“I just checked him out for you. Six-pack abs, 16 centimeters long and 4 centimeters wide. Nothing to complain about when he’s serious, and his medical report is spotless. Well? Aren’t I a good friend? And there’s more where that came from~”
Her friend’s outrageous declaration still rang in Mu Yue’s ears, and the warm hotel lighting seemed to linger before her eyes.
So when Mu Yue opened her eyes and found herself in a hospital, her first thought was: Holy crap, was he really that impressive? Did he actually put me in the hospital?!
But she quickly realized something was wrong. This body was wrong. It didn’t seem to be hers.
She was extremely nearsighted, her limbs were thin and weak, and her hands were rough and dry. There were even traces left behind by chilblains. She was nearsighted too, but she’d had surgery when she was eighteen. She was healthy, and she took meticulous care of her hands. No matter how wild she’d gotten in a single night, there was no way she could have reduced her body to this state.
Mu Yue fished the phone out from under her pillow. When she saw the old phone, which would probably fetch only five yuan even at a recycling center, her heart sank again. The cracked, scratched screen soon reflected a face—a complete stranger’s face.
Oh, crap!
My new car! My luxury apartment that I’d only lived in for a year! And the male model my friend had just delivered to my room…
Scenes from her former life flashed rapidly through her mind, like the highlights of a life flashing before her eyes. Suddenly, an electric current tore through those images, followed by a voice:
[Beep—Hello, host. I am the Academic Ace System.]
Oh. The standard cheat ability for transmigration. Now she understood. She’d jumped on the transmigration bandwagon. She just didn’t know whether she’d been sent to another era or into a book. She was about to ask, not even having time to offer a polite “hello,” when several more beeps rang out in succession.
[Beep—Hello, host. I am the Tycoon System.]
[Beep—Hello, host. I am the Comeback System.]
[Beep—Hello, host. I am the Villain System.]
Mu Yue: …
Mu Yue: ???
Wait a second. Since when did systems come in bulk? Or had she somehow transmigrated into an early-access version?
Mu Yue had no time to process any of this. Almost as soon as the beeps ended, the first system to appear, the Academic Ace System, immediately launched into sales mode:
[Let’s skip the nonsense, host. Bind with us, and you’ll get all four systems at once. You’ll personally enjoy all the rewards!]
[Complete milestone missions to earn points and unlock the shop. The shop has everything you could possibly want. Choose whatever you like!]
[Would you like to bind with us?]
As it spoke, the system quickly displayed the shop to Mu Yue. It really did have everything, and the sheer variety was dazzling.
Mu Yue pondered for a moment before asking, “What happens if I refuse?”
[We kill ourselves.]
Huh?
[We’ll kill ourselves.]
[Whoever wants to do these damn missions can do them!]
Wait. Weren’t these systems a little too emotional?
“Can I choose just one?” For example, the Tycoon System. Studying, making a comeback, becoming a villain—those all sounded exhausting. She’d been caught up in the rat race for half her life. All she wanted now was to lie down.
[No can do, host. We come as a package.]
[Accept or refuse. Hurry up. If not, forget it!]
[There are only four of us. Tch. Are you scared already?]
Mu Yue: “…”
Fine, fine, so this was a forced bundle deal. Only one of them was actually the selling point; the other three were just freebies.
Mu Yue frowned and thought it over.
[Countdown: five, four, three…]
But then again, an opportunity like this was even rarer than winning the lottery. If she missed out now, she might regret it for the rest of her life.
Mu Yue: “I agree!” Whatever. Let’s do this!
Almost the instant the final syllable left her mouth, the words “Binding Complete” appeared in Mu Yue’s mind.
[Woohoo!] two of the systems cheered.
[Come on, come on!] one system urged.
[Hahaha, we can finally start!] another system cackled.
Wait a minute. Where were they going? Weren’t they going to explain the missions and functions? Start what? At least tell me!
[Beep—Hello, host. I am the Custodian System.]
What was this, another one?
Custodian? What was it supposed to be guarding? Could it be guarding her? Would it take over her body against her will and handle some dirty work for her?
Of course! She knew there was no such thing as a free lunch—
The sound of machine-shuffled mahjong tiles rang out in her mind. One player was missing the circles, another was missing the characters, and all four systems cheerfully began playing mahjong.
“…………”
Mu Yue’s head began to ache. She rubbed her temples and waited two seconds, but the sounds of “black ghost” and “I’m making it rain” continued echoing in her mind. She was completely defeated.
“Guys, isn’t there a mute button?”
The Villain System shouted:
[Oops, we forgot. Little Custodian, close the door. And hey, whoever you are, don’t call us unless there’s something going on. Actually, don’t call us even if there is. Just find Little Custodian.]
Then Mu Yue really did hear a creaking door close inside her head. Did they have to make the sound effects so realistic? It was practically giving her visual images.
This was a downright surreal opening…
No. Her head hurt even more now. It genuinely hurt. Mu Yue felt around for her glasses and put them on. There was medicine on the bedside table. After checking the instructions, she prepared to take it, only to discover that the water in the paper cup had already been drunk.
With some effort, Mu Yue climbed out of bed, went to the water station, filled the cup, and returned to the ward to take her medicine. She leaned against the headboard and stared blankly into space for a while. Once the pain had eased somewhat, she finally called for the Custodian System.
“Little Custodian, explain what’s going on.”
Custodian System: [Keyword “explain.” Comeback message: What is there to explain about a power-fantasy story with cheat abilities?]
“…”
I really don’t have time to play around with you.
The original owner’s physical condition, financial situation, and the fact that she was sick in a hospital with no one by her side—everything about it looked ominous.
Mu Yue took a deep breath and tried again. “Background. Identity.”
Custodian System: [Keywords “background” and “identity.” Academic Ace message: This is a world formed from the fusion of four books. Host, your identities are as follows:]
[Campus romance—female lead’s best friend]
[Reborn true heiress—random roommate]
[CEO’s stand-in for his white moonlight—an extra who gets killed the moment she shows her face]
[Harem novel with a clairvoyant male lead—villainess who loves the male lead but cannot have him]
Mu Yue was already numb. She could see what these four systems were about: they had come here purely to slack off and avoid doing any work.
She closed her eyes and briefly flipped through the four books provided by the Academic Ace System.
The original owner’s family situation came from the campus romance novel. Her parents had died unexpectedly, leaving her a house and a small amount of savings. Because the incident had happened so suddenly, her grandparents were also entitled to a share of the inheritance. So not only did her grandparents take part of the money, they also moved into the original owner’s house with her uncle’s family, turning the original owner into an outsider in her own home.
Naturally, the original owner faced all kinds of difficulties in such an environment. This gave the female lead plenty of opportunities to help her, demonstrate her kindness and virtue, and win the male lead’s favor.
Mu Yue flipped further ahead. Fortunately, there was no melodramatic plot where the original owner fell in love with the male lead and betrayed the female lead. But there were still plenty of unlucky incidents that served to heat up the relationship between the male and female leads.
She was nothing more than a tool.
In the second novel, a story about a true heiress reborn, she was nothing more than a completely uninvolved passerby. She followed the other background characters in saying things like, “She really does seem different now,” “She really doesn’t like XXX anymore,” and, “Wow! So she’s the real heiress, not an adopted daughter!” It was the easiest role of all.
In the domineering CEO’s substitute-lover story, she was written out almost as soon as she appeared. She worked as a server at a private club, and just as she was about to complete her first month, she accidentally spilled wine on the CEO. He assumed she had done it deliberately to climb into his bed, so he had her fired. In the end, she not only failed to receive her wages but also ended up owing the club money because she had to compensate the CEO for his clothes. Her sole purpose in the story was to highlight the male lead’s ruthless indifference and the “power of life and death” he held over ordinary people.
But the most disgusting of all was the last novel, a womanizer’s wish-fulfillment story. The heroine fell for the male lead after he saved her once, but he looked down on her. So she turned love into hatred and began doing everything she could to claw her way upward: getting plastic surgery, finding wealthy patrons, and enduring countless humiliations. The story went into great detail about how she was treated as less than human and stripped of all dignity. As a result, her mind became twisted. She came to hate every woman around the male lead and constantly caused trouble, all in the hope of making him remember her. In the end, she killed herself in front of him and received nothing more than a sigh from him.
After reading it, Mu Yue wanted to gouge out her own eyes. Unable to hold back, she asked, “Where did the original owner go?”
The Custodian System replied: [Keyword: “original owner.” Villain’s message: She ran away as soon as the worlds merged. Who wouldn’t run after seeing this dogshit plot?]
That was true. If they had dumped this plot on her right at the beginning, she would have run too. But now she couldn’t escape. Otherwise, the four systems wouldn’t have been so confident about renting a room and playing mahjong.
Mu Yue asked a few more questions, such as what had happened to the version of herself in the original world, whether every plot point had to be followed, and what her current tasks were.
The four systems had anticipated all those questions and left messages in advance. First, there was the matter of the Mu Yue in the original world. Time flowed at different speeds in the two worlds. A year spent here might amount to only one second there. In other words, once she completed all her missions in this world, she could apply to return to the original world. If she chose not to return, she could also use her points to purchase an advanced Custodian service from the store. Every setting would be up to her.
As for the plot, the four systems said that if everything had to proceed exactly according to the original story, they could simply have an AI take over. There would be no need for a host. So she had a great deal of freedom. As long as she completed her missions, she could handle things however she liked.
There was only one thing she needed to keep in mind: the basic anchor points could not be changed.
For example, she was currently a high school senior, and her identity as the true heiress’s best friend in the school story could not change. She still had to get into the university attended by the true heiress and become her roommate. She also had to appear at the private club where the domineering CEO would be at a specific time and get into a conflict with him. In the womanizer’s story, she likewise had to remain a villain who opposed the protagonists.
Finally, there were the missions. The Comeback System and Villain System only issued missions when triggered. In other words, she would receive missions only after encountering characters from the two novels. At present, the only missions listed were from the Academic Ace System.
As for the Tycoon System, it had no missions.
The Tycoon System left a message: [We’re the Tycoon System. Our job is to make the host spend money, so how could we possibly have missions? The host only needs to spend money. The more you spend, the more points you earn, and the more generous your daily check-in and upgrade rewards become. Keep spending, host!]
After transmigrating, Mu Yue finally smiled for the first time. As expected of the favorite concubine in her heart—everything it said sounded so pleasing!
“Well then, start the check-in!”
[Check-in complete! RMB has been issued. Would you like to draw today’s random reward?]
“Draw!”
[Seven-day Presidential Suite Experience Card at a five-star hotel ×1. Hotel may be selected.]
I love it!
Mu Yue took a look. She currently had a Level 0 Tycoon System. Every day, she could choose either one hundred thousand yuan or a random reward. Today, she accepted both, a special benefit for the day the system was bound to her.
Spending one hundred thousand yuan earned her one point and one experience point. It took ten experience points to reach Level 1. Points could be used in the store to purchase all kinds of goods, including but not limited to: one-hundred-percent-loyal bodyguard stewards, beauty potions with no side effects, health points, martial arts skills, concealed weapons, spatial storage, and omnipotent robots.
After upgrading, a Level 1 Tycoon System would provide five hundred thousand yuan at each daily check-in; Level 2 would provide one million; Level 3, five million; and Level 4, ten million. The amounts would continue to increase. The value of the random rewards would rise as well, and cashback and lucky-wheel functions would become available.
In short: the more she spent, the more money she would have.
Mu Yue immediately felt refreshed. Her headache was gone, and even the study missions hanging in the mission panel looked much more pleasing to her.
[Mission 1: Advance by at least one hundred places in the schoolwide monthly-exam rankings. Reward upon completion: 10 points.]
[Mission 2: Score at least 500 points in the first mock examination. Reward upon completion: 10 points.]
[Note: Failure to complete a mission will deduct 100 points from the host.]
See? It was obvious which one was a high-demand flagship product and which one was an unwanted freebie thrown in as an afterthought.
