Transmigrated as the Heroine’s Perfect Alpha - Chapter 11

When the transfer notification popped up, Xie Ling never expected it to be from Lin Man.

She clicked on the icon and the note that had suddenly appeared. She hesitated for a moment before realizing who the contact with only a heart emoji was. She then hurriedly swiped right, changing the contact name to “SB Lin Man.”

In reality, the medical exams, medication, and hospitalization expenses all added up to less than two thousand yuan.

What did two thousand yuan mean to people like her and Lin Man? It was probably just the cost of a single meal. Yet, for the price of just one meal, Lin Man had chased after Ji Xue, who was working two jobs just to survive.

To any bystander, Xie Ling probably seemed heartless.

But she clicked “receive” without a second thought. As for what others thought? Who cared?

As far as Xie Ling was concerned, having Lin Man pay for Ji Xue’s medical expenses was perfectly appropriate.

After accepting the money, she returned to the chat. Lin Man had sent a paragraph of insults over a hundred characters long. Xie Ling did not even read it; she simply replied with a mocking “Heh,” and moved the contact straight to her blacklist.

The original Xie Ling had been deeply infatuated with Lin Man, but that was the original version. Now, Xie Ling found everything about Lin Man unappealing. Combined with her knowledge of the future plot and Lin Man’s personality, she had to be honest: she was genuinely annoyed by this spoiled brat of hers.

Perhaps it was because she was younger back then? Her definition of a perfect lover had been a bit flawed. Looking back as an adult, she felt nothing but shame and regret.

Objectively speaking, the only things about Lin Man that she could still acknowledge were her looks, her family background, and perhaps her work capability.

Oh no, even that last point did not count. Compared to her own cunning father, old Mr. Xie, and Madam He, Lin Man was not even worth mentioning.

Thinking about it, aside from the protagonist’s aura she possessed, Lin Man was essentially a hollow vase with no substance.

Xie Ling propped her head up with her right hand and stared at her phone screen for a while. With her left hand, she tapped and swiped, opening Ji Xue’s social media circle.

Ji Xue was not someone who enjoyed sharing her life. Scrolling from the top, there was only one post a month, and the content was always quite positive.

Xie Ling clicked her tongue; the frequency was actually somewhat similar to her own in the past.

Perhaps that was just the status quo for people working hard to survive.

Closing the app, Xie Ling stared at the pink USB drive for a while until there was a knock at the door.

The Xie villa had dining rooms on both floors. Today, to look after her injured daughter, Madam He had personally instructed the housekeeper to bring lunch to the second-floor dining area.

Xie Ling watched He Rong, who had come to call her for lunch, and suppressed the discomfort in her left leg, trying her best not to limp too obviously.

Fortunately, the bedroom was only one corner away from the second-floor dining room.

The six-seater round table had some age to it. It was the table the family used to eat at back in the day. It was only after the eldest and second siblings had started their own families that Xie Hongfei had moved it to the second floor and stopped using it.

He Rong sat next to Xie Ling. Xie Ling noticed that the dishes and soup on the table were mostly her favorites, and a warmth spread through her heart.

“How is your leg?” He Rong asked while putting on disposable gloves.

“It is fine, it is nothing,” Xie Ling said, reaching for a pair of gloves as well.

He Rong slapped Xie Ling’s hand away with a fierce tone: “Don’t touch it. You are always clumsy and keep poking yourself. Your dad is not here, so Mom will peel them for you.”

Xie Ling looked up and watched as Madam He skillfully snapped the shrimp head off, twisted the shell with both hands, and pulled. The entire piece of shrimp meat was extracted perfectly and placed into her bowl.

Wow!

So this is what it feels like to have someone peel shrimp for you!

Xie Ling felt her heart was not just warm; in an instant, it felt almost scorched.

Could this be what it feels like to be truly loved?

It was wonderful!

A meal had Xie Ling nearly shedding tears.

Madam He did not eat much but finished half a bowl of soup more than usual. Xie Ling watched her mother eating intently, hesitated for a moment, and asked: “Mom, you told Lin Man last time that you would not associate with the Lin family anymore. What about the business side of things?”

He Rong put down her spoon and wiped her mouth with a tissue, her gracefulness beyond compare.

“It is fine.”

“Hm? Did you not say before that there were many business dealings with their family?” Xie Ling asked, slightly worried.

He Rong curved her lips: “Terminated. We broke the contract.”

“Ah? Have you already terminated it?” Xie Ling was once again impressed by Madam He’s efficiency.

He Rong replied: “Of course. That little brat ran into our house to bully you; do you really expect me to keep holding onto old sentiments and send money to their family? Our Xie family does not do such cheap things. Is it not better to donate to charity than to give it to her?”

Xie Ling almost could not help but applaud, thinking: As expected of Mrs. Xie, the daughter of the He family! How bold!

To think the original Xie Ling had abandoned parents like this for such an “SB.” Sigh.

After the meal, He Rong left. Xie Ling stood on the stairs, watching the back of her remarkably cool mother, a look of admiration in her eyes.

Returning to her bedroom, Xie Ling washed her hands before sitting back at the computer desk.

The system’s voice, the “Little Anti,” chimed in with its rigid, standard tone: “The ‘Thesis Scandal’ event has entered a countdown. Please note the task deadline. Failure to complete on time will be considered abandonment. Abandoning a task is a violation, and the electric shock punishment will be automatically upgraded to the task level.”

Xie Ling paused her hand on the computer tower and looked up blankly: “When did I accept this mission?”

“Mandatory plot points do not require manual acceptance. Please pay attention to the remaining time in the top right corner.”

Xie Ling swore and slumped back into her office chair. How is there less than eleven hours left?

“You are rushing this so quickly; does the female lead, Ji Xue, even know about this?” Xie Ling twitched her lips.

Little Anti: “That is not important. This is not her script.”

“…”

Fine. You have a point. You are right; even your farts smell like perfume.

Little Anti: “…”

Little Anti: “Dear, giving up is not an option. You must pull yourself together, persist in your beliefs, do not give up, do not abandon, stand up if you fall, do not be defeated by difficulties, and face them with a smile. Go for it!”

“Heh.” If she could, Xie Ling would truly love to drag this system out in front of her, give it a piece of her mind, and teach it a good lesson.

Fortunately, the all-powerful system did not bother to argue with her.

Xie Ling gazed at the glowing monitor, her mind in a chaotic mess. She numbly imagined various possibilities, but they were all ruthlessly interrupted by Little Anti.

Watching the remaining time drop hour by hour, Xie Ling finally gathered the courage to reach out and take that “prickly” USB drive, plugging it into the port.

The document opened. Xie Ling reluctantly clicked “Edit,” but her fingers hovered over the keyboard, unable to strike a single key.

She looked at the glowing keyboard, and a flash of inspiration hit her: What if I try a different approach?

Little Anti began to clang immediately: “Attention! The impact level of the event must not be lowered, otherwise it will be considered a mission failure!”

Xie Ling: “…”

What impact? Making Ji Xue bear the label of a plagiarist? And losing a pretty good internship opportunity?

No matter how Xie Ling looked at it, it felt excessive. But if she did not do it, she would get shocked.

My God! What kind of sins have I committed!

Little Anti chimed, its tone changing: “Mission success will be evaluated based on specific operations and scored. The score can be exchanged for ‘Frustration Index.’ The scoring range is 100-500, with an exchange ratio of 10:1.”

!!!

10 to 50 points in the index!

To be honest, if you ignore the task content and just look at the score, the reward was indeed tempting.

However, to ask her, an original creator, to betray her ideals and become the most disgusting kind of plagiarist for the sake of these virtual numbers, in no sense could Xie Ling accept this.

She looked at the dizzying array of text on the screen and suddenly understood some of the original’s bitterness. It was quite possible that, for the Xie Ling in the original world, the “Hand of God” was just as annoying as this system currently was.

Little Anti “bingo-ed” and began to broadcast: “Congratulations, ‘Empathy Index’ +10!”

Well, Xie Ling had to admit that her own original setting for the character Xie Ling had some issues; forcing her to be evil, that was all her fault.

Little Anti: “Congratulations! ‘Empathy Index’ +10, current index 21.”

However, Xie Ling could not feel happy at all. She blankly stared at the manuscript on the screen, feeling an infinite sense of sorrow.

The level of sorrow was perhaps on par with the tragic end of the Overlord of Western Chu at the Wu River.

She looked at the screen, then at her own fingertips, and made a desperate final stand by tapping the system: “Is there really no middle ground?”

Little Anti: “Attention! You have violated the rules!”

Before Xie Ling could react, a numbing pain, far more intense than before, surged from her fingertips up through her arms.

In that instant, with her face contorted in agony, Xie Ling’s hands slammed down onto the keyboard.

The page that should have been filled with random gibberish mysteriously jumped; it automatically opened the email client and sent out the unfinished draft.

“…”

The stupid system intervened!

Xie Ling roared in her heart: “You actually forced me to take the fall!”

Meanwhile, the other protagonist of this event had no idea that her thesis, which she had worked so hard on for so long, had been snatched away—no, hijacked—by a stupid system, while she was still busy trying to refuse a passionate invitation from a certain CEO.

Having witnessed this “supernatural event” firsthand, Xie Ling felt defeated after finishing her silent roar. This unscrupulous system was truly too much!

Ah! It is completely unreasonable!

Before she could finish her cursing, her phone started flashing again.

In the four-person group chat, Qian Lu, with the nickname “Give You a Punch,” was spamming the screen: Come out for a drink! Come out for a drink!

Xie Ling looked at the screen full of “Come out for a drink” and clicked the emoji tab to send a “prayer” emoji.

However, the others did not take it as a prayer. Tang Wenwen, with the nickname “Backhand Punch,” replied instantly: Alright! Same old place, let’s meet in half an hour!

Xie Ling rolled her eyes with the little bit of strength she had left. Even though it was dark outside, was it not too early to go to a bar?

Before she could complain, “Give You a Punch” posted a location: What same old place? We are all adults with IDs, what is with always hanging out at bars! Wenwen is hosting tonight, let’s go to Nanchun Road for private-kitchen food! We will drink there!

Tang Wenwen (“Backhand Punch”) immediately sent a voice note: “Why am I paying? Who does not know your family has been making a fortune lately! You pay! Stop pretending to be broke!”

The chat scrolled so fast that Xie Ling could not get a word in until the contact nicknamed “Drink More Hot Water” sent one message: Shut up! I will pay, alright!!!

The spamming finally ended.

Xie Ling stared at that nickname and fell into a brief silence. In her original setting, this Omega who used “Drink More Hot Water” had always been silently guarding Xie Ling, but fortunately, she did not give her too many scenes while writing, so Xie Ling never clearly received her confession from start to finish.

She had felt it was a pity while writing, but now she could not help but feel relieved, it is a good thing she did not write it out, otherwise, they would not even be friends.

Xie Ling got up to go to the walk-in closet to change clothes. The phone screen went dark but lit up again within three seconds, there was a new message in the “Haicheng Mad Girls” group.

Give You a Punch: I am almost there. Backhand Punch: I am almost there too. Drink More Hot Water: No late arrivals allowed. Xie Ling: Leaving now.

Xie Ling’s leg was not a major problem; it was just a regular scrape. Aside from being a bit difficult on the stairs, it did not affect her mobility.

After Xie Hongfei returned from the company, he took his wife into the study. The housekeeper was preparing dinner. Chen Xia saw Xie Ling come out of the elevator and hurriedly went to meet her.

“Miss?”

Xie Ling waved her hand: “Help me find a driver to take me to Nanchun Road. Qian Lu and the others invited me out to dinner. Please tell my parents for me later.”

“Understood.” Chen Xia agreed, took a walkie-talkie from her pocket to arrange the staff, and personally saw Xie Ling into the backseat of the car.

As the black Bentley drove away from the villa area, Xie Ling leaned against the seat and looked out the window, her mind beginning to recall the basic information about her three group chat friends.