When Ling Qianhe heard Xia Zhi Qian’s question from across the table, he remained as placid as ever. He looked at Xia Zhi Qian, who seemed a little nervous and worried, and a smile as faint as dust bloomed on his lips.
“What should I—know?”
Xia Zhi Qian mumbled dejectedly.
“You shouldn’t know anything.”
“This world is already like this anyway…”
“What else can be done?”
“I just want to take my little system out. I don’t care about anything else. You guys do whatever you need to do.”
He would rather immerse himself in thinking about math problems than face the Ling Qianhe before him. Ling Qianhe’s fingertips tapped rhythmically on the table, and then he spoke.
“I have a new script. It’s very good.”
“Take a look.”
“How about me and Xiao Ci acting in it?”
The main system was a bit perplexed.
A new script… What did a new script have to do with him?
He had only chosen the identity of the child star Xia Zhi Qian to get closer to Lin Mu Ci and ensure his little system was safe.
After all, child stars were the easiest to approach Lin Mu Ci.
However, that didn’t mean he was genuinely invested in his entertainment career.
At most, he wanted to witness how Lin Mu Ci’s journey as a female star would be smooth sailing and resplendent.
After watching her conquer this world, he would then smoothly rescue his own little system.
As for the entertainment industry—what did it have to do with him?
As long as Ling Qianhe wasn’t crazy enough to destroy this world, he was fine. The matters between him and Lin Mu Ci were for them to resolve themselves.
He waved his hand, indicating his lack of interest in the script.
But Ling Qianhe insisted on placing the script in front of him.
He glanced at the cover and froze.
*After My Death, That Demon Lord Cried and Begged Me to Return.*
The protagonist.
The first demon ancestor of the Primordial Era, Ling Qianhe.
The foremost female cultivator of the Cultivation world, Si Mu Ci.
He immediately flipped it open and read a few lines, his body trembling.
When he looked at Ling Qianhe again, his gaze had clearly changed.
“You—you remembered everything?”
“Other worlds…”
“Your relationship with her…”
He murmured to himself, a hint of a helpless, bitter smile in his eyes.
Ling Qianhe opposite him, his exquisitely handsome face, was still as if touched by a spring breeze, wearing a look of joy, with not a trace of fierceness or malevolence.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Xiao Ci isn’t afraid of me blackening, is she?”
“I won’t blacken.”
He then added to himself.
“At most—I’ll blacken a little in the script.”
“You said before—only her little system knew about her past world experiences, and her own memories were sealed. This is also good.”
“Since she doesn’t remember the past now.”
“Then please, let her never remember.”
“After all, if she remembered, I’m afraid she…”
“Would be sad.”
“If you’re going to abuse, do it to the extreme. I don’t care if this world collapses after she leaves. Isn’t this her usual style?”
Ling Qianhe paused and said.
“My sister Mu Ci doesn’t know how much pain I endured to finally…”
“Finally find her.”
“Fall in love with her.”
“Never letting go, life after life.”
“It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t know.”
“I will bear all the suffering of the mortal world. She only needs to reach the pinnacle. I want her to be spirited and unrestrained, to look down on the world, and to be her true, carefree self.”
…
Meanwhile, Lin Mu Ci was already on her flight to see Franklin.
The flight was over ten hours long. She held the scripts her agent Ye Tong Tong had found, intending to read them all.
Who would have thought that the first one… would make her exclaim in admiration, completely captivated?
*After My Death, That Demon Lord Cried and Begged Me to Return.*
The story synopsis is as follows.
After my death, the world-destroying demon lord’s eyes turned crimson, he called my name, begging me to return.
But I am tired.
No matter how he calls me, I can no longer turn back.
I died before him, warming his cold, frosty demonic heart for a hundred thousand years. I shattered his unwavering, emotionless dao for a hundred thousand years. I traded my lowly life for him to never become a demon in this life.
Above the nine heavens, layers of celestial fire burned, like glorious feathered robes. Pity, he never had a grand wedding with me, because I was lowly, unworthy.
In the vast wilderness of Hongze, the demonic beasts all wailed as if a primal demonic cave had broken through the clouds. Pity, that year I used my body to block the gaping hole, my bones shattered into three thousand pieces, my body riddled with injuries.
I gave him everything.
My life, my love. I killed him once, saved him once.
To finally make him love and hate me.
I fed myself to the demon, finally converting this demon lord.
My mission accomplished, I retreated.
Finally free.
Ling Qianhe, in this life, we owe each other nothing more.
—I am the plot divider—
The Primordial Ancestor Demon Lord Ling Qianhe was originally a supreme sword cultivator with exceptional talent. Born into the Ling royal family, though a concubine’s son, his talent was so extraordinary, rarely seen in millions of years. The moment he was born, he resonated with the divine artifact, the Purple Cloud Longevity Sword, and should have been favored by the Heavenly Dao.
Alas, he was betrayed by his subordinates. His legitimate mother gouged out his spiritual veins for his elder brother, crippled his spiritual bones, seized his Purple Cloud Longevity Sword, and threw him into the most ferocious place in heaven and earth, the Hongze Great Wilderness.
She wished for the malevolent energy of the Hongze Great Wilderness to refine him, ensuring he would never be reincarnated, forever falling into the realm of Yama.
He should have dissipated into nothingness, but fueled by a ferocious spirit, he crawled out of the绝地 (jue di - desperate situation/forbidden land) and sought revenge against his enemies.
Lin Mu Ci gave a slight nod after reading only a glance.
This was very much a male-protagonist novel.
One could easily guess that the male lead would make a comeback and enjoy a triumphant journey.
Lin Mu Ci could already envision how the author would continue the story after just reading the beginning.
Yet, these few short sentences were written by the author with such… immersive detail.
The bone-gnawing pain of the male protagonist’s betrayal and subsequent descent into darkness was palpable between the lines, sending shivers down her spine.
And the name… it was too evocative.
Ling Qianhe.
Ling Qianhe.
Only one character difference.
It caused her to constantly get distracted while reading, projecting Ling Qianhe’s face onto the character.
She even felt a bit stunned, thinking to herself, could it be that the author was an obsessive fan of Ling Qianhe?
It was highly possible; he was so popular, so famous.
His face could perfectly substitute for various novel male protagonists.
She stroked her chin. The flight time was still long. She continued reading, but the more she read, the more she felt the plot was stirring her emotions.
The later parts seemed different from the typical face-slapping, triumphant male-lead novels she had imagined.
This story… was very interesting.
And the heroine…
The heroine should be his maid.
Ling Qianhe had a maid.
She was a few years older than him.
When he was still an innocent young prince, he called her ‘sister’.
This maid followed him, secretly entering the Hongze Great Wilderness.
He had despaired of this world, coldly watching this young girl suffer all sorts of hardships, watching her flesh being devoured by demonic beasts, yet he made no move to help.
This young girl, in turn, did not cry out in pain.
Later, when this young girl made her own comeback.
With her last ounce of strength, she killed the demonic beast.
Only then did he leisurely emerge and snatch the demonic core of the beast.
He watched her suffer humiliation, watched her struggle to survive, but only told her to leave.
He felt that the other party must have been a spy sent by his legitimate mother, responsible for monitoring him and seeing how his soul dissipated.
He had already lost everything.
Who would save him?
They were all laughable liars.
Later, he encountered a dangerous situation, and it was this young girl who saved his life.
He was puzzled.
Could there truly be such an incredibly foolish person in this world?
Did she truly consider him her younger brother, hence her venturing into the Hongze Great Wilderness?
This young girl was named Mu Ci.
Si Mu Ci.
The more she read, the more familiar the name felt.
Wasn’t this her?
And this story. This story.
It seemed like a fanfiction written by their CP fans—actually, it was normal for fans to write fanfiction for them.
The quantity of their fanfiction ranked first on the world’s largest fanfiction website.
So, although she felt a sense of oddity, she pushed aside those distracting thoughts and wanted to read the plot seriously.
The little system in her mind suddenly spoke, its voice trembling.
“Host… Host, I think this script is extremely, extremely boring. Can we just look at more scripts, okay?”
“Such a murderous demon lord, and you can’t even find a suitable actor to play him…”
“Host, I think, we should stop reading, stop reading…”
The little system’s voice stammered.
But Lin Mu Ci was very curious.
“But this clearly looks like a chase-the-wife-to-the-crematorium plot!”
“I love it the most! The more melodramatic, the better! All sorts of misunderstandings, jumping off a cliff while pregnant with the male lead’s child, sacrificing for the male lead, being abused in various ways to protect the male lead!”
“And those plotlines where the heroine uses her own spiritual bones and roots to seal the male lead, and her eyes are gouged out for the male lead!”
“Carrying the male lead’s child, and still being cruelly abused by the male lead!”
“And the male lead doesn’t know the truth, and only realizes his mistake after the heroine dies.”
“Wracked with pain, his hair turns white overnight.”
“A demon lord can also have flesh and blood, a true heart, yet that heart is torn to shreds in an instant. Isn’t this exactly what we task-takers love to do?”
“In pain, obsession arises, endlessly entangled.”
“Isn’t this our perfect conquest goal?”
“Audiences love these kinds of plots, don’t they!”
“Look, every hit TV series has a bit of these tropes!”
“It just goes to show how much people enjoy these chase-the-wife-to-the-crematorium plots!”
“Can I keep reading?”
The little system mumbled, its voice sounding like it was about to cry.
“It’s really not that interesting…”
“And—it looks good on the surface, but when it happens to you, you’ll know… it hurts. Cough, cough, anyway, Host, please stop reading, just consider it me begging you.”
“Be good, let’s put that script down, okay?”
But Lin Mu Ci.
Was not a particularly obedient host.
The more the little system tried to stop her, the more curious she became.
In that case, she was determined to finish this script today!
Isn’t it just a melodramatic abuse novel? Is she afraid of it?
She resolved to finish it in one go. The little system’s voice trembled and then tried to negotiate.
“Host, well, the main system has descended, and some of my functions have returned, such as the acting space. It’s so boring to just read dry scripts, don’t you think?”
Lin Mu Ci thought the little system’s point was quite valid.
“That makes sense.”
“But, if that’s the case, do you have another method?”
The little system nodded tremblingly.
“Yes. Yes. I have a new function, I can let the Host—open a new simulation space, allowing you to experience this script. Isn’t it better to feel it by entering a simulation space created based on this script, rather than just reading a dry script?”
“If you don’t like it, we won’t act.”
“You can go in and see the plot.”
“But I think, I think you definitely won’t like it, because this male lead, he, he’s described as handsome according to the setting, but he’s incredibly terrifying!”
The little system emphasized the word ‘terrifying’.
“Even more terrifying than Ling Qianhe!”
“More extreme, more crazy!”
“More unfeeling and disloyal, turning on people in an instant!”
“And he will torment the heroine more! With more variations! If Ling Qianhe can talk for three days and three nights, he can do it for three years and three months!”
“Isn’t that terrifying?”
“And not just all sorts of variations, but even the soul will be played with back and forth—demonic lords are well-versed in the art of male-female union!”
“Think about it, how scary that is. You’ll be tormented to the point where you can’t live and can’t die, even if it’s just acting, it’s still quite heart-wrenching.”
“Host, let’s just take a brief look, see how terrifying this story is, and then we’ll give up on this script.”
“Let’s act in some much gentler TV dramas, how about that?”
The little system tried its best to persuade her.
“TV dramas like the ones Yang Wei Yang acts in are very good. Like sweet little dramas where the heroine is a little cook and the male lead is a great general, conquering the male lead with cooking skills. Those are also very marketable!”
“There are also those that involve face-slapping and crushing villains, or heroines who focus on their careers. Why should we challenge ourselves with high difficulty?”
But Lin Mu Ci became even more curious as she listened.
She thought the little system had been played out by her in various ways, but she didn’t expect it to have new functions, and this function sounded very beneficial for her acting. If it could truly simulate the plot points in the script, how much of a help would that be for acting!
She had to go and see it.
So she immediately made a decisive move.
“Okay, let me enter the acting space.”
The little system hummed.
Its tone was still trembling.
“Host, um, let me clarify, I will adjust the time flow… It’s possible that a long time passes in the acting space, while only a few hours pass in the outside world.”
“Host, just consider it as taking a nap. Trust me, when you actually meet the young man from the script, you will definitely give up on this story.”
“He is truly terrifying, I’m not kidding.”
“A madman cannot be redeemed.”
“A madman only knows… how to go mad.”
Lin Mu Ci was still puzzled.
“Just how scary is this script?”
She simply refused to believe it!
Isn’t it just about saving the villain? She felt she was quite good at this. She had already conquered Ling Qianhe, so who was she afraid of!
Besides, it’s just a script for acting.
Taking a look would also be considered gaining experience.
She would definitely not lose out!