After Faking My Death as an Undercover Agent

Zhuang Youheng was invited to participate in the beta test of a survival game.

The mission was simple: as a spy for the villain faction, survive by the protagonist's side for three years.

The difficulty rating, however, was [Extremely Dangerous].

Zhuang Youheng: "?"

Slack off at work and coast along for three years without getting fired.

And that's extremely dangerous?

When the protagonist asked him to deliver a secret message, he delivered it without complaint.

What? He was supposed to secretly send information back to the villain faction as a spy?

No way. He wasn't going to work even one extra minute.

The protagonist was ambushed by his enemies, badly wounded and separated from the others. Zhuang Youheng was the only one by his side.

He pulled out a dagger sharp enough to cut through iron, went hunting, then invited the protagonist to join him for barbecue.

The protagonist: ?

Whatever the protagonist asked him to do, he did. Whatever the villains asked him to do, he dragged his feet.

After successfully surviving, Zhuang Youheng said, "Being a spy is so easy."

-

Wei Xuyan knew Zhuang Youheng was a spy before they even met.

At first, he paid him no mind, just waiting for him to slip up so he could make an example of him.

But Zhuang Youheng did nothing.

Even when Wei Xuyan was on the brink of death, Zhuang Youheng shared his hardships and stood by him, never betraying him.

It was as if he genuinely cared for him.

He didn't believe it.

Perhaps Zhuang Youheng had some other scheme.

Wei Xuyan waited for the day Zhuang Youheng would make a mistake.

But he never got to see it.

Zhuang Youheng died saving him.

Stumbling a few steps, he gathered the lifeless body into his arms and refused to let go. The skin beneath his frantic fingertips was growing colder by the second, while his vision blurred and swayed in a haze of blood.

Zhuang Youheng, Zhuang Youheng...

He would rather Zhuang Youheng had been a spy with ulterior motives.

-

Three years flew by. Zhuang Youheng died taking an arrow for Wei Xuyan, his mission complete and his work done.

Just as Zhuang Youheng's consciousness was about to fade...

Wei Xuyan raised a hand, seeming to want to touch him, then suddenly stopped.

A spy who had stubbornly put down roots, impossible to get rid of or dislodge, was dead.

Perhaps Wei Xuyan felt relieved, too.

As Zhuang Youheng waited to return, the official error message finally arrived: [Sorry, what we actually wanted to test was a romance game set on the same timeline.]

Zhuang Youheng: [?]

Theme: Not figured out yet