Chapter 1: What is a Villain

After Shu Wan uploaded the final chapter of her new book, she did not expect it to spark an unprecedented world war among her fans.

At this moment, she was helplessly staring at the rapidly increasing number of comments—her mouth agape in disbelief…

“Why did my favorite Yi Chenlan still die!? After all he suffered, couldn’t he have a good ending!? What happened to the promised HE (happy ending)?!”

“The male and female leads got their HE, but Yi Chenlan was originally the second male lead. He did so many bad things, had warped values, and committed heinous acts. Shouldn’t he have died??”

“He wasn’t bad from the beginning! Has anyone ever shown him kindness, even a little bit? If you went through what he did, would you not become twisted? It’s easy to stand there and criticize.”

“I agree. Besides, I think my Ah Lan did nothing wrong. Those people were cruel to him. Why can’t return their cruelness? Double standards at their finest…”

“Though, his methods were a bit extreme. He really shouldn’t have had a good ending. He was anti-social after all.”

“I think the villainous actions were justified.”

“……”

Having written for so long, Shu Wan knew that Yi Chenlan, the second male lead in her book, had always been a controversial character. 

Some people pitied him, while others disliked him. 

There were those who defended him with sarcasm, and everything in between. 

But this time, the arguments were especially heated, and the comment section was rapidly becoming overwhelmed with the noise.

Shu Wan had never seen such a big uproar. She blankly scratched her hair, leaning over her computer to carefully study the heated debate.

In summary, it was essentially a battle over whether Yi Chenlan should have died or not.

Shu Wan thought for a moment and placed her hands on the keyboard: “Actually…” 

She hit backspace.

“I think…” 

Again, she hit backspace.

She rubbed her face in frustration, pondering for a while, not knowing how to express her complex feelings. 

In fact, Yi Chenlan was one of the characters she had put the most effort into creating. 

She particularly liked him.

One could say that no one understood his pain, struggles, sorrow, and despair better than herself.

Death might have been the last thing he sought in the world—it represented freedom and his liberation.

Shu Wan glanced at the exploding comment section, considering whether she should say anything at all. 

After all, this was her own understanding. 

Everyone had different perspectives, and naturally, various opinions would arise. She decided not to say too much.

Shu Wan shut her computer, tidied up a bit, and then burrowed into bed. After typing all day, her back and waist were sore from the effort, and she quickly fell asleep.

However, perhaps because she had finished the ending and was feeling complicated emotions, Shu Wan had a restless night filled with dreams. 

She couldn’t remember much from earlier in the night, but she vaguely recalled the final dream…

A man, his clothes soaked in blood, lay on the ground, gazing at her with vacant eyes. 

His appearance was extraordinary, with delicate and ethereal features like a celestial being from the heavens. 

His long black hair spread out, exuding a fragile, broken beauty. Even in the final moments of his life, as he was on the verge of death, he was still breathtakingly beautiful.

He parted his lips slightly, his voice so faint it was nearly inaudible: “The thing I wanted… I can finally get it…”

After speaking, he closed his eyes heavily.

—

Shu Wan had been dreaming all night. 

When she opened her eyes the next morning, she looked at the carved bed frame and the sheer bed curtains, feeling as though she hadn’t woken up yet.

She blinked three times, and only then did she realize the situation she was in.

Had she crossed over?

Shu Wan had written novels for so long, including ones about transmigrations, quick-transmigration systems, and countless tropes. 

Now, she was experiencing it firsthand, and she felt incredibly uneasy.

There was no guiding system, nor was there any memory merging with the original host’s. 

She was completely at a loss and didn’t understand what was happening. Shu Wan glanced around, wondering if a little maid would rush in any moment and say: “Miss, you’re awake.” and that would be the beginning of the story.

Shu Wan scrambled to sit up. Just as she slipped her feet into her shoes, a loud voice rang from the doorway: “Little Junior Sister, Ah Lan was punished by the Master with a hundred lashes last night. I heard he still hasn’t woken up. I’m a little worried about him. Let’s go check on him together.”

The amount of information in that sentence was overwhelming, and Shu Wan froze in place. 

She looked around the luxurious, exquisite, and spacious sleeping quarters and finally realized what was going on.

She didn’t need a system, nor did she need the original host’s memories. Even with her eyes closed, she could recite everything about this place from memory.

Because she had crossed into the very book that had sparked the argument last night, the one she had just finished writing!

Upon realizing this, Shu Wan immediately felt as though she had deeply dug a pit for herself.

To explain, the book she had written was a typical story filled with clichés. It told the tale of the male and female protagonists going through a series of dramatic, melodramatic events, growing from naive innocents to powerful rulers. It was the story of a pair of chivalrous partners traveling the martial world together.

To make the male protagonist’s background even more complicated, Shu Wan added an additional setting. 

In the original story, the male protagonist Jiang Yang appeared as the son of the renowned Great Hero, while the second male character Yi Chenlan was the descendant of the Demon Lord, someone who was universally despised. 

Both of their fathers died in a peak battle, and Jiang Yang was taken in and raised by the Great Hero’s junior disciple. 

As for Yi Chenlan, this junior disciple, despite their previous grudge, took him in under his wing and raised him strictly, hoping to lead him onto the righteous path and prevent him from following in his Demon Lord father’s footsteps.

This great junior disciple’s actions were deeply admired, and for a time, his reputation in the Jianghu was extremely high. He was hailed as the “true essence of a great hero.” ^[1]Jianghu (江湖) is a lawless world encompassing not just martial artists but also outcasts, criminals, and adventurers, with less structure and more personal freedom.

However, halfway through the novel, a twist emerged. 

It was revealed that this junior disciple had been envious of his senior for a long time. 

After bringing the two children back, he secretly switched them. The protagonist Jiang Yang, whom he had carefully nurtured and treated like his own child, turned out to be the Demon Lord’s son, while the tormented Yi Chenlan, who had suffered for decades, was actually the son of the Great Hero.

Once this truth came to light, the hypocritical junior disciple was naturally condemned by all, but the circumstances of the two protagonists, Jiang Yang and Yi Chenlan, did not change much.

This was primarily because the revelation came too late, and many things were beyond recovery by then. 

At that point, Jiang Yang had already made a name for himself, gaining countless friends and building a reputation as a righteous, demon-slaying, heroic young talent. His bloodline was praised by all, seen as a pure, untainted essence rising from the mud. 

On the other hand, Yi Chenlan had been mired in suffering for decades, bearing countless insults, and was continuously hated by millions, always paying for his father’s sins. He had endured humiliation for so long that he had completely turned to darkness.

Before the truth was exposed, Yi Chenlan had already perfected supreme martial arts and stirred up chaos in the Jianghu, with bloodshed and turmoil everywhere. 

He killed without hesitation, committing more evil acts than his predecessor, the Demon Lord. 

He had become the public enemy of the Wulin, with everyone eager for his death. ^[2]Wulin (武林) refers to the community of martial artists, focusing on martial arts schools, sects, and their code of conduct, often structured and hierarchical. Wulin is a subset of Jianghu

 When the story of the switched children emerged, there was an uproar, but ultimately, the consensus remained that Yi Chenlan’s crimes were unforgivable, his family name tainted, and he was utterly unworthy of being his father’s son.

Occasionally, there were voices of sympathy for him due to his tragic circumstances, but as people recalled his cruelty, bloodshed, and the countless lives he had taken, those voices eventually fell silent. Yi Chenlan’s experiences were indeed tragic, but they were not enough to excuse his heinous actions.

The noise in the Jianghu continued, but the involved party, Jiang Yang, was not affected. The other party, Yi Chenlan, was indifferent to the matter. At that time, the only thing in his heart was a single obsession: to kill everyone who had ever wronged or trampled on him. His lineage seemed like a passing breeze, and he paid it no mind whatsoever.

The second half of the novel focused on the relationship between the male and female protagonists, who, after falling in love and facing numerous adventures, gradually became masters of the Wulin, constantly battling against the chaos Yi Chenlan brought. 

They grew stronger and stronger, while Yi Chenlan became even more powerful. 

They gathered countless righteous people to rid the Wulin of harm, and finally, in the last battle, Yi Chenlan was struck through the heart with a sword—ending his tragic life.

After finishing the entire book, Shu Wan suddenly realized that her plot seemed a bit difficult to explain. 

She slapped her forehead, trying to refocus, and began reflecting on the disastrous mess she had created for herself.

Why was it a mess? 

This required explaining her own identity. 

In the entire story, the only person who could be called “Little Junior Sister” was none other than “Shu Wan.”

That’s right. 

While writing the story, Shu Wan, driven by a mysterious sense of twisted pleasure, decided to use her own name for the role of the perverse female antagonist in the book.

At the time, she felt thrilled, but now, thinking back, it seemed like a suicidal decision.

Shu Wan counted the evil deeds committed by this character: 

First, she was the daughter of the hypocritical junior disciple mentioned earlier, making her the “Little Junior Sister” to both the male protagonist and the second male character. 

Before the truth about the child-switching incident was revealed, she was the cherished daughter of the Great Hero, adored by everyone, and raised with an overwhelming sense of superiority.

This self-proclaimed “Light of the Righteous Path” a vicious female antagonist, harbored deep hostility towards Yi Chenlan, the son of the demonic figure who had caused the death of her Grand Senior Martial Uncle. 

The abuse she inflicted on him was just the tip of the iceberg; the three most lethal actions she took were:

First: On Yi Chenlan’s eighteenth birthday, she personally severed his right arm, leaving him with a permanent disability.

Second: She persuaded her father to hold a memorial event, inviting everyone who had a grudge against the Demon Lord to vent their hatred on Yi Chenlan. 

That day, Yi Chenlan was beaten to the brink of death, slipping into a coma for several days before finally waking up, leaving him with lasting health issues.

Third: The most fatal in Shu Wan’s eyes: Yi Chenlan had a jade pendant that he cherished deeply. During countless difficult times, he had clung to this pendant for comfort. 

The origins of the pendant were left unspecified by Shu Wan(FL)—perhaps it held beautiful memories, or perhaps it was a gift from someone who had once shown him kindness. 

Regardless, it served as Yi Chenlan’s last spiritual anchor. But this twisted supporting female character shattered the pendant right in front of Yi Chenlan.

After more than a decade of various forms of torment towards Yi Chenlan, Shu Wan had caused herself endless trouble. 

In the end, when Yi Chenlan was reborn and returned stronger, she, too, would suffer the consequences—being sliced to pieces in a thousand cuts.

The first to face such a fate, of course, was her current hypocritical father, Shu Qi.

——

Shu Wan nervously rubbed her hands together and looked at herself in the mirror. 

Hmm, she was only around fourteen or fifteen years old now, still not fully understanding the mess she had created. 

She probably hadn’t done much to torment Yi Chenlan yet, and none of those fatal actions had occurred either.

Thankfully, there was still time. 

As long as she didn’t act recklessly, and started to improve her relationship with Yi Chenlan from now on, she was certain she wouldn’t be the one to end up in the tragic fate of being tortured to death by her own hands.

This became her real world and not some fantasy world. 

Although she had somehow transmigrated, at least she was alive. 

Compared to the collapse of the plot, Shu Wan cared more about her own life. 

So, it was better to start working on improving the second male character’s favorability sooner rather than later.

“Little Junior Sister, Wan Wan? Are you listening? Do you want to come with me to see Ah Lan?” 

Shu Wan had been lost in thought for too long, and the young man outside had grown a bit anxious. He knocked on the door again.

Shu Wan, having just set her little goal of boosting the villain’s favorability, quickly responded: “Coming, coming, Senior Brother Ah Yang! Just wait a moment!”

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Lucia: This is my first time translating this type of novel. I have always loved reading this genre, but translating is a different matter. I humbly ask that if you find any errors, please let me know! Thank you so much for reading!

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