Chapter 15: CH 15

After the exciting opening performance, a male and a female host, both dressed entirely in red, went up stage and began to introduce the guests present.

Bai Zhen Zhen’s eyes clung to Xi Xixi’s figure curiously, wanting to see if he would remain on stage for a while after his performance so that she could coincidentally show off her “deep affections” with Huo Xiang.

Huo Xiang frowned unhappily.

“Your boyfriend is still alive here, who are you looking at with such exaggerated happiness?” He criticised.

Bai Zhen Zhen came back to her senses, retorting: “They are all idols, what’s wrong with me fangirling?”

Huo Xiang pretended to size her up, snorting: “How old are you? Still chasing idols like a young girl? They are all much younger than you; you have no chance. Besides, don’t be attracted to these idols, most of them are just putting on a persona! They are completely different from what you imagine them to be!”

“Anxious?” Bai Zhen Zhen winked at him, “Not bad, Lil’ Huo, you’re very passionate about acting!”

“Who’s anxious! I’m worried that you’ll be blinded by beauty and forget about our task on hand!” Huo Xiang replied grumpily, adding on, “I’m going to emphasize again, don’t casually change my name…”

Bai Zhen Zhen didn’t reply, only stretching her neck to observe the movements on stage.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was about to begin following the guest introductions. The moment that she had been waiting for was also about to start.

Huo Xiang looked at Bai Zhen Zhen deeply, lost in thought.

Just now, when the idol group was performing on the stage, his eyes unconsciously landed on one of the members. At that moment, his system suddenly issued an alarm.

— System: “Warning, warning. Identified the book’s third male lead, Xi Xixi.”

Such alarms had sounded when he met Jiang Mu Yang in the restaurant, and when he met Ling Hao Chen in the hospital.

These alarms alerted him that the lead characters who would obstruct his mission had appeared.

Huo Xiang’s mission was to save the female lead of a novel. He, himself, was currently in the world of the novel.

Half a month ago, he was leisurely strolling the streets when a void suddenly opened up beneath his feet. Everything went black, and when he woke up, he found himself lying on a hospital bed in this “novel” world.

After that, the system bound to him appeared.

— System: “Ding! Congratulations on being bound to the ‘Saving the female lead’ system! From now on, you are a glorious space-time knight. Your ID number is: 9938.”

Huo Xiang: ???

— System: “This system is a mission-based system. Once bound, it cannot be removed unless the mission is completed. After entering a randomly assigned novel’s world, every knight must strive to love and cherish the female lead, to protect the female lead from any harm, and to accumulate 100 happiness points from the female lead. Only then will they be able to return to reality. During that time, the system will also issue…”

— Huo Xiang: “Wait, let me interrupt you. You mean, I’m currently existing in a completely non-existent illusory world?!”

— System: “You can put it that way. But world is meticulously constructed by the author, and it has been fully restored here. All of your experiences and feelings are real. In addition, a brief reminder from your system: A day in the novel’s world is only equivalent to a minute in reality.”

— Huo Xiang: “According to what you said, if I don’t accumulate 100 happiness points, I can’t go back?!”

— System: “Yes, knight.”

— Huo Xiang: “Can I call the police?”

— System: “You can try. But the novel’s police is unable to bring you back to reality.”

— Huo XIang: “… Thank you, please continue to talk about the missions.”

— System: “During this time, other than main mission to accumulate happiness points, the system will randomly issue out side missions. Side missions can be related or unrelated to the main storyline. If you succeed, you will be rewarded with an appropriate surprise. If you fail, your progress will be wiped clean, and you will have to start again.”

— Huo Xiang: “So strict?! As long as the side mission fails, all my efforts for the main missions will be in vain?!”

— System: “So this system is reminding you. You must treat every side mission seriously, and that the rewards for the side missions will be a pleasant surprise.”

— Huo Xiang: “Your existence is the biggest ‘pleasant surprise’.”

— System: “Lastly, the system reminds you that after you have completed the main mission, not only can you return to reality, you will also be rewarded with a mysterious prize as a trophy for your glorious actions.”

— Huo Xiang: “You should have started off with this! I’m original a man with a sense of justice. To save a woman is my duty!”

— System: “Then I wish you a pleasant experience after we shout a slogan!”

— Huo Xiang: “Slo…slogan?!”

— System: “Fly forward, knight! Fly forward, 9938!*”

— Huo Xiang: “…”

****

Just like that, Huo Xiang started his “journey of salvation”.

The first side mission was to find the female lead. Only after finding the female lead could his “strange disease” be cured.

For ten consecutive days, Huo Xiang wandered around the streets and alleys, feasting his eyes on many beautiful girls, to no avail.

Unexpectedly, just as his shoes were beginning to wear thin from searching, he returned back to where he started out from and found the person he was looking for just around the corner of the hospital.

Immediately, the second side mission was issued — Get married with the female lead.

Huo Xiang: What?!

But the system told him, this was the optimal solution found after multiple calculations and analysis — only after getting married with the female lead, could he protect her all the time and prevent those sinister people from hurting her. In addition, he could rack up happiness points from everyday interactions.

Huo Xiang originally thought this mission was exceedingly difficult to complete, but something out of his expectations appeared again — the female lead of this book actually didn’t like the male lead! She even dumped her first love!

The author of this book was simply a godly assistant!

Thus, he implemented his plans step by step, and finally became the female lead’s “fake boyfriend” after a whole three days.

According to his plans, he would become the female lead’s “real husband” after another three days.

Of course, in order to smoothly complete the mission, he couldn’t take these people, who had even triggered the system’s alarm, lightly. Thus, when Bai Zhen Zhen became excited when seeing the third male lead just now, he immediately became alert.

“Why are you dazing off!” Bai Zhen Zhen saw that Huo Xiang hadn’t said anything for a while, and cast a suspicious look at him, “I’m talking to you!”

Huo Xiang pretended to be composed: “Ah? What did you say? It was too noisy just now, so I didn’t hear you.”

“I asked you if you’ve confirmed it with your friend yet. The lucky draw is about to start. If we don’t get chosen, then we would have wasted a trip here!”

“Relax!” Huo Xiang gave Bai Zhen Zhen a resolute nod.

— When the male lead is drawing the winner, how can the female lead not win? If the author can’t even write such a plot, then he recommends the author to change career.

“Alright, it’s the moment that you’ve all been waiting for!!” The female host on stage suddenly raised her voice.

“Yes, we will be starting the first round of the lucky draw now. May I invite the staff to bring up the lucky draw box.” The male host continued in tacit cooperation, “Our guest for today who will be helping us in the first lucky draw is none other than the CEO of Ling Corporation — Mr Ling Hao Chen!”

Hearing the name “Ling Hao Chen”, the audience once again erupted into sharp screams.

It didn’t seem to lose out to when the idol groups came on stage just now.

When Ling Hao Chen had taken the stage to give the speech, as well as the ribbon-cutting ceremony, many of the audience members had already been captivated by his looks and temperament.

Amid the cheers of the crowd, Ling Hao Chen firmly walked up the stage. As everyone watched, he dipped his hands into the lucky draw box and picked out a single ticket, handing it to the host.

“I wonder who is the lucky one who would walk away with the first of our prizes for today?” The female host glanced at the ticket, “Oh, it’s a member whose phone number starts with 138…”

Bai Zhen Zhen excitedly shook Huo Xiang’s hand: “Damn, we really won!”

Huo Xiang’s lips curled upwards, his expression smug.

“This member’s name is also very unique, it’s a repetition…” The female host deliberately drew out the process.

Retaining a bit of humanity, the male host quickly cut in: “Alright, I think everyone is anxious to know who the winner is already. Quickly announce who the lucky winner is!”

The female hand handed the ticket over to Ling Hao Chen, saying: “Since it was CEO Ling who drew the ticket, it’s better for you to announce it to everyone!”

Bai Zhen Zhen’s hands gripped Huo Xiang even harder.

She could already imagine the surprise and excitement within Ling Hao Chen’s heart when he sees her name written on that ticket — After that, she could imagine the expression on his face when he sees her walking up stage with Ah Xiang, fingers interlaced, that feeling of despair and heartbreak, yet still needing to force out a smile…

It was so thrilling! Though it was a little unethical to abuse the male lead like this, but it still felt very good to do so!

Ling Hao Chen took the ticket. When he saw the name written on it, he was taken aback for a moment. Recovering, he read out the name hesitantly: “This member’s name is –“

Bai Zhen Zhen exchanged looks with Huo Xiang, and the two of them puffed out their chests, ready to make their debut.

“– Xi Xixi!”

Bai Zhen Zhen: ???

Huo Xiang: ???

Hushed whispers immediately sprang up within the silent plaza.

The fangirl beside Bai Zhen Zhen discussed quietly: “My god, wasn’t Xi Xixi a dancer invited by the organiser to perform on stage? He can also participate in the lucky draw? He must be drunk!”

“That flop can’t dance, yet has the gall to join the lucky draw? Is he mad?”

“But his luck sure is good! Out of so many people who participated, he was actually chosen?!”

The female host was no stranger to the name “Xi Xixi”. She also knew that Xi Xixi happened to be one of the invited performers. When she passed the ticket to Ling Hao Chen, she had already thought of an appropriate response.

“Wow, I didn’t expect that the winner of the first round of lucky draw would actually be our very own STAR’s Xi Xixi! Next up, let us invite him on stage to share his joy!”

——————-

*9938 – When saying the numbers out loud individually in chinese, it is phonetic for “forever a bitch”