Soul obliteration

"I-"

"If your soul was obliterated, all signs of your existence in the universe would cease to be." The soul guardian paused a little before continuing.

"Everyone would forget that there had ever been a person called Yang Jingshen who talked and laughed and interacted with them. Every human and animal you met in the past would forget about you. And, each and every tree, rock, every single grain of soil or drop of water that had felt your presence, the very air you breathed– in short everything would lose its memories of you."

For a moment, Yang Jingshen didn't know what to say or even think. By obliterate, it had meant this kind of thing?

"So you still want that?"

Does he? Could he bear to? After all, hearing it simply as obliterating one's soul was one thing, but to know what it actually entailed?

"No." Yang Jingshen's answer this time was very subdued. He of course didn't want something like that. Which living creature would? 'Heh! And, here I thought I was pretty unshakable. Guess even I can't bear the thought of losing my identity and not leaving my mark in the world.'

The soul guardian, for once, didn't try to read his mind, or at least even if it did, didn't try to broadcast what he was thinking. After contemplating some more, Yang Jingshen finally asked, "So, what should I do?"

"Actually, it might look difficult. But it's not impossible. You just have to follow certain steps to ensure that you manage to get revenge on behalf of Feng Xi and achieve her dreams. You already completed the first step, that's why I could make contact with you."

"The audition?"

"Yep, you passed it. So, it can be already considered as you having started to work toward achieving her dreams."

According to the Soul guardian, he'd be completing these tasks in the form of quests, just like how one would do in a game. And, this was where the 'panel' comes into play.

"By completing these quests, you would earn two types of points; one is guardian points and the other is… soul coins."

"Soul coins?"

"Hmmm… Also, we'll be using a measurement called the 'satisfaction index' to calculate your task progression. It'd be what indicates the level of satisfaction of the target soul. The more you fulfill her goals, the higher the satisfaction. And, the higher it gets, the more soul coins you can earn."

Yang Jingshen pondered in silence for a bit and asked, "so, what do I use these coins for?"

"Soul coins are what you actually use to repair your soul. As for guardian points, they'll be given to you on my part and you can use them to buy various products in our– in our guardian shop that may help you to complete your missions well."

Yang Jingshen could hear the reluctance in the other's voice when it came to the last bits of information and had a hard time restraining his laughter. 'And you insist you're not a system. But still have a shop.'

"... I'm not." A frosty reply, but he ignored it this time. "So, this satisfaction index thing, it must have a value at present, right?"

Hearing his question, the soul guardian fell silent and didn't answer for a long time. Yang Jingshen first thought that it was trying to calculate an exact value, but as the pause kept growing without an answer in sight, he started to grow slightly nervous as well.

"Oi! Just spit it out." # `⦀′

The other mumbled something incomprehensible. "I didn't hear. Speak louder ah!"

"I SAID, it's -247,362."

"... pardon?" What kind of number was that, eh? A negative two hundred something value? Was it a joke? And dare he assume that his task would be considered complete by the time this value reaches zero?

"... No, you'll actually have to get at least up to more than +300,000 hundred thousand satisfaction value to consider having achieved Feng Xi's wishes. Still depends though."

"..." Fantastic. It was absolutely, indisputably fun-fucking-tatstic! 'This is pure slavery ah!' T_T

"That– you should take a look at the panel ah! You can get more information there." The soul guardian hastily spoke and the screen with its flamboyant and impressive color scheme suddenly appeared from amidst the darkness, nearly blinding Yang Jingshen with its brilliance.

And this time, it didn't display that one question anymore but instead had a complete makeover to it. Displayed on the left side was a menu with three options to it; namely Quests, Storage, and statistics. And in the lower right corner was another option termed entry/exit. And to the top right corner were two symbols positioned next to each other, with a number zero displayed in front of each of them; probably the currency symbols?

'Really similar to a video game panel.' Don't just look at Yang Jingshen's haughty attitude and his habit of scorning activities like reading online novels. In fact, he also had his own guilty pleasures like playing video games, and yeah, you guessed right, reading online novels!

Yang Jingshen was pondering how to operate this panel and take a look at these various functions -his interest was already piqued by just seeing this setup- when the soul guardian spoke again.

"For now, you just have to assume it to be solid and you'll be able to touch it. As for operating it with mental commands… wait– don't try it now. You are too weak for that. Also, we don't have much time."

"Why? Why don't we have time?"

"Remember when I said I'm now supporting you with my soul energy so you won't lose your mind? I can't do it much longer. You're too frail to be constantly subjected to another's energy."

"...Fine. Anything else I need to know?"

"Yes. you won't be able to enter this place for at least another three months and I can't contact you either. Ah, don't worry! The instructions on the mission panels will be enough for you to do the quests. Also, if you successfully complete missions, it might give you various rewards as well."

"Won't it be troublesome? My not being able to contact you?"

"Not really. These three months, just continue to do the quests and increase the satisfaction level. You don't need to be too rushed or worried, but don't procrastinate. It won't bode well for you. When you can enter the heart lake again, you'll know."

After another round of warnings and advices from the soul guardian, Yang Jingshen finally found himself experiencing that familiar feeling of disorientation before losing consciousness.

****

The warm yellow light of the bedside lamp barely illuminated the interior of the small room and left many of the corners in dark. But this pale light was enough to clear up the gloom around the twin-size bed and the person on it.

It was a young girl, who looked to be in her teenage years, and quite beautiful too, even with her extremely pale visage and bloodless lips. This young female was slumped over the bed in an unnatural posture and her motionless figure could easily evoke suspicion in any onlooker's mind whether she was ill or worse, if not for her faintly undulating chest.

Suddenly the unmoving form of the girl stirred slightly and her eyelashes slowly fluttered open to reveal a pair of pale brown, almost amber-colored eyes. But, unlike the dazed look they were supposed to have after waking up from a long sleep, they appeared unusually bright.

The peculiar color of her irises coupled with the glittering brightness, brought forth an almost unreal and ethereal feeling, heart-stopping in its unusuality. Was it beautiful? Or breathtaking? These questions– were really difficult answers. But the feeling one gets when seeing those eyes was really hard to describe and had a completely different flavor.

Yang Jingshen helpless lay on the bed, not even able to make a single movement or a sound, much less groan out. Every single fiber in his body was in so much agony that he felt his whole body was on fire while his head throbbed so much that it felt like it was going to split open.

'Fuck!' Last time too, it had been like this when he woke up at the hospital. The only difference was that, due to his mind being quite addled at that time, he had not been entirely focused on the pain. But now…

It was after quite some time had passed that Yang Jingshen was finally able to move his body as the pain abated ever so slightly. The outside still appeared dark, much to his relief. If he still didn't wake up by morning and Feng Xue found him unconscious on the bed, he didn't know how he was going to explain it to her.

After waiting a few more minutes for another wave of pain to pass away, Yang Jingshen slowly crawled on his hands and feet across the bed and took the phone on his nightstand to check the time. It displayed 2.45 AM.

"2.45?" The last time he entered the heart lake, he had been unconscious for more than four hours. But, if he remembered correctly when he entered it this time, it had been around eleven last night, right?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….