No one knows anything about the Lady Red's past life, not even Wan Jin.
Likewise, no one knows what Wan Jin had experienced.
They arrived in this world far too early, and were incomparably powerful; even today, no one dares to investigate them.
But if you ask how Wan Jin came to swear loyalty to the Lady Red, there's no ghost who can give an answer. In the eyes of many ancient beings, these two ghosts somehow just ended up mixed together. Wan Jin suddenly began working for the Lady Red, transforming from a wild, untouchable newborn fierce ghost into the Lady Red's most capable subordinate.
...
Wan Jin wandered into the Lady Red's territory.
She came from the Black Mirror vortex to the Shattered Mirror Continent, but never managed to integrate. Her eyes allowed her to see through monsters and players, but also kept her calm and distant from this world. In life she was already calm and solitary, not a hero, merely moving about in chaotic times. She had witnessed the empire's turmoil and foreign invaders, and although she knew she was incapable of saving the people, she still couldn't turn a blind eye to the refugees she saw.
Unfortunately, she was nothing but drifting duckweed in a chaotic world, and in the end, she too was crushed beneath the enemy's iron hooves and buried in desolate earth. Wan Jin didn't even understand where her resentment or unwillingness came from. Many hid from the world back then, and no one from her sect came down the mountain. When she descended alone, she had already foreseen her own ending. Since it was predetermined, she shouldn't have had such emotions. But she was taken in by the Black Mirror vortex anyway.
—Perhaps she did have resentment, dissatisfaction, and indignation; she simply saw too clearly and hid it too perfectly.
Arriving in this other world, she found the Taiyin and the Mingdu standing separately, while monsters lived in what could be called harmony—much better than the chaotic world of her past life. Of course, strong monsters still bullied the weak, but Wan Jin no longer cared. She wandered aimlessly, muddle-headed, simply walking and observing this world without a clear purpose.
Naturally, there were fools along the way who tried to target her, but their weaknesses were obvious at a glance, and they posed no threat to her. At that time, Wan Jin had heard that ghost kings ruled over various regions, but as she passed through each territory, she never saw any ghost king—such powerful ghosts wouldn't be so idle as to wander around their own domains every day anyway.
Until she entered the Lady Red's territory.
Back then the Lady Red still set up games in her territory to pull in players and torment them. Whether out of confidence or something else, her games didn't have barrier formations, so any ghost could move freely through the game world—just without interfering with players. Of course, if you suddenly felt like interacting with players, it wasn't impossible. When entering the game area, you would receive a Nirvana Space prompt, and the players in the area would have a ring of blue light at their feet in your vision. If you wanted to interact, you only needed to send a request by thought, and once the game operator approved it, you could act.
It was said that the Lady Red lost her qualification to host games because the game difficulty fluctuated too wildly—from hellish to very easy—and each game's clearance rate was extremely polarized.
At that time, Wan Jin was encountering the Shattered Mirror Continent's "games" for the first time. She was too withdrawn; after coming out of the Black Mirror vortex, she hadn't bothered learning common knowledge, nor had she gone to the Taiyin's training classes for newborn ghosts—though normally no ghost wanted to attend classes anyway.
So she couldn't help staying in that game field for a long time.
And the first time she met the Lady Red was at the doorway of a misty, rain-shrouded tavern.
You can imagine—under the hazy fine rain, a streak of vivid red burst into your vision with such domineering brilliance that it lit everything up. The passionate red cheongsam outlined a graceful waist, and the beauty, looking half-awake, stepped out while holding a smoking pipe. Smoke and misty rain intertwined, blurring the eyes in an instant.
Wan Jin's thought at that moment was: What a shame I don't have an umbrella.
She stopped in the rain. The beauty gave her a slanted glance, then looked away, calmly walking past her, leaving only a lingering, winding fragrance that clung to the tip of her nose.
"So beautiful," Wan Jin thought then.
Beautiful enough that she forgot to use her ability to check what kind of ghost this was, and simply brushed shoulders with her.
The second time she saw this beauty was on a sunny day. Although the pattern on the cheongsam was different, this beauty seemed especially fond of bright red cheongsams—of course, they suited her very well.
She was sitting on a bench by the roadside, with a player beside her whose feet glowed with a blue ring, anxiously saying something to her. Wan Jin saw the dagger clutched behind the player's back, and she couldn't help taking a step in that direction—only to be met with the beauty's slightly lifted gaze. Wan Jin's feet rooted in place; she didn't move again, only stood there quietly.
Then she saw the beauty smile sweetly at the player. "Yes, I did appear at the crime scene. Are you thinking… that I'm the one who killed someone?"
Perhaps this was a game related to a murder case?
"N-no, I didn't mean that. You might not believe me, but the killer is definitely a ghost. It's just that the ghost may have latched onto you. We think it's best if you stay with us for a while—we'll protect you." The player spoke, his gaze gradually sharpening. "If you refuse, then don't blame me for using a little trick."
"You want… to kidnap me?" Smoke drifted out, making the player cough and frown. Just as he tried to seize her with the dagger, the beauty in the cheongsam suddenly chuckled. "But how do you know… that I'm not the ghost?"
"Wha—"
Without warning, enormous crimson pupils snapped open in the void. A terrifying blood-red beast erupted from the woman's body, devouring the player in an instant, leaving no trace behind. As the red mist dispersed, the woman lifted her smoking pipe and gave it a slight shake. She raised her eyes to the still-watching Wan Jin. "Am I good-looking?"
Even without using her ability, that instant of eruption was enough for Wan Jin to understand that this was no delicate, fragile beauty. But when this ghost asked her like that, she nodded as if bewitched. "Good-looking."
"Where did this little ghost come from, so dazed like that?" The Lady Red laughed. She looked into Wan Jin's eyes, and Wan Jin looked at her. In the instant her "See-Through" ability activated, she saw the countless blood-red eyes hidden within the Lady Red, the slumbering blood-colored beast, the endless red mist and sea of blood…
And then, those suddenly opening crimson pupils.
"Your ability is good, but that's not how you use it." The Lady Red walked over, lifting her hand to stroke Wan Jin's eyes with her fingertips. Wan Jin closed her eyes slightly, and the touch landed lightly.
Her only "See-Through" ability came from her eyes, yet when this woman held her weakness, she felt no urge to resist.
"How about… you follow me from now on?" The fingertip slid down from her cheek to her chin, lightly lifting it. The Lady Red's expression was still lazily indifferent as she said, "Call me Madame Red."
"Alright." Wan Jin paused, then whispered, "Madame."