I Was Entangled by the Pathological Protagonists [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

This day was sunny and bright, with ten thousand miles of cloudless sky.

Yan Lin lay as usual within the eaves pavilion on the edge of the back mountain’s water pool. A few thousand-year-old peach trees by the shore swayed with the breeze, their crimson petals fluttering down.

A spirit deer emerged from the woods and approached the water’s edge. Its two furry ears twitched in the air; tilting its head, its eyes vivid as black beans reflected the magnificent figure inside the pavilion.

It wasn’t shy at all, appearing quite intelligent. Moving its four slender long legs, it seemed about to head toward Yan Lin.

However, a suddenly appearing dark shadow seemed to startle the spirit deer. With a graceful turn of its long legs, it leapt into the grass and vanished into the woods with a few rustling sounds.

This suddenly appearing shadow was likely no one else but Yan Li.

He came to Yan Lin’s side, squatted down naturally, brewed tea on the stone table, and took out his results from today one by one to arrange them on the table. This self-aware behavior meant Yan Lin didn’t even need to bother opening his mouth.

Yan Lin lifted his eyelids. His thick, long eyelashes swept like a small fan, falling into the depths of Yan Li’s eyes, which were obscure and unclear.

He spoke slowly, breaking the quiet atmosphere.

“Senior Brother, the day after tomorrow, I will be coming of age.”

Yan Lin gave him a strange look, thinking to himself: What does your coming of age have to do with me? Not taking the opportunity to mock him was already a great display of conscience for him as a villain.

Consequently, he gave a perfunctory “Mhm,” his expression lacking interest.

Yan Li suddenly gave a low laugh, the corners of his lips curving slightly.

“I have prepared a surprise for my Senior Brother.”

Soon… Senior Brother can become one with him… Inseparable from one another…

Yan Lin inexplicably felt a shiver. Looking at the protagonist’s current appearance of being in a very good mood, he found it somewhat baffling.

However, generally speaking, for an event like a birthday, shouldn’t others give gifts to the birthday boy? For instance, during his own coming-of-age ceremony, he had received a room full of gifts, and the disciples coming to congratulate him had nearly flattened his doorstep.

Ah, being too well-loved is also quite a bothersome thing, Yan Lin thought to himself with a pleasant mood.

However, Yan Lin would never have imagined that the surprise the protagonist spoke of would be a “surprise” indeed!

The day after tomorrow arrived quickly.

Yan Lin received a message from Master Wuyan asking him to come over. He couldn’t help but feel strange, as Master Wuyan usually came to find him personally if there was a matter.

However, thinking of Master Wuyan’s doting affection for him, Yan Lin didn’t ask further and elegantly made his way there. Incidentally, he could once again subtly probe about when to act against the protagonist; the completely stalled plot was truly making him feel quite helpless.

But when he arrived at Master Wuyan’s meditation room, he first encountered the protagonist’s figure inside.

As if having anticipated it, Yan Li faced toward the door. As soon as Yan Lin appeared, a smile couldn’t help but surface on his face.

“Senior Brother, you’ve come…”

Then, amidst this slightly eerie smile, Yan Lin suddenly felt his vision blur. Before falling into unconsciousness, it was the protagonist who walked over and held him tightly in an embrace.

In that instant, many doubts flashed through Yan Lin’s mind. One of the most likely was: the protagonist has detected everything and risen up to counter-attack, planning to eliminate the villain in one fell swoop.

Though it deviated slightly from the plot, for now, it counted as having experienced a series of standard tropes like bullying the protagonist, a counter-attack “slap in the face,” and the protagonist’s brilliance shining through. Even if the villain went offline early, it shouldn’t be much of a problem, right?

So, his mission was about to be completed?!

The words “resurrection” and “going home” finally flashed through Yan Lin’s mind, and so, with surprise and satisfaction, he completely closed his eyes.

…

“The time has come.”

“I have waited a long time for this moment.”

“Begin.”

“You don’t regret it?”

“At this point, why must the Master say such mood-spoiling words?”

Deep within the dark cave, a blood-colored array bloomed with crimson light. Those deep red patterns seemed to flow with life, and countless runes floated in the air, dividing the array into two parts.

On one side of the array, shrouded in countless blood-red runes, lay a magnificent figure quietly. The simple white disciple robes outlined a waist that could be held in one hand.

The hair crown that originally bound the hair was nowhere to be seen; only the ink-black hair, smooth as silk, was spread across the ground, revealing that exquisite and soft face, perfect to a near-fault.

Closed eyes, long and curled lashes, a high-bridged nose, pale lips…

Yan Li gazed at him inch by inch, his gaze growing deeper. In his heart, he once again uncontrollably and slowly bred a greed and desire to grasp his Senior Brother firmly at any cost.

Soon… The Senior Brother who belongs only to him…

He moved his legs and, under Master Wuyan’s gaze, stepped into the blood-red array without a hint of hesitation.

The red glow burst forth in an instant.

Inside the entire cave, it was as if a layer of red mist covered everything. Within the array, that blood-red color was especially dense. The runes suspended in the air seemed to come alive, revolving around the two people inside the array and scattering bursts of radiance.

Yan Li was forced to crawl on the ground. A viscous liquid, even darker than the surrounding red glow, spread out from beneath him. It was bright red blood, gathering into the lines of the array. Accompanied by the pain of flesh being torn apart, Yan Li’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot, as if filled with broken vessels.

Yet, he didn’t make a sound, as if he couldn’t feel the pain. He only used a pair of blood-red eyes to stare fixedly at the other side of the array. The intense, distorted emotions suppressed in the deepest part of his eyes almost erupted from within.

Amidst a blur, Yan Lin woke up slightly. The first thing he felt was extreme heat, as if his whole body was about to burn, his thoughts moving with difficulty.

…Shouldn’t he have completed the deal with the Villain System and successfully resurrected, returning to his original world?

Next, he saw a world of red. Within that flowing red light, he seemed to see the protagonist’s steady and introverted face.

He saw, within those blood-red eyes staring firmly at him… paranoia, lust, madness, pathology, distortion, possession…

Yan Lin couldn’t help but be slightly dazed, doubting whether he had seen wrongly. His still-chaotic brain vaguely felt that something was wrong with this protagonist.

And immediately after, Yan Lin noticed his current state, as well as Master Wuyan outside the blood-red array, and this rather familiar dark cave…

Could it be…

Before he could think further, a wave of heat surged, causing him to fall back into the groggy darkness once more.

…

“You’re actually still alive?”

“Heh~ even the King of Hell couldn’t take me.”

The weakness and lack of strength throughout his body did not make Yan Li show even a hint of fragility. His face even carried that slow and deliberate smile he had maintained from start to finish.

He stood up swaying, his face deathly pale, his movements staggering as if he would collapse in the next second, yet he quickly steadied himself.

At this time, his white disciple robes could no longer show their original color; they were a deep red throughout, emitting the stench of blood. It was his own blood, shed when the Supreme Profound Spirit Bone within his body was forcibly gouged out by the array.

Master Wuyan looked at him, his expression complex and difficult to describe. Without a doubt, he was grateful to him. Such self-sacrifice and devotion had actually happened before his very eyes, without any trickery or cunning.

Master Wuyan sighed and said to him: “From now on, if you have any needs, as long as it is within my power, I will spare no effort.”

A promise from a peak Soul Transformation stage cultivator was thus given; it was worth it for Master Wuyan to do so.

However, Yan Li’s gaze remained fixed on the magnificent figure lying quietly on the platform. He suddenly extended a finger and pressed it against his lips, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

He spoke softly: “Shh.”

… …

An unknown amount of time passed.

Yan Lin suddenly opened his eyes and sat up, the soft quilt sliding off his body.

Immediately, what entered his sight was a harmonious and friendly scene of Master Wuyan and the protagonist looking at him together.

Yan Lin: “…”

Before he could regain his senses, Master Wuyan thoughtfully cleared up his confusion, telling him that his fate as a “Rootless One” had been broken. He greatly praised the protagonist nearby, saying it was all thanks to this child, Yan Li… and a whole bunch of other words that sounded like a fairy tale to Yan Lin.

…May I ask, waking up to find the protagonist and the villain getting along amicably—is this a lapse of morality or a distortion of human nature? Master Wuyan, who stands on Yan Lin’s side, should also count as a villain.

However, this also indirectly proved that what he had seen before was not an illusion.

So, while he was unconscious, the key plot point of “gouging out the bone to save a life” was abruptly completed? And it was actively coordinated and willingly done by the protagonist who suffered the bone-gouging??

This is truly a case of “Absurdity’s mother opening the door for Absurdity” it’s absurdity home-delivered.

Not only has the plot collapsed repeatedly, but even the protagonist himself is broken now!

Yan Lin felt as if everything was still in a dream; nothing felt real. He had an impulse to immediately lie down, pull the covers over his head, and keep sleeping. Perhaps upon waking again, things would return to normal.

However, the unusually talkative Master Wuyan by his ear heartlessly woke him up, making even self-deception impossible!

For a moment, Yan Lin didn’t know what expression to make. Fortunately, Master Wuyan was happier than he was as if the person who had their life extended was himself and didn’t notice Yan Lin’s slight abnormality.

Suddenly, a gaze like a physical substance fell upon him. Yan Lin subconsciously shivered.

He didn’t need to turn his head to know whose gaze it was, but never had he felt it as strongly as now that gaze was as if it wanted to lick him from head to toe; it was so greasy it was somewhat hair-raising.

“…”

If what he saw upon waking during his coma wasn’t an illusion…

Then, that kind of look the protagonist directed at him amidst the red glow was also… real, right?

Yan Lin wasn’t a fool. That pathological and paranoid emotion that could almost melt a person even a damn fool could see it, hey!

…As expected, something must be broken in this protagonist…

Yan Lin, who no longer had the energy to deal with Master Wuyan, allowed himself to fall back onto the soft bedding, his mind a mess of threads.

Just thinking about the feelings the protagonist might have for him, Yan Lin couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander: could the plot he knew up until now be considered completely disrupted and overturned?

…So, knowing this, how should things proceed afterward?

Yan Lin’s eyes were filled with confusion. Suddenly, he felt that his future as a villain was pitch black and without light.

Beside him, the still-chattering, child-like Master Wuyan finally noticed something was wrong with Yan Lin and blinked in confusion.

He thought to himself: Could it be that Lin-er is simply overjoyed?

No one noticed that Yan Li’s gaze, which remained fixed on Yan Lin, was dark and eerie.

That slightly hooked corner of his lips was a concentration of possessiveness and satisfaction that could no longer be concealed.