Between the numerous System notifications that were finally starting to clear out and the implications of what he's learned, Shen Yuan felt dizzy.
He can tell that the other Shen Qingqiu is absolutely serious about marching over to Yue Qingyuan and murdering him. He had averted the initial crisis but now he had prevent a crime from happening while trying to wrap his head around the fact that, apparently, a person named Shen Yuan, who was also potentially him, had existed in some other world. And was brothers with Shen Jiu.
Did that mean there were other versions of himself who read the same novel but ended up in different places and in different bodies? He had been making shit up on the fly when he had told the Original Goods that he had escaped the Qiu and was pretending to be Shen Jiu, but for all he knew, it might have been true after all. It made something in his stomach squirm to think that a version of himself might have been the one to hurt Binghe.
Before he could continue to contemplate this, Shen Qingqiu-- that was confusing-- Shen Jiu shook him gently by the shoulders.
"A-Yuan, get your head out of the clouds. I can't believe you still do this, how have you gotten this far?" The other peered at him closely, identical green eyes flicking between his own. Despite his frown, Shen Yuan could tell he looked worried. With a lowered voice, he asked, "You look pale. Is it System again?"
Shen Yuan blinked. Wait, was Shen Jiu also another transmigrator? How did he know about the System?!
----
"You're not me, are you?" the other Shang Qinghua casually asked with a small smile. His eyes were dead. "I can tell. You're someone else."
"I don't know what you mean." Shang Qinghua smiled back, though he was pretty sure he was glaring daggers at the other. He did not come this far to have his cover blown by this slimy version of himself! He had to strike first. "Hm, how's your friend? The one from the North."
His alternate's self's smile dropped immediately. It gradually returned when he said, "Like you don't know." He smirked. "Come now, Feng-er. You and I both know that you've always followed in your gege's footsteps. This is no different."
Shen Qingqiu was doomed.
He stood still, fluttering his fan nervously and trying to avoid catching his counterpart's, the real Shen Qingqiu, glaring eyes from across the room. Instead, he idly observed the other Cang Qiong Mountain Peak Lords, trying to spot the differences between the ones he knew and their alternates.
Liu Qingge had brought back a strange artifact from one of his hunts to the monthly Peak Lord meeting. It was a mirror, rimmed an ugly tarnished gold, topped with a decoration that was shaped into an unidentifiable creature with ruby red eyes.
[Important Artifact Detected: Red-Eyed Sphinx's Mirror! Quest starting...]
Shen Qingqiu had been trying to remember where it might have appeared in PIDW when the surface of the mirror suddenly began to glow a dull yellow. It quickly brightened until it obscured everyone's vision.
And then, there stood another set of peak lords across the room, facing them down.
System, what on earth is going on???
[Quest started: Lost Long Spirit in My Reflection! Other characters have been transported to this universe. Host must find a way to send them back without revealing his identity as a transmigrator.]
WTF? I didn't agree to this!
[Good luck!]
System??? Get back here!
While the two Yue Qingyuans and Xu Qinglis conversed together to try to understand what had happened, the other peak lords had begun to mingle with each other, curious about their counterparts.
Shen Qingqiu tried to suppress his panic, sticking close to Shang Qinghua. His Yue Qingyuan occasionally flicked his softened gaze towards the alternate Shen Qingqiu, likely noticing that the other still acted as he used to before his qi deviation. In fact, several of the peak lords he had gotten to know over the years were sending some looks at the other Shen Qingqiu.
With the original goods right there, how long would it be before something exposed him as a fraud?? What if he was confronted about why he acted so differently?
[Host must avoid having his identity exposed. Being revealed as a transmigrator will result in Host being immediately sent back to his old body.]
Yeah, yeah, same shit as always!
Looking to his side, Shang Qinghua seemed to be experiencing the same threats, desperately looking away from the more dead-eyed Shang Qinghua across the room who, luckily, was barely paying him any attention.
Fuck, what do we do?
---
Shen Qingqiu continued to glare at the Other Shen Qingqiu in the room. The other Shen Qingqiu was so obviously a fraud, he could tell within minutes of being here. While his alternate seemed somewhat familiar, he didn't act like him at all, his mannerisms were all off, and despite the attempt at keeping a poker face, Shen Qingqiu could tell that he was nervous. Probably at being caught out.
His alternate self had likely been replaced with a bodysnatcher or some sort of spirt, if they truly were supposed to be the same person. Was everyone else stupid, or had they had their brains sucked out by a Heart Mouthed Lobster-Squid?
Or maybe they simply like the bodysnatcher better and didn't bother to investigate.
Shen Qingqiu's face became stormier, turning his glare to the Other Yue Qingyuan, wondering if he had felt happier once his precious Xiao-Jiu had vanished. The other Yue Qingyuan's face grew even more pathetic. Tch. Typical.
"That stupid System--" Shen Qingqiu nearly snapped his neck in looking at the bodysnatcher upon hearing his murmur. The fraud, upon noticing his sudden attention, clammed back up and looked away. But Shen Qingqiu knew what he heard.
Xi Tong.
He hadn't heard those words in years, not since--
He stepped forward, scanning the other once more. Upon a second, more thorough look, Shen Qingqiu realized that he grew more familiar. He wore his hair in the way that Shen Qingqiu wore it, but looser and less severe. His eyes were clearer and lighter, with hints of a smile, despite his nerves. He occasionally quickly glanced up and to his left, as if seeing something there, before bringing his attention back to the room at large.
No. It couldn't be. He was long dead, despite Shen Qingqiu's best efforts. Even if the fake had some similar things about him, that doesn't mean--
Shen Jiu had once had a brother, besides Qi-ge. Slightly smaller than him, despite the fact that Shen Jiu passed him along as much food as he could when on the streets. He smiled so much despite their circumstances, and was so kind despite Shen Jiu constantly telling him that he was making himself a target. But he looked so, so similar to Shen Jiu himself. They could have switched their clothes and looked exactly the same, if one didn't notice the difference in their demeanors.
His brother has also always been a little odd, talking to himself and arguing with an imaginary friend that only he could see named Xi Tong. One of the reasons that they survived as long as they did on the streets was due to the inexplicable knowledge that his brother seemed to have. Somehow, his brother knew about the various plants or small animals that they could hunt and sell for a pretty coin in the markets. Shen Jiu never asked, not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
But his brother was dead. He had died years ago, in the time during when they were in Qiu's manor. During a punishment for Shen Jiu's attempt to get them both to join Wu Yanzi; he had switched their clothes and taken Shen Jiu's place and died for it. That had been the final catalyst that made him set the manor ablaze and escape, mourning his brother's death as his fault for daring to be free. Cursing Qi-ge for not coming back for them.
Dazed and his vision dim, Shen Jiu took another step forward, and another. Hope, something he thought he had killed off long ago, slowly rose in his chest.
Had his brother survived in this world? Had he managed to escape alongside Shen Jiu? Or had Shen Jiu died in his place? Dimly, he can't help but think that the world would be far kinder if that were the case. If his brother had made it to Cang Qiong Mountain and became a peak lord all on his own and still managed to keep his smile. If he didn't have Shen Jiu dragging him down with him.
The other Shen Qingqiu, not having noticed his approach, laughed at something the other Shang Qinghua said ("Wonder if Shang Qinghua is a traitor here, too," Shen Jiu thought dimly). His laugh was the same. He rose his fan to hide his face, but Shen Jiu noticed how his nose crinkled, and his eyes nearly closed in delight, exactly like--
"A-Yuan?"
Whatever shall we do, Shizun?! 🥺🥺🥺
That one 1 chapter wip fic with shen yuan transmigrating as wen yuan lives rent free in my head but HEAR ME OuT
Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua co-wrote mdzs in svsss dimension, they where attacked by a plot device, they ended up as children in yilling post sunshot
I’ll make it better for myself and say sqh was the first hit so he’s toddler aged and sy is like 9 yo
They feel responsible for the plot so they’re gonna mess things up, it would be easier if the husbands showed up for them to get back at being adults with a true love hug or something but they’ll make do
(it’s not like it’ll change things for them to save the blorbo r they condemned, it’s not the same dimension yk)
They end up in the burial mounds with the wen and wwx, sqh tries to fix their money problems … poor guy is having a hard time communicating bc of the lisp, he is younger them a-yuan and he hates it
Sy and sqh still do the classic clown to clown communication characteristic to people who are soulmates, so sy always translates his babbling and wwx is 60% sure sy is the child genius who just wants to make his yapping brother look useful
The adults are under the impression they are helping street children running away from a abusive home (they were still hurt from the plot device fight when they first met) Shen yuan was very clear they are cultivators and adults who are under a curse… neither wen Qing nor Wei Ying could find anything tho so clearly this and the talking about husbands taking too long are clearly children stories made up by too smart traumatized children
Cumplane talking about all the resources they could get for wwx for him to work with, clearly one of the steps for heabilitating his image enough is to make other want to buy his stuff… Shen yuan is them educating wwx about the properties of beast parts and magical wood and all kind of stuff, wwx humors him and also has a lot of fun and even some inspiration with the stuff he’s hearing tbh
They are now convinced the children are from cultivation families tho… they get too many things right not to be.
It’s ok, they’re already hated anyway, being accused of stealing some secret genius from a clan won’t really do that much sem age to their security
Cumplane also discuss what they could do to help wn, if the husbands get there before he awakes a fierce copse theyd have a easier time but there are options if they come after
Wen Qing overhears and is Concerned the children will try to play with guidao, she talks to wwx about it and they start to put up all kind of obstacles for them to stop to get into wy’s research… which are easily circumvent by spy sqh… they are being defeated by a toddler… he even convinced a-yuan to help being a distraction
They should not be put to play with a yuan, but they are
sy ends up criticizing a-yuans stories or giving him ideas about monster too gruesome for a baby… which doesn’t upset him but makes him say random weird stuff when playing (like a reveal that the hero was a secret unicorn-water-rat who feed from friendship) sqh is in a small body and he is tired so his playing is mostly playing dead and them fierce corpse once he is too tired to run around, which happens really quickly (unfortunately this could make baby ayuan associate fierce corpse with playmates… a dangerous assumption to have in the burial mounds)
Okok and the husbands?
The day of the yilling date goes much the same bc no one wants the run away kids to be seen, which is good bc cumplane is trying to set up some array to help contain wn away from the others once he goes into a rage ( they already did it the one other time wwx went in town with a-yuan but they do have to reactivate it)
Things happen, wen Ning gets his consciousness back, cumplane is Anxious bc they don’t have many ways to really change fate being toddlers, without their resources and what if their husbands can’t show up?? What if this curse will just make they live to the end of the mdzs plot and in svsss time haven’t moved??, maybe mobing don’t even know they’re not where they’re supposed to be…
They’ll have to work with plan b them, arranged marriage fix it it is
Which means they already convinced a confused lwj to stay for dinner and are now trying to matchmake terribly when Binghe and Mobei show up in the middle of the settlement, both terrifyingly demonic and just as wangxian is starting to fight them binghe sees sy running to him and goes “Shizun!! 🥺🥺😭”
Everyone dumbfounded by the demon crying all over a magically re-aging shen yuan just for them to look to the back and see adult sqh sitting on his husband lap, who’s just… clutching him and kind of trembling
Turns out the only lie the kids told was by omitting that they were married to demons from another realm…
And them binghe ofc has his emergency qiankun bag with all the stuff he hoards (bc without xin mo he needs to always be prepared duh)
And they do the fix-it by refurbishing the burial mounds with all kinds of defense, gives wwx all kinds of tools and money and resources, give all the warnings about the Jin’s exact machinations and weaknesses and start a whisper campaign to both clean up the wen and wwx’s reputation
Which will end of course with wwx purifying the burial mounds, he doesn’t even need the dead anymore cause now he can not only demonic cultivate fr (got tips from demons themselves) but also they gave him a way to recultivate a core and made lwj responsible for helping with that (ofc its papapa)
NOW YOURE TALKING!!!
what kind of outfits does he die in? Nice suit? Royal regalia? Maybe he can also have a giant chicken costume, just to be able to pull out. If I were him, after all the existential horror, I would want a giant chicken costume
Danny Phantom idea/thought:
Lots of DP fics operate on the "the clothes you die in are your ghost clothes" idea; it's why Danny's always in his hazmat suit.
But if we combine this with immortal!Danny, specifically the idea that he can die but he always comes back (like in Love, Death and Nightingales by corkinavoid), then Danny could have multiple death outfits.
Cue Danny deliberately dying in cool outfits to unlock a better Ghostly Wardrobe™ (this could be comedy/crack or angst as Danny basically self harms to get the aesthetic).
(LD&N link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60932041 )
luo binghe is already airplane’s thinly veiled self insert, i wonder how things would go if he had transmigrated into luo binghe while shen yuan still transmigrates into shen qingqiu. the cumplane lover in me says they’d figure out the transmigration thing much faster and end up working together, but i also think it would be funny if sy’s love for “lbh” gets called into question bc he does NOT remember bingge being such an obnoxious little shit, meanwhile airplane!binghe is purposefully being increasingly disobedient bc why tf is the scum vilain being nice to him? like sure he's still snappish and mean, but he hasn't hit him or made him chop wood even once what is going on what is happening to his story his characters???
Wait till the end!!
“ Todoroki should’ve folded your ass!!”
okay this legit FUCKS!
need to get this idea out about Shang Qinghua being an actual god/deity lmao
okay, so we all know that Shen Qingqiu's system has Luo Binghe as its power source and shut down when he was in another dimension right?
and that Shang Qinghua transmigrated before Luo Binghe's parents even met each other, but his system was still active, albeit less so because it was before the plot and he was a side character.
what if Shang Qinghua's system used him as a power source to run not just itself, but the entire world of SVSSS/PIDW?
I mean, the guy was transmigrated as a baby, and he's had a lot of time to butterfly effect things in ways he probably didn't even try. and since the System's main goal seems to be fixing/improving the core story for the audience's entertainment, it potbelly had to nudge a lot of stuff back into place to ensure the core plot was still recognizable.
it would make sense as to why Shang Qinghua's system was a lot more emotionless, infrequent, and stingy with points than Shen Qingqiu's system and why it was more restrictive in certain ways with Shang Qinghua.
it could be a cool concept that as the happy ending was reached and the System stepped back, Shang Qinghua slowly got more control over his world and storyline. he proudly wouldn't even notice at first, with all of the work and information he has to deal with in both realms. it would start off small with him just knowing certain things about the quality of goods a merchant was trying to sell his King, thinking he read it somewhere in his mountain of paperwork. then it could escalate into 'remembering' specific details about the lives and dynamics of side characters' families and relationships that he doesn't actually remember writing down, but obviously he must have of he knows that the 3rd sister of the Hé family hates tanghulu because she chocked on one as a child. And then that would snowball into him actually having prophetic abilities and the power to alter fate.
it would also be pretty interesting if the world itself obviously favored him, like flowers moving to face him if he meditated in the same spot for a few hours, birds and other wildlife generally being friendly or non hostile, the wind carrying his humming to the ears of those who are down in their luck, ancient and extremely rare treasures and artifacts really wanting him as their wielder, other divine or mythical beings that are able to tell something is off about Shang Qinghua but can't tell what because of the System, and other people not noticing him because he really really doesn't want them to.
just, Deity Shang Qinghua that doesn't know that he's a deity lol
Sqh was actually super scary to a lot people because he constantly says things he shouldn't know, like someone's birthday when they never mentioned it or talk about their family like he knows them. He also tends to pop up randomly, and jump scaring everyone. When he stares at them, it feels like he's looking into their soul. He was creepy like a doll in the sense that he shouldn't be scary, but none the less gives off a nasty aura.
Passing the baton
Anyone who's ever done anything creative needs to fucking see this.