episode_0003

Xu Nian stared at the newly loaded text, falling into silence.

Ever since obtaining this system, she often felt her brain wasn’t quite up to the task.

Limbs—were they really such inconvenient things?

She felt her brain wasn’t all that convenient either.

Maybe she should take it off and give it a wash too?

Gah!

See! She knew it!

She might have imagined what Su Qingya would do, but she never expected her to go this far.

Breaking her own wings?

Wasn’t that just turning her into an immobile cup?

What kind of twisted fetish would even come up with something like that?!

A chill erupted from the depths of Xu Nian’s heart, spreading throughout her body, leaving her limbs icy cold.

Her grip on her phone faltered, and the brick-worth-two-kidneys clattered onto the wooden floor. Thankfully, the phone was sturdy enough to survive unscathed.

Snapping back to reality at Su Qingya’s call, Xu Nian hurriedly picked up the phone and shakily pressed it to her ear.

“Hello? Nian Nian, what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing.”

“Are you crying?”

Even Xu Nian hadn’t noticed the slight tremble in her own voice.

“I just… kicked the table leg by accident.”

“How could you be so careless? Are you hurt? Your body’s always been delicate—you probably bruised, didn’t you?”

“N-No.”

“Then… are you coming over or not? I can take a look at your leg while you’re here.”

Su Qingya’s voice, gradually softening with cautious tenderness, echoed through the phone, drilling into Xu Nian’s brain like a needle.

How was she supposed to face Su Qingya?

She didn’t know.

The usually playful, adorable little loli who obediently endured all her teasing—strong-willed yet always looking so content around her—why would she do something so cruel to her now?

The cold text had only skimmed over it, but Xu Nian’s mind had already painted the entire scene.

This… this had to be fake, right? The content shown in the simulator?

But… could it really be fake?

This was the system, after all.

She couldn’t tell.

She really, truly couldn’t tell.

Perhaps because Xu Nian hadn’t responded, Su Qingya’s gentle tone grew urgent again.

“Xu Nian, say something!”

“I was wrong, I was really wrong. I won’t break up with you, so… please don’t hurt me, okay?”

“You… why would you say something like that? How could I ever hurt you? Did someone say something strange to you?”

“Then… why did you call me over?”

“To treat you to a meal I made myself. And to check your leg.”

“……”

Xu Nian said nothing more, ending the call.

Her mind blank, she burrowed into her blankets, sticking her butt out and letting her tail droop, covering only her head as if trying to escape this suffocating reality.

After wallowing for a bit, she rubbed her head, turning her silky hair into a tangled mess, before finally emerging from the covers.

Xu Nian understood.

Running away wouldn’t solve anything.

She had to take action.

“Xu Nian, oh Xu Nian, you can’t just give in like this! This isn’t like you!”

She hadn’t lost yet!

She had a cheat!

She still had a chance to survive!

A little hardship like this wouldn’t break her!

The simulator remained paused on the reward selection screen. After psyching herself up, she stared at the interface for a long time—but her thoughts weren’t on which reward to pick.

Picking up her phone again, she sent a message:

“I’m coming over now. I’ve got a surprise for you later, so don’t get too excited, you loser~”

“?”

Ignoring the question mark Su Qingya sent back, she switched to the first simulation interface and selected an undetectable cloth bag—after all, the other two rewards were just too absurd.

A “weird thing” planted inside her, or an already-born eldritch offspring?

Sorry, but Xu Nian wanted neither.

[Reward distribution in progress…]

Soon, a floating bag materialized out of thin air in front of her. She reached out, and the bag affectionately drifted closer.

Huh, not bad—it even had a bit of sentience to it.

Xu Nian had assumed it was just an invisible bag, but it could float too?

That made things way more convenient.

As for the second reward…

She didn’t pick it yet, since none of the three options seemed particularly useful right now.

And so, Xu Nian pretended to carry the bag as she headed out.

For cover, she also grabbed a pen.

“Come here for a sec. Can you see what I’m holding?”

She randomly called over a maid, testing the waters.

“Miss, you’re only holding a pen.”

“Oh~ So you really can’t see it?”

But this at least confirmed that the bag truly was undetectable.

Her gaze drifted to the window, where towering skyscrapers failed to block the sunlight streaming down.

The scene before her was so similar to the world she once knew—yet fundamentally different.

After all, this was an alternate world where humans and monsters coexisted.

But precisely because of that, Xu Nian, a fox spirit, could strut down the street without drawing odd looks.

Her mother was also a fox spirit, while her father was human.

In this world, unions between fox spirits and humans didn’t produce half-breeds.

Instead, there was a fifty-fifty chance—either human or fox spirit, purely luck of the draw.

And for some reason, fox spirits—clearly mammals—had somehow become egg-layers.

All to facilitate the classic backstory—sigh, the eggs got swapped at birth, turning Xu Nian into the fake heiress.

The fake heiress was a scheming, bratty fox, while the real one was a strong, resilient human.

What an absolutely ridiculous setting!

Did biology just not exist here?!

And who mixes up eggs?!

No markings?!

Are you kidding me?!

Could you be any more careless?!

Whatever. Xu Nian had spent years griping about this already.

“Xu Nian, are you planning to sneak out again? Your sister’s coming home today. You’re staying put—no one in this family is skipping out. We’ve already failed her enough. And mind your attitude when she arrives. Rein in that temper of yours.”

“I—I understand, Mom.”

Seeing Xu Nian’s earnest expression, the enchanting vixen with fox ears curled her lips into a gentle smile.

But inwardly, Xu Nian was panicking.

In the simulator, she’d assumed her mother had just happened to catch her—but no, she’d been lying in wait, like some high-level invisible wall in a game. Step into the trigger zone, and the cutscene plays. And it was always triggered.

How did she know?

Because she’d tried five times. Every single time, her mother was right in her path. This time, she’d gone ahead just to test it.

So why hadn’t she been stopped during the second simulation?

Then Xu Nian saw her mother answer a call.

“What? She’s not coming back today? She says she’s waiting for someone very important and wants to postpone for a few days?”

Xu Nian watched as her mother’s expression darkened. Years of refinement kept her from voicing her displeasure, but the joy had clearly drained from her flower-viewing mood. She led the servants back inside.

Probably because of that text she’d sent earlier.

So that’s how it was.

That text had been for this!

Sorry, Mother. Must be disappointing to get your hopes up like that.

But if your biological daughter chose to meet someone else over coming home, anyone would feel a little hurt, right?

Which also meant… the gates were wide open now.

No one could stop Xu Nian from leaving.

So then…

Hehehe~

Escape plan: activated!