The Fallen Emperor NPC Is Reborn and Takes the Everyone-Loves-Me Route

Next up: the sweet little story "Top-Tier Haitang, Turning Jinjiang Upside Down!"

=The Little Emperor's Perspective=

As a puppet emperor pushed onto the throne by a group of treacherous ministers, Li Zheng has been struggling to survive with his younger sister. The ministers scheme against him, the brilliant and almost demonic Right Chancellor wants him dead, and the Regent, who holds power over the court, always looks at him with murderous intent... Every day, Li Zheng feels he's not long for this world.

Then one day, while pretending to be asleep, Li Zheng discovers the Regent sneaking into his bedchamber.

He cuddles him and kisses the back of his neck as he falls asleep, calling him his darling again and again. He's so intimate and unrestrained, like a complete pervert.

Then the next morning, he acts as if nothing happened, putting on a cold, haughty face and viciously demanding the imperial seal.

Li Zheng: "...What?"

A few days later, he discovers that the Right Chancellor, the Chief Palace Guard, and Master Rong are also sneaking into his bedchamber in the middle of the night...

Li Zheng: "."

Just destroy the world. I'm tired.

A few days later, he somehow ends up with an arrow through his heart and dies. Then he is reborn ten days before his death.

Li Zheng wants to laze around and do nothing in his new life, but discovers that those few people who used to sneak into his bedchamber at night have stopped pretending and gone full-on pervert!

=The Players' Perspective=

In 2123, the full-dive online game "The World in Balance" became an overnight sensation. It's a completely open-world ancient-era game with 100% freedom. There are no required quests; players level up by discovering hidden storylines and opportunities. The NPCs are so lifelike that it's impossible to tell whether they're virtual. You can treat it as a farming game, an open-world adventure, a wuxia game, a palace-intrigue game, or even a political strategy game. If you want, you can even seize the throne and rise above every other player.

It's a completely authentic ancient world, so real that it's hard to distinguish the game from life in ancient times.

The game took the internet by storm as soon as it launched. Too busy struggling through their real lives to care about political power, players turned "The World in Balance" into a utopia. They happily farmed and treated it like another home.

Until one day, an unknown player with a death wish really did send assassins to kill the little emperor in an attempt to seize the throne.

The moment the little emperor breathed his last, every player saw a line of pure black text appear in the cloud-covered sky:

Congratulations to player [Name Hidden] for achieving the [Seize the Throne] achievement. You will receive the "Coronation Ceremony" gift pack in ten days. All players may attend as spectators.

But immediately afterward, a crimson wash of blood turned the black letters into a different message, which began flashing over and over:

Warning: NPC Chief Palace Guard has launched a pursuit of [Name Hidden]. This player is advised to watch their back!

Warning: NPC Right Chancellor has launched a pursuit of [Name Hidden]. This player is advised to watch their back!!

Warning: NPC Regent has launched a pursuit of [Name Hidden]. This player is advised to watch their back!!!

[Critical Warning: All NPCs have launched a pursuit of all players. Everyone is advised to watch their back!!!!!!]

The players: …?

Before they could even react, the NPCs around them suddenly went berserk and killed them. Forced out of the game, the players were utterly confused and tried to log back in, only to receive an update notice from the developers.

["The World in Balance" has been updated to Version 2.0. Update details: Time has returned to ten days before His Majesty the Emperor was assassinated. Update notice: Players, proceed with caution and do not repeat the same mistake! Players, proceed with caution and do not repeat the same mistake! Players, proceed with caution and do not repeat the same mistake!! If the game is restarted again, all player data will be erased, and a fee of 111111 yuan will be charged to purchase update access. Treasure every step you take.]

The players who had always treated "The World in Balance" as a farming game suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

So this was a game where everyone raises a kid together!

[Reader Notice]

1. Li Zheng is the recipient and has a harem-magnet quality.

2. A recipient with amnesia and little knowledge x a top who keeps opening several extra secret identities whenever one isn't enough.

3. If you don't save it and I don't save it, when will Xixi have enough advance reservations? If you don't bookmark and I don't bookmark, when will Xixi be able to write sweet scenes!

---Next up: the sweet little story "One Hundred Years After My Shizun's Death"

Shi Yangjing, head of the world's foremost cultivation sect, the Heaven Sword Sect, cares for the world and all living beings, but his heart has no room for his disciple.

A hundred years ago, during the battle between gods and demons, Shi Yangjing sacrificed his soul to heaven to destroy the Demon Lord. His spirit scattered across the world, and he left Yu Xuan with nothing.

The feelings Yu Xuan never got to confess became an obsession.

Then, on the night of the hundredth anniversary of Shi Yangjing's death, Yu Xuan was lying in bed when he suddenly felt a pair of invisible hands touch him.

Yu Xuan: ...?

After that, Yu Xuan started to feel that something wasn't quite right with the things around him.

When the blanket covered him, it felt as if someone were holding him.

At mealtimes, the chopsticks in front of him moved on their own to feed him.

The spirit plants he'd grown suddenly came alive, their winding vines winding around his calves and rubbing up and down...

Sometimes Yu Xuan couldn't help spacing out, wondering if his shizun had returned. Then he would think that his master was proper and courteous, and didn't even like him. How could he possibly do... that sort of thing?

After Yu Xuan told his senior brother about what had been happening, his brother said that Yu Xuan was lovesick and needed to find a cultivation partner as soon as possible to take his mind off it.

Yu Xuan thought that made sense and agreed.

But every potential match he met with seemed to have an accident.

One broke a leg on the way there. Another had an unstable spiritual core and urgently needed to enter seclusion. Not a single meeting went ahead.

His senior brother couldn't figure it out.

Yu Xuan had his suspicions.

During a sect holiday, Yu Xuan deliberately followed the other disciples to the Heaven Sword Sect's spirit spring, where they nurtured their souls, and untied his sash to join them in the hot spring.

Then he found he couldn't take his clothes off.

Yu Xuan: ...

Yu Xuan was just about to force them off.

A hand pinned his down.

The invisible man finally couldn't hold back and spoke through gritted teeth:

"Dressing so indecently! Have you no shame?"

[Important]

1. Shi Yangjing is the pursuer, Yu Xuan the recipient.

2. A mischievous shizun while alive, a gloomy and lonely little darling after his death x a straight-laced pursuer with top-tier combat strength who cares for the world but can't express himself.

Theme: Love life, love yourself.