“Dong—!”
The bronze bell atop the church tolled twelve times in succession, startling the white doves perched beneath the eaves into flapping their wings and taking flight.
Sunlight poured through the church’s Stained Glass, illuminating the Saint Altar and Angel Statue in the Sanctuary. The hanging Silver-Plated Crescent Holy Rack gleamed softly, suffused with a halo of holy light.
Xia Li stood before the Saint Water Altar, gazing at the Holy Rack, hands clasped in prayer.
She was by no means a religious believer.
As a Sanhao Female Youth who valued materialism, she wouldn’t trust in gods or ghosts—unless she was forced to.
Just like now!
To be precise, her current situation was even stranger than encountering a ghost.
She had transmigrated!
Only half an hour ago, she had just gotten off work, carrying her packed meal and purchased milk tea back home. Her fingers itched as she clicked on the icon of two girls embracing on her computer desktop.
《World Tree Under Desire and Demons》
It was an open-world game themed around the Demon King and Hero, focusing on the passion and discipline among beautiful girls, with exquisite production and rich gameplay.
It had immediately captured Xia Li’s interest.
She had played for three months, enduring countless defeat animations that brought tears to her eyes, finally arriving at the final boss—the Demon King.
But then, by mistake… she slipped.
She accidentally overwrote her save.
Watching her max-level save file vanish, replaced by the opening scene where the heroine received baptism in the church.
“Shift!”
Xia Li cursed sharply as her heart nearly stopped.
Her vision went black, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the familiar church.
And the reflection on the Saint Water Altar showed a familiar face.
Long black hair streaked with silver strands, gray-blue eyes, a conspicuous Reverse Cross Mark on her neck, and worn, tattered clothes.
Just moments ago, she had seen this face on the computer screen.
The game’s heroine! The Hero!
“What up! What’s going on? Did I get food poisoning from my lunch?” Xia Li’s slender fingers touched her cheek. The clear sensation made her realize this was no dream.
Well-read and sharp, she immediately understood her predicament.
She had transmigrated.
She had become the game’s heroine!
Scary?
Yes, very scary!
Because this was a rated-R game!
Images of the heroine’s defeat flashed in Xia Li’s mind.
In dungeons, being repeatedly abused by monster girls until pregnant.
No bandages on her body, wearing bracelets, shackles, and a collar, paraded through the Demon King’s castle for public humiliation.
Locked deep in rainforests where no magic could detect her, subjected to inhuman ultimate insults by fallen companions.
Tamed by the Vampire Princess into a Blood Thrall, treated like a pet, forced to lick toes while kneeling.
Bigger, more explicit defeat CGs?
There were plenty.
“Injected with strange drugs, becoming the outlet for everyone in the Demon King’s castle”—Xia Li could list dozens in one breath!
Each scene more heartbreaking than the last.
She looked at the Crescent Holy Rack before her, clasped her hands, and silently repented.
Sorry for the times I judged the heroine and villains in those defeat animations, even spat on the computer screen a few times when I lost control.
But is this really how the game is getting back at me?
If I’m guilty, let the law punish me—but not by turning me into the heroine who’s abused again and again! …Xia Li felt as if she could already foresee her fate.
Even if she truly became the heroine, at least she should have her max-level, fully equipped save file to start fresh. What was the point of a new account?
Why did she have to overwrite her save…
“Miss Xia Li, you look quite nervous.”
A soft, ethereal voice came from behind.
A tall nun approached, dressed in a form-fitting black habit, a necklace around her neck, and a small Moon Shaped Pendant tucked in the fold of her chest.
“Guh…” Xia Li was struck hard.
Neither her previous self nor her current Hero form could compare to the nun’s alluring presence.
If only she could switch to her max-level Hero account—she would willingly rub and cuddle with this nun sister every night.
“Today is an important day for your baptism. I hope you can cast aside anxiety and unrest, and listen to the teachings of the Goddess of the Night.”
The nun’s fingertip gently brushed Xia Li’s cheek. Her soft voice and faint fragrance calmed Xia Li’s restless heart.
“Baptism…” Xia Li recalled the game’s opening storyline.
In this world, the greatest turning point in life was the amniotic fluid.
Next was baptism.
Baptism was the first chance for ordinary people to awaken magical power.
And magic was the foundation of this world.
No matter how much one trained their physique, honed swordsmanship and martial arts, against a mage’s thousand-degree fireball, the end was always turning to ash.
Without magic, one could only be a mediocre commoner.
In the Engeliya Empire, home to over five million people, fewer than one hundred thousand possessed magic, and less than half of those could become mages.
As the Heroine, she was a once-in-a-century magic prodigy!
At this baptism, she would feel the church’s faith—the Goddess of the Night, symbolizing darkness and life, would cast her gaze upon her, granting a blessing worthy of a divine vassal.
This would officially begin the Hero’s story.
It was the perfect “I’m the strongest” start!
If not for those Demon Race villains, the heroine wouldn’t have…
Well, if that’s the case, she just needed to avoid the Demon Race, right?
No one said the camera had to be on this Hero.
Xia Li thought of her knowledge of the game’s plot—avoiding the future dangers would be a breeze.
Can’t beat them? Just dodge!
With that in mind, there was nothing to fear!
“Ahem… I’m ready to receive baptism.”
Xia Li imitated the prayer pose set by the church, tapping her fingertips three times over her chest, tracing the shape of a crescent moon.
“Then let us begin.”
The nun placed her palm on Xia Li’s head.
“Merciful Goddess, you bestow upon this water the holy grace. Those baptized by this water may have their original sin cleansed by your blessing, be reborn, and enter the realm of eternal life.”
The nun recited the prayer, tapping her chest thrice, then gently pressed Xia Li’s head down, submerging her face in the holy water.
Xia Li held her breath and closed her eyes.
The icy touch of the holy water washed over her.
Her consciousness immersed in darkness.
Faintly, she seemed to see a blood-colored crescent moon floating in the dark, its red light like a gentle mother cradling her.
This was the symbol of the Goddess of the Night!
In a daze, she felt her consciousness leaving her body, drifting toward that crescent moon… wait? No!
The direction was wrong—it was getting farther away!
Another, even stronger force was pulling her!
…………
At this moment, deep within the Northern Continent, where the Demon Race ran rampant.
This land was shrouded in eternal night, with howling wind and swirling snow.
In an ancient palace perched on a cliff’s edge, a silver-haired girl seated on the Throne opened her deep red eyes.