In the Hall of the King of Hell, a huge, burly man sat with his chin in his hand, looking at a scroll in his hand.
This man had a majestic appearance. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, his features were square and his eyebrows were like two big swords, pressing towards the middle, exuding an aura of majesty, mixed with a hint of domineering, making it impossible to resist.
The man was wearing a black python robe and a purple gold gauze hat. On his left and right stood two men, one black and one white. Both were tall and thin, with ferocious faces. One was wearing a white robe and the other a black robe, each holding a three-foot mourning stick. The black and white were particularly eye-catching, and the most obvious thing was that their tongues protruded all the way to their waists, looking extremely frightening.
After a while, two tall men brought in a man in white clothes. One of the men had a bull's head and the other a horse's head, and they were carrying black shackles of the prisoner.
"Criminal Keith, kneel down and quickly pay your respects to the King of Hell." The bull-headed man roared.
Keith was a writer. A moment ago, he was still typing at his computer, but then he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He felt so sleepy, and when he woke up, he found himself in this gloomy Hall of the King of Hell.
He looked around in fear and saw that on both sides were grim-faced ghost messengers, all holding chains and staring at him.
Keith was terrified. He fell to the ground and said, "I, I'm really dead? Why did I die..."
"Do you know that you have committed a heinous crime?" The King of Hell's beard trembled, his whole body filled with majesty.
"Huh? I don't steal, I don't rob, I don't kill, why am I a heinous criminal?" Keith was confused.
The King of Hell opened the scroll and said, "Have you been writing a type of novel that focuses on the suffering of the characters lately?"
"It seems like... but isn't that novel already finished?" Keith stammered.
"Thud."
The King of Hell slammed his hand on the forearm of the chair, and the ghosts on both sides were so frightened that their souls flew out and they trembled in fear.
The King of Hell rested his elbow on the armrest, stood up and approached Keith, saying, "This King has been chasing your novel for a year, and I thought the male and female leads would be together, but you gave them a tragic ending where they both died. Do you know what it feels like to have your heart broken?"
Keith's eyes widened. "You mean, you're reading my novel?"
"That's right. You mercilessly stopped updating and even gave it a bad ending. You were supposed to live to be 90 years old, but now you've made this King unhappy, so I'm taking away two-thirds of your lifespan." The King of Hell said sternly.
Keith immediately stood up. "This, this can't be. I haven't found a girlfriend yet. Please have mercy on me, at least let me marry a woman."
"Kneel down." The bull-head and horse-head men used red-hot iron rods to beat Keith's legs, forcing him to kneel down again.
The King of Hell snorted and said viciously to Keith, "Fine, this King will send you to your own novel world. If you don't change the apocalyptic ending ten years later in the book, this King will sentence you to be a single dog for eternity, you won't even be able to touch a girl's hand."
"I've never seen a King of Hell as shameless, despicable and insidious as you." Keith was furious and said things which he shouldn't have.
"Stopping updates, bad endings, fooling readers, all deserve to go to the eighteenth level of hell. Take him away." The King of Hell roared.
"Yes, my lord." The bull-head and horse-head men took the chains and tied Keith up like a pretzel.
"It's a misunderstanding, it's a misunderstanding." Keith cried out. No matter how much he screamed, no one around him paid any attention to him. All the little ghosts were gloating at him.
"Stopping updates for a while is not a problem, but a bad ending is a funeral pyre, you deserve it."
"The King is wise. The King is mighty. Down with the unscrupulous author."
The shouts of the little ghosts around him rose and fell, and Keith was dragged to a bridge. On the bridge, three big characters were written: "Bridge of No Return".
Keith had a bad feeling. He said to the bull-head and horse-head men beside him, "Brother Bull, Brother Horse... what, what are you doing?"
"Go!" They said, grabbing Keith's chains and throwing him into the River of Forgetfulness under the Bridge of No Return.
Keith screamed in terror, "No! Stop!"
In an instant, countless skinny arms appeared in the River of Forgetfulness, grabbing Keith and dragging him underwater.
"I can't swim, woo woo woo... I can't swim! I'm full, I can't breathe anymore! Woo woo woo..." Keith was completely submerged in the water.
The bull-head and horse-head men looked at each other triumphantly. But at that moment, an old woman stood there dumbly with a bowl of soup in her hand. "I say, didn't you forget something..."
The bull-head man's head changed. "Oh my Yama! We forgot to give him the soup of forgetfulness."
...
At the end of June, the city of Nalan was scorching hot, as if it wanted to squeeze out the last drop of water from the city.
On the main street of Nalan City, there were all kinds of low-class people hustling for a living.
There were porters, peddlers, fortune tellers, dog trainers, oil sellers, and food vendors, all lining the streets, constantly calling out to customers.
The merchants who came and went were all respectable people who had traveled far and wide. Nalan City was a must-pass on the way to the capital, and many merchants would stop here to rest or buy some food.
Among them were also some children of prominent families, such as disciples of nearby cultivation sects, or some wealthy young men from official families, for this The bustling street, already lively, became even more noisy.
Among them was a man, about eighteen or nineteen years old. His eyes were dull, his pupils constricted like red beans. He looked around at everything, his mouth wide open, a shape that could fit a fist.
He was Keith. After being kicked in the ass by a ghost messenger, he opened his eyes again and found himself here. Everything here was familiar to him. 'Wasn't this newbie village in my novel, Nalan City?'
He licked his lips, feeling his throat dry. He didn't know if it was thirst or it was his nervousness.
Keith knew very well that the novel he wrote was a hell-level difficulty. The plot had its ups and downs, like a roller coaster. The villains were incredibly strong, and the protagonist's difficulty in conquering them was no less. Therefore, Keith received countless bad reviews and even phone threats from readers. In the end, he angrily destroyed the entire novel world. Simply put, the Great Demon King won, just like Thanos' snap.
Usually, online novels tell the story of a grassroots person's rise to power. But in this novel, Malcolm Valtor, the protagonist of the novel, after activating his bloodline, basically cheated all the way. Later, he suddenly died, which led to countless curses of people following his novel.
Imagine a person who has been smooth sailing all the way, with a protagonist aura that is invincible. Just after defeating the big villain, he was about to do something naughty with the heroine, but suddenly, a world-ending disaster occurred. The poor male lead, a virgin all his life, hadn't even had his first kiss, and then he died.
Ordinary readers couldn't take it, let alone King Yama.
"But it seems I'm not the protagonist..." Keith muttered, because he remembered clearly that the protagonist had wheat-colored skin, while his skin was as white as paper.
Keith kept circling around, but the hurried passersby were puzzled. Suddenly, people around him pointed at him.
"Isn't that... the little white face from the City Lord's house, Victor Blackblade? Is he going crazy again?"
"He's just a guy who eats soft rice. Don't pay attention to him. If it weren't for his wife being the City Lord, his actions would have killed him three hundred times over."
"Soft Rice King."
The passersby seemed to know Keith and didn't hesitate to mock him.
"Soft Rice King?" Keith grabbed his hair, "Such a familiar name, I seem to have heard it somewhere..."
He yawned, feeling still sleepy, but saw a clear river in the distance. He decided to go wash his face.
But as soon as he looked up, he jumped up, "Holy shit, who is this handsome guy?"
Keith looked around and found no one else. He mustered his courage and took another look at the person inside, confirming that it was himself, but the person in the water was years younger. He fumbled around on his body and suddenly found a waist badge. He took it out and saw that it was a wooden badge with two words written on it: Victor Blackblade.
"Victor Blackblade... isn't that the very pathetic little villain in the novel I recently finished? Could it be that I..." Keith was terrified, because he knew that Victor Blackblade's fate was not something that could be described as miserable.
As several passersby said "soft rice king" one after another, he realized the truth. He had indeed become Victor, the little villain who failed to show off in the early stages and was then ruthlessly abused by the protagonist.
Keith in reality was a twenty three year man, a real-life otaku, lazy to a certain degree. He was too lazy to travel, too lazy to find a partner.
Actually, he was also very dissatisfied with this kind of life, but there was nothing he could do. Keith was a three-nothing, loser in reality, no money, no looks, no background. So-called love was simply not for him.
So he put all his dissatisfaction with life into his novels, relentlessly abusing the protagonists. Whether it was the male lead or the female lead, tragedy was basically a daily occurrence. But there were still a group of people who used all kinds of vicious language to scold him every day, but they still insisted on following his novels.
Maybe this is true love. Abusive novels are fun for a while, always abusing is fun, but it's not fun when it's on you.
After a brief period of confusion, Keith gradually accepted this fact. From another perspective, it wasn't a bad thing for him to come to this world. After all, every blade of grass and every tree here was created from his pen. In other words, he knew exactly where the treasure was and where the opportunity was.
He was the creator of this world.
He immediately got up and found a constable at the city gate, but the constable was very polite to him: "Young master, are you looking for me?"
"Young master?" Keith was sweating profusely. This was the first time he had been called this. He felt a little excited. 'Did this mean he was a man with a wife?'
"Young master, are you trying to sneak away again this time? If you get caught by the City Lord again, you'll be whipped again..." The constable coughed.
As expected, Victor's wife was beautiful, but she was the number one tigress in Nalan City, and she was also the ruler of the city, basically the local emperor. Moreover, there was a saying in Nalan City: "It's better to go up the mountain to feed tigers than to offend the city lord."
And you know, the city lord of Nalan city is even more terrifying than a tiger.
Keith quickly searched his memory. Victor was a young and handsome man who teased the male lead, Malcolm Valtor's, love interest. This young man, relying on his wife being a city lord, did all sorts of evil deeds, bullying men and women. In the end, he was easily killed by the male lead, Malcolm Valtor.
Because this 'little white face' insulted the girl Malcolm Valtor liked, Malcolm had his fifth limb cut off. Thinking of this, he felt a chill down below, and immediately pulled down his pants to check, relieved when he confirmed everything was still in place. Keith was crying inside, 'Why! Why did I end up transmigrating as a villain?'
"Sir, why are you hugging the pillar and banging your head against it?" The constable said.
"You don't know? Our city's City Lord is quite strict. As for Victor... everyone in the city knows he's a good-for-nothing. If it weren't for their childhood engagement, would he be worthy of our City Lord? Since the City Lord was sent to Nalan City by the emperor, this kid has been wandering around, getting beaten up all day."
"Are you trying to die? How could I not know? I was asking on purpose. If the City Lord heard you say that, you'd lose your official hat. Don't forget that the current ruler of Nalan City is the upright and incorruptible City Lord Sophia Rosewood."
"Cough, cough, let's go quickly. It's better to avoid trouble..." The two men scurried away, leaving Keith alone in a daze.
But Keith didn't care about any of this. He was the author, and he knew the direction of the whole story. Ultimately, the entire world would be destroyed, whether it was the male lead, the female lead, or all the villains.
Just as the two men left, a sound of horse hooves came from afar. Keith looked up and saw a beautiful woman with a whip in her hand, looking at him fiercely.
"My dear husband, you're trying to sneak away again..." The woman said with a smile, but her eyes were full of killing intent.
This look made Keith feel a chill down his spine. This was Sophia Rosewood, the ninth daughter of the Third Prince.
The Third Prince was known as the Ever-Victorious General. He spent his life fighting for the Victus Kingdom. His nine children were all skilled in martial arts, especially his ninth daughter, Sophia Rosewood. Although she was only nineteen years old, she had already made a name for herself on the battlefield. She was known as the "Devil Woman" and had already reached the level of a Martial Soul before the age of twenty.
Her husband, however, was a notorious "soft rice king," whose cultivation had been stuck at the level of a Martial Artist for ten years, with no progress.
The ranking of martial artists in this world is as follows: Martial Artist, Martial Master, Grand Martial Master, Martial Soul, Martial King, Martial Emperor, Martial Ancestor, Martial Lord, Martial Saint, Martial Sovereign.
"Eating soft rice is fun for a while, but eating it forever is even more fun." This was Victor's motto. But Keith never expected that he would be reborn as the "soft rice king".
Keith slowly raised his head and found that Sophia exuded an aura of heroism. Her appearance was also exquisite.
Sophia slowly walked toward him. Under the scorching sun, her face was unusually pale, but her cheeks were flushed with a rosy hue, making it impossible to tell whether it was beauty or hatred.
She stared at Victor intensely, feeling a sense of frustration and resentment. Clenching the whip in her hand and gritting her teeth, she remained silent.
She was dressed in a tight silver-white armor and carried a long sword, measuring three feet with a hilt adorned with the emblem of the Vitus Kingdom's royal family. The sword was elaborately designed but exuded power.
The armor and the delicate skin complemented each other perfectly, making her figure appear more voluptuous. From her neck down, every inch of her skin was pale and luminous, and her features were finely chiseled.
Though Sophia was a great beauty, she was also a ruthless female villain, renowned for her battlefield achievements and countless kills. A woman who combined beauty and danger in such a way was rare in this world.
"Get on the horse." Sophia commanded.
"Wait, wait, I'm not running away..."
"Get on the horse!" Sophia shouted loudly, and the whip made a sharp crack on the ground, startling the surrounding townsfolk into scattering.
"Oh no, the City Lord is about to enforce the family rules again. Last time, I remember she hung the soft king up in a tree and whipped him for a whole day and night."
"Too terrifying; suddenly I feel a bit of sympathy for the 'soft rice king'." Under the oppressive influence of Sophia, Victor had no choice but to submit and obediently ride on her horse. The clopping of the horse's hooves and the wind blowing in his face made Victor, who had never interacted with girls before, feel a sense of intoxication.
The wind carried the fragrance of Sophia, which was somewhat like roses or osmanthus—very pleasant. "If you move your hands around again, I will cut off each of your fingers one by one." Sophia said.
Keith was taken aback and immediately withdrew his hand. His hand had been resting on her waist, which, due to long-term training, had a very well-proportioned figure. Upon arriving at the city lord's mansion, which was not particularly luxurious, Keith noticed that the surrounding servants and maids were looking at him with disappointment and helplessness. It seems that the title of 'soft rice king' has already become deeply ingrained in people's minds.
"Kneel down!" Sophia shouted at the entrance of the ancestral hall.