Reloading from Scratch: Starting with Self-Love [Book Transmigration]

1. Yuan Zhu hadn't read male-oriented novels for years, but the Empress's handwritten letter hit just the right spot for her. Ignoring the painful memories of being repeatedly crushed by male-oriented fiction, she confidently dove into a cosmic-horror cultivation novel called Mad Dao, Become an Immortal.

After stubbornly reading all the way to the chapter where the Empress, Dong Gongxue, met her definitive end, Yuan Zhu was still killed off by the deranged, indescribable male lead, Jin Tianchen, and the plot's god-tier twists!

Who the [censored] left that comment saying the relationship between the male lead and the Empress was insanely sweet, with all their love and hate? Having read every chapter featuring Dong Gongxue, Yuan Zhu flipped the table: this was absolutely the biggest scam in the history of male-oriented fiction!

The real male lead was clearly just a typical womanizing scumbag, sleeping with every woman he met and never able to make up his mind. He had the patience of a gnat, and would slaughter a woman's entire family or wipe out her whole country at the drop of a hat. He was nothing but a rabid, despicable bastard!

And the Empress Dong Gongxue, whom Yuan Zhu adored for her devotion to saving her country and its people, was undoubtedly the greatest victim in the novel. Yet even after her death, she was still bound to such a disgusting man in every kind of fanwork, with no escape...

Yuan Zhu was heartbroken and furious. She felt that a dog of a man who didn't know how to cherish what he had deserved to be ground to dust, and that he was not worth all the women risking their lives for him, giving him equipment and their bodies and hearts while alive, then dropping even more gear and inheritance after death.

Yuan Zhu was so enraged that her blood surged, and she transmigrated into a book as the Empress Dong Gongxue herself, the character she loved most!

Before she could even process the shock, a familiar sigh sounded in her mind: Long time no see, Yuan Zhu, the other me in this world...

2. After Yuan Zhu died, her soul transmigrated to another world, where she spent her life as an empress. She knew that the novel Mad Dao, Become an Immortal did not exist at all. Everything was nothing but a so-called reality, fabricated by this world's mad Heavenly Dao to erase her, an aberration, from existence. It had plucked fragments of her memories and shaped them into another life she had never lived...

Dong Gongxue refused to wait passively for someone to erase her existence at its root. On the eve of her country's fall, she used the vast national fortune coveted by the Child of Fortune to turn back time to before the tragedy began.

But Dong Gongxue never expected that, after the restart, another Yuan Zhu would arrive in this world.

She, in turn, replaced the indescribable monster that Dong Gongxue had contracted with all those years ago, becoming Yuan Zhu's new partner.

She couldn't help feeling relieved. Thank goodness, this time the monster you met was me. Otherwise, in this world that has fallen completely into madness, who else would be willing to love you unconditionally and give you everything, just to make your life more comfortable and carefree?

But after transmigrating for so many years, Dong Gongxue had long since become unrecognizable. She no longer remembered what she had been like before transmigrating.

To her, the fresh-faced Yuan Zhu, who had only just arrived, was nothing like the weathered Dong Gongxue. Her words and actions were so naively romantic they were almost stupid, making Dong Gongxue want to crack open her head and carve the words Wake up! into it.

But perhaps people are always both more forgiving and more unforgiving toward themselves.

At times, Dong Gongxue would look at herself as she was now, then at Yuan Zhu, and draw strength from her to stay true to herself and keep moving forward, rather than letting this world assimilate her completely and turn her into a monster.

3. When Dong Gongxue looked at Yuan Zhu, sometimes she thought it would be fine if Yuan Zhu could just remain Yuan Zhu forever. Yuan Zhu shouldn't have to shoulder Dong Gongxue's responsibilities.

Other times, Yuan Zhu's clear gaze would stir something in her, and she would think, Why should I be the only one who became a monster, while you don't have to face any of this? Then she would release the power-bearing tentacles, bind the chattering fool hand and foot, and stare at her coldly until she shut up.

In the end, as Dong Gongxue looked at her own strange reflection in those innocent eyes, she suddenly realized: How was this inhuman version of herself any different from the world's other madmen?

She closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of what she had become.

But a voice full of astonished delight burst from the person in front of her: That's so like me! So cool! I love it!

Dong Gongxue: ??? Had this version of me secretly mutated? Something seemed off.

Dong Gongxue tilted her head and studied the version of herself whose eyes were full of admiration and affection.

After a long while, she curved her lips into a faint smile, pulled her closer, and said, "What did you just say? Say it again, please?"

Yuan Zhu shyly lowered her head, her fluttering lashes concealing the darkness in her eyes: ...

Knowing the other could sometimes hear her thoughts, she used them to shape her character: How embarrassing. How did I end up saying what I really think in front of Dong Gongxue? Even if she's actually another me, I still shouldn't have done that.

P.S. One dares to dote, the other dares to tease. At heart, they dote on each other!

To borrow a line from the Tree People: The coffin itself shouted, "They love each other so much!"

A narcissistic self-pairing romance, the kind where the two look like twins.

A great monster, a darkened and deranged obsessive × a little monster, a sweet-looking actress with a black heart.

I'm dying: D

One spent her last life exhausted from acting, and believes in overwhelming force to solve everything without a fuss.

The other puts on a show openly and secretly, loving every minute of it because she knows she can get away with anything.

The main story has three volumes:

1. A mad dog needs to be trained

2. A flourishing age, built by you and me walking side by side

3. Love means I'll always take your side

A word about the difference between the two Yuan Zhus: They died at the same time in the modern world, but were sent to different periods when they traveled through time. The first was born into the world as a baby, while the second spent over a decade stuck with a bad internet connection. The first had enemies both inside her and all around her. After being betrayed countless times, she didn't know whom she could trust. She was always cautious, and just staying alive took everything she had. She had no energy to mess around with anything fancy.

The second had herself as her greatest support, so she could let herself go and do many things without restraint. She knew that even if she failed, she would still have a way out: her other self could catch her. That gave her a certain audacity, which is why she often behaved so naively.

You could say Dong Gongxue, through her own strength alone, kept Yuan Zhu's modern soul intact and spared her from being completely assimilated by this mad world. Then Yuan Zhu helped Dong Gongxue find the self she had lost. Anyway, in the author's imagination, the bond between the two has already gone far beyond love.

Theme: At the end of the world, I find myself. What could be more romantic than that? In the end, I'll become you, because we're fundamentally one person, aren't we? This is my first time being an emperor, so I don't have much experience. Please bear with me if I don't do everything perfectly. I'll keep trying.