Chapter 4

Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 – THIS PROTAGONIST IS A LITTLE MISCHIEVOUS

Originally posted on RBKTR Translations.

Author: The One Who Tells Stories Under the Bridge (天桥底下说书的).

Translated by: Yujuan

Jiangyin City sat on the border of the Godly Continent’s southern region, separated from the Demonic Continent by just a river. Thus, Ji Mo had ordered his people to spend night after night digging out several secret passages before carrying out the mission, so they could evacuate immediately in case they were attacked. And yet, he hadn’t expected the Demonic Continent to suddenly launch an attack. As matters stood, he was afraid the Demon Lord Ye Junhou[1] was serious about fighting Su Ge. Naturally, the two Celestials with their protagonist halos wouldn’t be afraid of anything, but a fight between immortals would bring calamity upon the mortals; the days of both continents’ common people were surely numbered.

Ji Mo knew that once Jiangyin City had fallen, the surrounding towns were sure to collapse as well, and did not stop for even a moment along the way, leading Ye Mingjun through several secret passages to reach Linguang City, the closest place southward of the Haotian Shrine in just three days’ time. Next, they just had to enter the patrol range of the Golden Crow cavalry to be completely out of the woods.

It was fortunate their movements had been quick, because the Demonic troops had started their assault on the city gates just as both of them reached the wharf of Linguang City. The people of the city were trying to squeeze into the two remaining large ships, and the sounds of men scuffling, women screaming, and the cries of children lingered in their ears, all law and order vanishing completely at this moment, chaos to be found in every corner.

While Ye Mingjun’s cultivation had been sealed off, his abilities far surpassed a normal human’s, and the two had long since jumped onto the deck with the invisibility spell in place. Looking at the disorderly crowds on the wharf, this Xianjun furrowed his eyebrows slightly, saying puzzledly, “Why aren’t they lining up? They’re wasting time cramming in like this.”

“The Demonic Continent’s invasion has thrown everything into disorder once more, in the face of life and death, would anyone be willing to fall behind? Didn’t we beat them to boarding the ship as well, using the invisibility spell?”

The otherworldly Xianjun did not understand a human’s desire to survive, but this was a situation that had become a common occurrence to Ji Mo. The rich had long since evacuated the city, and the ones left were just the ordinary folk who had been the last to receive the news; these two ships were their final hope of survival.

In the end, the winners were a group of robust men, armed with axes and cleavers as they forced their way through those ahead of them, even tossing the women and children that were already on board off the ship. Faced with the threat of bloodshed, no one dared to protest, and only a married woman with a child begged its leader piteously, to let her child leave with them at least.

Ji Mo knew there wasn’t actually a difference between him and those people, the reason he could watch all of this go by from the deck was all due to Ye Mingjun’s presence. Such was the disparity between a Celestial and a mortal. Even with two percent of his cultivation, a Celestial could easily survive in the midst of a war, and especially the powerful Celestials could make the world flow into rivers of blood at a moment’s whim. They had designed the protagonists to be much too formidable, and so there wasn’t a single force in this world that could restrict these people, not even their own creators.

If he wanted to survive, he had to show Ye Mingjun his worth, strike him a bargain whose terms were within the bounds he could afford. He couldn’t be fooled by the outward indifference, Ye Mingjun’s cultivation was currently sealed off; he surely needed the assistance of someone who had a grasp of the rules of the world. His status as the Shrine’s White Robed Priest was quite advantageous too when a protagonist had just arrived in another world, as long as he swallowed his pride a little, and didn’t spark the protagonists’ surly tempers, he could definitely reach a true partnership.

Coolly analyzing the current state of affairs, Ji Mo had already determined Ye Mingjun as someone nonviolent within the three days they had traveled together, and he was confident he could use this Celestial’s interest in him to return to the Shrine.

As for the protection this guy had mentioned, he wasn’t oblivious to the fact that the price of a male lead protecting the female lead in novels was lifelong devotion.

No, he was in a far worse situation than that. Ye Mingjun wasn’t even making an effort to court him – his so-called romance system was exactly the same as the dating sims he used to play on his computer, and this protagonist was just playing him like a cut-out character with a novel setup. While he could rack his brains to complete his missions as if he was the most precious person in the world, the moment he encountered a character he was more interested in, he would drop him, restart the game, and begin the next round of capture missions.

Perhaps he would buy into it if he was an ordinary native to this world, but unfortunately, as a person who had once written a novel with a system, he knew these tricks very well, and would definitely not let him become a cannon fodder who could simply be thrown away after being used by a protagonist.

Heh, trying to outmaneuver an author, you protagonists are still a little wet behind the ears.

Ye Mingjun wasn’t a man of many words, and neither did Ji Mo have the interest in conversing with him in such circumstances. Just when this Xianjun was observing the vicissitudes of the people below, the System’s voice cut through their silence, “Xianjun, your capture target’s favorability has decreased by 100, current favorability is -100.”

“Ah?”

It was Ye Mingjun’s turn to become a little startled, he hadn’t done anything, so why had it gone down? Not just that, this person’s favorability was still 0 despite constantly smiling at him? Was the System broken?

Ji Mo didn’t think the System would actually have a favorability detector, but he wasn’t so tough to the point that he could control his own heart, and so could only try to change the subject.

“Xianjun, with the critical situation we are in right now, I can only tell you a few simple details of the current circumstances. We call strong people like you who have suddenly arrived from the sky as Celestials; no one knows why the Celestials appear, nor can we count the number of Celestials currently hidden among the folk. At present, the five strongest Celestials have divided the world into the Haotian[2] Godly Continent, Jile Buddhist Continent, Zizai Demonic Continent, Xiaoyao Immortal Continent, and Hundun Monster[3] Continent. We’re currently in the Linguang City belonging to the Haotian Godly Continent, although it is no longer.”

As he had anticipated, Ye Mingjun did not take a cut-out character’s favorability to mind, and said doubtfully when he heard of the presence of other protagonists like him, “You say there are still many others like me? But there shouldn’t be that many among the immortals who are as senseless as I am.”

So you do have some self-awareness after all.

The unspoken criticism ringing in his heart, Ji Mo was interested in this person’s history, and took the advantage to ask, “Does Xianjun know why you arrived here?”

At the mention of this topic, Ye Mingjun, who had always treated anything he encountered with indifference, finally expressed some mortification, but thinking of that negative favorability of his, he still answered truthfully, “I originally had an arrangement with the underworld to leave for a tribulation in a small world. I found this place fairly odd as I stepped through the void, so, in a moment of curiosity, broke through the space to study it for a few days. I didn’t expect the System to regard this place as our destination, and my cultivation was sealed off and I dropped down the moment it was activated.”

This brat has overturned his car![4] Are you really that happy at being such a handful?

Never in Ji Mo’s ten years of reading novels had he seen such an irksome reason for transmigration, however, it appeared from his response that he had known in advance he would travel to another world, this was something different from the start of Monarch’s Descent Into The Wastelands. Feeling that it was quite strange, Ji Mo momentarily turned his gaze upon this extra System, “Where did you obtain this scroll, for it to utter human speech?”

Ye Mingjun’s conversations with the System had always been laid out bare, with no intentions of concealment, and this wasn’t an exception either, just replying casually, “Old Wang said he couldn’t find a girl who could make me fall in love, so he sent it to me. He told me to travel around the kaleidoscopic world by myself, and to launch the Capture System if I ever encountered a person of interest.”

Even the author himself instructed you to find a female lead, what do you mean by immediately binding yourself with a man? Running off to another world on the road of transmigration, then casually switching the channels, he had never seen such a mischievous protagonist!

Finally realizing that there was a trouble-maker under this Xianjun’s composed exterior, Ji Mo swore he would stay away from this guy the moment they were out of danger, yet his expression kept its calm, trying to coax more key information out of him, “Who exactly is this ‘Old Wang’?”

Of course, he knew that Next Door Neighbor Old Wang was the pen name of Monarch’s Descent Into The Wastelands’ author, but since Ye Mingjun knew of the author’s existence, and had even interacted with him, was it possible he wasn’t a character created by an author, but a real person the author had based off to write his novel?

But he had met quite a few of the Celestials’ authors in person at the Author’s Annual Meeting, it couldn’t be a supernatural existence… Or, could Ye Mingjun’s setting be a protagonist who had interacted with his author? After all, it had been quite some time since he transmigrated to this world. There was a possibility Next Door Neighbor Old Wang had written a new book.

This was an incredibly important question, yet Ye Mingjun, who originally answered all his questions stopped abruptly, and just glanced at the picture scroll dangling on his waist, “Which stage are we currently at?”

“Strangers who are travelling in company for the time being, favorability -100.”

The System’s answer was exceedingly truthful, and so the white-robed immortal nodded his head, and smiled at Ji Mo, “Old Wang is a good and kind person.”

Of course, this was all useless nonsense, this person had clearly become aware of his intent to probe him out, and on that smile was gleamingly written— Want to know? Offer up your sexual orientation as sacrifice and take the initiative to increase my favorability.

At that moment, Ji Mo suddenly understood the feelings of Monarch’s Descent Into The Wastelands’ author, if this guy was a protagonist under his pen, he would definitely kill him off!

“Xianjun, the capture target’s favorability has decreased by 100, favorability is currently -200, you are unable to continue the capture mission with negative favorability, please make him realize your integrity and trustworthiness at once.”

Integrity, trustworthiness? Was there a single character in these words that had a relevance to Ye Mingjun?

Inwardly giving a cold smile, Ji Mo looked at Ye Mingjun, who had fallen into deep contemplation at his mission’s failure, and finally couldn’t help but raise a question he had been keeping to himself for a long time, “Xianjun, did you know that this voice could be heard by others?”

“I don’t like my mind and soul being intruded on.”

This guy is actually doing it on purpose! You don’t like wearing earphones, so you’re playing it in public? Don’t you dare tell me the System is actually the Baidu Maps[5]!

Once more getting a deep realization of this person’s willfulness, Ji Mo asked in bewilderment, “Isn’t Xianjun afraid of others taking advantage of this to know your intentions?”

And yet, clearly this was a very unfamiliar vocabulary to Ye Mingjun. Not only was he unashamed, he even replied matter-of-factly, “This way you’ll know what to do, we’ll be able to significantly increase the effectiveness of completing the missions.”

Oh, so the reason for the System’s existence was just to remind him, I’ll start flirting with you now, prepare to cooperate with me.

Calmly reading between the lines of his true intentions, Ji Mo decisively tore off the good-guy label he had previously tacked on,

Hehe, a gentle disposition? Even-tempered? There is no such protagonist in this world!

“Xianjun, the capture target has decreased his favorability of you, favorability is currently -250, warning, you have been reduced to a 250 (idiot)[6] in his heart!”

The System’s warning rang out once more, and still Ye Mingjun could not understand why his favorability had plummeted so quickly. From his thousand-year observation of humans, they would be happy as long as you gave them the things they wanted, and treat you with love and esteem as long as you satisfied their desires. Any ordinary mortal would enter the romantic stages if they received fresh flowers, diamonds, or residential property, but, why was it that he was even willing to complete Ji Mo’s wishes, yet there wasn’t a slightest increase in this person’s favorability? Was it because he hadn’t responded correctly to his desires? Then, what exactly did he want?

It appeared his observation of humans was not yet sufficient, he would still need to conduct a much deeper exploration from now on.

However, rather than reflecting upon his mistakes of his strategy, what Ye Mingjun minded more was, this person had a negative favorability towards him, but there was still a kind and genial smile pasted on his face, and not even a trace of disrespect in his speech, how was he doing that? Was his face a godly artifact?

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Who was Ye Mingjun? He had sealed off his cultivation and undergone worldly tribulation in order to study the love and hate between humans, stopped to inspect an odd space on his way, and at present, put his thoughts into action the moment his curiosity arose, reaching out to pinch Ji Mo’s face, and became slightly astonished for a moment after verifying that this was indeed the true skin of a human.

Ji Mo hadn’t expected him to make such a response at all. The immortal’s fingers were extremely cool to the touch, and the feeling of his cheeks being meticulously caressed from bottom to top even more so couldn’t be ignored. Ji Mo finally reacted when his mask was close to being taken off, hurriedly backing away to question, “Xianjun, what is the meaning to your actions, might I ask?”

“I’m very curious as to why there is such a large disparity between your expressions and your heart, let me study it for a moment.”

Ye Mingjun’s reply was very earnest, and after making sure that he wasn’t lying, Ji Mo decisively tacked on a new label for this protagonist— willful, self-confident, and had a curiosity more exuberant than a cat’s.

Luckily there was was a system with a super high standard for morality, so Ye Mingjun did not have the chance to put his impulse to research into practice, “Xianjun, you have bypassed the level by making physical contact, as this is a second mistake, please write a thousand-word letter begging for the capture target’s forgiveness.”

I don’t want to receive such a strange letter, thanks.

Rejecting this punishment that would harm his own eyes without the slightest hesitation, Ji Mo regained his senses, just smiling in good taste, “It’s fine, I was the one who offended Xianjun. Perhaps because I was influenced by our surroundings, my emotions are slightly unstable, I hope Xianjun will understand.”

The moment Ye Mingjun’s fingers almost touched his eyes, terror he hadn’t felt for a long time shook Ji Mo completely awake, and he hastened to remind himself that this was a Celestial with many cards in his hand, he mustn’t let down his guard due to his amicable actions.

It was all because of that System, he had been given the misconception that having a favorable impression on Ye Mingjun was a little important, a cut-out character had to have the appearance of a cut-out character, all he had to do was to stay in the pool of cards to entice the gaming whale, he absolutely mustn’t take the wives and husbands coming from these gamers’ mouths seriously.

Yeah, that’s right, use him! Squeeze him dry! Why can’t you slaughter the cash cow that has been presented before you?

After retrieving that rotten heart of his, Ji Mo, after verifying his policy of response towards Ye Mingjun, gave him a much kinder smile, and anyone who chanced upon this sight would sigh at such a great relationship between the two, especially the younger one, just look at how happily he’s smiling.

But Ye Mingjun would no longer be fooled by his appearance, throwing a glance at the unresponsive System, he could only shake his head helplessly. Turning hostile again, this little guy must be currently discontented on the inside. Undoubtedly knowing that he was harmless, yet still hoisted his spikes to guard against him, humans were truly a complex species.

This was exactly the reason he was curious, of what Ji Mo would look like if he grew to truly depend on him. He would give it an earnest try, then, for the joy of exploring the unknown.

Just when the two’s tainted ideas of pure love almost sent this upright System crashing, as if to give them an opportunity to perform, a man covered head to toe in blood crashed into the ship, shouting out something which caused Ji Mo to instantly freeze,

“Stop waiting for the others, quick, set sail! The Demonic Army has breached the lord’s residence, they’ve captured the divine attendants guarding the city, the Demon Prince even said he’ll have them dismembered and fed to his snakes!”

Old Wang *lights a cigarette*: I, too, used to think that this was a generous and even-tempered protagonist, but later on, this big shot forced me to write a ten-million word draft that got scrapped, then stood me up twice without a second thought. Brother, you, take care.

Ji Mo: At first, I thought I was in a xuanhuan channel, then switched to a romance channel, now he’s telling me I’ve walked into sci-fi???

Ye Mingjun: smile-filled-with-curiousity.jpg

TL Notes

[1]

Ye Junhou – Junhou (君侯) was an honorific title for prime ministers or noble officials during the Qin and Han dynasties. [2] The meanings for each continent’s names –  Haotian Godly Continent (昊天神洲): literally ‘clear skies’; refers to the Haotian Emperor (昊天上帝), the supreme deity in traditional Chinese religions. Jile Buddhist Continent (極樂佛洲): bliss/nirvana Zizai Demonic Continent (自在魔洲): comfortable/unrestrained Xiaoyao Immortal Continent (逍遙仙洲): free and unfettered Hundun Monster Continent (混沌妖洲): primeval chaos

[3]

Demons (魔) and Monsters (妖) – These two are easily confused terms, as 妖 can be translated as either demons or monsters. Demons in this case are evil beings that often inflict harm on humans; monsters are animals, plants, or inanimate objects that have spiritual awareness.

[4]

‘Overturned his car’ – 翻車現場 is an internet slang which refers to a situation where something unexpected happens, especially when the person in question was incredibly confident before it happens, and makes a fool of himself after.

[5]

‘Baidu Maps’ – Baidu is a search engine in China; Baidu Maps is something similar to Google Maps.

[6]

‘250’ – 二百五 (erbǎiwǔ); is what you usually call an idiot/stupid person.