【System energy reserves insufficient. Host's remaining activity time: 00:10:00】
【Host's remaining activity time: 00:09:59】
Rain drizzled down from the sky. The city's neon lights blurred into distant halos, bleeding their colors into the puddles on the ground.
In the alley, red seeped through the standing water. Red stained a white scarf crimson. A black duffle coat lay soaked through with rain and blood.
You Ling looked down at the body at her feet. The corpse's pupils had already dilated, its expression frozen in surprise, its slightly parted lips seeming to ask why.
It was her own body.
Today she had been walking home from school as usual when a stranger dragged her into the alley and stabbed her over a dozen times.
You Ling had just gotten into university. It hadn't even been a month since classes started, and she was still riding the thrill of college life, finding novelty in every mundane detail. Then, just like that, she died without rhyme or reason.
Well, not entirely without reason. The person who killed her had spoken with the very first stab: "Little girl, if you want someone to blame, blame that good brother of yours."
How could You Ling possibly blame her brother.
Before she was old enough to remember, You Ling's parents were already dead. Her only brother, her blood-related older brother, had played father and mother both to raise her. In her memory, their family had once been strapped for money — after all, her brother was only seven years older, just a kid himself at the time. He had worked part-time while attending school to support her, but in the end he couldn't keep it up. He dropped out after middle school and went straight to work.
A few years ago, for reasons she never learned, her brother's salary shot up, and the siblings' lives gradually improved. You Ling didn't squander her brother's hopes, either — she got into university. The day she received her acceptance letter, her brother shut himself in his room. You Ling crept to the door, pressed her ear against it, and heard him speaking to their parents: "Don't worry, Mom, Dad. Lingling will have a good life from now on. I'll make her happy. Happy forever."
Her brother had abandoned his own life and used every means at his disposal to carry her this far. How could she possibly hate him.
A pity, then, that she died today — and her killer had even mentioned her brother.
You Ling had once wondered what her brother's high-paying job actually was. She had suspected he might have leveraged his looks and gone into the sex trade — why else would he suddenly have money.
It wasn't that she looked down on her brother. He genuinely had the capital for it.
After dying, she finally learned the truth: her brother hadn't become a gigolo at all. He had joined some kind of semi-official Ability organization.
...Honestly, being a gigolo would have been safer. At least there was no risk of getting killed, right?
Too bad she would never get the chance to tell her brother to quit this dangerous work. Well — maybe not never. She might still have a chance.
After death, her soul had drifted into the air, where she saw her own body below. At the same time, a green point of light sank into her spectral form.
【Manga System bound. Manga settings unlocked for Host.】
A flood of information poured into her mind. It turned out the world she lived in was a manga. Her brother was the manga's protagonist, and she was the protagonist's most cherished younger sister.
This world had a Surface and a Hidden side. You Ling had always lived on the Surface — attending school, taking exams, advancing through the grades. Her brother, meanwhile, had entered the Hidden World long ago, drawn into the conflicts between Ability users.
City Nightwatches — their mission was to uphold the rules, apprehend rogue Ability users, and protect the city's peace. That kind of work inevitably brought them face to face with ruthless villains, and made them easy targets for extreme retaliation. Her death was exactly that — the villains' revenge against her brother, meant to break him, to shatter him from the inside out.
And clearly, they would succeed.
You Ling knew her brother far too well. The more desperate the situation, the more he needed strength. The more pain he endured, the more he needed an anchor. She was the anchor that had carried him through all those hard years.
As long as she was alive, she was her brother's solace. That was why she had been willing to play the obedient girl who knew nothing.
She absolutely could not let anything happen to herself.
【Host may choose to sign a contract with the System and become a popular character in the manga. Character popularity can be exchanged for energy. Once energy is obtained, the System can continuously provide energy to sustain the Host's body.】
You Ling: "Sign me up."
It was a decision that required no thought. After their parents died, her brother had sworn to them that he would give her a happy life. She, in turn, could never abandon her brother.
In this world, they were each other's only blood relative. Neither could leave the other behind.
【System core damaged. Energy reserves insufficient. Minimum consumption mode activated. Current energy can sustain Host activity for 10 min. Please allocate free activity time accordingly.】
【Become a popular character. Harvest energy. Extend resurrection time.】
【Host's remaining activity time: 00:09:58】
"Become a popular character?" You Ling gazed out at the endless rain shimmering beneath the neon lights. "Heh. Easy."
Her brother had kept her safe and ignorant until she was eighteen. She had been the model student her teachers always praised. The most "unproductive" thing she had ever done was read manga — and when it came to character design, she had more than a few insights.
The protagonist's sister? No. A character stamped with the "protected" label, her life tethered to her brother's — no matter how brilliant she might be, no matter if she returned from the dead with some miraculous power-up, she would never step out of her brother's shadow.
Truly popular characters had stories independent of the protagonist. Their own lives, their own friends, their own beliefs — they existed as individuals in their own right.
You Ling needed a new identity, one that shed every old label and was stunning enough to stand on its own.
As for losing her brother's protection by doing this? Please. Did she look scared?
In the world of Abilities, You Ling was indeed completely ignorant, and she had indeed become her brother's weakness.
Her brother believed that as long as she knew nothing, grew up safe, and walked the ordinary path of an ordinary person, that counted as happiness. You Ling had never argued with him, because she knew his life was hard and exhausting enough already — she shouldn't pile on more trouble.
But You Ling was not some spineless, bloodless creature. She had simply been willing to act docile in front of her brother. That did not mean she actually was one.
Given the chance, being the one under protection was the last thing she wanted.
The System had given her that chance — a chance to escape the fate of death and step onto the real stage.
Then she would change her destiny, and carve out a life that truly fit her — one she could claim as her own.
"Humans are drawn to strength by nature. Slap on a title like 'the strongest,' give them an identity that sounds intimidating, make them good-looking on top of that — and you've basically got a high-popularity character locked in." She spoke rapidly, as though addressing the System, but was really just talking to herself, analyzing the situation with razor-sharp clarity.
"But I don't have any Abilities. So if I want to pass as the strongest, I'll have to bluff."
Who could she fool? She knew nothing about the world of Abilities, was completely unfamiliar with Ability users, didn't recognize a single one — she didn't even have an Ability as her ticket through the door.
The only person she truly understood was her brother. And, as it happened, she understood him far too well.
She asked, "System, can I change my appearance?"
【Host's remaining activity time: 00:09:40. 10 energy points can be converted per minute. 50 energy points can alter the Host's base model.】
"Change it." You Ling's voice was decisive, almost fierce.
Not as the labeled, protected little sister — but as a player who sat at the table, one who could flip it over entirely.
Her brother would never willingly let her do any of this. He would stop her without question. But You Ling refused to let him be the one who stood in her way. A different face, a completely different body — even the opposite gender.
It would be a miracle if her brother recognized her. And if he somehow did, she would admit defeat and go home like a good girl.
【Host's remaining activity time: 00:04:34】
Her soul returned to the body. In the alley, the corpse opened its eyes. The wounds on her body had stopped bleeding. She braced a hand against the ground and pushed herself up. Under the rain's ceaseless wash, her features began to shift — her soft face lengthened and hardened, her black hair growing until it hung down to her ankles.
The rain draped over her like armor, and when it fell away, it had woven her an entirely new set of clothes. The only thing unchanged was that pair of clear, unyielding eyes.
"You Shuo, you bastard. You hid so much from me — so don't you dare complain when I hide things from you too." You Ling murmured, an oil-paper umbrella materializing slowly in her palm. She gripped its handle. "I need to use your identity as the protagonist. And I need to use my own death — to stage the grand entrance of the strongest Ability user."
A laugh escaped her as she spoke. Rainwater slid down the high bridge of her nose, wet droplets clinging to her lashes. "Don't blame me for taking advantage of you, You Shuo. After all, you wouldn't want your little sister to die for nothing, would you?"
She raised the oil-paper umbrella. Water dripping from its rim magnified her vivid green eyes. Her black cloak billowed in the wind and rain, as though celebrating a rebirth.
...
The City Nightwatches had long since identified the Ability crime syndicate and found their point of entry — a rogue Ability user who had crossed the line. The rogue knew he was being tracked, and during the pursuit, he fled into the Surface World.
You Shuo stared at Jinli University, right in front of him, and felt a premonition of dread rise from somewhere deep inside.
This was the university his sister attended. And yet, after crossing into the Surface World, the rogue had appeared right near this very campus.
That terrible premonition reached its peak the moment the rogue was apprehended.
The rogue showed no fear at being captured. Instead, he laughed — a wild, vindicated laugh, as though a great revenge had been fulfilled.
"Hahahahahaha—"
The rogue howled with laughter until one of You Shuo's colleagues kicked him in the head, sending it snapping sideways. "What the hell are you laughing at?!"
He coughed twice, spitting out thick, bloody saliva — but he was still laughing.
He ignored everyone else, fixing his bloodshot stare solely on You Shuo, his eyes threaded with red veins. "You Shuo. Captain You. You think you're hot shit, don't you? You think — you beat us?"
Rain fell on his shoulders, but it seemed to seep through his clothes, through his skin, all the way to his heart.
You Shuo sensed what was coming. His pupils dilated. A Nightwatch's identity was always kept secret — but this man had spoken his name.
In that instant, he could barely breathe. He dialed his sister's phone, but only a busy signal answered from the other end.
"Shuo-ge, his lock screen..." His colleague's voice was hesitant. You Shuo took the phone she held out in a clear evidence bag. The first thing he saw was the lock screen photo.
The rogue grinned savagely. He had set that photo as his lock screen deliberately, waiting for precisely this moment — for You Shuo to see it.
You Shuo saw a photograph of his sister lying in a pool of blood.
Neon reflections shimmered in the puddles around her. His sister wore the birthday present he had given her two years ago — that white scarf, now dyed vivid red with blood.
"Ha..." You Shuo's throat seized. No sound would come.
His first instinct was to turn off the phone. Shut it off. Stop looking. But when the screen went dark, he saw his own masked face reflected in the black glass.
A mask of blue-green skin and bared fangs. How hideous it looked.
Why wasn't he the one who died.
You Ling had never been like other children, with their whole families. She had drifted from place to place with You Shuo since she was small, never knowing a settled home. But she had never once been angry about being different from everyone else. She always understood You Shuo's situation. Whatever he could give her, she made do with — never complaining about their poverty. She never once accused her brother of being useless, of failing to give her a better life. She never criticized him for falling short. She only did what he hoped she would do.
When You Shuo had finally been able to earn money, to make up for the years his sister had endured — when she had gotten into university — You Shuo lay awake the night they received her acceptance letter, clutching their parents' memorial tablets, rambling on and on. What if some worthless guy tried to court his sister? Would she be ostracized in college for not having parents? Would her classmates look down on her because her brother had no diploma?
You Ling opened the door and took both memorial tablets away.
His sister — always sharp-tongued, always soft-hearted — had tucked in his blanket. "Shut up already, You Shuo. Go to sleep!"
But before she left, she turned back, one hand on the doorframe. "They'll only envy me for having such a great brother."
You Shuo had always known he wasn't a good brother. But You Ling was, without a doubt, the best sister anyone could ask for.
Yet his perfect sister had, in the end, been dragged down by her failure of a brother.
"Shuo-ge, are you okay—"
"You Shuo—"
"Let him go."
You Shuo clutched the phone, his mind a complete blank. He moved like a headless frog, propelled by nothing but his body's reflexes. He knew the alley in the photograph's background — when he had brought his sister to campus, he had surveyed every blind spot in the area.
He ran mechanically, his limbs beyond his control. The image of blood still seemed to linger in his eyes. The scene from the photograph would not leave his vision.
Rainwater ran from his forehead down along his temples. His brain hummed with white noise — until he collided with something, and the humming suddenly went silent.
The sound of rain slowly amplified in You Shuo's ears. The blurred figure before him gradually came into focus.
He took a step back and spoke to the person he had just collided with. "...S-sorry."
"Aiya, aiya. How interesting."
You Shuo snapped his head up. Only then did he realize that the person before him showed not the slightest trace of anger at having been bumped by someone soaking wet. Quite the opposite — he was smiling with genuine amusement.
The stranger wore peculiar red-tinted glasses. His forelocks swayed in the wind. Dangling from each ear were long crimson tassels that intertwined with the overgrown sidelocks framing his face. Behind him, black hair long enough to reach past his waist was drawn into a slender, low ponytail. He wore an anachronistic high-collared Tang jacket in clashing colors — emerald green shot through with black and white — with a black coat draped over his shoulders like a cape, its hem falling still at the ends of his hair. Rain struck the oil-paper umbrella overhead, producing a crisp sound entirely unlike the dull patter on nylon.
But the most striking thing about him was his eyes — that pair of feral, emerald-green irises hidden behind the red glasses.
Refined, even immaculate in appearance, yet unable to conceal the uncanny strangeness lurking beneath the polish.
Strange attire. A stranger person.
You Shuo's mind sharpened toward clarity. Who was this?
The stranger seemed to read his thoughts. He let out a soft laugh. "Who am I? Don't bother guessing. You won't figure it out."
"Your generation has never heard my name." He spoke as if to himself. You Shuo couldn't understand what he was saying, but he could feel the pressure closing in, step by step.
The stranger took a step forward, and in that instant, You Shuo could almost smell the thick, coppery scent of blood clinging to him.
"All you need to know is this — there is nothing under heaven that I cannot do."
The words were nothing short of arrogant, yet from his lips they sounded calm, almost offhand — as though nothing in this world could stir so much as a ripple in his heart.
The tip of his nose nearly touched the air You Shuo exhaled. Those green eyes lifted lazily, and when they settled on You Shuo, the gaze was that of a languid predator locking onto the throat it was about to tear open. He bared his fangs. "I can help you fulfill the most desperate wish in your heart right now."
You Shuo's wish at this moment —
Of course it was for his sister to be alive. But that was simply impossible!
You Shuo thought he must have lost his mind. Abilities couldn't bring back the dead. He had never heard of anyone who could toy with life and death.
Ability users were not gods, and no gods existed in this world. The dead could not be revived. You Shuo knew that hoping his sister was still alive was nothing but a dream — a dream untethered from reality.
He's lying to me. You Shuo knew this full well.
This person, strange from head to toe, was absolutely lying to him.
And yet — right now, against all reason — he found himself wanting to believe.
You Shuo's pupils trembled. The stranger raised his hand — wrapped in a black glove, slender, with pronounced knuckles — and pointed at You Shuo's heart. The sharpened nail at the tip of his index finger looked as though it could slice through cloth, pierce flesh, and bore straight through You Shuo's chest.
He gazed into the stranger's eyes, and in those vivid green irises, You Shuo saw his own reflection — drowned in despair, yet still clinging to a fragile thread of hope.
One was smiling, painting an illusion. The other was praying, begging the illusion to become real.
"The price is your soul." He said it with a smile, like a specter from a fever dream.
You Shuo answered, his voice hoarse. "I accept."
If a beautiful dream could come true, You Shuo would pay any price. Whether it meant damnation without return or his soul rotting in eternal captivity — he would swallow it gladly.