A crowd had already gathered in a circle by the riverbank at the entrance of the village.
When Su Wantang followed Aunt Liu, stumbling and rushing all the way to the river, her heart was beating so fast it felt as though it might burst out of her chest.
The smooth pebbles on the riverbank pressed painfully against the soles of her cloth shoes. She pushed through the crowd and saw the man lying by the river at a glance.
And her older sister, Su Wanrou, crouching beside him.
Su Wanrou was wearing a faded floral blouse that had been washed countless times. With a plain handkerchief, she carefully wiped the blood and mud from the man’s face.
The sunlight illuminated her focused profile, her eyelashes casting fine shadows over her eyelids. Her movements were so gentle, as if she were handling some fragile treasure.
“Wanrou really has such a kind heart.”
“She really does. She came over and helped immediately.”
“I heard he’s a soldier. His injuries look pretty serious…”
The surrounding voices buzzed in Su Wantang’s ears, but she felt as if she had been nailed in place, her gaze fixed firmly on the man.
He was drenched from head to toe. The dark green military training uniform had turned a deeper shade after being soaked in river water. Several places were torn open by sharp objects, revealing bleeding flesh underneath.
The most shocking injury was on the left side of his waist and abdomen. The fabric there was ripped apart, exposing a horrifying wound running across his side. Although the edges had turned pale and swollen from being soaked in water, the shape and location…
were exactly the same as the scar from her dream.
Su Wantang’s hands and feet instantly turned cold.
[Target detected: Lu Zhanye, Special Forces Brigade Captain of the Military Region. Newbie mission target.]
A mechanical voice suddenly rang out inside her mind.
A blue holographic screen appeared automatically. On the list of possible male targets, the entry that had previously read:
“??? (Unknown male, scar on waist)”
began rapidly refreshing and rearranging.
Finally, it settled into:
Lu Zhanye (Special Forces Brigade Captain of the Military Region) — Compatibility: 95% (Designated target for beginner mission)
Su Wantang stopped breathing for a moment.
It really was him.
The man from her dream—the man who had trapped her deep inside a haystack—was now lying here unconscious, his life hanging in the balance.
And her sister, Su Wanrou…
She subconsciously looked at Su Wanrou’s movements.
After wiping the man’s face clean, Su Wanrou’s handkerchief paused slightly. Her fingertips brushed past the man’s tightly pressed lips without leaving a trace, and a strange emotion flashed through her eyes.
It wasn’t simple sympathy or kindness.
It was something else…
A familiar, determined, almost possessive gleam.
Su Wanrou noticed her gaze and looked up.
The moment their eyes met, Su Wantang clearly saw a flash of panic in her sister’s eyes. But it disappeared almost instantly, replaced by her usual gentle yet distant smile.
“Wantang, you’re here too? Come help. This comrade is badly injured. We need to send him to the clinic immediately.”
Her tone was far too natural—as if she were the one who had discovered the injured man first, the one who had offered help first.
But Su Wantang clearly remembered what Aunt Liu had shouted earlier.
“The village secretary already brought people over.”
Su Wanrou had obviously gone to town earlier for the Women’s Federation. How could she have arrived before the people brought by the village secretary? How could she have already started rescuing him?
Unless…
She already knew what was going to happen.
[Warning: Abnormal behavior detected in key plot character “Su Wanrou.” Preliminary analysis: suspected reincarnated individual consciousness awakened.]
The system’s cold notification sounded again.
A reincarnated person?
Su Wantang’s mind buzzed.
The system. The villainess role. The life countdown. The male target with 95% compatibility. Her reincarnated sister…
Everything was absurd, like an extension of the nightmare she had been having for three nights.
“Everyone move aside! The clinic’s stretcher is here!”
Village secretary Zhao Dehai’s rough voice came from outside the crowd.
Several strong young men carried a simple stretcher through the crowd, followed by Doctor Li from the clinic carrying a medical box.
Doctor Li knelt down to examine the injuries. His brows grew tighter and tighter.
“Excessive blood loss. The wound is infected. We need to clean and stitch it immediately! Hurry, carry him away!”
Everyone worked together to move the man onto the stretcher.
At the moment he was lifted, the wound on his waist opened again due to the movement, exposing itself directly in front of Su Wantang.
That injury…
was not only identical to the scar from her dream in location.
Even the horrifying torn edges were exactly like the rough, deep mark she had touched in that dream.
“Wait.”
Su Wantang suddenly spoke. Her voice was so soft that even she could barely hear it.
“His waist…”
“The waist injury is the worst. It was probably caused by rocks or branches in the river,” Doctor Li hurriedly explained, urging the men carrying the stretcher.
“Quick, quick! Move!”
The stretcher was quickly carried away from the riverbank toward the village clinic.
Su Wanrou naturally followed.
After walking a few steps, she turned back and glanced at Su Wantang.
That look contained an indescribable warning and urgency.
The crowd slowly dispersed, leaving only Su Wantang standing there.
The river wind blew past, carrying the chill of early autumn.
Yet she felt burning hot, as if she had returned to that dream again—the one filled with the scent of hay and scorching warmth.
[System notification: Beginner mission countdown — 71 hours 58 minutes remaining. Host must approach target Lu Zhanye as soon as possible and complete conception mission. Warning: If life value reaches zero, death will occur in reality.]
The countdown numbers on the screen jumped coldly.
Seventy-two hours.
No, now it was less than seventy-two hours.
She needed to find a man with a waist scar and 95% compatibility, then…
become pregnant with his child.
And that man had just been carried away.
With a sister beside him who was likely a reincarnated person—and who clearly wanted to seize the opportunity first.
Su Wantang slowly crouched down, her fingers unconsciously digging into the damp river pebbles.
She remembered the system’s chaotic warning when the binding first failed:
“The original plot trajectory has already deviated…”
If Su Wanrou really was a reincarnated person…
If she already knew that an injured military officer would be washed ashore by the river today…
If she knew what kind of identity and future opportunities this man would have…
Then in the previous life, who was the person who saved Lu Zhanye?
Was it her?
Was that why those entangled scenes appeared in her dreams?
Was that why, in this life, Su Wanrou was trying to get ahead?
And was she, the so-called “vicious supporting female character,” destined in the original story to become jealous because Su Wanrou “saved Lu Zhanye,” then gradually fall into schemes, ruin, and a tragic ending where she died during childbirth?
Countless questions crowded her mind, but there was not a single answer.
“Wantang? What are you standing here spacing out for?”
Wang Xiuying appeared at some point and grabbed her arm.
“Come home. The wind by the river is too strong. Your sister has already gone to the clinic to help. Don’t go join the chaos.”
Su Wantang was pulled away by her mother, but she couldn’t help looking back toward the clinic.
The silhouettes of the earthen houses looked gray and worn beneath the autumn sunlight. The slightly neater tiled roof of the village clinic stood out among the low buildings.
She knew that inside was the person who determined whether she lived or died.
And she also knew that inside was her sister—the person who might know the entire “plot.”
[System notification: Target Lu Zhanye’s vital signs are stable. He has escaped danger. Host is advised to visit the clinic tonight and initiate first interaction.]
Tonight?
Su Wantang’s heart suddenly jumped.
Night was the best cover.
And also…
the easiest time for an “accident” to happen.
Should she go?
After going there, how would she face Lu Zhanye?
How would she avoid Su Wanrou?
And how could she possibly complete that absurd “beginner mission”?
Most importantly—
If everything in her dream was real…
If she and Lu Zhanye truly had some deep connection…
then why was Su Wanrou trying to get there first?