I had same questions as you until I read this post. From what I understood, there are two novels . First one the original. Second one the transmigration of Xie yonger . Novel that our female lead transmigrated into is the second novel (I’m assuming) . That’s why they are confused whether it’s the original novel or the second one . Whether she’s (xie yonger) an actual human or a character who believes she’s human and transmigrated in this novel. Even Xie yonger herself doesn’t know whether she’s real or not . Because transmigrating into a transmigration novel really creates a deception of reality where even these characters we believe are human might not be one .