The Sky Screen Says the Villainous Emperor Is the Greatest Emperor of All Time

(The characters and main plot are staying the same, but I'm thinking of changing it into a sky screen story. I'll revise the blurb when I have time.)

Seven kingdoms stood in rivalry, their regimes divided and their rites and music in ruins. People devoured one another, and later generations called this era the Seven Kingdoms' Blood and Tears.

As the chaotic regimes rose and fell, a city might change hands several times in a year. At this critical moment of conflict, Luo Zhi, the puppet child emperor of Northern Han, the most tyrannical and fanatical regime, fell mysteriously ill. He had studied the Legalist school among the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Strange yellow words kept appearing before his eyes. They clung to random places, and their content was always utterly astonishing. Beneath them, he could open up comments from other equally strange people, like some kind of martial world tabloid.

The child emperor spent days trying to figure out the logic behind it all, but the words only grew more outrageous.

[Whoa, is this the villain behind everything? He doesn't look like one! Those bright, shining eyes are gorgeous... Luo Zhi, even his name is lovely. Oh no, I've started stanning another hot character!]

Luo Zhi gloomily read the comments beneath the words and discovered that he was the main villain NPC in a martial arts game.

Luo Zhi: ...Fine. Let's see what other surprises you have for me

[Aw, what a shame. A face that beautiful, and he's the mastermind who personally obstructs our protagonist team as they investigate, and hurts the protagonists' loved ones. Tsk, tsk, let's see what happens to him.]

[Whoa, the historical figure he's based on had a terrible ending, too. He was personally killed by the founding emperor of the next dynasty to unite the realm, and his death was so dark they can't even put it in the game.]

Luo Zhi: ...

What?!

Absurd! Complete nonsense!

The child emperor laughed in disbelief. He decided to ignore the words, but a few days later, he ran into the protagonist team from the game.

The team was clearly in a sorry state. Their young swordsman leader held up his hat against the rain, a rainbow glimmering through the downpour, his bloodstained sword pointed at Luo Zhi. "Forgive us, Your Excellency. Your people are on our heels, so we'll have to borrow your life!"

Seeing the protagonist team from the strange comments standing before him in the flesh, Luo Zhi was stunned. After a long pause, he managed to say, "...You're real? You actually exist?"

Protagonist team: ...Oh no! We've driven our benefactor mad!

**

With his worldview overturned, Luo Zhi thought that this couldn't go on. If the protagonist team really existed, then perhaps his own ending would come true, too.

So... he absolutely couldn't be the villain.

[??? He's not a villain? Why is he kind of cute? When our young swordsman suddenly drew his sword at him, I think the kitty got a little scared!]

[Oh no, I've started stanning another hot character, but this little cat is so cute! No, wait, I can't. He looks rich and powerful, so he must be a tyrannical, corrupt official who rules through cruel policies. A blue-and-white kitten? That's a tiger... I'm going to write a hundred fics mobbing him!]

[My poor kitty, why are you so miserable! His storyline is so heartbreaking. Being tormented since childhood wasn't enough, the damn regent had to control his mind and drug him, too... He was forced to turn against the protagonist team, who are everything he wishes he could be. Do you secretly cry when you leave them?]

[Aww, my kitty is so strong. He's practically reaching for them as he watches the three young heroes walk away. It's all admiration. Little kitty, hurry and run. Freedom lies in every direction! This is so heartbreaking! He calls his words his arrows, so he's just stubborn, isn't he? If only he weren't so strong and would let himself be vulnerable... The young swordsman and the others would be so worried about him!]

Luo Zhi watched with satisfaction as the strange words praised him more and more. Simply clearing his name wasn't enough. He was going to become...

A figure remembered throughout history, one of the most significant entries in the annals.

Then he would change the fate of his dynasty.

So he immediately took the strange words' advice. After stabbing the game's player-controlled young swordsman, he coughed up blood and collapsed into his arms. "Young hero... tell me, will the wild geese flying far away ever stop for me?"

The young swordsman was frantic. Blood was pouring from his wound, but he still comforted the person who had stabbed him. "Yes, yes, of course! Anything you say!"

[In short, the child emperor suddenly discovers he's the villain in a game, and does everything he can to escape his fate and make up for his regrets. There's lots of original worldbuilding, sects based on the Hundred Schools of Thought, forum posts, and fanworks from later generations. The protagonist is beautiful, tragic, strong, sickly, a spy, awkward, and tsundere: come enjoy an extremely tsundere character who thinks the protagonist team is naive while secretly winning himself over, acting cold on the surface while helping them under a secret identity, and ultimately getting pulled out of the mud by the team. Awkward little cats deserve to be spoiled rotten!]

[Inspired by various martial arts MMOs, including but not limited to Jian Wang 3, A Dream of Jianghu, Justice, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, and Where Winds Meet... Includes references to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and the Hundred Schools of Thought.]

Theme: How can one person save the world? There is only one way: become an official, go along with the corrupt, get covered in mud, then roll through the dust and turn the tide.