[Mission: save the main villain]

Damp… Stifling… The air was thick with the smell of blood mixed with dust, choking both his nose and mouth.

A sense of chaos dragged Song Zhenyan down, as if his soul were being torn apart and thrown into another world.

It was unknown how much time had passed before a sharp, distinct pain at his ankle made him barely regain consciousness.

His slightly long hair stuck over his forehead, and it seemed to be soaked wet with sweat, gripping uncomfortably to his skin. The intense discomfort surrounding Song Zhenyan made him feel as if his body had been torn apart and reassembled.

The only sound in the empty space was his heavy and slow breathing, and his lungs felt like they were burning up. It took a long while before Song Zhenyan could gather enough strength to pull a thread of consciousness away from the overwhelming pain and barely open his eyes to assess his surroundings.

It was dark, like a square box that was intentionally sealed shut.
There seemed to be a sealed window very high on the wall in front of him.

Its rotting wooden frame let in only the faintest trace of light.

This could be a basement. And the only exposure to the outside was likely that tiny window meant for ventilation. Everywhere else was shrouded in the darkness.

He tried to hold his head up for a moment, but his strength had already reached its limit. As he collapsed again, the rope around his wrists scraped against an open wound, and the sharp pain brought him a brief moment of clarity.

“……” Song Zhenyan moved his wrist slightly and found that the rope was tied tight, digging into his flesh.
The poor circulation left the lower half of his body nearly numb. He couldn’t even tell in what position he’d been bound.

But it wasn’t hard to guess that the purpose of the person who tied him up wasn’t simply to kill him.

A soft <em>drip… drip…</em> sound echoed in his ears. Under the faint light, a thin trail of liquid snaked across the floor in a strange line.
He couldn’t tell whether it was water leaking from the ceiling or blood dripping from somewhere on his own body.

Every minute stretched endlessly like torture.

His mind faded in and out, alternating between chaos and lucidity.

It was a bizarre, surreal situation, but the piercing pain warned Song Zhenyan that this wasn’t a dream.

The sound of dripping grew softer and slower. With little desire to survive, Song Zhenyan let the last shred of his awareness slip away.

How does it feel like to be on the verge of death? It was when pain dulled, and the world began to distort.

He thought he heard an explosion… desperate cries for help… a voice screaming itself hoarse… but his throat was parched and not a single syllable could come out.

For a scientist, accepting death was no different from accepting the laws of nature. But then—
A sudden crack of light split the darkness before his eyes.

With the harsh sound of an old, heavy wooden door creaking open, a streak of light burst in, shattering the dark like a supernova.

In the blinding yellow light stood a tall, slender figure.

The light was against them, so it was impossible to make out their face. Even from the silhouette, Song Zhenyan couldn’t tell their gender.

The figure was tall, dressed formally in a suit. Broad shoulders, long legs, a structure perfectly in line with the golden ratio of a male body. But… they also had long, smooth hair, a few loose strands casually cascading down their shoulder, swaying slightly in the breeze, dyed gold by the light.

“You’re awake?” the person tilted their head slightly, as if displeased with the environment. They slipped on a pair of gloves and politely asked, “Did you sleep well?”

The voice was beautiful, like the low pull of a violin string.

But no matter how pleasant it was, in this vast, abandoned warehouse, it sounded eerily out of place.

“You…” Song Zhenyan tried to speak, but his throat was so dry it burned like fire. The moment he opened his mouth, he broke into a violent cough.

“Doesn’t seem like you did.” The person slowly walked closer, the sound of their shoes hitting the ground covered the sound of water drops. The moving figure also covered the bloodstains winding on the ground.

They stopped just three steps away from Song Zhenyan and lowered their gaze to look at this man who had gone from someone meticulously dressed to utterly wretched. There was little emotion in their eyes.

They bent their knees and half squatted, pinching Song Zhenyan’s chin through the leather gloves.

Pale, thin, but it was a pretty face nonetheless. The corners of his eyes were red due to coughing, and he looked pitiful and fragile, like an ant that could be crushed at any moment.

“Thirteen hours… you’re quite lucky.” The grip on his chin tightened slightly, but the person’s lips curved into a slight smile. “Mr. Song, how was your near-death experience?”

The gentlemanly tone carried little emotion, but Song Zhenyan could hear a bone-deep hatred buried in his words.

Though he had no idea what had caused this hatred, he lacked the strength to analyze it.

The last thing his blurry gaze managed to catch… was a stunning pair of eyes.

The beautiful peach blossom-shaped eyes were slightly long in shape. Thick black lashes outlined their natural contours. Soft strands of hair lazily fell over them, covering them slightly, and within that classically warm and gentle beauty was an unexpected touch of allure.

Those enchanting eyes curved gently, but hidden within them were dark blue pupils. It was clearly the color of a starry sky, yet it was as lifeless as stagnant water, like a whirlpool that pulled people into the abyss.

He didn’t remember what that person said afterwards. The last thing he felt was the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against his heart, and then—

“Bang——”

<hr />

That night, there was heavy rain. Thunder tore open a flash of light in the darkness.

Song Zhenyan suddenly opened his eyes. For a few seconds before his thoughts could catch up, his mind was still full of the image of himself, bound tightly in rope, humiliated, tormented by vials of drugs until he sobbed, drenched in sticky, putrid blood…

That dream had been so real, like he’d truly been in it. Like it was warning him again and again—that everything in it would really happen.

The disorienting feeling took a few seconds to fade completely. Song Zhenyan propped himself up with his hands and rubbed his eyebrows.

Not long ago, three days ago according to this world’s standard time, Song Zhenyan’s laboratory exploded because someone smuggled in illegal substances without permission. All four researchers were killed.

Song Zhenyan, who had already walked out of the laboratory, went back to check because he was worried about the strange smell in the laboratory. He became the only person who died in this accident who should not have died.

He could accept dying. He had lived a quiet and disciplined life, and his only real hobby was spending time in the lab. He liked the precision and rationality of it.

As for the length of his life, it was just a scale on a chart.

But now, he had inexplicably arrived in a strange place, and a mechanical voice occasionally sounded in his mind, reminding him of certain things, such as—

[Mr. Song, in light of your great contributions to human scientific development and your inexplicable death, the REBORN system has specially invited you to participate in the latest resurrection test.]
[Complete the test to be reborn.]

[Test theme: Love and Peace.]

[Test background: This is an omegaverse novel. Your role is the secondary villain: a refined and cultured beast in gentleman’s clothing. Your most notable accomplishment: helping plan the extermination of the main villain’s entire family.]
[Your mission is to save the main villain, Tong Jiannian, and make him, who is paranoid, ruthless, cold-blooded, and devoid of humanity (other extreme adjectives have been omitted), feel the world’s love and peace.]

[Test evaluation criteria: Tong Jiannian’s hatred value must be reduced to zero to pass.]

The system seemed to sense Song Zhenyan’s utter lack of enthusiasm and helpfully added—

[Refusal will result in a slow and painful death~]
[Forms of death include but are not limited to: <em>beep——, beep beep——, beep beep beep——</em>]

“……” It was strange, and headache-inducing.

Song Zhenyan, who had always believed in science, took three days to barely digest this anti-scientific system that suddenly emerged, and was forced to accept the fact that he had indeed transmigrated to another world.

This world wasn’t all that different from the real one, but perhaps due to the initial settings, it placed heavy emphasis on gender characteristics, on what they called omegaverse.

According to the information Song Zhenyan had so far, this setting determined strength and reproduction capabilities. As for how exactly it worked, he hadn’t had time to study it.

Because he faced something more pressing than understanding the world’s mechanics: his first mission in this world—

[Appear at the scene of Tong Jiannian’s parents’ car crash]

“……” Even while sitting in the car, Song Zhenyan felt that this system was profoundly unscientific.

The original Song Zhenyan he replaced had been a close friend of Tong Jiannian’s father. He was also the second most important researcher of the main plot’s central project: [Pupil].

Even Song Zhenyan, who rarely read fiction works, understood that for such a person to appear at the scene of a car accident, its only purpose was to facilitate the protagonist’s revenge in the future.

…Which made his mission to save the protagonist feel rather absurd.

Song Zhenyan couldn’t help but recall the eyes from his dream, those smiling, devil-like eyes, full of hatred and scorn for life, were as concentrated as an undiluted reagent.

He really didn’t believe someone that paranoid and twisted could be redeemed.

The rain was getting heavier, hitting the windows like the climax of a TV drama’s final showdown. When the system prompted that he was nearing his destination, Song Zhenyan began to slow down his car, but he was still frightened by the tragic scene in front of him and slammed on the brakes at the corner.

From the driver’s seat, one could see through the rain and fog that the twisted black iron sheet had been smashed beyond recognition. The front of the car, after hitting the guardrail at a high speed, was deformed beyond recognition. The flames had been extinguished by the rain, but blood continued to seep out from beneath the tilted vehicle, being washed away by the rain only to then flow out again.

It was the second time. It was like reliving that lab explosion. The direct shock with death stunned Song Zhenyan for a moment and his hands subconsciously tightened around the steering wheel.

After a brief mental blank, he could gradually hear a few light and intermittent sobbing sounds amid the sound of the rain.

Perhaps he should have completed this simple fifteen-minute mission by just making an appearance at the crime scene from the safety of his car and then leaving, but amidst the desperate whimpers mixed with the chaotic sound of rain falling in his ears, he still opened that car door.

Perhaps the shock from his previous “real death” had not yet faded. Even if this was just a virtual life, he truly couldn’t just stand by and watch that person be devoured bit by bit by despair.

The sound of the rain and crying in his ears were magnified countless times. And in the air was a strong, burnt smell that even the heavy rain couldn’t wash away.

The view wasn’t clear. It was only when he reached the rear car door that Song Zhenyan found the child, shielded beneath two people, crying and continuously calling out, “Papa… Tongtong is scared…”

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(Author’s Note: The one crying is the gong)

M1zushi: hello everyone welcome to my new translation project~

it’s a short omegaverse novel, with a cute(yet possessive) gong and a doting MC~

some characters subvert common omegaverse dynamics so I quite liked this novel when I first read it

I hope everyone enjoys it!