Chapter 17: Fierce! Dominant! Powerful!

Meieruita had left for a while, but An Luo was still in shock.

Meieruita, the protagonist, said he would bring a contract over that evening?

What contract? Contract what?

Was it the kind he was imagining?

He recognized every word, but when put together, he suddenly couldn’t understand it.

Meieruita’s words had too much impact, leaving An Luo greatly shaken.

“No,” An Luo collected himself and reasoned calmly. “There must be some scheme, or… could he still be doubting his own protagonist status? Worried that the information I gave him is unreliable?”

Thinking along those lines made everything fall into place.

Meieruita was a highly suspicious person. No matter how much An Luo guaranteed with words that he was the absolute protagonist of this book, it was still just one-sided talk.

In Meieruita’s eyes, the fact was that An Luo, as the creator, was currently tangled up with John, a cannon fodder who should have died early. That alone was highly suspicious.

If An Luo was lying to him, then once the contract was signed, the truth would come out with a single question.

An Luo recalled Meieruita’s final words:

“Contract.”

“I’ll bring a contract over this evening.”

His tone had been cold, and his face showed no expression.

If An Luo really was lying to him, this was a blatant threat.

The protagonist’s meaning was probably: I don’t believe you. What you say now doesn’t matter. I’ll bring the contract this evening, and we’ll settle it then.

The logic was perfectly sound, and the vibe felt all too familiar.

An Luo let out a sigh of relief.

He had been scared into thinking Meieruita had been soul-possessed or something.

That evening, Meieruita indeed brought a contract over as promised.

No one knew how he had obtained it, but this contract was a bit more advanced than the one An Luo had pulled out before.

The contract terms were already written out, and Meieruita had signed it in advance.

It was basically no different from the one An Luo had drafted earlier, but with one added detail: when Meieruita asked An Luo about the novel’s plot, An Luo could not lie or conceal anything.

In exchange, Meieruita guaranteed that he would never act against An Luo, directly or indirectly, and would not do anything to harm An Luo’s mental safety or life.

It all lined up perfectly!

An Luo read the contract carefully again.

He made sure to note every detail.

Meieruita didn’t rush him and waited quietly.

An Luo went over it several times, confirming there were no word games or trap loopholes, then signed his name with a flourish.

He hadn’t lied, so what did he have to fear?

Honestly, An Luo could never have imagined that Meieruita would suspect John of being the protagonist.

It reminded him of those novels the girls in his class used to love—ones where the male lead loved some pure white moonlight but couldn’t make it public for various reasons, so he dragged in the female lead as a shield, showering her with affection on the surface while secretly not caring at all…

Very subtle.

But the problem was, those were romance novels!

What An Luo had written was a no-CP power fantasy!

His protagonist didn’t take the path of lingering affection and sweet nothings. No, An Luo’s protagonist walked the path of:

Fierce! Dominant! Powerful!

An Luo felt no guilt and prepared himself for Meieruita’s interrogation.

Seeing An Luo sign without hesitation, Meieruita’s expression softened a bit.

The contract turned into points of light and dissipated into the air.

An Luo felt some kind of shackle settle on him. He could vaguely sense that if Meieruita asked him about the plot, he would have to tell the truth.

This restriction actually put his mind at ease, because it meant Meieruita was under the same constraint.

Even if he desperately wanted to kill An Luo, this “creator who knew too much,” the contract ensured that at least until he became a wizard, Meieruita couldn’t lay a hand on him.

As for after Meieruita became a wizard?

An Luo would have bolted long ago.

No problem.

“Tell me all the details about this character John.” Sure enough, as An Luo expected, Meieruita was still suspicious. “What was your motive for writing him? Do you like this character?”

An Luo had anticipated this question. He didn’t stutter once as he repeated what he had said before.

“When I wrote him, I had no feelings for the character at all. He was just a tool, got it? It took me less than five minutes to create him.”

Meieruita didn’t blink. “So, you have feelings for him now?”

“What’s wrong with that?” An Luo was exhausted by Meieruita’s paranoia. “He’s a good guy. He’s helped me a lot. Isn’t it normal for me to like him now?”

An Luo noticed Meieruita’s jawline tense up, his expression turning sour.

“Sigh.” An Luo said, “I’m just an ordinary person, really. Even though this world is derived from the novel I wrote, I can’t influence anything. You’re the protagonist. That’s set in stone. No matter who I like, it won’t shake that absolute fact.”

“Rest assured, no one can shake your position in this world—not even me.”

For some reason, even after An Luo had laid it all out like that, Meieruita still didn’t seem satisfied.

An Luo desperately wanted to grab Meieruita by the collar, shake him wildly, and yell, “Ancestors, what exactly do you want? What more could you possibly be dissatisfied with?”

But he didn’t dare.

The candlelight flickered, casting shadows on the gray-black stone walls of the Wizard Apprentice Dormitory, which was dimly lit.

In the dim yellow light, Meieruita’s face was inscrutable.

His thoughts were unfathomable; An Luo couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

Silence.

Suddenly, Meieruita stood up and walked toward An Luo.

They had been sitting on opposite sides of the table, quite a distance apart.

An Luo tensed up at first, then remembered the freshly signed contract and relaxed.

Anyway, he can’t make a move on me now. What’s there to fear?

In the blink of an eye, Meieruita was standing right in front of An Luo.

He was tall. When he leaned down, his shadow swayed on the wall like a python lunging at its prey.

An Luo instinctively leaned back.

“W-What’s… up?”

Meieruita’s hand landed on An Luo’s shoulder. The two were suddenly very close—close enough that the faint, bitter ink scent from Meieruita’s body enveloped An Luo completely.

“Give me your hand,” Meieruita said.

An Luo nervously raised his left hand.

Meieruita’s palm was broad, his fingers long. The center of his palm was covered in calluses from past labor, making the touch rough.

He cupped An Luo’s hand from below, spreading his five fingers. His thumb and pinky extended through An Luo’s finger gaps, firmly locking down the middle three fingers.

His remaining three fingers tightly gripped An Luo’s palm root.

Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around its prey.

Meieruita’s grip was strong; An Luo’s left hand couldn’t move.

“Come with me on next month’s mission,” Meieruita said, his tone icy and commanding.

His gray-green eyes looked even darker in the shadows.

An Luo: “…”

Psychological pressure, huh?

I’m not going to…

“Hm?”

Uh…

An Luo immediately caved without principles. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll go with you…”

Sigh, whatever you say, daddy.