After Failing To Win Over the Yandere Best Actress, I Got Marked - Chapter 21

The phrase “System temporarily shielded” hit Su Jin like a heavy hammer, shattering her remaining logic.

By the time she regained a sliver of awareness, she realized just how ambiguous their current position was. Su Jin tried to struggle, but discovered that Ye Qinglan’s strength was terrifyingly immense. Her hands were pinned firmly above her head, her body pressed down so she couldn’t move an inch.

Ye Qinglan’s kisses were urgent and fierce, carrying a dominant force that brooked no refusal.

“Sister… Sister…” Ye Qinglan whispered her name over and over.

Su Jin lay powerless in her embrace, staring at the ceiling with hazy vision, unable to respond. The room was saturated with Ye Qinglan’s pheromones, wrapping tightly around her like a cocoon.

Just as Su Jin felt she might suffocate, Ye Qinglan finally let go. She gently stroked Su Jin’s cheek, her voice dropping low. “Is this all it takes? You used to be…” She paused abruptly, her gaze deepening into a dark abyss.

Keenly sensing the shift in emotion, Su Jin immediately asked, “Used to be? Used to be what?”

Without the interference, her chaotic brain began to function again. Her eyes locked onto Ye Qinglan’s face as a sudden realization dawned on her.

“You’ve awakened.”

“Yes,” Ye Qinglan didn’t deny it.

She was so candid that Su Jin was momentarily speechless. After a moment, she asked, “You can perceive the System’s existence, and you can accurately identify ‘task-takers’.”

“Yes.”

“So from the very beginning, you knew the System sent me here to conquer you. You knew about all those tasks I performed.”

Su Jin stared at her intensely, her heart racing so fast it felt like it would burst from her chest. Ye Qinglan looked down at her and uttered a single, haunting syllable.

“Yes.”

That one word felt like a bucket of ice water poured over Su Jin’s head. All her pretenses collapsed in an instant. Yet, in this moment of total exposure, Su Jin became uncannily calm.

She let out a soft laugh. “Since you knew everything, why did you keep me around?” She suddenly remembered something and let out an ‘oh’ of realization. “It’s because of this face, isn’t it? Because I look exactly like your ‘White Moonlight’.”

“You couldn’t bear to lose this face, so you wanted me to stay as her substitute. You didn’t expose me; you just watched me jump around like a clown.” Su Jin’s eyes grew increasingly mocking. “Looking at it that way, you don’t seem to love her all that much.”

Ye Qinglan couldn’t stand that look. Her grip on Su Jin’s wrists tightened.

“No!”

“You aren’t a substitute. There has never been anyone else by my side it has always been you!”

Su Jin’s heart skipped a beat. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Ye Qinglan reached out with restraint to touch her face. “This is the third time you have come to my world.”

Su Jin frowned. “The third time?”

Ye Qinglan’s fingertips traced the contours of her features, her voice light, as if telling a story: “The first time, the System required you to maintain your character and abandon me to a wealthy benefactor, but you were soft-hearted and refused, causing the mission to fail.”

“The second time, the System required you to take me by force, but because…” Ye Qinglan’s voice trembled slightly. She paused before continuing. “Both times, you chose to protect me, even though the price was having your memory wiped and being cast into the Void World…”

“And this is the third time.”

“Impossible!” Su Jin retorted without thinking. “The System said it’s impossible to return once you enter the Void! Especially after failing two missions.”

“Nothing is impossible,” Ye Qinglan said. “The many task-takers the System sent all failed. It had no choice but to bring you back to me.”

This was the gambit between them. Fortunately, she had won.

Ye Qinglan smiled, but suddenly her body spasmed. A fire rising from within made it impossible for her to suppress her pheromones any longer. Su Jin, lost in the weight of those revelations, didn’t notice the change at first.

“How can that be? I don’t remember any of that. And if I really am that person, why were you so cold and indifferent toward me?” Thinking back to her previous tasks, the experiences had been terrifying. If she were truly the ‘White Moonlight’, Ye Qinglan shouldn’t have treated her that way.

Ye Qinglan licked her lips. “Back then, I couldn’t sense your ‘scent’. I thought the System had found someone else to impersonate you to conquer me, so I was testing you.”

So that was it…

Though hard to believe, it was good news for Su Jin. The System’s tasks were always twisted; she never wanted to hurt Ye Qinglan but saw no way out. Now that Ye Qinglan knew everything, dealing with the System would be easier. The heavy psychological burden lifted.

The clouds in Su Jin’s heart cleared, and her expression brightened. But soon, another question arose. According to Ye Qinglan, there was even more hidden history between them.

Su Jin suddenly remembered the dream she had when she first arrived a woman desperately calling out for “Sister”… She had assumed it was just a vivid dream born from reading too many novels, but perhaps it was a residual memory.

Strangely, she felt a sense of unease. “So when you had me move into your house, it was because you confirmed my identity…”

She looked up, and as her eyes met Ye Qinglan’s, her voice stopped.

Ye Qinglan was in a bad state. Her usually composed face was flushed with an unnatural heat, her breathing was ragged, and the gland on the back of her neck was swelling. A rich fragrance filled the air.

Pheromones!

Su Jin realized what was happening, her face turning pale. The drug was taking effect!

“Ye… Ye Qinglan!” Su Jin called her name with a trembling voice. “Stay conscious!”

The look in Ye Qinglan’s eyes was predatory, as if she wanted to consume her whole. “Sister…” she murmured, leaning into her, letting out a sigh as she felt Su Jin’s cool skin. “I finally waited for you to come back.”

“This time, I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”

Those usually calm, sharp eyes were now bloodshot, swirling with a dark tide Su Jin had never seen.

“No!” Su Jin grabbed her hands, gritting her teeth. “Don’t continue. I’ll take you to the hospital.”

Ye Qinglan looked at her, her voice suddenly softening into heartbreaking vulnerability. “Sister, help me…”

This plea for help was more devastating than any display of force. Su Jin felt her final line of defense crumble. She turned her head, clutching at her last bit of logic. “Wait, Fang Qi is looking for you…”

“Don’t worry about her. Someone will deal with her.”

“But…”

“Shhh,” Ye Qinglan whispered in her ear. The warm breath made Su Jin shiver. “Tonight, no one will disturb us.”

Su Jin wanted to resist, but her body betrayed her will, instinctively pressing closer to Ye Qinglan. This motion shattered the last of Ye Qinglan’s restraint. She suddenly flipped Su Jin over.

Caught off guard, Su Jin’s neck gland was completely exposed. Ye Qinglan leaned down and bit. The pressure wasn’t heavy, but in this state, the slight pain was amplified infinitely.

Su Jin gasped and struggled violently. “Ye Qinglan, you can’t!”

If they were going to do this, why bite her gland? Even if there was to be a marking, she should be the one marking Ye Qinglan!

“No!”

Ye Qinglan stubbornly clung to her gland, their bodies pressed tightly together. Su Jin could feel every inch of the body against her trembling; a heart beating so fast it seemed ready to burst.

“Ye Qinglan… do you know what you’re doing…” Su Jin struggled to maintain a thread of sanity.

Ye Qinglan paused for a fraction of a second, a flicker of morbid possessiveness crossing her eyes before being drowned by intense desire. She spoke with terrifying honesty, her burning lips against Su Jin’s neck.

“But I’ve wanted to do this… for so long…”

That sentence was the final catalyst.

Ye Qinglan bit down hard on the gland. The moment her fangs pierced the skin, Su Jin’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her vision exploded into a blinding white light.

Ye Qinglan’s pheromones, like molten lava, surged through the broken gland and into her bloodstream, crashing through her body.

“Ah…!”

A broken sob finally escaped her throat. Su Jin’s spine arched like a bow, her entire body shaking with pain. Ye Qinglan’s teeth remained embedded in her gland, and with every swallow, more pheromones were injected.

Su Jin shook her head futilely, tears streaming uncontrollably. Her original clear jasmine scent was thrown into chaos, enter twining with the invading aura, creating a visible storm in the room.

Su Jin felt it those pheromones that she should have resisted and rejected were undergoing a miraculous chemical reaction in her blood. The aura no longer felt aggressive; instead, it wrapped tenderly around every agitated nerve.

A sense of belonging she had never known hit her.

“Ugh…!” Su Jin grabbed Ye Qinglan’s collar, the pain making her vision go dark. Every muscle tensed and then relaxed, as if she had been washed over by a tsunami.

She slumped into Ye Qinglan’s arms, gasping for air. The gland on her neck throbbed, continuously releasing the new, blended scent.

Ye Qinglan’s palm slid down her sweaty back, pressing gently against the small of her back.

“Look,” she whispered, burying her nose in Su Jin’s messy hair and inhaling deeply. “Now, you are covered in my scent.”

Su Jin wanted to argue, but she found herself instinctively rubbing her cheek against the crook of Ye Qinglan’s neck. Her body had betrayed all reason, greedily drinking in the aura of the one who marked her.

Even more terrifyingly, a strange sense of satisfaction bubbled up from her heart as if a ship that had been drifting for years had finally found its harbor.

But she was an Alpha! How could she be marked by an Omega?

No, she wasn’t an Omega!

She was… an Enigma!

Dammit, didn’t the System say she was an Omega? How did she become an Enigma!

Before she could voice her question, Ye Qinglan’s finger brushed the swollen gland again. The newly marked area was terrifyingly sensitive; even the slightest touch sent a jolt through her.

“Don’t… don’t touch that!” Su Jin’s voice carried a hint of a sob.

Ye Qinglan chuckled low. “But you’re shaking.”

Su Jin gripped her wrist weakly. “No, don’t…” She leaned against Ye Qinglan’s shoulder, her head spinning. The marking and the pheromone exchange had drained her of all strength to resist.

Sensing her discomfort, Ye Qinglan’s movements suddenly became gentle. She released Su Jin and sat up. Deprived of the embrace, Su Jin instinctively grabbed her wrist, her eyes dazed and dependent.

“Don’t go…” She didn’t even realize what she was saying. A marked person naturally fears the marker’s departure, even if the mind is still fighting it.

Ye Qinglan’s eyes darkened instantly. “Didn’t you just tell me to stay conscious?”

Su Jin turned her face away, but she couldn’t hide the completed mark on her neck. Two different pheromones had reached a delicate balance in her gland, merging into a unique new scent.

After the mark was finalized, Ye Qinglan tenderly licked the wound and turned Su Jin over to face her. Su Jin’s eyes were still somewhat vacant, clearly not yet recovered from the aftershocks.

“Sister…” Ye Qinglan kissed her forehead. “Now… you are mine forever…”

Too exhausted to speak, Su Jin could only give her a soft glare. Instead of being intimidating, it only made Ye Qinglan’s heart race, her pheromones nearly spiraling out of control again.

“Rest for a while…” Ye Qinglan pulled her into her arms, stroking her back. “When this is over, we’ll go home…”

Su Jin nodded sleepily but didn’t close her eyes. She forced herself to ask, “The System? Where did you put it?”

She frowned, suddenly becoming anxious. “If the System finds out we… it will forcibly take over my body. If that happens, I won’t be able to control anything.”

“Don’t be afraid.” Ye Qinglan held her close and comforted her. “The System is offline. It will take at most two hours to reboot. When it does, we’ll keep acting. You can say the mission failed because I discovered the drugging. The System won’t suspect you for now.”

Su Jin’s eyes lit up. “If you can make the System go offline, can you strip it away from me entirely?”

Seeing the hope in her eyes, Ye Qinglan shook her head. “The System is a technological product beyond this world. My current energy isn’t enough to strip it from you.”

Noticing her disappointment, she quickly added, “Once I gather enough energy, I will definitely free you from it!”

She would never let any other entity control her sister’s life or death again. If it had been possible, Su Jin wouldn’t have been cast into the Void in the first place.

“It’s okay. Being able to shield it is already good. It means we can fight back. I won’t have to worry about it controlling my body all the time anymore.”

Su Jin’s disappointment was brief, and she quickly cheered up. “So, what do we do next?”

“Continue the act. Stall the System. We can’t let it notice anything abnormal in this world while I accumulate energy.”

“Fine!” Su Jin agreed immediately. “We’ll do exactly as you say. Even if there’s only a one-in-a-million chance, we have to try.” She had no desire to be the System’s dog, ordered around at will.

Ye Qinglan’s gaze softened. She leaned down and kissed her. “Thank you, Sister.”

Su Jin smiled. Her body wouldn’t allow her to resist, so she changed the subject. “The System told me you were an Omega. How did you become an Enigma?”

“After you left the second time, the world reset. The System sent other task-takers. After dealing with them, I evolved.”

Ye Qinglan spoke nonchalantly, but Su Jin’s heart ached. To force an Omega to evolve into an Enigma… she couldn’t imagine how much suffering Ye Qinglan had endured.

Su Jin reached out and hugged her back. “From now on, I’m here. No one will bully you again.”

Ye Qinglan smiled, burying her face in Su Jin’s neck, inhaling their blended pheromones. Her body began to heat up again. But this time, she did nothing more. She simply held her, then timing it just before the System’s reboot helped Su Jin dress, moved her to a clean room, and separated from her.

After Ye Qinglan left, Su Jin sat on the edge of the bed. She counted to thirty in her head. Right on time, the System’s voice returned.

【Warning! Abnormal consciousness fluctuations detected in Host!】

【System reconnecting…】

【Connection successful!】

【Host! What happened? System logs show a 2-hour and 28-minute blackout!】

The System’s voice shrieked in her mind.

Su Jin winced at the piercing electronic sound and closed her eyes, putting on a miserable, complaining front. “System? Where did you go? Why did you suddenly vanish at the most critical moment?”

【Warning! Abnormal vital signs detected! Mission execution state interrupted!】

The System’s tone was sharper than ever.

【Su Jin! What are you doing? Why didn’t you take Ye Qinglan to Room 2103?!】

Su Jin shuddered and immediately followed Ye Qinglan’s instructions, acting out a state of panic: “System? You… you’re finally back!”

Her voice trembled, and her eyes darted away nervously. “I… I failed…”

She bit her lip, her expression a mix of shame and annoyance. “It’s all your fault! You disappeared at the critical moment, and I got caught trying to drug Ye Qinglan! Now she wants to turn me in to the police!”

【Failed?】 The System’s voice was thick with suspicion. 【What exactly happened? Where is the drug?】

“The drug… Ye Qinglan found it!” Su Jin deliberately raised her voice, adding a sob. “She wasn’t drunk at all! She snatched the drug away and drank it herself, and then she… she did that to me…”

She bowed her head at the perfect moment, revealing the bite mark on her neck that hadn’t yet faded. “What do I do now? Is the mission a total failure?”

The System fell silent for a few seconds, seemingly scanning Su Jin’s status. When it detected Ye Qinglan’s pheromones and the mark on Su Jin’s nape, the electronic voice spiked in pitch:

【What? Ye Qinglan marked you?! How could she…?】

Su Jin’s heart tightened. She quickly cut in, “I don’t know! She suddenly pulled out something, and then…” She acted aggrieved and terrified. “System, am I going back to the Void World?”

【Wait…】

The System’s voice suddenly paused, as if performing a calculation.

【According to data analysis, this mission failure involved system signal interference and shielding factors. The Host’s subjective resistance did not reach the threshold… The punishment mechanism will temporarily not be activated.】

Its tone softened slightly, though it remained wary.

【However, Ye Qinglan’s behavior is abnormal. I will report this to headquarters. You must leave her immediately and find an opportunity to restart the mission!】

Su Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but her face remained fearful. “But… Ye Qinglan is in the room next door right now… She seems very angry…”

【What are you afraid of?】

The System snorted.

【She’s just an Omega, what can she do to you? Find a chance to escape! Remember, no more blunders next time!】

“I know, but Ye Qinglan is nothing like what you described. Is your information wrong?”

The System didn’t have an answer. It could only say: 【I will report the situation, but the investigation takes time. Until the results are out, continue your tasks as usual. You’ll still get your rewards.】