Xiao Zhi sat hunched over her laptop, her eyes narrowed at the glowing screen. She had been working nonstop for weeks, and her back felt like it belonged to a seventy-year-old Asian granny. Every bone in her spine creaked in protest, but her stubborn brain refused to stop.
"Princess Lian Zhi, concubine-born, not favored… elegant but easily dismissed…" she read aloud in a mocking voice, "Marries off to a barbaric prince… Sister stole lover… mother dies tragically… abused by the prince…"
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, twitching with the urge to unleash her editorial wrath right this instant. She could practically feel the words forming: cliché, predictable, uninspired. But she stopped herself. Not yet. She had to finish reading this mess before tearing the poor author apart.
She continued to read, "Well, at least the male lead is handsome." She smiled a little, "This kind of story, I like."
But her satisfaction didn't last long as she read the next paragraphs. "So the male lead gets to victory while the female lead dies?" Her lips curled in disgust. " Seriously? Again? Another girl whose only role is to suffer so that the male lead can flex his righteous anger later? Predictable much?"
With a loud smack, she slammed her palm against the desk. The sudden sound startled even herself. She shoved her chair back and stood up quickly. She started pacing across her tiny apartment, arms flailing like she was about to conduct a full orchestra of frustration.
"I swear," she declared to no one in particular, "if I have to read one more story where the heroine is born only to be bullied, married off, and then die tragically…!" She threw her hands in the air. "Why can't anyone just let the poor girl live happily for once? Is that too much to ask?"
A small meow interrupted her rant.
Xiao Zhi turned to find Mocha, her plump gray cat, sitting on the desk like a little emperor. Mocha tapped at the mouse with his paw, sending the cursor sliding across the tragic manuscript.
"Not helping, Mocha," she muttered, scooping him up. She buried her face in his fur. "You're cute, but even you can't fix bad writing." Then she put the little feline down.
Mocha blinked at her, unimpressed.
Back at her desk, Xiao Zhi scrolled again. Her editor's eye was twitching with every cliché line.
Marriage to a villain. Check.
Family dies tragically. Check.
Her lover stolen. Check.
Abuse by the villain. Check.
Her own death. Check, check, check.
She slapped the table again in frustration. "Unbelievable. It's like the author took the Tragic Female Lead Template, filled in the blanks, and called it a day. Every chapter, a new misery. Is this supposed to be art? No. It's just depressing. And lazy!"
Her rant spiraled. "Maybe, just maybe, the heroine could survive if she had two brain cells to rub together. Or, wild idea, run away like any rational person would. But no, let's keep her alive just long enough to squeeze out maximum suffering points. Fantastic. Bravo. Ten out of ten for originality." She gestured dramatically at the ceiling, like she was giving a speech to her invisible, suffering audience.
Xiao Zhi sighed and sat back down on her chair. She scrolled up to the top of the document and squinted at the author's name. Lin Rui. Of course. She remembered this guy. He was practically the king of tragic love stories.
Did he suffer some kind of lifelong heartbreak? Did his ex dump him in the middle of a rainy street like one of those cheap dramas?
Xiao Zhi cracked her knuckles and started typing furiously. Within minutes, she had a draft email:
To: Lin Rui
Subject: Fix this story
Body:
Dear Mr. Lin,
Do you really expect readers to be interested in a story about a princess dying in predictable and brutal ways? Are you really that masochist? Stop killing her every chapter. Try something original for once. Fix it.
Editor, Xiao Zhi
She hovered her mouse over the Send button. For a fleeting second, she hesitated a bit.
What if he hates me forever? What if I'm being too harsh?
But she shrugged. "Eh. He'll live. Probably."
Click. Sent.
"Finally," she exhaled, collapsing into her chair. "Maybe now he'll get the hint and write something worth reading."
Her eyes wandered around the apartment. Manuscripts in chaotic towers. Three empty coffee cups sat by her laptop. A half-eaten cup of instant noodles sat on the desk. And the air around her smelled like burnt coffee and dusty cat fur.
I need to burn this place down
Her phone buzzed against the desk, screen lighting up face down. She ignored it. Probably another deadline reminder or a useless promo notification. She couldn't be bothered.
She stood up and was about to fill another cup of coffee before the light above her flickered.
Then the whole apartment went dark.
Xiao Zhi sighed. "Not again…"
Her apartment building was old and barely holding itself together. It was famous for two things: thin walls that let her hear the couple next door fight every Thursday, and constant blackouts thanks to a fuse box that belonged in a museum.
She groaned and dragged herself to the fuse box. Mocha meowed nervously. That cat was afraid of the dark. She wiggled her tail and begged Xiao Zhi not to leave her alone.
"Stay there, Mocha," Xiao Zhi wagged a finger at him. "This is a human disaster. You'd just make it worse."
She crossed the cramped living room and flipped open the dusty metal panel of the fuse box. A tangle of wires greeted her, looking more like noodles than electricity. She could smell a faint burnt smell on the insulation.
"Ugh. Perfect," she muttered. "Just what I needed."
She reached for the switch.
Snap!
A spark jumped onto her fingers.
"Ah! Damn it!" She shook her hand, her hair puffing up from static.
But before she could pull away,
ZAP.
A sharp jolt shot up her arm, freezing her muscles. Pain raced from fingers to shoulders, her heart pounding as her vision turned white. Her muscles locked, her body burning and tingling all at once.
And then—silence.
Blank
When Xiao Zhi opened her eyes, the world around her was no longer her apartment.