"Damn it, turns out he's crippled?"
Diem Dai Bang rubbed his eyes hard, confirming that Nero in the original novel was indeed a disabled emperor. His vision darkened for a moment.
When the Plot Bureau assigned the tyrant role, everyone had rushed to snatch the mission without paying any attention to the original character's setup.
A tyrant who was both mad and crippled—surely that would reduce the fun and satisfaction by half!
But now that he had entered Nero's spiritual sea, there was no turning back. Like it or not, he had to play out this role.
Fortunately, after carefully reading through the original text, Diem Dai Bang discovered that Nero had probably never gone "too far" with the Holy Son... A huge stone fell from his heart. Thanks to endless negative reviews, Nero's character had "gone offline" (vanished) midway through the story.
In the original, the Empire suffered a massive invasion from the Zerg. Because the St. Lophis Empire had no prior defense, and because Nero at that time was undergoing his Alpha frenzy period, the Zerg and space pirates quickly spread everywhere like silkworms devouring leaves.
After that, the Empire completely collapsed, and humanity officially entered its darkest, most chaotic era.
Nero, afflicted with his family's hereditary mental illness, was further traumatized by war. His madness grew worse. He not only tormented the Holy Son, but also massacred the people, burned down the Holy Temple, and committed countless atrocities.
Thus, the four gong characters could no longer endure it. In the end, they joined forces to drag Nero to the execution platform, ending his short yet tragic life.
"Wait… don't tell me that once I differentiate, I'll also go insane? If I end up with a mental illness too, how am I supposed to enjoy the pleasures of being a tyrant?"
Diem Dai Bang frowned in thought.
After finishing the original novel, he lifted his head to look around.
The spiritual sea was pitch black and empty, with only a faint light glowing deep within.
Diem Dai Bang moved his limbs, swimming toward the source of that light.
At the very depths, in the darkest and loneliest part of the spiritual sea, a figure was curled up, sleeping with his knees drawn to his chest.
Beautiful silver hair, almost pure white, floated slowly in the dark waters like a faint streak of moonlight. The moment Diem Dai Bang saw that silver hair, he knew exactly who it was.
The original owner of this body, the soul of the infamous mad tyrant Nero Augustus Caesis.
Swimming closer, he could see clearly now: this tyrant hated by the entire world was actually still very young.
He looked no more than seventeen or eighteen.
The silver-haired youth slept deeply, his skin pale as snow, with only his knees and elbows faintly flushed. Even his eyelashes were silver, lying quietly against his lids, giving him an innocent and obedient appearance.
On his delicate white cheeks lingered a faint flush of illness—at this moment, the original soul was likely in a weakened state from serious sickness. Otherwise, in normal circumstances, a host would never have the chance to enter the original's spiritual sea.
If not for the terrible wounds around his ankles, this youth would look like a marble statue crafted by an ancient Greek god of love, brimming with devotion.
"Heavens, not bad at all. Picked at random, and I struck gold."
Diem Dai Bang grabbed a handful of the youth's soft silver hair.
After seeing his face clearly, half of his resentment toward that damned tardy system dissipated.
"Alright, this will do. With a face like this, even crippled, it's still worth it."
The host needed to use the original body, which meant only one soul could remain inside.
Though he didn't know why this weak, flickering soul hadn't dissipated upon his transmigration, Diem Dai Bang, by his own judgment, was a seasoned enough host.
"Well then, sorry about this. You were going to be executed anyway..."
He muttered softly, but his hands didn't hesitate.
He grabbed the youth's neck with both hands and squeezed!
The sleeping boy's head tilted back as his face twisted with suppressed pain.
He began to gasp for breath, his long silver lashes trembling violently. His eyes still wouldn't open, as though he was struggling inside a nightmare.
But in the very next instant—
From the depths of the dark spiritual sea, several massive, invisible tendrils suddenly lashed out!
Though Diem Dai Bang had years of experience as a host, this was the first time he'd ever encountered something like this.
Completely unprepared, he was flung away by a pale tendril, spinning as he drifted into the darkness.
Startled, he looked back—only to find the eerie tendrils had already vanished.
And the original soul, who had been sleeping soundly, rubbed his throat lightly and slowly opened his eyes.
"You..."
Diem Dai Bang froze.