Lethal Stunner: Kicking Off with Five Beast Husbands
Chapter 40: The More You Fear and Worry, the Safer You Are

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The More You Fear and Worry, the Safer You Are

Yu Yunxiao twitched his ears and frowned at Mo Jiao. "Your interests are really diverse, huh—romance novels and horror comics."

"When I reported my preferences to the Terminal, I didn’t ask for books or comics," Mo Jiao explained. "The bookshelf in this room and these books—they’re not mine at all."

"They’re mine," Xiao Jinsheng answered.

"I believe the romance novels are yours, but these horror comics too?" Mo Jiao chuckled. "Why don’t you stop trembling while flipping through them before you explain?"

"It’s precisely because I’m scared of this kind of stuff that the thing I’m looking for must be hidden in them." Xiao Jinsheng said with determination.

"This one has traces of writing," Que Zelian pointed out.

Xiao Jinsheng quickly leaned in, only to find herself face-to-face with a grotesque ghost drawn in the comic.

She flinched backward in fear but then forced herself to lean in again, suppressing her discomfort to examine it closely. She finally noticed faint, indented handwriting on the paper.

"I seem to have forgotten myself."

"I can’t remember where I came from or how long I’ll have to live in this hellish place."

"I want to go home."

"My memory seems... faulty. Multiple personalities? Schizophrenia? But it feels like it’s neither. It’s as if someone keeps rewriting my memories—they know all my habits and can predict every decision I’ll make through those patterns."

"Compared to things I love or am accustomed to, what frightens me actually feels safer."

"The Terminal assigned me five husbands, but I don’t want them. In this world, I neither want to trust nor dare to trust anyone anymore."

"Today is October 17th, my parents’ death anniversary. Wasting away in this apocalyptic world might be worse than dying. If I die, perhaps I can reunite with my family. My memory worsens every day—maybe next year, I won’t even recall their death anniversary anymore."

"I want to die so badly. I’m afraid of pain, so I can’t bring myself to do it. If only someone could kill me painlessly. Xiao Jinsheng, quit eating those awful buns!"

The familiar handwriting, the familiar tone—after reading it, Xiao Jinsheng stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.

She hurriedly started rifling through the remaining horror comics.

But apart from the one Que Zelian discovered, none of the others yielded any clues.

Even so, just that one discovery was enough to overwhelm her.

Her gaze became vacant as she began to parse through everything she knew.

Her parents had died in a car accident during her middle school years. Originally kind relatives turned despicable, fighting over the millions in inheritance her parents left behind.

Because of these experiences, even before coming to this world, she avoided making friends, immersed herself in the internet, and preferred spending time with animals during her free hours rather than interacting with people.

Her lifestyle had been a complete mess; her body was frail too. She failed miserably to run even 800 meters and ultimately died choking on a bun in the cafeteria.

When she woke up again, she encountered the Divine Gold System, which had mistaken her for its Host.

This Divine Gold System had brought her into what she believed was a post-apocalyptic beastification world from a transmigration novel.

But now things had taken a strange turn—according to her memories, she had arrived six days ago, right after selling Mo Jiao.

However, whether it was Mo Jiao witnessing her worshiping her deceased relatives late at night, or herself leaving clues in the horror comic—they were both parts of her memory, both actions she recognized as her own.

Thinking about her faulty memory, Xiao Jinsheng realized that her nineteen years in the Mist Continent might have been fragmented, even repeatedly altered by someone. Fury swelled up within her.

"Bai Yan!" Clearly, Bai Yan was her prime suspect for tampering with her memories.

Xiao Jinsheng couldn’t understand why, in the original plot given to her by the Divine Gold System, Bai Yan was supposed to be gentle and kind, someone adored by everyone. Bai Yan’s spiritual power increased rapidly—she radiated protagonist’s luck and accomplished Terminal tasks with ease.

Bai Yan had many golden fingers, yes, but she wasn’t supposed to possess the ability to rewrite someone’s memories.

It couldn’t be...

At that moment, Xiao Jinsheng felt a sense of despair.

It couldn’t be that the Divine Gold System—the very entity that had brought her here—or the original plot she knew where Bai Yan was the protagonist, were entirely fabricated to manipulate her.

Realizing this, Xiao Jinsheng felt as if her entire transmigrated life—everything she had experienced—had been under someone else’s control. Lies and truths in her memories blurred together to the point where she questioned her very existence.

Xiao Jinsheng’s face was painted in despair, her entire body wrapped in a suffocating sense of death.

"Jinsheng, no matter what choice you make next, you need to know—I’ll always be firmly on your side." Que Zelian pulled her into his embrace, his gentle actions working to comfort her.

"My healing superpower also has the ability to soothe," Yu Yunxiao snorted from the side. "If you need it, just ask. I’ve already lost you twice; I owe you something to make up for it."

"I’ve noted down that you dislike buns," Huaiqing said, his gaze soft behind his glasses. "I’m planning to compile a list of food you don’t like—though it would be better if you also told me what you love eating."

"So, who do you want to kill?" Su Ye raised a hand and poked Xiao Jinsheng’s arm.

Mo Jiao stood across from Xiao Jinsheng, raising his brows at her. "Looks like we share a common enemy now, don’t we, ratings girl?"

"Stop calling me ratings girl, murder buddy!" Xiao Jinsheng bared her teeth at him.

Mo Jiao shrugged helplessly and glanced at the others. "See? This is what they call a miraculous recovery."

"You’re the most venomous one here," Su Ye sneered.

But seeing that Xiao Jinsheng had pulled herself out of the earlier haze of despair, the men present all felt a bit better.

Xiao Jinsheng also collected her emotions and pulled herself together.

She didn’t care if the world she was in was real or fake, if her memories were true or false, or if her transmigration was fabricated.

As long as her awareness remained, she wouldn’t accept living under someone else’s control.

In any world, survival belonged to the fittest.

Now reinvigorated, the first thing Xiao Jinsheng did was conceal the passageway she had uncovered in the storage room.

She didn’t yet understand how Bai Yan had managed to alter her memories, but she calmly acknowledged that with her current level of spiritual power, she couldn’t confront Bai Yan.

Her spiritual power was only 3 Stars, while Bai Yan’s was already at 5 Stars.

Her Beast Husband’s highest rank was 6 Stars, but Bai Yan’s Beast Husband topped out at a staggering 8 Stars.

Until she knew how Bai Yan tampered with her memories and gained enough strength to combat her, Xiao Jinsheng couldn’t afford to alert her.

After all, the stronger the villain, the harder it was for the protagonist to defeat them.

Xiao Jinsheng realized she was increasingly adapting to her role as an antagonist—and adapting to life in the Mist Continent.

She adjusted her mood and was about to descend the stairs, only for Mo Jiao to grab her collar with ease.

"What are you doing?" Xiao Jinsheng tried to walk away but failed, turning back to confront him.

Mo Jiao pointed at the mess in the room. "Trying to sneak away? Whoever caused the mess cleans it up."

Xiao Jinsheng’s gaze flitted across the toppled wardrobe, the books strewn across the floor, the overturned sofa, and the lifted mattress—guilt written all over her face.

"I... I can’t clean it all up by myself," Xiao Jinsheng said with an awkward smile, already planning her escape.

Mo Jiao manipulated his black mist to shut the door.

Now, the bedroom held only Xiao Jinsheng and Mo Jiao. She had simply been a step too slow and hadn’t followed the other four men out.

"Afraid of these, aren’t you?" Mo Jiao picked up a horror comic and smirked at Xiao Jinsheng.

"Whoever messed this place up cleans it up. If you don’t restore my room to its original state, I’ll plaster your bedhead with these horror posters."