Yue Yue's body lay still on the soft bedding, her breathing was soft and steady, but inside her mind the world was not quiet at all.
The moment she fell into deep sleep, something opened like a door hidden behind her consciousness.
A heavy flow of information poured into her head. It was not gentle. It pressed against her skull, making her feel like her head was being filled drop by drop with boiling water.
If she had been awake, she would have screamed and clutched her head. But she was asleep and trapped inside the dreamlike world, forced to accept everything as it came.
The first thing she saw was the past. Not her past, but the past of this world.
This future world where humanity had once stood at the top. She saw tall silver cities and bright skies. Then she saw darkness spreading from the ground like a thick, slow fog. It was strange pollution.
When the pollution rose too much, the beasts of the world mutated. Ordinary animals turned into terrifying "polluted beasts," creatures with twisted limbs and poison in their breath. They destroyed everything.
Humans were the first to fall.
From the chaos, a new race rose. They were not humans, but they were born from humans. Their bloodline shifted, and they became the Orcs, a race that could take human form and beast form at will. They had strong bodies, long lives, sharper senses, and natural power. After the world collapsed, they became the dominant race.
But even the Orcs were not completely safe. Because the land itself was still dying.
Most areas of this world had been turned into polluted zones, each marked by rank.
Yue Yue saw a map spread before her eyes. The zones were marked from S-rank to F-rank, where S-rank polluted areas were the deadliest, filled with the strongest polluted beasts, and F-rank zones were safer, holding weaker beasts.
The beasts themselves were ranked in the same way. S-rank beasts could kill hundreds of orcs alone. F-rank beasts were weak but still dangerous in groups.
Suddenly, the picture changed again.
She now saw a woman standing on a tall cliff. The woman wore a long robe made of white feathers and silver scales. Her hair shone with golden light.
She was the first female, the first one to awaken with SSS spiritual rank. Her fertility was SSS. Her spiritual power was SSS. A perfect female, born at the end of destruction.
This woman had the power to purify land.
With her hands raised, she pushed away the pollution that covered the earth. She created a place glowing with golden light, without a single drop of dirt or poison.
This land became the first pure territory...the Golden Sanctuary. She built a single empire there, the first Orc Empire. All Orcs gathered under her protection, and for a time, the world had peace.
But even legends must die.
The first queen passed away. Century after century passed. Without her power, the single empire slowly broke apart. Orcs grew greedy, ambitious, and divided by their beast forms. They scattered and formed four great empires. Yue Yue saw each one clearly.
Jinlu Empire, It was the biggest land empire, stretching across endless plains, mountains, and forests. Land-type beasts ruled here—lions, tigers, wolves, bears, foxes, and countless more.
The capital city was built on top of purified land that remained from the first queen's era. The buildings were tall stone structures with strong walls.
The people were brave and straightforward, and the empire was known for military strength. Most of the strongest warriors came from here.
And then the world map in Yue Yue's head shifted again, showing the remaining three empires.
There was the Tianfeng Empire filled with winged beast bloodlines. There were eagles, hawks, and giant birds with sharp eyes and even sharper tempers. People called it the Sky Empire.
The Canghai Empire ruled the blue horizons. Orcs of the sea...sharks, whales, serpents, and turtles the size of houses lived there. Naturally, they were known as the Sea Empire.
And lastly, the Huangsha Empire, a land of endless heat and golden deserts. Scorpion beasts, sand serpents, desert lions, and camels roamed there. This was the Sand Empire, and its people were as tough as the land they lived on.
Yue Yue watched all four empires fight, yell, and occasionally throw entire armies at each other like bored children throwing stones at a river. But one thing united them:
Females were priceless.
So priceless that Yue Yue suspected if a female sneezed in public, at least ten males would rush forward to offer her their cloaks, their medicine, and possibly their entire life savings.
Females were rare, and they were ranked by fertility and spiritual comfort from S to F.
Most females were E-rank or F-rank, and even they were treated like treasures. S-rank females were almost mythical...some empires didn't see even one in a hundred years.
Because females were so few, they often had multiple male partners. It was the only safe way to protect them and maintain strong bloodlines.
Then, just when Yue Yue thought her head couldn't hold any more information—
Everything turned blurry. Faces started disappearing and scenes flickered. And then...
She understood.
This entire world...was a novel.
A novel with its own rules, its own special setting, and of course...its own female lead.
The perfect, gentle, kind, soft-hearted, everyone-loves-her, halo-shining female lead who would make entire empires cry for her.
Yue Yue stared blankly as images flashed: the female lead smiling sweetly, male leads lining up like obedient puppies, and empires kneeling for her love. And villains… the villains were the worst.
Five major cruel and terrifying villains, all powerful enough to level mountains with one claw swipe. They were obsessed with the female lead. They abducted her, fought over her, locked her away, and tortured her...honestly, Yue Yue thought they needed psychological counseling.
And in their insane fight to snatch her, the villains eventually went berserk and turned into degraded beasts, destroying the entire Orc Continent.
Great, lovely, and beautiful plot that made Yue Yue doubt her existence.
But what shocked Yue Yue most...She wasn't mentioned even once. Not even a line like "A random woman walked by." There was nothing about her.
She was cannon fodder without even the honor of being cannon fodder.
Yue Yue felt speechless. Then irritated...then personally offended by the universe.
Her expression twisted.
"So… I'm just a stepping stone?" Yue Yue muttered. "A pebble? A leaf on the ground? Not even character number 78, who dies in the background?"
Her headache increased as a horrifying realization appeared: Wasn't her mission to control the villain orcs?
Didn't that mean… She was supposed to stop them from becoming villains, protect the female lead by babysitting these lunatics, and basically throw her whole life on the line?
"Wait, wait, wait," Yue Yue whispered in panic. "I'm supposed to stop five psychopaths from destroying the world? Me? A normal girl who can't even control a mosquito if it decides to bite me?!"
If the villains didn't even let the female lead live peacefully, what chance did she have?
"They'll chew my bones! They won't even spit them out!" Yue Yue cried. "System, are you sending me to die? Do you hate me?!"
Right on cue, the system finally came back online.
A glowing message popped up like a cheerful mosquito.
[Host, don't worry. Your fate is different from the female lead. You have the capability of controlling the villains.]
Yue Yue's face darkened instantly.
"So that's why you kidnapped me and dragged me into this crappy novel world?!" she snapped. "You scam the system! You big liar box! You sneaky glowing parasite!"
The system answered shamelessly:
[Host, once you control all the villains and make them fall for you, you can return to your original world.]
Yue Yue stared at the glowing words. Then she let out a hysterical laugh.
"Control the villains? Control them?! I can't even control my own hair when the wind blows!"