Chapter 3: Number One in the World

“Achoo!” Nian Zhi’an sneezed.

Who was talking about her? Could it be Mu Yixuan?

Nian Zhi’an had originally wanted to praise Mu Yixuan for her dedication to charity work over the years, but after receiving the original host’s memories and the system’s reminder, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.

Mu Yixuan’s mother was a painter, and under her mother’s influence from a young age, her own painting skills were quite impressive.

But according to what she knew of her, Mu Yixuan wouldn’t have the leisure or elegance to paint a portrait every month.

If it was just to make the original host owe a little less money…

Yet every time the original host watched her paint, her expression was terrifyingly repressed, as if she were looking through her at someone else.

The last time she executed a mission, she had used her original appearance, which bore a strong resemblance to the original host. The person who could make Mu Yixuan grit her teeth in hatred for a full decade was probably only her.

Nian Zhi’an was under no illusions and harbored no wishful thinking. After all, in this world, who besides herself would dare pluck hairs from a tiger’s head? If she were discovered, that woman would send her off to the afterlife—both with magic and brute force!

Nian Zhi’an flopped back onto the bed once more, looking as serene as if she had climbed into a coffin.

Only her disguise could give her a sense of security.

【?】 The system watched helplessly as the host, who had finally perked up a little, collapsed back down. It felt like its entire existence was brimming with despair.

Later, she had to crawl out of the hospital bed because the system warned her that if she didn’t move soon, she’d have to pay for the hospital stay out of pocket.

But she had no money.

The original host was a particularly earnest girl. Although kindhearted people had sponsored her, she never forgot for a moment that the money had to be repaid. So she studied diligently while working part-time, handing every spare yuan to Mu Yixuan after covering her bare necessities.

“…” Glancing at her three-digit savings, Nian Zhi’an felt a headache coming on.

The original host’s family had been fairly well-off originally, but when her parents met with an accident, all their money went toward trying to save them. In the end, neither the people nor the money were saved, and they were left with debts besides.

In this city, she had nowhere else to go and could only return to the school dormitory. Otherwise, with her current savings, she couldn’t even afford a cheap hotel for a few days and would end up sleeping under a bridge.

Right—she had also inherited the original host’s debts, owing Mu Yixuan nearly three hundred thousand!

Floating behind Nian Zhi’an like a resentful spirit, the system gloomily piped up: 【Host, judging by the original host’s personality, you should head back to school now.】

“You’re so troublesome,” Nian Zhi’an grumbled. She looked just like a kid playing hooky, utterly repelled by the idea of school.

The system didn’t even dare hope for the host to complete the mission—it only wanted her to stay in character. Yet here it was, called troublesome. It wished it could hang itself from an IV stand in the hospital, yearning never to have set foot in this mortal realm!

“Fine, seeing how pitiful you are, I’ll agree just this once.”

To the system’s surprise, after staring into space for a moment, Nian Zhi’an actually consented to its request.

【Really? Swear you aren’t fooling me! Whoever lies is a little puppy!】 The system was so excited it wanted to record her words as evidence.

“I never lie to kids, but…”

Nian Zhi’an figured the system would come to regret pushing for this.

Because school was full of headaches, and she, Nian Zhi’an, wasn’t the type to swallow her anger.

The original host was beautiful, with stellar grades, but timid by nature. She tried her best to minimize her presence, yet malice still found her.

The one who spread the rumor this time that she was being kept by a rich man was one such person.

Though the rumor had been debunked, the root of the malice remained, and the harm to the original host wouldn’t cease.

Guided by the original host’s memories, Nian Zhi’an reached the bottom of her dormitory building. She keenly sensed a gaze full of ill intent coming from somewhere nearby.

She stepped into the dorm. Two people were inside; they glanced at Nian Zhi’an before silently turning away to mind their own business. Not a word passed between them.

Nian Zhi’an eyed the original host’s bookcase. All the books were gone, and someone had splashed it with what looked like red chili oil, leaving it filthy.

She sniffed carefully. It smelled like the chili oil from some street vendor’s red oil noodles.

“Was this Zhang Qin’s doing?” Nian Zhi’an asked in an especially soft voice, as if afraid of startling her two roommates.

“Yu Zhen… you should pack up and move out of school as soon as possible.” One roommate shoved a full pack of tissues into Nian Zhi’an’s hand, then scurried back to her spot.

Someone at school had decreed that anyone seen hanging around with Guo Yuzhen would get the same treatment as her. So even the original host’s own roommates didn’t dare speak to her.

Guo Yuzhen was the original host’s name. Zhang Qin was the rich girl spearheading the bullying, driven mad with jealousy because the boy she liked had once confessed to the original host.

Sigh, she had wanted to gripe about it from the start. This whole domineering CEO Mary Sue backstory was straight out of those garish romance paperbacks sold at the roadside stalls by her elementary school—weird drama was par for the course.

The original host was such a fine girl: unfortunate, yet fighting to live on, always repaying kindness. And certain people had ruined her.

【Host! That Zhang Qin is heading this way—what do we do?!】

So the malicious stare from earlier had indeed come from Zhang Qin.

“You two should head out and wait a bit. She’s coming soon, and I don’t want to drag you into this.” Nian Zhi’an rolled up her sleeves, her voice still gentle. Nothing betrayed the storm brewing.

The two roommates exchanged uneasy glances. They knew exactly who “she” meant; after two years as dormmates, watching their roommate get tormented tugged at their consciences.

“You run—head to the library. Once Zhang Qin shows up, I’ll tell her you went to the teaching building.” The library lay to the east of the dorm, the teaching building to the west. If Nian Zhi’an bolted fast enough, she wouldn’t get caught.

Nian Zhi’an smiled and pulled out her phone for a quick look.

Zhang Qin kicked the dorm door open with a bang, sneering arrogantly: “Well, well, back from entertaining that old geezer? Hospital stay that long—does the old perv have some weird kink or what?”

The other two in the room immediately ducked their heads, pretending not to notice.

Nian Zhi’an sized up the spoiled brat dripping in designer labels. She flashed a polite smile and pointed to her desk. “Did you do this?”

Zhang Qin thought today’s Guo Yuzhen seemed off, but her wits weren’t up to pondering it. She bragged smugly: “Yeah! So what? Every woman who’s gotten close to Brother Han deserves to live in hell!”

Ugh… Brother Han-gege—barf!

“So pushing me down the stairs before and scraping my leg with a car and all that—was that you too?” Nian Zhi’an hit record on her phone.

The roommates who overheard sucked in sharp breaths.

“You bet it was me!” Zhang Qin admitted brazenly. “But what’re you gonna do about it? My dad’s the chairman of Lingtian Group! If you wanna keep scraping by in this city, get on your knees and lick my shoes. Otherwise… what the hell are you doing?”

【Host, what are you doing?! Calm down! Character setting! Don’t break character!】

“Nothing—thanks for cooperating.” Nian Zhi’an pocketed her phone. Then she suddenly closed in on Zhang Qin.

Zhang Qin startled and instinctively retreated half a step. Realizing how pathetic that looked, she lunged forward two steps—and then…

She felt a powerful yank on her head from above, pulling her forward. The next instant, her face slammed into the desk, smeared with the revolting red oil. The door banged shut behind them and was bolted.

Passersby in the hall had no clue what was happening until piercing screams erupted from inside.

“Holy shit, has Zhang Qin lost her mind? Call the cops? What if she kills someone? All over a guy—is it worth it?” One passerby whipped out her phone to dial emergency.

“Better grab the counselor first. If shit really hits the fan, cops will arrive too late!” Another reacted quicker and phoned the counselor.

They all assumed Zhang Qin was the bully inside, and that’s exactly how they reported it.

The counselor sprinted over like her life depended on it, pleading with those inside to open up. She figured Zhang Qin’s foul temper would require ages of coaxing, but after barely two sentences, the door swung open.

Out came Nian Zhi’an first—the supposed victim. She looked perfectly fine, merely her cuffs a tad rumpled. Straightening her clothes as she emerged, she hardly seemed bullied.

“Counselor, hello.” Nian Zhi’an smiled at her. “Have you eaten?”

“Eaten? Eat a dick!”

So whose was that gut-wrenching wail?

The counselor peered inside, and her head throbbed enormously.

The haughty princess who once strutted like she owned the place was now a sobbing mess, hair in tangles, face and locks streaked with red oil. The other two students looked shell-shocked, still processing.

The counselor froze for five seconds or so. Then her hysterical bellow rang through the entire floor: “My office—now!”

Little Princess Zhang Qin had never endured such humiliation. On the way, she called her dad, whining for him to pressure the school into expelling Nian Zhi’an.

The system snapped out of its shock at last. It wailed as it trailed after the unflappable Nian Zhi’an.

【Host!!! According to my analysis of this world, you really might get expelled for this! Even the original host, who was bullied first, wouldn’t be spared!】 This world was just that unreasonable; otherwise, there wouldn’t be such a melodramatic romance between the male and female leads, complete with actual jail time!

The counselor couldn’t afford to offend Zhang Qin, since her own husband worked under Zhang Qin’s father. But now she also didn’t dare lay a finger on Nian Zhi’an, because after the car accident, a big shot had left a contact number specifically for this student.

“Why did you hit her?” The counselor told Zhang Qin to go wash her face first, then turned to Nian Zhi’an and asked knowingly.

“I didn’t hit anyone, Counselor. You can take her to get checked out; don’t worry, not a single hair on Zhang Qin’s head is missing,” Nian Zhi’an replied with a sweet, innocent smile that made her seem utterly harmless.

To be honest, the original host had always been so obedient and meek that the counselor couldn’t help but believe at least part of it.

So she asked doubtfully, “Then how did she end up like that?!”

“Oh, Zhang Qin got my desk dirty, so she felt a bit embarrassed and used her face to wipe it clean for me,” Nian Zhi’an said, seeming a little “embarrassed” herself.

“…I’m calling your parents right now!”

Parents? The original host’s parents, grandparents on both sides—all of them were gone. The school didn’t have contact info for any other relatives, so how was the counselor supposed to reach them?

“Isn’t that inappropriate?” Disturbing the dead would be so rude, wouldn’t it?

The counselor shot her a glare, but in the end, she really took out her phone and dialed a number.

Nian Zhi’an found a chair and sat down. There were no ghosts in this world either, so she had no idea who the counselor was calling…

The wait dragged on a bit, and Nian Zhi’an casually asked for the bottled water on the counselor’s desk and drank some of it, drawing more glares from the counselor.

After washing her face clean, Zhang Qin came back too. The moment she stepped through the door, she lunged to tear into Nian Zhi’an, but the counselor reacted quickly and soothed her into sitting down.

Half an hour later, there was a knock at the office door, and the counselor hurriedly opened it to greet the visitor.

Someone actually came?

Nian Zhi’an craned her neck to peek at the person entering, then spat out a mouthful of water—all of it landing on Zhang Qin’s skirt.