ISWTDB Ch168 [Arc 13]

Chapter 168: Be Your Steward (1, 2)

Deng Wendong collapsed on the ground, despondent, unable to avoid accepting the truth.

Under Situ Ran’s leadership, the southern base’s regime quickly collapsed.

The fact that he had colluded with the Zombie King was exposed.

Deng Wendong had once joined forces with the Zombie King, pretending to comply while secretly harming so many people. Naturally, no one would let him off easily.

After the antidote for the zombie virus was successfully developed, it was distributed to the public.

Later, Ying Zhao continuously improved it, using it on the zombies.

More and more zombies recovered and became ordinary people again, and people finally saw hope.

Situ Ran, to create a peaceful land for his lover, spent five years ensuring that no more zombies existed in the world.

And Ying Zhao always stayed by his lover’s side, also helping to conduct many other research experiments for the sake of the world.

They also made adaptations and improvements to the environment and mutated plants and animals.

Another five years passed, and the continent slowly returned to its original state, with past wounds gradually healing.

Situ Ran and Ying Zhao became the rulers of this world, striving to maintain order here.

Ten years later, Situ Ran handed leadership over to a trustworthy person and left this place with Ying Zhao.

It was as if they vanished into thin air—no one knew where they had gone.

Some said that after saving the world, the strongest ability user and his lover found a hidden paradise, living a life that belonged only to the two of them.

Years later, occasional rumors still surfaced of people seeing them in beautiful, scenic places.

The two still appeared youthful and as deeply in love as ever.

Ying Zhao and Situ Ran became legends of this world, recorded in history and forever revered and remembered.

***

Returning to the white space of the system again, Ying Zhao closed his eyes to rest for a moment.

In his past life, his lover had reached level ten in ability cultivation, which gave him a much longer lifespan than ordinary people.

He lived until around the age of three hundred before his body began to fail.

Even so, they still had a very happy and fulfilling life together, without any regrets.

When his lover’s life ended, Ying Zhao naturally chose to depart with the fragments of his divine soul.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ying Zhao exhaled a breath of stale air.

Due to his obsessive nature in his past life, his lover seemed to live quite contentedly.

The man always complained about not being trusted enough, yet his face always showed an expression of deep enjoyment.

Thinking about their sweet moments, Ying Zhao couldn’t help but smile.

He then heard a cheerful voice in his ear saying, “What are you smiling about? Did something good come to mind?”

Hearing this, Ying Zhao quickly turned his head.

He saw that Zhu Que was quietly beside him, eyes full of amusement, watching him for who knows how long.

Ying Zhao hadn’t realized his lover was right next to him and blushed, hurriedly trying to get up.

But the man beside him pulled him strongly into his arms and kissed him thoroughly.

After collecting the soul fragments from the previous small world, Ying Zhao could feel that Zhu Que’s power had grown stronger and stronger.

It seemed his divine soul was almost fully restored.

Ying Zhao had a feeling that this journey was nearing its end.

Sure enough, before he could even ask, Zhu Que spoke first, “Xiao Zhao, there’s only one fragment left of my divine soul!”

“In the next world, once you obtain that fragment, my soul will be completely whole, and we can leave here.”

“Really?” Ying Zhao’s eyes widened in surprise at Zhu Que’s words.

He hugged his lover’s waist and said excitedly, “Then we’ll be able to leave here soon and reunite in the real world!”

As Ying Zhao spoke, he stroked Zhu Que’s cheek, his eyes full of deep affection.

Softly, he said, “Zhu Que, I miss you so much! I want to see you in person as soon as possible!”

Hearing this, Zhu Que couldn’t help but lower his head to kiss Ying Zhao’s forehead, also revealing a satisfied smile.

However, Ying Zhao soon thought of the force that had been trying to attack them in the small world and felt uneasy.

Noticing the worried look on his lover’s face, Zhu Que asked curiously, “Xiao Zhao, what’s wrong? Is something bothering you?”

Ying Zhao shook his head, a bit frustrated, and said, “There’s something in the small world that’s been trying to devour your divine soul fragments.”

“But I haven’t been able to identify it yet. If the next world is the last chance to collect your soul fragment, I’m sure it will make a move.”

Zhu Que nodded at this. Now that he had regained all his memories in the system space, he pondered for a moment, thinking about the attacks they’d faced in previous worlds.

After a while, he said to Ying Zhao, “For some reason, I feel like that force, though it comes from this world of many spiritual artifacts, still feels familiar.”

Hearing Zhu Que’s words, Ying Zhao immediately became alert.

If Zhu Que found it familiar, it meant that even if this entity was born in this world, it must be connected to their real world.

So, what exactly was this thing?

No matter how hard he thought, Ying Zhao couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, he didn’t want to dwell on it further. Right now, the most important thing was to collect all of his lover’s divine soul fragments.

As for everything else, they would just have to be well-prepared.

Anyway, when he arrived at the next world and truly obtained the fragments of his divine soul, he could finally let loose and take a chance against that force.

With this in mind, Ying Zhao shared his thoughts with Zhu Que.

Zhu Que nodded, but still reminded Ying Zhao to prioritize his own safety.

They embraced and kissed for a long while before reluctantly parting ways.

Watching Ying Zhao’s figure disappear, Zhu Que’s gentle expression made him look forward even more to their reunion in the real world.

However, what neither Ying Zhao nor Zhu Que knew was that, at that moment, outside the spiritual artifact in the real world, Bai Rui was sitting in front of the artifact with a furrowed brow, his eyes filled with struggle and conflict.

Nearby, Ju Mang returned from outside and, seeing Bai Rui in this state, sighed and pulled him into an embrace.

He comforted him softly, “How long have you been sitting here? If you truly can’t let it go, then go ahead and do it.”

“But…” Bai Rui looked at Ju Mang’s indulgent and caring expression and felt a bit guilty.

Ju Mang lowered his head, kissed the top of Bai Rui’s hair, and smiled as he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side!”

When Ying Zhao woke up again, he found himself in a very dark room, which seemed to be a hidden basement.

Around him, a circle of white candles were lit, creating an eerie atmosphere.

On the wall in front of him hung many skulls, arranged in an orderly fashion, and there were some incomprehensible formations drawn on the ground.

Even the candles on the table, used for lighting, were carved in the shape of skulls.

Looking at the shelves filled with ancient, aged books, Ying Zhao dismissed the idea that he might have crossed into the life of some rebellious, juvenile troublemaker.

He stood up and walked to a mirror framed with intricate black patterns.

Ying Zhao examined his appearance in this world.

After seeing his reflection, he let out a small sigh of relief—at least his attire was still quite normal for the moment.

The person in the mirror was dressed in an austere black suit, his hair meticulously styled.

He wore silver-rimmed glasses and white gloves on his hands.

His eyes were long and narrow, his features delicate, and his lips tightly pressed together.

His skin was extremely pale, giving him a cold and restrained look.

The only odd feature was the unusually light color of his eyes, which were almost a pale gray, not quite matching his otherwise Eastern appearance.

Frowning slightly, Ying Zhao saw that everything around him was still relatively quiet and it seemed no one would disturb him.

He then told Xiao Bai in his consciousness to transmit the plot of this world into his mind.

Originally, when Ying Zhao saw his plain suit and the eerie atmosphere, he thought the original owner of this body might have joined some sort of cult.

However, after reviewing the original plot, he realized the situation was far from what he had imagined.

Unexpectedly, this small world was one related to vampires.

But this vampire world was different from the ones Ying Zhao had known before.

This wasn’t a medieval world, but one that had already reached modern times.

The vampires lived hidden among human society, and all the clans kept themselves concealed.

It could be said that humans were completely unaware of the existence of vampires, believing them to be nothing more than a myth.

Many years had passed since the first major war, which nearly wiped out all the second-generation vampires, and a second war had erupted between the Secret Alliance and the Covenant of Darkness.

After this war, both of these major alliances of vampire clans were severely weakened.

From then on, they both fell into decline, while the neutral clans gradually began to rise.

For example, the Giovanni clan, who had always excelled in business, became wealthy in many regions.

Another example was the Hitei clan, which controlled numerous dark empires across various regions.

However, no matter which clan it was, they had all adapted to hiding their tracks, no longer exposing themselves to the public.

The protagonist of this world was an ordinary girl named Jian Jinghan.

The main storyline of the world also followed the typical romance between a vampire and a sweet, innocent girl.

Ying Zhao flipped through the plot with boredom, finding it full of clichés.

As expected, any love story involving vampires couldn’t escape the trope of the girl having unusually sweet-smelling blood.

The heroine of this world was no exception—her blood was said to be exceptionally fragrant, which naturally attracted vampires.

However, since the number of vampires in country H had always been small, she hadn’t been harmed.

Until one day, while Jian Jinghan was out on a trip with her classmates in the suburbs, she unintentionally wandered into an ancient and elegant villa.

She was captivated by the sight of the grand garden and refused to leave, no matter how much her friends urged her.

As expected, in every world, the heroine was never an ordinary person, completely unaware that she shouldn’t trespass on other people’s property.

Her friends all left, but she, still wide-eyed and innocent, ventured alone into the villa, saying she wanted to admire the flowers in the garden.

She thought maybe she would have some kind of adventure.

Sure enough, Jian Jinghan soon met the owner of the villa, Dempus.

Dempus belonged to the most mysterious of the vampire clans, the Cappadocian clan, and was a vampire prince.

However, he only told Jian Jinghan that he was a European businessman temporarily staying here for business reasons.

Dempus was elegant in his behavior and exceptionally handsome.

He immediately caught the heroine’s attention, and the two hit it off.

Of course, the reason Dempus approached the heroine was also because he was attracted to the scent of her blood.

But after chatting for a while, Dempus unexpectedly found the girl to be quite interesting.

Not only did he not harm her, but he also invited her to visit the villa regularly.

Over time, as Jian Jinghan frequently visited the villa, she accidentally discovered that what Dempus was drinking in his glass wasn’t wine, but blood.

To avoid scaring the heroine, Dempus claimed that he had a certain illness that required him to regularly consume a specific amount of blood to stay healthy.

The naive heroine believed Dempus’ explanation and even eagerly offered to provide him with her own blood.

By then, Dempus had developed some affection for the heroine and naturally agreed.

To show his gratitude for her help, he invited her to live in the villa.

Jian Jinghan’s parents had passed away long ago, and she had been living with relatives in a dependent situation.

Thinking that her blood could help Dempus and that she could have a better life, she gladly agreed.

Thus, the heroine began providing Dempus with a small cup of fresh blood every other day.

In return, Dempus provided her with a very comfortable lifestyle.

As time went on, with Jian Jinghan staying longer and longer at the villa, Dempus became more and more infatuated with her.

Unfortunately, Dempus’ love was doomed to go unrequited.

Because he wasn’t the male lead of this world, but rather the biggest villain.

It wasn’t long after Jian Jinghan moved into the villa that she met her true love.

During one of her outings, the heroine was surrounded by some low-level vampires.

This was when she realized that vampires were real and dangerous creatures in this world.

At that moment, the male lead, Dominic, appeared and rescued her.

The male lead was injured in the process, and to help him recover, the heroine let him drink her blood.

Grateful for Dominic’s help, she wasn’t afraid of his vampire nature at all.

Afterward, they began secretly seeing each other, with Jian Jinghan tenderly caring for the injured male lead.

Soon, they fell in love.

However, Dominic actually came from the Lesombra clan, part of the Covenant of Darkness.

He had long carried the hope of restoring his clan’s former glory and had the ambition to help the Covenant rise to power.

So he ran around everywhere for this, always returning covered in wounds, making the female lead feel very distressed.

After Jian Jinghan learned about the situation with the vampires, she began to suspect that the owner of the villa she was living in, Dempus, might also be a vampire.

After paying more attention, she discovered that things were indeed as she suspected, so she hurried to tell Dominic.

In fact, Dominic came to Country H to find Dempus because the Cappadocian clan had always guarded the legendary vampire relic—the Blood Chalice.

Legend has it that the Blood Chalice is a cup that overflows with blood, and its owner can designate it to overflow with anyone’s blood. 

If someone drinks the blood from the chalice, they can temporarily gain the abilities of the person whose blood was in the cup.

If Dominic could obtain the Blood Chalice, he could defeat all his opponents and become the king of the vampires.

Thus, when he learned that Jian Jinghan was living in Dempus’ villa, the male lead was overjoyed.

He begged the female lead to help him get the Blood Chalice.

So, to help the male lead, Jian Jinghan intentionally got close to Dempus.

She quickly gained Dempus’ trust, found the location of the Blood Chalice, and stole it to give to the male lead.

Dominic gained power from the Blood Chalice and used this power to defeat everyone.

He eventually became the king of the vampires and happily walked into the sunset with the female lead.

However, the story didn’t end there.

Naturally, Dempus found out about this. After learning that he had been used by the female lead, he was furious.

He wanted to take the female lead by force, but at that point, the Blood Chalice was already in Dominic’s hands.

With the Blood Chalice, Dempus was no match for him.

The heartbroken vampire prince, consumed by hatred from love, decided to use another vampire relic from their clan—the Death Key.

The Death Key could open the gates of hell, and Dempus sacrificed himself to turn the human world into a purgatory.

When the plot reached this point, Ying Zhao thought there would be more, but to his surprise, the story ended just like that.

Staring at the plot in disbelief, Ying Zhao couldn’t believe that it really ended there.

Shouldn’t the male and female leads stop the villain from destroying the world?

Did the male and female leads just suddenly disappear after the world was destroyed?

The human world became a purgatory, and then demons gathered, and that was it?

After flipping through and confirming several times, it really was like that.

Unable to bear it, he rolled his eyes.

So, did the world’s plot consciousness give up on this world?

This is clearly just a bad ending, right?

After experiencing so many worlds, this was the first time Ying Zhao had ever complained so much about a world’s plot.

After all, this was the first time he’d encountered such a botched ending.

But speaking of which, what about Dempus? 

He couldn’t get what he wanted, but did he really need to go so far as to use the Death Key for the female lead?

He sacrificed himself and turned the entire human world into purgatory.

This character is clearly crazy!

After venting his frustrations, Ying Zhao gloomily asked Xiao Bai in his sea of consciousness, “Xiao Bai, who is the target in this life?”

When Ying Zhao remembered that this was the last world where his lover’s soul fragment resided, he couldn’t wait to confirm the person’s identity.

Who would’ve thought that Xiao Bai in the sea of consciousness would say to him, “Host, the target has already been detected. The target in this life is the main antagonist of the plot, Dempus.”

“…” Ying Zhao immediately shut his mouth when he heard Xiao Bai’s words.

In his heart, he wondered if it was still possible to take back all his complaints about Dempus.

Since he now knew the identity of his lover, the next step was naturally to understand the identity and memories of the original host.

After all, he needed to quickly figure out what kind of relationship existed between him and his lover in this small world.

After rereading the plot and extracting the original host’s memories, Ying Zhao understood that he played a character in the main plot who had almost no presence, named Ying Tan.

Of course, Ying Tan was just the original host’s alias when he was outside.

For thousands of years, the original host’s real name was Asa, who had once been a necromancer.

This explained why his room was so gloomy and filled with ancient books and magical arrays.

Even though Asa had become a vampire, he could still use necromancer spells.

So, the original host still retained some of his habits from training as a necromancer.

In the vampire clans, the Cappadocian clan was known as the Clan of Death, always the most mysterious.

Because the Cappadocian clan had always avoided worldly affairs and had no interest in power, they weren’t involved in many conflicts.

As the current clan leader of the Cappadocians, Dempus had been asleep for many years.

Shortly before his slumber, the Cappadocians had embraced a group of necromancers, and the original host, Asa, was one of them.

However, the person who turned him into a vampire wasn’t Dempus, but the previous leader of the Cappadocians, a second-generation vampire named Eli.

Necromancers were once considered to be helpers of demons and were hunted by the Church.

When the original host, Asa, was captured, it was Eli who saved him.

As a result, Asa willingly became a vampire and truly regarded Eli as his father.

The only other person Eli embraced was Dempus.

So, in reality, Dempus and Asa were both third-generation vampires.

On the eve of the Holy War, even the usually peaceful Cappadocian clan couldn’t avoid being drawn into the conflict.

After the Holy War, most of the second-generation vampires were wiped out, and the third-generation vampires became the strongest among their kind.

Eli was also killed in battle, but before he died, he gave the position of clan leader to Dempus.

He also told Asa to be sure to assist Dempus.

Thus, the original host took these words as a sacred command.

Even though he was a third-generation vampire with great power, just like Dempus, he willingly stayed by Dempus’ side, recognizing him as his master and becoming his most loyal servant.

For many years, he acted in the role of a steward.

While Dempus slept for countless years, Asa guarded him.

He watched as times changed, vampires moved, and the Cappadocian clan scattered across the world.

Meanwhile, Asa worked hard to maintain the main branch and formed a partnership with the Giovanni family.

Thus, he took the alias Ying Tan and traveled to the East, helping the Cappadocians amass a large fortune.

Of course, in his eyes, all his wealth belonged to his master, Dempus.

Even after Dempus chose to sacrifice his life to turn the world into a purgatory, Asa refused to give up.

He used all kinds of forbidden spells from his necromancer abilities, but he still couldn’t bring Dempus back.

Vampires lived for a long time, and over the years, the original host forgot the meaning of life.

To him, the meaning of his life was Dempus.

After Dempus died and he couldn’t bring him back despite all his efforts, the original host lost interest in the world and eventually chose self-destruction.

Even after Ying Zhao learned about the original host’s wish, he realized that none of the wishes had anything to do with him.

Asa simply wished to stop Dempus from falling in love with the female lead and making a mistake in the name of love.

He also wished for Dempus to remain safe forever, and that was his only wish.