Chapter 1

Summer in Beicheng is drawn out, by September, the heat’s still relentless.
The cafeteria is blasting the AC at 26 degrees, but Yu Linghuan still feels sticky and restless.
And her mood is even worse.
She’d just turned down Meng Xin’s invite to eat together, actually, scratch that, Yu Linghuan had flat-out driven Meng Xin away.
Meng Xin ran out of the cafeteria, eyes rimmed red, tears moments from spilling over.
Inside the Langde Private High School dining hall, it seemed everyone’s attention had zeroed in on Yu Linghuan, whether they tried to hide it or not.
What just happened made one thing clear to everyone: the legendary inseparable duo, Yu Linghuan and Meng Xin, had officially broken up.
Langde has thousands of students. Teenage drama is just regular programming, usually, nobody cares long.
But this time was different.
Just two months ago, explosive news rocked the campus,
A poor scholarship student from the Gaokao Division, Jiang Xin, was actually the long-lost daughter of the Meng family. She’d already been recognized and renamed “Meng Xin.”
Suddenly, everyone at school knew the name “Meng Xin.”
And Yu Linghuan? She was already a little famous.
Right after freshman year started, Yu Linghuan got into it with a girl from the International Division, all because the girl’s boyfriend stared at Yu Linghuan a bit too long. The girlfriend got it in her head that Yu Linghuan was seducing her guy.
Langde is one of Beicheng’s top private schools. The International Division is crawling with rich kids, and regular students usually stay far away.
But Yu Linghuan didn’t care, she dragged the boyfriend over and had it out face-to-face. That incident shot her into campus legend status overnight.
So, seeing Yu Linghuan and Meng Xin fall apart in person, whispers spread like wildfire.
“So it’s true? Meng Xin got rich and now looks down on her old friends?”
“Obviously! Otherwise, why would they break up so messily?”
“Come on, what rich heiress stays friends with ordinary nobodies?”
“But it looked to me like Yu Linghuan was the one who pushed Meng Xin away just now?”
“Not surprised. With Yu Linghuan’s temper, even if she’s the one being dumped, she’d never show weakness.”
“Exactly, too proud to admit she cares!”
…
Feeling the weight of a hundred stares, Yu Linghuan let out a quiet sigh.
How did it all end up like this?
She used to believe she and Jiang Xin would always be best friends.
But everything changed after that school anniversary event two months ago.
Meng Renping, the Meng family chairman and one of Langde’s board members, spotted a girl reciting poetry on stage, and she looked just like the wife he’d lost years before.
A paternity test revealed the truth: Jiang Xin was the Meng family’s missing daughter.
Overnight, Jiang Xin was no longer that scholarship kid scraping by, she became Meng Xin, daughter of the city’s top family.
Yu Linghuan told herself she should be happy for her friend.
But all summer, every time Meng Xin called or messaged, this huge, ugly feeling twisted in Yu Linghuan’s chest.
It was like a voice in her ear whispering, Why her? All of us are just ordinary, so how come Meng Xin gets a miracle, going from nobody to heiress overnight?
A second voice chimed in: She’s not your friend anymore. You should hate her. You should be jealous. You should despise her.
So whenever she picked up Meng Xin’s calls, mean words just spilled out uncontrollably.
Eventually, Yu Linghuan stopped replying altogether, they spent the entire summer apart, never meeting once.
Yu Linghuan was scared she’d do something even more out of line if they met face-to-face.
She didn’t want to become someone she herself couldn’t stand.
Today was the first day of senior year. The moment she saw Meng Xin in class, that old anger surged up again.
She ignored Meng Xin all morning, didn’t say a word.
After the last class, Yu Linghuan bolted from the room, not even glancing back at Meng Xin, who called her name over and over.
Meng Xin chased her to the cafeteria, hoping to eat together, but Yu Linghuan froze her out yet again.
But now that Meng Xin really left...Yu Linghuan just felt hollow inside.
For two whole years, freshman and sophomore, they’d eaten together almost every day.
Today, for the first time ever, the seat next to her was empty.
…
Yu Linghuan forced down lunch without tasting a bite, then went straight back to her classroom and dropped into her seat.
Her head was pounding. All she wanted was a quick nap.
Lying on her desk, she fell asleep almost instantly.
She had a strange dream.
In her dream world, her life was nothing but a plotline in a campus-set tragic romance novel.
In the novel, the heroine Meng Xin is the true heiress lost and found, while Meng Mingzhu is the fake heiress with no blood ties to the Mengs.
To spare Meng Mingzhu’s feelings, the Meng family never revealed her real identity, they just announced the two girls were sisters.
After being welcomed into her birth family, Meng Xin falls for the male lead, Sheng Han.
But here’s the problem: Sheng Han has known the fake heiress Meng Mingzhu for years, and she’s secretly in love with him too.
One’s a destined newcomer; the other’s the childhood sweetheart.
Sheng Han is torn between the two, unable to choose, unable to let go.
To make matters worse, the Meng family all root for Meng Mingzhu and Sheng Han, throwing endless obstacles at Meng Xin’s love story.
It’s not until Meng Xin, risking her life for Sheng Han, gets into a car accident and loses the use of one hand forever, that Sheng Han finally realizes who he truly loves.
The finale? Meng Xin, the true heiress, endures heartbreak and hardship, losing almost everything, until she finally “wins” Sheng Han in the war of love. Cue the “happily ever after.”
As for Yu Linghuan herself, she was the evil sidekick, bestie to Meng Xin before the truth, a malicious cannon fodder in the early plot.
When her friend became a rich heiress, Yu Linghuan was eaten alive by envy, causing drama everywhere, eventually getting expelled and spiraling out completely.
…
Yu Linghuan jerked awake and glanced at the wall clock.
She’d only napped five minutes, but it felt like a lifetime.
Massaging her temples, she was about to process that wild dream when an electronic voice suddenly chimed in her ear.
[Hello, host.]
Yu Linghuan blinked, disoriented.
[I am the Cannon Fodder Survival System for Novel World No. 1077. You may simply call me System. Other than you, host, no one can hear our conversation.]
Yu Linghuan: “…”
Years of reading webnovels had her catching on in a heartbeat.
Yu Linghuan spoke quietly to the system in her heart: "So what you're saying is, this world is actually a novel, Meng Xin is the female lead, and everything I just dreamed about is really going to happen?"
[You got half of it right. This is indeed a novel world, and what you just dreamed was the original future storyline. But now, things here have started to change.]
Yu Linghuan blinked. "What kind of change?"
[The soul of a transmigrator has now taken over the fake heiress Meng Mingzhu's body and bound itself to a transmigration system. With the help of her system, the fake heiress will charm the male lead, fall in love, and rocket to the top of the world.]
Yu Linghuan was silent for a beat before asking, "So... what happens to the real heiress?"
[That's unclear. Judging from other worlds, she's probably going to lose her family, her love, and her friends... waste away in misery. Oh, or just die outright, that happens too.]
Yu Linghuan said nothing.
The system took Yu Linghuan's silence as worry for her own fate and hurried to reassure her.
[Don't worry! Even though you're just a cannon fodder side character in the novel, going by the "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" rule, as long as you keep sabotaging the true heiress Meng Xin and stick close to fake heiress Meng Mingzhu just like in the book, there's a good chance you'll land yourself a happy ending!]
Yu Linghuan: "...Seriously."
[Sorry, what was that, Host? I didn't catch that.]
Yu Linghuan: "I said, screw you and your system."
[...Huh?]
[Host, I don't understand your meaning, but if you missed my last explanation, I'd be happy to repeat it for you.]
"Nope, not necessary," Yu Linghuan replied without a hint of hesitation. "Instead, why don't you tell me what you can actually do as a system?"
[Of course! I'm a cannon fodder system. I don't have anything as OP as Meng Mingzhu's transmigration system, no points shop, no item exchanges, but I can introduce you to the cast, help you recap the plot, and provide you with heartfelt advice!]
Yu Linghuan thought for a moment, then summed up: "So in other words, you're pretty much useless."
[…]
The system was reeling.
And just as the girl and her useless system were sinking into silence, chaos erupted outside the window.
A few classmates rushed to the windowsill to catch the action, and a guy shouted, "Hey? Isn't that Jiang, no, wait, that's Meng Xin and that Meng Mingzhu from the International Division down there?"
Though the International and Gaokao Divisions of Langde High shared a campus, the International Division had its own building, and the students rarely mixed.
So to see Meng Mingzhu show up under the Gaokao Division teaching building, trailing several of her International friends, was a rare event indeed.
The commotion drew even more classmates over to join the spectacle.
"What are they even doing? Meng Xin looks so pitiful, always keeping her head down in front of Meng Mingzhu."
"Well, duh, a girl pampered for years versus a girl who's been poor for years. Totally different vibes."
"Besides, I heard that whether it’s the Meng family or those rich kids from the International Division, everyone likes Meng Mingzhu more."
"So Meng Xin's actually got it rough, huh. Even after being acknowledged by her rich family, she's still no match for Meng Mingzhu."
...
Amid all the gossip, a harsh scraping sound split the air, a chair skidding loudly.
The noisy classroom fell suddenly quiet, every head turning automatically toward the source of the sound,
Yu Linghuan, who’d been sprawled on her desk just a minute ago, shot up from her seat.
Everyone in class knew: Yu Linghuan used to be Meng Xin’s best friend.
Everyone also knew, the two had had a spectacular falling out.
In the heavy silence, glances zigzagged through the room.
Was Yu Linghuan about to back up her "ex-bestie," or... kick her while she’s down?
With Yu Linghuan’s reputation for holding grudges and never taking a loss, the answer seemed obvious.
...
At the entrance to the teaching building, Meng Xin stood with her head bowed, saying nothing.
Across from her, Meng Mingzhu eyed the slender girl in front of her, lips curled in a smug smile as she started a mental conversation with her system.
"So that's the legendary female lead? I barely spent a low-level suppressive halo, and she's already too scared to utter a word."
[In the novel, Meng Xin's whole character is delicate, vulnerable, she'd never say no to you or the Mengs, let alone now when she’s under halo effect.]
After hearing this, Meng Mingzhu thought for a moment. "So this Meng Xin is really no threat at all, I just used a sledgehammer to swat a fly. From now on, I need to save my points and spend them wisely."
Just as Meng Mingzhu was smugly strategizing her next move, her system pinged her again.
[Young miss, cannon fodder female side character Yu Linghuan has been detected, currently approaching from ten meters behind you.]
"Young miss", a title Meng Mingzhu had insisted on. She loved how it made her sound untouchable.
On cue, Meng Mingzhu turned to see a girl with a high ponytail striding purposefully toward her.
The girl's features were all sharp and refined, but she carried an unmistakable "don't mess with me" energy.
Meng Mingzhu squinted slightly, then asked her system, "That’s Yu Linghuan? The brainless sidekick always stuck to Meng Xin?"
But before the system could reply, the high-ponytail girl rolled her eyes and snapped, "Meng Mingzhu, seriously, are you brain-damaged or something?"
For a moment, Meng Mingzhu was frozen in disbelief.