[Cycle 001 – Bai Ningwei]
Code: Subject 413
Body: Bai Ningwei, 17 (deceased)
Mark: Cinnabar teardrop (left cheek)
Location: Bai Residence, Southern State
Goal: Clear injustice, survive, collect soul token
Tokens Collected: 0
Memory Access: Locked
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The first thing I noticed was the smell of sour rice and cheap incense.
The second was the bowl my face was buried in.
I sat up slowly, congee dripping off my chin. Cold. Thin. A fly floated on the surface with all the grace of a dead diplomat. The porcelain bowl was chipped, and someone had tried to disguise the crack with wax and good intentions.
[Transfer Complete.]
[Body Status: Bai Ningwei | Female, 17 | Officially deceased.]
[Mission: Clear false accusation. Survive minimum 9 days. Collect soul token.]
The System's voice rang out in my mind, as cold and emotionless as ever. Didn't wish me luck. It simply handed me the body and expected me to perform.
My limbs were weak. I could barely lift my own sleeve. The bed beneath me was hard, the air damp, and somewhere nearby, a candle sputtered out like it had just given up.
A maid screamed.
"She moved! She really moved! Third Miss is ... she's moving!"
The broom in her hands clattered to the floor as she turned and fled, shrieking something about restless ghosts and water demons. Her voice echoed all the way down the corridor.
I wiped the rice off my face and stared after her. "Not even five minutes in this body and I'm already deaf. Lovely."
The room was small - too small for a noble daughter. Peeling paint, broken furniture, and the unmistakable scent of a person abandoned. My guess was Bai Ningwei had been left here to die in peace, or rot in silence. No difference.
I turned my head toward the cracked mirror on the far wall.
There she was. Or rather, I was. Pale face. Lips dry. Black hair sticking to a high forehead. My bones jutted out like the body had starved on principle. But the thing that drew the eye, as always, was the mark.
A small cinnabar teardrop beneath the left eye.
Unchanging. Permanent. Mine.
A voice floated in from the doorway - smooth, practiced, and sweet enough to coat poison.
"Oh? You're awake, Third Sister? What a surprise."
I turned my head.
A girl stepped in with the elegance of someone used to being watched. Pale pink robes. Delicate earrings. A subtle perfume that reminded me of peach blossoms and bad news.
Bai Ruolan. Second daughter. Family treasure. Trained since birth to be admired.
She looked like a lotus, all softness and beauty but she was the kind that grew in still water and smiled while strangling your ankles.
"Ruolan," I said, though the voice wasn't fully mine yet. "Come to finish the job?"
She blinked, startled, but recovered with a gentle smile. "Third Sister, how can you say such things? I came to check on you. When you fainted yesterday, we all feared the worst."
"Wished," I corrected. "You wished for the worst."
Her smile didn't falter. "I wouldn't say that. But… it would've been very convenient."
I didn't respond.
The memories were still blurry, but enough remained. Bai Ningwei had been accused of seducing the Shen family heir, a quiet, brutal rumor planted with skill. She'd denied it, of course, but the Bai family needed a scapegoat, and Ningwei had the misfortune of being the third daughter with no political worth.
The public shaming, the beatings, the cold. She'd lasted three days before collapsing in the peach blossom courtyard, alone.
Ruolan watched me carefully. "You look… different."
"I died," I said. "It changes a person."
She laughed softly. "Ah, always so dramatic."
She stepped forward, pulling a cloth-wrapped object from her sleeve. "Mother asked me to bring you this. A little hairpin you dropped before your fall."
I tensed.
Hairpin?
She handed it to me — a delicate peach blossom carved from cheap jade. Innocent-looking.
[Soul Token Detected.]
The System's voice clicked in like a blade unsheathing.
[Condition: Cannot be retrieved until task is completed.]
Ruolan gave me a polite nod, already turning away.
"Oh, and Third Sister," she said, glancing over her shoulder. "Breakfast is in the kitchen. If you can walk that far."
She left with a sweep of her skirts.
The door closed. Silence returned.
I looked down at the hairpin. In another world, it might've been worth nothing.
But here?
It was everything.