3124, the Tenth Year of the Apocalypse on the Red Planet
BOOM—!!!
On an otherwise peaceful afternoon, a deafening explosion erupted in the heart of the imperial capital of a major nation.
The blast was so sudden and so powerful that everyone in the command center monitoring the situation in real time froze in shock.
By the time they recovered their senses, the surveillance feed showed nothing but blazing flames and ruins piled high with zombie corpses.
…
…
No one spoke.
Everyone stared blankly at the monitor.
Soon, two life-sign detection robots reported in succession, their cold mechanical voices echoing through the command center.
“Report. Ability user Shang Changge lost all vital signs at Imperial Capital Time 13:55:56.”
“Report. Zombie King No. 1 lost all vital signs at Imperial Capital Time 13:55:57.”
The room fell even quieter.
A moment later, everyone silently rose to their feet and bowed toward the smoke-filled image on the screen.
..
Qingyan Dynasty, Early Autumn
At noon, dark clouds blanketed the royal capital. The sky was gloomy, carrying the ominous promise of an approaching storm.
A streak of lightning suddenly tore across the heavens, illuminating the dark horizon.
The next second, a thunderous roar exploded overhead.
At the same time—
Inside the extravagantly luxurious residence of the Grand Princess of Anguo, a stunning woman slumped in a chair with blood at the corner of her lips suddenly opened her eyes.
Shang Changge had come back from the dead.
And she was confused.
What was going on?
Hadn’t she just self-destructed, taking Zombie King No. 1 and all his zombie minions down with her?
How was she still alive?
Before she could think further, a wave of excruciating pain and countless unfamiliar memories crashed into her mind.
The agony forced her to press a hand against her temple and close her eyes.
When she opened them again, her overly beautiful face twisted into a strange expression.
She had transmigrated into a novel.
One moment, she had been in the apocalypse, sacrificing herself in a head-on battle with the Zombie King and making an enormous contribution to humanity.
The next, she had entered a novel.
Specifically, a recently popular male-oriented power fantasy that her subordinates had been obsessively reading and endlessly mocking for having a brain-dead protagonist.
The story was about a prince who loved beauties more than the throne.
While his brothers fought desperately for succession, he spent his days roaming the martial world and having fun.
Other than eating, drinking, playing around, and stealing the hearts of one beauty after another, he did absolutely nothing beneficial for the country or its people.
But he had a father who favored him above all others.
So what if he never participated in the succession struggle and spent every day fooling around?
The old emperor paved the road for him.
After returning from his adventures in the jianghu, he effortlessly ascended the throne without lifting a finger.
The first thing he did after becoming emperor was expand his harem.
Naturally, he gained yet another large collection of beauties.
The following several hundred chapters were nothing but romantic escapades between the emperor and his countless concubines.
As for governing the nation?
The protagonist remained completely uninterested.
His entire character was built around being a carefree prince and an even more carefree emperor.
And then—
There was no ending.
Because the novel was never finished.
The author had probably been attacked by zombies and become one of them.
Setting aside whether the author had actually become a zombie, and setting aside why she herself had transmigrated into this novel—
Was this seriously the treatment she got after sacrificing her life for all humanity?
Why was it a male-oriented wish-fulfillment novel instead of a female-oriented one?
Even worse—
She wasn’t the protagonist!
She was a vicious cannon-fodder villain with barely any screen time and an early death!
Sure, she shared the same name as the original character, which was some kind of coincidence.
But was this reasonable?
Was this fair?!
“Ying ying ying…”
“Wuuu… wuuu…”
Shang Changge, who had finally sorted through her thoughts, went silent.
…Who the hell was making those ghostly noises?
The sounds of sobbing, sniffling, and pitiful crying drifted in intermittently from outside.
BOOM—
Another peal of thunder crashed overhead.
Heavy rain poured down immediately afterward, the sound of countless raindrops drumming against the glazed roof tiles.
Shang Changge walked to the doorway.
Before her lay a curtain of rain and three maids dressed in green kneeling in the courtyard.
Searching through the original owner’s memories, she quickly remembered them.
These three were the personal maids responsible for her daily needs.
They were kneeling because they had displeased the princess during lunch and had been punished accordingly.
However…
Based on her knowledge of the novel’s plot, today’s incident had actually been a conspiracy.
A conspiracy designed to kill the original Shang Changge.
And in the original story, she had indeed died today.
BOOM— CRACK—
Thunder and rain mingled together.
None of the three maids noticed when Shang Changge appeared at the doorway.
They remained neatly lined up on their knees.
The maids on the left and right continued crying miserably.
Those ghostly sobs had come from them.
The maid kneeling in the middle, however, remained silent, allowing rainwater to soak her hair and clothes.
Shang Changge found the scene rather novel and entertaining.
She watched for a while before finally calling out:
“Qingyao.”
All three maids raised their heads simultaneously.
Qingyao—the silent maid in the middle—instinctively replied respectfully,
“Your Highness.”
Aside from straightening her posture even more, her expression remained calm and respectful.
The other two were entirely different.
Their eyes widened in terror as they stared at Shang Changge.
She was completely unharmed.
There wasn’t the slightest sign of poisoning.
A chill ran repeatedly down their spines.
Why?!
How was this possible?!
Shouldn’t the princess have died from the poison already?
Why was she standing there perfectly fine?
Had Miss Wanyi lied to them?
Impossible…
But then why wasn’t the princess dead?!
Their guilty expressions shifted through a colorful range of emotions.
Shang Changge couldn’t help herself.
She burst out laughing.
The laugh was inexplicably creepy.
Combined with the fact that she was dressed in a magnificent crimson peony gown, while thunder rumbled and rain poured outside—
The entire atmosphere resembled a vengeful spirit returning to claim lives.
The two maids, already terrified, nearly lost their minds.
Their bodies shook uncontrollably like sieves in the downpour.
“Ahem.”
Having frightened them enough, Shang Changge cleared her throat.
Smiling brightly, she pointed at the two maids with a finger.
“Qinghe and Qingyu poisoned me.”
She then looked at Qingyao.
“Stop kneeling. Get up and kill them.”
Qingyao’s eyes instantly sharpened.
A murderous chill flashed across her gaze as she looked at Qinghe and Qingyu.
“Yes.”
Without giving them any chance to explain themselves, she grabbed one maid in each hand as easily as lifting chicks and prepared to drag them away for execution.
Efficient.
Decisive.
She never asked unnecessary questions.
Whatever her master said was law.
Whatever she was told to do, she did.
Shang Changge liked her even more.
She appreciated loyal and obedient subordinates.
Qingyao was loyal.
The other two were not.
Those two were traitorous dogs.
Oh, right.
“Wait.”
Shang Changge stopped Qingyao.
Qinghe and Qingyu finally recovered from their overwhelming terror.
Struggling desperately, they immediately began begging for mercy.
“Spare us, Your Highness! We’re servants of the princess’s estate! How could we possibly collude with outsiders to poison you?”
“I know what happened! Someone must be jealous of how favored Qingyu and I are and is framing us! Please investigate, Your Highness!”
As she spoke, Qinghe quickly glanced toward Qingyao before shrinking back as though frightened.
“That’s right, Your Highness,” Qingyu added tearfully.
“Qinghe is right. If you don’t believe us, you can ask Divine Doctor Jing to examine the food. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the meal we prepared!”
Tears streamed down her face as though she had suffered an immense injustice.
Yet the flash of resentment in her eyes betrayed her true feelings.
The people working for Miss Wanyi had assured them that the poison was colorless and odorless.
It would kill without a trace.
No one would ever detect it.
As long as Divine Doctor Jing couldn’t identify the poison, the princess would have no justification for executing them.
What Qingyu could never have imagined, however, was that the original princess had already died.
The person standing before her now was an outsider who knew the entire plot.
Leaning lazily against the carved doorway with her arms crossed, Shang Changge smiled again.
A strange smile.
“I never said the poison was in the food.”
She paused.
“And besides…”