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Cen Lingqiu was merely an employee at the "Book Transmigration Bureau," tasked with playing various supporting roles in different novel worlds to help advance the plot.

"Lin Qiu" was her latest assignment.

According to the system, this novel world was from an old, melodramatic romance novel filled with intense emotions and conflicts.

The male lead harbored deep feelings for a deceased love, and to cope with his longing, he latched onto the female lead because she had eyes eerily similar to his lost love, as well as a similar personality. He pursued her, viewing her as a stand-in for his white moonlight.

However, the female lead didn't reciprocate his feelings and continuously rejected him. The self-centered and domineering male lead used his power to imprison her in his private estate, intending to turn her into a canary who lived only for him.

The female lead had lost her mother early in life, and her father was a gambling drunk who cared nothing for her. To make matters worse, the female lead was disabled, and no one paid any attention to her. She was a stunningly beautiful but fragile and pitiful flower.

Eventually, the second male lead arrived at the estate and fell in love with her at first sight, helping her escape. The male lead, realizing his true feelings for her too late, embarked on a journey to win her back, leading to a long and arduous process that eventually ended with the two of them getting their happy ending.

But recently, the system had detected an alarming increase in the female lead's self-destructive tendencies, to the point where it predicted that she might reach a peak on her birthday—a point of no return where she might commit suicide.

This was a grave threat to the world's stability. The female lead was the core of this romance novel's world, and any harm to her would cause the entire narrative to collapse.

Thus, the system decided to send someone to prevent her from self-destructing. It placed this redemption role on "Lin Qiu."

In the original story, "Lin Qiu" was a vicious antagonist toward the female lead. She was the male lead's sister and a close friend of his deceased love. Disgusted by the female lead's disability and feeling that the female lead was taking the place of her friend, she often humiliated and tormented her.

The male lead was aware of his sister's behavior but did nothing to stop it. He enjoyed playing the role of a gentle and caring savior after Lin Qiu's cruel treatment, knowing that the female lead, in her fragile state, would start to rely on him as her protector.

The male lead reveled in this dynamic.

"Lin Qiu" served as a tool to break down the female lead's spirit, and much of her mental fragility was a result of the constant verbal abuse and psychological pressure from Lin Qiu.

The system chose Lin Qiu's role to correct the original character's abusive behavior. Now that the female lead had only recently been imprisoned in the estate, there was still a chance to save her. Cen Lingqiu's mission was to lower the female lead's self-destructive tendencies and prevent her from succumbing to despair on her birthday.

Today marked Cen Lingqiu's first day as "Lin Qiu," and the current plot point was supposed to be where Lin Qiu maliciously left the starving female lead out in the garden during a rainstorm, warning her that if she dared to return to the house, she'd be locked in the dark, damp storage room underground—a place she feared most due to her terror of the dark.

The poor female lead had recently been scalded by boiling water that Lin Qiu had deliberately poured on her hand. With her body weakened and untreated, she was left out in the rain with no one to help her.

As a character meant to save the female lead, Cen Lingqiu couldn't possibly let her be abandoned like this. She had hurried over and found the female lead on the verge of throwing herself into the lake.

Cen Lingqiu realized just how dangerously close the female lead was to self-destruction.

She silently endured the female lead's accusations, while the rain continued to pour down. All she wanted now was to get inside.

The more silent Cen Lingqiu remained, the more hysterical Yu Mingjiao became. She shoved Cen Lingqiu's umbrella aside, grabbed her by the collar, and brought her face close.

"Lin Qiu, I hate you!" Yu Mingjiao's voice was hoarse, filled with rage. "Why did I have to meet people like you? What did I do wrong? Why do you and your brother treat me like this? You and your brother are both disgusting—neither of you are good people!"

It seemed that "disgusting" was her go-to insult.

Cen Lingqiu let Yu Mingjiao clutch her collar tightly, her expression calm and indifferent. Her emotions were like flowers encased in ice—cold and distant.

Yu Mingjiao's desperate, twisted face was etched clearly in Cen Lingqiu's mind. The breakdown she couldn't hide, the obvious despair, and the deep-seated hatred were all vividly clear in Cen Lingqiu's eyes.

The rain quickly soaked them both to the skin.

Cen Lingqiu found it rather absurd that the two of them were standing in the rain like this.

But now wasn't the time for heart-to-heart conversations.

"If you want to yell at me, do it inside," Cen Lingqiu said, trying to push her wheelchair. "It's cold in the rain."

Yu Mingjiao seemed to have more to say, but her strength was depleted. Her eyelids drooped, and she slumped against Cen Lingqiu's shoulder.

Cen Lingqiu was somewhat relieved that she had fainted. The girl was so stubborn; getting her inside was like a matter of life and death.