Chapter 5

Alivia moved on instinct. She dropped the fishbone, rolled to the side, and pressed her back against the thick trunk of a birch tree, her eyes locked on the canopy.

With a series of snapping branches and a flurry of leaves, something plummeted through the foliage. It hit the riverbank with a dull thud, sending up a cloud of dust.

Alivia blinked. It wasn't a beast. It was a woman. A woman wearing a white lace dress.

She lay motionless, her delicate face pale, her skin impossibly smooth, a stark contrast to the grime and sweat of the forest. A small cut on her forehead was the only flaw.

Alivia's mind raced. A modern dress. Perfect skin. In this savage world? It could only mean one thing.

Ding! Kai's voice shrieked in her head. "Alert! High-dimensional energy intrusion! 'Destined Protagonist' Haylee Clayton has arrived!"

Information flooded Alivia's brain. Haylee had a 'Mary Sue Halo' system. According to the original plot, she was supposed to be found by Kane, brought back to the tribe, and worshipped as a goddess. The original Alivia would have been driven to her death as a foil to Haylee's perfection.

Alivia stared at the unconscious woman. There was no sympathy in her heart. Only cold, hard calculation. In a world of scarce resources, Haylee's halo was a death sentence for her. Leaving her alive was planting a bomb in her own backyard.

She walked over to Haylee. Killing her directly would leave a scent trail that the beastmen could track. She needed to be smart.

Alivia grabbed the back of Haylee's white dress, her fingers avoiding the woman's skin to avoid leaving any trace of her scent or hair. She started dragging her.

It was grueling. Haylee wasn't light, and Alivia's body was at its limit. She dragged the woman away from the stream, away from the tribe, toward the "Shadow Woods"-a place infested with venomous insects and low-level beasts that even warriors avoided.

Thorns tore at Haylee's dress and skin, but Alivia didn't slow down. After a kilometer, her legs were shaking, and her vision was blurred with sweat. She dumped Haylee behind a dense thorn bush, where the smell of rotting leaves and animal musk would mask her scent.

As she turned to leave, something glinted in Haylee's hair. A diamond hairpin. Modern craftsmanship. Valuable.

Alivia didn't hesitate. She plucked it out and tucked it into her leather belt. In this world, resources were everything.

"Good luck, Princess," she whispered coldly. "Your halo won't save you here."

"Host, altering the plotline may cause unpredictable butterfly effects-" Kai started.

"I am the butterfly," Alivia cut him off. "And I crush threats before they hatch."

She walked back, carefully breaking branches and sweeping away their drag marks with leaves, creating a false trail that suggested a beast had dragged its prey. Back at the stream, she washed her hands thoroughly.

The sun was setting. The forest at night was a death trap. She had to get back.

She made her way to the tribe, slipping through the shadows. But the moment she stepped onto the edge of the central square, she knew she was in trouble. Dozens of hostile eyes turned toward her.