I have felt regret many times in my short-lived life.

The most recent was when I unknowingly used a toilet stall that ran out of toilet paper. The outcome was manageable, maybe not acceptable.

Sometimes the price was heftier, like the time I turned 16 and decided to throw a party and invited my crush. It didn’t hurt that he didn’t show up. Crying for a week and a half and losing fifteen pounds over one month was all part of my weight loss plan.

Those regrets were common being still within the realm of human possibilities.

In my twenty-something years, I’d never even had an injury bigger than a paper cut. No relationship that had caused me grief. It was a smooth-sailing life. I could afford to live carefree without much to make me depressed.

Now, all this talk on regret. Why?

One of my favorite pastimes was reading sappy romance novels. They made me delusional about love sometimes, but I like to think my neck was on my head right. Erm. Switch that around.

It was not realistic to have rich domineering CEOs sniffing everywhere searching for their poor Ms. Right. Rather, I expect any rich ambitious CEOs to continue to work their ass off to maintain their first point of attraction: wealth.

Hotness was just an imaginary accessory.

Whenever I wanted to remain sober from the side effect of binge-reading these, I scavenged for web novels with male protagonists.

I do love to immerse myself in the Dao.

Overpowered? Check.

Satisfaction factor? High.

The only, and most persistent, displeasure was that the MC existed in a novel world where all beautiful female creatures fall for them.

However, I accept that it's a novel; it was made for enjoyment.

Similar to romance novels where in the real world CEOs would not fall for some poor ass girl and throw the world out for her, in the real world, one average guy was probably not going to be in the arms of twenty-something tigresses.

This time though, I got the itch.

I was recommended by a friend to read The Absolute Emperor. Look at this title... without reading I had already imagined a power-hungry MC on his ultimate ant-stomping journey.

Everything went fine until I saw a cannon fodder female character with my name. At first, I was pretty happy to see my name until I smelled a bad ending.

So many red flags.

I mean, she did look down on the male MC, but it should not be a reason to have a bad ending. You might be checking someone out on the subway and they rolled their eyes at you, but it wasn't a reason for you to stalk and stab, right?

Alright... She tried to set up one of the female protagonists with the demon sect young leader by using an aphrodisiac and sabotaged herself. Fine, but she got the end of the stick, right?

Becoming drenched in revenge was not her fault, right? I mean she slept with a guy she hated with all her guts and lost her candidacy to be a Holy Disciple.

Erm... so what if she castrated the young demon sect leader and killed the male MC’s best friend? And ruined the female MC’s beautiful damn face? She recovered with some magical flower right? And she became even more beautiful than before?

You know what... why was she so hateful?!

I hated it. Seeing a character with my name so, so evil and ruined.

I found her whole being and actions illogical just for the sake of pushing the novel forward.

The gist of the story was I sent a private message to the author and complained about this character.

After I sent it, I had realized it was so stupid but I soon forgot about it.

Before I went to sleep, I received a reply.

“If you hate it so much, why don’t you change it?”

Dear author, you must be high.

I didn’t understand what he or she meant, but if the said person gave me their account, I would absolutely do the free favor of changing the story.

The reasoning that it was just a novel helped to calm my butt and then I realized I was being unreasonable again.

The best remedy was to forget so l brought all my anger with me to sleep.

When I woke up, I was in severe pain. Like, I must have a broken leg or something.

Strange —

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No. No. Now was not the time to pick up on what was strange around here. I felt so much pain. How could I stop this damn pain?! I couldn't stop myself from crying.

My whole body just screamed injury!” but I couldn't figure out where.

The ground felt damp and all around was complete darkness, yet I have a perfect “night” vision. I could even see the veins on the back of my hands.

It was pretty incredible but now was not the appropriate time to appreciate... I didn't see injuries anywhere but when I moved it was as if a knife starts cutting inside my body starting from my chest and spreading out to my fingertips.

Fuck! I will just curl myself into a ball until this wave of torture subsides...

As I laid here, I started to ponder on why I am in this situation. The last thing I remembered was regarding the author’s reply. Fortunately, I did not have the memory of a chimpanzee so it is still pretty fresh in my mind.

So maybe that was what the author meant? I don’t like it, change it?

This could be added to my regret list.

This pain... was not worth it to change a damn character’s life, even if it was a character with the same name as me.

Why did I do that?! What was I thinking? So I am “Miao” now? Will I ever go back?

The third and fourth question was one I would need to answer... if I survive.

To survive though, I needed to assume I was somehow now in the novel world and I was, in fact, Miao.

Thank goodness I read a thousand chapters these last few days so it was still fresh.

This character was spellbound to injury. Too many instances to count, and especially since she was just a cannon fodder, how she survived or where she was at was just written out in a few words.

However, if the author wanted me to change Miao’s life, I could assume I was not quite there at the epilogue yet. If I was, I could start ordering my glass coffin.

If it was the beginning, the first mention of her was at a martial competition when she reencountered the first female protagonist. It was already more than three hundred chapters when the main MC crew reached the Middle Continent.

At this point, the male MC overheard her conversation with a sister from her sect.

Miao bitterly mocked, “Some people’s life energy is as resilient as a cockroach.”

Pan had a worried look and anxiously said, “Not many can survive from the Qi Parasite, but Yela did. The only cure is to find a Lava Root. It can only be found in the Demon Realm. Either she has connections with the Demon race or she has a strong backer. Either way is not good for us.”

Miao frowned, “I chased her to the far-out border by the Silent Forest, but she had a soul protection charm from her Master. If I kill her, it would send the last image to her Master. At the last moment, I also had to use mine so she was also helpless against me. I was heavily injured and she escaped using a high-grade warp talisman.”

“A few days later after I recovered I searched all around but only found a ruined portal. She must have escaped through the portal...”

“Do you know where it led to?”

“I couldn’t decipher the inscriptions but the remnants of spiritual energy were weak. It should have lead to an underdeveloped space,” Miao narrowed her eyes, “Either way, she doesn’t deserve to be the Holy Disciple.”

From this piece of information, “Miao” was injured when she tried to dispose of the female protagonist. Then the female protagonist escaped to another space through a portal and survived.

"Miao" thought she was taking out garbage but happened to promote recycling instead.

This kind of trope... must have been used for the male MC to save the poisoned female MC.

My brain might not turn so fast, but clearly it was an opportunity. The equation: portal = meeting male MC.

If I missed the portal, the female MC would meet the male MC. With our enmity and the male MC being the author’s son, the laws of this universe were unquestionably on his side. I could be 99% sure I would be torn to death.

If I was a tenacious person with a fearless will, perhaps I could seize all the opportunities by knowing the future and step on the male MC and his harem... but look at what this pain was already doing to me.

I still couldn't  stop crying.

I was not smart, not that ambitious, not that calculative. I knew my weight. I killed a few bugs here and there, but I’d never even seen a live chicken or cow or pig. They were like fairies, only existing in digital photos.

Compared to the natives of this world, I was like a piece of paper. No, not as in my knowledge bank being empty.

A flimsy sheet of paper was so vulnerable - fire could burn, water could rot, wind could blow, and most importantly! Everyone could crumble and shape and flatten. Truly weak.

For me, it was good to know “Miao” survived, but this Miao here did not have “her” knowledge.

I mean... this ring on my finger must be the mythical interspatial ring. And it was like giving a hundred bucks to a baby! They couldn't even use it.

The storage likely had some miracle medicine to save my poor life and to stop the damn pain.

If there wasn't, no idea how the original Miao managed to get up to search for the female MC. Maybe that drive was the difference between “her” and me.

I needed to find some motivation to get up and search for the freakin’ portal.

One, I was in pain anyways, right? Whether in pain crawling or walking, it was still pain! I should rather walk and cry in pain.

Two, remember the horrible things "I" would go through! Dantian destroyed, forced sleep-time activity engagement, lost job prospect, revenge, killing a person... and many others and things that were probably not written about.

Even if I decided not to go against the female MC, our hatred was established. We were foes. The male MC’s motto was “an eye for two eyes, a tooth for all teeth”-type personality.

A chill went up my spine. If I couldn't go back to my world, did I want to live in suffering for the next hundred years and maybe eternity?

That guy would probably carve out my soul and imbed it to his Spirit Torture Flag.

Wow! I actually managed to stand up.

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Stab. Stab. Stab.

Besides the effect on my tattered body, it was also the makeshift branch-cane I used to walk.

I could at most be conscious for ten more minutes. My vision was so clouded; I might actually report to the clouds soon.

The good news was I did find the portal. The bad news was I think it needed the so-called spirit stones to activate.

I was still clueless as to how to circulate the Qi in my body to make a mental connection to the interspatial ring. The other transmigrators were very lucky to have inherited the previous person’s memories.

For the past half an hour I tried really hard.

I tried a lotus position, but that was too strenuous for my current condition.

I tried yoga relaxation. Deep breath. Breathe out... long breath in... long breath out.

That only made me choke on chest pain.

Now I was just staring this portal to death. Since I couldn't activate it, I was looking for a way to ruin it. If we both couldn't make it to the other side, we will in the end.

The random scripts looked like it was written in chalk but wiping didn’t do crack. I grabbed a stone and kneeled on the portal again.

Scratch. Scratch.

It worked! Uh... why was my hand stuck to the portal as if we were conjoined twins.

“ARGHH!” Owww!

An electrical shock continuously traversed from the portal to my hand throughout my body.

“F*CK!!!! SH*T!!! Stop! Help!!!”

Before my mind went black, my last thought was...

I should have worn electro-proof gloves.