The Male Lead Always Thinks My Script is Wrong - Chapter 7

Li Moyan’s tone remained steady, but as he lingered on the phrase “true or false,” it was impossible not to hear the underlying suspicion.

Ji Shinian wasn’t surprised. This man had personally witnessed [her] sudden personality shift. If Li Moyan had stayed quiet before to protect the reputation of the Ji family’s young miss, then now, having finally found a moment alone, he was bound to demand clarity.

However, if asked to play the classic arrogant socialite, Ji Shinian might have lacked confidence, but proving his identity as the Ji family’s adopted daughter? That was the easiest thing in the world.

“Whether I’m real or fake, does that actually matter to some people?” Ji Shinian smoothed back his damp, tangled hair, his eyes flashing with undisguised mockery. “The end goal you all want is the fulfillment of the marriage contract. Now that I’m here, the Head of the Family shouldn’t care how I act or who I choose to target, right?”

Though he loathed to admit it, Ji Shinian had actually followed the serialization of Slaying the Heavens for six long years in his original life. While many minor details had faded, he vividly remembered one thing: when the author, “Ten Years to Sharpen a Blade,” first started the novel, there wasn’t even a female lead.

The heroine of Slaying the Heavens was a late addition, thrown in halfway through the story when readers were fighting most fiercely over character pairings.

This “heaven-sent” heroine was named Ji Yun. The ancestors of the Ji and Xiao families had intended to unite through marriage, using a secret realm key as a token. However, every generation faced obstacles, either the children were all the same gender, or the betrothed fell in love with someone else and refused to comply. By Ji Hengyi’s generation, the Xiao family had fallen into rapid decline after Xiao Qingjin’s death. To prevent further issues, since both families had produced sons again, Ji Hengyi simply adopted a daughter. He sent her to the countryside to be raised in isolation, waiting for the day she would marry the male lead.

Such a character was literally born for the sake of the protagonist, yet Ji Yun was far from being a fan favorite. In fact, if Ji Shinian hadn’t been thinking deeply about it now, he would be just like the other readers: someone who only remembered her as “that girl surnamed Ji.”

Because this new heroine’s name had only appeared in a passing comment by the author, she had no physical description, no meeting with the male lead, and never even completed the marriage. In the original text, the only detail about her besides the engagement was the news of her death, which the male lead heard by chance after his clan was wiped out.

Ji Yun, who died at the beginning and never bought a “resurrection armor” for the finale, might have been officially labeled the heroine by the author, but her treatment in the book was worse than a dog’s!

The readers’ impression of her was usually a delayed reaction: “Oh right, the heroine is that girl from the Ji family,” followed by mockery directed at the author for never following up on the secret key plot hole.

Now, Ji Shinian seriously suspected that the idiot author had forgotten the heroine’s name himself, because the girl he was currently stand-in for wasn’t even named Ji Yun!

Of course, the original girl had already escaped this misery. Now, he was the one stuck in the role of this “worse than a dog” heroine. Along the way, he had successfully passed himself off as the Ji family’s young miss simply because he shared the same surname in real life.

He was a nobody in the real world, and a mere tool in the book.

As a tool, the Ji family wouldn’t care about [her] threats; they only cared if the marriage happened. As for Ji Shinian himself, as long as he didn’t threaten the Ji family’s interests, nothing else mattered.

Just as Ji Shinian suspected, his nonsensical yet strangely logical “rebellious youth” act gave Li Moyan a visible jolt. The loyal servant immediately bowed, his voice humble. “It was my slip of the tongue. I ask for the Eldest Miss’s forgiveness.”

“Get up.”

“Thank you, Miss.” Li Moyan stood, his expression remaining stoic under the firelight. “I only wished to ask how you managed to see through the identities of those two?”

Trying to cover your tracks? Ji Shinian glanced at the “Heavenly Calculation” panel, which showed no warnings, and decided not to argue with the man’s lazy excuse. “Even though I haven’t traveled, I’ve at least read a few books. The illusion just now clearly depicted the Northern Border. Uncle Li, you said Zhou Hongluan was from Wuzhou and married into Tanzhou, yet the two who appeared were young girls. Given how familiar they were with each other, they could only be a mistress and her maid.”

“Illusions are a mix of truth and lies. Since we’ve established the child and the bandits were fake, and the ‘Scarlet Oriole’ claimed to have a son, then she was naturally a fake as well!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the secret passage turned heavy and silent.

[Host, your persona is a spoiled, headstrong beauty, not a brainless idiot, right?] The Heavenly Calculation system chirped incessantly in his mind.

[Then you tell me how a girl locked away in the countryside is supposed to know about the kidnapping of the Zhou daughter or the disappearance of the Four Qi Lords?] Ji Shinian suppressed the limelight-hogging system. [Also, if I’m not out of character, stop interfering with my decisions.]

“Is that not right?” He coughed twice. “Uncle Li, what’s with that look? And didn’t the ‘Scarlet Oriole’ admit she was actually Zhou Hongluan?”

As the firelight began to fade, Li Moyan pulled back his complicated expression. “The Eldest Miss is exceptionally bright, and I share in that honor.” He spoke as he pulled a cloak from a storage pouch and carefully draped it over Ji Shinian. “I was simply worried the Miss might catch a cold.”

What a talent for lying through your teeth.

Ji Shinian let the hood cover his hair, hiding half of his face, before standing up with Li Moyan’s assistance. “Hmm? Are we not waiting here?”

“Staying in an illusion for too long brings no benefit.” Li Moyan gripped his tobacco pipe and signaled for Ji Shinian to follow. “I will take the lead. Please stay close, Miss. We must try to regroup with Young Master Xiao first.”

“I’d rather regroup with Xuan Tie first.”

The loyal servant remained noncommittal. “The Miss is right. Encountering Xuan Tie would be for the best.”

The passage was deep and eerie. With the firelight gone, Li Moyan moved slowly, perhaps considering his master’s mortal constitution or fearing hidden traps.

Ji Shinian followed closely behind. As a living puppet, his senses were sharp, and he could feel the eerie aura he had first noticed in the carriage growing stronger. The grooves and patterns on the walls were fantastical and magnificent, resembling some kind of fragmented array.

And it wasn’t a good one, either.

It was pitch black in the passage. After walking for about fifteen minutes at a snail’s pace, Ji Shinian could only guess about a quarter of the layout, concluding it was likely a maze designed to protect the illusion.

After the surface illusion shattered, they should have been scattered into “True Illusions” affected by the owner’s emotions. Unlike a Mirage Demon’s illusions, a True Illusion created by a powerful being was essentially their domain, where one rarely encountered others. Usually, a demon’s True Illusion was wide open, but someone like Zhou Hongluan, who set up complex access codes, was rare indeed.

Creating an illusion using power that wasn’t one’s own required immense strength. To lay such a massive array within an already fragile dreamscape was like carving words onto one’s own skin, it was both ruthless and formidable.

The catch was that Ji Shinian really didn’t want to deal with this security system.

In just fifteen minutes, they had encountered countless forks in the darkness, a repeat of their struggle to find the path at the foot of the mountain. Only this time, they had no Xuan Tie and no protagonist-halo-wearing Xiao Shu. Wandering through this maze was pure gambling.

Looking at yet another fork in the path, Ji Shinian felt that Zhou Hongluan’s taste in illusions was truly concerning.

Speaking of Zhou Hongluan, Ji Shinian realized something a bit late. If he had seen correctly, when she was playing the “Scarlet Oriole” earlier, she was actually bound by thousands of silk threads, unable to move.

Those threads were incredibly fine. If Ji Shinian hadn’t sensed the movement through his heightened perception, he would never have noticed them through the hazy veil of his perspective at the time. Because he relied only on his senses, he couldn’t tell exactly what the threads were made of.

The half-demon Corpse-Ghoul with wings on its back, the intermittent flute music, Xuan Tie’s strange docility toward the illusion, the headless statue in the ruined temple… plus those mysterious silk threads. Ji Shinian felt his head throbbing with the complexity of it all.

Before he could untangle the clues, Li Moyan suddenly stopped.

“Eldest Miss,” Li Moyan’s voice was tense, “we might have taken a wrong turn…”

Without waiting for a reaction, Li Moyan spun around, grabbed Ji Shinian’s wrist, and bolted in the opposite direction. “Run!”

Ji Shinian was nearly jerked off his feet, but he reacted in an instant, pushing himself to keep up.

Behind them, a torrent of pure white liquid surged from the end of the passage. It was massive and loud, like crashing ocean waves, quickly filling the stone corridor as it hungrily chased them.

Even more horrifying was that the liquid acted like a nursery, carrying a massive amount of white, round eggs. They shuddered within the flow, reflecting a sickening pink glint.

“Why are there so many Blood Plague Eggs here!? Don’t these things depend on human blood?” Li Moyan cursed, his pace never faltering. “Eldest Miss, hold on! Do not let go!”

Ji Shinian felt like he couldn’t let go even if he wanted to, given how tightly his wrist was being gripped. He had to balance acting like a frail mortal while ensuring they weren’t actually caught by those egg-worms.

Dealing with these things wouldn’t be hard for him, but he suddenly realized that without his veil, his movements would be completely exposed.

The flood was like a spectral beast. Li Moyan pulled Ji Shinian through the maze, the water snapping at their heels like a predator.

In such a desperate situation, they had no time to choose paths. To their horror, they accidentally triggered another flood from one of the side tunnels!

Li Moyan’s face turned pale. He didn’t hesitate. At the moment the two currents were about to collide, he threw his pipe and unleashed a burst of spiritual energy.

The energy hit the ground and formed a barrier, but it was instantly shattered by the force of the water!

However, Li Moyan wasn’t trying to fight the floods. He used the split-second delay from the collision to drag Ji Shinian into a different passage that hadn’t been fully submerged yet!

“I truly thank the Zhou family’s ancestors for this!” In his desperation, Li Moyan finally let out a string of curses.

As a budding actor, Ji Shinian wanted to cry. He swore he would never look down on “useless” characters in TV shows again. Playing a helpless person was exhausting!

“Quick, just keep running!” Ji Shinian gasped, struggling to control his pace while maintaining a look of agony and exhaustion.

Please, hurry. Feeling his hand nearly being wrenched off, Ji Shinian felt that if he had to keep this act up much longer, he’d snap, use his powers, and get his points docked into oblivion.

Whether it was his effort or Li Moyan’s desperation that moved the heavens, they sprinted down the passage and finally spotted a white jade door at the end.

Li Moyan didn’t hesitate. He cast a spiritual shield over Ji Shinian with one hand and used his pipe to blast the door open with the other, dragging them both into the pitch-black room beyond!