Before class, Jiang Wan went to the restroom. On her way back, she happened to pass the back door of Class Four.
Lin Chengyan sat in the last row, staring dazedly at the palm of his hand, looking as though he had suffered some devastating blow.
Jiang Wan had only taken a few steps when she heard him ask his System in a bewildered voice: [Including the time before I transmigrated, I really am about forty or fifty years old. Could that be the reason?]
His System answered uncertainly: [M-Maybe?]
Lin Chengyan fell into a deathly silence.
Jiang Wan returned to the Class Six classroom with a spring in her step.
According to the seating chart for the new semester, her seat was in the second row by the window.
Jiang Wan smoothed her skirt and sat down. She opened one of her new textbooks, casually flipped to a few exercises at the back, and began solving them to pass the time. It required little effort on her part, much like how some people liked to bite their nails when their minds wandered.
As she reached the third question, Jiang Wan suddenly heard another voice, very similar to Lin Chengyan’s System, announce: [Target locked: Jiang Wan.]
Jiang Wan immediately stopped writing.
The voice continued: [System has issued a Beginner’s Benefit Mission: Introduce yourself to Jiang Wan. Upon completion, 1 Intelligence Point will be extracted from Jiang Wan.]
Extract?
This System operated rather differently from Lin Chengyan’s.
The pen in Jiang Wan’s hand spun rapidly around her fingers. She mentally calculated the final few steps of the problem and wrote down the correct answer.
Just as she finished writing the last digit, someone stopped beside her desk. “J-Jiang Wan, I’m collecting the summer homework…”
Jiang Wan put down her pen and looked up at the newcomer.
She remembered that this boy, who wore thick prescription glasses and had heavy bangs, was called Sang Xiaotian. He was quiet and reserved, practically invisible in their class.
Quanzhou Foreign Language School was extremely strict about bullying, and no one had ever deliberately excluded Sang Xiaotian. Rather, he seemed to avoid communicating with others of his own accord, which was why people often described him behind his back as “unsociable.”
Jiang Wan took out her neatly arranged summer homework from her schoolbag. Since she couldn’t yet be certain whether Sang Xiaotian was the owner of the other System, she didn’t immediately speak.
Sang Xiaotian nervously licked his lips. “You might… might not remember my name. I’m…”
—All right, that confirmed it.
Smack!
Jiang Wan dropped a stack of summer homework onto her desk, interrupting Sang Xiaotian. “I know. Sang Xiaotian, student number seventeen.”
Sang Xiaotian seemed startled by the sound of the homework hitting the desk. He didn’t dare say another word. Instead, he grabbed Jiang Wan’s homework, turned around, and fled.
The student sitting in the third row behind Jiang Wan, who had already prepared his own summer homework, reached out in bewilderment as though trying to stop him. “Huh? What’s going on? I haven’t handed mine in yet!”
Listening to the notification announcing [Mission Failed], Jiang Wan turned her head away as though the matter had nothing to do with her. “I’ll be quieter next time.”
She really needed to think carefully about how to deal with these ridiculous Systems.
…
Jiang Wan divided her attention between her lessons and her thoughts throughout the morning. When the lunch bell finally rang, she stretched lazily in her seat.
“Jiang Wan, are you coming for lunch?”
“No, I want to go back to the dormitory and sleep for a while.” Jiang Wan shook her head. “You guys go ahead.”
The dorm leader looked worried. “You can’t just skip meals. We’ll bring you something to eat when you wake up. Can you get back to the dormitory by yourself? You won’t get lost, will you?”
Jiang Wan: “…”
I’ve been attending this school for three years. How could I possibly get lost on the way back to the dormitory?
The dorm leader, who had shared a room with Jiang Wan for two years, affectionately stroked her hair. “Whenever I look at you, I can’t help worrying about everything. I probably have the same mindset as Yue Mingshi.”
Yue Mingshi was Jiang Wan’s childhood friend. Although they attended the same school, he was currently in his second year of high school.
He had the face of a villain who looked ready to devour children whenever he frowned, yet he was an all-capable mother hen who could handle every household chore.
—At least, that was how Jiang Wan categorised him in her mind.
Bed Four asked worriedly, “You still remember our dormitory number, right? Don’t go into the wrong room or building.”
Bed Three added, “If you need painkillers, they’re in the white round storage box on your desk.”
Jiang Wan finally lost her patience. “Just go already!”
Only then did the three girls leave, repeatedly looking back at her as they went.
Jiang Wan slowly packed her schoolbag. Then she glanced at the blazing sunshine outside the window and, lacking the energy to bother, abandoned the whole thing.
She was only going back to the dormitory for a nap. Surely she didn’t need to bring her schoolbag.
The scorching summer heat, her period, and inexplicable people who had transmigrated into a book—Jiang Wan already felt that this was going to be the worst semester in history.
Unfortunately, as the opening act of something momentous, this day was far from over.
Jiang Wan had barely stepped out of the classroom when someone called out to her. “Jiang Wan, do you have a moment? There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
Jiang Wan turned and recognised Chu Yishan, the class beauty from neighbouring Class Five.
Chu Yishan smiled brightly, clasping her hands behind her back as she leaned her upper body innocently toward Jiang Wan. “Or maybe we could have lunch together? Why didn’t your friends wait for you today?”
“I’m not eating,” Jiang Wan replied lazily. “What is it?”
—Thanks, but please get to the point. I’m really not in the mood.
“I remember you and Yue Mingshi are childhood sweethearts, right?” Chu Yishan asked indirectly.
Jiang Wan nodded impatiently. “We’ve known each other for almost ten years. Do you want his contact information? I can give it to you.”
Jiang Wan was already accustomed to people asking her for Yue Mingshi’s contact information.
At first, she had asked Yue Mingshi for permission every single time. After a few occasions, however, both of them had grown tired of the hassle. Yue Mingshi simply told her to give it out whenever she wanted, since he would ultimately decide for himself whether to accept their requests.
“That would be wonderful!” Chu Yishan happily clasped her hands together. “I actually have a few questions about Model United Nations that I’d like to ask him. Isn’t he the president of our school’s Model UN club?”
Jiang Wan gave a brief acknowledgment and promptly recited a string of numbers.
Just as Chu Yishan’s eyes curved into a smile, Jiang Wan heard another voice resembling a System announce: [Obtained Yue Mingshi’s contact information from Jiang Wan. Beginner Mission completed. Reward will now be distributed.]
Jiang Wan, who felt as though a third of her brain had already fallen asleep, finally became a little more alert.
Once was a coincidence. Twice was suspicious. Three times established a pattern.
“Thank you!” Chu Yishan said sweetly. “Are you really skipping lunch to lose weight? You’re not fat at all. Your figure is perfect just the way it is. I actually wish I could eat more and become like you.”
How should she put it?
Although Chu Yishan and her System were both incredibly irritating, Jiang Wan actually felt a little genuine schadenfreude now that she was no longer the target.
So I’m not the only unlucky one.
Bolstered by this feeling of satisfaction at someone else’s misfortune, Jiang Wan found Chu Yishan’s passive-aggressive remarks less annoying than usual. Instead, she went along with them.
“That’s right. A healthy BMI for a fifteen-year-old girl should be above 16.7 and below 23.4. You’re so thin that you’ve lost your shape, which really doesn’t look good. You should exercise more.”
Chu Yishan: “…”
“Bye-bye.” Jiang Wan waved at her. “Remember to eat more meat, eggs, and dairy products when you go to the cafeteria.”
Chu Yishan: “…Of. Course.”
Jiang Wan had only taken a few steps when she heard Chu Yishan’s System speak again: [Distributing mission reward: Extract 1 Favorability Point that the conquest target holds toward another person. Current favorability of conquest target Yue Mingshi toward Host: 5. Favorability toward female protagonist Jiang Wan: 95.]
Jiang Wan stopped in her tracks, momentarily unsure which part of this revelation made her angrier.
Was it the fact that these people of unknown origin were even trying to steal her childhood friend—and apparently had the ability to do so?
Or was it the fact that Yue Mingshi’s favorability toward her had only been 96 points to begin with?!
Compared with these ridiculous clowns who had no real abilities of their own and could only rely on underhanded tricks, surely the more important issue was that Yue Mingshi wasn’t being sufficiently devoted in his role as her older-brother figure!
[Why did I only get 1 Favorability Point? How long is it going to take me to conquer him at this rate?] Chu Yishan complained to her System.
Jiang Wan turned to look at her.
Chu Yishan really was beautiful. Even at Quanzhou Foreign Language School, which conducted interviews during its first-year junior high admissions and deliberately selected students with attractive, well-proportioned features, her beauty stood out.
Jiang Wan thought Chu Yishan could have tried approaching Yue Mingshi through her own personal charm. Why did she insist on using a System to “conquer” him?
Or perhaps everyone who possessed a System had different objectives, and the missions they received didn’t necessarily represent their true goals?
Jiang Wan thought again of the dream she’d had the previous night.
She was like a plate of tuna sitting on a table. Anyone who wanted a bite could simply reach out with their chopsticks and help themselves.
Some said, “The fish head is delicious.” Others declared, “The roe is wonderful.” Still others said, “None of you want the tail? Then I’ll have it.”
They divided her up as though it were only natural, as though she had no will of her own and could be distributed according to their preferences.
Of course Jiang Wan wasn’t going to sit back and let that happen.
She still had her dream of becoming a diplomat to fulfil!
The three years of high school were incredibly important.
Jiang Wan had already spent five years working toward that dream. There was absolutely no way she would stop or slow down because someone had suddenly appeared to obstruct her path.
Which brought her to the question: How could she kick these omnipresent transmigrators, each armed with different methods, out of a world that didn’t belong to them?
Jiang Wan rolled over on her dormitory bed and began browsing the System-themed transmigration romance novels she had found earlier.
Since she was conducting research, she read them very carefully.
When she reached the chapters that required payment, she promptly forwarded the top-up request to her biological older brother.
Jiang Wan had an older brother and an older sister. Although the two were twins, according to their parents, they had been at odds with each other from the moment they were born.
If there was one thing they had in common…
Both were hopelessly obsessed with doting on their little sister.
Jiang Wan’s one-hundred-yuan top-up was completed almost instantly. Her brother then sent her a worried voice message. “Is such a small amount really enough? Why don’t I transfer you a little more?”
“It’s enough. Thanks, Brother.” After sending her reply, Jiang Wan switched back to the reading page and continued with her novel.
Messages from her brother began flooding the top of her screen.
Three messages, five messages, fifteen messages.
“Are you coming home this weekend?”
“What do you want to eat?”
“How about I come visit you at school and bring you something delicious?”
“Did the school change your bed again? Are you sleeping comfortably? I told you we should’ve brought your pillow from home.”
“You probably changed seats too, right? What’s your new deskmate like? If anything makes you unhappy, remember to tell us immediately.”
Jiang Wan: “…”
She turned on Do Not Disturb mode.
Her brother was wonderful in every respect.
He was just far too talkative.
…
At 12:40 p.m., her roommates returned to the dormitory carrying a takeaway portion of sizzling steak macaroni.
They called softly, “Jiang Wan? Are you still asleep?”
Jiang Wan rolled over and sat up in bed. “I’m not sleeping. I’m reading romance novels.”
The three girls who had just entered the dormitory instantly froze.
The dorm leader: “…Sweetie, what are you reading?”
“Romance novels,” Jiang Wan replied as she put on her shoes and climbed down from the bed. Then she clarified precisely, “Strictly speaking, they’re romance novels about transmigrating into books with Systems.”
Bed Four was filled with righteous indignation. “I condemn those unscrupulous platforms for pushing random advertisements! They’ve even tricked Little Wan into clicking on them!”
“Who introduced you to this kind of online fiction?!” Bed Three furiously pounded the wall. “Mommy will not allow something like this to happen to innocent little you!”
Jiang Wan: “…”
She shuffled past her two melodramatic roommates in her slippers and took the takeaway container from the dorm leader. “Thank you.”
The dorm leader cleared her throat. “Ahem… So why did you suddenly start reading romance novels? What… what kind are you reading? There isn’t… any kidney harvesting, is there?”
“There’s that kind too?” Jiang Wan immediately turned around.
She thought with a mixture of uncertainty and horror:
Don’t tell me a transmigrator with a Kidney Harvesting System is going to appear sometime soon.
That’s a crime!!
Jiang Wan decided she would set 110, the police emergency number, as a speed-dial contact later.
She would assign it to the number one key.
When in doubt, call the police.
Unfortunately, her roommates immediately misunderstood her reaction.
“Nooooooo!! That’s not the kind of literature Little Wan should be reading! Don’t get interested in it!!”
Jiang Wan pondered for a moment before looking at them. “So, you know quite a lot about these novels?”
The dorm leader: “…”
Bed Four: “…W-Well, a little?”
Bed Three: “We’ve just… read a few books?”
“I wanted to ask…” Jiang Wan paused for several seconds, considering how to phrase her question.
The other three girls held their breath in anticipation.
“In novels involving Systems,” Jiang Wan asked seriously, “what methods are there for separating a System from its Host?”
Her roommates were stunned by the atmosphere, which made the conversation feel more like an academic research discussion.
Bed Three blurted out, “I thought you were going to ask whether we spent all our time reading novels instead of studying properly.”
Bed Four immediately stepped on her foot.
“As for separating them,” the dorm leader said, quickly getting into the discussion, “ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s because the mission fails.”
“Or because the Host dies.”
Jiang Wan lowered her head and considered the possibilities for several seconds. “Let’s forget about killing people.”
No matter what happened, Jiang Wan would never entertain the idea of breaking the law.
If she wanted the transmigrators to fail, she first needed to understand exactly what their objectives were.
Sang Xiaotian’s objective was still unclear. Perhaps he needed to raise his intelligence to a certain number, or perhaps he had to accomplish something related to intelligence. Furthermore, Sang Xiaotian didn’t look like the type to launch an aggressive offensive, so Jiang Wan placed him lower on her list of priorities.
Lin Chengyan and Chu Yishan, however, had clearly defined objectives.
One wanted to conquer Jiang Wan, while the other wanted to conquer Yue Mingshi.
Jiang Wan couldn’t control Yue Mingshi’s favorability, so the best person to test her theory on was naturally Lin Chengyan.
“Suppose a transmigrator’s objective is to romantically conquer someone of the opposite sex,” Jiang Wan asked slowly after finishing her meal. “Apart from dying, what would count as failure?”
The dorm leader answered without hesitation. “Favorability reaching -100.”
Jiang Wan breathed a sigh of relief.
That was ridiculously easy.
She was already more than halfway there.
…
On the second day of school, the new first-year high school students began their three-day military training.
Jiang Wan yawned as she buttoned her camouflage jacket. The dorm leader insisted on applying sunscreen to her face.
“The sun is so strong! I know you’re healthy, but what if you get sunburned?”
Jiang Wan had no choice but to close her eyes. Rather than arguing that she was exposed to the sun all the time anyway, she accepted her roommate’s good intentions and merely said lazily, “Be gentle.”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Bed Three braided Jiang Wan’s ponytail into a three-strand braid. She looked very satisfied with the result. “As expected, braids only look this good when you have plenty of hair.”
Bed Four picked up the rubbish bag. “Five minutes until roll call downstairs.”
The dorm leader finished in a few quick movements. “All right, all right. Let’s go.”
Everything was orderly, with each girl performing her own role.
Jiang Wan was accustomed to this arrangement.
—Even she had to admit that her habit of constantly forgetting and misplacing things had never been completely cured, partly because everyone around her spoiled her so much.
The moment Jiang Wan arrived at the sports field, she spotted Lin Chengyan standing at the very front of Class Four again.
Almost the instant she stepped onto the field, Lin Chengyan’s System, apparently unwilling to remain quiet, came online.
[Mission issued: When Jiang Wan suffers from heatstroke, carry her to the medical station. Completion reward: 5 Favorability Points. Because the conquest target currently has negative favorability toward Host, failure will result in a deduction of 5 Favorability Points.]
Jiang Wan: “…”
Only five points? Besides, who would actually faint from heatstroke?
She began considering how she could deduct a much larger number of Favorability Points all at once.
At almost the same moment, Lin Chengyan complained to his System: [Only five points? How long is it going to take me to recover from -60? I’ve conquered so many women before. Has any of them ever been as troublesome as her?]
[Host previously transmigrated into male-oriented fiction and light novel worlds,] the System explained. [The world you have currently entered is a female-oriented fiction world. The customs and social expectations are different. Please adjust your approach accordingly.]
Jiang Wan’s question was finally answered.
—No wonder everything Lin Chengyan said and did was so bizarre yet filled with confidence.
It turned out he had come from an entirely different genre.
Military training was conducted separately by class. Class Four and Class Six were positioned about ten metres apart, and Jiang Wan couldn’t even imagine how Lin Chengyan intended to complete his mission if she happened to faint.
“Not one of you knows how to stand properly!” The stern-faced military instructor swept his gaze over the class. “Stand straight, all of you! This morning, we’re not practising anything except standing! You’ll stand here all morning without moving!”
“Jiang Wan, are you going to be okay?” the dorm leader whispered.
Jiang Wan tightened her abdominal muscles. “I’m fine.”
At first, she really was fine.
However, after standing under the blazing sun for an entire hour, Jiang Wan, who was on her period, finally began to feel lightheaded and unsteady.
She had no choice but to raise her hand. “Sir!”
The instructor strode over to Jiang Wan in a few quick steps.
He had initially worn an expression that practically screamed, I’ll make you regret being born!
But when he reached Jiang Wan, his expression faltered.
“…What is it? Speak.”
“I’m not feeling well. I’d like to get some water,” Jiang Wan said earnestly. “I’ll come back after drinking some.”
The instructor: “…”
Instructors were supposed to play the strict disciplinarian on the first day to establish their authority.
But Jiang Wan looked so obedient, and her lips were so pale, that he couldn’t bring himself to be harsh with her.
After all, Jiang Wan had hardly encountered anyone who was genuinely fierce toward her throughout her life.
In the end, the stern reprimand he had prepared turned into a dry sentence.
“Go ahead. If you’re feeling unwell, stay over there in the shade and rest.”
The nearby students, who had overheard the conversation, immediately began offering advice.
“That’s right! You even fainted in the corridor once when we were in our second year of junior high.”
Jiang Wan couldn’t help turning to look at the classmate who still remembered that embarrassing incident from her past.
Back then, her menstrual cramps had been so severe that her vision suddenly went black, and she collapsed in the corridor.
It had caused quite a commotion.
In the end, her PE teacher had picked her up and sprinted all the way to the school medical station.
The instructor cleared his throat and put on a stern expression again. “Hurry up and go.”
Although his words sounded fierce, his movements were remarkably gentle as he guided Jiang Wan out of the formation.
The schoolbags belonging to the entire year group had been piled along the base of the wall beneath the spectator stands, forming a long, uneven line.
Jiang Wan searched for quite a while before finally locating her buried schoolbag.
She crouched down, took out her water bottle, and drank a mouthful.
Her face immediately twisted in disgust.
Who secretly replaced the mineral water inside with motherwort granules?!
With a mouthful of the sweet yet bitter medicinal drink still in her mouth, Jiang Wan had no desire to swallow it.
She secretly glanced over her shoulder, thinking that if no one was watching, she could simply spit it out.
Unfortunately, when she turned around, she discovered that quite a few students facing her direction were secretly staring at her.
Even though they immediately shifted their gazes up, down, left, right, and diagonally to avoid meeting her eyes, they couldn’t conceal the truth.
Jiang Wan had no choice but to turn back around and tearfully swallow the motherwort drink.
Ugh.
She remained crouched there for a while longer to rest.
Once she felt sufficiently recovered, Jiang Wan screwed the lid back onto her bottle and prepared to stand.
However, before she could straighten up, a familiar wave of dizziness swept through her head.
—She had been crouching for too long and felt dizzy.
She hurriedly reached out to steady herself against the wall.
But just as she extended her hand, she suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten something.
The thought had barely crossed her mind when Lin Chengyan’s voice rang out behind her.
“Jiang Wan, watch out!”
If that had been all, it wouldn’t have mattered.
Unfortunately, Jiang Wan also clearly heard Lin Chengyan asking his System inside his head: [Hehe, what do you think would happen if I took advantage of this chance to ‘help’ her and secretly squeezed her butt? Wouldn’t she want to get angry but still have to thank me?]
Jiang Wan: “…”
You really are worthy of coming from a male-oriented fiction world.
Ignoring the darkness clouding her vision, she swiftly turned aside and smoothly hooked her foot around Lin Chengyan’s leg, sending him sprawling onto the ground.
Caught completely off guard, Lin Chengyan pitched headfirst into the pile of schoolbags.
His head struck the corner of the wall with a loud clang!
Judging by the sound alone, he was definitely going to develop an enormous bump.
Jiang Wan’s anger had yet to subside.
She was just preparing to “accidentally” drop her water bottle onto Lin Chengyan’s head when the System’s warning suddenly sounded.
[Warning! Conquest target’s favorability toward Host has fallen to -100. System will unbind in three minutes. Host, please reverse the situation as quickly as possible.]
Three minutes?
Jiang Wan released her grip without the slightest hesitation.
Thud!
The large water bottle slammed into the back of Lin Chengyan’s head.
Lin Chengyan, who had been struggling to get up, only managed a muffled “Ugh!” before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.
The heavy water bottle also seemed to have knocked loose another small tuft of his fragile black hair.
His already endangered hairline had suffered yet another devastating blow, bringing his appearance increasingly closer to his true age.
Jiang Wan felt absolutely no sympathy for her enemy’s hair follicles.
She turned and ran toward the nearest instructor, wearing a panicked expression as she hurried to report the incident before anyone else could.
“Instructor! Someone’s suffering from heatstroke!”
Lin Chengyan was soon carried to the school medical station by Class Four’s homeroom teacher.
Meanwhile, Jiang Wan stood calmly among the Class Six students, watching the commotion.
A student beside her asked uncertainly, “Those black things that fell off Lin Chengyan… what were they?”
Another student immediately covered her mouth. “Don’t bring up the painful subject of someone going bald at such a young age!”
A third student stared, dumbfounded, at the strands of hair scattered across the hundred-metre running track.
“…P-Painless hair removal.”
Not long afterward—approximately three minutes after the System’s warning—a soft ding suddenly sounded inside Jiang Wan’s head.
Then another gentle voice announced:
[World Restoration Progress: 1/15.]
Jiang Wan, who had heard every word clearly: “…”
She began seriously contemplating a question, with a hint of despair.
—I’ve started hearing strange System notifications too.
—Don’t tell me…
—I’m. Going. To. Go. Bald. Too?!