I Topped the Aloof Omega in a Scummy Alpha Novel - Chapter 21

“I’ll go with you.”

Bian Yunchen took the fire escape downstairs. She had only reached the third floor when she ran into an employee.

Employee: “Patriarch, Miss Xuan said she wants to run.”

Run? How could she run?

Xuan Yuchi couldn’t possibly swim to the opposite shore. Did she steal the yacht key? Bian Yunchen quickened her steps down the stairs. The sudden fire at the hotel, which threw everything into chaos, was indeed a good time to escape.

Xuan Yuchi probably genuinely mistook the employees for hotel guests. Given her meddlesome nature, she likely wanted to get others to run with her.

Bian Yunshen’s brow twitched. She went to the kitchen to summon people, leaving only three to put out the fire.

Xiao Qi rushed back, appalled: “Why are there only a few of you?!”

The employee covered their mouth and nose: “Miss Xuan ran away.”

Xiao Qi immediately joined the firefighting team. It was fine if the kitchen burned, but if the fire spread to the rest of the hotel, the Patriarch’s hard work would be ruined.

There were originally ten yachts docked on the south side of Fengxia Island, but one was missing today.

The employee in charge of the yachts ran to the front, jumped onto the remaining yachts, inserted the keys, and sailed them out.

Bian Yunchen silently watched the sea. The dense fog meant that anyone who entered was quickly swallowed up. She had been confined to her hotel room for the past few days, with Xiao Qi delivering the laboratory’s research results daily.

Bian Yunchen was slowly beginning to understand what Xuan Yuchi meant when she said, “I didn’t do those things.”

“Patriarch, we see Miss Xuan. She’s on a yacht on the west side. It looks like she doesn’t know how to operate it and hasn’t driven it out. Should we go bring her back?” an employee asked over the walkie-talkie.

Bian Yunchen put down her Bluetooth headset and walked towards the west. The wind distorted her black dress. Fengxia Island was heavily forested and had several small hills in the center. As she reached the west side, the wind died down.

On the white yacht, Xuan Yuchi had a bump on her forehead and was anxiously trying out the buttons. She didn’t know how to drive a yacht! She randomly pressed a button, and the yacht suddenly shot forward, scaring her into pressing another button, which accelerated the yacht again. It circled the edge of the island for quite a while.

The yacht slammed into the shore and got stuck.

Xuan Yuchi: [666, how do I use this yacht?]

The System was also troubled. It checked the data and found that this yacht was quite different from usual ones.

Perhaps its designer created it with the philosophy of, “I don’t want my enemies to be able to use it just by picking it up.”

Xuan Yuchi angrily slapped the control panel. With that slap, the yacht mysteriously came back to life and turned around on its own.

Xuan Yuchi then gently pressed two more buttons, and the yacht moved forward a short distance.

Great. She was finally going to leave this wretched place.

“Xuan Yuchi.”

Bian Yunshen’s voice was diluted by the rising tide. She walked closer, stepping into the water with bare feet, approaching step by step until the seawater reached her waist.

This time, Xuan Yuchi remembered to fasten her seatbelt first. She vaguely heard her name, turned her head vigilantly, and saw Yunchen standing in the water, looking at her with vacant eyes. Xuan Yuchi immediately unfastened her seatbelt and stood up.

“Sister Bian!”

“Hurry and swim over! Come with me! There’s something wrong with this place!”

She shouted loudly, thinking Yunchen had left long ago, never expecting her to still be here.

Hearing Xuan Yuchi wanting to take her along, Bian Yunchen’s expression subtly changed, regaining some life. She smiled faintly: “But I can’t leave.”

Xuan Yuchi jumped into the water and walked towards her: “Why?”

“Because I still have some things to handle,” Bian Yunchen answered vaguely.

Xuan Yuchi looked back at the yacht, then at Bian Yunchen, and actively took her hand.

Bian Yunshen’s heart trembled slightly. Her gaze slowly dropped to their clasped hands, both equally damp. Xuan Yuchi’s hand was warm. The water droplets on their respective hands merged into a single drop that fell into the sea.

“I’ll stay with you,” Xuan Yuchi said.

This time, she would not leave her alone again.

Bian Yunshen’s pupils slightly widened, as if surprised to hear this. She pulled her hand back, turned, and walked away, silently tightening her grip on the miniature syringe hidden inside her shirt sleeve.

Xuan Yuchi followed her, chuckling happily: “Sister Bian, are you too moved?”

“Don’t follow me,” Bian Yunchen accelerated her pace, her porcelain-white cheeks flushed with agitation.

Xuan Yuchi kept pace with her, maintaining a careful distance of three meters between them.

Why did Yunchen get angry when she tried to run, and now she was also angry when Xuan Yuchi wanted to stay and face things together?

Xuan Yuchi truly couldn’t figure it out… Did Yunchen not want her to stay?

She should have said so earlier!

Xuan Yuchi cautiously asked: “Sister Bian, am I getting in the way of your work by staying with you? Should I just leave first?”

Bian Yunchen didn’t answer her. Xuan Yuchi stopped and turned to look.

Her yacht had been driven away by the employees…

Xuan Yuchi prepared herself to compensate the hotel for the damages and waited in her room all night.

The next day, she went to the second floor for breakfast. Xiao Qi sat across from her. Xuan Yuchi put down her fork, thinking Xiao Qi was about to discuss compensation.

Xiao Qi: “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

Xuan Yuchi gave a weak laugh: “No, I wasn’t. How is the kitchen?”

Xiao Qi also laughed: “What are you thinking? How could a hotel this big only have one kitchen?”

Xuan Yuchi: “Then how much do I need to pay for compensation?”

Xiao Qi: “You don’t need to pay. The insurance company will cover it.”

Xuan Yuchi said sheepishly: “I caused you trouble yesterday.”

Xiao Qi quickly waved her hand: “No trouble at all, no trouble.”

“By the way, I heard from other guests that you tried to run yesterday…?”

Goosebumps rose on Xuan Yuchi’s skin, as if a sheep on a farm heard the farmer say, “You still want to run?”

A hotel that dared to blockade an island and hold tourists captive must have enormous power and some hidden agenda. Xuan Yuchi knew nothing of these things, only feeling a cold gust of wind down her back.

Xiao Qi: “Did you misunderstand something?”

Xuan Yuchi raised an eyebrow, saying nothing. Silence was the best form of attack at a time like this.

Xiao Qi: “You really misunderstood. Our hotel is not some evil force. You want to leave, right? The sea conditions will be fine by the day after tomorrow at the latest, and you can go back then.”

Xiao Qi repeatedly promised her that even if the weather was still bad the day after tomorrow, she would have an employee drive Xuan Yuchi out on a yacht so she could see for herself.

After breakfast, Xuan Yuchi wanted to share the good news with Bian Yunchen and knocked on her door for a long time.

She also sent Bian Yunchen a message, but there was no reply.

She was starting to worry that something had happened to Bian Yunchen inside. If Bian Yunchen was indeed in trouble, she would first suspect the hotel staff.

Xuan Yuchi found a fire extinguisher on the floor and aggressively smashed the door lock, “Clang! Clang! Clang!” After the third smash, the door opened.

But it wasn’t opened by her smashing; Bian Yunchen opened the door, standing before her with a hint of irritation. Xuan Yuchi’s eyes lit up: “I thought something happened to you.”

“Sister Bian, the hotel staff said we can go back the day after tomorrow. Have you finished what you needed to do?”

Bian Yunshen’s hand was on the doorknob. Her voice was cool: “You go back first.”

Xuan Yuchi blinked: “I can wait for you.”

She still didn’t feel comfortable leaving Yunchen here alone.

Bian Yunchen: “Why have you suddenly become so clingy?”

Xuan Yuchi was puzzled: “I’ve always been clingy.”

Well… that didn’t seem entirely wrong.

The ridiculous thing was that she now couldn’t tell whether she wanted Xuan Yuchi to leave or to stay.

Bian Yunchen paused for a moment before saying: “I’ve been very busy lately. Don’t bother me for the next few days.”

Xuan Yuchi nodded understandingly: “Okay. When you’re done, we’ll go back together.”

Xuan Yuchi spent three days on Fengxia Island collecting seashells, filling fifteen jars. The jars were originally used by the kitchen for storing food. Xuan Yuchi asked Xiao Qi if she had any boxes, and Xiao Qi brought her five empty jars.

She didn’t expect Xuan Yuchi to fill them all in one night, so Xiao Qi found her twenty more.

Xiao Qi quietly walked up behind Xuan Yuchi, wondering if collecting seashells was really that fun.

“Oh my gosh, you scared me.” Xuan Yuchi suddenly looked up and saw Xiao Qi standing next to her. The seashells in her hand slipped over the jar’s edge and fell onto the ground.

Xiao Qi: “Why are you collecting seashells?”

Xuan Yuchi: “No reason, just passing the time.”

After saying that, Xuan Yuchi bent down to pick up the shells again. Xiao Qi smiled, seeing her enjoying herself: “You’re really something.”

Xiao Qi remembered that when the Patriarch ignored Xuan Yuchi, she would always find a place nearby to amuse herself in the same way.

She heard from her clan sisters that Xuan Yuchi used to be a ‘kids’ queen,’ but after meeting the Patriarch, she only ever focused on her. Because the Patriarch didn’t like playing with children younger than her, Xuan Yuchi stopped playing with her old friends too.

Xuan Yuchi picked up a full jar: “This is for you.”

Xiao Qi didn’t know what she would do with the jar but took it anyway: “Hey, if you’re really bored, why don’t you come and help me with something?”

Xuan Yuchi was just unscrewing the lid of an empty jar, her eyes flickering: “What is it?”

On the east side of Fengxia Island, the most heavily vegetated area, hotel employees were busy amongst the trees.

Several magnolia trees, covered in buds, were piled inside a giant shipping container on the beach. As soon as a tree was dug out of the forest, employees would transplant a magnolia tree into the hole.

The project to plant new trees had been assigned to Xiao Qi half a month ago. The Patriarch requested magnolia trees that would appear pale purple at night. Xiao Qi searched for a long time before finding them on a foreign website. The foreigner explicitly mentioned that their magnolias were technologically modified and had no scent.

Xiao Qi said: “Good, scentless is exactly what we need.”

Xuan Yuchi quickly counted the number of people working and was shocked at how many hotel employees there were, all of whom she had never seen before.

“What kind of trees are they planting?” Xuan Yuchi asked.

Xiao Qi collected two shovels and two pairs of gloves from an employee and handed one set to Xuan Yuchi: “Magnolia trees.”

Xuan Yuchi’s eyebrows shot up. She immediately covered her mouth and nose and retreated to the beach behind her: “I’m allergic to magnolia.”

She would sneeze endlessly just by smelling it. Bian Yunchen’s courtyard had two magnolia trees. Whenever Xuan Yuchi went to bother Yunchen, she would wear a mask first and only take it off in the living room.

Bian Yunchen’s private tutor would teach her various theories in the study. Xuan Yuchi would just look out the window from afar at the magnolia flowers. The white magnolia flowers looked truly beautiful set against the night sky.

At that point, Bian Yunchen would get up and close the window, saying that the fragrance would drift in with the wind, and Xuan Yuchi’s sneezing would affect her studying.

Xuan Yuchi felt rejected, so she would say, “It’s not pretty at all, just a vulgar and boring expanse of white.”

Xiao Qi couldn’t help but laugh at Xuan Yuchi’s defensive stance: “It’s fine. These flowers have been specially treated. You won’t be allergic. You were just standing nearby, and you were fine, weren’t you?”

Xuan Yuchi took a light breath. It seemed she was indeed fine. So, led by Xiao Qi, she joined the tree-planting team.

They worked until dinner time. More magnolia trees had been brought in than the original trees they replaced. Xuan Yuchi was digging another hole. When she was halfway done, Xiao Qi called her to go eat, but Xuan Yuchi waved them off, telling them to eat first since she wasn’t hungry anyway.

The employees in the forest left. A glass of iced Americano had just been sent over from the bar. Xuan Yuchi took a sip, sighed comfortably, and worked with full enthusiasm. The hole at her feet grew wider and deeper.

“Clang!”

She had hit a stone. She moved her shovel a little to the side. When she dug down to about the same depth, the full outline of the stone appeared.

The surface of the stone was smooth and flat… it was a brick.

Xuan Yuchi continued to widen the hole until the brick was fully exposed, looking entirely out of place against the surrounding soil.

Xuan Yuchi reached out and poked the edge of the brick. It moved.

She lifted the brick, revealing a secret passage underneath.

Xuan Yuchi turned on her phone’s flashlight and walked down the steps. The underground was dark and damp. She covered her mouth and nose and walked for a full ten minutes until she was blocked by a door.

She pushed hard. When the door opened, the lights came on one by one, illuminating the entire basement.

This looked like a private office area. Various partitions were separated by transparent glass, including a meeting room with a projector and a laboratory.

Xuan Yuchi continued inward. Only the last room had a closed door that was not made of transparent glass but of water-ripple glass, making it impossible to see inside.

Xuan Yuchi tried pressing the doorknob. The electronic lock beeped, as if it didn’t recognize her fingerprint.

“Please enter the password.”

Uh… how would she know the password?

But she had 666.

Xuan Yuchi: [666, unlock it for me.]

System: [Main quest fix ‘Coincidence’ detected. Skipping mission prompt. Congratulations on receiving the ‘Physical Reward’—Universal Card.]

Xuan Yuchi bent down and picked up the Universal Card on the ground. She placed it on the lock, which lit up green. Xuan Yuchi then pressed the doorknob and opened the door.

The aged, chilling air immediately swept over her whole body.

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