They were dragging their feet down what barely counted as a road, muddy and worn, when—
Ding!
A sudden chime rang out, echoing across the trees like a bell from nowhere.
All four girls stopped in their tracks.
[Welcome, Hosts. Welcome to the world of Villains Rule the World.]
Su Jing tensed. "What the hell—?"
[Initial memory load... now beginning.]
Pain bloomed behind their eyes. Four gasps, four bodies stumbling as a flood of foreign memories slammed into them—faces, names, family histories that weren't theirs. Like watching someone else's life flash before your eyes.
Su Jing straightened, eyes wide. "…I'm Shen Liu. First daughter of the Shen family."
Lin Yao scratched her temple, dazed. "Shen Xi? That name just popped into my head…"
Tang Mi blinked, holding her head. "Shen Qiu. Third daughter. This is... so weird."
Zhou Rui mumbled, "Shen Xue. I didn't even know that name a second ago…"
[I am your assigned Side Support system. I will offer occasional guidance and quests.]
"What system?" Su Jing barked into the air. "Who's talking?"
No answer.
[Quest 1: Find your way home. Good luck.]
Then silence. The voice disappeared. No explanation. No help. Just a lingering echo in the humid air.
Lin Yao blinked. "…Did we just get hacked by God or something?"
Tang Mi looked around. "We have new names. New bodies. Does that mean we… died?"
Zhou Rui hugged herself. "I don't feel dead."
"No one feels dead," Su Jing muttered. "We're alive. That's what matters. We don't know what this is—a dream, a trap, some twisted experiment—but until we get answers, we survive."
She looked at the others. Even with new memories swimming in their heads, one thing was clear:
They didn't know where they were.
They didn't know who had done this.
And they sure as hell didn't know why.
But the names now stitched into their minds—Shen Liu, Shen Xi, Shen Qiu, Shen Xue—came with something else: a place. A distant memory of a grand estate. Of gates. Of home.
Maybe it was fake. Maybe it was real. But it was the only lead they had.
"Let's go," Su Jing said. "We find that house. Then we figure out what the hell is going on."
Lin Yao saluted with her stick. "Copy that, Commander Liu."
Tang Mi dragged her feet. "Can we also find food?"
Zhou Rui trailed close to Su Jing, quiet but watching.
And so, with aching legs and stolen names, the four strangers walked toward a home they had never seen—
Clumsy.
Loud.
Hungry.
Shy.
Not heroes.
Not villains.
Not even meant to matter.
But maybe... they would.