The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 41

Upon hearing Xie Zhitian’s words, a message appeared on the anti-strategy system.

【Successfully prevented the male lead, Xiao Wen, from engaging in PUA behavior, freezing 7 of his points.】

【The male lead, Xiao Wen’s current available points: 488.】

Xie Zhitian glanced at the number at the end, a hint of satisfaction flashing in her eyes. It seemed that Xiao Wen wasn’t doing very well lately; he had spent a lot of points, but it was all wasted effort, a losing battle.

However, since the anti-strategy system had notified her, it meant that Xiao Wen’s objective in targeting Tang Zhuoran was to PUA Xia Fufeng. Although the causal relationship wasn’t very clear, one thing was certain—if something happened to Tang Zhuoran, Xia Fufeng would definitely be affected.

“I told you to eat it.” Seeing Xiao Wen’s hesitation, Xie Zhitian’s tone grew sterner. “Xiao Wen, are you no longer listening to me?”

Xiao Wen’s face was grim, and he tried to refuse. “Miss, this is Captain Tang’s birthday noodles. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to eat it.”

Xie Zhitian was unswayed. “Was it appropriate for you to say you were going to throw this bowl of noodles away?” She paused, her tone becoming meaningful. “Or is there something wrong with this bowl of noodles?”

Xiao Wen broke out in a cold sweat. “You’re joking, Miss. This is the noodles my brother Wang and I made together. What could be wrong with it?” He looked at the noodles in his hand, his expression conflicted, unable to make a decision. The medicine in the noodles would put him in bed for a week. By the time he recovered, Xie Zhitian and Luo Yang would probably have left, and his plan to win over Xia Fufeng would be completely ruined.

Xia Fufeng was a bit confused. In her eyes, Xie Zhitian’s handling was already very lenient—she wasn’t holding the servant accountable and was even thoughtfully asking him to eat the noodles so as not to waste them. Why was Xiao Wen still hesitating? This servant wasn’t just clumsy; his mind was slow, too.

Xia Fufeng frowned and said to Xiao Wen, “What are you standing there for? Go to the kitchen and eat the noodles.” Then she turned her head and called out to Wang Er in the kitchen, “Wang Er, keep an eye on him. Don’t let anything else go wrong.”

Xie Zhitian added, “Make him finish the soup, too. Not a single drop should be wasted.”

Wang Er replied, “Understood.”

Xiao Wen was in a difficult position and had no choice but to take the bowl of noodles into the kitchen. He thought about just smashing the bowl, but for one, the spilled soup would create a mess, and Xia Fufeng would probably dislike him even more. Secondly, he had made eye contact with Tang Zhuoran earlier, and her gaze was faint yet seemed to see right through him. Xiao Wen’s hand trembled under her stare. He knew that if he didn’t eat it today, Tang Zhuoran would definitely suspect there was something wrong with the noodles. “Old women are just difficult to deal with; no one wants to provoke them. Young and beautiful girls are much more likable,” he thought.

Xiao Wen gritted his teeth and ate the noodles bite by bite, all while being urged by Wang Er, who was supervising him. “Eat faster. Once you’re done, you can go back. Don’t cause any more trouble here.” Whether it was a psychological effect or not, he started to feel unwell halfway through, but to prevent Wang Er from noticing, he forced himself to finish it.

Xiao Wen didn’t even know how he managed to walk out of Xia Fufeng’s residence. As soon as he was out the door, he rushed to a tree a dozen meters away, leaned against the trunk, and began to vomit. He stumbled forward a few steps, quickly lost his balance, and fell into a muddy ditch by the roadside, his eyes rolling back as he lost consciousness.

Tang Zhuoran looked up, her gaze lingering for a second in the direction Xiao Wen had left before returning to the cake in front of her. Because of the limited conditions, the cake was very simple, with floral decorations and what looked like stiff vegetable cream. The candle in the center had already been blown out. At Xia Fufeng’s repeated insistence, she had just closed her eyes and made a wish.

This was really not like something she would do.

Amidst Xia Fufeng’s cheerful voice, Tang Zhuoran took the knife and cut a slice of cake for everyone, then said with a smile, “The birthday celebration is over. Let’s talk about business.”

Seeing this, Wang Er very discreetly poured tea for everyone and then left. Before leaving, he dutifully told Xia Fufeng that she didn’t need to clean up, as he would come in the morning to tidy up.

Tang Zhuoran said, “But before that, I’d like to ask you two a question.”

Xie Zhitian replied, “Please, Captain Tang.”

Tang Zhuoran: “In the past few days in this district, what unusual things have you discovered?”

Xie Zhitian’s eyes paused. Tang Zhuoran’s question was a way of testing their abilities. After all, they would be working together, and it was better to have a clear idea of their strengths to distribute tasks effectively. So she detailed everything that had happened since she arrived in District 14, including the entire process of the animal anomalies and the discovery of a cyborg applying for a transfer to District 7.

Finally, she offered her opinion: “The district’s research department is already looking into the animal anomalies and will also conduct checks on people who keep animals in other areas to see if it’s a widespread phenomenon. District 7 has offered unusually generous compensation, so it’s understandable that a cyborg would want to transfer. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch; there must be something fishy going on.”

“Also, although they seem unrelated, I have a feeling there might be a connection between the two. We need to investigate further.”

Tang Zhuoran’s eyes flashed with surprise upon hearing this. She said, “Miss Xie is very clever.”

Xie Zhitian smiled at her. “Luo Yang and I have already gotten permission from Aunt Xia, which she must have mentioned to you. Can you tell us what’s really happening here?”

“Of course,” Tang Zhuoran said. But she didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked at the young woman who had been silent all this time. “Little Xia, this matter is quite dangerous. Are you sure you want to be involved?”

Xia Fufeng seemed to have expected the question and nodded firmly. “I’m ready, Zhuoran. Go ahead and tell us.”

Xie Zhitian was slightly taken aback and asked Xia Fufeng, “You’re getting involved? Does Aunt Xia know?”

Xia Fufeng looked a little embarrassed. “She knows. I talked to her for a long time, and she finally agreed.” Actually, she had Xie Zhitian to thank for this. With her mother’s personality, she would never have let her get involved. But Xia Fufeng insisted that Xie Zhitian had completely transformed and become a new person after going through training, and she wanted a similar opportunity. Since Xie Zhizhi could go to the battlefield, surely she could do some less dangerous work. Her mother was persuaded and agreed to let her join, doing some auxiliary tasks.

Tang Zhuoran’s tone was a little helpless. “Alright, but you must follow instructions. You must never act on your own.” She knew that Xia Fufeng had always wanted to contribute more to the district and become as excellent as her sister, Xia Zheliu. For this, Xia Fufeng exercised daily and would sometimes even train with the cyborg military when she had free time. But she was still just an ordinary person and could not compare to a cyborg. So this time, Tang Zhuoran didn’t stop her, seeing it as an opportunity for Xia Fufeng to get some experience. The mission required coordination from both inside and outside, so Tang Zhuoran planned to have Xia Fufeng act as an external contact to keep her out of harm’s way.

Seeing that Tang Zhuoran wasn’t stopping her, Xia Fufeng was overjoyed and immediately promised obediently, “I know, don’t worry, I’ll be good.”

Tang Zhuoran smiled and finally got to the point. “The trouble started about a month ago.” The first time she realized something was wrong was when she overheard a conversation among her subordinate soldiers.

“I’m so broke. My salary has shrunk so much since I retired.”

“Yeah, everything’s peaceful now, so they don’t value us anymore.”

“Hey, do you want to get rich? I heard of a way.”

“What is it? Tell me, tell me.”

“I’ll tell you…” The second half of this sentence was said in a very low voice, and Tang Zhuoran couldn’t hear it clearly. After a moment of silence, the voices started up again. “The compensation there is great, but I can’t go. I can’t bear to leave our district. My parents are here, and they’re getting old. I can’t be too far from them.”

“Yeah, my family is here too. Besides, Commander Xia is so good to us. Whenever we run into trouble, she always finds a way to help us solve it, unlike those leaders who pass the buck. Even if we make more money over there, would we really be happier than we are now?”

Someone else offered a different opinion. “What are you afraid of? We can work for a while and then come back. I want to earn more money so my parents can live a better life. Even if I just go for two years, I can save a lot of money.”

“I’m a lone wolf, so I don’t have to worry about family. The compensation is really tempting. I want to go…”

The more Tang Zhuoran listened, the more she felt something was wrong. It sounded like these people wanted to leave their district and go somewhere with better compensation. She walked over and asked calmly, “What are you all talking about?”

“Nothing, nothing, Captain Tang. We’re going on patrol now.” The soldiers didn’t seem to want to say too much and quickly dispersed after a brief excuse.

Tang Zhuoran’s eyes darkened. She arranged for an investigation and soon found the truth. District 7 was recruiting more cyborgs and offering salaries that were twice as high as in other districts. Because of this, not just their district but several surrounding districts had cyborgs who were eager to apply for a transfer to District 7. This news had not been passed through official channels but had mysteriously spread among the guards first. As a leader, Tang Zhuoran had found out later than everyone else.

Tang Zhuoran believed this was highly illogical. The situation was stable now, and the work tasks for cyborgs in each district were similar. There was no reason for District 7 to offer such high compensation. She had also sent people to District 7 to find out more, but they were given vague answers, saying that the district was undertaking a lot of new construction and needed to recruit more cyborgs due to the demanding nature of the work. Once the task was complete, the compensation would naturally return to normal, and those who wanted to return could do so. This reason sounded plausible at first, but Tang Zhuoran felt uneasy and continued her investigation.

At first, the guards were hesitant, but more and more people were swayed. Recently, a dozen cyborgs were submitting transfer applications every day.

Hearing this, Luo Yang frowned. “At this rate, there won’t be enough people, will there?” The number of cyborgs in each district was originally allocated according to work needs. At this rate, the situation was not looking good. And once someone did go and earn more money, others would also be tempted, causing instability and being detrimental to the district’s development. For example, during the last district invasion, many cyborgs who wanted to transfer to District 7 had become lax in their duties, causing them to miss the damage to the main gate.

Tang Zhuoran nodded. “I discussed this issue with Commander Xia. At first, we decided to approve half of the applications for the time being, to avoid a shortage of personnel. But we soon found that we were overthinking it.”

Luo Yang was confused. “What do you mean?”

Tang Zhuoran pulled two neatly folded papers from her pocket and laid them out on the table. She explained, “A cyborg’s transfer requires the approval of both the releasing and receiving districts. District 7 seems to have its own selection criteria. Not all cyborgs whose applications we approved were able to pass District 7’s screening.”

Xie Zhitian looked down at the two papers on the table. Each paper had a list of several soldiers with their personal information, including gender, age, family relations, and work history. Xie Zhitian quickly read through the information and asked Tang Zhuoran, “Is this the list of cyborgs who passed District 7’s screening?”

Tang Zhuoran replied, “Yes. Did you notice a pattern, Miss Xie?”

“First, all eight people on this list are female soldiers. I’m not sure if this is intentional or just a coincidence,” Xie Zhitian said, thinking seriously. “But there’s something else that’s more concerning. All these people are alone, without any relatives or family. And they have all moved around a lot, so they probably don’t have any stable social connections.”

“Exactly. Miss Xie is indeed perceptive.” Tang Zhuoran looked at her, a hint of appreciation in her eyes. “What do you think this implies?”

“Having no stable social connections means no one is tied to them. Even if something happens to them, no one will come to investigate,” Xie Zhitian said, her expression serious. “So I think District 7 doesn’t intend for them to come back alive.”

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