Amelia gasped for breath, as she slowly began to understand more and more about the inescapable predicament she had found herself trapped in.
"Explain more," Chen Mo demanded of the system, his tone firm and unyielding.
[When a player wins a game, they receive a 'Slave'.]
[Slaves will fit the player's type or sexual preference to serve them optimally and efficiently.]
[Slaves cannot disobey their owners, nor can they be disowned, nor can they truly die.]
[Slaves dying in-game is possible, but they will be revived if the player ultimately survives. If the player doesn't survive, the Slaves are recycled and reassigned as another player's prize.]
[Slaves are players who died to monsters in-game. Players who died to other players will be rendered permanently dead in-game and in real life.]
"Tch." Chen Mo clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied, yet at the same time, helplessly restrained.
The system was something far beyond his comprehension, not to mention the entirety of this so-called game that doesn't exist.
Amelia's whimpering intensified until Chen Mo's attention was forcefully drawn back to her once again. She wasn't allowed to walk, so she simply couldn't walk. All she could do was stare, with pleading, desperate eyes, glistening and wet with tears, silently begging for mercy from her owner.
Chen Mo contemplated in silence, his gaze flicking from the chains coiled within his palm to the shackle fastened tightly around her throat. Slaves couldn't die or be disowned, but... what if...
"I allow you to act by your own free will." Chen Mo phrased her disownment carefully, disguising it as a command.
"H-huh?" Amelia was stunned. Her helpless azure eyes widened further, and her lips parted without her conscious control, "...Huh?"
[Command not allowed.] The neon-lime system coldly delivered the bad news.
It wasn't unexpected, but it still pained Chen Mo to learn that his attempts were entirely futile. To be more precise, Amelia wasn't truly his slave; she was the system's slave, or the game's possession.
The game wouldn't let its own slave go so easily. Even after Chen Mo died, Amelia would simply be recycled. Just the mere usage of the term 'recycled' was enough to enrage Chen Mo from within.
He didn't let his rage show on his face; he never allowed any of his emotions to surface so openly, but the pain was throbbing and unbearable, it felt as though something was jailing and then slowly squeezing his heart and lungs.
"Who made this game?" Chen Mo asked aloud, even though the system didn't require his questions to be spoken audibly in order to comprehend them.
[403 Forbidden]
Forbidden. Not 'Not Found', like what Chen Mo would've initially expected. 'Forbidden' meant that a creator did indeed exist, but players weren't allowed to know who they were, or perhaps, only Chen Mo wasn't allowed to.
"Who made the rules?"
[403 Forbidden]
"Can I break the rules?"
[Yes. You can.]
Huh? I can?
"I want to break the rules."
The system lagged for a brief, almost imperceptible second before finally flashing again: [405 Method Not Allowed]
"Then what method should I be using?" Chen Mo had verbally articulated every single question, and with each one, he unknowingly brought Amelia closer to hope — the hope that maybe, just maybe, her owner was a kind man, and her future wasn't doomed by the system's will.
The system responded almost instantly:
[A Gold Coin thrown into the Wishing Well.]
"None of that was comprehensible," Chen Mo remarked flatly, his expression unchanged.
[A Gold Coin is the ultimate reward for the annual Titan's Tournament.]
[Throwing a Gold Coin into the Wishing Well will grant the player any wish, without limits or restrictions.]
"And what is the Titan's Tournament?"
[The biggest event of every year!]
[A battle of power, strategy, and wits between every single player in The Game That Doesn't Exist, where only five are allowed to emerge victorious every year.]
[You may only sign up for the tournament with a Guild (unlocks when the player reaches C rank), and a total of five players.]
The competition was clearly fierce. Five players was the quota for a player population that Chen Mo could only imagine reaching hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.
He deduced this fact because his stream, which was a newbie's very first stream, had already received quite a fair amount of attention, the kind that wouldn't even be possible on YouTube in real life.
Amelia's voice echoed softly, "Master..."
Chen Mo turned his head slightly. "Don't call me that."
"Sorry... it was the system's default. Then..." Amelia's fingers fidgeted and played with each other unconsciously, "What should I call you?"
She looked just like her, Chen Mo thought silently. Amelia looked just like that person Chen Mo had missed dearly for almost three years now. Chen Mo would fight the entire world for her, so for Amelia, Chen Mo was willing to fight the Game itself.
"Xiao Bai," Chen Mo suggested calmly.
"Xiao Bai..." Amelia called out carefully, testing the name, "Are you... are you trying to save me?"
"Yes." There was no hesitation in his voice whatsoever. "I will free you... I will free all Slaves within this game."
The system didn't respond to that declaration. It was technically well within his rights to defy the Game's rules, if he ever managed to obtain the limitless wish granted by the Gold Coins.
Amelia, on the other hand, was more than touched. She bowed so deeply that her torso became nearly parallel to the floor, and her tears fell straight down in a steady stream. "Thank you..."
Chen Mo suddenly had another question, but this time, it wasn't directed at the system. "Amelia."
Amelia took a brief moment to straighten herself before quickly wiping the tears from her face as best as she could. "Yes? Xiao Bai?"
"Do you remember School of Apparitions?" Chen Mo asked, his voice still devoid of any noticeable fluctuation.
"I do..." Amelia nodded slowly. "I think the system wiped my memories and then replaced them with the NPC's... but that was definitely me you were with in that high school..."
That meant the night they shared, the view they watched together, and the kiss they exchanged, those had all truly happened, and the two of them did indeed share a connection.
Chen Mo didn't know exactly why he cared so much about that fact, but he did, and he was, to some extent, quietly delighted to hear what she had just said. "Mm..." He hummed softly in acknowledgment before spelling 'Store' in his mind, followed by 'Cosmetics'.
He was searching for a way for the chains to disappear, or at the very least, to be altered into something more civilised in appearance. The iron chain currently wrapped around his palm and shackling Amelia's throat was rough, cold, and rusted — clear symbols of oppression.
Chen Mo hated the very idea of that, but the Store somehow managed to provide even worse options:
[...]
[Spiky chains: 2000 Sapphires.]
[Magma chains: 2200 Sapphires.]
[Plastic with ball gag: 2500 Sapphires.]
[Stainless steel with ball gag: 3000 Sapphires.]
[Dildo gag + Blindfold: 5000 Sapphires.]
[...]
They were all twisted, disturbing, and utterly deranged, but Chen Mo wasn't surprised in the slightest. This is simply what humans become when they are given absolute control over a harem.
Eventually, Chen Mo reached what he considered his best option, by far:
[Dog collar: 50 Sapphires.]
Not only was it affordable, it was significantly less oppressive, and even somewhat more playful.
Well, 'playful' was being polite. It was more suggestive and kinky than anything. Nonetheless, Chen Mo didn't want Amelia to remain shackled in cold iron.
[Dog collar purchased and equipped! (Balance: 284 Sapphires)]
When Chen Mo glanced down at his palm again, the cold sensation of metal had vanished, replaced instead by the warmth of leather.
Firmly secured to his palm was a brown, leather-made rope, extending outward and eventually attaching itself to the brown dog collar around Amelia's neck, adorned with several small metal rings and decorative patterns resembling that of a dog.
Dangling from the collar was a bronze-plated nametag, shining faintly with her name, Amelia Cunningham, engraved in an adorable, fluffy font.
"Sorry. There wasn't an option to completely get rid of the chains," Chen Mo apologised as he noticed Amelia's perplexed and slightly stunned reaction.
"No, no, it's fine." Amelia waved her hands quickly in denial. "Thank you for spending on my comfort."
Chen Mo simply nodded before returning his attention back to the Store. He had already developed a bad reputation because of Glass Queen's downvote. Thus, he intended to walk out of the endless blank space in some kind of disguise, so that none of his haters would swarm him. Besides, he was still in his pajamas, so a fresh fit would definitely help improve his image.
The cosmetics section provided a wide array of appearance tweaks and modifications, with one particular option standing out among the rest:
[Random Customization: 50 Sapphires.]
That was the cheapest thing the Store had to offer. Chen Mo skimmed through a small fraction of the remaining options:
[...]
[Smaller nose: 70 Sapphires.]
[+1 centimetre height: 100 Sapphires.]
[Moustache: 150 Sapphires.]
[Plain white oversized T-shirt: 30 Sapphires.]
[Switch gender: 500 Sapphires.]
[...]
Too expensive. Chen Mo was a certified cheapskate, so in the end, he decided to let RNG determine his fate.
[Random Customization purchased and used! (Balance: 234 Sapphires)]
Chen Mo's vision blurred until not a single beam of light could pass through. It was happening again. His senses were leaving his body, only to return at an unnaturally rapid and unhealthy pace.
Except this time, when his senses returned, they felt... different. His vision, in particular, was especially strange. He didn't even know wha or why. He was in an endless white void, so everywhere he looked should have been exactly the same; there shouldn't be anything different.
Then, when he turned to glance at Amelia, he noticed.
He was now even shorter than her, and she was only 162cm.
Not only was he shorter than her, he was probably a good 15cm shorter...