A high-end café in City A.

"Ida Clark, why haven't you sent me money lately? Do you even realize your brother’s about to get married and needs to buy a house? All cash, three million—when are you transferring it?" Linda Foster said loudly.

Ida looked at the woman across from her—drenched in luxury, sure, but no matter how much she dressed up, that tacky and greedy vibe clung to her like glue.

She’d spent the whole day wrapping her head around what had happened.

She used to be a war god in a parallel world. Waking up here felt surreal—same history, same language, but totally different vibes, like the timeline took a weird turn somewhere.

That world was chaos, constant fighting, no food, barely any humanity left. Only the strongest made it out alive.

But here? Peaceful, rich, like paradise compared to what she'd seen.

She didn’t know why she woke up here. But the memories in her head said she'd taken over this body, and along with it came the past of the original owner—also named Ida Clark—who would tragically die in a year from some illness.

Right now, she had exactly one year to change everything.

Linda Foster, the woman across from her, was the original Ida’s adoptive mother. Ida was taken in at age seven by Linda and Robert Clark. Not out of kindness, but because she was beautiful—and they had a son.

In their eyes, having a pretty adopted daughter was like investing in a cash cow to buy cars and houses for their precious son.

At sixteen, the original Ida was shoved into showbiz like merchandise—anything that could make money, they forced her to do. So she was seen as just another talentless “pretty face” in the industry.

And today, seeing Linda's nasty side up close? Ida had finally gotten the full picture.

She picked up her coffee, took a sip, and looked Linda straight in the eye.

"Huh? Your son getting married—what’s that got to do with me?"

The comment made the whole café quiet down for a second. Heads turned, whispers followed.

"What kind of mom talks to her daughter like that? She’s not even treating her like a person."

"Right? Why should the daughter pay for her brother's wedding house? That’s insane."

"That’s just messed up! I’ve never seen parents like that."

Even though people didn’t speak loudly, Linda still caught the whispers. Her heavily powdered face turned even more sour.

She shot up from her seat and pointed at the gossipers, snapping, "What do you losers know? Daughters are worthless! If she doesn’t contribute before she’s married off, what the hell did I raise her for?"

"A bunch of ignorant morons! Keep yapping and I’ll scratch your faces off!"People at the café all seemed pretty civilized. No one wanted to stoop to Linda Foster’s level, so they just grabbed their things and left.

Meanwhile, Ida Clark just kept digging into the desserts in front of her.

Once she finished eating, she calmly picked up the metal spoon and bent it right down the middle without much effort, snapping it clean into two.

She casually tossed the broken pieces onto the table in front of Linda and said, "Don't ever come looking for me again."

Linda just stared, speechless.

She looked down at the deformed spoon, then back at Ida.

But Ida had already grabbed her bag and walked off.

Linda stood frozen in place, then suddenly dropped to the floor and started wailing, "Ungrateful brat! I raised you all these years, and this is how you repay me?"

"You heartless thing! You'll get what's coming to you!"

Right as Ida pushed the door open to leave, she heard that and, without even turning around, snapped a leaf from the plant by the entrance.

She flicked it straight toward Linda with precision.

It hit Linda square in the lips, slicing them open. Blood started pouring out.

She gasped from the sting, reached up to touch her mouth, and her fingers came away soaked in red. The next second, she passed out on the spot.

It didn’t take long for the café staff to rush over and wake her up.

“Hi there, can you please take care of your bill? That’s two coffees, three desserts, and one damaged spoon—total is 438 yuan.”

Linda was still stunned.

She shrieked again, "You heartless monster, Ida! You could at least settle the bill before storming off! You chowhound, eating all that!"

A staff member noticed her bleeding and asked, looking concerned, "Ma’am, what happened to your mouth?"

Just then, an elderly lady who had overheard Linda’s crappy rants piped up, "That’s karma biting back, plain and simple."

Linda glared daggers at her.

But the old lady stared right back, not the least bit intimidated.

It was like her eyes were saying, "Try to touch me, and I’ll make sure you’re bankrupt from the hospital bills."

Linda chickened out. Miserable and clutching her mouth, she paid the tab and scurried off.

Ida was already on the bus heading back to the company.

She had a work meeting to attend—it was about a dating show.

There was a complicated backstory to that.

See, she had come into this world a year before the original Ida’s death.

So, she basically remembered everything that happened that year.

That show? It was one the original Ida joined at the invitation of someone she had a crush on.

That show was also the trigger that threw her into a downhill spiral and, indirectly, led to her death.

The guy she had feelings for was named Daniel Lewis, an actor from the same agency.

Once, after getting chewed out by her awful foster parents, the original Ida hid away and cried silently in the stairwell.

Daniel just happened to go there for a smoke, saw her crying, and handed her a tissue, said a few kind words.

Because she’d grown up starved for affection, that moment hit her hard.

The very next day, the two of them ended up on the same set.Daniel Lewis even bought her breakfast that morning, acting all sweet and concerned, asking if she was feeling any better. That moment? The original Ida Clark fell hard—like super hard.

Daniel was a rising star in the industry, with that warm sunshine-boy kind of vibe and a smile that could melt anyone on the spot. He ticked every box of her dream guy. So yeah, she low-key started doing nice things for him, hoping he'd notice.

And he did. Eventually he asked her to be on a dating reality show with him. On camera, she bent over backwards to make him happy, like, full-time people-pleaser mode.

Daniel treated her pretty well during filming. Once the show ended, he subtly made it known that she was his girlfriend. Hearing that, she gave her all—literally everything—for him.

She drained her savings, bought him a new car and a house, both under his name. She never questioned it.

Then she got sick. Some rare viral blood disorder. Treatment would cost five million. She was broke.

Desperate, she asked Daniel to sell the house to help her out. He ghosted her.

The night before she died, she begged him to come see her one last time. That’s when he finally showed up—just to spill the truth.

Turns out, Daniel had a “true love” all along: a fellow celeb from his company, Sophie Bennett. That breakfast? Bought for Sophie. She didn’t want it, so he handed it to Ida, pretending it was for her.

He only invited Ida to that dating show because Sophie was gonna be on it too. Daniel had found out through Sophie’s agent that she was joining the show, so he quickly pulled some strings to get himself on it. He thought maybe he could win her over on set.

But then he realized Sophie was doing the show for someone else—Matthew Wright, the A-list actor. Daniel couldn’t back out due to contract stuff, so to save face, he got Ida involved. Wanted Sophie to see someone liked him too.

Truth bomb: he never liked Ida. He just liked being adored.

When he figured out how naive she really was, he started dating her off-camera just to scam her for money.

So yeah, that reality show? It was the trapdoor that dropped her into a vortex.

Back in the present, Ida finished piecing all this together. Her chest felt tight for the girl who used to live in this body. Ida wasn't dumb—she was just starved for love. The second someone treated her halfway decent, she was ready to give them everything—even her life.

The bus announced the next stop.

At the same time, a WeChat notification popped up.

Daniel: “You at the company yet? Need to talk.”

Ida: “Yeah. I’m here.”

——————

New story just launched—a bit goofy, a bit random, lots of fun! Totally illogical on purpose, ‘cause that’s the vibe.

Don’t forget to hit that bookshelf if you enjoyed Chapter One!

We’ve got a long road ahead—hang tight, it only gets better!