Jiang Sui: “……”
She desperately tried to recall the early interactions between the original host and the big villain, Xie Yanhan.
Xie Yanhan had a rather unfortunate background. He was a switched-at-birth fake young master. But he didn’t enjoy that status for long—the real young master was soon found. After that, the Xie family abandoned him. Yet instead of sending him away, they kept him in the household, raising him like a dog.
The Xie family was not kind. In a sense, they were just as cold and cruel as Xie Yanhan, who had no blood relation to them.
The true young master, Xie Mingli, was jealous of Xie Yanhan’s exceptional intelligence and outstanding appearance. That jealousy twisted into hatred, and he began to torture and abuse Xie Yanhan. The Xie family turned a blind eye, even indulging it.
To outsiders, Xie Yanhan was a kind-hearted adopted son of the Xie family. But inside the house, he was nothing more than a disposable dog that could be insulted and abused at will.
As for the original host, Jiang Sui, she was an illegitimate daughter of the Jiang family. Her mother had been a maid in the Jiang household and accidentally gave birth to her.
Because of this background, Jiang Sui was engaged to Xie Yanhan—an illegitimate daughter of a wealthy family and a fake young master of a noble one. In a twisted way, it was considered a “perfect match.”
After the engagement, Xie Yanhan was thrown into the Jiang household and made to live with Jiang Sui under the excuse of “building their relationship.”
In reality, it was just another form of torment.
The original Jiang Sui was timid by nature but full of resentment. At first, she treated Xie Yanhan cautiously and dared not do anything to him. That changed when the Xie family began to support her.
As long as she complained that Xie Yanhan “did not behave well,” the Xie family would immediately call him back and punish him severely.
Light punishments meant confinement. Heavier ones meant beatings. The worst was being sent to underground fighting rings under the guise of “training,” forced to fight professional boxers until he was barely alive before being carried away.
With the Xie family backing her, Jiang Sui gradually gained confidence. She made Xie Yanhan serve her tea, do chores, and wash clothes. If she was unhappy, she would refuse him food and water and force him to stay in a small study room.
Sometimes, after Xie Yanhan was punished by the Xie family, Jiang Sui would make things even worse and force him to work harder.
If there was nothing to do at home, she would send him out to run errands—carrying heavy water barrels under the scorching sun. When he returned exhausted, she would lock him up again and forbid him from eating or drinking.
Later, in a moment of anger, she even pushed him onto the road, causing a car accident that broke his legs.
Shortly after that, the apocalypse broke out.
Things became even worse for Xie Yanhan. Jiang Sui used him as a living resource tank—drawing his blood, cutting his flesh, extracting value from him every day. In the end, she even sold him off to a research lab like livestock.
Jiang Sui: “……”
She looked at the big villain standing in front of her now—smiling gently, polite and restrained, even somewhat cautious and humble.
Her back turned ice-cold.
Because she knew very well: that humility was only an act. Beneath it was darkness, cruelty, vengeance, and extreme ruthlessness.
In short—stay far away.
No more abuse. Absolutely none. Otherwise she would die horribly in the future.
“Come in,” Jiang Sui said politely.
Xie Yanhan then walked in slowly. His steps were heavy and labored. His eyes were lowered, avoiding eye contact. He passed by her bed and walked toward the small study inside the room.
Jiang Sui followed him with her gaze—and noticed something.
His white shirt was slowly being stained red.
The blood formed streaks, as if caused by whips.
It looked like he had just been beaten again. Most likely, it was because the original host had reported him again, and the Xie family had punished him harshly.
Jiang Sui became a little tense, worried that he might seek revenge later. But after thinking about it, she realized she had no way to deal with that anyway.
Forcing herself to ignore his presence, she focused on the map and tried to remember.
She had read the novel too quickly and couldn’t recall exactly where the heroine’s base would be built. She could only choose a place based on intuition—
Chong City.
Located at the boundary between north and south, with mild winters and summers. It wouldn’t be too cold during extreme winters, nor too hot in summer.
The only problem was the dense vegetation—after the pollution outbreak, mutated creatures would be more numerous there than elsewhere.
But there was no perfect place in the world. If she didn’t want to freeze to death in the extreme winter, she would have to deal with mutated monsters.
Besides, Chong City was the original host’s mother’s hometown. In a rural village there, they had a hillside orchard with a house that included both a basement and a cellar.
In the novel, after the apocalypse began, the original host often thought about that orchard, regretting that she hadn’t returned earlier to stockpile supplies and farm.
The system suddenly spoke:
“Host, if you accept the mission, you will receive rewards for each completed task—such as an apocalypse safe house and unlimited supplies. The system’s safe house also includes various cheat-like features to help you survive.”
For a few seconds, Jiang Sui felt tempted.
But she quickly calmed down.
Accepting the mission would indeed make survival easier—but the way she would have to live was horrifying. And in the end, she would still die when the time came.
If she refused, life might be harder—but at least her fate would belong to herself. As long as she was capable, she could live as long as she wanted.
“I refuse,” Jiang Sui said.
The system added coldly:
“Then the host will have no guidance from the storyline.”
It fell silent again.
Jiang Sui ignored it and checked flights back to South City. Since she didn’t know the exact timing of the apocalypse, she had to start preparing immediately.
Before booking the ticket, she checked the original host’s bank account.
Then she froze.
“3,622.1.”
?
??
WHAT?
She stared at it in disbelief.
She was supposed to be an illegitimate daughter of a wealthy family—shouldn’t there be at least two extra zeros?!
Why did she only have a few thousand yuan?!
That wasn’t even enough to stockpile instant noodles!
She needed to renovate a house, hoard supplies, and buy everything needed for survival. Even a million wouldn’t be enough—and now she didn’t even have five thousand.
What kind of joke was this?!
The system spoke again, cold and indifferent:
“Host, you should accept the mission. With cheat abilities, everything would be easier.”
Jiang Sui bit her lip.
Having cheats would indeed make things easier—but forcing herself to torture someone, bleed them, sell them out in the end…
She really couldn’t do it.
She quickly pulled herself together.
“Isn’t it just money? I’ll figure something out!”
Sell bags, clothes, shoes. Take loans… there would always be a way.
Some people live richly. Some people live poorly.
She decided to go wash her face and calm down.
In the bathroom, she splashed cold water on her face. When she looked up into the mirror, she froze again.
Her face… was almost identical to her original one.
A small oval face, fair skin, round bright eyes like a deer’s, long eyelashes, a small upturned nose, and soft pink lips.
The only difference was the hairstyle—curled bangs, shoulder-length wavy hair tied into a bun, dyed a warm chestnut brown. Energetic and cute.
She tilted her head slightly.
Not bad. It actually suited her.