Chapter 1

The dessert shop on the street had posted a poster for the season’s new products, bright enough to catch the eye at a glance, and paired with the sweet aroma of butter-roasted chestnuts drifting out from the shop door, it wove a sweet, lively note into the bustling, hurried rhythm of the commercial street.

Jiang Yun slowed her steps slightly and glanced at her reflection in the dessert shop’s floor-to-ceiling window.

With the criminal number covered up and some appearance disguise added, she now looked like a completely unremarkable ordinary person, able to blend perfectly into the crowd behind her.

Like a drop of water falling into the vast ocean.

She looked up again. In the background of the reflection, that faint, shadowy gray tower had most of its body covered by colorful posters, making it look childish and ridiculous.

The tower itself pierced the sky like a sword, so tall that its tip was almost invisible, and its surface was covered with a layer of eerie ice-blue electric current, like a living organism breathing.

Silent and cold, almost like a ruthless arbiter, looking down at the humans groveling at its feet.

Jiang Yun tugged the corner of her mouth in a mocking smile and continued walking forward.

Suddenly, the data stream on the tower’s surface began to flow faster, and simultaneously turned a vivid, piercing red.

An emotionless AI voice sounded.

【Now broadcasting a global announcement: Extreme-danger criminal No. A-13 broke through the Demon Island blockade today and escaped from prison. The Joint Inspection Team has urgently launched a high-intensity manhunt.】

【Please note that this criminal is highly skilled at disguise. All global residents are asked to take Level One protective measures. If you encounter any suspicious persons, please contact the Joint Inspection Team immediately.】

【Repeating, No. A-13……】

At the same time, towers in every region across the globe began broadcasting this explosive news.

“Demon Island? Isn’t that place supposed to hold the world’s most vicious criminals, with the most precise and advanced technology to prevent escapes? How could someone get out!”

“The escapee must be a murderous fiend!!!”

“Fuck, what does the Joint Inspection Team even do all day? They can’t even keep a criminal like this locked up?!”

Many people were discussing it, some panicked, some furious.

Others barely changed expression, probably thinking that so what if a criminal escaped, surely they wouldn’t be unlucky enough to get caught up in it, and so they kept walking without pause toward their destinations.

Jiang Yun blended in among the latter.

Her expression was completely natural, as if this appalling warning had nothing to do with her at all.

Finally, she boarded a high-altitude train heading to another administrative division.

As the train was about to depart, a countdown appeared on the electronic screen in front of the seats.

【The doors have closed. The sky-leap journey is about to begin. Passengers, please prepare.】

【5, 4, 3, 2——】

【1.】

At the same moment the number 1 appeared, Jiang Yun felt a “ding-dong” sound inside her head as well.

【Congratulations, Task-Taker [Jiang Yun], on completing the Hell-Level Trial Mission [Escape from Demon Island].】

【Mission Rating: SSS.】

【Clear Order: 001.】

【Memory Barrier has been lifted.】

【Preparing to teleport back to the Main World.】

【System loading……】

Memory Barrier.

In an instant, Jiang Yun remembered everything.

Her brain had been interfered with from the outside, a barrier inserted, causing her to forget her real memories, leaving only false memories forcibly input into her.

She was not a death-row prisoner who had successfully escaped from Demon Island and thrown the whole world into panic.

Instead, she was—

A character in a shonen manga.

More precisely, a background extra cannon fodder in four shonen manga with different themes.

Although she played a background extra who appeared in only a few scattered panels in different manga, one day she suddenly developed self-awareness, and was immediately detected by the [Manga Management] system.

[Manga Management] had originally intended to directly erase her self-awareness, but she talked her way out of it with just a few words, and even got it to start explaining to her why she had developed self-awareness:

Because all four shonen manga had experienced certain plot disturbances.

And why were there plot disturbances?

The system explained that it was because the male leads of these four manga, four living ancestors, had all unexpectedly shown signs of self-awakening.

When a character awakens and gains self-awareness, that means the mangaka’s absolute control is losing its grip.

A background extra like her being out of control might still be considered a small matter;

But the protagonist, who bears the main storyline, being out of control was absolutely a massive problem.

At the mildest, they might do things that contradict the manga’s established plot, causing the storyline to fall into chaos and affecting other characters to varying degrees.

At the worst, it might cause the manga world to collapse.

Either the world crisis becomes impossible to resolve.

Or the mangaka throws in the towel and rushes out a sloppy, unfinished ending.

Like drawing a god-awful ending where “a meteor crashes through the Earth so everyone dies.”

At that point, Jiang Yun had listened to this and asked in a deliberately fragile manner:

“Would there really be such irresponsible mangakas?”

The system snorted coldly, looking at her with an expression that said, “My my, young people, you still overestimate the integrity of mangakas.”

【Don’t hold any expectations for a group like mangakas, where old scoundrels pop up constantly.】

【Some mangakas are real professionals at feeding readers shit. They have the ability to make everyone dissatisfied.】

—Ah, somehow it felt like the blood and tears of many people were condensed behind those words.

Jiang Yun thought with some amusement.

The [Manga Management] system continued, saying that in order to save these four manga worlds, the higher-dimensional Main Space it belonged to had run countless simulations and finally arrived at the only solution:

Conquer the male leads.

Using emotion as a valve, guide the male leads, and prevent key plot points from deviating due to the male leads’ awakening.

But these four male leads were all extremely difficult to conquer.

Originally, probably because the manga had no official pairings, the four male leads seemed to naturally lack any sense of love.

Now, with self-awareness awakening added on, the male leads’ personalities and behavior had become even more uncontrollable.

Furthermore, every word and action of the task-taker had to conform to the logic of the manga world, or else the mangaka would notice something abnormal, leading to unknown chaos.

The difficulty of conquest was exacerbated, becoming extremely difficult.

Once the mission to conquer the four male leads was issued, many people came to apply.

The Main Space set trial missions for them.

Yet not a single one succeeded.

Hearing this, Jiang Yun slowly blinked her ethereal, clear eyes. “So, you still haven’t found anyone who can solve the problem?”

【Correct.】

“Perhaps, I could give it a try.”

Then Jiang Yun felt that the [Manga Management] system seemed to have crashed for a moment.

As if it was surprised.

Though that was understandable. She was just a frail-looking background character, and wanting to take on such a daunting task was indeed probably outside the other party’s expectations.

[Manga Management] still agreed.

After that, Jiang Yun lost all her memories and believed herself to be a criminal imprisoned on Demon Island.

In her mind, a thought clamored ceaselessly: She had to get out. No one had the right to judge her, and no one had the power to define her as guilty.

In the end, she succeeded.

She escaped from Demon Island and completed the trial mission.

She was the only one who completed the mission.

Recalling everything, Jiang Yun curved a light, cheerful smile. The fabricated train background behind her was almost entirely dissipating, but it could still be seen that the train had left the station tunnel and was greeted by a blaze of light.

What Jiang Yun didn’t know was that, as early as the very beginning when she entered the trial mission, all the consciousness entities in the Main Space had been monitoring her.

【Who found this task-taker? She looks like she can’t last even a second.】

【That guy must have been grasping at straws. So many powerful task-takers have returned in defeat, let alone this human who probably doesn’t even have the ability to protect herself.】

After seeing the mission content assigned to Jiang Yun, all the consciousness entities became even more convinced that this frail-looking human was absolutely here to be cannon fodder.

It was actually a Hell-Level difficulty mission.

The specific content of the trial mission was randomly generated by the Main Space for each task-taker, and to prevent cheating, the task-taker’s past memories were also blocked. So even the lowest Ordinary difficulty was absurdly hard, and no one could pass.

Yet what Jiang Yun was assigned was the highest difficulty, Hell-Level.

All the consciousness entities thought that probably the moment this guy entered the mission, the mission was already over.

【Aside from this unlucky and weak human, quite a few strong ones came to apply this time, right?】

【Yes, I’m more optimistic about the task-taker in monitoring window 126. Not only is she strong, but her mission is only the second-level Hard difficulty.】

【I think No. 38 has a chance of clearing it. Not bad luck, the mission is only Ordinary difficulty.】

【The trial mission is just a touchstone. The hardest part is still the formal conquest mission. We must select the strongest of the strong. I’m optimistic about No. 119. He’s the most capable of this batch.】

Each consciousness entity began to name the task-taker they were betting on.

Then, the monitoring windows of the worlds went dark one by one, which meant the task-taker had failed.

It was hard for consciousness entities to have human emotions, but at this moment, all of them felt a dark cloud resembling despair shrouding their data streams.

Perhaps the Main Space was fooling them, and there was simply no task-taker capable of clearing the mission.

When the manga worlds collapsed, they, the consciousness entities, would all—

【Wait, is this window still lit? —Huh?!】

The monitoring window suddenly displayed words that had never appeared before:

【Congratulations, task-taker, on a successful clear.】

All the consciousness entities crowded around, unable to believe it, and replayed the monitoring window’s data records.

Just then, the image froze on the last second before task-taker [Jiang Yun] escaped the Demon Island blockade.

She slightly turned her head back, meeting Demon Island’s surveillance camera.

All the consciousness entities’ data streams scrambled for a moment. Although they knew it was impossible, for an instant they still had the illusion that the girl was looking at them through layers of technological blockades.

With her delicate, cold exterior, she revealed a gentle smile, as if a lisianthus blooming silently.

But her eyes were filled with surging ambition. The contrast made it seem utterly eerie.

The next instant, the surveillance screen shattered in an instant.

The trial mission concluded successfully, and Jiang Yun returned to the Main World.

Then, she saw all the systems, like [Manga Management], looking at her almost fanatically.

As if looking at a savior.

Soon, the [Manga Management] system used data streams to construct an encrypted room for her.

【Congratulations on clearing the trial mission. Before you formally begin the conquest mission, I need to explain the mission content to you in more detail once more.】

Looking at the text representing the mission rules that appeared out of thin air before her, Jiang Yun was unhurried and carefully studied it once more.

A guess in her heart became a bit firmer.

If she was right, she might be able to complete the [Conquest] in a special way.

Jiang Yun silently lowered her eyes, her fingers lightly tapping on the table.

Her originally frail, innocent face suddenly changed, gaining a few traces of cunning.

“No rush,” Jiang Yun said. “Let’s have a good talk about what kind of reward you’re willing to give me if I complete the mission.”

The system seemed to choke for a moment, apparently having never expected her to say something like this.

【But if the mission isn’t completed, the manga worlds will collapse and be destroyed, and you will perish as well. Completing the mission isn’t just for us.】

Jiang Yun said frankly: “That’s true. But right now, you’re more desperate than I am, and I’m the only task-taker you can choose.”

“In other words, I have the capital to be greedy.”

This time, the system paused even longer.

Probably taking time to accept the huge difference in her image before and after.

Or perhaps, it had discovered that her earlier frail, timid appearance had all been her disguise.

But it didn’t matter, because she now possessed bargaining chips that the system absolutely could not ignore, and no longer needed to keep playing weak.

【What do you want?】

“I want, after all missions are successful, a world constructed by my will, where I will be the absolute supreme god.”

【Sorry, that request is too unreasonable. I cannot do it.】

A hint of cold displeasure appeared on her face.

“Then let’s compromise. After the missions are over, set me free, let me choose a manga world to enter on my own, with all my settings decided by myself, and I guarantee I will never cause any interference with the manga plot.”

“This request, you can at least fulfill, right?”

This time the system was silent even longer.

Finally, it answered: 【Deal.】

Done.

Actually, Jiang Yun’s original goal had been the latter.

First propose a big demand as a setup, making the smaller demand afterward easier to accept—the door-in-the-face effect, perfectly manipulating human psychology, and perfectly manipulating the system’s psychology too.

After the two discussed some more details, they formally reached a cooperation.

【No time to waste. Let’s choose the first manga world now and enter as soon as possible.】

According to the system’s data, as a background character, Jiang Yun learned for the first time the theme settings of the four manga.

They were:

【Rule Horror】

【Competitive Sports】

【Esper Academy】

【Suspense Revenge】

—Wait, was there a theme that didn’t quite fit mixed in here?

Looking at the out-of-place 【Competitive Sports】, Jiang Yun was puzzled: “Why can competitive sports be mentioned alongside the other three?”

The other three themes all looked like people could die.

But 【Competitive Sports】, and even chess-type competitive sports at that, seemed perfectly safe no matter how you looked at it, right?

It wasn’t like someone would dislocate their arm halfway through a chess match.

#As we all know, sports anime never have deaths#

#They charge forward shouting about dreams and youth and sportsmanship#

【Uh, I’m not very clear on the specifics either. Maybe it’s just inherently lower in difficulty.】

Jiang Yun: “……”

She nodded calmly on the surface, but internally labeled this system as “unreliable.”

Still, she more or less agreed with the system’s assessment.

No matter from which angle, 【Competitive Sports】 was the safest of the four, very suitable as the first mission world for her to practice on.

“Then I choose to enter the 【Competitive Sports】 manga first.”

【Task-taker’s will received. Confirming entry into &*#@——】

After a burst of chaotic electronic noise.

The system continued broadcasting.

【Confirming entry into [Suspense Revenge] theme.】

Jiang Yun: “—?”

Wait?

【The “World of Sin and Slaughter” manga world is beginning to load.】

【Manga world loading complete.】

In the last second before being sucked into the new manga world and losing consciousness, Jiang Yun thought:

Useless system, ruining my youth.

🙂