The male supporting character was actually myself.

Not only did the Horcrux sink into the mire instantly, but even his otherwise excellent body was powerless to resist. He could only fall like a log into the snow, feeling cold and in pain. But when he heard the fluffy ball's scream, he realized that something seemed to have been peeled away.

It's hard to describe the feeling. It's like being enveloped by something and not fully conscious, but once you get used to it, you don't feel any discomfort.

Once you tear a crack in it, the pain is followed by a refreshing feeling of clarity and alertness, as if you've been jolted awake from a dream!

After entering the mission world, I clearly intended to revise the script to fulfill my ideal of unifying the vast land.

However, for some reason, he was being led around. Although the northern part of the mountain had been unified and the land had been successfully redistributed and the industrial progress had been greatly promoted, the focus was still on the messy entanglement between the male and female protagonists.

Even things that could have been resolved quickly have dragged on and haven't been completely unresolved yet!

"Damn it, I'm exhausted." The other party had clearly been fighting hard, and when they finally stopped, they were panting heavily, poking at their large broom. "Luckily, the invasion wasn't too serious, otherwise you would have been beyond help and would have been assimilated sooner or later!"

This was the first time in Jiang Chen's life that he had been beaten up, and he was beaten up badly.

Back then, when facing the formidable unknown entity, at least we were able to put up a fight, instead of being completely powerless and getting brutally beaten like we are now.

He lay in the snow for a while before regaining his mobility.

The pain throughout her body was clearly beyond the scope of physical injury. The fluffy ball could see something being blasted away, probably impurities from her soul... This bug was definitely a formidable opponent!

"Phew!" Jiang Chen exhaled a breath of stale air and slowly climbed up, using his arms to support himself.

The little dumpling was so anxious that she frantically searched for a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his forehead and hurriedly looked through her spatial storage for healing items.

"How should I address you, sir?" He gestured to stop the little dumpling from her busy work, then bowed respectfully.

"Well, thankfully he's not a fool. At least my efforts weren't in vain." The other person wiped the sweat from his forehead and waved his hand, saying, "My surname is Nangong. You can just call me Mr. Nangong. How are you feeling now? Are you clear-headed and alert?"

Jiang Chen nodded, clutching his bleeding forehead, and smiled, "Thank you for the beating, Mr. Nangong. I've come to my senses now. I wonder if you have time to visit my humble abode, sir? I have many questions I'd like to ask you."

Mr. Nangong looked him over carefully, nodded, and stroked his catfish-like beard with his hand. "Let's go, I have some time now, so I can chat with you."

The two braved the wind and snow to return to the nearest Reform Bureau.

"Young Marshal!" The soldier on duty saluted, then looked at the man dressed as a fortune teller with a mustache behind him and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this the guy who sells fake medicine? Young Marshal, you went to arrest someone in the middle of the night?"

Jiang Chen: ...

Fluffy dumpling: (￣ω￣;)

The soldiers on guard seem to have some brains, but not many...

Only Mr. Hu Nangong, the catfish, twitched at the corner of his mouth, his face turning bright red. "Don't, don't talk nonsense, I would never sell fake medicine to your young marshal!"

Jiang Chen: ? ? ?

What do you mean? So you actually sold fake medicine before?

"Misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!" Mr. Nangong stroked his catfish-like beard and chuckled, "Besides fortune telling, I also sell some 'power pills' and the like to make a living. I ran into a bully on the street and sold him some fake medicine to trick him..."

The fluffy dumpling sighed, rubbing its forehead with its paws, "This year's bug is quite something. It beat up the host as soon as they met, and it even sold fake medicine. I wonder if it will do something else weird again."

Jiang Chen suppressed a laugh and welcomed him into the house. She went to wash up and change into clean clothes first. The two of them sat around the stove in the middle of the night, warming themselves by the fire and chatting over tea.

“I’ve wanted to hit you for a long time.” Mr. Nangong stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth and mumbled, “I just haven’t found the right opportunity—you’re always surrounded by a lot of people, so it’s impossible to catch you alone.”

Chapter Forty: Lin Sanqianjin

Mentioning that beating, Jiang Chen subconsciously touched his throbbing forehead again. That guy really went all out!

Thank goodness I wasn't slapped in the face, otherwise, a bruised and swollen face tomorrow would really damage my image.

"I heard you scolding me while you were hitting me. Could you please offer your advice?"

"Hey, what's wrong with saying this?" The other person took a sip of tea, stroked his catfish beard, pointed upwards with his hand, and said solemnly, "When I said you overestimated yourself, I meant that you thought you understood this world very well and that you could manipulate the laws of heaven. But you're wrong."

Your understanding is not comprehensive enough, which led you to underestimate your opponent.

The world works in a very complex way; your current understanding is merely a glimpse, a tiny fraction of what it is. Heh heh, actually, I don't have a complete grasp of the whole picture either, I just know a little more than you do.

Seeing that Jiang Chen was attentive and waiting to listen, Mr. Nangong smiled with satisfaction and explained, "I can deduce that the world is not a single entity. To use a more vivid analogy, it's like a big tree with many leaves."

However, everyone here, including myself, is confined to this leaf, unable to leap over and transcend to see what it's like on another leaf.

But you are different!

You seem to possess some kind of magical power surrounding you, capable of taking you beyond the constraints of this world under certain circumstances.

Personally, I think you might be the luckiest person to be chosen.

Unfortunately, I cannot grasp the secret to transcendence; I can only rely on external forces and can only leave when the conditions are met. Perhaps this is another kind of immortality—when you die in this world, you will be reborn in another.

"Young Marshal, was my prediction correct or incorrect?"

Fluffy dumpling: (ΩДΩ)

Wow! This bug is amazing! It even figured out the main system's calculation mechanism!

Jiang Chen was also somewhat surprised, but he was surprised by another idea proposed by the bug—if one could continuously travel between the various mission worlds set up by the main system, it would indeed be considered immortality in a certain sense.

However, this kind of "immortality" exists only in the virtual world. If the body dies in the real world, the soul power existing in the virtual world will also dissipate.

“What you say is absolutely right, sir. My situation is indeed rather special.” He nodded in agreement. “What did you mean by ‘invasion’ and ‘contamination’ just now?”

Mr. Nangong sighed, “Although I cannot transcend to see the outside world, I have gained some insights through years of dedicated research. This world is naturally the only thing we rely on for those who live here, but for you, a visitor from outer space, it feels somewhat like a cage.”

While chosen ones like the young marshal are rare, you are certainly not the only one. Countless cages are connected together, allowing you to experience the full spectrum of human life, while secretly invading and polluting your minds, gradually assimilating them.

The laws of Heaven will transform you in every way.

Whether it's an explicit order to do something or a subtle way to make you have certain thoughts, it may seem foolish, funny, or even infuriating on the surface, but those are just pretexts to confuse you.

Just like you, after experiencing so much, you've developed a complacent attitude, which has actually corrupted you.

If I hadn't given you a good beating to drive away those impurities that were trying to entangle and disturb your mind, you would have been tamed and become a tool of the laws of nature over time.

You will obey when the time comes, and you will naturally do whatever the laws of nature dictate.

"Through this glimpse into the secrets of heaven, I feel that the laws of heaven seem to be secretly transforming you and your companions!"

Velvet dumplings: (*?ロ?)

Modification? Really? Doesn't the main system require earning medals to gain a chance to be reborn?

Why modify the host?

Jiang Chen: (⊙︿⊙)

That seems... to make sense!

Based on cases of people who have entered the virtual world, apart from themselves and the fluffy dumpling who cannot be counted in the conventional way, almost everyone else has been successfully transformed, becoming a typical example of joining when you can't beat them.

Those that completely give up or fight to the death are likely to be destroyed by the main system after being discovered as unchangeable and repeatedly failing to improve.

The thought that he had almost been corrupted and gradually turned into a puppet without realizing it filled Jiang Chen with lingering fear.

"Thank you so much for your kind help, sir!" He thanked him earnestly before asking, "Besides me, have you seen any other people who can transcend this world?"

Catfish Beard rubbed his fingers together and laughed, "No problem, no problem. That beating just now really took a lot of effort! If the young marshal sincerely wants to thank me, just let some money slip through your fingers to cover my expenses."

As for people in similar situations to you…

He looked around and leaned closer, lowering his voice to say, "To be honest, I did have the chance to meet her a few years ago. She was a woman from a wealthy family, but she wasn't as clear-headed and insightful as you."

Her situation is much simpler than yours. She doesn't know she's become some kind of 'immortal' and believes she was born into this world, so she's very docile and obedient. Or perhaps... she's already been successfully tamed by the laws of nature, doing whatever identity is assigned to her, unlike you who still knows how to resist.

Unfortunately, firstly, the other party is of noble status and is a young woman, so she is not someone I can easily get close to;

Secondly, my abilities are limited, and I simply cannot exorcise the pollution and restore her to her pure heart. Young Marshal, are you looking for her? Perhaps I can offer some guidance!

Jiang Chen's eyes lit up immediately, and he pretended to pull out a photo of Lin Wanyan from his pocket. "Sir, is this her?"

"Yes, yes!" Mr. Nangong's catfish beard jiggled as he laughed, "It's her! You two really are the same kind of people, you're a perfect match in every way. If the young marshal can marry this young lady, it would truly be a match made in heaven, a divine couple who will be together forever."

Sure enough, she was still waiting for him in the mission world!

"Hiss..." Jiang Chen gasped, clutching his forehead and racking his brains, but he couldn't recall anything related to the past. What were his and the girl who had sacrificed herself to enter the virtual world to wait for him? What kind of experiences had they had?

To be able to abandon one's body without hesitation and let one's soul merge into the virtual world, without memories or the past, just to wait for someone who may never appear again, the two must be very much in love.

At the very least, her love for herself has transcended life and death, existing in the virtual world as an eternity.

If we can regain her past memories, will we still be able to bring her out of the virtual world?

Jiang Chen's thoughts were somewhat confused, and his furrowed brows startled Mr. Nangong. He peeked at him and asked in a low voice, "Young Marshal? Are you alright? Did I hit you too hard just now? Should we... find a doctor to take a look?"

"It's alright." Jiang Chen, still puzzled, could only temporarily put aside his confusion and asked, "What are Mr. Nangong's plans for the future? I was thinking of going to Never Sleeps to see Lin Wanyan after I've settled things in Yucheng."

The other person, twirling a catfish-shaped beard in one hand and calculating with the other, said in a deep voice after a moment: "It's not enough to just put Li Dongchen under house arrest. He'll lie low for a while and then find an opportunity to cause trouble and launch a counterattack. But... I don't have anything else to do anyway, so I can keep an eye on his every move for you."

"Just focus on your business. When the time is right, come back once I tell you, and we'll send him straight to hell, leaving him no chance to recover!"

On a snowy night, the two sat around the fireplace discussing things until the sky began to lighten in the east before returning to their rooms for a short rest.

After a few days of silence, two things happened in Yucheng that people talked about.

First, the young marshal, who had won every battle in the east and west and was known as the reincarnation of the God of War, did not stay in the north of the mountains to hibernate and enjoy a leisurely life. Instead, after consolidating his troops, he led an elite force south, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Rumors circulated that the young marshal intended to conquer all the eastern territories in one fell swoop; others predicted that he would target the west, given its abundant mineral resources; still others whispered that he had headed straight for the southern barbarians, reaping a rich harvest from conquering their prosperous lands.

However, military secrets are naturally inaccessible to ordinary people, who can only talk about them during their leisure time to show off their "military talents." But another matter is more likely to become a topic of gossip.

The once-popular Bai Moli sisters at the Paramount Ballroom have seen their net worth skyrocket!

The fact that the place was always packed with guests even though it cost thirty silver dollars a night made the two sisters mistaken. They thought that all the rich people who were as beautiful as angels were fools, and they kept raising the price to one hundred silver dollars a night at Qinxiang Xiaozhu!

"Tsk tsk, has the owner of the Paramount Ballroom lost his mind? How could he agree to such an outrageous request?"

"One hundred silver dollars? That could buy so many concubines! Who would want to spend that much money just for one night?"

"I heard that the Bai sisters are so arrogant and reckless that they're threatening suicide. I bet the owner of the Paramount Ballroom is having a headache."

"Aren't they just those two girls from Ruan Fannan's family? They're lazy, greedy, and obsessed with money!"

"The boss is counting on them to make money, so of course he has to consider Bai Moli and her sister's feelings. If he raises the prices according to their demands, wouldn't he be at their mercy again when no one comes to patronize him? It's just a delaying tactic. Let's just wait and see what happens..."

…………

The crowd on the street was buzzing with discussion, and some curious people even surrounded Qinxiang Xiaozhu, wanting to see what kind of celestial beauty was worth a hundred dollars for a night's sleep.

The two sisters, Ruan Xiangqin and Ruan Xiangqin, fought so hard that night that they both ended up with bruises and swelling on their faces. Ruan Xiangqin even had several strands of her hair pulled out, and could only draw the curtains tightly and hide in her bedroom, lost in thought.

Without the protagonist's halo, Ruan Xiangyun was in a worse state. She had several bloody scratches on her face, and since no one was there to get her medical help or medicine, she would probably be left with scars.

The owner of the Paramount Ballroom leaked the news, and the Bai sisters' value skyrocketed while their treatment plummeted.