[Script Control Transfer in Progress... Current Controller: Li Xi]
The light in the banquet hall seemed to lose all warmth the moment that card lit up.
The lights dimmed. Guests murmured in confusion. The system, like a program on the verge of collapse, began to frantically flash prompts—
[Script World Anomaly Detected] [Temporary Control Privileges Acquiring] [Character Consciousness Awakening: 1/6] [Hidden Plotline Activated]
Li Xi stood amidst the shattered champagne glass, like the calm eye of a storm.
She knew—it was finally time to play her first card.
"You tampered with the data source of the Fate Card?" The man in the grey suit spoke coldly, a trace of fury breaking through his composure.
Li Xi smiled slightly, as if looking at a pathetic and slow-witted observer.
"Not tampered," she raised the E18 card in her hand, her fingertips sliding across its gleaming surface, "reclaimed."
"You've thrown away too many failed scripts. Lives that no one wants—I took one. Is that a problem?"
The man in the grey suit fell silent for a moment, then coldly raised his hand.
[Warning: Administrator Attempting to Reclaim Control]
A crushing pressure surged in from all directions—as if the system was trying to eject her from the world.
—Force Logout Initiated.
Li Xi's eyes turned sharp. In the next second, the Fate Card in her hand cracked apart, disintegrating into light and shooting into her body.
[Binding Complete: Fate Deviator ID—L-000]
[Permission Level: Temporary Grade A Corrector]
[Abilities Unlocked: Mirror Memory Rewind] [Consciousness Fragment Reassembly] [Probability Correction]
The man in grey froze, real shock flashing in his eyes for the first time. "You—you're not a character created by the system?"
"Of course not," Li Xi said calmly. "You really thought I came from one of your scripted stories?"
"Your system grabbed the wrong person. I never belonged to this world to begin with."
Her lips curved faintly. "But now, I've decided to stay—and rewrite everything."
Meanwhile, in the corner of the banquet hall, a young maid sneakily sipping champagne suddenly widened her eyes in shock.
A strange voice echoed in her mind—
[World Deviation Detected... Target Cognition Awakening: 30%]
[Awakening Trigger Condition: Contact with the Eye of Fate]
She grabbed the wall for support as visions surged through her mind—memories that weren't hers.
She saw herself thrown off a high-rise. Heard He Linyun sneer, "You're just a substitute." Saw a light whisper to her as she lay dying: "Want to try again?"
Her gaze changed.
A fate deviator—was awakening.
And Li Xi, standing in the center of the banquet hall, seemed to have foreseen it all.
—
"I remember you," He Linyun suddenly spoke, his voice low and raspy. "Not the 'Li Xi' from the script—but something... more human."
"You've changed your eyes. Your breathing rhythm." He stepped closer, eyes dark as if to consume her. "Who are you, really?"
Li Xi looked at him, then suddenly leaned in, whispering with a soft smile:
"I'm the one who came to make you die worse."
Bang!
In the next instant, she raised her hand—a small flashbang slid from her palm and exploded at his feet.
The banquet hall erupted in chaos.
Li Xi slipped out through a side door in the confusion, darted through the service corridor, and raced toward the underground safe room downstairs.
It was a place she had once briefly hidden in during the "Thirteenth Death Script."
[System Notification: Branch Path Selection]
[A: Escape the banquet, temporarily evade pursuit][B: Infiltrate script database, retrieve hidden plot structure][C: Attempt to activate instance world projection]
She chose B.
She wasn't running—she was taking back control.
—
The safe room was freezing. An old computer in the corner flickered with blue light.
She inserted the remaining shards of the Fate Card into the port. The program began to shift.
[Database Import Successful]
[Parsing True Structure of the World...]
Holding her breath, she watched the lines of code. A massive web of fate began to emerge.
Six characters. Six chains of destiny. All linked to a single central node—
"L-R Main Node" —herself.
She was the true seed node of this entire "Fate Script."
"No wonder you want me dead," she chuckled. "I'm the only one who can break the fate algorithm of this world."
The data unlock progress reached 90%—but suddenly, a black warning box flashed:
[Abnormal Access Detected]
[World Control AI: X-0 Entering Defense Mode]
[5-Second Countdown: Locking Onto Corrector Consciousness]
Her eyes hardened. She yanked the card shards out—the computer instantly went dark.
But in that fleeting moment, a line of text slipped into her consciousness:
[Welcome back, Li Xi—the true 'Fate Thief.']
She froze.
That wasn't from the system. It came from deep within her mind—from a presence... both familiar and strange.
A blurry figure surfaced in her thoughts. Long silver hair, dark robes, a cold, deep voice:
"You were never meant to belong to any script. You are the variable that steals fate."
"You will destroy everything."
Her pupils contracted.
And finally, she remembered—on the Zero Timeline, before all scripts began—
She once stood before a door, and said to that person:
"I will rewrite every ending."