Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

She closed her eyes and used her spiritual power to check.

After a moment, she let out a long sigh of relief.

The space was still there.

But somehow, the earring was gone. Even the original piercing was gone. All that was left on her ears, as she could see in the mirror, were two small red moles.

The more she thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

Making sure no one was around, she quietly unbuttoned her top and looked at her chest.

Sure enough, the Jade Pendant Mark was gone too...

She bit her lower lip hard, her mind a complete mess.

She subconsciously glanced in the mirror. It was still that pretty, sweet face, but it looked young and inexperienced. Still, she could see a faint resemblance to her old self in her features.

After thinking for a whole day, Paige Summers finally managed to piece some things together.

She probably hadn’t transmigrated again; she had just gotten younger. As for the reason, it had to be the potion she drank back in that laboratory!

She still remembered the pain, like her entire body was being torn apart... Clearly, the potion hadn’t been a success. The fact that she had survived was most likely related to the disappearance of the Jade Pendant Mark.

’Perhaps all the energy inside it was used up...’

Paige thought, not entirely certain.

She buried her face in her pillow, overcome with deep regret.

In her eyes, the Jade Pendant Mark was her only connection to the other world. Although she knew the chances were incredibly slim, she had occasionally entertained the thought of going back.

She knew it was selfish and cowardly.

She had her lover here, and so many friends...

But she still missed that peaceful, prosperous world.

Where she didn’t have to live in constant danger, like she did now.

She longed for a peaceful life, to dress herself up in all sorts of pretty clothes like the girls in that other world, instead of scrambling for survival all day long...

That was her weaker side.

Now, that final connection had been completely severed.

She had a premonition that the Jade Pendant Mark would never reappear.

She slowly lay flat on the bed, a pale smile appearing on her face.

’Greed really is a terrifying thing.’

After all, she was originally supposed to have been killed by the men her uncle sent.

But she transmigrated and was reborn.

And then, she had started to become dissatisfied.

But not anymore.

There was no room for any more fantasies.

Her only path was to keep moving forward, one step at a time, in this world that was once just fiction!

Paige Summers wasn’t the type to get bogged down in trivialities.

So, while the disappearance of the Jade Pendant Mark was a blow, she slowly let it go after thinking things through.

However, she still had to face another big problem.

She had gone from her twenties to being a teenager...

Regardless of what happened next, her current appearance did offer her many conveniences.

She soon learned from a nurse that this wasn’t an outside hospital, but the medical department of the Research Institute. For reasons the nurse herself wasn’t clear on, Paige’s existence hadn’t been exposed to the Government or the military. Instead, she was being kept in the medical department under the guise of being a family member of someone at the Institute.

When Vice Dean Sawyer, the one who chose to hide her existence, learned she was awake, he came to see her and asked some questions related to that underground laboratory.

But Paige fended off his questions with a vague story: ”I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up, I was in a small room. Someone would come give me injections occasionally... I don’t really know what was going on.”

Her current face was extremely deceptive. Her features were already the sweet type, but now she was the very picture of a cute and pitiable young girl. When she put on an innocent expression, Vice Dean Sawyer didn’t doubt her words at all.

But just because he didn’t doubt her didn’t mean Vice Dean Sawyer wasn’t racking his brain over what to do with her.

He had to let her go, of course, but he was the one who had hidden her existence. If she went out and let something slip, there was no guarantee someone from the Government or the military wouldn’t follow the trail right back to the Research Institute—or to him personally!

After all, the fallout from those underground experiments had been terrible, and the Research Institute had already taken a lot of heat for it. If this incident was dragged out into the open, the Dean would inevitably have to answer for it, and it would be hard to say whether he, the Vice Dean, could keep his position.

Fortunately, however, Paige took the initiative to solve this problem for him.

She had a vague idea of Vice Dean Sawyer’s predicament.

To be honest, she ought to thank him.

Otherwise, once her identity was exposed, the fact that she had de-aged would be impossible to hide. If people from the Government or the military found out, someone might get ideas about her.

In contrast, with her existence concealed, she could stay here safe and sound.

So, Paige didn’t want Vice Dean Sawyer to do anything drastic out of fear that his actions would be exposed.

So she took the initiative and suggested that she had a relative working at the Research Institute named Nadia, and asked if Nadia could come pick her up.

The moment she said this, Vice Dean Sawyer breathed a sigh of relief.

’So she really is one of our own!’

’That makes things much easier.’

Nadia was Academician Warren’s most prized young disciple; she would never do anything to harm the Research Institute. As long as he urged her to keep this child’s situation a secret, there shouldn’t be any problem. And taking a step back, if the secret did get out, then Academician Warren and Nadia would have to bear some of the responsibility too!

And so, a completely bewildered Nadia was summoned.

But the moment she saw Paige, she was dumbfounded.

”This... this is practically a miniature Sister Paige!”

Paige’s eye twitched. She got out of bed, walked over, and took Nadia’s hand. ”You don’t remember me? I’m Paige’s... little sister...”

Nadia was still in a daze, so Paige couldn’t resist pinching the palm of her hand.

”Hiss...”

Nadia instinctively tried to pull her hand away, but Paige quickly tightened her grip. ”Nadia... Sis! Have you forgotten about that P—”

”I know! I know! Little sister, right? Come on! Let’s go!”

Nadia interrupted her, gritting her teeth.

’She really, really didn’t want to bring up anything related to Evan Pierce!’

’This little girl is definitely strange. Better to get her back to my own turf and question her properly!’