The System Wants Me to Win Over the Overpowered Protagonist - Chapter 1

*Annihilation of the Nine Desolations* was a classic male-oriented progression fantasy.

Its hero, Situ Qianyin, began as a clan outcast with a shattered core and impure spiritual roots. Scorned by his family and mocked by the world, he clawed his way through adversity, awakened a heaven-defying gift, and embarked on the usual glorious campaign of slapping faces, defeating monsters, and crushing everyone who had ever looked down on him. In the end, he stood supreme above all others.

One moment, I had been happily reading about him pounding villains and kicking cannon fodder aside. The next, I had fallen straight into the novel.

I wasn’t even important enough to be cannon fodder. At best, I was part of the scenery.

The body’s original owner shared my name: Nan Xu.

He was a little white dragon born in the Northern Sea of the Nine Desolations. Untalented and sickly from childhood, he was far weaker than the other dragons his age. Because he was of no use to his clan, they cast him out soon after he came of age.

In that respect, his circumstances resembled Situ Qianyin’s.

The difference was that “Nan Xu” wasn’t the hero. He had no script promising him a glorious comeback.

After being expelled from his clan, he found a place to hide and lived as cautiously as he could, constantly harassed and bullied by sea beasts and monsters. Life was hard for a little white dragon all alone in the world.

His presence in the novel was even more pitiful. He appeared exactly once, solely to emphasize the ferocity of Situ Qianyin’s battle.

【Situ Qianyin brought down his sword. A wave ten thousand feet high reared over the sea as countless beasts shrieked along its crest and were hurled into the sky. The weak little white dragon, unable to escape in time, fainted on the spot.】

So when a system inexplicably bound itself to me and ordered me to win over the novel’s invincible hero, I was both shocked and baffled.

Was this some kind of joke?

I was a worthless little dragon with mediocre cultivation, the sort even passing fish and shrimp could mock. How could I possibly win the heart of the most outrageously powerful man in the book?

Worse, I had arrived near the middle-to-late part of the story. Situ Qianyin had already survived the grueling stages of his rise and become a renowned overlord.

“I can’t do it.” I waved my hands and tried to reason with the system. “Go bind yourself to someone else.”

【A man must never say he can’t.】

【Believe in yourself. You can do it.】

“I’m a dragon.”

The system refused to budge. 【Binding procedure complete. It cannot be changed.】

I had never seen such brazen coercion. Furious but helpless, I spent the entire day meekly trying to talk it out of this terrible decision.

I painstakingly listed dozens of disadvantages to choosing me and calculated my chance of success at less than 0.01 percent.

The stubborn thing had apparently set its heart on me. No matter what I said, it refused to leave.

It even made a bold promise. 【Don’t worry, Host. I guarantee you’ll succeed.】

At the time, I had no idea how much weight that promise carried.

Eventually, I ran out of arguments.

I didn’t even dare laugh bitterly, for fear Heaven might think I was provoking it and punish me again.

I was just an overworked office drone and homebody who liked reading power fantasies. I had no special abilities and no great ambitions. All I wanted was to lie flat, eat, and wait peacefully for death.

Transmigrating into this perilous world as another useless nobody was bad enough. Why did I have to get saddled with a system that wouldn’t take no for an answer?

From then on, it lived in my head. Every so often, it would pop up to cheer me on.

【Believe in yourself. You can do it!】

【With a face like yours, you only have to stand there. The male lead won’t know which way is north.】

When I continued to drag my feet, it resorted to threats.

【If you don’t complete the mission, you’ll have no more than ten years to live!】

I was chewing on a strand of seaweed. It tasted awful, so I threw it away.

“Ten years is plenty,” I said mildly.

【…】

It promptly revised its claim. 【Correction. Zero years!】

I sucked in a breath. How sinister.

In the end, I meekly agreed.

But whenever it asked when I planned to leave, I fobbed it off with excuses like “We’ll see,” “When the weather improves,” or “After I’ve eaten.” I delayed whenever I could.

One day, the system urged me to go ashore, breathe some fresh air, and “happen” to meet Situ Qianyin.

I answered a completely different question. “What should I eat later?”

The system grudgingly replied, 【Swim ten li southeast. There are delicious prawns by the shore.】

I suspected nothing and happily swam in the direction it gave me.

If there was one thing I had learned, it was that the system might be useless at everything else, but its navigation was excellent.

Once I had eaten my fill, I poked my dragon head above the water and quietly surveyed the shore.

It was evening. Rosy light stained the sky red and shimmered across the sea, leaving the coast peaceful and still.

【Since you’re already here,】 the system said, 【why not go up and look around?】

“I suppose…”

I transformed into human form and went ashore. My translucent white dragon horns refused to disappear, and I touched them uneasily. They were far too conspicuous.

I would stay near the water and avoid crowded places.

No sooner had I thought that than the system said with painful deliberateness, 【Wow, what a coincidence! The male lead is fifty meters to your right.】

【This must be destiny. Go get him, Host!】

“…”

I clenched my teeth. I had fallen for its old trick again.

Remembering its threat to my life, I had no choice but to shuffle reluctantly in that direction.

Hiding behind a reef, I peered into the distance and finally saw the legendary protagonist, Situ Qianyin.

He was tall, with an extraordinary bearing. Even in profile, he was devastatingly handsome. He stood quietly beneath the sunset, gazing over the sea with an unreadable expression. Somehow, he looked lonely.

The system urged, 【Go over there and make him fall in love with you right now.】

“He’s looking at the sea,” I protested. “Wouldn’t I be disturbing him?”

“I think we should leave quietly. True destiny usually reveals itself at the next meeting—”

Before I could finish, a razor-sharp presence swept over me. I froze, unable to move, terror rising in my chest.

Then it vanished as quickly as it had come, as though I had imagined it.

“So this is the aura of an unparalleled expert?” I gasped. “Truly terrifying beyond measure.”

【Host, can you stop talking like disposable cannon fodder? Show some backbone. You’re the man who’s going to win him over.】

【Didn’t you see him flaunting his power like a peacock the instant he noticed you?】

A thought struck me. “Is the male lead gay? I’m fairly sure he’s into women.”

The original novel had barely mentioned his romantic history, but what male-power-fantasy hero was gay?

The system remained utterly unbothered. 【We’re already bound. If he wasn’t before, he’ll have to be now.】