This trash System’s getting bolder by the day, like a stray cat stealing fish off my windowsill at dawn.

You snooped through my past and toyed with my feelings. Itching for a beating, like bark that begs the storm?

Send me your master’s number. I’ll give her an earful, like thunder over a still lake. I’m filing a complaint about her System.

System: "..."

That’s because the host didn’t read the hidden quest details, like walking blind through fog. Don’t blame me. And my master’s number? Don’t even think about it. Impossible.

You heartless host!

Oh? You’re feeling righteous now?

Nana Toki arched a brow, like a hook lifting a curtain.

Careful, or I’ll make things rough for you later, like grit in your shoe.

"..."

A-anyway! We’ll talk later. Finish the task in front of you first, like tying a knot before the wind picks up!

Under Nana Toki’s looming menace, like a blade laid across the throat, the System wisely changed the subject.

Gurgle—

While girl and System bickered, the little girl before Nana let out a strange sound, rising and falling like guts worming in the dark.

Irritation bloomed again, familiar as summer heat pressed under a lid.

"You—"

Zzzt—

Their eyes met again, four points locking like flint and steel.

Pain stabbed her forehead, clean as an ice pick. A tingling rushed through her, a current racing like lightning through a black sky.

Thud.

Her left hand went slack. The Black Great Axe dropped, heavy as a fallen tree.

Host! Host, what’s wrong!

The System’s voice rang in her head, thin as a mosquito under glass.

But… I can’t move.

System: "!!!"

Yes.

Like being seen by Medusa, she froze mid-swing, a statue with terror churning inside like trapped water under ice.

This ability’s busted!

She stood straight, teeth clenched like a clamp. She tried to reclaim her arms, but control slipped like sand through fingers.

A standing vegetable, senses wide open like windows in rain, body dead as stone.

Gurgle—

On the mall’s first floor, only the little girl’s odd sound echoed, like a water drop in an empty temple.

No one else was here. At least, Nana Toki saw no one, just shadows like sleeping reeds.

Tch. If I knew, I’d have poked the brat’s eyes out first, like snuffing two candles.

What a blunder.

Like this, taking my life would be as easy as touching your left hand with your right.

Tap, tap, tap…

Bare feet kissed the floor, soft as rain on tile. They reeled her drifting thoughts back like a line tugging a kite.

The golden-eyed girl came step by step, face calm with the quiet of the dead, a still pond with no ripples.

Hey, hey, hey—Trash System, unlock me now! I’m dead if you don’t, like a moth under a palm!

But… I-I can’t unlock it. The Heavenly Dao restricted my power, like frost sealing a stream. I can only do basic functions now.

Nana Toki: "..."

What damn use are you then, like a sword made of sugar!

If she could, she’d strangle this trash System with her bare hands, like wringing a chicken’s neck.

What kind of System acts like this? It’s a joke, like a paper tiger in a storm.

Utterly useless!

Why don’t you just die?

Tap—

The steps stopped. The little girl stood before her, golden eyes blank as moons, staring straight into Nana’s gaze like a needle in silk.

What’s she up to?

She didn’t lunge like those Corpse Devourers. That pried a little doubt open, like light through a shutter.

Maybe she’s not the same kind? Maybe there’s a turn here?

Wait. What’s this brat doing?!

As she thought it, the child slowly raised two small hands, pale as moth wings.

Then—

Oh, hell…

Right before her, the black-haired, gold-eyed girl gently cupped Nana’s stiff left hand, like a priest lifting an offering.

Lights showed on Nana’s skin, fireflies gathering out of night. They drifted, merged, and shaped into a gray-white flower, a ghostly spider lily from the other shore.

What… what the hell is that?

Nom.

Before Nana could process it, the little girl opened her mouth and drew in the flower, all of it, like mist pulled into a lung.

In an instant—

Thump, thump, thump…

Her heart kicked hard, like a drum under water. The moment the girl swallowed the gray-white spider lily, Nana felt herself deflate, a punctured balloon hissing into dusk.

Thump.

She pitched forward, gasping like an asthmatic in a dust storm. The floor was cold as slate. Air scraped her throat like dry leaves.

Sweat beaded on her brow, big and small, a sudden rain.

Haa… haa… haa…

H-Host!

In Nana’s head, the useless System did nothing but shout, a rooster that never lays.

Yeah. Completely useless, like a lantern with no oil.

Sizzle…

The signal flare had landed several meters away. It burned on the floor, spitting sparks like cicadas.

Burp~

Not far off, the black-haired, gold-eyed girl tilted her head at a forty-five-degree angle and burped, deadpan as a winter statue.

She patted her small belly for form’s sake, like a cat after cream.

Rustle, rustle.

Face to the ground, Nana could see nothing. She followed the sound, straining up like a turtle reaching air.

In view, the girl pressed her skirt and squatted before Nana. A hint of life colored her face now, like dawn on an old painting.

The gold in her eyes lost its old sorrow, like mist burned off by sun.

"…"

Nana lay prone, looking up at the girl who studied her like a new insect in a jar. Eyes on eyes, a silent talk like wind through bamboo.

After a long beat—

Click.

A small collision cracked the mall’s stillness, a pebble in a well.

Her gaze snapped over, reflex sharp as a whip. Her pupils tightened. Her heart sank, a stone through black water.

A dozen meters away by the flare, a little girl in a tattered brown dress had her hand on a struggling girl’s throat.

How did she get there?

Shock spiked through Nana like ice. She’d been squatting here a breath ago.

How did she cross the floor in a blink?

In less than half a second, she moved tens of meters? Teleported like a ghost in fog?

Nana’s jaw almost hit the floor, a hinge gone loose.

Did the Heavenly Dao send someone this broken?

Ahem… Host, actually, this isn’t someone sent by the Heavenly Dao.

Huh?

Nana blinked. If not the Heavenly Dao, then who?

A villain?

System: "..."

Correct.

This little girl is the villain of this plane, like a thorn under silk.

Nana Toki: "..."

Did my mouth cast a curse or what?

Her name is Misty Tide. She started the Great Fog Disaster, like a hand that whistles up storms. The original author never gave deep background. In the source plot, Misty Tide appears mid to late arc when the male and female leads rise together.

By then the leads have taken shape. Their powers threaten her, like fire to frost. So Misty Tide tries to nip them in the bud.

But at that time, for certain reasons, Misty Tide is too weak to act directly, like a hawk with clipped wings, so—

So she sends mobs to feed the leads XP?

And in the late game, she can’t beat the fully kitted, god-tier duo, so she gets one-shotted and hands over the win?

Nana squinted, seeing the cliché parade by like paper lanterns.

System: "..." More or less.

That’s the rough plot. What’s odd is why Misty Tide shows up now, like winter in spring.

This is the leads’ first fog trial. By rights, things shouldn’t move this fast.

Did the Heavenly Dao glitch?

Who cares if the Heavenly Dao tripped. This is perfect.

Grinning through pain, Nana rolled up from the floor like a carp flipping the river. If the plot keeps on, our villain’s about to pinch the female lead’s neck like a stem.

She plopped down cross-legged, casual as a monk on a step. Rubbing her waist, she watched Jiang Xinli choke in Misty Tide’s grip, glee bright as fire on snow.

So the female lead was nearby. Great. Two birds with one stone, like one arrow through two leaves.

Seeing Jiang Xinli’s face turn purple, struggling like a fish on land, Nana thought this plane might be easy, a fruit ready to fall.

System: "..."

We’re here to complete a mission, not to kill, the System whispered, thin as smoke.

Also, Host, you just set a flag.

Honestly?

I want to know how a useless System like you survives in a cutthroat market, like a cracked pot in a storm bazaar.

Nana was genuinely puzzled.

With your level, I’m lucky I can carry you with raw talent. If you’d met another host, the grass on their grave would be waist-high by now.

System: "..."

So what are you saying?

You’re useless, so why point fingers at me?

"…"

By the way, what flag did I just set?

“This plane will be easy to clear—”

Boom!

The System didn’t finish.

A blast like thunder tore the air. Nana’s smile withered like a flower hit by frost.

Knew it. The male lead was bound to show up to save the day.

Smoke thinned. The spot where Misty Tide had clutched Jiang Xinli was now a crater, deep as a bowl.

In the pit stood Bei Yuan.

His fine features were drawn tight, brows a sharp line. White light wreathed him like moonlit armor. Curved arcs of lightning snapped at his edges like angry eels.

Even the air crackled, tiny pops like firecrackers in rain.

"Why didn’t you save her!"

Placing himself before Jiang Xinli, Bei Yuan fixed Nana with obsidian eyes, cold as night water.

He wasn’t asking.

He was accusing, like a judge’s bell.