Daily Life of a Villain at Work [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 73

Chapter 73: My First Day as a Malignant Spirit~

[Space-time jump complete. Congratulations, Host, on the successful completion of your mission!]

[Detection shows the Host is in good physical and mental health. Would you like to continue accepting missions?] The system’s familiar voice echoed once more.

Wen Qingyun didn’t rush to answer. Instead, she closed her eyes to debrief herself, only opening them after a long moment.

“Am I still tied for first with her?” Wen Qingyun asked, her tone seemingly casual but carrying a deep, internal certainty.

[Yes. However, because the Host proactively accepted high-difficulty missions, your position appears further ahead on the leaderboard.]

As a technologically mature Management Bureau, the system provided default services whenever a Host entered or left a sub-world. For instance, it would weaken original memories upon entry to allow for better fusion with the body’s memories, and fade intense bodily emotions upon exit to let the original persona take charge.

Wen Qingyun clicked on the leaderboard. Within her department, her employee ID was miles ahead. Switching to the global view, her ID sat at the very top, though the point total and rank were identical to the ID right below hers.

Is this person really that desperate? It was one thing to compete in university, but to keep up this “involution” at work?

She gave a light “tsk” and closed the rankings. “Continue selecting worlds with high point yields. It doesn’t matter if the missions are difficult.”

Fine, let’s play. Let’s see who breaks first. As a villain, she wasn’t the one losing out either way.

[Host’s command received. Searching for high-point worlds… World coordinates selected. Host, please prepare for the space-time jump…]

…

“Serves her right for being beaten to death. Who told her to crack someone’s head open and run? I thought she was a quiet one, and turned out to be the most disobedient!”

“What a waste. Old Liu spent thirty thousand to buy her; she was the prettiest of the lot.”

“Old Liu, I told you! Just use her once you buy her. Why bother being nice? Now you’ve taken a hit to the head and lost thirty thousand for nothing! Your son won’t even have a legacy now.”

“Her eyes are still open… it’s a bit creepy under the flashlight.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? She’s not the first one beaten to death like this. Stop pretending.”

“Is it okay to just leave her here? Should we dig a hole?”

“Why bother? Once we leave, the scavengers will come. Forget the meat, there won’t even be bones left.”

“Alright, it’s late. The sun rises in two hours. Everyone goes home. If anyone asks, she ran too fast, tripped and died, and we buried her.”

“Don’t worry, Village Chief. We know what to say.”

Noisy voices flooded Wen Qingyun’s ears. She desperately wanted to see who was blathering, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t move. Her vision remained fixed on a patch of dim sky obscured by layers of leaves.

The only thing changing was the light. As the men’s chatter faded, the flashlights moved away. Finally, only a sliver of moonlight pierced through the dense canopy, landing on Wen Qingyun’s bloodless yet exquisite features.

As the human voices vanished, chaotic whispers grew from faint to heavy, invading her eardrums and burrowing into her mind.

Wen Qingyun’s original thoughts wavered for a moment, but she quickly regained clarity through sheer willpower.

The information provided by her cold corpse was limited, but combined with the men’s words, she deduced her situation.

She was dead. Beaten to death by a mob after resisting.

Residual memories told her she was a senior in university. On her way to an internship interview, she had kindly helped a middle-aged man with a leg disability find his way. In an alley with no cameras or people, she was smothered and lost consciousness.

The subsequent memories were of being bought and sold like cargo. After feigning compliance, she grabbed a wooden club and run, crossing rice paddies and mountains until she hit the undeveloped forest. Unfortunately, after three days and nights without food, her body gave out once the adrenaline faded. She was caught by villagers who knew the terrain and met her end.

Wen Qingyun couldn’t remember her university or if she had family, but she could feel a power—born of those whispers—surging toward her.

Since her physical body was dead, the only thing remaining in this world was her soul.

To ensure safety, only a small portion of a Host’s soul followed their consciousness into a sub-world. But for a low-dimensional world, even a fragment of a high-dimensional soul was enough to crush any spirit born there over millions of years.

“System, this power I’m absorbing… it won’t affect my original body, right?” she asked cautiously.

[Rest assured, Host. The system has rigorous inspection protocols. Nothing harmful will leave the world with you. If you are concerned, you may disperse all soul power before exiting.]

With that guarantee, Wen Qingyun cast aside her doubts. She tapped into her soul-level strength, absorbing the energy rushing toward her at an incredible speed.

Part of this power was spiritual energy from the air, but the majority was accumulated resentment, yin energy, and inextinguishable malice.

Within an hour, she could not only manifest her soul physically but also clearly sense “kindred spirits” within a thousand-meter radius. To Wen Qingyun, these spirits were weak, surviving only on obsession and grudges, tethered to within a hundred meters of their bones. Most were young women.

As her power climbed, the world’s deeper rules began to surface in her mind. She realized the small “black mists” she sensed were unborn or infant girls who hadn’t survived three days—souls that never had the chance to form a human shape.

When the sun rose, the weaker spirits retreated underground. But Wen Qingyun waved a hand, clearing the canopy to let the sunlight hit her directly. It didn’t hurt her; instead, it passed through her translucent form and hit her stiff corpse.

Oh, I haven’t dealt with the body yet.

She moved her corpse onto a large rock and snapped her fingers. The body ignited instantly with a blue-black “ghost fire.”

“Huh? Burning my own body with ghost fire in daylight produces this?”

On the rock sat a small, smooth sphere with a jade-like texture. It looked warm white, but when held against the sun, it became transparent like high-grade glass. The sphere immediately devoured some of her leaking resentment, establishing a connection.

Wen Qingyun sensed a massive internal space—the size of a football field. Did I have a talent for artifact forging, or was my body just special?

She didn’t dwell on it. Shifting into her spirit form, she began searching for the village where she had been held.

…

“A great omen of evil. To the southwest, a malignant spirit has been born. It will endanger many lives,” a man in Taoist robes said, coughing up blood before he could see more.

“Senior Brother! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I was too greedy for portents,” he wiped his mouth. “Two hundred miles southwest, a powerful evil spirit has appeared. It’s too strong for you five. We might need a Master…”

“What about Little Junior Sister?” someone whispered. “She’s a genius with talismans and the sword.”

“She’s in seclusion, isn’t she?”

“She finished this morning! I saw her practicing her sword at dawn.”

Five pairs of eyes turned toward the Senior Brother. He sighed, smeared some of the blood from his chin onto his lips to look more pathetic, and walked toward the back rooms.

“I’ll have to trouble Junior Sister to go… and eliminate this evil.”

Moments later, a woman with a cold face, carrying a long sword and wearing Taoist robes, stepped out and flew southwest on her blade.

…

“You… are you a person or a ghost?!” Old Liu trembled in his kitchen, waving a meat cleaver. “Get back! You monster!”

It was impossible. How could there be ghosts? They had killed so many over the years, and none had come for revenge. Why her?

“Dad, what are you yelling about…” Young Liu walked in, his head still bandaged. His eyes widened when he saw Wen Qingyun.

Good, both enemies are here.

Wen Qingyun didn’t give him a chance to speak. She used her power to snatch the cleaver from Old Liu’s hand and sent it flying toward Young Liu’s throat.

Schlick.

“No—!” Old Liu screamed as his son’s head slid off his neck, eyes wide in shock. Blood sprayed the ceiling.

Wen Qingyun watched the masterpiece, a small smile playing on her lips. Before Old Liu could utter another word, the bloody cleaver swung back.

She wasn’t just killing them; she was eradicating them. She waited patiently until their weak spirits appeared, then burned their souls away with ghost fire.

Then, she moved to the next house.

Seven in the morning. A time for breakfast for some, but for the men who had stayed up late hunting her, it was too early. She didn’t let them die in their sleep. She trapped them in nightmares of being sliced alive, then manifested the bloody cleaver before them just as they woke up in relief.

The third, the fourth, the fifth… the seventy-second, the seventy-third. Even the Village Chief.

Seventy-three people. Bodies and souls, all dealt with in less than two hours.

“Ah! Murder! There’s been a murder!”

The village women woke up to the stench of iron. Screams erupted. While some were terrified, those locked in cellars and pigsties began to stir, rubbing their ropes against jagged walls until their wrists bled, driven by a new hope.

One medical student among the kidnapped regained her composure. Ignoring the headless bodies, she scrambled for a phone. “Hello, 110? I’ve been kidnapped… and there are bodies… everywhere.”

Before the police could arrive, Chu Yu landed her sword. The thick scent of blood made her expression turn grim. She threw a yellow paper into the air; it spun three times and shot toward the heart of the malice.

…

[Congratulations Host, mission progress has increased. Current progress: 3%.]

“I killed every man in the village. Why only 3%?” Wen Qingyun played with her jade sphere.

[They caused the original’s death. You killed them for revenge. This is a closed karmic loop and does not count toward the mission. The 3% is for the panic you’ve caused, fitting your role as a villain.]

Ah, so revenge is free. As she thought this, a bolt of lightning struck the ground where she had just been standing.

“Evil spirit, submit.” Chu Yu stood there, face cold, a handful of talismans ready.

Wow, protagonists don’t even do opening monologues?

Wen Qingyun dodged five more lightning strikes and fled deeper into the woods.

“System, is this the protagonist?”

[Yes. Chu Yu. Extreme justice, high talent, reached Heavenly Master rank at 18. She tolerates no evil.]

Damn it. Wen Qingyun cursed. She was a fledgling ghost, and they sent a max-level boss.

[Host, this is a high-point mission. Please work hard!]

The chase lasted hours. Chu Yu was human; she had to breathe and fight off the thick yin energy of the forest. Wen Qingyun, however, grew stronger as she moved through the burial grounds of the woods.

Finally, Wen Qingyun stopped running. She dodged a talisman and pulled her blood-stained cleaver from her spatial sphere, swinging it at Chu Yu.

Clang!

The cleaver, soaked in the blood of seventy-three men, clashed against the cold iron sword.

Chu Yu frowned as her hand went numb. She reached for more talismans, but her hand came up empty. She had used most of them on her previous mission and hadn’t restocked.

“Heh, looks like you’re out of tricks.” Wen Qingyun narrowed her eyes and aimed for Chu Yu’s throat.

They traded blows. Chu Yu was a genius for a reason; even without talismans, her swordplay was flawless. But she realized she needed a decisive move. At the cost of a shallow cut to her shoulder, she bit her finger, drawing blood, and lunged forward to press her fingertip against Wen Qingyun’s forehead.