There are still five minutes until the hero escapes from marriage.

A black luxury car slowly merged into the sea of vehicles.

Wen Zhao sat in the back seat, her brows furrowed.

“Are you still thinking about what 0733 said?” The butler held her hand; his hand was large enough to completely envelop hers.

Half an hour ago, in the basement of Yupin, 0733 dropped his disguise, no longer pretending to be Gu Xianting.

He told Wen Zhao that he was here for Su Mengyao.

In this world, the current female lead was still Su Mengyao, and the male lead was still Gu Xianting.

The so-called “system” was actually the world’s consciousness, which, after being captured by the main system, was forced into submission and became a tool manipulated by the main world.

The world they live in was essentially a real-life version of *The Truman Show*.

No, that’s not even accurate—they were worse off than Truman in that fictional world.

At least Truman could retain his own thoughts and consciousness, whereas in their world, if someone from the main world desires to enter, as long as they provide enough value, they could even replace someone else’s life.

Just like Gu Xianting.

And when the main world’s people wanted to see a different plot, those living here were forced to follow the script set by the main world. Their consciousness, choices, and lives were all arranged down to the smallest detail.

Take Wen Zhao, for example.

They lived in this caged world, entirely unaware of how many times it had been reset.

To those in the main world, the life or death of this small world didn’t matter. If it collapsed from too many resets, they could simply switch to another small world to continue playing.

Wen Zhao felt a surge of anger—she was nothing more than a monkey in a zoo, being toyed with, watched, and laughed at. The ridiculous part was that before her rebirth, she had no idea this was happening.

“They… really are bullying us too much,” she murmured softly.

The butler froze for a moment, then a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

He is Gu Xianting, and every day he’s lived since childhood was hard-won. Yet 0733 could easily erase all of it simply because his identity was chosen. His consciousness was erased, and his body was reduced to a tool in a clichéd romance story.

“There must be a way.” he said, “Now that the big shot from the fast-transmigration bureau has been captured, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Wen Zhao calmed herself down.

The car slowly pulled up to the entrance of a club.

They stepped out of the car, and a smiling doorman welcomed them, “Mr. Shen has already arrived. He’s waiting for you in the Listening Wind Hall. Please follow me.”

The doorman led the way.

It was past 9 p.m., the peak time for the club’s lively activities.

In the Listening Wind Hall, Shen Han Feng stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing at the stream of cars flowing below like water.

After guiding them inside, the doorman thoughtfully closed the door and left.

“Mr. Shen arrived quite early,” Wen Zhao said as she took a seat in the chair the butler had pulled out for her.

“Not long ago,” Shen Han Feng’s voice was cool, revealing no emotion. He stood with his back to them, making it impossible to see his expression.

In reality, his face, reflected in the window, was as expressionless as his voice—indifferent, with eyes that could only be described as cold and distant.

He used to dislike Wen Zhao, but all his impressions and opinions of her came from Su Mengyao’s complaints.

As an illegitimate child of the Shen family, he didn’t know her before. After he was brought back to the family, he had much to learn and still had little interaction with Wen Zhao.

However, Wen Zhao always upset Su Mengyao, making her sad or even humiliating her. This caused him to develop a strong aversion toward her, considering her unreasonable, arrogant, and always bullying Su Mengyao.

“I’m glad Mr. Shen agreed to meet,” Wen Zhao smiled, “I believe you have some idea why I wanted to see you.”

He slowly turned around, glanced at her, and let out a sarcastic chuckle before sitting down across from her. His gaze swept over the butler, concealing a flash of darkness in his eyes.

“You’re here for Su Mengyao, aren’t you?” he said with certainty.

“No, I wanted to talk to you,” Wen Zhao said. “This time, it has nothing to do with Su Mengyao.”

Shen Han Feng’s face showed unexpected surprise. He hadn’t expected her invitation to be aimed at him rather than Su Mengyao.

“I don’t think there’s any need for us to meet privately,” he frowned.

“Do you really believe that every decision you’ve made to get where you are today was entirely your own?” Wen Zhao asked directly.

Shen Han Feng’s frown deepened. He was about to reply that of course they were, but the words stuck in his throat.

His intuition told him that she wouldn’t be asking meaningless questions just to waste his time.

Seeing his silence, Wen Zhao continued, “When did you realize you liked Su Mengyao? And why do you like her?”

“What exactly are you trying to say?” he asked irritably.

In recent days, he had indeed been questioning his feelings for Su Mengyao. What did they really mean?

In the past, he had always silently stayed by her side, being her fallback whenever she needed him, feeling pleased and joyful just for a glance from her. But after those fleeting emotions passed, all that remained in his heart was emptiness. Even after winning her, he didn’t feel his obsession had been satisfied.

He could doubt himself, but he wouldn’t allow others to question him—it would make him feel like a fool for the past few years.

“Deep down, you probably already have your suspicions,” Wen Zhao said confidently.

The reason Wen Zhao had the butler arrange this meeting with him was because, a few hours earlier, she heard a system notification:

**World Awakening: 30%**

She was shocked because she hadn’t heard such a notification before.

When she confronted the system, it gave up and revealed everything.

“Many small worlds originate from dramas, novels, and the like. Those living within these small worlds are unaware that they are part of a story. It’s like fish living in water; they wouldn’t know water exists unless they’re pulled out of it.”

“But when characters within a story start realizing the abnormality of their world, breaking out of their narrative roles and freeing themselves from their set personas, that’s character awakening.”

“The awakening of major characters significantly impacts the storyline, causing the small world to break free from the story’s framework—to some extent—resulting in world awakening.”

Before the system gave up, it had hidden the world awakening notification, so she had no idea that her and Gu Xianting’s awakening had already pushed the world’s consciousness awakening to 10%.

In the current storyline, Gu Xianting is 0733, a completely erased identity, while she has gone from being the original female lead to a disposable antagonist, whose sole purpose was to create drama in the main couple’s story before dying off-screen at their wedding.

So the two of them only advanced the world’s consciousness awakening by 10%.

But Shen Han Feng was different.

In the current world plot, he was an important male supporting character, second only to the male lead. His existence was crucial.

For the world’s awakening degree to suddenly advance by 20%, it must be due to an issue with an important character’s consciousness.

If not the female lead or the male lead, then it must be the male supporting character.

Wen Zhao watched Shen Han Feng, observing the subtle changes in his expression in response to her words. “Have you realized that your feelings for Su Mengyao seem quite inexplicable?”

“I know you’re curious about why I invited you and what I’m trying to say,” she continued. “Are you now suspecting that I’m here to incite discord between you and Su Mengyao?”

“Isn’t that the case?” he replied instinctively.

“I used to dislike Su Mengyao very much,” she said candidly, with no hint of concealment.

Anyone in her position would dislike the third party who stole their partner. Both the scumbag and the mistress are equally repugnant.

Wen Zhao did not like Su Mengyao and had indeed thought about seeking revenge on her.

“On the day I married Gu Xianting, she came to the wedding. Guess why she came?” her tone was indifferent.

“Shouldn’t I hate someone like that?” she looked at him. Unlike her tone, her gaze was sharp and scrutinizing. “What do you love about her?”

“You should be asking your husband why he loves Su Mengyao,” Shen Han Feng’s emotions were surprisingly calm. Previously, he would have been furious and rushed to defend her.

“I’m actually quite curious,” his tense body relaxed as he leaned back in his chair. “You hate Su Mengyao so much, why didn’t you get rid of her? You could have made her disappear quietly. Why didn’t you do that and let her continue to exist?”

Wen Zhao didn’t answer this question and took a sip of water from her cup.

She knew many people were curious about this.

In her past life, she suffered so terribly that in this rebirth, she should have done everything to get rid of her.

However, in reality, after her rebirth, she initially had no intention of dealing with Su Mengyao. If Su Mengyao hadn’t approached her, she might have forgotten about her.

Perhaps subconsciously, she didn’t want to entangle herself with her. She always believed that scumbags and mistresses were equal—neither was more noble or more hateful than the other. The betrayal of a past lover, someone she once cherished, was harder to forgive and more deeply resented.

Later, when she realized Gu Xianting was no longer the Gu Xianting she once knew, she felt even less inclined to focus on Su Mengyao. The things she did to Su Mengyao on the island were less about humiliation and more about giving her a chance.

A chance to realize that relying on a man would only lead to failure and that one can only rely on oneself.

But unfortunately, it seemed she failed. Even after experiencing such a blow, with everything exposed and her social death, Su Mengyao still hoped for Gu Xianting.

Perhaps she would never wake up, a deluded and helpless parasite, especially one created by 0733, the so-called fast-transmigration big shot and a male.

In the eyes of some men, women only need to be obedient, sensible, and compliant, molded into whatever shape they desire, providing comfort when needed. They don’t need to walk independently, to have complete personalities or selves. Being assertive is a great sin, and resistance is considered a great rebellion.

Wen Zhao and Su Mengyao were like two extremes—one adored by men and one despised by them. Hence, one is the female lead and the other is relegated to a villainous role.

Obedient women are cherished, loved, and become enviable wives. Disobedient ones end up miserable, with their families ruined, merely serving as stepping stones.

Wen Zhao used to hope that a character created by men could have a clearer mind and reclaim their self. It was a naive wish.

“So, since you’ve invited me to meet, I assume it’s not just to discuss this,” Shen Han Feng said, seeing that she wasn’t going to answer his question, and changed the topic.

“Do you know that the world we are in is actually within a book?” she looked at him, her casual demeanor replaced by a serious and stern expression.

He was taken aback. “A book?”

He thought to himself, how could that be possible?

“You’re the second male lead who loves the female lead but is never chosen by her. No matter how good you are to her, she will never choose you,” Wen Zhao said.

He scoffed. “Never choose me? But isn’t she choosing me now?”

“If she really chose you, why did she go to see Gu Xianting three days ago? What happened between them, and I don’t believe you don’t know,” she shrugged.

Shen Han Feng’s anger surged within him. This anger came from remembering how he foolishly worried about Su Mengyao, only to receive a video surveillance from Wen Zhao, realizing that his sincere feelings were essentially wasted. This anger burst forth uncontrollably.

In that moment, he wanted to question Su Mengyao about whether she had any heart at all. Couldn’t she see everything he had done for her?

Why did she betray him? Why, even though she declared her intention to be with him, to marry him, and they were even engaged with the rings still warm, did she end up with Gu Xianting?

But miraculously, after this surge of anger, he found himself strangely calm.

He stood there, looking down on Su Mengyao with an unprecedented, scrutinizing gaze.

It was like he was examining his own heart over the past few years.

He was not someone with an especially good temper. Having been in the darkness, seeing the dark and ugly sides of human nature, why was he so easily moved by a little kindness and view the other person as his ideal?

Moreover, he recalled that this feeling wasn’t something he had from the start. It was as if one day, at some moment, he belatedly realized he liked Su Mengyao.

Even more strangely, he hadn’t felt anything was wrong. It seemed he had naturally accepted it and became a humble admirer waiting for her to notice him.

In reality, if he truly liked someone, truly desired someone, he would never have been this passive.

He should have taken what he wanted directly, as only what’s consumed is truly his.

“So, Gu Xianting is the so-called male lead, and Su Mengyao is the female lead. What about you? The expendable fiancée?” he looked at Wen Zhao with a faint smile, making it seem like she was in a worse position.

He shifted his gaze from her to the butler, who gave him a strange impression. He had never paid much attention to this man beside her before, but now that he did, his presence was very strong.

“What about this person next to you? What role does he play?” he asked.