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

Peach Blossom Moon: Chaos Edition

The world didn't shift this time-it lurched.
Jerry's vision buckled, a violent ringing flooding his ears. His stomach pitched, his skin tore with heat-and then it was gone. Silence.

He blinked.

A hall stretched before him, vast and gilded, but smothered in night's hush. Oil lamps guttered in iron sconces, shadows crawling along carved dragons. At the far end, a figure stood with his back to him-tall, sharp, the faint shimmer of imperial gold tracing the edges of his robe.

When the man turned, Jerry's breath caught.
The Emperor.

And the word slipped unbidden from his lips, strange and heavy on his tongue-
"Brother."

Jerry's chest tightened. Brother? Who am I now?

The Emperor turned, eyes burning with fevered intensity.
"Zhao Jing," he said, voice low but firm. "Can't you do this much for the empire? It's your time to show loyalty."

Jerry felt his lips move, the answer not his own:
"I will show loyalty on the battlefield, Brother. I am ready to die for my land, for my people-but not this. I'll never follow your madness."

The Emperor's gaze darkened. "Madness, you call it madness? You stand here as Prince of the Zhao Empire, daring to talk back to me-because of this?"

Jing's voice rose with controlled fury. "Whatever you say, Brother, you should stop it. Stop it now, before I bring this into the court. And then you'll see-whether you lose that throne to this madness, or not."

He turned, robes flaring as he walked out, leaving silence ringing in his wake.

Jerry's pulse hammered. What is happening? What madness is he talking about? What did the Emperor do... bad enough to lose his throne?

The next glitch ripped through him like a blade. His stomach heaved; bile scorched his throat. He screaming inside his head: System, stop this! I can't hold it anymore!

🧶

Jerry stumbled into yet another pull. His breath caught-suddenly his legs were short, his body light, and a wooden sword clutched in his hand as he ran through a sunlit clearing.

"Yichen! Stop!" a voice called sharply from behind.

Jerry's head whipped back. What the hell... where am I now?

It was Zhao Yuanzhou, much younger, chasing after him. His tone was protective, commanding, but laced with worry.

Before Jerry could figure out what was happening, the underbrush exploded. A wild boar burst forth, tusks gleaming, charging straight for him.

Yichen froze.

"Yichen," Yuanzhou's voice came again, firm but calm. "Slowly... turn around."

Jerry swallowed inside, his little body trembling, and obeyed. The boar pawed the ground, snorting. Then Yuanzhou's hand seized his, tugging him back.

"Run!"

The two of them bolted through the trees, another crash behind them-the forest erupted with a second boar, larger, furious, thundering in pursuit.

Jerry's heart pounded. System, you better not let me die in a child's body!

Then-fwip! An arrow sliced the air, striking true. One boar skidded, collapsing in the dirt. A second arrow followed, felling the other with brutal precision.

Both boys stumbled to a halt, panting. Yuanzhou pushed Yichen behind him, his hand instinctively shielding. His voice rang out:
"Who's there? Show yourself!"