017’s consciousness had not fully awakened when he received a harsh kick to his abdomen.
Then came a dull pain that felt like flesh being pulled.
It hurt.
【System.】017 frowned, 【It hurts.】
【Endure it.】 The system's response was colder than its icy electronic voice.
017 looked around to see his current environment: a dirty and damp corner of an alley.
He was lying on the ground, his back pressed against a sticky, greasy surface. 017 shuddered.
He hated dirty places.
The person who had just kicked him stepped on 017's right shoulder and spat on him. “Stupid kid!”
“Serves you right for stealing my stuff!”
017 squinted in pain but made an effort to open his eyes and see the person.
A very fat middle-aged man, his body a mass of flesh, was in pain from having stepped on him.
So he had stolen something.
【How did I steal something?】 017 endured the pain and said, 【Oh, then I deserve to be beaten.】
System: 【……】
【It wasn't you, it was the original host.】 The tone remained cold, with a hint of barely perceptible dejection.
The system didn’t understand what the main god was thinking. Why assign it a tasker with no memories at all?
No memories, unable to even recall his own name, only a number—017.
It sighed and assigned 017 his first task.
The body that 017 currently inhabited was called Ji Mian, a tragic male supporting character in this world.
Ji Mian was the product of his parents’ forbidden love. The year he was born, both of his parents were only eighteen years old.
In their youth, they loved each other fiercely, as if all the world's rules were obstacles to their vows of love.
They disregarded their family’s objections and insisted on giving birth to Ji Mian.
However, when Ji Mian was five, this couple, after enduring many arguments and the monotony of life, found their love extinguished without surprise.
Ji Mian became a burden, a ball that his biological parents kicked around, with one person kicking him one way, and another kicking him the other.
No one wanted Ji Mian, this unnecessary burden.
Kicked around like a ball, one quiet night, the one kicking finally ran away—Ji Mian's mother cut off all contact, abandoning her husband along with Ji Mian.
A year later, Ji Mian’s father started a new family and quickly had another child. Thus, in this new home, Ji Mian once again became an annoying burden, worse off than before.
In his new home, he began to go hungry. Slowly, Ji Mian learned to steal.
He stole at six.
He stole at ten.
By the age of fifteen, he was still stealing.
He dropped out of school in his second year of junior high because his family couldn’t afford the tuition. Not only had he wasted his means of survival, but also the spirit of striving upward was entirely wasted.
All Ji Mian knew how to do was steal.
But when he was six years old and stole, the other party could only look at Ji Mian with eyes filled with love and sympathy. Not only were they not angry about being stolen from, but they also felt moved, believing that their loss had saved a poor child.
—
At ten years old, when he stole, the most the other person would do was spit and curse at Ji Mian, calling him a worthless brat who was born of a mother but raised without one, before cursing and turning back to mind their own business.
But by the time he was fifteen and still stealing, it went like this:
“Grandpa’s!”
017 received another kick, trembling all over, feeling like his ribs might break.
[System, it still hurts so much.] 017 sighed, feeling his insides churning with discomfort.
The system silently transmitted Ji Mian’s memories to him.
At sixteen, Ji Mian’s life welcomed an important turning point.
He sought refuge with a powerful “brother” in the neighboring district. This brother was young, resourceful, and had guts. The local thugs didn’t dare to cause trouble on his turf.
As long as someone was known to be under the brother's wing, nobody dared to provoke them.
The brother also had a foster sister, who became everyone’s “big sister.”
Her name was Mu Yuman, and she was the most important person in Ji Mian’s life.
Mu Yuman was gentle and kind, treating everyone with genuine goodwill, and she was also exceptionally beautiful. Even towards someone like Ji Mian, who was scorned by all, she would still smile at him.
The youthful heartbeat was enduring, a shock that could move mountains. Ji Mian fell deeply in love with Mu Yuman and silently watched over her for years thereafter.
[Mu Yuman is the female lead in this world, and the female lead is destined to be with the male lead. Ji Mian never had any possibility with her from the beginning.] said the system, [Your task this time is to play the role of this devoted male supporting character, fall in love with Mu Yuman, and then quietly protect her for a few years. Once you’ve collected enough emotional points and the male and female leads are together, you can log off and exit.]
The time taken to accept the memories was long, and the man who had just beaten up 017 had already taken his stolen wallet, cursing as he walked away.
017 lay still on the ground, feeling the sharp pain of his wounds, and said, “Alright.”
017 temporarily had a name: Ji Mian.
—
It was unclear how long had passed, but Ji Mian felt the sharp pain of his wounds shift to a numb, throbbing ache before he slowly managed to sit up.
According to the original owner's memories, there was a bridge tunnel nearby where many of his “good brothers” often came by.
He planned to head there first to find something to eat.
He leaned against the wall and walked slowly, unsteadily making his way out of the dark alley.
Once on the street, although it was still run-down, at least it was bright, and the surrounding shops had clean windows.
Ji Mian felt a bit more at ease. He could endure the pain but couldn’t tolerate the dirt.
On the street, it seemed many people recognized him, casting disdainful glances. Some even laughed mockingly while covering their pockets, as if provoking him: “Why don’t you come steal from me?”
Ji Mian turned back and continued forward.
He caught a blurry outline of himself in the display window of a clothing store: a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy.
Dressed in mismatched counterfeit black-and-white clothes, combined with several “big brands,” it was hard to say whether it looked cheap or trendy. He had curly, messy brown hair, and his pupils were also brown, resembling amber—the only bright and clean part about him.
Upon closer inspection, his face was quite handsome, showing a bit of youthful innocence. But at that moment, it was smeared with dark, muddy water—who knew what kind of water it was? Ji Mian could only think positively. Muddy water was the only acceptable answer for him at the moment.
Even the back of his black-and-white shirt was stained with an unknown dark substance. Ji Mian knew that it was from lying on the ground in the alley just now.
This was definitely not mud.
Ji Mian started to feel unwell again.
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