The bad ending of the stand-in novel (Part 1)
"drop--"
The electrocardiogram emitted a long, shrill sound and drew an endless long line.
6:00 am, June 6, 2026.
Jiang Yuanshi died.
Died of extremely severe burns.
He lost consciousness and closed his eyes, and a mechanical electronic sound rang in his mind.
【A new host has been detected. 】
[Hello host, welcome to the Book-Crossing Patch Management Department, this is system Z01, please confirm whether to bind to the Book-Crossing Patch System...]
【Countdown 3, 2, 1. 】
…
"drop."
The familiar sound of the electrocardiogram repeated in his ears. Jiang Yuanshi lay on the hospital bed, looking at the ceiling, motionless.
Looks like they're brainstorming.
However, after the system detected it, it was found that the other party's mind was blank and he had no idea.
Pure daze.
After the symptom lasted for nearly ten minutes, the system reminded: "Hello host, please do not be passive and lazy, please advance the plot as soon as possible and complete the task."
Jiang Yuanshi opened his mouth to say something, but his throat felt as if he was swallowing a knife.
I almost forgot that this body can't speak now.
He silently replied in his mind: "Hello system, I can't move."
Broken arms and legs, gastric bleeding, bruised waist... basically there was nothing wrong with anything above the neck.
System: “…I’m sorry.”
Jiang Yuanshi replied calmly: "It's okay."
system:"……"
Jiang Yuanshi: “…”
The air fell silent again.
Jiang Yuanshi really couldn't think of how to communicate, because the other party was not a human and the answer was not a human either.
At first, the system asked "Do you want to bind?", which can only be regarded as a polite customer service term.
After he subconsciously refused, the system just continued to read the terms slowly: "After the host collects a certain amount of willpower, he will be able to obtain a chance to be reborn or choose a wish."
It was a great temptation, but Jiang Yuanshi had no wishes and didn't want to live at all.
The system's tone, like that of a customer service representative, made him utter "TD."
"Tip: If you choose [Reject], the host may run the risk of having their self-consciousness repeatedly cycle before death. Please choose carefully."
"What is the probability?"
"99%"
“…”
1% chance of death.
Jiang Yuanshi could only win twenty at most from scratching the lottery in his lifetime. He had no chance of winning such a small jackpot.
He can die, but he doesn't accept dying forever.
What else can I do besides agree?
[Congratulations to the host for successful binding]
[Tip: Once bound, it cannot be unbound. Death during the mission will be considered a failure and the plot will be replayed until the mission is completed.]
“………………”
Jiang Yuanshi:)
Your after-sales service is really great.
So what is the difference between binding and not binding?
For the first time, Jiang Yuanshi felt that death was harder than ascending to heaven, but living a life worse than death was easy as pie.
Jiang Yuanshi, who was dead anyway, said in a polite tone: "Excuse me, can I file a complaint?"
The system mechanically asked: "What's the problem, host?"
“Your department forcibly added the deceased into the system without asking for his/her consent beforehand.”
"Hello host, after analyzing dead objects, I cannot ask for opinions."
"But shouldn't your department bear the risk of the deceased refusing to bind? I would like to ask what the criteria for your department to select a host are?"
“Lottery.”
…………
Jiang Yuanshi: ???
So casual.
"Excuse me...how long has the Chuanshu Bureau been established?"
"1.8 billion system hours is about 10.8 billion years in human time."
10.8 billion...
Suspected to be an elder of the Earth.
Jiang Yuanshi was complaining crazily in his heart, but his face was already expressionless.
The two short words "lottery" have already made him lose all his strength and means.
The lottery has already been drawn, so if I could have filed a successful complaint I would have done it long ago, why wait until now?
Forget it, I’m here anyway.
Jiang Yuanshi entered his first mission world with this mentality.
[Novel: "It Turns Out I'm Just a Stand-in"
Background: Modern overhead
Tags: Body double, sad love, childhood sweetheart
Character: The younger, lonely, clingy, and smart top x the older, gentle, independent bottom
Problem: Unfinished
A substitute literature with a bad ending, and he was reincarnated as the protagonist of the book: Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuanshi’s first reaction when he saw it was, who would give someone this name?
Then I realized that the pronunciation of the other person's name was one character less than my own.
The official explanation of the system translates to: It is to make it easier for novices to immerse themselves in the story, but slight differences make it difficult for novices to immerse themselves in the story.
It's so detailed.
Jiang Yuanshi sighed inwardly and continued to look at the task.
Jiang Yuan, whose parents died early, entered an orphanage at a young age. After struggling for a few years, he was lucky enough to be adopted by the retired director. He became good friends with the director's granddaughter and was admitted to a top university when he grew up, working part-time to support himself.
He had a successful academic career and a happy family, but things did not go as he wished. His sister was severely burned by an accidental explosion in the school laboratory. The dean and himself emptied their family savings but it was of no avail. The dean was exhausted and collapsed. When he was at a loss, a noble man came from heaven. The protagonist Gu Zhi waved his hand and not only paid off the medical expenses but also provided advanced medical resources. The only request was that Jiang Yuan be his substitute lover.
Jiang Yuan compromised for money. While being a stand-in, Gu Zhi was always polite and didn't ask him to learn Bai Yueguang or anything like that. Jiang Yuan was puzzled.
Until one day, he accidentally discovered that the other person was his former playmate in the orphanage. The two were inseparable in childhood until the other was adopted. Many years later, the two met again and recognized each other. Gu Zhi explained frankly that he had been looking for Jiang Yuan for many years and now fell in love at first sight, but he could not find a suitable reason, so he took a different approach and found an excuse for a substitute lover.
Jiang Yuan was helpless, but she had a crush on Gu Zhi during their previous interactions, and the two fell in love. After a sweet description, Gu Zhi decided to bring Jiang Yuan to meet his friends, and then in the club, Jiang Yuan was insulted by Gu Zhi's friends while he was away, and learned that she was really a stand-in, and everything before was just Gu Zhi's plan. The reason why she didn't need to learn Bai Yueguang was because her words, actions and appearance were very similar to the other party.
After learning the truth, Jiang Yuan became extremely angry when Gu Zhi's friends insulted his sister. He started fighting with them and both of them were injured. After waking up from a coma, Gu Zhi threatened him with his family members who still needed treatment. He was imprisoned in the hospital and only by obeying him could he get photos of his family members' treatment.
Logically speaking, the subsequent plot of the substitute novel should be that after Gu Zhi meets Bai Yueguang, he suddenly realizes that he loves the substitute Jiang Yuan, and then chases his wife to the crematorium.
But the essence of a bad ending is that it is bad.
Not only did Gu Zhi not wake up and go to the crematorium, he was also involved in an ambiguous relationship with Bai Yueguang and He Meimei. Jiang Yuan, who was neglected in the hospital, took the opportunity to escape one day to find his family, but what he got in return was the news of his death.
Jiang Yuan's family died on the day he went to the club. He regretted it deeply and felt hopeless.
At the end of the novel, Jiang Yuan commits suicide. Upon learning of this, Gu Zhi feels guilty, collapses, and turns to alcoholism and self-abuse. In the end, he is redeemed by Bai Yueguang, and the two go to the grave of Jiang Yuan's family to lay flowers.
The full text is over.
…………
Jiang Yuanshi said "Wow" calmly.
Who said this ending was bad, this is simply amazing.
It can be said that the story is full of twists and turns, with 108 dead knots, becoming a huge piece of shit in the history of substitute literature.
Jiang Yuanshi was not the only one who was overwhelmed. The readers who had been following the author in the first place also suffered from the overwhelm. The author's sudden and outrageous move was as if his brain had been sucked out by Fu Shou Lu, which caused dissatisfaction among the public, and low scores and criticisms poured in. During this period, the author secretly changed the copy, making it a happy story between the protagonist and Bai Yueguang, and the stand-in was directly laid off.
The most outrageous thing is that it was labeled “he”.
He, from then on, had a new interpretation for Jiang Yuanshi - hate ending.
The novel initially attracted many readers due to the author's good reputation for writing, and thus the novel world was generated due to the readers' willpower. However, unexpectedly, things started to go wrong in the middle and late stages, resulting in insufficient willpower and difficulty running the world. He was thrown into the Book Crossing Bureau, and after the host failed to run the world according to the plot development many times, the conclusion was drawn - as the protagonist, Jiang Yuan must live to the end, otherwise the world will collapse.
Finally, the article was sent to the patch department of Chuanshuju, which is mainly responsible for patching novels with unfinished or discontinued endings.
Jiang Yuanshi also belongs to the BL novel branch of this department. The host will enter various BL novel worlds, play different roles, repair the plot, and complete tasks to re-run the novel world.
[Host Mission: As Jiang Yuan, avoid death and live until the end of the story]
World Difficulty: C-level (Novice Mission)
Mission Reward: 30 points of Willpower]
Completing a world will gain a certain amount of willpower. 10 points of willpower can be exchanged for 1 point of life. When the life value reaches 100, the host will have a chance to be reborn.
The ratio is 10:1, so he needs to save up 1,000 willpower points, 30 for each world.
I'd rather die of exhaustion.
Jiang Yuanshi said this unconsciously, and the system replied: "Hello host, the willpower value is allocated according to the difficulty of the world. As the difficulty increases in the later stages, the willpower value will increase significantly."
"But if it gets difficult, you may not be able to survive to the end."
If you die you have to start over, which is like a game with no save files.
Jiang Yuanshi also had a question: "Can I beat him?"
System: "No, according to the rules, the character cannot do anything that violates the character setting or harms other main characters. This will be considered a failure and the world line will be retraced."
“Is there a penalty for failure?”
"Yes, go back to the world line."
Jiang Yuanshi was puzzled: "That's it?"
System: “Yes.”
The system was puzzled: "For a host who has already completed half of the plot, returning to the starting point is the greatest punishment."
Jiang Yuanshi said "Ah" in understanding, "That's right."
For some reason, the system always feels that the sickly and well-behaved face through the host's spirit body is a little inconsistent with the bland tone at the moment, but it is not a big problem. After screening, the host selected is always the most obedient and law-abiding.
The system continued to follow the process, "Host, please advance the plot as soon as possible."
Jiang Yuanshi had just woken up from the first world, less than ten minutes had passed, and this sentence was like a pop-up virus, repeated no less than thirty times before a change occurred.
"Friendly reminder, there is still one minute before the protagonist arrives, please be prepared."
According to the plot, at this time Gu Zhi entered the ward and mocked and threatened the stand-in lying on the bed, then turned away.
Since the plot was briefly mentioned and no one knew the other party's actions during the period, Jiang Yuanshi chose to take it one step at a time. As the person who could make the ending of taking Bai Yueguang to the grave, who knows what else he might do.
"Da da da."
The footsteps were getting closer, and then the door of the ward slowly opened.
A handsome man in a suit and tie stopped at the door with a fierce look on his face. The doctors and nurses following him looked anxious, worried and reserved.
Gu Zhi quietly looked at the person lying on the hospital bed not far away. He was covered in bandages, his leg in a cast was suspended, and he looked miserable.
Gu Zhi slowly walked to the bedside, and Jiang Yuanshi reluctantly followed the plot under the constant urging of the system.
Jiang Yuan opened his eyes and looked at Gu Zhi coldly.
The two of them just faced each other quietly.
Gu Zhi couldn't stand the other person's gaze and took the initiative to attack, "Brother, you hit me too hard. You beat my friends badly."
elder brother?
The system prompted in the mind: "Host, this is the following article. Please read the summary carefully before the mission."
But how can anyone tell from the summary that he is younger than her? There is no mention of any conversation between the two of them.
Jiang Yuanshi originally thought that the other party would be the type to rush up and speak rudely and mock him, but who knew it would turn out like this.
When he was curious about how the plot would proceed, the other party spoke slowly:
"But it doesn't matter. After all, they were the ones who offended my brother first. It's understandable that my brother beat them. But you should be more careful next time. Look at what you've done."
Jiang Yuan tried hard to avoid Gu Zhi's outstretched hand. Gu Zhi's hand paused, his expression did not change, and he was still smiling, "It's normal for brother to be angry. After all, brother is indeed a substitute, but this does not mean that I don't love you. Brother, stay in the hospital and recover. I will send someone to take good care of grandma and sister."
……?
Wait, is this plot correct?
Jiang Yuanshi looked calm on the surface, but he was deeply shocked in his heart.
"So what do you want to say, brother? Ah, I forgot that brother can't talk now, so let's do it as we did before."
Gu Zhi placed Jiang Yuan's exposed fingers in his palm, and the movement of raising his arm caused Jiang Yuan's wound to hurt. The doctor standing behind him couldn't help but wanted to remind him but was stopped by someone next to him.
Writing on the palms of their hands to communicate was one of the communication games the two played in their childhood in the orphanage. After they fell in love, it became the so-called emotional communication.
Jiang Yuan's fingers did not move for a long time, and finally he just wrote "OK".
After all, questioning is useless, so it’s better to hope that the other party can really save your family and obey.
However, after getting the answer, Gu Zhi's smile froze in a strange arc.
Looks like he's about to get sick.
"Okay? Is that your answer? Why didn't you even ask? Don't you care that you're a stand-in?" Gu Zhi asked a series of questions, which finally condensed into one sentence, "Or are those two people so important to you that they don't even care about you being a stand-in, right?"
What else?
Wasn't I the only reason I became your stand-in in the first place to earn money for your medical treatment?
Jiang Yuanshi was speechless.
Gu Zhi seemed to have broken his defense. He inexplicably clenched Jiang Yuan's hand, and with his other hand he pressed his neck forcefully to turn the other's face.
“Why don’t you care…” Gu Zhi’s face was almost touching his nose.
Gu Zhi moved closer and closer, with more and more strength in his hands.
Something is wrong.
The feeling of suffocation became stronger and Jiang Yuanshi's vision became blurred, but he was unable to resist.
………
Jiang Yuanshi’s eyes went dark and he heard a warning and Gu Zhi’s voice in his ears.
[It is detected that the character's health is about to be reset to zero... The mission failed, and will be backtracked in 3 seconds. Please be prepared. ]
"Brother, are you saying something? ...Brother, what's wrong with you?"
Of course he is dead.
Countdown 3, 2, 1.
Jiang Yuanshi’s eyes blurred.
Cough cough cough!
Jiang Yuanshi suddenly opened his eyes, coughed and breathed silently, the twitching of his brain nerves covering up the pain in his throat.
System: "The mission failed for the first time. May I ask if the host needs to use the wish power exchange function card in an emergency? The current gift of wish power is 10, which is too low and is not recommended."
Jiang Yuanshi took a breath and ignored the system's words: "Wait a minute, does this count as a character collapse for Gu Zhi? I remember that in the copywriting, he didn't have attributes like yandere and violence. Is there such a thing in the original text?"
The system did not expect the other party's reaction, and it crashed for a moment, then responded: "Detecting... The original report shows that the character has no violent tendencies or yandere attributes. After analysis, the character's personality is biased, and it is suspected to be a bug. It is being reported for inspection. Please wait."
"how long?"
"The current network signal is poor..."
Jiang Yuanshi:?
Jiang Yuanshi's heartbeat had not yet slowed down when footsteps were heard again. This time, Jiang Yuanshi tried to struggle and began to question Gu Zhi, attracting great attention from the other party. As a result, Gu Zhi choked him again because he was too excited. Jiang Yuanshi was unable to move and could not resist.
[Repair completed, bug fixes, compensation of 10 willpower points, will be credited soon, countdown 10, 9...]
It's the countdown again.
【8, 7】
Jiang Yuanshi failed in his second mission.
【6, 5】
The world line is retracing...
【4】
The third mission begins.
【3】
Jiang Yuanshi woke up and the door opened.
【2】
The protagonist attacks and reaches out.
【1】
"elder brother……"
The mission failure reminder did not sound.
"Ugh!" Gu Zhi cried out in pain.
The thin young man dodged the opponent's attack and stood up at some point. He grabbed Gu Zhi's outstretched hand and twisted it casually, causing his face to distort.
"You hit me? You are not him, he can't hit me!" Gu Zhi struggled and punched, and then his other intact hand became less healthy, and then he was kicked to the ground.
The moment he knelt down, he grabbed the other person's neck, and his bandaged hands revealed fingertips that turned white from exertion.
The young man looked at the frantically struggling man calmly, as if he was looking at a dead object.
Gradually, the struggling stopped.
With a plop, the thing fell to the ground, with a breath left.
"you……"
Jiang Yuanshi rubbed his wrist, looked at his palm, glanced at the weak double doors on the ground, and murmured: "It turns out that TV dramas cannot be easily imitated."
It takes a lot of effort to pinch your neck with one hand, and your arms will feel sore after holding it up for a long time.
Jiang Yuanshi had just finished saying that when a reminder sounded in his ear:
[It is detected that the protagonist's self-esteem is damaged, the host's personality is violated, and the third mission has failed. 】
[Retracing the world line——]
Jiang Yuanshi: What the hell?
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