The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Female Lead is Mine [Transmigration Into a Novel] - Chapter 86

A deserted hallway with few people passing by. Through the glass, you can see the bustling commercial street not far away. The noisy human voices seep through the cracks of the windows, faint and indistinct, like a broken old tape with only the static of white noise left.

Tang Zhuoran followed the nurse all the way forward and stopped in front of a room.

The nurse pulled the door open and instructed, “Visiting time is half an hour. I’ll call you when it’s over.”

Tang Zhuoran nodded. “I understand.”

It had been almost a full day since she was admitted to this sanatorium. There weren’t many patients here, only a few modified humans like her who had been withdrawn from the battlefield with slight mutations. As previously arranged, her companions came to visit her in the jurisdiction after their work was done.

Although this place was called a sanatorium, it was more like a prison. No modified human could leave until all their indicators reached normal values. And even the visiting hours were restricted. The nurse’s reason was to reduce emotional stimulation and allow the patients to rest better.

Tang Zhuoran walked into the room and closed the door.

She looked around. The room had a transparent wall directly opposite the door, with an intercom hanging next to it. A simple set of tables and chairs were placed against the transparent wall, with a row of cabinets next to them and a few pots of green plants in the corner.

The nurse said that the hospital was sterilized three times a day and was a sterile environment, so to reduce bacterial contact, patients and outsiders were not allowed to communicate face-to-face.

This was nothing more than a way to reduce communication between the sanatorium’s personnel and the outside world, Tang Zhuoran knew. But she didn’t raise any questions or check for listening devices in the room. She just slowly walked to the transparent wall and looked at the few people waiting on the other side.

Tang Zhuoran picked up the intercom, and Xia Fufeng’s voice immediately came through. “How do you feel? Is your body feeling better?”

Through the wall, her face looked a little blurry, but the worry in her eyes and the subtle joy of seeing her could not be hidden.

Tang Zhuoran smiled at her. “Everything is fine.”

This was their pre-arranged code. The answer “everything is fine” meant that the medicine to control the mutation had been handed over to the few modified humans who came in with her, and they had also sprayed the inhibitors as much as possible.

Xia Fufeng breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. You’re not running a fever anymore, are you?”

Tang Zhuoran replied, “I still have a low fever, but I feel more comfortable than when I arrived.”

She paused, then asked, “How are you all doing? Has the number of xenomorphs decreased?”

Xia Fufeng looked troubled. “I don’t feel like they’ve decreased, but we’re used to it and don’t feel tired.”

She was eager to share her amazing experience from last night with Tang Zhuoran, but everyone felt there must be a listening device here, so she had to hold back for the time being.

The few of them chattered for a while, and half an hour passed quickly. Tang Zhuoran glanced at the time. “I have to go back. Time’s up, and I’m a little dizzy from talking for so long.”

Xie Zhitian understood. “Alright, then you should go back and rest well.”

Tang Zhuoran hung up the intercom, thought for a moment, and then picked it up again.

She looked in Xia Fufeng’s direction. “Take care of yourselves. Don’t worry about me.”

It was noon when they returned to the apartment, which was around midnight according to the modified soldiers’ recent upside-down lives.

The soldiers who had been working all night were already sound asleep, and the corridor was silent.

Xie Zhitian and the others were about to go back to their rooms to rest when they saw a slender figure at the door of their room, who looked a little familiar.

Xie Zhitian took a closer look and found that the person was Kong Qian. She was slightly bowing her head, as if in a daze, with a hint of loneliness in her expression.

Her heart fluttered slightly, and she walked forward quickly. “Miss Kong?”

Kong Qian’s body trembled, and she looked up as if waking from a dream. “You, you’re back.”

Luo Yang saw that her face was not well and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”

Kong Qian looked at her, a look of hesitation on her face. “No, I just encountered some things…”

She spoke softer and softer. “You said before that if I ran into difficulties, I could come to you, right?”

“Of course you can.” Xie Zhitian looked at her difficult expression, seemingly guessing something. She opened the door. “Miss Kong, please don’t be shy. Just speak up.”

Unlike her usual composure, Kong Qian looked a little disheveled today. There were streaks of red in her black and white eyes, and a faint dark shadow under her eyes, indicating she hadn’t slept well.

At this moment, the opposite door was pushed open, and Nie Keke poked her head out after hearing the commotion. She looked at the people in front of her. “What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

Xie Zhitian’s expression paused. She said, “This is Miss Kong Qian. She seems to need help.”

She had mentioned to Xu He and Nie Keke before that Kong Qian had come to deliver supplies repeatedly, so when she said this, Nie Keke immediately said, “What is it? I’ll help too.”

Xie Zhitian opened the door. “Come inside and talk.”

Luo Yang poured her a cup of hot tea and pushed it in front of her. “Drink some hot water first.”

Since she had some understanding of the relationship between Li Changhui and Kong Qian, she had been a little worried. Today, seeing Kong Qian take the initiative to ask for help, she had a feeling of déjà vu.

Kong Qian took the cup and held it in her hands. The warmth in her palms calmed her a little. “Thank you.”

She was silent for a while before speaking. “I want to leave this jurisdiction. Can you take me with you? Anywhere is fine. I have a skill and can support myself.”

“You can.” Xie Zhitian’s eyes moved slightly. “But Miss Kong, I’d like to know what made you decide this?”

Seeing her agree so readily, Kong Qian’s tense heart relaxed a lot. She no longer hid anything and spoke bluntly. “I don’t want to stay at home anymore. I must leave. I feel… it’s very dangerous.”

“Dangerous? What did your husband do to you?” Xia Fufeng was a little anxious, asking in a rush. “Is it because you used your dowry to buy supplies for us?”

Kong Qian’s eyes slowly turned red, and she whispered, “Yes.”

That afternoon, Li Changhui, who hadn’t been home for several days, returned home. When he learned that she had secretly sold her jewelry and exchanged it for supplies, his face immediately changed. He didn’t speak for a long time, just leaned back in his chair with a gloomy face, as if thinking about something.

Her husband had always been gentle and elegant in front of her. Kong Qian had never seen him look like this. She was frightened and asked in a low voice, “Honey, are you angry?”

Li Changhui glanced at her and sighed heavily. His voice sounded very unfamiliar. “Why didn’t you discuss it with me?”

Kong Qian stammered, “I… I didn’t think that much.”

Li Changhui had used her dowry a few times, and she felt they were a family and always gave him as much as he wanted. Perhaps it was her generosity that made Li Changhui long ago treat the dowry as his own.

But this was clearly the property her parents left her. Why couldn’t she use it…

Li Changhui was silent for a while longer, and then asked her, “How much is left?”

Kong Qian answered softly, “About one-fifth. Honey, are you angry? I…”

“Forget it, don’t talk about it for now.”

Li Changhui interrupted her and got up from his seat. “I’m a little sleepy after eating. I’ll go back to the bedroom to sleep for a while.”

After her husband left, Kong Qian stared at the leftover food on the table for a long time. Although Li Changhui didn’t act hysterically, she could clearly feel his displeasure, like the dark sky before a storm.

Kong Qian felt very afraid. This fear disrupted her thoughts, making her forget to pursue whether it was right or wrong for her to use her dowry, which made her husband angry.

Li Changhui slept until the evening, then went out again, with a cold attitude and didn’t tell her what he was going to do or when he would be back, unlike before.

Kong Qian thought of Li Changhui’s past gentleness and was completely puzzled. Why would her husband, who always loved her, turn on her because of the dowry? Was it because the family’s financial situation was already very bad, so Li Changhui didn’t want her to sell so much jewelry?

Usually, Li Changhui would give her household money and prepare small gifts for her on holidays. She was a person who was easy to satisfy and never asked about how much income he had. But she knew Li Changhui had a habit of keeping accounts. The account book was in the study, but she wasn’t interested, so she had never looked at it.

Thinking of this, Kong Qian got up and went to the study, wanting to see how much money the family had left. Li Changhui always told her that the family’s financial situation was very bad. If they were really poor or even in debt, it would be understandable that he was unhappy.

The drawer containing the account book had a lock on it, but this didn’t stump Kong Qian. During her escape in the apocalypse, a chance encounter taught her how to pick locks. So she quickly and perfectly pried open the lock on the drawer, took out the thick account book, and held it in her hands.

The contents inside made her heart sink.

Kong Qian found that Li Changhui had been making a lot of money by selling so-called supplements for the past two years, accumulating a lot of wealth. He was not short of money at all. The rows of income were dense, and the amounts were staggering.

Even more terrifying was that one day, Li Changhui’s account book recorded an astonishing deposit.

And Kong Qian remembered that date. At that time, Li Changhui did not come home all night.

Kong Qian recalled the gentle and regretful expression on Li Changhui’s face at the time, and only felt as if she was in an ice cellar, a chilling cold to the bone. She made a decision as quickly as possible, put the account book back in the drawer, locked it again, and then ran out of the house.

Before she left, she also left a note for Li Changhui, saying that she shouldn’t have used the dowry without permission and that it was all her fault. But her family had also left her a sum of money, which was being held by a relative for emergencies. She was going to get it back now to make up for her mistake.

Kong Qian had always been docile and obedient, always going along with her husband’s wishes. She believed that Li Changhui would not be immediately suspicious. This way, she could buy some time.

Luo Yang couldn’t help but praise her upon hearing this. “Miss Kong is very smart. She made a wise choice.”

Based on the available information, it was highly likely that Li Changhui killed his business partner and took all the money. It was very dangerous to stay with such a person. Li Changhui was powerful, influential, and ruthless. It was possible for him to quietly take Kong Qian apart and sell her organs to vent his anger.

Kong Qian smiled bitterly. “How can I be called smart? If I were really smart, I wouldn’t have been a poor judge of character and married a person like this. Now I don’t even have the ability to protect myself and have to trouble you all.”

She was filled with endless regret. Why did she let herself be blinded by love and not see Li Changhui’s true colors earlier? But she was all alone and it was really hard to resist the warmth offered to her.

Her shoulder was gently patted, and the person next to her spoke earnestly. “It’s no trouble. Miss Kong has also paid a lot for us.”

Kong Qian looked up and met a pair of gentle eyes.

Xie Zhitian smiled at her. “Self-reflection is for perpetrators. Victims never need to be perfect. So, please don’t blame yourself.”

Support