Chapter Text
Actually, Alice knew that this name was given to her for a reason. She was always getting into strange situations, managing to get into an adventure even while shopping for bread at a nearby supermarket. Her life was troubled, though very fun, but, as expected, quite short.
In her wretched twenty-two years, when she woke up before the first exam of the summer exam week, she decided to take a shower. Just taking a shower — what could go wrong here?
The people who claimed that you shouldn't wash your hair before the exam were probably right.
Because Alice woke up in her own body, was standing on the side of the bathroom, stumbled awkwardly, and then opened her eyes in some strange poky hole of a place that couldn't even be called a hospital. Her head ached wildly, which was pretty logical, but for some reason, something was ringing in her ears, and she had a translucent greenish-blue system window in front of her eyes, like in a video game. She had never been into video games, and her coordination and reaction speed just never allowed her to even try to get into it.
And actually, are there such realistic games? That is, she had heard rumors about all sorts of VR helmets with full immersion... Oh, no, such advanced technologies that completely recreated the whole reality were only in anime. For now. And Alice certainly couldn't have had something like this in her bathroom.
Blinking, Alice could finally see what was written on this console hanging in the air.
[Welcome, Host! Welcome to the “Redemption” story quest! Your avatar is the second son of the head of the Qishan Wen Sect, Wen Zhao*. The main mission is to save the Wen clan. Starting number of points — 500]
Oh, a story quest? Sounds pretty good. Alice was terrible in all sorts of shooters and puzzles, but this was a genre she liked. When she watched all these gameplay walkthrough videos, she was interested only in the story plot, and she did not care about any of the graphics and interface at all.
She wondered who she should thank for such a gift? If this is an experiment, then it must be her dear mother because no one else could have signed the appropriate authorization. If this is the result of a severe traumatic brain injury, then it became a little sadder: when Alice comes out of the coma, the fun adventure will end too.
But who can prevent her from enjoying at least this small time interval? Moreover, she doesn't need to pass the exam in psychiatry anymore: here, she could feel the entire set of hallucinations literally on her own skin.
The former student stared at the system window thoughtfully. There were no buttons on the panel, she didn't want to poke her fingers in the air, and her body didn't feel very well. So how could she use this thing? By voice?
Something sounded like an incoming message somewhere right in her head. The text on the semitransparent tablet changed immediately, glinting with a greenish glow.
[The system is controlled by directed mental commands. You can change the control method to voice. Do you wanna make a change?]
[Yes] [No]
Just imagine how stupid it would look if she suddenly started talking to the system out loud; Alice mentally clicked “No”. The tiny button blinked bright blue and was gone.
[Control method: mental. Do you want to open the settings menu?]
Just as the girl was about to respond positively, a muffled scuffle was heard from somewhere to the side. Turning her head to the side with difficulty, Alice saw only closed doors, rather thin and elegant in appearance. Only then did it occur to her to look around and compare what she had seen with what the system had given her.
The surroundings, as she had initially thought, looked as if a historical film had been shot within these walls, and with a clear touch of Ancient China. And these rooms looked quite pompous. Rich heavy fabrics, gilding where it is necessary (and not necessary), even expensive-looking scrolls and painted fans on the walls, plus cozy low sofas and tables. As close as she could tell, these were the chambers of a noble master.
Although... wait, the system said that her avatar is Wen Zhao, right? So, she took his place. True, Alice would have preferred to be in the Cloud Recesses to get a ringside seat for watching WangXian mating games, but what no is no. It was worth thanking the developers at least for locking her in the world of the "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation", and not in some "Naruto" one instead. She wouldn’t have survived the ninja flashbacks from her own stormy youth. In this story, at least the world is interesting, and the men are gorgeous.
The scuffling came closer, and soon it became clear that it was the sound of several people's footsteps. How thin the walls must be, if she was able to hear them from this distance! And she could even distinguish who the muffled voices could be if she concentrated.
“...if he won’t wake up, we should inform the Sect Leader," the voice, which seemed to belong to an adult woman, was full of alarm.
"Oh, the young master was the one who fell off his horse awkwardly, and we will be the ones to get punished?" the other, younger voice was clearly displeased.
"You!" a third voice hissed. "You want to lose your head, A-Mei? What if someone hears you?"
"I hear", Alice could've said, just to joke, but she decided not to provoke an early heart attack of the unfortunate NPC. Even if they were just game objects, they were part of reality now, which meant that something useful could be extracted from them. For example, some information.
So Wen Zhao fell from his horse. Given the overall level of the "coolness" of this character, this was not surprising at all. It turned out through unpleasant discovery that it seems Alice had to pay with her own poor health for his injury. Or are these the echoes of her own body's state affecting her perception, and the developers decided to make a similar damage to the avatar, so that there was no dissonance?
Amazing work, really.
Meanwhile, the three maids had reached the door. Alice immediately closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep, but, unable to restrain her curiosity, she opened them slightly.
There were three women in Wen clan robes, but of very poor quality. Even at first glance, it was obvious that they were just servants, not full-fledged residents of this house. Rough fabric, darker colors, and the style of clothes were made so that they would not interfere with the dirty work.
The transmigratress had barely even glanced at the face of the oldest maid when the system window appeared in front of her eyes.
[Do you want to enable automatic character recognition?]
"Well, why not," the girl mentally shrugged and answered yes.
Above the heads of all three maids, who had spread out across the room, appeared small translucent consoles that looked like notifications.
[Pao Mei. Young maid (audacity rating — 12 out of 100)]
[Li Huang. A healer from Li clan (skill level — 3)]
[Li Hua. A healer from Li clan (skill level — 2)]
Well, it seemed that all three women didn’t belong to the Wen clan by blood, which was in general pretty logical: it was unlikely that anyone would humiliate their own kinsman with such a position. This must be the fate of all the small sects that were absorbed by the "sun". The one who was a healer now was just a maid to clean the rooms of rich snobs, and the best that they could count on is just an uncomplicated care for the patient. No development, no prospects.
A terrible fate, come to think of it. It's like being stuck in a nurse position forever, being almost a certified surgeon.
While Alice was thinking at length, two women from the Li clan, who were indeed somewhat similar to each other, deftly changed the "young master's" clothes. The avatar's body still felt disgusting, so there was no sense of movement. But when Li Huang, the eldest of the maids, saw that "Wen Zhao" had opened his eyes, she threw up her hands in delight.
"The young master is awake!" she exclaimed.
Alice winced in annoyance and tried to turn away, but her head only twitched slightly and flashed with pain. Yeah, that guy had hit the ground pretty hard. Although, she had never fallen from a horse, so who knows what injuries and consequences there might be. She didn't want to think about medicine, especially since the former student hadn't been out of her books for two weeks.
No, she's in the game now, and she should start adapting.
The maids, meanwhile, began to bustle. Before Alice could even blink, another person had entered the room. This time, it was a man in fairly high-quality clan clothes, which immediately indicated that he was not from the lowest status.
[Wen Ming. A healer form Wen clan (skill level — 5)]
Thank you, system, this was very important information.
[No need for thanks ^_^]
Well, it looks like she got a friendlier system than Shen Yuan. Well, or this AI is simply not able to recognize sarcasm.
Meanwhile, Wen Ming began to examine the "injured". The man's hands were warm and pleasant, but he definitely shouldn't put pressure on the back of her head. Alice was almost thrown over the bed, and her scream could have deafened some demonic beast.
"My apologies, young master," the healer said, bowing his head.
"Shove your apologies up your a- you know where" the transmigratress hissed under her breath, before immediately biting her tongue.
Can Wen Zhao even express something like that? She couldn't remember what this character was like, except that he was a spoiled bastard. Well, he also made out everywhere with some vulgar girl who burned a mark on Wei Wuxian's chest.
Oh, why didn't she wake up in the body of some adept from Gusu Lan? Seriously, the Wen clan is just boring, and they'll all be destroyed in a couple of years. Alice is unlikely to even make it to this moment, so why wasn't she sent off at some more stressful moment? Well then, let's say, the death of Jin Zixuan, where she could have time to push Wen Ning away. Or the massacre where Shijie died. Or even the fall of The Lotus Pier.
Anything would be more interesting! But this was a story quest, so a smooth start could still be tolerated. If only the experiment time wouldn’t end before the main fun started.
"Hey, system," Alice said mentally, as she endured the change of bandages. "What is the purpose of my being here? And what are these points?"
[The main goal is to save the Wen clan]
[Points are the main condition of your staying in this world. They can be obtained and lost in different ways. If one member of the Wen clan dies, you'll lose 1 point. If one plot-significant member of the Wen clan dies, you'll lose the amount of points corresponding to their value. If the total score reaches 0, you will die]
Great news, nothing to say. Hissing from another painful manipulation, the girl continued to mentally terrorize the system. This helped to distract from the unpleasant feelings.
"How can I get points?"
[You can get points by completing story tasks, interacting with characters, or other ways that are unlocked as you progress]
Alice pursed her lips thoughtfully. The doctor seemed to have adopted the grimace on his account because he became even more careful.
"Well, how many points will I lose with Wen Ruohan's death?"
[Wen Ruohan's death will cost 10,000 points]
Ten thousand! And this is despite the fact that she has only five hundred starting points! This is a real robbery in broad daylight!
However, it is unlikely that she will live to see the whole story… By the way, what time frame did she even end up in?
[The next story event is the arrival of the clan heirs to the Qishan Wen Sect's training camp for "training"]
Great… Okay, stop. I mean, what is "training"? What about the archery competition? Or when was Wen Zhao's first appearance there? After all, it turns out this avatar has already managed to make things worse! What do you want her to do with the consequences?
It's kind of piggish. Alice was already dreaming of becoming one of Wei Wuxian's friends and going on an adventure with him, but it turns out that this piggy boy has already left the most disgusting impression about himself. Here's the thing.
There is good news: WangXian!
And then bad ones: the cave of the Tortoise of Slaughter, and the fall of the Lotus Pier just a couple of days later. And then the bill goes for months, where nothing can be fixed.
So, we need to somehow influence what will happen during this damned "training". Except...
"System, is my OOC function unlocked?"
[In this software version the OOС function is unlocked. However, you may be executed on suspicion of taking over Wen Zhao's body :)]
And what the hell is that emoticon?!
And how to live without the OOC function, if you don't even remember how the original character should behave?!
Alice mentally screamed. It seems that a fun adventure is beginning to turn into something more complex and brain-breaking, while also being vitally dangerous. That is, it is most likely in some overly elaborate simulation, but this does not make the execution less threatening. Who would want to be in the world of their favorite novel, and then immediately lose their head without even having time to look at the main characters?
It would be better to pass the exams now, in fact.
*His name is spelled as "Zhao" in this and some next few chapters because it's a little joke based on MDZS Russian fan translation.