LABMY CH40 [Arc 2]

Chapter 40: The Pitiful One Whose Entire Family Was Massacred

“Tangtang, remember to come home during this weekend’s holiday. Dad and Mom miss you a lot.”

On the other end of the phone, his mother’s voice was filled with anticipation and longing.
“Remember to eat properly at school, don’t stay up late all the time, it’s bad for your health.”

“Your sister will be coming back this time too. Let’s take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday and have a good family reunion.”

“Did you receive the package I sent you? It’s full of snacks I picked out for you. I originally wanted to send you the new clothes I bought, but since you’re coming home for the holiday, I thought I’d let you try them on in front of me instead.”

His mother’s reminders were meticulous, as if she were talking to a clueless child. But in reality, the one holding the phone was a young man in his early twenties.

With a helpless smile on his face, he responded to his mother’s detailed and somewhat nagging concerns over and over again, “Got it, Mom. Mhm, love you too, Mom.”

Though a bit helpless, he didn’t feel annoyed. After hanging up the phone, his face still carried a warm and content smile due to the care from his family.

“Wow, every time I see Tangtang’s family call him, I can’t help but sigh. How can there be parents who spoil their son this much?”

In the once-quiet dorm room, someone couldn’t help but comment after the call ended.

Another person chimed in, “Think about it, if your son was Tangtang, could you resist spoiling him?”

The one who sighed looked toward the person they called “Tangtang” — Jiang Tang.

Jiang Tang, standing at 1.75 meters tall, lazily lounged in the hanging chair he installed himself. His whole body sank slightly into the chair, and his long legs gently swayed with the chair’s movement.

His facial features were smooth and delicate, with slightly upturned eyes, a high nose bridge, and full lips, like a masterpiece carefully sculpted by the goddess Nuwa. He possessed an almost gender-defying beauty.

Jiang Tang wasn’t wearing shoes. His fair, smooth feet, with slightly pink ankles and joints, swayed gently along with his legs.

The person who had been sighing earlier fell silent and then declared with a firm expression, “I wouldn’t be able to resist either.”

“If such a beautiful Tangtang were my son, I’d spoil him to death. Just one more look and I’d completely fall for him. My precious Tangtang!”

Jiang Tang helplessly glanced at his overly dramatic roommate and threw a snack from the table at him.
“Enough already, Old Third. Are you taking advantage of me again?”

The roommate, who just moments ago claimed he’d spoil Tangtang if he were his son, caught the snack with precision and immediately changed his tone, “Thank you, Father Jiang, for the treat.”

Jiang Tang clicked his tongue twice and called over another roommate to try the snacks his mom had sent.

Time flew by, and the holiday soon arrived.

Tickets were always hard to get during holidays, especially for Jiang Tang, whose hometown was in a famous tourist city.

Even though he booked his ticket well in advance, he still only managed to get a late-night train ticket.

He told his family he would arrive in the morning, not at night.

If he told them he’d arrive around midnight, his parents, who were already getting older, would definitely stay up late and wait for him to have dinner together.

Jiang Tang didn’t want his parents to stay up late for him, so he only said he’d arrive in the morning.

By the time Jiang Tang got off the high-speed train and took a taxi to the entrance of his neighborhood, it was already past 1 AM.

It was even later than he expected.

Standing below his apartment building, Jiang Tang glanced up at his family’s floor. It was pitch dark with no lights on — they must have gone to bed.

Dragging his suitcase up the stairs, Jiang Tang entered the elevator. The floor numbers changed one by one until the elevator reached the 16th floor.

“Ding—”

The elevator door opened.

Jiang Tang pulled his suitcase out of the elevator. The yellow sensor light above his head automatically turned on, casting a long, narrow shadow behind him.

The shadow stretched out on the ground, silently following him like a ghostly attachment.

Unaware, Jiang Tang took out his keys and quietly opened the door to his home.

The house was silent, with not a sound to be heard.

Jiang Tang tiptoed inside and closed the door behind him.

Afraid the sound of the suitcase rolling would wake his sleeping family, he lifted the suitcase instead of dragging it.

Fortunately, he was only staying for a few days, so he didn’t pack much, and the suitcase wasn’t heavy.

His family was well-off. Although they lived in an apartment complex, it was in a high-end neighborhood, and their home was a spacious duplex with two floors.

Jiang Tang didn’t turn on the lights and planned to quietly head to his room.

As he walked toward the stairs, he suddenly felt his foot bump into something.

Underfoot, there was a faint splashing sound, as if he had stepped into a puddle of water.

Jiang Tang frowned slightly and caught a faint, strange smell in the air.

He glanced upstairs toward his parents’ bedroom. It was pitch black, indicating they were asleep.

After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Tang turned around and switched on the living room light.

With a loud thud, the suitcase heavily fell to the ground.

Jiang Tang stood there as if nailed to the spot, completely stunned.

He saw his family, who should have been peacefully asleep, lying cold and lifeless before him.

His always gentle mother lay on the icy ground, her arm hanging limply, and a crimson hole in her chest continuously oozing blood.

His strict father sat on the stairs with his head drooping, seemingly lost in despair. However, the blood-soaked carpet beneath him told a different story.

After a brief moment of shock, Jiang Tang let out a heart-wrenching scream, “Mom!!!”

He rushed forward, shaking his mother’s already cold body as tears poured down his face. Then, he scrambled up the stairs, reaching out with trembling hands.

“Dad? Dad, say something… please…”

Jiang Tang’s hand fell on his father’s shoulder, but with just a light shake, his father’s head suddenly dropped forward and nearly tumbled down the stairs.

Jiang Tang hurriedly supported his father’s lifeless body. His father’s head rested against Jiang Tang’s chest, revealing a pair of eyes filled with terror, unable to find peace even in death.

It felt as if Jiang Tang’s throat had been slashed by countless blades and was now clogged, rendering him unable to speak a single word. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Tears, however, flowed uncontrollably, falling onto the blood-soaked carpet.

When he looked up, he saw his sister’s cold, lifeless body lying on the second floor.

Tears flooded from his eyes as he punched the wall with all his strength, screaming, “Who… who did this?! WHO?!”

Jiang Tang collapsed on the stairs.

Above him was his sister.
Beside him was his father.
Below him was his mother.

The boy who had grown up pampered and spoiled had, for the first time, experienced a tragedy that he could never overcome—one that shattered his entire world.

Unable to vent his anger and sorrow, he could only slam his fists against the wall repeatedly. Even when his hands were covered in blood, he didn’t stop.

Blood and tears mixed together, dripping onto the carpet.

On this Mid-Autumn Festival, when families should be joyfully reunited, Jiang Tang had been eternally separated from his loved ones.

At the same time, in a void-like space, Jian Yuanbai was listening to the system explain the task he needed to complete in this world.

The system was extremely shocked to see Jian Yuanbai appear here, but it dared not show any reaction to avoid making the “amnesiac” Jian Yuanbai suspicious.

“So your mission is to play the role of the ghost possessing the body of the protagonist, Long Aotian, during his rise to power,” the system explained.

“In the early stages, you’ll need to teach Long Aotian knowledge about exorcism and help him unlock his golden finger (cheat ability). Later, you’ll betray him and attempt to seize control of his body, only to be killed by Long Aotian in the end.”

Jian Yuanbai responded coldly with a simple “Mm,” showing little interest.

“After I get killed by Long Aotian, I’ll have completed this world’s mission, right?” he asked.

The system replied, “Yes.”

The system continued, “In this world, Long Aotian’s name is Jiang Tang. He just experienced the massacre of his entire family by a vengeful ghost. You can appear before him now and begin your role-playing mission.”

“The space you’re currently in is inside a jade pendant that Jiang Tang carries with him. You can choose to appear before him when no one else is around, or simply call his name from within the pendant to communicate with him.”

Jiang Tang…

Not… my Little Pillow…

Jian Yuanbai chuckled self-deprecatingly in his heart.

He had no Little Pillow.

Not anymore.

With a soft “Mm” as a response, he paused before asking, “What should I call you?”

The system replied, “I am System 000, the ‘Long Aotian Support System.’ You can call me 000.”

Jian Yuanbai muttered to himself, “I’ll call you Tong’er then.”

Before leaving the previous world, Jian Yuanbai had already sensed a mysterious force trying to erase his memories, and that force came from the system itself.

Jian Yuanbai couldn’t figure out what the system was plotting, so after arriving in this world, he pretended to have lost his memories.

He knew that directly questioning the system would get him nowhere, so he decided to slowly probe for answers.

Since he “lost his memory,” he couldn’t call the system “Tiantian” anymore, so he casually gave it a new nickname.

The system fell silent in protest, just like it did in the previous world when he called it “Tiantian.”

At the thought of the previous world, Jian Yuanbai’s heart ached once more.

He thought of Wei Zhenge.

His Little Pillow.

His wife.

In his low spirits, Jian Yuanbai was even more unwilling to face the so-called “Long Aotian” of this small world. He directly called out in his mind, “Jiang Tang.”

Jiang Tang, who was being questioned at the police station, was startled. “Who?”

The police officer beside him, who was comforting him, was confused. “What?”

Seeing the confusion in Jiang Tang’s eyes, the officer didn’t press further and thoughtfully handed him a cup of warm water. “Here, drink some to warm yourself up.”

“Don’t worry. With us police officers here, we will definitely bring the murderer who killed your family to justice.”

The officer couldn’t help but sigh and feel sympathy for the boy in front of her.

He had returned home for the Mid-Autumn Festival, expecting a warm family reunion. Yet, when he opened the door, what greeted him was a house filled with blood and corpses.

He had suddenly lost all his loved ones, leaving him as the only survivor.

Jian Yuanbai could hear the conversation happening outside. He said, “They won’t be able to find the culprit. It’s not because the police are incompetent, but because the killer is not human.”

“Only I can help you.”

Jiang Tang finally realized that the voice was speaking directly to him inside his mind. He tentatively asked in his head, “Who are you?”

“Do you know who killed my family?”

In the original plot, the character Jian Yuanbai was playing had casually claimed to be an ancestor of the Jiang family to gain Jiang Tang’s trust.

However, after what happened in the previous world, Jian Yuanbai no longer wanted to be any Long Aotian’s “father” or “grandfather.”

He only had endless love and affection for Wei Zhenge.

At this moment, Jian Yuanbai suddenly remembered that Jiang Tang once had a brother-in-law who died early and whom he had never met.

So, without hesitation, Jian Yuanbai blurted out, “I’m your brother-in-law.”

Jiang Tang: …