Shen Wanwan put her phone down, and 001 suddenly said:
{I think you’re right.}
“Hm?”
{Borrowed light really doesn’t last very long.
{The light on Bai Ling has already grown very dim.}
001 lay on her shoulder, quietly gazing out the window below.
There was a large garden area beneath the hotel.
Following its line of sight, Shen Wanwan looked out as well. The faint light on Bai Ling was almost blending into the moonlight.
“Is she really the female lead?”
Shen Wanwan asked sincerely once more. But this time, the little light orb hesitated and couldn’t give an answer.
{I don’t know.}
001 shook its head in confusion.
{To be honest, because of everything you did after awakening, the story’s original trajectory has already collapsed. It’s really hard to say who the female lead is now.}
“?
“What do you mean?”
Seeing the confusion in Shen Wanwan’s eyes, 001 seized the upper hand for once and said smugly:
{If this were a book that had already been written to the end, what would be the point of me saving you?}
Shen Wanwan pondered for a moment.
“So the so-called male lead, female lead, second male lead, and supporting female; all of them are just roles assigned based on the instructions you received?”
{Yes.}
The little light orb looked at her with approval.
{All developments are free. It’s just that the force of the plot will interfere a little, based on the story’s original highlights.
{For example, you and your mother needing to lose your memories, to make the logic of you being siblings who don’t know each other work;
{Your brother’s hatred toward your mother needing to be intense enough so that when the female lead redeems and saves him, it feels healing;
{The male lead being emotionally detached by nature, but once he falls in love, loving fiercely and giving supreme devotion…}
As it spoke, it suddenly hesitated:
{So… has the female lead become you now?}
Shen Wanwan didn’t respond. She walked to the window and looked toward a couple outside.
It was already very dark. Even in Yangcheng, the autumn night wind was noisy, blowing the program coordinator Xiao Xia’s hair into disarray.
Her cheeks and nose were red, her face half-hidden in a thick scarf. She ran happily against the wind toward the hotel entrance, then was pulled into the arms of her boyfriend, who had already been waiting there.
The guests were staying here, and all the staff were staying here as well.
The young man tenderly tightened her scarf and handed her a cup of steaming hot milk tea.
The two leaned against each other, chatting as they strolled through the garden.
001 didn’t understand what Shen Wanwan meant and looked at her blankly.
Shen Wanwan gently stroked the little light orb’s head with her fingertips.
“Take off the plot filter and look.”
001 obediently did so.
It saw the light on Xiao Xia and her boyfriend.
Bright. Dazzling. Radiant.
{!!!}
It rubbed its eyes in shock.
Was it hallucinating in the middle of the night?
Shen Wanwan pointed to another place.
A girl surrounded by people was also glowing brilliantly.
No.
To be precise—
Everyone was glowing.
It was just that the brightness varied, and none of it was permanent.
001 muttered blankly, {How can this be?}
Shen Wanwan slowly sat down on the nearby sofa.
“There’s never such a thing as someone existing forever just to support someone else.”
Anyone might become a supporting character in someone else’s story.
But everyone is also the protagonist of their own.
001 was stunned.
{When did you realize this?!}
As she unlocked her phone, Shen Wanwan asked casually:
“What is my Brother’s character setting like in the book?”
001 answered almost instantly: {Hard and cold, covered in thorns, sharp-edged.}
Shen Wanwan casually opened the trending topics. At the very top was a live broadcast clip of Shao Yuye being scared out of his wits by a ‘ghost.’
“Then look at him now.”
001: 【……】
On the screen, the sight of a 1.88-meter iron-blooded tough guy shrieking like a startled gopher was so overwhelming that it made 001 desperately want to complain.
—{Such a show-off!}
Shen Wanwan raised an eyebrow.
“Hard and cold, covered in thorns, sharp-edged?”
001 : {……}
“Doesn’t this count as another form of awakening?”
It seemed like it did.
001 immediately made the connection: {No wonder the male lead agreed to your absurd request!
{The plot force’s level of control has weakened!
{Wanwan, you’re amazing!
{This world has changed because of you!}
It shouted in sudden enlightenment.
But Shen Wanwan gently shook her head.
“No. It’s you.”
001 was full of question marks. {Me?}
Shen Wanwan put down her phone and said solemnly, “You are Bai Ling’s greatest cheat.”
Bai Ling’s character setting is kind-hearted.
That’s not a trait that can actively stand out on its own.
So it requires a vicious supporting female to provide ‘warmth’ from time to time.
Whether through jealous provocation or humble submission—
In the end, all of it benefits Bai Ling.
001 was visibly shocked, its whole body trembling so hard it left afterimages.
{How is that possible?! I’m a Female Supporting Character Counterattack System…}
It went on and on, rattling off its former glorious achievements all over again. Halfway through, it suddenly froze, as if it had realized something, and abruptly shut up.
Under its guidance, the female supporting characters had indeed, in a certain sense, achieved a ‘counterattack.’
From the very first day it became a system, that was what the textbooks had taught.
To achieve a win-win situation with the female lead, the female supporting character would have a chance to survive. In truth, the one who possessed ‘light’ was not the main leads, but every single person who worked hard and gained a sense of achievement…
{So the reason the light on you is growing stronger isn’t because you’ve been interacting with your Brother or the male lead!}
But rather…
Rather—
The blow dealt by reality was simply too great.
The little light orb dejectedly curled itself into a lump.
{The amount of information I’ve received is too much. I need some time to digest it. Good night.}
“Good night.”
Shen Wanwan rubbed the head of the frustrated little light orb.