Reborn as the Black Moonlight of the Male Lead in a Wish-Fulfillment Novel - Chapter 3

“Does he know he can’t die?” Excluding the possibility that the male lead had a masochistic tendency, that was the only answer Shu Chen could think of.

The system’s voice betrayed no emotion.

【Anyone with his experiences would have figured it out by now.】

At seven years old, a plague swept through the entire village, yet he was the only one who remained unharmed. When he was starving and desperate enough to eat a highly toxic mushroom, he only suffered a stomachache for one night. No matter how dangerous the situation, he always managed to survive miraculously. With all that, it would be strange if he hadn’t noticed something.

Shu Chen gave the whip a sharp flick, and after realizing why the male lead dared to provoke him without fear, he increased the force behind his strikes.

“Hiss, fuck.”

The system watching from the sidelines:

The male lead wanted to curl up from the pain, but the ropes binding him were sturdy enough that struggling was futile.

Seeing this, Shu Chen said without any real sincerity, “My hand slipped. After all, you’re the first person lucky enough to be personally disciplined by me, so cut me some slack.”

The places that no one but himself had ever touched were being treated like this, and the male lead’s veins bulged on his forehead. If looks could kill, Shu Chen would have been riddled with holes by now.

“Cut you some slack my ass. If you’ve got the guts, let me take a swing at you.” The male lead was furious, practically shouting.

Whether it was truly an accident or not was unclear, but Shu Chen had indeed found a way to suppress the male lead just not by very honorable means.

Upholding a final shred of humanitarianism, Shu Chen even specifically asked the system for confirmation. “Will the male lead be crippled?”

The system said: 【Hard to say.】 In the book, the male lead had been tormented physically and mentally, but he’d never been treated like this before. There was no precedent to reference.

Shu Chen looked at the male lead before him, who looked like he wanted to devour him alive, and calmly pointed out, “You said something I didn’t want to hear again.”

“The mouth is on my face. What I want to say can you control that?” He still hadn’t recovered from that last strike, cold sweat dripping from the pain, but he refused to back down verbally.

Shu Chen felt both gratified and regretful. “Then you’ll just have to endure it.”

He didn’t actually intend to cripple him, but as a novice just starting out, mistakes were inevitable, and his sparring partner was extremely uncooperative. Every now and then, the whip would land somewhere that made the male lead want to explode.

What Shu Chen didn’t know was that he had already been labeled a pervert by the male lead. To suffer less at the hands of this pervert, the male lead had gone from cursing nonstop at first to now closing his eyes and thinking up ways for the little pervert to die.

Blood dripped onto the ground in a steady patter, and the smell in the room gradually turned unpleasant.

Shu Chen stopped his movements, grabbed the male lead’s chin, and forced him to open his eyes. “You look like you’re in good spirits.”

Talking nonsense with his eyes wide open unsurprisingly, he received a glare from the male lead.

Shu Chen tossed the whip aside and pinched the male lead’s face to examine him. “It’s rare to find a toy that suits my taste. Don’t go dying on me.”

The male lead closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steady himself. When he opened them again, he gave Shu Chen a defiant grin. “I won’t die. You can rest easy on that.”

Shu Chen knew this male lead had extremely strong mental fortitude. It seemed that during the punishment, he had already made peace with himself and temporarily submitted.

Shu Chen was quite satisfied with him. “Good. Stay put here. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Just as he was about to leave, the male lead suddenly spoke up. “Hey, since I can’t escape anyway, how about untying this thing?”

Able to bend and stretch, he hadn’t survived this long just by relying on his guardian above.

Shu Chen looked over his body, which was still trembling slightly, and said maliciously, “No. I like the way you look like this.”

The male lead lowered his head at that, muttering under his breath. Shu Chen couldn’t make out the words, but he could guess they weren’t anything nice.

To prevent the male lead from missing his opportunity, Shu Chen decided not to hold his foul language against him this time.

When he came up from the basement, the sky had gone completely dark. According to the original story, today was the Ghost Festival, when the gates of the underworld swung wide open. Deep in the night was the time when ghosts and monsters roamed freely—and also the time when the male lead would step onto the threshold of cultivation.

【He’s here.】 The system gave Shu Chen a real-time update while he was soaking in the bath.

【Seriously, do you really need this long to take a bath as a grown man? Don’t you have a cleansing spell?】

Shu Chen had been calculating how long it would take to get through the plot when the system interrupted his thoughts, putting him in a bad mood. He didn’t show it on his face, but he picked a fight with his words. “From the sound of your voice, you’re a male system, but how are you more nagging than all my elders combined? You can’t even stand me taking a bath.”

The system’s tone was a bit stiff. 【I’m not watching.】

“Oh, you’re all-powerful. You don’t need eyes to know I’m taking a bath.”

【Something’s happening with the male lead. I don’t want to argue with you right now.】

Shu Chen said, “I don’t want to deal with you either.”

【Then you don’t need me to relay information to you?】

Shu Chen stood up from the water, all his good mood from the bath ruined. “No, I don’t. I don’t want to know about your business.” After all, the original story was written from the male lead’s perspective, and it was clear enough.

To give the male lead a cheat, even the remnant soul of an ancient demon god had drifted out. After tonight, the ghost gate would close, and if that wisp of a soul drifting outside didn’t find a body to possess, it would have to wait another year. In the cultivation world, a year was a short time, but this remnant soul, which could dissipate at any moment, couldn’t afford to wait.

Finally, at the last moment, it caught the scent of the male lead and found him locked in the basement.

The hour of Zi had passed.

Shu Chen set down the scroll in his hands and gazed out the window. The male lead should be done with his ordeal by now.

【Aren’t you going to check on him?】The system’s tone was somewhat aggrieved. In just half a day, they had gone through several cold wars, and every time it was the system who made the first move to make amends.

Shu Chen picked up the scroll again. “No.”

The system paused for a moment, then tempted him: “The male lead is in a pretty bad state right now. Seeing it should make you happy.”

Shu Chen remained unmoved. “I have no grudge against him, so why would I be happy because he’s suffering?” He was actually somewhat displeased with the system’s reasoning. The system could play the villain all it wanted, but it didn’t need to project its own mindset onto him every time.

【According to my calculations, going now would give you the best outcome.】

Shu Chen kept the habit he’d had since his school days, diligently taking notes, undisturbed by external distractions.

Seeing that he truly had no intention of moving, the system fell silent.

A quarter of an hour later, Shu Chen set aside the scroll and his notes. This time, time hadn’t rewound, which meant the system’s words didn’t need to be heeded entirely.

【Are you going to the male lead’s place now?】

Shu Chen wore a white inner robe, looking from every angle like an immortal of pure grace and clarity. The moment he spoke, he said, “That’s right. I’ve thought of a new way to humiliate the male lead.”

In the basement, Xiao Nian’s consciousness was hazy, and he lay sprawled on the ground in a sorry state. Sweat and blood soaked his entire body, and tattered scraps of clothing clung to his skin he’d have been better off without them.

Locked up by that little freak for a day, punished on top of that, and having nearly died mid-battle while fighting some unknown thing for control of his body, Xiao Nian himself found it miraculous that he’d managed to hold on and win in the end.