As soon as Shi Xi logged into her short video account, she was greeted by 999+ notifications.
Her livestream footage had been compared with her campus life photos in side-by-side comparisons.
One version appeared pure and elegant, while the other seemed gloomy and unattractive.
The stark contrast had sparked widespread discussion.
Originally having just over a hundred thousand followers, she had actually gained more fans during these past two days of intense public scrutiny.
Though she had posted fewer than ten videos, her comment section was already flooded.
Every comment she opened was filled with vile remarks.
People called her an ugly troublemaker, accused her of having a personality as dark as her appearance, and mocked her followers for being blind.
Shi Xi stared at the AI-generated face, her fingers tracing the two scars on her own face.
If the scars were covered, her face actually resembled the AI version quite closely.
Scanning through her private messages, Shi Xi noticed an official account from a tech company had boldly sent her a collaboration offer, likely interested in the AI face-swapping software she had developed.
Although Chen Xi had randomly chosen her university and major for the original host, Shi Xi had consistently earned scholarships throughout her four years and mastered all her specialized courses.
Unfortunately, due to her physical disability, she kept facing rejection in her job search.
The software she developed produced more realistic and seamless face-swaps compared to others on the market.
In truth, her initial motivation for creating this software was to fulfill her own wistful longing.
If only she hadn’t been disfigured.
Her phone vibrated until it grew hot, forcing her to turn off message notifications.
The news about her face-swapping livestream had reached her university.
Her academic advisor messaged her, warning that if she didn’t come forward to explain herself, it might affect her graduation.
Under the dim glow of her nightlight, Shi Xi leaned against the wall, typing on her phone.
She drafted a lengthy post, attempting to defend herself while explaining her difficulties.
The Female Lead Department’s assessment took place in a xianxia world.
There, she only needed to study diligently, maintain virtuous qualities, forgive all malice directed at her, and follow the plot prompts from the Female Lead System to achieve a happy ending with the male lead.
Shi Xi still hadn’t fully adapted to her role as a “bad girl.”
Just before hitting send, the System reminded her in its matter-of-fact tone, “The original host’s AI face-swap livestream didn’t violate any laws or regulations in this world. The red packets from her three ex-boyfriends were clearly marked as voluntary gifts, so accepting them doesn’t constitute fraud. The host doesn’t need to justify herself. On the other hand, Chi Xuan hiring hackers to dox the original host violated citizen privacy rights, and publicly humiliating the host means you can file a police report to seek compensation for emotional damages.”
Shi Xi’s lips parted slightly, a glimmer of light appearing in her eyes. “So this is how ‘bad girls’ handle things?”
Following the Female Lead Department’s approach, she would have to return the money, apologize to everyone, and beg the university to let her stay.
She would be the most stubborn and resilient blade of grass, growing toward the sun despite her disfigurement and limp, inspiring others with her indomitable spirit!
“Mhm.”
The Bad Girl System remained aloof, disappearing after providing the solution.
Unlike the Female Lead System, which constantly nagged in her ear about how to be the perfect female lead.
Shi Xi opened her notes and checked the red packet amounts recorded by the original host.
Chi Xuan: 168,800 yuan
Bai Fan: 86,600 yuan
Lu Mingzhe: 69,900 yuan
Before transmigrating, Shi Xi came from a wealthy family where her pocket money alone amounted to several small fortunes.
Looking at these figures, she could only think how stingy all three ex-boyfriends were.
For just a few dollars, they were hounding her relentlessly.
Chi Xuan was even more ridiculous, actually resorting to revenge tactics.
So Shi Xi felt no guilt as she deleted the lengthy message and only sent one sentence: “Teacher, I’ll be going to the police tomorrow to handle this.”
The counselor called back almost immediately.
“Lin Shi Xi, you finally show up! Where have you been? The parent contact numbers you provided are all invalid. What are you trying to do? Do you realize the huge trouble you’ve caused?”
An infuriated male voice erupted from the phone.
Without even asking what had happened, he first berated her, then ordered her to return to school immediately, preferably with a parent!
The school obviously didn’t want this to escalate further. Having Shi Xi come forward to apologize and settle the matter would be the ideal outcome.
Shi Xi remained silent and simply hung up.
His shouting was hurting her ears.
If she returned to school now, she’d only face thrown rotten eggs and become a spectacle for photos.
As for her parents… she absolutely couldn’t let those two know about this, otherwise she might not even be able to hold onto the money she had.
Though exhausted, Shi Xi still got up to pack a backpack, placing it by her pillow before lying down again.
The original host had scheduled a laser scar removal surgery last week, set for tomorrow at 3 PM.
She needed to make the trip.
Noise filtered through the door. Shi Xi checked her phone.
10:00 AM.
After changing clothes, she opened the door.
The living room was in chaos, all clutter swept onto the floor. A woman was being held by her hair and beaten on the sofa.
The perpetrator was Lin Zhen.
But Chen Xi fought back too, her sharp nails leaving marks wherever they struck him.
“Damn slut, don’t think I don’t know how many times you sold yourself last night! Hand over the money!”
“Lin Zhen, you bastard, let go! Watch me expose your gambling den!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Ah!”
“I’ll kill you!”
Watching their mutual beating spectacle, Shi Xi blinked calmly.
In the Female Lead Department, this would be when she’d step in to mediate and stop the domestic violence.
The System’s voice suddenly rang out, “Don’t intervene, don’t be the good person. You’ll get beaten.”
Shi Xi: “…Okay.”
Great, she wasn’t a female lead. She didn’t have to be the good person.
She skipped washing up and headed straight for the door.
Her cane tapped sharply against the floor, and the two seemed to finally notice her presence.
“Damn girl, you’re just watching? Get over here!”
Lin Zhen was tall, skinny as a rail with sunken cheeks and stubble, looking no different from a drug addict.
Hearing his furious voice, Shi Xi’s body froze almost reflexively.
Memories of the original host being beaten surfaced in her mind, scene after scene, making Shi Xi frown.
Lin Zhen staggered forward, holding a wooden rod taken from some chair, approaching with murderous intent.
“So your legs are crippled, and now you’re deaf too? Looks like you need a beating too! One cuckolds me all day, the other only knows how to eat! Worthless trash!”
As he raised his arm while cursing, Shi Xi lifted her cane and jabbed it hard against his chest.
Slowly, she squeezed out the words, “If you hit her, you can’t hit me anymore.”
Her thrust carried considerable force.
Lin Zhen’s ribs took the impact, making him grimace in pain.
Seeing him about to charge at her, Shi Xi expressionlessly jabbed his abdomen with even more force.
Lin Zhen hadn’t expected his usually submissive daughter, who was as bitter as a bitter gourd, to dare defy him. Instantly enraged, his face twisted as he reached to snatch her cane. “Ugly freak, just as cheap as your mother! I’ll kill you!”
Shi Xi subtly twisted her wrist, effortlessly withdrawing the cane and stepping aside.
Pulled by the force of the cane, Lin Zhen lost his balance and stumbled forward!
“Thud!”
He fell flat on his face, eating dirt.
It was unclear how many teeth he had lost, but his mouth was full of blood, making it difficult for him to even curse, let alone continue his violence.
This was no place to stay any longer.
Shi Xi quickly walked out.
By the sofa, Chen Xi sat on the floor, watching the scene with a mocking laugh.
Her hair was a tangled mess, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth—a picture of utter wretchedness.
Yet, at this moment, she cheerfully lit a cigarette for herself.
She seemed long accustomed to such a life, exuding an aura of complete degradation.
Shi Xi didn’t even glance at her, slamming the door shut.
Just after leaving the alley, she looked down at her mud-stained pink slippers and frowned.
She had forgotten to change her shoes.
At that moment, a pair of almond-colored high heels appeared before her.
The shoes were impeccably clean and looked expensive.
Shi Xi’s gaze traveled upward to a beautiful oval face with almond-shaped eyes and cherry lips, though the other’s expression was somewhat cold.
Light brown long curls fluttered in the wind, and a faint scent of roses wafted into her nostrils.
The System reported: “Lu Yan, the Lu Family’s heiress, the one whose identity was swapped with the original host.”
Shi Xi’s expression remained unruffled.
In her memories, the original host had seen Lu Yan before, but the Lu Yan of then bore no resemblance to the elegant and poised woman before her now.
So why had Lu Yan come here?
Shi Xi had no intention of engaging with her and was about to walk past.
But then the System said, “Host has triggered world plot. Please prepare to receive it.”
Shi Xi was taken aback, and then a segment of the plot appeared in her mind.
After the original host’s death, Lu Yan had also made a trip like this.
But she hadn’t found anyone, and on her way back, she and Lu Mingzhe were both in a car accident. From then on, the Lu Family regarded the original host as a jinx.
Even when they later learned of her death, they showed no grief.
Lu Yan was hospitalized for over half a month due to the accident, and her relationship with her fiancé Chi Yuan rapidly deepened.
So, Lu Yan was the female lead of this world, Chi Yuan was the male lead, and the original host’s death had even catalyzed their relationship.
“Will Lu Mingzhe show up soon too?”
“It really is you, Lin Shi Xi.”
Lu Yan looked Shi Xi up and down, her eyes filled with unconcealed disgust and hatred.
“Who are you?”
Shi Xi met her gaze squarely, facing her anger head-on.
Lu Yan didn’t answer her. “Lin Shi Xi, why won’t your family just disappear? Your parents keep hounding me for money, and you—you actually deceived my brother.”
Her eyes fixed on Shi Xi’s face, her tone icy. “Aren’t you disgusting?”
Faced with such intense malice, Shi Xi merely blinked and retorted, “Are you saying I deceived your brother? How exactly did I deceive him?”
“Stop pretending. You know perfectly well.”
“What am I pretending about?”
“Don’t you dare deny it!”
“Oh.”
From start to finish, Shi Xi’s tone remained calm, her expression tinged with innocence.
Lu Yan had come with full force, but every one of her words felt like hitting a soft cushion, only making her more frustrated.
She spat out venomously, “Lin Shi Xi, I’m warning you—stay away from my brother, or else—”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but her eyes held murderous intent.
She could never forget those fifteen years living with the Lin Family—more unbearable than purgatory, where she was frequently beaten and scolded, and even having a proper meal was difficult.
She hated the Lin Family, and she hated Lin Shi Xi who had stolen fifteen years of her happy life.
Even though Lu Yan had already made threatening remarks, Shi Xi’s expression remained indifferent. “Don’t rush to threaten me yet. You haven’t said how I harassed your brother?”
Throwing the question back to Lu Yan, the other party indeed grew even angrier.
Gritting her teeth, she said, “Lin Shi Xi! You used a fake face for live streaming to scam money from my brother! These shameful deeds of yours are known everywhere! Don’t play innocent here!”
When Lu Yan saw the name “Lin Shi Xi” online, she paid special attention to it.
When she spotted her brother’s account on the donation leaderboard, she was stunned and even specifically confirmed it with her brother.
Her brother had actually fallen in love online with an AI face-swapped Lin Shi Xi and got scammed out of his money!
“Oh, that matter. Which one is your brother?” Shi Xi took out her phone. “Let me see, is his name LMZ?”
Lu Yan’s face darkened as she silently confirmed it.
Lu Mingzhe was too lazy to come up with a name and used this account across all platforms, with a plain white profile picture.
“Yan Yan.”
No one knew when Lu Mingzhe had appeared or how long he had been listening.
He was wearing a well-tailored suit, his short hair neat and tidy, his steps calm and composed.
His hawk-like eyes swept over Shi Xi, growing increasingly profound.
Thin and haggard, with a gloomy aura, the scars on her face were too conspicuous, making one unwilling to look a second time.
This version of Lin Shi Xi, standing before the radiantly beautiful Lu Yan, seemed more like a dirty speck of mud.
Lu Mingzhe recalled her nearly perfect, stunning face from the live streams. When he first saw her, he couldn’t explain why he felt a sense of familiarity.
Now he understood.
That face bore some resemblance to Lin Shi Xi before her disfigurement.
He hadn’t taken that online romance seriously, but he was displeased by her sudden breakup and blocking him.
When he saw Chi Xuan expose her information, he didn’t recognize her at first. It was only after seeing the name that he connected the dots.
How did he feel back then?
Like stagnant water, without a ripple.
But now, seeing her in person, it was as if long-suppressed emotions were crashing violently against his chest.
Lu Mingzhe couldn’t sort through his feelings, only feeling irritated and anxious.
“Big brother, why are you here?”
Lu Yan’s voice brought Lu Mingzhe back to reality.
“Yan Yan, go back first.”
“But big brother—”
“Be obedient.”
Seeing his stern expression, Lu Yan nodded silently.
“The matter hasn’t been cleared up yet,” Shi Xi suddenly spoke up. “She said I harassed you and scammed your money. Did I?”
She was asking Lu Mingzhe.
Her voice was soft and faint, like a feather brushing against the heart, leaving only an itch.
Lu Mingzhe’s Adam’s apple moved as he glanced down at the frail figure.
She had moved closer, very near.
Her clear black-and-white eyes were calm, as if looking at a stranger.
Lu Mingzhe stared at her, the emotions fermenting in his chest breaking free from their cage and eroding his rationality.
His gaze could no longer easily shift away.
It seemed she hadn’t grown any taller since leaving the Lu Family, and had even become as thin as paper.
The Lin parents were inhuman, abusing Yan Yan for fifteen years.
And during those fifteen years, their biological daughter was spoiled like a little princess in the Lu Family.
Lu Mingzhe could no longer clearly remember the scene of sending Shi Xi away that day—it was the last time they had seen each other.
At this very moment, a voice in his mind kept telling him that she was nothing but a greedy usurper.
Yet simultaneously, memories he thought had long been forgotten resurrected like the dead, violently sweeping through his mind.
He was five years older than her—he had practically watched her grow up.
That sweet, soft little sister, who had just learned to walk, would toddle over with her two front teeth showing to hold his hand, throwing herself into his arms to act spoiled.
When she started kindergarten, she didn’t cry, but he wept until his eyes were red and swollen, sometimes even skipping class to pick her up.
Whatever she wanted to eat or play, he would take her without delay.
By the time she was about to enter elementary school, he was moving up to middle school. Already a young man, he locked himself in his room and cried all night.
In her junior high years, she received countless love letters. He traveled all the way from his university to her school, personally confronting every one of her suitors.
He could never bear to be apart from her; he believed his sister was the most adorable person in the world.
Yet for the past seven years, Lu Mingzhe had never recalled these memories.
Why?
After all, hadn’t he been her brother for fifteen years?
Lu Mingzhe’s eyes grew inexplicably sore.
In that fleeting moment, he felt as if some shackle within him had been broken.
He stared into the girl’s eyes, yet his gaze dared not linger on the scar across her face or the cane she gripped tightly.
The ache in his chest remained unresolved.
System: “Lu Mingzhe’s hatred value -60.”
Shi Xi: ?