After Becoming the Love-Brained Female Lead’s Best Friend - Chapter 1

One second, Ye Wanyin was rushing to her exam hall; the next, she was standing in a system space.

In a world of pure white, Ye Wanyin stood alone as a transparent soul. She adjusted her now-nonexistent glasses, thinking she must be dreaming.

As she puzzled over how to break the dream—since she was in a hurry to get to her exam—a mechanical voice suddenly echoed in her ear.

[Identifying—]

[Ye Wanyin: IQ 120, EQ 50. Consistent top of her grade, multiple-time first-place winner in provincial exams. Academic performance: Qualified. Transmigration aptitude: Qualified. Meets criteria for ‘Saving the Love-Brain Heroine.’ Preparing information download—]

“Excuse me, let me interrupt. Can you let me finish my exam first?” After pinching her thigh several times and failing to wake up, Ye Wanyin was starting to get anxious.

[We regret to inform you that you have been selected as the Host for Instance No. 1034. You cannot return to your original world for your exam until the mission is complete.]

[Friendly Reminder: Time flow in the system space is synchronized with real-world time. The longer you stay here, the closer you get to the start of your exam.]

Ye Wanyin pinched her thigh hard again. The pain was real—she hadn’t escaped the “dream.”

Was this dream simply too realistic, or had she truly been sucked into a fantasy world?

Before she could wrap her head around it, a virtual novel appeared in her mind. Simultaneously, the mechanical voice rang out again: [Information download complete. Host, please choose to transport to the novel instance immediately—]

Ye Wanyin tried to open the novel in her mind. The first page was a wall of text; she recognized the words individually, but looking at them together made her head swim.

She had never been able to enjoy reading novels.

[Host, please transport immediately—] The system urged.

Ye Wanyin asked calmly, “If I enter the novel instance, will the time flow in my world change?”

[Yes. Once the Host enters the instance, time in the original world will freeze. When the Host completes the mission and returns, you can continue with your exam.]

Ye Wanyin asked one final question while still pinching herself: “How long until my next exam starts?”

[One hour.]

Ye Wanyin decided decisively: “Transport me.”

[Ding—]

[Contract active. Host successfully bound to the ‘Love-Brain Salvation System.’]

[Mission: Ensure Fang Shu gets into university.]

[Background: You are Fang Shu’s best friend. You grew up together and rented an apartment off-campus after starting high school. Fang Shu is obsessed with romance and hates studying. You’ve tried to advise her many times to no avail, so you have decided to…]

The mechanical voice faded. Ye Wanyin opened her eyes to see a girl with long, jet-black hair standing in front of her. The girl’s eyes were half-lidded and lazy. She seemed to be speaking: “I’m heading out.”

Before Ye Wanyin could respond, the girl turned and walked away without looking back.

Surveying her surroundings, Ye Wanyin first felt a wave of relief—she finally had glasses again. She adjusted the frames and called out in her mind: “System?”

No answer.

Ye Wanyin frowned. She scanned the living room to ensure no one was there, then whispered with a hint of embarrassment: “System?”

Still no answer.

Ye Wanyin started to lose her cool. She still wasn’t sure if this was a dream. She had only agreed to the transport because she feared that if it wasn’t a dream, she’d miss her exam while stuck in that white space.

Now that the system was gone, she pinched her thigh again. Confirming the pain was real and she couldn’t wake up, she resigned herself to opening the virtual novel in her mind.

The first section was a long descriptive passage. Ye Wanyin forced herself to read. As time passed, her head began to ache again. What on earth is this writing?

In the evening, a sound came from the door. Ye Wanyin looked up to see the person who had left that morning appearing at the entrance.

Ye Wanyin blinked. The person at the door didn’t come in immediately. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, a flicker of emotion appearing in her dead-calm eyes: “You actually didn’t go to class?”

Ye Wanyin: “…?!”

Seeing the shock in Ye Wanyin’s eyes, Fang Shu let out a long “Oh,” clearly enjoying the drama. “No wonder the teacher called me.”

Ye Wanyin: “!”

Ye Wanyin frantically looked for her phone to check the date. She patted her pockets and scanned the room, but the phone was nowhere to be found.

Fang Shu had already kicked off her shoes and walked in. Seeing Ye Wanyin’s shifty eyes, she asked, “What are you looking for?”

Ye Wanyin’s eyes flickered with a bit of hope. “I’m looking for my phone.”

The other girl froze, her expression turning even stranger. Ye Wanyin’s heart sank as she heard the girl say lazily while leaning against the wall, “Since when do you have a phone?”

Ye Wanyin froze. “I don’t have a phone?”

Fang Shu leaned in slightly, her voice still casual: “Unless you went out and bought one today.”

—So, she didn’t have one.

Ye Wanyin hadn’t expected to be phone-less in this world…

Just as she was about to press Fang Shu for more information about her situation, Fang Shu’s phone rang. Fang Shu gave a silent wave and retreated to her room with her bag while talking.

Ye Wanyin was left to her own devices. She surveyed the apartment: a two-bedroom, one-living-room setup. Looking at the door Fang Shu had just disappeared behind, Ye Wanyin opened the door to the other bedroom.

This was likely the second bedroom. It had no balcony, only a set of blinds. The furnishings were sparse: a bed, a study desk about a meter long, and a built-in wardrobe containing only a few scattered pieces of clothing.

Ye Wanyin looked around. The room was pitifully empty. Under the pillow, she found a dozen 100-yuan bills and a set of keys. On the desk were a few scattered study guides, a flat backpack, and a few pens in the drawer.

Ye Wanyin truly learned the meaning of the word “empty.”

Just as she was staring into space, a siren-like alert sounded in her mind—

[Ding—]

[System energy depletion detected. Mission mode automatically switched to ‘Offline.’ A mission manual will be issued shortly for the Host to consult. During the mission, please avoid OOC (Out of Character) behavior—though as an ‘External Intervention’ character, this does not apply to you. Do not slack off. Upon completion, points will be awarded to open the Points Mall.]

[Mission Duration: One year and three months. Failure to complete results in automatic expulsion and memory wipe. Slacking will result in punishment.]

[Ding—]

[Battery low. System is now offline.]

Ye Wanyin didn’t even get a chance to ask a question before her mind went silent. Refusing to believe it, she called out, “System?”

[Ding—]

[System: An auxiliary tool designed to provide various forms of assistance to the Host.]

She thought the system was back, but it was just a pre-recorded definition. Ye Wanyin thought of a term in her mind; the text dissipated and reformed:

[External Intervention: A virtual character created by the system when a mission’s difficulty is too high or the target’s social circle is too small. Usually has a close relationship with the protagonist.]

Ye Wanyin understood. She thought of the “Mission Manual,” and this time, a virtual book appeared.

The first page was a table of contents: departments of the transmigration system, contract information, and a dictionary that filled with information based on what she wanted to look up.

It was only then that Ye Wanyin realized the system actually had regulations. Choosing a Host was not supposed to involve coercion. Contracts required full disclosure and consent. Without consent, the Host should have their memory wiped and be sent back.

Ye Wanyin thought back to her few minutes in the white space. She felt like she had been victimized by a “forced sale.”

She thought: Hello? I’d like to file a complaint.

No response.

In offline mode, the system was dead. Ye Wanyin had been “abandoned” in this instance.

Now, her only options were to complete the mission to wake the system and complain, or wait out the year and be expelled. But she didn’t know what the punishment for “slacking” was.

Ye Wanyin’s mind went blank. She flopped onto the bed. The ceiling was white, and the light from the overhead lamp reflected sharply off her glasses.

Ye Wanyin was not the type to sit around and wait for death. Since this wasn’t a dream and she didn’t want to waste her life here, there was only one thing to do.

An hour later, Ye Wanyin closed her notebook and opened her bedroom door. The sky outside was dim.

She glanced at the closed door across the hall and pushed up her glasses. The soundproofing was quite good; she didn’t know if Fang Shu was still on the phone, but she was waiting to hand the girl some study notes.

Since the other girl didn’t come out, Ye Wanyin decided to eat. She hadn’t had lunch and was hungry.

The fridge was mostly empty except for some frozen food. Ye Wanyin didn’t feel like being picky. She boiled a bag of frozen dumplings and leaned against the kitchen door, reading a study guide.

The guide was from her desk—Grade 11 material. While the concepts were basic to her, the problems were different. Ye Wanyin took great pleasure in mentally solving every single problem in the back of the book.

By the time she finished her dumplings, her stomach was full—and so was her heart.

Ah, doing problems really is the best way to relax. Reading that novel was way too taxing.