Automated Antagonist Diary

Yao Jing was nervous as she stepped into the study. She was afraid to look at Luo Hong, so she looked down instead.

The setting sun was as red as the blazing fire, and it dyed the entire study crimson.

Luo Hong leaned back on his chair and sized the timid figure up.

"What is your name?" he asked.

Yao Jing timidly said, "Yao Jing." Her voice was as soft as a fly.

"Huh?" Luo Hong frowned and dug his ear with his little finger. He then shouted like a clap of thunder, "LOUDER!" 

Shocked, Yao Jing shook in fear and her face was filled with anxiety and nervousness. "D-don't be so angry!"

Despite the dirt on her face, she looked as scared as she could be. "I-I'm Yao Jing."

Yao Jing had a feeling that 'Lord Long Hoe' had a fluctuating temper. She had only met him a few times, but he shouted at her almost every time. He should have called himself 'Lord Shout'.

"Yao Jing? Yao Jing1*?" Luo Hong pouted. Her name sounded rather shameless. "Your name is too coquettish. I'll call you Yao Douhua*2 from now on. How old are you?"

"My lord, I'm…15 this year." Yao Jing hated being called Yao Douhua, but she dared not argue with him.

"15?!" Luo Hong was shocked. He was 18 years old, and he had thought the woman was older than him. Who would have thought that she would turn out to be three years younger than him?

Nevertheless, she had covered her true face with the soot and dirt, so it was difficult for Luo Hong to discern how old she really was.

"Whatever. Since you are younger than me, I'll just call you Little Douhua." Luo Hong pouted.

"Because the cook in our house has run away, I'll put you in charge of the cooking. From today onwards, you are the Luo Residence's cooking maiden."

Before Yao Jing could answer, Luo Hong waved at Zhao Donghan. "Zhao, tell one of the servants to help her wash her. Her black face really kills my appetite."

Luo Hong was getting harsher with his words because he was actually trying to get into character.

Zhao Donghan went out of the study as he was ordered and summoned one of the servants to help Yao Jing clean up.

The study returned to peace.

Luo Hong took the human skin manual out. It was still as smooth as a young girl's skin.

Truth be told, Luo Hong did not want to open the manual because he had a bad feeling about it. He did not want to see the disappointing result.

When he flipped open the first page, he saw the prelude of the antagonist in the center of the page.

[Prelude: From today onwards, please become a great antagonist.]

His finger touched the line of words and he felt rather suffocated.

The prelude of an antagonist sounded strong and powerful. Every word in the sentence was elegant and graceful, and it could even be considered an encouraging phrase.

Unfortunately, Luo Hong seemed to have failed it. With despair lingering in his head, his shaking hands flipped to the second page, which displayed his character statistics.

Character: Luo Hong

Level: 1

Sin Level: -18

Title: Little B*stard

Race: Man (Mortal)

Cultivated Arts: None (Has not started cultivating)

"As expected…" Luo Hong shut his eyes, he felt like he was losing his breath. He went limp on the chair and slouched like a sloth, slowly sliding off the chair.

His Sin Level had dropped to the negative zone! The Sin Level of an antagonist should be positive. Only then would he have the chance to get the prize in the Prize Pool.

However, now that he had a negative Sin Level, other than a consolation prize, he might not get anything from the Prize Pool.

How unfortunate! How unfortunate indeed! When he thought of his initial intention in his heart, he had planned to start off with harassing the lady and then proceed with something worse.

Who would have thought that he would end up as a friend of justice? He turned out to be a hero who saved her from being harassed by someone else.

Fate must be toying with him! 

He slouched on the chair as if he had given up on life. His eyes were as dull as a dead fish's, and he was staring at the beam blankly.

Luo Hong thought he could get away with a fluke because he held his initial intention dear to his heart, but now it seemed like the Antagonist Manual did not care about his intentions or whatnot. It just wanted to make him feel bad.

"-18 Sin Level…What an insult to the antagonist world!" Luo Hong clenched his teeth. He wanted to cry but failed to shed a tear.

Eventually, he shook his head in disappointment and continued to flip the pages. He did not want to see any of the statistics or the negative Sin level anymore.

The third page was the Antagonist Diary. It somehow lifted Luo Hong's spirits and scattered his disappointment away.

"Maybe if I write down my initial intention in the diary and make it sound good, perhaps I can salvage the situation." 

He bolted up and sat straight on the chair. Then, he rolled his sleeves up, grabbed the brush, and dipped it into some ink. After the brush was dyed black, he started to move his hand and brush as he wrote his entry in the diary.

"June 13th, the Great Xia Calendar. Sunny.

"It was a peaceful day, but I did something bad, something evil, something diabolical. I harassed a lady. This is my first Antagonist Act that was pure and natural. No matter what happened or how it turned out, my initial intention of being a great antagonist has never changed.

"I harassed Little Douhua and even bought her with silver, forcing her into the Luo Residence. I'm a sinful person, and my heart is evil. I'm not a righteous man, and when I heard her scream and persistent struggle, I grinned happily. The days of being an antagonist are dry and boring…"

Luo Hong wrote down a ton of words in a single motion. The words gradually filled up the blank page. 

After the page was filled with his own writing, he felt better. When he looked at what he had written, he felt like he had become the most evil person around.

Maybe he might be able to turn the results around. Perhaps, the manual really believed that he was an evil person and would increase his Sin Level back to the positive state.

With such anticipation in his mind, he stared at the manual blankly. 

The manual really reacted though not in a way that he would have expected.

The words he had written on the manual were torn and shredded into tiny black dots mercilessly. The black dots intertwined, merged, and formed a new page of words. It automatically turned into a new entry in the diary.

Luo Hong found it difficult to breathe as the manual changed before his eyes. He could not help but widen his eyes at the change.

The new Antagonist Diary's entry was totally different from what he had written.

"June 13th, the Great Xia Calendar. Cloudy.

"I brought my beloved guards to the soybean pudding stall and ran into Jia Sidao. The scholar was harassing Little Douhua a.k.a. Yao Jing. I got furious and told my guards to beat Jia Sidao up. I also used two silvers to buy Little Douhua so that she could be protected in the Luo Residence. Jia Sidao won't be able to get his revenge now. I'm spreading positive energy, and the crowd cheered for me. The applause was endless.

"It was an act of a real man that was worth cheering for!"

[Diary Entry: Sin Level -18]

The new diary entry was plainly recorded and explained what really happened.

Luo Hong almost spat blood out after he saw the automated diary entry.

"Cheer? Cheer my a**! It's fake! It's all fake! This is slander!" He struck his chest like a gorilla and sobbed in silence.

'This cheating manual is pranking me!'

He fell on the chair, weak and limp. His dream was broken and lost.

The last sentence of the entry felt like salt to his wound. He had a feeling the manual was amplifying his pain.

He felt extremely painful. Disappointed, he flipped to the fourth page, which was the Prize Pool.

The special prize, the first prize, the second prize, and the third prize...every single one of them was grayed out because the required Sin Level was positive.

With his negative Sin Level, Luo Hong could only look at them and cry.

In the end, he reluctantly moved his attention to the consolation prize.