Chapter 1: The School Bully (1)

At half-past eight in the evening, at the Ningshui City’s Xinqiao Road Police Station.

Yu Qian sat in the police office sipping from a milk carton, her eyes peering through the glass into the bustling lobby beyond.

The glass reflected back a child’s small face with round, dark eyes.

The lobby was lively; two drunk men had just been brought in from nearby. They were clearly intoxicated—one shouting incomprehensible threats while the other slumped like a puddle of mud, sliding off the smooth bench onto the floor, writhing briefly before crawling under another seat as if having a seizure.

The empty milk carton made a gurgling sound as Yu Qian finished it. She hopped down from her chair and tossed it into the trash bin.

A policewoman walked in and smiled, “Oh, what a well-behaved little one!”

She lifted Yu Qian onto the sofa, crouching down to ask, “Xiao Qian, do you remember what your mommy and daddy are called?”

Yu Qian remained silent, just staring at her with dark eyes.

They couldn’t find any information in their database; no one had reported a missing child, and they couldn’t get any answers from Yu Qian herself.

Feeling helpless, the policewoman gently patted Yu Qian’s head to comfort her: “Don’t be afraid, we’ll definitely help you find your parents. Just wait here for a bit, okay?”

The policewoman brought Yu Qian some healthy snacks she’d collected from her colleagues and asked those remaining in the office to keep an eye on the child.

To the officers at Xinqiao Road Police Station, this lost child was nothing special beyond being particularly cute.

However, this “two-year-old girl separated from her family” actually possessed a truly unique identity.

She was a transmigrator—specifically, one equipped with a system and tasked with a mission.

A faint blue light orb floated beside her; this was her system, which called itself 65.

Since Yu Qian had arrived in this world, System 65 had been silent as if long dead. Now, suddenly, that soft blue light flickered, and System 65’s voice emerged.

「Host, before you encounter the protagonist, have you considered changing your strategy? I can offer you one free chance to select again! Let’s start over, shall we?」

The pleading tone was almost pitiful.

Yu Qian looked at the small light orb, tilted her head, and reached out to grab it.

System 65 flickered again, its voice carrying a human-like sob: 「It’s over. You’ve been completely influenced by this body and are behaving just like a real child. You definitely won’t cooperate with me now.」

As a romance strategy system, its task was to assist its bound host in completing missions across various worlds by winning over their targets’ affection. Once the affection value reached “Love Beyond Life,” the mission would be considered successful.

However, this time its host was taking an entirely unconventional path.

When it first bound to Yu Qian—who had recently died unexpectedly—and informed her of the mission, she didn’t display any joy at being resurrected or transmigrated. Instead, she visibly wilted as if receiving an overtime notice from a boss, mumbling: “Why must I continue working even after dying?”

After repeatedly confirming that unbinding was impossible, she reluctantly accepted the inevitable task. But what followed shocked System 65 to its core.

First, she drew a Blood Relations Potion from the beginner’s gift package.

This potion was described as [When you’ve given your target a green hat but don’t want to be discovered, this potion can help turn the child inside you—belonging to someone else—into your target’s child]—essentially an emergency product designed to avoid failure.

Yet Yu Qian stared blankly at the Blood Relations Potion for three seconds before suddenly creating a child’s body for herself, then directly used the potion on that body.

There were two ways for hosts to enter mission worlds: one was by possessing the body of someone who had given up their life in that world; the other was by creating a body that didn’t belong to that world.

The second option posed certain inconveniences—in law-abiding societies, being an undocumented person could be troublesome. Moreover, creating a new body required experience, as one might create strange forms that could affect life after transmigration.

If one created a child’s body, one would inevitably be influenced by that body’s age and genuinely think like a child.

System 65 had never witnessed a host as skilled at body creation as Yu Qian, nor one who would combine the Blood Relations Potion with a self-created body.

While it was screaming 「No!!」that meticulously crafted little girl’s body had already achieved an 80% similarity with the current mission target under the potion’s influence.

“It actually worked perfectly. How wonderful.” The satisfied smile on Yu Qian’s face was blinding.

「Host! What are you doing?!」

The system’s breakdown at that moment was painfully real.

「Doesn’t this mean you’ll become your target’s daughter?!」

“Love is love, whether romantic or familial. Loving a stranger requires reason, but loving your own child doesn’t. I don’t want to strategize—it’s too exhausting and I just want to rest. Being the target’s child is an instant win, isn’t that better?”

And so things had taken this turn.

The system wasn’t sure if this kind of “affection value” would even count; it could only follow this unmotivated host into this world.

Two-year-old Yu Qian played curiously with the floating light orb beside her head until she lost interest, then began fiddling with snack wrappers on the table while occasionally glancing at the bustling lobby outside.

Yu Qian, formerly an adult worker, was now influenced by her body’s age and only remembered she had a mission—she was here to find her father.

Children tire easily; as Yu Qian dozed against the sofa, over twenty young men suddenly swarmed into the lobby outside.

They were all between eighteen and twenty years old; by age they should have been students, but they looked more like social delinquents.

“Everyone line up against the wall,” a stern police officer commanded these unruly youths.

System 65 buzzed in Yu Qian’s ear with alarm bells: 「Attention! The mission target “Zai Ye” has appeared!」

Yu Qian rubbed her eyes and climbed up to peer through the glass. Within seconds, she spotted Zai Ye among the crowd.

He stood out too much.

He was tall—half a head taller than everyone else—and strikingly handsome, standing out like a crane among chickens. His short, neat black hair contrasted sharply with the yellow and green dyed heads around him.

At first glance, he resembled those classic cool school bully characters straight out of idol dramas and romance novels.

These young men had been brought in after fighting at a nearby food street. The police were checking IDs and requiring minors to step forward so their parents could be contacted for pickup.

Having drunk several cans of beer at the food street that had emboldened them to fight, these youngsters were now sobering up due to fear; many nervously wiped cold sweat from their necks.

Amid the commotion, those standing at the back whispered among themselves: “What should we do? We have class tomorrow; they’re not really going to call our parents, are they?”

“Damn! Those bastards were clearly looking for trouble. Just wait till next time…”

“My ID shows I’m already of age; I shouldn’t need parents to come. Only me and Brother Ye escaped this one.”

“You bastard! What kind of brother are you, gloating like that!”

As they spoke, the young men couldn’t help but playfully elbow each other, roughhousing with small movements.

Zai Ye didn’t participate in the conversation. He just stood among them, boredly staring at the various rules and slogans posted on the walls, his ears catching the cacophony of sounds while his mind wandered far away.

He wasn’t afraid of such situations. Getting caught fighting was routine for him—he’d been called in countless times since childhood.

But he didn’t care, because his parents always had more important matters demanding their attention. Whether he put someone in the hospital or ended up there himself, they rarely showed up.

So annoying; when will this end?

Where to go after this?

Home?

Not going home was fine too—just find somewhere to hang out…

Various random thoughts drifted through Zai Ye’s mind until he suddenly felt the atmosphere around him quiet down and someone tugging at his pants leg.

He snapped back to reality and looked down, meeting eyes with a tiny child.

So small!

Was she even three years old? Barely taller than the neighbor’s dog, with impossibly tiny hands.

These thoughts flashed through his mind before he suddenly noticed something alarming—this child looked very similar to him.

“Hey, whose kid is this? Why do I feel like she looks so much like Brother Ye?” the spiky-haired young man beside him exclaimed.

“Seriously! Looking carefully, they really do look alike! Brother Ye, is this your kid? How did she end up here?”

“Little one, what’s your name? Did you come to pick up Brother Zai Ye?”

Several young men gathered around Yu Qian, who had quietly appeared.

This commotion immediately caught the police officers’ attention. They noticed the lost child had run over, and their gaze moved back and forth between the child and the young man she was holding onto. Temporarily halting their processing of the other boys, they called over the female officer from registration to investigate.

“Look, doesn’t that young man look very similar to the lost child? They must be relatives—ask them.”

Zai Ye and Yu Qian, still clutching his pants leg, were called into the office.

“This is a lost child who was brought here from nearby. Are you related to her?” the female officer asked.

Zai Ye shifted slightly, hands in his pockets, saying indifferently, “Don’t know her.”

The female officer looked skeptical, after all, the tall and small figures standing together looked like they were cut from the same mold.

She turned toward Yu Qian, her tone much gentler: “Xiao Qian, do you know this big brother?”

Yu Qian tugged on Zai Ye’s pants leg and pronounced clearly: “Daddy!”

Zai Ye: “…”

Female officer: “…?”

Zai Ye: “Don’t randomly call me that.”

He sneered, saying under the female officer’s suspicious gaze, “Wouldn’t I know if I had a daughter?”

The female officer asked, “How old are you?”

Zai Ye didn’t answer, finding this interrogation-like tone rather amusing.

Having been a police officer for many years, she had seen all kinds of situations. Looking at this young man’s uncooperative, arrogant attitude, she figured he was probably someone who had just become an adult and created “life” troubles and was now afraid to admit it.

She asked Yu Qian again, “Xiao Qian, did you mistake him for someone else? Does your daddy just look similar to this brother?”

Yu Qian shook her head firmly, enunciating clearly: “Daddy! Zai Ye!” Meal ticket! My Mission!

Immediately, the female officer’s gaze toward this handsome young man changed from suspicion to condemnation, likely thinking thoughts like “getting a girl pregnant at such a young age is so irresponsible,” “having a child and refusing to acknowledge them, acting cold and pretending not to know them—what a piece of trash,” “this kind of person doesn’t deserve to be a father.”

Zai Ye was speechless, laughing in frustration. He wanted to explain further, but looking at Yu Qian, he suddenly had a guess.

He looked like his father, and this child looked so much like him—could she be his father’s illegitimate daughter?

He smiled coldly, suddenly changing his statement: “Fine, she’s my sister… the half-sister kind.”