Qiu Mian felt as though she were sinking into the bottom of an icy lake, the air in her lungs being squeezed out bit by bit.
“I’m going to die… I’m really… going to die…”
“So unwilling… I don’t even know what’s happening…”
【Zzz… Detecting… host vital signs… sharp decline…】
A fragmented, crackling electronic voice suddenly rang out deep inside her mind, like a bad connection.
【Emergency protocol… initiating… remaining energy… insufficient…】
【Repairing… critical damage… energy depletion… final activation…】
A faint but warm current abruptly spread from the center of her chest, flowing swiftly through her limbs—especially toward the fatal wound on her left abdomen.
The sensation of life draining away was forcibly halted. The searing pain receded strangely, almost magically.
Qiu Mian sucked in a sharp breath, like a drowning person breaking the surface. Her consciousness snapped back into clarity.
“Who’s talking?! System? Is that you, System?! I knew it! Transmigrator standard equipment!”
Joy exploded in her heart. Tears nearly spilled over again.
But the next words from that electronic voice doused the tiny flame of hope she’d just kindled with a merciless pfft.
【Repair… complete… Host… listen carefully…】
【You have transmigrated… into… Campus Surrounded by Yanderes… the world…】
【Identity confirmed: Qiu Mian… core antagonist of the original work】
“Wait… what the hell?”
“Isn’t this… my own unfinished novel?!”
Countless fragmented memories surged into her mind alongside the system’s prompt, cramming themselves in whether she wanted them or not.
It really was that yandere campus light novel she’d started but dropped after less than three hundred thousand words due to writer’s block.
And the character named “Qiu Mian”—the one sharing her exact name—had indeed been a throwaway background villain she’d tossed in casually: frail, sickly, meant to cause minor trouble for the protagonist group before getting taken care of…
But the specific plot details, character relationships—especially those deadly mysterious yandere girls—she hadn’t written them at all!
Most of it was still stuck in the “maybe it’ll go this way” brainstorming phase!
【Warning… This system… due to unknown impact… and transmigration damage… energy about to… fully deplete…】
【Final mission issued: Identify… the one who killed you… within this timeline…】
【Mission time limit: …】
【Failure penalty: System energy exhaustion… No further protection or revival protocols can be activated… Host will suffer… permanent death…】
【Clues… must be found independently… Energy… insufficient… Good… luck…】
【Zzz——————————】
After a piercing burst of static, the electronic voice vanished completely. No matter how desperately Qiu Mian called out in her mind, there was no response.
As if everything just now had been an illusion.
Except the wound on her left abdomen seemed to have already closed. No more pain.
“…That’s it?”
“You used your last scrap of energy to save my life, then slapped me with a ‘find your killer’ mission and just… shut down?!”
“Isn’t this basically telling me to go die again?!”
“I don’t even know who killed me… oh wait, it was the white-masked one… but who the hell is she?! She wasn’t in the novel at all! Must be someone new that appeared because I transmigrated!”
“How am I supposed to find her?!”
“And even if I do find her—what then?! She’s the type who stabs without hesitation!”
“Most importantly—I never finished this damn novel! There’s no outline for what comes next! I don’t even know whether the plot is going to be rounded off or flattened into oblivion!”
Qiu Mian roared internally, feeling a sharp pang in her chest as darkness threatened to swallow her vision again.
But before she could even begin to process the massive info-dump—
Something new went wrong.
Breathing… suddenly became difficult.
Something soft, warm, and faintly sweet was pressing against her face.
Plush. Extremely elastic. Gently but completely covering her mouth and nose.
“Mmph… suffocating… I’m suffocating!”
“Another assassin?! Switching to smothering this time?! Do you really think so little of—urgh, think so little of me?!”
Qiu Mian immediately started struggling. Her hands flailed upward, shoving blindly to escape this “lethal” restraint.
“Mmph… S-Sister… don’t… don’t move around so much…”
A soft, trembling voice came from directly above.
The soft “murder weapon” hastily pulled away.
Fresh air rushed in. Qiu Mian gasped greedily and snapped her eyes open.
Her vision slowly focused.
First came gently swaying, light linen-colored hair. Then—a small, fair face right in front of her.
The girl looked young, features delicate, but right now her cheeks were flushed with panicked embarrassment. Long lashes trembled with tiny teardrops formed from sheer anxiety.
Her wide eyes stared unblinkingly at Qiu Mian, brimming with helplessness and…
And the “murder weapon” that had nearly smothered her earlier…
Qiu Mian’s gaze instinctively dropped for 0.1 seconds.
The girl was half-crouched over her in an awkward position—apparently she had just leaned down to try waking her up.
The slightly oversized white shirt she wore had slipped open at the collar due to the angle, revealing delicate collarbones, a wide expanse of snowy skin, and… the very “weapon” in question, which was now rising and falling gently with the girl’s rapid, nervous breathing.
“S-Sorry! Sister!” The girl startled like a frightened rabbit and sprang back. She knelt at the edge of the bed, clutching the hem of her shirt so tightly her knuckles whitened, head bowed almost to her chest. Her voice cracked with tears. “I… I just wanted to wake you up… Breakfast… it’s getting cold… I… I didn’t mean to…”
She seemed genuinely terrified. Her whole body trembled faintly. She didn’t even dare lift her eyes to meet Qiu Mian’s.
Qiu Mian was stunned.
“Who is this?!”
“So… cute… No! Not the time!”
“She called me… Sister?”
“I have a little sister? Was there… this kind of setting in the novel?”