In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

"If you had thought of this sooner, our relationship might have been much more pleasant."

"That's not necessary."

Qin Yiyan refused with a straight face, saying that while she admitted it, she would rather not get involved with Xu Shi.

"what ever."

Xu Shi didn't insist. "If you want to 'observe' me again in the future, you can do so openly. You don't need to be so secretive."

"Aren't you afraid I'll leak your secrets?"

Qin Yiyan was taken aback.

"You are my maid, and serving you personally is my duty."

Xu Shi didn't care at all. "Alright, I have other things to do. If you'd like, you can go in and catch up with your former subordinates."

After saying that, he left without waiting for the other person's reaction.

"..."

The red-haired older sister stood there, unsure of what to say.

You might think this person is treacherous and cunning, but ironically, he's often quite upright and not as detestable as you might imagine.

As for Xu Shi's attitude towards her... she couldn't say whether he truly trusted her or simply didn't take her seriously.

...It seems the latter is more likely.

Humph.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

"Come, explain to your master what it means to say 'Master is a bad person'? What it means to say 'His humanity has always been terrible'?"

When Pan Ling saw Xu approaching her with a dark expression, she knew something terrible was about to happen.

"How could my master be a bad person?"

She tried to get away with it by using her junior sister's cuteness, saying, "In my heart, Master has always been the most perfect person."

"is it?"

Xu Shi sneered, "I'll give you one more chance to organize your thoughts. If you utter even half a lie, I'll make sure you can only sleep on your stomach for the rest of your life."

“…Master, I was wrong.”

The foolish apprentice knew Xu Shi's subtext all too well, and just thinking about it made her unable to resist, so she had no choice but to admit defeat.

"You're not wrong, how could you be wrong?"

Xu Shi started acting childish, saying sarcastically, "You've really grown up now, daring to talk badly about your teacher behind his back, huh?"

That's not what I meant...

Pan Ling felt wronged and wanted to defend herself.

"Then what do you mean?"

Xu Shi stared wide-eyed and asked.

"What I mean is, even though Master is a bad person, you've always been very good to me..."

The young apprentice stammered, "So, if Master is going to be a bad guy, then I'll just be a bad guy with you..."

"...Who asked you to be the bad guy with me? Can't you be the good guy?"

Xu Shi was taken aback for a moment, "So you're getting all self-satisfied, huh?"

However, his tone softened considerably, indicating that he wasn't actually as angry as he appeared.

Honestly, he doesn't care what others think of him at all; he just wants to find an excuse to give his clumsy apprentice a warning.

But to my surprise, the other person's words sounded very sincere.

"Master, stop pretending. You're not cut out to be a good person..." Pan Ling thought to herself.

However, she also keenly noticed the change in Xu Shi's tone, so she took the initiative to come over.

"In short, if my disciple makes a mistake, Master can punish him as he sees fit."

It's just a spanking, go ahead and spank!

"...You think I'll punish you just because you tell me to? Are you the master and I'm the master?"

Xu Shi rolled his eyes at her and gestured for her to sit down, "But your analysis at the end was quite interesting... could you elaborate?"

He was naturally referring to the part about how the protagonist's halo affects those around them.

"Oh."

Pan Ling breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she hadn't actually been spanked.

As for her analysis, she naturally repeated it to her master in great detail.

"...That's about it."

She carefully finished recounting her thoughts, then looked at Xu Shi with teary eyes and said, "Of course, I have some other ideas, but I don't think they're mature enough..."

"It's okay, please continue."

Xu Shi nodded. "In your opinion, where does the 'protagonist halo' come from?"

"Hmm... if I had to guess, could it be transmitted through 'divine breath'?"

Pan Ling pursed her lips and expressed her thoughts.

Xu suddenly understood.

Before this, he hadn't paid much attention to things like protagonist halo or villainous supporting characters, or rather, he hadn't paid attention to these things since he killed Shen He.

After all, I had awakened my memories of my past life back then, and that was enough to control the whole situation. What was the point of worrying about other things?

Later, when he came to the Hualan Empire, he was an outsider who caused trouble, and he wouldn't take such things to heart.

Now that Pan Ling had spoken to him, he suddenly realized that his direction seemed to have indeed shifted without him even noticing.

Because this raises a question—assuming this really is just a world in a book where you travel through time, then it's reasonable for Shen He, as the protagonist, to have the so-called protagonist halo; that's how the plot is arranged.

But now it seems that this world is not as simple as imagined. Under the manipulation of "Heavenly Principles", the City of Night Sin is just an experimental area. There are probably many more small worlds like this.

So, if there is more than one "protagonist," then the "protagonist halo" will naturally follow the same pattern.

Pan Ling's analysis shows that the "protagonist halo" exists to reduce the difficulty of the protagonist's leveling up, and it is essentially a kind of influence on the mind of others.

It also needs to be ensured that it works on every main character—Shen He's abilities and aura overlap somewhat, but Luo Yu's don't, and that's the difference.

Therefore, this thing is versatile.

Pan Ling's analysis is also very reasonable. As long as every experimental area can operate normally, "rust fog" is the best medium for transmission.

The "Rust Mist" is used to spread the virus, thus granting this advantage to the chosen ones in each region...

That seems to be quite an impressive technique.

I had overlooked this point before, but now that I think about it, there is indeed a lot to be done.

Xu Shi fell into deep thought.

Pan Ling didn't know what her master was thinking, and she didn't dare to break the rules to read his mind, so she could only carefully stand guard by his side.

a long time.

Xu Shi raised his head and looked at her.

"master?"

Pan Ling had never seen him look like that before, and asked tentatively.

"You seem to be a little smarter than I thought."

Xu Shi smiled, "You even considered things that your teacher couldn't have thought of."

"I... I just stumbled upon this by accident..."

The silly apprentice scratched his cheek, not understanding what he meant.

"It doesn't matter whether it is or not."

Xu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. "The important thing is that having a disciple like you is truly a good thing."

"No way, it's my good fortune to have met my master..."

Pan Ling was so flattered that she lost her bearings and responded in a daze.

"Alright, alright, stop with the mutual flattery."

Xu Shi flicked her forehead. "Starting tomorrow, the things that Maomao teaches will be handed over to someone else."

"As for you... you will be fully involved in my future plans."

"what's the plan?"

"A plan to clear away the 'rust fog' and overturn 'natural justice'."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 314 Purifying Rust Fog is Feasible!

2023-11-10

"master……?"

Before Pan Ling could react, she suddenly felt everything go black.

When she opened her eyes again, the scene around her was different—it was clear that Xu Shi had brought her to his "threshold space".

A place where conversations are convenient and there is no risk of being eavesdropped on or having information leaked.

"What are you doing?"

She blinked, shook her head to ease the discomfort in her heart, and then asked.

"Don't pretend in front of your teacher. Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?"