world state: refresh
is a Scum Villain fanfiction written on Archive of Our Own by Vodkassassin.
In which Shang Qinghua and Shen Qingqiu are accidentally killed together in Jinlan City, and the plant body contingency plan doesn't work. Bad news: their Systems aren't done with them and decide to reincarnate them. Good news: their new life is more of a well-paid vacation, free from the threats in their previous existence.
Thing is, trauma isn't easily erased no matter if you're safe now.
Contains the following trope
- Fantastic Racism: Shen Yuan and Shang Lei are immediately wary of any System introduced to them, with Shen Yuan believing Myra Khol trained hers to be somewhat loyal to her instead of a sadistic, heartless monster. It drives Myra to advice her fellow veteran Agents to keep their own Systems hidden from the traumatized transmigrators' sight.
- Five Stages of Grief: Luo Binghe is displaying complete Denial of Shen Qingqiu's demise and destructive Bargaining as he's destroying his new empire in the search for a way to resurrect the man. On the other hand, Mobei-jun is heavily Depressed by Shang Qinghua's loss to the point he cannot be bothered to take care of himself anymore, yet has reached Acceptance that his beloved is gone beyond his reach.
- Foil: Mobei-jun and Luo Binghe are demon monarchs whose handling of their human beloved's abrupt demise starkly diverges — Luo Binghe's sanity utterly collapses as his obsessive love for Shen Qingqiu won't let him take another road than the self-destructive search for a way to resurrect the man in spite of the horrendous consequences of the procedure, while Mobei-jun fully owns up to the fact he didn't care for Shang Qinghua as well as he should have and has made his peace with his love's departure.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Shen Yuan really loves his dreadful monsters. The more they're horrifying, the more he thinks they're adorable. It causes friction with his teammates as they're currently building a fun, safe world more in line with Pokemon than Dark Souls.
- No Name Given: Agents are in the habit to name their Systems as you would name a treasured pet. Shen Yuan and Shang Lei pointedly refusing to do that is a major flag of their Fantastic Racism born out of trauma — why would you name the thing that was complicit in several years of torture forced upon you?
- Reformed, but Rejected: Shang Lei and Shen Yuan's Systems do wish to make amends with their Agents for everything they did in their previous worlds, but the transmigrators refuse to see them as anything but the ones responsible of their suffering.
- Stylistic Suck: Shang Lei cheerfully admits Proud Immortal Demon Way had terrible sex scenes, since he's proudly asexual and couldn't actually write on a matter his brain isn't wired to comprehend.
- Team Mom: When she gets an inkling of her new two teammates's sheer depth of trauma, Myra Khol immediately slides into this role.
- Trauma Button: Shang Lei cannot even stand the presence of his System near him and constantly sends it in errands to avoid a panic attack.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Shen Yuan is utterly infuriated and pissed off to learn their presence in Proud Immortal Demon Way, a S-ranked world when he and Shang Lei were floundering brand-new transmigrators, were caused by a glitch. Even worse, the glitch was assumed to have been patched after discovery.
