Chapter 1

Chapter 1: How Did You Die? Keep Your Distance Guan Zhi thought he had probably transmigrated. More precisely, he thought he had been forcibly abducted by some outrageously unreasonable, thuggish system. That cold, mechanical voice had announced inside his head that if he dared disobey the rules they had established, he would be mercilessly and completely erased, without the slightest trace left behind. But if he obediently followed their rules, he would have a chance to reconstruct his physical body and return to the living world. After hearing this, Guan Zhi barely reacted. He even tugged at the corners of his mouth and said with indifferent nonchalance, "Whatever. Erase me if you want. There's nothing and no one in that world I particularly care about anymore anyway." Before this strange system bound itself to him, Guan Zhi had been a professional racing driver, speeding through life on the edge of what was possible. His consciousness had been dragged here after a devastating car accident. Not long before that fatal crash, he had just finished the divorce proceedings with his ex-husband, severing their relationship for good. Even now, mentioning that ex-husband filled Guan Zhi with anger. The bastard had a poisonous mouth, interfered with everything he did, forbade this and prohibited that, and had a downright outrageous need for control. They had first met in the dazzling, surreal casinos of Las Vegas. Sparks had flown immediately. Like two lunatics out of control, they had gotten roaring drunk, and, propelled by the alcohol and the feverish atmosphere, stumbled off to get a marriage certificate while still kissing each other. After that absurd night, neither wanted to back down. With an attitude of "whoever chickens out of making it official is a coward," they actually went through with all the formalities. And the result? Two people as fierce and untamable as wild horses had forced themselves together. They spent two full years trying to adjust, argued countless times, and finally reached the point where they simply couldn't carry on. Exhausted, they ended up divorced. In all its years of operation, the system had never encountered someone so stubborn and unpersuadable. It silently processed the situation for a moment before switching to a gentler approach. "Sweetie~ Don't be so hopeless about life! Being alive is wonderful, and there are so many unexpected surprises waiting for you~" Guan Zhi gave a derisive laugh and stated flatly, "I grew up in an orphanage. I don't even know what my parents look like. I finally managed to get married, and now that I'm divorced, I don't even have a husband anymore." His words made the system's data flow stall for an instant. "...Then, sweetie, isn't there some wish you particularly want to fulfill? Or someone you just can't let go of?" As if reminded of something, Guan Zhi suddenly remembered, and his tone turned instantly regretful and furious. "Fuck! Now that you mention it, I just remembered! I got a huge share of my ex-husband's assets in the divorce! A seriously impressive amount! I hadn't even gotten the chance to spend it and enjoy myself! Fuck, now that bastard gets to keep all the benefits! What a massive loss!" In any case, subjected to the system's relentless bombardment of "humanitarian concern" and "future prospects" at every available opportunity, Guan Zhi finally relented and grudgingly agreed to the deal. He would complete the so-called worldline missions: get thrown into various small worlds and play villainous characters destined to meet miserable ends. Guan Zhi skimmed the mission overview transmitted by the system, his brows drawing tighter and tighter. "Isn't this just an endless cycle of torture? It sounds worse than being thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. The ways these villains die... Each one is more bizarre and ridiculous than the last. So I have to die countless times, in every imaginable fashion, before I'm worthy of a chance to live?" The system's electronic voice replied, "After all, the value of life is infinitely exalted. To obtain it again, you must naturally pay an equivalent price." Then, in his very first mission world, Guan Zhi came face-to-face with that damned ex-husband who apparently refused to leave him alone, even in death. Meeting again in such a bizarre place, it wasn't as though they could greet each other with, "Hey, you're dead too?" Guan Zhi stared at that familiar, detestable face, his brows knotted tightly, and asked in a tone of incredulous disgust, "...Why are you here too? How did you die?" Di Gui stood tall with both hands in his trouser pockets. He drew his mouth into a roguish grin and replied shamelessly, "...Too much sex. Died from having such a good time. What, now that we're divorced, I'm not even allowed to find a new wife who's prettier and more exciting than you?" Guan Zhi was so furious that his teeth itched and his fists clenched. He wanted to slap Di Gui twice on the spot. Grinding his molars, he cursed, "Serves you right! You dirty old pervert, with nothing but filth in your head! You were a waste of oxygen alive. It's a relief you're dead!" Di Gui's gaze abruptly darkened, as though the words had struck a sore spot. He shot back coldly, "Still better than you, isn't it? After that car crash, all that was left of you was a little box of ashes. One gust of wind and you'd disappear without a trace." Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Guan Zhi immediately bristled and lifted his chin. "What the fuck do you know? I gave my life for my career! That's an honor! I died pursuing the limits!" Di Gui gave a cold snort and spat out three words: "You're insane!" In short, they were still the same old pair of sworn antagonists, unable to stand the sight of each other and forever clashing. A change of setting and one death apiece hadn't altered their bone-deep incompatibility in the slightest. Although Guan Zhi had previously sworn to the system that seeing his ex-husband's face would drain away more than half his desire to live, the system noticed that Guan Zhi had nonetheless become subtly more invested in completing the world missions, rather than remaining as entirely indifferent as he had been at first. In their first mission world, both had been given villain scripts. Guan Zhi played the male lead's family-arranged spouse in a marriage of convenience—his "wife"—while Di Gui played the male lead's calculating "elder brother," who coveted both power and the protagonist himself. According to the plot, once the male lead encountered his destined true love, Guan Zhi was supposed to turn vicious at once and employ every underhanded method imaginable to separate the lovers. When Guan Zhi received the background information, he couldn't resist complaining. This world's setting was both feudal and conservative, yet somehow allowed same-sex marriage. There was something absurdly contradictory about it. The "elder brother" Di Gui played had an even more melodramatic character setup. He was consumed with jealousy toward the gong male lead, while also falling helplessly "in love" with the purehearted, kind shou male lead as he got to know him, leaving him twisted and conflicted inside. Guan Zhi, at least, took his job seriously and went to considerable effort to play the part of this resentful, neglected spouse. The plot dictated that the male lead didn't love him, so naturally he was cold and neglectful toward him. Guan Zhi had one habit he simply couldn't kick: he could never keep his mouth shut, especially when he had a chance to provoke his infuriating ex-husband. Once, Di Gui was following the script and staging a scene of "soulful gazing" with the shou male lead in the garden. Guan Zhi watched from behind a corridor pillar, feeling inexplicably put out. Late that night, he crept up to the guest room where Di Gui was staying and lowered his voice through the door, an indefinably sour note in his tone. "Hey, don't get too carried away with your acting and make it real. Don't forget, we've both died once already. Keep your head clear." Di Gui still carried the damp warmth of a recent bath. Leaning against the doorframe, his eyes looked faintly dangerous in the dim light, and his voice was low. "What? Can't sleep, so you've come looking for me in the middle of the night... Feeling lonely and neglected, keeping that empty bed all to yourself?" Provoked by that remark, Guan Zhi slipped straight back into his sharp-tongued ways. Deliberately pitching his voice high in an affected, coy tone, he replied, "That's right, Big Brother. You know how it is. My husband... isn't even home. The nights are so long. How am I supposed to get through them?" Di Gui genuinely had an excellent physique. His abdominal muscles were sharply defined, with deep grooves between them, and the lines at his hips vanished beneath his waistband, full of coiled strength. The man loved working out, particularly subjecting his core to near-punishing exercise. Those gorgeous muscles had practically been sculpted through sweat and high-intensity training. Otherwise, back amid the glitter and clamor of Las Vegas, Guan Zhi would never have been so dazzled by his striking appearance after just one glance that he'd fallen headlong for him. In these small worlds, their characters' appearances were essentially exact replicas of their real-world selves, down to the smallest detail. Guan Zhi looked at the innocent, pure-looking shou protagonist not far away, currently sheltered in the gong protagonist's arms, and thought the fellow had terrible taste. How could he overlook someone with Di Gui's mature masculine appeal and choose that other man instead...? Feeling Guan Zhi's eyes on him, Di Gui turned his head. His gaze was deep, carrying his usual roguishness and an assessing edge. He lowered his voice. "What, feeling horny?" Guan Zhi's Adam's apple bobbed. He thought this really couldn't all be blamed on him. After all, they had already left the real world behind. Rules and morals had become insubstantial. The only person before him whom he could actually touch, who possessed real warmth and a familiar scent, was this one man: his ex-husband, with whom he had once shared a bed and whose body he knew as intimately as his own. The agitation born of physical instinct that he had deliberately suppressed quietly surfaced, mingled with complicated feelings he couldn't begin to explain. As if driven by some unseen force, he reached out, tentatively and with a hint of longing he scarcely noticed himself, and gently rested his palm on Di Gui's firm pectoral muscle, feeling the warmth and strong heartbeat through the fabric. And then, no one knew who made the first move—or perhaps they understood each other without needing to say anything. Without a word, they tore away their pretense of distance. Like two parched wildfires, they ignited at the slightest spark. In that unreal space so far removed from reality, they threw caution to the wind and had sex. In any event, from the moment he and Di Gui began pulling off each other's clothes, Guan Zhi heard no more of the irritating system notifications in his head. Afterward, the voice of his system, Ling, rang out inside his mind in unmistakable confusion. "You humans... Do you really believe that this brief pleasure of the flesh is more important than eternal life?" Guan Zhi sprawled lazily over the sheets, which still retained their warmth. He couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids as he snapped, "Yes, yes, I'm lustful and he's lustful. We're two of a kind. Happy now?" "Can't you just consider it part of a villain's professional development?" The system, Ling, clearly couldn't comprehend this hormone-driven impulse, and fell silent. The system bound to Guan Zhi was called "Ling," while the one bound to Di Gui was apparently called "Yuan." At first, neither man had taken these small worlds or the people in them particularly seriously. They had always felt that the characters were as flat as paper figures in a television drama, programmed into existence without genuine flesh, blood, or feelings. After the first time they lost control, it was almost inevitable that there would be a second, and then a third. They kept ending up in bed together. And that allowed the gong protagonist to get hold of devastating evidence against them. In the end, the worldline collapsed completely and everything descended into chaos. Di Gui and Guan Zhi were both brought low by his schemes. One was forced into the sea and his fate became unknown; the other died beyond any doubt. Their mission failed completely. The lesson had been so bitter that, when they were forcibly ejected from the world, even their souls seemed to tremble. Now they had arrived in their second mission world. For once, Di Gui put aside his devil-may-care attitude. Turning toward Guan Zhi, he spoke with unprecedented seriousness. "After our failure in the first world, we absolutely have to be careful this time. We need to take the mission seriously. We can't afford another mistake." Guan Zhi looked toward the faint outline of the building that was their mission destination. He drew a deep breath and nodded in agreement. "No problem. Let's be professional this time... Keep our distance, stick to the plot, and never cross the line." Author's Note: A new story about two sharp-tongued people gradually discovering just how desperately the other loves him. Quick transmigration.