Chapter 1: I Am the Villain’s Short-Lived Mother

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: I Am the Villain’s Short-Lived Mother

Nan Zhi had just completed her mission in the Food world with a perfect evaluation, assuming she would smoothly return to her original world.

But then, she had a dream.

In her dream, she watched as a soul from the Otherworld, calling herself a "Tactician," transmigrated into an entertainment industry romance novel. The mission target was the mysterious tycoon who had once helped the male lead. As for the Tactician, she had taken over the body of the genius villain’s biological mother!

The Tactician knew this body’s son would one day become a paranoid, vicious, and murderous arch-villain. She loathed and despised him, only raising him reluctantly because she feared the trouble that abandoning a child would bring.

She called it raising him, but she treated him worse than a stray cat or dog. Verbal and physical abuse were commonplace, and the long-term emotional violence became an inescapable trauma for the boy.

But the Tactician didn’t consider it abuse. Instead, she believed she was helping him turn from his evil ways!

Meanwhile, to get closer to her mission target, the Tactician broke into the entertainment industry as a minor actress.

She assumed she could use the original owner’s stunning looks to conquer the industry, but she was lazy and conceited, unwilling to put in the hard work and start from small roles. All she did was fantasize about becoming an overnight star.

The result? After messing around for years, she was still stuck on the industry’s bottom rungs. What she did manage to collect was a host of negative labels: "wooden actress," "compulsive liar," "drama queen," and "unprofessional." Her public appeal was abysmal.

Not only had her mission stalled completely, she hadn’t even managed to catch a glimpse of the tycoon!

Frustrated and furious, the Tactician decided to take her son on a reality show with kids to try and repair her reputation and public image.

She attempted to craft the image of a gentle, loving mother, but who would have thought the child, resentful of her, would refuse to cooperate at all, completely sabotaging the pilot episode.

Eagle-eyed viewers noticed the awkwardness and coldness between mother and son. They disliked the mother’s hypocrisy and arrogance, and they didn’t care for the son’s gloomy, odd behavior either. The two were bombarded with vitriol and calls for a boycott.

Finally, the Tactician broke down.

She got into a screaming match with her son, calling him a monster and even wrapping her hands around his neck to choke him.

The child, who was usually sullen and silent, didn’t just take the beating this time. He fought back, pushing her away.

The Tactician lost her balance and fell, her head hitting the corner of the nightstand. She passed out on the spot.

As she lost consciousness, she was frantically screaming in her mind for the system to get her out of there.

-

"...Did you see the look in his eyes when he pushed me? It was terrifying! No wonder he grows up to be a ruthless monster! I’m telling you, he’s a sociopath! A bad seed, born and bred! I can’t stand being here another day! This body is gorgeous, but what’s the point? It’s so sickly, how many good years could it possibly have left? I’ve made my decision!"

The panicked female voice was like a sharp awl, chipping away at the chaos in Nan Zhi’s mind.

Daylight broke.

She opened her eyes as a wave of spasms hit her stomach. Cold sweat poured from her pores.

Nan Zhi struggled to sit up. Running on muscle memory, she found the bathroom and leaned over the toilet, retching her guts out.

Once she finally caught her breath, Nan Zhi took in her unfamiliar surroundings and froze—

’Where am I?’

Bracing herself against the wall, Nan Zhi stood up. She stared at the reflection in the mirror, and everything about it felt foreign.

The features were still her features.

But her face was caked in a thick layer of foundation, her eyes done up in an exaggerated, Western-style blue and purple cut-crease, topped off with a sunburn-style blush. The shoddy application made the whole look jarring.

The revealing outfit was the complete opposite of her usual style. The few thin strips of fabric clung to her so tightly, it felt like they were squeezing her bones.

And that wasn’t all.

Nan Zhi felt a throbbing pain at the back of her head. She raised her hand instinctively and was shocked to feel wet blood.

Thankfully, the wound wasn’t deep, and there wasn’t much blood.

’This situation seems familiar.’

Just then, a flood of unfamiliar memories rushed into her mind...

’So, my son, Nan Yi, is that arch-villain!’

’And I’m the villain’s mother who was fated to die young!’

According to the original plot, after her death, Nan Yi would be sent to an orphanage. His miserable childhood would lead him astray, and he would build a massive business empire through illicit means. In the end, the male lead would expose his crimes, landing him in prison, where a single bullet would end his young life.

’Now that the Tactician has taken over my body, is Nan Yi’s situation any better?’

Not at all!

In fact, it was even worse!

Thinking of the Tactician, whose whereabouts were unknown, Nan Zhi’s expression turned frigid. Only four words echoed in her mind:

’I want her dead.’

RUSTLE. RUSTLE.

A faint sound came from behind her.

Nan Zhi frowned and turned around.

But she was caught off guard, her gaze locking with a pair of stubborn, wolf-cub-like eyes peeking from around the doorframe!

’That’s...’

The child hiding behind the door seemed to have been frightened. He instantly pulled his head back and scrambled to run away.

"Yiyi!"

Nan Zhi quickly chased after him.

Just as she stepped out of the bathroom, she saw the small, thin figure trip over a pair of ill-fitting slippers and go tumbling toward the floor!

Without thinking, Nan Zhi instinctively dove forward, pulling the child into her arms and using her body to break his fall.

"Hiss."

A wave of dizziness washed over Nan Zhi.

It felt like the wound on the back of her head had split open again. A warm trickle of liquid slowly ran down her neck.

Nan Zhi paid it no mind; she could only feel the little body in her arms stiffen.

"Are you hurt? Let me see!"

But before she could get a clear look, he sank his teeth viciously into her outstretched wrist!

Nan Zhi winced in pain but didn’t let go.

Instead, she freed her other hand and gently stroked the back of the child’s neck.

Nan Yi gradually released his bite. He looked up with wary eyes, finally allowing Nan Zhi to see his face clearly—

He was a beautiful child, with delicate, well-defined features. His skin had a cool pallor, the kind that comes from never seeing the sun, and his eyes and brows were as perfect as a painting.

But he was far too thin. His hair was tinged with yellow, and his cheeks, lacking any baby fat, were slightly hollowed—clear signs of malnutrition. The four-and-a-half-year-old looked younger than four, as frail as a newborn kitten.

What was even more shocking were the bruises dotting his skin and the vivid red finger marks crisscrossing his slender neck!

Nan Zhi’s heart was a tangled mess.

Suddenly, she heard Nan Yi’s young, raspy voice:

"You can drop the act. If you’re going to hit me, just do it. As long as you don’t beat me to death, I’ll pay you back for every last thing when I grow up."

Those eyes, set in his thin, hollowed-out cheeks, were like bottomless pits, gradually merging with the image of the arch-villain from the Tactician’s memories.

But Nan Zhi simply tightened her embrace, holding him closer and feeling the fear and trembling his small body couldn’t conceal.

"I’m not going to hit you. Not now, not ever."

She paused, then added,

"If I told you I’m not the same mother I was before, would you believe me?"

The bone-chilling coldness on Nan Yi’s face made his feelings perfectly clear: he absolutely did not believe her.

Nan Zhi didn’t know how to explain that her body had been possessed by a Tactician.

Seeing the defiance and resentment etched onto Nan Yi’s face, she realized how different he was from the six-month-old in her memory—a chubby, adorable little sweetheart who would smile at everyone.

Her thousand sighs finally condensed into a single question:

"Are you hungry? Want to get something to eat?"

"I’m not hungry!"

The next second, Nan Yi’s stomach let out a loud GROWL.

He was instantly mortified, glaring angrily at his traitorous stomach.

A small, silent smile touched Nan Zhi’s lips.