Better a glass of whiskey than agonizing over love, hatred, and obsession.
Hiss…
Jiang Yan sat on the ice cold floor, staring at the light orb floating before his eyes with an indescribable expression. His brows were furrowed so tightly they could snap a fly in half.
The light orb remained silent, dutifully projecting data.
[On the day Nan Yu got married, Yan Zhuo sat staring blankly out of the iron bar window of a psychiatric hospital. This man, who had once called the shots and ruled the roost in City A, was currently locked onto a hospital bed, completely immobilized. Only his occasionally moving eyeballs indicated that the person on the bed was not a corpse.]
[Yan Zhuo had been insane for many years until he met Nan Yu.]
[Yan Zhuo treated Nan Yu as the sole meaning of his life, driven wild and mad for him. However, his extreme tactics and suffocating love only drove Nan Yu further away, ultimately causing him to fall in love with someone else.]
[Yan Zhuo withdrew his gaze and stared at the stark white ceiling. His lips quivered slightly as the tip of his tongue pressed against his upper palate and moved downward, a name slipped through the crack of his lips, but no one heard his whisper.]
[Nobody cared about a madman.]
The footage cut off right there.
Jiang Yan held back a mouthful of old blood, his face wore the weathered fatigue of someone who had been utterly traumatized, leaving him without even the energy to complain.
“Nowadays, even SIMPs can be male leads?”
The light orb still kept quiet, and the text on the screen continued to scroll.
The system explained that far away in the unknown, there were three thousand worlds. Every small world was supported by a protagonist to maintain its operation, while high-dimensional entities monitored the balance and stability of each world.
Those high-dimensional entities were systems.
The small world under its responsibility had developed a major issue: the male lead’s blackening value was too high, putting the entire world in jeopardy. It was imperative to bind a host to save the male lead, correct the storyline, and ensure the normal operation of the small world.
“Save the male lead…”
Jiang Yan softly repeated the words.
If the world Jiang Yan came from was filled with chaos and violence, then the small world presented by the system was sheer madness and melodrama.
The male lead, Yan Zhuo, possessed both wealth and power, standing as an all-powerful figure in City A. However, traumatic experiences during his childhood forged an gloomy, paranoid, ruthless, and solitary personality. It wasn’t until he met Nan Yu that light finally illuminated his long-chilled, dark world.
Nan Yu was bright and lively, like a little ray of sunshine. Having experienced that warmth, Yan Zhuo fell head over heels in love with Nan Yu. Thus, the unreachable flower bowed down for love, performing many utterly humble deeds.
Logically speaking, Nan Yu should have gradually healed the male lead, and the two would eventually enter into marriage.
However, the current plot had completely veered off track.
Yan Zhuo’s innate paranoia and twist led him to employ insane methods against Nan Yu, including but not limited to confinement and forced love, pushing Nan Yu further and further away.
In the end, Nan Yu was rescued by the gentle male second lead and married him. The two established a commercial empire and joined forces to bring down the male lead’s company, while Yan Zhuo was committed to a psychiatric hospital.
This was a hundred thousand miles away from the original ending. If it wasn’t corrected soon, the male lead’s blackening value would bring about the collapse of the small world.
[Host, please proceed immediately to the small world to correct the plot.]
Jiang Yan withdrew his gaze, slowly bent one leg, and sat with his hands propped against the floor, replying nonchalantly:
“What if I refuse to do it?”
Jiang Yan was born rebellious and hated nothing more than being ordered around. The system’s authoritative tone triggered his counter-dependency. Besides, he only knew how to hit people, asking him to save someone was pure fantasy.
Suddenly, with a crackle of electric current, the system spoke in human tongue as a cold, mechanical voice sounded beside Jiang Yan’s ear.
[Target individual detected exhibiting subjective resistance. Proceeding per protocol to revert subject to original state of life. Confirmed original state: Death. Commencing teleportation in 3, 2…]
“Wait, ”
Jiang Yan was already dead, stone cold dead.
Of course, that was an irreversible fact.
It was on an evening intoxicated by the spring breeze when Jiang Yan finally bought out his freedom. He washed his hands of the underground fighting ring where he had risked his life for over twenty years, breaking free from years of blood and tears to sprint toward the vast world of freedom.
One second he was raising his arms and cheering in a bar, shouting “Freedom above all!” and “Long live money!”, indulging in bright lights and green wine, abandoning himself to a life of luxury and debauchery. The next moment, right after stepping out of the bar, he was shot in the head and dumped in the wilderness.
He thought he could start over, never imagining he would die so abruptly. The fighting ring’s willingness to grant him brief freedom was merely to squeeze out his final drop of value.
The next moment of consciousness he had was being bound by the system.
Thinking up to this point, the back of Jiang Yan’s head throbbed with pain again. He scratched his hair in frustration, clearly caught in a tight spot.
Seeing this, the system laid out its final trump card.
[The host needs to assist the gloomy Alpha male lead and the official match, the sunshiny Omega, in holding hands successfully, finding true love, and eliminating the blackening value. The task reward is returning to your original world along with a reward of ten million in assets.]
“!”
Jiang Yan thought to himself: Only an idiot turns down money.
He couldn’t help it, he was a vulgar and shallow person. He had only two pursuits in life: one was freedom, and the other was money.
Money-grabbing broke guy Jiang Yan: “I’ll do it!”
[Ding-dong, Congratulations to the host for successfully binding with the system. Now commencing distribution of beginner benefits. Host, please select your identity for this mission. Once chosen, it cannot be changed.]
On the page popped up by the system, there were three options: Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Jiang Yan studied the explanations beneath each option for a long while before speaking up to ask:
“Only Betas are normal people, right?”
[According to the concepts of the host’s original world, you can understand it that way.]
“Then I choose Beta.”
Alphas and Omegas were both controlled by pheromones, they were either tormented by their rut periods or dominated by their heat periods, no different from dogs. Before his death, Jiang Yan had been acting as a dog to make money for others, as things stood now, there was no reason to go out of his way to be a dog again.
[Ding-dong, Data loading complete. Commencing entry into the small world… Entry into the small world successful.]
[Host, please diligently complete the main quest. Secondary quests will automatically trigger upon encountering key plot points.]
Jiang Yan felt a burst of dizziness. Amidst the spinning world, the system had already vanished. Its faint voice seemed to come from the edge of the sky, drifting further and further away, floating indistinctly by his ear.
[Mission begins. Good luck, host.]
When Jiang Yan opened his eyes again, he was already standing inside a low-key, luxurious villa.
After easing past that wave of nauseous discomfort from the dizziness, Jiang Yan began to size up the villa. With just a glance, he was instantly stunned.
Linger on his nose was not the scent of wood, but the aroma of money. What flowed around seemed not to be air, but expensive wine, making one intoxicated.
Jiang Yan marveled in his heart, feeling like a mouse that had fallen into a rice granary, forgetting that someone was still standing beside him as he completely immersed himself in his own world.
Seeing his unsophisticated appearance, Special Assistant Qin frowned slightly. Just as he was about to speak up to remind him, footsteps echoed from the stairs ahead.
“Da, Da, Da, ”
Slight footsteps shattered the silence. Jiang Yan followed the sound and looked over. Unlike Assistant Qin who waited with bated breath, he brazenly cast his gaze upward.
Reflected in the transparent glass windows were the delicate and dense roses in the garden. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the flower leaves, casting golden silhouettes in the air while fine dust particles floated within the light and shadow. In that mottled aura, Jiang Yan caught a full view of Yan Zhuo.
Jiang Yan blew a silent whistle in his heart.
As expected of the male lead, a favored son of heaven, noble and arrogant, truly extraordinary.
In fact, Jiang Yan was a sucker for good looks. In the past, whenever he saw a good-looking opponent in the fighting ring, he would always show mercy, at least making sure not to disfigure them.
Now seeing that the person he needed to save possessed a top-notch appearance, his mood brightened up, and he even offered Yan Zhuo an enthusiastic smile.
However, the male lead paid him no mind.
“Assistant Qin, what is the meaning of this?”
Who would have thought Yan Zhuo’s gaze merely rested on him casually for a second, skimming over him like a dragonfly touching the water, before he turned around to speak with Assistant Qin, completely ignoring Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan suddenly felt that the row of teeth he exposed received a cold reception and felt quite chilly. Realizing he was making a fool of himself, he pulled back his smile and pricked up his ears to listen to the two people beside him talk.
“President Yan, this is the housekeeper introduced to you, Jiang Yan.”
“I don’t need one.”
Yan Zhuo’s voice was frigid, like ice floating in sparkling water, chilly and weightless. Jiang Yan’s ears tingled slightly, as if light snow had fallen on his pinna, he subconsciously raised a hand to rub them.
“This was ordered by the Chairman,” Assistant Qin said with a forced smile. “The old gentleman said there is no one around you to take care of things and he really couldn’t rest assured, so he specially arranged a housekeeper for you.”
“Mr. Jiang graduated from a university abroad, highly professional with strong operational capabilities. President Yan, please rest assured.”
Assistant Qin shot Jiang Yan a look. Catching the hint, Jiang Yan immediately put on a full smile, extended a hand toward Yan Zhuo, and proactively introduced himself:
“Hello, President Yan, I am Jiang Yan.”
“No need.”
Yan Zhuo’s hand hung by his side as he paid no attention to the hand Jiang Yan extended. Turning to Assistant Qin, he said, “I will speak to grandfather about this. Take him away.”
Assistant Qin was instantly caught in a dilemma. He didn’t dare disobey the Chairman’s orders, nor did he dare offend Yan Zhuo, leaving him stuck between a rock and a hard place.
On the side, the ignored Jiang Yan instantly sounded the alarm bells in his head.
If the male lead didn’t want him, how was he supposed to save the guy? How could he carry out the mission? And how was he going to make money?
How was he going to make money! Money!!!
Seeing his little money quickly growing wings to fly away, Jiang Yan could only take a desperate gamble.
“Mr. Yan, I’ve heard a little something about the matter between you and the young master of the Nan family.”
Before the words even hit the ground, Yan Zhuo’s face abruptly underwent a drastic change, instantly darkening. He looked down at Jiang Yan from above, his pitch-black eyes like the deep sea, hiding imperceptible danger.
In an instant, the surrounding temperature dropped sharply. Even Assistant Qin widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief as if saying, Bro, you’ve got some serious nerve.
Only Jiang Yan remained cheerful, curling the corners of his mouth to smile at Yan Zhuo, looking completely carefree and lighthearted.
The next moment, whiskey pheromones swept out overwhelmingly.
The choking scent of strong liquor, carrying the exclusive oppressive aura of a top Alpha, crashed wildly through the huge villa. Assistant Qin, being a fellow Alpha, broke into a cold sweat all over from this pressure.
However, Jiang Yan was a Beta.
His perception of the intense pheromones around him was absolute zero. He stood effortlessly in the center of the villa, a standard professional smile still hanging on the corners of his mouth, completely cool and relaxed.
If one didn’t know better, they would think he was provoking him.
Yan Zhuo cast a glance at Assistant Qin. Feeling like he was granted a grand pardon, the latter didn’t even care about Jiang Yan anymore, he turned around and walked away swiftly.
Only two people were left in the vast space. Seeing Assistant Qin leave, Jiang Yan was still a bit stunned and extended a reaching hand toward him.
However, still no one paid him any attention.
After a long, dead silence, Yan Zhuo let out a soft oh, his tone rising with a touch of contempt, casually interrogating the person in front of him.
“What do you know?”
Meeting his eyes, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but shiver. It felt as if a snake’s belly had slithered across his spine, cold and sticky.
Although he couldn’t feel the pheromones, years of fighting ring experience allowed him to sense the danger. Jiang Yan subconsciously took a step back. Yan Zhuo slowly pressed forward, the continuously released whiskey pheromones wrapping tightly around the fearless person in front of him.
Yan Zhuo was expressionless, but his eyes stared fixedly at Jiang Yan’s face, the fingers hanging at his side twitching unconsciously.
Jiang Yan blinked his eyes. Yan Zhuo asked what do you know, but looking at his dark face, it felt much more like he was asking: How do you want to die?