The Male Lead Always Thinks My Script is Wrong - Chapter 3

Twenty years ago, in the tenth year of the Ji era, Ji Shinian was a bright and beautiful eighteen-year-old high school student. He was at that stage of life where he’d just received an acceptance letter from a prestigious university and felt like he owned the place.

However, before he could even finish celebrating his summer vacation, he was T-boned by a heavy truck on the way to the airport the day before school started, sending him straight down the path of transmigration.

To be more precise, Ji Shinian, who had just finished reading a mindless, poorly-written male-oriented stallion novel with a rushed ending, knew exactly what kind of world he had landed in.

Back then, under the shock of seeing a series he’d followed for six years end in a total wreck, he developed a level of PTSD just from seeing the name “Zhongxiao Realm.”

****

Ji Shinian’s ill-fated connection with this book could be traced back to middle school. After placing dead last in his class, his mother had encouraged him by buying him a phone. It just so happened that Slaying the Heavens was trending at the top of the charts, and he was at that edgy, hot-blooded age. He fell for the title and clicked on this classic revenge story.

Looking back, Ji Shinian felt he had stepped onto a “road of no return” the moment he opened that first chapter.

Slaying the Heavens followed the story of Xiao Shu, a young boy from Wuzhou in the year 3600 of the Great Chao era—a realm partitioned off by immortals. His entire family was burned alive in a fire that raged for three days and nights. He survived, only to discover the fire was caused by immortals refining artifacts. Rumors spread that he had escaped with a divine weapon, forcing him to take the pseudonym Song Huaiqiu. He spent the rest of the novel as a fugitive, fighting monsters, leveling up, and outmaneuvering enemies.

The problem was that the author, “Ten Years to Grind a Blade,” wrote the book over the course of six years. The dark underlying theme of “slaying immortals” was teased once, and then the plot devolved into a repetitive record of the protagonist being betrayed and tortured. Brain-dead villains and treacherous companions were everywhere, and face-slapping fodder characters appeared around every corner. By the end, the protagonist became the Demon Venerable, slaughtered all his own subordinates, and committed suicide at the Liancha Temple. The “God-Slayer” became a “Self-Slayer,” and the book was flamed so hard it shot to the top of the “Most Hated” lists.

Of course, the “Schrödinger’s Heroine” in the book accounted for at least 30% of the hate.

Ji Shinian remembered that the book was incredibly popular because it lacked a harem and featured a protagonist whose personality was dark to the core. Only the secondary male antagonist, who appeared after the fire, stayed by the protagonist’s side for almost the entire book, which attracted a massive following of “CP” shippers.

Most readers couldn’t accept this and filled the comment sections with thousands of complaints. Perhaps the author was so bothered by the harassment that he released a statement officially designating one girl in the original text as the “True Heroine.”

As it turned out, that statement did absolutely nothing.

Readers who were relieved to see the protagonist finally turn out “straight” assumed the author was going to introduce a new female lead. But within half a day, people realized this girl had actually appeared right at the beginning.

The good news: she was the protagonist’s fiancée and the legitimate heroine. The bad news: she was dead the moment she was mentioned.

Furthermore, there was no sign in Slaying the Heavens that Xiao Shu even remembered having such a fiancée. She was essentially a non-entity throughout the entire series.

Some hopeful fans thought she might be resurrected or replaced by a new heroine at the end, but neither happened.

Since then, the author was credited with inventing the “Three-No Heroine” trope: No appearance, no plot, no significance.

Commonly known as “better off non-existent.”

In the original work, the name of this deceased-on-arrival heroine was only mentioned once: her surname was Ji.

Forget twenty years; even if Ji Shinian had just finished reading the book, he never would have guessed that simply having the surname Ji put him in danger of becoming the heroine.

Moreover, as a six-year veteran fan, Ji Shinian finally recalled that their current location should be the Red Oriole Illusion from the beginning of the book. Not only did the fiancée have no role here, but there wasn’t even a background character named Ji in the original text.

Watching the protagonist walk toward him, Ji Shinian thought of all the side characters who had interacted with him and subsequently died or suffered a fate worse than death. He truly wished he could go back to the crossroad where he first started.

Right then, the thing in his head calling itself “Heavenly Calculation” popped up a pink screen.

Name: Ji Shinian / ■■■ Age: Twenty (?) Gender: ＆％￥ Male Rank: Peak Dao Initiation / None Personality: Arrogant and Willful, Supercilious Role: ■■ / Heroine Social Relations: Master ■■■ / Father Ji Hengyi, Mother Liu Danxin, Brother Ji Shuangyuan Hobbies: Artifact Refining Anomalous Conditions Detected: Reason: Failed to retrieve true body information, no past history available. Scanning Complete. Query found previous severe OOC (Out of Character) behavior. Penalty: -50 points. Current Points: -50

Looking at the role panel that had glitched several times before stabilizing, Ji Shinian a die-hard hater of the book, couldn’t help but ask internally:

Where did this “heroine personality” come from?

Ji Shinian didn’t even want to ask where the system itself came from. In reality, the protagonist, Xiao Shu—radiating an aura of overbearing dominance, stopped five paces away and spoke first.

“Senior Li, I am truly sorry. I saw a disturbance in the mountains and acted impulsively out of urgency. I hope you can forgive me.”

Ji Shinian felt the other man’s gaze linger on him for a moment. However, looking through the gaps in his veil, he saw Xiao Shu with his hands clasped in a respectful salute, his head lowered.

Li Moyan breathed a long sigh of relief, his lingering fear turning into admiration as he deactivated the barrier around Ji Shinian. “No matter, no matter! I should thank you, Young Master Xiao, for saving us. Truly, a hero comes from the youth!”

“Senior overpraises me.”

In his mind, Heavenly Calculation seemed quite aggrieved by Ji Shinian’s question. The electronic screen turned a dull pink, and pixelated fonts flickered.

[Of course! In every world and every time period, there are children of destiny chosen by the Heavenly Dao. Since the Child of Destiny exists, it is only natural that a partner exists as well. Even if the observer deleted them, traces of their existence absolutely remain.]

[Devoured emotions, ignored wishes, hidden personalities, these are all precious energies. I, Heavenly Calculation, was born for this!]

“You talk a good game,” Ji Shinian said after a moment of silence. “But I’m a man.”

As he spoke, he saw the electronic screen turn gray from the shock of his words, and he couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

It had to be said that the protagonist at the start of Slaying the Heavens truly lived up to the title of a young genius. Only a few years had passed since the death of the previous Xiao family head, and the internal factions were tearing each other apart. Among the three great families of Wuzhou, they were already a hollow shell.

Coincidentally, the Ji family—Ji Shinian’s family—was currently at the height of its power. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they ruled supreme.

Therefore, even if Xiao Shu could perform such incredible sword techniques, he still had to lower his head appropriately in the face of power.

“…It seems we are destined,” Li Moyan said, fully deactivating the protective barrier. “Young Master Xiao, this is my family’s Eldest Miss.”

“Miss, this is your fiancé, the eldest son of the Wuzhou Xiao Clan, Xiao Shu.”

Normally, since the auspicious date for the engagement had not even been set, calling him her “fiancé” was a bit flippant.

Of course, given the Ji family’s power, no one in Wuzhou City would dare mock Ji Shinian’s “daughter” status. This lack of respect was directed solely at Xiao Shu.

Ji Shinian remembered clearly that this “Miss” who never appeared in the original book was merely a symbol used to suppress the protagonist at the start.

Seeing Li Moyan’s loyal servant act, Ji Shinian knew the man wasn’t trying to insult anyone. Li Moyan’s mindset was likely that of an elder watching a happy union between two families.

Though Ji Shinian, the one about to be “united,” wasn’t happy at all, and he knew this union was doomed to fail.

Whether the protagonist knew there was no malice behind the words, or if he was simply still in his “naive period,” Xiao Shu didn’t seem to notice the slight. He smiled gently at Ji Shinian. “Greetings, Miss Ji.”

Ji Shinian didn’t have the heart to go along with Li Moyan’s words. He was about to say, “Just call me Ji Shinian,” when the gray screen in his mind flashed red.

[Warning, warning! Impending OOC behavior detected! Given that the host’s points are negative, if the character’s personality is violated again during the penalty period, the system will automatically take control to ensure the correct response!]

Ji Shinian’s head throbbed from the alarm. Before he could speak, a force surged past his soul and took over his body.

The next second.

From beneath the bamboo hat, the woman in blue pointed a slender, white finger at the young man, her tone dripping with mockery. “Fiancé? You think you’re worthy?”

***

The illusion fell into a sudden standstill. The air seemed to sink into an eerie silence.

Holy crap, what are you doing with my body?!

Ji Shinian, feeling his soul forcibly sidelined, wanted to drag Heavenly Calculation out and beat it. What kind of brain-dead broken engagement declaration is this?!

[It’s fine.] Just as he was screaming in silent rage at the electronic screen, ripples appeared in his sea of consciousness, and a black shadow emerged.

It looked more like a human silhouette with blurred edges, and its voice sounded more masculine than Heavenly Calculation’s.

[I am the Main System,] it said. [And don’t bother; you cannot sever our connection right now.]

Seeing that he couldn’t regain control, Ji Shinian simply slumped in his sea of consciousness. So, what gives? What do you guys actually want?

[Because this is your response,] the Main System said. [You might not understand, but for the past twenty years, you existed in a history that the Heavenly Dao had not yet detected or recorded. If things continued, nothing would have happened.]

[But by chance, you have now entered the detection of the Heavenly Dao… which means you have entered the main plot.]

[You might not believe me,] the Main System paused. [Our arrival is simply to help a reader. Your soul is still a variable in this world. If you continue as you were, you will eventually be caught by the Heavenly Dao and reduced to ashes. Therefore, you need to become a character of this world.]

You mean the Heavenly Dao of this world only starts functioning from this point on? Ji Shinian scrambled up. He looked at the blurry shadow. Then who am I?

[You are you.]

[Even AIs are playing the ‘riddle-master’ game now.]

Ji Shinian was speechless, but he believed most of it. The Heavenly Dao in Slaying the Heavens was indeed a terrifying existence. In the past twenty years, many people had sacrificed their faith, time, and lives just to prove its existence.

But that wasn’t Ji Shinian’s story. He only knew those random bits of useless info because he’d stayed in this world for far too long!

He stopped chasing philosophical answers. Since you know I’ve read the book, you should know there isn’t a heroine in it at all.

[The author admitted there was, so there is. This story was supposed to have another protagonist who received Xiao Shu’s love and half of the Heavenly Dao’s grace, creating a more brilliant future. We were born to fill this gap.]

So basically, you’re here to fix the plot holes left by that hack author.

Ji Shinian felt like he was a prize in the system’s eyes. Even though the Main System was just a shadow, he could feel an almost fanatical gaze.

But I’m just a reader. Ji Shinian made a big “X” with his arms. Not interested in being a protagonist.

Not interested in filling plot holes, either.

At worst, he’d just take his body and run off to the deep mountains to play hide-and-seek with those people. Ji Shinian had come to Wuzhou specifically for peace and quiet; he wasn’t about to go looking for trouble.

The Main System apparently didn’t expect a six-year fan of the novel to refuse so bluntly. The dark shadow went silent for a moment, sitting across from the soul of the young man.

Just as Ji Shinian thought they had nothing left to say, the Main System spoke again.

[What if we could send you home?]

Ji Shinian admitted that when those words were spoken, his mind went completely blank. He stared at the Main System uncontrollably, and it took a long time before he remembered how to communicate.

How… how do I get back?

[Survey System Heavenly Calculation at your service!] The Main System didn’t answer, but Heavenly Calculation jumped back out. Its gray screen had returned to a sparkling pink. [As long as the host maintains the original heroine’s persona and completes plot missions to fill the Slaying the Heavens storyline and reach an ending, you can earn a massive amount of points to go home!]

How much is ‘massive’? Ji Shinian looked at the “-50 points” in the corner. You guys aren’t messing with me, are you? I died in a car crash. I’m probably just a box of ashes by now. You want me to possess my own dust?

[That sounds painful! Please rest assured, Host. Once you reach 10,000 points, we can open a portal between the two worlds. No matter the cause of death, with Heavenly Calculation here, we can perform a negative-free erasure. As long as you haven’t ‘died’ in the system’s eyes, you can naturally live!]

Deal.

The moment Ji Shinian responded, he felt his soul grow heavy as it slammed back into his body.

Though the conversation in the sea of consciousness felt long, thanks to the time dilation between the soul realm and reality, less than half a stick of incense had passed since he was forced to say that line.

“Miss?”

Li Moyan clearly hadn’t expected Ji Shinian to say something so harsh. The middle-aged cultivator stood dazed for a long time, not daring to argue with his employer, only managed to utter those three confused words.

The young Xiao Shu, looking like he’d only just processed the words, said, “I did not know Miss Ji viewed me this way… If I am not a suitable match, it is perfectly fine for you to choose another husband.”

Li Moyan’s face went pale.

Ji Shinian didn’t mind at all. In fact, he personally supported the idea of breaking the engagement. Crossdressing could be fun, but marrying the male lead? He didn’t have that particular hobby.

Unfortunately, Ji Shinian looked at that “heroine” tag and realized that if he broke the engagement now, he’d just be solidifying his role as the “vicious cannon fodder” from a classic face-slapping novel.

Moreover, as Ji Hengyi’s daughter, if she wasn’t engaged to Xiao Shu, she’d never run out of “engagements” from others.

He thought for a moment and called up Heavenly Calculation. What’s the criteria for OOC?

[The criteria is that you cannot violate the character’s underlying settings.]

And what are the underlying settings for this heroine?

To be honest, he was curious why the author would pair Xiao Shu with such a generic, arrogant, and spoiled personality.

Heavenly Calculation seemed to sense his thought. [The author believed that since the heroine stayed in the countryside to wait for her fiancé and was pampered by everyone, she felt entitled and slighted. She believes her ideal man should be powerful and domineering. Additionally, Ji Hengyi felt guilty toward his only daughter, so she lived like a local tyrant in the countryside. That seems to be it…]

Ji Shinian’s mouth twitched. He suspected the author had written the heroine first, realized she didn’t fit the protagonist’s personality, and then deleted her. But with only those few traits to follow, there was plenty of room for him to play around.

Ji Shinian crossed his arms, not forgetting to roll his eyes behind the veil. “When did I say I was breaking the engagement? Are you looking down on me?”

 Xiao Shu fell silent for a moment before shaking his head. “That was not my intention.”

“Then what is your intention?”

“Nothing.” Xiao Shu was clearly being pushed to his limit by Ji Shinian’s badgering. He reached out and summoned his flying sword back from the Corpse Ghoul, the monster’s body was dragged back along with the blade.

“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Ji Shinian was starting to enjoy the interrogation, but as he followed Xiao Shu’s gaze, his expression froze.

Earlier, due to the distance and the veil, he couldn’t be sure. Now, looking at the creature pinned by the sword, he realized the viscous liquid on its hands was made entirely of maggot-like insects. Their bodies were so transparent he could see red fluid flowing inside, and the two black dots on each head were vibrating violently, as if they were terrified to look at him.

Xiao Shu ignored Ji Shinian’s unreasonable behavior. He looked at the things on the Corpse Ghoul, his expression turning cold. “Blood Plague Worms.”

Blood Plague Worms were, as the name suggested, insects that brought the Blood Plague. There were many legends about them: some said they were venomous insects created by the Northern Demon Lord for revenge; others said they were a curse from those who died in the great war fifteen years ago. Of course, some said they had appeared long ago as a plague triggered by a demon. Regardless, everyone’s face changed at the mention of them.

Once they entered a body, they would suck every drop of blood dry and then lay eggs. In less than ten days, the host would become a mindless monster.

Though they were supernatural, they were extremely rare in the Zhongxiao Realm. Li Moyan had clearly never seen them before. Hearing the name, his face drained of color. “These are Blood Plague Worms? Could I have been infected?”

Xiao Shu looked Li Moyan over carefully, drew another pure white flying sword from somewhere, and nodded. “Indeed. Senior, forgive me, but please place your hand before this sword.”

Li Moyan didn’t dare delay. He reached out, and the sword in Xiao Shu’s hand vibrated as if sensing something. Frost began to form on Li Moyan’s fingertips, and within moments, his entire arm was covered in a thick layer of white frost.

“My meridians…” Li Moyan’s eyes widened. “They’re burning???”

Ji Shinian wasn’t afraid. It was enough that the worms weren’t running toward him. He looked at the white frost and instinctively cast an admiring glance at the protagonist.

He looked up and, through the veil, crashed straight into the protagonist’s gaze.

Ji Shinian realized then that while the Corpse Ghoul was too weak to speak “danger,” the fear of those worms was obvious to anyone who wasn’t blind.

“What are you looking at?” Ji Shinian acted as if he didn’t notice Xiao Shu’s scrutiny, putting his hands on his hips. “These things are disgusting. I hope I wasn’t infected either!”

With this set of actions, he felt like he truly was back to being eighteen.

“Young Master Xiao, is the Miss alright?” Hearing this, Li Moyan seemed more anxious than Ji Shinian. Xiao Shu had no choice but to look away, saying helplessly, “Miss Ji did not come into contact with the Corpse Ghoul. There are no traces of Blood Plague Worms on her.”

The man reached a conclusion at a glance. Having lived in this world for twenty years, Ji Shinian was curious how the protagonist could see the traces before the plague manifested.

One had to know that the worms on the Corpse Ghoul were already in the final stages. These worms were masters of stealth; by the time the host felt dizzy, the eggs would have spread throughout the body, leaving them with one foot in the grave. In the early stages, it was impossible to tell if someone was infected by sight alone—Ji Shinian had tried many methods and found them all useless.

Of course, Ji Shinian strongly suspected this was just a “golden finger” the author gave his favorite son.

After all, in Slaying the Heavens, Xiao Shu’s debut was in this very Red Oriole Illusion. Upon discovering the symptoms on a Corpse Ghoul, he realized he had a few worms in his own arm. He eventually had to slice open his meridians and drain half his blood to survive the crisis.

But now, looking at the pinned Corpse Ghoul and the calm Xiao Shu treating Li Moyan, Ji Shinian unexpectedly felt a hint of… pride?

With that thought, he made a subtle motion, pressing his fingers to his hair bun. The silver hairpin vibrated slightly, and a streak of snow-white light slid across the ground, wrapping around the creature’s limbs. Silently, the swarm of worms turned into ash.

To hide his identity, Ji Shinian deliberately piled frost over the creature.

Only after finishing did he take the chance to “accidentally” notice the monster on the ground while adjusting his veil. “Hey, those worms are gone!”

Xiao Shu was putting away his sword. He looked over and, before he could speak, Li Moyan—whose arm had just thawed—noticed the anomaly too. “It’s fixed? What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Ji Shinian shook his head. “I just thought they looked scared and wanted to observe them, but they seemed to turn into this in the blink of an eye.”

“Hey,” he shamelessly pinned the credit on Xiao Shu, “was it because of that flying sword of yours?”

“If it were,” Xiao Shu said, his expression unusually calm as he looked at the frost, “those worms wouldn’t have lived this long.”

“So you’re saying you’re not that great after all?” Ji Shinian took the chance to nitpick while the protagonist was responding.

“I’m not,” Xiao Shu sighed. He turned and actually smiled at Ji Shinian. “After all, I saw it moving through the mountains just now, and yet Miss Ji stood quite firmly.”

He saw it! Ji Shinian watched the man take two steps toward him. Up close, he found himself a bit overwhelmed by the remark. His voice carried a hint of uncontrollable panic. “Cough, where else would I stand? What do you mean?”

His words lacked confidence. Forced to stare at Xiao Shu’s jawline, Ji Shinian froze for a moment before glancing at Li Moyan, only to find the man wearing a mysterious smile.

What is with that ‘I ship it’ expression? Ji Shinian looked away in disbelief. Uncle Li, do you have any idea? Later on, characters like you who only have a Core Formation guard would be lucky to even get a chance at reincarnation after a line like that.

While he was lost in thought, Xiao Shu had already stepped back, wiping the sword he’d retrieved from the Corpse Ghoul. His smile vanished. “What I meant was that this sword is indeed not very powerful.”

***

“There should be a powerful entity in this illusion,” Xiao Shu said, as if the previous interlude hadn’t happened. “I came here to drive out the master of the illusion so that those leaving the city wouldn’t lose their way. Looking at the current situation, the master likely has other motives.”

Xiao Shu sheathed his cleaned sword. “If Miss Ji and the Senior are also lost, I wouldn’t mind escorting you both out.”

[Mission Triggered: Explore the truth of the illusion with the protagonist. Reward: 200 points.]

[Will the host accept? If the True Ending is triggered, you can earn an extra 100 points!]

Ji Shinian looked at the screen and chose “Yes” without hesitation. What is the True Ending?

[It means achieving the truth that was never completed in the original work. Heavenly Calculation isn’t sure of the specifics.]

Ji Shinian looked at the dying Corpse Ghoul, then at Li Moyan and his own dress. He felt that this opening was absolutely nothing like the life-and-death struggle at the start of Slaying the Heavens.

“Do you look down on me?” To prevent Li Moyan from agreeing to leave—since there were at least 200 points on the line—Ji Shinian went all in. “Besides, our horses ran into the woods. Do you expect me to walk back to the city?”

This was the first time Ji Shinian felt the setting that “teleportation arrays require massive spiritual power” was pure genius. Since they couldn’t teleport, and he was currently the “Eldest Miss” while Li Moyan only had a tobacco pipe, he could refuse to fly back on a weapon by claiming it was “beneath his dignity.”

As if he had expected this, Xiao Shu glanced in the direction Ji Shinian pointed and then knelt down to examine the Corpse Ghoul.

“No. Since Miss Ji has requested it, I will certainly do my best to help.”

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