I Was Just a Scumbag Extra, But She Loved Me Anyway [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 16

“Aaaahhh, Host! Do you see what’s happened?!”
The system sounded on the verge of a breakdown.

“You already know, don’t you? So why even ask?” Su Chenli replied calmly as she looked around the hotel room, searching for clues.

After receiving that phone call last night, the beautiful older sister had been visibly furious. She got dressed in a hurry, saying she needed to return to the university to deal with something. Su Chenli couldn’t stop her. All she could do was escort her back to campus, then return to the hotel alone to investigate further.

Su Chenli scanned the room thoroughly but found no cameras. As for the strange liquid the beautiful sister mentioned—the one that made her glands feel hot and triggered her differentiation—Su Chenli had examined that too.

The bottle had shattered on the living room floor, and its contents had long since evaporated. Nothing was visible to the naked eye that could be collected or tested, leaving only the hope that some trace residue might still cling to the broken glass.

But that would require professionals to confirm.

Fortunately, in large families like hers, shady things were bound to happen now and then. There were always people specifically trained to handle such matters discreetly for the elite, so getting in touch with one wouldn’t be difficult for Su Chenli.

“I didn’t know, I swear!”
The system continued its meltdown in Su Chenli’s mind.

“Out of respect for your privacy, Host, I was cut off the moment you entered the hotel room last night! Can you imagine it? You thought you were off duty, had a cozy night’s sleep—and then BAM! You wake up and find the mission target has gotten romantically entangled with a key character in the small world! The world line is now a tangled mess of yarn… What did I ever do to deserve this?!”

“Ugh, quit whining,” Su Chenli said as she peeled off the plastic gloves she’d worn to avoid contaminating any evidence. “The story’s still progressing, isn’t it? As for the world line—yeah, it’s a mess, but it’s holding together, right? Just tell me whether the plot’s been compressed or not.”

“Your mindset is… impressive.”
The system was too exasperated to argue further.

But it wasn’t so much that Su Chenli had a good attitude—it was more that she was reluctant to leave a world that still had the beautiful older sister in it. She wasn’t at all ready to face the choice of whether to speed up her departure.

Still, when it came to the original plot… there was at least one thing she wanted to do—something that might help steer the world line back to its proper path.

Jiang Youning arrived at her office at the university early that morning, preparing to retrieve some materials from her cabinet to handle the situation involving Ruan Shengsheng.

Last night, she had already compiled a summary of all the ongoing experiments under Ruan Shengsheng’s supervision, along with her pending applications for awards, publications, and so on. She was planning to hand everything off to others or request a temporary suspension.

If Ruan Shengsheng insisted on being stubborn, there was nothing more Jiang Youning could do.

However, most of the related paperwork was in her office, so she had no choice but to return.

The office was as quiet as always. Her colleagues were all there, quietly working. An Omega teacher raised their head curiously as Jiang Youning passed by and asked in a hushed tone,
“Youning, were you… with an Omega last night?”

Jiang Youning flinched reflexively and turned to face her colleague.

That teacher looked awkward, clearly unsure how to phrase things, and stammered,
“It’s just… you reek of Omega pheromones… I thought you were supposed to be at that academic conference at University B last night?”

Jiang Youning paused. She hadn’t expected the so-called pheromone-blocking patch to be so unreliable—it had actually been detected.

Now the question was, should she admit it or not?

“Ah… someone even posted on their Moments asking why you skipped the banquet…”
Another colleague chimed in unintentionally, then quickly fell silent, clearly embarrassed.

Those two remarks together made it sound like Jiang Youning had questionable personal conduct—skipping the academic banquet to spend the night with an Omega.

But the events during the banquet hadn’t yet been fully investigated, so it wasn’t appropriate to explain publicly. Jiang Youning closed her eyes briefly, suppressing her frustration.
“I must’ve brushed against someone in passing. I’m a Beta, and I didn’t think to clean up properly.”

Before anyone could respond, an older male professor—one who often competed with her and had seniority—suddenly said with a strange tone,
“That probably wasn’t just a casual brush, was it? I think I also detected some Alpha pheromones. Hah. You’re even showing pheromone rejection, Professor Jiang. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice?”

Everyone knew that pheromone rejection occurred when an Alpha marked an Omega, and the Omega’s body briefly emitted a scent that repelled any other Alphas nearby. Why it was appearing on a Beta like Jiang Youning was anyone’s guess… but the fact that her body was still radiating a mix of AAOO pheromones the next morning said a lot about how intense things had been.

The male professor sneered, clearly insinuating something,
“Busy night, Professor Jiang?”

“Chen Yue!”

Jiang Youning’s face darkened as she barked his name without the slightest courtesy.

In terms of rank, Jiang Youning—though young—was already on par with the vice dean. In this office, there was no one with a higher position than her.

The rest of the office fell into an awkward silence. Several colleagues tried to persuade Professor Chen Yue to stop, but he seemed to have found a weak spot in Jiang Youning and wouldn’t let it go.

“What, she causes a scandal and no one’s allowed to talk about it? Wasn’t she the one rumored to be involved with an Omega student before? That incident was all over the place—it might’ve even been true! If you add everything up, this probably isn’t even her first time!”

Jiang Youning’s expression turned ashen at those words. Seeing her reaction, the others didn’t dare speak up again.

Just as the tension in the office reached its peak, the dean knocked on the door and stepped in. It seemed he had heard everything. He gave Chen Yue a cold glare before saying,
“Youning, come with me for a moment.”

Jiang Youning glanced at the dean, then silently turned to follow. Before leaving, she gave Chen Yue a cool, level stare.
“You’d better be ready to take responsibility for what you just said.”

The moment their eyes met, Chen Yue faltered. Under Jiang Youning’s calm but formidable gaze, his confidence seemed to deflate, and a flicker of guilt crossed his face—just enough to be noticeable if you were looking for it.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Youning asked after they entered the dean’s office. She watched as he shut the door and sat down behind his desk with a stern expression. She could already tell something was wrong.

“Where exactly were you last night?” the dean asked, his tone serious.

Jiang Youning furrowed her brows slightly.
“You think I’ve got some kind of personal misconduct?”

“Of course not,” the dean denied it immediately, though his expression didn’t soften at all. “But you did miss the banquet at the academic exchange meeting last night, didn’t you? Someone posted about it on their Moments. And then someone else—nosy, obviously—shared it to the university forum. Half the campus has seen it by now. And this morning, you showed up reeking of Omega pheromones. I have to ask—you understand that, don’t you?”

After a brief hesitation, Jiang Youning gave him a selective version of the truth: she told him that she had differentiated into an Omega.

The dean had been her mentor since her university days. He had even helped arrange her studies abroad, reaching out to one of his own professors overseas to help take care of her. Jiang Youning rarely brought it up, but she had always remembered his support.

“You’re saying… you’re an Omega now?!” The dean was visibly shocked—so shocked he stood up from his chair.

“Yes,” Jiang Youning replied with a nod, though something felt off. It was understandable to be surprised—but this reaction seemed excessive.

The dean remained silent for a long while before finally speaking again.
“Why now, of all times…”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“…Ever since that incident with Miss Zhong from the Zhong family, there’s been someone watching your research and your position very closely—both in the college and at the university level,” the dean said, then paused. “Even the administration has been involved.”

Jiang Youning was quiet for a moment.
“You mean the university president? Who does he want to replace me with?”

The dean frowned.
“Chen Yue.”

Jiang Youning let out a short, cold laugh.
“Him? Seriously?”

The dean sighed and turned his monitor toward her.
“Take a look at this first.”

Jiang Youning leaned in, surprised. This was the first time she had checked the posts about herself—she hadn’t had the mental space to deal with it until now.

On the university forum, someone had first pointed out her absence at the banquet, saying she left midway and never returned. Then, this morning, someone else posted that she’d shown up smelling strongly of Omega pheromones.

Just like Chen Yue’s malicious speculation, people in the thread even began linking her name with Ruan Shengsheng’s. Disgusted by the shameless and vulgar comments, Jiang Youning looked up in shock.
“Have these students lost their minds?”

“This sort of thing happens in other faculties too—students gossip. It’s unavoidable,” the dean said as he turned the monitor back toward himself. “But I expect the president’s office will soon send someone to investigate. When that happens, you’ll likely be suspended from all your current responsibilities… And unless something changes, Chen Yue will temporarily take over your role, including the lab.”

Jiang Youning picked up on something unsaid.
“…What else?”

The dean hesitated, then said,
“Do you remember when I told you—if you didn’t want to drag innocent people into this, you should stay away from anything involving Zhong Li?”

Jiang Youning was quiet for a moment, then nodded slowly in understanding.
“So they can’t touch me directly, so they go after my students instead. Innocent people—kids who just came here to study and had nothing to do with any of this.”

The dean didn’t respond. After a long silence, all he could say was,
“The university will do its best to protect the students’ rights.”

“No need to say anything more,” Jiang Youning said.

She understood what the dean was trying to say. She also knew that he was under immense pressure from the administration and that there was only so much he could do.

But she was tired—tired of innocent people getting caught in the crossfire, tired of constantly being backed into a corner by petty, power-hungry figures. Did they really think the Department of Chemistry at H University could maintain its current standing without her?

She reached into her pocket, pulled out her faculty ID, and placed it on the dean’s desk.

“If they want me gone so badly, then fine—I resign.”