Chapter 27: Weigong Shilang

【Run!】

That was his only thought at this moment.

Even though there was clearly a long distance between them, Weigong Shilang felt he could be caught up at any moment.

When he came back to his senses, he had already pushed his body to its limit and run into the school building.

His returning reason told him this was not a wise choice.

If he was going to choose to flee and hide,

there were clearly many other routes, weren't there?

The die was cast; fear drove Weigong Shilang to keep running.

In his mind—whether it was an illusion or something—he seemed to hear a crisp sound.

【Ding——】

【Run!】

He had no time to wonder whether what had suddenly appeared was a hallucination or an auditory one.

His heart kept pounding, pushed to its limit.

【Ye Fan, Su Lin... Weigong Shilang has joined the chat group.】

【What is this?!】

Weigong Shilang's somewhat heavy, leaden feet instantly found a few more measures of strength.

"Yo——!"

"The cat-and-mouse game is over."

【This chat group is committed to building...】

The voice in his mind and a very friendly-sounding voice rang out simultaneously in his brain and by his ear.

The surroundings were clearly empty.

A strange interface suddenly appeared within his field of vision.

Master Meng Qi D. Luffy: "@everyone whoa, what is this."

Xiao Yan: "Don't mess with me, has Old Ma's business expanded to Cross-World Travel now? Let me off, I'm really out of money. @Master Meng Qi D. Luffy, I have some impression of you—aren't you the man of the pirates?"

"You yourself should know better than anyone that you can't escape, right? How about it—the one who's been beaten down

always gains something—that's how it works."

Lines of information scrolled past before his eyes, while the voice by his ear kept softly narrating something.

"Unlucky kid. Since you've been seen, I can't let you go."

A blue-clad man appeared out of thin air, a crimson spear in his hand.

Without mercy and without emotion, the spear pierced straight through Weigong Shilang's heart.

Weigong Shilang had no time to dodge; none of the training results from the past could be put to use at all.

He was killed.

The scene before his eyes gradually blurred; only a stream of information scrolled past.

"What a hateful job. Calling someone like this a 'hero' is just too laughable."

He could only hear the man's voice.

"I know, no objections. I saw that girl's Servant. I'll go back obediently," that fellow said, somewhat annoyed.

After that, there was the sound of running down a corridor.

In the darkness, all was silent; Weigong Shilang simply stared at the strange interface before his eyes.

It was a very peculiar feeling.

His consciousness gradually faded into nothingness; everything seemed about to disappear.

Just like that experience ten years ago.

The difference was that a strange screen kept updating with information right before his eyes.

Was someone using this chat?

Footsteps he couldn't make out drifted to his ears again.

Then came a voice he felt he'd heard somewhere before.

"Why would you...?"

After that, he vaguely caught some more words.

He felt himself returning to his body.

Slowly, little by little, like a droplet of water sliding off a leaf, Weigong Shilang felt his bodily functions returning.

From that void, bit by bit, back to reality.

Not long after, he felt his body; his heart began to beat.

His consciousness sank into slumber.

When he woke again, Weigong Shilang was horrified to discover the bloodstains all around him.

His body still felt very weak, and his head was heavy and muddled.

Feeling his head, he casually picked up a necklace-like object on his person and stuffed it into his pocket.

In a daze, he used a mop from the classroom to wipe the bloodstains clean, as if destroying evidence.

Weigong Shilang headed home.

Walking down the road with a foggy head, his whole body burning with fever, he didn't even feel the cold wind blowing against him.

Some interface in his field of vision kept popping up messages—so annoying, stop blocking my view.

With that thought, the messages in his field of vision vanished.

"In short, next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

Tohsaka Rin tossed out those words and walked off down the street in another direction.

Dragging his exhausted body, he finished the night's battle.

Weigong Shilang gave a helpless smile, accompanied by Saber.

The body that had been split apart by the giant's axe had somehow recovered, but tonight's exhaustion still weighed on both mind and flesh.

Back home, Weigong Shilang fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning.

After waking up, while making breakfast, Weigong Shilang noticed a strange mark within his field of vision.

"?"

Flick—

With a single thought, the scenes he had dismissed as an illusion last night appeared within his field of view.

Weigong Shilang did not go to school that day; he took the day off on the grounds of feeling unwell.

He stayed home, scrolling through a novel titled *fatestaynight* within this chat group.

The novel was a story written from his own first-person perspective.

What had happened earlier was almost exactly the same as what he had experienced yesterday.

The world of One Piece existed too. Although he didn't normally watch anime, as a pillar industry of the island nation, he would occasionally catch the show on TV.

He knew the protagonist of that very popular manga was called Luffy.

"Other worlds have stories with me as the protagonist?"

"I'm a character in a work too?"

With an odd feeling in his chest, Weigong Shilang began to read through the novel.

Rider will attack me and Tohsaka at school?

I was kidnapped by Berserker's Master?

What is "saving mana"?! Saving mana is that kind of thing?!

Wait, Saber and I...

King Arthur is actually a girl?!

It had to be said, after Weigong Shilang read with full concentration for an entire morning, a monstrous wave had already risen in his heart.

Was this his own future?

Seeing the text describe Saber telling him: "Shilang, you are my sheath."

Weigong Shilang's heart gave an unbidden thump — he didn't know whether it was because of the story's plot or some other reason.

'Sheath...'

Weigong Shilang touched his abdomen and understood why, after being cleaved by the Berserker's axe last night, he was still able to be up and about today.

"Shilang."

The door was pushed open. Saber stood outside, her saint-azure pupils free of any impurity, and asked with some concern: "Are you feeling alright?"

"Mm, it's fine, I've mostly recovered." Weigong Shilang lied: "Sorry, I'll go make lunch right away."

The novel in his field of view had already reached the story's end.

Weigong Shilang did not look at Saber; his emotions at that moment were a little strange, his face faintly flushed.

Although it was something that hadn't happened yet, as a high school boy, he was somewhat shy.

Was the ending of the story a parting?

Reluctant to part, yet somehow as it should be.

"Mm?" Weigong Shilang discovered the novel could still be scrolled further — was there a continuation?

Why has it started over again...?

Ye Fan: "The lurker has surfaced."

Su Lin: "Should be."

Weigong Shilang: "Then why do I have three different futures?"

So that's what this was about.

Su Lin still remembered that within the worldview of FATE, countless Parallel Worlds existed; that series had far too many setting entries.