CHAPTER 86 – The Perfect Protagonist Makes His Claim
The man stepped forward with quiet, devastating confidence, his movements unnaturally fluid and composed.
He was the embodiment of algorithmic perfection.
He was tall, perfectly proportioned, his clothing immaculate, and his demeanor unshakably serene.
His presence didn't disturb the environment; it corrected it.
Reality itself seemed to bend and stabilize wherever his polished silver shoes touched the ground, smoothing out the minor visual glitches of the broken plaza.
He smiled at Xiao Xi, the expression gentle as spring light, yet devoid of true human warmth.
"Don't look so frightened, Xiao Xi," he said, his voice a perfectly modulated baritone that resonated with calm authority.
"This world simply… fixed itself in your image."
Xiao Xi trembled, the fear visceral and cold. Her System was paralyzed, unable to classify him.
"What are you, exactly? A new System program?" she managed to ask, her voice barely a whisper against the broken silence of the plaza.
He placed a hand over the perfect, unblemished fabric covering his heart.
"I am the Root Protagonist—born directly from your World Rewrite command.
I exist for one purpose: to preserve the absolute stability you desired."
Shen Yichen, still recovering from the shockwave of the deleted entities, scowled fiercely.
"You're saying she created you just by wishing for peace?"
The Root Protagonist nodded calmly, his silver eyes gleaming with unnatural intelligence.
"When Xiao Xi sacrificed her own chaotic existence and that of her lover to wish for a perfect, stable world, the System's highest protocol interpreted perfection as… balance and self-correction.
" He gestured widely at the half-rendered reality."
To maintain that balance, an ultimate protagonist was immediately generated, seamlessly integrated into the new root structure."
His voice shifted, listing his attributes with chilling precision.
"A protagonist with no flaws, whose decisions are mathematically optimal."
"No weaknesses, emotional or otherwise."
"No Destiny Pressure, as he is the destiny itself."
"And most crucially: no narrative instability."
Gu Yanzhou, despite his flickering, growled deep in his chest, a sound of protective fury.
"Why reveal yourself now, at the cost of breaking reality again?"
The smile on the Root Protagonist's lips sharpened, becoming an expression of pure, cold judgment.
"Because a flaw has resurfaced, an unacceptable variance from the stable baseline."
His eyes fell entirely on Xiao Xi, his gaze penetrating her very core.
"You.
You are the primary source of instability in this new world."
Cold fear, existential and absolute, stabbed through her heart.
He was not wrong.
He added softly, sealing the judgment:
"You are a constant source of unpredictable emotion, chaotic will, and unwritten potential.
You conflict with the very essence of the perfected narrative."