Chapter 10: I’m Done Hosting Freak Shows

“If I said I wasn’t him… would you believe me?”

Yu Ziyu said.

After his face was hidden, Jealousy could only make out a vague silhouette—yet he recognized him instantly.

Yu Ziyu shifted his posture, uncrossing his legs.

He interlaced his fingers beneath his chin, the angle making it look as though he were gazing down at someone seated below the stage.

Using that vantage point, he studied Jealousy’s face.

After all, they hadn’t seen each other in two years.

And with the way time flowed differently inside the game, far more than two years had passed there.

Even for a monster—one upon whom time had long since ceased to leave its mark—Jealousy looked different now.

Sharper.

More aggressive.

In the past, he would never have dared to look at Yu Ziyu like this.

Under his gaze, Jealousy smiled shyly.

A faint blush crept across his pallid cheeks, almost as if he were embarrassed.

No one could tell how violently his heart was racing, how overwhelming his joy was.

His voice was so soft it barely carried.

“…No.

The master is the master.”

He lowered his head slightly, exposing his neck—a posture of submission.

Yet his eyes tilted upward, unwilling to look away even for a second.

From Yu Ziyu’s angle, those ash-gray pupils looked almost pitifully wide.

Hearing that title again, Yu Ziyu’s mouth twitched.

“I’m happy to see you.”

Yu Ziyu leaned back against the chair, his gaze drifting lazily around the room.

His fingers tapped the armrest as he spoke in a listless tone.

“Oh?

Is that so.

Because I’m not happy at all.”

Jealousy ignored him completely, staring at Yu Ziyu with rapt obsession.

That possessiveness—so utterly at odds with his humble posture—irritated Yu Ziyu.

The gaze of the long-dead boy crawled over him like flames, greedy and unrestrained, lingering on every inch of him until it finally stopped at his slender fingers.

There was a thin cut there—he wasn’t sure when it had happened.

Yu Ziyu’s skin was naturally pale, so even the slightest bruise or wound stood out starkly.

Because of his constitution, marks lingered easily.

Yu Ziyu followed Jealousy’s line of sight and looked at his own hand, mildly surprised.

“You’re hurt?”

Jealousy’s delicate features twisted with fury.

“Who did this?”

As his words fell, his gaze swept the room.

Every human touched by those gray-white eyes felt a bone-deep chill pour down from their scalp, as if they’d been plunged into icy water.

Just being looked at was enough to suffocate them.

Blood still dripped from Jealousy’s fingers.

In his hand was a heart that had already stopped beating.

At the sight of the bruise on Yu Ziyu’s hand, his fingers tightened involuntarily, sinking into the organ—

“Glu-chi.”

The sound made teeth ache.

“Who was it?”

Jealousy paced in place.

His gaze was dark and venomous, burning with obsessive resentment.

“Who dared to touch you?”

Restlessness bled into his voice.

His shoes scraped against the floor.

Then, suddenly, he froze—as if a thought had struck him.

He tossed the heart aside and strode toward the panicked crowd near the door.

Xiao Chen’s legs nearly gave out.

He slid helplessly down the door, collapsing onto the floor.

“D-don’t come any closer…!”

Someone screamed, clutching their head.

“Monster!”

At that, the head cradled in Jealousy’s arms let out a soft chuckle.

Pale lips parted slightly as it spoke its first mocking words since arriving.

“Monster…?

Didn’t you summon us here?

Shouldn’t you feel honored by our arrival?”

“I don’t like being called that,” Jealousy murmured.

“I really don’t like it.”

A streak of black flickered through his eyes, like storm clouds crossing a bleached sky.

“Stand right there.”

The command shattered the oppressive atmosphere.

The voice wasn’t loud, yet it struck everyone’s hearts at once, compelling obedience without resistance.

Yu Ziyu had straightened in his seat.

As always, he effortlessly reclaimed the center of attention.

Whenever he spoke, everyone instinctively looked at him—like moths drawn toward a single beam of light.

Even Jealousy turned back, gazing at him with naked devotion.

“…If you take one more step,” Yu Ziyu said coldly, “you’ll never see me again.”

Panic flashed across Jealousy’s face.

He looked at Yu Ziyu, then at the shivering humans, torn by violent inner conflict.

His fingers clenched, then loosened.

In the end, he didn’t move.

Frozen like a painting.

Those words were deadlier to him than annihilation.

Without Yu Ziyu, his existence had no meaning.

Yu Ziyu was his light, his heat, his reason for being.

Everything around Yu Ziyu stirred envy within him—and also the joy of living.

To never see him again?

That was unbearable.

“Listen to me, Jealousy,” Yu Ziyu said, relaxing slightly.

“It’s time for you to leave.”

Jealousy froze.

“But… I came here for you…”

“I don’t need that,” Yu Ziyu cut him off.

He even lowered his head to straighten his black robe, utterly indifferent.

“You don’t need me,” Jealousy said urgently, fear thick in his voice.

“I only need to stay by your side.

I’m already dead—I won’t cause you any trouble.”

The Jealousy feared inside and outside the game now begged almost humbly for mercy.

Xiao Chen watched in horror as his shadow stretched, split, and doubled.

That alone told him how unfathomable the being before him truly was.

Their shadows were all so grotesque.

Impossible to imagine what kind of souls lurked beneath those skins.

“But you’ve already disturbed my life,” Yu Ziyu said, glancing at Gu Leyu’s corpse with distaste.

“Do you have any idea what your appearance causes?”

Beings of their level triggered magnetic upheavals spanning at least ten kilometers.

There was a theory that ghosts were manifestations of disturbed magnetic fields—which explained why recorders captured fragmented wails, cameras caught blurred apparitions, and spirits moved through electronic devices.

Just speculation.

But not far from the truth.

That was why Yu Ziyu was a world-renowned photographer.

He wasn’t human.

And through the lens, he possessed an uncanny sensitivity to such phenomena—allowing him to capture works that shocked the world.

By nature, the murdered girl should never have turned into that grotesque mass.

To become a monster required overwhelming resentment, hatred, and desire.

Yet she had never resisted the harassment, the assault.

She lacked the will to transform—until the magnetic disturbance altered her corpse.

“You were there, weren’t you?”

Yu Ziyu said.

He shifted into a more comfortable position, rubbing his fingers together.

“When you went to find that boy, you disrupted the field.

That’s what mutated her body.”

His gaze dropped to Gu Leyu.

Smart girl.

She’d marked the boy in advance, knowing he’d deal with the body—drawing Jealousy there, turning her enemy into a monster.

Her goal had been achieved.

Jealousy lowered his head.

“…I’m sorry, master,” the head in his arms whispered.

“I don’t need your apology,” Yu Ziyu said flatly.

“I just want you as far away from me as possible.

And stop treating me like some ‘king.’

I’m done hosting freak shows.”

The temperature in the room plunged.

Frost crept from the corners, ice rapidly coating everything.

Teeth chattered.

Even hugging themselves offered no relief.

The candles flickered violently, their flames shrinking like wilting flowers until the light collapsed inward.

Something was spreading.

And Jealousy was trembling.

Realizing his avatar was being expelled, he lunged forward, reaching for Yu Ziyu’s sleeve.

“Don’t send me away, master!”

His eyes turned pitch black, obsession spiraling into madness.

His shadow rose from the wall, towering and monstrous, swallowing the room—yet when it reached within a meter of Yu Ziyu, lightning struck, burning a hole straight through it.

The shadow shrieked and recoiled.

“Behave,” Yu Ziyu said coolly, chin resting in his hand.

“Or hide better.

Don’t let me know it was you.”

The flesh-mass spasmed in pain and retreated into the box.

Yu Ziyu calmly snapped it shut.

Jealousy stared at it, shaking.

“I don’t understand… I don’t understand…”

“Still jealous at a time like this,” Yu Ziyu clicked his tongue.

“Then don’t try to.”

Jealousy’s face warped, his refined features briefly turning feral.

“But I love you so much…”

He hesitated—then suddenly reached out.

“Come with me.

Please.”

Then—

“Bang!”

The door burst open.

A figure slammed into Yu Ziyu, tackling him to the floor, narrowly dodging Jealousy’s teleporting grasp and striking back in one smooth motion.

Jealousy screamed in pain and staggered back.

“Thud—!”

They tumbled down the steps together.

It all happened too fast.

Yu Ziyu erased the witnesses’ memories without even registering how he was being shielded—only that the person beneath him cushioned his head and let out a muffled groan instead.

His hood slipped back, hair falling loose.

Yu Ziyu frowned, staring at the man hovering over him.

“So it’s you,” Jealousy snarled, clutching one eye.

“Long time no see,” the man said coldly.

“Old friend.”

Green blood seeped between Jealousy’s fingers.

With a soft crack, his form finally gave way to the expulsion, vanishing unwillingly.

Silence.

Yu Ziyu looked up at the man bracing himself over him.

When their eyes met, Yu Ziyu froze—rarely, unmistakably startled.

That reaction didn’t escape Lou Chen.

Why does it feel like… he knows me?

A scream cut the thought short.

Xiao Chen collapsed, eyes wide and lifeless.

A figure stood before them, chest torn open—Gu Leyu, dead yet moving, driven only by bloodlust.

The magnetic corruption had infected her.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Lou Chen said firmly.

Yu Ziyu clicked his tongue and turned his head away, staring at the dark ceiling.

If someone insists on playing hero, who am I to stop them?

Still…

Why did this troublesome human feel so familiar?