Little Pink Starfish

The two people who entered the room were Chen Yuanhao, who looked like a flirtatious young master, and Qiu Tu, who was usually silent but when he spoke it was with precision. Both were subordinates of Qi Guanrui, and today they were here to report on their work.

Gu Bai looked at the two and felt a bit confused. Eh? I don’t have any relations with them. Why are they here?

Then, he saw the two of them bow to Qi Guanrui and call him “My Lord.”

…A trap ah! Gu Bai immediately understood. They and the perverted guy must have been secretly colluding! Gu Bai sighed, feeling a little foolish.

When Gu Bai thought Qi Guanrui was still Gu Xiaoshan, he spent every day by his side without suspecting anything. But the plot had still developed without Gu Bai noticing. Once he had put together how deeply he’d been sleeping every night plus the two months of seclusion, he figured that was more than enough time for the plot to have made significant progress on its own.

Gu Bai hadn’t thought carefully about it before, so he had taken many things for granted and ignored them. But now, upon reflection, those things were becoming crystal clear. After all, he was the author who wrote the original book. With a little comparison of what had happened after arriving at the academy, everything was obvious!

For example, that large bed that was carefully crafted. The pervert must have had his subordinates make it. The funds for some of their activities… Perhaps the pervert didn’t have them, but they had found a Wu Di’s inheritance in the cave ah!

Gu Bai thought that Gu Xiaoshan would be obedient and well-behaved, however the pervert would definitely be one to feign compliance while secretly going against him. However, in the end, Gu Bai had always intended to leave the perverted protagonist to develop the same way as the story. Although the process wasn’t what he expected, the outcome was clearly correct, so it didn’t really matter… Right?

In just a few seconds, Gu Bai’s brain, which had just restarted, quickly began to sort through everything clearly in his mind. But even if he had figured it all out, what could he do? Living under the pervert’s control was truly not easy ╮(╯▽╰)╭

Chen Yuanhao and Qiu Tu were visiting the courtyard for the first time after defecting to Qi Guanrui. They, of course, knew that this was the residence of the City Lord of Tiandu City, Ziche Shubai, the aloof expert martial artist. They also knew that their own lord had always followed him closely as his personal guard for reasons they didn’t understand, though they didn’t dare inquire. However, in the past few days, they had received orders from their lord, saying that they should report any important matters to the City Lord’s residence in future…

The two subordinates looked at the seemingly intimate Gu Bai and Qi Guanrui and glanced at each other. There was something off about the vibe. That Ziche Shubai seemed to be very obedient to their lord… Could it be that their lord had taken him under control too?

Suppressing the thoughts in their minds, Chen Yuanhao spoke first, “My lord, I have an important matter to report.”

Qi Guanrui responded, “Speak.” He then picked up a piece of food and placed it in Gu Bai’s bowl, saying, “Gege, eat some of this.”

Gu Bai ate the food apathetically.

With that one action, Chen Yuanhao saw the chain on Gu Bai’s wrist. How could he not recognize the forbidden martial arts chain? He had personally sought the materials and the craftsman to forge it. He glanced at his lord’s chilling expression and a thought surfaced in Chen Yuanhao’s mind but was immediately pushed away… =口= Had he been overthinking this?

Chen “Emperor of truth and suffering”* Yuanhao took a deep breath and said loudly, “I’ve heard news that in ten days, the Lord of Haoyang City will be holding a Python-Slaying Tournament, and heroes from all over are invited to participate. Any Wu Jun and above are eligible. This has also attracted the attention of the Principal of Qingtian Academy, who has instructed the academy’s strongest to join the competition. If one can win the tournament, there will be a substantial reward. Many of the academy’s senior members are already competing for a spot in the tournament.”

Qiu Tiu added, “There are only a hundred spots available for the academy.”

_{*[T/N: 真相帝·苦逼 Zhēnxiàng dì kǔ bī Lit: Truth Emperor · suffering force. Detrimental truth telling.]}

In other words, sign up early and go through the selection process or pull some strings.

Gu Bai looked at Qi Guanrui and felt as though he had just seen a big pile of rewards—of course, he wasn’t interested in competing for these rewards, but he found the situation a bit amusing. Hey, protagonist, I just want to ask you, how does it feel to be asked by your starry-eyed subordinates whether you want to join a team whose aim is to slaughter you?

Qi Guanrui’s expression was calm, and he casually raised an eyebrow before replying, “Go get two spots.”

Chen Yuanhao answered immediately, “Yes, my lord!” His gaze briefly swept over Ziche Shubai’s body, as if he had understood something. It seems like the lord really cares about this person.

Qiu Tu tugged at the somewhat distracted Chen Yuanhao who glanced back at him: “What?”

Qiu Tu’s eyes flicked towards Qi Guanrui and Chen Yuanhao looked over: “…” Lord, do you really have to be so possessive? This isn’t how you should act in a relationship!

Chen Yuanhao obediently withdrew his gaze and, along with Qiu Tu, bid farewell to Qi Guanrui.

One word from the big brother, and the little brothers ran their legs off.

Once the two left, Gu Bai wiped his mouth. Just now, he felt like he saw a huge wave of plot rushing past him like a wild horse that had escaped its reins. The Python-Slaying Tournament… This shouldn’t have appeared at this point in time!

He still clearly remembers that in the original story, the perverted protagonist spent his time pretending to be a pig in order to eat a tiger*, rushing through the plot with strange adventures, chasing girls, and creating chaos in the Demon Realm while executing his grand plan to start the War between Martial Artists and Demons. It was only after revealing that the Demon King was the descendant of the Sky-Devouring Serpent that the Martial World held the Anti-Demon Tournament.
That tournament’s goal was to slaughter the Demon King, the Sky-Devouring Serpent, and was based on uniting martial artists. And the leader of the tournament was, naturally, Qi Guanrui, who by that time had already become a Wu Zu and would advance to Wu Zun.

_{*[T/N: Wolf in sheep’s clothing.]}

This was the plot’s major arc, tying up all the plot threads together, and allowing the perverted protagonist to emerge as the ultimate winner in the Martial-Demon War, breaking through his original level and transforming into the unprecedented Wu Zun level. At that point, the whole world was no match for the protagonist. Some of the top experts were either devoured or killed, leaving him complete world domination. And, of course, the Demon King was killed by the Wu Zun, giving Qi Guanrui the title of World Legend. _{[T/N: World’s best uncle.]}

And then… well, then came that astonishing, godly conclusion; blood sacrifices, breaking the void, and so on…

Without the original plot progression, Qi Guanrui wasn’t much stronger than Gu Bai, most likely at the Wu Wang level. However, even with Wu Wang strength, the perverted protagonist couldn’t possibly reach the same level he had in the original story in just a few days. That meant he definitely wouldn’t become the leader of the martial artists and would have nothing to do with the Demon Realm.

Gu Bai had a strange feeling that there were too many plot points being skipped, and that it wouldn’t end well. Additionally, there were so many powerful martial artists in the world, if they decided to gather and slaughter the giant snake, would the protagonist’s halo be enough to save him?

Maybe it was because of the way Gu Bai looked at him, but Qi Guanrui turned his head, smiled slightly, and said, “Gege, didn’t you want to ride the python? This time there’s the Python-Slaying Tournament. I’ll get a spot for you, and make sure you’re satisfied.”

Gu Bai’s face maintained its vacuous state. Can’t you forget about that already?

Of course, it was clear that he would never forget. Qi Guanrui kept pushing: “Whatever gege likes, I’ll get it for him” and “If I do this for gege, will he be happy?” and “If there’s anything else gege wishes for, just tell me, I’ll make sure to fulfill it for him.” All his pestering was tied to the keyword ‘python’ and every time, Qi Guanrui would insist on hearing an answer, otherwise, he would laugh ominously.

Gu Bai could only respond with “En,” “Happy,” and “Not really.” How did I never realize that the perverted main character was such a talker?! …Wait, could this be his way of further tormenting me mentally after the physical abuse?! Just! Give! Me! A! Break! Already!

This somehow made Qi Guanrui even more excited, as he continued to chatter for an hour.

Qi Guanrui looked at Gu Bai with affection. If he wanted to talk to someone, the topics would never run out. Especially when he realised that Gu Bai was clearly losing patience yet still tolerated him, he couldn’t help but find more topics to discuss. He really wanted to see just how much Gu Bai’s bottom line would change… Or rather, how much could Ziche Shubai’s self-respect be challenged for Gu Xiaoshan—and in turn Qi Guanrui?

Qi Guanrui would often notice that Ziche Shubai reacted differently from everyone else. The more he noticed these differences, the more he coveted them. Again and again, he saw Ziche Shubai’s deepening tolerance towards him… It far exceeded his expectations.

It must be said that Qi Guanrui’s observations weren’t wrong. Before, Gu Bai tolerated Gu Xiaoshan because he valued this boy as family and treated him with the same care and indulgence one would give to a younger brother. But now, his tolerance for Qi Guanrui was because of his knowledge of the perverted protagonist in the original story, and he unconsciously lowered his own self-respect. To put it simply, he was a coward, even afraid of the protagonist he himself had written. So, out of fear for his life, he tried his best to endure. But even that endurance hadn’t yet reached its tipping point. Occasionally, in rare moments, he would still subconsciously see Qi Guanrui as Gu Xiaoshan, and in those moments, the feeling of endurance subsided.

But no matter what, in this world, whether it was Qi Guanrui or Gu Xiaoshan, they were both special and unique to Gu Bai. Once the two of them merged, that uniqueness became one.

So… Although he was forcibly violated, Gu Bai knew that he was seen as a traitor, yet in that situation, his life was not in danger. Although his Wu Qi* was sealed, Gu Bai knew that he hadn’t been parasitized by the serpent’s curse, so he was still himself. Both were forms of punishment, both involved his life being controlled by someone else, but the two situations were clearly very different. No one, not even himself as the author, knew this more clearly than he did.

And precisely because of this, Gu Bai’s limits had still not reached their breaking point.

_{*[T/N: It was qi, now it’s Wu Qi]}