Chapter 1: You’re telling me the system’s lost after transmigrating?

Lin Xi felt like his situation was really not great…

He was a fifteen-year-old boy in his final year of middle school. His parents had passed away early, but they left behind a sizable inheritance—enough for Lin Xi to live comfortably for the rest of his life. Without much supervision, skipping classes became a regular habit. Eventually, and perhaps happily, he was expelled from school.

Lin Xi didn’t have many hobbies. He mainly liked to stay home, read novels, and draw comics. He was also quite knowledgeable in traditional Chinese painting, classical art, and history. But when it came to math, physics, and chemistry? Just looking at those subjects gave him a headache. In short, he was a genius in the arts and humanities, but a complete idiot in the sciences.

Originally, he thought he’d live a quiet, simple life like that. However, little did he know that fate had other plans for him. It all began with a novel.

The novel was called Cold Moon Burying Souls, a long-running web novel with a pretty solid reputation. It blended fantasy, alternate history, political intrigue, and war. It had countless readers, though few managed to stick with it until the end.

The key thing was: there was no romance plotline!

Unlike those harem or stallion novels, there was a male lead, a female lead, and even the supporting male and female leads were all present! But! They just couldn’t grind out a romance plotline!

There were cases of arranged marriages and emotional manipulation, but pure romance? It dropped dead before it even began.

The story went something like this:

The protagonist, Meng Yulan, was the Ninth Prince of the Lingjiang Empire. Unfavored from birth, he was secretly raised by his cold and calculating father—the Emperor—to become the sharpest weapon in Lingjiang’s arsenal.

At age seven, he was sent to the haunted Divine Vine Manor as a sacrificial offering, where he miraculously survived and began cultivating the “Poison Soul” technique.

At thirteen, he returned and befriended the young master of the Tianyun Sect, Bei Yueli—the female lead.

At seventeen, he was conferred a noble title.

By twenty, he had become a top-tier expert.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly…

Until the villain showed up.

Meng Yulan first encountered the Big Boss around age fifteen or sixteen, his lifelong rival. What was interesting was that their very first interaction was when the villain almost successfully kidnapped him to the rival nation, Yangxin.

The villain didn’t reappear until Meng Yulan turned twenty. From then on, the country changed, sects rose to power, and the villain killed his eldest brother and seized the throne. Everything happened in an instant, leaving everyone stunned.

From that point on, battles were frequent and intense. Victory swayed back and forth precariously. Along the way, Meng Yulan’s father, his siblings, even the female lead—either directly or indirectly—all died at the hands of the villain.

When the author got to this point, nearly everyone was discussing what might happen next. Readers lamented:

“Such a brilliant, powerful, and handsome character! Why did he have to be the villain?”

And then came the twist no one saw coming:

It wasn’t the protagonist who unified the world—it was the villain.

In the end, the Big Boss used nothing but mortal means to bring the world under his rule. The protagonist retreated into the mountains, training in secret. After finally mastering his cultivation, he came back seeking revenge for those he’d lost.

But when he re-emerged, he was shocked to find a flourishing era of peace and prosperity. People were safe and content. They didn’t even lock their doors at night.

As for the villain? Perhaps from loneliness, perhaps because all the people he once cared about or saw as worthy rivals had either died or vanished—he quietly trained a worthy successor, then ended his life with a cup of phoenix-thread tea.

The protagonist, suddenly enlightened, sighed: “I only ever wished for peace in the world and safety for the people.”

And just then, thunder boomed across the skies. He ascended through the clouds, finally achieving enlightenment and becoming an immortal, using his power to protect all living beings.

The End.

Admittedly, the plot in the middle was quite exciting and full of tension…

But what the heck was that ending??? Way too abrupt, leaving readers completely unprepared.

Many flooded the comment section, ranting about why the villain would commit suicide. The author simply gave a vague, half-baked answer:

“This… JiuJiu doesn’t know either. For some reason, I just felt like that’s what he would do.”

WHAT THE HELL???

The author doesn’t know?!!!

This set off another wave of outrage from readers. But not long after, they gave up their complaints and went right back to praising the author again.

Although Lin Xi wasn’t satisfied with the ending, he had to admit that Hua Xiaojiu was still one of the more reliable webnovel authors out there, whether in terms of consistent updates or some semblance of moral integrity.

No romance plot was still leagues better than those harem novels that offer nothing but meaningless driving (slang for s*x).

Floor 1:

“What a tragic protagonist. His protagonist halo isn’t even as bright as the villain’s.”

“Yeah, but at least he ascended instead of dying of old age.”

“Ugh. He didn’t even live as well as the villain. I genuinely feel bad for Brother Meng.”

Complaints about the unfairness of the protagonist’s fate were as endless as the number of hairs on a cow’s body. Lin Xi had already seen it all.

Comment, Floor 2:

“Ahhh I loved the little junior brother! Cold and cutting! Especially after he turned dark—so cool!”