The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 38

“Brother Wang, this is a specialty from my hometown. Do you like it?”

Xiao Wen handed a transparent plastic jar to Wang Er, his expression eager. “Try it. Add a little to your cup when you drink water. It’s very sweet and good for your health.”

It was a jar of viscous, golden honey. It cost him 10 points from the system, which made his financial situation even worse. The thought of it made his heart ache. But to catch a wolf, you have to let go of the bait, so he considered it an investment.

Wang Er didn’t take the honey, instead asking, “We’re not that close, why are you giving this to me?”

He was Xia Fufeng’s servant, and many people wanted to get close to her through him. But he always remembered his duty: he wouldn’t reveal a single word of what Xia Fufeng didn’t want him to say.

Besides, he had heard that Xiao Wen was sent here with a group of pigs. He wondered if the honey had been in a pigpen the whole way and was still safe to drink.

Xiao Wen awkwardly replied, “Nothing much. I just wanted to ask if there’s anything I can do to help Miss Xia.”

Since arriving in District 14, he had been living a miserable life. Xiao Wen was originally a homebody who stayed up late online, and his body was extremely weak. After traveling with a group of pigs and being exposed to the wind for the entire journey, he fell ill as soon as he arrived, while the pigs were fine. He had a persistent high fever and was bedridden for three full days. He only slowly got better after using points to exchange for antipyretic medicine from the strategy system.

At Xie Zhitians suggestion, Xia Fufeng arranged for him to live in an apartment complex for homeless servants. He was given a pitifully small single room, far away from Xia Fufeng’s residence. When he occasionally saw Xie Zhitian, he would be challenged to the point of being speechless and was unable to earn any strategy points.

Xiao Wen was very frustrated. Since he couldn’t get anywhere with Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang, he decided to set his sights on Xia Fufeng. So, as soon as he recovered, he used points to exchange for some supplies and deliberately found a way to get close to Xia Fufeng’s butler, Wang Er. Wang Er was close to Xia Fufeng, so the information he had would definitely be the most reliable. He wanted to ask about Xia Fufeng to build some goodwill with her.

But Wang Er was unyielding, and his gaze was somewhat wary. “Miss Xia doesn’t need your help. You should go back.”

He pointed at the honey. “Take this with you. I won’t accept it.”

“Brother Wang, I’ll be honest with you,” Xiao Wen said, not discouraged, and continued to smile ingratiatingly. “Our district’s Miss feels I’m useless and has a terrible attitude toward me, as you’ve seen these past two days. I saw that she has a good relationship with Miss Xia and thought that if I did something, it might change her impression of me. We’re both servants, so please just help me out.”

“No, that’s a matter of principle. If you want to change their impression, you should work hard yourself.”

Wang Er was unmoved and spoke with an ironclad sense of duty. “I’m going to do some shopping. See you around.”

“Hey, Brother Wang, don’t go yet.”

Xiao Wen quickly stopped him and pressed the honey jar into his hand. “How about this? Just tell me one thing about Miss Xia, anything at all—what she likes, what she dislikes, anything.”

Wang Er was so annoyed by him that he deliberately said the opposite of the truth to irritate him. “You know Captain Tang of the Guardian Army, right? Actually, Miss Xia and Captain Tang have a very bad relationship. They’re like fire and water.”

Everyone knew that Xia Fufeng and Tang Zhuoran had a good relationship. Wang Er’s intention was to talk nonsense, give up, and make Xiao Wen give up and realize that he couldn’t get any information from him.

But to his surprise, Xiao Wen was overjoyed upon hearing this and didn’t care about his attitude at all. “Thank you, Brother Wang, I understand now.”

He had been lying in his room all day recently, gaining zero information, so he couldn’t distinguish between truth and falsehood and believed Wang Er on the spot.

Wang Er looked at Xiao Wen’s excited retreating figure, then looked down at the honey in his hand, a confused look on his face.

This Xiao Wen, did he really believe me?

Forget it, what does it have to do with him? He had done his duty and hadn’t revealed any information about Xia Fufeng.

Xiao Wen was also very happy. Things were going just as he had guessed. This investment of points was worth it.

If he had a chance to meet Tang Zhuoran and target her, Xia Fufeng would definitely be pleased.

The autumn afternoon was clear and sunny, with a gentle breeze that perfectly offset the heat of the sun.

Occasionally, light birds would fly across the sky, their crisp chirps full of life.

Xie Zhitian stood at the main gate and waved to the person behind her.

“Let’s go, Luo Yang.”

Luo Yang responded and quickly walked toward her.

Last night, Xie Zhitian heard that there would be a market in the district this afternoon. Tang Zhuoran’s birthday was tomorrow, so they decided to go to the market to buy a gift for her and get some things they liked for themselves.

So both of them wore light and comfortable clothes and carried empty backpacks to hold the goods they would buy. Since the market was some distance from Xia Fufeng’s residence, Xie Zhitian also specifically borrowed her car.

Since her transmigration, Xie Zhitian had been to the district market a few times and knew that the supplies in her personal space were far more abundant than those at the market. But seeing Luo Yang’s excited look, she was happy to accompany her.

Most girls like shopping. Even if they don’t end up buying anything, the process itself is enjoyable.

She lowered her head to lock the door when a harsh electronic sound suddenly rang in her ears.

“Beep—”

“Beep beep—”

“Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep beep—”

That sound was… an alarm?

An alien invasion?!

Luo Yang’s eyes instantly turned cold. “I’ll go get the weapons.”

With that, she went back upstairs without a second thought, disappearing from view like a gust of wind.

Having had experience fighting aliens, Xie Zhitian was not flustered. She started the car parked in front of the door and waited for Luo Yang while observing her surroundings.

The afternoon’s tranquility was completely broken. The alarm continued to blare like a hurried drumbeat, pounding against her eardrums.

People spontaneously rushed into the streets, their faces filled with fear. Then the district’s broadcast sounded, “An alien invasion has been detected in Sector L. The Guardian Army has already gone to deal with it. Please do not panic and proceed to the underground shelter in an orderly manner according to the usual drill.”

Luo Yang was fast and was out with her weapons in a flash. She had a long sword on her back and handed a crossbow to Xie Zhitian. “Let’s go, let’s go check it out.”

She wasn’t asking. She knew that with Xie Zhitian’s personality, she would never sit idly by.

They had studied the map of District 14 together for the past two days. Sector L was not far from Sector A, with a straight-line distance of only about 20 kilometers, so it was no wonder the alarm in Sector A also went off.

Xie Zhitian responded, and the car drove smoothly toward Sector L.

The situation on the road was still manageable. Guardian Army soldiers in uniform were maintaining order and directing the crowd to the various underground shelters.

Their car drove against the flow of people, looking out of place. As they drove past an intersection, a woman’s voice was heard not far away. “Hey, that car, wait!”

The voice was anxious and impossible to ignore.

Xie Zhitian slowed down, and the car stopped by the side of the road. Luo Yang turned her face and saw a woman in uniform running toward them, a long sword on her back gleaming in the sunlight. She thought she was a Guardian Army soldier who wanted to stop them, so she lowered the window halfway. “We’re reformers from another district. We’re going to Sector L to help.”

In this situation, directly saying that she and Xie Zhitian were both reformers was the most concise and efficient way. Otherwise, the other party would inevitably want to take Xie Zhitian, a seemingly ordinary person, to the shelter.

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Perfect, I’m also going to help!”

She opened the car door, ducked, and got in, sitting in the back.

The situation was urgent, so Xie Zhitian didn’t have time to ask for details and started the car directly.

The woman gave them a simple explanation. Sector L was located on the outskirts of the district, separated from the outside by a wall. Her name was Qi Le, and she was recently responsible for patrols in Sector L. She came to Sector A today to help deliver documents, but she didn’t expect something to happen in such a short time.

Qi Le added, “Don’t worry. District 14 is generally very peaceful. There’s not even an alien attack once a month. But it’s strange. Usually, aliens can’t get in. When they get close to the city wall, we’ll clear them outside the city. I wonder what happened today…”

Her question was soon answered.

When they reached their destination, the Guardian Army was already fighting the invading aliens. The ground was covered in blood and flesh, showing a bizarre bloody color under the bright sun.

Xie Zhitian saw that the gate on the city wall had completely fallen off, and the door panel was lying on the ground. From time to time, more aliens would squeeze through the gap into the city wall.

Several soldiers were holding steel plates and tools around the city wall, trying to block the damaged gate. But the continuous alien invasion made everyone struggle to cope, and there was no progress for a while.

Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang exchanged glances, then tacitly stepped forward to help. The two of them were incredibly fast. The moment the aliens stepped inside the gate, they were cut in half by a long sword or nailed firmly to the ground by a crossbow bolt, leaving them no room to fight back.

The surrounding soldiers were stunned, completely unaware of who these two people were. It wasn’t until Xie Zhitian reminded them that the aliens had been cleared and they could come to repair the gate that they snapped out of their daze.

Qi Le stepped forward to thank them, saying that thanks to them, the chaos was quelled so quickly, and she wanted to give them supplies as a token of gratitude. Xie Zhitian smiled and refused her offer, saying that she and Xia Fufeng were good friends and that it was no trouble at all.

Luo Yang looked at the broken gate and asked seriously, “Has it been determined why the city gate was damaged?”

Qi Le said, “We checked. The bearings were rusty and old, which caused the gate to loosen and fall off easily when hit. We plan to nail it shut with steel plates and wait for the new gate to be delivered and installed.”

Upon hearing this, Xie Zhitian frowned. “Just old age? There should be people on duty at the gate, right? Don’t they check it?”

Qi Le sighed. “With the decrease in aliens over the years, the number of exits on the city wall has been increasing, and the number of people on duty has changed from four to two. And recently, people have been a bit dispirited, so there have been oversights during inspections.”

Xie Zhitian keenly caught the key point in her words. “Dispirited?”

Qi Le’s expression was a bit hesitant, but she remembered that Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang had just helped them a great deal, so after a moment of silence, she told the truth. “Because… many reformers want to be transferred out of our district.”

Xie Zhitian asked, “Why?”

Qi Le leaned in a little and lowered her voice. “I heard that District 7 is recruiting more reformers and offering very generous benefits. Many people have already submitted their applications.”

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