Chapter 1: Sisters Transmigrate into a Seventies Novel

Waking up early to walk someone’s dog, spending the hours from ten in the morning to nine at night in a milk tea shop wearing a mascot costume and handing out flyers, then returning to a dilapidated rented apartment to work on ghostwriting papers—Yun Zhi spent her days in constant motion, only able to collapse into bed for rest when the clock struck midnight.

She plugged in her phone charger, switched off the dim lamp, and lay down on the narrow bed. She wondered, when would this kind of life come to an end?

Her family had once owned a real estate company—not among the country's richest, but at their peak, they possessed assets that could easily reach several "small targets." Yet misfortune arrived unexpectedly. In recent years, the real estate market had stagnated, property prices kept falling, and the company suffered repeated losses. Three months ago, her father Yun Xinbo’s business partner ran off with the funds, breaking the company’s cash flow. All the bank loan contracts had been signed by Yun Xinbo himself.

He sold houses, cars, and collectibles, barely managing to keep the company afloat for a short period. But soon, there was nothing left to sell, and the company declared bankruptcy.

Then, as if fate were mocking them, her mother was caught in a chain car accident. By some miracle, she survived but was left in a vegetative state.

Every valuable item in the house had been sold off to repay debts. After settling employees’ wages and paying back a portion of the loans, they still owed the bank thirty million.

Her father, overwhelmed with despair, attempted to end his life by jumping from a building. But his fear of heights made him hesitate; he couldn’t bear a gruesome death, so he chose only the sixth floor. By coincidence, he landed on a pile of waste paper and foam—

He suffered severe fractures in his limbs, several broken ribs, and a head injury. But luck was on his side: he survived, though at considerable medical expense.

When the Yun family was prosperous, relatives and friends were frequent guests, never missing a chance to benefit. Now, in their downfall, not a single person offered help, all afraid to be dragged into the bottomless pit that was the Yun family.

The surgery fees were cobbled together by Yun Zhi through online loans and cash advances on her credit card. So, besides her father’s thirty-million debt, Yun Zhi herself now owed over three hundred thousand.

To pay back the loans, credit cards, and cover her parents’ medical bills and living expenses, Yun Zhi had no choice but to work.

She was an outstanding graduate from Z University’s prestigious economics and management program, fully capable in her field, and could have found a good job. But as a recent graduate, the salaries on offer were low, and she couldn't take frequent leave.

To make it easier to visit her parents in the hospital often, Yun Zhi chose to juggle multiple temporary jobs: distributing flyers, walking dogs, tutoring, ghostwriting papers online, and even taking jobs as a paid internet commenter.

The work was exhausting, but the hours were flexible, and the pay was slightly better than a conventional job.

Her greatest hobby used to be reading novels in her free time, but these past months, she neither had the time nor the heart for that.

Drifting into sleep, Yun Zhi’s muddled thoughts ran: her life had shifted from easy mode straight to hard—so difficult! She might as well transmigrate!

Let some max-level big-shot take over her body, rise to power, turn the tables, and stun everyone!

But what if she transmigrated to a world where even food and clothing were hard to come by, and danger lurked at every step?

And what if the person who transmigrated into her body was cold and ruthless, choosing to abandon her parents still lying in the hospital…

No, absolutely not—she didn’t want to transmigrate, nor have someone transmigrate into her.

Was there truly any way to perfectly resolve her current predicament?

Lost in such thoughts, Yun Zhi fell asleep.

In her dreams, she seemed to hear a faint “ding,” her phone screen lit up briefly, then went dark again.

At six the next morning, Yun Zhi was woken by her phone alarm. She picked up her phone and, almost unconsciously, opened WeChat, where a new message notification was blinking.

To her bafflement, there was now a pinned chat in her list: [Transmigrators’ Chat Group].

Someone in the group had even tagged her.

What was going on? Had she, in her drowsy state last night, randomly joined some group?

Probably not!

Perplexed, Yun Zhi opened the group chat—

Seventies Transmigration – Tang Panpan: “@Yun Zhi, ahhh! Yun Xiaozhi, my darling, is that you? It’s me, Panpan!”

Tang Panpan: “The one who set off poppers with you in elementary school and blew up the toilets, skipped class with you in middle school to attend concerts, and co-wrote an online novel with you in high school—before we gave up after three chapters. That Tang Panpan!”

Yun Zhi: ?!?!

What on earth—wasn’t Tang Panpan dead? How was she suddenly back from the grave?

Tang Panpan had been Yun Zhi’s close friend since childhood; they’d been classmates from elementary through high school. Even though they attended different universities, they lived in the same university district and rented a place together, remaining close.

Half a year ago, Panpan’s mother—the only family she had—passed away. Heartbroken, Panpan took a week off for a trip to clear her mind, only to disappear without contact. After reporting her missing, the police found her body at the base of a cliff in a scenic area, ruling her death an accidental fall.

Yet here she was—dead but not entirely gone. She’d transmigrated?!

Yun Zhi read on in the group chat.

Tang Panpan: “Darling, you’ll never guess—after I fell off the cliff and died, I transmigrated! Into that Seventies era novel I once complained to you about! I became the female lead’s stepsister, the designated malicious counterpart! Both became stepmothers, but the heroine was praised by all and became a winner in life, while the stepsister was scorned by everyone and met a tragic end.”

Tang Panpan: “Turns out, the rule about transmigrating into a namesake is real!”

Tang Panpan: “Damn it, I refuse to be a stepmother! My useless mom and stepdad wanted to sell me off to a twice-married man with four kids for money. The first day I woke up in this world and figured things out, I stole the household registration book and signed up to work in the countryside! Ran away three days later! Before leaving, I even tricked my mom and stepdad out of some cash! But I never imagined farm work would be so tough—so exhausting! Boohoo…”

Apocalypse World – Cen Junfei: “Panpan’s friend transmigrated too? What kind of magical fate is this?!”

High Martial World – Qin Tianhai: “Hey, new member? @Yun Zhi, tell us how you died and what kind of world you ended up in?”

Tang Panpan: “Yun Xiaozhi, don’t tell me you died too, right after me? Boohoo, what a tragic pair we are!”

Yun Zhi, reading the chat: …I haven’t, I didn’t!

She wasn’t dead, and she hadn’t transmigrated!

After the initial shock, she continued scrolling through the chat.

Eerie World – Mu Xue: “It’s past midnight, and you’re all still chatting? Go to bed! Or I’ll curse you to dream of ghosts!”

Tang Panpan: “Okay, going to sleep now. Good night, Sister Mu Xue. [Obedient.jpg]”

Qin Tianhai: “Good night.”

Cen Junfei: “Sister Mu Xue, I’m not afraid of ghosts. Send me a pretty lady ghost in red.”

Mu Xue: “Fine, then you’ll dream of becoming a starving ghost yourself. [Soybean smile.jpg]”

Cen Junfei: [Soybean panic.jpg]

Cen Junfei: “Good night!”

The chat ended there.

Yun Zhi was curious—who was this Mu Xue, and why were her words so effective? Could her curses actually work? Well, it made sense—an Eerie World sounded dangerous and inscrutable.

This chat group was extraordinary; the other members all seemed to be transmigrators to different worlds.

How had this group suddenly appeared pinned in her WeChat? Maybe, just maybe, her desperate wish to change her fate the night before had somehow made it appear?

Yun Zhi tried long-pressing the group’s name in the chat list—no “Delete Chat” button appeared, nor any other options.

She tapped Tang Panpan’s profile and switched to a private chat.

Earth – Yun Zhi: “Panpan? Are you there? I just woke up. It’s so good to know you’re still alive!”

After waiting a bit, she got no reply—probably because Panpan had stayed up too late or was just busy.

Yun Zhi remembered from period dramas that educated youth sent to the countryside in the seventies had to start work around five or six in the morning.

She explored the group’s other features.

[Personal Space]—when clicked, a prompt appeared: Time is frozen in this space; only non-living items can be stored! Space size: 100m x 100m x 100m.

Wow, what an amazing function! Wasn’t this the legendary portable storage?

However, living in peaceful times and dirt poor, Yun Zhi had nothing to put there for now.

[Task Delegation]—the button was greyed out and inaccessible.

[Personal Center] showed three lines:

Name: Yun Zhi

Current Plane: Earth

Level: Lv0

She wondered what this level meant or how to level up. And what would leveling up do?

That was all.

Yun Zhi returned to the group chat and decided to say hello.

Earth – Yun Zhi: “Hello everyone, I’m the new member, Yun Zhi. I’m not dead, nor transmigrated, just in Z City, Hua Country, about to head out to work.”

There was no response for the moment.

Yun Zhi didn’t keep exploring. As curious as she was about the Transmigrators’ Chat Group, she had part-time jobs to do.

With few customers at the milk tea shop in the morning, she’d taken a dog-walking gig.

After washing up, she skipped breakfast, stuffed two small buns and a water bottle into her canvas bag, and headed out.

She hopped on a shared e-bike.

Soon, Yun Zhi arrived at a middle-class residential area, met the morning’s client—a beautiful, docile white Samoyed.

Leash in hand, she walked the dog along the sidewalk to the park, quickly devouring a bun and eagerly pulling out her phone.

Just then, the chat group came alive with new messages.

Apocalypse World – Cen Junfei: “What, @Yun Zhi, you haven’t transmigrated? Really?”

Cen Junfei: “Sister, you must be joking. Except for a certain long-term reclusive big shot, everyone here has died on Earth and transmigrated to another world.”

Cen Junfei: “That big shot didn’t die, but their body on Earth is in a vegetative state.”

Cen Junfei: “I really miss Earth’s amazing food! In this damned apocalypse, all I get is moldy bread, rice soaked by floods, weird-tasting mutated plants, and fishy, foul mutant beast meat! And never enough to eat!”

In her private messages, Tang Panpan was in uproar.

A flood of “ahhhh” and “boohoo” messages scrolled by—Yun Zhi ignored the meaningless outbursts.

Tang Panpan: “Wow, this is weird! Our group didn’t have private chat before, but after you messaged me, I could message you privately. Our chat window even has a ‘red envelope’ feature the group chat doesn’t have.”

“I tried to send you a red envelope, but got a notice—it says red envelopes can only be used to pay for task rewards, and can only be used twice a month. What’s up with that?”

“By the way, you have no idea—what I can’t stand most in the seventies is you can’t buy sanitary pads anywhere! They’re only at Friendship Stores! And those only exist in big cities, and you need foreign exchange coupons to get in! How would I have those? Even toilet paper requires ration tickets, and the allotted amount isn’t nearly enough.”

“Girl, if you could do some proxy shopping for me on Earth and send me some pads, I’d love you forever! QAQ”

A new pop-up appeared in the chat window—

[Ding! Group member [Seventies Transmigration – Tang Panpan] has posted a task: Proxy purchase of sanitary pads. Do you accept? Accept/Accept]

[PS: Accepting the task allows you to negotiate task details and payment.]

Yun Zhi’s lips twitched—there wasn’t even a “Decline” option!

If it weren’t for the fact that this Transmigrators’ Chat Group contained her close friend Tang Panpan, who had mentioned plenty of details only the two of them knew, Yun Zhi would have suspected her phone was infected with some new scam virus.

But what scammer would want her money, with over thirty million in debt?

Oh well, nothing to worry about then!

She smiled, poverty written all over her face.

Yun Zhi confidently clicked [Accept].