Yandere Levelling in Her World

Judith stood rigid, her silver pistol trained on the intruder, her emerald eyes blazing with fury.

Lan Jia stood casually ten feet away near the entrance, hands hiding inside her hanfu, a smirk playing on her lips despite the gun aimed at her chest. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, and those signature golden streaks of Imperial Qi catching the faint light.

She looked exactly like the rumors: beautiful, deadly, and this was the woman who is supposed to be dead

"So," Lan Jia drawled, her voice lazy but laced with mockery, "you're wondering how I got in here. All that protection, all that secrecy… and yet, here I am."

Judith's grip tightened on the gun. "Who the hell are you? How did you find me?"

Lan Jia chuckled softly, tilting her head. "Oh, come on, Judith. Or should I say… leader of the Shadows? The secret assassin guild that's been terrorizing the city? Who would've thought the infamous 'Phantom' was none other than the precious only daughter of the Harrington family?"

Judith's breath hitched, but she didn't lower the weapon. Her heart pounded,no one was supposed to know that. No one. "What do you want?" she demanded, her voice cold as ice.

Lan Jia's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Smart woman. You already know the answer to that. If I wanted you dead, you'd be bleeding out on the floor right now. Your little 'Goddess's Eye' power? Cute for scouting enemies, but it's not made for protection. You're weak in a real fight, Judy. Always have been."

Judith's jaw clenched. Something was wrong. Rumors of her recent sightings had surfaced, but this… this felt different. Like she was talking to a different person.

Instinctively, Judith activated her Goddess's Eye. Her pupils dilated, glowing faintly blue as she tried to peer into Lan Jia's power, to read her powers, her level, her secrets—

Pain exploded in Judith's eyes. Crimson tears, actual blood, welled up and streamed down her cheeks.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lan Jia said softly. "You can't see my powers. Not like the others. Try again, and you'll die next."

Judith deactivated the ability, her head spinning. "What… what are you?"

Lan Jia waved a hand dismissively. "Let's get to the point. I'm not here to kill you. Not today, anyway. No requests, no bargains. Just… a gift." Her tone was so carefree, it bordered on insulting.

Before Judith could respond, Lan Jia's hand went into her hanfu and she pulled out a thick folder of papers and tossed it lightly toward Judith's feet.

It landed with a soft thud.

"Read those," Lan Jia said. "Do whatever you want with them. Burn them, frame them, wipe your ass with them,I don't care."

Judith stared at the folder, gun still raised. "What are you playing at? This some kind of trap?"

Lan Jia laughed, a genuine, throaty sound. "A trap? if I wanted to trap you, you'd already be in chains. No, I just wanted to see it for myself. The great Judith Harrington, leader of the most feared assassin gang in the city. The Phantom who's supposedly untouchable." She sighed dramatically, shaking her head. "And? Total disappointment. I attacked your little fortress here expecting a fight, but… this? Pathetic."

Judith's face flushed with rage and humiliation. Silver, her loyal shadow, lay groaning on the floor nearby, chest heaving from the brutal beating Lan Jia had given her minutes ago. She'd tried to protect her, but Lan Jia had dismantled him like she was nothing.

Lan Jia turned to leave, pausing for a second. She glanced back over her shoulder. "Oh, I'll come for you eventually, Judith. Count on it. But take your time getting ready. You're one of the weakest on my list. Barely worth the effort. I'll take my sweet time with others before I meet you again."

With that, she slipped into the hallway, vanishing like a ghost.

Judith stood frozen for a long moment, gun trembling in her hand. The folder lay there, taunting her. On the top page, visible through the clear cover, was stamped in bold red: CONFIDENTIAL. And below it, the unmistakable emblem of the Harrington family, a silver phoenix entwined with thorns.

Her family's seal.

Her hands shook as she lowered the gun and knelt, hesitating. This could be poisoned, rigged with an unknown power, anything. But curiosity and fear won out. She picked it up.

First, she pulled out her phone with blood-smeared fingers. Speed-dialing one of her closest allies, she whispered hoarsely, "Platina? It's me. I need help. Now. Someone… someone just broke in. Silver's down. Send backup."

She hung up, glancing at Silver. She was breathing heavily, ribs probably cracked, but alive. "Hang in there," she muttered, wiping the lingering blood from her own eye where the backlash from Goddess's Eye had nicked her.

Steeling herself, Judith opened the folder.

Page after page of documents: financial records, hidden accounts, forged signatures. Emails, photos, timelines. Everything pointed to a massive betrayal from within her own family.

Her expression shifted as she read confusion, then dawning horror, then raw emotions of happiness.

The final page was a single photo: a woman with a striking face and brown hair, wearing a coat. She was someone familiar—someone Judith had seen several times—but Judith never imagined she would discover this kind of information about her.

Amanda Marquez.

Judith closed the folder slowly, her hands no longer shaking.

Tears welled up, not blood this time. Real tears, hot and genuine, the kind she hadn't shed in years. Not since she was a child.

"Amanda…" she whispered, voice breaking.

The warehouse felt colder now. Judith clutched the folder to her chest, mind racing. Lan Jia hadn't come to kill her.

She'd come to shatter her world in another way.

And damn it, it worked.

***

The interrogation room in the Central Precinct was colder than usual. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead like angry clouds, throwing hard shadows across the long steel table.

Amanda stood at parade rest in the center of the room, hands clasped behind her back, uniform jacket unbuttoned just enough to show she wasn't trying to look perfect. She didn't need to. Everyone here already knew who she was.

Seven officers sat in a half-moon of chairs, all in dress blues, faces carved from the same block of disapproval. Commissioner Olivia occupied the middle seat, arms folded, her hair pulled into a bun so tight it looked like a crown. Her eyes hadn't left Amanda once.

Captain Reyes, a woman with a voice like gravel, started first.

"Explain why you opened fire on three separate Asashi patrol groups in the last fortnight, Officer Marquez. Then explain why you dragged the survivors, wounded back to holding cells for 'questioning' without a warrant, without oversight, and without informing your chain of command."

Amanda didn't blink. "I did what the oath requires, Captain. Protect the city. The Asashi have vacated three districts, and rumored to be in touch with traitors. They forfeited laws and rights the moment they chose wrong sides."

Another officer, Lieutenant Chen, leaned forward. "Do you have solid evidence they're actively aiding the Traitor Coalition? Wiretaps? Financial trails? Signed confessions?"

Amanda's jaw worked for half a second. "Anyone with eyes can see it with their recent behaviour."

Chen's mouth thinned. "We are not 'anyone with eyes,' Detective. We are the law. We do not act on hunches. We act on proof."

The questions kept coming, sharp and relentless, twenty minutes of them picking at every decision, every bullet, every bruised Asashi thug now crying for justice. Amanda answered in short, flat sentences, never raising her voice, never looking away.

Finally Olivia raised one hand. The room fell silent like someone had flipped a switch.

"Enough," the commissioner said. "Decision is clear. Detective Marquez, you are suspended from active field duty for four weeks, pending full review. The Asashi filed formal complaint through the Justice Liaison. They have the right. You will surrender your service weapon and badge to the desk sergeant tonight. During this suspension you will not involve yourself in Lan family matters or Asashi family matters. You will treat both organizations as equal threats under the law. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Amanda said.

"Dismissed."

Chairs scraped. Boots marched. The door opened and closed until only the low hum of the lights and the smell of old coffee remained. Olivia stayed seated. Amanda stayed standing.

Olivia let the silence stretch, then spoke softly. "Anything you want to say to me, Amanda? Off the record."

Amanda's gaze dropped to the floor for the first time. "No, ma'am."

Olivia sighed, the sound heavy enough to sag her shoulders. "You're special to me, Amanda. Always have been. One of the only people in this entire building I trust to do the right thing even when it's ugly." She rubbed her temple.

"You have any idea how exhausting it is sitting up there pretending I don't know half these people are taking envelopes on the side? How many favors I burn just keeping the lights on?"

Amanda stayed quiet, but her fingers tightened behind her back.

Olivia stood, walked around the table, and stopped an arm's length away. "We're friends, Amanda. You can tell me what's eating you."

Amanda looked up. Her eyes were the same cold gray they always were, but something flickered behind them. "There's nothing to tell, Commissioner. I believed the Asashi were traitors. I acted. I was wrong about the evidence threshold. From now on I'll wait for proof. That's all."

Olivia studied her for a long second, then nodded. "Good."

She turned to leave. Her hand was on the door when she paused, half-smiling to herself.

"Oh! almost forgot. A young man came by the front desk yesterday asking for you. Tall, dark hair, casual clothes, face that could stop any woman on their track. Wouldn't leave a name, just said you'd know who."

Amanda's expression didn't change, but the air in the room shifted anyway.

Olivia's smile widened. "Take the suspension to rest, Amanda. You've been living on caffeine and spite for three years. If that boy is someone you fancy, go on a damn date for once in your life."

"I don't fancy him," Amanda said, too quickly.

Olivia arched a brow.

"There's just… something about him," Amanda muttered. "He attracts trouble the way dead meat attracts flies. I can't ignore him."

Olivia chuckled under her breath as she pushed the door open. "Lord, I wish I had a man like that," she whispered to the empty hallway, and then she was gone.

The door clicked shut.

Amanda stood alone beneath the buzzing lights.

She exhaled once, slow and shaky, then reached up and unclipped her badge. The metal was still warm from her chest. She turned it over in her fingers, staring at the engraved shield like it belonged to a stranger.

Four weeks.

She knew these four weeks will be the most important time of her life.

But she to wonder why a certain handsome trouble-magnet kept showing up exactly where he wasn't supposed to be.

"Fuck...I can't be a clone...I can't be the clone," Amanda muttered to herself with a frustated look on her face.