A burp barely left Zane’s lips when the professor stormed in and dragged him away.
They met up with the team of professional archaeologists, who had arrived late last night, along with the chief and a few others.
“Thanks for having us.” The lead researcher shook hands with the chief as he excitedly introduced everyone on his team.
“We’re happy to have you, Dr.
Howard.”
“Please, just Howard is fine.” It would be in their best interest to build a closer relationship with the villagers.
“Would it be alright if we have a look around the outer perimeter of the ruins?”
From what they had discussed a couple of weeks ago, the ruins themselves would be open on the last day of their stay.
And only the outer perimeters would be explorable if given permission and accompanied by the others.
“For the sake of the chosen one, you are all permitted to enter the sacred grounds as you please.”
Fuck.
All eyes followed the gaze of the chief and the elders, staring unblinkingly at the handsome youth who stood a few feet away.
“Come.
We will lead you there.” The sinister grin made Zane shiver.
For some odd reason, he felt like they were testing if he had truly been blessed by their gods.
Couldn’t we have done this later?
The buzzing around him made him flinch.
Part of the reason why Zane wanted to spend eternity in the department was their lack of bugs.
Not only were his shorts inviting blood-sucking creatures, but the constant worshiping the elders gave him continued to draw the gazes of the researchers.
“Pardon me, but why is Zane being treated like this?” Professor Reed was the first to succumb to his curiosity.
“Your student made an offering, and the gods accepted it.
The first we have ever witnessed aside from what was recorded.”
Recorded?
Was there another host and system that came to this world?
Zane didn’t believe in gods, and he knew best why the food disappeared.
[Answering: This novel’s setting is based on another book that was set during ancient times.
This novel is set a millennium in the future.]
Once a book goes live and becomes its own world, the Novel Management Network will distribute observation tasks to each department within the network.
Zane suddenly thought of something his Cannon Fodder department had worked on.
No way.
That fuck ass world where the male protagonist got pregnant?
[Yes.
The pregnancy was a selected skill that the host chose after completing his previous mission.]
And that very male protagonist was the first holy maiden of this made-up religion.
Zane had been wondering why the author would send their three main characters to this location.
It all made sense why the villagers looked upon Oliver as the chosen one in the original plot line.
It was written in the sacred text that whoever bore a similar feature to the holy maiden shall be treated as the one who is loved by the gods.
Oliver fits the bill to a T.
This author is lazy with their male protagonists’ descriptions.
By the way…I didn’t know the male protagonist was a host.
He strictly monitored the cannon fodder and their importance to the plot progressions.
Their department had never made any mistakes that would require a host to enter the world and fix it, so he never noticed that the male protagonist had been replaced.
No wonder it was pulled.
This author has a knack for writing shitty plot lines that go haywire.
They had only worked on the novel for a few weeks when the main network decided to pull it out of every department.
So the author made a deal with the Protagonist Recovery System? Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Why didn’t they do it for this book, too?
[Yes.
Due to the author hating its protagonist this time around, we were tasked to steal the protagonist’s halo.]
Because he had been conversing with the system in his head, Zane didn’t pay attention to what the elders were saying.
All he knew was that they reached some building deep within the forest.
“You want me to go in first?” All eyes stared expectantly at Zane.
“Okay.”
Zane shrugged and stepped foot inside.
All he could hear were loud gasps of awe and surprise, followed by a thud and some groans of pain.
“What is happening?” Howard pushed himself off the ground with wide eyes.
He and Professor Reed followed after Zane but were knocked down by some unknown force.
“Could this really be sacred!?”
[Update: Mission progression is currently at 70%]
I’m fucked.
From the worshiping gazes to the kneeling prayers, Zane felt like he had just done something insane.
System!
[To shield the previous host from death, the Protagonist Recovery System created a safe space that only allows those from the network to access.
To be granted permission, one must go through the sacred baptism ritual written in the text.]
Doesn’t this make me look like a walking god or something to these lunatics!?
The system could have warned the host about this place, but it found the host being mistaken for some godly being too funny to stop at just the offerings.
[Congratulations, Master.
The villagers now view you as the true chosen one and will never look upon the protagonist as such in the future.]
Why does it matter if the protagonist is viewed as the chosen one or not!?
Zane felt his vision turn black from anger that rushed to his head.
[The reputation of the chosen one made him the gateway to the discovery of the ancient texts.
He became the pillar that helped solve the missing history that couldn’t be explained by centuries of research.
Through him, they were able to explore the sacred ruins.]
I can’t stand you!
He knew that the system was messing with him on purpose.
Zane stood in the doorway in utter confusion as to what he should do now.
“Let us take you to receive the baptism.” The chief explained that they needed to complete the ritual before they could enter it.
“You can wait for us here, Zane!
Do your own exploring while we get this figured out!” Professor Reed gave him a thumbs-up and left with the villagers.
All of them left, leaving Zane alone.
The baptism only grants them a couple of hours, so the villagers would need to do the ritual before they could enter as well.
“Oh great!
Now I’m stuck here, not knowing how to get back!” Because he hadn’t paid attention to how they got here, Zane didn’t know the way out of the dense forest without getting lost.
“Quit complaining.
Let’s go see what kind of thing that system set up.” Unlike its mechanical voice Zane was used to hearing, the system’s deep and playful tone sounded behind him.
Zane felt his heart drop at the scare.
He turned around to see a question mark for its face and the body of a male human.
“Good.” Seeing the physical body made his fist itch.
“Let me hit you just once.” The punch he swung was easily caught.
“You play around too much.” The surprisingly warm palm pulled him in close.
The question mark wrapped its other arm around Zane’s shoulder, dragging him deeper inside and away from the entrance.
“We have at least one hour to ourselves.”
“Who wants to spend it with you?” Zane couldn’t get used to the big question mark on its face. Get faster updates on g.com.
“Also…that face of yours—”
“Devastatingly handsome.
I know.”
Handsome, my foot.
“Oh, please.
You’re just as narcissistic.” Surprisingly, the inside was cleaner than any room in the village.
It almost sparkled from the way it reflected the sunlight.
“How much would I get for that?”
There were some items placed inside carved holes in the wall, one of them almost crystal-like.
It was shaped like a wand of some sort, with curves and bumps that looked strange to the eye.
The system silently watched Zane reach out to play with the item.
“It’s a little cold to the touch.
What is this?” Zane twisted it left and right, inspecting the thing closely for clues about what it does.
“Do they use this for rituals or something?”
“An item of greatness.
I can show you what it does.” Hidden behind the question mark was a devious grin.
“I knew it!
It’s a magic wand.
Like those wizards in books.”
“This world doesn’t have magic.” The system pulled Zane over to one of the chairs and made him kneel on it.
“Wait a second.
I don’t think this is right?” Something about his posture made him feel weird.
His back was turned toward the system, so he couldn’t see what was happening.
“I’m demonstrating what this is used for.” He pushed his shoulders forward, making Zane lean against the headrest while his butt stuck out.
So?
Why am I sitting so weirdly?
Because his thoughts are known to the system, he could hear the system’s melodic chuckle.
If it weren’t for the fact that his shorts were being pulled off, Zane would have gotten lost in that laughter.
“The fuck?” Zane was a beat late at stopping the other from unbuckling and pulling it down to his knee.
“Why do my pants need to be off for this?”
“You don’t expect me to push the anal wand through the fabric, do you?”
“Ana—!!
PAUSE!
A WHAT NOW!?” His eyes nearly bulged from his head.
Zane’s ear and neck turned bright red as he turned around to curse out the system.
“Damn you, shitty system!”
What kind of perverted host was the previous holy maiden!?
“I have a name.” The system didn’t mind the cursing one bit.
“Stealing the Male leads?
I’m not saying all that!”
“That’s my work title.”
“…” Zane found it surprising that systems weren’t actually bodiless data and floating particles.
The proof was that warm hands that were pinching and kneading his butt.
“Well then, Question Mark, those villagers are probably at the front door by now!”
“They haven’t made it back for the baptism yet.” Aside from complaining a lot, the stupid host seemed surprisingly willing to go along with its nonsense.
The system had only planned on teasing the host, but now it felt like shoving it in for real.
“The name I was given is Silas.”