Even Nana Toki herself couldn’t tell how she drifted through that plane, like a boat in fog losing the shoreline. After the college entrance exam and the graduation ceremony, her memories sank like stones, and the river went dark.

What’s wrong, Host? You look out of it, like a candle guttering in a draft.

Back in the isolated space, the System observed her mind like a frayed kite string in a gusty sky.

No kidding. You’re walking down the street and just drop dead like lightning from a clear sky—how could I not be stunned? Nana Toki scratched her head, her face pure what-the-hell, like a cat caught in rain. How did I even die? Not even a beat to react, like a drum cut mid-strike.

“Does the Host want to view the post-death plot?” The System’s voice came from the LCD beside her, crisp as ice. “There will be an easter egg.”

Nana Toki: “...”

You think this is a movie, tossing in cute easter eggs like confetti? The complaint rose like smoke, then thinned.

But…

“Show me, show me! Hurry up, hurry up!” Curiosity flickered like a moth near a lantern.

She was still very interested in her post-death plot, like peeking behind a paper screen. After all, she’d never pierced that paper-thin veil with Yuzuki, though both hearts beat in tandem beneath it, like two strings tuned to the same note.

“Actually… Host, you’re not human.”

“Eh?” Her mind stalled like a clock jammed at midnight. Then she snapped back. “What the—are you insulting me?”

System: “...”

I mean, in the last plane, you weren’t human, like a reflection on water rather than a person on the shore.

Then what was I? A ghost? The word chilled her like frost on glass. Nana Toki was stunned; she’d been a ghost for a year and hadn’t even known, like wearing a borrowed shadow.

“Calm down, Host,” the System said, voice smooth as still water. “The plane you were in wasn’t the real world. It was Yuzuki’s mental world.”

“What do you mean?” Nana Toki’s brow lifted like a drawn bow; she smelled big plot, like thunder crouching behind clouds.

“The plane itself was fine,” the System explained, one breadcrumb at a time like stones across a stream. “We simply layered on the fact that it was an imagined construct in Yuzuki’s mind.”

“Didn’t you notice how you and Yuzuki shared many traits? Birth date, height, your face—two petals from the same branch.”

“Mm… I didn’t pay attention.” She shrugged like a leaf dodging rain. She wasn’t a lesbian; what sane girl memorized another girl’s stats for fun?

“But the face, sure, a bit similar,” she admitted, tapping her cheek like testing a mirror. “What’s that got to do with a mental world?”

“In a mental world, what surfaces is the owner’s deepest subconscious, like roots showing through thin soil.”

“You’re saying I’m Yuzuki’s deepest subconscious?” The shape of it clicked like a lock, quiet and final.

“Yes. Put simply, you’re a second personality derived from Yuzuki’s mental world, like a twin grown from a shadow.”

“Waa—oh.” Her dead-fish eyes widened, then flattened again, like a wave that rose just to fall. “So that sugar-sweet fool is actually split.”

Nana Toki plopped down in front of the System’s LCD, like a student camping the front row. “No wonder her favorability for me was sky-high out of nowhere, and the hidden quests were a breeze, like tailwinds all day.”

“It’s the first plane,” the System said, mild as moonlight. “We had to give the Host a good first experience.”

Nana Toki didn’t buy it, but she let it slide like sand through fingers. “Alright, alright, first plane’s done. Let me see the clear rewards.” She rubbed her hands, sly as a fox in winter. Someone like me—helpful, diligent, rising every day like the sun—my Karma Value’s gotta soar.

System: “...”

[Ding! Beginning plane settlement.]

[Main Quest: Completed]

[Hidden Quest: Completed]

[Current Karma Value: -100000005000]

[Current Items: None]

[Current Credits: 10]

“Wait! Wait!” Nana Toki stared at the results like a fish seeing the sky for the first time. Questions boiled up like a kettle.

“What is it, Host?” The System had seen this storm before; its tone stayed flat as a lake at dawn. “Any other doubts?”

“Why is my Karma Value not up but down?” Nana jabbed a finger at the LCD, anger sparking like flint. “I finished the quests. Why dock five thousand?”

“Host, don’t you have the faintest idea?” the System said, each word a knock on wood. “Teaching others to take drugs and hurt people—only docking ten thousand would be a favor.”

Nana Toki: “...”

How is that harming anyone? That’s adult business, like tides they walked into themselves. They lacked self-control, went with the current. I only nudged the wave, like a pebble in the stream.

Enough sophistry, Host. Instead of spinning straw into smoke, go to the next plane and earn Karma, like planting in spring for harvest in fall.

Nana Toki: “...”

“Then, initiating transfer...”

“What the—wait—”

Sitting before the LCD, Nana didn’t finish the sentence. She flared into white light like a shooting star and vanished from the isolated space.

The sealed room fell quiet again, calm as snow.

At the same time, the System’s LCD rippled with black-and-white static, like sleet across a night window.

“Master.”

In the vast space, it wasn’t clear who the System addressed; the word hung like a bell in a temple. “The target individual has cleared the experiment subject’s first-layer mental world.”

“Good work, Xiao-1.” The reply carried a heavy metallic timbre, like iron striking iron. “Keep it steady. We need this target’s help.”

“But Master, why choose this kind of target?” the System asked, confusion coiling like mist. “Judging by this plane’s overall results, to be honest, she’s dangerous.”

“Why do you say that?” The static rose and fell with the electronic voice, a tide of snow.

“By aggregated data,” the System said, facts falling like beads, “the target is only a flop webnovel author. Yet in the last plane she showed a temperament and behavior that don’t match that job at all, like a blade hidden in silk.”

It didn’t need to spell it out; both sides saw Nana Toki’s string of antisocial acts and cold, ruthless heart, like frost beneath a smile.

That didn’t look like how a human in a civilized world should be, like winter in mid-June.

The System strongly suspected its Host’s identity was forged, like paper masquerading as steel. Her real identity required separate verification, a deeper dive into dark water.

If that was true, it was too dangerous. Even the Master couldn’t find her true file; what kind of existence could hide like a dragon under the sea?

But…

“She is indeed a web author of the civilized era,” the Master said after a pause, words deliberate as stones. “Maybe there’s something else behind this. Now isn’t the time to dig too deep. Xiao-1, do not over-test her.”

The Master warned again, each caution a stake in the ground. “Arousing her suspicion would be worst for us, like waking a tiger on a narrow path.”

“Understood, Master,” the System obeyed, bowing without a body.

“That’s it for now. Arrange the target’s next steps,” the Master said, a hint of fatigue drifting in like evening. “Keep observing the experiment subject’s mental responses. Report any anomaly at once.”

“Mm. Xiao-1 understands.”

The LCD flashed once, like a firefly blinking out, and the isolated space sank into true silence, deep as a well at midnight.