The Cold Heroine Turned Into a Yandere After Being - Chapter 1

Great. It’s a disastrous start.

Inside the bright, clean interior of the car, the air conditioner hummed softly, sending out a steady stream of warm air. Behind the partition, a woman sat with one hand propped against her temple, resting her eyes. Faint light filtered through the window, illuminating her fair hand. It was clearly the hand of someone pampered fingers long and clean, resembling polished, flawless white jade.

The darkened glass reflected her silhouette. Her eyes were closed, highlighting her sharp, elegant features and deep contours. Her dark hair leaned slightly to one side with the tilt of her head, a few stray curls by her ear adding a touch of lazy grace to her refined face.

Suddenly, her thick eyelashes fluttered and slowly lifted, revealing a pair of light-colored eyes.

A heavy, woody fragrance lingered in the car. Mo Zhu rubbed the space between her eyebrows, her gaze sweeping over the unfamiliar surroundings with a hint of clinical scrutiny. Her soft fingertips brushed against the leather of the seat; the distinct texture confirmed that this was reality.

She had truly arrived in this world.

Welcome, Host, to World T-86145. I am your exclusive system, 5567.

World data model loaded. World information is currently processing. Please wait.

A clear, calm female voice echoed in Mo Zhu’s mind, audible only to her. During the wait, Mo Zhu raised her hand, examining it under the dim light from the window. She turned her palm slightly, watching the light dance across her skin. Those well-proportioned fingers curled into a fist and then opened again, exploring the sensation like a newborn discovering the world.

A flash of excitement sparked in Mo Zhu’s eyes, and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. This was a real, physical body, something she had never possessed before.

As she drifted in thought, the world around her suddenly seemed to freeze.

“Tianshu?” she called out silently.

“Master of the Pavilion,” a respectful voice replied in her mind, sounding vastly different from the cold tone of the system.

Hearing that title, a meaningful smile flickered in Mo Zhu’s eyes, vanishing before it could be noticed. That “Master” was not actually her. She had disguised herself as the Master and deceived everyone, including Tianshu, who still hadn’t realized that the person before it wasn’t its true owner.

In reality, Mo Zhu was a manifestation of the “stray thoughts” stripped away from the High Goddess of the Divine Realm. She had been sealed for tens of thousands of years before finally regaining her freedom through a stroke of luck.

Ten thousand years had allowed Mo Zhu to form her own consciousness, but she had never managed to obtain a complete, immortal divine body. To be precise, she should have had one. Since she shared the same origin as that high-and-mighty Goddess, she was essentially her double; that body should have been hers as well.

However, a small accident had occurred during their struggle for control.

While fighting the Goddess, Mo Zhu had lost her sense of proportion and accidentally shattered the other woman’s consciousness, causing the fragments to scatter into the lower small worlds. Without a soul to inhabit it, the divine body entered a self-imposed seal and fell into a deep slumber. If Mo Zhu wanted to claim it, she first had to obtain a form of “recognition” from those scattered fragments of the Goddess’s soul.

Having been sealed for so long, she realized upon her release that most mortal vessels could not withstand the weight of her spirit. Only a divine body would suffice. If she remained without a physical form, she would eventually face the fate of fading away into nothingness.

Thus, she had to come here to retrieve the soul fragments first. Everything else could wait.

She was able to locate these fragments thanks to Tianshu. As for her identity in these worlds, Tianshu had selected roles that would make it easiest for her to approach the soul’s incarnations.

“I cannot enter these small worlds with you. I can only pause time briefly to stay for a moment,” Tianshu explained. As a divine artifact that recorded the beginning and end of all things in the universe, it was bound by numerous restrictions to prevent it from interfering with the order of the lower realms.

“Mm,” Mo Zhu responded with calculated coldness. “Once I find her, how do I ‘collect’ the fragment?”

“Master, although she is a part of you, she must follow you of her own free will,” Tianshu replied.

“Of her own free will?” Mo Zhu raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat troubled.

“Yes,” Tianshu confirmed.

Mo Zhu fell silent for a moment, her brow furrowing. “Will she retain her memories in these worlds?” She was concerned that if the Goddess remembered their conflict, her plan would be thwarted before it even began.

That would be troublesome.

Tianshu answered, “No. Those soul fragments were shattered by you. They currently possess no complete consciousness and will believe themselves to be natives of these worlds.”

Hearing this, Mo Zhu relaxed. Her finger tapped rhythmically against the armrest. “Good. One more thing.” She tapped her temple. “It seems I haven’t received the full memory of this identity yet.”

“Do not worry. The local system will connect with you shortly, and you will soon merge with the memories of this body,” Tianshu said. “Master, I must leave now. Once you collect the fragment, you will automatically exit the world. I will be waiting for you outside.”

“Mm.”

As Tianshu departed, the frozen time began to flow again. The driver in the front seat remained still, and Mo Zhu’s wandering gaze finally focused. Outside the window, the shifting shadows of the night flickered past, casting a warm glow over her features.

Currently in a decent mood, her eyes held a hint of a smile she couldn’t quite hide.

World information loaded. Please review and accept your mission.

The voice rang out again. Mo Zhu looked at the panel floating in front of her and clicked confirm. She noticed she could adjust the system’s voice settings and, after scrolling through the options, she smilingly selected one.

Hello, Host! I am your exclusive system 5567, but you can call me Xiao Ta.

A playful, brisk voice chirped, a stark contrast to the previous robotic tone. Satisfied, Mo Zhu began to browse the plot summary.

According to the data and Tianshu’s hints, the soul fragment she was looking for was the protagonist of this world, named Ji Shubai.

Ji Shubai came from a single-parent household and had lived with her mother since childhood. Few knew she was actually the illegitimate daughter of the wealthy businessman Cheng Guanqing. Her mother had only discovered he had another family after she was already pregnant. The man had no intention of acknowledging her, merely sending money periodically. For over twenty years, they had lived in a state of uneasy peace.

However, a year ago, Cheng Guanqing suddenly became unusually close. He told Ji Shubai’s mother he had divorced and expressed a desire to marry her. He was her first love, and despite the past deception, she still harbored feelings for him.

Ji Shubai, who was away at school at the time, knew nothing of this. By the time she found out, the two had already registered their marriage.

What followed was a nightmare. It turned out that a large project Cheng Guanqing had blindly invested in a year ago had run into serious trouble. Funds couldn’t be recovered, bank loans were overdue, and the company’s capital chain had snapped.

As the company was about to collapse, the unsuspecting mother was coaxed to his side. Before she could understand the situation, she was tricked into signing numerous agreements and contracts. Afterward, Cheng Guanqing left the crumbling mess to the mother and daughter and fled overseas with his “real” family, vanishing without a trace.

Forced by the crisis, Ji Shubai had to return and try to fix the disaster. Once she took over, she found herself besieged by both legal and moral consequences. She witnessed the cold reality of the world in a very short time. Those who were once close to the Cheng family now bared their teeth, eager to tear a final piece of meat from the teetering company.

Because the debts had been transferred to her mother, Ji Shubai went everywhere to beg for help, only to be repeatedly rejected. She had never dealt with the Cheng family’s business partners before and had no connections.

Finally, in a state of desperation, she sought out the infamous playgirl socialite of the Mo family.

That was Mo Zhu’s current identity.

The two had attended the same school during their youth. The original Mo Zhu was two years older than Ji Shubai. Though they were in different grades and rarely interacted, they were both so outstanding that people often compared them.

While they were both beautiful, their personalities were polar opposites. One was the quintessential “cold flower on a high ridge,” while the other was a notorious heartbreaker who toyed with everyone’s affections. Ji Shubai loathed Mo Zhu’s playgirl lifestyle, and Mo Zhu couldn’t stand Ji Shubai’s perceived “fake” purity. The two had spent their youth in mutual dislike, maintaining only a thin veil of politeness.

Therefore, it had taken a massive amount of resolve for Ji Shubai to approach Mo Zhu for help.

However, the original Mo Zhu was no saint. While she agreed to help, she forced Ji Shubai to sign an “Assistant Agreement,” Which was actually a thinly veiled “Sugar Baby” contract intended to humiliate her. The agreement stated that if Ji Shubai served as her “assistant” for one month, Mo Zhu would lend her the funds.

Ji Shubai knew it was a setup, but she was so desperate for the money to save her mother that she had no choice but to sign. Holding the contract over her head, the original Mo Zhu had frequently humiliated her in public, but Ji Shubai had endured it all in silence.

What she didn’t know yet was that Mo Zhu never intended to lend her the money. The contract was full of legal loopholes. In her panic, Ji Shubai hadn’t had a professional lawyer look it over. The contract was legally invalid; Mo Zhu was simply playing with her.

When Ji Shubai would eventually discover this, her hatred for Mo Zhu would become absolute. She would break ties with Mo Zhu and take a much more dangerous gamble to save her company and she would succeed. Once she rose from the ashes, the second person she would destroy (after her father) would be the Mo family. To save themselves, the Mo family would throw Mo Zhu to the wolves, leading to a miserable end for her.

In short, Ji Shubai was the protagonist of an inspirational “rebirth/revenge” story, and Mo Zhu was merely the cannon fodder meant to be stepped on.

Thinking of this, Mo Zhu couldn’t help but chuckle. Ah—it seemed that no matter where she went, she couldn’t escape being stepped on by this woman.

At that moment, the system issued the mission.

In this world, the Host must reverse her own tragic ending, strive to gain the heroine’s trust, and become her most intimate partner~

This mission aligned perfectly with what Mo Zhu intended to do anyway. As for the system’s subsequent warnings, she didn’t take them to heart.

Mo Zhu turned toward the window, which reflected her clear features. In this world, she had lost her power of illusion, so she appeared as her original self. Her eyes and brows bore a slight resemblance to the High Goddess, but they were not identical.

She needed a divine body of her own and would do whatever it took to get it. If she could offer a helping hand while Ji Shubai was at her lowest, gaining her trust would be easy. Collecting the soul fragment would be a walk in the park.

Sending charcoal in a snowstorm it wasn’t a difficult task.

She could give Ji Shubai what she needed, she just had to time it correctly. Being too eager might backfire.

Just as Mo Zhu was planning her “charity” strategy, the phone on the seat beside her vibrated loudly in the quiet car. She picked it up.

The driver spoke up at that moment. “President Mo, fifteen minutes have passed. Should we keep waiting?”

The cryptic question made Mo Zhu frown. She replied casually, “Wait a moment.”

Simultaneously, she opened a new message from her assistant.

President Mo, she’s coming out.

Mo Zhu’s frown deepened. Who was “she”?

Before she could message back, a light “tap-tap” sounded against her window. Behind the glass, a blurry dark shadow was visible. The window rolled down silently, like a sheet of ice melting away, revealing a woman’s face.

She stood there, appearing as though she were one with the night, her pale skin glowing faintly under the streetlights. The wind brushed through her hair but failed to disturb the cold, distant look in her eyes. The shadow of her lashes cast a line across her face, hiding a hint of exhaustion.

As the window lowered completely, her gaze swept over. Mo Zhu stared at the familiar face, her eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly as she tested the name: “…Ji Shubai?”

Why was she here?

Ji Shubai didn’t answer. She simply handed a document through the window. “I hope you keep your promise.” She took a deep breath, her gaze toward Mo Zhu as cold and quiet as moonlight on a winter night.

Mo Zhu looked at the document and took it without a word. She flipped it open. On the first page, a bold, enlarged title caught her eye:

Life Assistant Employment Agreement?

Her fair, thin eyelids twitched. She quickly flipped through the pages until she reached the last one. Her eyes landed on the signature line at the bottom there, in elegant, upright characters, was a name.

 Ji Shubai.

The handwriting looked as though it wanted to pierce through the paper; one could only imagine the force the person had used while signing.

Mo Zhu: “…”

Wow. Great It really is a disastrous start.