The Cold Heroine Turned Into a Yandere After Being - Chapter 4

Is There a More Dignified Way?

The elevator arrived at the first floor with a sharp ding. The doors slid open slowly, allowing the cool white light from inside to spill out into the lobby.

A smooth, mechanical female voice announced: “First floor reached.”

In the midst of this sudden “surprise,” a dazed Mo Zhu didn’t forget to ask Xiao Ta what exactly “five minutes of immunity” meant.

When favorability shifts from positive to negative, you suffer system penalties. Five minutes of immunity means you won’t be punished during that window. Even if the score drops further, it won’t affect you. For now, you can think of it as an ‘invincibility’ state where your health is locked. However, this duration will decrease each time it is triggered.

Special reminder: This immunity mechanism only activates at the exact moment favorability crosses from positive to negative.

Mo Zhu understood. In short, the punishment wouldn’t disappear; it was just delayed.

“I’m leaving then.” Ji Shubai bid Mo Zhu a polite, icy farewell and stepped out.

Suddenly remembering something, she turned back and added, “If you don’t want these clothes anymore, I can pay you for them.”

“No need.” Mo Zhu, regaining her composure, glanced at the bag in the woman’s hand. “Or is it that Miss Ji actually wants to keep my clothes as a memento?”

Ji Shubai ignored the teasing tone, her voice calm. “These are your new clothes, after all. Now that I’ve worn them, I was afraid you’d find them distasteful.”

“Is that so?” Driven by the irritation of the negative score, Mo Zhu’s darker impulses finally poked their heads out.

She stepped forward, using her height advantage to lean down and whisper into Ji Shubai’s ear. Her nose brushed almost imperceptibly against the other woman’s earlobe as she spoke in a soft, gentle tone. “But how can you be so sure I haven’t worn these myself?”

Ji Shubai couldn’t help but tilt her head away, taking a step back to escape Mo Zhu’s personal space.

Mo Zhu let out a soft chuckle, her voice laced with deliberate ambiguity. “Can’t handle even this much, Miss Ji? Whatever will you do in the future?”

Ji Shubai froze mid-step, looking caught between advancing and retreating.

Host, please stay calm! Don’t provoke her further! This doesn’t benefit you at all, ahhhh!

Mo Zhu scoffed inwardly. Even if she didn’t provoke her, she wasn’t seeing much benefit anyway.

Besides, she had five minutes of immunity. It would be a waste not to use this invincibility state.

The elevator doors began to slide shut after being held open for too long. Mo Zhu reached out, catching a glimpse of Ji Shubai’s downcast lashes trembling slightly. However, Mo Zhu only placed her hand on the edge of the door to stop it from closing.

Having seen enough of Ji Shubai’s suppressed, enduring expression, Mo Zhu pivoted slightly. She straightened up and leaned her back against the elevator wall. “Aren’t you leaving, Miss Ji? Or have you changed your mind and want to come with me?”

Ji Shubai looked as if she had been granted a divine pardon. She left immediately, not even bothering to say goodbye.

Left alone in the elevator, Mo Zhu’s expression darkened as she watched the doors slowly seal shut.

“You said five minutes of immunity. What happens when the five minutes are up?”

During a period of negative favorability, your observable and non-observable external environment variables may take on a non-positive trend. There is a certain probability of encountering unexpected outcomes. This phenomenon is dynamically linked to numerical fluctuations.

Mo Zhu clicked her tongue. “Speak human.”

Basically, you’re going to be a bit unlucky.

But please don’t worry! As long as you work hard to increase favorability back to a positive value, things will return to normal! I, Xiao Ta, will also do my best to help you!

Listening to this so-called “punishment,” Mo Zhu didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Unlucky? It sounded like a trivial prank. She felt the system was making a mountain out of a molehill, and the slight tension she had felt was completely replaced by a sense of negligence.

The elevator slid open with a ding, and the characteristic damp, chilly air of the parking garage hit her face.

The driver was already waiting in the usual spot, the car’s headlights glowing silently in the dim light.

Mo Zhu walked toward the car with a composed stride. However, when she was barely three steps from the door, her foot twisted without warning.

“Sss!” She looked down sharply. There, lying on the painted floor, was a small, dusty pebble that seemed to have rolled out from some forgotten corner.

She looked back, scanning the ground. The surrounding area was empty; that single pebble looked like a successful prankster.

Mo Zhu twitched the corner of her mouth in annoyance, steadied herself, and continued walking.

That’s it? The absurdity of this minor streak of bad luck actually lessened the slight embarrassment of the stumble.

However, the relaxation brought by this “minor inconvenience” evaporated completely thirty minutes after she sat in the back seat.

Outside was a frozen river of steel a massive traffic jam and inside the car was a deathly silence.

The driver’s hands were visibly tensed on the steering wheel, and fine beads of sweat began to break out on his forehead. He awkwardly stole a glance at his expressionless boss in the rearview mirror, his movements to restart the car carrying a hint of frantic desperation.

The air felt like a block of lead, weighing heavily on the cabin.

“I’m sorry, President Mo. The car… it won’t start.”

Mo Zhu didn’t respond immediately. She crossed her arms, leaning back slightly into the leather seat, and stared fixedly out the window.

After a while, she finally broke the silence. “Wait for the tow truck. We’re not far from the office; I’ll catch a taxi.”

She pushed the door open, and the murky city air, thick with exhaust fumes, rushed in. Just as her foot touched the solid ground.

Plat.

A cold drop of water hit her forehead without warning.

Mo Zhu instinctively looked up.

The sky above was a hazy grey, yet a weirdly bright, piercing white sun was still visible! Yet, under this glaring sun, fat raindrops began to fall as if someone had flipped a switch—suddenly and aggressively!

Whoosh—!

Within seconds, the rain escalated from a sparse sprinkle to a torrential downpour. The dense sheets of rain shimmered with a strange silver light under the bright sun, instantly shrouding the world in a misty veil.

Water dripped from her chin. She reached up to wipe her face, her fingertips meeting cold, slick moisture. She peered through the misty rain at the sun that was still stubbornly shining above.

Was this just being “a bit” unlucky?

“Xiao Ta, what level of bad luck corresponds to this favorability score?”

The female lead’s favorability toward you is currently -37. You have one chance left today to check the score.

By the time Mo Zhu reached the company, she was carrying a heavy, waterlogged overcoat that dripped incessantly onto the floor. Strands of wet hair clung miserably to her cheeks and neck, though even this couldn’t quite hide her natural elegance.

Her assistant, who had been waiting at the entrance, hurried over to drape a dry coat over her shoulders. “President Mo, put this on quickly so you don’t catch a cold.”

Mo Zhu actually managed a smile; she felt she was handling it okay.

She thought the bad luck should end there, but it seemed she had underestimated the situation again.

By noon, when Assistant Xiang entered the office for the third time with a look of pure distress—reporting that her ordered lunch had been accidentally dropped on the road—Mo Zhu, who had been hungry for two hours, was too weak to even lose her temper.

Eventually, Assistant Xiang brought a meal back from the company cafeteria. Mo Zhu, finally able to eat, took one bite and then silently set her chopsticks down. She propped up her brow and let out a slow, long breath.

Could someone tell her why there were small pebbles in the cafeteria rice?

“What is it, President Mo?” Assistant Xiang stood by the desk, looking nervously at her boss.

“Assistant Xiang, what do you think is the most effective way to apologize?”

Seeing her ask such a question after only one bite of food, Assistant Xiang assumed the cafeteria meal had displeased her. She instinctively blurted out, “On your knees?”

As a corporate drone, she was an expert at the “sliding kneel” apology.

Mo Zhu looked up, giving her a long, unreadable stare. “Is there a more  dignified way?”