Dead… dead for real this time… no saving myself now!
The room was barely sixteen square meters—just enough space for a bed, a tiny bathroom, and a small refrigerator, with the rest taken up by a narrow, cramped walkway. A young man sat on the bed, looking utterly soulless, all will to live gone.
His black hair hung in messy strands, his lips a touch darker than usual, hinting at good health—if not for his deathly pale complexion at the moment, as though he were staring straight at the apocalypse.
And that was precisely how it felt to Louis. This was no different from the end of the world. If he were doomed to die sooner or later, then he'd rather have a giant meteor crash down and blow up the whole planet so everyone could die together.
Louis thought about it with the resignation of a man who had given up.
Who could've guessed that a perfectly normal young man from the twenty-first century would end up inside a book! And not just any book, but one where every character was a lunatic among lunatics—every crazy imaginable, with no such thing as "craziest," only "crazier." And he, Louis, was just a background character, existing solely to set off the main character's madness… and dying within the first three chapters!
When he first landed here a year ago, Louis hadn't regained his memories yet. He thought he had been born and raised in this place.
That was… until a week ago, when he accidentally saved a little girl about to fall into the street.
The moment his hands touched her, Louis's entire mind shook. Memories surged into his head like a flash flood, so overwhelming that even the brain hailed as his family's "central processor" couldn't help but glitch for a second.
Looking down at the girl in his arms, Louis's heart trembled violently, cold sweat nearly dripping down his hands.
Because if he wasn't mistaken, the girl he had just saved… was the female lead of the novel Original Sin that he had once read!
The leader of the most wanted criminal syndicate on the planet—wherever she went, chaos followed; eating flesh, drinking blood, committing every imaginable crime without batting an eye!
Fuck!!!
And in the original story, Louis had died because he accidentally saved her, causing her to cling to him… until she eventually got bored and killed him.
Yes, it was that simple! If she were interested, she'd play with you. If she weren't, she'd kill you.
When Louis read it, he'd found it entertaining, curious to see how it would end—only for the author to drop the story abruptly. And then, as one of the novel's original fans, he got pulled right into it!
God, at least make me the female lead's right-hand man! Why this character? Unacceptable! Unacceptable!
Knock, knock, knock…
A sudden knocking sounded at the door—slow, hesitant, and almost timid.
Louis slowly lifted his gaze. In contrast to the mess inside his mind, his eyes appeared calm, betraying no emotion, the faint blue within flickering slightly.
Given the situation, Louis had no choice but to accept it. He'd already spent an entire week crying and thinking things through.
He needed to survive.
He might never return to his original world, but that didn't mean he'd give up on living. He was only twenty, after all. The only thing he could do was hold on—live for as long as he could.
If the female lead got bored… then he would have to ensure she didn't. At the very least, he needed to keep her from getting so bored that she decided to take his head. He had to live!
According to the original plot, this was about when the female lead would come looking for Louis. He had already prepared himself mentally. Standing up calmly, he walked toward the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking came again, this time accompanied by the sound of muffled sobbing.
"…Who is it?" Louis muttered, then glanced through the peephole. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he thought, Well, what's meant to come. Resigned to his fate, he opened the door.
When it swung open, a slender girl of about sixteen—thin enough to look almost fragile—suddenly threw herself forward and clung to him.
She was thin, yes, but not short. Louis stood at one meter eighty-three, yet the top of her head reached his neck even without shoes. He couldn't even imagine how tall she'd grow in adulthood.
Truly, she had all the traits of a female lead in one of those "strong female protagonist, no romance" novels—this girl could push others around, not the other way around.
Louis froze, unsure where to put his hands. He spoke softly, "You… what happened to you?"
Hic… hic… The sound of her sobs continued. Louis could feel her tears soaking into the skin of his neck, seeping into the collar of his shirt—warm yet oddly cool.
Don't you dare wipe your snot on me! Louis screamed silently in his head.
He raised one hand slightly and patted her back lightly. He could feel her bones jutting out sharply through the thin fabric of her clothes, almost like the back of a crocodile. It felt less like he was holding a person and more like a skeleton come to claim his life.
"All right, calm down. Tell me what happened."
Louis gently pried her off him, looking in surprise at the tear-filled eyes before him. "You… you're that girl from last week?"
The girl tilted her head slightly, as if surprised he recognized her. Her eyes curved faintly, silver irises glistening with starlight through her tears, and her white hair swayed softly—making her look like an angel who had descended to the mortal realm.
If only this angel weren't the same person destined to slit his throat.
Worried, Louis led her over to sit on the bed. He hesitated, then awkwardly said, "My place is tiny… there's nowhere else to sit." It was noticeable to the naked eye that the tips of his ears had turned red.
The girl shook her head, her gaze lowering slightly. One of her hands still clung tightly to Louis's, as if she would never let go.
Louis pressed his lips together slightly before finally taking the lead to speak.
"All right, what happened? What's your name? Where's your mother? Don't cry anymore—I can take you home."
Lowering his gaze, his expression showed nothing but genuine concern. He raised a hand and gently wiped away the tears clinging to her cheeks.
Perhaps because the girl was so frail and her skin so unnaturally pale, Louis's movements were incredibly light, as if he were handling the most fragile porcelain in the world.
Aboli lowered her eyes, making it impossible to read her thoughts.
In a soft voice, she recounted her story.
It turned out her family was just a third-tier middle-class household, but for some unknown reason, they had offended someone. A cruel enemy had set their sights on them, and one night, her entire family was burned alive in their home. She alone had narrowly escaped, fleeing in desperation until she shook off the madmen chasing her.
The young man before her wore an expression full of pity, his eyes lowered as though they held all the gentleness in the world, looking at her as if she were a small, helpless creature with nowhere to go.
Aboli narrowed her eyes slightly, controlling her breathing so it didn't become too heavy.
Mother… mother… hehe, mother was adorable…
Meanwhile, Louis's mind was already a tangled mess of thoughts.
Yes, Aboli's story sounded very tragic—
That is, if he didn't already know the truth.
The truth was, her mother had been scheming to secure an opportunity to get into Zone 5. To that end, she had arranged to send Aboli to the bed of a fat older man who worked at the Environmental Research Institute! Aboli had always been obedient, rarely refusing her mother's demands, no matter how excessive.
But that was only because she still considered that woman her "mother." Once she decided someone was unworthy of the title, slitting their throat was nothing unusual.
Yes—this was precisely what made lunatics so unpredictable.
Because her family member had angered her, Aboli had ultimately burned the entire household to ashes, leaving no survivors. Then, using her skills as a hacker, she tracked Louis down—the man who had accidentally saved her the week before, making her feel a rare warmth…
Most people, after being saved, would come to repay the kindness.
On the other hand, she was more likely here to exact some twisted form of "revenge."
Seriously, who "repays" their benefactor by killing them?!
"After you saved me last time… I secretly followed you home… I'm sorry…" Aboli's hesitant voice rang out again. Her tearful eyes, vast and shimmering like those of an innocent fawn, looked up at Louis with pure vulnerability. If it were anyone else, they might have melted instantly and spent a long time comforting her.
After all, the people who had taken Aboli in initially had also been swayed by her appearance—this thin, pale, quiet girl who seemed pitiful.
But Louis… Louis was the one man who could stay clear-headed when everyone else was bewitched. Looking at her, a giant phrase flashed across his mind:
Ha. Fake. Completely fake!