Editor and proofreader: Oceanblue

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Ye Qingyun watched the elongated shadow in front of him—representing the third prince’s lover, who had been kicked to the ground, now lying beneath the third prince’s foot.

“You’ve got guts,” the third prince snarled through gritted teeth. “You managed to match several of his traits. Lonely, quiet, black hair, black eyes, handsome, powerful, never having loved anyone. How many of these traits do you have, and how many are just an act?”

The third prince slapped him again, cursing, “You can’t even defeat a nobody, and you dare to impersonate him!”

The third prince’s lover weakly responded, “I really… wasn’t impersonating him. I just happened to fit those traits, and you misunderstood. When I developed feelings for you, I didn’t want you to leave me, so I secretly tattooed it.”

The third prince sneered, “I see. I sent people to investigate overnight and found that one of the envoys responsible for helping me find that person was seduced by you and revealed all this information.”

Caught in his lie, the lover fell silent.

The third prince must have done something to him, as his lover let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
The third prince sneered, “You think you can climb your way into the royal family’s wealth and power? Have you ever considered if you’re strong enough?”

The attendants who came with the third prince worked diligently, quickly digging a deep pit. They buried his lover in it and covered it with soil again.

After finishing all this, the third prince left with his subordinates, and the noise gradually died down.

Once the surroundings fell quiet, Ye Qingyun let out a sigh of relief, still shaken, and leaned forward to try and get a look at the scene.

“Don’t look. It’s dirty,” Gu Shenyuan said, pulling him away forcefully.

Ye Qingyun was taken back to his room, his face expressionless. Using the excuse of continuing to observe the Stone of Love, he sat at his desk, lost in thought.

The third prince’s words revealed a lot of information.

The legendary person was strong, attractive, didn’t talk much, and had never been in a relationship.

At first glance, this description seemed broad, but it wasn’t. In this world, unlike Earth, people have a variety of hair and eye colors. Black hair and black eyes were a relatively rare combination.

In the original story, the author even made a point of highlighting this, praising Gu Shenyuan’s black hair and black eyes as noble and mysterious, otherworldly.

Among those with black hair and eyes, few matched the other criteria.

And by coincidence, Ye Qingyun knew someone who met all of them.

The thought seemed absurd to Ye Qingyun. Who was Gu Shenyuan? He was the main character! If Gu Shenyuan had such a huge secret, as someone who had read the entire book, wouldn’t Ye Qingyun know?

Impossible. It just couldn’t be.

The system, silent for a long time, suddenly piped up timidly: “Host, I must remind you that just because you’ve read the entire book doesn’t mean you know everything. Don’t forget, the book had a rushed ending, and the world started patching up its logical holes, causing differences between the book and how things developed here.”

Ye Qingyun: “…Yes.”

System: “Also, you missed one more condition—the tattoo on your body matches as well.”

Ye Qingyun felt a sudden headache: “Alright, stop talking.”

If Gu Shenyuan was that person, then the tattoo would represent Gu Shenyuan’s affection for him.

But what would make Gu Shenyuan like him? It didn’t make sense! If Gu Shenyuan liked his appearance, hadn’t he already seen countless beauties? Could it be that Gu Shenyuan liked his intelligence and was attracted to him being a scholar type?

Ye Qingyun’s headache worsened.

He discreetly turned his head to look behind him and saw Gu Shenyuan sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard, his half-closed eyes watching him.

Startled, Ye Qingyun quickly looked away.

“Why are you nervous?” Gu Shenyuan asked calmly.

“Nothing,” Ye Qingyun tried to steady himself, thinking quickly of a way to respond.

If Gu Shenyuan was that person, perhaps the only reason he liked Ye Qingyun was because of his knowledge of many things.

But what if Ye Qingyun pretended not to be knowledgeable?

He hesitantly said, “It’s too difficult. The composition of this stone is too complex; I don’t think I’ll be able to figure it out.”

Gu Shenyuan didn’t look disappointed. His voice even lightened a little: “If you can’t figure it out, just wear it as a piece of jewelry.”

The lights in the room went out, darkness enveloping them again. Gu Shenyuan’s voice sounded soft, “It’s late. Stop researching and get some sleep.”

Ye Qingyun lay down, drifting in and out of sleep. Suddenly, he jolted awake, realizing something.

Gu Shenyuan couldn’t understand the language of that planet, so who had told him that the plant could create tattoos?

If Gu Shenyuan had heard about it elsewhere, why hadn’t Ye Qingyun found any trace of the plant before? He had tried to search for it but found nothing. The plant was likely unique to that planet.

If Gu Shenyuan had just happened to witness someone using the plant for a tattoo—could it be such a coincidence? And why would anyone publicly tattoo themselves with it? The plant’s tattoo process was silent, growing the tattoo without any visible action. So how would Gu Shenyuan know it was the plant’s doing?

The more Ye Qingyun thought about it, the more confused he became. Unable to sleep, he pulled the blanket over his head and opened his terminal to search for answers.

This time, he didn’t search for the plant. Instead, he looked for information about the mysterious figure.

Suddenly, a flood of results appeared. Ye Qingyun quickly skimmed through them, searching for what he wanted to know.

Soon, he found a post titled: “What happens when that person falls in love?”

Ye Qingyun clicked on it and saw various users enthusiastically sharing stories about past human-weapon hybrids and their lovers.

User 1: “Not to mention, they stick together like glue, never leaving their lover’s side. It’s a shame every one of their partners has been so heartless, always sending them far away to fight for them. Tragic.”

Never leaving their lover’s side… that fit. Gu Shenyuan had been following him constantly in recent days.

User 2:”And they get insanely jealous too. If someone so much as looks at their lover, they get mad. Touch them, and they go crazy.”

Jealousy? Gu Shenyuan hadn’t shown any signs of jealousy. He’d always been calm.

Ye Qingyun felt a bit reassured. Some of the replies matched Gu Shenyuan, while others didn’t. There wasn’t enough evidence to confirm whether Gu Shenyuan was that person.

As the post veered off into other topics, Ye Qingyun continued reading until he stumbled upon a reply that made his eyes widen.

User 3: “Though we often talk about how invincible they are, they do have a weakness—their lover.”

User 4: “Yeah, remember that one time? Their enemy kidnapped their lover, and it forced the person to take their own life.”

‘…Suicide?’

Ye Qingyun felt another sharp pain in his head.
He wasn’t a fighter, so if Gu Shenyuan was “that person”, having someone like him around would only be a huge disadvantage for Gu Shenyuan.

Ye Qingyun, overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, continued reading.

‘This is just too tragic, creating a weakness for oneself! Is there no way to break up with them?’

‘Breaking up isn’t possible, but I once heard a rumor, though I’m not sure if it’s true. Someone was jealous of a girl who had won the affection of one of those human-weapon hybrids. By sheer luck, they managed to cut off the skin where the girl had the tattoo. Guess what? During the time it took for the tattoo to grow back, the human-weapon didn’t love their partner as much!’

Ye Qingyun read this, instinctively touching the spot where his tattoo was.

He could try it. With the system’s help, he could stop the bleeding quickly and block any scent of blood so no one would find out.

If it worked, he wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.