The Wheel of Transmigration

A girl that looked no older than sixteen sighed as she stared at the giant, floating clock on the wall. She was only minutes away from finally being able to play like everyone else. By play, the girl wanted to spin the famous wheel like everyone else that had studied at TTDW Academy.

Despite the girl looking like she was in her teens, she was a young immortal that had lived for a few millennia in the Immortal Realm. Although to some, her age might seem old, in reality, she was one of the youngest immortals out there.

When the girl heard the loud chime, she squealed along with the other young immortals who were ready to begin their adventures with The Wheel of Transmigration.

"Song Peizhi!" Someone yelled out, getting the attention of the girl. She turned around and smiled when she saw her best friend, "Long Meixi!" Both girls embraced each other in excited hugs and chatted about what assignment they would get as they walked to the Main Hall where the famous wheel resided.

On their way, they noticed several pictures of veterans in the the industry and they sighed, "Let's promise each other that one day, we'll have our pictures in this hall!" Song Peizhi exclaimed, giving her friend a high five. Long Meixi nodded and pouted, "It's not fair, Zhi Zhi! You passed all our training classes with top scores! And you're the prettiest immortal this year with a bunch of immortal guys striving after you! I'm afraid you're going to leave me to eat your dust!"

Song Peizhi rolled her eyes at her dramatic antics, "Despite passing the training classes that required IQ, Xi Xi, you know I failed most of the EQ classes! And Xi Xi, my looks are thanks to my parents, go complain about that to them! And every immortal boy always asked you to any event! I may be the prettiest, " Song Peizhi mocked her friend, "but apparently you're the most beautiful."

Long Meixi humphed playfully and blushed, but suddenly, her line of vision fell on a handsome, young man's portrait among the other veterans. She sighed as her eyes began to cloud with infatuation, "Zhi Zhi, look at him!"

"Who?" Song Peizhi was confused. All she saw was a handsome man with narrowed eyes on his face, no indication of a playful manner or smile. She disliked the serious type the most.

Long Meixi smacked her friend at her cluelessness and pointed at the man's name: Heng Donghai.

Song Peizhi shrugged her shoulders, "What about him?"

Long Meixi smacked her friend's head again, "Zhi Zhi, do you not remember him from our lessons at the academy?"

Song Peizhi shook her head and Long Meixi sighed and began explaining, "Heng Donghai is the best student to graduate from TTDW Academy. From outstanding scores to outstanding appearance, Heng Donghai had managed to easily ace his assignments spun on the wheel. He was also the youngest immortal to have his picture on the Main Hall... he's a senior we all aspire to be one day!"

Song Peizhi glanced back at the handsome picture and mumbled, "I'm not aspiring to be him."

"What!?"

"You heard me!" Song Peizhi blurted, "He looks too old fashioned and boring! Like seriously, learn to smile for the camera!"

Long Meixi furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Camera?" Song Peizhi gasped at her stupidity for exposing herself and her adventures in the Central Realm. "You've been to the Central Realm!" Long Meixi's sentence wasn't a question but a statement. This made Song Peizhi avert her eyes in embarrassment.

"You fool!" Her friend reprimanded, "Do you have any idea what could happen if you found out a young immortal like you had been wondering on the Central Realm without supervision? How could you!" Despite Long Meixi's obvious anger, Song Peizhi sensed the worry behind her words and allowed herself to be scolded.

"Zhi Zhi! Please don't go out to the Central Realm without the guidance of an Expert! The moment we both become Experts, we'll go venture the Central Realm, together! For now, we have to accumulate enough points from our missions!" Long Meixi widened her eyes in realization and hooked her arm with her friend's arm, "Come on!" She urged, "We're going to be late!" Both teenagers quickly scurried off in the direction of the wheel, not realizing that they had completely forgotten about the topic of Heng Donghai. They also hadn't realized there was a man listening to their entire conversations with emotionless eyes and an expressionless face.

"Master!" A white fluff ball squeaked in anger, "That girl disrespected you!"

"Xiao Meng, no need to be aggravated." The man answered calmly, despite the small pet's anger. Xiao Meng frowned and she began cutely barking, causing the man to chuckle and rub the Pomeranian Teacup puppy affectionately. "Soon, we'll teach the neophyte how tough the wheel can be."

Xiao Meng licked her master's stroking hand with adoration, "Master is very petty... Xiao Meng is very proud!"

"Indeed..." the man murmured until another man yelled out, "Heng Donghai! You procrastinating ice cube! Shouldn't you be starting on another assignment?"

Heng Donghai turned his attention to his subordinate-slash-friend, Zhang Siyue. His amused expression shifted to apathy as he listened to his friend ramble on about why he, Heng Donghai, was too much of a bully.

"You! Share some points with the less fortunate, okay? It's unfair how you easily slice through each assignment like tofu!" Zhang Siyue continued to rant, "It's also unfair how you are-" Heng Donghai quickly covered Zheng Siyue's mouth in annoyance, "You almost blurted it out..."

Zhang Siyue's face flustered and he stuttered, "W-Well it's your fault! Anyways, when are you going to spin the wheel?"

Heng Donghai smirked coldly, "You know, it gets pretty boring spinning the wheel and letting fate decide."

"Bullshit! We both know that's not how it works for you, Mr. Special!" Zhang Siyue complained pitifully.

Heng Donghai ignored his loud friend and payed close attention to the girl that had insulted him. She was nervously glancing around as she placed her hand on the sidekick generator.

This so-called sidekick generator is what most people would call the infamous system. Majority of the time, it's only a nagging voice that appears in the user's head that allows them cheats and handles the user's drug use, but very rarely, a player can get a sidekick with a physical form. For example, Heng Donghai was one of the people that was lucky enough to get Xiao Meng, his little, adorable sidekick.

Heng Donghai snapped his fingers and the sidekick generator began to spin frantically and suddenly, it flashed as a small, fluff ball popped out of it. The teen immortals surrounding the girl gaped at the girl's luck but quickly scoffed when they realized what she got-a black kitten. Getting a sidekick with a physical body was a blessing, but getting an animal that screamed bad luck? They shook their heads at the girl's luck.

Heng Donghai smirked and his friend, Zhang Siyue, gaped at the emotions his emotionless friend was displaying. He was confused until he glanced at the girl who held an aura of being dumbfounded. She was pretty, gorgeous even, but Zhang Siyue knew his friend wasn't easily swayed by pretty girls or beauties. So why was he bullying this newbie immortal girl that hadn't even received her first assignment?

Meanwhile Song Peizhi was picking up her sidekick cautiously with a look of confusion on her face. She hadn't expected to be one of the rare people that get a physical sidekick by their side. But out of all the fluff balls out there, how had she managed to attract the attention of a black cat. Life was truly horrible since she was stuck with the same sidekick forever until she decides she no longer wants to participate in the wheel spinning.

Stroking the black kitten's fur, Song Peizhi smiled as she thought to herself, this shouldn't be that bad. Suddenly the kitten leaps out of her hand and accidentally scratches her, making Song Peizhi flinch. "Ouch!" She yelped in annoyance, "Bad kitty!"

"Meow!" The kitten replied sassily, "It seems my mistress is a dumb one."

"Hey!" Song Peizhi wanted her curse her luck for giving her such a sassy cat that apparently has no filter on its mouth. "What's your name?"

The cat sighed, "Obviously you have to name me..."

Song Peizhi grinned as a plan of revenge formulated in her head, "Actually, I can just say hey when I want to speak to you since I'm so dumb that I can't think of a name to name you." The cat's lazy eyes widened in horror as it got on its knees, "Merciful, intelligent mistress! Please pity this poor, nameless cat!"

Song Peizhi laughed merrily and picked up the cat, "What gender are you?"

The cat began purring when she stroked it and mumbled, "Male."

"Good, " Song Peizhi stopped stroking him and hugged him affectionately, "you'll be called Xiao Fu..."

"Little Luck?" Xiao Fu felt like his master was teasing him based on his appearance. He pouted unhappily until Song Peizhi rubbed his fur again.

"Come on Xiao Fu, let's go spin the wheel and see what we get as our first assignment!" Song Peizhi dragged her newly acquired sidekick and scurried in the direction of the giant, golden wheel: The Wheel of Transmigration. The wheel itself was divided into six parts: Antagonist, Protagonist, Cannon Fodder, Supporting Character, Background Character, and Opposite Gender. And after the user's role is determined, the wheel automatically transforms into four parts: Change To GOOD Ending, Change To BAD Ending, DON'T Change Ending, or Transmigrator's CHOICE.

The wheel was completely fair as it didn't spin for the transmigrator, but the transmigrator got to spin themselves. So the more strength they use, the more time the arrow keeps spinning until it lands on something. Although this didn't mean they could just do a weak spin, no, they had to try or else it would be considered invalid. And the good news was, when a user was spinning the wheel, it was only visible to the user. No one else could see it's content despite how humongous the wheel itself was. It was a privacy setting that the creator had added to make things feel safe and secure for the user.

Song Peizhi's palms were sweaty as she neared the giant wheel occupying majority of the room. Her best friend, Long Meixi, patted her shoulder comfortingly and mumbled, "I'll go first if it makes you less nervous." Song Peizhi flashed her a grateful smile as the petite girl walked forward. Long Meixi took a deep breath and pulled the handle like how one would pull at a slot in a casino. The wheel begun to spin rapidly until it stopped at Antagonist. Long Meixi paled but her shaking hand pulled the handle again. Once more, the wheel began to spin rapidly until it landed on Transmigrator's CHOICE. Long Meixi heaved a breath of relief and waved happily at her friend, quickly disappearing in the mini-portal that appeared before her.

Song Peizhi took a deep breath and slowly reached for the handle, not knowing someone was tampering with the wheel's settings. As she pulled the handle, the wheel spun and landed on Protagonist. She squealed in happiness and pulled the handle again but almost screamed when it landed on Change to BAD Ending. She closed her eyes and one could figuratively see her soul floating on top of her. The mini-portal pulled her body inside of it despite her clear protest.

Heng Donghai burst out laughing at her antics and snapped his fingers again, allowing himself to be transmigrated in the same world as her.

'Little girl, you're going to regret insulting me', that was Heng Donghai's last thought before he leaped inside the same world as Song Peizhi...

ARC ONE - THE EMPEROR AND HIS ANGEL

When Song Peizhi opened her eyes, she was no longer in her body but was staring in the eyes of a middle-aged woman wearing ancient-Chinese type clothing that Song Peizhi recognized to be from the Tang era of China, more commonly known as the most prosperous era of China. She humphed at Song Peizhi and suddenly, foreign memories exploded inside of Song Peizhi's head.

She was currently in the body of the female protagonist in a book that was set in a similar era to the a lot of Ancient and Industrialized China, as in, it had quirks from certain eras while maintaining its ancient status. The female protagonist was named Murong Jieli, the beautiful, second daughter of the left prime minister.

Like every female protagonist, her beauty was enough to cause the downfall of the country. But unfortunately for Murong Jieli, she was the illegitimate daughter, so she held no official power.

She was always forced by the first wife to be in the shadows and let Murong Feili, the first daughter, always be in the limelight. Even though it was difficult to believe, Murong Jieli's mother, a servant who climbed to power by seducing and sleeping with the left prime minister, also reprimanded her and reminded her to do exactly what the first wife suggested.

Thus, Murong Jieli was forced to be hidden away from society which created rumors that she was ugly and horrendous, which Murong Feili never denied. And her father and half-brother never bothered with her, so Murong Jieli grew to be very timid and believed she was worthless.

Luckily, this wasn't a period where people has cultivation or anything of the fantasy genre, it just wanted women to not be talentless and men to have martial arts prowess. Murong Jieli hadn't had anyone to teach her any skills since the first wife forbid the illegitimate young miss to learn anything, so this contributed to more mocking from the people.

Even though she suffered, Murong Jieli later on accidentally met a mysterious man named Ru Weimin, who later turned out to be a powerful emperor visiting their small empire for supervision. Like every story, the protagonists fell in love. In fact, he fell for her angelic self and extracted revenge for her later on and made her his empress. It was an extremely romantic story since Ru Weimin went against the norm and didn't bother with any woman except Murong Jieli.

Throughout the story, there were many antagonists but one stood out in particular that was in love with Murong Jieli-Ru Weimin's step brother, Ru Xueling.

Just like his younger brother, Ru Xueling was handsome beyond compare but unfortunately, he hadn't been able to inherit the throne because of his illegitimate status. This caused the man to harbor deep feelings of resentment and despise toward his half-brother and began plotting against Ru Weimin.

For years, Ru Xueling planned out ways to destroy Ru Weimin but didn't expect for Murong Jieli to appear. One look at her and he paused. Once he realized that she suffered like him as an illegitimate daughter, he vowed to make her his.

Unfortunately for every villain, they have been destined to never have a happy ending. Ru Xueling was also a secondary male lead, so he didn't end up with Murong Jieli, either. In the end, he died while looking at Ru Weimin and Murong Jieli with heartbroken eyes and tears streaming down his face. It was tragic, but once again, he was set as the villain of the story, so he had no choice but to die to give the protagonists a happy ending.

"'Mistress, despite being the protagonist, the wheel demands a bad ending, ''' Xiao Fu's warning echoed in Song Peizhi's head.

She sighed and the woman in front of her, Murong Jieli's mother, rolled her eyes, "Jieli! Can you stop with your antics? Enough is enough! Not only did you think it was a good idea to go to the royal banquet earlier despite knowing the first young miss was going to be there, but you also wanted to go without a veil!" She paused as she took out her fan, fanning herself in her so-called angst, "Luckily, the servant Mei had managed to at least convince you to wear a veil." She paused to look at the bowing servant with a grateful smile, "So well-behaved for a servant! Jieli, sometimes, I doubt you're my daughter!" With those words, Murong Jieli's mother humphed and turned around to leave, leaving Murong Jieli and servant Mei alone.

Servant Mei quickly rushed to the side of Murong Jieli with a worried look on her face, but Song Peizhi could notice her obvious mockingly eyes. According to the knowledge shared with her by the wheel, servant Mei actually served under Murong Feili but pretended to care about Murong Jieli. She spied on the meek illegitimate young miss and told the legitimate young miss everything, including a few exaggerations like Murong Jieli's so-called arrogance.

This just fueled Murong Feili's jealousy and hatred toward her half-sister and earned servant Mei a few silver taels. Unfortunately for Murong Jieli, she never found out about her treacherous servant until later, with the help of Ru Weimin.

At this moment, Murong Jieli had snuck out and gone to the royal banquet because of her curiosity. There, she accidentally met Ru Weimin and thus his interest in her began, later developing into love. Song Peizhi waved off servant Mei and was left alone in the room trying to rack her brain for a way to make this story's a bad ending.

Xiao Fu appeared out of thin air and jumped on her shoulder. "Mistress, are you having a difficult time thinking of a way to turn the ending bad?" Song Peizhi nodded and Xiao Fu leaned forward to whisper in her ear. After he finished, Song Peizhi gasped and shook her head, "No way! That's too cruel! I can't do that! Xiao Fu, another solution is necessary because I won't do the one you suggested!"

Xiao Fu rolled his eyes at his mistress' dramatic behavior, "It's just a story; they're not even real people! And besides, didn't you want to accumulate enough points to become an Expert in the future? I think the wheel will appreciate you ending the story in such a way since your spin landed on such an ending!"

Song Peizhi hesitated and glanced at her sidekick and slowly agreed. If it meant she could go to the Central Realm sooner, what did it matter? She just needed to get enough points so her best friend wouldn't nag at her for sneaking out all the time.

Thus, Song Peizhi decided to do something very cruel and heartbreaking; guaranteed to be marked as a bad ending.

When Murong Jieli walked out with a black cat, the servants almost had a heart attack. When did the meek, young miss have the courage to go toward such a beast? Sure it was a small beast, but a beast was a beast no matter what.

Xiao Fu realized their looks of terror and roared cutely in the direction. Instead of finding it adorable like Murong Jieli, they scattered around screaming. Murong Jieli rolled her eyes at her sidekick's antics and picked up her pet.

Apparently they didn't have cats-slash-kittens in this world. She would have to hide Xiao Fu before he caused her any trouble. She snapped her fingers and Xiao Fu, resentfully, disappeared back to wherever he usually sneaks off to when he's not in his physical form. She assumed he disappeared into her head, but she didn't bother to find out.

As Murong Jieli continued to stroll around, she met a teenage girl who looked to be similar to her age with a snarky look on her face. "Murong Jieli, " she taunted, her eyes filled with malice. Murong Jieli recognized the girl to be Murong Feili, the legitimate young miss of the manor. She was also the person responsible for making Murong Jieli's life a living hell, the usual cliché sister who was secretly envious and schemed to no ends.

Obviously she, Murong Jieli, was too old to play her dumb games or too busy to bother with her, so she held down her head and scurried off in a different way than Murong Feili, exactly like the previous Murong Jieli.

Seeing this, Murong Feili smirked and shook her head. The servant's daughter was the same, no matter what. She didn't understand why she felt tension earlier when seeing her in her so-called disguise at the royal banquet. Trash was trash, no matter how much one tried to glorify it. The meek duckling was after all, a duckling. Even if she tried to be a swan, she would only crash and burn...

Thinking of her sister's demise, Murong Feili laughed softly as her fan covered her face. Murong Jieli might be more beautiful, but status was status, no matter what...

***

Murong Jieli was exhausted. She had snuck away with a disguise, wearing commoner clothing and apply a bit of makeup on her face, neck and hands, so they could appear yellow like she had stayed under the sun. She then proceeded to wear her hair in a bun with a straw conical hat on top. If someone were to see her, they would only assume she was a woman who was a farmer. She didn't look nor have the aura of a noble young miss, so Murong Jieli was sure there wasn't a chance to get caught.

'''You looks old, ''' Xiao Fu bluntly said. Murong Jieli ignored his snarky comment and continued preparing.

The reason she had done all this was so she could go sightsee. If this was her first assignment and it was an ancient China-type of assignment, she didn't want to forget. She deeply regretted not sneaking a camera from the Central Realm. Before she starts her next assignment, she'll make sure to bring a cellphone with her.

Murong Jieli knew that in the original plot, she would meet with Ru Weimin by accident when she snuck out. Even though she was committing the same act, she made sure her disguise was a lot more believable. After all, this wasn't like the movies in the Central Realm where one could be wearing male clothing and society would be blind. No, she would be going as female, just not a noble young miss-type of female. A peasant woman walking around town... by the way she disguised herself, there shouldn't be any issues with perverts as she didn't exactly look pretty, especially with the beauty standards in this empire, if not this world.

Murong Jieli hunched and strolled around town, her eyes twinkling with excitement. It had been so long since she first entered TTDW Academy. So many agonizing hours later, she was finally doing her first assignment. Although by the things she and Xiao Fu had been planting for the bad ending, she didn't want to continue the assignment. It was cruel and horrendous.

'''Mistress, don't be such a chicken. These so-called people are not real! Only parallel worlds that resemble books. They are utterly 2D and utterly dumb. Please don't be tricked and be dumb like them.'''

Xiao Fu! Murong Jieli scolded in her head. 'You're too blunt!'

Before Xiao Fu could snarky reply back, Murong Jieli's body smacked into a hard chest and she fell back, her hat falling off of her head. She squealed and looked away, making sure her face was not exposed. She realized that her wondering had left her in an abandoned alley-like area. She did make sure to peek out of the corner of her eye and saw a man with a muscular body bending down and reaching for her hand. Murong Jieli panicked and hid her dainty hands that could give away her young-miss-status away immediately and mumbled, "It is fine. I appreciate your help."

"Miss, " a deep voice boomed out, "I apologize for bumping into you." Murong Jieli's dark eyes squinted until she was staring at a gorgeous face that was rivaled by none. Wow. The only person she remembered that would be considered more handsome would be Heng Donghai, the so-called genius. The man must've noticed her stare because he quickly narrowed his eyes which caused Murong Jieli to shiver. Was this the power Ru Weimin had? To make one fear him without even trying?

"Hehe, " Murong Jieli laughed awkwardly, "don't worry about it. Have a nice day!" She quickly got up and scurried in the opposite direction, only to hit someone else while Ru Weimin was watching...