The Shared A-Rank Guide

[Pre-release: The Wicked Cannon Fodder at the Noble Academy. Blurb at the very bottom.]

After the apocalypse arrived, Qu Xunyang awakened as an A-rank guide and was assigned to the strongest team, "Raging Sea."

The team had four S-rank sentinels who stood above all other superpowered individuals.

Lian He had white hair and red eyes, with the haughty, cold beauty of a vampire. His strength was unfathomable.

Yi Yujie had a muscular, explosive physique and an intimidating aura. He had the fiercest temper and was not someone to mess with.

Xu Yuan had a head of golden curls and angelic features, but his personality was the complete opposite: cruel and unruly.

Chu Zhinan was breathtakingly handsome, yet wore a blank expression every day, as if nothing in the world could interest him.

And Qu Xunyang was a coward. He had no ambitions and wanted nothing more than to run away from these four men, all top-tier in both looks and ability.

*

Raging Sea had previously had a guide, but Shen Chuze, a B-rank guide, couldn't fully calm the S-rank sentinels' out-of-control mental energy.

Qu Xunyang, on the other hand, was their destined match.

He took Shen Chuze's place, and for no apparent reason, endured the team's rejection and torment.

Yet, after fighting side by side time and again and being forced into intimate entanglements, he still fell for them.

He was the only guide who could perfectly soothe their rampaging mental energy. He was a necessity they couldn't live without.

Naively, he thought that if they spent enough time together, they would eventually come to like him.

*

Until he and Shen Chuze were caught in danger together.

He watched them break through the encirclement, only to rush toward Shen Chuze without hesitation.

They had abandoned him.

Qu Xunyang could only face death, his heart broken...

Reader's Guide and content warnings, as much as possible:

1. The shou is ordinary and weak, with an innate everyone-loves-him quality.

2. All the gong leads have golden fingers and are absurdly powerful.

3. Extremely melodramatic, with misunderstandings purely for the sake of drama, but at heart, this is a sweet story.

(If you can't accept that, just click X. Please spare the author.)

3. One-on-one relationships at different stages.

4. Not suitable for readers who are particular about their preferred character dynamics.

5. More warnings may be added if anything else comes to mind.

Hope you enjoy reading, little angels!

--- Pre-release blurb ---

One day, Yu Ran woke up and realized he was living inside a novel that combined an everyone-loves-him protagonist, fetishes, male rivalry, and coercion. Worse, he was only a cannon fodder side character.

The story was outrageously melodramatic and tacky: Shang Ke, the aloof and impoverished protagonist shou, was specially admitted to Saint Veya Noble Academy. His extraordinary looks and proud personality made the academy's F4 go from hating him to becoming obsessed, until they all became his harem.

As the name suggests, the academy's F4 were all privileged heirs, heirs to immense power, and children of unfathomably influential families.

And Yu Ran was the wicked cannon fodder who had a crush on one of the F4.

His sole purpose was to bully Shang Ke, advance the plot, and then, a dozen or so chapters later, be ruined until his family was destroyed and he made a miserable exit.

The book described him as "beautiful, wicked, and full of vile schemes."

Yu Ran, who had been good as gold since childhood: ...?

Until he saw Shang Ke with his own eyes.

That face really was stunning, but with his tall, sturdy build and the aggression hidden in his sharp eyes, there was no way he seemed like the sort of person who needed four men to dote on him.

Yu Ran sincerely wondered: Could I really bully him?

He soon found out: He couldn't, but the plot could.

At their first meeting, his body suddenly went out of his control, and he flung his drink right into the other man's face.

Once he came to his senses, Yu Ran looked like he was about to cry. "I swear I didn't do it on purpose... Do you believe me?"

Shang Ke slowly wiped his face and replied coldly, "No."

The second time, he was controlled into sneaking into the pool locker room to steal Shang Ke's clothes.

He'd just slipped out the door and regained control of himself, ready to sneak the clothes back, when he walked straight into a hard chest.

Clutching the clothes, Yu Ran protested softly, "I swear I picked them up by mistake... Do you believe me?"

Shang Ke sneered. "No."

To avoid having his family destroyed, Yu Ran began cautiously trying to please Shang Ke, while putting on a friendly smile for the F4 as well.

But the way those privileged heirs looked at him gradually became strange and hard to read.

They would lift his chin with the end of a fountain pen, pressing a fingertip to his soft lips. "Good boy, open up."

They would brush the tip of a dress shoe against his ankle under the table, sliding it up his calf, and coax him when he tried to pull away: "Baby, don't move."

They would leave a burning sigh behind his ear, then bite the most sensitive, soft spot on his earlobe. "You're this obedient with everyone... Tell me, how should I punish you?"

Yu Ran: ...Has the plot completely gone off the rails?

Shang Ke had depended on his grandmother since childhood and earned his way into Saint Veya Academy, a place full of the rich and powerful, on a scholarship.

He didn't care about the contempt and exclusion from those privileged heirs.

Until he met a little idiot.

His name was Yu Ran. He had a face that was impossible to look away from and eyes as dewy as a startled fawn's, yet he was always doing stupid things to get Shang Ke's attention.

At first, Shang Ke found him annoying.

He had struggled up from the bottom and seen too much hypocrisy. He assumed this was just another bored rich kid's game.

But the little idiot's gaze was too clear and honest.

He looked wronged and frightened, with a hint of careful ingratiation, like a small animal caught in the rain. He was clearly scared to death, yet still insisted on coming close.

Shang Ke realized he couldn't ignore him.

Those privileged heirs were looking at Yu Ran more and more openly, and Shang Ke's patience was wearing thinner by the day.

This little idiot could only belong to him.

Fine.

Since the little idiot liked him so much,

he'd grant him his wish.

[Bonus Scene]:

Later, Shang Ke pinned Yu Ran against the headboard. His burning breath tangled against Yu Ran's ear, and his fingers laced through Yu Ran's, gripping as if he meant to meld them into his very bones.

"Baby, I only went in by accident."

Yu Ran's eyes were red-rimmed as he trembled out, "I don't believe you!"

Shang Ke chuckled low and kissed away the tear at the corner of his eye. His voice was hoarse. "Don't believe me? Then let's try again."

Theme: Made for each other.