I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 1

Yan Yu was dead. The last thing she did before she died was read a trashy, unfinished “stallion” novel (a male-power fantasy) written for a male audience.

The book was set in a completely fictional alternate continent where everyone is born with their own Beast Soul. Those who pass the Beast Art evaluation exams are honored as Beast Masters. They are ranked into four grades—Special, A, B, and C—and hold a status far superior to commoners.

Because women in this world live nearly three times longer than men, society naturally evolved into a matriarchy. Polyandry (one wife, multiple husbands) is common practice.

The “selling point” of the original novel was exactly this: the male lead transmigrates into this female-dominated world and builds a massive harem. Despite being a loser who couldn’t pass the Beast Master exam for ten years, he somehow levels up, slaps faces, and gains wealth, power, and the people’s hearts.

As luck would have it, Yan Yu transmigrated into this very book.

Even worse luck: while the male lead transmigrated with a “system” cheat code, she transmigrated into the script of a sickly cannon fodder.

Right now, this cannon fodder side character—attempting to “save” the male lead—was standing in front of the female lead’s house. Raising her thin little arms (which looked like they’d struggle to hold a pen), she was loudly announcing to several tall, sturdy guards that she intended to assassinate the female lead and take her head.

If she had transmigrated just a few minutes earlier, Yan Yu might have controlled herself. But now, the words were already out.

The guards, who had been ignoring her, walked over. Without a word, one gripped her collar and lifted her up with one hand, as easily as handling a rowdy toddler.

Clang— A dagger with a rusted blade fell to the ground.

the female guard sneered and kicked it away.

“If I said I was joking just now, would you believe me?” Yan Yu whispered.

The guard let out another scoff, tied Yan Yu’s hands without further talk, and pulled a round object from her waist. She traced a symbol on it, the stone door groaned open, and she tossed the bound Yan Yu inside.

The light inside was too dim. Yan Yu strained her eyes but couldn’t see a thing. She took a few tentative steps forward when a hand suddenly grabbed her from behind, gripped her neck with force, and shoved her head down.

A scent of soapberry mixed with mint hit her nose. Yan Yu remembered from the book that in Langdie Valley, where the female lead lived, all maids were required to use bath balm with this specific scent.

She was now a prisoner, handed over from the gate guard to a head maid. She hadn’t heard the maid approach at all; the woman moved like a ghost.

Forced into a bowed position with her hands tied behind her, Yan Yu was marched inward. The pain from her twisted arms and her previously struck abdomen made it impossible to stand straight. A thick, metallic taste filled her throat—it felt as though if she loosened her jaw even slightly, she would spray a mouthful of blood.

“Don’t try anything,” the maid warned.

The female lead, Yin Beiqing, hated being looked at. Consequently, all the maids in Langdie Valley wore white silk scarves over their eyes at all times. They wore white dresses, went barefoot, and moved in eerie silence.

Yet even the lowest-ranking maid in this valley was a powerhouse who had passed the Grade B Beast Master test. Any one of them could lead a ten-man squad in the military. Though they looked plain, their strength was not to be underestimated.

Thinking back, the original owner of this body rushing in here alone to “save” someone was… ill-advised. She couldn’t even beat a Grade C Beast Master, yet she dared to infiltrate the heavily guarded Langdie Valley to assassinate Yin Beiqing?

After a short walk, the maid brought Yan Yu to an open area.

Unlike the stone paths outside, the floor here was covered in a thick, snowy-white plush carpet. The room smelled of pleasant incense. Further ahead, atop a set of stairs, a woman in red lounged lazily on a throne covered in patterned animal furs.

A black iron mask covered half her face, leaving only the tip of her straight nose and her thin, crimson lips visible. Her eyes were half-closed as she boredly waved a bone fan.

A white python, as thick as a man’s torso, was coiled to her right. Its green vertical pupils were cold as it hissed, radiating an aura as terrifying as its mistress.

Yan Yu took one look and quickly averted her eyes. Her heart hammered against her ribs; the very air around this woman seemed to reek of blood.

“Impudent!” The maid behind her pressed down on Yan Yu’s neck, forcing her head lower. “Who gave you the gall to peer at the Valley Lord!”

The maids might be blindfolded, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t “see.” High-level Beast Masters use Soul Power to sense the shape, size, and even temperature of objects around them.

The maid’s rough shove was the final straw. The blood Yan Yu had been holding back escaped. She let out a few muffled coughs, and bright red spots instantly splattered onto the pristine white carpet.

The moment the blood hit the floor, Yan Yu panicked.

Yin Beiqing was notorious for her eccentricities, the biggest one being her obsession with cleanliness. Her maids wore white and had to bathe for thirty minutes before serving her. She was even worse—after every killing, she would soak in a bath for an entire day.

Yan Yu, a medical student herself, understood hygiene, but this was extreme. Thinking about what a person like that would do to someone who spat blood on her carpet made Yan Yu’s skin crawl.

Shring!

Seeing the mess, a dozen maids drew their swords in unison, surrounding Yan Yu.

“Alive Yama…” Yan Yu thought bitterly. She was an ant that Yin Beiqing could crush with a thought. Even if the original owner of this body was the descendant of a famous general, Yin Beiqing wouldn’t hesitate to take her head.

Yan Yu rarely got angry, but thinking about the “hero” of this book made her blood boil. The original owner had sacrificed her life for a scumbag male lead who viewed women as mere stepping stones. In the original plot, the male lead’s childhood friend (this body) is executed and fed to wolves because of him.

The swords hadn’t struck yet; the maids were waiting for Yin Beiqing’s command.

Yin Beiqing didn’t fly into a rage as expected. She opened her eyes, her gaze lazily sweeping over Yan Yu’s pale, beautiful face. She felt nothing. Fear, trembling, despair—she had seen it all. It was boring.

“Kill her. Feed her to the wolves,” she said nonchalantly, as if ordering a mundane chore.

A drop of cold sweat rolled down Yan Yu’s forehead, further staining the milk-white carpet. Her tied hands shook uncontrollably.

She knew she was terrified, but she gritted her teeth against the pain and straightened her spine, forcing her eyes to meet Yin Beiqing’s directly.

“Kill me, and you will definitely regret it.”

The air in the room seemed to vanish. Even the draft that had been fluttering the maids’ skirts went still.

No one moved. No one spoke. Only the sharp, piercing intensity in Yin Beiqing’s eyes told Yan Yu that she had heard—and that the words had landed.

Yin Beiqing finally sat up. Her long hair slid over her shoulder like a silken waterfall. She rested her hand against her temple, her gaze locked onto the fragile figure below like a predator about to tear its prey apart.

She had expected the sickly woman to beg. She hadn’t expected her to have the guts to speak.

“Are you threatening me?” Her voice was deep, but undeniably feminine and beautiful.

In front of Yin Beiqing, there was only one thing more dangerous than insulting her: threatening her.

Yan Yu knew she only had one sentence to save her life.

“In the year of Radiant Light, a Goddess shall descend. She knows the heavens above and the earth below; she foretells a thousand years of fortune and woe, and solves ten thousand years of mysteries. The Goddess’s holy touch cures all ills; she brings life to the ashes and returns the departed to the living.”

This was a prophecy from an ancient text. The version popular among commoners was a simplified translation.

The year 6000—this very year—was the year of the Goddess. Yin Beiqing suffered from a malignant disease and had been searching for this woman for a long time. Hearing Yan Yu recite the original text of the prophecy—a version that hadn’t been circulated—made her hesitate.

The maids, sensing her shift in mood, lowered their swords.

Yan Yu breathed a mental sigh of relief. She was walking a tightrope. One wrong word, and she was dead.

In the original book, the “Goddess” was never actually found. The male lead just used the title to scam the female lead out of her Beast Soul Bead early on, and then the author seemingly forgot the plot point.

Yan Yu figured that if she impersonated this faceless Goddess, she wouldn’t be caught.

The male lead had a system, but Yan Yu had something else: a high-IQ brain and an eidetic memory. She remembered every word of the book she had read. She knew every move the male lead would make.

She could always be one step ahead of him.

Since Yin Beiqing wanted a prophetic Goddess who could heal, Yan Yu would simply have to volunteer for the job.