*Ding-dong~*
A few minutes after Mo Jiaqi left, the doorbell rang again. Xu Yinsheng set down her cup of brown sugar water and ran to the front door, pulling it open.
“Xiao Mo, did you forget something—” The words died in her throat.
White fleece, two dark brown sheep horns, a signature pale yellow bib around the neck, and that distinctive poop-shaped hairstyle on top of its head.
It was a Lazy Sheep Limited Edition Doll!
As a dedicated collector, Xu Yinsheng used to have a full set of everything from Gundam to Pleasant Goat. However, that fire had reduced her entire villa and her collection to ashes.
Since returning to her life as a profligate heir, her nostalgic tendencies had flared up again. She had even posted a bounty online, offering a high price to buy back the limited edition dolls from that series.
Despite her efforts, she still hadn’t managed to complete the set.
If a neighbor had come to visit with a limited edition doll, Xu Yinsheng would have welcomed them with a smile. At this moment, however, her face darkened, and her expression turned hostile.
Standing behind the doll, which was nearly 1.7 meters tall and the size of an adult, was a very familiar face.
“Miss Xu, thank you for the fruit you brought last time. I liked it very much,” Zhao Yicheng said, holding the Lazy Sheep Limited Edition Doll with a gentle smile.
“Get lost!”
“This is a small gift from me. Please, accept it!”
His only response was a roar and the violent slam of the door in his face.
Having a door slammed on his nose didn’t change Zhao Yicheng’s expression. The gentle smile remained on his face as he spoke. “Miss Xu, I truly mean no harm.”
“As your new neighbor, I just wanted to pay a visit.”
“I really enjoyed the fruit you brought. This Lazy Sheep Limited Edition Doll is just a small token of my appreciation. I hope you can accept it.”
“Piss off!!”
Xu Yinsheng leaned her back against the door, gripping a shotgun she had pulled from nowhere. Sweat rolled down her exquisite face and dripped onto the floor.
She shouted through the door.
“Zhao, let me tell you! Stay the hell away from my life! Do you think I don’t know what you’re thinking? Are you trying to kidnap me again?”
“I spit on that!”
“You think the shotgun in my hand is just for show? I’ll give you 3 seconds. Get out of here right now! According to the laws of the Huayuan Federation, a homeowner is not guilty for shooting anyone who trespassed into their residence!”
Xu Yinsheng threatened through the door, immediately racking the shotgun. The crisp, powerful *clack-clack* of the slide was clearly audible even through the thick wood.
Her voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it wasn’t quiet either.
Standing outside the door, Zhao Yicheng shook his head slightly when he heard her shouting.
“It seems Miss Xu has a significant misunderstanding of me.”
“Misunderstanding, my foot! I’m warning you to leave right now! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being impolite!”
Xu Yinsheng’s eyes were sharp and fierce. She tightened her grip on the shotgun and watched through the peephole. If that man dared to take one more step forward, she wouldn’t hesitate to put a slug through his skull!
Bound by the Magical Girl Code, Xu Yinsheng couldn’t proactively take a life.
But if someone attacked her first, she was allowed to use justified self-defense!
“Fine.” To her disappointment, Zhao Yicheng didn’t have a mental breakdown or go into a frenzy despite her provocations.
He placed the doll in front of the door and even carefully patted the dust off the floor around it.
“I’ll leave the doll here. If you want it, Miss Xu, it’s yours.”
“I know there have been many misunderstandings between us, but I hope that from now on, I can use my actions to dissolve the barrier between us.”
“To introduce myself properly, I am your new neighbor, Zhao Yicheng.”
With that, he said nothing more. He turned and walked away, leaving Xu Yinsheng with nothing but the sight of his elegant, handsome back.
Inside, having witnessed the whole scene through the peephole, Xu Yinsheng scratched her head in confusion.
‘This plot is a bit different from what I imagined.’
‘Shouldn’t it go like this: Zhao Yicheng gets rejected, loses his mind, grabs a fire axe to break down the door, and then I shoot him dead?’
‘Or maybe he acts like a shameless pest, refusing to leave the doorstep no matter the wind or rain, demanding my forgiveness while we engage in some melodramatic push-and-pull…’
Ugh… Right. Xu Yinsheng had been reading too many overbearing president webnovels lately. Even though they were brainless, it felt really good to put herself in the female lead’s shoes.
She shook her head violently to banish the terrifying thought.
‘I might be a female lead, and President Zhao might be an overbearing CEO, but he is definitely not the male lead!’
She slowly opened the door just a crack. After confirming through the gap that he hadn’t left any traps, she finally felt safe enough to open the door all the way.
An object rolled against her foot, catching her attention.
The Lazy Sheep Limited Edition Doll lay at her feet. It was about 1.7 meters tall, nearly the height of an adult, and it was a rare limited edition that was priceless on the market.
Xu Yinsheng looked at it and coldly twitched her finger.
Several bandages burning with black flames suddenly shot out from the void, wrapping around the doll like pythons.
In just a moment.
Fleece flew and fabric scattered. Within seconds, the adult-sized doll was reduced to a pile of scrap fabric and cotton.
Xu Yinsheng crouched down and rummaged through the debris. There was nothing but shredded fabric and stuffing.
“No bomb?” she muttered to herself. She didn’t pay much attention to the change in her powers. Or rather, paying attention didn’t help; she still didn’t understand what kind of creature she was now.
Since her 2-year term ended, Xu Yinsheng’s final “Delinquent Girl” form had concluded.
After her original form completely transitioned into a female, her “Variety” ability seemed to have sublimated. Even her self-developed sub-skills, “Load Save” and “Fusion,” had been upgraded.
However, she couldn’t say for sure exactly how they had improved.
She could clearly feel that the restrictions on her were weakening, giving her an indescribable sense of control over “Variety.”
If she were to describe it in gaming terms, the framework limitations had decreased, and her degree of freedom had increased.
Now, she was female 24 hours a day, and she still gained a new form every 2 months.
Without the Black Notebook, Xu Yinsheng had to study the sublimated “Variety” on her own.
She felt like a walking, human USB drive. The resources stored in the drive were the characters she had transformed into so far. The drive was constantly receiving new information, which meant new forms were being created every moment.
To “Load Save” or switch characters, she just had to pull the data of the character she wanted to switch to from the drive.
After the 2-year term ended, her fixed transformation time completely overrode her free transformation time, resulting in a mysterious, inexplicable change.
For example, Xu Yinsheng was currently a magical girl. If she used the “Fusion” skill, she could add fused elements to her magical girl base—like adding “Magical Puppet” elements to manifest a Sawtooth Gun using liquid metal.
She could carry that Sawtooth Gun, act as a hero, fight evil, and uphold justice, but she still had to follow the Magical Girl Code and could not take a life.
Thus, Xu Yinsheng reached a conclusion: fused elements would be influenced by the main body of the fusion. It was like how a sub-skill in some games can never overpower a primary skill.
Of course, these were just her current research conclusions. Whether she would add more to them or overturn them entirely in the future remained to be seen.
After all, even Xu Yinsheng didn’t know what she was anymore.
One person as a nation, all lives as one?
A normal human who could change into countless forms and possess countless bodies?
Or a walking, human harem? Perhaps a gospel for the “pure love” faction?
Just then, a vibration in her pocket interrupted her thoughts. Accompanied by a pleasant ringtone, Xu Yinsheng pulled out her phone and glanced at it. It was a call from an acquaintance.
“I know, I know. Consider it a favor I owe you!”
“I get it, I’ll cooperate.”
***
Late at night.
In a villa within a high-end downtown residential area.
The lights were bright. Zhao Yicheng emerged from the gym after finishing his rehabilitation training for the day. It was already 11:00 PM. He walked to the coffee table, picked up a pre-prepared glass of saltwater, and gulped it down.
The light hit his face, making his features look exceptionally soft.
Thinking of his meeting with Xu Yinsheng earlier that day, his eyebrows lowered slightly. His thoughts involuntarily drifted back to 6 months ago, back to that day of torrential rain…
At that time, he had been lying in the mud like a dead dog, blood spraying uncontrollably from his mouth.
With shattered bones and damaged internal organs, let alone a normal person, even Zhao Yicheng himself had accepted that he was going to die.
He had originally thought that even if he had used some “unconventional” means to get Xu Yinsheng, the gap between them would slowly narrow over time until it finally vanished.
As the saying goes, time is the best medicine; it can heal any wound in a person’s heart.
But he was wrong!
Completely, utterly wrong!!
Xu Yinsheng hated him! She wanted him dead! She wanted to skin him alive! She wished he had never appeared in her life!!
Her sharp, piercing words had stabbed into his heart like knives. The pain of ten thousand arrows piercing his soul or a heart being torn apart couldn’t compare to it.
In that moment, the high-and-mighty President Zhao, who had spent 2 years striving for the love he desired, finally tasted the bitter fruit he had sown.
It was bitter, astringent, and… full of regret.
Blood flowed from his broken body, staining the soil beneath him and drowning his will to survive.
In that moment, Zhao Yicheng felt regret. He felt remorse. He wished he had never started.
However, his consciousness grew increasingly blurred. His dark eyes, usually so bright and piercing, were now dull and lifeless.
He thought despairingly.
‘Perhaps the only thing I can do is die. To die completely, silently, and never appear in her life again.’
But when he woke up again, he was in a hospital room filled with the scent of disinfectant.
*Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!*
The sudden roar of an engine interrupted Zhao Yicheng’s thoughts. Hearing the sound, he walked to the window and pulled back the curtain, looking out from the villa.
A silver Maserati sped out of the underground garage. With the engine roaring, it vanished into the distance!