“What?! Everyone Except Me Is a Villain (GL) - Chapter 1

“Jin Buning, have you decided who you’re going with?”

Through the haze of half-sleep, Jin Buning slowly raised her head only to see a woman sitting on her lap. The woman was stunning, with a kind of sultry beauty that a girl in her teens shouldn’t have. It was the kind of face that could make both men and women lose their composure.

But instead of admiration, Buning’s heart skipped a beat. What followed was pure, bone-deep fear.

“Why the long face? Is it that hard to pick one of them?” The woman smiled, lips curving like a blade. “Or do you want me to choose for you? Pick Baili Ruobing, she’s the head of the Baili family. Be her dog, and you can have anything you want.”

Her tone was sweet, her smile warm, but her eyes didn’t even flicker when she said the word dog.

Buning stayed silent. The woman continued as if she hadn’t noticed.

“Or maybe choose that so-called ‘real daughter.’ Sure, she’s got one foot in the grave, but if you serve her well, she won’t last long and when she’s gone, everything in the Zhen family will be yours. You’ll become the eldest Miss Zhen.”

Buning shook her head again, her expression growing paler. This time, the woman’s smile faded. She lifted Buning’s chin with cold fingers, voice turning sharp.

“Jin Buning, I’m talking to you. You’re the fake daughter. You’ll be abandoned eventually, so why not find a new master before they toss you out? If all else fails, pick that fierce neighbor sister of yours. She’s not rich, but at least no one at university will dare bully you.”

The woman offered her third “kind suggestion” as if discussing items in a shop CEO, heiress, neighbor, all lined up like suitable options for a desperate girl to cling to.

But Buning only grew more pale, her throat tight.

“Or do you like them older? Don’t tell me you want that crippled stepmother of yours?” The woman tilted her head in mock thought. “She’s not a bad choice. Both Zhen Batian and Zhen Wangzi are fond of her. But she’s the most dangerous of them all calculating and ruthless. Pick her, and she’ll grind your bones to dust before you even realize it.”

Her words were teasing, lips parting and closing with a hypnotic rhythm. Anyone else would have been enchanted by her beauty but Buning felt only dread. She shoved the woman off her lap with sudden force.

“Jin Buning! What are you doing?”

The woman stumbled, eyes wide with anger, though even furious, she was still breathtaking. Not a trace of dishevelment on her flawless face.

“I’m sorry, Xu Yixin,” Buning said, her voice trembling. “I’ve decided I won’t choose anyone.”

The name hung in the air like a curse. Buning’s already pale complexion turned ghostly white. It felt as if something inside her had cracked the world she knew splintering with it.

“Why?” Xu Yixin’s voice was almost a purr. “Ah, I get it you still want to be my little dog, don’t you? Too bad. Without the Zhen family name, you’re of no use to me.”

Her words were sharp as glass, cutting through Buning’s last shred of composure.

But instead of anger, Buning smiled faintly. “No. I wouldn’t dare drag you down, Xin-jie. I’m just… tired. I’ll head back and rest.”

Without waiting for a reply, she left quickly almost as if she feared someone might chase her.

Only when she’d locked herself in her room did she finally exhale.

“Ah…”

Her sigh filled the empty space, heavy and weary. Her dark eyes reflected her despair, helpless, lost, and deep afraid.

Jin Buning was born in this world, raised as the Zhen family’s adopted daughter. The real reason they took her in was to serve as a living sacrifice, a vessel to prolong the real daughter Zhen Xier’s life. By mistake or perhaps fate Buning’s soul had been sent into a cultivation world instead.

She had long since adapted to life there, training, fighting, preparing to ascend to immortality… until the heavens told her she carried a heart demon and could not ascend.

To purge it, she had to return to this very world.

But the moment she did, she discovered something horrifying: this wasn’t her simple mortal world at all. It was a fusion of five different worlds, and every person Xu Yixin had mentioned every “choice” she’d offered was a final boss from one of those worlds.

And Jin Buning? She’d already been killed 137 times on this same timeline.

Sometimes she was poisoned without warning.
Sometimes crushed by falling debris.
More often than not, one of the villains killed her simply because they were in a bad mood.

And every time, she was reborn again and again into the same nightmare.

Her immortal cultivation? Sealed.
Her strength? Gone.
Heaven had told her she’d need a “chance encounter” to regain it but so far, she had none.

So here she was, just a powerless girl, armed only with memories of a hundred thirty-seven deaths.

“Xiao Ning, are you there?”

The knock on the door made her heart freeze. The voice outside was soft and sweet, but she didn’t relax.

After a long hesitation, she opened the door.

A frail-looking girl stood outside around 1.6 meters tall, petite compared to Buning’s 1.7. Her skin was pale, her features so delicate she looked like an oversized porcelain doll—beautiful, but fragile enough to shatter.

“Miss Zhen,” Buning greeted politely, scanning the hallway for traps. In a world where everyone was a villain, sincerity was the most dangerous illusion.

“Bu ning,” the girl said gently, eyes wide and pleading. “Xin-jie told me about your situation. Let me talk to my family for you. Maybe I can convince them to let you stay.”

Her tone was kind, her expression pure. Those puppy-like eyes could melt anyone’s heart. But Buning remembered too well Zhen Xier, the “real daughter,” who once mistook Buning for a romantic rival and murdered her lover with her bare hands.

“Stay? So I can die in your place?” Buning smiled faintly.

She’d been adopted at ten, under contract. The Zhen family promised to fund her life until eighteen, until the real daughter’s “death tribulation” passed. Then the fake daughter, Buning, would be cast aside.

Now that Zhen Xier’s eighteenth birthday had passed, the Zhens had announced the truth to the public fabricating a heartwarming “switched daughters” tale. Tonight was Buning’s last night in this mansion. Tomorrow, she would be thrown out to fend for herself.

“What did you say?”

Zhen Xier blinked, still wearing her mask of innocence. If anyone else had been here, they’d be rushing to scold Buning for being ungrateful. But with no audience, her act felt hollow.

“Buning,” she said softly, “there’s no need for us to part on bad terms. Even if you’re no longer a Zhen, we can still be friends. It’s eight o’clock now why don’t you think about it and tell me your answer before ten?”

Without waiting for a reply, she left, glancing back with a wistful smile as if she truly cared.

But Buning had died too many times to fall for that again. That was the power of villains deception wrapped in gentleness.

She closed the door, exhaustion washing over her. It was 8:10 p.m.

“Did she emphasize the time just now?”

Something in her gut twisted. Ten o’clock. It hadn’t happened in the previous 137 loops.

“Could it be because I pushed Xu Yixin away?” she wondered aloud.

Her unease grew rapidly. She wanted to leave, but past experiences told her escape only hastened her death. Once, she’d just glanced at a shadow and was suffocated from behind before she could even scream.

So she sat back on the sofa, forcing herself to stay calm.

Then another knock.

Buning’s eyes flicked to the clock. 8:20.

She peered through the peephole.

It was Aunt Liu, the housekeeper. But her presence only made Buning’s bl00d run cold Aunt Liu was Madam Pei Fuliu’s right hand. And Pei Fuliu… was her “stepmother.”

“Miss Jin, Madam would like to see you.”

Aunt Liu’s tone was flat, her face expressionless, her voice eerily mechanical like an AI simulation.

This had never happened in any previous timeline.

Buning hesitated, then nodded. “Alright. Please lead the way.”

For a brief moment, Aunt Liu’s lifeless eyes met hers, and Buning’s scalp prickled. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to stay composed.

Whatever awaited her tonight, she had to face it.
Only by confronting her heart demon could she return to the immortal realm and ascend at last.