Joining A Dating Show With Five Exes - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: I Love You

Cheng Shiyuan initially kept counting in her mind, certain that if Shen Lingxi could see this scene, she would intervene soon—

But when she reached twenty.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

A searing, hot pain spread across her. She could even visualize the pathetic sight of crisscrossing red welts appearing on the two soft mounds of her snow-white flesh.

If she kept playing along with Xia Ziran, she didn’t know what Shen Lingxi’s reaction would be, but her own butt was truly about to be beaten black and blue.

“Stop… Stop! Ugh!”

The response to her choked cry was another descending whistle of the whip.

And Xia Ziran’s smiling, low-pitched reminder: “You want me to stop? What should you say?”

So she’s playing the ‘safeword’ game now, is she?

“Xia! Zhi! Ran!”

Her attempt at a vicious warning was mixed with her pain-induced trembling, tearful, and gasping voice.

It sounded exactly like a kitten’s sweet, cloying meow during its heat.

Xia Ziran casually rubbed her ear, dissatisfied that Cheng Shiyuan hadn’t called her “girlfriend” even after all these attempts.

However, the white pants were already showing two distinct pink blushes. If she played any longer, the spoiled princess would turn on her.

She reluctantly tossed the long whip aside, still not fully satisfied.

Quick as a flash, the moment Cheng Shiyuan’s hands, which were bracing against the wall, trembled and she went soft, about to fall forward, Xia Ziran pulled her into her arms.

Cheng Shiyuan’s unique scent, mixed with the sweat—from either pain or heat—pierced her nostrils.

Xia Ziran leaned close, sniffing her hair with a fascinated, intimate closeness, and smiled as she asked: “Are you satisfied with my performance?”

Bad review—

A one-star bad review.

Cheng Shiyuan had to cling to her just to stand steady, her legs weak as noodles, but she didn’t forget to critique: “Your technique is terrible.” It wasn’t enjoyable at all; it just hurt.

Xia Ziran looked suddenly enlightened. Uncharacteristically, she didn’t get angry; instead, she enthusiastically discussed it with her: “Then how about we try again?”

“If you play with me a few more times, I should be able to improve.”

“It’s normal to be out of practice since no one has been here to practice with me for a long time.”

Before Cheng Shiyuan could utter the word “Get lost,” she suddenly heard the sound of the door chain being undone. The NPC playing the “villager” announced expressionlessly:

“The sacrifice ceremony has begun. All sacrifices must gather at the ‘Ghost Matron Temple’.”

He approached with a rope and began to tie them up with complicated knots.

Cheng Shiyuan was on the verge of getting PTSD from this escape room. The moment she stared at the rope, she started to wonder if they were going to tie some kind of elaborate, special restraint knot.

When she realized they were just using a regular dead knot and pushing her out, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Until she entered the eerie temple.

Red candle wax had been burning for an unknown amount of time. The huge candelabra was like a coral tree growing on land. White memorial photos densely covered the elevated platform in front of the oil lamp.

Twenty empty photo frames were placed at the front, the future resting place of this batch of failed escapees.

But what attracted Cheng Shiyuan the most—

Was the gigantic coffin in front of the dusty statue of the “Ghost Matron,” which was veiled in red.

Since entering the escape room, the broken cabinets, broken tables, including the candelabra and the ghost statue here, were all props deliberately made to look old.

Cheng Shiyuan had been on countless sets and was very familiar with the aging marks of various props. Only this coffin was spotless, and it was made of expensive, top-grade agarwood.

Even the Xia Ziran beside her muttered:

“Agarwood? To run a business, did the owner dig up their ancestor’s grave and use this coffin as a centerpiece?”

In this day and age, where golden silk nanmu coffins were nowhere to be seen, even the highest quality huanghuali and agarwood could only be found in the most exclusive furniture markets.

The Xia family’s business naturally dealt with wood all year round. Even with the abnormal lighting, Xia Ziran could tell the value of this coffin at a glance. It was even more valuable than the entire building in the heart of the commercial district where this escape room was located.

It was too bizarre.

She, who had remained unaffected by the atmosphere of the escape room the entire time, felt an inexplicable chill at this moment.

Especially when the coffin lid suddenly opened with a “Creak,” slowly sliding to the side.

A few timid players nearby were already huddling and shivering, while others were hysterically crying into the walkie-talkie, “Please, let me out, I won’t play anymore, boo-hoo!”

However, only the static buzz of current came from the walkie-talkie.

The coffin lid continued its slow, creaking opening, the tiny sound slowly torturing everyone’s nerves.

The moment it finally stopped—

A bride, dressed in a scarlet wedding gown and veiled in red, looking identical to the statue, sat up straight from inside.

Separated by the red silk veil, she turned her head to ‘look’ at them.

“Ahhhhh!!”

The screams grew even more intense. Some people even rushed toward the temple door on their knees, banging their heads against it, but there was still no movement.

They seemed to have been genuinely thrown into a horror movie set.

Xia Ziran watched as the person, who made the wedding dress look like a shroud, raised a hand and pointed.

She selected Cheng Shiyuan, who was beside her.

Then, she maintained that posture, completely motionless.

Catching the slight movement of the person next to her, Xia Ziran reminded her: “No, the procedure is wrong. The stage manager is gone. Someone should come out now to read the rules for this part and start the next escape.”

“Cheng Shiyuan, don’t go over there. Someone changed the rules.”

Of course, Cheng Shiyuan knew someone had changed the rules.

Because the person who changed the rules was pretending to be a ghost right in front of her.

The Shen family had leased an agarwood plantation in Southeast Asia a long time ago. Once, when Shen Lingxi went to the mausoleum to pay respects to the ancestors according to custom, she casually asked her: “These people are used to preparing for their afterlife while they are still alive. What about you?”

Cheng Shiyuan was completely baffled: “What about me?”

She wasn’t one of those antiquated old fogeys with decadent ideas. Cremation was encouraged now, okay?

Besides, who talks about the afterlife when a person is in the prime of their life?! Was that even auspicious?

But Shen Lingxi didn’t understand her astonishment and answered seriously: “A coffin. Do you want one?”

Now, Cheng Shiyuan looked at this specially transported coffin, tailor-made for her.

Then she looked at the ‘Ghost Bride’ inside, wearing a hand-stitched wedding gown—the fabric and embroidery so precious they belonged in a museum—and expressionlessly wondered if her impending premature death was a curse placed on her by Shen Lingxi.

She gave Xia Ziran a perfunctory smile and approached the figure without hesitation.

Since the main culprit who stole her blood had appeared, it was the perfect opportunity to probe what Shen Lingxi was thinking—

She took one step after another toward the inauspicious coffin.

When her delicate, slender neck willingly approached and touched that hand—

Even though she was mentally prepared, Cheng Shiyuan couldn’t help but shiver from the cold.

Was this even a human body temperature?

The moment that thought occurred, the icy cold hand swept past her neck and grabbed her collar.

Her vision flipped.

When she regained her senses, she had been pulled into the cold, hard, unyielding coffin.

The coffin lid closed over her head inch by inch, slowly taking away the light and air.

Just when Cheng Shiyuan thought the coffin would at least leave a gap for breathing.

A faint “Click” sounded.

Her last hope was sealed off completely.

She plummeted into bottomless darkness.

Even Xia Ziran’s voice calling her sounded muffled, as if separated by a hazy film.

Her eyes became useless, and her other five senses grew sharper. For example, the icy cold body temperature next to her. Perhaps the extreme, cheap air conditioning of the escape room had been blowing on her for too long, as the silk fabric also felt frighteningly cold.

Fortunately, she heard that faint, almost imperceptible sound of breathing.

And, she smelled the scent of Daphne flowers again, a smell that felt like it had been marinated into her soul.

She moved her shoulder, signaling the person beside her to first untie the boring ropes on her body.

The response was a cold hand reaching out.

As if measuring the changes in her body after so many days, the hand moved slowly up her waist, inch by inch.

When passing over her ribs, the fingertips pressed down, checking them one by one, one rib after another, to confirm she was intact.

But Cheng Shiyuan only felt a block of ice moving tightly against her. She couldn’t help but shiver and proactively said:

“Shen…”

Just as she let out a syllable.

A finger was shoved into her mouth, pressing against the back of her tongue, forbidding her to utter that name.

[Detected ‘Life Value Character’. Please proceed to unlock.]

The system’s mechanical voice sounded in her ear.

But Cheng Shiyuan’s tongue was numbed by the pressure. She instinctively swallowed, trying hard to push the foreign object out, but because it was inserted too deep, her throat was greatly stimulated.

In the end, she could only involuntarily suck on that finger, as if actively submitting to it.

She even felt streaks of coolness sliding down her lips.

As her jaw grew sore, her body, cornered in the coffin and unable to retreat from the icy exploration, curled up helplessly. The cold hand slipped into the edge of her clothing, tracing every part of her upper body to confirm her condition.

Then, it grasped her foot and began to explore from her toes.

Her toe gaps were also forced open, rubbed by the cold finger one by one.

She finally lost patience and bit down on the hand in her mouth. While her entire body involuntarily warmed up, revealing a physiological response, her mind was sober and calm:

Surely this was enough time for Shen Lingxi to get the blood test results?

Not catching her to go to the hospital like Chen Chuxing—was it unnecessary, or—

Perhaps her blood was perfectly normal, so Shen Lingxi could only use this primitive method to examine her?

But without cutting open her chest and looking at her internal organs, what could she possibly see from the outside? It’s not like she had a skin disease.

Her aimless guesses were suddenly jolted by the chilling approach to her inner thigh.

A loud banging sound also started at the corner of the coffin lid. Someone was trying to open it from the outside.

Cheng Shiyuan refused to test how far Shen Lingxi would go in public. She clenched her teeth, almost tasting blood, before viciously warning: “Don’t do it…”

No, no, no! Don’t do it here!

Shen Lingxi tilted her head in the darkness. The red veil, which had never been removed, slid across the woman’s neck. She heard Cheng Shiyuan’s sudden heavier gasps.

As if contemplating, she slowly withdrew her finger, which was marked with deep teeth indentations.

She licked the lingering taste of Cheng Shiyuan left on it.

Then, with a sudden realization, she leaned closer again and, still separated by the veil, kissed the woman’s lips.

—You don’t like that kind of touch? Then let’s try a different one.

The embroidered silk fabric pressed against her face. Her mouth and tongue were invaded by a foreign object again. The already scarce air in the coffin became even thinner after Cheng Shiyuan gasped for breath.

No matter how she struggled with her tongue, she only repeatedly licked the rough silk surface.

She couldn’t push away the actual invader.

A buzzing filled her ears, and she faintly heard a muffled whimpering sound:

“Mmm… Wuu…”

After a long moment of disorientation, she realized it was her own sound.

For a fleeting second, Cheng Shiyuan couldn’t help but wonder, if Shen Lingxi had entered her through the silk instead of kissing her through the silk…

She would have unilaterally exposed a messy, helpless state without any actual skin-to-skin contact.

Just when she thought she would suffocate in the coffin, the sound of heavy banging on the outside of the coffin made Shen Lingxi slightly turn her head.

The next second.

Cheng Shiyuan bit the corner of the red silk and ripped the huge red veil off.

Just as she thought she could finally catch her breath, the person, unconcerned, turned back and, stroking her lips, leaned in again.

Cheng Shiyuan dodged without hesitation.

She didn’t want to unlock Shen Lingxi.

The people around her providing life value were enough for now. Adding Shen Lingxi to the fish pond would only disrupt the existing ecosystem.

But Shen Lingxi forcefully turned her head straight, and before she could voice a new refusal—

She blocked her lips and tongue again.

For the first time, Cheng Shiyuan felt no anticipation for the system broadcast:

Successfully touched Life Value Target ‘Shen Lingxi’. Character unlock successful!]

And then, something even more despairing: [Congratulations, Host. You have successfully unlocked five ‘Life Value Characters’!

Hearing that congratulatory voice, she knew the system was about to pull another stunt.

As expected.

The system has deducted 200 hours of your Life Duration for the Final Form Upgrade.

After the upgrade, your Life Value will be continuously maintained and will not drop for the next 25 days.

Cheng Shiyuan: “…?”

Oh, is there actually some good news?

She didn’t believe it.

Soon, she heard the system slowly utter the following sentences:

[Maintaining the system’s Final Form requires immense energy. For the next 25 days, all emotional conversion energy provided by the ‘Life Targets’ will be the system’s energy source.]

Cheng Shiyuan thought expressionlessly, So, the system’s Final Form is called the Parasite System?

As if hearing her thoughts.

System name has been changed to: Affection Value Life System.

Within 25 days, if you acquire a total of 100 points of Pure Affection Value from the five Life Targets, you can completely heal all your diseases and exchange for eternal health and youth.

If the Affection Value acquisition fails, the energy acquired by the system will not be enough to maintain the Final Form after 25 days, and the system will automatically collapse and be destroyed.

The system wishes the host success, eternal youth, and longevity.

Cheng Shiyuan was stunned for a moment.

She thought she would have to live with this system forever, unable to leave these people, like a parasitic plant, barely surviving by feeding off their energy and cycling through her ex-lovers, until the day she grew tired of living and playing.

Hearing the system announce this twenty-five-day plan, she felt as if she were at a pre-exam rally—

At least this time.

Whether her life ended would be her own choice, not some damned fate or curse.

Cheng Shiyuan smiled. She was starting to like this deadline.

“Mmmph!”

Her lip was suddenly bitten hard.

As if to punish her for her lack of focus.

Cheng Shiyuan’s mood suddenly improved a little. Since Shen Lingxi liked to dangle the answer in front of her, what did it matter if she waited to probe until after the coffin scene was over?

She could also use Shen Lingxi to test how much that “Pure Affection Value” was worth.

Her breathing paused. She abandoned her previous evasion and refusal and proactively met the kiss.

And then.

She was bitten again, even harder than before, causing her greater pain.

Cheng Shiyuan felt a sudden urge to curse.

Mainly because the bitten area was one where her wound had just healed. Xia Ziran and Xie Zhiqing had left successive scars in that spot during their moments of madness, so she remembered it vividly, having to cover it up with special effects makeup.

Wait—

Shen Lingxi is replicating what they did to her?

As if to confirm her suspicion, after the icy cold lips pecked her mouth again, the complex, cold wedding clothes pressed close to her body.

They were pressed tightly together, and then started to rub.

…It was what Wang Shu had done to her in the empty changing room.

Even though she couldn’t see anything, she knew from the itchiness and pain that her skin must be flushed with large patches of crimson, just like that day, due to the stress response.

And when the icy cold kiss descended along her neck, gently and softly, as if implying a profound tenderness, slowly tracing down her body.

Cheng Shiyuan vaguely saw the scene after she fainted in Chen Chuxing’s lounge.

“Stop…”

The air in the coffin was continuously diminishing. After her deep, frantic breaths, it was even scarcer.

She began to feel dizzy, unsure if it was a hypoxic reaction from her body or because her every movement had been under the scrutiny of another person’s eyes from beginning to end. It felt as if she were facing countless cameras and countless pairs of eyes simultaneously.

“Shen—”

Shen Lingxi, how much do you really know?

Have I never truly left your sight?

Her question was casually blocked by a finger: “Shh.”

A puff of air fell by her ear.

She finally heard that familiar, emotionless voice, whispering lightly, like a ghost:

“Don’t say the bride’s name.”

This is the game rule.

She belatedly remembered the stage manager’s initial warning: the sacrifices had to find clues about the ‘Ghost Matron’, learn the origin of the custom, and disrupt the sacrifice ceremony to break the curse and escape the village.

However, the clues would inevitably be related to the ‘Ghost Matron’s’ name. Once a sacrifice said her name, it meant they willingly summoned her to come and take them away directly.

The voice by her ear sounded like a script: “Will you marry me?”

Of course not.

Whether in the game or in reality, Cheng Shiyuan would never choose this path.

But Shen Lingxi just asked the question slowly, over and over again.

“Will you marry me?”

“Marry me?”

“Me?”

Acquired Shen Lingxi Affection Value: 0.1

Cheng Shiyuan: …?

She spent all that time, putting on a show for Shen Lingxi in this deadly ghost-bride script? And that’s all CEO Shen is going to give her, 0.1?

The curse seemed to transcend the story and brand itself onto her—

Cheng Shiyuan’s consciousness became increasingly hazy, the ringing in her ears grew louder. She finally managed to untie one knot of the rope on her wrist.

Her mind froze:

So, her only choice is to marry her, or die with her in this tailor-made coffin?

And with Shen Lingxi’s stingy 0.1?

I knew I shouldn’t have unlocked this emotionally sparse character!

“Cheng Shiyuan!”

A voice exploded in her ear like thunder.

Cheng Shiyuan initially thought it was a hallucination, as the banging outside had stopped a long time ago. Given Shen Lingxi’s methods, she should have already paid off the owner, and everyone else would have been forcibly taken out by the staff, leaving only her to be missing.

The warmth beside her had disappeared at some point. She was almost used to this drowning, solitary darkness.

Until a “Creak” sounded.

Splintered wood chips, smelling of agarwood, flew past her face.

She closed her eyes and then opened them. A blinding light poured in.

She met a pair of unfamiliar yet familiar phoenix eyes.

The familiarity was in the outline.

The unfamiliarity was that they didn’t contain the usual mockery and suppressed hatred.

“Cheng Shiyuan.”

In that voice of someone who had lost and found her again, Cheng Shiyuan began to cough uncontrollably in the rush of air and oxygen. Physiological tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.

She heard the system’s voice.

Acquired Xia Ziran Affection Value: 1

Xia Ziran was going crazy!

The moment she saw Cheng Shiyuan approach the ghost, she knew something was wrong. Then, the staff, who had played dead at the critical moment, jumped out and announced: a special ending had been reached—the ‘Ghost Matron’ found her most satisfactory sacrifice and was willing to let everyone else go.

They then tried to lead the others out.

Although Cheng Shiyuan’s little fan finally remembered that her idol had been dragged into the coffin, she was quickly placated:

“The sacrifice who entered the coffin will leave through another exit with the NPC teacher. You can go to the exit and wait.”

But Xia Ziran didn’t buy it at all.

She pointed at the coffin and said: “Open it.”

No one moved, and no one answered.

In the crimson-colored temple room, they stood like the genuine ‘villagers’ who covered up for the tiger, defending their ignorant beliefs.

Xia Ziran scoffed. She didn’t tolerate them, looked around, and found the disguised staff exit.

She was more familiar with the channels than they were, and even found the tool room. She walked out carrying a hammer, a crowbar, and a power saw.

When the crowbar failed to budge the lid, she switched to the axe.

Holding the awkward weapon, Xia Ziran realized for the first time how clumsy her hands were—

They could hold a pen, wield a paintbrush, and use all kinds of delicate tools.

But they couldn’t handle a heavy, clumsy axe.

“Hey, hey! The wood on that coffin is very expensive! You can’t destroy the props!” Someone yelled a warning through a megaphone.

Xia Ziran smiled expressionlessly.

The moment the axe came down.

She heard herself say something utterly foolish: “I can afford to pay for it.”

And something even more foolish: “I can afford to pay for your life too. Want to try me?”

Wood chips flew up, cutting her cheek. In the bleeding wound.

Xia Ziran felt like she was back in the time when Cheng Shiyuan had dumped her.

Her elders took turns talking to her: “Are you insane? The police have concluded your brother’s case. It has nothing to do with her. Why are you looking for her? If we had known the relationship between the two families would turn out like this, we wouldn’t have agreed to that engagement.”

“Just stay away from the Cheng family. We know you don’t want to be the successor. It’s her fault for insisting on meeting your brother and causing the accident, but she’s still young, and she didn’t mean it, Ziran. Are you trying to kill her?”

“Are you trying to completely feud with the Cheng family?”

The young her, who was confident and even arrogant when facing any problem, stood in the dust of the sunlight.

For the first time, she looked completely bewildered.

Was she trying to kill Cheng Shiyuan?

Did she really hate Cheng Shiyuan for twisting her life path 360 degrees, preventing her from ever becoming the free-spirited traveling painter she wanted to be?

No.

A voice in her heart said:

“Xia Ziran, you knew clearly, the moment you saw her for the first time, that you didn’t hate her.

You fell in love with her.

But you knew she was too mesmerizing. If you weren’t special enough, how could you leave an unforgettable impression? How could you make her remember you forever?

She has so many ex-lovers, all shining brightly in their respective fields.

You could only hold onto this hatred. It was the most special connection between you and her.

If that hatred ever disappeared, you would become like her other forgotten exes.

You wouldn’t have a chance anymore.”

The moment the axe snapped and flew out, the web of skin between Xia Ziran’s thumb and index finger was also split open.

She couldn’t pick up the axe again, afraid that Cheng Shiyuan might be hit and injured inside. For a moment, she couldn’t find a suitable tool. Stupidly, she started to use her hands, frantically tearing at the wood fragments.

Fortunately, someone returned and handed her the right tool.

Before completely exhausting herself and ending up covered in blood, she finally found her missing “bride.”

Xia Ziran carefully hugged the woman to her chest, instinctively pressing her face against her to feel the frequency of her breathing.

Cheng Shiyuan squinted, feeling the tremor in her arms.

Even though she was physically exhausted to the point of collapse, she kept tightening her grip.

So, Cheng Shiyuan tilted her head and deliberately asked her, “Are you trying to drop me?”

The moment the words left her mouth, she heard Xia Ziran’s involuntary reply, her voice hoarse: “No, I won’t let go.”

She smelled the more pronounced metallic scent of her ruptured wound.

But Cheng Shiyuan felt it wasn’t enough. She curled her lips and started to complain about the person who had taken too long to save her:

“Xia Ziran, I hate you.”

Xia Ziran paused, then gave a husky “Mm,” accepting everything Cheng Shiyuan gave her.

Acquired Xia Ziran Affection Value: 1

Cheng Shiyuan’s ear was unintentionally pressed close to her pulse. Staring at the long cut on her cheek, she heard her deafening heartbeat.

Every beat was her real answer:

But I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

From the first time I saw you, there hasn’t been a single moment when I stopped loving you—