Chapter 6: The Emperor’s Show of Power

Lin Xiaoque bowed in greeting, yet Emperor Xiao Juan did not immediately allow him to rise.

It was not a kneeling bow, merely a bent-waist salute, but even so, Lin Xiaoque was beginning to struggle.

One hand pressed against the table for support. His arm trembled faintly. Head lowered, lips tightly pursed, his chest rose and fell as his breathing gradually quickened.

“Your Majesty?” Empress Chu Cizhao called softly.

Xiao Juan did not respond. He merely sat in his chair, waiting for the eunuchs to finish laying out the dishes.

The Crown Prince, Xiao Futu, grabbed Lin Xiaoque’s other hand.

“Father Emperor, Qie Yunu already knows he was wrong.”

Only then did Xiao Juan finally look at Lin Xiaoque.

Seeing how he trembled as though about to collapse, Xiao Juan said lazily:

“You can kneel for half a day, yet a simple bow is enough to make you unable to endure?”

Lin Xiaoque pressed his lips tighter.

Xiao Futu soothingly placed a hand against Lin Xiaoque’s back and waist.

“Hurry and apologize to Father Emperor,” he whispered.

Even 233 hurriedly advised:

【This emperor is very dangerous, Host. Let’s not argue with him. Just apologize.】

Lin Xiaoque took a slow breath and lowered his voice.

“This subject knows he was wrong.”

Xiao Juan’s gaze shifted from the Crown Prince’s hand resting against Lin Xiaoque’s waist to Lin Xiaoque’s lips.

After apologizing, Lin Xiaoque still kept his lips tightly pressed together, looking utterly unwilling.

“Where exactly were you wrong?” Xiao Juan asked.

Lin Xiaoque’s chest rose and fell.

He truly should never have come to this banquet.

But he could not refuse an invitation from the Empress.

“This subject defied Your Majesty’s decision. I deserve punishment.”

“Then continue kneeling,” Xiao Juan replied.

“Father Emperor!” Xiao Futu pleaded immediately. “Qie Yunu merely lost his senses for a moment. He already understands his mistake now. He absolutely won’t repeat it again.”

Xiao Juan merely said:

“Kneel.”

Lin Xiaoque clenched his sleeves tightly and slowly knelt down.

There were four seats total.

To avoid suspicion, Lin Xiaoque had deliberately not sat beside the Empress.

Now the Crown Prince sat to his left, and the Emperor to his right.

The moment he knelt, he became visibly lower than both of them.

A sharp humiliation pierced through Lin Xiaoque’s chest like needles.

Back in the modern world, he had never knelt before anyone.

But here, the Emperor’s commands had to be obeyed.

It felt like allowing himself to be slaughtered at another’s whim.

Previously, when he had knelt for long periods, it was merely to follow the plotline, and there had been few people around.

But now—

Everyone else sat while only he knelt before them.

Biting his lip hard to suppress his emotions, Lin Xiaoque lowered his head.

He wilted completely, refusing to look at anyone or say anything.

“Feeling wronged?” Xiao Juan asked. “I think you’ve been spoiled for too long and forgotten proper rules.”

Lin Xiaoque remained silent.

Xiao Juan slowly reached out and lifted Lin Xiaoque’s chin.

“Qie Yunu,” he said softly, “the preferential treatment I’ve shown you is not a reason for you to threaten me.”

Lin Xiaoque lowered his eyes again, pretending himself dead.

Xiao Juan’s fingers brushed over the lips Lin Xiaoque had been biting.

“You think biting your lips means you don’t have to speak?”

Lin Xiaoque suddenly felt something was wrong.

Instinctively, he tried to retreat backward, but Xiao Juan’s grip on his chin prevented him from moving.

Seeing this, Xiao Futu’s jaw tightened.

He abruptly stepped away—

Then knelt down as well.

“Father Emperor, please forgive Qie Yunu this once. This son will discipline him properly in the future.”

The Empress had never expected matters to develop this way.

He quickly rose to personally serve Xiao Juan dishes, trying to ease the atmosphere.

“Your Majesty, the food is getting cold.”

Still kneeling on the floor, Lin Xiaoque raised his eyes and glanced at Xiao Juan.

The Emperor looked completely relaxed, not the slightest trace of anger on his face.

He was merely restraining Lin Xiaoque—

Like teasing a dog.

Seeing that Lin Xiaoque was no longer lowering his eyes and pretending dead, Xiao Juan finally released him.

Then he slowly patted Lin Xiaoque’s head.

“What are you afraid of? I’m not going to kill you. Get up.”

Xiao Juan’s mood seemed to improve slightly.

He even picked up food for Lin Xiaoque.

“Eat. You’re weak enough to collapse from the wind already. People will laugh.”

Xiao Futu immediately stood as well.

After washing his hands, he also began placing food into Lin Xiaoque’s bowl.

“Father Emperor is right. Qie Yunu, you need to eat more in the future.”

Then, suppressing the anger hidden beneath his expression, he added:

“And your hair is messy.”

Carefully, he straightened the strands Xiao Juan had disturbed.

Lin Xiaoque looked up at him.

Meeting that gaze, Xiao Futu gradually calmed down.

Turning toward the Emperor, he personally served him food as well.

“Father Emperor has worked hard. Qie Yunu is ignorant and immature. Thank you for disciplining him.”

The words sounded polite.

Yet beneath them lay a clear boundary.

As though saying:

Qie Yunu belongs to me.

Father Emperor disciplining him is merely interference on my behalf.

He was warning the Emperor that Qie Yunu was not just another omega to casually toy with.

Xiao Juan set down his chopsticks and looked at his son as though noticing something for the very first time.

“You’ve grown up.”

The Empress’s heart skipped violently.

He hurriedly interrupted:

“He’s still young. Tu’er is also immature and reckless. Hurry and sit down.”

As if abruptly awakened from a dream, Xiao Futu suddenly came back to his senses.

It felt like freezing wind had been dumped over his head.

Slowly, he sat back down.

His sharp claws and aggression disappeared instantly, and he obediently resumed eating.

“Mother Empress is right.”

Chu Cizhao began speaking softly about amusing incidents from the Crown Prince’s childhood while gently serving food to the Emperor.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiaoque sat quietly beside them, head lowered as he silently ate his meal.

This dinner felt unbearably long.

At last, after finally seeing the Emperor off, Lin Xiaoque rose to take his leave.

Xiao Futu immediately caught hold of his hand.

“Mother Empress, this son also takes his leave.”

Maintaining a faint smile, Chu Cizhao tried with all his strength not to look at the hands the Crown Prince and Qie Yunu held together.

Clutching his silk handkerchief tightly, he softly replied:

“Walk slowly. The nights are cold.”

Only after both his son and Qie Yunu had completely disappeared did Chu Cizhao press a hand to his forehead and sway unsteadily.

Wu Ying hurried forward in alarm.

“Your Majesty!”

Unable to express the countless emotions choking inside him, Chu Cizhao allowed himself to be helped back to the bed before quietly saying:

“Leave.”

“Your Majesty, this servant will summon the imperial physician!”

“Leave.”

Though deeply worried, Wu Ying could not disobey her master’s wishes.

Reluctantly, she withdrew.

Once the room emptied, Chu Cizhao collapsed against the bed and let out something almost like a sobbing breath.

An overwhelming absurdity engulfed him.

Moon shadows drifted across the palace grounds.

Xiao Futu held Lin Xiaoque’s hand as they walked for a long while.

Even when Lin Xiaoque told him to let go, he refused.

Night deepened around them.

Palace lanterns glowed everywhere.

Yet Xiao Futu felt as though danger lurked in every blade of grass and every tree.

At last he stopped walking and dismissed all the eunuchs following them.

“Your Highness?” Lin Xiaoque asked softly.

Xiao Futu forced a smile, though it quickly vanished into the cold darkness.

“Qie Yunu,” he said quietly, “promise me you’ll stay far away from Father Emperor from now on.”

“Father Emperor is a heartless man. Don’t trust him.”

Lin Xiaoque lowered his voice.

“…Mm. I understand.”

Yet even now, Lin Xiaoque found it difficult to explain the feeling Xiao Juan gave him.

He could not tell whether the Emperor viewed him as a disobedient little dog—

Or a newly noticed toy.

He asked 233 quietly:

【My identity really is just a cannon-fodder gong, right?】

【Of course,】233 replied. 【Host doesn’t need to worry about having relations with the protagonist shou. That won’t happen. A cannon-fodder gong is ultimately still only cannon fodder. He cannot taint the protagonist shou.】

That was not actually what Lin Xiaoque wanted to ask.

But saying it aloud felt strangely melodramatic.

So he changed the subject instead.

【Is this one of those tragic crematorium romance novels? The emperor feels kind of insane. It’s hard to imagine someone like him lowering his head for love.】

233 silently thought:

There would indeed be physical torment and emotional torment.

But “chasing the wife” and “crematorium redemption”? Not really.

This world originated from an old-fashioned dogblood angst novel utterly unrelated to wish-fulfillment.

Some novels, through strange coincidences, gained the opportunity to evolve from flat two-dimensional text into fully realized three-dimensional worlds.

But during the initial evolution process, certain characters were occasionally lost, preventing the world from properly forming.

That was why the Quick Transmigration Department existed.

Systems would guide taskers into those novels to fill the missing gaps so the stories could continue developing into independent small worlds.

The novel Lin Xiaoque had entered happened to be missing the role of the cannon-fodder gong during its initial formation.

Without that role, the text could not evolve into a functioning world.

The moment Lin Xiaoque arrived, the initial setup became complete, and the world finally began evolving.

However—

Text was text.

A world was a world.

Once taskers entered, the butterfly effect meant future developments would never remain exactly identical to the original novel.

The Quick Transmigration Department did not actually care about preserving plotlines.

Its purpose was simply ensuring the world continued developing.

As long as the missing role was filled by someone who matched the character setting closely enough, the mission was considered complete.

Once the gap was repaired and the world evolved into an independent existence, the Department no longer concerned itself with future plot changes.

After all, text was fixed.

But worlds were complicated and constantly changing.

Obsessing over whether an independent world followed the original plot perfectly was completely unnecessary.

Still, there was one crucial requirement:

Any changes had to remain logically consistent.

Taskers could not suddenly behave out of character.

For example, if a saintly monk abruptly became a crazed serial killer slaughtering people indiscriminately, the tasker would no longer fit the missing role.

The world itself would reject them.

Their soul could even be damaged.

In severe cases, the world might collapse entirely, causing the evolution process to fail—and the tasker would die along with it.

Something like that had once happened before.

There had once been a novel missing its protagonist shou.

It was an utterly horrifying degradation story in which the protagonist shou suffered extreme dehumanization and abuse.

At the time, a second-level supervisor had suggested abandoning the world entirely, arguing that stories like that were not worth preserving because they inflicted inhuman suffering on taskers.

But the first-level supervisor had been obsessively stubborn.

He believed every small world was a treasure.

Every world was life itself.

None should be abandoned.

In the end, when no system was willing to bring a tasker into that world—

The first-level supervisor entered personally.

Before going, he stripped away his own sense of pain from his soul, believing it would become a journey toward enlightenment.

But in the end—

He went mad.

He became a murderous monster and destroyed the world himself.

And when the world collapsed, his own soul was crushed into dust alongside it.

The Quick Transmigration Department held a funeral for him afterward, despite the fact that his soul had long since disintegrated into irretrievable fragments.

Since then, the Department had sealed away certain novels capable of inflicting inhuman torment on taskers.

It also became far more attentive toward the psychological well-being of its employees.

Systems were repeatedly reminded:

Hosts are not tools.

They are partners.

Just like systems, they contribute to the evolution and development of worlds.

Protecting the host is one of a system’s responsibilities.

To 233, Lin Xiaoque was his host.

Protecting him was simply fulfilling protocol.

But the other characters within the novel world had nothing to do with systems or hosts.

They already belonged there.

Their destinies already existed.

Hosts could not interfere recklessly and risk acting out of character.

Even if intervention remained technically in-character, it was still unnecessary.

Tampering with the plot voluntarily could lead to unpredictable consequences for the host.

If everything could be resolved simply by following the plot properly, why deliberately drag oneself deeper into suffering?

Once taskers entered a novel world, they could not leave voluntarily.

They had to complete the world in-character and die naturally before the world’s evolution could fully stabilize.

Systems themselves could not remove taskers prematurely either.

Only after the host’s death could the system guide their soul away.

That meant if a tasker interfered and changed future events—

Any suffering that followed could only be endured personally.

233 thought through all this.

Yet within Lin Xiaoque’s perception, less than a second had passed.

That was one of the conveniences of being a program.

Faced with Lin Xiaoque’s question about “wife-chasing crematorium romance,” 233 finally answered:

【Of course. Host’s death will become an important turning point. In the early stage, the protagonist shou suffers physically. In the later stage, the protagonist gong suffers emotionally. Eventually they let go of the past and live happily together. That’s generally how stories like this work.】

Lin Xiaoque asked quietly:

【After all that emotional and physical abuse, they can still end up happily together? Do they really love each other?】

【They’re destined for each other, unwavering and inseparable,】233 answered. 【They are the most suitable pair possible.】

【Even if the protagonist gong has countless wives, concubines, and children? They’re still destined lovers?】

【Later on, the harem becomes empty in all but name. In the end, they’ll only have each other.】

Lin Xiaoque paused.

【Then what about the Empress?】

【The Empress is just cannon fodder too—same as Host. Love stories always require supporting characters. Compared to Host’s role, the Empress actually gets a better ending. Even without the Emperor’s affection, he still remains Empress. Host doesn’t need to worry.】

233 mixed truth with lies, trying to comfort his host.

He would never tell Lin Xiaoque just how horrifying the protagonist shou’s suffering truly became—

Nor how completely insane he eventually turned.

And as for the protagonist gong—

He would forever remain seated high above all others upon the imperial throne, calmly enjoying the suffering of everyone beneath him.

Emotional torment?

Perhaps the protagonist gong did possess a heart.

But inside that heart—

There was only himself.