Chapter 91.3 – The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love

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Chapter 91.3 – Reader: This world is a novel

Du Ze’s silence delighted the Creator God. At last, that man was conscious of his position. They were never enemies; they had always been on the same side.

“You are an existence that is higher than this world. Naturally, you don’t have to follow ‘the rules’ of this world. So the key to this was finding a way to bring you here, which is not too much of a problem for me – at least it’s much simpler than killing that person. When I discovered ‘it” I tried to go to your higher level realm but it seems that I didn’t have the qualifications to do so. I had to change my approach. If I couldn’t go to the higher realm, I could transport someone from the higher realm. From then on, I began to study how to summon high-level people. I studied for more than hundreds of millions of years and I was barely able to make a summoning array. I didn’t think it would actually come in handy.”

Du Ze felt numb. He had neither strength nor words to speak. All he could do was to listen to the God of Creation describe the summoning process.

“Next, I had to choose the subject of the summoning spell. ‘It’ wanted to make Xiu the Supreme God, therefore I couldn’t call ‘it.” Besides, ‘it’ is the master of this world and the probability of the summoning failing is also the greatest if ‘it’ was the subject. Even if I were able to summon ‘it,’ there would still be the problem of whether I can make ‘it’ listen to me. Therefore, I decided to summon another high level existence when Xiu fled to the Lost Land.”

The Lost Land… the familiarity of that name of that place jolted Du Ze back to life a little. He remembered a young man holding a little hardcore book in the empty open plains, dully staring at the two moons above his head. That scene was really funny but when he thought about it now, the warm feeling in his heart made him want to smile.

In fact, the reason why he was transported into this world is not important. The important thing was that he came to this world and met his favorite person. Du Ze ceased to dwell on the reason behind his summoning and listened attentively to the God of Creation’s story.

“The summoning process went well and the result was something unexpected: summoning a person from the higher realm violated ‘the rules’ too much – I was unable to meet you. I was imprisoned here by ‘the rules’ and was no longer able to act directly on the Chaos Continent.” The God stared at Du Ze with a very complicated look in his eyes. “I wasn’t really worried at the time because I added a condition to the summoning in order to achieve my goal. The person I summoned had to have the same thought as I did. That is, to wish for Xiu’s death.”

“Boom.” Du Ze’s heart thudded loudly in his ears. He remembered something and came to a very funny conclusion: Although I don’t know the specifics of the God’s summoning skill, but based on the God’s story, he was chosen because he was a black powder fan who, in order to make the author change his mind about “Mixed Blood,” trolled the author.

[… The protagonist is rubbish so he should simply die, he is not powerful, he’s worse than before the Holy Saint.]¹

But this time, Du Ze was genuinely thankful for his past actions, even though he had been annoyed by his own trolling ways countless times before.

Luckily for him, the God of Creation summoned him to kill Xiu.

“Everything went well, you met him in my temple.” The Creator God stared disbelievingly at Du Xe: “But I didn’t think you wouldn’t kill him!”

The Creator realized that something was wrong. He was imprisoned by ‘the rules’ so he could only talk to the people in the Chaos Continent through his artifact. The Creator ordered that Du Ze be brought before the god of light. He instructed the god of light that as long as Du Ze agrees to kill Xiu, Du Ze can have anything he wants. Whatever Du Ze asks for, his demands must be met. A normal person would say yes to this type of proposal. However, the rival and the others from the Temple of Light repeatedly failed to bring Du Ze to the god of light. By the time the god of light was finally able to speak to Du Ze, Du Ze refused without hesitation because he had already fallen in love with Xiu.

The Creator wanted to speak directly to Du Ze, but ‘the rules’ always limited his actions. If he spoke too much, his artifact would be destroyed. He was no longer able to summon someone from the higher realm. Thus, even though he was unsatisfied with Du Ze compared to what he had imagined his savior would be like, he could only pin all his hopes on Du Ze.

“Why didn’t you kill him?” The Creator god seemed calm, but anyone could see, if they examined him closely, that a deep resentment was hidden under his calm. “My summoning spell didn’t go wrong – didn’t you wish for that person to die? Why did you save him instead of killing him?!”

In the face of the God of Creation’s questions, Du Ze pressed on his headphones and said, very softly: “Because … this little student is a black powder fan.”

Vilify the author, cause trouble for the protagonist, screw the reader, and make you into the villain.

“Black … powder?” The Creator God murmured the words, his voice was full of confusion and perplexity.

How could the God have predicted that the person he summoned into this world, not only did he not dislike Xiu, he was also a rabid anti-fan with a strong social barrier. If a normal person had been summoned into this world, they might have been tempted by the God’s proposal. Such a person might even have thought of replacing Xiu as the protagonist of this world. However, Du Ze is an incurably silly, cute reader and his social barrier won’t allow him to easily integrate into this world. This silly, cute person firmly held on to his identity as a reader. By the time he abandoned his role as an observer, he had already placed the Moe Lord into his heart.

“There was a black powder reader who liked a novel. In order to get the author’s attention, he posted a comment saying: I hope the protagonist dies.” Du Ze’s flat voice softly echoed inside the white space, as if he was narrating an ordinary story. “The villains inside the novel sensed the comment and, in order to kill the protagonist, the villain dragged the reader into the novel.”

The God of Creation’s eyes widened. He stared at the black-haired youth’s lips opening and closing. The sound seemed to come after a few centuries.

“I am a reader.”

Nothing stopped Du Ze from speaking since the only two people present more or less understood the truth of this world already.

“This world is a novel.”

—— The “world” is a novel. “It” is the author. “The rules” is the plot. The “protagonist” is Xiu. The “villain” is the God of Creation.

In his role as a reader, Du Ze stood opposite the Creator God and spoke the truth of the world in a matter-of-fact way.

For a moment, the whole space – no, it should be said that the whole world trembled as Du Ze’s words seemed to shake the entire world and break it up until its foundation was uncovered.

The God of Creation froze when he heard Du Ze’s words. His first reaction was to dismiss it as absurd, but the shaking of the world told the God that he was the one who was mistaken.

“The world … is a … novel?” It would be difficult to describe the expression on the God’s face. There was a twisted smile that showed hope and despair, joy and misery, as if he had discovered the biggest truth of the world but he might have been happier if he had never uncovered it.

“I am … a fictional character? And … a villain?” The Creator’s twisted smile became almost hideous to look at. “That person is the protagonist and because of this … I have to act as his stepping stone? No, I won’t accept this!”

The God grabbed Du Ze’s hand and held it tightly. A wisp of cold ruthlessness sprang into his eyes. “Go and kill him! In one day, the damage this world did to you will be erased-”

The God’s words were suddenly interrupted when Du Ze’s body started to glow with a dazzling light. The black-haired youth was about to be taken away. Seeing this, the God of Creation laughed bitterly. “Ha-ha. Even before midnight, that person was able to resurrect you.”

Even though Du ze’s body was gradually fading away, the God of Creation’s hands were as cold and firm as iron tongs as he held Du Ze. “If you want wealth or power, no matter what you want, I will give it to you if you will kill him!”

Du Ze started to say: “No-”

“Don’t refuse me!!!” The God interrupted Du Ze with a shout. “You were summoned by me to kill Xiu, you shouldn’t refuse my request!”

“… I have only one wish.”

Before the God of Creation could rejoice, Du Ze looked at him and said, in a gentle voice, a very cruel statement.

“I want to stay with him forever.”

“Ha … ha … ha …” Laughter, like the sound of something breaking and shattering, came from the God’s throat. The Creator’s face was filled with unspeakable malice as he stared at Du Ze as though he wanted to drag this person down with him into the abyss. “Did you forget that you were summoned by me?’

The God of Creation smiled and spoke like a judge sentencing a person to the death penalty.

“When I die you will disappear from this world.”

What …?? This …?

Du Ze’s pupils constricted as he was struck by the God’s words. As though a dam had suddenly burst, the uneasiness that he always felt suddenly flooded his heart.

He will … disappear?

Seeing Du Ze’s face pale, the God of Creation spoke in a voice that was as sweet as sugar-laced poison. “You don’t want to disappear, right? So hurry up …”

“I like Xiu-” Du Ze’s voice was soft and weak, but it stopped the God of Creation’s speech. Du Ze didn’t care what the God thought and spoke without concealing anything: “- I also liked ‘Mixed Blood.’ This world is a novel that features Xiu as the protagonist. Even if I disappear, the novel will continue to exist, but if Xiu disappears, then my favorite novel will end.”

The God stared at Du Ze, unable to comprehend the gentle, soft look on his face.

“I won’t kill Xiu.” Du Ze looked at the Creator God as earnest as though he was swearing a vow that he would follow for his whole life. “Not in the past, present, or future.”

At this point, the God of Creation understood that it would be useless for him to speak again.

The scattered points of light melted in pure white and the Creator put down his hand. He could no longer hold Du Ze – in fact, he had never really been able to hold him at all.

“Why do you like him?” Finally, the God was unable to stop himself from asking: “To you, we are just words in a novel.

“How could you fall in love with a fictional character?”²

Right before he disappeared, Du Ze turned back slightly. His hair fell down and covered his face but the corners of black-haired youth’s pale lips seemed to be curve up slightly.

“When a reader likes a protagonist, does it need an explanation?”

 

******

Translator’s Notes:

• I did a double release today because have an urgent doctor’s appointment tomorrow. Chapter 91.3 was scheduled for Friday but I wanted to get it out of the way to I can focus on my health. Edit: I’m back. I’ll start working on the next chapter on Monday. Expect a few days of no releases as I work on it.
• If you want, you can donate at http://ko-fi.com/bcnovels. Thanks for the support.
• There are some things I want to point out:

1. Doujinshi – In fact, the doujinshi had nothing to do with Du Ze being transported into the world of the novel. Just because Du Ze happened to be reading that doujin when the God of Creation summoned him, Du Ze thought that reading it was what triggered his being transported into a different world, but he was wrong.
2. 0-point restore -Previously, Du Ze told Xiu that he was weak and could be easily killed. None of us knew what would happen if he died. Now we know that even death can be restored since the novel world can’t make any lasting effect on Du Ze. His body always gets reset at midnight and even being killed will be reset.
3. Spirit beasts – Why are spirit beasts scared of Du Ze? This question hasn’t been answered.

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1. From chapter 3
2. This is why I translated 萌主 as Moe Lord. Normally this is translated as “super cute person” or something similar but Du Ze has always thought of Xiu as a moe character in the original Japanese sense of “a character that I really love.” Whenever he referred to Xiu as 萌主, I think he is always saying “this person that I really love.”