Bl Is It Better To Be A Beta? - Volume 2: Beta Be Spooky Chapter 17 Beta Be Spooky: 2.1

Waking up, Jia Hyson doesn’t feel very refreshed. In fact he felt groggy and heavy. Even though he used to enjoy lounging and lazily spreading his limbs across a large bed unhindered by anyone’s presence like a cat under the sun, now it just felt cold and lonely. He sighs mournfully, Jia Hyson was rather familiar with depression, he can’t help but be grateful that he can stay in his safe space for however long he needs.

Idly, he spends about 300 p to redecorate his room as planned. Watching the items he purchased appear out of thin air from a string of data like some sci-fi matrix movie was immensely satisfying. Who said retail therapy was bullshit? Clearly they haven’t shopped on Bebay. While the mission relative items were expensive, the items to decorate the safe space could almost be considered free, making Jia Hyson feel almost godlike when buying.

“35p for a bunny?” He comments with a raised eyebrow as he scrolls down the decorations page. It was fairly expensive compared to all the other things he had bought, after all 2p could buy a deluxe standard pillow and 4p a mid-quality desk of any design. Even his new universal phone- which could allow him to download any apps or access any websites to all worlds he has traveled in- was only 33p. It was shocking that a rabbit was worth more than what Jia Hyson considers the greatest piece of technology ever to exist.

Still, he wasn’t too fussed. There wasn’t anything else he was particularly interested in other than this and he had already bought all the things he needed to fill the room to his tastes anyway. Besides, you could customise it later if you didn’t like it’s appearance. That was just f.u.c.k.i.n.g neat.

Decisively he buys it after some slight modification to the original template. To his delight, a small fluffy bunny, with lopsided ears and robin blue fur appeared at the end of his bed. He’d always wanted a pet that won’t die on him because of various reasons that he may or may not have been responsible for.

“The pet decorations are primitive AIs made to help soothe Host’s mindset and minimise mental instabilities,” Bebe informs him as the bunny cutely hops over toward him. “As you enter more worlds, your options for pets as well as other special decorations will also unlock.”

Jia Hyson was barely listening, too enraptured by the small blue ball of fluff. Scooping the creature up, it easily fit in the palm of his hand. Immediately he felt the heaviness in his chest lift a little, it’s not a lot, but it was enough to surprise him. He supposes if one could have the power to transfer into another world, one must also have the power to cure depression but still. He looks at the bunny in his hands, its tiny little eyes blinking up at him and his heart melts. “Can I bring it along with me in the next world?”

“No.” Bebe quickly replies before adding, “Why would host need to bring the rabbit along? Is Bebe not enough for you?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” He answers back just as quick as he tickles the underside of the bunny’s chin, it’s little floppy ears twitch in happiness. “Aw, I’m going to call you Fishball, do you like that Fishball? Come give your mommy a kiss, ah! Fishball actually did it! Bebe, Bebe! Isn’t this so cute? Record this! Fishball~”

Bebe: But Bebe is the cutest baby, Host Is Bebe not the cutest anymore? _

“Oh my god! You can even dance?! Fishball, you’re the best!”

Bebe: QAQ

As he begins to push around his newly bought furniture, Jia Hyson notices something shiny in the corner of his room. He frowns. He certainly hadn’t bought anything glittery or glowy, he’s a gaudy man with simple architectural tastes. The safe space was filled with soft colours and even softer furniture. Who needs expensive ming vases when he could get a penguin plushie for the exact same price?

Forgetting about his aim of moving the tv stand he had just bought, Jia Hyson curiously walks toward this unknown object that had captured his attention so. “Bebe?” He picks up two small curved pieces of glass. To Jia Hyson’s surprise, one shard was cool to the touch and the other, warm. After a moment of scrutiny, his heart clenched in confusion and a bit of fear. While the two looked similar at first glance, the colouring and shape was slightly off, with the warmer shard being a little larger and lighter in colour. However, what made him react so strongly was that the cooler, darker shard was identical to the one Monroe had sent him all those years ago.

That was the last thing Monroe had ever given him and it had disappeared so abruptly and strangely in his hands. Even with his memory, how could Jia Hyson not remember this? However why was there another one?

Bebe was silent for a moment, before emitting a horizontal line of blue light that scanned the two shards. As the line passes the glass, faint strings of data flashes under the light, moving rapidly as if it is constantly processing something. While the code of 0s and 1s only flickered under the light before disappearing, it was enough to shock Jia Hyson, staring at the two glass shards in a whole new light.

Even Bebe was shocked. “This is Host may I extract them and bring them to my overseer?”

Jia Hyson frowns but nods reluctantly. Even though he was stupid curious about these mysterious shards and their relationship to Monroe he’s aware that he has zero capabilities to determine the origins and identity of these objects himself. It was better to let someone more informed help him out. After all, literally the only reason why stories go for as long as they do, is because the protagonist either never asks for help and takes forever to figure it out himself, or everyone that could help them is too incompetent or corrupt. If Jia Hyson can ask for reliable help, obviously he must do so.

Still, his fingers curl around the shards, despite the sharp edges they didn’t cut into his skin. In fact, Jia Hyson felt strangely at ease with them, it was almost better than holding Fishball despite the fact the shards were neither fluffy nor that pleasurable to touch.

The un-pleasurable to touch shards:

As Bebe transferred the shards, it receives an automated message that there was currently a wait list and their query will be processed soon. When Jia Hyson heard this, a strange look crossed his face, it seems even the system world had these sort of inconveniences too. Even as a very important beta system, while their order had some priority, it was still placed behind the other orders that needed immediate care such as life-threatening calls for help or accidentally incurring an apocalyptic scenario so it would take some time. Deciding that there wasn’t much to do on the subject, Jia Hyson continues pursuing his small career in interior design via BeBay and lazing about.

Bebe just like Jia Hyson also decided to take the opportunity to go shopping during this waiting period. However, unlike Jia Hyson, its purchases were far more useful.

“Host,” it calls out, interrupting Jia Hyson’s game mid-way through by filling the screen blue. Jia Hyson was so shocked he almost threw his new phone on the wall. He’s watched tv, he’s seen the shit hackers can do, “Bebe wants to ask you something.”

“What?” He asks, a little irritated. He was about to get a legendary card from the lucky draw! The game he downloaded on the universal phone was the exact same one Drake introduced him to when they were young, so he was especially annoyed at being disturbed.

While Fishball had helped a lot with his mood, it was still a low-level decoration and if the rabbit wasn’t nearby the onset of his melancholy and depression would set in again. It was a bit like pills- but better, cuter and with way less side-effects. He was recovering faster than when his mother died in his original world but it was still slow going.

“It’s about Bebe’s apps.”

Jia Hyson blinks before he understands. When he found out that Bebe had used almost all its points to buy an inbuilt laser and no longer had basic system functions, he had been incredibly furious at this AI’s ‘I’ and even when his hair had turned white he had never let this grievance go. Bebe had promised to discuss its purchase choices with him in the future in order to minimise his grumbling. “Oh, that’s fine then,” he sighs, “how can I see-”

Immediately the blue screen pulls up a simple list of system functions with prices next to it. Different to Jia Hyson’s BeBay, this one had no photos but if you clicked on one of the functions, more information will appear below the name including information about the upgrade level prices and the effect the upgrade would have.

“On the top right corner is my current amount of p.”

Jia Hyson’s eyes flicker up to where Bebe directed and his face immediately contorts. If Bebe was a human he would’ve strangled this damn system.

35,000 p?! What is this? Did he get scammed? How come his spicy chicken system is so rich? This damn thing could only snark and remind him occasionally about recipe steps and yet it earns more p than him by thirty-five fold!

Bebe made a coughing sound. As it could hear everything in his mind, it would really be a spicy chicken if it couldn’t tell Jia Hyson was angry. “This… because I spoke a lot to you, the overseer probably interpreted it as guidance to a newbie and rewarded me with a little bit extra.”

Jia Hyson was speechless. There was so much to rage at he didn’t know where to start? There’s an overseer? Why was this overseer so shit? Interpreting it as guidance? A little bit extra??

Suddenly Jia Hyson understands why people in novels revolt against their systems.

Fishball patted his hand with its tiny paw. Immediately Jia Hyson felt himself become a little calmer. Fishball really was worth more than it’s price. He wonders how much he would have to pay to replace Bebe with Fishball.

Bebe: ‘we’ve been together for almost a lifetime now and you want to ditch me for this damn rabbit? Where is the basic trust between system and host?’ _

Jia Hyson: ‘(_) It’s somewhere in between your 35,000p.’

In a cold voice, Jia Hyson orders, “Buy [Facial recognition], [Spatial storage] and [Skill stealer].”

Sullenly Bebe does. Not just because its host was looking at the Bebe’s bangle body with dead eyes filled with killing intent, but because he’d more or less chosen the most useful functions they could currently afford. Though 35,000 p was truly a staggering amount for a first world reward, generally systems are awarded more for their performances, in turn, the things they buy are also more expensive.

For the basic and lowest level [Facial recognition] and [Spatial storage], 1500p was required. However [Skill stealer] was considered a low level luxury requiring 31,000p to be unlocked. Of course the price was worth it as it gives a chance for the system to steal a pre-established skill from the host’s character. This function was only for specialized systems and can’t be accessed by cannonfodder, villain or even protagonist systems. After all, those basic bitch systems only require a host to act out their designated roles and maintain the plot, so things like sonic cannon blasters and other overpowered items wouldn’t be present in their shops.

“Do I get to choose the skill we can try steal?” Jia Hyson questions curiously, already feeling appeased by emptying nearly all his system’s wallet. He squeezes and kneads Fishball one-handedly like it was a furry stress ball making it chirp in confusion. He had bought an extra modification to make Fishball speak, however at its current level the only options for vocals was bird chirps or mouse squeaks.

“Host can’t,” Bebe answers after a moment of processing the question, “however if Host feels that a skill is unsuitable, Host can request to block that particular skill from the lucky draw. But Host should know that even if you block out all the skills except the one you want, it just increases the chances of getting nothing.”

Jia Hyson clicks his tongue. It seems he can’t cheat his way into a golden finger then. Luck was heavily involved here, after all, even if Bebe had [Skill Stealer] before, Adrian possessed no special skills to be taken. By changing the story Jia Hyson became more active in the kitchen and earned [Burger Prince] which means even if he can’t steal skills he can learn them through specific conditions.

And though it was a rather useless skill, he was fairly pleased with it.

[Ding! Burger Prince skill level 3 has been reached! Congratulations Host!]

Jia Hyson finishes putting together his tuna sandwich when he hears Bebe’s automatic system notification and bites into his lunch, enjoying the 12% increase in tastiness in every bite. One day he dreams of being able to make anything taste good as long as he sticks two slices of bread above and below it. Luckily the way to increase this skill is less about quality and more on quantity. As long as he made a sandwich he would get some experience points. Even eating one gets him points, albeit less, which, fair.

It’s been a few weeks in the safe space. There wasn’t any day or night in there but for 10p his room can stimulate a day-night cycle as well as switch weather and season. Jia Hyson couldn’t say he wasn’t pampered. After questioning Bebe a bit he realised he was truly lucky to be under the Beta system.

There were multiple types of systems that generally can fall under four main categories- Maintenance, Finance, Reconstruction and Design. Maintenance systems were the basic cannonfodder, male lead, villain systems where the host re-enacts a role and allows the system to determine the world’s stability first hand as well as provide in-depth data during this period.

Reconstruction is for when someone in the maintenance group finds a bug that needs to be eliminated or a divergence in the plot. When a mistake is found, hosts with a slightly more advanced version of the maintenance system re-enter the world with the role to ensure certain plot points are established. They are generally given more freedom but failure in their various missions to recreate the required plot points will cause them to be immediately terminated by the world. While it’s less restricting than maintenance, it’s also more dangerous.

Finance is, oddly enough, probably the most satisfying and interesting job as it consists of counter-attack systems and last wishes systems. Their clients are souls with strong negative emotions willing to pay whatever to see their needs met. Even if it’s half their soul energy. Not only is soul energy nourishment for the systems and can be recycled into matter that produces the items in shops, cleansing their negative emotions by itself is considered beneficial. If the negative emotions of important characters linger in their home world, the world could be more vulnerable to bugs and other glitches such as an unplanned reincarnation of a cannonfodder character. By appeasing them with a separate clone world of their ideal outcomes, host’s are also strengthening the world. It is a higher tier job compared to the previous two that can only be gotten through naturally high qualifications in a host or earning enough experience and levels in maintenance or reconstruction.

Design was the most exclusive and prominent sector. What they look into is a mix of maintenance and finance, rebuilding and reforming problematic and unstable worlds and producing long term beneficial effects to both the world and the system’s energy. Teacher, Villain Reformation and Advisor systems fall under this category as well as Jia Hyson’s Beta system. They are given incredible freedom, their own personalised safe spaces, access to all items and will not be immediately terminated after one failure. After all, the hosts with systems under this category are fairly rare and can’t afford to be killed off so easily. Bebe had told him that he was the twelfth Beta host currently working.

“Oh?” Jia Hyson hums in vague interest as he fiddles with Fishball’s ears. “Are they attractive? When can I meet them?” He’s itching for a rebound. Jia Hyson hasn’t ever had to deal with such an emotionally dealing separation from a lover before but he’s fairly sure having a lot of s.e.x and then watching someone’s heart get broken would help sooth his own. It’s called schadenfreude. It’s pretty legit. “No. Wait. I can’t sleep with coworkers unless you say that other Beta hosts can still die right?”

Bebe: ‘Are you implying that you’ll sleep with coworkers as long as there’s a decent chance of sudden death?’

Jia Hyson: ‘Ah, Bebe, you really know me too well by now,’ (o .)b

Bebe: QAQ Bebe wishes Bebe didn’t.

Already a bit bored with the topic Jia Hyson tries to think of another question he could ask. Another benefit of being a host under the Design category is that he’s authority level starts off much higher than the other hosts, allowing him to ask questions about all sorts of things with ing a certain limit. For example, while he can’t learn the exact details of how systems are regulated, he is allowed to know the main categories system types are allocated in and that there are something called ‘overseers’ which essentially act as their bosses.

Actually, his current mood can only be described as ‘bored’. He’s watched a variety of television and movies currently available in both his original world and Adrian’s world, and in terms of online novels he’s either up to date with the ones he likes, waiting for them to finish so he could binge read them later or not fitting his current reading tastes. Gaming isn’t a very strong interest for him and his motivation to write or play arts and crafts was iffy at best at this moment.

Jia Hyson sighs, it was probably best if he went out on a mission then. At least with a goal in mind he could ignore the heaviness of grief and depression weighing him down, especially if it was an interesting one. “Bebe, is it possible to choose a mission? I.. I don’t want to experience a similar world then” He bites his lip, trailing off and heaving another heavy sigh. If he could feel resentful towards Drake for making him feel this way he would be. It’s unfortunate that he can’t.

Sympathetically Bebe softly answers, “It’s not possible at Host’s current level. After all, a good beta needs to experience a multitude of different stories and genres and if a host is granted full autonomy on these choices they may abuse it and only specialise in easy to fix plots.” It hesitates for a moment before adding, “However, there is one way,”

“Oh?” Jia Hyson stares at the ceiling, he’s currently lying back on his bed, Fishball curled up in a ball on top of his chest. “Do tell,”

“You can request for a Skill Upgrade World. It’s a world that is guaranteed to help you level up one of your skills.” Bebe says but there’s a frown in its voice, “However, it’s generally a world with a higher tier difficulty than usual which can bring about high amounts of stress and pain, even permanent death, in hosts. Even then it’s not guaranteed the results are worth it. Bebe heard there was a Host under an Advisor system that went to a world which would stimulate an improvement in their skill of [Mediator Level 4] and ended up as an alcoholic and ditzy concubine of an emperor that would, in three years, engage in a four-way war! While Bebe isn’t aware of the details, that Host only improved her skill by one level through the management of inner court politics and failed to prevent or even lessen the impact of the war. The Host not only died brutally but she suffered some deep psychological burdens and eventually had to be terminated.”

Jia Hyson lets Bebe’s warning sink in. The Skill Upgrade World was really both a matter of luck and skill it seems. For the Advisor Host, if she had managed to somehow earn enough influence during those three years to be able to advise the emperor on matter than her skill probably would have shot up far more than just a mere level. Probably just getting up to that point of influence would have been enough to earn at least one or two more. However as Bebe said, the world she was put in was incredibly difficult, an ancient Chinese world where she already had a background as ‘ditzy’ as well as the status of concubine Who would take her seriously?

Still, it wasn’t like Jia Hyson was desperate to improve his skills, he just wanted to be distracted. It would be no loss to him if he only improved by one or two levels in whatever skill he had, most of his skills save for [God’s Scribe Level 8] was low-levelled anyway. Other than [Burger Prince Level 3], he had [Animal Charmer Level 2] and [Psychotic Break Level 1]. He didn’t even know what the last one even is since it was greyed out on the screen. Either way, he shouldn’t be assigned to anything incredibly difficult unless the skill to level up was for his writing talent.

After thinking things through he makes his decision.

Bebe, who was listening in was naturally aware of it and doesn’t bother to insult Jia Hyson by asking if he was sure. Most of his reasoning was valid anyway and since he was still new there would be some consideration towards that. “Do you want to do anything before we leave?” It asks.

Jia Hyson lightly pets Fishball in contemplation, “Has your overseer got any news yet?”

“No,” Bebe coughs with some embarrassment, “The order has been successfully processed but apparently the items are a little more complex than we first thought so my overseer had to seek someone higher up.”

“Hm, interesting,” Jia Hyson hums. He was aware there was higher jobs above system overseer but he didn’t have the authority to ask any further. But if those shards needed to be sent to someone even higher up than they were really not simple. “No worries then, let’s just go, no wait!”

“What?” Bebe was puzzled, there shouldn’t be anything else warranting interest of its host.

Jia Hyson stops petting his bunny and hugs it tightly instead, “Can I bring Fishball along?” He asks with a pitiful pleading voice.

Bebe wants to cough out blood. This damn shitty host! What are you? A child in need of a security blanket? Isn’t Bebe enough for you?

Jia Hyson: ‘Didn’t I already say it? Of course not!’ ()

Bebe: _ ‘I hope you suffer in the next world.’

[Initialising prepare for transmigration in 3 2 1]

…

When Jia Hyson opens his eyes he immediately panics.

Because clearly he’s in a dark and creepy murder bas.e.m.e.nt. With mystic voodoo blood symbols and signs of satanism everywhere. Also, he couldn’t forget to mention the people in black surrounding him.

Because he was tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

If Jia Hyson looks down he could bet what little life he probably has left that there was the biggest bullshit blood circle with black candles on the floor. He looks down. There is. F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell.

Suddenly he remembers his system’s last words before they left.

Jia Hyson: ‘Bebe… I’m going to f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill you.’

Bebe: ‘This isn’t my fault! I can’t choose! I also don’t want to be here!’ QAQ

A thousand galloping mud horses run through his head (basically translates to ‘a thousand f.u.c.k you’s’). Forget reading the story, it’s clear that he’s going to actually straight up die in about ten minutes.

“Place the doll on the boy.”

Jia Hyson screams both internally and externally. He has four major fears. The first is heights, the second one is parasites, the third is the thought of dying old and alone because nobody will ever love him. Dolls and ghosts are his fourth major fear. Yes they count as one single fear, because together they become a super fear- haunted dolls.

So when he sees the doll one of the black robed men was bringing toward him he really wanted to faint. It was an objectively beautiful doll, you know, if you liked soulless imitations of humans waiting to be possessed by demons and ghosts and all sorts of things. Porcelain with jade like skin, silky black hair, slightly slanted phoenix eyes, pale pink lips and delicately made features that somehow made the hard material seem soft.

It freaked Jia Hyson the f.u.c.k out.

Before the damned thing could touch his lap, Jia Hyson desperately threw himself on the floor, the chair making a large crashing sound as he smashed his head against the cold cement. Of course this act of defiance only served to make his kidnappers angry. As they put him back into place, one of them punched his face, making Jia Hyson cry out in dizzying pain. As the man raises his fist to punch him again, a hoarse voice, the same voice that ordered the doll to be placed on him, calls out.

“Stop. We still need him conscious. Just tie him up even more with the blessed ropes.”

It seems the hoarse voiced man was the ringleader. Since they were all wearing masks and their cloaks had hoods Jia Hyson really couldn’t tell who was who but the leader sounds fairly old. His theory is further confirmed as the speaker steps up to him and caresses his face almost lovingly, Jia Hyson shudders at the sweaty wrinkles covering that man’s skin. Anyone above seventy is a little out of his strike zone. “You are so beautiful,” the hoarse voiced man sighs, “I was right to choose you.”

Emotions from his current body stirred inside him. Fear, disgust, rage, despair… Jia Hyson couldn’t stop the wave of such powerful emotions and he bit down on his gag, wishing it was the neck of this bastard so he can tear his flesh off. The fierceness in his eyes failed to scare off the leader however, instead it seemed to arouse him. Jia Hyson gagged as he felt hot, sour smelling lips touch his own while the wrinkled hand stroked his face and hair. “Bai Li Wei…” the old man breathes out and unable to take it anymore, Jia Hyson headbutts him.

The old man shouts in pain and immediately one of the cultists grabs his hair and pulls it so Jia Hyson is forced to uncomfortably stare up at the ceiling. There were more symbols there. In the corner of his eye, he sees another cultist carrying a pinkish elastic rope. As he moves closer Jia Hyson could immediately identify, to his dread, that it wasn’t an elastic rope but intestines. From the size and width it looked like it belonged to a human.

…As a skilled author of various genres he could only guess that these were either from a lover, a beloved family member or a v.i.r.g.i.n. None of these options pleased him more than the others.

Jia Hyson: ‘I take back all my complaints about the first world, please take me back.’

Bebe: *vomiting noises*

Jia Hyson: ‘F.u.c.k you’re so useless, if I haven’t puked you can’t puke, damn cheap system!’

Bebe: ‘That’s not fair, Host’s abnormal mindset was chosen for these situations, Bebe is a delicate, cute and peace-loving system. Don’t put us together on the same level.’

Jia Hyson felt so angry he was choking on his blood. ‘Shut up and give me the rundown on this character!’

A stream of information bursts through his mind painfully, but it wasn’t as painful as the agony in his heart after soaking it in. Jia Hyson didn’t receive the full storyline since it may take too long but just learning about his character’s memory and basic plot points was enough to peace things together with his imagination.

Simply put, he was indeed in a horror story. A supernatural horror story. And he was a villain. Not the villain. A villain.

A haunted doll to be exact.

Jia Hyson: QAQ

Bai Li Wei was a stunning young man. Even with Adrian and Jia Hyson’s own looks they could barely compete. It was like comparing flowers with the moon. He was as beautiful as he was unfortunate in life.

His mother was jealous of his looks, his father and older brother coveted him to an unhealthy degree and he was constantly attacked and blamed because of his appearance. In such a toxic situation Bai Li Wei could only resent his face for always putting him in this situation and wished to disfigure himself after years of torment and abuse and harassment. However he had a timid personality and he feared not knowing how people would react if he became ugly, after all he had been constantly told his face was the only good part of him, if that was gone what would he have left?

It really was a painful story that only got worse. Finally at nineteen, Bai Li Wei cracked. His own father and brother finally crossed the line and tried to **** him, blaming Bai Li Wei for bewitching them. Barely able to escape he runs out of the house to see his furious mother. Resentful and disgusted the woman didn’t even try to listen to Bai Li Wei’s cry for help and inverted black and white by loudly accusing her son of seducing her family.

Humiliated and heartbroken beyond belief Bai Li Wei ran out of the house with only the tattered clothing on his back. The poor child ran out of the oven and straight into a frying pan as he sought refuge in the one person he thought he could trust- a professor who had always treated him kindly.

Obviously that trust was all a lie because the professor was the ringleader of the cult that had him tied up right now.

What was the cult about? Well, it was a cult that appreciated immortality and beauty. Basically, a cult that wants to keep all the beautiful things in the world forever pure and eternal no matter the cost. And as one of the most beautiful people they’ve ever seen how could they not want to preserve Bai Li Wei in his prime?

Jia Hyson couldn’t help himself from crying and shaking in genuine fear as he reads further at what would happen to him soon. He’s written a lot of gory, torturous things and had a lot of fun doing so he admits, but now that he knows what’s going to happen to him he could only laugh hysterically in bitter despair. Because he recognized this black magic soul-confining ceremony.

He’d written it after all.

‘Bebe…’

Bebe was silent for a moment before quietly replying, ‘It seems this story was inspired by some of your works in the same genre.’

Jia Hyson sobbed even though a small part of him was darkly amused by this sort of karma. Should he be flattered that he had been such an influential author that had put his fingers in so many literary pies? He can’t really bring himself to feel very pleased right now.

In Jia Hyson’s original story, a horror-fantasy story called Stumble, this was one of many evil rituals observed by the supporting villain, Cao Chang, a genius researcher who had stumbled into the world of magic at the same time as the hero. Stumble was one of Jia Hyson’s controversial yet mainstream works that became a television show that ran for five seasons before it was canceled due to one of the main actors pulling out. Even though Cao Chang wasn’t the main antagonist, he was incredibly popular in various ways and was one of Jia Hyson’s favorite characters to write in that story.

However now Jia Hyson was really, really regretting making him so ruthless and so interested in the dark, gory and macabre.

The soul-embalming human doll ceremony was loosely inspired by the Egyptian embalming techniques in the vaguest sense. However it was fair more brutal as the victim must be alive and unhindered by any drugs or anesthesia as the tremendous pain they experience is one of the main aspects that encourages the soul to escape from their body. It really was a terrible procedure. First a small doll replica made with some of the bones of the victim’s blood family is required. The doll must be hollow and filled with four grams of the victims blood, sweat and tears. The victim must sit with the doll during the full moon while bystanders chant various spells to strengthen the connection between the two. Once dawn hits, a special potion made of various things is meant to be swallowed by the victim to harden the skin, during this period, skin to skin contact with the doll is vital. Clay mixed with herbs, blood and crushed bones will cover the body from head to toe, trapping the person inside. The doll will be placed in the middle of the ritual circle and must be within the same room to minimize the chances of the soul escaping from its fate.

Then to release the soul from the physical body, the person will be cooked in fire.

Yes.

Cooked. In. Fire.

Bebe: ‘… (lll) This may be a little difficult.’

Jia Hyson: ( ‘You think?!’

The main setting is decades into the future in a typical haunted house type setup. Jia Hyson needs to be there to control the story directly, therefore he needs to keep his role as one of the hauntings there. Which meant he had to… he had to die and possess the doll.

Jia Hyson: ‘You couldn’t have put me in here after Bai Li Wei became a spirit?’

Bebe: ‘…Bebe doesn’t have the capabilities to put Host in an intangible body.’ _(:3)_

Jia Hyson: ‘You spicy chicken system! Go burn in hell!’ ()

Bebe: ‘(_) Aren’t you the one going to burn?’

Jia Hyson: ‘…Hehe, to have the face to say that to me, you must really wish to die yes?’

Since it seems that they’re at the point where Jia Hyson must bond with his doll under the moonlight, he asks for the actual story for lack of anything else to do. He was still frightened for his situation but at the same time he was a little curious at how the cursed doll played a part in the story, especially since it was a cursed doll based on Jia Hyson’s fictional ritual. When he skimmed through the story the first time however, he found nothing.

Jia Hyson: ???

Bebe made an awkward coughing sound once it scanned through the story and finally brought six sentences to his attention.

Chapter 5, paragraph 3: There was a doll sitting on the shelf, it was so beautiful one could stand and stare at it for hours without a care for their lives.

Chapter 7, paragraph 8: Even the mesmerizing doll from earlier, looked a little creepy.

Chapter 7, paragraph 13: “Did, did that doll move?” Nalan Chyou whispers, frightened.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zhao Xuefeng chuckles nervously.

Chapter 9, paragraph 6: “See, I told you I’m not crazy! That doll Bo saw must be a ghost demon too!” Ming Bo exclaims with wide-eyes.

Chapter 13, paragraph 2: “Ahhhh!” Nalan Chyou screams as the doll moves toward her, it’s glass eyes glimmering with something dark and sinister while it’s porcelain lips maintain its perfect smile. She runs frantically out of the room and bumps right into an equally frightened Zhao Xuefeng and Ming Bo.

Chapter 32, paragraph 9: “Look! It even has information on that doll- the soul embalming human doll ritual- how scary!”

Jia Hyson reads this. Then he reads it again. Finally his tiny black heart shatters.

He’s not a villain! He’s not even a stepping stone, slash, background building character like Adrian! He was a jump scare! A cute pop-culture reference! He’s going to be burnt alive to be a f.u.c.k.i.n.g reference to his own stupid show!

As the perverted cultists chant quietly under the full moon Jia Hyson hysterically laughs through his bloody gag and bitter tears, eyes wild with resentment, irony and a little bit of sadistic excitement. After all, he knows exactly how to liven up a horror story.

[Ding! Psychotic Break Level 1 activated on passive mode]

Bebe: …Oh