Scummy Alpha CEO Keeps Courting Death [Transmigration into a Book] - Chapter 27.1

Chu Li Ruo was slightly startled, a look of confusion coloring her brown pupils.

She gazed at Lu Xi Bie, her sight resting on her pale pink upper lip (philtrum/cupid’s bow).

She had to admit, it was a bewitching statement.

“W-what are you saying?” Chu Li Ruo averted her gaze, looking down and lightly picking at her caramel-colored casual pants.

As the words left her mouth, Lu Xi Bie realized their impropriety. She was rarely seen blushing as she tried to explain, “I…”

“What you said isn’t wrong. We are married, after all. You are my wife, so of course, you are mine.” Chu Li Ruo looked up at Lu Xi Bie, hiding the probing look in her eyes.

Lu Xi Bie: “……”

“Aren’t I right?” Chu Li Ruo tilted her head playfully.

“Mm—” Lu Xi Bie nodded: “Yes.”

“Reluctant?” Chu Li Ruo leaned closer to Lu Xi Bie, a flicker of panic in her light-colored eyes.

Lu Xi Bie pulled back, increasing the distance between them: “No.”

The coldness from gripping the alloy handle of the chair cooled Lu Xi Bie’s face slightly.

Her brain was a mash of conflicting thoughts: a mix of the sorrow that this world would eventually perish, and a strange emotion that surfaced upon hearing Chu Li Ruo’s words.

These mingled feelings paralyzed her neurons, obstructing synaptic connections, disrupting the electrochemical process, causing her mind to go blank. She could only stare into Chu Li Ruo’s eyes, unconsciously taking a deep breath.

Perhaps because they were too close, the ventilation system in the holographic simulation room hadn’t promptly whisked away the fragrance of honeysuckle and balloon flower. Instead, it had become more intense the longer they stayed indoors.

Chu Li Ruo observed Lu Xi Bie’s flushed face, the tentative look in her own eyes softening a bit.

Unbeknownst to them, their relationship had changed. Her fear of Lu Xi Bie had lessened significantly; she could speak to her as an equal, and even occasionally be “domineering.”

“You still haven’t said what you drank earlier,” Chu Li Ruo asked.

“—It was medicine,” Lu Xi Bie answered truthfully, finding a thread of thought in the blankness.

“Are you ill?” Chu Li Ruo frowned with concern.

Lu Xi Bie shook her head, then nodded: “It’s not exactly an illness, but it’s close. Aren’t you curious why my reputation was so bad before?”

“How do you mean?” Chu Li Ruo recalled: “They said you used to be volatile, easily angered, and quarrelsome, but I think—”

It’s not like that. The words were on the tip of Chu Li Ruo’s tongue, but she couldn’t say them. The Lu Xi Bie of the previous life was certainly no different from that description, perhaps even worse.

Lu Xi Bie: “You think it’s a bit different?”

“It is different,” Chu Li Ruo replied. Recalling everything after her rebirth, she still felt as if it were a dream. Every night before bed, she had a fleeting sense of unreality, terrified that she would wake up in the morning only to find herself back in the heavy, hopeless water pool where she had drowned.

Lu Xi Bie considered it and said, “You can understand it as my past self being severely ill, and my current self is undergoing treatment. What I drank just now was the medicine.”

“Treatment?” Chu Li Ruo was puzzled; she had no recollection of Lu Xi Bie being ill in the previous life.

“Mhm.” Lu Xi Bie nodded: “Being volatile, easily angered, and quarrelsome were signs of the illness, and the medicine makes me more calm. But I can’t guarantee that I’ll always remain as peaceful as I am now.”

“Can that medicine cure you completely?” Chu Li Ruo asked. If Lu Xi Bie was like that because of an illness, then she hoped she could have a day when she would be completely cured.

“Perhaps,” Lu Xi Bie raised an eyebrow. After learning the ending of The Evolution Path of the Omega from the Gold House, she became even more convinced that this world should just end sooner.

Perhaps she wouldn’t diligently complete one plot point after another as the Gold House wished, nor would she eliminate the “Lu Xi Bie” in her mind.

She would prefer everything to be annihilated at an earlier time, before this world could become even worse.

“Will you have to take it for a long time? How many times a day? I can remind you,” Chu Li Ruo asked.

Lu Xi Bie: “Probably about a dozen more times.”

“A dozen times? Then you’ll be well very soon, won’t you?” Chu Li Ruo looked up at Lu Xi Bie, her delight fading when she saw the unresolvable gloom between her eyebrows.

“The medicine is difficult to acquire. Two or three years? No, it won’t take that long,” Lu Xi Bie shook her head.

“Where do you get the medicine? The Lu family? The Liang Lan Core City Biological Research Institute, or the Federal Central Biological Research Institute?” Chu Li Ruo mused as she asked. A medicine that could fundamentally change a person’s personality should be developed by the Federal Central Biological Research Institute.

Medicine developed by the Federal Central Biological Research Institute costs at least two million star coins.

Chu Li Ruo felt a pang of heartache just thinking about it, but for the Lu family, it should be a drop in the ocean.

“You don’t need to worry about it,” Lu Xi Bie said.

Chu Li Ruo: “?”

Lu Xi Bie saw the confusion in Chu Li Ruo’s eyes and continued: “You don’t need to concern yourself with this. My point is, even though I seem calm now, I might still become like I was before someday. To prevent you from being harmed, I hope you will keep your distance from me, the further the better.”

The confusion in Chu Li Ruo’s eyes intensified: “???”

Lu Xi Bie: “Yes.”

Chu Li Ruo: “Did you forget that we live in the same dorm?”

“I didn’t forget.” Lu Xi Bie looked earnestly at Chu Li Ruo: “Then should we separate dorms? I can move out.”

Chu Li Ruo: “???”

She could barely keep up with Lu Xi Bie’s train of thought. In a short span of time, Lu Xi Bie first said she’d give her anything, then admitted to being ill and taking medicine, and now proposed moving out.

“What are you talking about?” Chu Li Ruo frowned. The trauma left from the previous life still existed, but it didn’t stop her from thinking that the reborn Lu Xi Bie was quite easy to get along with, and a good roommate.

When she was late for class, it was Lu Xi Bie who chased after her to shove a nutrient solution and supplement into her pocket. After class, it was Lu Xi Bie who accompanied her to the holographic simulation room to review course content and consolidate her learning. Upon returning to the dorm, she was greeted by a room full of fresh flower fragrance and the meals Lu Xi Bie had brought back.

She hadn’t lived such a comfortable period in both this life and the last.

“Do you need me to move out?” Lu Xi Bie asked.

Chu Li Ruo: “When did I say I wanted you to move out?”

Sensing Chu Li Ruo’s emotions, Lu Xi Bie explained: “I mean that I’m not stable. To ensure your safety, it would be better for you if I moved out.”

Chu Li Ruo: “I don’t think you moving out would be good for me.”

Lu Xi Bie: “……”

Chu Li Ruo: “Aren’t we living together just fine?”

Lu Xi Bie: “I’m saying, if I move out…”

Chu Li Ruo interrupted Lu Xi Bie: “Didn’t you just say you’d give me anything?”

Lu Xi Bie: “That’s what I said, but…”

“‘But’ what ‘but’?” Chu Liruo stood up, looking down at Lu Xibie. “You are not moving out!”

Lu Xibie blinked, looking at Chu Liruo’s slightly widened eyes—eyes that were blazing with unknown anger. “Okay.”

Chu Liruo immediately added, “If you feel uncomfortable living with me, I can move out any time.”

Chu Liruo touched her right canine tooth with the tip of her tongue and realized belatedly that she had been standing with her hands on her hips. She dropped her hands and took a deep breath.

!

She had originally wished to be as far away from Dan Ruijing and Lu Xibie as possible, but now—

Chu Liruo looked at the light-blue, blank holographic projection on the control panel, the corners of her mouth turning downward.

“…That’s all for this lesson.”

After the bell rang, Fan Shuangyu ended the lecture and answered the questions of the students waiting nearby one by one.

When Chu Liruo reached her, Fan Shuangyu couldn’t help but slightly curl her lips. In the nearly two months since the school started, Chu Liruo managed to ask insightful questions after every class, and the intensity of her Yuanling Summoning had grown from disappearing after a moment to becoming stronger and more sustained.

“…Thank you, Teacher.” Chu Liruo nodded, satisfied, and prepared to pull Lu Xibie away.

They were always the last two in the queue to ask questions; Chu Liruo was there to ask the teacher more questions, and Lu Xibie was there to accompany her.

“Wait.” Lu Xibie spoke up, holding Chu Liruo back. She looked at Fan Shuangyu. “Teacher, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course, you may,” Fan Shuangyu readily agreed.

Lu Xibie was also a regular “after-class” attendee, always accompanying Chu Liruo but never asking questions herself.

However, she performed quite well in every Yuanling Summoning class, so the teacher let her be.

After the Tier 1 Arena competition ended, Fan Shuangyu had also heard some rumors.

They said Lu Xibie had changed her ways; with a wife, she no longer cared about competitions and just followed Chu Liruo every day.

This “troublemaker” who had caused a headache for many teachers at Zhigu Military Academy at the beginning of the semester had thus quieted down, which was a relief to the faculty.

Since she was asking a question for once, Fan Shuangyu was curious to hear what it was.

Lu Xibie: “Teacher, how can I control my innate ability? Like the other students, I want to activate it when I want to, and keep it dormant when I don’t, instead of having it automatically defend whenever I’m attacked.”

“You don’t want it to defend passively?” Fan Shuangyu asked.

“I don’t,” Lu Xibie replied, with a slightly distressed look. “You know my innate ability is Absolute Defense—it’s null against attacks of the same rank and an absolute defense against the rank above. In a same-tier arena, if I wanted to, I would almost never lose.”

Fan Shuangyu: “Why did you surrender to Dan Ruijing?”

“I wanted to end the match quickly to accompany Chu Liruo,” Lu Xibie answered. Chu Liruo, standing beside her, lightly pinched her sleeve when she said this.

“No, no.” Fan Shuangyu shook her head, looking very earnest. “As expected of General Lu’s daughter! You feel it’s an unfair victory, don’t you? Due to the unique nature of your innate ability, stepping onto the arena already guarantees your win. That’s why you surrendered to Dan Ruijing and are here today asking me this question—you want to control your innate ability so you can win with other capabilities.”

“Excellent!” Fan Shuangyu lightly patted Lu Xibie on the shoulder.

After the very first Yuanling Summoning class, she felt this student had a future.

“Teacher…” Lu Xibie tried to interrupt and explain, but realizing she couldn’t clarify the situation quickly, she let it go.

“Is there a way?” Lu Xibie asked.

If she could find a way to control her innate ability, she could deactivate Absolute Defense when an attack came and make all of this stop.

“Come, let me try something first.” Fan Shuangyu flipped her long braid to her back and waved at Chu Liruo. “Chu Liruo, you go back first.”

“Teacher, can’t I wait for her?” Chu Liruo hesitated.

“Her situation is a bit complicated. I need to test her Absolute Defense, and since you don’t have a defense-type innate ability, you might easily get hurt by accident,” Fan Shuangyu replied, gesturing for Chu Liruo to leave the Yuanling Space.

“It’s okay, the Teacher is here. You go back first,” Lu Xibie said, operating her optical computer. “Dinner will be delivered to the dorm in half an hour.”

“Alright.” Chu Liruo nodded and left the Yuanling Space.

As the door slowly closed, Fan Shuangyu closed her eyes and reopened them. A gigantic red scorpion phantom appeared behind her.

Lu Xibie looked at the eager Fan Shuangyu. She suspected the teacher didn’t know how to control her innate ability at all and just wanted to indulge herself for a bit.

The red scorpion’s claws attacked Lu Xibie aggressively, not giving her time to react.

“Crunch—”

A faint light barrier appeared around Lu Xibie, like a slippery, solidified bubble, causing the attack to miss entirely.

“Absolute Defense is truly exceptional!” Fan Shuangyu’s Yuanling Red Scorpion opened its claws again, trying to strike Lu Xibie from both sides, but it was as clumsy as a child first learning to use chopsticks, missing several times.

After a few attempts, Fan Shuangyu leaped up, her long braid flying up and then falling as she landed. The brown whip in her hand struck Lu Xibie heavily.

“Bang—” A sound no less intense than a concussion grenade explosion echoed in the Yuanling Space.

Fan Shuangyu looked down, her hand holding the whip feeling a slight numbness in the area between her thumb and forefinger.

“Yuanling Amplification, Innate Ability—Scorpion Toxin.”

The red scorpion opened its mouth and sprayed black liquid. It stayed on Lu Xibie’s protective shield for only three or four seconds before Fan Shuangyu nervously pulled it back.

The Yuanling Space was a teaching area. Although the space was built with special materials, it wasn’t as sturdy as an arena stage. If the scorpion toxin dripped onto the floor, it would be deducted from her salary.

“Teacher?” Lu Xibie asked when no new attack came. The light shield around her naturally disappeared.

After confirming the floor was fine, Fan Shuangyu told Lu Xibie, “Let’s stop for now. I’ll take you to see the Principal.”

“Huh?” Lu Xibie blinked, then closed her mouth.

“Yes, let’s go.” Fan Shuangyu touched the wall and led Lu Xibie into the suspended elevator.

When they left the Yuanling Space, Lu Xibie didn’t see Chu Liruo. She followed Fan Shuangyu toward the General Administration Building.

The 98th floor of the General Administration Building.

The Principal’s office.

“Iris verification successful. Please open the door.”

Fan Shuangyu opened the door and led Lu Xibie into the Principal’s office.

Fan Shuangyu: “Principal Di…”

“She’s not here.” The side curtain wall of the office became transparent, and a voice followed. A middle-aged man with a beard and wearing a gray leather jacket stood up from behind the desk, touched the curtain wall, opening a doorway, and walked toward Lu Xibie and Fan Shuangyu.

Fan Shuangyu: “Vice Principal Sheng.”

“Oh, Xiao Fan, why call me Vice Principal? It sounds so bad. Call me Principal Sheng.” Sheng Yongzhou sized up Lu Xibie beside Fan Shuangyu, finding her face a little familiar.

Fan Shuangyu: “Vice Principal Sheng.”

“Fine, fine. What is it?” Sheng Yongzhou waved his hand, staring at Lu Xibie. Looking at her eyebrows, her nose, why did she look so much like—

“When will Principal Di return?” Fan Shuangyu looked around and asked.

“Hard to say,” Sheng Yongzhou yawned and stretched. “Tell me what’s wrong, it’s the same.”

Fan Shuangyu hesitated for a moment before saying, “This is Lu Xibie. Her innate ability is Absolute Defense, and currently, it can only be passively activated. She wants to be able to control it.”

“Absolute Defense… isn’t that Lu Yanhua’s daughter?” Sheng Yongzhou moved closer to Lu Xibie, looking at her from the left and right. “I knew I thought she looked like someone.”

The aggressive scent of an Alpha’s pheromones rushed into Lu Xibie’s nasal cavity, causing her to take a step back. The back of her neck pulsed, and her own cedar-moss pheromones surged out.

“Child, I mean no harm.” Sheng Yongzhou lightly pressed the back of his neck. The scent of leather in the air quickly receded, becoming almost undetectable unless one sniffed carefully.

“Do you have a way?” Fan Shuangyu asked.

Sheng Yongzhou glanced at Lu Xibie. “Leave her to me. I’ll take her to the training room next door. Do you have a class soon? If so, you should go back.”

Fan Shuangyu: “No.”

Sheng Yongzhou: “Then you?”

Fan Shuangyu: “I’ll stay and watch her.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” Sheng Yongzhou opened the door to the Principal’s office and walked into the training room first.

“Isn’t passive defense good enough?” Sheng Yongzhou turned and asked.

Before Lu Xibie could answer, Fan Shuangyu replied, “General Lu’s daughter isn’t content to rely solely on her innate ability.”

“Young people are ambitious!” Sheng Yongzhou thoughtfully swept his gaze over Lu Xibie.

Even knowing that the world she was in was just a novel, Lu Xibie couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

Lu Xibie: “No.”

“Teacher Fan, step back a bit,” Sheng Yongzhou told Fan Shuangyu. He extended his right hand flat in front of him, and flipped his four fingers forward: “Gravity Manipulation.”

An invisible field appeared in the training room, manipulating the three-square-meter area where Lu Xibie stood.

“What are you doing?” Fan Shuangyu looked at Sheng Yongzhou.

Sheng Yongzhou smiled at Fan Shuangyu, showing his large white teeth. “Just testing it.”

Fan Shuangyu: “…”

“One-times gravity.”

…

“Three-times gravity.”

Sheng Yongzhou watched Lu Xibie standing unaffected in his gravity field. “How does it feel? Can you move? Move your arms.”

Lu Xibie raised her arm as instructed.

“Ten-times gravity.”

Lu Xibie slightly twisted her neck.

“Fifteen-times gravity.”

“That’s almost the attack strength of a peak A-rank,” Fan Shuangyu exclaimed, looking at Lu Xibie moving freely within the protective shield. She couldn’t help but marvel at the Absolute Defense innate ability.

Sheng Yongzhou: “The next step is S-rank attack strength.”

“Eighteen-times gravity.” Sheng Yongzhou clenched his right hand into a fist, his eyes fixed on Lu Xibie in the gravity field. This intensity was enough to turn a A-rank mutated hydrosaur into dust.

Sheng Yongzhou: “How does it feel?”

Lu Xibie: “It’s fine.”

Lu Xibie reached out and touched the light shield. The same sense of elation she had felt in the arena surged in her heart again.

Strange.

“Twenty-one-times gravity.” Sheng Yongzhou watched Lu Xibie without blinking. “Can you walk?”

“Yes.” Lu Xibie took two steps forward.

“Twenty-two-times gravity.”

“WARNING! WARNING! The maximum attack intensity the training room can withstand has been exceeded! Please stop immediately! Please stop immediately!”

Beep-beep-beep—

The alarm sounded incessantly, red lights flashing wildly, spreading across the entire floor within moments.

Sheng Yongzhou quickly withdrew his hand as the alarm went off.

“98th floor, F85 training room, what is the situation? The Security Team is en route.”

“It’s me.” Sheng Yongzhou leaned his face toward the live camera drone that flew out of the training room. “The Security Team doesn’t need to come. I lost control of the intensity while training with a student.”

“Principal Sheng? Understood, the Security Team will arrive in one minute.”

Sheng Yongzhou fumbled on the side of the wall, disabling the alarm. The red lights on the entire floor gradually went out.

“F85 Training Room, a visitor is approaching.”

“I just told you not to come,” Sheng Yongzhou opened the door and froze when he saw the person. “Principal Di?”

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