Epic of Caterpillar

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Another boring day.

I wake up from my bed, it seems that the cold is now gone completely.

I guess it was never anything to worry about.

Who would ever die of a cold anyways.

And well… yeah.

The weird dreams.

But they were nothing but dreams anyways.

I should just… forget about them.

But for some odd reason, they feel so real.

Haahh…

My father was right then?

I am suffering from some cases of schizophrenia.

Should I tell them?

No… I do not want them to worry about me.

After all, if it's all dreams and things that do not affect others, it shouldn't be a danger to them…

Today I gotta get to work.

Good thing the hours are flexible, I can get there at 1 pm simply fine.

I quickly take a shower and greet my parents as I have some quick breakfast.

"Take care dear," said my mother, as I left the house in a hurry.

I might bring them something they like to eat from there.

I walk through the streets.

Well, this is japan I guess.

My country.

Not… The Dark Moon Kingdom or anything.

Why did I even expect that to be the world when I got out of the house?

It's all the same anyways.

I walk through the streets and I see them.

A group of four thugs.

They are nothing much, they usually don't assault people, they're just like to gather around.

Maybe they assault people at night?

Well, not like I care.

"Haha, look, there goes the neet," said one of them, laughing.

"Hey, neet, when are you stopping living with your parents?"

"What a loser, honestly…"

Three of them yell at me but I ignore them.

This happens very often.

But why would they even know I am a neet, to begin with?

Well, they used to be my classmates years ago.

I became a neet with a shitty part-time job while they became street thugs.

I guess we all got our dose of shit in life.

The four guys, a tanned and slim man with blonde hair glares at me.

He usually drops the biggest insults…

But he is oddly silent now.

Weird.

Well, whatever.

I walk through the streets and get into the mini market, empty as ever.

There, the previous worker greets me.

"Ah, you're here…" he said, as I surprised him by reading some questionable adult magazines.

He does not seem to mind it though, as he just keeps looking at them until I put on the clothes for the minimarket.

"Alright, gotta go now, see ya," he said, getting out of the minimarket and walking back home… with the magazine in his hand.

This guy works all night, while I work all day.

Well, there are more people on the weekends of course.

But this is usually how I do things.

Well, I only work three days a week, and the pay is decent to buy most things I want, as long as I am careful.

I live with my parents and the house is already bought, so there is not anything to pay other than the usual water, electricity, and internet bills.

Nothing we cannot handle.

Ah well, the food too.

But I can bring food from here.

Of course, they discount it from my salary, but I get a discount.

Yeah, everything is pretty okay in my life.

I might be a neet but I still work!

Now I sit and just wait for someone to come to buy something.

I check my phone and read some other novels, new manga adaptations of novels I have read, or watch videos about animals or stuff.

Ah man, finally they are adapting the spider isekai to an anime.

Tomorrow is the first episode.

I cannot wait…

Some people come in, buy stuff, pay, and go for hours to come.

Until around 6 pm, when the thug group gets in.

They go around and buy some cigars.

"Yo neet, give us some discount," said one.

"I can't, they will discount it off my salary," I said.

"So what? Do you think we care?" said another.

"Do you want me to call the police?" I asked.

"Hah? Are you calling the police on us now, fucktard?" asked a third.

"Hey, cut it off," said the fourth, the blonde guy, as he puts the money on the desk, takes the cigars, and leaves with the rest.

"Aniki, why are you letting this neet intimidate us?!" asked one.

"Cut it off already, we got some stuff to do…" said the blonde guy, as the dudes shut up when he glared at them.

Well, that was that.

Usually, it never gets too serious anyways.

I shrug it off, as dealing with thugs is part of the work.

I take some chicken broth flavored potato chips and some cold green tea drink, and I enjoy a snack until it's noon, the guy that gets to work at night finally shows up, it is a girl this time.

I greet her and leave.

Tomorrow is a free day, as I work everyone day, with the weekend for free, though the days I do not work I do not get paid obviously.

But it still pretty ok.

I walk back home on a cold night, I brought some stuff for my parents.

Hmm, maybe we could see some movie together or something if they are still awake.

On the way, I get surprised by the thugs in the corner of the streets again.

"Hey, the neet is here," said one.

"Ah, so here he is," said a second.

"Hey fucktard, remember what you said earlier?" asked a third.

The three approaches me, the fourth, the blonde one, does not seem to be with them today.

I instinctively walk back some steps, I might have to run away and take another route home.

"Where are you going fucker?" asked another, as the three begin to chase me down.

Are you fucking kidding me?

They are actually going to beat me down…

Fucking hell.

I run as fast as I can, but my body is limp and weak because I do not exercise.

They are about to catch me.

I stumble into another route and end up getting myself into a dead end.

What a cliché.

Well, they do not seem to carry weapons, so maybe I should just get into a fetal position and wait for them to beat me up?

Not like I have not gone through this shit before, all of my childhood, in fact.

"Here he is!"

"Beat the shit out of him!"

"Here you go, you fucking loser!"

I get protect my face and head as they kick my body for around five minutes straight.

It hurts like hell, but I think nothing was broken.

They watch me as I pathetically struggle in the ground.

"Yeah, that's a better look,"

"I like him more now that he is in the ground like a bug,"

"You better not fuck around with us again, did you hear me?"

"…"

They laugh it off and run away.

I sigh.

I stand back up and walk back home.

Everything is just, as usual, I guess.

…

I get to my home, as I find my parents watching tv in their room, I take a quick warm bath, the wounds are nothing big, to be honest.

The warm water calms the tension in the muscles, and I am just as new.

As I walk back to my room, I sit in the bed.

I cannot help but think about the dream.

I have tried pretty hard to forget about it.

To focus on something else.

I cannot.

I simply cannot.

And it gets odd and odder as I think about it.

I sigh.

I check around my phone as usual.

There is not any new chapter…

The other novel stopped too, of course.

I try to read anything else in the Webnovel app, but most of it is pretty cringy.

The number 1 novel is something name the 'Merciless Demon God System' bullcrap.

But the audience loves this.

It's the story about an edgy kid that gets a pendant and becomes a demon or something, and he's completely insane, so he kills people and is very edgy all around.

The story seems to be a copy of another webnovel named 'My Vampire King System'…

But I guess the audience does not even care if it is a copy.

I search around but nothing…

In the end, I give up and close the app.

But I cannot help but think more and more about the dream.

I close my eyes, as I fall asleep out of exhaustion.

…

I open my eyes as I find myself elsewhere.

Where is this place now?

Ah…

The same hall.

The same as the dream?!

Does this mean that I can get back here every time I dream?

Or maybe… it is just a coincidence…

Maybe my brain wants me to be happy, so it produces this.

I glance around, but I do not see anyone.

Then, I try to walk, as it seems that things are not disintegrating… yet.

I walk through the hall, and I see once more that my body is that of Kireina.

Why Kireina though? Can't I be a side character?

Well, that all the events in the story are so oddly familiar to me means that I see Kireina as an avatar of sorts.

So odd.

I get out of the castle, as I see a ruined city.

Everything is destroyed, nothing stands anymore.

The beautiful buildings crumble into pieces, as millions of corpses cover the landscape.

I see above the sky, as the moon shines in bright red.

This is fucking horrible.

Why am I seeing this?

I glare around, but I find nothing.

I fly over the city, and then I see them.

Not only the corpses of the common people…

But the corpses of all of Kireina's family.

Her wives, children, friends, allies…

All of them in the ground, some… died more horribly than others.

Even the young and cute daughters… Even the little Vudia…

All of them lay in the ground, dead.

Below them, there is an enormous river of blood.

This…

I know that this is not real.

I know that these are just fictional characters…

But I cannot help but feel sorrow.

I…

It hurts so much…

Why?

Am I suffering the same as Kireina?

They are all dead…

What can I do?

I can't… do anything at all.

I kneel as I begin to cry warm tears, I slowly close the eyes of the ones that died with them wide open, as the sorrow in my heart never stops for a moment.

I feel like I want to die as well, and join them…

But this is a mere dream…

I have to wake up from this.

Wake up…

Wake up!

…Why?

Why can't I wake up?

This dream…

Is odd…

Are these corpses…

Real?

No…

Impossible.

This is all but my imagination, it cannot possibly be real life.

I walk around in circles, thinking about what to do.

The moon shines brightly in crimson red, it is as if time had stopped.

I glare around, as I find something within the sky.

A small figure.

What?

Who is that?

I instinctively step back…

I run away, as it chases me.

The small figure seems to know exactly where I am.

I keep running away, but it gets closer and closer.

And then I see it…

Eh?

A bee… girl?

Wait, this character… its Quinn, right?

Wasn't this just a Divine Beast girl?

I think Kireina had thought that it might be the bee she killed at first, but she never got to know…

And that was it.

What does she want?

And why is she alive?

Didn't everyone die?

"So you're here too… Could you not run away?" she says, with the voice of a little girl.

"What…? Who… are you?" I asked.

"Eh? You really do not remember me? Unbelievable… You've been completely absorbed?" she asked.

"No… I remember you, I remember everyone… But it all feels fictional… You are not real, right? You're all just dreams…" I say.

"Dreams? Is that what your life is to you? Neet, wake up already, you got a lot of stuff to do…" she said.

"Stuff to do…?" I asked.

"Yeah! I was also immersed in this dream because our souls are connected somehow…! I cannot believe you were the actual neet from back then! Man… What a weird situation," she said.

I do not get it, what is she even talking about?

And why does she speaks like a street thug?

"Eh? What?" I ask.

"I guess it's time to do my thing… Man, you gotta be very grateful for me and the perverted old men that touched my soul and gave me all this power…" she said.

"Your thing? Old men?" I asked… I don't even know what she is talking about!

"How hard is it for you to believe that everything is real?! It is not a dream, fucktard! You actually died from that cold, and you were reincarnated here, in Genesis! You have to wake up from this illusion, or do you want all of this to actually become real?!" said Quinn.

It was not a dream?

No…

This is impossible.

I cannot… believe this at all!

"Sheesh…" said Quinn, as she approached me and touched my forehead with her tiny finger.

Suddenly, glowing white energy emerges from her, encompassing me entirely.

Information rushes into my mind, as my consciousness finally comes back.

The entire dream crumbles, as I and Quinn are teleported elsewhere.

A large white hall, in the middle of eternal darkness.

There, a humanoid figure made entirely out of white light sits on a throne glaring at us.

It was all a dream!

How can I… holy shit.

Was this the power of the Fragment of the Origin Core? No way…

I almost completely believed that everything was never real…

But now, I know the identity of Quinn…

"This is really some kind of strange plot twist," I admit.

"Yeah, I can't shrug it off easily… well, here he is," said Quinn, pointing at the humanoid figure that stands.

"Who is that?" I asked.

"That guy is the personification of the Origin Core Fragment. You could call him a clone of the World's Will too…" said Quinn.

A clone… of the World's Will?!

"To think that you would free yourself from my powers… A few more seconds in that Illusion World and I would have been able to absorb you… I never calculated that an external force would come to your rescue… What a pity…" it said, with the voice of an old man.

"Brace yourself, neet! We are about to beat the shit out of this guy!" said Quinn.

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