Caught in a Brutal Shura Field Between the Protagonist and the Villain - Chapter 1

Ji You: “Pang, how are things on your side?”

Cheng Pang took a deep breath, looked at the watch on his wrist, and said, “Not bad.”

Ji You: “Have you set out?”

Cheng Pang: “Yes.”

The transparent elevator suddenly plummeted. Nothing could be seen at the very bottom, only a field of white light.

Cheng Pang took a deep breath and looked ahead. Out of habit, he wanted to tug at his tie to breathe a little more comfortably.

When his hand reached his chest, he realized he was not wearing a tie.

He lowered his hand.

The system’s voice rang out, sounding like a ten-year-old child, “Cheng Pang, congratulations on becoming the first employee of the ‘Shield’ profession. You have three assessment periods in total, during which you must accelerate the protagonist’s romance progress and quickly bring the protagonist to a happy ending.”

Cheng Pang’s palms grew slightly sweaty. He swallowed lightly. “Alright.”

Cheng Pang—his real name was Cheng Pang, with the nickname Pang Pang.

Twenty-four years old. Libra. Unemployed.

Back in college, he had fallen into the pit that was Qidian, and for fun, he began writing urban stallion novels. After graduation, Cheng Pang rented a one-bedroom apartment with his university roommate Ji You. Dreaming of becoming a professional novelist, he wrote ten thousand words a day. In eight months, he had written more than six million words, yet earned less than one thousand yuan.

Expenses for food, clothing, housing, water, electricity, and gas piled up. On top of that, Ji You once accidentally hit a pedestrian with his electric scooter, paying out fifty thousand in compensation. The two freshly graduated brothers-in-hardship were utterly destitute.

They had no choice but to look for jobs while writing novels, barely scraping by.

A couple of days ago, after writing too many stallion novels, Cheng Pang read on a forum that romance novels were more profitable. Not only could you sell adaptation rights, but the word count and update demands were much lighter. What’s more, it was said that Jinjiang readers were mostly women and very gentle toward male authors. So, mustering his courage, he decided to give it a try.

At six in the evening, he had just registered the pen name “Chongchong Pangpang.” A flash of white light shot out from the screen, followed by a childlike yet solemn voice asking, “Do you want to become the protagonist’s ‘shield’?”

Cheng Pang: “???”

Jinjiang even had this kind of feature?

Before he could react, several lines of golden text gradually appeared before his eyes.

【 Theme: Jinjiang sincerely recruits for the “Shield” profession 】

【 Job Requirements: To resolve the ever-growing resentment of Jinjiang readers toward tragic romance novels, you must block the knives for the protagonist, speed up the plotline, deal with the villain, cut out side stories, and turn a tragedy into a sweet romance! 】

【 Compensation and Benefits: For each novel resolved, the minimum commission is no less than ten thousand yuan, with a maximum cap of one million yuan. The more you work, the more you earn! 】

* * *

Before the last two lines had fully appeared, Cheng Pang’s eyes were already blinded by money.

￥v￥

Immediately afterward, four green boxes flashed before his eyes.

【 Romance Novels 】【 Pure Love/No CP 】【 Derivative/Light Novels 】【 Original Novels 】

Cheng Pang recognized these boxes; they were just like Jinjiang’s homepage.

The system gently prompted, “Please choose the world you want to change. After choosing a direction, the system will randomly recommend three tragic romance novels.”

Cheng Pang’s finger reached toward 【 Romance Novels 】. According to rumors, many romance novels nowadays seek novelty with crime investigations, supernatural elements, psychopaths, and evil forces. For his first time in this profession, shielding the protagonist from disasters and dangers, would it be too risky?

He pulled his hand back and shifted his gaze to 【 Pure Love/No CP 】.

It was said Jinjiang was the largest romance site for female audiences, and “pure love” surely referred to that kind of innocent romance, right? Like 《 Love Letter 》 or 《 Under the Hawthorn Tree 》?

Tsk tsk, Jinjiang lives up to its name.

Perhaps this was more suitable for him. After all, he had never even had his first love yet, and a world that was too brutal would not be good for him.

Smiling, Cheng Pang pressed the emerald-green 【 Pure Love/No CP 】.

Just then, the system spoke, “Congratulations on choosing Jinjiang’s 【 Pure Love/No CP 】 channel. Now randomly recommending three novels for you.”

Cheng Pang received the system’s recommended novels, requiring him to finish reading within half a day.

Back at home, he lay in bed happily with his iPad, reading. But as he read, something felt off because the female lead still had not appeared after twenty chapters. The whole story was just about the male protagonist and his friend.

What was going on?

Cheng Pang thought, Oh wow, are pure love novels nowadays really this slow-burn? The female lead doesn’t show up even after seventy or eighty thousand words? Female readers sure are patient.

In order to immerse himself in the world of female readers, Cheng Pang kept holding back his impatience and continued reading. By chapter fifty, the two utterly innocent male leads began undressing and touching each other. For a moment, Cheng Pang froze, his brain short-circuiting.

Although he had felt a little suspicious during the process, the two male leads seemed overly close. But after all, he and Ji You were like that too—throwing arms around each other’s shoulders, occasionally touching, roughhousing, even often chatting dirty on WeChat.

So he never thought otherwise.

But now… Th-th-this… Th-th-that…

Cheng Pang could not say a single word for half a day.

Wasn’t pure love supposed to mean pure romance?

Have I misunderstood something? No, no, no, it must be that I misread it. This novel must be a heartwarming story about saving a gay protagonist who goes astray! Surely the earlier parts cover the protagonist’s past. Yes, that has to be it!

Clenching his fist to comfort himself, Cheng Pang’s trembling hand tapped the bottom right corner, manually skipping to the final page.

Please, let the ending be the male lead with the female lead living happily ever after! He did not want to save a world of men with men! That was far too impure!

The last paragraph of the novel immediately slapped him in the face: “At this moment, Gu Weinian gently caressed Luo Zhou’s lips, smiling with deep meaning, and kissed lightly. Time itself seemed eternal. THE END.”

END…

Gu Weinian and Luo Zhou were precisely the two male protagonists who had appeared at the very beginning of the novel!

Cheng Pang’s vision went dark. He nearly spat blood like that scholar in Stephen Chow’s film, hurriedly throwing aside his iPad and rushing into the bathroom.

He slapped his face.

He needed a change of air!

He needed a new world!

He needed a new brain!

Cheng Pang sat dumbfounded on the toilet for quite a while. As a lifelong single dog and a straight man addicted to stallion novels, he now felt his legs weak, his chrysanthemum aching, while the novel’s descriptions circled in his mind, before his eyes, even in his stomach.

Cheng Pang had nightmares the entire night.

In his dreams, the two male protagonists were doing this and that, that and this.

In the middle of the night, Cheng Pang bit his quilt and woke up crying.

God, he was still a pure and innocent good young man, body and mind untouched.

Was the door to a new world opening for him just like this? He wasn’t ready for it.

As the elevator descended, a contract appeared before him in black text on a white background, clause after clause flashing past. “If you have no objections to the terms, you may sign.”

Cheng Pang had no time to read. He only confirmed again, “Are you sure the first world is a romance novel?”

When he came today, Cheng Pang had mustered all his courage, coaxed and pleaded, even tried flirting in a coy voice, to make the system switch him to a romance novel first.

There was no way around it. He simply could not accept the world of pure love. It was too profound!

Considering that Cheng Pang was the first employee of the Shield profession, the system was relatively accommodating and agreed that the first world would be a romance novel, while the next two would be pure love.

Cheng Pang was moved to tears. As expected, Jinjiang’s female readers were gentle, and so was their system.

Though their abbreviation was “Big J*J”… Ahem.

System: “The content of the romance novel has been sent to you.”

Unlike yesterday, there wasn’t as much time. For this romance novel, Cheng Pang only read the synopsis. He confirmed that in the end, the male and female leads ended up together, although the male lead was wrongfully imprisoned for ten years while the female lead wasted her prime years waiting for his release.

But at least they were opposite sexes!

Cheng Pang could no longer imagine the image of a man tormenting another man!

He pressed his thumbprint in confirmation.

This should be fine now.

The elevator reached the bottom, and the transparent doors opened automatically.

In front of him stretched countless white, long, wide, straight roads. At the end of each road was a small door. His door read 《 Waiting for You As Always 》, authored by “Plump Apple.”

What a pen name…

Reader rating: 6.9.

Resentment value: 35,322.

Number of commenters: 13,851.

Mission reward: 92,452 yuan.

(Ding dong, the screen flashed once.)

The reward for completing the mission was 92,453 yuan.

Cheng Pang’s eyes were immediately dazzled by money once again, as if two five-pointed stars were about to pop out.

System: “Cheng Pang, what are the three principles of being a Shield?”

Cheng Pang: “First, never fall in love with anyone in the novel. Second, never let anyone except the villain have a Blackening Value of 100. Third, never harm the host.”

System: “Very good. These are the three iron rules that every Shield must follow. Remember, if you break any one of them, you will be forcibly expelled from that world and the mission will be deemed a failure.”

The Shield profession wasn’t loaded with too many formalities. The key was simply not to violate these three rules; everything else could be freely improvised.

Cheng Pang suddenly thought to ask, “If I fail all three times, what’s the punishment? A deduction in pay?”

System: “No. After three consecutive failures…”

The voice suddenly cut off. The system then said, “There’s no time. Get on board.”

Cheng Pang felt as if something pushed him, sending him plunging into darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying face down on a desk.

Lifting his head, he saw drool on the desk surface.

A girl next to him couldn’t help showing a look of disdain and shifted away.

Cheng Pang thought, It wasn’t me. It was the original host… He looked around but couldn’t find any tissues, so he had to wipe the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

The story’s general outline was that the male lead, Qiu Yu, was a transfer student. Because of his straightforward personality, he offended the school’s boss, Zhou Wei.

Qiu Yu fell in love with the class beauty, Xu Lin. Xu Lin, however, was the daughter brought into the family by Zhou Wei’s stepmother. Although Zhou Wei also disliked Xu Lin, he somehow still protected her. Seeing Qiu Yu and Xu Lin getting closer made him furious.

One day, Zhou Wei discovered that Qiu Yu was actually his father’s illegitimate son from outside. His father even planned to bring him into the family! As the eldest young master, Zhou Wei was enraged and targeted Qiu Yu everywhere. Later, he had people frame Qiu Yu, sending him to prison, while Zhou Wei himself inherited all the family property, gained fame and fortune, and even married Xu Lin.

Ten years later, when Qiu Yu was released from prison, Zhou Wei and Xu Lin’s daughter actually fell in love with him… In the end, with the help of Zhou Wei’s daughter, Qiu Yu successfully overturned his conviction, Zhou Wei went bankrupt and committed suicide, and Qiu Yu reunited with Xu Lin, finally becoming lovers.

This is way too melodramatic… People actually followed this story? Seriously, are these three the only people in the world? How come it’s always them running into each other? And aren’t they technically siblings by relation? Not to mention the niece falling in love with her uncle?  

Cheng Pang shook his head. No wonder the ratings were low and the resentment value was sky-high—it really was dog-blood drama.

He remembered reading in the comments that most people at first thought it was just a simple school love triangle, only for the plot to suddenly veer off a cliff midway, with endless twists and turns, deliberately keeping the male and female leads apart, tormenting readers to the point of grinding their teeth.

Cheng Pang thought, if he had read this story, he too would have grabbed the author and forced them to rewrite it.

Thinking carefully, this so-called profession of shielding the protagonist from disasters was actually to prevent authors from receiving razor blades in the mail!

Cheng Pang assessed the situation. The host, Liu Bai, was Zhou Wei’s front-desk classmate and childhood friend. With divorced parents, he had been bullied since childhood and was a timid pushover.

The protagonist Qiu Yu had once saved Liu Bai. Liu Bai was grateful but still feared Zhou Wei’s lingering influence.

Under Zhou Wei’s coercion, Liu Bai deliberately approached Qiu Yu, fed him information, and even testified as a key witness against him, helping Zhou Wei frame Qiu Yu into prison in order to protect himself.

Someone like that was truly infuriating and disappointing.

Cheng Pang thought, if only this person had a conscience and wasn’t so weak, none of that would have happened later.

It seemed right that he had taken on this role.

The system told him this novel wasn’t too difficult, suitable for beginners.

Cheng Pang patted his chubby cheeks. Oh, the fifteen-year-old Liu Bai is also white and plump. The feel wasn’t bad.

Jinjiang’s first Shield, Cheng Pang, is now on duty!

Just then, a sound came from the doorway. A boy swaggered in with his bag slung over one hand, followed by a few rowdy friends. The entire class’s attention immediately turned to them.

The boy walked through the aisle between desks. He looked about 1.78 meters tall, short-haired, long neck, wearing a white shirt with his tie loosened, a royal blue baseball jacket over it, dark jeans, and white sneakers with red trim. He looked clean and fresh, though his bearing carried an air of arrogance.

Cheng Pang watched as he walked to the seat behind him and sat down.

Eh, this is Zhou Wei?

He didn’t seem as fierce as imagined.

Perhaps it was Cheng Pang’s surprised and bewildered stare, Zhou Wei lifted his head and decisively rolled his eyes at him. “Fatty, what are you staring at?”

Cheng Pang turned his head away.

Fatty… Back in school, others had called me Fatty too… but the tone was worlds apart. I didn’t even offend him! This kind of teenager, tsk, tsk, clearly lacked proper upbringing.

Zhou Wei seemed to toss his bag onto the desk with a thud. Then Cheng Pang saw, between his parted feet, a pair of long legs stretched out from behind and crossed.

Cheng Pang glanced back slightly and saw Zhou Wei holding a phone, actually playing a game.

If he wasn’t mistaken, class was starting in less than a minute, right?

Terrifying.

Fine, he could play games if he wanted, but Zhou Wei actually pulled back one leg and started kicking the leg of his chair, again and again.

Cheng Pang couldn’t help but shoot him a glare.

Zhou Wei didn’t even lift his head, as if he didn’t care at all.

Cheng Pang turned back and endured silently, grumbling inwardly, What are you shaking for? Are you a paramecium?

The bell rang, and the protagonist Qiu Yu was about to appear.

In the novel, Qiu Yu was a boy who seemed quiet but was in fact deeply righteous, which was why Xu Lin liked him. He was kind and gentle, practically the textbook definition of a proper male lead, except he was just too unlucky… thinking about it was enough to make one ache with sympathy.

Sure enough.

As soon as the bell fell silent, the homeroom teacher walked in with Qiu Yu.

Every gaze in the class turned to Qiu Yu. They had already heard rumors of a transfer student, but none expected a handsome boy to arrive.

With a buzz cut, about 1.75 meters tall, neatly dressed in the school’s white shirt uniform, with the hem neatly tucked into his pants, looking very upright.

Cheng Pang’s eyes sparkled. Seeing the novel’s protagonist appear for the first time, he couldn’t help but wonder if, after saving him in the future, the boy would thank him. The thought made him excited (～￣▽￣)～.

Homeroom teacher Wang Yingnan said, “Qiu Yu, introduce yourself.”

Qiu Yu: “Hello everyone, my name is Qiu Yu. I transferred from Yingshan No. 2 Middle School. I hope to get along well with all of you.” His voice was clear. After speaking, he turned and wrote his name, Qiu Yu, on the blackboard in chalk.

Wang Yingnan looked around. “You can sit behind Zhou Wei. There’s an empty seat there.”

Qiu Yu walked over as instructed.

Cheng Pang followed his movement with his eyes, staring intently at his face.

Qiu Yu’s face was handsome, even delicate. His lips pressed into a thin, straight line, refined yet aloof.

Behind him, Zhou Wei was still gaming, only with the sound turned off. His whole body slouched into the backrest, shaking constantly, with no intention of restraining himself.

Qiu Yu stopped beside Zhou Wei. “Excuse me, could you sit up a bit?”

Zhou Wei nearly pushed back the desk behind him, leaving no space for anyone to sit.

Zhou Wei gave a mocking laugh and didn’t move.

Qiu Yu waited over ten seconds, his gaze gradually hardening.

Cheng Pang knew that in the novel, this was the moment they first disliked each other, planting the seeds of conflict that would only worsen over time.

But now was exactly the time for the Shield to step in.

Anytime, anywhere, he must shield the protagonist from trouble, using his plump body to protect the adorable leads~

Cheng Pang stood up, eagerly patting his desk. “Here, Qiu Yu, sit here.”

Qiu Yu glanced at him in puzzlement.

Cheng Pang smiled. “Let’s switch seats. I want to sit behind Zhou Wei.”

He quickly packed up his things, grabbed his bag, and moved to the seat behind Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei kept his eyes glued to his phone, ignoring him, but his foot began kicking at the chair in front. Then he leaned back forcefully, the desk scraping noisily against the floor, deliberately squeezing the space behind it even smaller. He tilted his head and kept playing his game. Clearly, he was doing it just to pick a fight.

Cheng Pang had skimmed this novel earlier and remembered that it said Zhou Wei’s family was powerful and influential. Even the teachers were wary of him. Sure enough, it was true.

Impressive. As expected of a future big boss in training.

From high school onward, he kept clashing with Qiu Yu, eventually managing to get him thrown into prison for ten years. That was some dedication.

All of a sudden, something flickered above Zhou Wei’s head. A black progress bar changed from 55 to 56.

Cheng Pang instantly realized what it was. That was the character’s Blackening Value.

Tsk, tsk. Sure enough, villains start turning bad from a young age.

He turned around, politely smiling at the classmate sitting behind Zhou Wei. “Excuse me, could you move back a bit so I can sit?”

Although Zhou Wei had pushed his desk to shrink the space, if the back row desk moved back slightly, there would be no problem.

The boy at the back looked startled. What the hell? Liu Bai usually tries his hardest not to draw attention. Did he suddenly grow a backbone today? Since when did he like showing off?

Zhou Wei didn’t say a word, and the two boys didn’t budge.

Cheng Pang pinched his fleshy stomach, looked at the narrow gap, and calculated quickly.

He placed his bag on the desk, took a deep breath, and squeezed in sideways.

The two boys behind Zhou Wei were his cronies. Seeing the situation, they guessed what was going on. They were used to bullying him, so the moment Cheng Pang squeezed himself in, they immediately shoved the desk forward and burst into raucous laughter.

“Ow!” Cheng Pang was wedged between the two desks. His plump flesh bulged out like a ketchup bottle being squeezed, his face instantly flushed red.

Hearing the commotion, Zhou Wei turned his head. Cheng Pang looked like a little yellow rubber duck being pinched between two fingers. Zhou Wei couldn’t help but snort with laughter. He raised his head to look at Cheng Pang, who was staring back at him with a deeply resentful gaze, eyes black and shiny.

Zhou Wei’s eyes shifted downward, catching sight of the flesh on his stomach bulging upward.

Like a rubber ball. He suddenly had the urge to poke it and see it bounce.

At that moment, Cheng Pang slapped the desk with both hands. His thick palms made a loud thud as he declared righteously, “Young man, have some manners!”

The whole class froze for three seconds, then erupted into wild laughter.

Young man… Hahaha… Liu Bai is way too funny!

The two cronies behind him laughed so hard their shoulders shook, thinking, What the fuck, does he really think he’s a teacher?

Cheng Pang solemnly swept his gaze across everyone. Then, taking advantage of Zhou Wei’s inattention, he shoved the desk forward and sat down.

Perfect. He wiggled his butt and managed to squeeze into his seat.

Zhou Wei, pushed upright by the desk in front, blinked.

Then Cheng Pang stuffed his bag into the desk and pretended to read.

Zhou Wei’s gaze lingered on him for a while before he smirked. He was planning to lean back again, maybe crush Cheng Pang into a fat specimen.

The Chinese teacher Wang Yingnan, afraid Zhou Wei would take it too far, finally coughed to intervene. “Alright, everyone, quiet down. Let’s start class. Qiu Yu, you sit in your seat too.”

The matter was resolved. Qiu Yu reluctantly sat in front of Zhou Wei.

As soon as he sat down, his chair was kicked from behind.

Qiu Yu did not react.

Cheng Pang sat through Chinese class putting on an act.

He used to be a top student in school, but now, with new editions of the textbooks, he felt a bit unfamiliar with the content.

…Wait, he couldn’t even read the handwriting on the blackboard. Was this kid nearsighted? And he didn’t even have glasses?

Cheng Pang sat in confusion through the lesson. When the bell rang, he buried his head in a book.

As Zhou Wei got up and walked past his desk, he rapped his middle finger against the surface. “Come out with me.”

The two cronies behind him stood up too, smirking.

Cheng Pang jumped to his feet. Excellent!

In the novel, it was Qiu Yu who got called out by Zhou Wei on the first day. But now it was him.

That was the role of a Shield: cutting off every possible conflict between protagonist and villain!

Qiu Yu seemed to hear the noise. He turned and saw Cheng Pang flashing a broad smile, looking almost happy.

Puzzled, his brows furrowed.

Cheng Pang stared at him warmly, like a teacher at a student, or a parent at a child, filled with tender encouragement. He even clenched his fist and gave it a little pump over his chest.

Qiu Yu: “???”

Cheng Pang made an OK sign, thinking, Brave young man! Go chase love, I’ll hold the line for you!

Feeling triumphant, he turned around. For an instant, he felt his back was radiant, towering and glorious, perfectly suited for the freeze-frame ending of a novel or a movie. Perfect!

Zhou Wei led him to a corner of the playground. There weren’t many people there between classes, and even if someone spotted them, they’d quickly back off a few meters.

The three boys and the wall surrounded Cheng Pang completely.

Zhou Wei propped his left hand against the wall, looking down at him.

He was tall, with broad shoulders, and physical strength maxed out. Normally, scrawnier boys would tremble at the sight of him. He had planned to give Cheng Pang a lesson, but seeing how the boy kept staring at him, blinking occasionally without fear, was strange.

How odd. This desk mate was suddenly bold like a tiger. Before, he rarely even looked up, his voice quieter than a mosquito, his legs trembling at the sight of him. What on earth had changed today?

Cheng Pang squinted and leaned closer.

Zhou Wei subconsciously pulled back. What the hell?

Cheng Pang: “You’re actually pretty handsome.”

Zhou Wei: “……”

Cronies: Holy shit, did Wei-ge just get hit on?

Cheng Pang: “Wei-ge, take me in as your little brother. I really admire you.”

Zhou Wei: “???”

Cheng Pang’s eyes sparkled. “I really, really like you.”

Zhou Wei immediately withdrew his hand as if it had been burned, stepping back a full meter. “……”