"What the flying fox?!"

"M-miss?!"

A young lady shouted as she saw the image reflected in the mirror. The mirror reflected her image, a young girl in her early teen. Her shining black hair hid her left eye. With only right eye visible, she possessed a mysterious beauty unlike those her age. Her skin was that of a month-old newborn, white with a tint of pink.

As she was in awe of her beauty, she noticed a bandage, wrapped around her forehead. By her side, the three maids attending to her earlier were shaken. They had been looking after her in the bedroom for days. She had just woken up from her coma, and just when they were crying out of joy, the young lady quickly jumped out of bed.

After shouting at the top of her throat, and then mesmerized by her beauty, she seemed puzzled. The maids, from joyful, turned anxious... From falling the stairs of a restaurant, the miss had turned comatose for three days. Even the doctors told the master of the house, her father, there was nothing more they could do. However, while the injury was serious, it was nothing life-threatening. All they could do was wait.

And, after three days, she woke up. When she did, she quickly turned to the mirror. As if seeing a ghost, the miss had her mouth wide-opened, her eyes staring at herself. Seeing so, the maids turned concerned. While her temper was terrible, she was not insane... Did the accident turn her into a fool?

'That dream... was real?'

While they were thinking so, the miss was thinking about something else altogether;

'I died? No, no way... This must still be a dream? Right, last night, I was just binging...'

She recalled that night, when she was so frustrated with the break-off... She ended up in a hotel's dining hall, binging all her favorite food she could see on the menu. She was really careful with her diet all these years, yet the pain of that incident... of being told she was not attractive and old-fashioned, more than being saddened, it angered her.

"What right do you have, to judge me like so, and so?! I'm like a grandpa? So what!!"

Growing with her grandpa since childhood, Yao Linlin had learned many things from the retired general. Even his way of speaking, and his habit. As she grew up, much of that had faded. Nonetheless, her grandfather was forever her hero. Despite losing her parents at an early age, she grew up filled with love. And for that fact, she always held him in high regard.

While she did not mind others criticizing her, indirectly criticizing her grandfather, was enough to ignite her otherwise mild temper. Being told that she was old-fashioned, for wanting to save her virginity till they got married, was an insult to her memory of her late grandfather. He did not impose many limiting beliefs on her, but some of his teachings, she treated as treasures. For insulting that, that supposed boyfriend of hers was punched right on the face.

No, not just that... He was beaten up to a pulp. Fortunate for her, everyone around took it as a lover's quarrel. Even the police were too lazy to make a fuss about it. They were left with just warnings. However, their relationship ended just like that. Soon after, to release her frustration, she went on to binge in a full-course seafood buffet.

Dang it!

When she remembered that fact, Yao Linlin recalled why she died;

"I choked... on a lobster..."

That huge lobster she ordered, was the culprit. She was too emotional to realize how dangerous it was to gulp down that thing so quickly. She did not remember what part exactly choked her to death, but... Such an embarrassing way to die. Will she make it into the next day's newspaper? Or online bulletin? She might make it into Ourtube as a silly joke...

Imagine the embarrassment!

"Ugh, I wanna die... No, I already died..."

"Y-young miss, you're still alive..."

Finally, the maid's voice grabbed her attention. She turned, realizing the wide, traditional bedroom she was in. There was nothing special about the faint pink-clothed maids, but the way they dressed was similar to maids in ancient times. Their clothing was of simple color and design, yet graceful and clean. She already knew she was reincarnated into another world. But even then, she was a bit amused at how calm she was in accepting that fact, despite her earlier shock.

As she took in her surroundings, she recalled what that bright, blinding person in her dream had told her;

"When you woke up, you will remember this past life of yours. Show us what you will do then,"

Show you guys? Show you guys what?

That blinding person, Yao Linlin could not recall who it was, not even how he looked. However, she remembered some of their conversations. That was why she woke up so quickly and turned to the mirror. As she again saw her reflection, she realized why that pretty young girl seemed so familiar.

It was not because she was the owner of this body, but the fact that... she knew this face! In particular, she clearly remembered her since they shared the same name. It was...

"T-this is... the first villainess, Yao Linlin!"

As she exclaimed so, the maids turned crazy. For the young miss to call herself villainess--

"Young miss, are you alright--"

"Did she got possessed by evil spirit--"

"Hush, your mouth!"

Turning to them, Yao Linlin asked for confirmation;

"Who's my father!"

"W-what do you mean, young miss..."

"Is miss the only thing you girls could utter?! I asked you, who's my father?!"

"Errkkk-- Forgive us, young miss!"

"Haa?"

She asked them a question, yet they took it the wrong way. They thought it was a threat of some sort. Of the three, that youngest maid made a blunder and blurted out that the miss might be possessed. In other households, such a blunder would be left off with just a warning. However, knowing how spoiled their young lady was...

"F-forgive us! We'll properly discipline our youngest!"

"T-that's right! We'll cane her a thousand times for her carelessness-- Hey, don't just bow, say something!"

"Young miss! Please forgive me! Spare my life, my job! I have three little siblings..."

"..."

Yao Linlin was dumbfounded. Her question was not answered, and they plead for forgiveness instead. However, her suspicion of her identity just grew stronger. These maids feared her. However, given that they had no love for her, why did they cry out of joy when she woke up from a coma?

The answer lied in her identity. Had something bad happened to her, as her maids, they would also felt the heat. At best, they would lose their job. At worse, hmm... Nonetheless, Yao Linlin still wanted to confirm her identity, thus;

"Alright, I will forgive you guys... No caning needed,"

"T-thank you, miss!"

"Under one condition."

"Huh..."

The maids' faces all turned pale. They were expecting the worse. Seeing so, Yao Linlin could not help but ponder, just how bad this young miss was. Was she a devil incarnate?

"It's simple. Answer my questions with all honesty. I won't fault you during this question and answer,"

"Y-yes?"

Much to their surprise, the condition put forth was light. She again asked them who her father was. This time, without hesitation, they answered. Her father, Yao Ma, was the deputy governor here, in the small Green Jade county. The country was governed directly by the governor and his two deputies. So her father was pretty much the top three officials in this small backwater place. As the deputy governor in charge of finance, her father was influential right next to the governor himself.

"Yao Ma, my father..."

Her suspicion was confirmed. Yao Ma, the deputy governor, was her father. She also confirmed where this was. It was Xiao Shan city, in the Green Jade county. It was a small-sized city, with barely fifty thousand population. Though it was called a city, to those in big cities, this was just a small town. Nonetheless, it was the center of this remote region. It was the county-seat, where the governor and his deputies reigned.

"Xiao Shan city, father Yao Ma, little brother Yao Luo... and me, Yao Linlin..."

She whispered.

"To have become that villainess in that novel..."

It was the novel she used to read with avid interest. It was a so-so novel, not much to speak of. However, the greediness and selfishness of the MC in the novel captured her interest. It was quite refreshing to see an MC, who would usually be a heroic figure, to be such an ass. He had his heroic time, but most of the time, he was greedily looking out for treasures or something to take advantage of. No wonder the novel was titled, 'My Hero Plunders'...

"This world... is that wuxia novel's! H-how is that possible?"

How could a world, an entire world, made out of a novel? No, looking at it further, it was the wrong way of looking at it. The novel itself might have been describing this world.

But how? The writer...

"A writer wrote his writing from his planning, but all of it... comes from inspiration during the planning and the writing. Huh? Wait, could it be--"

The writer could very well be inspired, through his mind, of this very world. She had heard that the brain could very well be a receiving set, much like a smartphone or computer receiving information from the internet. Right, there was such possibility. However;

"If this is that wuxia world... then, how're am I still..."

How could she still be alive? Asking the maids further, she also confirmed other information, especially the place and time. She was in the Xiao Shan city, the city where she originated. That was no surprise, but the time...

"It's four years before!"

"M-miss?!"

"I'm fourteen?!"

"Y-yes, miss! You're fourteen!"

That villainess Yao Linlin, perished at eighteen. Moreover, she died at the hands of the MC... That fucking MC. Recalling the event, she wanted to throw up. The sharp teeth snapping her body all over, and the muscle walls cracking her open... For some reason, she could see it happening within her mind. To an avid reader, such an ability was a given. As one read on and went into the flow, they experienced something equal to watching a movie. The voice, the sound, the feeling, even the smell... all of them were constructed within their mind. And the scene of 'her' dying... was not pleasant at all!

That sicko writer, what was playing in his mind, to describe the death of a girl so vividly!

You have a grudge on her, or something?!

But, that was not important now. What was important that, in four years...

"That fucking MC--- fed me to the flood dragon, to save his fucking ass!"

"...?"

She whispered to herself, puzzling the maids. The MC was a selfish and brutal person. Anyone who annoyed him, he would not mind killing them in cold blood. He was so terrible that even the heroine, the one who saved him before, he did not spare. He put her on aphrodisiacs' just because she looked down on him! It was brushed off as merely MC's 'naughty' side, since he did not expect the aphrodisiac to be so potent.

In a way, it was a good read. Annoying people deserved a good lesson. That, she agreed. However, what he had done was crossing the line. Logically, if someone did that in real life... To put such substance in a girl's drink as a prank...

"A sicko, a sicko!"

At the time of her reading, she thought that the writer was so cheap, wanting to ship the hero and with that heroine with such a low-play. True, it was fun reading about him fucking up fuckers who went around ruining people's life. However, that scene with that heroine was unacceptable. And that was just one example of him going overboard.

"Bah, who cares about that foolish heroine... I'm gonna die if this line of the story can't be changed... Dying, die... Dead?"

She did not mind dying when the time comes. She had like to die peacefully, without remorse. However, being killed...

"You'll die if you're killed right? This is not some stupid anime where I'll return to one day before or something? That flood dragon..."

Being crunched by the flood dragon like crackers was not her idea of peaceful parting. Could the story be changed somewhat? What if this was fixed? Then, what was the point of her reincarnating? Should she just adhere to that and be that awful, tragic character? While thinking so, she recalled her dream. There was a figure in blinding light. What that figure said in her dream, again resurfaced;

[Show us what you will do.]

'That's... an obvious hint, right?'

Then, what should she do?

"...Live,"

She knew what she needed to do. No matter what, she must avoid the MC. No, that would not be enough. To do so, she must erase whatever reason for him to kill her. The MC was pretty much a doom-bringer!

Still, the author mentioned it many times that while he was selfish and brutal, he would not kill those who did not deserve it. While this was debatable, she knew there was some truth there. As long as you did not annoy him, or anyone surrounding him, or bully others without justification, the MC had no moral high ground to be brutal. Should he did so, he would lose his supporters... his readers!

Well, this world was not a mere novel world. Things could very well be different. However, Yao Linlin had no other guide. She had to trust some of the explanations coming from the novel.

'No matter what... I refuse to be killed by that jerk!'

The jerk who would throw her to the Flood Dragon, just because she was annoying. Hmph, you wish to kill me? Dream on! Your MC aura denied you the ability to kill those who did not bully people! Hmph!

Aside from avoiding him, she ought to erase all reasons leading to her demise.

Even if she was a villainess, she must put out whatever ember which could end up burning her!

'I will... survive! Survive, no matter what!'

As the fire of determination filled her eyes, the stomping on the mansion's floor, reached her ears.