Qiao Wen died.
In a society where humans and ghosts coexist.
Corrupted from birth, he spent his whole life bedridden, muddled and enduring pain. He was sick of the world and pessimistic, convinced that living was exhausting, but he gritted his teeth and carried on for his family.
After he died, he learned from a System that he had been living inside a book.
But his life had begun fifty years after the original story ended. Somehow, the plot had changed. The once kind and righteous male lead had failed to defeat the great villain, and the antagonist had destroyed the world.
The Ghost Domain had descended and overlapped with the human world.
So the world had become polluted and corrupted.
Qiao Wen: "...?"
The System bound itself to him and ordered him to return to seventy years earlier and lower the original antagonist's corruption level, putting the original story back on track.
System: You need to lower the antagonist's corruption level, okay?
But it turned out Qiao Wen had no intention of reforming the antagonist at all. Instead, he acted even more arrogant and world-weary than the antagonist.
Age five:
Qiao Wen: I'm so tired. Let the world end.
The antagonist: Senior Brother, the world is so beautiful. Stay and look at it a little longer! Isn't it wonderful to be alive?
Age seven:
Qiao Wen: I wish humanity would go extinct.
The antagonist: No, everyone is kind. Everyone loves you!
Age ten:
Qiao Wen: I'm fed up. I want to die.
The antagonist: Senior Brother, stop! Aaaah! Don't do this! Look, the world is wonderful!
The System was utterly stunned.
How do you stop an antagonist from turning evil?
Just act even more evil and world-weary than him, like you're ready to destroy the world at any moment. Then the antagonist will have no choice but to devote all his attention to reforming you, racking his brains to talk you out of turning evil. The antagonist, who was utterly wicked in the original story, starts spouting goodness and righteousness at every turn, working tirelessly to build a harmonious world.
**
Years later, after Qiao Wen helped the original protagonist kill the antagonist, he returned to his own era.
He had thought the world would return to normal, but the future was still barren, crumbling, and dilapidated. Nothing had gotten better.
Then one day, a red-robed evil ghost smiled and knocked on his door.
"Long time no see, Senior Brother."
The ghost murmured words of love, but beneath his once-clear eyes simmered a maniacal crimson.
"That sword strike of yours really hurt."
A beautiful, sickly, unhinged and world-weary bottom × a saintly, cool-headed top who worries every day that his Senior Brother will go astray and destroy the world. Modern supernatural fantasy, childhood friends to lovers.
Not a traditional supernatural story. The ghosts in this novel are closer to Foundation-style entities and rule-based horror.
* Blurb written on February 27, 2023, and screenshotted.
* The cover is a commissioned draft. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help putting it up early.
Theme: Maintain a positive, healthy, and sunny outlook, and one day you'll change your life.
