A dark, cramped room.
"Manni, I gave up the entire Xu Family for you, please don't abandon me!" Xu Mo shouted with all his might.
In contrast to his outward anxiety, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
As if long anticipated, an agonizing pain shot through his heart!
A sharp military dagger had pierced his heart.
With a thud, he collapsed to the ground, his death unlike that of most people!
Xu Mo was absolutely thrilled inside.
"Thank God! This ridiculous plot is finally over."
His life force rapidly drained away.
His pupils gradually dimmed.
Xu Mo knew that this ending signaled a brand new beginning!
Soon after, the darkness began to fade.
Xu Mo slowly opened his eyes, his face filled with excitement and elation.
But when he recognized the familiar spacious office, he was utterly dumbfounded!
"You damn system, are you screwing with me?"
It felt like ten thousand curses were stampeding through Xu Mo's mind.
The system's cold, mechanical voice sounded in his ear.
[Host, apologies for the program error!]
"So what do we do now?" Xu Mo asked irritably.
[Please replay the plot from the beginning.]
"Are you out of your mind?! Do I look crazy to you? Once was bad enough, and now you want me to do it again?"
Xu Mo was completely losing it!
That's right, he wasn't just a transmigrator, but a reincarnator too!
Even more absurdly, he had transmigrated into a novel called "Urban Dragon King's Return."
Of course, he wasn't the protagonist, but rather the villain of the story, which is why Xu Mo was so resistant to this plot!
The basic premise of the book was that a little boy living in an orphanage had to flee abroad for certain reasons.
A miserable loser in his home country, he randomly joined a mercenary group after going abroad for over a decade.
After lying low for a few years, he became an elite soldier, then continued to bide his time for a few more years until he became a war god above ten thousand men!
He then single-handedly established the Dragon King Hall, earning him the additional title of Dragon King!
As for how exactly this transformation occurred, the hack author glossed over the details.
In short, the protagonist's identity, status, and abilities were incredibly formidable!
The main storyline involved him returning to develop his home country and seeking revenge on the murderer of his second uncle, Lin Yuan.
By chance, he encountered the female lead Shen Manni, who was exceptionally beautiful.
He then helped her escape the clutches of the book's sycophantic villain, Xu Mo!
From there, he continued to play dumb while hiding his true abilities, surrounded by beautiful women and incredible opportunities.
It was the ultimate power fantasy.
The hack author would simply ignore any plot holes or inconsistencies, as long as the readers found it entertaining.
After all, it was just a mindless wish-fulfillment novel, so why bother with tight logic?
But this put Xu Mo in a difficult position, since he was the villain of the story!
"System, stop messing around. If there's a program error, hurry up and fix it!"
"I have no intention of playing out this idiotic plot like some live-action role-playing game."
Xu Mo's stance was crystal clear!
[This time, we'll reward the host with a cheat ability to help reduce the suffering experienced in the plot]
Hearing this, Xu Mo nodded silently.
At least the damn system was being somewhat reasonable for once.
He wasn't a masochist after all - getting beaten up still hurt!
[Criticize the plot to earn rewards]
[You only need to mentally criticize the plot's setup to randomly receive rewards at irregular intervals]
Criticize the plot?
Now that was something he could do!
Xu Mo had been dying to tear into this garbage storyline. It might be a power fantasy for others, but for him personally, it was a morally bankrupt novel.
In the book, Xu Mo's character was set up as a super-rich second-generation heir from an official family.
His father was in politics, while his mother was a business queen in Magic City!
His personal wealth dwarfed that of the world's richest families in his previous life.
His publicly known assets were worth trillions.
There were also numerous undisclosed properties not factored in - if everything was tallied up, his wealth could rival that of entire nations.
The novel's world was quite different from reality.
As mentioned earlier, this novel was set up as a power fantasy, and no matter how wealthy Xu Mo the villain was, he was ultimately just a stepping stone for the protagonist.
Xu Mo himself couldn't understand why his character in the original novel would abandon his status as a super-rich young master to become the female lead's pathetic admirer.
Then the female lead would act all high and mighty, as if he owed her something.
The protagonist would use this opportunity to emerge as Xu Mo's enemy.
Xu Mo's heart was a jumble of emotions. After processing for a moment, he asked, "System, which chapter of the book are we in now?"
[In response to the host, it's-]
"Damn it! No wonder I found myself in the office. System, you should have told me this earlier - I'm about to miss Shen Manni getting off work!"
Xu Mo cursed irritably.
He quickly tidied up his clothes and headed out.
Leaving his office, various employees addressed him as "Young Master Xu" along the way.
Xu Mo merely nodded slightly and entered the executive elevator.
Soon, he arrived at the underground parking garage.
He got into his flashy red Ferrari 488.
A beautifully packaged diamond ring box was already placed on the Ferrari 488's passenger seat.
It looked dazzling and impressive on the outside, but inside was just a fake plastic diamond ring that could be bought for a few bucks on any street corner.
After all, he knew Shen Manni wouldn't accept it anyway, so why bother with something expensive?
If Shen Manni did accept it, that would be the real headache!
After adjusting his attire slightly, Xu Mo drove to the female lead's company building.
Magic City Financial Street - every inch of land here was worth its weight in gold. You'd feel out of place just window shopping without a hefty wallet.
The flashy red Ferrari 488 pulled up in front of a CBD high-rise.
Xu Mo glanced at his Jaeger-LeCoultre Master watch. "Perfect timing."
He then opened the car door and stepped out with the exquisite diamond ring gift box.
"Sir, parking is not allowed here... Oh... Young Master Xu?"
A security guard had come over intending to ask Xu Mo to move his car to the parking lot.
But upon recognizing Xu Mo, he immediately shut his mouth.
A nobody like him was far beneath Xu Mo's notice.
Whether he kept his job or not hinged on a single word from someone like Xu Mo.
"You're just in time. Help me park the car." Xu Mo tossed the sports car keys to the guard, knowing he could drive such a vehicle.
The security guard froze, staring dumbfounded at the sports car keys in his hand, completely bewildered.
With cameras everywhere and the car's GPS tracking, Xu Mo wasn't worried about it being stolen.
Xu Mo strode directly into the building. Soon, a graceful figure appeared before him!