After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Marked by the Beautiful Mad Villain - Chapter 11

There were no answers online; in fact, not even a single related question had ever appeared.

Su Mi closed her optical computer and stood in the hallway, dazed for a moment.

She recalled the way the woman had looked at her with her head tilted—those icy blue, thinning eyes, a strand of ink-black short hair curling down by her ear, and that occasional curl of the lips that formed a ghost of a smile.

And then there was that sentence: “My pheromones are a bit unstable right now.”

Su Mi’s intuition told her something wasn’t right.

She asked the system, “Sys, do you know what that cigarette-like thing the villain was holding in the observation room earlier was?”

The system was summoned, emitting two beeps and a few ellipses, as if it were thinking or searching.

System: “Sorry, that is something outside the plot. 622 does not know what it is.”

A small crying face appeared on the virtual pink pixel bullet screen.

Su Mi: “It’s fine. Let me see the villain’s current Blackening Value.”

Because there was always a number in the upper right corner of her vision during normal life—which was far too distracting—Su Mi had previously asked the system to hide the Blackening Value, only making it appear when she wanted to see it.

At this moment, the Blackening Value in the upper right corner was 87%.

It seemed relatively normal.

Su Mi had observed it several times before and found that the villain’s Blackening Value didn’t increase according to any fixed pattern, but it basically increased by one or two points every day.

Tomorrow was another day to send the female lead to read to the villain, at which point the Blackening Value would definitely drop.

So, every week was a cycle of “up-up-up-up-down.”

Although the villain’s Blackening Value hadn’t increased, Su Mi felt inexplicably more certain, trusting her gut:

The villain must have been testing her just now.

Had the villain already suspected she was an Omega?

But if she really were an Omega, being summoned by the villain to stay with her unstable SS-grade pheromones would lead to truly unimaginable consequences. As an Alpha who already had someone in her heart, combined with her cautious and gloomy personality, the villain didn’t seem like the type of person to do such a thing.

In the original plot, descriptions of the villain’s personality and background were scarce. The information Su Mi possessed regarding the villain was limited, far less than what she knew about the female lead.

If she looked at it from the perspective of personality traits… could it be…

…Could it be because she had accompanied Xu Nanqiao upstairs the other day, making the villain unhappy?

Did she want to be alone with the female lead? So, her direct approach today was meant as a warning?

Right, the villain had even repeated her own address of the female lead as “Nanqiao” today.

Su Mi was struck with a sudden horror.

How dangerous! The villain’s possessiveness is terrifying!

As expected, one couldn’t just look at the villain’s cold, clear, and beautiful appearance and assume she wouldn’t fall for anyone, thereby subconsciously ignoring the fact that she liked the female lead.

Tomorrow, when she sent the female lead to South Courtyard, she had to maintain her distance from the female lead in front of the villain.

Su Mi made up her mind and finally breathed a sigh of relief, believing she had arranged her mission plan perfectly. She happily went upstairs to find her younger brother to play.

The next day, Su Mi and Xu Nanqiao made an appointment to go to the library to do practice problems together.

The new car she had driven to school yesterday was still in the underground garage of Loran Public School. Su Mi switched back to a car she used to drive often and went to pick up Xu Nanqiao first.

Compared to the top-tier students of Loran Public School, a special admission student like Xu Nanqiao was indeed quite poor.

But Su Mi thought it was alright.

Xu Nanqiao lived with only her Omega mother. Even so, Xu Nanqiao appeared to live a very happy and determined life. The residential area she lived in was a clean and tidy building; it hadn’t reached the level of a slum, and could perhaps be considered middle-class.

Today was a day off. Xu Nanqiao wore a simple white long dress and a fresh floral headband. She held her long hair, which was being blown about by the wind, as she got into the car.

Su Mi looked at her and smiled, saying, “Morning! Your headband looks really nice today.”

Xu Nanqiao: “My mom made it for me herself. Not bad, right?”

Su Mi: “It’s great! Your aunt is so skilled. Did she pick out this fabric too? She has great taste; it really suits you.”

Xu Nanqiao smiled: “Alright, but what about you? Why did you switch back to your old car?”

Su Mi curled her lip and said, “You left early yesterday. Secretary Zhuang came to find me later and didn’t even let me eat a single bite. He dragged me to see my sister on an empty stomach. I took his car, so I left mine at school. However, the disposal of those thugs has been finalized. Guess what happened?”

She decided to follow the female lead’s guess and beautify the outcome of the matter.

Xu Nanqiao thought for a moment: “Those men were all Alphas, carrying weapons and cornering two students—an Omega and a Beta—with ill intentions. No matter how you look at it, it should be a heavy sentence, right?”

Su Mi: “Yes. Basically, they’ve all been stripped of their ‘Alpha Rights’.”

Xu Nanqiao smiled: “That is exactly how it should be.”

Su Mi: “Eh?”

Xu Nanqiao: “I’ve realized that not only do you not listen to core classes or physiology classes, you don’t even listen to gossip? Aren’t you curious why our school’s security team arrived so quickly and professionally? The teacher said it’s because there was a tragedy in the past…”

Toward the end, Xu Nanqiao lowered her voice, acting mysteriously.

Su Mi’s eyes widened, feeling like she was about to hear a horror story. She pulled the car over to the side of the road first, nervously preparing to listen.

“?” Xu Nanqiao showed a questioning expression. “Why did you stop? If we don’t go early, we won’t get a spot in the library.”

Su Mi: “Weren’t you going to tell me about the tragedy?”

Xu Nanqiao: “I only heard about it from others…”

She tilted her head to look out the window and said vaguely, “It was something like an Omega from our school being… by a few Alphas outside the school. I don’t remember the details clearly.”

Su Mi started the car, making a note of this.

At the same time, she gave a light huff and said intentionally, “And you’re mocking me? It turns out the great scholar Xu also keeps her ears shut to the world and only reads her sage books. I’m curious when you actually went to listen to gossip.”

Xu Nanqiao: “Fine, I admit it… Su Mi, don’t be so petty.”

The elegant girl sat in the passenger seat with her hands pressed together, making a well-behaved promise.

Su Mi drove to the capital’s largest library. After parking, the two swiped their reservation codes, found seats in the self-study room, and began working on exam papers together.

Su Mi mastered new knowledge very quickly. Even though Xu Nanqiao was providing a lot of help, she was still occasionally amazed by Su Mi’s ability to comprehend.

What teacher wouldn’t like a smart student? At first, Xu Nanqiao might have thought Su Mi just had a whim about wanting to test into Capital University and would eventually choose to have her parents donate a building or consider other colleges like many other Loran students.

But seeing Su Mi studying so seriously and quickly, Xu Nanqiao became increasingly invested. She was the one who had proactively suggested coming to the library this time.

She was likely still worried about Su Mi’s previous lack of interest in studying, fearing Su Mi would waste the precious weekend time meant for learning.

If such a suggestion were made to someone else, it might have been hard to accept. But Su Mi was different. When Xu Nanqiao suggested it, her eyes lit up. Because of her “persona,” she had to pretend to hesitate, muttering things like “Oh, it seems Ai Yiyi and the others asked me to check out that new dessert exhibition this weekend…”

Then, after having her ear pinched by Xu Nanqiao, she repeatedly promised to go to the library to study the next day.

The two studied seriously for the entire morning. At noon, they found a casual eatery outside the library to fill their stomachs. After returning to the library, while Xu Nanqiao was checking Su Mi’s papers and answering her questions, Su Mi’s optical computer vibrated.

Secretary Zhuang: Miss Su, hello. What time can you bring Miss Xu over today? I will inform President Shen in advance.

Su Mi: “Secretary Zhuang is asking what time we’re going over.”

Xu Nanqiao said: “Tell him a bit later, around 3:00 PM. Is that okay?”

Su Mi replied truthfully.

When she delivered the female lead to South Courtyard today, Su Mi refused to go up.

She proactively stood next to Secretary Zhuang, waved to Xu Nanqiao, and said sincerely, “You go on up.”

Xu Nanqiao had a look that said ‘You really are unreliable after all’ as she followed the butler upstairs.

Once they left and she turned around, Secretary Zhuang was already sitting in a corner of the sofa, his optical computer open, seemingly busy handling official business.

Su Mi surveyed the spacious reception hall.

Similar to her observations during her last visit, the interior of South Courtyard was a classical European style. The soft furnishings everywhere were very comfortable and luxurious, and the sofas were soft and wide. The carved coffee table didn’t have various fruits and snacks like the Su family’s; instead, there was a lone, white porcelain double-eared vase with a few fresh white roses and some matching greenery, very exquisite.

She found a single-seat sofa, sat down, and opened her own optical computer, beginning to seriously grind through the problems she hadn’t finished today.

Not long after, the butler came downstairs carrying several plates of nuts and fruit, placing them in front of Su Mi and Secretary Zhuang.

The butler was a middle-aged man around fifty years old with the kind of loyal face often seen in TV dramas. In the original plot, his presence was even weaker than Secretary Zhuang’s.

Su Mi thanked him, using a small fork to poke at the fruit while continuing to ponder a particularly difficult question.

Suddenly, Secretary Zhuang said, “If you are bored, you can go look at the southwest corner of South Courtyard. There are still thirty minutes until sunset.”

Su Mi looked up in confusion, realizing that Secretary Zhuang probably thought she was bored.

Indeed, when the original host accompanied the reader in the past, she was always quite impatient and looked for fun everywhere.

Perhaps Secretary Zhuang saw her biting a piece of fruit and agonizing over a problem and assumed she had nothing to do.

Su Mi pointed to the optical computer in front of her and said very amiably, “It’s fine, I’m doing math problems. This one is a bit hard; I can’t remember which formula to use.”

Hearing this, a look of doubt appeared for the first time on Secretary Zhuang’s rarely expressive face.

He asked: “Weekend homework?”

Su Mi: “Mm, not exactly. It’s extra-curricular practice.”

Secretary Zhuang seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Would you like me to take a look for you?”

Su Mi followed his lead naturally, sharing the problem to his optical computer and leaning in closer.

Secretary Zhuang looked at it for a moment and then provided several formulas that needed to be used, pointing out a few key steps for solving the problem.

Su Mi was very supportive: “That’s amazing, Secretary Zhuang! If it were just me, I wouldn’t have known how long it would take to figure it out!”

Secretary Zhuang said: “You’re welcome. But why did you think to study extra-curricular exercises? You… don’t really need to use these.”

Shen Han’s previous arrangement for Su Mi to attend Capital University had been handed over to Secretary Zhuang to handle and follow up on. The contract for the Shen family to donate a teaching building to Capital University had been Secretary Zhuang’s responsibility from start to finish; thus, he was very aware of Su Mi’s smooth, predetermined future.

Su Mi didn’t care and said, “Because I’ve differentiated into a Beta now, I figured I shouldn’t be so unmotivated. I need to learn more knowledge that truly belongs to me.”

Secretary Zhuang nodded. “That is quite good.”

“That’s great! Secretary Zhuang, you understand me!” After facing successive hits to her studiousness from Xu Nanqiao and Shen Han, Su Mi was very touched to face the only person who encouraged her.

She remembered that Secretary Zhuang was also a top student from Nancheng or somewhere similar. She immediately took the opportunity and asked expectantly, “Then, if I have questions I can’t solve in the future, can I ask you? It won’t be many!”

Secretary Zhuang hesitated.

On that poker face, emotions similar to “regret,” “don’t want to,” and “how troublesome” definitely flashed by.

“…You may.”

Su Mi’s executive power was very high—meaning, since Secretary Zhuang had agreed to help her solve problems, she could start right now.

The most suitable time was the present.

Consequently, when Xu Nanqiao finished this week’s reading and came down with Shen Han, they turned the corridor. Before they could see the full view of the living room, Xu Nanqiao noticed that Shen Han’s footsteps paused slightly.

In the past, Shen Han basically never came downstairs after the reading, so Xu Nanqiao was also a bit curious.

She didn’t know why Shen Han had stopped, so she curiously poked her head out to look toward the living room sofa.

In the very center of the wide sofa, Su Mi and Secretary Zhuang were huddled very close together, looking at an optical screen.

Xu Nanqiao: Oh?

She subconsciously turned her head to look at Shen Han.