On Earth
A young man lay sprawled on his bed, phone in hand, eyes glued to the screen with a look of mounting vexation.
He muttered to himself, each breath carrying more irritation than the last. His expression was almost comically exaggerated—more interesting than those hentai loli's.
Any sensible onlooker might assume he was watching some ridiculous Mommy ASMR or clickbait video, but in truth he was reading a fanfic on the WebNovel app. A Battle Through the Heavens fanfic, of all things.
"Is this author hopelessly obtuse?" he spat under his breath. "The MC refined the Rank-14 Heavenly Flame, the Fallen Flame — when he was still a 3-star Dou Practitioner, but after refinement his cultivation only rose by 5-star reaching 8-star Dou Disciple? How does that make sense? "
"In the original, Xiao Yan went from a high-level Dou Ling to peak Dou Wang, yet here the increase is laughably trivial. If I were the writer I would've at least made him a 1-star Grand Dou Master (Da Dou Shi)."
His face flushed red from speaking so fast,his breath came quick and ragged. He scrolled, his frustration compounding by each scroll. "And don't get me started on the translation quality, dude MTL would be more accurate than this shit."
Does he not know the difference between Dou Practitioner and Dou Disciple? He wrote that MC increased five stars but went from a 3-star Dou Practitioner to an 8-star Dou Disciple? How can cultivation regress after refining a Heavenly Flame? Cultivating backward?"
After a few more exasperated comments, he forced himself to finish the chapter. Then, ritualistically, he left a one-star review and opened the reviews to release his frustration.
There were only five reviews. Adding his would make six. He read the other five before posting.
First review by iloveloli69 (5★): "harem harem harem harem harem harem harem harem harem harem harem 🤗"
The young man snorted to himself. "Ugh—these goons again." He calmed quickly, clearly these kinds of comment was not unfamiliar to him.
Second review by CulturedPractitioner99 (4★): "Raw name?"
A wistful pity softened his scowl.
"Why does this fellow still beg for raws of a fic that makes no sense? Its been two years and he keeps asking." Disgustful of the first comment and oddly sympathetic toward the second, he decided not to read the remaining three.
Oh pardon my ignorance. Our dear MC; I should introduce him properly: our protagonist is nameless in this account, but he is an crazy BTTH fan — a beastly consumer of almost every fanfic tagged with that universe. Yet he was perpetually dissatisfied. Most fanfic authors, he believed, wrote with half-formed brains; they couldn't even make their MCs use their systems efficiently.
He'd seen absurdities: an MC handing out a single pill to his entire harem and every woman instantly breaking through to Dou Zong, irrespective of their prior foundation.
He adored system-based stories in which the systems behaved logically. He loathed MCs who relied too much on their golden finger.
I mean whats the difference betwen you: A time traveller and a dou qi continent native MC, if you are not going to use your previous life's knownledge in dou qi continent.
Having exhausted the usual fanfics, he searched for something more wholesome, something with sensible systems. He found a novel and tapped to open it.
"Ding—congratulations, Host, for signing with a system. Reward: Diddy's Spotify playlist."
He stared at the line, incredulity curdling into fury. "What has become of this world? Have all good authors abandoned this world?"
Rage surged and, to his own astonishment, he fainted.
How long he lay unconscious he did not know. When he woke up, he was no longer in his room.
"I got kidnapped?" he blurted, voice trembling. Panicked, he imagined the worst.
"Am I about to die?
' I'm not 'the chosen one'?
"If I die here, what about Truck-kun?" (He mouthed the absurd joke and felt ridiculous.) There was nothing on him or his family worth a ransom; death seemed likely.
A deep, ancient laugh halted his spiraling thoughts.
"Hahaha. Calm yourself, boy. I'm not a kidnapper."
The voice belonged to a man who seemed thrice the boy's size. Relief and fear warred within him.
"But you're still going to die," the man added with an oddly mischievous grin.
Tears welled up. 'My Truck-kun, I'm sorry,' the boy thought, ridiculous and real all at once.
"Since I'm about to die, at least tell me who you are.... are you god?," the boy asked, resignation heavy in his tone. There was no point resisting someone so large.
"Haha, I am no god "
"though to mortals like you, god or I are no different; we both can crush you with just a thought."the man said.
"If you want an origin story then I was born from the combined frustration and hatred of you and fellow btth fanfic readers on your world."
"So you're sending me somewhere?" The boy's mind clung to the one sensible possibility: transmigration.
"Yes. I will send you to the Dou Qi Continent. There you will live the life your reader-heart has been drafting; you will rely upon your own intellect and talents, not merely a system as a crutch. Your task is to satisfy fellow fanfic readers."
A sieve of questions filtered through the boy's thoughts. 'Why me?'
"You are the chosen one," the man answered before the boy could speak. "You represent the collective desire of BTTH readers. You hate bad translators and lazy authors more than most. Also… frankly, nobody would miss you very much if you vanished. Perfect candidate."
The boy's face went still. "I understand. I'll take the mission — leave this world. Life is… not spectacular here. But what about a system? Will I have a golden finger?"
The man smiled, enigmatic. "Yes. You will have a system, though unconventional. Your duty is to satisfy readers whose tastes diverge wildly: some crave harems, some prefer loyalty, some crave ruthlessness. One single system cannot placate them all."
"So multiple systems?" the boy guessed, sharp as ever.
"Something similar to that, though not exactly." The man's tone went brisk. "Go now—"
"How can I return?" the boy cut in, panic resurfacing. He had family, and investments — trivial, but real. He wanted to know if his crypto bet would crash or soar high.
"Simple. Satisfy at least seventy percent of the readers with the story you craft."
"If you please them on Day One, you return on Day One. If not, even if you ascend to Dou Di, you may never come back. Still, a win-win: if you're stuck, make a harem and enjoy the life."
That was… not a terrible proposition.
"Enough talk. Go."
Darkness, blacker than any future he dared imagine, swallowed him.
The nameless young man transmigrated to the Dou Qi Continent.
Chapter End~