The annual school gala was buzzing with excitement. Lights glittered, cameras flashed, and the stage gleamed like a battlefield awaiting its final clash.
Ji Yunxi walked into the hall with quiet confidence. Her dress was simple but elegant, nothing like the gaudy, jewel-studded gown Lin Xi flaunted. Yet the whispers followed Yunxi, not her rival.
"She's stunning…""No wonder the Mo heir protects her…"
Lin Xi's painted smile cracked. Tonight, she had planned to crush Ji Yunxi's reputation once and for all. Her lackeys had spread rumors, her allies were ready to mock Yunxi—everything was set.
But the moment Mo Liancheng entered, all her schemes collapsed.
He walked straight to Ji Yunxi without hesitation, offering his arm. His deep voice carried across the hall, cold and absolute:
"Tonight, the only girl worthy of standing beside me… is Ji Yunxi."
Gasps rippled through the crowd. Lin Xi's face went white, her nails digging into her palms.
"No! That's not true! She's an impostor, a fake—"
Before she could finish, a large screen behind the stage lit up. Evidence, damning and undeniable, filled the display: forged documents, recordings of Lin Xi paying off witnesses, even her vicious remarks about the "real heiress."
The audience turned like a tide.
"She framed Ji Yunxi!""All this time, she was the fake one!""Disgusting!"
Lin Xi's world crumbled in front of everyone.
Ji Yunxi's lips curved, her eyes sharp as blades. "Lin Xi, you should have learned—when you dig a pit for someone else, you're the one who falls in first."
The hall erupted in whispers, some in sympathy for Yunxi, most in disgust for Lin Xi.
Lin Xi screamed, wild and desperate. "No! This isn't how it's supposed to end! I'm the real heiress! I—"
SLAP!
The sound cracked across the hall. Ji Yunxi's hand had struck like lightning, silencing everything. Lin Xi staggered, tears and makeup smearing her face.
"You lost," Ji Yunxi said coldly, her voice carrying like judgment. "And you will live with the shame of it."
For a moment, it was perfect. Absolute victory.
And then—
[System Notice: Mission complete. Extraction commencing.]
Ji Yunxi froze. Not here. Not now.
Her vision blurred, the glittering hall dissolving into streaks of light. She reached for something solid—anything—but her body was already fading.
"Yunxi!" Mo Liancheng's voice roared across the hall. He lunged forward, his hand grasping hers. For one breathtaking second, their fingers touched—warm, real.
"Don't go." His voice cracked, low and desperate, unlike anything she'd ever heard from him. "Stay. Stay with me."
Ji Yunxi's throat tightened. She wanted to answer, to say something, anything. But the system's pull was merciless. Her lips moved soundlessly as she was swallowed by the void.
The last thing she saw was Mo Liancheng's face, twisted in anguish, his hand grasping at nothing but empty air.
And then—darkness.