Chapter 2 Black Card.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye. My system turned out to be the ultimate flake, disconnecting the second we landed in this world and refusing to answer no matter how hard I called. Left to my own devices, I decided to tackle my three-step game plan:

1. Sleep with the male lead (Done).
2. Drain his bank account.
3. Die.

No sooner said than done. I marched toward his office like a woman on a mission to execute Step Two. Armed with my credit card and surging with unstoppable momentum, I slammed the door open: “Xie Huaiyan, I’m out of…”

The rest of the sentence died in my throat as cold sweat poured down my back like a busted faucet. Inside the sprawling office stood a long line of burly bodyguards, looking like they were lined up for a military inspection. The second I barged in, every single one of them snapped their heads toward me… and raised their guns right at my face.

I dropped into a squatter’s position on the spot, clutching my head: “Gentlemen, please! I’m just passing through! Leaving right now!”

A soft chuckle broke the silence. Xie Huaiyan rested his chin lazily on his hand, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint smirk. “Don’t be scared, baby. Come here. What were you about to say?”

Only when the men lowered their weapons did I dare drag my feet forward, my voice turning as soft as mush: “Hubby… my card is empty. Could you transfer a hundred thousand into it… so I can prove what I’m made of?”

Xie Huaiyan took the card, glanced at it, and furrowed his brows. My eyes instantly lit up: Yes! The plot is back on track! He’s finally starting to despise me for being a gold digger, isn’t he?!

Yet in the very next second, he tossed my card aside and pulled out a sleek, lethal-looking black card instead: “Why bother with that one? It only has a hundred thousand limit. What can you even buy with that? Use my black card.”

Me: “…”

What do you mean ‘only’ a hundred thousand?! That’s a whole hundred thousand! If he considered this being bankrupt, then what was I? A bootleg beggar?

Sometimes I genuinely had to laugh at my own broke-ass destiny. Transmigrating as the villainous female side character was hard enough, but how was I supposed to be “evil” when I was paired with a walking, breathing ATM?

After a few days of drowning in a blissfully money-drunken haze, reality slapped me awake. This isn’t right! My mission is to follow the original storyline! But as things stood, the plot was so derailed that even the author wouldn’t recognize her own baby.

In the original novel, sleeping with the male lead once and taking his money once was all it took for him to hate Shen Li down to his bones. As for me? I slept with him every night and took his cash every day, yet Xie Huaiyan still smiled at me as warmly as spring sunshine. I was starting to suspect: Am I the only one whose system cranked the difficulty up to nightmare mode?!

Just as I was plunged deep into self-reflection, Xie Huaiyan’s unfairly gorgeous face leaned in close.

Mwah. He planted a soft kiss on my cheek, his voice impossibly tender:
“What’s wrong, baby? Did someone upset you? That limited-edition bag you couldn’t get last time… I just bought the whole room’s worth. Want to go take a look?”

Me: “Yes! Let’s go right now!”

…Fine. Life was suddenly looking pretty worth living for a few more days.

—

“AAAAAAHHH!!!”

Late that night, a shrill blare sounding like a five-alarm fire drill jerked me straight out of sleep. A painfully familiar robotic voice shrieked in my ear:
“Host! It’s me! Your system!”

I snapped fully awake like a coiled spring: “Hurry, check my mission progress!”

The system fell into a suspiciously heavy silence before piping up timidly:
“The good news is that Xie Huaiyan’s favorability toward you has reached 100%. Target fully seduced!”

I practically threw a party in my head: “And the bad news?”

The system burst into hysterical sobbing:
“The bad news is… you seduced the wrong guy!!! Your target was the male lead, Xie Huaidian, but the guy you’ve been sleeping with is the big villain, Xie Huaiyan! You misheard his name, so who else can you blame?!”

I was utterly dumbstruck. They sound practically identical, how was I supposed to tell the difference?!

The system kept screeching:
“Run! Run right now! If you fall into the male lead’s hands, at least you’ll get a quick death. But if you fall into this psycho villain’s hands, you won’t even know how horribly you’re gonna die!”

Horrified, I scrambled out of bed to bolt, but the second I raised my head, the blood in my veins ran stone cold.

Standing silently in the shadows of the doorway was Xie Huaiyan. He wore no expression whatsoever, but that utter stillness was the most terrifying thing of all.

“Baby… where are you planning to run?”

Cold sweat drenched me top to bottom. Shifting into full actor mode, I threw myself forward and clung tightly to his arm:
“Hubby! I was just on the phone telling a friend about playing an ‘escape room’ game!”

Xie Huaiyan slowly curled his lips into a smile, his dark eyes turned into a bottomless abyss:
“Is that so? Then why don’t you play an escape game right here at home with me? You have half an hour. If you can escape from here, I’ll let you go. But if you can’t… you stay by my side forever.”

I immediately hooked my pinky around his in agreement. No matter how big a house is, half an hour of walking should easily get me to the front gate, right? I whirled around and ran for dear life.

…

Half an hour later.

I was collapsed flat on the ground, staring at the endless, dizzying expanse of garden stretching before me, feeling an existential migraine coming on. I thought his place was just a big villa. Who knew the moment I stepped out the front door, I’d be greeted by: grand fountains, open plazas, an artificial river, a private zoo… and a estate grounds as vast as a national park.

I shook my fist at the sky in pure, bitter indignation: “I hate rich people! If you have so much land, why can’t you just spare me a plot?!”

The night wind rustled eerily through the trees, accompanied by eerie bird calls that raised goosebumps all over my skin. Terrified, I tiptoed backward to head back, only to trip over a thick bush. Just as I braced myself to eat dirt, a gentle tug pulled me straight into a warm, solid chest. The familiar scent of cedar enveloped me completely.

Xie Huaiyan let out a soft laugh as he draped his jacket over my shoulders:
“You lost.”

I had clearly failed my escape, yet for some strange reason, the moment I saw him, my frantic, racing heart settled into a bizarre sense of safety.

I muttered a weak, stubborn protest: “Can we get a do-over? I didn’t know your house was this huge…”

“No do-overs.”

Under the moonlight, he looked unfairly, criminally handsome. He intertwined his fingers with mine, leaned down, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss onto the back of my hand:
“The price for losing… is staying with me forever.”