Oh.

"I know at least more than before."

Perhaps the atmosphere was right, because the red-haired older sister didn't hide anything and spoke her mind.

"In my opinion, your humanity is indeed not very good, and I cannot agree with many of your actions."

"But I don't deny that you are also very capable. Otherwise, how could an outsider have completely taken control of the entire Hualan Empire in just one year?"

"In short, we lost to you... and it's not unfair."

She is actually quite straightforward. Losing to Xu Shi is certainly not a good thing, but a loss is a loss, and it's not appropriate to make excuses.

As the saying goes, denying your opponent is denying yourself.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Xu Shi accepted it all, "I never expected that Commander Qin would be so understanding."

"If you had thought of this sooner, our relationship might have been much more pleasant."

"That won't be necessary."

Qin Yiyan refused with a straight face, saying that while she admitted it, she would rather not get involved with Xu Shi.

"what ever."

Xu Shi didn't insist. "If you want to 'observe' me again in the future, you can do so openly. You don't need to be so secretive."

"Aren't you afraid I'll leak your secrets?"

Qin Yiyan was taken aback.

"You are my maid, and serving you personally is my duty."

Xu Shi didn't care at all. "Alright, I have other things to do. If you'd like, you can go in and catch up with your former subordinates."

After saying that, he left without waiting for the other person's reaction.

"..."

The red-haired older sister stood there, unsure of what to say.

You might think this person is treacherous and cunning, but ironically, he's often quite upright and not as detestable as you might imagine.

As for Xu Shi's attitude towards her... she couldn't say whether he truly trusted her or simply didn't take her seriously.

...It seems the latter is more likely.

snort.

...

There are two sides to the story.

"Come, explain to your master what it means to say 'Master is a bad person'? What it means to say 'His humanity has always been terrible'?"

When Pan Ling saw Xu approaching her with a dark expression, she knew something terrible was about to happen.

"How could my master be a bad person?"

She tried to get away with it by using her junior sister's cuteness, saying, "In my heart, Master has always been the most perfect person."

"Yeah?"

Xu Shi sneered, "I'll give you one more chance to organize your thoughts. If you utter even half a lie, I'll make sure you can only sleep on your stomach for the rest of your life."

“…Master, I was wrong.”

The foolish apprentice knew Xu Shi's subtext all too well, and just thinking about it made her unable to resist, so she had no choice but to admit defeat.

"You're not wrong, how could you be wrong?"

Xu Shi started acting childish, saying sarcastically, "You've really grown up now, daring to talk badly about your teacher behind his back, huh?"

That's not what I meant...

Pan Ling felt wronged and wanted to defend herself.

"So what do you mean?"

Xu Shi stared wide-eyed and asked.

"What I mean is, even though Master is a bad person, you've always been very good to me..."

The young apprentice stammered, "So, if Master is going to be a bad guy, then I'll just be a bad guy with you..."

"...Who asked you to be the bad guy with me? Can't you be the good guy?"

Xu Shi was taken aback for a moment, "So you're getting all self-satisfied, huh?"

However, his tone softened considerably, indicating that he wasn't actually as angry as he appeared.

Honestly, he doesn't care what others think of him at all; he just wants to find an excuse to give his clumsy apprentice a warning.

But to my surprise, the other person's words sounded very sincere.

"Master, stop pretending. You're not cut out to be a good person..." Pan Ling thought to herself.

However, she also keenly noticed the change in Xu Shi's tone, so she took the initiative to come over.

"In short, if my disciple makes a mistake, Master can punish him as he sees fit."

It's just a spanking, go ahead and spank!

"...You think I'll punish you just because you tell me to? Are you the master and I'm the master?"

Xu Shi rolled his eyes at her and gestured for her to sit down, "But your analysis at the end was quite interesting... could you elaborate?"

He was naturally referring to the part about how the protagonist's halo affects those around them.

"oh."

Pan Ling breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she hadn't actually been spanked.

As for her analysis, she naturally repeated it to her master in great detail.

"...That's about it."

She carefully finished recounting her thoughts, then looked at Xu Shi with teary eyes and said, "Of course, I have some other ideas, but I don't think they're mature enough..."

"It's okay, please continue."

Xu Shi nodded. "In your opinion, where does the 'protagonist halo' come from?"

"Hmm... if I had to guess, could it be transmitted through 'divine breath'?"

Pan Ling pursed her lips and expressed her thoughts.

Xu suddenly understood.

Before this, he hadn't paid much attention to things like protagonist halo or villainous supporting characters, or rather, he hadn't paid attention to these things since he killed Shenhe.

After all, I had awakened my memories of my past life back then, and that was enough to control the whole situation. What was the point of worrying about other things?

Later, when he came to the Hualan Empire, he was an outsider who caused trouble, and he wouldn't take such things to heart.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!