I am the villain in the book

In the room, Wei Changtian and Xu Qingwan sat facing each other.

Sandalwood incense burned on the huanghuali low table, its faint blue smoke constantly drifting, like a fish gliding between their sleeves.

“I originally wanted to come last night.”

Xu Qingwan’s face was a little pale: “But after you woke up, Lord Wei sent someone to tell me to rest and recover, so I only came to see you today.”

“What’s there to see? I’m not going to die anyway.”

Wei Changtian waved his hand happily, but the movement was a bit too big, and he immediately hissed, “Damn it!”

Xu Qingwan was stunned, and couldn't help but laugh: “You didn’t cry out in pain when you were like that yesterday, why are you so intolerant of pain now?”

“I…”

Wei Changtian originally wanted to explain what adrenaline was, but after thinking about it, the concept was too advanced, so he just shook his head: “I couldn’t care about the pain in that situation.”

“……”

Hearing this, the smile on Xu Qingwan’s face suddenly disappeared.

She clenched her hands tightly, and after a long while, she raised her head and said softly: “I’m sorry…”

“If I hadn’t insisted on getting closer to check that statue, you wouldn’t have been so badly injured…”

Except for the time in the Zhang residence’s treasury, Xu Qingwan rarely spoke so softly, so it could be seen that she was really very guilty at the moment.

Wei Changtian had already expected her to apologize to him, so he comforted her casually: “It’s not your fault, after all, no one knew there was a ape demon at the time.”

Xu Qingwan bit her lip lightly: “But if I had been more vigilant, I wouldn’t have been injured by the ape demon, and we three wouldn’t have almost lost our lives.”

“Aren’t we all fine now?”

Wei Changtian smiled and said: “It’s just lying in bed for a few more days, just treat it as a rest.”

“It’s because you were there that nothing happened, otherwise…”

Xu Qingwan didn’t continue immediately, after hesitating for a long time, she looked into Wei Changtian’s eyes and finally asked the question she had wanted to ask for a long time.

“You, you… why did you save me back then?”

“Ahem, look at what you’re saying.”

Wei Changtian pretended to be heroic and said: “We are colleagues, how could I just watch you be slapped to death by a monster?”

Colleagues…

Xu Qingwan felt a burst of sadness in her heart, and whispered in protest: “But you risked your life to save me…”

“Risked my life?”

Looking down at the tip of her shoes, recalling the figure who stood in front of her with a knife.

She suddenly asked a question on a whim.

“If you didn’t have that inner armor… would you still have saved me back then?”

“……”

The sandalwood incense burned out, and the long ash finally fell into the gilded incense burner, splashing up a small cloud of ash.

No, why do women like to ask this kind of question??

Don’t they know the answer themselves?

Why do they have to make things awkward?

Sigh…

Wei Changtian sighed helplessly in his heart.

If it were Lu Jingyao asking at this time, he would definitely answer without hesitation with two words— “No.”

As for Xu Qingwan…

“Centurion Xu, this ‘what if’ is meaningless.”

He didn’t say “I would” against his will, nor did he directly say “No,” but used a more euphemistic statement.

But the meaning was very clear.

Wei Changtian noticed that Xu Qingwan, who never wore makeup, seemed to have put on a little lipstick today, her thin lips trembling slightly.

However, her makeup skills were obviously not very good, barely covering up the paleness of her lips due to her injury.

Judging from this… she probably went to buy rouge specifically today, right?

When he thought of the scene of this silly woman standing awkwardly among a group of noble ladies, picking out lipstick with great restraint, Wei Changtian was a little dumbfounded.

At this time, Xu Qingwan seemed to have returned to normal and slowly stood up.

“Young Master Wei, I’m going back.”

“I will definitely repay you for saving my life one day.”

“……”

One call of “Centurion Xu,” one call of “Young Master Wei.”

The distance between the two seemed to be suddenly widened at this moment.

Wei Changtian didn’t speak, just nodded lightly.

He knew that if he had given a different answer just now, the result might have been completely different.

However, he didn’t want to lie to Xu Qingwan on this kind of question, and wanted to remind himself—to survive in this world, one must not be overwhelmed by emotions.

At any time, one’s own interests should be the top priority, especially when it comes to core interests related to life.

Wei Changtian was determined to thoroughly implement this principle, but Xu Qingwan, who was about to walk to the door, suddenly turned around and said one last sentence softly.

“I would really be satisfied with that ten percent.”

“Ten percent?”

Wei Changtian was stunned, and soon understood what Xu Qingwan meant.

A 90% probability of not dying meant that his pounce yesterday still had a 10% risk of death…

After a long while, a bitter smile echoed in the room.

“Alas, it seems that I still can’t really be completely cold-hearted…”

……

……

Five days later.

“Whoosh whoosh! Bang!”

“Huff…”

Wei Changtian retracted his left leg and stood firm, slowly pressing his hands from top to bottom to his dantian. He let out a long breath and finished a set of broadcast calisthenics.

There was no other way, he had not yet started practicing boxing and leg techniques, and he had long forgotten the military boxing he learned during military training in his previous life. Only the broadcast calisthenics could still be barely remembered.

“Clap clap clap clap!”

Wei Qiaoling clapped while eating snacks, seemingly quite interested in this seemingly peculiar set of exercises.

“Big brother, do it again!”

“Eat yours.”

Wei Changtian rolled his eyes and silently felt his physical condition.

The problem wasn’t too big, he had recovered about 70-80%, but it would still take some time to fully recover.

Alas, an ape demon made him lie in bed for five days. This lesson was profound!

However, the misinformation was beyond his control. If he had to find the reason within himself… it was still because his strength was too weak.

Although Wei Changtian now won more than he lost in arena fights, he had never won against experts with higher cultivation levels than himself.

Such combat power was at most at the middle to upper level of the same realm, let alone compared to Xiao Feng.

Therefore, he must continue to seize the time to improve his strength.

Finding a way to quickly raise his cultivation level was one aspect, but techniques were equally important.

For example, that ape demon, if he had mastered one or two battle techniques with great lethality at that time, he probably wouldn’t have ended up like this.

Thinking of this, Wei Changtian didn’t delay and immediately set off to the “Martial Pavilion” in the Wei residence.

A three-story stone tower, not too big, but guarded by an unknown number of guards and retainers both openly and secretly.

Wei Changtian had passed by several times before, but today was the first time he actually entered it.

He originally thought that the scene he would see would be greatly shocking, but the reality disappointed him greatly.

At least the first floor was like this.

Five or six rows of black wooden shelves were unremarkable, with various “secret manuals” placed on them.

Some were paper, some were made of bamboo tubes, and some were engraved on stone tablets… At first glance, they were messy and it was hard to believe that they were anything good.

He picked up a thin booklet that had turned yellow and glanced at the cover.

“Primal Chaos Thunderbolt Hand”

What a terrible name, it sounds bad.

Wei Changtian curled his lips and threw the book back. He was about to go to the second floor to take a look, but suddenly stopped and opened the system interface uncertainly.

Not long after, the expression on his face began to change slowly, and his mouth grew wider and wider.

[Primal Chaos Thunderbolt Hand: Palm Technique (Earth Grade), uses the palm as a blade, the moves are extremely fast, and can break waterfalls with bare hands, 250 points]

“Gulp ~”

Wei Changtian repeatedly confirmed the introduction in the system and the words written on the first page of the booklet just now, and then looked around at the various secret manuals, which numbered nearly a hundred, and couldn’t help swallowing…

Well, system… do you have a recycling function?