Chapter 4 - Zi FengXin

"Take this." The Librarian had tossed YueYing at FengXin like a plastic trash bag filled with old, wet newspapers. "I don't want it."

"Mr. Librarian…." FengXin secured YueYing in his arms.

"Get out."

"Isn't this a public domain—" FengXin called at the librarian as a congregation of student helpers escorted him and YueYing out of the school library.

"Mr. Librarian!!!!!..."

—

"Don't worry, Mr. Librarian is… normally very kind!" FengXin continued to ramble on.

Meanwhile, YueYing noticed that the System had disappeared. When he thought about the lavender screen, a window did indeed pop up, but not with any conversational phrases or even a kaomoji. Instead, his first passive skill appeared in big, bold, white letters:

[ 'System Passive Skill 1 - Taunt' ]

And below it, a blue bar, a red bar, and a status description.

[ 'Storyline Progression: -100%' ]

[ 'Protagonist Affection: 15%' ]

[ 'Binding Character: Librarian NPC {DETAILS HIDDEN}' ]

The negative sign on the Storyline Progression surprised YueYing, and while he tried to figure out what this 'Storyline' meant, the bright blue bar drained at a rapid speed, fell to zero, then shot through the bar to the opposite direction and off of the screen itself.

Yueying held his jaw to keep it from dropping to the floor.

He'd drowned out FengXin's nasal and curious voice long ago. FengXin hadn't even noticed, his conversation shifting from the Librarian to the library to his impressions of the school.

"You know, there are a lot of flowers here…"

The System still hadn't appeared.

YueYing glanced towards the babbling sophomore, trying to find an opportune time to escape. He needed to ask the System some questions.

"And it's not just the flowers that are pretty, the students are pretty too…"

"Hey." YueYing interrupted FengXin's speech.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to go use the restroom."

"Ok!"

YueYing beelined for the exit, leaving the door creaking as he sped away.

Watching him leave, FengXin sat back down on the stool beside the bed and fiddled with his fingers.

—

"System?"

[ Pah! (〈◉〉◞౪◟〈◉〉) ]

"Ah?!" YueYing jumped at the sudden screen that popped right up in his face.

[ You, something's wrong. I shut down whenever I'm around him ᯣ_ᯣ ]

[ That's not supposed to happen ᯣ_ᯣ ]

[ Why is it happening ᯣ_ᯣ ]

So that explains the System's disappearance from time to time…. YueYing breathed a sigh of relief. He changed gears and recalled the game-like window from when he awoke. As soon as he thought about it, it forced its way up on the System's screen and blocked out the annoyed kaomojis.

[ 'Storyline Progression: -100%' ]

[ 'Protagonist Affection: 20%' ]

[ 'Binding Character: Librarian NPC {DETAILS HIDDEN}' ]

"The 'Protagonist Affection' went up!" YueYing tapped on the bar, his eyes wide.

His finger passed through the hologram…

[ What is this?! ಠಿ_ಠ ]

"You don't know either?"

[ Nope. Never been a System before (*￣m￣) ]

"Oh…" All of YueYing's questions flew away, and he paused at the end of the hallway.

The school day had ended while YueYing lay unconscious in the infirmary, so only a couple students passed him from time to time, either keeping their heads low like hunchbacks or staring at YueYing with terrified gazes.

YueYing watched the clock: Minutes had passed since he last spoke with the orange-eyed sophomore, and YueYing figured he'd soon grow suspicious.

"I'm going to go back to the 'Protagonist' then." He began walking back towards the nurse's office.

[ Wait!! If you go back then you won't hear me!! (°ロ°) ]

YueYing slowed his pace, hesitation clear in his eyes.

"You weren't very useful in the first place…"

[ 'Storyline Progression UPDATED!!' ]

[ 'Storyline Progression: -99%' ]

The statistics window shoved all traces of the System's boiling rage aside. As soon as he saw the updated progression, YueYing fell into reflection.

He gained a possible insight: As the supposed main 'Villain' of the storyline (which he didn't even know yet), whenever he committed an action considered 'bad,' the 'Storyline Progression' would increase.

Or I think so…

Lost in thought, YueYing passed the door to the infirmary and continued on down the long hallway. FengXin happened to look up at this exact moment.

"Little tyrant!!!!!" A soft nasal voice grew louder and louder, fluctuating with the bounces of the sophomore as he ran to the door. "Li YueYing!"

YueYing stopped in his tracks, still confused on why the sophomore acted so familiar with him.

…

YueYing didn't even know his name yet.

With a cough, he turned his head, waiting for FengXin to catch up.

"Little tyrant! Where are you going? Are you abandoning me?!" FengXin looked up with shock on his face.

"Huh?" YueYing hadn't even considered this. "N-no?"

"You hesitated!" FengXin lept back, pointing at YueYing like a wife accusing her cheating husband. "You don't like me! Even after we spent so much time talking to each other…"

"Uh huh…"

Where did this tyke get all of these assumptions from? They hadn't even conversed much, YueYing had just listened to him ramble for almost over an hour.

YueYing felt a headache surfacing.

"In any case, Mr. Librarian told me to go back to the library… but I'm direction blind!" FengXin threw his arms in the air, exasperated. "You've been at this school for a long time now and, seeing as you're the school's supposed 'tyrant,' you probably know all of the secret routes or something… Take me there?"

YueYing didn't want to guide FengXin—he considered himself a new student as well due to how little time he'd spent in this world. But one phrase caught his attention…

"If I'm the 'tyrant,' why aren't you scared of me?"

{ YueYing used 'Divert Attention!' }

"Well, little tyrant…"

{ It was super effective! }

"You don't seem like a bad guy. If you were, you wouldn't let me talk so much. Not even my little sister lets me talk so much, she ties me up on a tree and leaves me hanging for hours if I talk for more than a minute!" FengXin began walking off in a random direction, all the while craning his head to stare at YueYing as he babbled.

Now YueYing understood FengXin's carefree attitude towards himself.

But the System's 'Storyline Progression' only moved when YueYing did something mean, and the System would let him go if the bar reached a perfect 100%... would he have to make FengXin turn on him too? But then why would the 'Protagonist Affection' bar exist?

According to some books YueYing had read in his past life, the pain of betrayal hit harder when one considered the traitor their friend. If the sophomore before him had the role of the 'Protagonist', and YueYing himself having that of the 'Antagonist…'

YueYing felt reluctance and shame when he thought of having to let go of the one person who treated him as a human being from the very start.

"And you know, my sister's not all that mean! She can be really nice too! But I've never seen her smile, except for this one girl named Hua–"

Walking and walking, the two had paced a complete loop right back to the entrance of the infirmary.

"Oh, hey, we're back!" FengXin blinked at the door, as if this action would give him a magical hint on how to proceed. "You think Mr. Librarian is in there?"

YueYing shook his head. He hated to admit, he didn't quite want to see the Librarian.

"Little tyrant, I thought you knew the way! Do you rely on your lackeys for everything? Do you have lackeys? Hmm, what if there's a map in the infirmary?" FengXin pushed the door aside with an air of undeniable confidence, striding in without waiting for YueYing to follow.

And on an empty cot sat…