Achieving a Happy Ending with the Best Friend I Saved [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 1

When Sang Ruo woke, she smelled the salty, fishy scent of the sea breeze. Her wet hair clung uncomfortably to her cheeks.

The sky was dim, and raindrops pattered against the earth. Sitting up, she realized she was lying in a makeshift triangular shack. It was open on one side to a direct view of the ocean. Nearby, voices whispered in low discussion.

“That is the second one, isn’t it?”

“Why are people always drifting in from the sea lately? And always in this kind of weather?”

“It is eerie if you think about it. To survive a storm that massive, can they even be human? The last one was the same. Yet, Lord Siwu insists we rescue them.”

“Quiet down! Today is the Great Day of Sacrifice!”

“Ah, look, she is awake.”

A young girl’s discovery cut the conversation short. The group turned toward Sang Ruo and froze. The woman sat casually on the sand. Her wet black gauze dress clung to her, tracing a graceful silhouette. Her hair fell like tangled seaweed around her shoulders, framing a pair of eyes that were deep and unnervingly calm.

Legend says there is a chasm in the world that is bottomless and radiates a chilling aura. It lures living beings to its edge only to swallow them whole. The woman before them was like that chasm. She possessed a magnetic, demonic charm. Even those who knew it meant certain doom could not help but be drawn to her, like moths to a flame.

As they scrutinized Sang Ruo, she studied them in return. The girls wore deep blue sleeved shirts and straight black trousers. Their heads were wrapped in beautiful floral blue scarves adorned with small silver ornaments, which was the traditional attire of fisherwomen.

Only one stood out. She wore a formal patchwork robe of black, pink, and blue. A mask carved with orchid patterns hid most of her face, leaving only a sharp nose visible. In the corner of the mask, two characters were engraved: Nineteen. She looked like the clergy of an ancient tribe.

[Host, due to unforeseen circumstances, a new body has been generated for you,] a mechanical voice echoed in Sang Ruo’s mind. [The data is a copy of your original body. Due to a lack of energy points, only one ten-thousandth of your power has been replicated. Total cost: 1,500 energy points.]

System 007 paused, sounding ashamed. [Your original energy balance was zero. After the deduction, your current balance is negative 1,500 points.]

Sang Ruo replied mentally that it was fine.

She felt the grit of the sand beneath her. It was a strange, tactile sensation. System 007 was moved to tears. Other systems started their hosts off with Taoist robes and two dogs; its host started 1,500 points in debt.

[Do not worry, Host! You can earn energy points by completing stage missions. I will do my best to assist you!] 007 chirped encouragingly.

The masked woman was the first to snap out of her daze. She cleared her throat, her sharp gaze piercing Sang Ruo. “I am Lan Nineteen, a Divine Attendant of Ganmu City. Who are you?”

“I am,” Sang Ruo sighed softly.

Her dark eyes swept over the crowd, her voice warm and low, like a captivating siren. “I heard you mention that today is the Day of Sacrifice.”

In an instant, the crowd felt their heads grow heavy, as if they had inhaled a sweet, honeyed mist. Lan Nineteen’s gaze turned vacant for a moment. She forgot her question and rubbed her forehead in silence.

One fisherwoman blushed, speaking up timidly. “Yes. Our Ganmu City holds a sacrifice every three years. It is presided over by Lord Siwu to pray for the gods’ protection.”

“Good girl.” Sang Ruo walked up to her, tilting her head slightly as her wet hair slid elegantly over her shoulder. “Then, where can I go to join the festivities?”

The fisherwoman’s lips parted, her face flushing deeper. “At the Altar in the center of the city. I will take you there!”

Sang Ruo nodded slightly. System 007 watched the scene, dumbfounded. The Host did not need help at all. Seduction and enchantment were etched into a demon’s very bones. As a Great Heavenly Demon from the Higher Realms, Sang Ruo was born to lead ten thousand demons. Even if this was not her specialty, and even with her power suppressed, she was still a master of the craft.

Soon, the two walked into the rain. Those who had not managed to volunteer as guides beat their chests in regret. As the rain fell, it seemed to hit a transparent film around Sang Ruo and the girl, unable to touch them. The seawater on Sang Ruo’s body gradually evaporated. Her long hair smoothed out, falling like a black waterfall to her hips.

She had signed a contract with the system to save her best friend. Before arriving, the system had shown her the “World Line.” In the system’s words, this was a “Harem Stallion” world. Her best friend’s role was one of the Male Lead’s many confidantes. She was the highest-ranking religious official in Ganmu City, the Lord Siwu whom the fisherwoman had mentioned.

The story was a small dungeon in the Male Lead’s journey. The Male Lead, Helian Yun, had been injured by enemies and washed up on this island. The xenophobic citizens wanted to kill him, but Siwu stopped them, allowing him to recover.

Siwu’s kindness moved him, and he made several advances. However, as a servant of the god, Siwu had to remain pure and rejected him every time. The Male Lead lamented how rotten divine systems shackled freedom, vowing to one day overthrow them.

Conveniently, Siwu was then tricked into drinking an aphrodisiac, nearly being defiled. At the critical moment, the Male Lead arrived to save the day. Amidst flickering candles and swirling clouds, they became one.

But the good times did not last. Siwu’s perceived impurity enraged the god, triggering a massive tsunami. To solve the crisis, the Male Lead went behind Siwu’s back to find and destroy the sacred wood where the god resided. The tsunami stopped, but the citizens discovered the desecration of the temple.

The City Lord’s army surrounded the sacred grounds. Caught between her god, her people, and her lover, Siwu eventually committed suicide out of guilt, leaving a permanent scar on the Male Lead’s heart. The Male Lead, bolstered by his protagonist halo, survived the ordeal, avenged her, and left the island with new treasures.

Every year on the anniversary of her death, he would take out her mask to mourn her.

Recalling this, Sang Ruo’s eyes turned cold. It sounded touching, but one must not forget that this was a harem power fantasy. The Male Lead had at least ten other women with special places in his heart. He spent half the year rotating through his schedule of mourning his various lost loves. A unique remembrance is precious; a dozen identical ones are a wholesale commodity.

Furthermore, Sang Ruo had learned the hidden truth from the system. The aphrodisiac Siwu accidentally drank was actually administered by the Male Lead after he gained her trust. The hero saves the beauty act was staged by people he hired. It was all a ploy to possess her.

The tsunami, the destruction of the sacred wood, and the conflict with the City Lord were all manipulations. He was the source of all Siwu’s tragedies. The system had dropped her into the timeline shortly after the Male Lead arrived, before he had fully gained Siwu’s trust. Sang Ruo’s mission was to make Siwu see the Male Lead’s true face and change her fate.

They soon arrived near the Ritual Altar. From a distance, they could hear the earth-shaking thuds of a struggle. The fisherwoman helped Sang Ruo obtain a ritual mask. She was trembling. “What is that noise? This never happens during the ritual.”

At that moment, the system issued a mission: [Please head to the mission location and stop the Male Lead from deceiving the target. Time limit: 15 minutes.]

Sang Ruo placed the pitch-black mask over her face. “Do not worry,” she said. Her voice was low and cool, with a slight magnetic pull. The fisherwoman felt her anxiety smoothed away like a breeze over water. “I will take you there now!”

They crossed through the wooden scaffolding and ritual banners. The scene opened up. On the blue-stone ritual grounds, citizens knelt in prayer. Lord Siwu, dressed in snow-white sacrificial robes, moved with ethereal grace. Her ritual sword traced a beautiful arc in the Dance of the Gods.

That part was normal. However, at the edge of the grounds, a black, dragon-like monster was brawling with a man. The fisherwoman nearly fainted. “What is that thing? Why is no one moving? Why does Lord Siwu not stop it?”

“Perhaps because the ritual cannot be interrupted,” Sang Ruo replied calmly.

With a flick of her finger, a wisp of black energy entered the fisherwoman’s brow. “Sleep.” The girl’s eyes closed, and she drifted into a deep slumber. Her body was caught by an unseen force as she leaned back. Sang Ruo stepped past her into the ritual grounds.

Sang Ruo saw more than the fisherwoman did. Between the man and the beast, she saw glowing red threads. In the cultivation world, these are called a Blood Pact. The monster was Helian Yun’s contracted beast. The man fighting it was Helian Yun himself.

In the original timeline, he used the ritual to have his beast attack, allowing him to heroically drive it off and gain the city’s gratitude.

[Host, we have to help! His act is almost over!] 007 cried out.

The monster was already weakening, preparing for its final, desperate lunge. This was the cue for the Male Lead’s miraculous burst of strength.

“No rush,” Sang Ruo said. “Adding flowers to a bouquet is boring. If I go now, no one will truly remember me.”

[Then what do we do?]

“We provide charcoal in a snowstorm.”

Sang Ruo pressed her forefinger and middle finger together and made a slight snipping motion in the air. System 007 watched in horror as the blood threads between Helian Yun and the monster snapped. The remaining half of the connection turned instantly pitch black.

[That is,] it murmured.

“Two effects,” Sang Ruo explained. “First, it severs his control. He can no longer dictate the beast’s actions. Second, it creates a reverse link. Any injury the beast suffers will now be reflected back onto Helian Yun.”

007 was speechless. On the very first day of the bond, its host had decided to play for high stakes.

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