"Hiss... that hurts."
In the corner, Sophie Wexler clutched her head and drew in a sharp, cold breath, slowly opening her eyes.
The next second, her expression froze in place!
The room was dimly lit, filled with a suggestive atmosphere. Several articles of clothing were strewn across the floor, and even a corner of the bedsheet had been pulled off. Amid the utter chaos, a woman was lying on the bed.
Sophie's mind went blank. 'What is going on?'
Before she could even react, a chill ran down her spine as a powerful, oppressive presence washed over her. The color drained from Sophie Wexler's face.
She slowly turned her head. The next second, she met a pair of fierce, ice-cold eyes.
The man seemed to be leaning weakly against the wall, his clothes in disarray and his eyes bloodshot, as if he were desperately trying to endure something.
Sophie: "?"
'Didn't I just get into a car accident on my way to a concert? How did I end up at the scene of a porno in the blink of an eye?'
The man's gaze was frigid as he stared at her, and the air seemed to stagnate. Sophie forced a stiff smile. "Um, I'm in the wrong room. You guys... carry on." As she spoke, she started to scramble up from the floor.
Just as she got to her feet, a sharp pain shot through her brain; the next moment, Sophie froze mid-motion, her almond-shaped eyes flying wide open.
An outrageous thought exploded in her mind like a clap of thunder.
'My world is ending!'
She had actually transmigrated into a sci-fi novel as the villainous cannon fodder with only F-Level Spiritual Power!!
Her agent had been reading the novel and had even complained to her about it because the cannon fodder side character shared her name.
She'd said that the 'Sophie Wexler' in the book was jealous of the female lead. The lead, despite being an adopted daughter, had awakened A-level Healing Spiritual Power. This drove the original Sophie to act out crazily, targeting the heroine at every turn, scheming, and tripping her up. As a result, she was kicked out of the family—a textbook case of courting death in every way imaginable.
She even remembered her agent teasingly telling her to read the novel, saying that she might just transmigrate into it one day.
Who would have thought her words would become a self-fulfilling prophecy! She really transmigrated!
According to the original owner's memories, she had grown jealous after hearing that the man she liked admired the heroine. So, she'd thrown the heroine into a room with a heavily injured, amnesiac man she had previously found, drugged them both, and intended to ruin the heroine's reputation.
But when the man realized something was wrong, he tried to leave. In the ensuing struggle, he accidentally threw the original owner of the body, causing her to hit her head. And that's when she arrived.
Sophie's vision went dark. 'An apocalyptic start right out of the gate!'
'Scene of a porno, my ass! This is clearly the countdown to the cannon fodder's demise!'
She now deeply regretted not reading that novel.
Given the circumstances, she didn't know if the heroine's reputation would be ruined, but she knew her own fate as the cannon fodder would be tragic!
After all, according to her agent, the original character was eventually thrown onto a Barren Planet by the Imperial Marshal, where she was tortured to no end before The Swarm shattered her Spiritual Sea and tore her to pieces.
As for why the Imperial Marshal was the one to 'off' the original Sophie, she guessed he must have also been in love with the heroine and was getting revenge for her.
Just as she was thinking, a soft groan pulled Sophie Wexler back to her senses. She looked at the person on the bed and shivered.
'According to the usual novel tropes, the male lead is bound to arrive on the scene soon. Doesn't that mean I'm just one step closer to my doom?!'
'No way, I have to run! Now!'
Sophie looked at the man beside her. 'I have to take this poor sap, who was victimized by the original Sophie, with me.'
After a moment, she tentatively called out, "Cillian Forrest?"
The man lifted his gaze. His eyes were unnaturally cold and filled with savagery; his stare locked firmly on Sophie.
A thick sense of danger instantly enveloped Sophie, making the hair on her arms stand on end. She even suspected he wanted to kill her.
She hesitated for a second before cautiously asking, "Are you okay?"
The words had barely left her mouth when the man straightened up. Sophie panicked and hurriedly said, "Don't get agitated! Don't! I didn't mean to harm you. I'll get you out of here right now!"
She spoke without even daring to take a breath, terrified she'd meet her end right here.
Cillian Forrest slowly walked toward Sophie, his eyes dark as he stared at her. He gritted out her name, "Sophie Wexler!"
The drug made his body unbearably uncomfortable. His face was flushed, and his breaths were hot, but his eyes were bone-chillingly cold.
"What in the world are you..."
"Don't do anything! I'm really..."
The two voices spoke at the same time.
But before Sophie could finish, a scorching touch brushed against her neck and shoulder, making her flinch. Instantly, Sophie's entire body went rigid.
The next second, a weight fell onto her shoulder, causing her to sway violently.
The air was quiet for a few seconds. Sophie blinked dazedly. 'He fainted?'
Sophie carefully poked the man on her shoulder. Seeing no reaction, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
'This guy was already seriously injured before the original Sophie found him. This whole incident just added insult to injury. He must have been at the end of his rope, just forcing himself to stay conscious. That's why he passed out now.'
'Fainting is good. If he's fainted, we can escape.'
Sophie adjusted her stance and, with all her might, managed to support the man. Her back was bent into an unnatural position. She gasped for air and couldn't help but exclaim, "He's so heavy."
'If my life wasn't on the line, I never would've known I had this much potential.'
Staggering under his weight, she glanced back at Rosalind Rhodes on the bed before leaving, a look of apology on her face. "Don't worry, your man will be here soon!"
After saying that, she immediately bolted!
---
In the hospital, Sophie let out a long sigh of relief.
'Although I don't know what I'll face after Rosalind Rhodes is discovered, it can't possibly be worse than the original Sophie's fate, right?'
'If I do my best to avoid them from now on, I should be able to avoid getting killed off as cannon fodder.'
Lost in thought, she was interrupted by the doctor's words.
"What's wrong with this man? His injuries from last time haven't even healed, and now he's like this again?!" The moment the doctor entered the room, he felt the leaking spiritual power, which made him extremely uncomfortable. Sweat trickled down his temples as he immediately mobilized his own spiritual power to form a Protection Barrier around himself.
'Is this man's spiritual power really that strong?' he couldn't help but marvel. He had no idea that the leaking spiritual power was just a tiny fraction of the whole.
The doctor's gaze then fell on Sophie, a flash of surprise in his eyes. 'How is she seemingly unaffected? Does she have something that can block spiritual power?'
But seeing the patient's terrible condition, he frowned and shot a glance at Sophie Wexler.
Sophie saw the look in the doctor's eyes. He clearly thought this was all her doing.
Sophie had a grievance she couldn't voice. In a sense, it really was 'she' who had gotten the man into this state.
"Doctor, he's been drugged. Could you please..."
"What?!" The doctor's voice shot up. "His Spiritual Sea is still in its Disorder Period! How dare you let him be drugged!"
Faced with the doctor's reprimand, Sophie had no explanation. She sighed inwardly. "It's my fault. It won't happen again. For now, please just treat him."
The doctor frowned, clearly not believing a word she said.
Sophie pressed her lips together and said nothing, only repeating her request, "Treat him."
Only then did the doctor avert his gaze and get to work. The original Sophie had used the most common type of drug, so it wasn't difficult to deal with. She watched as the doctor injected a reagent into the man's vein.
"Alright, the effects of the drug in his system will be cleared in half an hour. However," the doctor paused and turned to look at Sophie Wexler before finally speaking.
"We still can't detect his Spiritual Power Level, but we can determine that the spiritual volatility of his Disorder Period has worsened. It could erupt at any moment. I recommend he undergo soothing."
Sophie's eyes filled with confusion. Spiritual power, Disorder Period, soothing... a series of unfamiliar terms flooded her mind.
It took her a long moment to process what the doctor was saying.
In The Galaxy, people who had awakened their spiritual power would face a scouring of that power periodically. This was known as a Disorder Period.
And the higher their Level, the greater the pain brought on by the spiritual power scouring during the Disorder Period.
Fortunately, aside from this type of spiritual power, there was a very small portion of people in The Galaxy whose spiritual power was extremely gentle and could soothe the scouring. They were known as the Healer-class.
Although everyone could go to a treatment center for soothing, the higher one's Level, the less effective the treatment center became.
Under the same circumstances, a Healer-class user was far more effective than a treatment center.
As a result, Healer-class users were exceptionally precious in The Empire.
However, while Healer-class users were precious, a Healer of the lowest level was not.
After all, a Healer-class user could only soothe those at or below their own Level. For anyone of a higher Level, their soothing was a complete drop in the bucket—less effective than a relief agent. They could even suffer pain themselves due to the other person's High-level Spiritual Power.
And she was the lowest of the Healer-class: F-level.
"Then use a relief agent."
After saying that, Sophie opened her Light Brain to pay the fee. But the next second...
A voice echoed in the room: "DING. Payment failed. Master, your Star Coin balance is insufficient. Please try again."
Sophie: "Huh?"
Sophie: "!"