Uneasy daily life

Strip away the abstract elements, and it's a simple story in itself, but the script is full of details.

For example, the twelve people are all individuals asexually reproduced by the giant monster. In order for the giant monster to be fully revived, it must reabsorb them. In order not to disappear, the twelve people who have gained their own identities must therefore resist the giant monster.

It looks like a script made by a bad movie director who embellished and exaggerated what actually happened—because the second son in the script is clearly the scholar from another bad movie by the same director.

That's true. Given the creative abilities of bad movie directors, without some real-world material as a foundation, they'd probably be stuck with writer's block and could only buy a few scripts and create their own. So, bad movie directors are essentially real-world screenwriters.

For example, there's Eleven, who is timid, afraid of ghosts, the dark, and frightened. She is skilled in painting, like Ma Liang with his magic paintbrush, able to bring her paintings to life. In addition, she lacks a sense of security and dislikes socializing, so she always lives in her paintings, making her a portable homebody.

There's no need for excessive interpretation; the names have already been explicitly stated.

"I'm just testing the scripts of bad movie directors to see how much of it is genuine and how much is fake..."

In a clean and tidy room made entirely of wood, Bai Ying sat in the corner, leaning against the wooden wall, and explained very seriously.

"Oh……"

Xi's face was ashen: "Is this why you threw firecrackers into my house?"

“This is because of human curiosity and the desire to learn.” Bai Ying looked at the greatsword in the other person’s hand, which was wider than his thigh, bright red, and densely patterned like it was covered in scales. “The bad movie director described you in the script as a coward, sometimes pessimistic, sometimes nihilistic, sometimes pessimistic, afraid of sudden noises. I just wanted to investigate the truth of that…”

coward?

Xi's eyes twitched, her voice turning cold: "What a baseless slander! How good could that smug guy be? He's not only absurd in his daily life, but he also takes his past and writes it into a bunch of nonsensical stories!"

Hard!

"what?"

Bai Ying asked in surprise, "Although I don't know what that giant monster is, you've already won, right? And won big, right?"

"Of course." Xi nodded slightly. "What's wrong?"

Bai Ying: "You're afraid of things that are already dead, so you must be really afraid of ghosts. I've got an idea—we can include a death by being scared to death in the script!"

"..."

Xi was silent for a few seconds, then chuckled and raised the strange greatsword. It was ethereal like a cloud and as black as ink. Something that was neither gaseous nor liquid emanated from the sword and coiled around it as she raised it.

"You give me the counter!"

The sword was swung like ink splashed, an attack that was hard to tell whether it was sword energy or ink, splattering all over the wooden wall and staining the entire corner with spots of ink. The white figure had already disappeared, as if it had been driven out of the house by this attack.

Xi paused for a moment, then casually waved her hand, erasing all the splattered ink spots.

That feeling of kicking into empty air...

She took a step and disappeared into the wooden house. She stepped out of the painting hanging in the hotel room and immediately saw a white figure holding a firecracker in one hand and a lighter in the other, standing in front of the painting trying to throw a bomb.

"How did you get out?" Xi asked, somewhat surprised.

"Huh? Wasn't the door open?"

Bai Ying was also surprised, and gestured: "It's like the door was ajar, you were about to lose your temper, and I reached out and opened the door to come out—that kind of simple feeling?"

“This is my painting,” Xi said, frowning. “I didn’t kick you out, so why did you open the door and come out yourself?”

"Because I have superpowers?"

"You didn't use any power to break through the painting, did you?"

"how to say……"

Bai Ying stroked his chin: "Because it's drawn, it's fake. Since it's fake, it can be created naturally."

"Fake? You think you can just come out whenever you want?" Xi had a sour face, feeling that her skills had been insulted. "Hmph! I was just dragged out by that guy, and in my flustered state, I wasn't very serious when I painted this picture, so it's below par—dare to have another match with me?"

"Alright!" the white-clad figure exclaimed, "I won't compete!"

Xi narrowed her eyes and said disdainfully, "Scared?"

"Scared."

"Uh...?"

"Hey! Don't associate superpowers with being a good fighter! I only fight with my own superpowers, I don't have any of your weird and wonderful powers!"

"..."

"If you try to force me to compete, I'll tell your older brother on you. I'm an expert in this area!"

"You still say you don't have any superpowers?"

"No, it's just that your expression is too easy to understand."

She's a bit of a coward, too lazy to deal with troublesome things, but also very competitive.

The lighter in Bai Ying's hand clicked and emitted a flame.

“In that case, let’s add a prize to the competition,” Xi said after a moment’s thought. “I can draw a few illustrations for the second volume of your light novel for you for free…”

Why didn't you say so earlier?!

Ok?

Xi looked up and saw that the fuse of the firecracker had been lit and was rapidly shortening. Her expression changed, and she quickly disappeared into the painting.

A moment later, Xi reappeared in the hotel room, raising an eyebrow with interest, and said, "Is this what makes you special? That superpower?"

The Killer Queen silently released her grip, and the crooked firecracker casing fell to the ground after the explosion.

"You're useless. All you do is contradict me all day." Bai Ying waved her hand. Seeing that the Killer Queen didn't move, she decided to pull it back into her body. "I wish I had your superpower. My house would follow me around, and I wouldn't have to worry about where I live."

"In that case, let's add another prize. If you win, I can paint one for you."

Xi pouted and said, "But can you win?"

"Hmm? That's good! Bring it on!"

"Wait a minute," Xi said, raising an eyebrow. "You haven't made your bet yet, have you?"

Bai Ying asked in surprise, "You challenge me, and I'm going to offer a prize? Doesn't that mean you've challenged me for nothing?"

"Do you think I'm a fool who would be easily provoked and tricked into doing something for nothing?"

"Well, I'll offer a wager then, win or lose." Bai Ying thought for a moment and said, "The director of this lousy movie is currently rewriting the script and plans to pick a few brothers and sisters and kill them off in the story..."

"Ha, what kind of prize is this? That guy..." Xi was about to scoff when she suddenly paused, "My way of dying—I mean, that guy not only spread rumors that I'm a coward, but he's also planning to write that I was scared to death?!"

Bai Ying nodded and said, "The director of this bad movie said that they are all his brothers and sisters, and they must die in a way that is memorable, unforgettable, and unforgettable."

"#!"

Xi sneered, "Then let's add a wager—aren't you the screenwriter? You even came here to gather material for that guy. If you lose, you'd better find a way to rewrite the script and make that guy die in the story... um..."

Xi pondered and fell into distress.

Bai Ying pointed out: "If Lao Jiu, who is the representative of bad movie directors, wanted to at least die well before the final battle, he made a super spicy hot pot and ate it to his heart's content. Because it was too spicy, he insisted that it wasn't spicy, and ended up dying from the spiciness—isn't that the ultimate insult to bad movie directors?"

"You have a good idea, this is good."

Xi gave a word of approval, but her gaze suddenly turned strange.

"Isn't this your condition? Why do you look at me with such a condemning expression?" The white-clad figure shrugged, moving his arms and legs. "How are we supposed to compete?"

"Come and see if what I drew is real or fake."

Xi's lips curled up slightly: "What I draw with my heart is not..."

"You're fake."

The white figure suddenly spoke.

"...Your eyesight is passable, so let's begin!"

Xi revealed a calm smile, and her body suddenly disintegrated, turning into a mess of ink stains that splattered in all directions.

Where the ink falls, soil springs up; where the soil spreads, flowers, grass, and trees grow; where the ink rises into the air, it transforms into clouds; and as the sunlight pours down, the silhouette of a lone goose flashes by.

A scene of boundless spring beauty.

Bai Ying retorted, "If you let me stand on the sun with an endless sky below and an endless earth above, that would be more imaginative."

A glint of cold light suddenly refracted through the trees, and in the instant the white figure noticed it, an arrow was already approaching his left eye.

"If you want to scare people, you have to be afraid yourself first."

Bai Ying closed his left eye, ignoring the arrows, and pointed, saying, "I'm actually quite curious about what the monster that bad movie director talked about looks like. You should be able to draw it, right? How could something you're not afraid of scare me?"

Excellent! Of all the people I've ever met, you're the one who knows best how to provoke others!

Xi held no sword, but a writing brush. In the past, when she lived in seclusion, some people would occasionally enter her paintings and become unconsciously captivated by the artificial things she created. Every few days, she would enter the paintings to drive them out, and sometimes it got so annoying that she had to move...

Although it's quite annoying, the ability to make people addicted is a testament to the skill of painting—I refuse to believe that I can't paint something that makes you take it seriously!

Let me show you what it's like to conquer on the battlefield!

The deafening roars and howls, the corpses covering the yellow sand, and the billowing smoke from the beacon fires made even the midday sun appear dim.

"The flames of war rage across the land, chilling the air; swords and spears drip blood, threatening to sever souls. Alas, the nameless bones lie buried beneath the earth, yet they remain the dreams of those returning home."

Bai Ying watched several soldiers fighting. One soldier, not even sixteen years old and exceptionally thin, gripped his spear tightly with a twisted expression. He had just stabbed another equally young enemy soldier to death, but because he used too much force, he couldn't pull the weapon out. Suddenly, a knife slashed at the junction of his shoulder and neck. His eyes were somewhat dazed. The next moment, he was kicked to the ground. The knife that had cut into his neck twitched wildly and nervously, as if it could quickly take his life.

However, this actually made his death slower and more painful.

“You remember this scene very clearly, right? The farmer’s child took up a weapon and went to kill another poor stranger. He didn’t even know what it meant; someone just said that this was the right thing to do.”

I was living a peaceful life in seclusion in the mountains when I woke up to find a war raging right outside my door. I remember it clearly, but there's nothing I can do about it.

With a flick of her pen, the battlefield scenery vanished, and a rain of banknotes began to fall from the sky. I refuse to believe it…

“Um…” the white-clad figure asked curiously, “How long has it been since you last bought anything? Mobile payment is popular now, cash is not.”

The rain of banknotes turned into a shower of gold leaves.

"Wait! Don't you understand the financial industry? Gold shops and banks won't accept gold without a provenance, and they might even call the police! What era are you from? Are you the kind of old fogey who's going to die young like the troupe leader? Even the troupe leader knows how to keep up with the times and replace performance equipment, but you probably don't even know what money looks like!"

I can draw everything I eat, wear, live in, and travel. You have a problem with that?!

Xi gripped the pen, her face cold as she scattered the rain of golden leaves, and quickly wielded the pen again.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, golden wheat fields stretch out, the plump ears of wheat weighing down the stalks. The autumn wind blows, carrying the fragrance of wheat. Farmers walking among the fields are harvesting, and this year is clearly a bumper harvest.

“A good harvest is a good thing, but you don’t think the farmers are happy, do you?” Bai Ying clicked her tongue, determined to find fault. “So many kinds of ordinary life begin out of necessity. Outsiders can only watch the show, and the bittersweet taste is only felt by the people involved. If you want me to be happy, you might as well paint a picture of a little kid stepping in dog poop and the adults laughing out loud.”

Bai Ying added, "Besides, although they are harvesting wheat, judging from their clothing, appearance, and the uniformly divided wheat fields, they should be tenant farmers, working hard to fill the landlord's granary. Of course, it's true that they are happy. Times have changed. In a good year, at least they don't have to worry about not being able to pay rent, then owing money, and then being burdened by compounding interest. That's something to be happy about—how long has it been since you've been out for a stroll?"

The surrounding environment suddenly changed back to the appearance of the hotel.

Bai Ying asked with interest, "Planning to admit defeat? Admitting defeat is also acceptable if you lose half..."

A Mai Sakurajima appeared, looking around with interest: "Black Fan, what weird thing are you doing now?"

"Um……"

Bai Ying said speechlessly, "Hey, you drawing expert, look at your drawing of the Hero Plus—you've seen her a few times, haven't you? Out of a new outfit every day, you actually chose the thickest one. Who do you think you are? At least change those casual pants into black stockings!"

Mai Sakurajima's image blurred slightly, as if out of frame, and her casual pants instantly transformed into white stockings, likely from a source material library she created while illustrating light novels.

"Wow! That's a bit novel, but nothing special. Have you ever heard of a bunny girl?"

"..."

"I don't think I've heard of it."

Bai Ying shook his head and said, "You think this will make me obsessed? You old fogey, don't underestimate lust!"

Perhaps she had angered the drawing expert, because a Toyohama Kazuka suddenly appeared next to Sakurajima Mai. She was wearing warm black stockings and walked over with a smile on her face.

"Incomprehensible!"

Bai Ying shouted, "What kind of fourth-rate stick figure is this?! Where is that expression of disgust mixed with fondness?! Where is that look of someone who doesn't like to make eye contact and habitually looks away?! It's one thing to fail to accurately capture the character's charm, but you're even unwilling to give her a new outfit!"

There was no response. Mai Sakurajima and Kazuka Toyohama walked over together, laughing and holding hands, their faces beaming with joy.

"It must be said that comparison does indeed highlight the charm..."

The white figure rubbed his hands together, walked up with a cheerful smile, and said with a strange tone, "Hehehe—I'm going to do something weird to you~"

"Hey, hater~" Sakurajima Mai smiled sweetly, "Who do you think you like more, me or Kazuka?"

Feng Bin and Hua were stunned for a moment, their lips moved but they swallowed their words back, and they squinted at the white figure.

"It's okay! I have two hands, I can use both of them to do lewd things..."

Bai Ying stretched out her hands and urged, "Come, come, this mere old-fashioned painter, I'll just embrace her on both sides, my heart is as pure as ice, I'll make her furious and lose big time!"

Mai Sakurajima and Kazuka Toyohama each extended a hand.