The damp river wind, carrying the scent of blood, swept through the reeds and startled a few roosting water birds. Pale moonlight illuminated the side of the man’s face. Soaked black hair clung to his forehead, and his silk shirt, saturated with dark red bloodstains, was plastered to his chest. Its original silver-gray pattern was barely discernible. An ornate and exquisite family crest was carved into his cufflinks, a testament to his extraordinary status.
Jasmine Sinclair folded her arms and frowned at the unconscious man in the grass. ’He must weigh at least 150 pounds,’ she thought. The road was about 500 meters away. How was she supposed to haul this man to the roadside? She didn’t have the brute strength of Chiara White, the female lead from *Black Gang Lord’s 365 Days of Captive Pet*, who could carry a man on her back. She was just a delicate, helpless little "green tea"—how could she possibly do manual labor?
’Damn this dog of a system, making me come out to work at three in the morning! It doesn’t treat me like a human at all.’
’I wasn’t completely wasted at the bar earlier, but I still drank a lot. My head is throbbing now. How am I supposed to have the strength to haul this damn man into the car?’
"Host, stop spacing out. Hurry up. Chiara White will be here any minute. You can’t let Chiara White and Adrian Shepherd meet."
Seeing its host standing there motionless with a sour look on her face, System 777 urged her on anxiously.
"I can’t move him. Give me a Power Pill. Your system store should have them, right?"
Jasmine Sinclair had read many system-transmigration novels. Those systems always had stores with all sorts of goodies inside, like Beauty Enhancement Pills, Power Pills, and even perverted things like Fertility Pills.
"We have them, but you can’t afford them, Host. You don’t have any points."
System 777’s loli voice dripped with mockery. A new host wanting to buy something? Dream on.
The system store was basically just for show. Never mind new hosts, whose points were usually in the negative; even many veteran hosts who had transmigrated through a dozen small worlds were still working to pay off their debts. The only ones with enough points to afford items were the old-guard big shots.
"If I have no points, I can take out a loan. Lend me some, and I’ll pay you back when I get points."
Jasmine Sinclair coaxed the dog system in a sweet, gentle voice.
"Host, you’re a newcomer with no credit rating, so you can’t take out a loan. And he’s not that heavy—only 155 pounds. If you put in a little effort, you can manage to carry him."
"Host, stop dawdling. Chiara White is only 300 meters away now. Hurry up."
No matter how much System 777 urged her, Jasmine Sinclair refused to budge. ’I’m a delicate, helpless green tea. I can’t do manual labor.’
"It’s over, Host! Chiara White has already seen you. She’s walking toward you."
Ignoring the system’s frantic urging in her mind, Jasmine Sinclair looked up ahead. By the silent riverbank in the dead of night, a girl was walking toward her. As the girl drew closer, her features gradually came into view.
The girl had a delicate doll-like face with round cheeks that still held a touch of baby fat, glowing with a soft, pearlescent light under the moon. Her eyes were large, round, and bright, like black grapes soaking in a clear spring. When she blinked, her lashes scattered tiny flecks of starlight. Below a small nose, her lips were a natural cherry-red, their slightly pouting curve reminiscent of a porcelain doll in a shop window.
She wore a white shirt with a Peter Pan collar, its ruffled cuffs swaying gently with her steps. Her light-blue pleated skirt rippled in the river breeze, and white lace stockings hugged her slender calves, extending all the way to the straps of her black Mary Janes. A bow clipped to the top of each shoe trembled slightly with every step.
She looked as if she had just stepped out of the frontispiece of a romantic comic. Even her fluttering strands of hair had that dreamlike quality unique to the 2D world. She was just too adorable.
Jasmine Sinclair found herself staring. ’She’s so cute,’ she couldn’t help but ask the system in her mind. ’I genuinely like this one. System, can you please loosen the gender restrictions for capture targets? Why does such an adorable girl have to be wasted on a scumbag? Wouldn’t it be better to give her to me?’
"If you still want to return to your world, Host, then please don’t get any ideas about the female lead. The female lead belongs to the male lead. Host, you should stay away."
System 777 switched to its cold, mechanical voice to deliver the stern rejection.
’System, is she even an adult? Don’t tell me the male lead is some kind of monster who goes after minors.’
System 777: "Host, what are you worried about? She just turned eighteen."
Chiara White seemed not to see anyone else by the river. She walked straight toward the water’s edge, her doll-like face filled with determination and stubbornness. ’Instead of being controlled by Silas Sanford forever with no freedom, it’s better to just die. At least I might be reborn into a better life.’
Just as Chiara White mustered her courage and lifted her foot to step into the river, a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"Could you do me a favor?"
Jasmine Sinclair gripped Chiara White’s wrist tightly and gave her a sweet smile.
The smile was so sweet it left Chiara White a little dazed. She had never seen a girl smile so sweetly; it was like biting into a sweet fruit, enough to melt a person’s heart.
"Could you help me get him into my car? I’m too weak, I can’t move him."
Jasmine Sinclair pointed at the unconscious man on the ground.
"You... you killed him?"
Seeing all the blood on the man, Chiara White’s eyes widened in terror. In her rush to jump into the river, she had only seen the girl and hadn’t noticed the man in the grass. Now that she looked, it seemed like he was dead.
’How could I be so unlucky? I finally managed to escape from Silas Sanford, and just as I was about to jump into the river, I stumble upon a murder. This girl has some serious nerve, asking me for help after killing someone. Isn’t she afraid I’ll call the police?’
"No, he’s still alive. If you don’t believe me, look—he’s still breathing."
Jasmine Sinclair gave the man on the ground a few kicks. Perhaps feeling the pain, the rise and fall of the man’s chest became more pronounced.
"Then how did he end up like this?"
Chiara White could see the man on the ground was seriously injured, as if he’d been in a brutal fight.
"I don’t know either. He was already lying here when I arrived. I want to take him to the hospital, but I can’t move him by myself. Can you help me?"
Jasmine Sinclair pleaded with Chiara White, blinking her big eyes.
"I’m in a hurry. Why don’t you just call an ambulance?"
Chiara White was in a difficult position. Silas Sanford’s men could find her at any moment. She had to hurry up and die.
"The ambulance is on its way to another patient, so it won’t be here for two hours. This guy looks badly hurt. I’m not sure he can hold on until it arrives. Honey, no matter how urgent your business is, it can’t be more urgent than a human life, right? Just help me out, please?"
’Lies rolled off her tongue effortlessly,’ Jasmine Sinclair thought. ’Call an ambulance? My ass. As the villainous second male lead, how could he die so easily? If I had a choice, I’d be thrilled if he croaked. That would be one less target for me to capture.’
"But my business is also a matter of life and death."
Chiara White was torn between saving a life and taking her own. She was afraid that if she didn’t jump soon, Silas Sanford’s men would find her. Then she would fall back into that man’s demonic clutches.
"You’re so adorable, you must be a very kind person. You couldn’t bear to watch this man die just because he didn’t get timely medical treatment, right?"
Jasmine Sinclair held Chiara White’s wrist tightly and began to guilt-trip her. The female leads in these novels were always kind-hearted. After she’d said all that, there was no way Chiara White could refuse.