A badly-reworked stand-in novel (Part 1)
"drop--"
The electrocardiogram emitted a long, harsh sound and drew an endless line.
6:00 am on June 6, 2026.
Jiang Yuanshi died.
Died from extremely severe burns.
He lost consciousness and closed his eyes when 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 electrocardiogram sound 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 this symptom persisted for nearly ten minutes, the system reminded: "Hello host, please do not be passive and lazy. Please advance the plot as quickly as possible and complete the mission."
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, only the area above the neck was fine.
System: “…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.
The initial question "Do you want to bind?" asked by the system can only be regarded as a polite customer service statement.
After he subconsciously refused, the system simply continued to read the terms unhurriedly: "After the host collects a certain amount of willpower, he will be given a chance to be reborn or choose a wish."
It was a great temptation, but Jiang Yuanshi had no desire and didn't want to live at all.
The system's tone, like that of a customer service representative, made him utter "TD."
"Tip: Choosing [Reject] may risk the host's consciousness cycling repeatedly just 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 the binding cannot be untied, 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.
Jiang Yuanshi, who was in dire straits anyway, said in a sweet tone, "Excuse me, can I file a complaint?"
The system mechanically said: "Excuse me, host, what is your question?"
"Your department forcibly added the deceased into the system without consulting the deceased beforehand."
"Hello host, upon analysis of dead matter, I cannot ask for opinions."
"But shouldn't your department bear the risk of the deceased refusing to bind? I'd like to ask what the criteria are for selecting a host?"
"Lottery."
…………
Jiang Yuanshi: ???
So casual.
"Excuse me...how long has the Chuanshu Bureau been established?"
"1.8 billion system hours is approximately 10.8 billion years in human time."
10.8 billion...
Suspected to be an elder of Earth.
Jiang Yuanshi was complaining madly 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 successfully filed a 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 sweethearts
Character: The younger, lonely, clingy, and smart top x the older, gentle, independent bottom
Problem: Unfinished
A substitute literature with an unfinished 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 come up with this name?
Then I realized that the other person's name had one less character than my own according to pronunciation.
The official explanation of the system translates to: It is to make it easier for novices to get into the story, but slight differences make it difficult for novices to get into 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 brothers with the director's granddaughter. When he grew up, he was admitted to a top university and worked part-time to support his studies.
He achieved academic success and had a happy family, but then things didn't go as planned. His sister suffered severe burns in an accidental explosion in the school laboratory. The dean and he had exhausted the family's savings, but to no avail. The dean collapsed from exhaustion. Just when he was at his wit's end, a benefactor appeared. The protagonist, Gu Zhi, not only paid her medical bills but also provided her with advanced medical resources. His only request was that Jiang Yuan become his stand-in lover.
Jiang Yuan compromised for money. During the time he was 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 unexpectedly discovered that the other person was his former playmate in the orphanage. The two were inseparable as children until the other was adopted. 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 with her at first sight, but he couldn't find a suitable reason, so he took a different approach and found an excuse to be a substitute lover.
Jiang Yuan was helpless, but she had already developed a crush on Gu Zhi during their previous interactions, and the two fell in love. After a sweet moment of description, Gu Zhi decided to bring Jiang Yuan to meet his friends. Then, at the club, while Gu Zhi was away, Jiang Yuan was insulted by his friends. She learned that she was really a stand-in, and that everything that had happened was Gu Zhi's plan. The only reason she didn't have to imitate Bai Yueguang was because her words, actions, and appearance were very similar to the other person's.
After learning the truth, Jiang Yuan was furious when Gu Zhi's friends insulted his sister. He started fighting with them and both 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 receiving treatment.
Logically, the subsequent plot of the substitute story 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 also got involved in ambiguous relationships with Bai Yueguang and He Meimei. Jiang Yuan, who was neglected in the hospital, waited for an opportunity to escape and find his family one day, but what he got in return was the news of his death.
His family died on the day Jiang Yuan went to the club. Jiang Yuan 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 begins to drink and abuse himself. 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, and has become a huge piece of shit in the history of substitute literature.
It was not just Jiang Yuanshi who was overwhelmed. The readers who followed the novel in the first place also followed it. The author's sudden and outrageous actions were as if his brain had been sucked out by Fu Shou Lu, which caused public dissatisfaction and a flood of low scores and criticisms. The author secretly changed the copy during this period, making it a story where the protagonist and Bai Yueguang have a happy ending, and the substitute 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, the novel began to malfunction in the middle and late stages, resulting in insufficient willpower and difficulty in running the world. He was thrown into the Book-Traveling Bureau. After experiencing many failures of the host to run the world according to the plot development, the conclusion was drawn - as the protagonist, Jiang Yuan must survive to the end, otherwise the world will collapse.
Finally, the article was sent to the patch department of Chuanshuju, which is mainly responsible for repairing 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 survive 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 has 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 distributed 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 restart the game, which is equivalent to having no save file.
Jiang Yuanshi had another question: "Can I hit him?"
System: "No, host, 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 rewound."
“Is there a penalty for failure?”
"Yes, backtrack 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 story, returning to the starting point is the greatest punishment."
Jiang Yuanshi said "Ah" in understanding, "That's right."
For some reason, the system always felt that the sickly and well-behaved face of the host through the spiritual body of the host was a little inconsistent with the bland tone at the moment, but it was not a big problem. After screening, the host selected was always the most obedient and well-behaved.
The system continued to follow the process, "Host, please advance the plot as quickly as possible."
Jiang Yuanshi had just woken up from the first world, and in less than ten minutes, 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 until 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, and then turned away and left.
Since the plot was glossed over briefly, and no one knew what the other party did during the period, Jiang Yuanshi chose to take it one step at a time. As the person who could take Bai Yueguang to the grave in the ending, 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 hung up, 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. My friends were beaten badly by you."
elder brother?
The system prompted in the mind: "Host, this is the following text. Please read the summary carefully before the mission."
But who can 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 me first, so it's understandable that I hit them. But you should be more careful next time. Look at what you've done."
Jiang Yuan struggled to avoid Gu Zhi's outstretched hand. Gu Zhi paused, his expression unchanged, still smiling. "It's normal for brother to be angry. After all, brother is indeed a substitute, but this doesn't 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 had a calm expression on his face, but he was deeply shocked inside.
"So what do you want to say, brother? Oh, I forgot that brother can't speak now, then 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 at 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. It is 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 peppered him with questions, finally converging into one sentence, "Or are those two people so important to you that they don't even care about you being a stand-in?"
What else?
Wasn't I the only reason I became your stand-in to get money for your medical treatment?
Jiang Yuanshi was speechless.
Gu Zhi seemed to have broken his defense, and he inexplicably grasped Jiang Yuan's hand, while using his other hand to forcefully press his neck and 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, and the strength in his hands became stronger and stronger.
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.
[Detected that the character's health is about to be reduced to zero... Mission failed, will be rewound in 3 seconds, please be prepared.]
"Brother, are you saying something? ...Brother, what's wrong with you?"
Of course he's 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. Does the host need to use the Willpower Redemption Function Card as an emergency measure? The current Willpower given is 10, which is too low and not recommended."
Jiang Yuanshi caught his breath and ignored the system's words: "Wait a minute, does this count as a character collapse for Gu Zhi? I remember the copywriting not having attributes like yandere and violence. Is there any in the original text?"
The system was unprepared for the other party's reaction and crashed for a moment before responding: "Testing... The original report shows that this character has no violent tendencies or yandere attributes. After analysis, there are deviations in the character's personality design, which may be a bug. It is being reported and repaired. 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 pinched him again because he was too excited. Jiang Yuanshi could not move and could not resist.
[Repair completed, bug fixes, compensation of 10 willpower points, will be credited soon, countdown to 10, 9...]
It's the countdown again.
【8, 7】
Jiang Yuanshi failed in his second mission.
【6, 5】
The world line is rewinding...
【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 man's neck, and his bandaged hands revealed fingertips that were 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 "thump", the thing fell to the ground, still breathing.
"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 energy and arm strength to pinch your neck with one hand, and I feel sore after holding it up for a long time.
Jiang Yuanshi had just finished saying that when a notification 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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