After Being Bound to the Scummy Alpha System, I Became Famous Thanks to My Face Blindness - Chapter 38

The first day’s mission ended in failure.

Jiang Manli had arranged a room for Tang Ling on the third floor, with a balcony facing the sea. Under the intertwined glow of stars and moon, the distant waters shimmered with silver light. Waves rolled toward the shore one after another, their crashing echoing endlessly in her ears.

Tang Ling drew the sheer curtains shut and flopped onto the bed, completely uninterested in the view.

Inside her head, Xiao Nan was still chattering incessantly:

“How could it not work? Logically, Shiyi should be jealous—she cares about you so much.”

Tang Ling snapped, “Wake up. We’re just friends. Would you get jealous over your friend? Clearly, this approach won’t work. You’d better think of another plan.”

Xiao Nan huffed. “What do you know? Tang Shi is definitely the real deal! I won’t hear any slander!”

Tang Ling gave a small, incredulous laugh. “Oh? So you understand her better than I do? Remind me again—which one of us is actually involved here?”

Xiao Nan shot back confidently, “Of course I do! I’ve shipped more couples than you’ve eaten grains of salt. Just watch—I’ll prove it to you.”

Tang Ling smirked. “Fine. Starting tomorrow, keep your commentary to yourself. I’ll show you whether your so-called ship sinks or sails.”

Xiao Nan gasped. “What are you going to do to Shiyi? No! Mommy forbids it!”

Tang Ling retorted, “Stop yelling in my head. Our alliance ends here.”

Naturally, Xiao Nan refused to give up and tried to negotiate, but after a long, exhausting day, Tang Ling was too tired to listen. She muted the system’s voice and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

She slept soundly through the night.

The next morning, Tang Ling was still half-asleep when she heard Jiang Manli shouting from downstairs, “Girls! Let’s go clamming at the beach!”

Tang Ling got dressed, pulled open the curtains, and stepped onto the balcony. “You know how to go clamming?”

Jiang Manli winked up at her. “Not really. But how hard can it be? Just dig a bit—it’ll be fun!”

From the setup below, Tang Ling noticed that the show’s production crew was already prepared to film. Clearly, this wasn’t Jiang Manli’s idea but part of the program. She nodded. “Alright. Give me a few minutes—I’ll be right down.”

Soon, all the girls gathered at the entrance. Each carried a small shovel and a bucket, wide-brimmed hats shading their faces from the sun. They were fully prepared for a long day under the harsh seaside rays.

The most excited among them was Su Mengzhi, who asked nonstop, “So how do we do this ‘clamming’? Do we just pick up seashells?”

Jiang Manli laughed. “Oh, it’s not just shells! There’s all kinds of stuff—starfish, razor clams, crabs, sea snails, even sea hares. It’s loads of fun.”

Su Mengzhi’s eyes lit up. “Sea hares? What are those? Little bunnies that live in the ocean? Sister Manli, I’m sticking with you!”

Meanwhile, Tan Shiyi quietly approached Tang Ling and asked with feigned casualness, “The sea breeze was pretty damp last night. Is your wound okay?”

Tang Ling nodded. “I’m fine. It’s wrapped in gauze, so I barely feel it.”

Tan Shiyi gave a small smile. “That’s good. Let’s go together. You shouldn’t strain your hand—let me dig while you hold the bucket. That way you won’t reopen the wound.”

Tang Ling was tempted to agree, but she had more pressing matters to handle.

By her estimation, she’d been able to earn Scummy Alpha Points from Tan Shiyi before because they’d just met and didn’t understand each other yet. Misunderstandings had created emotional turbulence.

Now that their relationship had stabilized, Tan Shiyi’s personality made it unlikely she’d label Tang Ling as “scummy” again so easily.

If spending time with her wouldn’t raise her score, then she might as well go “scum-farm” someone more volatile—like the young and impressionable Su Mengzhi, whose emotions were far easier to manipulate.

With that, Tang Ling apologized. “You don’t have to trouble yourself. I actually need to talk to Jiang Manli about something—better go find her.”

Tan Shiyi clearly hadn’t expected to be turned down. She froze for a moment, then lowered her gaze. “Alright. I won’t bother you, then.”

Xiao Nan’s voice cracked in despair. “How could you treat Shiyi like that? Sigh, but honestly, your Scummy Alpha score is definitely going up. You totally hurt her!”

Tang Ling scoffed. “Didn’t we test that theory enough yesterday? Stop clinging to false hope. Shiyi isn’t the petty type—she’ll never think of me as scummy.”

She then caught up with Jiang Manli.

Jiang Manli teased, “Well, well. What’s this? Not walking with your wifey today?”

Tang Ling glanced meaningfully at Su Mengzhi and said on purpose, “Being with her’s boring. I thought I’d keep Mengzhi company instead.”

That should count as scummy enough, right? Tang Ling silently waited for the familiar chime in her head.

But instead, Su Mengzhi just beamed, took her hand, and chirped, “Then let’s go! I want to find sea hares!”

Tang Ling: “?”

Girl, do you have any sense of self-preservation?

The beach was lively, with quite a few locals combing the shore. It wasn’t tourist season, so most of the people digging were local fishermen.

The girls, however, had no idea what they were doing. They only picked up a few clams scattered along the tide line, barely collecting anything.

Noticing this, one of the fishermen came over to help. “Girls, you can’t just pick from the surface! You’ve gotta dig! See these little holes? That’s where they hide. Use your shovel to scoop a few times, or sprinkle some saltwater—they’ll come right up.”

Su Mengzhi’s eyes sparkled. “Do we have saltwater? I want to try!”

Of course, the production crew had everything ready and handed her a bottle.

Su Mengzhi found a small dark hole, crouched down, and poured in the saltwater. Sure enough, the hole began to bubble, and a yellow razor clam slowly poked its head out.

Her face lit up with delight. “It really worked! Tang Ling-jie, can you help me pull it out? I’m too scared to touch it!”

Tang Ling hadn’t planned on doing anything that required much effort, but in order to get closer to Su Mengzhi, she forced herself to squat down and dig for razor clams.

The clams were large and surprisingly strong, slippery and wet, making them difficult to catch. After struggling for quite some time, Tang Ling finally managed to pull one out of the sand. She was still trying to come up with a suitably “scummy Alpha” remark when Su Mengzhi suddenly leapt up without even glancing her way and ran straight toward Jiang Manli.

“Manli-jie! What did you catch?” she called excitedly.

Tang Ling, left standing there alone: “…”

Wait a second—why did she suddenly feel like the one who just got played?

Under the guidance of the local fishermen, the girls quickly learned how to spot the tiny breathing holes of sea creatures hidden in the sand, and soon they were catching all sorts of seafood. Their haul was impressive.

Tang Ling, on the other hand, was having a miserable time. She’d spent the whole morning running errands behind Su Mengzhi, trying to say as many flirty, shameless things as she could think of, yet her “Scummy Alpha Value” didn’t budge an inch.

Even Jiang Manli, watching from the side, couldn’t help saying, “Ling-jie, are you trying to flirt with Su Mengzhi?”

Tang Ling sighed irritably. “Sort of. That obvious, huh?”

Jiang Manli scratched her head. “Pretty obvious, yeah. But aren’t you and your wife doing fine? Why the sudden change of taste?”

Tang Ling figured she might as well shamelessly squeeze a few Scummy Alpha points out of Jiang Manli instead. “What can I say? Sometimes I just want to switch up the flavor.”

Jiang Manli blinked, then burst out laughing. “That’s my Ling-jie—always so bold and decisive.”

Tang Ling waited three seconds.

Nothing happened.

Annoyed, she asked, “Manli-jie, don’t you think I’m being a total scumbag right now?”

Jiang Manli shrugged lazily. “Ling-jie, we’ve known each other for years. This isn’t exactly your first day being scummy. Honestly, I’d be more surprised if you weren’t. Seems even Tan Shiyi can’t make you settle down!”

Tang Ling: “…”

What kind of morally bankrupt friends were these, anyway?

Before she could complain further, a sudden shriek came from not far away. “Ah!”

“What happened?” Tang Ling and Jiang Manli rushed over.

Su Mengzhi’s face had gone pale. She lifted her arm, trembling. “Something just stung the back of my hand—it hurts so much.”

Sure enough, there were several raised red welts on her fair skin, bright and angry against the white.

Tang Ling frowned. “What stung you?”

“I don’t know. It was some kind of white, jelly-like thing. It just itched at first, so I ignored it—but now look, it’s all red and swollen.”

Jiang Manli said, “Could be a jellyfish. Those things are poisonous.”

At the word poisonous, Su Mengzhi’s eyes welled up immediately. “Wh-what should I do? I won’t lose my hand, will I?”

“Don’t exaggerate. Rinse it with seawater first,” Tang Ling said, then turned to the production crew. “Did you bring any first-aid supplies?”

The staff hesitated. “Just to be safe, it’s better to take her to the hospital. Jellyfish stings can be dangerous.”

Su Mengzhi clutched Tang Ling’s hand pitifully. “Tang Ling-jie, please come with me. I’m scared.”

There was no helping it. Tang Ling could only nod. “You guys keep filming. I’ll go with her to the hospital.”

Tan Shiyi stepped forward. “I’ll go too. I’m the team leader—I should be responsible for my teammates’ safety.”

Tang Ling reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. Focus on the shoot. Get inspired and finish that composition we talked about. We’ll rejoin you when we’re back.”

Tan Shiyi pressed her lips together but didn’t argue further.

Good thing the staff insisted on medical attention—because as soon as they got into the car, Su Mengzhi’s arm began to swell and turn red and purple, and she started feeling dizzy and nauseated. By the time they reached the hospital, she was rushed straight into the emergency room.

Tang Ling stayed with her through disinfecting, applying ointment, and getting IV fluids. By the time Su Mengzhi finally came to, it was already night.

Naturally, she couldn’t return to the Jiang family villa in that condition. The doctor recommended that she remain in the hospital for observation for a few days. That meant she wouldn’t be joining the group on their trip back.

Shaken by the ordeal, Su Mengzhi refused to let Tang Ling leave, insisting she stay by her side.

But Tang Ling couldn’t possibly agree. After spending the entire afternoon with Su Mengzhi half-delirious and emotional, her Scummy Alpha Value had dropped even further—it was now down to 11 points. At this rate, she’d hit single digits soon. If she didn’t make her escape, she’d hit zero on the spot.

So, after a few comforting words and painting a few vague promises for later, Tang Ling seized the first chance to slip away.

When she stepped outside, she was startled to find that rain had started to fall. The damp, sticky air made her even more irritable, especially with Xiao Nan—the system—snickering beside her.

“And you said I’m the useless one? Look at you—completely crashed and burned,” it teased.

Tang Ling scowled. “I tried my best, okay? If they just don’t think I’m scummy, what am I supposed to do?”

Xiao Nan said encouragingly, “Don’t stress, Host. Based on my years of experience, I’ve got a strong feeling you’re about to hit rock bottom—then bounce right back up.”

Tang Ling was skeptical. “What makes you say that?”