I Became the Female Lead’s Current Obsession - Chapter 6

Dragging things out any further was pointless. After understanding the full story, Wang Lei had the two shake hands and make peace, citing the negative impact of public disputes on campus. As punishment, he assigned Jiang Qing to clean the gym after school, and Nie Rui to clean the third-floor boys’ restroom. He stated he would inspect their work later, and with that, dismissed them.

As soon as Jiang Qing left the office, she briskly walked away without a second glance—clearly unwilling to give Nie Rui even the slightest opening.

Nie Rui had gone to the trouble only to be humiliated. He silently added a mark against Jiang Qing in his mental ledger but dared not linger outside the director’s office.

By the time Jiang Qing returned to class, there were five minutes left in the physics period. Not wanting to be awkwardly noticed, she hunched over and quietly crept to the back door. From there, she found an angle that allowed her to observe the back row without drawing the teacher’s attention.

Hou Xue was listening intently, her expression focused.

One hand propped up her head while the other occasionally jotted something into her notebook.

Such beauty—rarely seen in the world. Jiang Qing wondered if everyone around her was simply blind.

The most ironic part? The only one with any sense was Nie Rui.

At that thought, Jiang Qing looked away. The bell rang on time. What she didn’t see was that the person she had just been watching had, at that exact moment, looked back at her too.

Jiang Qing entered through the back door. As she passed by Hou Xue’s desk, Hou Xue grabbed her hand.

A small slip of paper was shoved into her palm. Jiang Qing blinked, amused, and didn’t open it until she’d taken her seat.

“Got plans this afternoon.”

The implied meaning: they wouldn’t be walking home together.

Well, that saved her from having to explain her gym-cleaning punishment. Hou Xue had her own things to deal with anyway.

Xu Miao leaned over. “What’s that?”

“Nothing. Hou Xue just said she won’t be walking home with me today.” Jiang Qing texted her driver while instinctively preparing to crumple the note—but hesitated.

“She even bothered to write a note?” Xu Miao commented casually.

Jiang Qing’s reaction was oddly intense. She quickly balled up the paper, though something about it had clearly struck a nerve.

A moment later, Xu Miao asked again, “So what did Wang Lei want with you for so long?”

“…He thought I was dating Nie Rui. I made up an excuse. He punished me by making me clean the gym after school.” Jiang Qing stared at the crumpled note for a moment. Instead of tossing it out, she stuffed it into her pencil case.

“Weren’t you into Nie Rui at some point? I thought he seemed into you today too. You managed to fool Wang Lei?”

“I don’t like him,” Jiang Qing replied firmly. “I don’t know what he wants, but either way, don’t bring this up again.”

“Oh. Got it.” Xu Miao didn’t pry further. Jiang Qing had changed a lot recently—one more change wouldn’t be surprising.

—

Though the gym was big, it was cleaned daily, so the only dusty corners were in the spectator stands. Clearly, Wang Lei hadn’t intended to give this rich girl a hard time. After all, she and Nie Rui didn’t actually have any unusual relationship. The punishment was more symbolic than anything.

Jiang Qing gave the place a cursory sweep, shouldered her bag, and walked out of the school.

With the weekend ahead, and the stress from high school life and the “female lead” pushing her to the edge, she desperately needed to unwind.

According to her inherited memories, there was an old street near Yangrui High School slated for demolition. There, tucked away, was a gaming arcade. Jiang Qing decided to pay it a visit.

Back in her original life, she had loved hanging around arcades during high school. It was her go-to place for stress relief.

She hailed a cab and arrived at the arcade entrance.

The old street was indeed dying—quiet, deserted, most shops shuttered. Fortunately, the arcade was still open.

Unfortunately, it only had one customer, so the atmosphere was rather dead. Jiang Qing figured she’d play a few rounds and then leave.

The lone customer was a little boy, furiously trying to win a plushie from a claw machine.

Jiang Qing’s best games had always been the basketball hoops and dance machines. Claw machines? Her worst. Hundreds of coins had vanished into them over the years. Still, every time she came to an arcade, she had to play. Not spending at least two hundred felt incomplete.

“Two hundred tokens,” she said, tapping on the counter.

After a moment, a bleary-eyed man emerged from under the desk. He glanced at her, pointed to a QR code taped to the side, then shuffled off to get her coins.

Once she paid, the man handed over a basket of tokens and flopped back down to sleep.

Jiang Qing selected a machine next to the boy’s and picked a white kitten plushie as her target. She grabbed a stool, sat down, and set her sights.

Fifty yuan vanished in seconds. The claw was as weak as ever.

Reality check: even in this book world, a claw machine is still a claw machine.

Undeterred, she dumped in another fifty. The plushie barely moved a few centimeters.

On her hundredth coin, the little boy beside her suddenly shouted with joy, startling her into pressing the button too early. The claw closed on thin air—two yuan gone.

“Ultraman!” the boy cried, elated as he shook his hard-won prize, glowing with pride.

Jiang Qing looked at him, then at her own basket, and suddenly felt a little bitter.

The boy didn’t leave after his victory. Instead, he stayed to watch her play.

The basket gradually emptied, but the plushie remained face-down in the same spot. Jiang Qing sighed and slipped in two more coins.

One last try.

The oversized claw swayed above the white kitten. Timing her move, Jiang Qing shut her eyes and smacked the button.

Clunk!

The claw gripped the kitten’s head—a rare, perfect grab. With expert control, she swung it toward the drop chute.

Somehow, it landed.

The kitten had a soft texture, delicately made, with an adorably gentle expression. It didn’t look like it was worth two hundred yuan—but its glossy black eyes were crafted with such intricate purity that Jiang Qing didn’t feel ripped off.

In fact, the eyes looked oddly familiar.

After tossing a few remaining tokens, Jiang Qing moved to the basketball machine.

She wasn’t satisfied with just one game. She even “borrowed” balls from nearby machines to keep the pace fast—her hands were too quick for the default setup.

The little boy still didn’t leave, hugging his Ultraman and watching her play.

—

Jiang Qing, living up to her “reputation,” broke the arcade’s record.

Back in her original world, she had once set a record in a university town arcade before graduating. This body’s athletic condition wasn’t bad either—she kept up just fine.

The only awkward moment came when the boy looked at her with sparkly, admiring eyes as she left.

Sadly, she didn’t get to play the dance machine—one of the buttons was broken. A slight disappointment, but overall, this was the most carefree and exhilarating time she’d had since entering this book world.

She’d been on the verge of burning out. Thankfully, things were starting to fall into place: her relationship with the female lead and the original plotline had both shifted in the direction she wanted.

Good thing this was a relatively low-difficulty school-life story. Aside from academics, there weren’t many worries.

Jiang Qing was in such a good mood she began humming a tune as she strolled toward the edge of the old street.

But soon, she realized—this wasn’t the path she came in on.

The arcade wasn’t far from the street entrance, which was why the cab could drive in. But Jiang Qing had unconsciously exited through the back door, throwing off her sense of direction.

Something felt off.

Especially with the maze of narrow alleys around—like something straight out of a crime film.

And just as her imagination started running wild, she actually heard movement from one of the nearby alleys.

Of course.

The scene in her mind, flashing red and black, was in full swing.

Jiang Qing wasn’t curious like movie characters. Her first instinct was to leave—but just as she took a step, a faint voice from the alley froze her in place.

“Sorry, not interested.”

The voice was strangely familiar.

Then came a sharp clanging sound—long and echoing.

A steel pipe?

Her internal alarms blared. Jiang Qing scanned her surroundings for anything she could use as a weapon.

Luckily, the demolition project had already begun. Construction debris was everywhere. She picked up a brick, weighing it in her hand. Desperate times, after all.

In her past life, Jiang Qing wasn’t exactly a model student. Her grades were decent, and she wasn’t afraid of trouble. But she had never encountered a cliché scene like this in real life.

While picking up the brick, her eye caught the nearby internet café—and the memory clicked.

This scene was vaguely referenced in the original novel, never explicitly shown—only hinted at in dialogue later on.

Hou Xue had been the target of malicious rumors. Some people spread them intentionally, and as a result, a local gang took interest in her—once cornering her outside an internet café, demanding she go meet their boss.

The plot detail was buried deep in the story and easy to forget.

But it meant one thing: Hou Xue had handled it on her own in the original timeline. She must’ve been capable.

Still, Jiang Qing didn’t care about that.

What mattered was that if the event was unfolding while she was here, then it shouldn’t be Hou Xue—just seventeen—facing it alone.

Hou Xue wasn’t yet the cold, untouchable legend everyone admired. Jiang Qing could still feel the warmth from her—not too distant, not too aloof. She was real. Alive.

At least, for now.

“…You’ve heard of our boss—”

Jiang Qing charged forward.

With a short sprint, she swung the brick straight at the shaved head of the gang’s leader, kicking his knee out at the same time.

Strangely, Jiang Qing didn’t once think about herself.

Hou Xue was cornered against a wall, her frail figure making her look even more vulnerable.

Their eyes met—but Hou Xue’s were blank. No clarity. No warmth. No coldness either.

Just empty. Unguarded.

The gang leader staggered, his leg trembling before he collapsed.

In the sunset’s afterglow, the tall girl rushed toward Hou Xue.

Hou Xue’s wrist was gripped tightly. Wind howled in her ears.

The brick, now bloodstained, shone starkly in the light.

It all felt too perfectly timed to be coincidence.

Facing the setting sun, Hou Xue took a deep breath against the wind.

She was trying to supply oxygen to her shutting-down brain—but quickly realized, that wasn’t it.

The long hair tied behind the girl’s head swayed with her breath.

The light and wind blurred everything, softening time, dulling reality.

For a moment, Hou Xue almost forgot to breathe.