The Kill Line, but I'm Cracking Down on Crime

[Notice: This novel is expected to move to a paid chapter model on Monday, February 9. The paid chapters begin with Chapter 19. Thanks for supporting the author.] Late one night, after finishing the first draft of her graduation thesis, Ming An clicked on a video exposing the lives of America’s working class. The descriptions of surreal reality came at her from every direction, making her sanity meter plummet. Before she could even be grateful she’d been born in a socialist country, her vision suddenly blurred And she became an international student in Seattle in a parallel universe. Her biological father had married into wealth and cheated on his wife. After his wife died of illness, he cut off Ming An’s financial support and abandoned her overseas, while also pulling strings to keep her trapped there forever. Meanwhile, her host family decided to kick her out in the middle of a rainy winter, despite her serious illness... The good news: she wasn’t fated to die. A System for “Cracking Down on Crime and Evil” found her, promising a high salary as long as she did her job well. The bad news: there was a shootout on a nearby street, and the person beside her was already high. There really was plenty of crime and evil here. Ming An: ... Maybe I should go home and get treatment first. Who in their right mind comes here to crack down on crime and evil? They don’t get prison time for that over here. You’d be better off arresting a few people sleeping in their cars. Wait, are you saying they have to obey our country’s laws? Now that’s a lot more arrestable. Later, the System’s pocket prison was packed with people, including insurance company executives, celebrities, and all kinds of Agent Smiths. The upper classes lived in fear, calling her “a demon from the East.” The working class cheered her on, dubbing her “a hero who holds the red flag high.” In reality, she was just a nervous student and wage slave. Her studies were demanding, she had no vacations, her job was hectic, and her pockets were empty. Every day she ran all over the place, chased by the terrifying crime rate, and kept getting called in by her professor for skipping class... Can this world really still be saved? Note: “Execution threshold” comes from gaming terminology. It refers to the point at which a boss’s health drops below a critical level and triggers a berserk mode, or the threshold at which a player can land a one-hit kill. It describes a character in a game having no chance to “recover health.” The term was later adapted by “King Squirrel” to describe the living conditions of ordinary Americans. [Baidu Baike] 1. This novel is entirely fictional and set in an imaginary world. Do not compare it to reality. 2. Some place names were borrowed for the plot, but do not reflect actual local conditions. The author has never been to any of these places. This story takes place in a parallel universe and is simply a work of imaginative online fiction. Please don’t make real-world assumptions of any kind. 3. Please don’t post inflammatory or abusive comments. They will be deleted. The love interest is the System. The character description is a double entendre. Theme: Love life