Name: Ji Yan
Age: Unknown
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Skill: Low-Tier Mixed Martial Arts
Backpack: low-tier short blade ×1
A line of bold, eye-catching text appeared in the center of the system's personal panel: Enter the first world?
Ji Yan's gaze was deep and resolute. Without hesitation, he tapped "Yes."
A dazzling crystal chandelier hung overhead, and a luxurious gilded accent wall rose behind them. The dishes on the marble tabletop were barely touched, while several bottles of expensive red wine stood to one side.
With his eyes closed, he digested this world's memories.
“He” was still called Ji Yan, and even his appearance was nearly identical. However, more than twenty years as a pampered young master had left this world's version of him with fairer, more delicate skin.
The Private Dining Room was hot, and the music was raucous. The constant laughter and teasing voices grated on him, so he tugged open his tie and undid two buttons.
The instant he opened his eyes, the noisy private dining room fell silent for a moment.
He ignored the astonished and excited expressions around him and analyzed the situation.
According to the memories the System provided, this was the homecoming party for the male protagonist, Shang Xu, and the place where the male and Female Protagonist met for the first time.
It was the classic story of an Elite Wealthy Family's playboy and an ambitious Female Protagonist forced by circumstance to work part-time at a bar.
Ji Yan was not only the male protagonist Shang Xu's childhood friend but also the Devoted Male Supporting Character drawn to the Female Protagonist, Lin Ranran.
A cheerful, teasing whistle interrupted Ji Yan's thoughts. Turning his head, he saw two other companions, Fu Jia and Jiang Yi, each with an arm around a woman. The three of them were about the same age as the male protagonist, Shang Xu, and came from similar families. They had been playing together ever since they started school.
That was why outsiders mockingly called the four of them The Four Young Masters of Haicheng.
Clichéd and ridiculous.
The love story between an Elite Wealthy Family's playboy and an ambitious little white flower was sensational and melodramatic. In the end, they became a couple and lived happily ever after.
The Male Supporting Characters and Female Supporting Characters around them were the unfortunate ones. To make their beautiful love shine, those characters either saw their families ruined or spent their lives alone.
The Devoted Male Supporting Character existed only to highlight the Female Protagonist's virtues, fall for her, and be misunderstood by the male protagonist.
He repeatedly brought the Female Protagonist comfort and care, but the male protagonist mistook it for deliberate hostility. He eventually neglected his Fiancée, driving her to extremes. Then, against his family's wishes, he gave his entire Family Fortune to the Female Protagonist to prove his devotion, went into seclusion abroad, and remained chaste for her for the rest of his life.
As Ji Yan reviewed these memories, as idiotic as the plot of a bad drama, he raised his brows, a teasing glint flickering in his eyes.
Fortunately, the Male Supporting Character System also found the Plot unreasonable. This world's Mission was to change the Devoted Male Supporting Character's ending: he had to stop letting the Female Protagonist trouble him, cherish his Fiancée, and prevent her from taking things to extremes.
Before the Male Supporting Character System found him, Ji Yan had not known who he was. Having lost his memories, he had wandered across the boundless wasteland. Living was dull, and death seemed meaningless as well.
The System promised that if he signed a contract, changed the fate of each Male Supporting Character, and saved the Female Supporting Characters, he could recover his lost memories.
He did not care whether he could recover his memories. But leaving that damn wasteland and experiencing these fascinating worlds appealed to him.
The Male Supporting Character System had no intelligence. It assigned Missions mechanically. This was the first world.
Ji Yan raised his brows at the Low-Tier Mixed Martial Arts listed under Skills. In the dangerous Endless Wasteland, only a handful of people had been capable of fighting him in close combat.
He had once knocked down an alpha wolf with a single punch. Yet according to the System, the strength that had made the wasteland bandits wary was only low-tier combat power.
If the System classified it as low-tier, did higher tiers exist?
How formidable would the high-tier martial arts above this be? And how was he supposed to obtain them?
Ji Yan, who had thought he no longer possessed many emotions, felt a surge of anticipation well up inside him.
His gaze shifted back to the System's backpack section. The so-called low-tier short blade had come from a bandit chief. It was pitch-black from hilt to tip, its material impossible to discern, but its blade was extraordinarily sharp.
He had tested it. Pots, bowls, ladles, basins, flowers, trees, grass, and stones could not go inside because they were too ordinary.
If it could determine his height, weight, skills, and weapon, why was his age listed as Unknown? What was his true background?
Forget it. Once he completed the mission, he would have an answer.
“Brother Ji, it's only a Marriage Alliance. Your sister-in-law isn't here, so why make yourself suffer? You only got engaged; you're not married. Are you really planning to become henpecked?”
Ji Yan lit a cigarette. The smoke blurred his features, making him appear even more dignified and composed. There had been no such luxury in the Endless Wasteland.
He sighed in comfort. "Regardless, Su Xiang will be my only wife from now on. I believe mutual respect is essential."
Su Xiang arrived outside the door at that moment. When she pushed it open, she heard every word clearly, and her expression froze.
Her gaze met Ji Yan's. Her slender fingers tightened around her handbag before she moved her eyes away.
Her Best Friend, He Chan, let out a mocking laugh behind her. Her fiery red lips curved upward as she said, “Do you think everyone is as shameless as you two? If you lack self-respect, don't corrupt Ji Yan and Shang Xu.”
He Chan pulled Su Xiang to a seat. Since Ji Yan and Su Xiang were engaged, Su Xiang naturally sat beside Ji Yan.
Ji Yan extinguished his cigarette without hesitation and turned toward her with a gentle look. “I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time.”
Su Xiang's expression froze again before she realized that he was apologizing for smoking.
Her red lips pressed together, and her lashes trembled as warmth flowed through her heart.
He did not need to accommodate her like this. In The Entertainment Industry, men and women alike were Heaven's Favored Sons; few people would deliberately change a habit for someone else.
But Ji Yan was different. He was always so gentle and refined, always so considerate and meticulous.
Some people said Ji Yan used this as a mask when socializing, while he was cold-hearted and cold-blooded beneath it, without warmth or sincerity.
She had worried about such comments before. Even her parents had told her that her family would not force a Marriage Alliance if she did not want one. But she was captivated by Ji Yan's tenderness. Even if his gentlemanly conduct was an act, spending her life with him would not be so bad.
At least he would not be as cold and impatient as Shang Xu, nor would he be like Fu Jia and Jiang Yi, constantly lingering among women and wavering in their affections.
Even when she was absent, he upheld his moral standards and refrained from flirting with other women.
Even when it came to something minor like smoking, she had told him that the smell did not bother her, yet he still avoided lighting a cigarette in front of her.
If this continued, she believed that one day she would move Ji Yan to open his heart and treat her as a lover who could rely on and accompany him, rather than as a Fiancée bound by restraint and respect.
Even if he could not...
Su Xiang's breathing paused. She lowered her eyes. Ji Yan was still better than his peers in The Entertainment Industry. She might not find anyone better, so she would not lose out either way.
Could someone really appear, as in a television drama, and make Ji Yan break every rule?
If such a person, inferior to her in every way, existed, she would feel jealous.
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