After Being Transmigrated as the Cannon Fodder Scum Alpha, She Relies on Acting Cute to Survive - Chapter 5

Ruan Ci dreamed of that voice again. This time, she heard the other party say: “If you die here, you will truly die in the real world too!”

Ruan Ci: “!!!”

“Don’t worry! Since I sent you here, I have a way to send you back! As long as you keep this body alive until the grand finale, you’ll naturally return! Good girl, good girl!”

The last few words sounded like coaxing a small child.

Knowing she wasn’t actually dead made Ruan Ci feel a bit more stable.

But thinking about the plot she had to face upon waking, she said fearfully, “I—I really temporarily marked Lin Shu. She hates me so much she wants to kill me…”

“Oh, don’t be anxious! Lin Shu is reasonable. If you are good to her, she won’t kill you!”

Ruan Ci was half-doubting: “R-really? QAQ”

The voice answered with absolute certainty: “Of course! Think about it, even the reborn Lin Shu isn’t someone who retaliates against everyone she sees or finds everyone unpleasant. It’s just that the original host was too cruel to her! Right now it’s still okay; nothing has happened yet. You can let her think she transmigrated to a parallel world, where this life’s ‘you’ isn’t the same as the last life’s ‘you’…”

“Besides, the gap between you and the original Ruan Ci is quite large. After spending time together, how could she not notice?”

Ruan Ci listened and felt it made sense. Without the various traumas of the previous life, Lin Shu wouldn’t be the way she is now.

“I don’t know how to manage a family business. Can I… just give it to Lin Shu directly after I inherit it?” The reborn Lin Shu was a business genius; she was practically a human cheat code!

In the plot, the original Mr. and Mrs. Ruan seemed to lose contact during a future accident. Only then did the family business fall onto the original host’s shoulders, which she then squandered.

The voice went silent for a long time. Ruan Ci called out to it cautiously.

The voice replied cheerfully, “Sure, just do that! Relax, relax. Not many people get the experience of entering a book; you’re the first! I see that in your world, you’re still writing novels, right? You can write about this!”

Mentioning novels made Ruan Ci’s mood much better.

She replied with a silly smile, “Okay! I… I don’t even know how to thank you. I happen to be stuck for ideas on my new book…”

“Good luck!”

“Mhm, okay!”

Just as Ruan Ci wanted to chat more with the voice about her novel, a sudden scream rang out:

“Ahhh! Wake up quickly! Lin Shu is going to kill you!!”

Ruan Ci: “?!?”

The person on the bed dodged the knife tip; it plunged into the pillow instead.

Ruan Ci rolled to the center of the bed, her eyes wide and round, staring in disbelief at her—or rather, at the dagger in her hand.

Ruan Ci’s movement was too large, aggravating the wound on her neck. She instantly froze in pain, not daring to move again. She desperately pulled her legs in, terrified of being dragged out and hacked to pieces.

Lin Shu wanted to kill her. Lin Shu really wanted to kill her!!

But… but killing someone means being sent to the Omega Detention Center?! Is Lin Shu so intent on revenge that she’d throw away the rest of her life… Ruan Ci bit her lip, staring helplessly at Lin Shu.

Lin Shu’s cold eyes shifted slightly. She quickly pulled the blade out, kneeling with one leg on the edge of the bed. One hand rested slowly on the mattress—a posture ready to pounce and slaughter Ruan Ci at any moment!!

“Y-you, calm down a bit…”

When Ruan Ci spoke, she realized her voice was shaking uncontrollably. Her throat felt half-blocked by something, and her voice was raspy. “I didn’t… didn’t mean to mark you. I—I untied the rope for you, d-do you remember… I-I-I didn’t want to hurt you, I really didn’t…”

“Y-you, put the dagger down. Can we… can we talk things through…”

Talk things through?

Treading on her dignity over and over again—in their eyes, she wasn’t human at all! Any insult was fine, any treatment was acceptable.

Having come back to life, she originally wanted to change her fate, escape this woman, and stay far away from everything here—did she have a chance? Could she make her own decisions?

No.

In this world, she never had the final say. Her life, her future, and even her family were all gripped in the hands of this demon. She was already unable to start over—

There was only one sentence in Lin Shu’s mind right now.

“Kill Ruan Ci, then kill myself.”

She had already died once; there was nothing to fear. But she hadn’t seen Ruan Ci die before her eyes with her own eyes—she wasn’t reconciled! Even if she died again, she wouldn’t be reconciled!!

Lin Shu’s emotions had reached a certain breaking point. Ruan Ci stopped trying to say things that might trigger her.

The Alpha huddled motionlessly in the center of the bed had a face full of “Omega-like” vibes. Her features were exceptionally beautiful, and her skin was soft and white, like a piece of mochi that would stick to you if poked.

She shivered like a little rabbit afraid of being stewed—injured, shaking, her eyes clear and bright, yet looking as if they might mist over at any second.

The fabric of her pajamas was high quality, but because they weren’t long, when she bent her legs, the hem slid up slightly below her knees, revealing thin calves.

Her slender fingers gripped the bedsheets one moment and the hem of her shirt the next…

No matter how you looked at it, she was a completely harmless herbivore, waiting for the lurking beasts around her to pounce. Even if she tried to run, she wouldn’t make it two steps before being pinned to the ground and torn apart.

Even her pheromone scent was orange—that kind of clear, sweet orange from early summer that easily made one think of sunlight.

Sunlight?

Lin Shu thought mockingly, is she even worthy?!

The Ruan family’s luxury had raised this pampered body. Once the material conditions disappeared, she would become a paranoid, willful, cruel, and unscrupulous madman with zero ambition!

If she didn’t kill her, Ruan Ci would eventually kill her.

At this point, Lin Shu’s last shred of desire to live vanished. No light could be found in her eyes; there was only heavy darkness.

Ruan Ci was once again pinned to the bed by Lin Shu.

Her reactions were truly not as fast as Lin Shu’s. Just as she realized things were bad and wanted to run, Lin Shu grabbed her ankle and dragged her back. Seeing the knife tip coming straight for her calf, Ruan Ci was so scared she raised her other leg and kicked at the hilt of the dagger.

Her kick was off-target; her instep was instantly covered in blood.

Ruan Ci, who since childhood would act spoiled and ask her mother for a hug even for a scraped knee, couldn’t handle this. She immediately gave up her persistence in running away.

Her neck hurt, her foot hurt. Ruan Ci clung to the edge of the bed, not wanting to go near, but Lin Shu climbed directly onto the bed, grabbed her collar, and raised the dagger—

With a “bang,” a desk lamp struck Lin Shu’s hand, sending the dagger flying against the wall!!

Taking advantage of Lin Shu’s pain, the butler was quick to act, kicking Lin Shu aside and pulling Ruan Ci out.

He shielded the Young Lady in his arms, snarling through gritted teeth at the person on the bed who looked like she had lost her soul: “You’ll never leave the detention center in this lifetime! Lin Shu, I want you to suffer a fate worse than death!!”

Lin Shu’s body hadn’t recovered to begin with. An Omega who has just passed their heat should ideally stay in bed and avoid emotional agitation for three days. Now, her hand had been struck hard by the flying lamp; the pain was so sharp it felt broken. The butler’s two moves hadn’t been merciful either; she clutched her abdomen, unable to move for a long time.

Yet she didn’t cry out in pain, nor did she weep. She turned her head to stare at Ruan Ci—who was filled with shock and uncertainty—and let out a low laugh.

The sound was incredibly desolate, and piercing.

In all his years, the butler had never had such close contact with Miss Ruan.

His Young Lady had been pampered and spoiled since childhood. Whether it was Mr. Ruan or Mrs. Ruan, they both doted on her immensely; she had never suffered a bit.

The old Miss Ruan wouldn’t have spared a second glance at Beta servants like them, and she only spoke in commands.

But today, in his haste, he had “disrespectfully” held the Young Lady. Not only did she not scold him, she spoke in his arms with a tone that could drown someone in its softness: “Don’t provoke her anymore, and don’t hurt her. Let her… uh, settle down first. Use whatever method works, just don’t hurt her.”

“But Miss…”

“Do as I say.” Ruan Ci said each word carefully, her expression a bit serious.

Unaccustomed to being in close contact with a stranger, Ruan Ci shifted twice in the butler’s arms. The butler then gently released her and helped her stand.

Ruan Ci glanced at the butler, her toes moving slightly against the carpet: “I want to say a few words to her.”

Lin Shu lay motionless on the bed.

Her beautiful, slender body was covered in bruises—wounds from head to toe. She gazed blankly and futilely at a point in the void—no tears, no expression.

Ruan Ci: “…”

Sigh, QAQ. Looking at Lin Shu made her want to cry too.

In the original plot, the reborn Lin Shu wasn’t impulsive enough to brandish a knife to kill the host. It must be the butterfly effect from her arrival—causing Lin Shu to be temporarily marked now, causing Ruan Ci to be injured and Mother Ruan to intervene, and causing Lin Shu’s hatred for Ruan Ci to reach its peak.

She wanted to be good to Lin Shu, yet she had hurt her even more deeply.

The butler frowned: “But she…”

Ruan Ci shook her head and whispered, “She’s injured like this; she doesn’t have any offensive capability left.”

The butler wanted to say more, but noticing that the Alpha’s gaze on Lin Shu had become tender and full of pity, he was momentarily speechless.

Before the doctor arrived, Ruan Ci had some things to say.

Biting her lip, she walked to the bedside and called out that beautiful name: “Lin… Lin Shu.”

“I won’t let my… my mother hurt your family. I can swear it. Treat the wounds on your body first… don’t let them leave scars.”

The skin on her knee had turned purple-black from slamming into the floor earlier; the contrast against her fair skin made it look especially horrific.

“…”

Snapping out of it, Ruan Ci realized she had been staring at the other woman’s legs for too long. Shifting her gaze as if burned, Ruan Ci continued: “It’s really not worth giving up on yourself for an Alpha like me.”

Fearing there might be ambiguity in that sentence, Ruan Ci added hurriedly: “I’m not blaming you! I know you only did it because you had no other choice. You’ve already done very well… it’s just…”

She stopped.

Lin Shu closed her eyes, unwilling to look at her.

“…I’m really sorry. Just, just rest first. A doctor will come to take care of you later. No matter what, take care of your health first… afterwards, whatever you want… is fine.”

The doctor arrived quickly.

To Ruan Ci’s surprise, the other party was an Alpha—wait, she didn’t even know if Lin Shu’s heat had passed yet, and they were letting an Alpha treat her??

This… this isn’t good, right?

Just as Ruan Ci was peeking at the Alpha with concern, the Alpha started walking toward her.

The other party was half a head taller than her. As she approached, she had to look down at Ruan Ci, her eyebrow arching: “What? Haven’t seen me for half a month and you don’t recognize me anymore?”