Chapter 3: Beating Up the Protagonist Gong — “Attacking the Official Partner Without Hesitation”
“Fuck off. No matter how convincingly you talk this time, I won’t go.” Lu Xunye clenched his fist, angry at himself. “When have I, the great Lu Xunye, ever suffered such humiliation?”
“Three times! Three times!” Lu Xunye clutched his chest. “Am I not handsome enough? I think that Protagonist Shou is just blind!”
“Since when have I ever shamelessly chased after someone just to be humiliated?”
“I’ve almost become a court jester! And what do I get in return?!”
The system, which had been constantly urging him to actively pursue the target, finally shut up under his furious rant.
Lu Xunye enjoyed a long-awaited moment of peace. He covered his face, pretending to be defeated, but was secretly delighted, the corners of his mouth curling up uncontrollably behind his palm.
Xiao Ai said innocently: 【But if there are no points, I am not the one who dies.】
Lu Xunye instantly stopped smiling. He bounced up from the sofa: “What do you mean?”
If Xiao Ai had a physical form, it would definitely have hit someone by now: 【Host, you forgot again. You can only survive by obtaining Love Points. Completing missions can extend your life span.】
“…” Lu Xunye covered his face in genuine defeat this time. “Next time, don’t talk right after electrocuting me, thanks.”
Xiao Ai: 【Okay, Host.】
Lu Xunye felt a wave of weakness wash over him. He collapsed against the back of the sofa, looking up at the ceiling: “How many points do I have left?”
【Please wait a moment.】 Xiao Ai queried the data and answered honestly, 【Current Love Points: 0.】
Lu Xunye felt like choking on a mouthful of old blood. “So when you said earlier that points could be exchanged for money at a rate of ten times, that was a lie?”
Xiao Ai: 【It’s true.】
Lu Xunye: “So, if I choose to exchange these two million points for two hundred million yuan, I won’t have a life to spend it?”
【…】 Xiao Ai replied, 【Not exactly. You can freely choose the amount of points to exchange. Once the points reach two million, you can choose to exchange them for money or trade them for life.】
Just as Lu Xunye breathed a sigh of relief, Xiao Ai’s next words hung his heart high in the air again.
【If you have not reached two million Love Points by the time the life countdown ends, the binding between the Host and Xiao Ai will be automatically dissolved.】
Which meant letting him die, basically.
Lu Xunye felt mentally exhausted. “You systems really have a euphemistic way of speaking. So tell me, how much longer do I have to live?”
Xiao Ai’s emotionless mechanical voice echoed in his mind: 【Life countdown: two hours.】
Lu Xunye closed his eyes upon hearing this, remaining motionless. His body lay stiffly on the sofa, looking stiffer than someone who had been dead for three days.
Half an hour passed. Watching the countdown dwindle, Xiao Ai urged anxiously: 【Host, don’t be sad. As long as the countdown hasn’t ended, you still have a chance.】
Lu Xunye still didn’t move.
After scanning, Xiao Ai stared at the panel showing a normal average breathing rate: 【…】
With a zzzt sound of electric current, the person who had “died” peacefully instantly “resurrected.”
Lu Xunye wiped his face and frowned to cover up his embarrassment. “Tsk, I’m thinking of a way.”
Xiao Ai saw through it but didn’t say anything: 【So, has the Host thought of a way?】
“Shouldn’t that be something you worry about?” Lu Xunye seized the opening and counterattacked frantically.
“You have absolutely no professional ethics. You treat your Host’s life like it’s nothing. Knowing full well that the countdown was running out, you didn’t remind me and dragged it out until only the last two hours remained before dumping this mess on me.”
“Your performance review should be a zero.” Lu Xunye nodded in agreement after finishing his speech.
Xiao Ai, who had been urging him for the past few days: 【…】
It was being scapegoated. So angry.
It retorted: 【This System did not.】
“Doing missions can extend life, right?” Lu Xunye became even more self-righteous. “Where are the missions?”
Xiao Ai: 【Missions are released randomly based on the plot.】
“So there aren’t any.” Lu Xunye sneered. “Then do you think I can gather two million Love Points in just these few days?”
“Your mechanism is unreasonable.” Lu Xunye raised a question. “If no missions are released while the points haven’t reached two million, does the Host just wait to die?”
Xiao Ai fell silent. Just as Lu Xunye was about to double down and trick the system into giving him extra life points, a piercing mechanical buzz nearly pierced through his head.
His ears went on strike for a moment. After recovering for a while, Lu Xunye heard Xiao Ai’s voice return to calm: 【There is one! There is one! A mission is here!】
【Random Mission Released: The Protagonist Shou is in crisis. Please rescue the Protagonist Shou immediately. Success reward: One month of life span; Failure penalty: 30 seconds of electrocution.】
【Life countdown: 59 minutes.】
Looking at the drizzling rain outside the window, Lu Xunye accepted his fate. He grabbed the umbrella on the entrance cabinet and rushed out the door. “Where is the Protagonist Shou right now?”
Xiao Ai said coldly: 【Insufficient permissions, unable to pinpoint exact location. Only know he is near the residential complex. Host, good luck.】
Holding back a belly full of curse words, Lu Xunye glanced at the elevator stopped on the sixth floor and decisively chose to take the stairs.
The summer rain came down fiercely. Along the way, apart from the speeding cars on the road, he saw very few pedestrians.
Lu Xunye still hadn’t seen a shadow of Shen Yunqian even after leaving the complex.
Adding to that, the security guard said he hadn’t seen Shen Yunqian return since he went out in the morning, causing Lu Xunye to start panicking.
His pant legs had long been soaked by puddles while running, and mud had splattered onto his shoes.
In this vast world, Lu Xunye didn’t know where to start looking. I should have gotten his contact info that day, he cursed silently.
“Xiao Ai, what is the Protagonist Shou’s name?”
Xiao Ai was surprised: 【Didn’t I tell the Host the general plot? You don’t know?】
Lu Xunye was simply dumbfounded by the system’s rhetorical question.
You call that telling me?
The plot was just a few sentences, and the characters were referred to by titles.
Ask anything else and it’s “I don’t know.” You call that telling me?!
Even the sunflower seed shells cracked by other systems are more useful than this system!
Bean-sized raindrops slapped his face indiscriminately. Lu Xunye couldn’t keep his eyes open in the downpour, tilting the umbrella forward to block the wind. “Cut the crap, tell me!”
【Shen Yunqian.】
After that, Lu Xunye resorted to the most primitive method, straining his throat to shout loudly: “Shen Yunqian—where are you?”
And so, amidst the ceaseless “whoosh” of the rain, an urgent male voice rang out continuously.
At a corner outside the residential complex, the door of a low-key black Bentley parked by a tree opened, and a thin young man tumbled out from inside.
Inside the car door, a hand with distinct knuckles held a stack of white paper. With a flick of the wrist, the papers were tossed upwards, scattering into the air.
In the curtain of rain, they fluttered down like snow around and onto the young man.
The intense rain seemed to cut off his breathing. Shen Yunqian gasped for air, coughing quietly after choking on the water.
His clothes were soaked. When he rolled out, he sprained his left ankle. The pain made it impossible for him to stand, and even straightening his body was a struggle.
The parts of his body that had scraped against the ground burned with pain, even through his clothes. Without looking, he knew the skin must be broken.
Rainwater, seemingly mixed with other fluids, slid down his face. Shen Yunqian dragged his mud-stained fingertips to pick up the drawing paper soaking in the water.
When he reached for a sheet in front of him, a pointed black leather shoe stepped on the other end of the paper. Shen Yunqian’s fingers tightened on the paper as a mocking voice came from above his head.
“Should I call you naive or stupid?”
The paper was scratched, and unable to bear the burden after being soaked, it tore. Shen Yunqian was enveloped by feelings of helplessness and panic.
The young man lay on the gravel road covered in water stains, his fair face soiled by splashes of muddy water.
A man in a suit and leather shoes, holding an umbrella, squatted halfway down in front of Shen Yunqian. Shen Yunqian’s hand slowly tightened. The man pinched his chin, forcing him to look at him.
Looking closely at the color of those eyes, one was light brown, and the other was brown with a hint of blue. His long eyelashes trembled ceaselessly in the rain, and the blue appeared even more translucent after being washed.
The man sighed. “What beautiful eyes.”
Shen Yunqian gritted his teeth and lowered his gaze.
“Did you think that by showing up in front of me with these scrap papers every time, you could replace him in my heart?”
“Look at me!” the man scolded, increasing the force of his hand. Shen Yunqian grabbed his hand in pain.
“It’s gone down,” the man muttered to himself. “Looks like it still wasn’t hard enough.”
He grabbed Shen Yunqian’s hand in return. “Didn’t I say your life belongs to me? You have to take whatever I give you.”
Shen Yunqian struggled. “Si Jinyan… you… lunatic.”
Si Jinyan seemed to hear the most ridiculous joke. “Lunatic?”
He forcefully threw the young man off and strangled his neck. His pupils turned red as he roared, “I’m crazy because you people forced me! You Shen family members are all a bunch of hypocritical beasts.”
“What, when your parents killed my mother and your whole family treated me like a dog, did you never expect this day would come?!”
“Do you still think you are the high and mighty Young Master Shen?” Si Jinyan looked down at him, his tone suddenly becoming calm. “You aren’t. Your relatives are all dead. They died because of you.”
Shen Yunqian looked at him, his eyes gradually becoming moist and red.
Ignoring the young man’s pitiable face, Si Jinyan’s eyes revealed a confused expression. “Why do you think I’m crazy?”
“The Shen family went bankrupt. If not for me, how would a pampered young master like you survive? Your friends all stayed away from you before, didn’t they?”
“Did you think that by letting you go, I was giving you freedom?”
“Although your brother is missing, you’d better pray he’s already dead. Otherwise, don’t you ever think about escaping.”
Si Jinyan pronounced the last few words one by one, deepening his voice, like the low chant of a demon from hell.
Shen Yunqian’s eyes dimmed. Listening to the other’s humiliating words, his heart couldn’t stir up any waves. He closed his eyes, feeling the suffocation rising.
Seeing his wretched state, Si Jinyan’s brow relaxed, and he loosened his grip.
He brought his head close to the young man’s ear and comforted him softly, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you die before he gets his punishment.”
Air rushed into his nasal cavity, fighting to get in. Shen Yunqian collapsed in the puddle, clutching his neck and coughing incessantly, tears falling from the irritation.
Si Jinyan wiped the tear stains from the corner of the young man’s eyes with his calloused fingertips. His look was like the helplessness of watching a beloved lover throw a tantrum, his tone becoming increasingly gentle and affectionate.
“After all, the person you love most is me. How could I bear to?”
Shen Yunqian trembled and closed his eyes, his chest heaving, but his hand behind his back grabbed a sharp stone.
The sharp edge of the stone stung his palm, awakening Shen Yunqian’s consciousness.
He suppressed the urge to smash it: Wait a little longer… almost there, can’t fall short at the last moment, I can’t!
Suddenly, the sound of bodies colliding and a heavy object hitting the ground exploded in Shen Yunqian’s ears.
In his blurred vision, two people were entangled in a fight. Seeing this, the driver also got out of the car to join the melee.
Fists hit flesh. Lu Xunye pressed the button on the umbrella handle, and the canopy snapped shut. He smashed it hard at the driver, simultaneously kicking the man against the car body.
The moment he completed this action, he neglected his defense and took a punch to the side of his face from Si Jinyan. He licked the blood at the corner of his mouth and smiled wickedly.
He stopped holding back, and the two began to brawl.
The driver, who had been kicked out of the fight, picked up a brick from somewhere. He appeared silently behind Lu Xunye, raising his hand to smash it hard against the back of his head.
Shen Yunqian looked over and saw this scene. His pupils quaked, and he shouted in a hoarse voice, “Lu Xunye, behind you!”
Lu Xunye blocked with his arm sideways, grabbed the man’s shoulder, kneed him hard, and threw him off.
From the sleeve of the arm used to block, several streams of fresh blood flowed out, merging into one and dripping down the back of his hand.
Flicking the blood off his hand, Lu Xunye turned around as if he wasn’t the one injured.
“Still not fucking off?” His sharp eyes stared tightly at Si Jinyan. “Do you want to try it too?”
“You have a death wish.” Si Jinyan had never suffered such an insult. He immediately pounced forward, rolling on the ground with him.
The two traded punches just like that, straddling each other and fighting for the upper hand.
Just as Lu Xunye seized the opportunity and was about to smash a fist onto the other’s forehead, the system urgently intervened: 【Host, he is the Protagonist Gong, Si Jinyan! The death of the protagonist will cause the world to collapse.】
Lu Xunye was distracted for a moment and was flipped to the ground.
So what if he’s the Protagonist Gong! Lu Xunye was also pissed off. He grabbed the fist swinging at him. “Dressed like a human but acting like a beast, attempting murder, and getting triggered when you can’t win a fight—do you have no shame!”
Si Jinyan broke free, grabbed the brick the driver had held earlier, used all his strength to turn over and pin Lu Xunye underneath, swinging the heavy object to smash it down violently.
Lu Xunye subconsciously tilted his head and squeezed his eyes shut. The anticipated pain did not come; instead, the sound of the brick landing in a puddle echoed in his ears.
He opened his eyes in surprise and saw the man, who had been fierce and malicious a second ago, with dilated pupils and blood flowing down his forehead. Then, his eyes closed, and he fainted dead away.
Lu Xunye pushed the man off, lifted his eyes, and met the gaze of Shen Yunqian, who was gripping a wooden stick as thick as an arm with both hands.
He was also bewildered. Eh? Attacking the official partner without hesitation?
Lu Xunye caught a glimpse of the fleeting ruthlessness in the beauty’s eyes. He blinked and looked again. Shen Yunqian looked at Si Jinyan on the ground with dodging eyes, dropping the wooden stick as if it burned his hands, and took a step back.
Unlike the coldness he showed Lu Xunye over the past two days, he now looked like a young cub who had lost its mother’s protection facing a dangerous predator—extremely lost and helpless.
Lu Xunye didn’t know that in this moment, the young man’s fragile appearance, accompanied by the raindrops falling from the sky, landed on a lake surface as calm as dead water, creating ripples.
I must have been seeing things. How could the Protagonist Shou hate the Protagonist Gong?
【Life countdown ended. Mission complete, rewarded with one month of life span.】
【Love Points +5000. Current Love Points: 5000.】
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