The dim yellow candlelight flickered, casting faint illumination, while Meieruita stood by the bed, blocking part of the already weak light.
An Luo was first startled that his disguise had been discovered, but he quickly calmed down.
Meieruita’s words were full of insinuations, making it sound as if John had ill intentions and had taken advantage of An Luo’s unconsciousness to peep at him. However, An Luo did not let himself be led astray.
He tried to recap the situation from that time.
When An Luo had sent John out the door, the Curse had coincidentally activated. John, out of concern, had shouted loudly, drawing Meieruita’s attention.
Then, John had helped the unconscious An Luo back onto the bed, removed his disguise, and revealed his true appearance.
After that, Meieruita had witnessed John’s actions and had temporarily lifted An Luo’s Curse in some way.
The whole incident seemed perfectly natural, unfolding smoothly without any issues.
But An Luo still felt something was off.
First of all, why had the Curse activated at such a precise moment?
If it had happened a little earlier, John would not have been planning to leave yet. With the door closed and locked, even John’s loud voice wouldn’t have carried outside.
John was just a Wizard Apprentice who hadn’t even learned the Fireball Spell yet, so he certainly had no way to deal with a Curse.
In the peril-filled Wizard Tower, he had no one he could trust to turn to for help.
The only possibility was the veteran Wizard Apprentice who sold items, Alden.
But the item needed to lift the Curse was prohibitively expensive—something John absolutely couldn’t afford.
By the time they finished fussing around, An Luo might have already been done for.
If it had happened a little later, An Luo would have been alone in the room, and with no one discovering the Curse’s outbreak, he might have been done for as well.
But why had it happened so perfectly right when he was opening the door to send John off, drawing Meieruita over?
Although it could be chalked up to coincidence or good luck, An Luo knew well that once things involved Meieruita, those so-called coincidences and strokes of luck were very likely deliberate actions on his part.
Why did he think that?
An Luo: I’m the author, what do you think?
John was a purely good person.
Whether in An Luo’s original setting or in their subsequent interactions, John perfectly fit the definition of a “good person.”
The reason he had removed An Luo’s disguise was likely just out of concern, not as sordid as Meieruita had implied.
An Luo believed that even knowing he was disguised, John wouldn’t spread it around.
Next, Meieruita had stepped in to stabilize the situation and save An Luo’s life.
That was highly suspicious.
Meieruita definitely wanted to kill An Luo. The Contract he had proactively signed before was probably just because he worried An Luo might deceive him with occasional false information, and it carried no goodwill.
Yet he had saved An Luo’s life.
Of course, there were different ways to kill: kill immediately, or fatten up first and kill later.
An Luo still had some value to Meieruita, like the Hanzi Runes and his knowledge of this world.
After all, this world was essentially a novel he had written.
Meieruita might not care about the plot progression, but he might be interested in the world’s rules and various settings.
So Meieruita had saved An Luo’s life first… wait!
An Luo suddenly remembered: Meieruita had only sealed the Curse on him, not broken it!
An Luo’s life was now hanging by the Little Wooden Puppet in Meieruita’s hand.
As long as Meieruita crushed that Little Wooden Puppet, the Substitute Puppet would disappear, the Curse would spread through An Luo’s body again, and he would still be done for.
Combining Meieruita’s attitude toward John and the insinuations in his words, An Luo immediately deduced Meieruita’s ulterior motives:
First, although this Curse had been planted by a veteran Wizard Apprentice lurking in the shadows, Meieruita definitely knew about it and even had the ability to interfere, which was why the timing had been so perfect.
An Luo had originally wanted to suspect Meieruita, but they had already formed a Contract. In Meieruita’s current state, he still couldn’t directly violate it.
Then, Meieruita had used this Curse to conveniently hold An Luo’s little life in his grasp, waiting until he squeezed out all of An Luo’s value before casually crushing the Substitute Puppet, sending An Luo to his end.
As for the clause in their Contract that Meieruita could not harm An Luo in any direct or indirect way… An Luo believed that with Meieruita’s brains, he could come up with at least ten ways to dispose of the Little Wooden Puppet without violating the Contract.
Then there was John.
Based on the above reasoning, Meieruita definitely had ways to stop John before he uncovered An Luo’s disguise, but he hadn’t. Instead, he had waited until it was a done deal before showing up.
Either he was banking on John being two-faced and leaking An Luo’s secret, leading to An Luo being taken away and dissected by the Wizards.
Or he wanted to use this special situation as an excuse to reasonably eliminate John while appearing to act in An Luo’s best interests on the surface.
If Meieruita had wanted An Luo dead right away, there was no need for such a roundabout method—he could have just pretended not to hear John’s shouts.
Therefore, his goal was probably to get rid of John.
Meieruita did not urge An Luo on, quietly waiting for him to think.
An Luo showed no unusual signs on the surface, but privately, he continued thinking rapidly.
Meieruita wouldn’t want to eliminate John for no reason; John hadn’t offended him in any way.
In An Luo’s setting, Meieruita was so gripped by survival anxiety that he had no time for emotional issues that many people cared about. He wouldn’t attack someone out of mere dislike or because they rubbed him the wrong way.
He would only act if they threatened his survival or his actual interests.
John was so much weaker than Meieruita that he couldn’t possibly hinder his survival.
So, interests, then?
An Luo had already figured it out: that was himself.
Although An Luo was the author, he was extremely weak. Up to now, he couldn’t even sense Magic Power, yet John was willing to help him and take him on low-level tasks.
Even low-level tasks were dangerous for an ordinary person like An Luo. Who knew if some mishap might kill him during a task.
Combining Meieruita’s reluctance to let An Luo die now, and how he had previously offered to take An Luo on tasks—only to be rejected and then simply hand over an Ice Jade Flower Bud that could be turned in for a task—his goal was likely to prevent An Luo from truly taking on tasks.
Case closed.
An Luo’s face remained expressionless.
Meieruita was planning to raise him like a pig.
An Luo had value and could be exploited. With An Luo’s life in his control, Meieruita naturally didn’t want him taking risks.
Best to keep him penned up directly, then kick him away when he was no longer useful.
So, the willing John became an obstacle that had to be removed.
Once John was gone, An Luo would have no one to team up with in the Wizard Tower, where there were hardly any good people. He would either have to try tasks alone or accept Meieruita’s “kindness”—either being taken along by him or turning in ready-gathered materials from him to muddle through as a Wizard Tower slacker.
After that, once Meieruita had squeezed dry all of An Luo’s value, he wouldn’t care about him anymore.
If An Luo remained an ordinary person, Meieruita could just ignore him, and after a few tasks, An Luo would naturally die off.
If An Luo got lucky, sensed Magic Power, and learned Witchcraft, making him not so easy to kill, Meieruita still held that Little Wooden Puppet.
He could find a way to deal with it, and An Luo would die all the same.
This process wouldn’t be short. Over time, An Luo might even be deceived by Meieruita’s friendly facade and lower his guard.
That would make it even easier for Meieruita to kill him.
Damn, what vicious intentions!
As expected of the protagonist.
An Luo was extremely confident in his deductions—they were all too logical and credible!
The main reason was that he knew the protagonist’s settings very well.
Before coming to this world, he had written all the way to the grand finale, just a bit short of wrapping it up. The whole book was basically complete.
If the book had only been half-written, or axed and left unfinished, then there might be uncertainties, and it wouldn’t be strange for the protagonist’s personality to change.
But An Luo’s book was essentially finished.
The protagonist’s personality was set like that and wouldn’t change, at least not before the ending An Luo had planned.
It was better to realistically consider the worst-case scenario in advance than to optimistically chalk everything up to coincidence or good luck.
Moreover, given An Luo’s settings for the protagonist, this worst-case scenario might not be mere imagination.
It was very likely to become reality!
All that thinking hadn’t actually taken much time.
An Luo glanced at Meieruita and carefully probed, “I think there shouldn’t be any big problems, right?”
He said, “John is a good person. He won’t betray me.”
An Luo lowered his eyes, putting on the appearance of a naive and foolish college student. He had graduated not long ago and, though society had given him a harsh lesson, that student air hadn’t fully dissipated in the short term.
He said nonchalantly, “Besides, John and I get along great. I trust he won’t harm me.”
Meieruita’s expression grew cold.
“You trust him that much?” His tone remained calm, but dark undercurrents surged beneath. “Even with such a huge leverage over you, enough to put you to death at any moment, you’re still at ease?”
An Luo replied lightly, as if oblivious, “What’s there to worry about? Relax, I know he won’t betray me.”
Drawing on his identity as the author for proof, he added, “After all, I know his settings well. He’s just a purely good person.”
“As expected of this world’s Creator.” Meieruita’s tone was flat. “So confident even in this situation.”
An Luo wasn’t angered by Meieruita’s cold sarcasm. He shrugged and said, “No choice about it. Besides, isn’t there someone even more dangerous than him? You. When debts pile up, there’s no need to worry.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Meieruita’s gaze turned to him.
Those gray-green eyes fixed dead on An Luo, and his tone completely changed, laced with heavy chill:
“You’re comparing me to him?”
