The Five Heartless Scumbag Alphas Turned Against Each Other Because Of Me - Chapter 5

Alpha strength was terrifying—even if she had only just reached adulthood.

Tan Hua winced from the pain of Wen Chuan’s grip. On top of that, she was also being subtly suppressed by the girl’s Alpha pheromones. Instinctively, she began to struggle.
“Wen Chuan, are you out of your mind? You’re hurting me!”

She frowned. Even though the darkness masked her expression, Wen Chuan could vividly imagine the look of disgust Tan Hua must have had on her beautiful face at that moment. With a jolt, Wen Chuan abruptly let go, the light in her eyes dimming as a flicker of pain bloomed in her chest.
“…Sorry.”

Her voice was soft and dejected, low like a whimpering puppy. Tan Hua’s heart twinged with guilt for a second.

Maybe I was too deep in the act… maybe I was too harsh. After all, she’s still just a kid.

“But I’m happy,” Wen Chuan suddenly said, lifting her head in a flash. That brief sorrow in her eyes had turned into an unexpectedly bright glimmer. Tan Hua froze—her mind momentarily blank.

Wen Chuan’s voice was tinged with cautious joy.
“Mom, you’re talking to me again. Does that mean… you’re not mad at me anymore?”

“Mom, please don’t be mad at me, okay?” she pleaded anxiously, as if terrified Tan Hua might go cold on her again. “If I did something wrong, just tell me—I’ll change right away.”

“As long as you’re willing to talk to me, I’ll do anything. Anything, Mom.”

Tan Hua’s head throbbed. This kid calling her Mom every other sentence was giving her a migraine. She opened her mouth to say something but hesitated. In the end, faced with Wen Chuan’s pleading, expectant expression, she sighed in resignation.
“…I’m tired.”

Physically tired. Emotionally even more so.

“Then I’ll take you home,” Wen Chuan offered immediately. She bit her lip, then cautiously asked,
“Do you… want me to carry you?” Afraid Tan Hua might misunderstand, she quickly clarified, “Or I can give you a piggyback ride, if that’s more comfortable. I don’t mean anything weird—I just don’t like seeing you so exhausted. I want to take care of you, that’s all.”

“If you don’t like it, that’s okay too…”

Tan Hua hadn’t even responded yet, but Wen Chuan had already played out both sides of the conversation. Tan Hua was silent for a long moment.
“…Since you’re going that far—”

Wen Chuan’s eyes lit up with hope.

Tan Hua smiled sweetly—like a wicked villainess.
“—then forget it.”

Wen Chuan’s expression shifted dramatically in that instant—disbelief, disappointment, frustration at being rejected, and forced restraint all tangled together. Her face was more colorful than a painter’s palette.

Tan Hua was now completely convinced: Wen Chuan was all bark and no bite—a coward with impure intentions. No danger here.

Feeling quite at ease, Tan Hua let her lips curl into a lazy, teasing smile.
“Let’s go.”

Wen Chuan stood frozen for a moment, but in the end, she followed—neither too close nor too far behind.

She didn’t approach Tan Hua again, nor did she make another sound. Like a ghost moving silently through the night, she trailed behind without disturbing the silence.

Following the path etched in memory, they eventually arrived home. Tan Hua took out the key from her bag and unlocked the creaky wooden door—one that looked like it might fall off with a single kick. She was rendered speechless.

“…You’re an old, experienced system, right?” she asked. “How could you not negotiate even a decent living condition for this so-called ‘villainess’?”

“The villains in most stories are gorgeous, come from elite families, and are loaded. How come I got stuck with a broken-down life and nothing?”

“Not nothing,” the system said, poking its head out while wearing a safety helmet. Tan Hua raised a brow, equal parts suspicious and hopeful. The system grinned sheepishly and blurted out with no shame whatsoever:
“You have… the mountain of debt your parents left you!”

Tan Hua: “?”

“…Wait. What debt?”

The system cleared its throat.
“According to the records, your legal father’s a drunk, and your mother’s a gambling addict. One borrows money to buy booze, the other to gamble. Lemme do the math… Together, they left you with—oh, at least five million yuan in debt.”

“Why do you think such a rare Omega like you ended up living in a place like this? You’ve been hiding from debt collectors, obviously.”

“This kind of rundown neighborhood? Only desperate, bankrupt Alphas and Betas come here.”

Tan Hua stood in stunned silence.

There was no way around it—she’d been scammed.

“…Five million…” she murmured. The system, curious to hear what she was about to say, leaned in a little.

Then came the bombshell:
“What if I just get Lu Huaixu to mark me once?”

“One short-term mark from Lu Huaixu nets me a cool ten million. Pay off the debt, and I still have five million left. If I’m frugal… that’s more than enough to live comfortably for the rest of my life. Plus, I’ve got five rich fools paying me hefty stand-in fees regularly. Why would I ever need anything else?”

She grinned with sudden inspiration.
One big score, early retirement, and a pretty little Alpha to keep around. Sounds perfect.

Just thinking about the rich, naive sucker trailing behind her, Tan Hua suddenly spun around—so abruptly that she startled the completely unprepared Wen Chuan.

Wen Chuan reflexively took two steps back, but then quickly approached with concern.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”

For the sake of the money, Tan Hua decided to let that irritating “Mom” slide—just this once. She put on her kindest, most motherly smile.
“Xiao Chuan, come inside.”

When things are too out of character, there’s always a catch.

Wen Chuan stared at her gentle expression and felt a strange chill creep up her spine. Then, as if something had just dawned on her, her expression shifted instantly—puppy eyes vanishing, replaced by sharp disgust.

“Tan Hua, this is the last time I’ll warn you: you’re just a substitute for Sister Cheng Yuan. You’ll never become her.”

“Compared to her, you’re not even worth one strand of her hair.” Wen Chuan took a deep breath, dark eyes full of irritation. “So don’t get any ideas. Stop deluding yourself into thinking you could ever replace her.”

Tan Hua was completely confused. Though a little offended, she reminded herself this was her financial backer talking—so she chose tolerance.

“Xiao Chuan, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t you know that harsh words hurt worse than cold weather?” she said, pretending to wipe away a tear. “Xiao Chuan, what you just said really hurt me.”

So hurry up and comfort me by throwing money at me! Tan Hua thought to herself with practiced fragility.

Unfortunately, her tearful performance only made Wen Chuan feel more scornful. Her expression turned cold and apathetic. Whatever interest she had in continuing the twisted ‘mother-daughter tragic romance’ seemed to have evaporated. She turned on her heel and walked away without a word.

“Xiao Chuan!” Tan Hua called after her, reaching out. But Wen Chuan didn’t even glance back—if anything, she walked even faster.

“…Seriously?” Tan Hua sighed, exasperated. “Everything was going fine—why did she suddenly flip like that?” She fell into deep self-reflection.
Was I too gentle with her just now?

Could it be that Wen Chuan didn’t like soft and tender Omegas? Maybe she was only interested in those who ignored her completely—so she could fantasize about some tragic love she could never attain?

Watching her walking ATM disappear down the road, Tan Hua let out a long, frustrated sigh and returned home.

But she hadn’t been inside for more than two minutes when strange noises started drifting in from next door. The system stared at her in horror while Tan Hua, clearly entertained, ran over to listen in. Not even three minutes passed before it went silent again.

“…That was fast,” she muttered.

System: “……”
Why does a good, upright system like me have to witness this kind of thing?

The original owner’s little home was beyond basic: cold in winter, stifling in summer, and drafty year-round. Tan Hua glanced at a few marked dates on the calendar hanging crookedly on the wall. She subconsciously reached up to touch the soft gland at the back of her neck.

Her heat was less than three days away.

During heat, an Omega’s already fragile body would become even weaker. And if their pheromones weren’t properly suppressed, they could easily attract out-of-control Alphas looking to mark them. Families with resources typically kept hormone suppressants on hand. Those without had to make do with cheaper, widely available suppressant patches—and hope sheer willpower would carry them through.

As for the original host? She’d always relied on borrowing patches from her fake best friend, Mu Wanyi.

Sure, Mu Wanyi would roll her eyes and throw in a snide remark or two, but considering they were both Omegas, she’d still grudgingly give her enough patches to survive the episode.

Thinking of this, Tan Hua’s lips curled into a faint, sarcastic smile.

She pulled out her phone and typed a message:
[My heats early. Bring suppressants, ASAP.]

After sending it to Mu Wanyi, she tossed her phone aside and started organizing the original host’s belongings. The system, watching her work up a light sweat, glanced between her and the discarded phone, then asked hesitantly:

“…Host, aren’t you even worried Mu Wanyi might show up with an Alpha and have them mark you right then and there?”

“Afraid? What’s there to be afraid of?” Tan Hua didn’t even bother lifting her eyelids. “It’s so late—where’s she supposed to find me an Alpha? Her own husband?”

“Besides,” she added casually, “even if she could somehow find one at this hour, it wouldn’t matter. I wasn’t really entering heat. I just wanted an excuse to trick her into coming here to help me move.”

System: “……”
What a scheming woman… It suddenly began to feel sorry for Mu Wanyi, that so-called plastic best friend.

Mu Wanyi arrived quickly—flanked by bodyguards, her driver, and a whole entourage. She made such a dramatic entrance it could’ve been mistaken for a raid. Marching straight up to the fifth floor, she pinched her nose in disgust.
“Tan Hua!”

She motioned for one of the bodyguards to kick open the barely-closed door. Then she dropped her hand from her nose and waved away the dust in the air.
“Where are you?”

Inside the tiny apartment, she looked around, while her entourage remained outside per her instructions. In one hand, she held an inhibitor; in the other, a syringe. But the longer she searched without finding any trace of the Omega, the more annoyed she became.

Suddenly, she froze and looked toward the bedroom. There, someone was moving sluggishly—hard to see, but the figure looked a lot like Tan Hua.

“It’s the middle of the night—how much longer are you going to drag this out?” Mu Wanyi’s lips curled into a smirk, her vanity greatly satisfied by the other woman’s neediness.
“Tan Hua, you can’t even afford an inhibitor. Why pretend to be someone you’re not?”

“Why not just agree to marry my little uncle? You’d finally have food on the table and a bed to sleep in.”

“Then we’d be family. We could keep being ‘sisters,’ right?”

Her “little uncle” was a notorious good-for-nothing Beta—bad temper, worse personality, living off his family while indulging in drinking, gambling, and worse. Most Omegas and Betas avoided him like the plague. Nearing thirty and still single, it was obvious why.

Mu Wanyi had previously tried to pressure the original Tan Hua into accepting him, claiming it would at least lead to a better life. But the original had refused—anger that rejection had made Mu Wanyi increasingly vindictive. Eventually, she even teamed up with Cheng Yuan to push Tan Hua’s life into ruin.

Tan Hua listened to Mu Wanyi’s monologue with complete indifference, then forced a cheerful smile and launched herself at her.

“Wanyi, I knew you cared about me!”

She clung to her like an octopus, arms and legs wrapped around Mu Wanyi’s body. Mu Wanyi let out a scream and struggled to push her off.
“Get off me!”

“Wanyi, you came all this way just to make sure I was okay. You brought an actual inhibitor, not just some cheap patch. You even made sure to keep all those Alphas outside so they wouldn’t be affected by my scent. Wanyi, you’re amazing!”

“I always knew you had a soft spot for me!”

Mu Wanyi gagged at the saccharine flattery, her face twisting.
“Shut up.”

Tan Hua obediently went quiet, afraid of pushing too hard and driving away her source of labor.

Once Mu Wanyi finally regained her composure, she glared.
“Wait a minute. You’re not even in heat?”

“Nope.” Tan Hua blinked innocently.
“I just missed you.”

“And I got scared sleeping alone.”

Mu Wanyi’s face darkened.
“……”

“Oh, right,” Tan Hua added sweetly, “I made a bit of money today. As a thank-you for all you’ve done for me, I want to treat you to a night out at the bar. You know, to see some male models.” She looked bashful, lowering her head.
“So could you have your driver come up and help move my stuff?”

Mu Wanyi: “…………”

“You? Made money?” she said blankly, sizing Tan Hua up with a skeptical glance.
“You? You’re going to treat me to see male models?”

What a joke.

Even the lowest-tier male models cost 500 yuan an hour—that was two months’ rent in Tan Hua’s rat hole apartment.

Mu Wanyi didn’t believe a word of it. But out of sheer curiosity (and the desire to watch Tan Hua make a fool of herself), she went along with it. She called the bodyguards in to help move the boxes and ordered the driver to take them to the most luxurious bar in the city.

“Hua Hua, you know my husband dotes on me. He never says no. So if I bring you here to splurge a little, you don’t have a problem with that, right?”

Tan Hua glanced up at the dazzling, gold-trimmed bar front, hesitation flickering across her face.
“How much does one of those male models… cost?”

“Not much,” Mu Wanyi said sweetly, but locked her arm around Tan Hua’s like a steel clamp, preventing her from running.
“Only five thousand per model.”

Tan Hua: “???”
What level of luxury is this?! I’m in over my head!

Mu Wanyi was determined to humiliate her. She dragged Tan Hua to the best seats in the house and ordered two models without batting an eye.

Just as the server was confirming the order, Tan Hua quickly interjected,
“Make sure they’re female Alphas!”

Mu Wanyi narrowed her eyes at her.

Tan Hua just smiled shamelessly.
“Trying something new.”

“You’re unbelievable.” Mu Wanyi sneered.
“You’re like a horny toad trying to eat swan meat. Fine—pay up.” She pointed at the card reader in the server’s hand, smiling icily.

Tan Hua patted her pockets and pulled out her phone. She opened the payment screen, about to scan it—when suddenly, a long, pale hand reached in front of her.

“Put it on my tab,” the woman said coolly.

The server immediately withdrew.

Tan Hua looked up, stunned. In front of her stood a strikingly beautiful woman… whose expression was dark. She looked at Tan Hua like she wanted to skin her alive.

Tan Hua turned to Mu Wanyi.
“Who’s this? A friend of yours? She’s so generous! Inviting us for drinks?”

Tan Hua smiled shyly.
“This is too nice… I feel kind of guilty.”

Mu Wanyi shot a glance at the woman, then turned back to Tan Hua with a blank face.
“Your ex-wife.”

Tan Hua: “Oh—oh?!”

My ex-wife?! Since when am I divorced and a former housewife?!