After the Bigshot Turned into a Gold-Digging Scumbag Alpha - Chapter 5

After Jiang Shuiyun returned with the water, she mixed in some hot water as well. It had been raining all day, and the weather was still quite chilly.

She applied medicine to Yi Jinbai’s injuries, watched to make sure she swallowed the pills, then placed a candy into her hand. Just as she bent down, ready to lift Yi Jinbai back to bed to rest, she met the girl’s rare, direct gaze.

“What is it?”

“I want to sit and watch the rain for a bit.”

Yi Jinbai’s voice was soft, tinged with cautious hesitation.

“Alright.”

Remembering the things the original host had done to Yi Jinbai, it wasn’t hard for Jiang Shuiyun to understand why the girl was so careful over something so small.

With complicated feelings, she reached out and rubbed Yi Jinbai’s hair. Then she moved the one chair with a backrest to the eaves outside. After confirming the spot wouldn’t get wet, she went back in and once again bent down to lift Yi Jinbai.

This time, to Jiang Shuiyun’s surprise, Yi Jinbai didn’t try to pull away from her as desperately as before—she still lowered her head, but no longer strained to keep her distance.

Feeling that the resistance and dislike Yi Jinbai held toward her had eased even a little, Jiang Shuiyun was more than satisfied. She settled her into the chair. “I’ll grab you a blanket. Don’t catch a chill.”

After arranging Yi Jinbai comfortably, Jiang Shuiyun went back to her game to continue climbing the ranks.

In every match, she made sure to secure the highest score as quickly as possible. For her, these simple operations posed no challenge at all.

Meanwhile, the group of players who had watched her insane climb this morning noticed the account again. One by one, they opened spectator mode. Watching her slice through opponents like it was nothing, they could practically drool with envy.

Between spectating, a few still refused to give up and tried contacting Jiang Shuiyun, but ended up with nothing. With no other options, they could only chatter away in the live-comment section.

【24K Gold Tooth: This is the worst batch of netizens I’ve ever worked with. It’s been almost a whole day—no one has found a way to contact this god yet?】

【Little Elephant Strange: My blind guess? A pro player making some extra cash. With this skill, she’d easily be pro-tier.】

【Cube Freak: No matching IDs so far. Could it be a secret trainee from one of the teams? But would a secret player risk exposing themselves early? Wouldn’t other teams study their plays?】

【Carwheel: Hahaha! You little noobs! I’m not telling you this account is sitting in my friends list!】

【Carwheel: @Wo Nen Die tagging my friend!】

【I am your S: Damn!! The priceless matchmaking ticket!!】

【Cheerful Netizen: +1】

【 ：+1】

After finishing another game, Jiang Shuiyun glanced at the leaderboard. She was only one match away from placing around 3,000.

She stretched her fingers, ready to queue again, when she noticed a few red dots in her message inbox. Opening them, she saw they were from a friend on her game list.

【Carwheel: Master player, I’ll pay big money—carry me!!】

【Carwheel: Master, are you free??】

Jiang Shuiyun frowned in confusion at the strange request. Carry? What’s that supposed to mean?

Just as she wondered about it, a party invitation popped up—it was from that same user, Che Gulu.

She didn’t plan on teaming with anyone, but the username looked oddly familiar. Unable to remember why, she hesitated then clicked “Accept.”

“AAAHHHH! She really accepted!! Master, can you turn on your mic?”

The sudden shriek through the speaker startled her. She rubbed her ear and typed a reply.

【Wo Nen Die: If we play, we play. If not, I’m leaving.】

“I’ll turn it on! Turning it on right now!”

After a flurry of responses, the party leader Che Gulu immediately started the match.

Jiang Shuiyun never cared about her teammates’ survival—so long as she secured a high enough score, nothing else mattered. She practically turned this team-coop game into a single-player mode.

This round was no exception. Even though she’d queued as a duo, she didn’t plan to stick with Che Gulu at all.

But Che Gulu trailed behind her like a loyal little follower.

“Master, are you boosting someone’s account right now?”

【Wo Nen Die: No.】

“Wow! Then this is your main account?”

【Wo Nen Die: Mm.】

“Master, can we play together often from now on? You’re amazing!”

Jiang Shuiyun: “……”

Jiang Shuiyun was starting to regret agreeing to this. This teammate was far too chatty.

【Wo Nen Die: Excuse me, how do you mute other people in this game?】

“What? The great master doesn’t even know that? Seriously? It’s right there in the upper-right corner.”

Che Gulu explained the steps in painstaking detail. A second later, she saw the speaker icon next to the “great master” disappear.

Che Gulu: So the clown was me all along?

Meanwhile, the livestream chat exploded with laughter.

【Heartless Zhao Si: Hahahahahaha! You can tell she’s a super-sweet Omega the moment she opens her mouth—yet this person is actually annoyed by her?】

【95725: Blind guess: life-long single dog!】

【Wu Hu La Hu: What if that person is an O too?】

【Wonen Ma: Even better! I already changed my couple username!】

【A Long Collapse: Get lost, all of you!】

Once the match ended, Jiang Shuiyun exited the team room. She took a screenshot of her current rank—somewhere in the two-thousand-nine-hundreds—logged out of the game, filled out the recruitment form according to the requirements, and sent it to Shengguang Group’s official email. Now all she could do was wait for their reply.

Stretching her back—which had gone a little stiff from sitting all day—she rubbed her neck and glanced outside. The sky had already gone completely dark. Rain pattered softly outside. Yi Jinbai was still sitting by the door, unusually quiet, the only sound the faint drizzle.

Only then did Jiang Shuiyun remember that she had left Yi Jinbai there this whole time. She hurriedly stood up, but after sitting all afternoon, her legs had gone numb. She stumbled and almost fell.

Steadying herself on the table, she rotated her ankles a few times and limped toward Yi Jinbai. As she got closer, she realized the girl had fallen asleep sitting in the chair. Thankfully, the blanket still covered her, so she probably wasn’t cold.

But sleeping upright like this was definitely uncomfortable.

Once her legs felt normal again, Jiang Shuiyun tucked the blanket securely around her, then gently lifted her and carried her to the bed.

Yi Jinbai was sleeping deeply; even when Jiang Shuiyun pulled the quilt over her, she didn’t stir. Looking at her sleeping face, Jiang Shuiyun couldn’t believe she would ever see a day like this.

After settling her in, Jiang Shuiyun prepared to go out and buy ingredients for dinner. Now that she’d gotten used to cooking, it didn’t feel nearly as daunting.

She grabbed an umbrella in one hand and her phone—with a recipe page open—in the other. Just as she stepped out the gate, she froze. An idea flashed through her mind as she stared at the phone.

Wait. That “Che Gulu” wasn’t that the username of the mistress the original Jiang Shuiyun later kept?

The section where the original owner brought that woman home to humiliate the heroine was exactly what had made Jiang Shuiyun throw the book away in rage. The novel even emphasized that the original owner had met her kept lover online—and had complained about her “ugly username.”

So, the two of them were already friends now? Jiang Shuiyun frowned, turned around, went back into the house, opened her laptop, logged in, and deleted Che Gulu along with every single friend the original owner had added in-game.

Only when she’d wiped them all out did the discomfort in her chest ease.

After that, she instinctively glanced toward Yi Jinbai. The things that had happened in the novel—she absolutely would not let them happen again in reality.

While Jiang Shuiyun was busy purging her friend list, on the other side, Shen Yunyi had returned to the office, unable to comprehend how someone could change so drastically, as if they were two different people.

After thinking it over repeatedly, Shen Yunyi logged into the game, intending to rewatch Jiang Shuiyun’s gameplay. Even if someone lost their memories, muscle memory—like gaming reflexes—shouldn’t change so much.

But after searching her list over and over, even trying an exact username search, she found nothing. Finally, she attempted to add her as a friend—only to receive a system message saying the user had disabled friend requests.

She didn’t remember her yet somehow remembered to delete her?

She slammed her fist on the desk. Just as she was about to conclude that Jiang Shuiyun was playing with her, a message popped up from a subordinate.

【Team Leader Sun: President Shen, good news! We’ve received an application from your old acquaintance, Jiang Shuiyun. She proactively wants to join our team!】

Walking straight into the trap?

Now Shen Yunyi was the confused one.

Just what exactly was Jiang Shuiyun trying to pull?