The Heartthrob Halo Doesn't Work on the Villain - Chapter 3

Aside from rescuing Lou Yubing from that group a week ago, Lin Yan had made no further moves toward him. No conversation, no interaction. To 555, her nonchalant demeanor was clear evidence of passive resistance—she had completely given up.

Finally, on the Friday morning exactly one week later, Lin Yan, who had just slumped onto her desk and drifted into a deep sleep, was jolted awake by an electric shock.

Yes, a literal electric shock.

The other students in the classroom, who were reading aloud for morning study, were startled by Lin Yan’s convulsive movements in her seat. Lou Yubing glanced over, then stood up and shifted his chair slightly away before sitting back down.

As the others discussed whether to take Lin Yan to the school infirmary, they noticed sweat beading on her forehead. She forced a strained smile, waved them off, and inexplicably gritted her teeth.

“No need, thank you. I just had a nightmare and got a little scared.”

Her explanation made sense, and the others dispersed. With that matter resolved, Lin Yan turned her simmering anger toward the entity residing within her wristband.

“555, were you behind that just now?”

As Overseer System 555 of the Temporal Authority, its purpose was to answer questions and provide explanations. When Lin Yan asked, it replied earnestly:

This is a common disciplinary measure used by the Temporal Authority to punish Missioners. When the System detects a prolonged period of inactivity from the Host toward completing their mission, it automatically initiates disciplinary action.

Despite the System’s mention of “automatically,” Lin Yan scoffed.

“You have the authority to control these ‘disciplinary’ actions.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact.

As soon as she spoke, Lin Yan could clearly sense that the voice only she could hear didn’t respond immediately. Instead, it remained silent for an unusually long time.

Yes.

“So, you deliberately triggered that ‘punishment’ just now, didn’t you?”

Over the past few days, this self-proclaimed System had repeatedly urged her to expedite her mission progress. At first, Lin Yan hadn’t thought much of it. But as these reminders became increasingly frequent, she began to sense something was amiss.

If the mission were to fail, she should be the one panicking, after all, the System had previously warned her that failure would result in her annihilation across the Three Thousand Worlds. Yet Lin Yan hadn’t given much thought to the consequences for this so-called System if the mission failed.

In her original world, Lin Yan had been a businesswoman. Among merchants, the most crucial principle was always fair exchange. Now that she had revealed her needs, it would be unacceptable if the other party were still concealing something.

When she posed her question, she received the answer she had already anticipated.

Yes.

“Considering our current relationship, we’re essentially work partners. Yet you seem far more anxious about this mission than I, the Missioner, am. Can you explain why?”

Lin Yan hadn’t expected to get the answer she wanted so easily. But after a moment of silence, she heard a strange electrical hum. The bracelet on her wrist lit up with warning symbols, and time around her froze, just as it had before.

Beep—Forced disconnection from Main Terminal. Danger…

This had never happened before. Lin Yan frowned, but the strange noises vanished the next moment.

I do have other plans.

Lin Yan finally understood who had orchestrated the earlier scene, but she remained silent, listening quietly as 555 finished speaking.

After what felt like an eternity, Lin Yan finally learned everything 555 knew about the Temporal Authority. The more she heard, the more astonished she became. Only then did it reveal its complete understanding of this Small World.

Before you, nine other Missioners entered this book world, and none of them succeeded in completing their missions. In fact, their interventions only accelerated the collapse of the world’s order. After that, neither the Missioners nor their Systems were ever heard from again.

“Didn’t you mention earlier that Missioners would be annihilated upon mission failure?”

That was merely a conclusion I drew from analyzing all the Temporal Authority’s mission records. According to past cases, if a mission succeeds, the Missioner is teleported back to the Bureau, their memories erased, and then redeployed to the next mission world. This cycle repeats endlessly until failure, at which point they cease to exist.

Hearing this, Lin Yan lowered her gaze, lost in thought.

“So, when you promised I could stay in this world and have a new identity, you were just deceiving me to buy time?”

No, I was—trying to find a new way.

“If compliance leads to the same outcome, then defiance might be the only way out.”

555 hadn’t expected Lin Yan to say this. Its usually emotionless voice now trembled slightly.

That’s right.

Before this candid exchange, Lin Yan had seen 555 as merely a machine. Now, that perception had blurred.

“If that’s the case, why did you keep urging me to complete the missions assigned by the Temporal Authority?”

For the Bureau, missions are their means of stabilizing Small Worlds and maintaining control over them. But this world is different. It has suffered too many failures, riddled with flaws and fragile beyond repair. If it collapses again, the Small World will vanish along with the Missioner’s failure. At that point, the Bureau will abandon it…

Hearing this, Lin Yan thought that if this entity could materialize, she would surely see madness and excitement on its face. Yet, a corner of her lips curled into a smile.

“So, you’re having me complete the mission to ensure our future existence in this world, while you’re responsible for deceiving the higher-ups and making them let go.”

The azure light on her wristband suddenly flashed brilliantly. Lin Yan knew she had guessed correctly, but her expression remained grave.

“But how can I trust you?”

The question seemed impossible to answer, yet the answer was simple.

You have no choice but to trust me.

The logic was irrefutable. Lin Yan chuckled softly, unable to refute it.

“True. According to you, we’re both grasshoppers tied to the same string now.”

You’ve also realized that we’re currently beyond surveillance. The longer we remain in this collapsing world, the better I can control the Small World’s primary consciousness, ultimately severing its connection to the Bureau.

Lin Yan nodded in understanding. Sensing the heavy atmosphere, she quipped, “Now that we’ve all been so candid, I’ll do my best to complete the mission. But next time, let’s skip the inhumane ‘punishments,’ okay?”

Just thinking about that stinging, numbing pain made her skin crawl.

555 seemed to take her words to heart. After a moment of silence, it finally replied,

Understood.

Of course, I’ll do my best to assist you as well.

The two had reached a perfect agreement. With a final “beep,” the negotiation ended, and the sound of students reciting their lessons filled the air once more.

There’s no specific reason. The system detected recent Host inactivity and used electroshock to urge you to complete the General Bureau’s assigned tasks promptly.

Everything returned to normal. Lin Yan pressed her lips into a thin line, her expression betraying nothing as she played along.

“I was just taking a nap! How does that count as inactivity? Don’t do that so suddenly next time—you’ll scare me to death!”

555 remained silent. But now that Lin Yan was awake and had absorbed such a massive influx of information in such a short time, sleep was out of the question. She glanced around and realized there was a veritable chasm separating her desk from that of the ice-cold Lou Yubing.

It hadn’t been there before she went to sleep, so it must have been moved after the sudden incident.

Lin Yan could only chuckle wryly at this realization. Most people would have rushed to help in such a situation, but Lou Yubing’s first instinct was to avoid it at all costs. To say the least, their animosity ran deep.

She hadn’t exactly been idle these past few days. She had simply been making preparations for the tragic events that might occur in six months.

The original owner of this body truly lived up to her status as the only daughter of Hai City’s wealthiest man. When Lin Yan saw the balance in her bank account, she could only sigh at life’s unfairness. The hundreds of millions of yuan that most people would never earn in their lifetime were merely pocket money in her account—liquid assets she could freely spend.

Looking at this wealth, Lin Yan researched the era’s economic systems. If she weren’t bound by her character’s persona, she would have been itching to invest the money long ago.

However, she had to admit that this body’s physical condition was far inferior to her own. Her mind seemed sluggish, often getting stuck while thinking, which made her abnormally drowsy during the day.

This approach had indeed “neglected” her primary mission target.

However, she hadn’t completely abandoned her efforts. After all, she was deeply curious about the so-called All-Enchanting Halo bound to her and wanted to test its effects. Yet, over the past seven days, Lou Yubing’s favorability rating remained stubbornly fixed at -99, while the attitudes of others toward her had improved significantly. She had even received several love letters this week.

According to 555, either Lou Yubing’s hatred for her had already reached its maximum limit, making it impossible to display further on the numerical scale, or… it was because individuals with strong wills were highly resistant to the halo’s influence.

As a Missioner, she would have preferred the former explanation, but as an observer, she suspected the latter was more likely.

Lin Yan stroked her chin, her neck twisting inadvertently to catch sight of Xia Qiyu sitting in the front rows. Her thoughts shifted.

“555, as long as the Female Lead doesn’t die, the Small World won’t completely collapse, right?”

Theoretically, that’s correct. However, this world is extremely unstable, so I can’t make any guarantees.

“Alright, then I’ll just have to prepare for both possibilities.”