Lucien sat motionless in a leather chair at the top floor of Voss International's headquarters, hands folded before him as data flickered across the screen of his internal system. The cityscape beyond the glass wall gleamed with twilight magic — floating billboards, spirit-beast taxis, and cultivator patrol drones humming overhead.
This world… is absurd, he thought. And yet I know every inch of it.
Two lifetimes worth of memories — his old life as a human weapon, and this new life as Lucien Voss, villain of the best-selling urban fantasy novel Heaven's Chosen Rise — had fully fused. He remembered the boardroom betrayals, the rise of Kai Zhang, and most importantly… the timeline.
He had eighteen months before the protagonist son he sired would return from the Mystic Abyss Realm to kill him.
And before that? He'd have to eliminate dozens of other protagonists—each with their own cheat systems, destiny plots, and heroine-filled harems.
But unlike them, he was no "main character." He was something worse.
A glitch in the story. A predator with memory, madness, and a mission.
---
> [Anti-Protagonist System Update]
Daily Check-In: 1,000 System Points
Luck Extraction Protocol Unlocked
First Target: Kai Zhang – Reborn Business Genius
Abilities:
– Rebirth Memory (Future Knowledge of Tech & Stocks)
– Fortune Halo: "Wealth of Heaven" (Probability Distortion)
– Support Character: Anna Mei (Cold President, Future Wife)
---
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
In the original timeline, Kai Zhang was reborn into his 22-year-old self, used knowledge from his past life to dominate the investment world, steal top-tier heroines, and bankrupt the Voss Corporation within three months.
Then, he exposed Lucien's dirty history to the world and used it to climb the corporate ladder—eventually marrying Anna Mei, a woman Lucien had once dismissed and destroyed.
Not this time.
Lucien tapped his desk.
"Schedule a private lunch with Anna Mei," he ordered his AI secretary.
> [Side Mission Created: Steal a Future Heroine Before the Hero Does.]
Reward: Skill – "Charm Reversal" (Immune to seduction; turns charm attempts against target.)
And with that, the game began.
---
Meanwhile…
In a small, modest office in the downtown slums, Kai Zhang stared at a stock ticker and grinned.
"Just like before… it's all happening again."
He checked the newspaper headline: 'Voss International Faces Imminent Collapse!'
"Don't worry, Lucien Voss," Kai muttered. "In this life, I'll take everything from you. Your money… your company… and even your women."
What Kai didn't know… was that the devil he remembered?
Had returned as something far worse.
---