When a scrappy underdog rises to become a domineering hero, there are always companions and beautiful confidantes by his side.
Unfortunately, Tang Qingshang has never been one of them, not since he transmigrated into a book. He is cannon fodder.
-
The first time, he was a cannon-fodder spirit pet.
Seeing the scrappy protagonist bullied until he looked utterly pitiful, Tang Qingshang took pity on him.
After years of keeping him company, he ended up as cannon fodder who took a blade for the protagonist. Then he was gone.
*
The second time, he opened his eyes to discover that not only had he survived, he had also gone from cannon fodder to a System user.
Just as he was celebrating, the System said, "Congratulations, Host. You have been bound to the Unrequited Love Villain System. Please kill the protagonist immediately."
Tang Qingshang gripped his sword, feeling his body, devoid of even a trace of spiritual power. When he looked up, he saw the "father" from his previous life holding a sword and saying coldly, "Haven't you had enough of pestering me? Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?"
Tang Qingshang swallowed the argument he was about to have with the System. Staring at Wu Xuejian's peerlessly handsome face, still battered by wind and snow, he raised his sword and attacked.
What an ungrateful "father"!
And so, Tang Qingshang haunted the protagonist like a vengeful ghost from the underworld, someone the protagonist couldn't kill and couldn't escape.
They hated each other to the point of mutual resentment, locked in a feud that would end only with death.
When the protagonist reached the point where he was fated to die, Tang Qingshang didn't hesitate to finish him off.
But why was he the one coughing blood and fading away?
Only as he lay dying did the System discover the bug: he had been bound to the Dragon Proud Heaven's Substitute Death System.
As the first snow of the season fell, the protagonist awoke from certain death once again. The voice of the nemesis he hated so much broke apart and faded away:
"You owe me another one."
*
The third time, when Tang Qingshang awoke after faking his death, his heart was as still as dead water.
That is, until someone burst through the door, hauled him up, draped a bridal veil over his head, and sent him off in a wedding sedan.
Tang Qingshang: "?" Tired of the father-and-son act, fed up with the nemesis act, and now we're playing the harem game?
The System: "In the hundreds of years since your death, the protagonist scoured the Three Realms for countless substitutes for you. And among the Tang family, you're the one who looks most like..."
...Is it really necessary to hate me this much? (>д<)
To save his own life, he could only cling to his secret identity and diligently play the part of a beautiful substitute. But as he watched one person after another who looked like him disappear, he decided to run away.
Before he could put his plan into action, however, he suddenly realized that the protagonist seemed to treat him differently.
Tang Qingshang couldn't believe it. He tested the waters nervously.
It wasn't until the eve of his escape, in that confined space, that he looked into those deep, blood-red eyes drawing closer with every step.
The protagonist smiled cruelly, but spoke with a tenderness Tang Qingshang had never heard from him:
"Are you still refusing to admit that you love me? This is already the twenty-fifth time."
????
The zero in your house is silent, so I'm still 250!
A comedy of misunderstandings and accidental self-conquest: he thinks I have feelings for him but am too conflicted to admit it, so he approaches me under a secret identity and keeps saving me from danger.
[Mostly Dead While Still Alive (?) Easygoing, Fun-Loving Beauty Bottom x Serpent-Faced, Serpent-Hearted, Brooding Widower Top]
No substitutes, exclusive in body and mind. At heart, it's two devoted lovers mistaking pure love for pure hatred, with a gloomy, twisted vibe.
The top is a little neurotic, and the bottom is a fun-loving mischief-maker, so the whole story takes a pretty surreal turn.
Synopsis written on 25/8/10, screenshot archived and saved.
Theme: If you went through every hardship with me, shouldn't this trial of love be mine too?
