The man sighed and said, “I haven’t asked you yet. How did you suddenly come down with such a high fever? I know, with the Immortal Alliance Conference approaching, you’re eager for your disciple to succeed and have been pushing hard. But with the foundation and reputation our Little Heavenly Palace has now, even if we don’t send a single person to the conference this time, it’s unlikely anyone would dare question us. Why bother caring about such empty fame?”

David Sullivan felt more and more uneasy as he listened. Why did these words sound so familiar?

No, why did this whole setup feel so familiar?

Next, the man’s earnest words finally confirmed his suspicions.

“Junior Brother Qingqiu, are you listening to your senior brother?”

At that moment, with a “ding,” that mechanical, Google-Translate-like voice from the dream sounded again.

【System activation successful! Binding character: Master of Luo Binghe, Peak Lord of Qingjing Peak, Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, ‘John Sullivan’. Weapon: Xiuyajian. Initial B-Score: 100.】

“Damn, damn, damn, what the hell are you? Why does it sound like you’re speaking directly in my head? And what’s with this instant sense of ‘Proud Immortal Demon Way’ settings?”

Of course, David Sullivan didn’t say this out loud, but the voice quickly responded.

【You have triggered the system execution command and are now bound to the account ‘John Sullivan’.】

【As the plot unfolds, multiple indices will gradually unlock. Please ensure that none of the indices fall below zero. Otherwise, the system will automatically administer punishment.】

Stop. Enough. David Sullivan was sure now.

He had been reborn.

Reborn into a dark, harem-style novel he’d just finished reading—and even complained about. And he came with some kind of weird system. John Sullivan quickly accepted this fact.

He was the male lead’s scumbag master who was doomed to die, John Sullivan. This… uh, the situation was a bit complicated.

The man beside him was the current sect leader of the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect, John Sullivan’s senior brother, “Xuan Su Sword” Thomas Baker. Holy crap.

David Sullivan specifically “holy crapped” at Thomas Baker for a major reason—in the original work, Thomas Baker was killed by his good junior brother John Sullivan’s own hand!

And he died a horrible death!

Riddled with arrows, not even a corpse left!

Now, this victim’s face was showing concern to him, the “murderer”—the pressure was immense!

But looking at things now, the plot clearly hadn’t reached that point yet. Thomas Baker was still perfectly fine, which meant John Sullivan hadn’t yet been exposed as a hypocrite or fallen from grace.

Thomas Baker was just a nice guy, nothing scary about him. David Sullivan had actually liked this character when reading the book. As he relaxed a little, a line of text eerily floated into his mind.

【…In the pitch-black room, an iron chain hung from the beam. At the end of the chain was a metal ring. The ring was fastened around a person’s waist—if that could still be called a ‘person’. This ‘person’ was disheveled and filthy, like a madman. The most terrifying thing was, all four of his limbs had been severed. On his shoulders and thighs, there were only four bare stumps of flesh. If touched, he would let out a hoarse ‘ah ah’ sound. His tongue had also been forcibly ripped out, so he couldn’t utter a complete word.】

↑ A choice excerpt from “Proud Immortal Demon Way”—John Sullivan’s ending.

David Sullivan, no, John Sullivan, lowered his head and held his forehead.

Who was he to lament anyone else’s tragic death? He was the one who died the worst!

He absolutely could not make a fatal mistake!

He had to nip any trouble in the bud before it happened!

From now on, he would cling to the male lead’s thigh for dear life!

He would be a devoted, gentle, and caring mentor and friend, showing concern and care at every turn!

Just as this thought popped up, a long string of alarm sounds suddenly exploded in John Sullivan’s mind, like a hundred police cars wailing past, making his whole body jolt as he clutched his head in pain.

Thomas Baker immediately asked with concern, “Junior Brother, does your head still hurt?”

John Sullivan gritted his teeth and didn’t answer. The system sharply warned: 【Warning. Your recent intention was extremely dangerous. This is a violation—do not attempt it, or the system will automatically administer punishment.】

“Where’s the violation?”

【You are currently at the initial level. OOC function is frozen. You must complete the beginner stage tasks before it can be unlocked. Before then, any action that violates the original ‘John Sullivan’ character setting will result in a deduction of points.】

As a semi-otaku, John Sullivan had occasionally read some fan works before, so of course he knew what OOC meant. It’s the abbreviation for “out of character”—literally, it means character collapse, not matching the original personality.

“…So, before that function is unlocked, everything I do has to stay within the bounds of what ‘John Sullivan’ would do?”

【Correct understanding.】

They’d already had him reborn into John Sullivan’s shell, so why bother with OOC details at this point?

John Sullivan asked again, “You just said… the indices can’t fall below zero. What happens if they do?”

【You will be automatically sent back to your original world.】

The original world? But in the original world, David Sullivan’s physical body was already dead.

In other words, if those points were all deducted, what awaited him was: death!

Then what if I just ignore the male lead and do nothing? That should be fine, right?