Chapter Text
(Name: Ye Xiu
Power: <The Gamer>
“It’s just a game, bro.”
<The Gamer> is one of the only growth-type powers in the game. Currently a big fish in a small pond, <The Gamer> has the potential to become a sleeping Cthulhu in the ocean.
Abilities:
- <The Gamer>: Experience life as a game! Includes many subskills, such as <Observe> and <Gamer’s Body>.
- <Ninja of Fruits>: Skill gained from playing Fruit Ninja for way too long. If opponent throws fruit at you, you can cut it into nice, evenly sized pieces. Only works on fruit and bombs. Allows user to make great fruit platters of death.)
“Hold up!”
Ye Xiu turned around. Seriously? “I’ve already beaten you so many times,” Ye Xiu said. As someone that literally made the world a game, Ye Xiu had a natural affinity for games and could thus master any game easily. Normally, he wouldn’t shy away from bullying other people with his innate talent, but even he had limits.
“You’re good,” the other boy said. “We’ll play together again, yeah? Don’t reject the future—resistance is futile.”
(Name: Su Muqiu
Power: Locked. Level 4 friendship or above required.
“He sees.”)
“Maybe I’ll play you again once you figure out how to stop losing.”
Su Muqiu laughed, eyes crinkling at the edges. “No, I mean…eh, Mucheng, help me out here!”
Su Mucheng huffed, and grabbed onto her brother’s hand. “You’re not the only one,” she said. She was staring at Ye Xiu, but her gaze was eerily glassy.
(Name: Su Mucheng
Power: Locked. Level 4 friendship or above required.
“She sees.”)
“Sorry?” Ye Xiu asked. While Su Muqiu was cool, no amount of video games would be worth it if the Su Muqiu package came with a crazy little sister.
“Glory is not a single player game,” Su Mucheng said. With slowly mounting horror, Ye Xiu watched as blood began to leak from her eyes. Yup, either Su Mucheng was crazy or she was possessed by some infernal demon from hell. Possibly both.
Ye Xiu did not need nor want a horror sideplot. Nope, nope, and nope. He didn’t even know ghosts and that kind of freaky supernatural shit existed, but bleeding eyes and strangely prophetic statements were all the evidence he needed. “That’s nice,” he said, and moved to turn away from the creepy siblings from hell.
Ding!
[Quest accepted: For Glory
“Do you believe in destiny?”
Description: Do it for Glory.
Rewards: Glory.]
Wait, what? Usually, Ye Xiu was the one eliciting these kinds of statements from others, but today the tables had turned. What was happening? Did Su Mucheng just hijack his power? He didn’t accept any quest—and what was with that vague quest description? What was he supposed to do with glory? This was veering more and more into ‘creepy ass supernatural shenanigans’ territory, and Ye Xiu suddenly regretted ever meeting Su Muqiu.
Ding!
[Quest: For Glory has been set as the main quest!]
“No!” Ye Xiu frantically poked the air. Annoyingly, his finger passed straight through the floating blue box. “Reject quest! Undo! Skip dialogue! No!” The blue box wiggled, then disappeared. Strangely, Ye Xiu felt like his power was laughing at him.
“Thanks, Mucheng.” Su Muqiu kindly ruffled his sister’s hair. He turned to Ye Xiu. “That’s a weird power. Maybe one day you’ll tell me what it is.”
Haha. Maybe one day Ye Xiu was going to quit video games and become a hermit in the mountains. “Heh,” Ye Xiu said, because showing weakness was not a thing he did. Inside, he began to cry.
“Well, I think we’ll have interesting times together. I’m Su Muqiu—what’s your name?” Su Muqiu said warmly.
“Why don’t you use your creepy powers from hell to find out?” Good, at least Ye Xiu still had control over his dialogue. He was going to trashtalk this demon to death, just watch him. See this, bitch.
“His name is Ye Xiu,” Su Mucheng said.
<The Su Siblings and Friend>
3 people currently online.
Su Muqiu: just added you to the gc!! now we can talk!!!
Su Mucheng: welcome, ye xiu!!!!!!!!!!
Ye Xiu has left <The Su Siblings and Friend>
Su Mucheng has added Ye Xiu to <The Su Siblings and Friend>
Su Mucheng: :( :( :(
Ye Xiu has left <The Su Siblings and Friend>
Despite everything, living with two other superpowered humans did have its benefits.
“Ye Xiu! Su Mucheng got some plane tickets—it's time for a vacation!”
Did Ye Xiu know how Su Mucheng got those tickets? No. Did he care? Also no. Of course, some small part of Ye Xiu was screaming that Su Mucheng probably got those tickets from exploiting the system, and that he should maybe stop her, but Ye Xiu was quick to strangle that part. Life was so much easier once you gave up your morals and just went with the flow.
(Resistance is futile, Su Muqiu had said, when they first met. Did he know then, how this would all turn out?)
“Cool,” Ye Xiu said. “Where are we going?”
“Nah,” Su Muqiu said, “you’re the only one going—think of it like a vacation! Mucheng and I need to stay here though, because we have to run some errands.”
Ye Xiu was not going to ask about the errands, because plausible deniability was a thing and he was not going to be implicated in whatever ‘errands’ the siblings were going to run. “Okay,” Ye Xiu said. See no evil, hear no evil.
At the airport, Ye Xiu glanced absentmindedly at his ticket. Beijing, huh? What did Su Muqiu want him to do in Beijing? As if reading his mind, Ye Xiu’s phone suddenly buzzed.
<The Su Siblings and Friend>
2 people currently online.
Su Muqiu: please get 3 account cards
Su Muqiu: from the nearest game store
Su Muqiu: its ok don’t worry about the store you’ll get to the right one
(At this point, Ye Xiu wasn’t even upset that Su Muqiu had sent him to an entirely different city to get account cards, which they could easily get in their own city.
No, Ye Xiu gave exactly zero fucks.
Because this was his life now.)
Ye Xiu: what game
Su Muqiu: glory
Ye Xiu: ...
Su Muqiu: omg stop crying. this is part of your questline. Oh my god I know you don’t want to do this questline, but you’ll be glad you did.
Su Muqiu: omg
Su Muqiu: if you don’t stop slamming your head on the wall, that security guard is going to make you leave.
<The Su Siblings and Friend>
2 people currently online.
Su Muqiu: did I not warn you
Su Muqiu: do you even know what clairvoyance means
“Three account cards, please.” Ye Xiu said to the cashier. The cashier was one of those smiley NPCs with a calm aura and a comforting smile that contrasted heavily with Ye Xiu’s gloomy aura and permanent slouch.
“Alright, that’ll be fifty dollars. Cash or debit?” The cashier asked. Lin Jie, his nametag said proudly.
"I would like to pay you with my tears, because I am a broke runaway that was kidnapped by two crazy clairvoyant siblings,” Ye Xiu said, shoving a handful of cash at Lin Jie.
“Thanks,” Lin Jie said. He was someone that worked in customer service—he was used to crazy customers, and thus completely ignored Ye Xiu’s statement. “Come back soon!” If Lin Jie had paid a little more attention to Ye Xiu, he would’ve noticed that the younger boy had just pulled cash out of thin air, but he was an emotionally dead customer service worker, so he didn’t notice.
(Behind Ye Xiu, and completely aware of the little magic trick Ye Xiu just pulled, Sun Zheping gaped. The fuck?)
Back in H City, Su Mucheng and Su Muqiu were running their very important errands. Basically, they were lying on the couch.
“Four more,” Su Muqiu muttered.
Beside him, Su Mucheng picked up a magazine. “Blah.” Without even flipping through the magazine, she put it back on the table. “What’s the point in reading if you’ve read it already?”
"Ugh," Su Muqiu agreed. Or maybe he was just grunting.
(Name: Su Mucheng
Power: <Foresight>*
“She sees.”
User can see fifteen minutes into her future. Has the potential to make its user the strongest hand-to-hand combatant in the game, but its owner has chosen to use <Foresight> to read gossip magazines. Strength and creepiness factor increases when used with <The King>.
*Pending name change to <Fifteen Minutes of Fame>.)
“Alright, what was that?”
Ye Xiu didn’t even turn around. “I don’t speak to strangers,” he said. Before he could keep on walking, a firm hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
[New character: Sun Zheping.
Warning: important character interaction for <For Glory> main quest!]
Oh, part of the main quest from hell? Ye Xiu was definitely going to ignore this ‘important character interaction’ Take that, destiny. “Je ne comprends pas,” he said.
“Don’t give me that,” Sun Zheping said. “I know you understand me. Now explain what you did in that store.”
“What store,” Ye Xiu said, because making things easy for other people was not a thing he did.
“The game store,” Sun Zheping frowned. “I saw you pull cash out of thin air. How did you do that?”
“Magic.” Wow, is this how Su Muqiu felt all the time, when he was trolling other people? Ye Xiu loved it.
“I know magic tricks,” Sun Zheping said, “and what you just did was impossible.”
“Heh,” Ye Xiu said, relishing the confusion he was causing, “who are you to tell me something is impossible? Something that’s impossible for you might not be for me, brother.”
Suddenly, Sun Zheping’s eyes brightened. “I knew it,” he said, and Ye Xiu was filled with a strange sense of loss, because now Sun Zheping was not confused anymore and Ye Xiu had lost his source of entertainment. “You’re like us.”
“A crazy person that harasses other people?” Outwardly Ye Xiu was smirking, but inwardly he began to panic. What was ‘like us’ supposed to mean? Were the Su siblings and him not the only superpowered people in the world? Was there some secret superpowered society, and was that why Su Muqiu sent him here?
Facing such an accusation, Sun Zheping continued to smile. “Oh my god, you don’t know what a relief this is…come with me.”
Ye Xiu stared at the bottle of water, and the bottle of water stared back. Important character interaction! His interface chirped, but Ye Xiu ignored it.
“Ah, so you see…” Sun Zheping awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “This is my friend, Zhang Jiale.”
“...” For the first time in a long time, Ye Xiu was speechless. He thought he’d gotten used to the crazy mess that was his life, but apparently not. Ye Xiu quickly checked the description for the water bottle, just in case he was delusional.
[Water bottle.
Description: a bottle that holds liquids, usually water. This bottle is definitely holding water.]
Ye Xiu blinked, and the description changed.
[Water bottle.
Description: a bottle that holds liquids, such as water. As you can tell, this bottle is holding water! Water is a liquid. Humans drink water. This is water. Do you know what water is?
Apparently, this water bottle is very interesting!!!]
Great, now his interface was excited, adding exclamation marks. Ye Xiu did not need more excitement in his life. “That’s very nice,” he said to Sun Zheping, “but I need to go now.” Go very, very, far away from this crazy person and return to his nice, safe crazy person back home.
“Please don’t go…” Sun Zheping opened the water bottle. “Zhang Jiale, this guy is like us.”
“Who the hell are you?” The water said angrily.
“…I have never seen angry water before.” Ye Xiu said. He was beginning to understand—this must all be a huge prank, and Sun Zheping must have some super-ventriloquism ability. “That’s a pretty cool power. Did Su Muqiu tell you about me?”
“Su Muqiu?” Sun Zheping frowned. “And wait, my power? No, that’s Zhang Jiale. He turned into water.”
In the water bottle, Zhang Jiale sloshed angrily, as if in agreement. Or maybe the water was just moving because the bottle had been moved, because Ye Xiu was still pretty sure the water was just water.
Ye Xiu sighed. Wow, Sun Zheping was pretty dedicated to his role, huh. “Okay, so let’s say I took you seriously, and pretended that this wasn’t all a prank planned by Su Muqiu.” Ye Xiu picked up Zhang Jiale, and stared deeply into…him. It? “People don’t just turn into water. You need to establish a proper backstory if you want me to believe you.”
“It’s just the way he is,” Sun Zheping said. “He’s always been able to turn into water. This time, he just wasn’t able to turn back.”
“Alright,” an uncontrollable power backstory was pretty interesting, Ye Xiu had to admit. Now only if it was true… “So what do you expect me to do about it? Shouldn’t you go see a chemist, or something?” Or a film director, because Sun Zheping obviously had talent as an actor.
“They’re not going to believe me,” Sun Zheping said, as if Ye Xiu believed him. “I just…I just saw that you had powers too, so I thought you’d know something. And you say this Su Muqiu guy…are there more of us?”
Plothole spotted! Sun Zheping was fabricating a pretty good story, but Ye Xiu had spotted a plothole. Looks like the charade was coming to an end. “Heh, how do you know I have powers?”
Sun Zheping raised an eyebrow. “It’s my power. I can manipulate probability, and I know that what you did with the cash was impossible.”
Sun Zheping’s power description unlocked!
[Name: Sun Zheping
Power: <Lucky Charm>
Description:
“The name is Slaw. Murphy Slaw.”
A fearsome opponent and a powerful ally, the holder of <Lucky Charm> can ensure that fate is always on your side. <Lucky Charm> allows the user to see and manipulate probability.
However, for every action taken there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every time you use <Lucky Charm>, the same amount of luck you generate will be taken from someone else.
At the consequence of those around him, the <Lucky Charm> has the potential to become the luckiest person alive.]
“Huh,” Ye Xiu said. That was a pretty interesting power but… “Just because you have a power doesn’t mean your water is sentient.”
“I’m not…” Sun Zheping looked like he was on the verge of tears. “Can’t you just…try and fix Zhang Jiale? If you can’t help, maybe that Su Muqiu friend of yours can?”
Ye Xiu sighed. Well, maybe if he texted Su Muqiu to stop with the prank Sun Zheping would lay off for a little.
<The Su Siblings and Friend>
3 people currently online.
Ye Xiu: ha ha very funny joke
Ye Xiu: please tell sun zheping to stop, i actually want to do things today
Su Muqiu: lol you do things now??
Su Muqiu: also he’s not kidding.
…Practical jokers, nowadays. If Su Muqiu wasn’t going to help him, he was going to help himself. “Alright,” Ye Xiu said, “the joke’s over. I’m way too old for this kind of prank."
Su Muqiu: you are fifteen years old, ye xiu.
Well, Su Muqiu could take his clairvoyant ass and shove it up his mouth. Screwing with Sun Zheping was funny, but it wasn’t as funny when Sun Zheping started screwing back. “I’m going to drink this water, and then I’m going to go play Glory, because apparently that game is my main quest. I don’t have time for this.” Ye Xiu brought the water bottle to his mouth, and glanced one final time at the item description for the water bottle.
[Water bottle.
Description: it’s literally just a bottle of water!!!!!!!
…
…
This isn’t fooling you, is it?]
Wait, what? Slowly, Ye Xiu put the water bottle back down. Sun Zheping hurriedly grabbed the bottle from the table, and cradled it preciously. He looked at Ye Xiu like he had just threatened to eat his child, but Ye Xiu was more interested in his interface.
[Due to extended observation, <Observe> has leveled up.]
[Bottle.
Description: a bottle holding the transformed Zhang Jiale. Not water. Do not consume.]
“Heh,” Ye Xiu said. “Looks like you’re not delusional after all…” Did it still count as cannibalism if you drank someone while they were water? God, hanging out with Su Muqiu and Su Mucheng gave him a really skewed sense of humor.
“Jesus,” Sun Zheping said, shooting Ye Xiu a horrified glance. “Asking you for help was such a bad idea…”
Ye Xiu laughed.
<The Su Siblings and Friend>
3 people currently online.
Su Muqiu renamed <The Su Siblings and Friend> to <The Su Siblings and Friends>
Su Muqiu: friends, plural!!!
Su Mucheng: friends, plural!!!
Ye Xiu added Sun Zheping to <The Su Siblings and Friends>
Ye Xiu: old sun, this is the group chat with su muqiu and su mucheng
Ye Xiu: they can probably help you.
Ye Xiu: …
Sun Zheping: Hello! I’m Sun Zheping, and my friend Zhang Jiale just turned himself to water. Can you help?
Sun Zheping: Please believe me.
Su Muqiu: he’ll turn back in 4-6 days
Su Muqiu: yes, I know this for sure
Su Muqiu: yes, I have powers too
Su Muqiu: yes, I can see the future
Sun Zheping: …
Ye Xiu: you’re right, I love it when other people suffer instead.
Despite Ye Xiu’s initial belief, <For Glory> didn’t end with Glory. In fact, when he logged into Glory, there wasn’t any sort of quest notification at all.
(“Isn’t this my main quest?” Ye Xiu asked. On the computer next to him, Su Muqiu hummed.
“You’ll see,” Su Muqiu said mysteriously, because prophets were not allowed to give straight answers, apparently.)
But there is such a thing as destiny, and it wasn’t a coincidence that <For Glory> and Glory both involved glory. It was only when Su Mucheng typed in ‘One Autumn Leaf’ did Ye Xiu begin to understand that he was part of something bigger.
New skill unlocked!
<Glory be>: the birth of a God. Allows user to access abilities from the game 'Glory' in real life.