"I've taken care of it. Sorry for the trouble—please settle the commission fee."
The young man in a black suit and leather gloves bowed slightly to the black-haired girl.
She was beautiful, with a curvaceous figure and skin as white as fine porcelain.
Her ink-black eyes were lowered, silently watching everything before her.
Chen Xi had crossed over into the comic she'd been about to read—Legend.
Not only that, she'd become a female character whose name sounded the same as his: a bystander villain who set the story in motion.
Having just absorbed some of her memories, she already knew how far the plot had progressed.
It was right at the point when "she" hired an assassin to sink Lin Yue into the sea.
Faced with Lin Yue, who could infinitely regress through time, only one thought remained in Chen Xi's mind.
Could they still make up?
Her expression calm, she looked out at the boundless sea and slowly asked, "Can she still be fished out?"
The attendant was taken aback.
"She's been underwater for two minutes," he explained.
"Unless Lin Yue is a Transcendent, there's no chance she survived."
As soon as the attendant finished speaking, the world before them lost its color in the blink of an eye, turning gray and black.
Lin Yue had activated her Regression ability.
"Sigh."
Chen Xi let out a long sigh. She was doomed.
Her consciousness grew hazy. When she opened her eyes again, the scene before her had changed completely.
The classroom was bright with sunshine.
The students, fresh out of their major course, packed up their books and chatted as they headed out.
Looking at everything around her, Chen Xi's pupils contracted as she finally came to her senses.
Her mind was still filled with memories of sinking Lin Yue into the sea.
An unbelievable thought surfaced in Chen Xi's mind—she hadn't lost her memories?
She wasn't affected by Lin Yue's time Regression!
Without hesitation, she immediately went online and booked a plane ticket.
As if she could fight Lin Yue!
She'd only skimmed the story, but Chen Xi had still gotten a general idea of what this murderous fiend was like.
In the original, Lin Yue really had chopped her original body into tiny pieces and minced her into meat sauce.
What about killing Lin Yue now, before she had a chance to grow stronger?
Chen Xi glanced at the girl with beautiful golden hair and a reserved air, then silently dismissed the idea.
This world was far too complicated. Without Lin Yue, the story would almost certainly end with the world's destruction.
But she couldn't run away, either. Otherwise, Lin Yue would settle the score with her sooner or later.
And by then, she'd have even less chance to fight back.
What should she do?
Chen Xi's mind raced.
For the sake of staying alive, she'd even temporarily pushed aside the fact that she'd become a woman.
First, she had to distance herself from this.
The conscious thought of killing Lin Yue absolutely couldn't belong to "Chen Xi."
What if she played a Director with split personalities? The one who killed Lin Yue would just be her second personality?
No, that required too much acting. She'd probably give herself away through some little habit in everyday life.
Seeing that Lin Yue had finished packing and was getting up to leave, Chen Xi followed her, still deep in thought.
Lin Yue held her books under one arm, glancing now and then toward the glass corridor beside her.
Chen Xi was holding her books and silently trailing her from a short distance away.
Her movements were discreet, but to Lin Yue, who'd been keeping a close eye on her, her intentions were far too obvious.
That damned bastard—why had she followed her here?
Could she have kept her memories, too?
Lin Yue clenched her fist, constantly on guard against the black-haired girl suddenly attacking her.
She'd only awakened the ability to regress through time. Her physical abilities hadn't improved at all.
If Chen Xi really had kept her memories, then Lin Yue was in danger.
Anger rose in Lin Yue's heart.
There was one thing she'd never understood.
She and this Chen Xi had barely known each other, so why did Chen Xi keep targeting her?
Three days from now, she'd even send someone to knock her unconscious, kidnap her, and sink her into the sea inside a package.
She would never forget the suffocating feeling of seawater pouring into her nose and mouth, the helplessness of feeling her life slip away...
Lin Yue bit her lip and turned to look at Chen Xi, who was striding toward her.
So it was true! That woman had kept her memories, too!
Lin Yue had just started to raise a hand to fight back when Chen Xi grabbed her by the throat with one hand and lifted her up.
So fast! She couldn't fight back at all...
As luck would have it, a water dispenser at the corner of the hallway blocked the two of them from view.
Despair spread through Lin Yue's heart.
She struck Chen Xi's arm with all her strength, but her blows couldn't move Chen Xi in the slightest.
She stared at Chen Xi. The black-haired girl's expression was blank as the pressure of her grip gradually increased.
Suddenly, Chen Xi released her. Lin Yue dropped to the ground and gasped for air.
"Hah—hah—"
"I..." Chen Xi's hands trembled as she looked at Lin Yue, who was curled up on the floor in pain, her expression panicked.
In an apologetic tone, she murmured an apology, then hurriedly fled the corner.
As soon as she left, a sharp-eyed student spotted Lin Yue on the ground.
"Xiaoyue, what's wrong?" A classmate helped her up.
"I'm fine." Lin Yue touched her neck, where red marks still lingered, her expression unreadable.
Something was off about Chen Xi.
Outside the school, Chen Xi had already fled the scene. The panicked look she'd worn moments ago vanished at once.
She calmly recalled her performance, checking whether she'd made any mistakes.
She hadn't.
Her expression had been just right, and the situation had been urgent. If Lin Yue could see through her even then, she'd just have to accept it.
Her plan had successfully taken its first step: she'd played an innocent girl with a hidden backstory, under someone else's control and unable to act of her own free will.
Her goal was to leave a deep impression on Lin Yue.
That way, even if she died in the future, Lin Yue might remember their past connection and save her when she regressed through time.
Chen Xi hadn't gone far before she noticed something strange about her body.
She wasn't used to walking in a skirt. A chilly breeze kept brushing against her legs.
Suppressing her discomfort, Chen Xi followed the vague feeling in her memories and started walking home.
[Exhibition Hall] An image of her holding Lin Yue up by the throat with one hand appeared before Chen Xi. In the image, the black-haired girl looked conflicted. [New CG: Clumsy Performance of a Naive Succubus (Normal)] [CG Description: An ordinary meeting, a hellish first impression, and acting that leaves much to be desired] [CG Bonus: Berserk] [Berserk: The most brutal monster is about to break free. Greatly increases physical abilities and pain tolerance, but lowers rationality]
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