If there was a System, why did it only appear now?
What was World Collapse?
And what the hell was a plot update?
Could the Death Countdown on her forehead be removed?
During System Restoration, no matter what Zhu Fan thought or asked, all that appeared in her mind was that single line of bright red progress bar and the words 【World Restoring…】
Zhu Fan returned to her room amid the endless waiting, then lay down.
Sleep first. She’d deal with everything after waking up.
After what felt like an eternity, the progress bar finally moved.
【World Restoration Successful. Updating Plot…】
【Update Complete.】
The voice in her consciousness made Zhu Fan snap her eyes open.
With the update complete, she discovered that the Death Countdown on her forehead had turned into a string of garbled code!!
Zhu Fan pressed a hand to her heart—good, still beating.
What mattered now was figuring out what had gone wrong and what had changed in this book world.
【System: Host 088676, cannon fodder designation. You have successfully entered a Life Binding with Fang Qizhou, an important supporting character of this book.】
【Because the author who created this book world killed off the male and female leads’ entire family in the ending, the book world collapsed. After System Restoration, the plot trajectory has deviated.】
Zhu Fan latched onto the key information.
“Life Binding?”
【System: He lives, you live. He dies, you die.】
The cold, emotionless mechanical voice made Zhu Fan completely relax. She even shifted into a more comfortable sleeping position on the bed.
This wasn’t bad news for her at all. In the original plot, if she remembered correctly, Fang Qizhou jumped from a psychiatric hospital building at age twenty-seven.
Right now, Fang Qizhou was only nineteen. Plenty of time.
She’d hit the jackpot.
The moment this thought rose in Zhu Fan’s mind, it was slapped right back down by a video the System played.
On a winding, treacherous mountain road, five or six modified cars were tearing through a torrential rainstorm as if their drivers had no regard for their lives. The black supercar at the front cut through the night, its engine roaring like a crazed leopard.
In a flash of thunder, Zhu Fan saw the face of the man inside the car.
The man’s brows were arrogant and defiant, showing no fear of death whatsoever. A faint smile curved at the corners of his lips. His pitch-black pupils held nothing but contempt for every rule. What kind of smile was that? Zhu Fan’s heart was seized for a full three seconds.
Fang Qizhou’s reckless, suicidal driving sent her blood pressure skyrocketing.
Zhu Fan’s throat tightened. “When was this video taken?”
【System: Live feed.】
The next second, Zhu Fan saw what Fang Qizhou was doing and could no longer stay lying down.
The man released the steering wheel with both hands—and even closed his eyes—
The black supercar, at wind-like speed, hurtled straight toward the mountainside.
Zhu Fan went cold all over and shut her eyes in despair.
Fang Qizhou was deliberately seeking death.
In a flash, the black supercar miraculously veered away from the mountainside, still tearing around the winding mountain road at breakneck speed.
With no one at the wheel, the black supercar perfectly avoided every turn, every falling rock.
Zhu Fan clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles went white, too nervous to blink.
The man inside the car didn’t seem surprised by this outcome. He lifted his thin eyelids and glanced at the void.
His hands still rested on his knees, as if he had long grown accustomed to such bizarre, inexplicable occurrences.
The man’s dark pupils were calm and deep.
Zhu Fan, watching from her god’s-eye view, inexplicably felt in that moment as though Fang Qizhou could see her.
【System: He cannot see you. Likewise, he cannot perceive me either.】
Zhu Fan was drenched in sweat, as if she’d just been pulled from water. She collapsed onto the bed, utterly drained.
Fang Qizhou had begun to doubt the world he lived in. He didn’t trust it.
When a person holds no reverence for life, every belief comes crashing down.
【System: Fang Qizhou’s attempts at suicide have reached the limit. And after this world was restored, my authority can no longer manipulate it.】
This was a world about to be abandoned.
Zhu Fan understood the System’s implication.
“Outside of this, are there many worlds like this?”
And many people who’d suffered the same fate as her?
【System: Yes.】
“What am I supposed to do next?”
【System: Be yourself.】
Zhu Fan laughed—a bitter, helpless laugh. “I just want to live.”
【System: Then fight. Live on.】
Zhu Fan said nothing more.
【System: I will leave this world in ten seconds. Host 088676, I wish you good luck.】
【The world is vast and brilliant. The present is what’s real.】
As the System’s voice faded, so too did the live video feed projected from afar.
The final frame of the video froze on Fang Qizhou placing one hand on the steering wheel.