Chapter 1
Cold rain poured down. When Lin Ruo opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was thick rain clouds. Then, a chill spread from beneath him.
She turned her head and found that her cheek was touching the cold ground. She sat up suddenly, her long wet hair stuck to her cheeks and neck. Water droplets flowed down the ends of her hair and the corners of her clothes, and fell into the bubbles on the ground little by little. The sound was particularly clear.
She looked around. The gate of the villa opposite was closed. Where was this place? Why was she lying here?
At this moment, some images flashed through my mind. Then, a cold, emotionless, mechanically synthesized voice came:
〖Ding Dong! System binding successful!〗
She opened her mouth subconsciously, wanting to ask, "Who are you?", but the voice continued:
〖Main quest activated: Rewrite the death scenarios of four key characters, gain family value, and successfully complete the strategy.〗
[Penalty for mission failure: Host is eliminated.]
[World background information is being transmitted...]
A huge amount of information instantly flooded into her mind! About this world, about this book, about her identity, everything.
This is a parallel universe that is highly similar to the world she originally lived in. Her current identity is the novel's cunning female supporting character, Lin Ruo, whose original name is Gu Ruo.
The heroine of this book, Gu An'an, is a reborn being. In her previous life, she accidentally discovered that she was the true daughter of the Gu family, but was taken away by mistake. She discovered that her biological parents, the Gu family, were very wealthy, compared to her own poverty-stricken family. The huge disparity made her resentful. As a result, she died in a car accident on her way home, and was reborn.
After her rebirth, Gu An'an went straight to the Gu family with evidence and asked to change her identity. The Gu couple didn't believe her at first, but after conducting a paternity test, they accepted her.
The original owner "Gu Ruo" was determined not to leave the Gu family when she learned that she was not a biological child of the Gu family and that her biological parents were just an ordinary family.
The Gu couple, mindful of their over ten years of nurturing her and considering the Lin family's limited financial resources, relented and agreed to let her stay. This stay lasted for eleven long years.
During these eleven years, Gu An'an and Lin Ruo lived together in the Gu family, enjoying the family's resources. However, the original owner was filled with jealousy towards Gu An'an, believing that she had taken everything from her. She made things difficult for them and secretly tried to trip them up.
But her methods are often clumsy, and each time they are resolved by Gu Anan's kindness and magnanimity, which makes Gu Anan win more sympathy and love.
More importantly, the original owner was a fanatical fan, madly infatuated with the book's protagonist, the movie star Mo Yuxuan. For him, she resolutely entered the entertainment industry. Within the industry, she exploited the Gu family's background to act recklessly, causing countless jokes and scandals. Her popularity plummeted, and she was mocked online as a "drama queen."
The trigger for being kicked out of the Gu family this time was that the original owner bribed the crew members in order to suppress Gu Anan, and tampered with the props that Gu Anan was about to use, hoping to make her look bad or even get injured during the filming.
This incident was discovered by Gu Anan "accidentally" and she told the Gu couple. This time they finally hardened their hearts and decided to completely distance themselves from her.
Ten days ago, Lin Ruo was "invited" out of the Gu family villa and was officially notified: from now on, she is just Lin Ruo and has nothing to do with the Gu family.
The original owner was stunned. For the past ten days, she had been staying in the hotel, imagining that Gu's parents were just angry for a moment, and that she could return to the Gu family once she admitted her mistake and gave in.
So, today she came in the rain, crying and begging outside the door, but in return she only received a cold reply from the housekeeper: "Go back, the master and the mistress don't want to see you now."
The huge humiliation and the weakness after being caught in the rain caused the original owner to faint in the rain... When she woke up again, she came here.
After pondering all this, Lin Ruo was speechless. This start was truly hellishly difficult. She subconsciously looked down at the jade bracelet on her right hand, which lay quietly there, a spatial artifact with a profound inner world.
Her mind moved slightly, and her fingertips gently brushed across the cold bracelet, sending a familiar wave of spiritual energy through her. Fortunately! This life-saving creature came through with her!
"Lin Ruo."
A slightly cold male voice sounded above her head, interrupting her thoughts.
Lin Ruo raised her head. Raindrops streamed down her eyelashes. In her blurred vision, a tall man in a suit, holding a large black umbrella, stood a few steps away from her.
[Identity confirmed: Gu Ziyu. The eldest son of the Gu family, the original owner's nominal "big brother." Appearing gentle and polite, he is actually distant and cold.] The system prompt sounded at the appropriate time.
Gu Ziyu's eyes swept over her wet and disheveled body, looking down at her condescendingly. His voice was just like him, without any emotion: "Go back." After saying that, he didn't stay for a second, nor did he try to help her up. He turned around and disappeared behind the villa gate.
He was just there to go through the motions and give her some advice. He didn't care whether she listened or not, or whether she lived or died.
Lin Ruo took a deep breath. The most urgent thing was to leave this damn place.
She got up from the ground, her thin mint green dress clinging to her body. Fortunately, the thick, opaque fabric prevented her from exposing herself. She looked around and saw the original owner's bag, wet from the rain, on a bench not far away.
She quickly walked over, picked it up, and opened it. The phone screen inside lit up, showing 99+ on social media. She clicked on one of the apps, and the trending search list popped up. Just a glance and her heart sank.
Her name almost dominated the top ten trending searches:
#Gu Ruo officially changed his name to Lin Ruo# (explosive)
#Lin Ruo Get Out of the Entertainment Circle# (boiling)
#Lin Ruoren is ugly and his heart is even more poisonous# (boiling)
#Lin Ruo's death is not a pity# (hot)
#Realistic version of the true and false daughter drama# (hot)
#Lin Ruo's fake daughter identity exposed# (hot)
#The cuckoo that occupies the magpie's nest is ultimately a fake# (hot)
#Lin Ruo's Famous Death Scenes Collection# (Hot)
#Gu Anan forgives Lin Ruo# (New)
#Gu Anan is a beautiful and kind person# (new)
Every entry you click on is filled with insults directed at her. In stark contrast, the entries related to Gu Anan are filled with comments like "I feel sorry for Anan," "Kind little fairy," and "Don't cry, Anan."
Just as she was looking through the comments expressionlessly, her cell phone rang sharply. It was her agent calling.
After the call was connected, the agent's voice came over: "Lin Ruo! Where are you? You won't answer the phone. The 'Dear Family' production team has issued an ultimatum. Your final guest list must be confirmed tomorrow! Who are you going with? Give me a definite answer right away. Don't delay anything."
"Dear Family"?
This name is like a switch, triggering her key plot information!
This is a slow-paced variety show featuring heartwarming interactions between celebrities and their families. In the original novel, the original owner, Lin Ruo, forced herself onto the show to salvage her image. However, this was the beginning of her painful journey.
On the show, Gu Anan, the embodiment of "truth, goodness, and beauty," interacted warmly and lovingly with her family, attracting countless fans. Even more frustrating for the original owner was the fact that the production team, intentionally or unintentionally, paired Gu Anan and Mo Yuxuan for popularity. The two interacted sweetly in front of the camera, earning them many CP fans.
Lin Ruo, the control group, not only felt out of place in the Gu family atmosphere, but her words and actions were also exaggerated. This led her to make a crazy decision later in the show, causing an "accident" on set to harm Gu Anan. However, she was caught red-handed by the on-guard Mo Yuxuan, who caught her red-handed.
This incident was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The Gu family completely severed ties with her, her agency quickly terminated her contract, and Mo Yuxuan's fans and Gu Anan's fans launched a siege against her.
Eventually, the original owner was sentenced to prison for multiple charges including "attempted intentional injury." In prison, she suffered from bullying and torture, suffered a complete mental breakdown, and eventually died in prison.
A very unlucky show.
Lin Ruo opened her mouth to say "I won't participate", and just when she decided to refuse, the cold mechanical voice sounded again:
[Warning! Key plot points triggered! The variety show "Dear Family" is an important mission scene, the host must participate! Refusal will lead to unpredictable consequences!]
Must attend?
Lin Ruo's heart sank. The system's request was pushing her into a fire pit. But thinking of the punishment, she forced herself to suppress the thought of refusing and calmly replied to the agent on the other end of the phone:
"I understand. As for the candidate... I'll think about it and give you an answer tomorrow." He quickly hung up the phone.
The rain was still falling, showing no sign of stopping. Lin Ruo stood on the empty, cold road in the villa area and looked around.
The ornate streetlights cast a dim glow in the rain, and apart from the patter of rain, there was a dead silence. I pulled out my phone and opened the taxi app. Sure enough, the location indicated, "The current area is private territory, and online taxi services are unavailable."
Leave on foot? Considering the size of this villa complex, she would probably freeze to death if she walked to a place where she could get a taxi.
It seems that we have to resort to extraordinary measures.
She lowered her head, her right hand once again caressing the cool jade bracelet. A faint thought stirred within her, and a faint trace of spiritual energy flowed into her. The next moment, an ancient Five Emperors copper coin and a piece of yellow talisman paper appeared out of thin air in her palm.
She quickly opened the map on her phone and located the nearest intersection with a major road where she could hail a taxi. Her eyes locked on the screen, revealing a ride-hailing vehicle traveling nearby.
She dipped her fingertips in the still-wet rainwater, concentrated her mind, and quickly wrote the license plate number on the yellow talisman paper. The cinnabar lines on the talisman paper seemed to glow slightly.
Then, she placed the Five Emperors’ Coins in her palm, stepped on the Big Dipper Steps, and silently recited the formula for finding and guiding the way: “Qian represents the horse, Kun represents the ox, Zhen represents the dragon, Xun represents the chicken, Kan represents the pig’s head…”①
After reciting it, she quickly took out her lighter, and the blue flame licked the corner of the talisman paper.
laugh--
The talisman paper burned out instantly, turning into a wisp of green smoke with a strange sandalwood scent. It swirled stubbornly in the rain for a moment before unwillingly dissipating into thin air.
Less than two minutes had passed!
A white online-hailing taxi, as if pulled by an invisible string, sliced through the rain and stopped precisely in front of Lin Ruo. The window rolled down, and the driver, a middle-aged man, leaned in with a confused look on his face. "Miss, did you call this car? The location is for the intersection ahead. This... this place isn't allowed on the navigation system. Why are you here?"
Lin Ruo opened the car door and sat in the back seat with a cold look on her face. She responded briefly, "Well, please, follow the navigation." She gave the name of the hotel where she was staying.
While resetting the destination on the navigation, the driver muttered to himself, "This is weird. I clearly set it to avoid all private areas and luxury residential areas. What's wrong with this crappy navigation today..." Despite his complaints, the car still drove smoothly.
The luxurious scene outside the car window quickly receded. Lin Ruo closed her eyes tiredly. She was a little confused. She needed to take advantage of this car ride to sort out the so-called "task".
His mind sank into the sea of consciousness and he asked the system: "Please explain the task in detail."
The system's cold prompt tone immediately responded:
Mission Objective: Conquer the four key characters, Lu Yinzhou, Ning Yuan, Meng Mian, and Qin Yu, rewrite their death scenarios, and increase the family value to 100%.
[Task details are being transmitted...]
Another stream of information flooded into his mind. This time, it was about the Lin family.
It turns out that the Lin family, whose child was mistakenly taken away, is actually the country's richest man! With assets spread all over the world, their wealth and influence far surpass that of the Gu family. However, the Lin couple keeps a very low profile, and few outsiders know their true identity.
What is even more shocking is that in the eleven years since the real daughter Gu An'an left the Lin family and the fake daughter Lin Ruo also went to the Gu family, the Lin family couple actually adopted four sons:
A top star in the mainland music entertainment circle, he has a huge fan empire and amazing commercial value.
The second brother, Ning Yuan, is a talented new director whose works are both critically and commercially successful and he is regarded as a future star in the film industry.
The third brother, Meng Mian, is a legend in the e-sports circle and a world-class gaming master. He has his own team and a huge fan base.
The fourth child, Qin Yu, is a gifted young man with an exceptional IQ and a promising future.
Each of these four "brothers" has achieved brilliant achievements in their respective fields and is considered a dragon among men. However, according to the "original script" provided by the system.
The endings of the four of them all point to the same tragic end: abnormal death, accident, conspiracy, self-destruction, none of them have a good ending!
Lin Ruo's mission is to prevent these four tragedies from happening and obtain "family value" from these four chosen ones until the strategy is successful.
The system also gave a key hint: These four brothers seemed to lack the ability to perceive "love", but deep down, they all desperately longed for "family affection" and family warmth. However, ironically, their attitudes towards Lin Ruo and Gu An'an, two descendants of the Lin family, were surprisingly consistent: extremely cold and even disgusted.
The reason is very simple: in their eyes, whether it is Lin Ruo, the fake who coveted the Gu family's wealth and abandoned her poor biological parents, or Gu Anan, the real daughter who cut off contact with her adoptive parents after finding her wealthy biological parents, they are both ungrateful and ungrateful people.
Conquer a group of brothers who absolutely loathe you? And gain their precious affection points? Lin Ruo felt his temples pounding. This difficulty...
"Beauty, we're here at the hotel." The driver's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Lin Ruo opened her eyes and saw the brightly lit entrance of a five-star hotel outside the car window. "Thank you, sir. I've already paid online." She pushed open the car door and walked quickly into the hotel.
In stark contrast to the chill of the rainy night outside, the hotel lobby was warm and bright. He walked straight to the elevator. A young girl was on duty at the front desk. Seeing the soaking wet Lin Ruo approaching, her face showed nervousness and hesitation, clearly recognizing him.
The little girl mustered up the courage to stand up and asked cautiously in a low voice: "Hello, Miss Lin...Ms. Lin. Um...the prepaid fee for your room will expire at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. If you want to continue staying, you need to renew the room fee before 8 o'clock." After saying that, she quickly lowered her head.
Lin Ruo paused, not responding immediately. She opened her bag and rummaged through it for her wallet. Meanwhile, with her other hand, she quickly tapped into her mobile banking app. The screen lit up, revealing the pitiful balance on the original owner's bank card. She then opened the hotel app to check the room rate: a deluxe king-size bed room, 5,888 per night.
Lin Ruo's mouth twitched imperceptibly. Oh, the original owner, living in the Gu family's luxurious surroundings, earning some money in the entertainment industry, yet she had no savings at all? And she insisted on staying in this ridiculously expensive five-star hotel? It's truly difficult to go from extravagant to frugal.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to complain, raised her head, and smiled at her: "Okay, I understand. Thanks for the reminder."
The little girl suddenly raised her head, her eyes wide, her face filled with disbelief, as if she had just witnessed something incredible. And… he didn't get angry? He even thanked her?
Lin Ruo ignored the girl's shock and walked towards the elevator, which had already opened. He entered the elevator and pressed the floor button.
She returned to the luxurious suite that cost nearly 6,000 yuan a night, locked the door, rushed into the bathroom, changed into the soft bathrobe provided by the hotel, and threw herself heavily onto the large and soft bed.
Her phone continued to vibrate, and social media notifications continued to chime in. Irritated, she simply quit all her social apps, declaring out of sight, out of mind.
Now wasn't the time to pay attention to all this noise. The most urgent thing was to get money. The hotel room payment was due tomorrow, and the original owner's meager balance wouldn't last a few days. No matter how important the system mission was, survival had to be solved first.
She opened her phone's browser and typed a seemingly random string of letters into the search bar. The page redirected to a mysterious website called "Xuanshitong."
This is a secret website that is quite famous in the metaphysical world. It specializes in handling all kinds of metaphysical-related commissions and consultations. The commission depends on the difficulty of the task and the financial resources of the client, and there is no upper limit.
Lin Ruo looked at the familiar website interface, feeling a slight sense of certainty. She had simply entered the password from her past life's website, just to give it a try. She hadn't expected it to actually exist in this world! However, there were some differences. In her past life, she was a renowned "King-level" metaphysical master on this website, her account accumulating incredible amounts of credit and commissions. Here, she was a complete newbie, without even an account.
Helpless, she had no choice but to start from scratch. She quickly registered a new account. The new account was at the lowest level, Apprentice, with very limited missions available and generally low commissions. Missions she had disdained in her previous life were now her lifeline.
She quickly scanned the available quests. Sure enough, most of them were incredibly basic, like finding hidden objects or calculating fortunes.
Glancing over the list, she clicked on one titled "Looking for a Cat Lover."
The description of the commission is very simple: the client is a workaholic who often needs to travel. Due to the special nature of his work, he cannot stay at home for a long time, so he has been fostering his beloved cat at a friend's house.
When he returned from a business trip to pick up his cat, his friend told him it had escaped a few days earlier while he wasn't paying attention and hadn't been found since. They searched the neighborhood and surrounding area, posted missing cat notices, and asked security guards and neighbors, but to no avail. The client was desperate and desperate, so he turned to Xuanshitong, where the commission wasn't high.
As expected, no one responded. After all, the commission was only a pitiful 500 yuan, which was not enough for a slightly famous master of the mystic arts to make ends meet.
Lin Ruo sighed, thinking that even a small amount of money was worth a lot of money. She clicked the order button next to her.
Almost instantly, the other party sent a private message, his tone anxious: "Hello, Master! How long will it take you to find my kitten? It's timid, and it's raining outside. I'm really worried!"
Lin Ruo quickly replied, "Hello, sir. Finding something requires coordination and timing. As long as the information you provide is accurate and my deduction goes smoothly, I'll have a result within an hour. Please let me know the exact time the cat was lost, the last place it was seen, as well as Pudding's gender, fur color, and any special markings."
The other party immediately replied with detailed information.
Lin Ruo felt confident. She didn't choose the complex Qi Men Dun Jia or Liu Yao, but instead used the relatively quick and easy "Xiao Liu Ren" to start her calculations. She silently recited the formula in her mind and counted with her fingers in the air.
"Da An is in the void and Xiao Ji is in the right place... The palace is in Kun, which represents the earth and governs the southwest. There is water vapor in the hexagram... There is a pool of water or a damp place in the southwest." Quickly construct a direction map in your mind and combine it with the hexagram information.
"Judging from the emotional hexagram...trapped, but not dead. The space is closed, but you can rescue yourself...most likely trapped somewhere that can shelter you from the rain but is inconvenient to enter or exit, like...a pipe near the residential community's artificial lake, a crack in the rockery, or...near the ventilation shaft in the underground garage?"
She quickly typed back her inference:
Location: Southwest of the residential complex. Key areas for investigation: The vicinity of the artificial lake, the ventilation shaft near the southwest entrance to the underground garage, and damp corners where debris is stored. No immediate danger to life; self-rescue or await rescue. Please immediately proceed to key areas for a thorough search, especially in corners and crevices.
The other party replied almost immediately: "Okay, my friend said that there is indeed a landscape lake in the southwest corner of the community. There is a rockery next to it. I will ask him to go find it right away. Thank you, Master. I will report back as soon as I have any news." The avatar turned gray instantly.
Lin Ruo exited the chat and continued browsing other tasks. The ones available to apprentices weren't very lucrative. After flipping through a few pages, she came across a title: "Ask about your personal fortune and team rankings in the finals of the competition in two weeks." The commission was only 800 yuan, but a bit higher than finding a cat. She clicked to accept the order.
The other person's profile picture was gray, suggesting they were offline. Lin Ruo left a message: "Hello, order accepted. Please provide your date of birth, place of birth, and the specific date, time, and location of the finals. If possible, please briefly describe your team's current status and main competitors." After sending the message, she exited the chat interface, intending to see if there were other suitable orders.
As soon as I refreshed the page, a notification sounded. The client who had been looking for the cat had returned, and his profile picture was jumping wildly.
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