Chapter 1: 01 – Transmigrated as the Antagonist

Chapter 1: 01 - Transmigrated as the Antagonist

The night before An Zhi's business trip, his best friend Wen Yan sent him a message:

Hey, our company just developed a new game, and I'm the planner for it. Before its release, we need to do some debugging. Could you help me check if there are any plot inconsistencies? When you're back from your trip, I'll buy you a drink.

He then followed up with another message.

It was the testing program for Wen Yan's game, "Killing to End Killing."

An Zhi tapped on the screen, and the game's narrative unfolded in his ears:

Twenty-five years ago, Shen Yuan had made no attempt to conceal his intentions or appearance as he cast a spell before the inhabitants of both islands, causing them to sink, resulting in severe casualties, displacement, and families torn apart.

Blaming Shen Yuan for the disaster, people's hatred towards him grew, their anger unchecked until he was impaled through the chest by the ruler of Peng Lai Island, Wang Wanhe, who ripped out his heart, casting him down before the gates of Xixuan Men.

His bones shattered, organs crushed.

"Please create your character."

Upon reaching this point, a system notification popped up on the screen.

An Zhi rolled over in bed, exited the game, and messaged Wen Yan: The plot is fine.

Since he had an early flight for his business trip the next day, he put down his phone after sending the message and fell asleep.

As his breathing gradually evened out, he was already sound asleep. Suddenly, in the darkness, his phone screen inexplicably lit up, switching to another interface.

"Introducing the newest villain, Demon God Shen Yuan, updating at 6 am tomorrow. Stay tuned..."

...

"It's terrible! Someone's dead!"

A "thunderbolt" echoed in the stillness as An Zhi stumbled to his feet. He moved forward in a mechanical and sluggish manner, without any apparent reason, like a puppet on strings.

His vision hadn't fully cleared yet, and everything before him appeared as blurred motion lines. His senses felt shattered, scattered...

Until a loud clatter—"Ouch!"—his features contorted in pain as he lifted a hand to rub the throbbing forehead that had collided with something.

He collided with a door panel.

His thoughts finally cleared up.

An Zhi surveyed his surroundings, which were filled with an antique charm. A gentle breeze blew through the wooden windows, causing the bed curtains to flutter. The environment felt like a scene straight out of a period drama, in a tavern!

He was slightly taken aback, then chuckled. "I must have been watching too many period dramas; even my dreams are of the 'Red Dust Tavern' now."

"A warm welcome to the demon god Shen Yuan into the high-freedom, Chinese-styled cyberpunk game: Offenders Dy Beath Penalty. Translation: Punish the Killers. Abbreviated as ODBP."

A voice, reminiscent of a machine translation, rang in An Zhi's ear.

"At present, your location is: the border region between the Divine Clan's residence, Lei Ze, and the Jiuli Clan of the Dian lineage - Ciye Town."

Instantly, a screen popped up, filled with an overwhelming number of tiny, ant-like characters scrolling continuously.

So many words!

An Zhi swallowed hard. "What's going on? Could you summarize it for me?"

"This is the agreement you consented to at 11:11 PM on xxth of x month. You willingly agreed to donate your consciousness to the ODBP Cyberpunk Game 'National Style' for the completion of the villainous character Shen Yuan's testing. The character is currently in its testing phase. Booking confirms the agreement. Violation of the terms will result in a compensation of three times the investment to the game company, approximately three hundred million."

"Three hundred million!! I! You! Unfair terms!!" An Zhi's eyes widened in shock. After a moment's thought, he asked, "If I don't complete the test, I have to pay three hundred million. Does that mean I'll get at least one hundred million as a reward if I do?"

"The experience of living an alternate life is itself a reward."

"Are you kidding me?!" An Zhi rolled his eyes.

"Did someone inside do this? Should we call the police?"

—Voices could be heard from outside the room.

"Let's not make any noise yet, we don't want to alert the suspect."

"Perhaps we should carry him down first. It's quite ominous to leave him hanging like that."

"That won't do, we mustn't disturb the crime scene."

An Zhi questioned, "Calling the police and tampering with the scene, what's going on here?"

"Congratulations on triggering your first upgrade quest."

An Zhi turned to open the door, only to be met with a pair of feet dangling before his eyes.

He was mere inches away from them. The wind billowed the woman's black skirt and trousers, brushing gently against his cheek.

His body froze as he slowly rolled his eyes upward.

Before him, the woman's long hair cascaded over her face, casting a chilling and pale shadow. Her head hung limply, her hazy eyes glaring at him with resentment through the veil of darkness.

An Zhi had never encountered such a sight; his stomach lurched in response, but he clenched his teeth and summoned his willpower to suppress the nausea.

"This gaming experience... It's a bit too realistic, don't you think?" He took a step back, distancing himself from the corpse, leaning against the wall and whispering softly.

At that moment, the group who had been chatting by An Zhi's door moments ago retreated in shock, keeping a ten-meter distance.

"Isn't that room booked by Mayor Dong? Why is there a young man coming out?"

"Maybe you misremembered. That young man doesn't seem like an ordinary person. Could he be some sort of monster?"

"Indeed! This hair is even whiter than Elder Azu's from the Rong family."

"One may judge a person by their appearance, but their character goes beyond the surface." A gentle voice emerged from behind the group.

They turned to see a man in white robes, his face veiled with a white veil, strolling towards them gracefully.

The man stopped before them. "Xuan Zhu, a disciple of Peng Lai Island on an off-island training mission. May I investigate the situation over there?"

Probably influenced by Xuan Zhu's polite demeanor, they quickly nodded with smiles. "Of course, of course..."

Xuan Zhu gave them a slight nod and then approached An Zhi.

In the game world, it was the height of summer, with days long and nights short.

The sun had just risen, casting a rosy glow across the horizon. The hotel where An Zhi was staying was yet to open for business, situated at the intersection of Jiu Li, Heng Yao, and Lei Ze territories. It didn't attract many guests to begin with, so knowledge of the incident was limited.

Afterward, they laid the woman's body down and moved it into An Zhi's room.

As soon as they exited An Zhi's room, one of them promptly said, "Send someone to notify ODBP, now!"

Xuan Zhu gives An Zhi a brief introduction.

An Zhi also examines Xuan Zhu attentively.

He sees her face veiled with white silk, revealing only her eyebrows and eyes. Her eyes are lustrous, with a pair of smiling eyelids that curve even when she's not laughing, yet the joy doesn't reach the depths of her eyes, exuding a hint of melancholy as if she has experienced dramatic ups and downs in life.

A smiling tiger? Suspicious – this is An Zhi's conclusion.

He asks the system, "Has he been lying to me?"

"No."

Only then does he feel reassured. Addressing Xuan Zhu, he says, "**."

"Huh?!" His name is automatically censored, so he tries again, "**."

Looking at him, Xuan Zhu's eyes fill with puzzlement, "…What?"

"Warning! Alteration of game character settings is prohibited!"

"No way... Are you afraid that the people in this world won't recognize Shen Yuan? Should I attach a note on my back saying 'I am the Demon God Shen Yuan'?"

"That's your business, but it doesn't include courting death."

Seeing the silence, Xuan Zhu hurried forward with concern, "Are you alright?"

An Zhi met Xuan Zhu's bright eyes abruptly, as if waking from a dream, and quickly waved his hands, "I'm fine, I'm fine... My name is Shen Yuan, like the abyss."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Zhu merely nodded without further comment.

Observing Xuan Zhu's calm demeanor upon learning his name, An Zhi couldn't help but wonder if he knew who Shen Yuan was.

He opened his mouth slightly but said nothing, thinking to himself, Never mind. It seems not everyone knows about Shen Yuan. Besides, sharing a name with a few individuals occasionally isn't a big issue. Why should I reveal my identity? I can now walk confidently in this world, without worry.

A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips; the game wasn't too difficult, and he could soon return home.

While An Zhi was lost in thought, Xuan Zhu had already approached the corpse. He clasped his hands together and bowed deeply, solemnly saying, "My apologies for the intrusion. Please forgive me."

Afterward, he gently closed the woman's resentful and clouded eyes and brushed aside her disheveled long hair.

Her skin appeared dusky, with intricate networks of fine black veins sprawling across her exposed flesh.

"What are those black meridians?" Though An Zhi dared not approach the corpse, he could still discern the web of black patterns covering it from a few steps away.

Xuan Zhu remained silent, offering no response. His expression was inscrutable, revealing no hint of his thoughts. An Zhi's question seemed to have vanished into thin air, only resurfacing after a moment. "My knowledge is limited, and I'm unable to discern the cause just yet. However, I can confidently say that she did not die by hanging, for there would undoubtedly be strangulation marks if it were a suicide."

As he spoke, he stepped aside and pointed at the woman's neck. "There are no strangulation marks on her neck. After a person dies, the blood coagulates, so no such marks would form. This means she was already dead before this, and her body was merely arranged to look like this on purpose."

An Zhi had never even killed a fish in his life. Recalling the scene just now, the female corpse's eyes were fixed eerily on him. At the thought of this, he was very reluctant to look at her face again.

He cast a fleeting glance at the woman.

That brief look was enough for him to notice her clenched fists, as if she held something within them.

He pointed out the observation, "It seems like she's holding something."

Xuan Zhu's gaze followed downward, her eyes sparkling with realization, "Yes, that's right." But she quickly furrowed her brows, "The body has already stiffened. It'll be difficult to open her hands now."

"Is there no other way?"

"Not through force," Xuan Zhu immediately refuted. "It's disrespectful to the deceased."

Respecting the dead was paramount, something An Zhi both could not and would not ignore. He and Xuan Zhu shared the same sentiment.

A gentle and melodious silver bell rang out, seemingly from nowhere, filling the entire hotel with its sound.

Just then, the doorbell of the hotel's main entrance suddenly chimed, startling all the staff present.

Among them, Old Xing remained relatively calm. After regaining his composure, he pressed the intercom button and spoke into the microphone, "Who's there?"

A voice as cold as ice came through the microphone, "ODBP."

"Alright, hold on a moment." Old Xing switched off the intercom and turned to the person beside him. "We just asked ODBP to come, didn't we? How fast are they?"

"The ODBP is known for their efficiency."

"Old Xing, should we really open the door for them? If we do, Mayor Dong's involvement might be exposed..."

"Open it! What else can we do?" Old Xing declared, slapping his chest confidently.

"Yet, Old Xing, I just checked the surveillance footage, and there was nobody at the entrance..."

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This is a fanfiction by Sin Yow Mu about the characters in the novel "Shuǐ Zài Hán Wǔ Jiàn Yì." As for why this fanfiction exists, I invite readers to visit the platform's Weibo super topic for some juicy gossip. Most importantly, keep it quiet, shh...