After Transmigrating as the Scumbag Alpha in an Otherworld Novel, I Ended Up with the Villain - Chapter 5

Lin Yuxuan’s face was pale. She stood up and took the clothes without a word.

Seeing her so weak, Su Xinge asked, “Can you manage on your own? Do you need help?”

Lin Yuxuan brushed past Su Xinge, leaving only her retreating back and eyes full of loathing. “I can manage.”

Su Xinge watched her slow but determined figure with worry. If she falls, it’s two lives down the drain.

It wasn’t until Lin Yuxuan had completely entered the bathroom that Su Xinge withdrew her gaze and sat back down on the living room sofa.

Inside the bathroom, Lin Yuxuan locked the door. She didn’t rush to wash; instead, she waited for about ten minutes. Only after confirming there was no movement outside did she slowly begin to move.

In the living room, Su Xinge picked up a notebook lying on the coffee table.

She flipped through a few pages. It was filled with hand-drawn calendars categorized by year, month, and day. On the last page, the date read April 20XX. Below were thirty hand-drawn boxes marking the days. The empty spaces under the 1st and 2nd were checked off, but everything after the 3rd was blank. Su Xinge flipped back and found that almost every previous date had a checkmark, with some featuring brief notes about the day’s events.

Seeing these dense records, Su Xinge felt a bit more grounded.

Today should be April 3rd. Su Xinge flipped back to the last page. The 5th and 20th were circled without any notes. The 12th had a five-pointed star drawn over it. She looked at previous months and realized she couldn’t understand the annotations next to the circles and stars at all. The circled dates appeared at irregular intervals, but usually about fifteen days apart—meaning the day after tomorrow would be a “special” circled day. The stars, however, followed no pattern at all. With her memory fragments being so disjointed, she couldn’t figure out what the stars represented.

The circled dates were likely “field days.” The novel mentioned that in the early stages of the base, Awakened took turns leading teams out to find resources, and she had flashes of memory regarding combat outside the base.

Based on the timeline, there was still some time before Lin Yuxuan’s awakening. Su Xinge didn’t know exactly when Lin Yuxuan was supposed to be disfigured, but she was determined never to let it happen.

With that thought, she walked to the bathroom door. Hearing movement outside, Lin Yuxuan immediately stopped what she was doing, her gaze wary.

The voice from outside drifted in: “Don’t use up all the water. Remember to leave some for me.”

Lin Yuxuan looked down at the half-bucket of water remaining. “Understood,” she replied.

Su Xinge returned to the living room just as a knock sounded at the door. She looked through the peephole to see a woman with short brown hair. Another surge of fragmented memories gave Su Xinge a headache. Enduring the discomfort, she opened the door.

The woman offered a perfunctory smile and got straight to the point: “Your field mission for the day after tomorrow has been moved up. You need to gather at the Advance Station by 7:00 PM tonight.”

Su Xinge was confused. “Why was it moved up?”

The woman looked embarrassed. “Rye was supposed to go out tomorrow, but he suddenly took leave. Everyone else gets bumped up automatically. You happen to be the next one.”

Su Xinge kept a straight face. “Then I’d like to take leave, too.”

The woman flipped through her records. “You already took leave last month. Besides, your merit points are almost gone.”

Su Xinge: “…”

The woman gave a final reminder: “This operation might be a bit different, so you’d better arrive early.”

Su Xinge nodded in understanding and closed the door, her expression grim. Life in the base required merit points for everything. It was bad enough transmigrating as scumbag cannon fodder, but she was also broke.

And it was a bit too coincidental—Rye again.

She checked the mechanical watch on the table. It was 3:15. Only then did she feel the hunger in her stomach. She opened the fridge; even though the power was out, there was still a decent amount of food and drink stored inside. She grabbed a pack of compressed biscuits and started chewing.

Suddenly, a loud thud came from the bathroom.

Su Xinge dropped the biscuits and rushed to the door. “What happened?”

Ten seconds of silence passed with no answer. She knocked, but there was still no sound. She tried the handle and found it locked. Worried about the side effects of the suppressant—it usually only took one pill to work, and she didn’t know why Lin Yuxuan had needed two—she put her shoulder into the door.

She burst inside to find Lin Yuxuan, dressed in the red dress, unconscious on the floor.

Su Xinge scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. Finding no signs of a head injury, she felt relieved. She grabbed medical supplies—bandages and saline—from the living room. Using a cotton swab, she gently cleaned the blood from Lin Yuxuan’s wrist and re-bandaged it.

Su Xinge sighed. How can she move when she’s this weak? She was nervous enough about her own survival, let alone bringing someone else along.

She went back to the bathroom, intending to grab a quick shower while there was time. She stared at the empty water bucket in shock. Normally, if a bucket is used up, there are still droplets left, but this bucket was bone-dry, as if it had been wiped clean.

Su Xinge felt sticky and miserable. She clenched her fists. This is too much.

In the novel, early Awakened could only collect one bucket of water every three days. She didn’t know when the original host had collected this one, but given her obsession with cleanliness, it couldn’t have been long ago. It was more likely she had just fetched it, as it had been full earlier.

Realizing she had to leave soon, Su Xinge decided to skip the shower. She went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of expired mineral water and a dry towel, and went back to the bathroom to lock herself in for a quick sponge bath.

In the bedroom, hearing the sounds from the bathroom, Lin Yuxuan opened her eyes. She looked at the bandage on her wrist—tied into a neat bow—with pure disdain. She rubbed her aching head; she had actually woken up the moment she was picked up. She had played dead to see what Su Xinge was up to, only to find the woman was a surprisingly good actress.

When Su Xinge finished and returned to the bedroom, the white sheets and the vivid red of the dress made the woman on the bed look even more enchanting. Seemingly forgetting her previous frustration, Su Xinge saw that Lin Yuxuan was awake and asked, “Are you hungry? I’ll get you something.”

Without waiting for an answer, she fetched a pack of compressed biscuits. “Eat if you’re hungry.”

Lin Yuxuan shook her head. “I don’t want to eat right now.”

Su Xinge placed the biscuits on the nightstand. “I have to go outside the base to find supplies tomorrow.”

Lin Yuxuan looked up, shocked. “Tomorrow?”

She clearly remembered that tomorrow was the day Rye’s group was supposed to go out. That was why she had stayed until Su Xinge came for her. She would never forget that day, but now things were changing.

Su Xinge nodded. “Do you want to come with me? You can earn some merit points that way.”

Lin Yuxuan propped herself up, testing her: “Were you originally planning to go tomorrow?”

Su Xinge paused for a second. “It was supposed to be the day after, but an Awakened took leave, so I have to fill in.”

Lin Yuxuan instantly understood the situation. She nodded hesitantly. “I’ll go with you.”

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Su Xinge said, “I’ll protect you. Don’t worry.”

Lin Yuxuan smiled and nodded, though her fingers dug deep into the mattress. Things were spiraling out of control. But as long as Su Xinge wanted to play this “hero” role, there was still room to maneuver.

Su Xinge didn’t get the response she was hoping for, so she added, “Rest for a bit. We have some time before we leave.”

As Lin Yuxuan lay back down, Su Xinge opened the wardrobe. “We’re going out later; a dress will be inconvenient. You can pick any clothes from here to change into.”

Lin Yuxuan glanced at her with a questioning look. —Then what was the point of making me wear this dress?

Su Xinge avoided her gaze. She couldn’t exactly say she was playing “Love Nikki” with a real person. She turned away quickly. “Rest well. I’ll call you later.”

Su Xinge went back to studying the notebook. Even if she didn’t understand the symbols, she had to memorize them for emergencies.

In the novel, the “scumbag Alpha” lived in the largest survivor base in Haicheng. The base was divided into Inner and Outer Cities. The Advance Station was in the Outer City, while Su Xinge was currently in the Inner City. The Outer City was more dangerous, housing ordinary refugees; when zombies attacked, the Outer City was the first to fall.

She didn’t know exactly how long the walk was. At 5:00 PM, she decided it was time to move. Scouting missions usually required arriving early at the Advance Station to form teams.

Su Xinge knocked on the bedroom door. The person on the bed had already changed, but the biscuits on the nightstand were untouched. She pocketed them and said to Lin Yuxuan, “I’ll bring these for you. You can eat when you’re hungry. It’s time to go.”

Lin Yuxuan lay on the bed and spoke with a bashful tone: “I have no strength right now.”

Su Xinge stood tall, brimming with confidence. “I have strength. I’ll carry you.”