The college entrance exam began, and I waited nervously for the papers to be handed out.

Just as I was about to take the test paper from the invigilator, a floating line of text suddenly drifted across my vision.

[Don't take it. The paper is coated with deadly poison. You'll die the moment you touch it.]

Before my mind could even process what was happening, pure survival instinct made my hand jerk back.

The paper slipped from my grasp and fell to the ground.

I stiffly met with the invigilator's lifeless, mechanical eyes. He stared at me without blinking, then slowly bent down, picked up the test paper, flipped it over, and placed it back on my desk.

"Good luck on your exam."

His cold voice snapped me out of the fear brought on by that strange message.

Just as I was starting to think that it was nothing more than nerves playing tricks on my eyes, the exam hall speakers started playing instructions.

"The listening test will now begin. Please mark your answers on the corresponding answer sheet. The papers will be collected in 15 minutes. Anyone who fails to submit on time will be eliminated!"

A wave of terror instantly overwhelmed me.

[Looks like the supporting female lead, Jessie Love, got lucky and passed the first stage, but the top scorer is destined to be the female lead, Rachel Sharp. Jessie's just a side character. She surely can't pass through the second stage.]

[What a pity! If only Jessie's results were a little worse, she wouldn't have been written into a certain-death ending.]

[Dude, there's nothing to pity. If Jessie doesn't die, how could Rachel be the top scorer? If Rachel doesn't become the top scorer, how will she overcome the obstacles from the family of the male lead, Timothy Handler, and end up with him?]

If my guesses were right, I was a supporting female lead in a novel. However, due to my good grades, I became an obstacle in the female lead's path to love and glory.

In order for Rachel Sharp and Timothy Handler to end up happily ever after, I had to die in an accident, according to the script.

However, something did not add up.

The person who had always been second place behind me was clearly a guy. He had already received multiple college offers through competitions and did not even take the college entrance exam.

I had heard of Rachel and Timothy before. They were the couple whose grades came in at the bottom. No matter what, Rachel would never be the top scorer.

Before I could get more information from the floating messages before me, the listening test started.

Out of sheer habit, my top-scorer instincts kicked in, and I subconsciously answered every question on the paper.

However, when it came time to fill in the answer sheet, I hesitated.

The invigilator walked over to me and asked impatiently, "Why aren't you filling in your answer sheet?"

He looked a little maniacal. His eyes were reddened and puffed up so much that his eyeballs seemed like they were about to pop.

I was worried he was going to force me to do it the very next second, so I decided to act first.

"Sir, I accidentally splashed some water on my answer sheet. Can I get a new one?"

The moment I spoke, it was as if someone had pressed a pause button on him. He glanced at the paper, hesitated for a long moment, then finally handed me a new one.

I let out a breath of relief. As I flipped open the new paper and began filling in the answer sheet, another line of comments drifted across my vision.

[She seems pretty cautious, but it's a pity. The power of the plot is beyond her imagination.]

A sense of unease rose sharply in my heart.

Before I could react, a stabbing pain came from my heart. I lowered my head to see blood dripping from the corner of my mouth onto the test papers.

Right before I lost my consciousness, I saw floating comments once more.

[Jessie probably didn't expect that anything that passed through the invigilator's hands was covered in poison. No matter how cautious she was, she's doomed.]

[Jessie is finally dead. Does that mean Rachel and Timothy can finally start their lovey-dovey relationship?]

[Am I the only one who feels sorry for Jessie? If she hadn't died, she could've become a great doctor. Unlike Rachel, although she got into a top college, she ended up being a housewife.]

…

When I opened my eyes once more, I was back at the entrance exam venue, just about to accept the test papers from the invigilator.

I quickly bent down to pretend to tie my shoelace, smoothly passing through the first stage.

While I bent down, I finally understood what was happening to me.

I had been reborn. If I did not take any action, I would die in the next 15 minutes.

I did not dare to bet how many lives I had to use. All I could do was to try my best to avoid the deathly crisis looming over me.

Based on the information from the floating comments in my past life, I knew that I could not touch anything that the invigilator had touched. That meant that I had to find another way to get my test papers.

At that thought, I raised my hand to be excused to the restroom, even though the listening test had just begun.

The invigilator stared at me and nodded stiffly.

Leaving the exam venue, I sighed in relief. I had made the right decision.

When the exam rules were announced earlier, something felt off. The instructions only emphasized one rule, that we had to submit our paper after finishing. There was no mention of cheating or even leaving for the restroom.

That meant only one thing. In the exam, as long as you did not break that one rule, everything else was allowed.

At that thought, I first tried running to the school gates. There were a lot of people around there, so it would be easy to ask for help.

However, before I could get out of the building's vicinity, a shrill alarm blared from my body.

Instantly, identical invigilators stepped out of every classroom.

The invigilators approached me mechanically and surrounded me.

"Leaving during the entrance exam is prohibited. Please return to the exam hall and complete your test."

Their identical, lifeless eyes sent a chill down my spine. I quickly weighed my chances of fighting my way out and gave up just as quickly.

In the end, I obediently turned back toward the exam hall.

On the way back, floating comments popped up once more.

[Jessie's smart. She knew that she couldn't just sit and wait for death, but what she didn't know was that during the security check, a tracking device had been planted on her. If she leaves the exam hall, the tracking device would ring the alarm.]

[Also, don't forget, the entire school installed new surveillance cameras for this entrance exam. It'll be hard for her to escape.]

My heart sank when I saw the comments. I had no escape route at all. It seemed that the plot wanted me to die badly.

However, I was not going to just sit around and wait for death.

At that thought, just when I was about to reenter the exam hall, I turned to head to the confidential storage room.

Thanks to my excellent grades and my role as class monitor, teachers often had me assist with major exams, transporting papers, storing them, and handling logistics.

The confidential room was where unopened exam papers were kept. Backup copies were stored there as well.

Most importantly, it was the only place in the entire school without surveillance.

I made it there smoothly. No invigilator stopped me along the way. I was relieved.

It seemed as though, as long as I did not show any intentions of running away, the invigilators would not stop me.

Thankfully, I found backup copies of the test and answer sheet inside the storage room. Since hey were sealed, I was the only one who had touched them.

I took the test papers back to the exam hall. Ignoring the invigilator's murderous gaze, I calmly and quickly filled in the answer sheet. Then, I handed in my sheet right before the bell rang.

After handing in the test papers, I waited for a few seconds. I did not feel the throbbing pain in my heart that I felt in my previous life.

Just when I was sighing in relief, the invigilator walked over to me and whispered in my ear, "You think you can escape this? You've celebrated too early."

Before I could react to that, a student in front of me suddenly went crazy and tore everyone's test papers into pieces.

Instantly, everyone there lost their heads.

Mine fell to the ground as well.

Right before I saw darkness, the floating comments came once more.

[What a pity! Jessie was so close to escaping this time, but she seemed to have forgotten that in the novel, every other character would sacrifice everything to ensure Rachel and Timothy get their happy ending.]

[Too many people died this time, and the plot is getting hard to patch up. People in the comments are already getting mad.]

[Even the author said that the plot is starting to collapse and that it was getting harder to keep writing.]

I engraved those words, 'plot collapsed', deeply in my mind, waiting to be reborn again.

…

When I opened my eyes once more, I swiftly avoided the poison attack from the invigilator. I started going through the information from the floating comments.

If that world were a sweet romance novel, then the only way to change its ending was for the story itself to collapse.

Once the author stopped insisting on a fixed ending, a supporting character like me could finally escape a destined death.

The way to cause the plot to collapse was something I had already tried in my previous life: to constantly change the storyline.

In my previous life, I was so insistent on changing my death by poison that I caused the entire exam hall of students to die, throwing the entire plot into chaos.

Even then, the author forced the story back on track, ignoring the readers' complaints.

Therefore, no matter how much I struggled in my new life, the result would likely be the same since I was just a minor supporting character.

The parts of the plot I could influence were limited.

However, what if Rachel and Timothy's storyline collapsed instead?

…

At that thought, my eyes instantly sparkled. I found an excuse to leave the exam hall. I quickly ran to where Rachel and Timothy were having their exams.

Since I had distributed everyone's admission tickets myself, I knew exactly where their exam rooms were.

As I ran, I planned how to shatter their storyline.

Firstly, it was a sweet romance novel.

The female lead, Rachel Sharp, was supposed to be a naive yet brilliant top student.

The male lead, Timothy Handler, was the cold, domineering school tyrant.

Their character settings defined the tone of the story, and were exactly what made readers ship them.

The first step was to destroy their character settings.

After settling my thoughts, I steadied myself.

Then, without hesitation, I grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hallway cabinet and smashed it straight into the glass window of Timothy's exam hall.