“What a coincidence! Lin Qing, do you live nearby too?” Ye Shu asked, feigning nonchalance.
Lin Qing grinned sheepishly. “I do! Sister Ye, I got picked as a player right after I moved to this city. Since you like practicing swordplay, how about I be your sparring partner?”
“Sure.”
Ye Shu agreed without hesitation, eager to test Lin Qing a little.
Every time she saw him, he gave her a strange sense of discord.
Su Bai looked wordlessly at the two sparring in the martial arena.
Anyone who didn’t know would assume they were trying to kill each other, not just practicing. This kid wasn’t old, but every strike he threw was deadly, relentlessly targeting Shu’s weak spots, with no mercy at all.
Just a moment ago, he’d seemed like a gentle younger brother.
Such seriousness was unexpected.
“Sister, you’re too slow again… At this speed, you’ll never beat me.” Lin Qing ducked Ye Shu’s attack, retreated a few meters, and even stretched like warming up for another round.
Ye Shu: “……”
Was this guy a monster?
Her agility was nearly at 100, and she was still unable to land a hit with all her strength. Utter humiliation.
A burning desire for victory erupted in Ye Shu’s chest, driving her fiercer with every exchange.
The tide began to turn.
Swinging her right arm, Ye Shu caught Lin Qing, rammed her elbow into his chest, and with a flash, drew the wooden sword from her waist, thrusting it toward his throat—swift, ruthless, without an ounce of hesitation.
There was a certain viciousness in each of them, enough to keep Su Bai thoroughly entertained.
“Sister Ye, I thought this was just practice—do you have to take it so seriously?” Lin Qing rubbed his arm, still tingling from the blow of the wooden hilt, and looked at Ye Shu with wide, innocent eyes. He was sure: if he’d shown his true face, Ye Shu would not have gone easy with him.
And she seemed to be testing him.
“Sorry, my fault.” Ye Shu apologized with no hint of shame, cool as ever.
“Lin Qing, I’m really sorry, our Shu sometimes can’t control her strength. We’ll make it up to you another day. The game’s new instance is about to start, so we have to go!” Su Bai, fed up with this little troublemaker, dragged Ye Shu to leave after a hasty explanation.
Lin Qing didn’t mind, a cheerful smile blossoming on his lips.
…………
[Round Ten of the game is about to begin. Player quota not met. Randomly selecting one million participants for Survival Game.]
[Players, please take the game seriously.]
[Failure to clear the stage will result in player death.]
[Welcome back to Survival Game, Player Ye Shu. This is your ninth successful run. You’ve been awarded an extra draw card chance.]
[You obtained: One 5L bottle of aged white vinegar. Description: Aged to perfection, a rich aroma!]
Ye Shu: “…………”
Absurd! The game was handing her condiments.
It didn’t even look like a prop—just an utterly ordinary bottle of white vinegar.
She tossed the vinegar into her inventory, nearly hitting the merfolk’s head in the process.
[You gained +1 Strength Attribute.]
[You obtained: One ‘Wishing Pond Turtle’. Description: Has a certain chance of granting wishes.]
[You gained +1 Agility Attribute.]
When Ye Shu opened her eyes again, she found her entire body restrained, surrounded by people in white coats. A nurse held a syringe at the ready…
What was this, another bizarre laboratory?
“Sedate the patient…”
“Notify the family…”
“Miss Ye’s condition is unstable. She could experience another manic episode at any time…”
A mechanical voice sounded in her mind.
[Uploading player data now…]
Unaware, Ye Shu was injected with a sedative.
The white coats assumed the sedative worked and told the nurses to wheel her back to her room. Under the medication’s haze, Ye Shu drifted into sleep, dimly recalling there were two other patients in her ward.
She slept for two hours.
Slowly waking from the fog, Ye Shu found the nurse’s demeanor softened, coaxing, “Miss Ye, we won’t hurt you. The gentleman said the moment you agree to the divorce, you’ll be free to go.”
Ye Shu made no reply.
She replayed the system’s transferred memories in her mind.
[Player: Ye Shu]
[Game ID: 10096]
[Current Player Count: 1,000,000/1,000,000]
[Starting Supplies: None]
[Location: Yunwu Mountain Psychiatric Hospital]
[Game Role: Cannon-fodder wife, childhood sweetheart of novel’s male lead, Mo Chengzhou.]
[Game Briefing: On planet Z, industry flourishes. Due to unrestrained exploitation, pollution is rampant—they are everywhere…(rest of text censored; to view more, pay 5000 credits per access)]
[Game Task: Survive for thirty days.]
This was the most detailed mission info Ye Shu had ever seen.
This time, the game scenario was derived from a web novel.
And she was the expendable cannon-fodder.
What stood out most: the level of technological advancement in this world.
With progress came dire pollution.
And what, exactly, did "they are everywhere" mean?
The following information was censored by the system. Ye Shu was not about to spend her hard-won credits to find out.
“Miss Ye, this is the divorce agreement… Just sign here, and you’ll receive compensation…” The aide was still babbling before her.
“Give it here.”
Ye Shu reached out assertively.
The nurse faltered, blinking blankly, not quite understanding.
“I mean, the check!”
“Is Mo Chengzhou really going to compensate me, or does he plan to seize my father’s company for free?”
The overwhelming information transfer—plus the dog-blood plotlines—left Ye Shu reeling, not yet able to fully process everything.
This was one of those mishmash rebirth and revenge stories: The secretary claws her way up; the female lead, Bai Xiaolian, escapes with a baby; endless scheming.
The heroine, fittingly named Bai Xiaolian, looked unremarkable except for her bewitching eyes—eyes that could entice any overbearing CEO.
The novel chronicled Bai Xiaolian and Mo Chengzhou’s cloying, over-the-top chase full of clichés.
But Ye Shu was not the heroine—she was the expendable side character.
The original Ye Xiaoshu fell instantly in love with her childhood betrothed, Mo Chengzhou, conditioned by her family to believe she must marry him—utterly infatuated, used up by both leads, eventually abandoned in a psych ward.
Mo Chengzhou wanted his mistress to take her place—forcing Ye Xiaoshu to sign the divorce.
…………
Ye Shu combed through her memories but found no hints of apocalypse or disaster; she had to let it go for now.
“The check.”
The nurse repeated mechanically.
“What, is Mo Chengzhou too stingy to cough up even a little cash?”
“I thought he was truly devoted to Xiaolian, but apparently not. Give me enough money and I’ll leave right now!”
Ye Shu admitted she was being deliberately provocative. The nurse was actually an informant for the Mo family—a secret daughter of the Mo patriarch, a supporter of the main couple, and the architect of the original’s torment in the asylum.
For a moment, Mo Jiuges’s mind went blank.
What did she mean by "give me the money and I’ll leave"?