Chapter 27: Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wei Gong Shilang

'Run!'

It was the only thought in his mind.

Though there was considerable distance between them, Wei Gong Shilang felt he could be caught at any moment.

When he came to his senses, he had already sprinted into the school building at the limit of his speed.

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

If he were to flee and hide,

there were plenty of routes available, weren’t there?

The deed was done; fear drove Wei Gong Shilang to keep running.

In his mind, it seemed like an illusion—or something else—he heard a crisp sound.

【Ding—】

'Run!'

He had no time to wonder whether this sudden sound was a hallucination or auditory delusion.

His heart pounded relentlessly, nearing its limit.

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

'What the hell?!'

Wei Gong Shilang’s previously heavy, sluggish steps suddenly gained renewed strength.

'Hey—!'

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

【This chat group is dedicated to creating...】

The voice in his mind and a warm, familiar tone sounded simultaneously in his brain and ears.

Around him, there was nothing at all.

A strange interface suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

Monkey D. Luffy: '@Everyone WOAH, what is this?'

Xiao Yan: 'Don’t joke with me—has Old Ma’s business expanded across worlds? Leave me alone, I really have no money. @Monkey D. Luffy, I vaguely remember you—are you that guy from the pirate world?'

'You know better than anyone else that you can’t escape, don’t you? How, then, is it that the defeated often'

'gain something? That’s just how it is.'

Rows of information scrolled before his eyes, while the voice beside him continued softly speaking.

'Poor unlucky kid, since you’ve been seen, I can’t let you go.'

A blue man appeared out of thin air, gripping a crimson spear.

Without mercy, without emotion, the spear pierced through Wei Gong Shilang’s heart.

Wei Gong Shilang had no time to dodge; all his past training proved useless.

He was killed.

The scene before him blurred gradually, leaving only a flood of scrolling information.

'What a disgusting job. Calling this a hero is laughable.'

Only the man’s voice could be heard.

'I know, no objections. I saw the girl’s Servant. I’ll return quietly,' the man said, sounding irritated.

After that, the sound of running footsteps echoed down the corridor.

In the darkness, silence reigned. Wei Gong Shilang stared at the strange interface before him.

It was a peculiar sensation.

His consciousness gradually faded into nothingness; everything seemed ready to vanish.

Just like the experience ten years ago.

The difference was, a strange interface kept updating information before his eyes.

Is someone using this chat?

Again, he heard indistinct footsteps beside him.

Then, a voice he recognized.

'Why... did you...'

Afterward, faint words drifted again into his hearing.

He felt his body returning.

Slowly, bit by bit, like water droplets falling from a leaf, Wei Gong Shilang sensed his bodily functions returning.

Gradually, he returned from that void to reality.

Soon, he felt his body again—his heart began to beat.

His consciousness sank into sleep.

When he awoke again, Wei Gong Shilang discovered bloodstains all around him in horror.

His body still felt weak, his head dizzy.

He rubbed his head and absentmindedly picked up the necklace-like object on his person, shoving it into his pocket.

Dazed, he used a classroom mop to wipe away the blood, as if erasing evidence.

Wei Gong Shilang headed home.

Walking down the street with a foggy mind, his body burned with heat; the cold wind no longer chilled him.

A certain interface in his vision kept popping up messages—annoying, blocking his view.

With that thought, the messages in his vision vanished.

'Anyway, next time we meet, we’ll be enemies.'

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

Dragging his exhausted body after the night’s battle,

Wei Gong Shilang smiled helplessly beside Saber.

His body, shattered by the giant’s axe, had somehow recovered—but fatigue still clung to his spirit and flesh.

Back home, Wei Gong Shilang fell into deep sleep.

The next morning.

While making breakfast, Wei Gong Shilang noticed a strange mark in his vision.

'?'

Shh—

With a thought, the interface he’d dismissed as a hallucination last night appeared in his vision.

Wei Gong Shilang skipped school that day, claiming illness to the school.

He stayed home, reading the novel titled 【Fate/stay night】 in the chat group.

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

The events described matched almost exactly what he had encountered yesterday.

There was a world like this one too—even though he rarely watched anime, as anime was a pillar of the island nation’s industry, he occasionally caught glimpses of it on TV.

He knew the protagonist of that popular manga was named Monkey D. Luffy.

'Are there stories in other worlds featuring me as the protagonist?'

'Am I a character in a work?'

With a strange feeling, Wei Gong Shilang began reading the novel.

Will Rider attack me and Tohsaka at school?

Will I be kidnapped by Berserker’s Master?

What is ‘spiritual replenishment’?! Is that what ‘spiritual replenishment’ means?!

Wait, Saber and I...

King Arthur is a girl?!

Without a doubt, after focusing intently on the novel all morning, Wei Gong Shilang’s heart was in turmoil.

Is this my future?

Seeing the text describe Saber saying to him: 'Shilang, you are my scabbard.'

For reasons he couldn’t explain—whether because of the story’s plot or something else—his heart inexplicably skipped a beat.

'Scabbard...'

Wei Gong Shilang touched his abdomen and understood why he was still alive and energetic after being cleaved by Berserker’s axe last night.

'Shilang.'

The door opened; Saber stood outside, her sapphire eyes pure and filled with concern: 'Are you feeling better?'

'Yeah, I’m fine, almost fully recovered,' Wei Gong Shilang lied: 'Sorry, I’ll make lunch right away.'

The novel in his vision had reached its ending.

Wei Gong Shilang did not look at Saber; his emotions felt strange, his face slightly flushed.

Though it was an event yet to happen, as a high school boy, he felt a touch of embarrassment.

Was the story’s end a farewell?

Reluctant, yet inevitable.

'Huh?' Wei Gong Shilang noticed the novel could still be turned—was there more to come?

Why has it started again...?

Ye Fan: "The diver's surfaced."

Su Lin: "That must be it."

Emiya Shirou: "Then why do I have three different futures?"

So it was this.

Su Lin still remembered that in the FATE worldview, countless parallel worlds existed; that series had too many settings.