Huo Pei was among the very best students at a top university, and he was destined to give back to society. Then a car accident sent him to a cultivation world, where he became Huo Xingzhi, a disciple of the righteous sects, and was bound to a System.
His mission: lower the Demon Lord's coldness score.
His way to earn more time to live: kiss the Demon Lord. Each kiss earned him 24 hours. If he didn't kiss him, he'd be electrocuted to death.
After being shocked until stars swam before his eyes, he forcibly kissed the Demon Lord, Ji Yinzhen, right in front of the righteous sect's people.
The evil demon who had just tortured him, with his black heart and wicked ways, blushed and covered his mouth, as if Huo Xingzhi had taken something precious from him!
Oh my god!
The truly life-threatening thing was a righteous disciple forcibly kissing the young master of the Demon Clan in front of so many people!
He hated that someone as antisocial as Ji Yinzhen could exist. It was like seeing a kitten or puppy walking along the road, luring it over with food, then kicking it away and stuffing the food into your own mouth before smugly walking off. Ji Yinzhen terrified him, but because of the System, he had no choice but to stay by his side and think of every possible way to kiss him.
The truth was, he really liked Ji Yinzhen. The Demon Lord who, according to the System, would one day destroy the world was unbelievably beautiful! His personality was just awful.
After the Demon Lord forced him to live under house arrest, the first time Huo Xingzhi began to change his mind about Ji Yinzhen was when he realized he was a naive, sweet innocent! ...An evil one.
The second time was when he realized that Ji Yinzhen had a terrible temper and was nasty and mean, yet was extraordinarily tolerant of him...
Their life together was going fairly well when the cultivation world and the Demon Realm decided to bring Ji Yinzhen back. They had no pretext to act, so they branded Huo Xingzhi a wanted criminal and went after him instead.
Huo Xingzhi was caught in the crossfire, but Ji Yinzhen was so beautiful that the two of them had to trade their luxurious nest of gold and silver for a bare-bones grass hut.
Huo Xingzhi was in despair, but Ji Yinzhen took to it like a fish to water. Whenever they needed something, he simply took it from someone else's house.
Bed, cabinet, chest, table: he hauled them home with a lot of huffing and puffing.
Cows, sheep, chickens, ducks: he tirelessly went out and caught them, one load at a time.
On top of that, he took bed linens, bedding, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, even firewood and thatch from other people's homes!
He said it was convenient because other people had everything they needed.
The villagers, beaten to the ground, wept in terror.
Huo Xingzhi: No... Give it back!
Driven out of the mountain villages by the righteous sects once again, with nowhere else to go, they took refuge in the most chaotic and lawless den of villains.
It was a trade hub between the human and demon realms, and a hiding place for all sorts of criminals, a melting pot full of hidden powers. Huo Xingzhi used his abilities to become the number two in the den. Every day, he went to work before dawn, came home at night and had to take care of Ji Yinzhen, then went back to work before dawn and came home at night to do it all over again...
Ji Yinzhen, meanwhile, was living the good life, looking so radiant he practically glowed. Everyone in the den knew he had the most comfortable life there. Countless calling cards poured in, and anyone who wanted to curry favor with Huo Xingzhi went out of their way to make Ji Yinzhen smile. Everyone knew his name.
Huo Xingzhi, meanwhile, went to work while downing medicine.
That would have been fine. If he worked hard, maybe he'd even get a pension someday. Like they say, the husband earns the money and the wife spends it. It was only right that he worked hard for decades. But that dream was destroyed by the Demon Lord's attack.
Unable to stay in the den of villains either, he had no choice but to become self-employed. Taking advantage of the chaos between the human and demon realms, he made a high-profile appearance, occupied a mountain pass, and forcibly demanded enormous protection fees from the surrounding cultivation clans.
Huo Xingzhi said earnestly:
“It's a time of war and chaos. The mountain roads are dangerous, and there are bandits and monsters everywhere. Pay us, and we'll make sure you have a safe journey.”
The others had no choice but to pay.
Because Huo Xingzhi was the biggest bandit around. If they refused, he'd put on a mask and transform from their protector into a bandit monster, robbing them until they were left with nothing. Then, after going home, he'd cover his face and wail, “It's not like we were the ones who started this!”
Ever since he became self-employed, Huo Xingzhi could finally get enough sleep and eat his fill. The medicine he took was no longer for replenishing his energy and blood, but for cooling his temper. When he saw Ji Yinzhen, all he felt was love. He no longer found him annoying. The sun was so bright, the flowers so lovely! The world was wonderful!
But why did everyone keep cursing him?
No matter.
Long live self-employment! He'd do it for the rest of his life!
Delicate gong × Black-hearted fake yandere shou
/. Transmigrated into the body, slow burn, a touch of ensemble cast, both are virgins, romance between a human and a demon, comeback, growth, no angst, lots of headcanon, both are love-brained, villain couple, fiercely devoted romance.
/. Not adults. Two immature idiots falling in love.
/. Six volumes total: Volumes 1 and 2 cover daily life and romance, Volumes 3 and 4 take place in the den of villains, and Volumes 5 and 6 cover self-employment.
Theme: Hard work leads to a better life.
