You Can't Die, Not When I'm the Villain

Feng Lile knew he had transmigrated into a book, and into the story after it had ended.

He had also become a mouse, locked in the same prison as the villain.

Feng Lile knew the villain was close to death.

Feng Lile also knew that if the villain died, he would not last long either.

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In the original story, the villain was a tragic character. His crimes were unforgivable, but his past was miserable. As the Beast King, he would stop at nothing for the despairing, enslaved beastfolk.

The protagonist decided to forgive the villain, winning widespread support and achieving fame and success.

But the villain was exiled to an arena for death-row prisoners, where he was forced to fight to the death against the very beastfolk he had once protected.

Feng Lile thought this was worse than killing the villain outright.

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Feng Lile’s first gladiator match was against the villain.

The villain stood before him, blotting out the sky. Even in the filthy prison, he remained unsullied. He lowered his eyes but never his head, regarding everything with cold indifference.

One look from him stopped Feng Lile’s tears. The mouse shivered with fear, half dead while still alive.

But the villain held Feng Lile in his mouth, and he did not die.

In the arena, he had supposedly been swallowed whole by the villain.

Yet he survived by staying at the villain’s side, hidden in his fur.

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Every night, Feng Lile woke in a panic and hugged a nose larger than his whole body, checking that the villain was breathing.

Feng Lile did not know that every time he finally fell asleep in relief,

the villain would open his eyes, rest his head on the tuft of fur where Feng Lile hid, knit his brows in utter exhaustion, and finally let out a quiet sigh.

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Theme: Even a life where a bunch of losers support one another is still a life.