The next world that Feng Yongrui was assigned to was similar to a fairy tale. Specifically, the fairy tale "Cinderella".
As everyone knows, the story of Cinderella is a rags-to-riches story, where the heroine, who is abused by her stepmother and stepsisters, manages to go to a ball (with the help of her fairy godmother).
There, the heroine meets the prince of her dreams and the two fall in love. However, as is a classic Cinderella story, at midnight, the heroine flees from the ball and the prince fails to catch her. Thankfully, though, he gets her glass slipper and goes from house to house looking for her.
When he finally finds her, the prince and the heroine get married and live happily ever after.
Of course, different regions had different versions of Cinderella. There were versions where her stepsisters cut off part of their feet so that their feet could fit into the glass slipper. There were versions where Cinderella got her clothes from magical acorns instead of a fairy godmother.
All in all, the essence was the same.
Now, back on earth, Feng Yongrui naturally knew the story of Cinderella. And when he heard about this story, he had always found it to be rather ridiculous.
For starters, how could a nameless girl enter a ball without an invitation card? Sure, she was all dressed up and looking pretty, but how could the guards let a random beautiful stranger inside??
It just didn't make sense to him.
Well, that matter wasn't that important. Moving on to the prince, Feng Yongrui always felt that this prince wasn't very bright.
When you first meet someone, wasn't your first instinct to ask for their name?
The prince didn't ask Cinderella for her name? Fine.
But at least he should remember her face, right?
Unless he had severe facial blindness, how could he not recognize or at least remember the face of the person he had danced with all night?!
Oh well, Feng Yongrui's friends and laughed and joked that "This is the power of make up", but still...
The prince forgot Cinderella's face? Fine.
But was he thaat slow at running?
Think about it. On one hand, there was this Cinderella, who had been abused for most of her life, who was wearing a large ball gown, and was wearing a pair of glass slippers...
On the other hand was the prince of the kingdom, and well, princes are, supposedly, handsome, strong, and, he should have sword classes or something, right?
How could the prince lose against Cinderella in a running contest? Couldn't he grab her hand or something? And, when Cinderella was running from the prince, where were the royal guards?
How could she run away, unobstructed, from the palace?
Oh well, but this was a fairy tale, right? Although he was inwardly frustrated, Feng Yongrui had never thought too much about "Cinderella"... Of course, until today.
The world that Feng Yongrui was assigned to was based on the "Cinderella" fairy tale. However, there was a BUG in this world. And that BUG was the prince.
This prince was really a troublemaker. In fact, Feng Yongrui wasn't the first person who had been assigned to this world.
The first time a person was assigned to this world, the prince went out of character and refused (yes! he refused!) to dance, or even get married, to Cinderella, the heroine.
The higher ups were annoyed but decided to let it go. They reset the world and another person was told to handle this world.
But! When that person arrived, the prince had changed tactics! This time, he told the guards to strictly reinforce the palace's security. This meant that when Cinderella, the heroine, arrived to the ball (late, of course), the guards wouldn't let her in.
That wasn't the last of it, though.
The third time, the prince finally went back on track and danced with Cinderella, the two had a pleasant evening together... But when the clock struck midnight and Cinderella tried to run away, a group of elite soldiers that the prince had personally trained appeared, blocking all of the exit routes.
Since Cinderella didn't run away and fulfill her role of dropping the glass slipper, the world was on the brink of collapse again. The higher ups had to reset the world and start again.
The fourth time... the prince didn't have elite soldiers blocking the exit routes, so Cinderella managed to run away, but the prince had been practicing on running marathons, so he caught up to Cinderella in no time at all and married her on the spot...
The fifth time, the Cinderella finally managed to run away from the prince, but this prince... instead of going from house to house with the glass slipper searching for her, he sent out a notice with a picture of Cinderella and the writing "Wanted", saying that whoever handed her over would be greatly rewarded.
Cinderella's stepmother thought Cinderella had secretly done something to anger the prince, so she dragged Cinderella to the palace, where the prince found her and was overjoyed... And then the two got married...
The higher ups: "..."
You see, while there was a certain degree of freedom for the characters living inside the world, if certain conditions weren't met, then that world would collapse. For example, in the second world, if the protagonist's blackening value didn't reach 60%, then the world would collapse.
This was why Feng Yongrui's role was so important.
As for this Cinderella world... there were some conditions for this world not to collapse.
Cinderella had to go to the ball, the prince had to fall in love with her, she had to run away at midnight, leave her glass slipper, and the prince had to go from house to house before finding her. After that, the two would get married.
If all of those prerequisites were met, then the world would be stable. If any one of those conditions weren't met, the world would collapse.
Feng Yongrui's main mission in this world was to make sure that all the conditions were met and the "Cinderella" fairy tale went smoothly. It sounded easy, but knowing that several other people had tried (and failed) to handle this BUG prince, Feng Yongrui couldn't help feeling uneasy.
Feng Yongrui pursed his lips as he read the information. This BUG prince was really... something... What was even more extraordinary was the fact that the higher ups couldn't do anything to this BUG prince.
Usually, when something like this happened, then the higher ups would either terminate the BUG or replace the BUG with someone else to fill in their role and play their part correctly.
However, no matter how hard they tried, the higher ups couldn't get rid of this particular BUG.
Initially, the higher ups wanted to just give up on this world. After all, resetting the world many times was expensive and tiresome. The Hosts and Systems who were sent to his world were also greatly discouraged. Also, this BUG prince seemed to be able to evolve, because every time the world was reset, his tactics would change...
However, after Feng Yongrui and his System made a mistake, the higher ups decided to let them give a go at this world. If they failed, then no problem. After all, this was considered as their punishment...
If Feng Yongrui and the System succeeded... heh, that was highly unlikely.
After reading the System's information, Feng Yongrui took a long, deep sigh. Out of all the things he had imagined, he never thought he would be sent to a world like this...
Not only that, this world was extremely difficult... and, he wouldn't be able to buy anything from the System Mall--!
Feng Yongrui: "..."
Should he just prepare his heart to fail this task?
"Oh right," the System, who had been quiet all this time, spoke up.
"I forgot to tell you, but we'll be separated later on," the System said.
"Separated?" Feng Yongrui raised an eyebrow. Was he supposed to be happy or sad about this?
"Yeah. What? Don't tell me you miss me already," the System joked.
Feng Yongrui rolled his eyes. "Where will you go?"
"Since I'm a mouse, where do you think I will go?" the System retorted.
"...The gutter?" Feng Yongrui asked incredulously. "Wait, is that part of your punishment too? While I go and do my task, you're going to stay in the sewers, wallowing in misery?"
Feng Yongrui felt a bit happy when he imagined that scene...
"No, idiot," the System's face was wrinkled in annoyance. "I'm going to be next to the heroine. Don't you remember that the heroine likes taking care of mice? I'm going to stay with her."
"...Oh," Feng Yongrui was slightly disappointed.
The System: Can you please not make it so obvious that you're disappointed??
Feng Yongrui ignored the System's blackened face and asked an important question.
"But... we can still talk to each other, right?" he asked.
The System nodded its head. "Don't worry, we will still be able to talk to each other..."
Feng Yongrui nodded in relief. If he couldn't talk to the System... well, although the System was often annoying, he couldn't deny that having a companion was pretty nice.
"Beep -- beep...." Feng Yongrui instinctively closed his eyes. He knew this sound... It was time to transfer into the new world.
"Bye, System," Feng Yongrui muttered.
Feng Yongrui only heard a squeak, and then everything turned dark.
***
*Bonus*
Cinderella, after getting reset 5 times: Hey! Prince, can't you stick to your script?!
The BUG Prince: Hahaha, no can do~~
***
What is your least favorite fairy tale, and why?
Comment below~~