When Jiang Li declared her acceptance of the system's identity and acknowledged that she was now a Host, a person chosen by a Mighty Whoever to save crazy people, the system immediately initiated the transfer and enveloped her in a whirlwind of time and space.
Her mind turned black and all her senses could perceive was darkness. Fortunately, throughout the process, she felt no pain. When her senses came back to her, all she could feel was a bit of dizziness, nothing else.
"Host, we're now in the first world."
Jiang Li heard the child-like voice and subconsciously opened her eyes. Or, actually she never closed them, the correct term should be 'she regained her sense of sight'. Now her retinas were being assaulted by various colors and shapes. It hurt a bit after. Her head was also aching and she wondered if this was the late aftereffect of the transfer.
Only when the pain finally subsided did she remember that she had been confined for so long in an endlessly dark space. It was no wonder her eyes got hurt by the sudden waves of colors and lights.
Jiang Li blinked. She could now see clearly again, and in front of her, there was a noisy, ugly and seemingly annoying figure crying. That was just her subjective opinion which was actually not very reliable. She looked away almost immediately. The system didn't warn her that when she woke up, a wailing woman dressed in fancy makeup and wigs would greet her poor eyes.
With closed eyes, she asked in her mind, "System?"
"I'm here, Host."
The girl was silent for a while. The system didn't know what was running on her mind, but it was somewhat frightened as the girl was unintentionally letting out suppressed noises in her mind like she was trying to stop laughing out of anger, which the system didn't get how it became possible...
Luckily, before the system turned crazy from fear, Jiang Li spoke up, the tone bland but forceful. "Explain now what you have to explain, or else."
025 was silent as well for a while, it was late to realize that its host was making threats. But thankfully, it still managed to do so and did begin to educate its host in panic.
"Ah, host. You're now in the first world, it's a modern one, similar to your original world, except it's before the apocalypse. You have taken over as the villainess of this world's story, and your job is to avoid ending up like her, resolving all the resentments of the original villainess' soul, ensuring that this world won't die due to the crazy villainess' outburst."
"I suppose what you mean is don't become a villainess."
"Ahm, actually, it's alright as long as you don't become crazy and died crazily like that. Villainesses, in a sense, are actually like female leads. Oh, I almost forgot, the world revolves around a few important people. They are the leads, the secondary leads and the villains. And like I said, villainesses are actually like female leads, to be precise, failures of female leads. But their importance and energy allocated to them by the world are the same. What you actually have to do is prevent the contamination of the world's energy allocated to the villainess with the resentment they incurred after they went crazy. If ever that happens, the aftermath actually could damage or in a worst case scenario, destroy a world."
"...Do you know that it all didn't make sense to me? Just like how I don't get why that woman is crying on the edge of my bed?"
"Actually, host, you'll later learn the reason once you inherit the original's memories. And I suggest, you take the memories first, and let me do a thorough explanation later when you're alone by yourself."
Jiang Li wished she could at least give a glare to the system. She thought it was so stupid. How come it didn't realize that it should do so the moment she arrived? Was it hard for an AI to realize that throwing someone without knowledge of the situation she would wake up into was like throwing a cannon fodder into a random direction with no rhyme or reason?
"025, next time, do your job properly. Before I transmigrate or before I open my eyes after transmigrating, I want every information related to the original installed in my mind."
The system exclaimed with its imaginary mouth wide open. It just learned that it did quite mess up and immediately promised, "I'll make sure to do that next time. Sorry, host. For now, please relax and accept the memories."
Jiang Li followed its direction. She remained to lie on her back on the narrow bed, her eyes close. Then her long-awaited information finally flooded in.
Just like what 025 mentioned, the world was like a parallel modern Earth, with the same advancement in technology, but different history and people.
The story took place in J City.
The female lead was a rich second generation named Bai Qing, 21 years old, naturally beautiful, hardworking, and charming. As said, she was unlike most second generation ladies who only knew what shopping and spending money were. She was not a good for nothing, but instead a smart and capable person already helping her father uphold their fashion and clothing line as one of the designers.
The male lead was, of course, the richest man in the city, 27 years old CEO and Chairman of the Longfeng Group of Companies, Cheng Yijun. No more words are needed to describe how mighty and powerful this man was given that he became that wealthy and well-accomplished at such a young age.
The two met in a cliche party and the woman was unmistakably drugged by some spoiled brat who had designs to soil her. But sorry for that dorky young man, his hard work went to the male lead.
Jiang Li's memories didn't say why the male lead suddenly rolled in the sheets with Bai Qing, but Jiang Li only assumed that Cheng Yijun was a maniac for the sake of her brain's convenience. The guy seemed unlikable after all. Who cares if he's powerful and accomplished? After he forgot every promise he made to the other girl who helped when he was in dire straits before and even bedded another woman just because he wanted to appear helpful to a drugged girl, Jiang Li immediately crossed his name out of her dictionary. It was now synonymous to the words 'bastard', 'scum', 'stupid', and 'brain-dead'. That was how a male lead suddenly turned out in her mind.
And the villainess?
Jiang Li's lips curled into a beautiful but sarcastic smile as she browsed the memories.
This world was quite abnormal since it did not follow the norms when creating its villainess. Normally, the villainess would be another rich and influential lady, probably only a tiny bit lesser than the male lead, all to make the female-lead-bullying easier. But somehow, in this case, the villainess named Jiang Li, same name as her, was not a rich heiress as one would expect from her.
Jiang Li, the original of this world, was a peasant! A commoner! A poor woman from a backwater town who was trying her luck in the city!
The first time she met the male lead was when she was 20 years old, three years before the sexy encounter between the two mains. It was in one of the many factories owned by the Cheng family where she works as a rank-and-file worker. The only reason the male lead took notice of her was due to an unusual incident where he stupidly tripped on the floor and fell into a squarish hole filled with many dangerous contraptions and machines. He would have been flattened into a meat paste if it was not for Jiang Li immediately coming to his rescue, which she did by immediately switching off the massive devices underneath.
The male lead was grateful, of course, and took her out to a meal as his thanks. Since then, he began to notice her extraordinary beauty and felt pity upon her. He said a lady like her should not work in a dangerous environment like that and made her his personal attendant. From then on, the girl gradually fell for the rich and handsome guy who was actually not stupid or clumsy as she originally thought. As she discovered how responsible, witty and smart he was as a corporate person, her feelings also began to evolve from simple admiration to romantic love.
Jiang Li, as she reached this part, furrowed her brows. The development was really puzzling and now she was wondering if this was what the system meant when it said that villainesses were in fact, failed female leads. Jiang Li thought that this was her first time seeing a Cinderella-like antagonist like the original. This progression was obviously for a heroine!
Cheng Yijun also showed signs of being partial to her on many occasions. After all, the original Jiang Li was a very capable woman, only her origins and paper-written qualifications held her back. Nevertheless, when Cheng Yijun made her his personal assistant, he realized that he had uncovered a gem. His appreciation of her grew, and he did his best to treat her with the utmost care as he was afraid to lose a super asset like her.
This attitude he gave her left an impression in her, and everyone else's, mind that he also loved the woman. For three years, this idea was fortified because he didn't clarify anything. The other party was thinking that he was just not a vocal person, and assumed he was reciprocating her love by the deeds he showed her. After all, he let her become a successful and rich woman. Because of this that she was able to solve some issues in her family in her hometown. He also brought her to many candle-lit dinners, bought her red roses every day, treated her so well... and before the grand encounter, he actually bedded her, albeit he was not fully conscious due to drunkenness.
The girl was very happy. She was expecting that when he learned how they already cooked the rice with love, he would immediately take responsibility and propose to marry her, making her a real Cinderella.
But when the next morning came, he cruelly denied what they just did and was in refusal about the love she was claiming they had in between them. He left her crying there. But as a girl already slaved to love, she thought he was merely confused and when his mind cleared, he would go back to her and ask for her forgiveness. She even planned to make him suffer a bit before forgiving him. Then she pictured in her mind that she would only pardon him if he proposed marriage to her.
Jiang Li clicked her tongue in annoyance as she read through this. She could already predict how the girl turned crazy. Surely, love did it all to her. Obviously, she fell for a guy not destined to her and was made to wait for him like a fool. When the guy finally met his true destiny, she was left to wallow in grief by herself, but as a stubborn lover, her heart wouldn't give up. But when she got pregnant with his child... and he still refused her, even causing her to miscarry,... that should be when her mind and heart truly broke. Thus, her broken-shell embarked the path of no return, with madness and crazy resolve to drag the world to hell with her.
Jiang Li was already too angry and incensed to continue. She stopped. She had to, or else, her already blackening heart would grow much worse than it was now. She counted her breathing in and out. It took her many seconds to calm down. Once she was back to a tranquil mood, she called out in her mind.
"System, in which part am I?"
The reason she asked was that the memories didn't include her current situation. There was no scene whatsoever there showing she had been confined in a hospital or sick room. Or maybe there would be..., in the future she had yet to browse. But Jiang Li suspected that she was not yet at that point. She based it on the fact that the woman who doesn't resemble her anywhere was wearing a school uniform.
"Host, you are currently nineteen years old. The girl next to you with violet wigs was your best friend in college, Cao Hua. You are in your university's dormitory, and you had just fainted after your mother phoned you that your father was diagnosed with an early stage bone cancer."