The Villain Misassigned My Character

Qi Jue was born into a distinguished family. A noble gentleman, as warm and flawless as jade.

Within Dongyu, he was a peerless talent, a graceful orchid-like tree whose bearing eclipsed the royal court. None could compare.

After having the good fortune to share a dream with such a man, Zhong Wuyao lay awake night after night, terrified that his hidden secret would come to light.

In reality, he was a player of the suspense game novel The Book of the Undying, transmigrated into the story as Qi Jue’s devoted fan. His character card from the start: an utterly ordinary shadow guard with little contact with Qi Jue.

In the dream, he was the one who had captured Qi Jue’s heart and soul. They met when they were young and unknown, fell deeply in love, and pledged themselves to each other beneath the frost and snow.

Ever since they married, whenever night grew deep and the palace bells beneath the eaves chimed, Zhong Wuyao would grow hazy and confused. Then his “husband,” beautiful as a lush peach blossom, would appear in his dreams and invite him to indulge in passion.

But when the dream ended, Qi Jue treated him like a stranger once more, restrained and proper, as if they had never been close.

Day after day, Zhong Wuyao told himself it was only a dream, like Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly. He mustn’t take it seriously.

Until the night he was ordered to kill Prince Ning, Yu Jiu. He awoke from another dream and saw Qi Jue standing proper and elegant by the desk, an aphrodisiac love bug resting on his fingertip. Amid the lush lamplight, he calmly painted a scene of Zhong Wuyao making love with a ghost...

Only then did Zhong Wuyao realize the “husband” who invited him to indulge in passion was someone else.

-

After being assassinated by one of Qi Jue’s shadow guards, Yu Jiu was reborn.

The irony was that he had become linked by shared sensations to the “shadow guard” who had sent him to his death in his previous life. After their character cards were mistakenly switched, Yu Jiu caught sight of the “Player Panel.”

On a snowy night ravaged by white frost, Yu Jiu discovered he was the villain. He was pinning Zhong Wuyao beneath him in an act of revenge, his long sword raised, ready to draw blood.

Seeing the affection meters for [Qi Jue] and [Yu Jiu] maxed out on the “Player Panel,” Yu Jiu gave a mocking sneer and casually swung his sword at an angle.

In an instant, splashes of crimson blood stained the snow clinging to his sleeves.

Without a word, he took the red sleeve in hand and saw a new notification appear on the “Player Panel.”

[System detection: Character card “Utterly Ordinary Shadow Guard” has become invalid. The player’s identity is now “Unaccomplished Swordsman.” Dear player, good luck!]

At the same time, a voice sounded behind him. Yu Jiu turned around to find Zhong Wuyao, who should have been dead, sitting on the eaves with a sword in his arms, watching the snow. He waved helplessly. “You can’t kill me like that!”

Yu Jiu lowered his eyes and smiled, asking humbly, “Then what would it take for you to die at my hands?”

Zhong Wuyao replied candidly, without a care, “That’ll be hard. You took my character card, so you might also... fail to get what you want and accomplish nothing!”

-

After breaking free of the love bug’s control, Zhong Wuyao divorced Qi Jue, the man from his dreams.

He had hoped to put an end to everything, but who could have guessed that what happened during their shared dreams would turn out to be real? They had pledged themselves to each other beneath the frost and snow, but this time, the person he married... was Yu Jiu?

Zhong Wuyao sighed. “This is bad!”

Unexpectedly, on their wedding day, the snowstorm brought an old acquaintance home. The wedding hall was drenched in crimson, and the attendants held their tongues in fear.

Qi Jue stepped out of the lush lamplight, while Yu Jiu silently stood in his shadow, like a monster kept hidden away.

There, in the grand hall, amid the fading bloodstains, Qi Jue lowered his eyes and smiled, his tone casual. “Wuyao, wouldn’t it be better to marry me?”

[Rebirth vs. transmigration into a game. Yu Jiu and Qi Jue are the same person. In his previous life, Yu Jiu was called A Jiu. He is a pale, sickly, refined beauty, seemingly elegant and harmless, but a venomous, sickly top who stabs people in the back.]

[Sickly, beautiful, strong, tragic white-moonlight top / sweet-on-the-outside, dark-hearted, sharp-tongued villain top vs. “Notorious” devoted-fan player bottom]

P.S. 1. I’ve thought of a few ways to play with the “mistakenly switched character cards” premise.

Approach one: The adjectives on a character card can determine the character’s personality and fate.

Approach two: Yu borrows the player’s identity, the game System, and setting spoilers.

Approach three: Try to lower a maxed-out affection meter to zero.

Approach four: Shared sensations.

2. [Story game + Fourth Industrial Revolution + mistaken character cards + System + spoilers + rebirth + shared sensations + bickering couple]

3. This story is also titled After the Protagonist’s Devoted Fan Shares Sensations with the Villain. Premise recorded on 2024.7.21; blurb recorded on 2024.7.26; screenshots saved.

4. When all three share dreams, Zhong is fond of Qi because of the love bug. After Zhong removes it, he wants to avoid contact with Qi. The “husband” in the dreams is Yu Jiu, but Qi Jue erased Yu Jiu’s memories, so Yu Jiu thought he and Zhong were strangers in his previous life. Qi Jue is intended to be a gentle, sickly, lovesick top.

Theme: The closest and most distant of spouses