"I'm Not a Demon, I'm the Antagonist"

Our sole mission: safeguard our own steeds.

In the deep night, within the office adorned with a colossal banner, the last remaining light illuminated the bloodshot eyes of Shawn. He lifted his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"At last, it's finished—the final supporting role."

"Cheryl 3.0"

Gazing at the colossal model in the software, wielding a gilded chainsaw, Shawn felt no joy in completing the work. Now, all he desired was to offer prayers to the operations team.

"Wasteland: Rise of a New World," a large-scale wasteland-themed sci-fi ARPG developed by their company. Despite being in the testing phase, it exploded in sales and garnered overwhelming praise, thanks to its extensive narrative, diverse world-line choices, and intricate gameplay combinations.

However, the profit-driven operations team, recruited post-success, demanded the weakening of dominant gameplay in the first major update and the introduction of high-priced in-game purchase options. This decision invited a storm of criticism.

If not for the unwavering support of the Three Kingdoms Kill fans, their new game would have claimed the top spot for negative reviews.

To salvage their reputation and protect their "steeds," the company decided to retract in-game purchases, expedite the development of subsequent content. Being a company veteran, Shawn, a victim of unjust treatment, naturally couldn't escape the fate of overtime.

"After completing this segment, I'll reward myself with that restricted mod in the game..."

With beautiful visions in his heart, Shawn leaned back in his chair and drifted into a deep slumber.

...

"Mm... What time is it..."

Rain and thunder echoed. Shawn woke in a daze, detecting a strange scent.

Is it thundering outside? Did the company's cat pee in the ashtray again?

And why does my neck feel heavy? That silly cat must have rested its legs on my head again...

Subconsciously reaching out, Shawn was momentarily stunned.

He touched a soft and cold hand, presumably resting on his neck.

Opening his eyes and looking to the side, he saw an awkwardly positioned pale back and graceful curves, with wine-red hair cascading in front of him, tickling his nose.

Am I still in the office? Is the cat girl rewarding me for my efforts?

"Hmm?"

As Shawn tried to sit up, he noticed an attractive face with a butterfly mask tattooed between the beautiful collarbones.

It looks familiar...

However, the intricate tattoo on the person before him seemed meaningless. Shawn cautiously straightened up—first wanting to find out who the girl in his arms was.

But as he slightly lifted himself, he felt the scent he had been smelling grow stronger and more nauseating.

Instinctively glancing towards the source of the smell, his pupils contracted violently.

Right in front of his waist, a half-disintegrated body lay scattered on the bed. The bed was already filled with intestines and blood.

Recoiling instinctively, the hand resting on Shawn's neck slid off weakly.

This woman was already dead...

His heart pounding, he retreated. Only then did he notice that he was lying on a large bed, and the woman beside him had long been divided into two. In a strange room, a dimly lit ceiling light emitted a faint pink glow, and sparks flickered.

"Boom——"

The thunderous sound cut through the rain, and a momentary flash of lightning revealed the scene before Shawn.

This should be a high-rise building with a huge broken window. Rain mixed with night wind carried a sour taste, mingling with the smell of corpses around him, making him nauseous.

Beside the damaged French window, there was a slender figure sitting on the ground.

The various scenes almost overwhelmed Shawn's brain, and he finally understood what had happened.

Have I traveled to another world?

This bizarre discovery even stirred a sense of indignation—Death from overwork? I just received the bonus for completing this project. I just bought a large flat in my hometown with full payment...

I was planning to work for another two years and then retire...

Most importantly, if I've crossed over, where's the system?

No blue light screen appeared before my eyes, and no voice of an old man sounded in my mind. Only the increasingly violent thunder and lightning outside.

The stimulating scene around him made Shawn instinctively step back and accidentally fell under the bed.

"Thud—" a muffled sound, and the person by the broken window turned his face.

A lightning bolt happened to pierce the sky.

Waist-length pure white hair fluttered in the wind and rain, sticking to her ice-cold face.

The woman wore a black short jacket with a necklace around her neck. Under the black skirt, one leg casually rested on the broken glass, while the other hung in the air outside the window.

She tossed a metal ball with hollow patterns on the surface and a faint blue light inside up and down. Her ruby-like clear eyes calmly observed Shawn, both beautiful and enchanting.

While Shawn was trying to remain calm, his subconscious fumbled and grasped something cold.

Lowering his head slightly, Shawn found a dagger in

the middle of the pile of clothes.

With a weapon in hand, he gained some courage.

Did she do this? But she doesn't seem to have any hostility towards me...

Having just put on his clothes, Shawn saw the woman turn her head, tilting it slightly, seemingly watching the rain outside.

Suddenly, a whistling sound like a jet engine rang out.

The woman reached out, and the blue light from the metal ball in her hand extended extremely fast from the palm to both sides.

With a flash of light, the whistling sound above disappeared.

It was replaced by the sound of a heavy object breaking the wind.

A figure fell weakly from above, breaking through the night sky.

"Splash—"

The sound of the rain drowned out the noise of the skull hitting the ground.

And this seemed to be a signal. Suddenly, from a distance, dozens of bright fireworks flew swiftly, and smaller tongues of fire lit up. The dense sound of gunfire finally overwhelmed the rain.

The woman remained motionless, but the air around her twisted strangely.

Bullets, rain, broken glass, and Shawn, all floated and stagnated in mid-air.

Several bullets just hung in front of Shawn's eyes, then fell back to the floor with him.

In the moment of landing, the roaring sound of a chainsaw echoed.

A wall trembled and broke, and a giant, three meters tall, wielding a gilded chainsaw burst through the wall.

He roared and swung the chainsaw at the woman, but she just tilted her head slightly.

Blue light flashed again, and a bloodline appeared on the giant's arm.

His arm and chainsaw fell to the ground.

However, the giant, with wide-open eyes, tore off his gilded metal jaw with the remaining hand.

Flesh and blood suddenly wriggled, and his already huge body expanded further.

At the same time, the two halves of the woman on the bed actually sat up, and the viscera rapidly flowed back into her body, "reassembling" into a sewn-up woman.

Nails suddenly elongated, and the woman laughed sharply, rushing towards the bed with the giant, one on each side.

In this bizarre scene, Shawn saw the woman looking at him clearly.

She tilted her head.

Almost instinctively, Shawn followed suit and tilted his head.

A dazzling blue light erupted.

From left to right, space seemed to freeze.

Shawn shivered, feeling something graze his scalp.

The roars and laughter stopped abruptly; blood stagnated for a moment, then burst forth violently!

The giant and the woman fell, breaking into irregular pieces.

Along with this, the wall next to Shawn collapsed, sliding down at an angle that matched the woman's tilted head, with a resounding crash.

The rain intensified.

The giant, with his torso severed from shoulder to hip, laboriously turned his head toward Shawn. Rain and blood mixed, and for the first time in the lightning, Shawn saw his face.

The giant urgently stared at him with fading eyes, tremblingly pointing to the half-open door.

"Cheryl..." Shawn's lips moved slightly.

The tremendous impact caused Shawn's throat to jerk violently.

The final model he completed before his sudden death was Cheryl, but that was Cheryl with a new design in the subsequent storyline.

The disparity between the game and reality, coupled with the variations in character designs across different versions, momentarily left Shawn bewildered.

Cheryl... She is Cheryl.

She wanted me to escape...

So, Shawn's identity is now unmistakable.

Shawn...

In the game, there is a character named Shawn, sharing his name and surname!

As the central hub of the game, the Paradise City boasts a population of 20 million. This city, rebuilt after the apocalypse, is both paradise and hell.

Within the city, four major factions—the Golden Ghosts, the Academy, the Corporation, and the Twilight Tower—exist. Shawn, as one of the early-stage antagonist bosses, is the second-in-command in the largest faction, the Golden Ghosts, located in the