After Becoming the Villain’s Black Moonlight - Chapter 2

Unfortunately, Yin Huizhi had exhausted his remaining strength simply by uttering those few words. Before Xie Ling could respond, the youth’s eyelids drooped heavily and he drifted into total unconsciousness.

The full moon hung at its zenith, and the night wind blew with a biting chill.

Yin Huizhi was severely injured, curled miserably upon the ground. His tattered, soaking wet disciple robes clung to his skin, chilled by the wind like shards of ice, yet his body burned with a scorching fever.

The System assumed that since Xie Ling had intervened to save the boy, it meant he was willing to take on the mission. In a situation like this, any normal person would surely step forward to earn some “favorability points.”

However, Xie Ling remained indifferent. He sat cross-legged to the side, meditating and using a spell to dry the moisture from his body. His robes and hair were now perfectly smooth and composed. He showed absolutely no intention of caring for the little villain.

The System paced anxiously in his mind: “Mr. Xie, you should at least look after him!”

Xie Ling kept his eyes closed peacefully, as if he had entered a profound state of cultivation.

“As if!” the System thought indignantly.

Leaving aside the fact that Xie Ling had not obtained any cultivation techniques yet, the System knew exactly how useless the body it had found for Xie Ling was. Even if he practiced until the sky fell, he would reach the Great Circle of the Golden Core stage at best. What was there to cultivate?

It looked at the battered, fragile Yin Huizhi, then at the detached Xie Ling, and tried its best to chatter away: “Now is the perfect opportunity! If you show kindness to the mission target now, his ‘Reformation Value’ will definitely rise!”

Xie Ling remained as still as an old monk in meditation.

Gritting its teeth, the System said: “Mr. Xie, I promise you, once this mission is complete, I will definitely recommend you to headquarters for a transfer to the Protagonist Department!”

It believed it had offered a powerful incentive. Among the hundreds of departments in the Time and Space Management Bureau, the Protagonist Department was the most popular. More importantly, no department was more hated or avoided than the Villain Department.

It was easy to understand why the Protagonist Department was popular, but as for why the Villain Department was so reviled, there was a simple reason: the “Cannon Fodder Department” might be frustrating, but the working hours were short and there were plenty of holidays; the “Male Supporting Lead Department” might involve being a “cuckold,” but the living conditions were excellent; you just had to go through the motions to finish a task. The “Pursuit Department” was similar to the “Reformation Department” with high-level systems backing you and massive “cheat codes” available.

Only the Villain Department had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. You spend years painstakingly plotting just to serve as a stepping stone for the protagonist. You carry a lifetime of suffering only to die a twisted death. You might start out as a spirited youth no less talented than the hero, only to end up unrecognizable, and to top it all off, you have to endure the lonely journey until the very end just to be killed by the protagonist amidst a chorus of curses.

As far as the System knew, employees who stayed in the Villain Department for too long usually ended up mentally unstable. Only Xie Ling, this freak of nature, had remained standing. His tenure in the Villain Department was actually longer than the System’s entire career history.

In short, moving from the Villain Department to the Protagonist Department was like ascending from hell to heaven. The System felt Xie Ling had no reason to refuse. Sure enough, after it said this, Xie Ling’s eyelashes flickered.

The System pressed its advantage, coaxing him: “Mr. Xie, the transmission point for this mission is during the villain’s youth. This means the success rate is even higher than we previously estimated. Completing this should not be difficult for you at all. Why not just do it? I just said I would recommend you to the Protagonist Department. This is not empty talk. I can sign another contract with you.”

“How much energy do you have left?” Xie Ling did not even shift his posture, interrupting the System’s flow directly within his mind.

The System froze.

“If I remember correctly, the moment the bug appeared, you lost contact with the System Space,” Xie Ling pointed out calmly. “Your current energy can last fifty years at most.”

The System’s speech program seemed to hit a kill-switch; it went completely silent. To ensure that a system’s work remained under the Bureau’s supervision, the energy for all registered systems operated on a “pay-as-you-go” charging mode. Losing contact with the System Space meant it could no longer recharge.

A breeze blew by, lifting a few strands of Xie Ling’s ink-black hair. He continued to twist the knife: “That conclusion only holds true if I do not require you to use any ‘cheats’ during these fifty years.”

The implication was clear: fifty years was an optimistic estimate. You can barely save yourself; do not bother drawing me “blank checks” for the future.

The System tried to defend itself: “The bug will not really last fifty years. And even if you do not care about my recommendation, surely you do not want to be trapped here forever?”

Xie Ling suddenly smiled and asked nonchalantly, “How do you know I do not?”

The System thought to itself: “Do you think I am stupid?”

Everyone in the entire Time and Space Management Bureau knew that Agent 0011 of the Villain Department was a moody lunatic who hated being controlled. Although meeting him in person made the System feel the rumors were slightly exaggerated, they were not entirely unfounded. How could someone like 0011 be willing to stay trapped in an obscure small world for a lifetime?

Xie Ling did not care what it was muttering internally: “Give me the plot.”

The System was overjoyed. It knew it!

“You are willing to do the mission? I will give it to you right away!” Afraid Xie Ling might change his mind, the System did not even wait for a response before dumping the entire world’s data into his mind.

The World Data: Yin Huizhi

The villain of this world was named Yin Huizhi. His origins were humble. His father was unknown, and from birth, he wandered with his frail, sickly mother.

While he was still an infant, his mother passed through a small town in the mountains and shared half a bowl of porridge with a dying beggar. Shortly after, a man claiming to be a disciple of a local immortal sect found them. It turned out the man she had saved was actually the Sect Leader of an immortal family who had been ambushed by demonic cultivators. After returning home, the Sect Leader ordered his people to find them and invite them back to his estate.

Yin’s mother initially wanted to refuse, but her health was failing and she could no longer endure the hardship of the road. With the Sect Leader’s earnest and repeated pleas, she eventually settled in this minor immortal sect to perform odd jobs. However, this peace was shattered when Yin Huizhi turned three.

Yin’s mother was exceptionally beautiful. Because she had been brought back by the Sect Leader’s personal attendant, rumors eventually began to spread despite her living in a remote corner of the estate. The Sect Leader’s wife, a woman who could not tolerate any perceived slight, stormed into their small courtyard. She bound Yin’s mother and threatened to kill her. Only the Sect Leader’s timely arrival and subsequent fury prevented a tragedy.

The day after the incident, Yin’s mother disfigured her own face to prove her innocence. A few years later, she died of illness. Young Yin Huizhi, possessing extraordinary talent, was selected by the Sect Leader to enter the Inner Sect as a prospective elite.

However, when the Sect Leader’s legitimate son found out, he grew jealous. Suspecting Yin Huizhi was a half-brother, he plotted to destroy half of the boy’s spiritual roots.

The Sect Leader already felt guilty toward Yin’s mother, and after this incident, his guilt deepened. Yet, a son is a son. Fearing that Yin Huizhi would harbor a grudge and kill his biological son for revenge after he passed away, the Sect Leader personally crippled Yin Huizhi’s cultivation. He then planted a poisonous parasite in the boy’s body to corrode his spiritual roots while keeping him “well-fed and housed” within the estate.

Of course, the “well-fed and housed” status was merely the Sect Leader’s self-consolation. Due to his father’s actions, the foolish legitimate son became even more convinced that Yin Huizhi was a “bastard” sired by his father, and he bullied the boy at every opportunity.

Perhaps bad deeds eventually meet their end. The following year, which was when Yin Huizhi was nine, the Tianye Sect of the Qianyin Ghost Realm invaded and massacred the local sect. Yin Huizhi only survived because the legitimate son had maliciously locked him in a cellar.

He was rescued by Ji Huixue, a cultivator from the preeminent Guanlan Sect. He was brought back to Guanlan Sect and entered the Sword-Seeking Peak, becoming a direct disciple of Master Lingyin alongside Ji Huixue. However, his status as a direct disciple was actually something Ji Huixue had begged for out of pity. Since Yin Huizhi’s spiritual roots had been damaged twice, he was no longer qualified to be a direct disciple. The elders refused him, so Ji Huixue went to plead with his own master, Daoist Lingyin. Annoyed by Ji Huixue’s persistence, Lingyin set a seemingly impossible condition: if Ji Huixue could form his Golden Core before the age of twenty-five, he would agree to take Yin Huizhi as a disciple.

In the Upper Cultivation Realm, those with exceptional talent were as numerous as clouds, yet those who formed a Core before forty were few and far between. Lingyin himself had only done so at thirty-two. Even that “unmentionable genius” had only achieved it at twenty-eight. Even if Ji Huixue was the “Child of Destiny,” it should have been impossible. But he was stubborn. Once Lingyin spoke, Ji Huixue entered secluded meditation and pushed himself to the brink, nearly suffering a “Qi Deviation.”

Lingyin was both angry and regretful. After scolding Ji Huixue, he finally accepted Yin Huizhi into his lineage. This should have been a heartwarming tale, but in the Guanlan Sect, everyone coveted the status of a direct disciple. Naturally, they looked down on a “nepotism hire” like Yin Huizhi.

Outer disciples were annoyed by him, inner disciples felt he had stolen their chance, and the other direct disciples despised him. During sect competitions, he was always ranked last among the elites. His training missions were life-threatening ordeals, and he was even targeted by the Sect Leader’s son because of a junior sister’s unrequited affection for him. His life was even darker than before.

The only bright spot was Ji Huixue. Every time Ji Huixue emerged from seclusion, they would stay up all night talking. Ji Huixue was a very pure and sincere person. Yin Huizhi drew warmth from him, yet he often felt ashamed of his own inadequacy in the face of Ji Huixue’s radiance.

If not for “that incident,” this cycle might have been Yin Huizhi’s entire life. During an accident, Ji Huixue habitually risked his life to protect him. But this time, the situation was more perilous than ever before. Between saving himself or saving Yin, Ji Huixue chose the latter. Consequently, his primordial spirit was damaged and he fell into a deep coma. The healers said he would never wake up.

Yin Huizhi became a sinner condemned by the entire sect and the entire cultivation world. Although the Sect Leader and elders did not say it explicitly, they clearly loathed him. One either perishes in silence or explodes within it.

Clearly, Yin Huizhi exploded. Amidst prolonged suppression, self-reproach, and mental torture, he chose to betray the sect and fall into the Demonic Path. Villains and protagonists share certain similarities; for instance, they both tend to “counterattack” at a certain point. After turning to the demonic path, Yin Huizhi’s cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. In just seventeen years, he reached the Mahayana stage. However, his mind was completely destroyed by the demonic arts, turning him into a murderous, cold-blooded lunatic.

He carved a path of blood through the Qianyin Ghost Realm and rose to become the Demon Sovereign, intending to swallow the entire cultivation world. Every sect lived in fear, including the Guanlan Sect. The turning point came when Daoist Lingyin used a secret technique to wake Ji Huixue at the cost of exhausting his own cultivation.

The subsequent development was cliché: the once-close brothers became bitter enemies. One was the leader of the righteous path and the child of destiny; the other was the villain laden with atrocities. After a long period of conflict, they reached their final battle. In the end, only the two of them remained.

The cultivation world was shrouded in gloom, with many believing Ji Huixue would surely lose. However, Ji Huixue used an unknown method to actually restore a sliver of sanity to the long-insane Yin Huizhi. And then, Yin Huizhi committed suicide.

Xie Ling stared at the final line of the villain’s data: “Perhaps because he always felt a sense of debt, at the final moment of life and death, Yin Huizhi, having remembered everything, chose to pay it back with his life.”

The mountain wind blew through the gorge and over the cold pool; it was exceptionally chilly when it hit the skin. Water no longer dripped from the ends of Yin Huizhi’s hair. His brow was furrowed deeply and his body was clearly shivering. His breathing became heavy, raspy from the high fever and pain, swirling into the empty wind.

Xie Ling acted as if he heard nothing, showing no reaction like a monk in deep meditation. The System felt that Yin Huizhi was pitiful and tragic. It also thought that after reading the data, Xie Ling might have softened a bit, so it tried to persuade him: “Xie…”

“As your host, I suggest you enter hibernation now to save your strength.”

The System was silent. It thought to itself: “Whatever. Fine. Do whatever you want. You cannot reason with a cold-hearted lunatic. If the villain dies, we all go down together.” It simply followed Xie Ling’s suggestion and entered hibernation.

The sea of consciousness suddenly became quiet.

Without warning, Xie Ling lifted his eyelashes and looked sideways at the youth leaning against the boulder. His gaze swept inch by inch over Yin Huizhi’s brows, eyes, nose, lips, thin shoulders, and curled, long legs.

As the future greatest villain of this world, Yin Huizhi’s appearance was undoubtedly outstanding. One could even call it soul-stirring. Xie Ling looked so seriously and so carefully, yet there was not a hint of romantic interest in his eyes.

If a third person had been present, they would have found Xie Ling’s gaze truly eerie.

It was like a monster from the depths seeing its own replica for the first time, filled with a cold, piercing scrutiny and killing intent.