Jocelyn Fairfax was the kind of infamous devil everyone in the cultivation world wanted dead.
She had no clue why they were so hell-bent on hunting her down.
They chased, so she ran. When running stopped working, she killed.
Bit by bit, more and more people joined the hunt. Before long, her name as some unforgivable monster had spread through the entire cultivation world.
Wave after wave of self-proclaimed righteous cultivators died by her hand. Living every day on the run, soaked in blood and killing, she was exhausted. Truly exhausted.
And in the end, she died.
After the sects joined forces and besieged her for three days and three nights, after she had already cut down half their disciples, an arrow punched straight through her heart. She collapsed onto muddy ground drowned in blood, with corpses of sect disciples scattered all around her.
That day, the sunlight was absurdly bright.
The warm light fell across her face, yet it stung her eyes like needles.
Right on the edge of life and death, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind—she seemed to have a fiancé.
It was a marriage arrangement her father had made when she was still little, afraid she would end up alone in the world.
She had no idea whether he was even still alive.
Being tied by marriage to someone as lowly and cursed as her... yeah, that really was unfair to him.
Then Jocelyn Fairfax lived again.
She woke in an era completely unlike the cultivation world, and inside her sea of consciousness there was now an extra presence—a cat calling itself a system, named Erbi.
It said it was only an intern system. It could grant her one wish, but she had to bind with it first and help it finish its internship mission.
“Any wish?” Jocelyn asked softly, her soul drifting in the wind, faint and flickering, like it might vanish at any second.
She had lived a lonely life. If there was anyone in this world she still counted as unfinished business, it was probably only that fiancé she had never once met.
“Yep!” Erbi nodded in an adorably serious way.
Jocelyn went quiet for a long moment before finally speaking.
“I want to meet my fiancé.”
“Okay!”
Erbi’s voice slowly faded out. When Jocelyn Fairfax opened her eyes again, she was already standing on a busy street packed with cars and people, a thick stack of flyers still in her hands.
She blinked at the completely unfamiliar surroundings, looking a little lost. "Er’er, where is this?"
"Please wait a moment, Host. Er’er will transfer the memories to you right away." Nestled in Jocelyn’s sea of consciousness, Erbi quickly started memory sharing.
A sharp ache stabbed through her head. Jocelyn only felt like a huge pile of strange memories had been stuffed straight into her mind.
It seemed she had been reborn into another world.
There was also a "her" here. But because of reincarnation, that "her" had no memories from the past.
She was an orphan, also named Jocelyn Fairfax. She had grown up in an orphanage, and now that she was already eighteen, she had left and was living on her own.
At this very moment, she was working a part-time job handing out flyers on the street.
Jocelyn lowered her head and stared blankly at the flyers in her hands. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes lit up.
In this place, there were no sects chasing her down, screaming for her death. She didn’t have to spend every single day on the run either, constantly on guard, worrying someone might jump out of nowhere and stab her.
Wasn’t this... exactly the life she had always dreamed of?
The corners of Jocelyn’s lips lifted, and bright light bloomed in her eyes.
"Host, I know where your fiancé is. I can take you to find him," Erbi said, suddenly remembering Jocelyn’s wish, its voice full of excitement.
Sure enough, Jocelyn’s eyes brightened at once. Hugging the thick stack of flyers, she followed the route Erbi gave her and started walking.
Finding her husband mattered more.
After wandering around for more than half an hour, Jocelyn finally arrived in front of a towering office building.
She looked up at the skyscraper that seemed to shoot straight into the clouds, her big eyes shining. "Er’er, my husband is in there?"
"Yup. According to the data, his name is Ethan Mercer, and he’s on the thirty-second floor of Huánqiú Center," Erbi said, flipping through information with its tiny snow-white paws in the code.
Jocelyn looked away and pressed her lips together. She finally worked up the courage to step forward, only to be driven back out by the security guard at the door, who looked at her like she was some kind of nuisance.
After being chased out, Jocelyn pressed her lips tight, her pale cheeks puffing up a little. She raised her head to stare at the towering building again, frowning softly. "Er’er, he won’t let me in."
“Waaah... they’re seriously too much.”
Sad kitty biting a handkerchief mode: on.
Jocelyn Fairfax’s troubled gaze suddenly landed on the small side door nearby. Her eyes lit up at once, and she hustled over on her short little legs.
Her soft hand rested on the doorknob. She took a deep breath and focused hard.
“Host, what are you trying to do...” Erbi asked, staring at the still figure in confusion.
Before it could even finish, Jocelyn pulled the door open with a sharp tug and slipped inside.
Bang.
Because the spiritual energy here was way too thin, her spell went a little off. The second she stepped through, a strange pulling force yanked her, and she was thrown right out.
“Ahhhhhh—Host, what did you just do???”
Shocked cat.jpg.
They had been downstairs a second ago, so how did opening one door suddenly bring them to the thirty-second floor?
Erbi, Jocelyn’s little system buddy, was completely dumbfounded.
Jocelyn pushed herself up from the ground and dusted off her clothes like it was no big deal. “Just used a bit of magic.”
It was just that the spiritual energy in this place was way too scarce. Even a tiny spatial transfer spell had almost failed.
She looked up.
What entered her sight was an extreme clash of black and white, every corner of the room screaming its owner’s sharp taste and high standards.
Her round, clear eyes slowly swept across the office.
Then her gaze fell on the person behind the massive desk, head lowered as he worked. She froze for a beat, only to suddenly meet his eyes.
The moment Jocelyn had pushed the door open and barged in out of nowhere, Ethan Mercer had already looked up, a trace of displeasure caught between his brows.
He had assumed it was some employee with no sense of boundaries.
Instead, what he saw was a completely unfamiliar young girl.
Behind the grand black desk, Ethan Mercer frowned slightly, his sword-like brows drawing together. His eyes, dark and deep like an ancient still pool, fixed on the intruder who had stepped into his territory. His thin crimson lips pressed into a flat line, impatience written all over him.
“Get out.”
The man’s low, magnetic voice came out slow and cold, without a shred of warmth.
Jocelyn Fairfax snapped out of her daze over his face, blinked, then turned to leave.
"Host, that’s your fiancé, Ethan Mercer." Erbi practically screamed in her head.
Jocelyn froze mid-step and whipped around, staring at the man whose refined features were so striking they could stun anyone on sight.
This was her fiancé?
Her hand slipped off the doorknob. Quietly, she moved back again. Looking at Ethan as his brows slowly drew together, she said in a small voice, "I can’t go out."
Ethan watched the girl who had already walked away only to come back a few steps later. A trace of chill flashed through his eyes as he lowered his voice and warned, "Don’t make me call security."
Jocelyn’s almond-shaped eyes widened a little, and the corners of her eyes drooped in disappointment.
So her husband-to-be really didn’t like her.
Seeing the little girl stand there in silence, looking visibly dejected, Ethan’s dark, gleaming eyes flickered. He glanced toward the door, his lids half-lowered, then asked lazily, "No one announced you. How did you get in?"
Still feeling down, Jocelyn blinked and looked at the elegant, highborn man in front of her with those bright, clear eyes of hers. Her lips moved slightly. "I opened the door and came in."
Ethan narrowed his eyes, danger gathering in them. He leaned back into the chair in that loose, casual way of his, quietly sizing up the petite girl before him.
With Grant Southcott outside, there was no way just anyone would be allowed in. If she had really walked in through the main entrance like nothing was wrong, the people in the secretary’s office couldn’t have missed her.
But even now, there wasn’t the slightest commotion outside.
The way Ethan looked at Jocelyn turned deep and unreadable. A cold glint slid through those charming yet distant phoenix eyes, and something dark churned at the bottom of them.
Jocelyn looked at the silent Ethan, pressed her lips together, and spoke softly, "Sorry for showing up out of nowhere. I’ve disturbed you."
"This is our first meeting. My name is Jocelyn Fairfax." Light sparkled in her bright black eyes as she introduced herself in a soft, gentle voice. "I’m your fiancée."
