The Sinking Choice and a New Player

“This is the ‘help’ you were talking about?”

Shi Ji was incredulous. This time, he didn’t blurt it out loud, though Ji Shichu was already staring at him with a look of profound confusion.

[This is the most effective and rapid method the system has identified to enhance the protagonists’ emotional bond without causing a persona collapse for the host.]

The System’s voice remained icy and mechanical.

Technically correct, Shi Ji thought bitterly. The emotional line would advance, the persona would stay intact, and he’d likely be officially carried out in a body bag.

Isn’t this just a elaborate way to screw me over?

Shi Ji ground his teeth in frustration. Even though the System detected his massive emotional fluctuations, it merely delivered its hated closing statement with utter indifference.

[Host, please complete the task as soon as possible. Data loading… Data loaded successfully.]

[Good luck.]

As the hollow blessing faded, the roar of the auction crowd rushed back in. Ji Shichu watched as the unfocused look in Shi Ji’s eyes slowly sharpened. Like waking from a dream, the man blinked and looked up at him.

Shi Ji’s complexion was deathly pale. The look he cast at Ji Shichu was unreadably complex, but within seconds, that flicker of emotion was wiped clean.

Shi Ji cleared his throat, wiping a bead of sweat from his temple. “Mr. Ji, please excuse me for a moment. I must admit, the Omega who was with me earlier… he isn’t just my assistant. He’s my brother.”

“He’s young and still growing. He was so excited for the auction today that he hasn’t eaten a thing.”

“Please allow me to bring him along for dinner.” Shi Ji paused for a heartbeat. “Would you… be willing?”

Shi Ji met Ji Shichu’s dark red gaze. The man didn’t react for a long half-minute. Finally, he curled his lips slightly. “So the little friend is your brother. It seems you really are a devoted older brother, Mr. Shi.”

“Since you’ve put it that way, I’d be petty to refuse,” Ji Shichu replied softly. The chandelier light caught his eyes, making them glow like polished rubies. “Besides, this banquet was arranged for you. You may bring whomever you wish.”

His voice was deep and melodic, blending with the classical music. Shi Ji nodded. “I won’t keep you waiting long.”

With that, Shi Ji turned and strode toward the exit.

The System said it would “actively intervene,” but Shi Ji couldn’t imagine how. Would it pilot his body? Create a “coincidental” accident?

A mounting sense of dread forced him to quicken his pace. He pushed through the crowd, but when he stepped out the main doors, he saw only Yan Guangsheng. Li Chen was nowhere to be found.

Seeing Shi Ji, Yan Guangsheng dropped his phone and ran over, his face a mask of panic. “Mr. Shi… Young Master Li… he’s gone.”

“How can he be gone?” Shi Ji’s brow snapped together, his eyes burning into Yan’s. “I told you to watch him!”

Yan Guangsheng swallowed hard. “Don’t be angry, sir! Master Li said he wanted to see the Top-tier Omega.”

Shi Ji’s gaze sharpened. “Why would he want to see the Omega?”

“I don’t know!” Yan was sweating buckets. “But he looked… like he knew the person.”

He knew him? Shi Ji’s mind raced. So Li Chen really did have a connection to that “cultivated” Omega.

“And then?”

“Then I told him no. The Ji family has rules—only the buyer gets a private viewing before the final checks. I thought he was being compliant, so I stepped away to take a call. When I turned back, I saw him following someone in black. I tried to catch up, but… he just vanished right under my nose.”

The man’s legs were shaking. Knowing how much Shi Ji valued his “brother,” losing him was a death sentence. He stuttered out, “I’ll go look! Right now!” and bolted.

Shi Ji watched him flee and sighed. He looked around, scanning the grounds.

With the banquet in full swing, guests were wandering the estate. People held wine glasses, chatting on the vast lawns. There were long tables laden with delicacies and a massive musical fountain in the center, where people danced to a violin’s melody.

Several people tried to approach Shi Ji for a toast, but he brushed them off. He was starting to panic. Li Chen wasn’t the type to wander off on his own.

He rubbed his throbbing temples.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the other side of the party. The music cut out. Waiters began sprinting toward the hotel’s rear.

“What happened?” “I’m not sure…” “I think someone fell into the pool.”

Shi Ji’s heart plummeted. He dropped his glass and ran.

A crowd had already gathered. Shi Ji shoved his way through to see a girl in a deep purple evening gown sitting on a lounge chair by the water. She was wrapped in white towels, her dress torn, her legs trembling. She stared blankly at the still surface of the pool.

“Shanshan! Shanshan!” A woman in her fifties rushed through the crowd and pulled the girl into a hug. “My baby girl, how did you fall in?”

As her mother checked her for injuries, the girl slowly came to. Her purple pupils trembled.

“The eldest Miss Lin is okay!” the hotel manager sighed in relief. “Madam Lin, please take her—”

“Save him! Save him!!” the girl shrieked, her voice raspy from the water. She gripped her mother’s dress in terror. “There’s someone else in the pool! He’ll die if you don’t save him!!!”

The onlookers grew uneasy. A waiter who had dove in shook his head. “Miss, there was no one else.”

“There was!” the girl sobbed. “I saw it with my own eyes! Someone pushed him in! I accidentally stepped on my dress and they saw me, so they pushed me in too to silence me!”

The manager looked at the waiter again. “Are you sure?”

“Positive, sir. When I got to Miss Lin, she was already losing consciousness. It might have been a hallucination.”

The manager nodded and turned back to the mother. “She’s likely just in shock. An ambulance is on the way.”

“Why won’t you believe me!” the girl screamed, struggling against her mother’s grip. “He’ll die! I saw him! His eyes were blue! He was so young and beautiful… he shouldn’t die!”

“I’m not lying!!!”

Her voice rang out over the silent crowd. People began to whisper, wondering if there was a “monster” in the water that had broken her mind.

“If you don’t save him, you’re all murderers!!!”

SPLASH!!!

The moment the words left her mouth, a figure blurred past the crowd and leaped into the pool.

The white spray rose high. No one saw who it was until Yan Guangsheng noticed the spot where Shi Ji had been standing was empty. He turned pale. “Mr. Shi! Mr. Shi jumped in!!!”

Despite preparing himself, the shock of the entry made Shi Ji choke on a few lungfuls of water.

It was reckless. But he was desperate. He knew the girl wasn’t lying. Blue eyes. Beautiful. It was Li Chen.

Was it the System? Or someone else?

The biting cold of the pool wrapped around him, seeping into his bones and stealing his warmth. Shi Ji was a skilled swimmer; he forced himself to regulate his breathing and slowed his movements to conserve oxygen.

The pool was about three meters deep—deep enough for someone to drown if they were caught off guard.

Shi Ji squinted. The moving water stung his eyes, creating a blurry, uncomfortable pressure. His eyes grew bloodshot, but he didn’t care. He had to find him.

Visibility was poor, filtered only by the refracted party lights from above. He swam forward, head darting left and right. In his mind, the System’s alarms were screaming.

[WARNING! CRITICAL PLOT POINT IN PROGRESS. HOST MUST NOT INTERFERE! FAILURE WILL RESULT IN SEVERE PUNISHMENT!]

[WARNING! CRITICAL PLOT…]

“SHUT UP!!” Shi Ji roared in his mind.

If he waited for Ji Shichu to play the hero, Li Chen would be dead. Surprisingly, the System went silent.

Sound traveled poorly underwater. After what felt like ages, Shi Ji’s lungs began to burn. His vision blurred, the pool suddenly feeling as vast and terrifying as the deep ocean. He had to surface for one quick breath before diving back down.

As he submerged a second time, a bolt of electricity shot through his brain. A familiar, agonizing pain racked his body. He opened his mouth in a silent scream, silver bubbles escaping his lips.

The System is punishing me.

He clamped his mouth shut, holding onto his last bit of air. He shook his head to clear the haze, and that’s when he saw a shadow in his peripheral vision.

He swam with everything he had. As he got closer, the face became clear.

It was Li Chen.

His heart hammered against his ribs. The youth was unconscious, his small face pale from the water, his dark hair floating like seaweed.

He’s dying.

Without a second thought, Shi Ji leaned in and pressed his lips against Li Chen’s. He forced his way past the boy’s lips, transferring his remaining oxygen. At that exact moment, the System’s voice returned, distorted by a furious static.

[Incompatibility detected. Host OOC level: 10. Task completion: 0%. Mission failure declared. Commencing mandated punishment.]

The sound was a cacophony of screeching currents. Shi Ji felt as if his head were being filled with high-voltage electricity. The pain was so intense he almost let go, but he wrapped his arms around Li Chen, holding him deathly tight, refusing to break the kiss.

Li Chen has to live. He has to.

The blue velvet water enveloped them both. Their shadows merged on the bottom of the pool. In his ears was the death sentence of the System; in his arms was the person he was trading his life for.

Shi Ji had never felt so noble.

His teeth accidentally nicked Li Chen’s lip. A plume of red bloomed and was instantly swept away by the water. His oxygen was gone. His brain was slipping into a heavy, dark fog.

OOC level 10. Will I die? he wondered. Where do I go if I die? I didn’t even say goodbye to my cat.

[WARNING! PLOT COLLAPSE DETECTED. PERSONA IRREPARABLE. SYSTEM WILL NOW WITHDRAW HOST’S LIFE FORCE.]

[SYNCING DATA… SYNC SUCCESSFUL.]

[5… 4… 3… 2… 2… 2… 2…]

The countdown glitched. The overlapping, mechanical voices made Shi Ji’s head throb.

Then, suddenly, the System’s voice vanished entirely.

He felt Li Chen stir in his arms. The youth slowly opened his eyes.

The moment those misty-blue eyes met his, a completely different sound echoed in his mind—

[Ding-dong!]

[Gold Finger System 0373 is now online!]

[Binding target detected—]

[Li Chen.]