After Bystander A Bound to JJ Literature City – CH1

Chapter 1 – From Now On, There is One Less Fatal Weakness

It had been raining incessantly for two weeks in H City. A damp, stuffy air hung heavy in the hospital’s outpatient building. 

The floor tiles, wet and glistening, were mopped repeatedly, only to become sodden once more. A middle-aged cleaning woman aimlessly pushed her mop back and forth, oblivious to the dead cockroach dangling from its edge.

At 5:30 PM, long after the clinic had closed, the electronic screen continued its mechanical recitation of numbers. Soon, only a young man, lost in his wired earphones, remained in the waiting area. He leaned back, his gaze drifting towards the grotesque spectacle of the cockroach.

“Has it fallen yet?” A’Zheng’s voice crackled through the earphones.

“Not yet,” Yu Zhi replied.

Five minutes earlier, they had made a bet: would the cockroach drop within ten minutes? Yu Zhi had wagered it would. If he won, A’Zheng would have to swear off novel discussions. If he lost, he would be subjected to endless novel-related complaints.

“Five minutes left. Let’s talk some more,” A’Zheng continued. “That protagonist is seriously deranged. At first, he killed people for missions, but now it’s just absurd. He suspects his teammates of betrayal without a shred of evidence and kills them preemptively. He even kills them before they can even mutate, just because he suspects they might be infected…”

Yu Zhi’s mind began to wander as soon as he heard the word “protagonist.” For the past two weeks, A’Zheng had been bombarding him with calls about an online novel titled “Apocalypse Live: Do I Look Like a Savior to You?”

Yu Zhi had zero interest in novels, let alone listening to someone rant about them. A’Zheng was the kind of person who could alternate between cursing a protagonist as an idiot and praising them as a genius, all without providing any concrete plot details. And then, out of the blue, he’d switch gears to something like, “Hey, I found a minor character with your name from H University. You should memorize the whole thing!”

It was a torturous mental exercise, but Yu Zhi, desperate for auditory distraction from his worsening tinnitus, had answered A’Zheng’s call. The incessant chatter from his earphones drowned out the persistent ringing in his ears.

“I just saw a comment,” A’Zheng was saying, “that if they transmigrated into the book, they’d kill Fu Suxi, win over the top donor, and become the protagonist themselves.”

“If it were you, what would you do?”

Yu Zhi stared blankly at the dead cockroach, pondering dinner options.

“Fish?” A’Zheng suggested.

“Yu Zhi?!” A startled shout jolted him back to reality. “I said, if you encountered that insane protagonist, what would you do to him?”

Yu Zhi paused, watching the cockroach cling stubbornly to the mop. “I’m just an ordinary college student,” he replied slowly.

“So?” A’Zheng pressed.

“I’d let him add another life to his kill count,” Yu Zhi said.

“…” A’Zheng was silent for a moment. “Haven’t you ever fantasized about awakening a superpower? What if you had a really powerful ability? Besides, everyone in that novel has system tasks. There was a minor character who got a really powerful ability, but the protagonist stole it…”

Yu Zhi’s mind began to drift as the conversation veered into the realm of fantasy.

He glanced at the cockroach. Just one more minute, he thought. Why won’t it fall? Should I pry it off? Did we even specify how it had to fall?

Before he could decide, the electronic screen called out, “Psychiatry Outpatient, Number 100 Yu Zhi, please proceed to Consultation Room 1.”

“I have to go,” Yu Zhi said. “I’m the last number.”

“But the bet!” A’Zheng protested.

“Let’s call it a draw,” Yu Zhi replied flatly.

“?” A’Zheng was dumbfounded. “You saw that cockroach wasn’t going to fall—”

Yu Zhi hung up and headed towards the consultation room. Most of the doctors had already left, and the area was quiet.

Consultation Room 1 was a small, corner room. Inside, besides Dr. Chen, was a handsome young man in a wheelchair. His right arm and leg were in casts, and his left hand was toying with his messy dreadlocks.

Noticing Yu Zhi’s gaze, the man explained, “My wheelchair’s acting up. I can’t move right now. Is it okay if I stay here? Or I can borrow another wheelchair and go outside.”

It wasn’t a standard hospital wheelchair, but a more advanced mobility scooter. Yu Zhi didn’t want to inconvenience the man, especially considering his own condition.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m just here for a follow-up.”

At the mention of “follow-up,” the man paused and looked at Yu Zhi curiously. Yu Zhi was strikingly handsome, with delicate features that bordered on feminine. His dark eyes held a certain innocence. A gentle smile curved his lips.

“My insomnia has worsened over the past two weeks,” he told Dr. Chen. “And I’ve been having tinnitus that’s gotten progressively worse.”

“What kind of tinnitus?” Dr. Chen asked.

“It’s an intermittent beeping sound. I can hear it when it’s quiet.”

“Can you hear it now?”

Yu Zhi nodded. In the quiet room, he could hear the faint hum of the computer, mixed with the beeping sound.

Buzz beep… Buzz… Buzz buzz… Beep buzz buzz beep…

The computer’s noise intensified, as if it was struggling to process something. The screen suddenly went black, displaying only the desktop background.

“Now it sounds like it’s mixed with the computer noise,” Yu Zhi said.

Dr. Chen leaned closer but heard only the fan. He clicked the mouse, trying to access Yu Zhi’s records, but the computer remained unresponsive.

“Isn’t this a new computer?” Dr. Chen muttered, puzzled. “Wait a moment, the computer seems to be malfunctioning. I can’t prescribe your medication.”

Yu Zhi watched as Dr. Chen pulled out his phone and dialed a number. After several attempts, he was met with the message, “The number you dialed is temporarily unavailable.”

“Strange,” Dr. Chen said, leaving the room.

The man with dreadlocks noticed the issue as well. “My phone’s not working either,” he said. “Can you check yours?”

Yu Zhi unlocked his phone, which was open to the JJ Literature City app. The interface was blank, and the signal bars were empty.

A wave of unease washed over him. “Mine’s not working either,” he replied.

The computer’s electrical noise grew louder, and the intermittent beeping intensified.

Buzz beep… Buzz beep, beep buzz… Beep… beep… beep…

Yu Zhi couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu, as if he was reliving a scene from an apocalyptic novel. Suddenly, a loud, continuous beep filled the room: Beep————. The sound was so persistent, so real, that it couldn’t be dismissed as mere tinnitus.

After what felt like an eternity, the beeping ceased, and the world seemed to hold its breath.

A sweet, feminine voice echoed through the room, “System loading complete. Attention all Earth residents, the Earth Defense Operation is now officially launching.” The voice was both intimate and distant, as if whispering in his ear and broadcasting across the globe.

“System binding in progress… Live stream room binding in progress…”

Familiar terms from the novel echoed in his mind. Fiction and reality were merging, blurring the lines between the two.

The voice continued, “The main quest officially begins! All Earth residents, please complete the main quest to defend Earth!”

A semi-transparent screen appeared in Yu Zhi’s vision.

[Scanning personal information…]
[Detected innate ability JJ Literature City, recording in progress…]

Innate ability? Superpower? Literature City? Yu Zhi was baffled.

The screen transformed into the JJ Literature City interface, identical to the app on his phone, but completely empty.

His gaze fell on the “Favorites” list, which now had a new category: [My Abilities].

[Ability One: I’m Just a Minor Character After All.]
[Detailed description: Before, I’m just an ordinary minor character in a novel, with no lines and no plot. But from now on, I’m no longer just an ordinary minor character, I’m…]

Yu Zhi took a deep breath, only to be met with the next entry:

[No more shit, piss, or farts!!!]
[Defecation is humanity’s most vulnerable moment! Without the need to shit, piss, or fart, you’ve eliminated a fatal weakness! Tremble, all of humanity!]

This is a superpower? Yu Zhi exclaimed. Are you serious?