Chapter One: The Faux Heiress of Modern Society—The Trophy Actress (1)
[World Loading—]
“Lift her up. Let her father hear this clearly—this is the price of not cooperating!”
As soon as Xiandu arrived, she heard this sentence. Then a suffocating sensation overwhelmed her as the kidnapper grabbed her collar and hoisted her up.
“Smack—” A slap, accompanied by a gust of wind, landed sharply.
“Ugh…”
Xiandu couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
Her face felt as if it were being burned by fire, as if swarmed by scattering ants; the pain spread rapidly.
Damn it!
Rage surged within Xiandu. If her soul had fully merged with this body, she would have chopped off that man’s hand right then!
“Mr. Jiang, did you hear that? A word of advice: hand over the N-39 quickly, or the corpse you’ll get will be your daughter’s!”
An impatient voice came through the phone, the words icy cold: “Kill her.”
Xiandu felt as if her body had plunged into an icy cellar, a chill running through her.
Although the original owner had long seen through this cold-blooded father, when threatened by the kidnappers, a faint secret hope still flickered in her heart.
So when she heard that response, her body involuntarily sank into sorrow.
More than twenty years of father and daughter—even without blood ties—it wouldn’t be so heartless, so indifferent to save or condemn to death.
But Mr. Jiang was exactly such a cold-blooded beast.
The kidnapper leader was stunned by the reply and raised his voice: “What?!”
After a moment of silence, considering a possibility, he calmed down and sneered, “Hmph, Mr. Jiang, don’t think that just because you say that, we’ll let our guard down. You’d better hand over the medicine honestly and don’t try any tricks!”
“She’s not one of our Jiang family, so if she dies, she dies.”
“Besides... her life isn’t worth that much.”
With that, the call was abruptly cut off.
“Beep—”
The kidnapper leader was unwilling to give up and called again:
“Hello, the number you dialed is switched off…”
“Damn! What the hell, still like this in front of me!” The kidnapper leader threw the phone to the ground; the screen shattered immediately.
Still unsatisfied, he grabbed Xiandu from his subordinate, threw her to the ground, and kicked her in the stomach.
“Worthless piece of crap, all my hard work these days wasted!”
“Hah…”
Air mixed with dust and the scent of blood stabbed into Xiandu’s lungs like sharp blades.
[World loading complete! Host, please complete your tasks seriously.]
Xiandu opened her eyes, a glint of ferocity flashing within them.
Finally, it’s time…
---
“Wangcai, use the Returning Essence Pill.”
[Returning Essence Pill used. Host, please confirm your tasks.]
[Name: Xiandu
Age: Unknown
Inventory: Returning Essence Pill (2/3), Pain Relief Patch (3/3), Turtle Breath Pill...
Points: 0
Task 1: Make the Jiang family pay for harming the original owner (100 points)
Task 2: Fulfill the original owner’s wish and make a name in film history (200 points)
Task 3: Find the original owner’s true parents (200 points)
*Random tasks will drop occasionally; please treat them seriously.]
[New random task 1 released: Escape from the kidnappers (10 points) (time limit: 1 hour)]
Xiandu was a ghost from another world, weary of the life where she had been feared for over ten thousand years. She wanted to end it all through reincarnation and become an ordinary person in her next life. But for some unknown reason, the so-called exorbitant reincarnation gate in the underworld broke because of Xiandu.
Thus, she incurred a massive debt. Originally planning to travel to lighten her map, the system Wangcai secretly altered her travel insurance contract into a labor contract with the Time and Space Department.
Wangcai promised that upon completing tasks, she could convert earned points into currency from her original world to repay her debt, and the Time and Space Department would assist with her reincarnation.
So Xiandu agreed cheerfully and became a task agent for the Time and Space Department.
The original owner was a fake daughter of the Jiang family. During this kidnapping, she was abandoned by her father. The kidnappers vented their frustration on her, beating her mercilessly after failing to get what they wanted.
According to the original fate, she would become a vegetative state due to severe injuries, kept alive by hospital machines, surviving at most three years.
Xiandu came this time to fulfill the original owner’s wish and change her destiny.
A warm current burst from her heart, flowing through her limbs like spring returning to withered wood, healing the injured body.
Lying on the ground, Xiandu felt her body changing clearly.
The medicine’s effect was nearly complete.
She propped herself up on her elbows, supporting herself on the ground, and slowly got to her feet.
To avoid crowds, the kidnappers had bound the original owner in an abandoned warehouse in City A.
The warehouse was old and neglected; dust covered the floor with piles of discarded construction materials everywhere.
Xiandu staggered to her feet and casually wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, glancing at the messy pile of scrap materials.
She twisted her wrist and picked up a steel rebar from the pile, weighing it in her hand, satisfied: “Not bad... this will do.”
The steel bar was heavy. To save energy, Xiandu rested one end on the ground and dragged it with her right hand, approaching the kidnappers who were discussing strategies near the door.
[Host, what are you doing? The task is to escape from here. We can go out through the window; no need to go through the door!]
Wangcai saw her fragile figure heading toward the burly kidnappers at the door, ignoring the noise the steel bar made.
“What’s there to fear? The task demands I escape, but not how I do it. They beat the original owner into a vegetable and now are attacking me. Letting them go so easily would be too cheap! If I don’t get revenge, I won’t sleep well tonight.”
[Host! You—]
Seemingly annoyed by Wangcai’s noise in her ear, Xiandu cut off the signal unilaterally.
---
Wangcai: !
How did the host manage that?!
“Pressure from above is urgent, but I heard the doctor is secretly making contact…”
“Boss... what do we do with this woman? She looks close to death.”
“What else can we do? Leave her here, the Jiang family will clean up this mess.”
“Clang—”
The steel bar scraped the ground, stirring dust into the air, making a loud noise.
“What’s that?!” The kidnappers all turned their heads, shocked to see the person who should have been unconscious now walking toward them, her head dripping blood, her dirty clothes stained with footprints, dragging the bar like a grim reaper.
Xiandu saw that all eyes were on her and twisted her lips into a strange smile:
“Enjoyed your beating just now? Now—”
“It’s my turn!”
Before finishing, she vanished from over ten meters away to right in front of them. The air shattered as the bar sliced through it—the last thing they saw before losing consciousness.
“Thud! Thud! Thud—”
Like a whack-a-mole game, Xiandu swung the steel bar, hitting each man in succession. They fell before they could react.
Deep red blood slowly seeped from their bodies, pooling into an irregular pool.
Xiandu lifted her foot and kicked the kidnapper leader’s hand.
“Crack—”
With a light kick, his hand snapped, collapsing onto the ground in a grotesque posture.
[Congratulations, host! Random task one completed!]
After the kidnappers fell, Xiandu raised her hand to restore communication with Wangcai.
[New random tasks released:
Random task 2: Terminate contract with the original agency, Leyu, and sign with a new agency (10 points) (time limit: 1 month);
Random task 3: Break up with the original owner’s boyfriend (20 points) (time limit: 1 month).]
Xiandu crouched down and picked up the kidnappers’ phone, which they had failed to turn off. On the screen was a photo:
The girl lay in a pool of blood, her clothes intact but covered with footprints; her exposed arms were bruised and stained with blood clots and dust; a gash on her forehead bled down her nose to her chin.
Barely alive.
This was the photo the kidnappers had sent to Mr. Jiang to threaten him.
“The Jiang family...”