‘Cry, Cry, Cry’

The moment she walked out of the cafe, the cold air of January swept through her, making her shiver. With her hands tightened around her coat, her head lowered, she walked a few blocks away. The place she was staying at is actually not that far from the cafe.

Upon arriving at her new two-bedroom apartment, Li Yue's face immediately turned indifferent. "Acting is hard," she grumbled. In every world, she would be forced to act just like the original owner of the body would or the world will detect her presence and take her out, thus rendering her mission a failure. This had already happened on the first world she visited.

"It is a necessity to survive in each world." The robotic voice responded to her remark.

"Do you know where the villain is now?"

"That is not how it works." The voice answered. "You are on your own."

"Yeah… figured as much." She shrugged and plopped her body onto the bed. What did she expect? She had been to a few worlds before this and not once had this robotic voice given her any helpful output.

"Of course, you can use the points you earn to buy an item in the system store. You can use it to find the villain."

"And how many points do I have?"

"None." The voice answered. "You did not accomplish any mission. And even when you did, that was only because you killed the villains, which in turn voided the mission."

Li Yue turned silent. She does not need to examine her system to know that the voice was right. Before this, she had been on four other missions. Each time… she failed.

Firstly, she is struggling when it comes to acting. Secondly, for some reason, she doesn't like it when someone bullies her and she ends up hurting them. This serves only to get her into trouble, therefore making her mission more and more difficult. And thirdly, she thought killing the villains would end it.

NOPE. She could not have been any more wrong.

Apparently, villains are valued. They are created to sharpen the lead of the world, preparing them for other terrible people in the world. They are useful!

"Alright, then…" she jolted up and opened her laptop. The first thing that she needed to do was to find something that could help her earn some money. She instantly tapped into Li Yue's memory and checked if she had anything useful that she could use — "Eh?" A smile broke in her face. Li Yue was actually a painter! In fact, she was very good at it. Unfortunately, she was forced by her mother to hide this talent of hers because her grandmother would not like it.

The Li family are born musicians! So, why would Li Yue pursue painting? Ever since she was young, everyone in the family bore expectations that she would learn how to play an instrument. Piano, violin and even cello! She even had to take daily classes just to learn this stuff. Unfortunately for her, she could at most learn the basics; her talent was nothing special when it comes to music.

With this in mind, she immediately started searching for art colleges abroad. The graduation is still a few months' time and she still had the time to apply for a college overseas. Of course, this was because she wanted to stay away and let the female and male lead's relationship develop. After all, the villain will show himself five years from then, by that time, the male and female lead would already be so enamored in love and practically, cannot even live without each other.

All the while smiling, Li Yue spent most of her time applying for colleges abroad in a jovial mood until a knock interrupted her. She immediately rose from her seat and checked the door. When she saw that it was Li Gue and Tang Ruyi, she immediately opened the door.

"Mother, father." She smiled sweetly. "Please… come inside. I'm sorry, this place is small— "

"Yue!" Tang Ruyi instantly burst into tears, pulling her into a hug. "How could you just leave like that?" she sobbed.

"And you are completely unapologetic!" her father scolded. "Ruyi, sit down. This is not the right time to cry." He examined the small living room in front of him. "You'll be living here?" his question was ignored as Li Yue stroked her mother's back.

"Shhh… mother… why don't we sit down?" After successfully coaxing her mother, Li Yue immediately gave both of them a bottle of water from her small fridge inside the apartment.

"So, you're planning on staying in this small place? Tell me Li Yue, why do this?" her father said, unamused by her previous actions.

"Yes," unlike the original Li Yue, she stared straight into her father's eyes, hers equally stern as his. Her parents knew that the Matriarch had been bullying Li Yue since she found out about the existence of Li Weiwei, and yet, they did nothing to stop her.

"And your bank cards?"

"I figured that I needed to give them back. After all, I'm not a real Li."

"Yue— how could you say such a thing?" Tang Ruyi started sobbing again. "I— You know how much I loved you. I— "

��Stop crying Ruyi! This brat just disrespected us in our own home!"

"I'm sorry," Li Yue's words interrupted the words that her father was about to say. "But grandmother already said that I don't belong in the family and I— You two never paid any mind to it. So I thought— I thought it would be better to just stay away to keep things peaceful." That was what she said, but inwardly, she was rolling her eyes. Who would have thought that acting would be such a tedious thing to do?

"Look… I know I've hurt you two. But, please… just think about the things that grandmother will do once she knows that I am still staying in the mansion even when I'm not a Li." Like a pitiful puppy, Li Yue stared at her parents as tears welled in her eyes.

'Cry, Cry, Cry' she chanted inwardly. 'Come on, eyes! Cry!'

Just as she prayed, tears rolled down her cheeks. Slowly, it turned into an unstoppable stream of tears. "I— I hope you two will forgive me. But I would like to distance myself from the Li Family." She rose from her seat and gave them a low bow. "Please mother, father… allow for this selfish request of mine. Please, let me stay here for now."