April, 1956.

Huacheng Wharf.

"If you want revenge, don’t pin it on the wrong people. Your cousin and your uncle are the real ones behind this. Even if you turn into a ghost, make sure you go after the right folks."

"Boss, are we really gonna chuck her into the sea for the fish? Ain’t that a bit too vicious? Maybe we ought to forget it..."

Isolde Ashworth’s mind was full of question marks.

"What???"

What in the world was going on?

Hadn’t she gone to sleep perfectly fine in her own bed? Where had these strange voices come from, buzzing right by her ear?

And this cousin, this uncle—what did any of that have to do with her?

And throwing her into the sea? What kind of nonsense was that?

She was the head of an ancient martial family, a top-tier expert skilled in martial arts, mental discipline, mystic arts, medicine, and poison. She had always been the one dealing with other people. Since when did anyone get to deal with her?

What a joke.

Never mind anything else—just her martial skill alone, plus that frightening knack for using poison that made people tremble at the mere mention of it—

And that wasn’t even counting the spirit-spring space she had for saving her life.

While Isolde Ashworth was still trying to make sense of it, another rough, hoarse voice sounded beside her.

"No way! Miss Cao said she has to go into the sea, or it doesn’t count. If we don’t do it, forget about getting the rest of the money."

"There’s still half left unpaid. What, we’re supposed to give up five thousand bucks just because you went soft for a minute?"

Isolde Ashworth frowned. Inwardly, she thought, so her life was only worth ten thousand?

Just as she was about to see which blind fool had the nerve to lay hands on her—

A flood of memories that did not belong to her suddenly slammed into her mind.

Damn!!

What kind of rotten luck was this?

She had somehow, for no reason at all, crossed over.

And of all things, she had landed inside that period novel she had just finished reading—inside the body of the rich capitalist heiress who got killed the moment she appeared, before she even had a chance to properly show her face.

The original girl even had the same name as her.

Isolde Ashworth.

But that girl’s fate had been pure cannon fodder from start to finish.

She existed for one reason only—to hand over a mountain of wealth to the novel’s male and female leads.

In the book, the very first chapter had barely begun before the original Isolde was murdered, dumped into the sea, and fed to the fish. It was a brutal death.

Six years ago, the girl’s parents had gone abroad on business. On the way back inland by ship from Xiangjiang, something happened.

Not long after that, her own maternal uncle used her young age as an excuse, saying she needed proper care, and openly moved his whole family into the Ashworth residence.

From then on, that family spent the original girl’s money, ate the Ashworth family’s food, and all the while secretly kept their eyes fixed on the Ashworth estate.

And that dear cousin of hers—the reborn heroine in the book—had set her sights on Isolde’s fiancé and wanted to snatch her place for herself.

But that fiancé was no decent man either. On one hand, he sweet-talked the original girl, coaxed her till she was dizzy and trusting, and turned her into his personal purse.

On the other hand, he was secretly tangled up with that “good” cousin, just waiting for the cousin to get rid of Isolde so the two of them could swallow up the Ashworth fortune whole.

After that, the pair could go hand in hand to Xiangjiang and live like some blissful fairy-tale couple, carefree and pleased with themselves.

As for the uncle and aunt’s side of the family, they too lived comfortably off the Ashworth money, passing their days in ease.

To put it plainly, whether it was that trash of a fiancé or her blood-related uncle’s family, all of them used the Ashworth family fortune to live in wealth and comfort, while Isolde Ashworth—the true young lady of the house—lost her life early.

The original girl had already lost both parents at thirteen.

And the only uncle she had was a cold-blooded beast.

Worse still, she had been simple-minded enough to believe her uncle, aunt, and cousin truly cared about her. So even though they had thrown their weight around in her house all these years, she never seriously argued with them.

Who could have guessed—

They had long been waiting for the chance to kill her, seize her property, and enjoy the good life themselves.

This time, after the original Isolde returned from Xiangjiang after discussing business, she had just stepped out of Huacheng Wharf with two bodyguards when the assassination came.

The two bodyguards were good, no doubt about that, but they were badly outnumbered. The other side had sheer numbers, and on top of that they were carrying knives and clubs. It didn’t take long before the two men were cut down, dying on the spot just to buy the original Isolde Ashworth a chance to run.

But she didn’t get far.

While fleeing for her life, she took a knife straight to the chest and dropped dead right there.

By the time consciousness returned, the soul inside that body was no longer the same one.

It had become Isolde Ashworth, from the twenty-fifth century.

After sorting through all the original girl’s memories in her head, Isolde felt her fingers curl tight, so hard her knuckles cracked.

With what she had seen and learned in the twenty-fifth century, plus everything the book had laid out, she could already tell one thing clear as day—

the so-called accident that killed the girl’s parents back then was no accident at all.

Most likely, it was that “good” uncle of hers who did it.

The logic was plain enough.

Only after the parents were dead could he move into the Ashworth residence openly and without raising suspicion. Then, little by little, he could feed the girl sweet words, wear down her guard, and make her treat his family like the only people she had left to lean on.

Once a person stopped being wary, sticking a knife in their back was the easiest thing in the world.

After all, nothing tested a person’s heart quite like money.

For cash and power, even blood brothers could turn on each other without blinking, so what was an uncle worth?

As for that worthless fiancé, he was even less worth mentioning.

According to the story, the Ashford couple had pushed so hard to arrange that childhood engagement with the Ashworth family because they had their eyes on the Ashworth fortune from the very beginning.

The Ashworths had been one of the richest families in Hushi, with textile mills and trading houses doing booming business. Back in the forties, their assets had already climbed past a hundred million.

Sure, “capitalist” wasn’t exactly a flattering label these days.

But the trouble was—they had money.

And in this world, who could really pretend money didn’t matter?

Even in the highly advanced twenty-fifth century, plenty of things were impossible without money, let alone in these first years after the founding of the country.

In this era, an ordinary worker earned only a dozen or maybe twenty yuan a month, and goods were scarce everywhere. The Ashworth family, on the other hand, not only had money, but their own businesses too. Food, clothing, daily needs—none of it was ever lacking. In other people’s eyes, they were a great slab of fat meat waiting to be carved up.

At least, that was how it looked before the purge against private wealth arrived.

And the key point was this: the Ashworth family had only one daughter.

Sooner or later, the whole family fortune was bound to fall into Isolde Ashworth’s hands.

Of course the Ashfords would cling tightly to this marriage arrangement.

Once their son married the original host and brought her into the family, wouldn’t every last bit of the Xiao family fortune end up in their hands?

But that couple from the Qin family never imagined something would happen to Mr. and Mrs. Xiao. They also never saw it coming that the original host’s uncle and his whole family would move right into the Xiao house.

What shocked people even more was that their son had actually gotten involved with Isolde Ashworth’s cousin.

The moment she thought of the original host’s miserable end, then remembered how she herself had only just arrived and nearly got dumped into the sea to feed the fish, Isolde Ashworth was so furious she wanted to drag the King of Hell out and beat him senseless.

The old fool had to be blind.

Why the hell was he snatching souls at random?

She hadn’t stolen his wife, and she sure as hell hadn’t tossed any underworld imps into an oil cauldron, so why was she the one shoved into a damn book to suffer?

She had been living just fine as the head of an ancient martial arts family, doing well for herself, and yet she had to be thrown into this lousy novel and made to suffer through the 1950s.

Before Isolde Ashworth could think any further, someone suddenly hauled her up by force.

"If none of you are gonna do it, then I will."

"It’s just dumping one person, isn’t it? What’s there to yap about? Toss her straight into the sea and be done with it. It’s no big deal."

"If you want someone to blame, blame her rotten luck for ending up surrounded by a pack of heartless beasts!"

The words had barely fallen when the man lifted the person in his hands and was about to fling her into the ocean.

But at the very instant his hand was about to let go, Isolde Ashworth—who had seemed dead a moment ago—snapped her eyes open.

Then, with a swift backhand move, she seized his arm—