Chapter Text
If someone were to ask the Shen siblings about Shen Yuan, the three would agree in one thing: he had a rotten luck.
From a family with no relevant health issues, he was the first with a chronic condition.
He loved animals, but couldn't be responsible for one due to it.
The first manga he read got cancelled.
His first friend was only interested in ripping money out of him.
His first kiss was stolen by one of his brother's ex-girlfriends.
His thesis' guide teacher got engaged and left the country to marry his boyfriend.
His favorite novel had a shit ending.
He didn't even die how he expected. He had choked to death with his favorite food.
The siblings would then follow with: Shen Yuan was the smartest of us.
Shen Yuan loved his lifestyle of leisure, and he could've lived without lifting a single finger in his life, however, he wasn't going to take for granted the money given by his parents, or let that taint his family's reputation.
He had been the only one willing to appease the–then alive– elders of the clan by studying the Four Arts. He disliked them with all he had, yet mastered them easily.
Even with the multiple absences to class, he was able to keep the first place through his whole education–PE was the only exception. He got into the top university with his own merit, graduating early, getting his master's degree, as summa cum laude.
The last thing they would remember before tearing up was that Shen Yuan had been unbelievably kind.
It was with the memories of their dear departed Shen Yuan that the Shen Family was flying back to China for his first death anniversary.
Their parents had already left to sleep in their own seats while the siblings still reminisced about all the silly things San-ge used to do.
"Do you remember that time he couldn't find his glasses and they were resting over his head?" Shen Siyu spoke, her voice cracked a bit, but no one pointed it out, "Er-ge and I were laughing because he really didn't know, and we wanted the joke to last longer, so we told him that we didn't know where his glasses were," she hugged her knees closer to herself, "but then you, Da-ge, appeared from behind us and walked straight to San-ge and pulled down his glasses, fixing them in place."
Shen Lei continued there, "And then he asked 'Where did you find them Liyun-dage?' and we all saw how your shoulders shook while you patted his head." He chuckled, his laughter was breezy and contagious, making both of his siblings join in."
And I replied him "'Right here, A-Yuan'," Shen Liyun grabbed one of the many soft blankets the flight attendant had provided, and covered his meimei's back with it, "Tomatoes would be jealous at how red he looked."
The three laughed a bit more before they fell into silence.
Since Shen Yuan's death, every time the siblings got together, they talked and–no matter the topic–eventually, fell into a silence they couldn't fill.
It had been only a year, and they had close to two decades of being used to his voice filling that space with random rants about a story, questions about their jobs, kind words that lead them to the solution to whatever was troubling them.
And now, there was only silence.
Though, it didn't last long this time.
"Pffft–" the men's little sister tried to contain herself, knowing she would howl in laughter if she lifted her hand from her mouth. Of course, she was a good little sister, spoiled but never rotten, so she just showed the screen of her phone to the two men.
"Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky! You made the same mistake, AGAIN. This plot, the scenes, and even the number of characters in this wife's arc are the same as wife #244, but instead of a spring themed land, this one was autumn themed. And I bet that the next chapter you're going to leave her story incomplete just like the previous #657 wives.
If you plan to abandon each of Bing-ge's wives, then maybe it is a call for you to come back to your senses and start writing about HIM instead of his dick. It's like his intelligence and fighting prowess starts declining along with your writing. There have been no fights against monsters in the past 6 arcs.
How many plants with the words "Dew" and "Thousand" in their name have come up so far?
ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTY SIX.
I've been counting–!"
That's how the three siblings start their journey through the comment section of Proud Immortal Demon Way.
Peerless Cucumber, their Shen Yuan was recognized by the whole community of readers as the number one anti-fan of PIDW. As their siblings, they heard him complain about a web novel for years. He had never disclosed the name, but he would always grumble when his phone dinged saying there was a new chapter.
"The story has potential, I can feel it, but I can't ever see it!"
"The author clearly has good writing skills, and the dedication, but he just wastes that as soon as people start requesting for another new character."
"It's full of plot holes."
"The Protagonist deserves better treatment, a better author."
"The earlier chapters were better. There was a story there that got lost in– it just got lost."
Those were a few of the comments they heard from Shen Yuan. They even told him multiple times that if he really believed there was more behind the story he should contact the author. They had the resources to find him.
But Shen Yuan refused.
And so the years passed with their Shen Yuan complaining in a weekly basis, until their brother was found, on the floor after falling on his back while choking on a bao.
He was found 3 days after it happened. Shen Yuan had skipped a check-up with his physician.
Shen Lei had been the one to find him.
Cold. Bruised.
It wasn't even the internal bleeding he got from falling off his chair that ended his life.
It was the lack of oxygen that killed him.
...
Shen Siyu was the only one who read all of Proud Immortal Demon Way, her older brothers never ventured themselves into reading it, or finding out about the collection–enough to get a room of its own apparently–of merchandise Shen Yuan had of Luo Binghe.
The three siblings continued reading, Shen Siyu confessing that she had read it just to know what his brother was complaining about, the other two reading without understanding much, but thriving on how vivid the comments were, bringing their brother's voice back to their minds as if they were still able to recall it on their own.
Now that the two older brothers got to hear the reviews that Shen Yuan wrote, it was evident why he wouldn't allow them to find the author of the infamous stallion novel.
He would've been embarrassed if his siblings ever found out he was reading not only porn, but bad porn.
They continued scrolling through the chapters, reading comment section after comment section, laughing whenever Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky, the author's novel, replied to Peerless Cucumber with the best argument he had: "If you don't like it Cucumber-bro, then why do you still pay me so you can read it?"
The last comment had been, "Stupid Author, Stupid Novel."
A silly idea crossed Shen Siyu's mind, and she with her best impression of Shen Yuan read the words out loud, sneering like she thought her late brother would.
Shen Lei argued he could do better and said them himself.
And, at the request of his younger siblings, even the taciturn, yet ever dotting Shen Liyun repeated the words.
They laughed at each other's impressions.
BANG! BANG!
At least until two booming sounds resounded outside. The Shen siblings tried to get a glimpse out of the window, but they couldn't see anything.
The sudden uncontrollable shaking, the smoke outside, the flickering lights, and the–totally not–reassuring voice of the flight attendant saying they would perform an emergency landing due to some technical problems, everything made Shen Lei push his meimei onto her seat, buckling her up, making sure the mask was in place for her, before he was pulled by the arm to his own seat by Liyun.
Things were happening too fast for the three siblings.
They held hands.
They were worried about their parents who were across from them.
Words of reassurance, of love, of hope, and the confirmation they were together, repeated a hundred times during the chaotic descent.
"Cursed Novel, Cursed Comment."
The three of them were unaware that the phrase was said out loud by each of them.
[Activation Code: Cursed Novel, Cursed Comment.
System automatically triggered.]
...
[Welcome to the System. This System–