Chapter 1

"In a certain sense."

These words were bold and italicized on the data from headquarters, quite noticeable.

"It's because we only have a single-perspective plot, and not even a complete one," the System explained. "The causes for the original villain are very complex... The path they took to their final fate wasn't necessarily due to just one thing or one person."

The data was merely for reference, to help the task taker complete their mission; it was far from sufficient to encompass an entire life.

Mù Yú understood this well. He nodded and pressed the confirmation button to receive the information.

...

When Yàn Sǔn was five years old, Yú Mù was employed by his parents to become his teacher.

He was responsible for teaching Yàn Sǔn performance classes.

—This was a nicer, more flattering way of putting it.

The more direct and chilling requirement was to "be responsible for guiding Yàn Sǔn to adapt to roles in front of the camera, to become a reasonable, detestable person who doesn't deserve to live."

Yú Mù himself was a good-for-nothing, wasting air by existing. He was a screenwriter and had written many excellent scripts, once enjoying considerable fame, praised for his extraordinary talent and boundless future.

Unfortunately, not long after entering that circle, Yú Mù lost control of himself. He was dazed by the excitement of the glamorous world and plunged headfirst into wallowing in sensual pleasures and luxury.

Before being secretly employed by Yàn Sǔn's parents, Yú Mù had already ruined himself. He could no longer write anything serious. Besides a superficially presentable appearance that could still be somewhat convincing, his inner self had long since rotted into a wad of decaying cotton. His behavior was absurd and unrestrained; he would do anything for money.

...

Even someone like Yú Mù, upon receiving the money, was momentarily stunned for a full half-minute by this outrageously absurd request.

To hire someone to teach his son to be a universally detested person? What kind of deep-seated hatred was this?

Couldn't they just detest him directly?

However, at most, it was only that half-minute. Yú Mù would absolutely not ask any superfluous questions.

His employers paid him handsomely, their requirements were simple and clear, and they had the ability to conceal this transaction flawlessly, so that no one would ever find out.

More importantly, this was a long-term business. As long as there were no accidents, it would continue until Yàn Sǔn reached adulthood—given the price and conditions offered by the other party, even if Yú Mù bled Yàn Sǔn dry for thirteen years, it would be enough for him to live a comfortable life.

Half a minute later, Yú Mù recovered, faked a smile, quickly signed the contract, pocketed the money, and became Yàn Sǔn's "teacher."

...

Yú Mù performed this job exceptionally well.

This was a child born to live under the gaze of the camera. Yú Mù only later learned that it was Yàn Sǔn's adoptive parents who had hired him. As for his biological parents, they had reportedly owed the Yan Family's own son a life, so they had compensated them with their newborn son.

To outsiders, this situation didn't seem entirely bad.

Yàn Sǔn's biological parents were just ordinary working-class people, with ordinary backgrounds and mediocre talents. In contrast, his adoptive parents came from wealthy families, and both were highly renowned.

Father Yan was a famous figure skater in his youth, having won countless medals, and after retiring, he became an elite-level coach. Mother Yan was a bestselling author who had written a series of parenting advice books, visible in almost every bookstore.

The Yan Family also had a biological son named Yàn Xī, four years older than Yàn Sǔn. Yàn Xī had been learning figure skating from his father since childhood, reportedly inheriting all of his father's talent and achieving considerable results early on.

Regardless of the reason, being sent to such a good family to be raised seemed like a stroke of incredible luck.

Yú Mù wasn't concerned with these matters.

He just took the money and did his job. In this familial atmosphere that anyone would praise, he managed to cultivate a child who was born emotionally detached and deficient, with extremely unstable temper, and unsettling aggression... a monster.

When Yàn Sǔn was five, he injured his brother's leg, causing Yàn Xī to limp for over half a year. Ultimately, Yàn Xī couldn't overcome the psychological hurdle and completely gave up figure skating.

When he was seven, Yàn Sǔn destroyed his mother's entire manuscript. Caught in the critical printing window of the publishing house, he directly caused all the previous promotional efforts to go down the drain, forcing Mother Yan to personally apologize to readers.

Such incidents were frequent. Until Yàn Sǔn was fourteen, he was caught in the lounge outside the ice rink, exposing an even more heinous truth.

As a renowned figure skating coach, Father Yan's training was always extremely rigorous. Some skaters who couldn't handle the pressure and broke down, were forced to retire. Neither the skaters nor their parents thought much of it at the time.

But no one expected that the real person who ruined those promising young skaters was Yàn Sǔn, who hovered like a ghost on the sidelines, responsible for maintaining the ice surface.

It was Yàn Sǔn who stole Father Yan's training manuals and forged Father Yan's handwriting and signature.

Over the years, Yàn Sǔn seemed to possess a natural instinct for cruelty, not allowing anyone who snatched his parents' attention away from him to have an easy time—but he couldn't do it as crudely as he did with Yàn Xī when he was younger; it was too obvious.

So, he secretly altered Father Yan's training plans, forged Father Yan's recordings, and maliciously led the young team members to overexert themselves, even blindly attempting moves they could not possibly execute.

Father Yan's usual presence was too intimidating. Even if the young team members had doubts about the training arrangements, they dared not ask. Therefore, they had no choice but to train diligently, ultimately leading to burnout. A few even suffered lifelong consequences.

The impact of this incident was too severe. Father Yan resigned in disgrace and, unable to face the innocent young skaters he had harmed, completely retired, no longer involved in anything related to figure skating.

...

Yàn Sǔn's existence was like a decayed branch on a tree.

There was no need to deliberately describe how terrible or unbearable this branch was.

Twisted and lifeless, without any buds or leaves, it weathered winter and summer, with no birds perching on it.

If left unchecked, eventually, the signs of decay on this branch would spread, affecting and rotting the other branches as well.

Pruning such a branch might be an instinct of "humans" that requires no guidance.

Yú Mù didn't get to collect his money for the full thirteen years.

Caught by Yàn Xī and his group, Yàn Sǔn fled to the frozen lake, where he was completely surrounded.

Following Yàn Xī were the group of young skaters who had been ruined by the training.

The ruin of their futures was not easily forgotten. It's hard to say what the parents of those young skaters thought, or if they even tried to intervene... In any case, Yú Mù only received the news the next day.

The ice surface shattered, and Yàn Sǔn did not resurface, remaining at the bottom of the lake.

When he received this news, Yú Mù was lounging lazily on a luxurious sofa bought with the money from the Yan family, working on his next script.

The previous evening, Yàn Sǔn had visited Yú Mù's home, sitting on the sofa opposite him.

At that time, Yàn Sǔn was still alive.

The young boy lowered his head, his bangs falling over his forehead, his eyes dark, with a tear mole under his left eye.

His pale fingers were clasped together; he was so thin that his shoulder blades were easily visible.

"I," he said to Yú Mù, "didn't."

Yàn Sǔn's pronunciation was broken. He seemed to have difficulty with normal human communication. After a pause, he continued to speak in a low, intermittent voice: "Those, do..."

"You didn't do those things, it's all fake. Teacher knows you're a good boy..."

Yú Mù waved his hand without looking up.

Yú Mù certainly knew that Yàn Sǔn hadn't done those things.

He knew Yàn Sǔn hadn't done any of the things mentioned above. Those were all scripts, tailored to the employer's demands.

Not to mention anything else, Yú Mù himself knew how unscrupulous his last script was—forging recordings? Forging Coach Yan's handwriting? He was even afraid someone would investigate closely and demand evidence from Yàn Sǔn.

No evidence could be provided.

Yàn Sǔn was born with congenital deficiencies. The part of his brain responsible for language and writing simply didn't develop. He had no problems doing other things; his thinking was completely normal, and he could understand everything. However, speaking and writing had been difficult for him for years.

This was why Yú Mù dared to write scripts in front of him, and why the Yan family never specifically staged anything. Over the years, no one had feared Yàn Sǔn's explanations.

Yàn Sǔn couldn't articulate it clearly, nor could he write it down.

No matter how much he had on his mind, it couldn't be turned into even a single fluent sentence.

He could only swallow it back, letting it corrode his throat and lungs, eroding himself day after day.

Yú Mù got tired of writing, tossed the half-finished script aside, stood up, and opened the refrigerator for a can of Coke.

"What use is it to find me? To explain for you?" Yú Mù asked.

Yú Mù certainly wouldn't explain for Yàn Sǔn.

Yàn Sǔn was the victim, and Yú Mù was the perpetrator and mastermind.

As Yàn Sǔn's teacher, Yú Mù was the one who spent the most time with him, so he could concoct the most plausible script, precisely splashing all the dirty water onto one child.

It seemed Yàn Sǔn hadn't held such unrealistic expectations. He just continued to lower his eyes, looking at his fingertips, and opened his mouth.

His voice was too low for Yú Mù to hear: "What?"

Yàn Sǔn repeated himself.

... By the twelfth repetition, his stuttering pronunciation finally became clear.

It turned out Yàn Sǔn was imitating Yú Mù's pronunciation and intonation from earlier.

He couldn't speak fluently himself, so he came to draw Yú Mù out and then mimic him.

"...Didn't do those things."

"Didn't do those things, it's all fake."

"Didn't do those things, it's all fake."

"It's all fake."

"It's all fake."

"Fake."

Yàn Sǔn was holding a voice recorder.

Yú Mù's heart sank. Cold sweat inexplicably broke out on his back. He stared motionlessly at Yàn Sǔn and reached for the phone.

Yú Mù called the Yan family.

He thought Yàn Sǔn would stop him, would rush to grab his phone, but Yàn Sǔn didn't.

—Even when Yú Mù disregarded everything and rambled on, saying more than he should have, Yàn Sǔn showed no reaction.

Yàn Sǔn just sat there, his dark eyes vacant and cold, like a pool of still water, yet he obediently lowered his head.

Sitting obediently like a child, hands resting on his knees, he meticulously practiced one sentence over and over.

At the end of that day, Yàn Sǔn was taken home by Father Yan, who had rushed over.

The fourteen-year-old boy staggered as he was pulled away, yet he still looked back at Yú Mù and silently, fluidly mouthed a few words.

The next day, Yàn Sǔn died in the icy lake.

He never got to say the sentence he had practiced repeatedly.

...

Yú Mù thought that was Yàn Sǔn's end.

Everyone thought that was Yàn Sǔn's end.

Ten years passed like this.

Ten years of peace. The past events had long since been buried in the corners of time, blurring with each passing day because no one inquired.

The Yan family continued to live smoothly.

With his mother's guidance and help, Yàn Xī had also become a quite famous emerging author.

Father Yan had long since retired from the ice skating world, but his reputation and network remained, and he proceeded to establish a winter sports equipment company, which was thriving.

The Xu Family, after a few years of grief, gradually emerged from their shadow. Because of the immense compensation provided by the Yan family, the Xu family's younger son attended the best schools, achieved success in his career after graduation, and embarked on a life path completely different from his parents'.

Everyone lived better after Yàn Sǔn's death.

Isn't that good?

That's what Yú Mù thought. He became a screenwriter again, occasionally writing books. Relying on the Yan family's network, he connected with several good publishing houses and was even invited to participate in a variety show.

Yú Mù, now seemingly respectable again, felt a sense of smugness, as if detached from the consequences.

Years ago, he was penniless and shamelessly latched onto a variety show, coincidentally in the same place.

On that show, Yú Mù encountered a mute child who was being bullied by other boys and pushed off a rocking car, yet couldn't utter a single word.

He happened to be passing by and picked up the mute child, dusting him off.

Then, he was found by the child's adoptive parents, unexpectedly leading to a job he could never have imagined...

Yú Mù went on to participate in that variety show.

Three days later, Yú Mù withdrew from the show and disappeared without a trace.

This was just the beginning—later, the Yan family's company also ran into trouble, Yàn Xī's book was exposed for plagiarism, and Mother Yan was implicated. The entire family's reputation was ruined.

The Xu family was ordinary, so no one paid particular attention.

All they knew was that the younger son contracted some strange illness, seemingly unable to write, and had to resign from his job to recuperate at home.

Unable to bear it, the younger son cried and made several suicide attempts.

When Yú Mù was found again, he was in a wheelchair, being taken to a psychiatrist.

Pushing the wheelchair was a young man in his early to mid-twenties named Yàn Zhú mò, who claimed to be Yú Mù's student.

He was a very distinctive young man; his features possessed a dazzling, striking beauty. Beneath his alluring eyes was a tear mole, and with just a little more liveliness, he would have had the natural charm of someone born for romance.

Unfortunately, those eyes were as hollow as still water, moving with a vacant look, like a stagnant pool.

He was also too gaunt, sunken beneath a black woolen coat, his skin so pale that faint blue veins were visible. A nurse handed over the printed number, and as she got closer, she felt the profound coldness of his hand.

Someone saw Yú Mù, huddled in the wheelchair, his eyes filled with a fearful haze, muttering something repeatedly.

The young man squatted in front of the wheelchair, tilting his head slightly, and listened patiently.

Noticing that Yú Mù's words were jumbled and not standard, the young man placed his hand on the teacher's arm and taught him again.

He would say a sentence, then pause, waiting for Yú Mù in the wheelchair to repeat it.

Yú Mù's face was deathly pale. He stared in terror at the young man before him but dared not disobey his wishes, repeating the words haltingly countless times.

"Didn't do those things," Yú Mù repeated intermittently. "Fake, it's all fake."

"Teacher believes you are a good boy."