After Backstabbing The Villain, The System Allowed Me To Enter The Book Again - Chapter 24

For a while, Shen Huaixin was speechless. She couldn’t persuade her mother to let go of her hatred—truth be told, even she herself was convinced. She really had thought too simply. Putting herself in her mother’s shoes, she realized even she wouldn’t be able to accept, without resentment, an impostor who had survived by feeding off the very life of her real child.

She tried asking her father again, only to get the same answer. What’s more, he even handed her the police file from the previous night’s interrogation. It stated that Shen Chumo stubbornly insisted he was the real Shen Chumo and refused to admit to impersonation.

“Stupid beyond salvation.” Father Shen shook his head, his voice heavy with disgust.

As expected. Shen Huaixin completely gave up on trying to appeal through her parents.

Since she couldn’t resolve Shen Chumo’s predicament at the root, she could only treat the symptoms. Returning to her bedroom, she used her alternate account to send Shen Chumo a flood of money. Thankfully, only his bank card had been frozen—his balance in the messaging app wallet was still intact.

At the end she added: Thanks, top student, for tutoring me. I just got some allowance and I’m sharing a bit—don’t be polite. Did you get today’s snacks? If you like them, I’ll put more in next time.

Shen Chumo used the pocket money to take a bus, then jogged from the stop back home, saving quite a bit of time.

The moment he entered, he saw his belongings being dragged out. He hurried inside. His parents still ignored him. When he tentatively brushed his mother’s hand, she flung him off violently and rushed into the kitchen to scrub the spot he had touched with dish soap, as if she’d been tainted.

His hand, once reaching forward, slowly dropped back down.

That night, Shen Chumo was uncharacteristically silent, sitting alone at a little table, eating dry, hard rice with a packet of pickled vegetables. From the dining table came cheerful conversation and laughter. He peeked his head out and saw them—three people who looked far more like a real family than he ever could.

By chance, Shen Huaixin glanced up and met his eyes. In her crystal-like pupils flickered sorrow and sympathy. Shen Chumo quickly turned away. He didn’t want to see that expression.

He was no longer as naïve as before. He knew his parents hated him—because he was a monster.

He looked at his hands. In just two days, the wounds from his fights with those boys had healed completely. He was a monster.

Late at night, while her parents slept, Shen Huaixin crept out. Passing the now-empty bedroom next door felt strange. She padded downstairs in the dark to the basement door, knocked lightly, and pushed it open.

By the glow of her phone screen, she saw wisps of black matter drifting in the air—finer than dust, yet like a dark version of the Milky Way, scattered in clusters, complete in themselves.

Since transmigrating, her life had been nothing but everyday school drama. Because the original Shen Huaixin died too early, she never got to witness the post-apocalyptic wasteland scenes later in the story. So, in front of such a strange sight, she felt a kind of awe and even yearning.

After all, since childhood she had loved looking up at the sky—whether the deep blue of day or the velvet dark of night. That only made her curiosity stronger.

She reached out, brushing her fingers against the drifting black specks. They felt soft yet intangible, as if her fingertips could sense a boundary that both existed and didn’t. It was fascinating.

“I know—soot sprites!”

Her brows curved into a smile. Mimicking a move from a cartoon, she slipped her phone into her pajama pocket, clapped her hands against the “sprites,” and pulled them apart. Sure enough, her palms came away blackened. Old Master Miyazaki hadn’t lied.

【System: Warning. Do not touch excessive contamination factors. Risk of pollution.】

【Shen Huaixin: Don’t worry. I can tell when it’s too much.】

Then she happily went back to playing, oblivious that in the darkness, a pair of eyes had been watching her.

【Plot deviation value -5. Current value: 26 (Conclusion: purification guaranteed, since the villain no longer poses a threat).】

Shen Huaixin froze. Wait—playing with balls of soot counts as deviation too?

Oh no… what if she’d just been caught acting out of character?

She hurriedly wiped her hands, smoothed her expression, and glanced at the bed. Shen Chumo lay flat, seemingly asleep.

She let out a breath. Just her imagination.

Still, with the contamination this heavy, she couldn’t exactly keep pretending not to notice. To stay in character, she’d need to make a scene—but that would have to wait for another day.

She placed a pocket warmer and a nightlight on the table, stuffed some snacks and little trinkets into the drawer, pretending they’d always been there. Once satisfied, she tiptoed away, hiding her good deeds.

The moment she left, Shen Chumo’s eyelids twitched.

When she had walked in, he’d felt sick with fear. The hideous substance leaking from his body, laid bare before her eyes—if she, too, recoiled in terror or disgust, then he…

Faced with such an anomaly, fear was the normal reaction. Not just his parents—even he wanted to scrape every inch of that filth from his flesh, just to look normal.

Reality was aligning everyone around him with their roles in his dreams, marching toward the worst outcomes—everyone showing him contempt or coldness. Everyone but Shen Huaixin.

Not only had she refused to treat him like a monster—she had even played with his… soot sprites?

That’s what she’d called them, sweetly, naming them as though they were real spirits, with no hint of aversion.

Her eyes had shone as her fingers prodded at the dreadful little particles, string by string, strumming the taut strings of his heart. There had been no sensation transmitted to his body, yet his chest felt ticklish.

Those pale, delicate hands—so clean they’d never touched even dishwater—had clapped gently, scattering the foul specks across her palms. Somehow he had let out a muffled groan, sensing the dark energy seep into her skin, line by line, until it became part of her.

Unlike the shallow black stains that lingered on his own fingertips, the marks on her hands would fade quickly, merging seamlessly into her.

The filth pouring from his body would now also belong to her. She would be polluted, dragged into the abyss, ruined forever.

And yet, he felt a surge of joy.

The next morning, Shen Huaixin didn’t see Shen Chumo when she left her room. He had already gone early to avoid being late.

She remembered her mother’s mention of his upcoming birthday. She had already prepared an in-character gift, but given the current situation, she’d need to do more.

The problem was—what did Shen Chumo like? In the original story, he hadn’t cared for anything. He only believed in destruction as eternal.

On the car ride to school, she asked the system. It played dead, as usual—full of energy when shocking her, but silent when asked real questions.

When she got off the car, before morning study began, she intercepted Su Zihan, who eyed her warily.

“What do you want, Shen Huaixin?” Su Zihan’s voice was cool.

“Next week is Shen Chumo’s birthday. I’m preparing a gift. Help me throw him a party. In return, you can name your price—money, or whatever else I can manage.”

Su Zihan looked her up and down, suspicion flickering in her gaze. “You like Shen Chumo? Don’t tell me the rumors are true?”

Expressionless, Shen Huaixin replied, “Just a passing fancy.”

After a pause, Su Zihan flatly refused. “First, I don’t need anything from you. Second, I don’t trust you not to drag me down.”

Huaixin’s brows twitched slightly. She wasn’t angry, only curious. In the novel, the heroine was helpful and kind by nature. She could be stubborn and proud, but her goodness never changed.

By the book’s logic, she should’ve agreed—perhaps even without asking anything in return.

Seeing Su Zihan about to step around her, Huaixin raised her hand, blocking her way.

“Everyone has desires. One day, you’ll want something from me.”

“… …”

Su Zihan’s face cracked. She pressed her lips together and met Huaixin’s eyes, as if stung.

Huaixin knew she’d won. Now she was curious: just what could a “vicious supporting role” like her possibly have that the heroine would ask for?

Su Zihan reached for her schoolbag. “Give me that.”

“Huh?”

Huaixin blinked, glancing down. Her bag? Sure, it was designer, but nothing special to the original owner. Or was Su Zihan after her homework, full of wrong answers?

Embarrassing. She didn’t want the heroine to see her pathetic grades.

… What if she pinned them up on the notice board for everyone to laugh at?

Though she’d worked hard to climb into the middle ranks, there hadn’t yet been a school-wide exam to prove it. She had never felt the shame of being a poor student until now—especially facing a top student, her voice shrank to a whisper.

Su Zihan cut off her spiraling thoughts. “The charm on your bag.”

“Oh.”

Huaixin startled, then stared. Her surprise only deepened as Su Zihan’s cheeks reddened.

Before the girl could flare up in embarrassment, Huaixin quickly yanked the charm off and handed it over.

“Yours now,” she said firmly. “It’s yours.”

Adorable. Huaixin nearly laughed out loud. Yesterday Qi Yi had mentioned their cold war, and she’d worried unnecessarily. This was just lovers’ quarrels. Su Zihan even wanted Qi Yi’s gift—the charm—as proof she still cared, though too shy to admit it.

Clearly, Qi Yi was at fault. He couldn’t read a girl’s heart at all, no wonder he made her mad.

Sure, transferring a gift he’d given her wasn’t the most honorable move, but surely he’d forgive her—after all, she was only helping the heroine and hero along… right? And besides, Qi Yi didn’t even see her as a friend. He probably wouldn’t mind.

Su Zihan clenched the charm in her hand. The jade was smooth and cool, but pressed into her palm it hurt faintly.

“Deal. If Qi Yi asks, just tell him you lost it.”

Huaixin formed an “OK” with her fingers.

Nodding, Su Zihan turned and left.

Back in the classroom, she slipped a note onto Qi Yi’s desk, asking to meet at lunch—she had something to show him.

She pretended to study, but her ears strained to catch his reaction.

She heard him put down his bag, shuffle some books, then pause. A quieter rustling, then silence. The heat of his gaze seemed to burn her back, until her ears flushed warm.

Not long after, the teacher’s voice came from the podium:

“Everyone, turn to page 156 and start reading aloud…”

Distracted, Su Zihan followed along, one hand sneaking into her pocket to feel the charm’s smooth ring. Only then did her heart settle.

She would show Qi Yi that Shen Huaixin had never cared about him.