Help! I'm the Plot Device: Just Here to Save the Heroes

When the World Glitched

Then he plunged. His body fell into the roaring river, swallowed whole by the night.

The screen went black.

🧶🐱🧶

Jerry came back to his senses and slumped back on the bed, limbs spread like he had just run a race against thoughts instead of distance. He let out a hollow laugh and muttered, half to himself, half to the ceiling,

“If I were in his place,” he muttered, “I would have burned this empire to the ground.”
Then, softer: “And still… in the end he chose to save the innocent.”

The system was silent for once. The quiet sat between them like a held breath. Jerry pushed off the mattress and sat up so abruptly the candle flame trembled.

“What happened, host?” the system asked.

Jerry pressed his palm against his forehead, thinking hard. His voice was quiet, but the weight behind it made the words heavy.
"Something isn’t adding up."

“Explain,” the system prompted.

Jerry’s eyes narrowed, replaying the earlier encounter in his mind.

"You know, when Xiao Dianxia was here a moment ago—when he mentioned Yao Daren’s name, and also when I mentioned his death—I saw it. A shiver in his eyes. Not hatred, not contempt… not quite guilt either… but longing. Just a trace, but it was there."

“How do you read such things?” the system asked, mildly curious.

Jerry let out a long breath, shoulders sagging.
"Because I’m an artist, system. One who creates and manipulates emotions. I can see them, even when others can’t. That’s my craft."

He paused, then added, almost as an afterthought,
“Also: yesterday in the armory he mentioned the Emperor’s betrayal. The logs note he feels the Emperor tricked him—clinging to the past, the report said. That didn’t sound like a man who hated the Shadow Clan—it sounded like someone carrying a wound.”

The system hummed. “You may be correct, host. According to my stored records, Xiao Dianxia even skipped the Groom Selection Rite with the Princess of Hengyun—an opportunity to secure an entire kingdom without bloodshed—just to attend a festival dinner at the Shadow Clan.

Jerry’s eyes widened.
"Groom selection, he was fifteen back then!?"

“Age doesn’t matter here,” the system said evenly. “But it was a costly choice, if it was only for an act.”

Jerry leaned forward, elbows on knees. “Exactly. If it was all a ploy to win Yao Daren’s trust, it was too reckless. No one trades a kingdom for a festival… unless the bond was real.”

Of course. Your reasoning holds.

Jerry leaned back, the mattress creaking under his weight.
"We need more details. Since you can’t access the deeper data… where can I find anything useful?"

“Likely sources: the Imperial Archives and the Grand Library,” the system replied. “They may hold edict scrolls, envoy records, or travel logs from that period.”

Jerry stood, moving to the window. The night lay black and patient beyond the lattice. He hesitated at the pane, hand on the wood. “I’ll go check the archives now.”

“Host—wait.” The system’s voice tilted—concerned, almost parental. “It is late. There is a death threat hanging over you like a sword. I advise we continue in the morning.”

Jerry let out a breath that might have been a laugh. “Better idea.” He straightened, reached the latch, and shut the window with deliberate care, securing it as if bolting himself inside a small fortress. The shutters thudded into place; the night felt farther away.