Jiang Sui kept her head lowered, afraid of being seen by the big villain and recognized as that malicious fiancée who might be dragged out and brutally killed.
In the silence, the villain’s footsteps rang out—slow, steady, and calm, like the approach of the Grim Reaper.
He walked toward the kneeling crowd.
Jiang Sui hunched her back and hid herself behind the fat man in front of her. She was grateful her face was covered in dirt and her hair was tangled; even her own mother wouldn’t recognize her like this.
She stared at the blood-soaked floor, where the villain’s shadow stretched out like a cold, suffocating presence.
It’s over. Am I really going to die right at the start?
Suddenly, a sharp startup sound rang in her ears.
“Beep— System connecting… connecting… connecting…”
The system connection stuttered, as if the signal was unstable.
At first, Jiang Sui was overjoyed—she actually had a system! But immediately after, panic set in. Why was it freezing at a time like this?!
Then she heard the villain’s cold, low voice:
“Raise your head.”
He was speaking to the people in the front row.
The man tremblingly lifted his head. The next second, his head exploded like a watermelon. Blood, bone, and brain matter splattered outward, spraying everyone nearby. Jiang Sui was also hit.
Warm, sticky.
It made her want to vomit.
Several people screamed in terror and tried to scatter—but in the next instant, their heads also exploded one after another like firecrackers.
Jiang Sui froze completely.
In just moments, the ground beside her was filled with headless corpses.
Blood gushed everywhere, spreading across the floor like flooding water.
“System connection successful.” The system’s cold and calm voice finally said, completely out of place. “Abnormal environment detected. Recalibrating time-space point… progress: 0%, 10%…”
The bloody scene had completely shattered Jiang Sui’s understanding of reality.
Until now, she had just been an ordinary person who had never even seen a chicken being slaughtered.
Her mind blanked. She couldn’t react at all. Among the terrified crowd, her stiff, motionless presence stood out.
Then Xie Yanhan’s gaze landed on her.
He suddenly let out a low laugh—pleased, bloodthirsty.
As if saying: So I finally found you, my hated fiancée.
“Progress: 50%, 60%…”
A chilling pressure enveloped her.
Jiang Sui slowly lifted her eyes, stiff as a puppet.
In her blurred vision, she first saw the villain’s black-brown boots, then his black pants, and his narrow waist beneath a tightly fitted hem—slender, but somehow full of hidden strength.
…Wait.
Even at a time like this, why was she noticing his looks?!
She mentally cursed herself. Focus! This was not the time to admire anyone’s appearance—she might lose her eyeballs next!
When she looked again, the surroundings began to distort and flicker, like overlapping film layers from two worlds merging.
“Progress: 90%…”
Jiang Sui raised her head again. The world in front of her had become blurry. She couldn’t see the villain’s face clearly anymore—only his hand reaching toward her.
Pale skin. Long, well-defined bones. Blue veins faintly visible and tense across the back of his hand.
A beautiful hand.
A hand that carried overwhelming power.
Jiang Sui had no doubt that this hand would crush her skull in the next second.
But fortunately, the progress bar reached 100%.
Everything around her—including the terrifying villain—shattered into floating fragments like illusions.
Her body dropped suddenly, as if stepping into empty space.
Her consciousness sank, then landed abruptly.
Gasping, Jiang Sui opened her eyes.
She shot up and found herself in an elegantly decorated bedroom.
The curtains were open. Bright sunlight poured in. Outside the glass window was a refined and beautiful villa garden.
Her heart was still pounding violently.
The system’s voice echoed again in her mind:
“Recalibration complete. Returned to original story starting point. Host is advised to properly perform the role of the vicious supporting female character and assist in advancing the plot as originally intended. Upon completion, the host may return to her original world and obtain a resurrection card.”
In her original world, Jiang Sui had accidentally fallen while hiking alone, rolled into a cold pool, and drowned.
So now, as long as she completed the mission and acted as the villainess, she could return to life?
But…
Thinking of the villain’s terrifying presence, a chill ran down her spine. Her stomach churned violently, almost making her vomit from fear.
“I refuse,” Jiang Sui said decisively. “Just let me stay drowned.”
Drowning sounded far more pleasant than being skinned alive and turned into paste.
The system paused for a second, still cold:
“If the host refuses, she will not be able to resurrect in the original world.”
Jiang Sui immediately caught the implication.
No resurrection… meaning she wouldn’t immediately die here either?
As if realizing it had slipped, the system added:
“If the host fails to perform the role or advance the plot, she will not obtain the resurrection card or any system assistance.”
Jiang Sui thought it over.
Without the system, she would have to survive the coming apocalypse on her own. No cheat abilities. Everything would depend on luck and strength.
Thinking carefully… maybe that wasn’t completely unacceptable.
She had no family left in her original world. Whether she revived or not didn’t matter much.
As for this world—she would just take it one day at a time.
Worst case, she could cling to the female protagonist’s thigh—her older half-sister in this world.
This was a female-oriented power fantasy novel, after all. The heroine would become the strongest esper in the apocalypse. If she latched onto her, survival wouldn’t be hard.
Having made up her mind, Jiang Sui said:
“I refuse.”
The system replied coldly:
“Then you will no longer receive story guidance in the future.”
Then it fell silent, as if shutting down.
Jiang Sui didn’t care. She began observing her surroundings, picked up the phone on the bedside table, checked the date—and froze.
What was the exact date of the apocalypse again?
She only vaguely remembered it was autumn, and the first winter after the apocalypse would be an extremely rare extreme cold wave. Even in the south, temperatures would drop to minus thirty degrees.
Now it was October 9th—the very end of autumn.
Jiang Sui tensed.
It really was about to begin.
She had to prepare immediately.
She opened a shopping app—
Then stopped.
Another detail surfaced in her memory.
The apocalypse began in South City, where she currently was—the heroine’s hometown.
After the pollution outbreak, this city would completely fall. Mutated creatures would roam everywhere.
So she needed to find another place. Somewhere suitable for stockpiling supplies, and safe from the chaotic early stage of the apocalypse. At least somewhere she could survive the first brutal winter.
Jiang Sui opened a map and began scrolling through cities one by one.
As she was thinking, a sudden chill crept up her back.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something pale.
She turned—
A tall, thin figure stood silently at the door like a ghost.
Jiang Sui nearly fell off the bed in shock.
The person wore a white shirt that hung loosely on his frame. Narrow shoulders, slim waist, long straight legs.
His black hair was slightly long, bangs covering half his face. His lips were pale, almost colorless. His skin was equally pale—sickly, gloomy, like a cold-blooded snake.
Jiang Sui’s scalp exploded.
That was the young version of the big villain.
He slowly lifted his head.
A pair of striking eyes were revealed—somewhere between peach blossom eyes and phoenix eyes. Long and narrow, slightly upturned at the corners, yet carrying a cold, oppressive sharpness.
He looked at her expressionlessly.
His voice was flat, emotionless, almost lifeless:
“Can I come in?”
Jiang Sui: “……?”
Only then did she remember—
The future final boss…
Was currently her abused, live-in fiancé.