The System Teaches You How to Be Human

Si Yisi fixed his gaze on Jiang Lian after speaking. His feline eyes were a warm, gentle yellow at that moment, entirely void of the hostility and murderous intent he reserved for scum like Ma Anning.

Jiang Lian was stunned. A smile on the plump orange cat’s pancake-like face should have been comical, but instead, she felt… reassured.

She began to cry softly, moved to tears by everything this cat spirit had done to help her. It felt as though her existence had regained its value. It was like redemption.

“What… what do you plan to do?”

Jiang Lian stared blankly at Si Yisi. After discovering the existence of a talking cat, she couldn’t help but worry whether there might be some sort of organization governing such beings.

If he helped her deal with Ma Anning, would he face any repercussions himself?

“Just watch.”

With that, Si Yisi bared his sharp teeth in a grin and slapped Ma Anning hard. At the same time, the stray cats he had sent to continue “harassing” the scumbags in the chat group clawed at them relentlessly with their sharp claws.

Each man in the group was marked by the stray cats, allowing Si Yisi to use a mirror converter to pull all of them into a simulated mirrored world at the same time!

What was the mirrored world? It was a world entirely opposite to the real one. This meant….

In the real world, these men used countless methods to oppress and abuse women. But in the mirrored world, the brainwashed, beaten, and humiliated victims became them.

***

Ma Anning woke up.

When he opened his eyes, the sharp, burning pain of chili water in them had mysteriously vanished, and his mind felt surprisingly clear. He remembered what Jiang Lian and that little bastard Jiang Wenwen had done to him when he was drunk!

Those two had turned the world upside down, hadn’t they?!

Ma Anning couldn’t comprehend how that timid woman and that silent brat had suddenly dared to treat him this way! Now that he was awake, he would break both of their legs!

Furious and fuming, Ma Anning attempted to rise, the veins on his face bulging grotesquely with anger. Halfway up, he was yanked back down by a tremendous force. The clinking sound of chains rang loudly in his ears.

“You still think you can escape, huh?!”

A familiar-looking woman stood in front of Ma Anning, glaring at him viciously.

The moment Ma Anning saw this vile woman Jiang Lian, he unleashed a torrent of curses without hesitation. “You bitch! Have you grown some nerve?! Don’t forget your parents’ lives are still in my hands!”

“You’re nothing but a bastard’s spawn! After everything you’ve done to betray me, you still have the audacity to act arrogant here?! Untie me this instant!”

Ma Anning still failed to grasp his predicament; he was now the one at a disadvantage, the prisoner completely at her mercy!

“Jiang Lian” raised her chin high. Her makeup was exquisite, her attire leaning toward a more androgynous style, making her appear at least ten years younger.

She suddenly picked up a barbed whip and struck it hard across Ma Anning’s body!

“Jiang Lian” lashed him again and again, each strike leaving long, bloody wounds across his flesh. The barbs tore into his skin, causing a pain so unbearable that Ma Anning wanted to die.

He tried to fight back but found his body weak and powerless. The exposed areas of his skin were covered in bruises, eerily similar to the ones Jiang Lian had from the daily beatings he gave her!

For the first time, Ma Anning experienced a humiliation and frustration he had never felt before. He “endured” it, waiting for “Jiang Lian” to untie the chains restraining him. By the time she did, his body was battered, even his face marred with bruises.

Where had this ugly woman gotten such strength?!

As soon as Ma Anning was free, he lunged at “Jiang Lian” with bloodshot eyes, aiming to slap her across the face.

But his raised hand was intercepted mid-air. “Jiang Lian” casually twisted his arm and delivered a resounding slap right back at him.

Slap!

“You… you dare hit me!” Ma Anning yelled, but his bravado quickly faded as he instinctively cowered backward. His weak posturing made “Jiang Lian” narrow her eyes before she grabbed him as easily as one might lift a chick.

Slap!

“You damn—”

Slap!

“Jiang Lian, you bitc—”

Slap!

Each time Ma Anning uttered a word of resistance, “Jiang Lian” struck him across the face, one slap after another, until his face was swollen beyond recognition. Only then did she temporarily stop.

She then forced Ma Anning to do a grueling, exhausting job.

Half-dead, Ma Anning was dragged outside to the residential area. Seizing the opportunity, he grabbed a neighbor’s hand and shouted, “Call the police! Get this lunatic locked up!”

After yelling, Ma Anning looked at “Jiang Lian” with smug satisfaction, as if he’d already won a battle. He thought; I’ve already bribed the neighbors beforehand!

“Jiang Lian” narrowed her eyes at him and suddenly broke into a sinister smile. The moment she smiled, the neighbor recoiled as if he had come into contact with a contagious plague. With a look of disgust and revulsion, the neighbor shook off Ma Anning’s hand harshly.

As the neighbor brushed him off, he shot Ma Anning a contemptuous glance, as if avoiding a source of misfortune, before quickly walking away. Before leaving, he even cast an apologetic look at “Jiang Lian.”

“You damn—” Ma Anning could hardly believe what had just happened. He opened his mouth to curse, but before he could finish his sentence, a sharp pain shot through his scalp; his hair was being yanked hard!

Right in front of the residents walking back and forth in the neighborhood, “Jiang Lian” dragged Ma Anning back to the house, a place that felt like the devil’s lair.

And “Jiang Lian” was the devil herself.

Ma Anning gradually realized that the same methods he had used to break Jiang Lian’s spirit were now being applied to him, bit by bit, by this transformed “Jiang Lian.”

He struggled, but his resistance only earned him more beatings, over and over again.

Forced to go to work with a face and body covered in bruises, compelled to clean and do all the dirty, laborious tasks around the house; Ma Anning did it all. And slowly, his thoughts began to change.

He started to believe…

This was what he deserved. He had done wrong, and he should be punished for it.

The beatings were justified. It was all his fault…

Ma Anning’s gaze grew increasingly vacant as his will was slowly ground down. The beatings, the mocking stares of the neighbors, the humiliation of having once bragged in his group chats about how he had “tamed” Jiang Lian; all of it was being repaid to him in full by “Jiang Lian.”

After countless days in this endless nightmare, Ma Anning, clinging to a shred of consciousness, desperately dialed the police.

Staring blankly, Ma Anning silently begged for the officers to save him from this hell. It was his final hope.

The police glanced at him, then turned to question the neighbors. In the end, they did not take Ma Anning away.

Instead, they mumbled to “Jiang Lian,” offering some conciliatory advice, “Husband and wife should live harmoniously. You shouldn’t resort to physical conflict against your husband.”

“I understand. I’ll be more mindful,” “Jiang Lian” replied calmly, answering every question politely.

“Well then, we’ll be leaving,” the officers said before stepping out. The light from the hallway dimmed as their departing figures blocked the doorway.

No, no, no! Help me! Please let me leave!

Don’t just mediate! Take me away—let me leave, leave, leave!

Ma Anning, frantic, reached out desperately for the departing officers. With a loud clang, the reinforced door was shut by a slender hand.

The composed and cooperative “Jiang Lian” who had faced the police was now gone. Standing before Ma Anning, she revealed her sinister claws and fangs, her face twisted with suppressed fury.

“You’ve got guts, huh? Calling the cops on me?”

A layer of restrained anger settled on “Jiang Lian’s” face. Her lips curled upward in a chilling smile; a sight that would haunt Ma Anning for the rest of his life.

Save me, save me, save me… someone, please save me!

Trapped in a hell from which there was no escape, Ma Anning occasionally recalled a distant, hazy memory.

He… he seemed to have done something like this to someone else before.

I was wrong, I was wrong! Spare me, let me go; he begged.

Completely reduced to a mere puppet, Ma Anning stared vacantly, his glassy eyes lifelessly turning. He watched as “Jiang Lian,” reeking of alcohol, walked toward him. Moments later, the familiar pain struck his body again.

“You can’t escape. Everything is your fault!”

“…”

“…”

Yes, I was wrong. I am guilty; Ma Anning thought to himself.

***

This mirrored world, specifically created for scum like him, didn’t just let Ma Anning “experience” it. It also subjected the thirty disgusting members of his chat group to the same torment their victims had endured!

This world stretched on endlessly, giving them more than enough time to savor every ounce of suffering they had inflicted upon their victims.

Broken limbs, shattered souls, humiliation, verbal abuse, brainwashing into submissive slaves who couldn’t even think to resist…

Everything these men had done to those thirty women was now being inflicted back on them in full measure!

This was the true meaning of ‘repaying evil with evil’!

Moreover, there was no risk of victims becoming perpetrators in this process.

Si Yisi had carefully planned it all; this was the real hell for those so-called superior perpetrators!

Jiang Lian watched as the chubby orange cat swatted Ma Anning across the face with a paw, causing him to writhe in agony. Familiar bruises started to appear faintly on his skin.

After writhing on the ground for a while, Ma Anning suddenly opened his eyes. The sight made Jiang Lian instinctively take a step back!

But she quickly realized that Ma Anning now looked like a lifeless puppet, his gaze dull and empty… just like she used to look.

When Ma Anning saw Jiang Lian, he didn’t care that he was tied up with ropes in a tight binding. He squirmed like a caterpillar, crawling toward her.

“I was wrong. I am a sinner,” he said woodenly, kneeling humbly by Jiang Lian’s side.

“He…” Jiang Lian paused. “What happened to him?”

Si Yisi grinned with a perfectly smug feline smile. “I made him experience everything you went through. His mind has probably completely broken by now. If you wish, he can be your slave.”

Although Si Yisi said this, he doubted Jiang Lian would make that choice. She truly was an exceptional woman.

Jiang Lian looked at the drastically changed Ma Anning and felt a chill in her heart. If she hadn’t escaped from his clutches, would she have ended up just like this?

At the same time, an overwhelming sense of joy swept through her heart as she finally avenged herself. He would never again control her life! Wenwen and her parents were safe!

Jiang Lian shed tears for a while before breaking into laughter. Jiang Wenwen timidly poked her head out, glanced indifferently at the kneeling Ma Anning, and turned away. She reached out her small hand to take Jiang Lian’s.

“Mom,” Jiang Wenwen called softly.

Jiang Lian held Jiang Wenwen tightly, laughing and crying at the same time. After a long while, she looked up at the chubby orange cat that had saved her from hell and gave it an awkward but heartfelt smile.

“I… will divorce him. I won’t make him my slave. If I did, how would I be any different from him?”

“I just want Wenwen and my parents to live well.”

Si Yisi added, “And you need to live well too.”

“…Okay.” Jiang Lian smiled as she swept her messy hair aside, revealing a sincere and slightly radiant smile.

It was as if sunlight had broken through the clouds, bringing with it dazzling warmth.

Si Yisi chimed in, “There are still twenty-nine other victims like you. While they’ve escaped their nightmares, many of them were brainwashed too deeply. If you’re willing, you can help them too.”

He passed her the information on the other victims with his soft paw.

When Jiang Lian’s hand brushed against Si Yisi’s fluffy paw, she felt a comforting warmth spread through her heart.

“I will,” Jiang Lian said. “Thank you. Truly, thank you so much.”

“No need to thank me, thank Da—” Si Yisi cut himself off mid-sentence, suddenly remembering that the big, fat orange cat wasn’t only extraordinarily fat but also incredibly gluttonous. Would Jiang Lian’s family go bankrupt feeding it?

After a brief hesitation, he finally said, “…Just thank Da pang, I came because of it.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Si Yisi felt Da Pang’s spirit stir and move with lively energy.

He knew the mission was complete, and the time had come to withdraw.

***

Suddenly, the little girl, Jiang Wenwen, walked up with quick, light steps. She looked at Si Yisi with her pure, bright black eyes, as if they had cleared away all the gloom.

“Are you leaving?”

“Hmm.” Si Yisi wasn’t surprised that she had vaguely guessed something.

The little girl leaned in close to Si Yisi and carefully positioned her palm over the soft paw of the chubby orange cat. She gently held the cat’s paw and then bent over to kiss Si Yisi’s fluffy forehead.

“Safe travels~”

Jiang Wenwen revealed the first childlike smile in Si Yisi’s memory, and also in Da Pang’s memory.