The Vanguard!

Lin Feng read the novel for nine years. He hated it. He argued with it. He even left hundreds of comments no one answered. He knew every major plot turn and every character the story decided was expendable. He also knew how it ended for him. When Lin Feng wakes up transmigrated into that same novel as a minor villain, he remembers exactly what the plot demands. In eight years, he is supposed to die. Not alone. The people who stood by him are meant to follow soon after. One leaves a suicide note. Another writes that she doesn’t want to live a second longer without him. Their deaths are treated as acceptable losses so the real protagonist can move forward. The protagonist has a system. The world bends to protect him. Everything else exists to be used and discarded. Lin Feng has no system. What he has is memory, resentment, and a clear understanding of how those deaths are supposed to happen. He decides they are unacceptable. By avoiding the spotlight, interfering early, and changing events long before they reach the point of no return, Lin Feng turns himself into a variable the story was never built to handle. Every deviation carries risk. Every choice he makes draws attention. But if the narrative demands that everyone who cared about him dies quietly to preserve a hero’s rise, then the narrative itself is the problem. A transmigration story about survival, shared fate, and refusing to accept an ending where love is treated as collateral damage. Author’s Note: First published on Royal Road, with simultaneous releases on ScribbleHub and WebNovel on December 24, 2025. AI assists with drafting and research, while all story direction, characters, and final edits are by the author.