Inside the palace.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"
The eunuch's shrill voice woke the sleeping emperor.
The man paused for two seconds before rubbing his temples and sitting up.
The doctor was right; his mental state was no longer able to withstand such immersion. Normal people would automatically wake up after entering the game, but he needed to be woken up.
That's why he had been ignoring the shell all along.
"How long did I sleep?" he asked.
"Your Majesty, you took a nap for more than an hour," the eunuch replied.
After moving his arms and legs slightly on the bed, the man finally got off the bed, his body still weak.
The young eunuch quickly said, "Your Majesty, why don't you listen to the imperial physician and get some rest?"
The man ignored him completely, got out of bed, and asked first, "How is the situation in the Northwest? Has the General sent any letters?"
Upon hearing this question, the young eunuch's expression was somewhat complicated. He gently reminded him, "Your Majesty, you just asked this question before you went to bed. The situation in battle can't change in just one hour..."
"Oh," the emperor responded, but remained stubborn. "Then ask, has the Grand General sent any letter?"
The young eunuch sighed, "Not yet, perhaps... on the way."
Upon hearing this, the man in the dragon robe smiled, his sickly face displaying a mixture of self-mockery and malice.
He sighed, "How heartless. He lied before, saying he corresponded with me frequently, but now he won't even reply to my letters."
The young eunuch kept his eyes down, pretending he was deaf.
Without asking for help, the man put on his outer robe by himself and walked out.
The young eunuch rushed to help him, but was brushed aside.
"Your Majesty, where are you going?"
"The Imperial Study".
The young eunuch asked, puzzled, "You've already read all the memorials?"
He added, "All the reports on the situation in the Northwest have been sent to your bedchamber."
The man in the dragon robe only threw out three words: "Write the imperial edict."
Upon hearing this, the little eunuch's expression became even stranger.
This has been His Majesty's recent pastime: besides worrying about the war situation in the Northwest, he spends his time in the Imperial Study writing his will. However, he has written it many times, but none of them have been satisfactory.
After grinding the ink, the man picked up the brush, but seemed somewhat lost in thought.
He didn't know how much longer he had to live in this world.
The aftereffects of the split consciousness were greater than he had imagined. Although he was slowly recovering after retrieving all the fragments of consciousness, he probably wouldn't be able to stay in this world for long.
But he didn't know how long Qin Chu would stay.
He initially split his consciousness just on a whim, wanting to tease the person who had been chasing him for several worlds.
But unexpectedly, he accidentally caused a problem.
The eldest prince represents the defeated consciousness.
This fragment is quite special; it contains only his childhood memories in the real world and cannot be connected with other fragments.
In order to prevent the fragment from realizing that it was in a different space, he could only set up a similar background to confuse the fragment.
The eldest prince represents his most vulnerable period.
He no longer cares about many things, but he doesn't intend to let this fragment exist for too long. So he sends two other fragments to besiege Qin Rui and sets up a mission in the game to capture and kill the eldest prince.
But he never expected that when Qin Chu came to this world, the first person he encountered was not one of the other fragments he had set up, but rather the eldest prince, whom he could not control.
Ink dripped from the tip of the brush, blurring into a mass on the imperial edict.
After pondering for a while, the emperor picked up his brush and wrote a character on the paper. He wrote it very large, as if it were a free combination of four characters, splitting them into something absurd.
After he finished writing, the emperor looked at the character and laughed: "It's really ugly."
He was initially unhappy when he learned that Qin Chu had found the eldest prince and brought him with him.
He didn't care about the secret the eldest prince had, and it didn't matter if others knew it, but he just didn't want Qin Chu to see it.
So small and weak, how embarrassing!
He didn't expect that this fragment would find a different life by Qin Chu's side.
He went from initial aversion to surprise, and then he would quietly watch Qin Chu and the eldest prince interact, watching that person who knew absolutely nothing about taking care of children carry a child around everywhere.
Qin Chu also gave the eldest prince a name: Qin Rui.
What a fine name! Does he even deserve it?
He soon discovered that he could not control Qin Rui, but he could fully accept Qin Rui's emotions and memories.
This is almost like a form of reverse manipulation.
Qin Rui felt all the joy, trust, and happiness that he had received, and it was all transmitted to him without missing a single detail.
This was something he had never experienced in his childhood.
He had long since stopped caring, but now he was being forced into this situation in a way that he couldn't refuse.
Due to the fragmentation of his consciousness, coupled with Qin Rui's influence, his memories were almost chaotic for a long time.
As time went on, he felt that there really was a Qin Chu in his memory, who protected him through his weakest and most difficult times. She would choose to go hungry so that he could have enough to eat, and she would worry about his sleep problems and try to find solutions.
During that period, his emotions were also fragmented.
On the one hand, he wanted to eliminate this influence and was madly eager to kill Qin Rui, or even Qin Chu; on the other hand, he couldn't help but indulge in it, like a traveler in the desert, thirsting for more sweet rain.
Caught between two conflicting thoughts, he ultimately sealed off the area where Qin Chu and Qin Rui were located, making it inaccessible even to himself.
He became completely obsessed with it.
Like a madman, he monitored Qin Chu and Qin Rui's daily lives. Qin Rui seemed to have become his alter ego, living a seemingly perfect life in another dimension.
Sometimes, he even felt jealous of Qin Rui.
Why is it that Qin Rui was able to meet Qin Chu and be protected by him, living a normal life, while in the real world he could only stumble and struggle through the most miserable life, eventually becoming a dissolute monster?
He even wanted to snatch Qin Chu from Qin Rui's hands, keep him by his side, and enjoy him all by himself.
So when he unexpectedly discovered that something else was living inside the emperor's body, he mobilized his team to investigate.
He wanted to obtain more accurate information about Qin Chu through that artificial intelligence. Although he had limited power in this world, if he really went all out, that artificial intelligence would not return unscathed.
However, when it came time to take action, he softened his heart.
He couldn't bear to part with it, because Qin Chu would be angry.
Chapter 80, The Fourth Story (The End)
It's ridiculous that one day he would be so anxious and worried about whether someone was angry, sad, or disliked him.
It was only then that he realized how much influence Qin Rui had had on him, and that he was gradually becoming like Qin Rui.
He should have resisted, but he became completely addicted.
It wasn't until he personally felt Qin Rui's restrained yet vague feelings for Qin Chu, and his physical condition required him to take Qin Rui back, that he finally understood.
How wonderful, everything is going according to his plan.
Qin Rui was killed by Qin Chu in front of him. Qin Chu will remember Qin Rui forever, and he will also remember him forever.
However, he still felt heartache when he saw Qin Chu like that.
Qin Chu was heartbroken, Qin Chu was angry, Qin Chu ignored him for so long...
The emperor snapped out of his reverie, rolled up the imperial edict with large characters written on it, and then took a blank one, writing his will for what seemed like the umpteenth time.
"General Qin Chu pacified the Xiongnu and rendered meritorious service in protecting the country; he is hereby enfeoffed as Marquis of Zhenbei..."
The man paused as he wrote this, and began to wonder if being merely a marquis was too low a rank.
A bunch of officials from the previous dynasty have grievances against Qin Chu. What if they all attack him after his death? Qin Chu's personality clearly doesn't suit his association with those old men…
The man casually erased the written imperial edict and picked up another one to start writing:
"General Qin Chu has rendered meritorious service in pacifying the Donghu, Xiongnu, and Western Xia, and is hereby awarded the title of Protector-General of the Nation, the title of Protector-General Duke, and granted fertile land..."
He then wrote another long passage in silence. The emperor straightened up, picked up the imperial edict, and read it through.
He had been rewarded and bestowed with all he deserved; all that was left was to allow Qin Chu to ascend the throne after his death.
Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any problems with this will.
But he looked very unhappy, as if something was missing.
The man tossed aside what he had written, pondered for a while, and then bent down to write again.
This time, he didn't write for long; only a few words were written on the bright yellow paper, but the man smiled with satisfaction.
-
Several more years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Qin Chu had already led his troops through most of the north, intimidating all the surrounding small, covetous states. His second questline had also slowly come to a close over the long course of time, leaving only the last two slots remaining.
Throughout these years, Qin Chu has always led the same group of soldiers from the very beginning. These soldiers are elite and extremely loyal to him.
This was already a very dangerous sign in the eyes of the court officials. In the past few years, many veteran officials had remonstrated with the emperor in front of the palace, asking him to deal with him as soon as possible, but none of them made a ripple.
Without even thinking, Qin Chu knew what kind of turbulent situation was unfolding in the imperial court.
Because he led his troops back to the capital without authorization.
"Your behavior... anyone who didn't know better would think it was a rebellion."
On the way back to the city, Noah couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"I have no intention of rebelling." Qin Chu sat in the chariot, raising his hand to tie his hair.