Savior, but Guilty of Heinous Crimes [Cyberpunk]

Also known as She Crawls Through the Cyber World in the Dark and Reborn in a Cyber Game as the Savior

Tang Bugong was kidnapped and dragged into a cyber game called Under a Fallen Nest.

So she blew up the game company on the spot, and while she was at it, exposed all their dirty secrets.

Someone told her she would become the savior who would rescue two worlds.

But as soon as she entered the game...

Wait, what? Since when does a savior get treated like this?

She had only just logged in when someone shot her in the head?

And after she woke up again, a horde of mechanical creatures tore her to pieces?

She managed to cobble together a body from the severed limbs and mechanical parts scattered across the ground. (The heroine's own body will recover, so don't panic.) Then she found out she didn't even have a legal identity.

They wouldn't even let her toil honestly at an under-the-table job and get exploited?

Fine, fine. If they won't let her be a law-abiding citizen, then she'll have to begin her "life of crime," becoming "wicked beyond redemption"!

What? Someone's harassing people? She brings her hand down, drives an awl through them, and conveniently disposes of the body.

What? Someone's smuggling people? She becomes a "snakehead" herself and blasts open a new route. Why sneak across the border? They can take the main road.

What? The higher-ups are trafficking people and illegally selling high-risk cybernetic implants to civilians? She simply starts selling prosthetic limbs to the higher-ups instead. No demand? Then she'll create some!

What? Cultists are preaching like mad? She slaps the evil god aside and takes over as the cult's new leader.

Wasn't she supposed to be the savior? How did she end up sprinting down the road to becoming an outlaw like Zhang San?

By the time Tang Bugong's wanted poster had reached its thirteenth revision and her bounty had climbed to an astronomical sum, she finally earned herself a pair of silver bracelets.

Exiled to the West District? Oh, no, that's called opening up new territory and liberating the whole West District!

Instance One [Evil God (Not) Descending]: Strange noises come from a discarded cardboard box in the sewer. Tang Bugong leans in to listen.

A human voice comes from a box the size of a shoebox. The person inside asks her to fish out a coat that's been swept away by the water.

She fishes it out and takes a look.

What the heck! It's a bloody horse hide?

Tang Bugong leans over with a grin. "How about we help each other out? Could you pick up my right eyeball too? It rolled over by your foot.

"Oh, and help me pull my head off and fasten it back on with this iron skewer."

Evil God: "Which one of us is the creep here?"

Instance Two [Fog City (Must Not) Fall]: The giant trees of Baishang City secrete a green liquid, the source of energy on which all the local people depend.

Until the day Baishang fell ill, and every person in Baishang City fell ill along with it.

Tang Bugong: "Bring me five... no, ten straws. I'm going to suck that tree dry!"

The people of Baishang City: "It's over! An energy shortage of catastrophic proportions! Are we going back to the Stone Age for good?!"

Instance Three [Order (Must Not) Collapse]: The Moros Church in Xingang has become the newest viral tourist spot.

If you go there at midnight, a bride in a wedding dress will hold a wedding ceremony with you.

But when she asks you the third question, be sure to answer "No."

Tang Bugong charges in with a megaphone: "Yes, yes, yes! Let's get married! Right here, right now!"

The bride strips off her "skin" and runs away crying. "I'm straight!"

Instance Four [Exile (Liberation) of the West District]: The West District, a city of sin,

a place of exile for criminals and a refuge for the discarded.

A lawless no-man's-land, an anarchic city-state, a place of resentment and lamentation.

Tang Bugong, a hardened criminal, looks at the electronic shackles covering her wrists, ankles, and neck, and lets out a helpless sigh.

A month later, she's already the new leader of the West District's largest gang!

Instance Five [The Mystery of Tangdi City's Fall]

Events hurtle ever faster in a bizarre direction.

Countless people in power die one after another for her.

The Bloodlimbed crawl at her feet, clutching their own flesh and blood.

Cyberpsychos follow her lead.

More and more people believe she is the savior foretold in the prophecy.

But she discovers that the prophecy is full of schemes...

This is a world steeped in despair and terror.

Everyone lives inside a blood-red eggshell, but one day the shell will break.

Poisonous fog, mutated beasts, evil gods, disease, and natural disasters will eventually descend, one after another.

The seeds of hope have already been quietly planted, waiting for the day they break through the soil.

Everyone is their own savior.

Reader's Guide:

1. The heroine's stance leans toward chaotic good, but she does evil; her morals are flexible. She seems "wicked beyond redemption," but for the most part she's a good person (probably).

2. A group gets transported into a game. The early chapters involve the real world (slow-burn warning). P.S. The game company in the real world is a very important plotline, and the author doesn't want to give it up.

3. This is romance, with a romantic pairing and a love story, but romance doesn't take up much of the book (around 30%, perhaps?) and develops alongside the plot.

4. Everyone is strong, but the heroine has to be the strongest. This isn't an invincible-heroine story; her opponents are strong too.

4. The boundaries between instances aren't very clear, and there are many more than the ones listed in the blurb. I'm bad at writing blurbs, so I don't know how to describe many of the instances here.

5. The story features a bit of everything, including cyberpunk and eerie elements like Lobotomy Corporation-style [Collectors]. These are all my own take on things. The author isn't an expert on what counts as "orthodox."

6. The monsters and evil gods in this story are mostly based on Chinese folklore. The rating system and so on borrow the trappings of "Collectibles" (they can be understood, sealed, and contained), but the actual content is all original. I couldn't find a suitable eerie-fiction tag, so I chose Cthulhu. It won't affect how you experience the plot.

7. This story has a mountain of original worldbuilding. Please don't compare it to the real world.

Content Warnings:

1. The romantic pairing is between two powerful characters, but the male lead will never overshadow the heroine, and this will not become a story where the woman is strong but the man is even stronger. Although he's called the male lead, he gets about as much attention as a supporting character, because romance isn't the focus! However, the male lead's status is necessarily higher than the heroine's at the beginning (it's hard for anyone in the whole book, regardless of gender, to have a lower status than her). If you think that means the man is stronger than the woman, this may not be for you.

2. The heroine mainly solves problems by relying on herself, but she's not a lone wolf and gets help from many companions. The male lead is inevitably one of them, but the heroine has the final say and authority to explain her own actions! If you think this means the heroine still has to rely on a man, this may not be for you.

3. If you can't stand the heroine or other female characters facing any setbacks, and think that means the story is cruel to women, this may not be for you. In my opinion, setbacks are opportunities for everyone to grow. My heroines and female supporting characters don't need to be sheltered in a greenhouse; they're going out to conquer the world. If you think any hardship faced by a female character is cruelty to women, this may not be for you.

4. The author doesn't really know how to write the kind of wish-fulfillment story everyone finds satisfying. I can only try to write what I find satisfying. I'm worried some readers may not find it satisfying enough, so I haven't added a wish-fulfillment tag. Please be kind if it doesn't feel satisfying enough, and feel free to drop the story at any time.

5. There will be lots of supporting characters, especially female ones, but there will also be plenty of male ones. If you see an organization in the story with a very high proportion of men, don't doubt it: it will definitely be overthrown. If that bothers you, this may not be for you.

These warnings apply only to a few truly, truly, truly extreme cases. Ordinary readers don't need to worry about them.

Theme: It's good to be alive