"Ha ha ha, did you really not look in the mirror before leaving the house?" Jiang Ran walked past him triumphantly. She had achieved exactly the effect she wanted—this man deserved such an ending.
Gu Shaoting felt humiliated, but he couldn’t even muster the courage to stand up. The diners around him stared at him with strange looks, as if he were some kind of freak.
Having had her fun, Jiang Ran suddenly felt bored. Her thoughts drifted to Lin Xue, and she immediately ordered her system to investigate. The results came quickly—Lin Xue’s residence and workplace were in the neighboring city. Without hesitation, Jiang Ran had someone deliver Lin Xue’s address to Gu Shaoting.
She was even considerate enough to buy him a bus ticket, just in case he couldn’t afford the fare.
Meanwhile, Lin Xue was living a quiet life, diligently going about her work. Without Jiang Ran’s interference, things had started looking up for her. She was competent, after all, and soon earned her boss’s favor, with a promotion on the horizon.
But one evening, as she hummed a tune on her way home, she spotted a disheveled figure slumped near her doorstep.
Holding her breath, Lin Xue cautiously approached—only for the man to suddenly open his eyes. Their gazes locked, and his face twisted with excitement.
"Xue’er! Don’t go! I finally found you, Xue’er!"
Terror flashed across Lin Xue’s face. She couldn’t understand how Gu Shaoting had ended up like this—nothing like the man she remembered. She tried to pull away, but Gu Shaoting clung to her desperately. Seeing that she seemed to be doing well, he refused to let go.
Watching the two of them entangled once more, Jiang Ran was delighted. She wasn’t in a hurry to deal with them just yet. She wanted to see Gu Shaoting cling to Lin Xue like a drowning man, dragging her down into the mire—just as the original protagonist had suffered before her painful death. This was exactly what a gold-digger like Gu Shaoting and a fool like Lin Xue deserved.
And before the final act, there was still one grand spectacle left. Like any great villain, Jiang Ran was confident in her victory. She intended to savor every moment of the revenge she had orchestrated.
Jiang Ran turned her attention to Fang Zhiyi. But when she mobilized all her resources to strike at the Fang Group, she was met with shocking news—the Fang Group no longer existed.
"Gone?" Jiang Ran was dumbfounded. "Did they bankrupt themselves? No way. That Fang Zhiyi might have been a lovesick fool, but he wasn’t stupid." She felt like a champion boxer who had eagerly sought out a rival, only to find her opponent was a scarecrow—or, as the saying went, punching cotton.
The investigator replied, "The information is confirmed. After Fang Zhiyi took over the company, he sold it off."
"That prodigal wastrel!" Jiang Ran waved the man away irritably. "System, what’s going on?"
The system was equally baffled. "No information could be retrieved. Perhaps Fang Zhiyi has deviated from the main storyline. Due to the downgrade penalty, I can’t conduct a detailed search."
"Damn it."
"Fine." Jiang Ran clenched her teeth. "Think escaping the plot means I can’t touch you? No one gets away." To her, Fang Zhiyi was still worth points.
The system hesitated. "Host, you shouldn’t cross the line again."
"I’m doing this for your sake. This world’s mission has plenty of merits, doesn’t it?" Jiang Ran had changed her hairstyle—now she looked bright and charming. But at this moment, her eyes gleamed like a venomous snake’s.
The system fell silent.
"Just dig up some dirt on rival companies, and my business will thrive. Simple, right? It might not make sense, but for us, it’s the easiest way, isn’t it?" Jiang Ran’s voice was soft, almost coaxing.
"Whatever you say, Host." The system gave in. If anything went wrong, the blame would fall on her anyway.
Jiang Ran took a deep breath. "If you can’t find him, I’ll pay someone to do it! I refuse to believe Fang Zhiyi can just vanish!"
"Host, how do you plan to deal with him?"
"That lovesick fool? I’ll drag him to Lin Xue and watch the three of them collide!" Jiang Ran giggled, pacing excitedly around the living room. "He loves her, she doesn’t love him, and he loves her again—won’t they tear each other apart? Ha ha ha..."
The system concluded that its host was, indeed, a complete psychopath.
The paid informants worked quickly. Fang Zhiyi’s whereabouts were soon uncovered. Staring at the photos in her hand, Jiang Ran frowned. "You’re telling me that after selling his company, he just bought an ordinary apartment?" The picture showed Fang Zhiyi strolling through the neighborhood, dressed plainly—almost frumpily.
"Yes. Other details are still being investigated."
Jiang Ran scoffed. "No need!" She could barely contain her excitement. The grand finale was about to begin!
That same day, her flight landed, and she rushed straight to Fang Zhiyi’s apartment complex.
She couldn’t wait. Clutching a truth-telling talisman in her hand, she planned to knock Fang Zhiyi out and take him away. The surveillance footage? The system could erase it. Having a system made everything so convenient! Once they arrived, she’d slap the talisman on him, and then—the chaos of the three-way confrontation would unfold. The thought alone made her giddy with delight.
By the time she arrived, it was already late at night. Jiang Ran craned her neck, counting the floors.
"One, two, three, four, five..."
"One, two, three, four, five..."
She turned—only to find someone else counting along with her, their eyes brimming with amusement.
"Who are you?"
"Aren’t you here for me?" Fang Zhiyi chuckled. "Couldn’t even book a daytime flight? I’ve been waiting forever."
"How did you—?" Jiang Ran narrowed her eyes. Her instincts screamed that this man was no ordinary foe.
"Are you a reincarnator?" The possibility flashed through her mind, but she dismissed it just as quickly. "Impossible. The system would’ve warned me."
"So, who the hell are you?"
Fang Zhiyi clicked his tongue. "It’s a long story. But since I’ve already sold my company, can’t you let it go? Turn back before it’s too late, Miss."
Jiang Ran’s gaze turned icy. "No. Your fate is death." She hadn’t forgotten how Fang Zhiyi had once tricked her into footing the bill.
"You—" Before Fang Zhiyi could finish, a gust of wind howled from behind him. He barely had time to react before a shadowy figure lunged forward with lightning speed.
Mid-air, the figure suddenly jerked to a halt—then, as if seized by an invisible force, its body was violently torn in half! The two halves unfurled like the grotesque maw of a beast, lunging straight for the system hovering beside Jiang Ran!
"Wha—?" Fang Zhiyi’s expression darkened instantly, his eyes widening in shock.
Jiang Ran spun around at the disturbance—just in time to see the amorphous mass engulf her system like a ravenous predator. Her face drained of color.
"You—!" she shrieked.