Han Yanyan opened her eyes in a pure white space.

All of a sudden, her face lost its color, her knees became soft, and she knelt on the ground, clutching her heart. But there was no gaping, bloody hole in the body that had been clawed open, and her heart was beating strong and healthy in her chest. She was safe and well in this pure white space.

Panting heavily, Han Yanyan stood slowly from the ground. "Ding Yao, Ding Yao... Ding Yao!" She chanted the name, her eyes reddened and her teeth clenched. "You! Fucking! Bastard!"

If there had been a table or something in front of her right then, she would have kicked it over. But this pure white space, except for the floor she was standing on, had neither walls nor ceilings, and it seemed boundless. The anger and hatred in her body entangled her, but there was nothing for her to vent it on. She wanted to explode.

Han Yanyan could only pull at her hair violently and turn around where she stood. If you had given her a chance to return to the zombie apocalypse right then, she would not have hesitated to muster up her strongest strike and kill Ding Yao in one blow!

That fucking bastard!

To have entered with a mission, but then developed genuine feelings for that world, to have devoted herself to that person... Han Yanyan had once felt that she would never regret it. Now she really wanted to drag her stupid, sincere self out and beat her up.

Nothing could have been more laughable than this. She had decided to die for him, but before she could do so, he had used her as a meat shield.

Han Yanyan felt as though she was about to explode. She stood in the white space, clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and screamed with all her might. She was so angry, so angry!

"Han Yanyan, calm down! Calm down!" It was the robotic voice.

The sound of the synthesized voice brought her back to her senses. She remembered that she wasn't a person from that world, after all. She had her own life in her own world, and that life was still in the hands of this goddamned ghost.

She forced herself to breathe in slowly, clenched her fists, and waited for the robotic voice to punish her.

Who could she blame? This who-the-hell-knows-what-it-is robotic voice that held the power of life and death over her? Should she blame Ding Yao for having been too charming? At the end of the day, the only one she could blame was herself, for having been a fool. Clearly, it was a 'quick transmigration world'; clearly, she had been set a mission; yet somehow she had gotten stuck with such true and heartfelt feelings.

Idiot!

When it came down to life and death, Ding Yao's actions proved that he hadn't really fallen in love with her at all. She had failed her mission. According to what the robotic voice had said before, she should be thrown out to die.

Han Yanyan closed her eyes and waited for death.

She waited... then the robotic voice sounded again, saying, "Calm down, you did a great job! I wasn't mistaken when I chose you. You really have potential as an architect!"

"What did you say?" Han Yanyan opened her eyes in astonishment.

"I said, you did a great job," the robotic voice repeated. It even sounded a little jubilant to Han Yanyan's ears.

"But Ding Yao didn't fall in love with me," she said.

"It doesn't matter," said the robotic voice. "Whether he loves you or not doesn't matter.  It's just a means to an end. So long as you achieve my goal, I don't care one way or the other whether he hates you or loves you."

Han Yanyan was silent for a while before she asked, "What exactly is your goal? What do you want from this world, and what do you get from completing the missions?"

The robotic voice immediately chilled. "That isn't something you need to care about. You ought to be more concerned about how to save yourself. Remember, your life is in my hands."

She rephrased her question. "Well, then, what exactly does it mean to have completed a task? You have to explain it to me, or how will I know what to do when I'm just muddling my way through?"

"That..." The robotic voice wavered, "That... depends on the specific situation. Every world is different. It's 'quick transmigration', after all. Um, well, don't feel down. You've worked quite hard, so I'll give you something a little more light-hearted for the next world. "

When it finished speaking, the human-like quality seemed to drop from its voice and a machine said coldly, "Mark."

'Mark' again! Han Yanyan opened her mouth, but had no time to say anything.

She seemed to go into a trance for a moment, and then there was a hollow, empty feeling in her head.

"In this world, you're here to make sure the target understands the mistakes he's made. As for the specifics, they're up to you. You did great in the last world, so trust your intuition," said the robotic voice. "The world isn't difficult. Consider it a little vacation."

"The world has been generated," it then said mechanically.

It can freely switch between the human-like tone and the cold inorganic one without a gap in between, Han Yanyan thought.

She didn't know that after she had entered the world, the 'robotic voice' turned off his mic and turned to explain to the people behind him, "She's an architect with a lot of potential. She's done the best so far out of all of them."

"She must... must be allowed to relax... her current mental threshold is approaching the warning line." He looked at the row of pitch-black muzzles aimed at him, swallowed, and carefully explained. "Three architects have already died, so we must cherish this one. I've arranged something more light-hearted for her next. When she's rested, she can go back to work."

The cold gun muzzles aimed at him did not waver.

The 'robotic voice' wiped away cold sweat, turned back around, and continued monitoring...

frostcrystal

In the previous translation, Han Yanyan was called a 'builder'. I'm a bit torn as 'builder' does have a pretty good piece of foreshadowing built in, but on reflection I'll be changing the term to 'architect', because a) it sounds cooler, and b) I believe it's more accurate since... well, you'll just have to find out. ;)

I like the chapters between worlds. There's so much to unpack.

Comments are nice, so give me one if you feel like it!