Volume 1: Breaking the Cage
Escape 01
Legal Hunting
Xin Lan considered herself undefeated in her life, but she frowned as she looked at the screen in front of her displaying the mission failure.
“How could I fail?”
“What do you think?”
Ling Jiu (Zero Nine), dragging her weary body, walked out from behind her and leaned on the sofa.
“Jiujiu, I think I did quite well.”
“Host, don’t talk to me yet, let me catch my breath first.”
Ling Jiu pushed up the frame of her glasses and began to sort through the data of this mission.
She had guided two hosts before, and Xin Lan was her third, bringing her the greatest shock in the history of the system.
Xin Lan had transferred from another department; it was said she was in the villain department before, where there were too many people, so as an outstanding employee, Xin Lan was transferred to their face-slapping department.
Ling Jiu took her over, enthusiastically guiding her into the first world, only to be ejected within a day, showing mission failure.
Her entire system was stunned.
It wasn’t that Xin Lan didn’t do well; it was just too… too… jaw-dropping.
“Host, next time, can we be a bit more gentle?”
“I think what I did was very much in line with the department’s mission and task requirements; I just didn’t expect that trash to be so fragile.”
Xin Lan also sat on the sofa, speaking with great helplessness.
The mission of the face-slapping department is to make the scumbags cry and kneel, to make everyone who looked down on the original host kneel and sing for surrender.
The first world Xin Lan went to was an urban setting, where her identity was that of a punching bag, abused by her husband, bullied by her family, and harassed by colleagues and superiors. The task was to counterattack, ditch the abusive scumbag, make him kneel and admit his mistakes, and then reach the pinnacle of life.
Ling Jiu thought that with Xin Lan’s fierce combat power, this mission would be a piece of cake, but she didn’t expect Xin Lan to be too fierce.
As soon as Xin Lan crossed over, the original host had just been domestically abused, covered in wounds.
Xin Lan dismantled the leg of a wooden chair with her bare hands, took the stick, knocked on the door, and gave the scumbag a beating.
The scumbag tried to fight back but couldn’t.
His act of fighting back made Xin Lan even angrier, so she locked him in the room and beat him for a long time, dislocating his jaw and twisting his arm, forcing the scum to kneel and cry, promising that he would never commit domestic violence again.
Xin Lan ignored him, remembering that this scumbag also committed marital rape and had affairs, so she directly crippled the scumbag’s privates with a kick, then closed the door and left.
Ling Jiu was so frightened by Xin Lan that she trembled, crouching in the system space drawing circles.
After doing all this, Xin Lan leisurely went to the kitchen, washed her hands clean, and cooked herself dinner.
While eating, she asked if she had completed part of her mission. Ling Jiu thought she probably had, as she had already made the scumbag kneel and cry, although the methods weren’t quite what she had imagined.
The person and the system calculated together and thought it should be.
After Xin Lan finished eating, she took some money and went out to the hospital.
Her body was bruised all over, her face was injured, and the blood on her forehead was already dry. The original host was beaten to death before she crossed over.
Sitting in the taxi, Xin Lan still felt that she had gone easy, considering that beast had personally killed the original host.
After refusing the taxi driver’s and hospital doctor’s suggestion to call the police, Xin Lan went home with bandages on.
As soon as she returned, she saw a crowd gathered there. Her so-called husband, whom she had just beaten and crippled, had jumped to his death.
But the mission was not completed, and she and Ling Jiu were ejected from the mission world, resulting in mission failure.
It had only been a few hours since they entered.
After recalling everything, Ling Jiu felt a deep sense of weariness; this was possibly the fastest mission failure she had ever encountered in a world.
The host’s style was just too unconventional!
“Host, I will carefully select the next world for you. Please rest well first.”
Xin Lan nodded and returned to her room, collapsing onto the bed.
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Her former boss sent a message asking how she felt about her new job, and Xin Lan, feeling frustrated, explained the situation, which was met with a string of “hahahahaha.”
“Sister Lan, no, Master Lan, this kind of situation is probably unique to you.”
“Laugh all you want. Why did you transfer me? I was quite happy with what I was doing.”
Xin Lan was happily playing her role as a joyful villain, thoroughly enjoying herself, when suddenly she received a transfer order, and now she had a mission failure.
This is practically a stain in the history of missions!
“We just wanted you to have a change of pace. Hang in there and do well!”
Afraid that Xin Lan might ask more questions, Bai Ou cut off the communication after speaking.
Almost every department knew that most people in the villain department were lunatics.
And Xin Lan was the lunatic among lunatics.
She could effortlessly handle all villains, and since starting her missions, she had never been defeated.
Villains can oppress the protagonists, but they are destined to fail. However, many mission-takers become very displeased, and some even go as far as killing the protagonist, leading to mission failure.
But Xin Lan never did that. Even in death, she would die decisively, and when it came to killing herself, she was equally ruthless.
That is what makes her the most terrifying.
Based on her experience, Xin Lan could have become the head of the villain department long ago, but she had no interest in that. She was always eager to jump into missions. Bai Ou feared that one day Xin Lan wouldn’t be able to distinguish between mission and reality, or that she might become so disheartened she’d end her own life. So when he heard that the face-slapping department was short-staffed, he transferred her over.
If Xin Lan were asked to fall in love, she would probably be impatient, but these face-slapping missions are just right. After being a villain for so long, it’s time for Xin Lan to play the protagonist. Maybe she might even find romance during the mission.
Unaware of what Bai Ou was thinking, Xin Lan stretched lazily on the bed, staring blankly with her eyes open.
Unconsciously, she began to feel sleepy.
Perhaps due to the unprecedented failure, she had a long-missed dream.
She found herself in a vast sea of stars, surrounded by smoke and gunfire.
“General Xin Lan, we are surrounded.”
The soldier’s expression was grave.
“What about the vanguard fleet?”
“…Annihilated.”
“General, you should leave first. We can hold them off for a while.”
“We can’t leave; the vanguard couldn’t have been wiped out so quickly. There must be a trai—”
“General, the right wing has taken a heavy hit!”
Someone rushed in, interrupting her.
“What about the main ship’s patrol team?”
“Gone.”
“What?!”
The soldier exclaimed in shock.
“It seems I miscalculated. Notify the control room to proceed at full speed.”
“But ahead is the enemy’s main ship…”
“Charge through.”
“Yes!”
“Heaven bless the Empire.”
The roar of gunfire was nearly deafening as Xin Lan donned her mech suit and charged into the sea of stars.
The brilliant fire that illuminated vast stretches of the starry sky forged a glory of blood and tears.
Xin Lan suddenly opened her eyes, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and took a cigarette from the pack, holding it in her mouth but not lighting it.
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She placed the cigarette aside and walked into the bathroom.
The mirror reflected a beautiful and strikingly aggressive face, yet her eyes were filled with darkness, like roses blooming alone in the night.
Xin Lan washed her face and wiped away the water droplets with a towel, letting out an almost inaudible sigh.
She had been here for a long time since her death in battle, so long that she no longer remembered how many missions she had completed, how many protagonists she had bullied, or how many times she had been killed by them.
Some villains are born rebellious, defiant, and with antisocial personalities, while others are forced by life to gradually turn dark. Xin Lan had played every role.
But after leaving each mission world, she would wash away those emotions and memories, as she only wanted to be herself.
However, her personality was inevitably affected; she was originally competitive, and this made her even more battle-hungry.
Having seen so many protagonist “cockroaches” that couldn’t be killed no matter how hard you tried, she didn’t expect the scumbag in her first mission with the new department to be so fragile, wanting to commit suicide over minor issues, without any self-awareness of how excessive he was.
Xin Lan had no respect for those who seek a sense of existence through domestic violence. Dying ten thousand times would not be enough.
She pushed open the door to find Ling Jiu on the sofa, eating chips while searching for information.
The host and the system are bound, living together.
Xin Lan’s previous system was a sphere that would always roll around acting cute. This time, the system looked like a shut-in girl, with a tuft of hair sticking up, black-framed glasses, long black hair, and quite an interesting personality.
If it weren’t for seeing her toes plugged into a special board for charging, Xin Lan would have thought she was a living person.
“Would you like some, host? They’re cucumber-flavored.”
Ling Jiu held up the bag of chips, stuffing some into her own mouth, making a crunching sound.
Xin Lan took some and joined in the crunching.
“Got it, let’s choose this one for the new mission. Host, you might like it.”
Ling Jiu’s eyes lit up, with numbers flashing in them, as if she had seen something interesting.
“Ex-girlfriend series mission…”
Ling Jiu drew out her words and turned to look at Xin Lan.
“Do you mind the ex-girlfriend identity, host?”
“Who am I supposed to deal with?”
“Ex-boyfriends, but their identities are different from the first mission. They usually hold higher status.”
“So, they are the protagonists?”
“No, you are the protagonist, and they are the villains.”
Ling Jiu corrected.
“I see…”
Xin Lan raised an eyebrow, revealing an intrigued smile.
“They must be pretty tough.”
“Stop your dangerous thoughts!”
Ling Jiu recalled the fear of being dominated.
“Then how should I best complete the mission?”
Xin Lan pondered deeply.
“Kick him down with one foot, become the boss yourself, and make him kneel and sing ‘Conquer’!”
“Literally?”
“I’m just describing it like that.”
Ling Jiu waved her hand, afraid the host would actually beat someone up again.
“I understand. This time, I will be more measured.”
Xin Lan nodded. Ling Jiu accepted the mission, quickly finished the chips, took a sip of cold cola, wiped her mouth and hands with a napkin, and entered the mission world with Xin Lan.
The windows were bright and clean, and the sound of reading filled the air.
Xin Lan looked at the textbook in front of her and blinked.
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A beautiful school world?
Ling Jiu: Data loading is complete. Class is about to end. Host, make sure to prepare.
Xin Lan absorbed the world’s background and the original host’s memories, retracting her previous thought about it being beautiful.
The sun was nearing dusk, and she glanced at the expressions of the students around her. Although everyone was reading aloud, their expressions were stiff, and upon closer inspection, some were even trembling.
A school schedule was posted on the desk.
8:00-9:00: Discussion
9:00-11:30: Class
11:30-2:00: Break
2:00-5:00: Class
5:00-7:30: Break
7:30-12:00: Hunting
The last two words were circled in red, filled with an ominous implication.
LP: Re-translated on October 24, 2024
Decided to translate the whole novel 🙂