A Max-Level Film Queen Takes on the Scumbag Alpha Script [Transmigration] - Chapter 21.1

The group chatted outside for a few moments before following Ai Ya into the interior of the research institute.

Yan Shu was clearly very familiar with the environment here; she didn’t need Ai Ya to lead the way and walked forward of her own accord. After passing through a silent white corridor, they arrived at the door of a room. Through the glass window on the door, Jiang Baihe could vaguely see several people also wearing white coats, busy adjusting medical equipment whose names she couldn’t call out.

“Darling, go on in peace. I’ll take good care of Jiang-Jiang for you,” Ai Ya said, waving her hand toward Yan Shu.

Hearing this, both Jiang Baihe and Yan Shu stood frozen in place, silent. Why did a simple examination, as described by Ai Ya, sound like someone was about to go in and die? It sounded like a deathbed entrustment.

Ai Ya opened the door, gave a few instructions to the people inside, and then nudged her chin toward the unmoving Yan Shu. Yan Shu looked up at Jiang Baihe, her red lips parting slightly, but no sound came out.

Seeing this, Jiang Baihe thought Yan Shu was nervous, so she couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle Yan Shu’s hair. “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you to come out. Don’t be afraid.”

“Mhm.”

Jiang Baihe watched Yan Shu step into the room, her expression calm as she greeted the medical staff inside. It appeared these people were also familiar to her. Just how many times has Little President Yan come here for examinations to become this indifferent? Jiang Baihe thought blankly.

Soon, she saw the medical staff insert several needles into the back of Yan Shu’s neck and both hands. Several thin tubes connected Yan Shu to the equipment, looking very much like a patient undergoing hemodialysis. Yan Shu’s complexion looked quite poor.

Shocked, Jiang Baihe moved closer, practically pressing herself against the door. If the door hadn’t been locked from the inside, she likely would have burst in. She had originally thought a gland examination was just a simple blood draw or checking for surface damage; she hadn’t expected it to be so complex. In the memories left by the original scumbag Alpha, ordinary examinations were not conducted in this manner.

Jiang Baihe turned to look at the accustomed Ai Ya beside her and asked in a heavy voice, “What exactly are they doing?”

The institute was very empty and quiet. The staff instinctively lightened their steps when walking. Jiang Baihe heard her own voice echoing in the area. Whether before or after transmigrating, she rarely visited hospitals and had never experienced the anxiety of waiting for someone outside a ward. Anxiety involuntarily flooded her heart. She was worried and nervous because the person sitting inside was someone she cared about.

Ai Ya looked at Jiang Baihe’s fingers, which were unconsciously gripping the door tight, and smiled meaningfully. She turned to leave, saying with her back to Jiang Baihe, “If you want to know, come with me.”

Jiang Baihe looked at the receding Ai Ya, then turned to look at Yan Shu inside the room. Finally, she clenched her fists and jogged to catch up.

“Steady, steady.” Ai Ya looked at Jiang Baihe’s heavy expression and squeezed a water cup into her hand with a slight smile. “It’s not as serious as you think. I guarantee she’ll still be alive and kicking when she finishes her exam and comes out, okay?”

“What exactly is wrong with Yan Shu?” Jiang Baihe took a sip of the warm water and looked at Ai Ya, asking the question that had puzzled her for a long time. At the same time, she searched her mind for the original plot and the scumbag Alpha’s memories.

Since settling into this world, Jiang Baihe rarely went out of her way to recall the original story. It wasn’t until she needed it today that she was surprised to find the plot points were slowly fading from her mind. Aside from a few major milestones, she could no longer remember the fine details.

Racking her brain, she could only recall some minor points: Yan Shu experienced severe physical pain during her semi-annual heat cycles or when exposed to others’ pheromones. She married the scumbag Alpha because they had a high compatibility rating and non-conflicting pheromones, which could alleviate that pain. But as for the specific cause of this condition, she knew nothing.

Jiang Baihe couldn’t help but feel regret, thinking she had cared far too little for Yan Shu. She felt it was her failure. She desperately wanted to know the truth, and Ai Ya was the only one who could help.

“You know that for most people, secondary gender differentiation usually happens around age 14 or 15, right?”

Jiang Baihe nodded. She had learned this during her first few days here. But what did this have to do with Yan Shu?

Ai Ya pulled a pen from somewhere and spun it rapidly between her fingertips. “Then guess at what age Yan Shu differentiated?”

Since she asked, it must be unusual. Jiang Baihe hesitated and answered, “…12?”

“It was 12,” Ai Ya said with a light, sardonic laugh. “On the day she differentiated, she happened to be locked in a room by her own sister for six hours.”

Jiang Baihe shuddered, looking at Ai Ya in disbelief.

Just like the 12-year-old Yan Shu that year… pushed into a dark, windowless room.

“Yan Shu, why are you so annoying!”

“Exactly! Exactly!”

Young Yan Shu stood up from the floor, pounding on the closed wooden door. “Let me out!”

The person outside snorted. “Weren’t you acting like a big shot in International Finance class? If you’re so capable, find your own way out! Blehh!”

“Yan Jue! Let me out!”

Hearing the voices outside fade away, Yan Shu frowned. She stopped wasting her energy pounding the door and slid down to sit against it. This room was in a neglected corner of the Yan mansion, originally intended as a storage room but left vacant. There was nothing inside but the door and a high-up ventilation vent she couldn’t reach. She could only wait for someone to pass by and find her.

She didn’t understand why Yan Jue hated her so much that she’d gather a group of people to push her in here. Was it a mistake to answer questions in class? If Yan Jue couldn’t do the problems herself, was no one else allowed to solve them? Little Yan Shu couldn’t figure it out.

As heirs of the Yan family, she and her siblings and cousins would gather on school holidays to be taught by professionals so they could better manage the Yan companies in the future. Yan Shu was undoubtedly the standout of her generation—perfect scores in theory and flawless in practice. This excellence was satisfying to the head of the house and the teachers, but in a family with such high competitive pressure, it became a threat to her peers.

She and Yan Jue were half-sisters. She knew Yan Jue was unfriendly, but she hadn’t expected her to be bold enough to lock her up. Little Yan Shu sighed; ultimately, her guard had been too low and Yan Jue was too malicious. She decided to use the hours to review her lessons or just sleep.

She hadn’t considered being trapped a major problem—she’d get out eventually—but then her body suddenly began to burn. It felt like a fire was ignited inside her, threatening to consume her, and the small area at the back of her neck began to throb with pain.

Having taken biology classes, she vaguely realized she was entering her differentiation period. Although shocked that it came so early, she was more worried about how to get out. She bit her lip and pounded the door, screaming to make noise. Time passed, but no one came. Her vision blurred until she finally collapsed.

Jiang Baihe gritted her teeth and slammed her hand on the table, standing up abruptly. She wished she could transmigrate back to the past and teach those children who bullied Yan Shu a proper lesson.

“That’s attempted murder!!”

Looking at the angry Jiang Baihe, Ai Ya snorted. “After all, no one expected things to be so coincidental.”

It was just that coincidental: Yan Shu was locked in a room on the very day she hit an early differentiation period. She stayed in that room for six hours until the elders returned home and realized she was missing. They found her unconscious in that room.

After the incident, the head of the Yan family was furious and exiled the children involved and their parents to overseas branches, far from the power center of City A. But no matter how they punished the wrongdoers, the damage was done. Yan Shu’s body was left with the sequelae of incomplete differentiation, for which she paid a heavy price over the following years.

Jiang Baihe paced the room fuming. She remembered the major plot point at the end of the original book—how the scumbag Alpha stole trade secrets for gambling debts, leading to Yan Shu’s car accident. That accident was orchestrated by someone in the Yan family to seize control of the group. With old and new grudges stacking up, Jiang Baihe thought fiercely: she couldn’t change the past, but she would absolutely crush any future disasters in the cradle!

Seeing Jiang Baihe stop to contemplate, Ai Ya suddenly spoke: “See this balloon?”

Jiang Baihe looked at her hand. Ai Ya was holding a white balloon she’d produced from somewhere, inflating it until it was bulging and looked ready to burst. Once she had Jiang Baihe’s attention, Ai Ya looked at the balloon and smiled slightly.

“Early differentiation, six hours without guidance, and it was ‘New Snow’—a symbolic pheromone. Her gland is like this balloon: after extreme expansion, it never got released. So, during heat, during emotional stress, or when exposed to strong pheromones, it will—”

The tip of the pen in her right hand suddenly jabbed the balloon. A sharp pop echoed in the room.

“Bang!”

Jiang Baihe completely calmed down in the wake of the explosion. She licked her dry lips and asked hoarsely, “What can I do?”

Finally hearing those words, Ai Ya let out a secret sigh of relief. She stood up and took some equipment she had prepared from a large cabinet against the wall. She smiled at Jiang Baihe. “Darling, I need to extract your pheromones and a portion of your blood. It’s for the new compatibility test and to save samples for future research. But… pheromone extraction cannot be done under anesthesia. It can be quite painful. Also, for the next week, you won’t be able to utilize your own pheromones.”

Hearing the explanation of the “side effect,” Jiang Baihe shrugged indifferently. She rarely used pheromones anyway; the last time she used them to pressure someone at the banquet was only out of sheer rage. A one-week limit was nothing compared to Yan Shu’s safety.

She sat back in the chair, gathered her long hair into a small bun, and exposed the skin on her neck. “Do I need to release the pheromones?”

“Yes. Mobilize the pheromones in your body as much as possible.”