Hell, having eaten and drunk his fill, did not leave the abandoned warehouse immediately.
He simply lay quietly on an old chair, leaning back as his body relaxed. The back of the chair let out a faint creak, supporting his slightly exhausted frame.
He turned his head slightly, his gaze passing through the large hole in the ceiling of the old warehouse that had broken open at some unknown time, looking out at the deep night sky.
There seemed to be no clouds obscuring the view tonight.
Through that rectangular opening, he could clearly see the ink-blue canopy of heaven, dotted with countless tiny, bright stars.
They flickered with a cold, eternal light, and a few faint beams of moonlight spilled diagonally through the gap.
Hell gazed silently at the starry sky, his eyes somewhat vacant. He seemed to be spacey, or perhaps thinking about something extremely distant.
In reality, he was a transmigrator.
However, compared to the experiences described in many novels or those he had imagined, his situation was… a bit different. One could even say it was absurd.
He had not transmigrated to some grand, magnificent alternate world, nor had he returned to a specific point in history. Instead, he had transmigrated into a book.
It was a book he had just finished reading after staying up all night.
He could not quite remember the exact title, but it was something like Starlight Girls and the Sword of Covenant.
As for the content, to summarize, it was a certain kind of alternative “magical girl” genre—girls chosen by a mysterious “Goddess” who could transform into powerful “Goddess Angels” in times of crisis.
They bore the mission of saving the world from twisted monsters called “Crystal Husks” and their puppet master, the villainous organization known as the “Eternal Night Gospel.”
Although the book had no clear male protagonist and followed the currently popular girls’ love theme, the plot was quite cliché.
It was nothing more than the old-fashioned story of chosen girls meeting during battle, encouraging each other, growing together, and ultimately overcoming hardships to defeat the evil villains and maintain world peace.
But… he could not resist. The illustrations in this book were just too beautiful.
Every color page was exquisite, the battle scenes were gorgeous and dazzling, and the daily life scenes were warm and healing.
More importantly, the character designs of the several main Goddess Angels were all excessively beautiful. From their hairstyles, eye colors, and clothing designs to their combat styles, every single one accurately hit Hell’s preferences as a reader back then.
Especially his favorite heroine—the “Annihilation Angel” Luna Florea, who had just left.
A tall pink ponytail, pale gold eyes, a pure white combat suit that outlined her curves, paired with futuristic technological Floating Turrets… That setting, which combined a sense of divinity with the aesthetics of violence, had accurately sniped his preferences.
So, even though he had already anticipated the plot and even found it a bit dull, Hell still relied on his love for the illustrations and character designs. He had patiently finished reading the entire book word for word overnight.
However, after finishing it, as a reader, Hell’s heart was filled with countless points of criticism that he felt he had to vent.
The villainous organization portrayed in the book, the Eternal Night Gospel, appeared quite high-end on the surface. They had an intimidating name and mysterious doctrines, and the Adjudicators under their command each possessed a special ability that sounded powerful and was quite broken when used.
Judging by their strength on paper alone, the ability of any Adjudicator seemed capable of completely defeating a Goddess Angel in a one-on-one fight.
Yet, such a seemingly powerful organization… ended up being destroyed at the end of the book. And the destruction was quite… farcical.
Because the cadres within, though possessing extraordinary abilities, were essentially a “collection of talent.”
Some had their own ulterior motives, playing their own little games; they were experts at internal strife but incompetent in external warfare.
Some were negligent, showing little interest in the organization’s “great cause,” spending all day pondering various messy personal hobbies.
Some wanted to work hard to contribute to the organization, but unfortunately, their strength or intelligence was truly limited, leaving them stuck in an awkward position where they could neither advance nor retreat.
And then there were those who simply were not very bright, always coming up with fancy but useless “tricks” that were purely for comic relief.
In short, this was not a tight-knit evil organization at all. Everyone inside was a character, but only one cadre had the strength and intelligence to stay on track and get things done.
And it was such a “shambolic” villain organization, full of internal problems and pitiful execution… that the Goddess Angels’ side actually fought against, off and on, for an entire 100 years.
The explanation given in the book was that the Eternal Night Gospel had deep roots and was good at hiding, and that the Goddess Angels needed time to grow, and so on. But from Hell’s perspective as a reader, the reason was simple.
It was because the Goddess Angels were also… eccentric.
Every girl chosen by the Goddess, though their appearance and figure could be considered one in 10,000—perfect like carefully carved works of art, whether pure, cold, energetic, or elegant, satisfying all a reader’s fantasies about “beautiful girls”—had issues.
However, if you opened their personal chapters, you would find that almost every one of them had a piece of “dark history” they did not want to mention, a deeply hidden psychological trauma that was hard to heal, or some personality traits different from ordinary people that could even be called “eerie.”
Excessive paranoia, morbid low self-esteem, distorted possessiveness, or a near self-destructive spirit of sacrifice…
Looking across the entire Goddess Angel team, there were actually very few who were completely “normal” and mentally healthy.
This could not help but make a ridiculous thought pop into Hell’s head while he was reading.
‘Could it be that the Goddess, when selecting contractors, besides looking at appearance and potential, added a hidden condition — that the transformed ones must be a little “messed up” and have some psychological problems?’
Or was this purely the author’s twisted sense of humor, forcing a tragic past or character flaw onto every beautiful girl just to add so-called depth and story value? Or perhaps… did the author have some unknown “dark history” of their own, making them particularly keen on creating such characters?
The question then was, if the Goddess Angels all had “issues,” how did the plot develop?
It was simple — “mutual redemption.”
‘You’re afraid to fight because of the shadows of your past? It’s okay; I’ll use my warmth and kindness to heal you.’
‘You hurt a companion because of a character flaw? It’s okay; I’ll use my tolerance and intimacy to forgive you.’
In short, the heroines bonded during battle, and their feelings heated up rapidly while sharing life and death. Then… their relationship deepened, and naturally… they got intimate.
Although these Goddess Angels had various “conditions” on a psychological level, their combat strength was ridiculously high, and their talent was even more outrageously exceptional. Their power level rose as if they were on a rocket; they could gain sudden enlightenment in a minute and explode with power the next second. They did not need to go through hard cultivation and long accumulation like in a normal story at all.
Furthermore, the plot especially loved using the “deus ex machina” trope, which defied all logic.
One moment, the Goddess Angels had clearly been pushed to the brink by the villains, looking as if they were about to be defeated and captured, the atmosphere rendered utterly hopeless.
Then, the next moment, because of a companion’s heart-wrenching cry or a memory of some warm daily fragment, they would instantly “awaken.” Their inner universe would explode, their strength would skyrocket exponentially, and they would turn around and beat the previously invincible villain to a pulp, making them question their life choices.
One could say that the core of the entire book’s plot was largely “girls’ love fan service” and “amateurs poking at each other.”
On one side were the heroines who had psychological issues but explosive talent, constantly using “cheats” and putting on a show of intimate redemption. On the other side were the villainous cadres who had great abilities but holes in their brains or personalities, always handing over their lives in various bizarre ways.
The two sides went back and forth, making quite a scene, but if you thought about it carefully, the logic could not withstand scrutiny at all.
It made Hell, who was reading at the time, feel incredibly awkward. His heart was filled with criticisms like, “This works?” and “That’s way too forced!”
So, after finally enduring all kinds of discomfort to finish the book, the suppressed gloom in Hell’s chest reached its peak. He did not hesitate to open the comment section. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he wrote a very blunt review with strong personal emotion.
“Everything in this book except for the character designs and illustrations is absolute garbage. It’s fine for the heroines of a girls’ love novel to look good, as that can cover other flaws, but these villains are just too weak. Their character designs are illogical, and their intelligence is forcefully lowered just to make the protagonists look better. The fact that the two sides could fight for so long is truly a miracle. Reading this book was an insult to my eyes and my intelligence.”
He clicked send in one go.
Hell felt that half of the frustration in his chest had been released. He leaned against the back of his chair, waiting to see if any other readers would agree with him.
To his surprise, before long, the author personally came down to reply.
The author’s reply was simple, even carrying a bit of the common argumentative tone found in online confrontations:
“If you’re so capable, you do it. If you think the villains are no good, then you come and be the villain.”
Hell was in a fit of pique at the time. Seeing this reply, he did not even think. His fingers tapped the keyboard, and he replied almost instantly.
“I’d definitely be better than these losers.”
After typing that line, Hell prepared to go out and buy breakfast, as well as get some fresh air.
And then… there was no then.
He only remembered just walking out of the apartment building when he saw a blinding headlight from the corner of his eye, approaching rapidly. It was accompanied by the sharp sound of tires screeching against the pavement and a driver’s cry… Next came a burst of world-spinning pain and darkness that quickly swallowed him up.
When he regained consciousness again, Hell found himself lying on a strange, soft bed with black silk sheets. A foreign scent of incense permeated the air.
His brain was groggy, and his whole body ached. By the time he struggled to sit up and look around the room, which was filled with an eerie beauty, he saw a strange face in the mirror — handsome but exceptionally pale, with two dark circles under the eyes. Beside him lay a pure white mask carved with a flowing letter “V.”
Fragmented memories belonging to “Eternal Night Gospel Adjudicator V — Hell” flooded into his mind like a burst dam.
He really had “gone up.”
Hell had transmigrated in an absolutely unwanted and unexpected way, and he had transmigrated into the very book he had just been savagely criticizing.