After Reading History, They Regretted Everything

When Xu Gou joined the Historical Transmigration Bureau, he thought it was a scam company. He never expected it to be a legitimate government department. On his first day, his boss said, "Good. Put on the anti-laser suit, take your props, and go through the transmigration gate." Xu Gou: ? His first stop was the Qin dynasty. The first unlucky fellow he ran into was Ying Zheng. Having collided with the First Emperor, Xu Gou was about to be killed as a bandit. At the brink of life and death, the prop he was carrying activated automatically [Fragmentary Scroll: ■■] ① Skill One: Persuasion: Automatically activates when the Host's life is in danger. It draws all chosen ones within fifty li into the [Scriptorium] and initiates mandatory reading mode. Effect: Once everyone has finished reading, it automatically triggers a favorability buff and forcibly adds the Host to their allied faction. ② Skill Two: Locked As Xu Gou stood in a small room, bewildered as he faced the First Emperor, Meng Kuo, and the others, a cold voice rang out. "Mandatory reading mode activated. Everyone present must read Records of the Grand Historian. You may leave your seat only after finishing a chapter." "First reader: Xu Gou. Please begin, " As the cold voice spoke, every ancient person's gaze fell on Xu Gou. Under immense pressure, Xu Gou had no choice but to pick up the book. "The First Emperor of Qin was the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. When King Zhuangxiang was held hostage in Zhao as a Qin prince, he met Lady Zhao, a concubine of Lü Buwei. He fell in love with her and took her as his wife, and she gave birth to the First Emperor. He was born in Handan in the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin. At birth, he was named Zheng, and his surname was Zhao..." The more Xu Gou read, the more something felt wrong. He cautiously looked up and saw the First Emperor watching him without expression. Xu Gou: ...Aaaaaah, help! Could this skill really save his life? Wasn't it just speeding up his death? He was reading Ying Zheng's biography right in front of Ying Zheng himself! The Fragmentary Scroll was Xu Gou's lifeline. It made him die of embarrassment, but it also made plenty of other ancient people die of embarrassment. It takes just a few shameless growth spurts for Xu Gou to go from despair to nonchalance. But after he used the scroll to travel through ancient times and complete one mission after another for the Transmigration Bureau, further investigation revealed that what people called history was just a false mask. And using the Fragmentary Scroll so many times came at a price. The madness that had once existed, the incomplete poems, the wavering final songs: every fragment of history concealed a twisted truth. He looked at an ancient painting, but he wasn't just looking at a painting. He was watching a strange, distorted beauty walk toward him. He looked at the meteorite said to have come from beyond the heavens, and felt as if he could see the stars singing in a warped voice... He seemed to have stepped into history, but he had also entered a world of bizarre, kaleidoscopic madness. Warnings: ① I wanted to read cosmic-horror historical fiction but couldn't find any, so I'm writing my own. It will probably be niche, but I'll start and see how it goes. ② There will be different dynasties, but this is definitely not true to history. It's an alternate-universe work combining cosmic horror, history, and reading, and will surely be a grand exercise in making things up. ③ Just think of the protagonist as an investigator. With Cthulhu, you always need one (Screenshot taken on 2023.3.5). Theme: Human will can triumph over fate!