An unpleasant scent filled the air. Its odor resembled rotten eggs and it spread throughout the house like a plague.

"Mother… father… I'm sorry," a hoarse voice echoed through a plainly decorated bedroom.

Inside the room was a large queen-sized bed, a closet and a walk-in bathroom.

There was a layer of dust on all of the furniture inside the room which showed that no one had lived here for months.

A mature looking woman in a business suit knelt down on the ground and pressed her forehead against the floor.

She was an attractive woman in her late twenties with a lean muscular physique and a sharp angular face.

But what would stand out about her appearance were the heavy bags under her eyes. Dark circles that displayed the tiredness and exhaustion on her face.

In front of her was a simple wooden shrine with several pictures placed carefully around its wooden frame.

This shrine was built in the corner of the bedroom and seemed out of place.

Inside the pictures were the scenes of a happy family. An elderly mother smiling and waving at the camera, a stern father with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and two children.

The older sibling inside the frame was a tall girl with long flowing black hair that was tied into two cute braids.

The younger of the two was a shy little boy who hid behind his sister's skirt in the picture.

His innocent appearance and soft features would win the hearts of all the aunties in the neighborhood.

A brief smile flashed across the woman's face as she remembered her little brother coming home from school with a bunch of candy in his arms.

It was a picture that was taken a lifetime ago.

The woman on the floor choked up as she felt a wave of nostalgia and sadness.

The woman remained motionless in the same position. Despite the nasty scent in the room, she showed no discomfort or disgust on her face.

Time seemed to have no meaning as she continued to whisper over and over again the same phrase.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

A harsh bleeping noise interrupted the strange atmosphere inside the room. The woman slowly got up from the ground and nearly fell as her knees almost gave out.

She opened her phone and saw a text message arrive in her inbox. The sender of the text was a name that she was all too familiar with.

Song Feng: [Hey! I'm on my way now… Why didn't you tell me that you were coming back to Shanghai?]

The woman read the message but did not bother to reply. She placed the phone back in her pocket and bowed once more in the direction of the shrine.

"You would hate me for what I am about to do," the woman laughed sadly as she spoke to the pictures.

"I can still hear your voice now mom… you would beg me to go to the police… tell me not to do this myself."

"And you dad… you would tell me that life is too precious to just throw away."

The woman stopped talking and waited as if she would get a reply from the silent pictures that remained frozen in time.

Perhaps she really had gone mad.

What she had experienced over the last few months would be enough to drive any regular person insane.

But this plan had to succeed. The woman knew that if she missed this opportunity then there would be no second chances.

She had bet everything on this one final move.

It was the only way that a human could defeat an enemy that defied common sense.

"If I have one regret mom…then I regret not changing my name to match yours. Song Li was more fitting than Sui Li," the woman whispered quietly.

Sui Li turned around and left the room with slow purposeful steps. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt as though someone was watching her as she walked away.

She closed the door quietly and entered the living room where the rotten egg smell only got stronger.

She currently in a medium sized apartment building on the outskirts of Shanghai city so there weren't many rooms built inside.

Sui Li felt the urge to pay her bedroom a visit, but she knew that there wasn't much time left until her target arrived.

She walked towards the couch in the middle of the living room and sat down. There was clock hung right above the television, but its battery had long stopped working.

Sui Li closed her eyes and waited. She could hear nothing but the steady beating of her heart as the minutes passed by.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Finally, there was a loud knocking sound coming from the front of the apartment and then the jingling of keys could be heard.

Sui Li opened her eyes, and a flash of hatred could be seen inside her gaze. She quickly pushed down that emotion and resumed her calm appearance.

She could not afford to give the game away.

That monster was unusually adept at reading facial expressions.

"Elder sis! I'm home!" a deep masculine voice echoed through the apartment. Sui Li clenched her fingers tightly into a fist as she saw a young man walk into the living room.

He wore a plain ordinary white shirt and a pair of track pants that could be bought at any thrift store.

His body was heavily muscular with strong arms, legs and a physique that would not look out of place on a Greek god.

He stood at an impressive height of over six feet and had a natural aura of sexiness and appeal that was hard to ignore.

But as Sui Li focused on his appearance… she could not help but feel a shiver of fear as she looked at his face.

The young man smiling cheerfully at her no longer bore any resemblance to his biological parents.

His face was extremely attractive and well sculptured to the extent that it could even be considered unnatural.

Fierce brows, piercing black eyes, perfect cheekbones and a nose that was perfectly positioned in the middle of his face.

His handsome looks far surpassed even the top movie emperors in the film industry.

Song Feng wrinkled his nose as he smelled the foul odor of rotten eggs, "Hey… what's that awful smell?"

"I think there might be a sewage leak in the bathroom upstairs. I will call a plumber tomorrow to deal with it," Sui Li replied calmly.

"Don't worry about it. This old apartment is worthless anyways," Song Feng waved his hands and sighed dismissively.

A white-hot rage bubbled inside Sui Li's chest as she heard his scornful tone. This apartment was where their parents had once lived…

How could he say such a thing?

No… she should have expected that perhaps in his eyes… this apartment held no sentimental value.

Song Feng walked over to his sister and reached into his pocket to pull out a black credit card.

Sui Li recognised it as an exclusive platinum black membership card. To own one required a deposit of at least twenty million USD or over one hundred million yuan.

"This card has no limits on it. Feel free to spend as much money as you want," Song Feng declared arrogantly.

Song Feng placed the card in his sister's right palm and for the briefest of moments his hand lingered on her soft fingers.

He hid it well, but Sui Li could see the possessiveness and desire hidden in his gaze as his eyes swept up and down her body.

The look in his eyes made Sui Li's skin crawl and she fought desperately to keep herself from throwing up.

She felt sick.

Still, it was far too late to turn back now. As she stared into her brother's eyes… Sui Li felt her feelings of hesitation slowly fade away.

"Where did you get all that money? I thought that you were studying in university," Sui Li questioned with a warm smile on her face.

"Sister! I wanted to leave it as a surprise, but I am now the owner of a company! I have also made quite a bit of money by saving a few wealthy people," Song Feng explained.

"Saving them? How?" Sui Li questioned with an expression of surprise.

Song Feng leaned in closer and whispered in an almost conspiratorial tone, "Remember when you left to go abroad? I managed to learn some traditional Chinese medicine from an expert."

"He taught me how to use acupuncture to unblock sealed meridians and how to make concoctions to cure hidden diseases."

Liar.

Liar.

LIAR!

Sui Li struggled to maintain her peaceful appearance as her brother placed a warm hand on her shoulder.

Suddenly she got up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen without sparing a glance at her brother.

Song Feng followed closely behind with a puzzled look on his handsome face. The scent of rotten eggs got stronger and stronger as they approached the kitchen.

Sui Li's eyes began to tear up and even Song Feng was beginning to get a little bit uncomfortable because of the foul odor.

She waited until her brother had entered the kitchen before turning around and facing him with a serious expression.

"Did you know that I was afraid when I found out that mom was pregnant with you?" Sui Li quietly spoke.

"What?" Song Feng asked in confusion.

Sui Li stared off into the distance and there was a hint of nostalgia in her gaze as she spoke, "I said that I was afraid."

"I was only their adopted daughter and I had heard stories from the other kids in the orphanage about what would happen once your new parents got biological children of their own."

"You may laugh but my deepest fear was being abandoned. Fortunately, the love that mom and dad showed for me never changed."

"And you… you were the little brother that I adored."

"That's why I did not hesitate after our parents died in that car accident to drop out of colleague and save enough money to send you to university."

"On her deathbed… I promised mom that I would protect you."

A haunting smile bloomed across Sui Li's face as she stared at the face of her brother that she could now only barely recognise.

Song Feng frowned as he felt an unpleasant feeling as he observed Sui Li's smiling appearance.

The instincts of a cultivator were incredibly sharp, and he could sense that there was danger coming from somewhere.

But where?

Song Feng began to look around the room with an unusually serious expression. Sui Li knew that there wasn't much time left.

"I know you aren't him," Sui Li's voice broke the tense atmosphere inside the kitchen.

Song Feng froze in shock as he stared incredulously at the woman who just revealed his deepest secret.

"What are you talking about big sis?! How can I not be your brother? Are you feeling alright?" Song Feng laughed nervously.

"Do you remember what I told you when you were only five years old? It was during the last night of our annual fishing trip," Sui Li spoke calmly.

Song Feng let out a small sigh of relief and quickly accessed this body's memories to find the answer to her question.

"You said that we would always be together with mom and dad. We would stay one big happy family until we all turned old," Song Feng replied confidently.

"I also remember that you confessed that you had a strong fear of heights!"

Sui Li approached her brother and wrapped her arms around his chest. She could feel the pounding of his heart and the heat of his muscular physique.

Song Feng did not hesitate to return her affections and the pair spent a peaceful moment in complete silence.

"Do you know what your mistake was? The flaw wasn't that you remembered what I said… the flaw was that you did," Sui Li hoarsely whispered.

"My brother always had a terrible memory."

The surprised expression on his handsome face was enough to send a dark thrill of satisfaction down Sui Li's spine.

The inhuman creature that possessed her brother's body used his memories to perfectly assimilate into modern day times.

But because he relied on the original Song Feng's memories… Sui Li knew that there was one way to kill him.

She simply needed to use knowledge that her little brother did not possess.

Natural gas is odorless, so utility companies add a chemical called mercaptan to the gas in order for leaks to be detected.

As for the scent of this chemical…

It smelled like rotten eggs.

Sui Li reached for the lighter in her pocket and brought it up to Song Feng's face. Her brother in his panicked state did not notice her quiet actions.

Click! Click!

BOOM!

She could hear the painful scream of the fake Song Feng as his flesh immediately burned under the intense heat.

The last thing that Sui Li saw was a flash of brightness before her vision sank into an endless abyss.

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(Outside The Creation World Tree- Unknown Location)

"As you can see Candidate No.214 was originally a minor heroine in an urban cultivation novel and yet… she was able to kill the son of heaven on her plane."

"She has excellent qualities of both ruthlessness and cunning that I believe are necessary for an agent in our new department."

There was a brief moment of silence in the broken spatial zone as the faceless and bodiless beings of light reviewed the footage.

The new department of the Space Time Authority had to be created to deal with troublesome individuals capable of destroying the stability of their planes.

It was for this reason that candidates from across the multiverse had to be carefully selected for this extremely difficult job.

One of the beings extended a golden tendril outward and pressed the [Accept] option next to Candidate No.214's profile.

The fourth agent of this new department had now been chosen.

Sui Li floated for what seemed like an eternity in an endless white void. The white scenery stretched out as far as the eye could see.

There was no noise in the void so Sui Li was alone with her thoughts.

Sui Li raised up her arm and saw that her hand and the rest of her body was now translucent. It was like she both solid and unreal at the same time.

Was this the afterlife?

If so, then truthfully it was a bit boring and dull.

There were no angels or demons in sight nor an endless line of souls waiting to be judged by the ruler of the underworld.

Sui Li figured that she would even settle for briefly crossing paths with another soul in the endless void.

The lack of stimuli was driving her mad.

She remembered reading that a human would only need to spend a week in solitary confinement before going insane.

It was impossible to get a sense of time in this strange place, but it was clear that she had been drifting aimlessly for a very long time.

Or perhaps she was in purgatory, and this was the punishment that she had to endure for killing the monster who possessed her brother's body.

Sui Li let out a light chuckle as she remembered the shocked expression on Song Feng's face when she revealed his true identity as a fake.

He probably never imagined that his downfall would occur at the hands of the elder sister of his stolen body.

It was a hollow victory because a small part of Sui Li wished desperately that she had been wrong the entire time.

But the look on Song Feng's face had confirmed what she had always suspected…

That her brother was never going to come back and that meant that Sui Li had broken her promise.

She failed to protect him.

"I'm sorry mom. I'm sorry dad," Sui Li whispered quietly.

Her voice echoed through the endless void and naturally she did not receive a reply.

Sui Li continued to wander through the white space while thinking about her life and the choices that she had made.

Would everything have been different if she had chosen to not go abroad?

Perhaps she could have saved her brother's life if she had just decided to stay instead.

The worst part of being alone was that she was left with nothing but the dark thoughts in her mind and endless regrets in her heart.

Days or maybe years passed as Sui Li curled up in a fetal position and allowed her soul to float helplessly through the void.

[Candidate No.214 has been identified and located. Beginning the extraction process in five seconds…]

A cold voice suddenly entered Sui Li's mind and caused the wandering soul to snap out of her depressive state.

Sui Li looked around in shock and tried to find the source of the noise. Was it merely a figment of her imagination?

Please… please… let it be real.

The voice spoke once more but this time it began a countdown. The voice was robotic and not a hint of emotions could be detected in its flat tone.

[Five… four… three… two…]

"Where… where are you? Show yourself," Sui Li hoarsely whispered.

She did not care if this voice belonged to God or the Devil himself. She would do anything to escape this hellish place.

[One.]

[Initializing the extraction process…]

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(Outside The Creation World Tree- Unknown Location)

(Private System Spatial Zone)

Sui Li opened her eyes to find herself standing in the middle of a wide-open field.

There was a bright yellow sun shining high above in the sky and the sounds of birds chirping could be heard coming from the forest that surrounded the meadow.

Colorful flowers swayed gently from side to side as the wind blew softly against their petals. Sui Li froze in place as she struggled to understand what had just happened.

Where was she? Why had she been teleported here?

Who was behind this?

Sui Li quickly swept the surrounding area for any threats or dangers but found nothing suspicious about this seemingly peaceful place.

Wait a moment… her body was back to normal!

Sui Li gasped in surprise and looked down to see her body return to its normal state.

The shock of appearing in a completely new location was quickly forgotten as she ran her fingers against her skin.

It wasn't just that her body had been restored.

As Sui Li walked around the beautiful meadow, she discovered that her body felt stronger and more powerful than before.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Sui Li called out.

She felt a bit nervous about reaching out to the mysterious entity that had brought her here but there was no other alternative.

It was impossible to find out the purpose of this strange place without talking to the one responsible for its creation.

A pillar of bright light erupted from the center of the meadow and Sui Li took a few steps backwards in shock.

The beam of light slowly disappeared to reveal a golden door with a plain wooden handle attached to its front.

Blue rune-like symbols had been etched onto the golden door's outer surface. These symbols glowed with an eerie light that made Sui Li subconsciously tremble.

She could not understand the meaning of those symbols but somehow, she knew that they represented a power that she was better off avoiding at all costs.

"Hello?" Sui Li nervously repeated her question.

The meadow was silent, and door remained frozen in place.

Okay so nothing was coming out from the other side of the door… did that mean that the entity wanted her to go in?

Sui Li waited patiently for a few minutes to make sure that no one was coming out from the other side.

She really did not want to open that suspicious looking door but what if the entity was getting impatient that she was taking so long.

Sui Li approached the door with hesitant steps and tentatively grabbed the wooden handle. She took a few deep breaths and then pulled the handle with all of her strength.

The door swung open and Sui Li's figure was sucked inside before she even had any time to react.

Sui Li screamed as her body was tossed and squeezed through a passageway of floating light orbs that seemed to glow at her mockingly.

Her limbs seemed to bend and stretch to impossible lengths as she traveled through the passageway.

Oddly enough, Sui Li could not feel any pain during the process, but it did not stop her from freaking out.

After thirty seconds of pure terror, Sui Li found herself flung out of the passageway and towards a pillar of light.

Sui Li closed her eyes as she neared the harsh light and refused to open them even as she felt her feet land on solid ground.

A familiar cold voice rang out in her mind that sent shivers down Sui Li's spine.

[Welcome Candidate No.214 and congratulations….]

[You are one of the lucky souls who has been selected to join the new department of the Space Time Administration.]

[Your task will be to eliminate dangerous villainesses and protect the stability of numerous plane worlds]

Sui Li slowly opened her eyes and saw a creature looking directly at her with an emotionless gaze.

It was vaguely humanoid in appearance, but its skin was dull greyish colour and two silvery wings sprouted out from its back.

A forked tail swayed gently from side to side, and it possessed sharp bone-like claws instead of regular hands.

The creature wore a plain white mask that hid most of its facial features, but Sui Li could clearly see two dark purplish eyes.

Sui Li stared at the creature.

The creature stared back at her.

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.

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"What the fuck?!"

"Wait… wait… you're telling me that the multiverse is real? There are infinite worlds out there and some of them were created from novels?" Sui Li questioned in shock.

"And I was born in one of them?!"

The voice of the creature echoed in her mind with the same flat emotionless tone.

[Precisely. It is the responsibility of the Time Space Authority to monitor these worlds and to dispatch agents to maintain their stability.]

[You should consider it a great honor to be chosen since ordinary side character such as yourself are rarely selected.]

The creature's face was covered by a plain white mask but somehow Sui Li felt as though it hid a sneer behind its seemingly emotionless voice.

It was hard to describe how Sui Li felt at the moment.

Her world had just completely shattered and now she had no idea what to think.

According to the mysterious creature, she was just a minor heroine in world based on an urban cultivation novel.

In the original trajectory of the world, she should have been a member of her adopted brother's harem and then eventually fade away into the background.

She would spend the rest of her days with his other wives in an enormous mansion while looking after and caring for his children.

Sui Li felt sick to her stomach as she imagined such a horrible future.

She would have become nothing more than a sex object for the monster who stole her brother's body to vent.

But how could the future have turned out that way?

Setting aside the notion that she would ever fall in love with someone who she saw as a younger sibling…

She didn't even like men.

"But if that was my fate… then why did it change?" Sui Li hesitantly spoke.

The creature shrugged its shoulders in very human-like way as its forked tail swayed gently from side to side.

[Chance? Outside Interference? Free Will? There are number of factors responsible for the derailment of a set path.]

[The Time Space Authority will not interfere with the decisions made by the individuals inside these worlds.]

[Agents are only required to get involved if someone threatens the stability of the plane itself.]

"I… I'm sorry… this is all just a bit too much," Sui Li whispered softly as she took a few steps back.

She kept a careful eye on the creature, but the humanoid figure did not make any sudden movements to prevent her from leaving.

Nothing about this situation made sense.

Even if the Time Space Authority was real then why would they select her?

Sui Li was not an arrogant person, and she knew that she had only been able to kill Song Feng using trickery and deceit.

It was impossible with her current strength to hunt down these dangerous individuals capable of destroying entire planes.

In fact, it would probably be suicide! Wait…

Could she even die twice?

Sui Li created some more distance between herself and the mysterious creature who remained standing in the same position.

"I just have a few more questions…" Sui Li hesitantly spoke.

The creature let out a heavy sigh and then turned around. Its bone-like claws reached up and gently removed the mask covering its face.

Sui Li was facing the creature's back, so she was unable to see his true appearance. A piece of parchment paper suddenly appeared out of thin air.

There were crimson red runes etched onto the parchment's surface and as Sui Li watched in horror, the creature tapped its claws against the sheet.

The runes detached themselves from the paper and flew towards the creature's dull greyish skin where they were quickly absorbed.

The creature sighed again and this time the voice in Sui Li's mind was now noticeably more relaxed and casual.

[Ask away… Time has no meaning in this space, and it has been to my utmost displeasure to be assigned as your guardian]

[Yep. Three thousand years of faithful service and I get placed in a new department with the highest fatality rate]

[I should have just retired with my previous host. That bastard got to spend the rest of his life in a zombie apocalypse as the son of luck]

"You had a previous host?" Sui Li asked in surprise.

[Please child… I have acted as a 'system' for at least two hundred different hosts over the years. My hosts have included beings from mortals to gods.]

[I even had a brief period where I was assigned to the Cannon Fodder department. Trust me the higher ups in there are lunatics.]

[Didn't think it could get any worse than that but well… here I am.]

Sui Li's curiosity got the best of her, and she gradually lost some of her fear towards the strange creature as it continued to talk about its experiences.

She still did not fully let down her guard, but Sui Li knew that if the creature really wanted to hurt her then there was probably not much that she could do.

The creature summoned more pieces of parchment paper to absorb as he patiently answered Sui Li's questions one by one.

There was a lot of information that the creature talked about but somehow Sui Li was able to absorb and understand all of it.

She could easily recall even the minor details of every memory.

Was it possible that this place in addition to strengthening her body… it also strengthened her mind?

Despite its sarcastic and mocking tone, the creature still answered all of Sui Li's questions in great detail.

Sui Li was able to understand a little bit more about the how the Time Space Authority operated and the role of an agent.

Worlds would collapse for a variety of reasons and so it made sense to group these planes into different categories and assign a department for each type.

The name of Sui Li's current department had not been finalised yet, but her job was to go down to the plane and eliminate the villainesses before they had the chance to win.

How she would travel to these planes was by striking a deal with one of the inhabitants to use their body.

Sui Li felt a bit apprehensive about this because it was hard not to compare what she was going to do to what that monster had done to her little brother.

Thankfully the creature assured her that every contract had to be established with permission of both parties.

As a result, in addition to her main objective, Sui Li would be required to fulfil a wish from the original owner of the body.

This wish could be any number of things as people tended to have different regrets.

It was the responsibility of the agent to accomplish both tasks to the best of their ability.

The creature slowly placed the plain white mask back on its face and then turned around to face Sui Li.

Its dark purplish eyes seemed to stare into her soul and its gaze sent shivers down her spine.

Sui Li had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next and unfortunately, she was proven right.

[Alright that's enough explaining. Let's just get this over with so I can hopefully get a better host next time.]

"Already?! Don't I get some training? Or at least some kind of buff or gold finger?" Sui Li exclaimed in shock.

The creature ignored her protests and waved its bone-like claws in the air. Sui Li found herself frozen in place as runic symbols appeared around her body.

She struggled desperately and tried her best to escape but her muscles would not move a single inch.

A noise that sounded like glass shattering echoed through the space and then a black portal formed at her feet.

Sui Li did not have any time to react before her body was sucked into the portal and she disappeared to an unknown location.