading scream toward the stunned Li Ting behind her:

“Li Ting!! Go!!! Run, and don’t look back!!”

Her consciousness shattered like glass, falling into a boundless, silent darkness. Her final lingering perception was the sight of Li Ting turning decisively and fleeing into the distance.

She got away… that’s good…

This was the last blurred sense of relief before Si Xiaoxiao’s consciousness completely succumbed.

At the exact moment Si Xiaoxiao in tentacle form lost all signs of life in the script world—going limp like a broken doll—a sudden mutation occurred within the pure white System space.

In the center of the space, where there had been nothing, a speck of starlight abruptly gathered. It quickly condensed into a small, round sphere about the size of a fist, emitting a soft but undeniable white glow.

It floated there silently, as if it were the heart of the entire space.

Light rippled across the sphere’s surface as it “looked” at Si Xiaoxiao’s main body, which was currently “wounded” from extreme empathy, its luster dimmed, curled up and motionless.

The cold electronic voice seemed to emanate from within the sphere, but it carried an extremely humanized, complex emotion. It let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh.

“Sigh…” In that sigh, there was helplessness toward her host’s desperate efforts, and perhaps… a hint of unfathomable moved emotion?

“Forget it…” The light sphere seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally making a decision.

After all, her host had worked so hard, even to the point of nearly breaking herself. As the System bound to her, it was only natural to open a small—very small—backdoor and provide a little “golden finger” within the limits of the rules, right?

Right.

The white light sphere suddenly erupted with brilliant light.

Countless beams of pure, powerful energy—containing laws that surpassed the current world’s rules—shot out like tentacles piercing through the void, diving directly into the massive screen displaying the script world.

Inside the script world, the Evil God—who was currently enraged by the disappearance of the sacrificial power and the escape of the prey—suddenly sensed the descent of an incomprehensible, irresistible, and terrifying will.

That will was cold, sublime, and carried an absolute power that seemed capable of modifying the world’s rules at whim.

Before this power, His self-proclaimed “divine might” was like a firefly before the moon—laughably insignificant.

“Who is it?!” The Evil God let out a roar of mingled shock and fury, attempting to resist. But the white energy bands simply swept past once—

Like an eraser wiping away pencil marks, the Evil God’s gathered power—enough to flip the entire island—along with His roar, was instantly smoothed over and vanished without a sound.

He couldn’t even accurately perceive where the power came from. He only felt an absolute suppression originating from the very level of life itself, making even his anger feel futile.

The System’s intervention was swift and clean—a true “dimensional strike.”

With this intervention, the tattered, dark-purple tentacle that had been slumped on the ground about to dissipate was completely enveloped in a soft white light. Amidst the flashing light, the tentacle’s massive body rapidly shrunk and transformed, finally becoming a faint wisp of light that was forcibly extracted from the script world, disappearing entirely.

The Evil God stood frozen on the spot, sensing the sudden, total disappearance of the sacrifice and the alien power. He fell into a state of immense shock, confusion, and unprecedented terror.

Back in the System space.

As the energy bands were retracted, the small white light sphere became significantly dimmer. The once-solid sphere even became somewhat transparent and illusory, as if it might vanish at any moment.

It wobbled and floated over to the still-unconscious Si Xiaoxiao. Its light flickered weakly, and a broken, intermittently weak voice muttered from within, filled with obvious pain over its “losses”: “Such a loss, such a loss… finally… finally saved enough energy to manifest a temporary physical form… and it’s all consumed in an instant… Now I have to go into hibernation for a long time… A loss-making business… definitely a loss…”

The light sphere circled the unconscious Si Xiaoxiao once, seemingly confirming that she wasn’t at risk of dissipating and was merely in a deep sleep from exhaustion.

“This script is so strange. I can only hope the investment yields a return…”

After releasing this sigh full of “capitalist expectation,” the white light sphere’s glow faded completely. It became a hazy shadow and slowly sank into the “floor” of the System space, falling into a forced deep hibernation.

The entire pure white space returned to absolute silence. Only the giant screen remained, frozen on the afterimage of Li Ting sprinting through the night, and the unconscious, sleeping Si Xiaoxiao curled up nearby.

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