Chapter 01

“Detecting host awakening…”

“Awakening progress 1, 10… 50… 100.”

“System binding in progress.”

“Binding process… 1… 2… 5… 10…”

A perfectly pure electronic voice echoed over and over again in her mind, and Jiang Lisheng’s consciousness gradually became clearer.

She was sitting alone at her desk. Her Chinese textbook lay open to page twenty-nine in front of her, with faint traces of water seeping into the paper, blurring the black ink characters.

Jiang Lisheng’s hands, which had been resting flat on the desk, curled and stretched, again and again, before she suddenly realized—

She had regained control over her body!!

How was that possible?

A surge of immense shock and joy exploded in her chest. For a moment, she couldn’t care about anything else and nearly stumbled as she rushed to the bathroom, facing the mirror directly.

The clean surface of the mirror reflected a young girl’s youthful and unrefined face.

Her skin was dark, and she was very thin, to the point that she looked unhealthy. In stark contrast to her complexion was the bright red color of her hair. Her bangs slanted slightly to cover one eye, and her unconventional hairstyle, paired with her frail, flat figure, made her look like some delinquent loitering on the street corner.

Jiang Lisheng remembered this was the rebellious hair color she had deliberately dyed back then just to provoke her parents.

The girl’s pupils were round and pitch black, the shape of her eyes like gentle apricot blossoms, the kind that looked especially obedient, completely at odds with the idea of rebellion, if not outright contradicting it.

Her features were actually quite good, with finely structured bone lines and smooth contours, but all these advantages were dulled by her dark and thin physique, giving off an unshakable air of rustic awkwardness.

She turned on the tap and washed her face, then gave herself a hard pinch to confirm—it wasn’t a dream.

Jiang Lisheng returned to her desk and picked up her phone.

[August 18, 2024.]

Below that was a message notification.

[Jiang Ansheng: Happy birthday.]

Yes, that’s right.

It was this very day.

Jiang Lisheng sat back weakly in her chair as if all the strength had been drained from her body, her expression dazed and unfocused.

Her life had not been long, but neither had it been smooth.

Jiang Lisheng’s original name was Jiang Zhaodi. She was the daughter of a pig butcher family in Jiangjiakou. It was a small village, and her rural parents were not particularly capable, their only wish being to have a son.

When Jiang Lisheng was five years old, her younger brother was born, and from that moment on, a little tyrant entered the household.

Her parents doted on their son completely and treated her with constant beatings and scoldings. Back then, she was too young to speak up when beaten. As she grew older, she learned to run away instead of standing there stupidly to be hit. Later, when her parents aged, Jiang Lisheng stopped enduring in silence and started fighting back.

But her parents were butchers, after all. In a fight, she rarely won. Whenever she was overwhelmed with frustration, Jiang Lisheng would go and beat up their beloved son, or pick up the butcher’s knife to confront her parents head-on, turning the village into daily chaos with chickens and dogs thrown into disorder.

At sixteen, her parents demanded she drop out of school and exchanged her for a bride price of one hundred thousand yuan to marry her off to an old bachelor from the neighboring village.

Naturally, Jiang Lisheng resisted. When she was dragged into the bridal chamber, she landed a fierce kick on the old bachelor’s crotch. The blow was severe; he fell to the ground and struck his head, and ultimately did not survive.

What followed was a whirlwind of quarrels, police reports, and official records. Unexpectedly, the case revealed another hidden truth: she was not the biological daughter of the Jiang family, but a child bought sixteen years ago.

Because the case involved various complications and Jiang Lisheng was still a minor, and the other party was suspected of attempted rape, she was quickly returned to her biological parents, and her original name was restored: Jiang Lisheng.

However, life there wasn’t much better than in Jiangjiakou.

With a death on her record and her coarse behavior, Jiang Lisheng was not in the least acceptable in the eyes of her wealthy, high-born parents.

At the time, Jiang Lisheng had no idea how to win their approval, so she tried imitating the mannerisms of other rich children. But it was nothing more than a clumsy parody, and she made quite a fool of herself—losing face on more than one occasion.

In the end, Jiang Lisheng gave up trying. She got into fights, permed her hair, smoked, drank, and fully embraced the role of a delinquent girl.

The turning point came on her birthday, August 18.

Her parents took her twin brother to watch their adopted daughter’s competition, and she alone was left behind.

Jiang Lisheng stayed behind in the spacious villa, listening to the servants mock her with thinly veiled sarcasm. She felt the loneliness deep in her bones. Then—her consciousness faded, and her body was taken over.

She didn’t even know how many souls had entered this body.

This body was like a marketplace, bustling with comings and goings, noisy and crowded, lively every single day.

Some transmigrated women would arrive and immediately sneer, saying, “The original host was beautiful but truly stupid, blah blah blah,” then launch into a face-slapping routine and ultimately bring about their own downfall. Others took a more indirect route, avoiding arguments with the family and choosing to go out and live independently, working odd jobs and occasionally acting pitiful. Predictably, that didn’t work either. The Jiang family deemed her hopeless, and before long she became a disposable pawn, discarded by them.

Some transmigrators tried the sisterly bonding approach, constantly flattering the adopted daughter of the Jiang family, calling her “dear sister” this and “dear sister” that. But in wealthy families, blood ties meant far less than interests—especially when that adopted daughter had a mind deeper than the sea. Within a year, they were all ruined, not even bones left behind.

There were, however, a few formidable figures who came from ancient times.

But they forgot that this was a society ruled by law, where the police existed. The ending, naturally, went without saying.

All in all, again and again, people came and went. Jiang Lisheng, like a spectator, hovered above it all watching the show. One died, and another arrived. Each time, the timeline reset to August 18.

Over time, she grew numb. She no longer hoped to regain control of her body. All she wanted was for someone to finish it once and for all.

She never imagined… there would truly come a day when she returned.

Even now, Jiang Lisheng still felt dazed.

[Ding! System binding complete. System 08 will be at your service.]

[Hello, Host. I am Female Lead Awakening System No. 08. Congratulations on awakening your consciousness. I will now assist you in completing the storyline.]

Only then did Jiang Lisheng recall that strange electric current from the beginning.

The voice came from within her mind. She blinked and cautiously asked, “Female Lead Awakening?”

[Correct. This is the world of a novel, and you are the female lead of this world. Due to special circumstances, I cannot provide you with knowledge of future events. You will need to complete the tasks I issue and maintain your character persona.]

Even more confusing terms were piling up. “Character persona?”

A flash of golden light swept past, and the system injected a segment of the plot into Jiang Lisheng’s mind.

This was the world of a very old-fashioned abuse-centric romance novel. Her character was defined as inferior, timid, ordinary, and useless—forever overshadowed by her adopted younger sister from a wealthy family. After being abandoned as a child and abused through her youth, she would fall in love for the first time, only to become entangled in a painfully toxic relationship with the male lead.

The abuse would span over ninety percent of the novel, after which the female lead would finally rise from the ashes in a dazzling reversal, transforming from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. In the end, the male lead would desperately try to win her back in a dramatic “chasing his wife to the crematorium” arc. About three chapters later, the two would end up with a happy ending.

Jiang Lisheng: “……”

Ridiculous.

[You have already awakened your individual will, so souls from other worlds can no longer help you complete the storyline. In other words, this is your final chance. If you fail this time, the world will no longer reset, and your personality will be completely erased.]

Jiang Lisheng felt a buzzing pain at her temples.

So… all those who had previously entered her body were transmigrators meant to help her carry out the plot. But in the end, they all…

Sensing her silence, the system offered some consolation: [Host, there’s no need to worry. It’s actually quite simple. You only need to follow two rules: don’t fight back when hit, don’t talk back when scolded. Just lie low and peacefully be a pitiful salted fish, and let the plot unfold smoothly.]

The system emphasized again, uneasy: [Make sure not to go down the face-slapping, dominant female lead route. That’s what previous hosts did. They violated your character persona, which made it impossible for the plot to progress.]

Don’t fight back when hit, don’t talk back when scolded.

Jiang Lisheng choked. “…So you’re saying I should be a complete loser?”

[…]

This time, it was 08 who fell strangely silent for two seconds. [No, this is what we call a salted fish. As long as you don’t take what they do to heart, they can’t hurt you.]

Jiang Lisheng: “…”

Jiang Lisheng was dumbfounded. “But later on, someone removes one of my kidneys.”

System: […]

At that moment, the interaction between the human and the system became particularly awkward.

Even the system’s electronic voice now sounded a bit strained. [The point is… I really am here to help you, Host. Once you die, the world’s will will also be erased along with you. Host, you are the world!]

It was only then that Jiang Lisheng finally wrapped her head around it.

Her personality and the original character persona in the plot were completely different. Perhaps to prevent so-called storyline collapse, the souls from various worlds had been brought in to replace her. However, once her own consciousness awakened, all those external possessors failed one after another.

With no other choice, the system was forced to bind with her.

But why should she obediently let them have their way?

“Boring.” Jiang Lisheng’s expression was cold. “I think I’d rather just die.”

Heaven knew that during those hundreds of years she had been trapped, her one and only wish was to die.

Jiang Lisheng looked around and actually found a pair of craft scissors on the desk. She aimed them at the artery in her neck, prepared to drive them in.

The system immediately panicked. [No no no! I promise! You can change your ending! You don’t have to choose the original male lead!]

In female-oriented novels, the female lead is the sole protagonist, and the male lead is merely a supporting role attached to her. So as long as the story progresses to its conclusion, who she ends up with isn’t all that important—this was the system’s greatest concession.

Jiang Lisheng frowned, clearly dissatisfied. “What would I want a man for?”

The system backed down further. [How about I give you ten billion once it’s over?]

Jiang Lisheng said nothing, idly toying with the scissors. On a whim, she made a shallow cut on her fingertip, not too deep, but enough for blood to begin seeping out.

Even that was enough to send the system into a state of terror.

The moment it entered the host’s body, it had been bound to the world’s will as well. If the female lead died, it too would vanish.

[What do you actually want?] The system was nearly driven to desperation. [Can’t I just give you whatever you want?]

This was exactly what Jiang Lisheng had been waiting for. She set down the scissors and curled her lips slightly. “I used to always wonder why, no matter how hard I studied, I was always one step behind. There were questions I clearly knew how to solve, yet somehow I always wrote the wrong answers. Now I get it. This so-called ‘character persona’ deliberately saddled me with a stupid brain.” She said, “My request isn’t much. Just give me back my real brain.”

[…] The system’s tone weakened. [W-why do you want a brain, though?]

Jiang Lisheng silently tugged at the corner of her lips and gripped the scissors again. “Are you going to give it or not?”

[Fine fine fine, I’ll give it to you.] It sulkily swallowed its frustration. [But then you have to properly maintain the character persona and let the story unfold, okay?]

Jiang Lisheng: “Just give it to me and then leave.”

In the end, the system gave in.

Since the female leads in old-school novels were supposed to be dumb and pitiful, with brains that were practically useless, returning Jiang Lisheng her intelligence didn’t really count as breaking the character persona.

The system had an epiphany. It lifted the original IQ restriction and patiently warned her,

[Although your intelligence has been restored, it’s only slightly above average. You’ll still have to rely on yourself to learn what needs to be learned.]

Jiang Lisheng: “Mm.”

System: [In a moment, you’ll face your first mission. Your parents will return soon. You must be kicked out of the house, then encounter the male lead and be misunderstood and disliked by him.]

Jiang Lisheng: “Oh.”

Kicked out of the house?

Misunderstood and disliked?

Jiang Lisheng raised her eyebrows—this kind of job, she was more than familiar with.