[You slump in their arms. Only now, seeing their faces, do you realize you still hold some place in their hearts.]
[You did many unforgivable things to them, but in the end, it was mostly emotional deception.]
[Did you truly hurt them physically? Hard to say. But at least the panic on their faces as they wipe the blood from your seven orifices proves they still care.]
[Herta and Ruan Mei never imagined the one who'd wielded such overwhelming power for them would collapse like a fragile mortal.]
[The tyrant who'd treated them as toys is gone. In his place is a man who shielded them from every danger—and who now lies utterly helpless.]
[Especially Herta; despite all the ways you'd humiliated her, there's no joy in seeing you fall. Only fear.]
[Now that she finally understands what you did, she realizes it was all for her and Ruan Mei.]
[Understanding and forgiving are different things, but in this moment of life and death, her hatred is dissolving fast.]
[You lie there with an empty head.]
[With the battle over, the magic you gained from your shattered trait is drying up.]
[You finally realize that, with all the wisdom you stole given back to Herta, your dull brain was never meant to handle magic.]
[Without the magic propping you up, your brain would have broken long ago.]
[Even now, your mind is full of scars; it just lasted this long because the magic kept patching it together.]
[Now, with your magic dispersing, the damage to your brain is exposed at last.]
Jing Ye's eye twitched. He'd known something was off the moment the Simulator kept insisting "using magic and returning wisdom has no side effects."
So it had been lying to him.
Lying to trick Herta was one thing. But lying to him too?
Still, the simulation was almost over. Complaining now was pointless.
Dying in their arms, without giving them time to repay him or truly settle accounts…
That was a pretty good stain to leave behind, in its own way.
Let Herta and Ruan Mei regret him forever inside this Villain Simulator—that was a delightful kind of evil too.
He couldn't help wondering if the fully awakened Herta might turn him into some kind of star-rage crystal to get revenge after all this.
The Simulator continued:
[The newly empowered Herta checks your injuries with magic and quickly understands the problem.]
[Neither she nor Ruan Mei can comprehend how someone with your flimsy body could have wielded such power in the first place.]
[Right now, though, they don't have time to solve that puzzle. Your brain damage is far too severe.]
[If they don't act quickly, you will die.]
[Herta gives everything she has to try and repair your brain, but aside from you, no one understands your structure well enough to fix it.]
[Without your own magic maintaining it, even Herta is helpless.]
[You lie there in their arms, eyelids growing heavier, voices fading away.]
[Herta and Ruan Mei's faces blur. In the haze, it seems like they're crying.]
[These two who used to hate you so much—two women you humiliated and betrayed—are crying for you.]
[Your cruel little heart is once again satisfied. You smile happily.]
[Listening to their faint cries to wake up, you close your eyes.]
[Congratulations on surviving to the ending.]
[Simulation complete. You are awarded two trait draws.]
Seeing the Villain Simulator shower him with congratulations, Jing Ye let out a long breath.
Herta and Ruan Mei really were incredibly "soft." Actually playing through all of that had been strangely cathartic—but uncovering the dungeon's secrets was exhausting.
Who knew the Simulator would give such an intricate backstory to "big Herta"?
Not that it mattered in reality.
He joked to himself: he could just go ask her if he'd ever "played" with her, right?
He turned his gaze to the rewards.
As the trait roulette spun, he glanced back at the fully shattered "Light-Fingered."
Something like "Equivalent Exchange," a trait that traded evil for power, would be ideal.
Something like "Quad Break in One Second," which let him see flaws at a glance, would be nice too.
Even a support trait like "Light-Fingered" had been helpful.
Instead, what he saw was—
"Six-Ingredient Vitality Pill"?
He stared as the Simulator stopped on two traits:
["Silver Tongue" (B+). Evolved from the host's previous "experimental methods" on Herta and Ruan Mei.]
[Your speaking skills are especially refined. You can easily deceive and entice even noble young ladies.]
[Other potential effects: to be discovered by the host.]
The "other potential effects" clearly weren't very wholesome. After so many simulations, Jing Ye had a pretty good idea of what this trait was meant for.
A detailed B-rank, indeed.
The second trait drew his ire:
["Six-Ingredient Vitality Pill" (B+). Weakness sometimes comes from overwork and fatigue.]
[To help the host stay alive in future dungeons and daily life, this trait will replenish your physical energy in time.]
[With "Six-Ingredient Vitality Pill," no matter how much you're tied up and "pressed," you won't have to worry.]
Jing Ye glared at the Villain Simulator. Was this necessary?
Putting aside the fact that he was clearly the one doing the "tying and pressing" here, wasn't this "Vitality Pill" basically an insult to his physical abilities?
Had the Simulator not watched his simulations? Did it not see what he'd put Herta and Ruan Mei through?
Stacking the two of them together still wouldn't wear him out in three days and three nights, let alone require this nonsense.
He completely dismissed "Six-Ingredient Vitality Pill."
As for "Silver Tongue," he'd just treat it as a way to exercise his speech.
Beyond its dubious uses, it would probably come in handy in future dungeons in other ways too.
Like tricking some innocent, curious rich girl into following him wholeheartedly when he only wanted to steal her body, for example.
From prior experience, Jing Ye had noticed a pattern: every trait the Simulator gave him turned out to be a Chekhov's gun.
If the gun appeared in the first act, it would definitely be fired in the third.
Since it had specifically mentioned "Silver Tongue," it would surely matter later.
As for that vitality supplement, he refused to believe he'd ever need it.
He had absolute confidence in his stamina. There wasn't a woman alive who could wear him down.
He shot the Simulator a resentful look for its "good intentions."
But to his surprise, even after the story reached its conclusion and the rewards were handed out, the Villain Simulator still didn't exit the "Herta's Tears" dungeon.
It seemed bent on showing him the "aftertaste" of the story—a "bonus scene" that played right after the moment he collapsed in their arms.
The Villain Simulator was learning. Instead of crudely threatening Herta like before, it was now replaying Herta and Ruan Mei's sad "epilogue," like it wanted to savor their grief.
Apparently, him dying in their arms without giving them time to settle the score had really seared itself into their hearts.
Smirking, Jing Ye rubbed his hands together, eager to see the traces he'd left on them show up again and again in their future lives.
Dying in a woman's arms, leaving her sobbing and full of regret for the rest of her days—yes, that was the finest flavor.
However—
[You did not die.]
Wait, what?
The very first line of the "bonus" made Jing Ye blink.
The Simulator wasn't giving him a dead ending.
He didn't die?
How could he not die?
He'd already prepared to accept the title "Jail Jing," to have his name hung on the wall as a permanent stain and regret in their hearts.
He'd been ready to become their black moonlight, the villain they could never forget—and now it was saying he lived?
That ruined the script!
Was there some miracle healer waiting off-screen?
Had he not only survived in their arms, but actually been saved?
How cliché. A family-friendly happy ending? How boring.
He narrowed his eyes. If the Villain Simulator really went for something that corny, he was absolutely going to mock it for its lack of taste.
Instead, the next lines made his eyes truly widen for the first time:
[You did not die in Herta and Ruan Mei's arms.]
[Though a part of you might have wanted to die there to satisfy your twisted sense of drama, Ruan Mei and Herta are not that weak.]
[As geniuses, they may not be able to save you—but they can make sure you don't die.]
[Herta has unique talent in magic, while Ruan Mei's specialty is life science.]
[When they realize your brain cannot be repaired, they make a ruthless choice: to abandon it.]
[Cruel as it sounds, it is the only way to keep you alive.]
[They decide to temporarily ignore the wound in your head and focus on making you "unable to die."]
[Under Ruan Mei's guidance, Herta uses magic to preserve your bodily functions.]
[Herta's magic keeps your body working even without a functioning brain.]
[You become like a patient whose brain has been critically damaged—a vegetative state.]
[Your mind can't regain consciousness for now, but your body continues to operate, sustaining your life.]
[Continuous breathing, continuous oxygen supply—every organ remains online.]
[The only remaining issue is how to repair your brain—a problem that might require unimaginable amounts of time.]
[But for Herta and Ruan Mei, time is not an issue.]
[With her wisdom restored, Herta draws the Aeon's gaze.]
[She and Ruan Mei become geniuses chosen by the Erudition.]
[With their unparalleled talent in the cosmos, both gain unique perspectives on prolonging life.]
[As a result, not only do they extend their own lives—they extend yours as well.]
[Time flows on. In a galaxy where "365 days a year" means almost nothing, countless years pass.]
[By the time Herta and Ruan Mei truly join the Genius Society and become renowned figures in the universe, they have collected more and more curios and developed more and more advanced technology.]
[At last, your life restarts.]
[You finally leave your vegetative state. Your brain miraculously recovers; your consciousness slowly regains control of your body.]
[When Herta traces the remnants of the "curio" once embedded in you, her galaxy-tier mind pieces everything together.]
[Why were you able to steal her wisdom back then? Why did you see her weakness in Ruan Mei so clearly?]
[Why could you obtain such terrifying power out of nowhere, why could you foresee the future and save her and Ruan Mei, when you were just an ordinary man at birth?]
[After wandering the galaxy for so many years, Herta recognizes it as the power of a "curio"—a strange, miraculous artifact, like a simulator.]
[The odds of finding something identical are almost zero… but not quite.]
[A miracle happens.]
[Herta finds, in the vast sea of stars, a curio identical to the one once lodged in you.]
[Using her intellect and technology, she recreates the power that once lay hidden in you—]
[A simulator.]
[She names it the Villain Simulator.]
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