The Echoes of a Simulated Life

You’re dead.

[The system is settling… The first simulation is over]

【You perfectly completed the hidden mission: find the defiant witch, save her, and raise her to adulthood.】

【You harbored no regrets in the very last moment of the simulation; you were profoundly satisfied, for to you, nurturing Aile was akin to watching a new life, a part of yourself, continue its journey in another world.】

【As an affluent Duke, you were meant to unite with Noyu, thereby awakening your cultivation talent, yet, in the end, you gained nothing.】

【Looking back on your past, a profound sense of satisfaction washed over you; you had, at the very least, remained true to your own soul.】

【Simulation ended. Calculating…】

【Evaluating specific factors…】

【Preparing simulation rewards…】

【MVP settlement… MVP: Aile Julius.】

【Consciousness anchored. Awakening protocols initiated.】

“I’m back.”

Mingqian snapped his eyes open, greeted by the familiar ceiling above him.

It was the same ceiling he had, not long ago, even counted the stains upon.

A dull throb pulsed behind his eyes, a lingering haze akin to the feeling after an all-night gaming session at an internet cafe.

He shook his head, attempting to dislodge the oppressive discomfort from his very being.

He blinked, the sensation of his feet still bound serving as a stark reminder that he had indeed returned to reality.

The next second, his phone slipped from his grasp, plummeting squarely onto his face.

“Ugh!”

That hurt.

Had he truly bought the newest smartphone only to be unable to escape the fate of having it smash into his face?

The impact, though painful, jolted him fully awake.

He picked up his phone, where the displayed time was precisely the moment he had left.

This meant that time seemed to have remained unchanged, and the so-called simulated world had truly been like a VR game, allowing him to experience over a decade of life with profound realism.

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a time stop, would it?”

Only then did he realize he had never considered this question before.

In ancient times, there was the idiom of the Ràn Kē Rén (TL Note: A classical Chinese idiom referring to a man who, after watching immortals play chess, returns to find centuries have passed in the mortal world.), and he had nearly become one of them.

There was also a science fiction movie where a daughter died before her father due to a black hole’s effects.

That story still held some impression on him.

“Do not go gentle into that good night.”

Mingqian let out a sigh of relief; thankfully, there was no oppressive weight of temporal theories here, otherwise, he might have been forced to witness his own future unfold before him.

The simulator’s voice thrummed in his mind, a relentless ‘beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…’

“So annoying!”

It wasn’t often he got to come home; couldn’t he at least open a certain website and ‘take off’ for a ‘flight’ first? Come on, it was urgent!

‘Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…’

Under the incessant barrage of sound, he ultimately failed to ‘take off’.

Captain Mingqian, crashed.

He finally succumbed to the system’s urgency, lifting his head and shifting his uncomfortable body.

He had almost forgotten that he was still bound.

Bai Wanting was surely still at school, so he had to act now.

“Chris…”

He opened his mouth, calling her name out of habit, but the tsundere and vibrant voice of the young girl did not answer him.

He suddenly remembered that this was the real world, and he was no longer that powerful and influential duke.

“Truly… I’m still not used to it.”

“It feels as though that child was right by my side yesterday, yet today, she’s vanished somewhere far, far away.”

Mingqian let out a long sigh; everything he had experienced would remain unknown to others.

The injuries, the heartache from the simulated world, all of it had returned with him to reality, utterly unchanged.

He had never before considered death to be such a terrifying and profoundly painful experience.

If it were possible, he never wanted to experience it again, and being stared at by Aile with the eyes of a patricidal enemy had left his spirit utterly drained.

While his body felt no fatigue, his spirit was utterly exhausted.

After dealing with the rewards, he would allow himself to sleep.

“I wonder how Chris and the others are doing.”

“As for Aile, there’s no need to worry about her anymore; she was already unrivaled in the world; those capable of harming her were exceedingly rare.”

“I only wondered if she might be crying alone. Thinking of this, a sense of loneliness truly settled in.”

He had accompanied Aile through her growth; truthfully, he even regarded Aile as his own younger sister.

In this simulation, he had felt the warmth of family, the tenderness of a lover, and over the course of more than thirty years of that life, he had found profound satisfaction.

Compared to the real world, the people there were simply better.

Yet, one lingering concern he couldn’t quite let go of.

“I hoped Eliza had destroyed that diary…”

He hadn’t kept the diary to gain Aile’s gratitude; he had simply wanted to chronicle the young girl’s life.

If Aile were to learn the truth, given her temperament, she would undoubtedly try every means to resurrect him.

But Mingqian was not a person of that world, leaving only sorrow in her wake.

“This so-called simulated life, it’s just too…”

He had intended to say ‘terrible,’ but then thought it wasn’t quite so bad.

At the very least, he harbored no regrets.

He was deeply content.

“If there’s a next time, I beg for a more stable beginning.”

Mingqian let out a soft chuckle, then began to review the system’s notifications.

【Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep】

【Ah, you’re looking. Cough, cough. The first simulation data compilation is complete.】

【Simulated Character: Tiberius Claudius Drusus Germanicus. Below are the achievements you have obtained.】

“Achievements? There are achievements?”

The system ignored his question.

【Princess’s Star-Bound Thrall, Maid Master, World Deceiver, Beloved of ???】

【Princess’s Star-Bound Thrall: Literally speaking, you were captured by the Princess multiple times, and not only offered no resistance but grew to enjoy it even more, leading the system to classify you as an M.】

【Maid Enthusiast: You adopted three maids in your lifetime, and in the study of maids, you had already reached the pinnacle of expertise, including, but not to limited to, the denier of stockings, the patterns on hairpins, and the precise folds of their garments. You pervert.】

【The Trickster: Your extraordinary acting and cunning schemes perfectly deceived the entire world. You indirectly sent the gods to the guillotine. This world did not welcome you, yet you accomplished an impossible feat. You raised ? to greatness, and the existence of ? shook the entire world. Your schemes even flawlessly fooled the eyes of the gods. For this accomplishment alone, you are worthy of this honor.】

【Beloved of ???: Where did you go? No matter how many dimensions or eras I must cross, I will find you.】

???????

“Is this… is this right?”

“No! This is entirely wrong!”

How could only one of these achievements appear legitimate? What shamed him was that he had absolutely no recollection of this ‘legitimate’ achievement.

He had indeed deceived the young girl, but what ‘world’ was it talking about?

“Only this question mark, I presume, refers to Aile.”

“I can’t imagine what could have happened after that to lead to such a state. It seems Aile is now far beyond my reach.”

A name that even the system couldn’t display surely indicated something truly terrifying.

【Settlement: MVP: Aile. You freeloader (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘tǎng yíng gǒu,’ for someone who wins without much effort, often by relying on others).】

“……”

Mingqian desperately wanted to pull out the simulator and check if its database had been corrupted.

【Your talent was originally meant to let you indulge in revelry and become a notorious lecher, but through a series of unforeseen circumstances, you successively rescued the witches of this world.】

【You raised her to adulthood and, at the cost of your own life, heralded the dawn of a new era.】

【The world may not remember you, but one person will forever engrave your name in their heart.】

【Final Rating: S】

“Oh, oh!”

He hadn’t expected such a high rating.

【Rewards are being distributed. Please pay attention…】

【Please select two rewards.】

【1. Wood Element Affinity】

【2. Large sum of gold (non-transferable)】

【3. Storage ring filled with resources】

【4. A piece of unpalatable cake】

At first glance, all the rewards seemed useful.

But what exactly was the purpose of untransferable gold and… unpalatable cake?

With Wood Element Affinity and resources, he could also cultivate in this world of spiritual energy resurgence.

This meant he could finally escape this humiliating life of being imprisoned by a beautiful girl, with every need attended to!

“……”

‘Wait, thinking about it like that, it doesn’t seem quite so humiliating, does it?’

No, no, no, this was all Bai Wanting’s doing; that woman’s methods were truly terrifying.

“An S-rank rating grants two rewards, so does that mean there will be more rewards later?”

The ranking, it seemed, was paramount to the rewards.

He tried to exit the system, but then heard a jarring sound.

【Special reward triggered. Option 3 has been invalidated and is automatically being replaced with Option 4.】

“I!! I c—!”

His, his cultivation resources!