"Detection of a suitable host... Detection of a suitable host... Starting synchronization..."
A chime echoed in the void.
"Ding! System binding: 10%... 20%... 40%... 85%... 100% complete. Synchronization and binding successful."
"Congratulations, Host! You have now been bonded to the 'Amorous and Seductive Beauty System!' I am System Navigator 419~"
Jia Li awoke with a gasp.
Her lungs heaved like if she had just been submerged in freezing water, and her eyelids flew open.
The hospital's antiseptic odor had vanished.
The beep of the IV monitor? Vanished.
Instead, there was nothing—just white.
She looked around wildly. The space had no features, was smooth, and was uncannily bright. No windows. No doors. No shadows. No way out.
"Huh…? Where am I? I was just in the hospital, right?"
Panic surged in her chest like a rising tide.
"LET ME OUT!!"
She hammered her fists against the wall. It was neither cold nor warm, and the surface remained stationary. White as chalk frozen in time.
"Whoever did this, I'm not sure what kind of practical joke you're pulling, but I can assure you that if you don't let me go now, there will be serious repercussions."
"Hello~ Host! I am System Navigator 419~"
The voice was chirpy, high-pitched, and maddeningly cute.
Jia Li whipped around. "Who said that?! I'm warning you—I have a black belt in karate!" Her voice trembled despite the bluff. "Come out now and I might let you off the hook for this."
Well of course, she was bluffing. Quietly fading into the background was her only true black belt.
There was a swirl of white smoke and glitter, and suddenly there stood a plumb androgynous child. They had bunny ears, round, pink cheeks, and a white onesie that seemed to be made of guiltless sins and clouds.
Jia Li froze mid-punch.
A... a little bun had kidnapped her?
Rows of invisible question marks circled around her head.
Despite herself, her tension eased. It was hard to stay aggressive in front of something that looked like a milk commercial mascot.
"Little bun, where am I? Why did you kidnap me?"
Her voice was cautious, but no longer panicked.
The child beamed. "Aiyaaa~ Host, I'm System Navigator 419! You're the lucky soul bonded to the Amorous and Ravishing Beauty System! You'll now travel across worlds to complete special tasks~ Each one has juicy rewards, and once you start, even more benefits will unlock!"
They struck a pose, one chubby hand raised, sparkles exploding behind them.
Jia Li just... stared.
Ten seconds passed. Maybe more.
She knew about these kinds of stories. She'd read enough webnovels to know what was happening. Systems. Binding. World-hopping. Tasks. Rewards. She wasn't clueless. But she had never thought she'd be chosen.
Because—truth be told—she was no one special.
"So… am I alive? Or... dead in my world?"
That was the question that mattered most now.
Because there, she had been painfully, relentlessly average.
She was a modern salarywoman in the 21st century. She paid rent on time. Drank instant coffee. Tolerated her supervisor. Faded into the background like beige wallpaper in an office no one redecorates.
Not ugly enough to be bullied like a cliche revenge K-drama protagonist.
Not pretty enough to turn heads.
Her eyes were small and wide-set, giving her a permanently squinting look that makeup couldn't fix. Her skin was rough and uneven with years of hormonal acne and budget skincareHer squat, bulbous nose was neither charming nor elegant. She was tall, slender, and had long limbs that somehow didn't seem ungainly in professional clothes. That was her only advantage. Her eyes, which were dazzling and glassy when the light struck them perfectly, may have been her savior.
But no one really noticed.
She wore thick prescription glasses.
Walked with her head down.
Ate lunch alone in her desk cubicle.
If life were a video game, she was the NPC standing near the quest marker. The one who didn't give you any items. The one you forgot existed after five seconds.
That was Jia Li. Average, ordinary, disposable.
And now? She was supposed to be some "ravishing beauty" system host?
Her laugh came out hollow. Almost bitter.
"System 419, are you sure you got the right person?"
"Of course! The system never makes mistakes~" the little bun chirped.
"But life does," Jia Li thought.
She stood in that white room—stripped of identity, of past, of reality. Just her, and a system promising something ludicrous: a chance to be someone she'd never been.