Spring, Shangjing City.
Lin Zhiji was squatting at the entrance of an alley with a worried face. This was already the third time he had walked here.
Even after transmigrating, did his problem of being directionally challenged come with him too?
And also, other people who transmigrate become princes or generals, or at worst cute little animals.
But him? He directly became a non-living thing.
That’s right, he became a system—
A villain rescue system.
His guide was named 03.
03 told him that the novel world situation was severe, villains were everywhere, and unpredictable. The transmigration bureau was under heavy pressure and lacked systems, so they had to expand recruitment, and he was the first human employee they hired.
Lin Zhiji lowered his head, looking at his round glowing golden body.
Lin Zhiji: “Human?”
03 was silent for a moment: “…That’s not important.”
Lin Zhiji was easy to deal with, he didn’t ask much, and obediently said “oh.”
03 then took him to see the main body of the transmigration bureau. It was a huge open book, and on its pages floated countless colorful little cloud clusters.
According to 03, these little cloud clusters were the small worlds managed by systems.
The world Lin Zhiji was going to enter was among them.
The villain he had to save was named Xie Yi.
Xie Yi was originally the illegitimate son of a general’s household, born with a cloudy left eye, unloved and despised, bullied since childhood, and twisted into darkness.
When he grew up, Xie Yi gained power through iron-blooded methods, eliminated opponents ruthlessly, cold and cruel, and eventually almost destroyed the world.
Lin Zhiji’s task was to find a suitable host, and let THEM save Xie Yi, stopping Xie Yi from destroying the world.
Lin Zhiji remembered that his younger sister used to like reading this kind of novel. He had also read a few. Most of them involved a gentle and kind protagonist transmigrating into a villain’s teacher/friend/relative, helping him, caring for him, and eventually redeeming him. The patterns were all similar.
Just hearing the description, he already imagined a pitiful child who couldn’t eat or wear warm clothes and was bullied every day, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit of pity.
03 told him selecting a host was very important; the right host could make things twice as effective.
Lin Zhiji deeply agreed.
He even already had several candidate hosts in mind.
However, reality was harsher than dreams. He never expected his directionally challenged trait would make everything collapse at the first step.
Time was tight; if he could not bind a host within one hour, the mission would be considered a failure.
Lin Zhiji sighed.
He patted his round body and looked at the buildings beside the alley.
High courtyard walls, tightly shut gates.
It should be the back alley of some noble household.
Just then, a sound of a bell rang behind him. A peddler carrying goods hurried into the alley and almost bumped into him, scaring him into dodging quickly.
That was close!
If he really got hit, he would directly bind a host.
Seeing more and more people in the alley, Lin Zhiji worried that this kind of accident might happen again, so he simply controlled himself to float into a nearby noble residence instead.
Compared to the alley, it was much quieter inside.
Lin Zhiji originally planned to pass through here and float to the host he had chosen.
However, he clearly overestimated himself.
Not long after, he realized he was lost again.
Lin Zhiji: TOT
Was he going to be the first system in the history of the transmigration bureau to fail just because he couldn’t find a host?!
As the sky grew darker and time became tighter, Lin Zhiji had no time to think more.
At this point, he could only pick randomly.
He examined the courtyard he was in.
Pavilions and towers, deep rock gardens, flowers blooming everywhere, even the cracks in the blue bricks were cleanly maintained.
It was obvious the owner was powerful and prosperous.
At that moment, a middle-aged man in luxurious clothing walked past. Servants and maids along the way all bowed to him.
Lin Zhiji guessed he should be the owner of this mansion.
Although he was not the ideal host, there was no time left to search anymore.
Fine, it’s him.
The man looked serious and hurried toward the study, even ordering guards to stand far away before entering alone.
Lin Zhiji’s eyes lit up.
Alone! Enclosed room!
Perfect for binding!
He immediately floated over and slipped in just as the door was closing.
The heavy wooden door shut, like a giant beast swallowing the last trace of daylight.
“Creak.”
Candles lit.
The study had bookshelves on three sides, stretching into darkness above, creating a suffocating atmosphere.
In the center was a yellow rosewood desk covered with documents.
But the man didn’t even look at them and walked straight to the innermost bookshelf.
The flickering candlelight dragged his shadow along, gradually swallowed by darkness.
The room was silent.
Something seemed to be lurking in the deep shadows.
Lin Zhiji felt a chill.
He rubbed his nonexistent arms and prepared to finish quickly.
The man remained unaware, placed the candle, and slowly turned a mechanism on the bookshelf.
With a grating mechanical sound, the bookshelf split open, revealing a hidden chamber.
Instantly, a black shadow shot out like a hunting falcon. Its speed was so fast the man couldn’t react before his mouth was covered, and a dagger’s cold light reflected in his terrified pupils.
At the same time, Lin Zhiji heard a “beep.”
[Binding in progress—]
Lin Zhiji felt dizzy for a moment.
03 had told him that when a system binds to a host, they share senses, and both sides experience a short adaptation period.
However, when his vision cleared, Lin Zhiji realized something was wrong.
The “host” covered the man’s mouth with one hand, while the shining dagger calmly slit his throat.
Blood splattered across the bookshelf like a sheet of cloth. The candle flickered and went out.
Lin Zhiji: !!!
Murder—murdered!!!
Before he could react, a blade of light came toward him.
The sound of the blade cutting through air made him tremble.
Fortunately, just before it reached him, a mechanical voice saved him.
[Host binding successful.]
And the “host,” noticing the blade did not meet resistance as expected, stopped and let out a slightly regretful sigh.
“Tsck, can’t kill it.”
Lin Zhiji: !!!
Forget killing people—you’re even trying to kill the system?!!
Does that make any sense!!
Luckily he was fast enough and bound the host in time.
The blackness was especially quiet, with only the “drip” sound of blood falling from the bookshelf onto the ground.
The dark clouds dispersed, and the cold moonlight passed through the window paper, catching the fleeting killing intent on the “host’s” face.
Lin Zhiji didn’t even have time to celebrate surviving a disaster when he suddenly felt a strong sense of danger, as if he was being stared at by some ferocious beast.
Then a powerful force came, almost as if it was going to tear him apart.
Lin Zhiji only had time to curse before being dragged into extreme pain.
Perhaps because intense pain can blur one’s sense of time.
Lin Zhiji felt like a long time had passed, yet also like only an instant.
Dazedly, he saw a flash of golden light on his body, as if it had blocked that force.
The pain faded, and everything returned to normal.
Lin Zhiji slowly came back to his senses, only now feeling fear afterward.
In front of that overwhelming, world-ending force, he was like an ant facing the ocean, with absolutely no ability to resist.
He clearly realized that if that golden light hadn’t blocked it just now, he really would have died again.
He felt like crying without tears.
Novels are all lies.
He hadn’t even started his missions yet, and just binding to the host was already so dangerous.
The host being a snake-psychopath killer was one thing, but he almost inexplicably lost his system life.
What kind of situation is this!
Just thinking that he would have to work with such a host in the future, Lin Zhiji’s vision went dark.
Unbind!
He must unbind!!
Immediately unbind!!!
Then he discovered—this damn system couldn’t unbind!!!
What kind of gangster system is this!!!
Lin Zhiji, while angrily cursing, contacted customer service… oh no, 03.
As expected, 03 was also offline.
Lin Zhiji: !!!
The sky had fallen!!
His eyes were blank, feeling like he was a piglet tricked into a scam compound, calling the heavens unresponsive and the earth unanswering.
Forget it.
Whoever wants to do this broken mission can do it!
Lin Zhiji gave up and closed his eyes, lying down peacefully.
At this moment, sounds suddenly came from outside the door.
It was actually the favored concubine of this household, coming to deliver supplements.
Lin Zhiji froze for a moment.
He could only watch as candlelight reflected a graceful figure.
The concubine pushed open the study door and said sweetly: 【Master, why is it so dark, why don’t you light a lamp… ah!!!】
Seeing the corpse on the ground with eyes still wide open, the concubine’s face instantly turned pale, her body swaying as if about to collapse.
But then, a black shadow appeared behind her, ruthlessly cutting her throat without the slightest pity, making the two of them become a pair of dead lovers with eyes still open.
The two guards behind her had not yet realized something was wrong. In the flickering candlelight, a shadow flashed past, ghost-like circling around them.
The sound of blades piercing flesh was especially clear in the night.
The two only felt a burst of pain, not even seeing his face before losing consciousness.
Lin Zhiji’s throat subconsciously went “gulp,” his whole body cold.
Although when he first bound, the host was already killing, he had been too busy to be afraid.
Now, seeing three lives clearly extinguished in front of his eyes, fear of death rose again.
He gritted his teeth.
So what if the host is a psychopath! Worst case is death anyway—failure of the mission also means death, go all out!!
However, no matter how much psychological preparation he made, when he spoke, his voice still trembled: 【Host hello…】
He stuttered the sentence three times, even the ending trembling.
At this moment, the mansion guards were alarmed and rushed in.
However, the host surrounded in them showed no panic at all. He could even kill while casually asking Lin Zhiji in a playful tone: 【Let me… save the villain?】
Lin Zhiji choked.
Looking at the blood-covered corpses on the ground, he also felt this was truly a dark joke.
This host was even more villain-like than the villain. Asking him to save a villain—wouldn’t that make the villain even worse?
But then he thought, that wasn’t something he should worry about.
His own situation wasn’t necessarily any better than the villain’s. Just barely survive.
【Why aren’t you continuing?】 the host’s cold voice sounded.
Lin Zhiji trembled and quickly blurted everything out, not daring to hide a single word: 【The villain is called Xie Yi, the illegitimate son of the general’s mansion…】
He did not notice that the host’s smooth movements suddenly paused for a moment.
Then he let out a sudden soft laugh.
Along with the laughter was a flying head.
Lin Zhiji: ?!!
No, which sentence of mine triggered your sensitive point! Why did you suddenly get excited!
The remaining guards were cut down like chopping melons and vegetables by the host, barely lasting a single exchange. In a short while, the courtyard was already full of severed limbs and flowing blood.
Lin Zhiji watched with fear.
He was an obedient, law-abiding citizen who had never even killed a chicken in his life, yet tonight he followed this host killing and setting fires, personally experiencing what it meant to be an outlaw.
He could only comfort himself.
At least the host was extremely strong—this could be considered an advantage.
At this moment, the massacre had reached its end.
Only then did Lin Zhiji remember something important—he still didn’t even know the host’s name.
Thinking that they would work together in the future, he forcefully ignored the bloody scene and proactively showed goodwill: 【Host, my name is Lin Zhiji, what’s your name?】
The host set fire to the place, and the raging flames illuminated the courtyard like daylight.
The sharp blade reflected his handsome side profile, deep eye sockets, carrying a hint of exotic features. One eye was normal black, while the other was covered in gray haze, like a ghostly cold and merciless presence under the firelight.
While slowly finishing the last person, wiping blood from his blade onto the corpse’s clothes, he smiled and said:
【Xie Yi.】