"Yo—hi there~"

Jiang Xinli was walking ahead when a voice from behind yanked at her soul like a cold hook.

She snapped around, and the instant her gaze hit Nana Toki’s, her heart misfired like a drum in a storm.

A warped terror flooded her body like black water.

It was a ghost climbing out of Diyu, a night chill dragging grave-dirt across her skin.

The girl’s unmasked grin, wild and pure malice, clamped her throat like a hard hand and stole her breath.

"Yu... Yu Xi?"

Why is she here?

Jiang Xinli stared, eyes blown wide, at the girl before her.

"You—"

"I’m counting on you~"

The words meant nothing, and before Jiang Xinli could react, a hand wrenched her down like flipping a board.

"Yu Xi—what are you doing!"

She screamed and scrambled, reaching for Nana Toki like a drowning grasp for reed.

But no chance came; the girl bolted like smoke, feet a streak.

ROAR!

The Corpse Devourers that had chased Nana Toki surged up like a pack in blood-scent.

"Ahhhh!"

Seeing the prey swapped, the one on her heels didn’t mind the menu; it lunged at Jiang Xinli like a falling shadow.

Its maw, all fangs and gore, gaped like a red cave and wiped the color from her face.

She sat frozen, as pale as paper, forgetting even how to flinch.

Help... help!

Whoosh—

A wind-skirt brushed past, and a death scene cracked like ice.

Dozens of meters away, Nana Toki felt a prickle crawl her skin, a bad feeling spreading like mold.

"What the hell is that?"

She glanced back at the road, where a man in white robes stood like a pine in snow.

A long sword gleamed in his hand; the Corpse Devourer lay severed, dark green blood spattering the asphalt like bile.

Even from here, the reek rolled over like a rotten tide.

Jiang Xinli still looked dazed, her spirit drifting like smoke.

"A Daoist?"

Nana Toki eyed the immortal-boned look of the white-robed man like he’d walked out of a painting.

Why is a Daoist on this plane?

Isn’t this the fantasy plane, with Transformers fighting xenomorphs like steel against acid?

System: "Hey, hey! Who told you there are Transformers here? Host, stop rewriting the plane’s background!"

"Then what’s with that Daoist-looking... Daoist?"

She actually pointed at the man, rude as a cat showing claws.

"Don’t tell me he’s a hidden Transformer."

System: "..."

"Host, enough."

"What do you mean, a Daoist who looks like a Daoist? He is a Daoist."

"Host, once this great fog clears, you should understand."

"Sounds like a hassle, like a knot in thread..."

System: "..."

"Actually... those two are the male and female leads, right?"

She rubbed her cute little chin like a fox plotting.

"System, aren’t you going to deny it?"

System: "..."

"So they really are the leads of this plane, then."

"If I’d known, I should’ve stabbed the heroine when I passed her; that window’s shut now."

She patted the cleaver in her hand, regret coloring her voice like dusk.

"Eh?"

The System blinked, realizing a fresh cleaver had appeared, twin to the one she’d sunk into a Corpse Devourer.

"Where did you pull that from?"

The System was stunned; was she Doraemon, pulling anything from nowhere like a pocket door?

"Hey, trash System, what does that Transformers Protagonist Lord want? Why’s he walking toward me?"

She felt the Protagonist Lord notice her from not far away, and that bad feeling gnawed like frost.

System: "..."

"For heaven’s sake. Why are you obsessed with that nonsense?"

"You. Why did you try to harm her?"

The distance was dozens of meters, yet he arrived in a blink, like a hawk dropping.

White robes flowing, long sword in hand, the man brought Jiang Xinli and stopped before Nana Toki.

The blade breathed cold like winter on stone, and her skin prickled.

Damn.

So he is the male lead, right? Guarding his heroine like a wolfdog shielding a pup.

"Why did you try to harm her?" Bei Yuan repeated, his voice clear and cold like a forest spring.

Her gooseflesh rose, and she felt his killing intent like a knife under silk.

He hadn’t swung yet; maybe he wanted a reason he could kill her with.

But—

"None of your damn business."

Nana Toki wasn’t anyone’s soft persimmon; she bent to coaxing, never to force, like a cat that scratches.

Right or wrong, if you annoy her, you can’t handle her, not one bit.

"What I do isn’t yours to manage."

She bared a grin and lifted her sharp kitchen knife like a crescent.

"Come on, try me."

"Let’s see who cuts who first."

She tipped her chin and showed her white throat, proud as a black swan on dark water.

"..."

He didn’t answer.

Bei Yuan stood there, staring at this brazen woman like a statue under frost.

His face never changed, calm as a mask carved from jade.

If he hadn’t spoken earlier, Nana Toki would’ve thought he was stone.

"Tch. Boring."

She flicked a look at that ascetic, unfairly handsome face, and spat her annoyance like a spark.

"Standing there like a log kills all my mood."

She turned around in front of him, casual as a cat, and showed him her unguarded back.

"I’ll spell it out."

"I’m going to kill her."

"This time you protected her."

"Next time, let’s see if you still have time to protect her."

She stepped into the thinning fog like a figure fading in ink.

She threw one last glance at Jiang Xinli over Bei Yuan’s shoulder, then took her gaze back and left without a turn.

Bei Yuan shielded Jiang Xinli and watched Nana Toki’s silhouette blur like a ghost in mist, thoughts unreadable.

The first wave of the great fog ended.