3 A Child Must Listen To More Tragic Stories

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Luo Hong was in deep attention alone in the study. His hand was caressing the human skin manual as he combed through his thoughts.

He might have gotten this manual by accident, but it was considered his very own opportunity.

In the upcoming days, he believed that he should switch up his mindset and think like an antagonist. Since the manual wanted him to become a bad guy, he ought to become one from his very roots.

Nowadays, being the good guy was difficult, so being the bad guy might be the right way to a better life, and it was not that difficult anyway.

"Things are clear now. In order to get the prize in the Prize Pool, I must do something bad to increase the Sin Level. The worse I'm, the higher my Sin Level will be, and I'll have a higher chance of getting a scrumptious reward!

"If I can get the special prize, the Heavenly Demon Indestructible Body, I can do whatever I want in this world! But I believe it's difficult. The Sin Level must reach an astronomical figure for me to get it…I wonder if usurping the throne is enough...Hmm…"

Luo Hong continued combing through his thoughts. The moment the idea of usurping the throne popped up in his mind, he gasped in fear and quickly covered his mouth.

Although he might have limited knowledge about the extraordinary powers of this world, there were legends and rumors revolving around them. The three great empires were an almighty existence, and they commanded the land with absolute power with many powerful cultivators within each of them. 

There were martial artists who could slash a mountain in half with a single swing of their blades, wise scholars who could purify evils with a single yell, and also mysterious sorcerers who could shroud the sky with a flip of their hands.

Since Luo Hong was not even a cultivator, the only thing he could usurp was a chair from his servants. 

The thought of usurping the throne was overwhelming enough, hence he dared not linger on the thought for long.

"I guess it's not that easy being the antagonist. I'm just a mere mortal. If I get way ahead of myself and offend those I shouldn't cross paths with, I might not even know how I die. I'm like an ant in front of those cultivators. With just a snap of their fingers, they can kill me."

Luo Hong frowned. Without a strong base, he must be careful when being an antagonist.

Besides, being an antagonist usually never ended well since the protagonist would eventually beat up the former. If he was unlucky enough to run into some particular ones, he might even end up as their target practice.

Therefore, Luo Hong strongly believed he had to be careful and meticulous. He ought to be an antagonist with a long life!

"Since I can't start with killing the innocent, I have to progress step by step. I must start with the simple things first...things that I'm confident about! I should go with a rotten apple first. After all, a rotten apple is easier to crush and won't hurt my hand as much. Choosing a target to bully is important."

Luo Hong instinctively thought of the lady owner of the soybean pudding stall whose face was covered in soot and dirt. The weak woman looked like she came from a nameless background. If she came from at least a moderate background, she would not be running a soybean pudding stall.

Therefore, she was the ideal target for Luo Hong to bully.

"Hmm, wouldn't that be a little harsh? Bullying a weak woman like her is like shearing a young sheep for wool…"

Luo Hong's conscience felt guilty, but after hesitating for a while, he shook his head. He had decided to be an antagonist, so his conscience should not get in the way.

Therefore, he made up his mind to bully the lady owner of the soybean pudding stall as the start of his antagonist path.

"I've done a dine-and-dash. What else should I do next?"

After some thoughts later, Luo Hong grabbed a new piece of paper and dipped the brush into the ink.

Following a hoarse evil laugh, the inked brush landed on the paper and his hand moved swiftly as he jotted down his thoughts.

The word 'harass' was written down on the paper, leaving a trail of wet ink.

After the dine-and-dash, Luo Hong's next step would be harassing the lady owner. 

Only an evil man could come up with such a crime!

After Luo Hong determined his next step in his antagonist path, he started to feel sleepy.

He did run back from the mass grave, thus he was still mentally and physically stressed out and exhausted. If the human skin manual had not captured his attention, he would have passed out on the bed.

He leaned on the chair and started to doze off.

However, right before he fell asleep, footsteps sounded in his ears, waking him up from his catnap.

"What's wrong?" Luo Hong asked the servant who had barged in. He rubbed his temples with his elbows propped on the desk.

"My lord, the young lady is crying for a story, but as servants, we only have so many stories to tell her. She's asking a lot from us. She says that if we fail to tell her a new story, she'll cane us," the servant said with a frightened expression. "We went to Butler Chen, but he said he doesn't know how to handle the young lady, so he told us to come to you, my lord."

'How hard is it to tell a little girl a story? The servants in the house aren't very bright…'

Luo Hong stopped rubbing his temples and said, "Bring me to her."

He put on his coat and stood up. He also wanted to meet this little sister with whom he had to live together from now on.

The servant was delighted when Luo Hong agreed to check on the young lady. Swaying her voluptuous figure, she led the way.

Luo Hong took a peek at her body and calmly looked away. 

'Women that can sway like that must be good in giving birth…I mean she must be lucky…'

The Luo Residence was huge. There were 16 maids, four male servants, and nine guards.

Soon enough, Luo Hong arrived at his sister's courtyard.

Luo Xiaoxiao, the youngest daughter of Luo Hong's father, was five years old but acted like an adult. She loved to play pranks on people, make a mess around the house, wreak havoc and destroy whatever was in sight. All the servants viewed her as the devil.

Luo Hong strongly suspected the little girl must be a boy in the mother's womb but somehow ended up as a girl when she was born.

Right after he entered the courtyard, he saw the little girl sitting on the rocking chair with her petite legs crossed. There was another servant beside her, feeding her peeled grapes.

'Hmph, what a shameless and self-indulgent life.'

When Luo Xiaoxiao noticed Luo Hong at the entrance, her eyes shone brightly and she called him in excitement, "Brother!"

She bolted up from the chair and her petite body skipped over. She jumped in front of Luo Hong and looked up at him with her big googly eyes while chewing the grape in her mouth.

"I heard from the servants that you are causing trouble again." Maybe because of his body's habit, Luo Hong habitually patted the little girl's head as if he was a loving brother.

The little girl did not say anything as she shook her head repeatedly.

Luo Hong smiled. He glanced at the anxious servants around him before he picked her up and sat down.

The servant peeling the grape continued, but she fed Luo Hong instead when he sat down.

Luo Hong reluctantly chewed the grape, but after the sweet and sourish grape entered his mouth, he somehow started to enjoy this kind of self-indulgent lifestyle. Then, he said to Luo Xiaoxiao, "I heard you are asking for a story. Why don't I tell you one?"

The little girl's eyes shone and she said happily, "Yeah!"

The servants around them looked at Luo Hong curiously.

Some thoughts later, he cleared his throat and started his story in his charming voice.

He told her the magical story of Xu Xian and the White Snake. It mostly revolved around tragedy and drama. His voice and feelings were rich, and he conveyed his tone perfectly when telling the story.

After he ended the story, the servants around them teared up, but in his arms, Luo Xiaoxiao blinked blankly at him.

"What about the child of Xu Xian and Lady Bai? Xu Xian is a mortal without powers, but Lady Bai is a snake spirit, so their child should be a snake as well!" Luo Xiaoxiao voiced her doubts about the story.

Luo Hong was rendered speechless. 

'Wait a minute, that's not the point, little girl! Why would they give birth to a snake?! Just listen and enjoy the story. It should end with you being teary and stuff. Why are you asking questions!?'

Just before Luo Xiaoxiao wanted to ask more questions, Luo Hong smiled and put her on his lap. He slapped her meaty hips with some force, catching the little girl off-guard and causing her to cry loudly.

The path to the truth was usually filled with tears and blood. Luo Hong happily nodded. "Are you crying before the story is too touching? I guess a little girl your age is really sentimental. There, there, I'll tell you another tragic story later.

"A child like you should listen to more tragic stories. It will help you to learn how dangerous and harsh this world is."

Luo Hong put Luo Xiaoxiao down. He shrugged his coat on and left the courtyard gracefully, leaving the servants and the little girl crying behind.

'So, this is how it feels to be an antagonist!' Luo Hong felt like he was slowly getting into character. 'I feel so bad. I feel so evil! Maybe this is my talent! Being an antagonist is easy!'

After leaving Luo Xiaoxiao's courtyard, Luo Hong decided to skip sleeping. He called the residence guards over and picked two fierce-looking ones to follow him out to the soybean pudding stall.

'I'm gonna do something big!'

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