The golden light of the System Space pulsed with a rhythmic, ethereal hum, echoing the fragments of a soul that had just been gathered.
Nan Si stood at the center, her form shimmering as the borrowed shell of the previous world dissolved.
She was herself again—long, silken hair cascading like a river of starlight, eyes containing the depth of ancient galaxies.
"Welcome back, Host!" Baby chirped, his small, glowing form twirling in joyous loops.
[World 1: The CEO's Secret Pet – COMPLETED!]
[Rating: SSS! 50,000 Soul Points and one Chaos Lotus Petal refinement!]
Nan Si didn't celebrate. She stood silently, her palm pressed against her chest where two tiny, jagged shards of light vibrated. They felt warm, like a sunbeam trapped under her skin, thrumming in sync with her own heartbeat.
"Jue Jue..." she whispered, her voice thick with a longing that spanned lifetimes. "I miss you."
Baby paused his acrobatics, his digital eyes softening. "Host, don't be sad. The Supreme God is always with you. Those fragments... they know you. They feel you."
Sensing her lingering melancholy, he added, "Do you want to seal your emotions and memories?
I can tuck them away in a little box so they don't hurt anymore. You'll be as efficient as a machine!"
"No," Nan Si said, a small but firm smile touching her lips. "The pain is a reminder that the love was real. I won't give it up."
She paused, her brow furrowing. "But Baby, why did I feel those emotions so intensely?
When Nan Hu died, it wasn't just the original owner's grief. My heart actually broke."
Baby tilted his glowing head. "It's because those bodies aren't just random people. They are your mirrors.
The Bureau crafts them from your own aura—a replica meant to fit your soul perfectly.
Before you enter, they are empty vessels, but they are you. Your soul power grows as you cultivate through these lives."
Nan Si's heart skipped. "Then... my brother, Shi-Shi, my squad... were they real?"
Ding!
A golden scroll unfurled in the void, glowing with celestial authority.
Baby let out a tiny, high-pitched scream of excitement. "Host! Look! A new notification from the Time Bureau!
Because you're retrieving the Supreme God's fragments, you've earned a 'Karmic Reward.'
From now on, anyone with a deep bond to you has a chance to become a transmigrator!
If they complete their missions, they can meet you in the Main World!"
The darkness in Nan Si's eyes vanished, replaced by a brilliant, fierce light. "So, I can see them again? My brother... everyone?"
"Yes, Host! It's your reward for saving the pillars of existence." Baby hovered closer.
"Now, do you want to rest in the Soul Spring? Your soul needs to absorb that Lotus Petal."
"No," Nan Si said, her voice ringing with newfound resolve. "I want to go to the next world. Jue Jue is waiting for me, and I've already spent too much time apart from him."
[World 2: The Scholar's Discarded Bride]
[Transfer Beginning... 10%... 50%... 100%]
The transition was violent, a sudden plunge from the weightless void into a body that felt like lead and fire.
Nan Si gasped, but the sound was trapped behind a heavy, suffocating red veil. The air was thick with the scent of stale incense and damp wood.
She was sitting on a hard bed, her body swaying slightly, but not from movement—from a terrifying, creeping numbness.
"Host! You're in!" Baby's voice echoed, sounding frantic. "But be careful! The original owner was poisoned!"
Nan Si tried to stand, her instincts screaming for her to escape this stifling room.
But as she moved, her muscles turned to jelly.
"Stop! Don't run!" Baby yelled. "Fragment detected! He's right outside! It's him! It's Jue Jue!"
Nan Si's heart stuttered. The name was a lifeline. "Where? Who is he?"
"His name is Shen Jue. Currently, he's a brilliant but disgraced scholar in this rural village.
But Host... it's bad. His Blackening Value is 80! He's bitter, cold, and on the verge of becoming the most bloodthirsty Prime Minister in history.
And because he thinks you're a spy sent by his enemies to humiliate him, his Dislike Value for you is -30!"
Nan Si felt a wave of coldness wash over her as the "Original Memory" began to flood her consciousness.
In this world, the original Nan Si was the "Village Fool"—a girl born with a clouded mind, innocent but easily manipulated.
Her greedy family had sold her to Shen Jue for a bag of silver, knowing the local officials wanted to mock the scholar by marrying him to a simpleton.
In her previous life, the original owner's mother had fed her a "softening powder" before the wedding—a poison designed to make her docile and unable to struggle or speak.
The dose was too high.
The girl had sat in this very bridal chamber, unable to move a finger, and slowly suffocated as the poison paralyzed her lungs.
She died before Shen Jue even touched her.
Her soul's final wish was simple and filled with a cold, hollow spite: Break every tie with the Nan family. Let them find no profit in my death.
Nan Si's eyes sharpened behind the veil.
She could feel the poison's numbing grip, but her powerful soul began to push back, forcing the toxins to settle into a state of mere physical weakness rather than death.
She reached up with a trembling, porcelain-thin hand and pulled the veil aside.
She caught her reflection in a small, cracked bronze mirror on the vanity.
The girl was breathtaking—a delicate, ethereal beauty that seemed out of place in this dusty countryside cottage.
Her skin was a translucent white, her lips a natural, pale rose.
But she was visibly malnourished; her collarbones were sharp ridges, and her wrists looked like they might snap under the weight of her bridal sleeves.
She looked like a fragile porcelain doll, one that had been discarded in the rain.
"So, I'm a fool, am I?" Nan Si whispered, her voice a soft, melodic rasp.
A glint of fox-like cunning danced in her eyes before she deliberately softened them, masking her sharp intelligence behind a layer of wide-eyed, naive wonder.
She was a like a mischievous child by nature—cheerful and lively—but if this world needed a fool to survive, she would play the part perfectly.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of footsteps on the wooden porch made the floorboards groan. The air in the room suddenly turned frigid.
The door was pushed open. Not with violence, but with a slow, deliberate coldness that felt even more terrifying.
A man stood in the doorway. He was tall and lean, dressed in a simple, faded scholar's robe of moonlight blue.
His hair was tied back with a simple wooden pin, and his face was a masterpiece of cold, scholarly elegance—sharp features, a high bridge of the nose, and lips that looked like they had forgotten how to smile.
But it was his eyes that held the darkness.
They were like frozen ink, devoid of any warmth as they landed on the shivering girl on the bed.
This was Shen Jue.
[Warning! Target: Shen Jue. Blackening Value: 80. Dislike: -30.]
He didn't speak. He stepped into the room, the scent of sandalwood and winter frost following him.
He looked at Nan Si not as a bride, but as a stain on his honor—a reminder of his fall from grace.
"The fool has learned to lift her own veil," he said, his voice a low, beautiful baritone that carried a lethal edge.
He walked closer, stopping just inches from her. He reached out, his long, cold fingers gripping her chin with enough pressure to bruise her fragile skin.
He forced her to look up at him.
Nan Si didn't resist. She let her head tilt back, her eyes wide and glassy, a small, "innocent" smile playing on her lips even as she felt the poison making her breath hitch.
She looked at him with the pure, unadulterated curiosity of a child, even as her inner self was calculating a thousand ways to tear down his icy walls.
"Pretty..." she whispered, her voice tilting upward in a naive lilt.
She reached out a shaky, thin hand and brushed her fingers against his sleeve. "Husband... pretty."
Shen Jue's eyes narrowed, a flash of disgust crossing his features, yet deep within those obsidian depths, a tiny, buried fragment of his soul flickered with a sudden, painful heat.
He hated her. He despised what she represented. And yet, looking at her malnourished, trembling form, he felt a strange, involuntary tightening in his chest.
"Don't touch me," he hissed, though he didn't pull away.
[Warning! Dislike Value: -25!
Blackening Value: 81!]
He leaned in closer, his gaze searching her face for any sign of the "spy" he expected. But all he saw was a frail, beautiful girl who seemed to be fading away before his eyes.
"If you are playing a part," Shen Jue whispered against her ear, his breath chilling her skin, "I will find out. And when I do, I will ensure that the Nan family gets back exactly what they sent me—a corpse."
Nan Si let out a small, soft whimper, her body slumping forward against his chest as the poison finally forced her muscles to give way. She buried her face in his cold robes, her heart racing.
"Sleepy..." she murmured, her voice fading.
Shen Jue froze. His hands hovered in the air, wanting to push her away, yet his fingers instinctively curled around her thin shoulders to keep her from hitting the floor.