The last thing Hansraj remembered was a pair of glowing yellow eyes and a sudden, sharp meow. He had been reaching into his bag for his phone, ready to dive back into the latest chapter of a Xianxia novel, when the stray cat decided to commit regicide on the sidewalk. There was a stumble, a frantic flap of his arms, and then the world had turned into a very hard, very gray slab of concrete.
What a pathetic way to go, he thought, the memory fading into a dull throb.
Then, the world began to exist again.
It didn't start with light. It started with the smell of bitterness—a heavy, cloying scent of boiled herbs and expensive sandalwood incense that felt thick enough to chew. He tried to take a deep breath, but his lungs gave a wet, rattling wheeze that sounded like a bag of rusted nails.
His body felt like it had been replaced by a suit of lead. Every joint was stiff, every nerve ending felt frayed and raw. This wasn't the body of a man who had just tripped on a sidewalk. This was the body of a man who had spent years trying to see how fast he could destroy himself.
He forced his eyelids to crack open. The room was grand—too grand. Gold-leafed carvings adorned the ceiling, and the silk canopy above him was a deep, royal purple.
Oh... I see, he thought, his mind drifting in a hazy fog. I didn't survive the cat. I've definitely passed away. And this... this must be the VIP lounge of the afterlife.
He slowly tilted his head to the side, the movement sending a wave of nausea through his gut.
Then, he saw ...
Sitting by the window, framed by the soft, ethereal glow of the morning sun, was a woman. She was breathtaking. Her profile was carved from the purest white jade, her hair a midnight silk that seemed to absorb the light around it. She sat with a back so straight it looked painful, her eyes fixed on a tea cup in her hands.
Hansraj stared, his heart—or the sluggish lump of meat in his chest that passed for one—skipping a beat.
An angel, he thought with a dazed grin. I died and actually made it to the heaven . I knew that one time I returned a lost wallet would pay off. She's... she's at least a Tier 0 beauty. Heaven's budget is truly terrifying.
He tried to speak, but all that came out was a dry, pathetic rasp. "Water..."
The "angel" didn't move. She didn't offer a gentle smile or a heavenly blessing. Instead, she slowly turned her head, her gaze landing on him with the weight of an arctic glacier. Her eyes were deep, cold, and filled with a loathing so ancient it felt like it had been aging in a cellar for a thousand years.
"You're awake," she said. Her voice was melodic, like wind chimes, but the wind was coming from a graveyard. "The doctors said you wouldn't survive the night, Lin Feng. It seems even Death has no taste for your company."
Lin Feng?
The name hit him like a bucket of ice water. The "Heaven" fantasy shattered into a million jagged pieces.
[Ding! Soul Synchronization Complete.]
[Current World: 'The Sovereign's Frosty Throne'.]
[Host Identity: Lin Feng (Hansraj). Status: Cannon Fodder Villain.]
[Target Identified: Mu Ningxue (The Regressor Empress).]
Hansraj felt his stomach drop. He wasn't in Heaven. He was in a novel. Specifically, he was in the body of the most hated man of the novel, lying in a bed across from a woman who had probably lived an entire lifetime just to figure out the most painful way to watch him rot.
[Main Mission Triggered!]
[Mission: Show the Empress her place. She belongs under you.]
[Time Limit: 1 Year.]
[Failure: Permanent Soul Erasure.]
Hansraj looked at the beautiful woman—the "Angel" who was currently looking at him like he was a stain on the rug—and then back at the invisible blue screen in his mind.
Under me? he thought, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. System, she's a Regressor. If I try to put her 'under me,' she's going to put me under the ground ,before I can finish the sentence
Mu Ningxue stood up, the tea cup in her hand clicking as she set it on the table. The porcelain cracked under the pressure of her grip.
"Don't look at me with those eyes," she whispered, her voice vibrating with a killing intent that made the air in the room turn cold. "It makes me want to dig them out."
Hansraj lay back against the silk pillows, his chest rattling with another painful wheeze.
Right, he thought, closing his eyes. Tripping over the cat was definitely the better option