Lin Zhao snapped her eyes open.
This wasn’t her rented apartment.
Every detail of the room screamed luxury, completely out of place compared to the cramped space she used to live in.
She froze for a few seconds, then slowly raised her hand.
The hand was pale and slender, with well-defined fingers. Her nails were painted a muted rose-bean color. The palm was smooth—there wasn’t the slightest trace of the calluses she’d built up from years of pounding away at a keyboard. It was soft to an almost unreal degree.
Her heart sank.
Propping herself up, she sat upright and caught sight of the silk camisole nightgown tailored perfectly to her body. Instinctively, she reached up and tugged the neckline closed.
“What the hell…?” she muttered under her breath.
She threw off the blanket and got out of bed, bare feet stepping onto the slightly cool floor. The chill crept up from the soles of her feet, but she barely noticed, striding straight toward the floor-length mirror.
The face reflected in it was unfamiliar.
Willow-shaped brows. Almond eyes, the corners slightly lifted. A small, straight nose with a rounded tip. Soft lips.
A textbook beauty.
It was stunning—bold and eye-catching—but bore no resemblance whatsoever to her own ordinary face.
A sense of dread crawled up her spine.
What exactly was going on?
She had clearly been working overtime at the office. To rush a project report, she’d stayed up until three in the morning. Completely exhausted, she’d leaned over her desk just to rest her eyes for a moment. How had everything changed when she woke up?
Lin Zhao took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Suddenly, a soft, sweet voice rang out in her mind.
“Host! Host, you’re finally awake! Wuwuwu, if you hadn’t woken up soon, I would’ve panicked to death! If it were any later, something really bad might’ve happened!”
Lin Zhao whipped her head around, scanning the room. The bedroom was empty—no one was there but her.
“Who? Who’s talking?” she demanded.
“Host, I’m in your head!” the voice replied. “I’m your system—Little Raccoon! You can just call me 101!”
System? Little raccoon?
Lin Zhao blinked, her thoughts a tangled mess.
What was this supposed to be? Dropped into some random place, and now there was a system? This was starting to sound suspiciously like the web novels she used to read while slacking off.
She tested the waters. “A system? You’re not lying to me, are you? Things like that actually exist?”
“Mm-hmm! Absolutely!” 101 answered quickly. “You can finally hear me—that’s great! I was calling you for ages and you didn’t respond. I thought I’d messed something up again. I was so scared I almost triggered the emergency alarm!”
Lin Zhao walked over and sat on the sofa, trying to process everything. Scenarios that only existed in novels were actually happening to her.
Taking another deep breath, she suppressed her shock and asked, “You keep calling me ‘host.’ So what exactly is going on? Where am I? Why do I look like this?”
“Don’t worry, host. I’ll explain slowly. It’s complicated, but you have to listen carefully—this concerns both of our lives!”
101 continued, “You’ve transmigrated—but not into the past or future. You’ve transmigrated into a novel. This body belongs to a character from that book, and the place you’re in right now is the world of the novel.”
Lin Zhao’s heart skipped a beat. “What novel?”
“It’s a classic angst novel. More specifically, a novel that exists solely to虐—abuse—the female lead. From start to finish, she’s put through hell. She’s really, really pitiful.”
101 patiently explained the original plot.
“The female lead is named Xu Ning. She’s extremely kind. Her family background is ordinary, her parents passed away early, and she was raised by her grandparents. She works hard and gets into a top-tier private high school through her excellent grades.”
“She’s introverted and never causes trouble, but somehow the male lead targets her anyway. At school, she suffers endless humiliation—mockery and cold stares from her classmates.”
Lin Zhao raised an eyebrow. She’d read plenty of campus angst novels before. Usually it was the male lead bullying the female lead—because of misunderstandings or twisted possessiveness. Same套路, different skin.
She asked patiently, “How exactly is she abused? Give me the details.”
“The male lead is Gu Zhuoxiao. He’s a big deal at school—rich, powerful, surrounded by admirers—but his personality is… extremely extreme.”
“He and the female lead knew each other as children. Later, because of a misunderstanding, he believes she betrayed him. When they reunite in high school, he approaches her with revenge in mind.”
101 sounded helpless. “He uses her poor family background to force her to stay by his side, treating her like an outlet for his emotions. He even teams up with others to isolate her and bully her.”
“That environment makes it impossible for her to focus on studying. Her grades plummet. She’s too afraid to tell her grandparents—because they’re old, and she’s scared of what might happen if they found out…”
101 paused before continuing.
“The worst part is that after long-term physical and emotional abuse, Xu Ning’s health deteriorates. Her grades fall even further, and she’s harshly criticized by teachers. Gu Zhuoxiao doesn’t comfort her—instead, he humiliates her in front of the entire class, saying, ‘You were born poor. No matter how hard you try, it’s useless. You might as well obediently follow behind me.’”
“Later, Xu Ning’s grandmother falls seriously ill and needs a huge amount of money for surgery. Desperate, Xu Ning begs Gu Zhuoxiao for help. Not only does he refuse—he even curses her, asking why her grandmother didn’t die sooner.”
“In the end, her grandmother’s condition worsens. Xu Ning has to attend classes during the day and rush to the hospital afterward to take care of her. She thinks about dropping out several times, but her grandfather stops her…”
The female lead had done nothing wrong, yet she was abused so badly because of the male lead—and even her family was dragged into it. Even monsters would crack under that kind of pressure.
And seriously—was the author kicked in the head by a donkey?
“Recently,” 101 said, “after enduring long-term physical and emotional abuse from Gu Zhuoxiao, Xu Ning completely broke down and awakened self-awareness.”
“Self-awareness?” Lin Zhao was confused.
“It means Xu Ning realized she’s a character in a novel. She knows her fate was predetermined from the very beginning. She can’t accept that her entire life is just someone else’s tragedy on paper. She’s already developed self-destructive thoughts. If I hadn’t discovered it in time, something might’ve already happened.”
That was understandable. Anyone would collapse if they found out their life was scripted misery.
“Host, do you know this?” 101 said urgently. “This world revolves around Xu Ning. She’s the protagonist—the core of this world. If Xu Ning commits suicide, this entire world will collapse.”
“I’m the system responsible for maintaining this world. If it collapses, the order of space will be disrupted, the Heavenly Dao will notice, and I’ll definitely be punished—or erased outright!”
Only then did Lin Zhao understand why 101 was so frantic. Xu Ning’s suicide wouldn’t just destroy the world—it would destroy the system too.
“Then why don’t you just stop her yourself?” Lin Zhao asked, puzzled. “Aren’t systems supposed to have all kinds of powers? Stopping a teenage girl from killing herself shouldn’t be hard.”
101 sounded aggrieved. “I’m bound by the Heavenly Dao. If I intervene directly, it’ll notice immediately. I’d be erased before the world even collapses.”
“Then why are you looking for me?” Lin Zhao asked.
“You’re different! You’re a transmigrator, and you’re not the protagonist of the book. The Heavenly Dao hasn’t noticed you yet. Only you can help me!”
101 pleaded, “Host, I’m begging you. As long as Xu Ning stays alive and makes it to the ending, I’ll do my best to grant you anything you want. Anything at all. Okay?”
Lin Zhao fell silent.
After a moment, she asked, “First tell me—what role am I playing in this book?”
101 answered quickly, “Host, you’ve transmigrated into the vicious female supporting character. Her name is also Lin Zhao—same as yours!”
“The vicious female supporting character?” Lin Zhao’s face darkened instantly. “You mean the one who exists just to oppose the female lead, does every bad thing imaginable, and ends up with a miserable fate?”
She’d been willing to help out of sympathy for the female lead—but now she was playing a role that couldn’t even protect herself?
Sensing her mood, 101 hurriedly added, “Don’t worry! All the bad things were done by the original host—it has nothing to do with you. As long as you don’t target Xu Ning anymore, you might even change the villainess’s ending! Haha…”
“Ending?” Lin Zhao asked coldly. “What’s the ending for the vicious female supporting character?”
101 hesitated for a long time before stammering, “…She… she dies.”
“What?” Lin Zhao asked again.
“She dies.”
Lin Zhao shot to her feet.
She’d transmigrated into a character with such a tragic ending and was expected to help the system stop the female lead from killing herself? Wasn’t that just asking for trouble?
“Nope. I’m not doing this,” Lin Zhao said through clenched teeth.
She turned and headed straight for the door. All she wanted was to leave and hide somewhere. World collapse, system punishment—none of that was her problem. She didn’t belong to this world anyway.
“Host, don’t go!” 101 panicked. “Please don’t leave! We can talk this through! As long as you complete the task and make Xu Ning give up on suicide, I can grant you a wish—any wish at all! Even if the task fails, I’ll send you back to your original world unharmed. I swear!”
Lin Zhao stopped in her tracks.
She turned back, staring at empty air, full of suspicion. “You’re not lying to me?”
“I’m really not!” 101 said hurriedly.
Lin Zhao thought for a moment. “The original owner did so many bad things. Even if I don’t bully the female lead anymore, do all those past actions just get erased?”
“Oh, that’s what you’re worried about?” 101 sighed in relief. “Don’t worry—compared to what the male lead’s done, the original host’s misdeeds are practically nothing.”
…That was true.