Phoenix A: Internet Sensation! ( GL , ABO) - Chapter 1
“How dare you think you could compare to her. Jiang Zhiwan, you’d better remember your place.”
Who on earth said something so dramatic and outdated?
While Shen Nian was confused, something about that voice made her uneasy. It sounded oddly familiar.
Something was wrong. Deeply wrong. That line felt like it had come from her own mouth.
Her heart skipped a beat. As her awareness returned, she finally noticed that everything around her felt unfamiliar.
The swimming pool she stood in. The cold, beautiful woman in front of her.
As a bird who loved the freedom of the skies, she had always hated water. Swimming was one of her least favorite things.
Still trying to figure out what was happening, Shen Nian was pulled from her thoughts by a soft groan.
The sound came from a stunning woman with a cold demeanor. Although her presence felt distant and unapproachable, her eyes, touched by warm sunlight, were strikingly beautiful.
Shen Nian followed the woman’s gaze and suddenly realized she was tightly gripping her wrist. She let go instinctively.
But the moment she released her hand, she realized something wasn’t right. Without thinking, she quickly grabbed it again, this time with a much lighter grip.
Jiang Zhiwan’s expression tightened. She had no idea what this woman was trying to do.
Now is not the time to push things further.
But to her surprise, after that scornful remark, Shen Nian didn’t press the issue. Instead, she used Jiang Zhiwan’s arm to support herself as she climbed out of the pool.
Once out, Shen Nian sat down on a lounge chair nearby. She picked up the towel hanging on the armrest and started drying herself off.
Though the cool air felt refreshing on her damp skin, she still preferred feeling dry and comfortable.
She was so focused on drying off that she didn’t notice the woman with the intense aura had silently followed her and was now standing very close.
Shen Nian’s thoughts were still scattered. From that brief exchange, she already knew this wasn’t her home planet TUQ.
Had she transmigrated into a novel? Or maybe she had time-traveled? Shouldn’t there be some kind of system to guide her?
While her mind raced with questions, a shadow fell over her. A moment later, something warm and heavy leaned in close.
A faint rose fragrance drifted toward her, subtle but captivating.
The scent was unique enough that she couldn’t help but breathe it in again.
Jiang Zhiwan noticed the slight twitch of Shen Nian’s nose and let out a silent, amused laugh. Her expression remained composed.
Wait. Jiang Zhiwan. That scent. Roses.
Shen Nian snapped out of her daze.
She knew exactly where she was now.
This was the ABO world in the bestselling TUQ star novel After Becoming the Scumbag Alpha’s Substitute, the Heroine Turned Dark.
Shen Nian wanted time to sort everything out, but Jiang Zhiwan wasn’t going to give her the chance.
After a pause, Jiang Zhiwan smiled faintly and leaned closer. She placed one arm on Shen Nian’s shoulder.
It was an intimate and tense position. If they leaned in any farther, their lips would meet.
Looking at Jiang Zhiwan’s approaching face, Shen Nian’s eyes widened in panic. She managed to speak.
“Wait. Please wait.”
Jiang Zhiwan had clearly not expected that. A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes, but she kept her hand on Shen Nian’s shoulder and responded calmly.
“Wait? Wait for what? Isn’t this what you’ve been chasing after all along?”
Shen Nian had pressured her into signing that shameless contract. She had pushed her again and again, trying to crush her pride and force her into the role of a substitute.
Even moments ago, Shen Nian was still saying she should know her place.
Jiang Zhiwan didn’t believe this woman had suddenly changed. Maybe this was just another twisted game.
Still, she was curious. What would Shen Nian do now?
Shen Nian turned her face away and gently pushed Jiang Zhiwan back a little. Her voice was cautious but steady.
“I let my emotions get the better of me just now. I apologize. As for the rest, we can talk again after you’ve had time to think things through.”
She paused, then continued.
“And regarding the next project you’re going to film, I won’t interfere anymore. Don’t worry.”
Shen Nian had always been arrogant and stubborn. Even if she was wrong, she rarely admitted it.
For her to speak so calmly and apologize now was completely unexpected.
Jiang Zhiwan didn’t respond immediately. Shen Nian assumed she was simply processing her words.
“I have something I need to take care of. I’ll go ahead. You should dry off soon or you might catch a cold.”
After speaking, the alpha turned and left without looking back, completely unaware of how deeply the omega behind her was watching.
Not long after Shen Nian left, Jiang Zhiwan casually threw the towel aside and stepped gracefully over to another lounge chair.
She slowly raised her hand. A tiny object glinted faintly in the sunlight.
It was a paperclip. Small and seemingly harmless.
But if Shen Nian had responded to her approach, that clip would have been stabbed into her gland. It wouldn’t have killed her, but it would have left her permanently disabled.
Thinking about what had just happened, Jiang Zhiwan dropped the useless clip onto the ground.
Something was clearly off about Shen Nian.
Based on her understanding of that alpha from the past, she would never have reacted like that.
She looked toward the towel Shen Nian had used and let out a cold laugh.
So careful and gentle. Unbelievable.
Shen Nian, what kind of game are you playing this time?
Shen Nian had no idea she had just escaped a dangerous situation.
After leaving the pool, she walked straight to the bedroom and shut the door behind her.
Once inside, she took a deep breath.
“Alright. There must be a system. Come out.”
“I heard you earlier. You said something about the protagonist’s darkening value increasing by two.”
“There’s no one else here now. You’d better start explaining.”
As she spoke, Shen Nian scanned the room. It was nearly empty, apart from a bed and a wardrobe. It felt lifeless, like no one had ever truly lived here.
She waited patiently. Sure enough, a mechanical voice soon echoed in her mind.
[Greetings, host. The AZK system is at your service.]
The voice was sharp and unpleasant. Shen Nian rubbed her ears in discomfort, feeling like her mind had just been polluted.
Apparently sensing her annoyance, the system quickly changed to a more cheerful tone.
[Hi there, host. Just call me 432. Welcome to the AZK System.]
This 432 was clearly a chatterbox. It kept talking and talking about all kinds of things.
Still, Shen Nian listened closely and managed to extract the most important information.
She had really died.
The only reason she was still conscious now was because of a contract she had signed with the AZK System before her death. It had given her a second chance at life.
The system had randomly assigned her soul to a new world, and it just happened to land in this popular TUQ novel.
Shen Nian forced a sarcastic smile.
“I acted in so many scripts and you didn’t pick any of them. You just had to throw me into a ridiculous drama written by my worst enemy?”
System 432 patiently explained,
“This selection was made automatically at the moment of your physical death. No one had the authority to interfere with it.”
In other words, the system was not going to take responsibility for any of this.
Fine. Maybe it was just her bad luck. Maybe she was destined to be entangled in this twisted fate with her old rival.
Shen Nian scoffed. Of course that woman would still bring her trouble even after death.
She knew it. Back then, her rival had deliberately used her real name to name a character in the novel. That had never been done with good intentions.
Now, she had become the original scumbag alpha. A stepping stone on the heroine’s path to darkness. A character doomed to die in misery. This so-called second chance after death didn’t feel like much of a reward at all.
Wait. Something didn’t add up.
Back when she lived on TUQ Star, she had carried the noble bloodline of a phoenix.
Shen Nian suddenly panicked. She quickly checked her body for changes and questioned 432.
“Since I’ve been dropped into this world, does that mean I can never transform again?”
Her sharp beak. Her beautiful white feathers.
She was the last phoenix in the entire bird clan. She couldn’t lose that.
Seeing how distressed she looked, 432 rushed to reassure her.
“I understand you’re upset, but please don’t worry. Aside from naturally growing a gland in order to adapt to this world, your phoenix bloodline is still intact. You can transform whenever you want.”
“Really?” Shen Nian wasn’t fully convinced.
She decided to test it out herself just to be sure.
Sure enough, with just a thought, a small, elegant bird with ink-colored feathers appeared on the massive bed in the room.
“Chirp?”
Shen Nian, now in bird form, tilted her head.
“Chirp chirp!” She really could still transform.
That realization filled her with joy. She flapped her wings and happily circled the ceiling a few times.
The sensation of flying again was wonderful. It meant her phoenix bloodline had truly survived.
In that moment, Shen Nian felt that signing up for the AZK System Research Project back then had been a brilliant decision.
After flying to her heart’s content, the little ink-feathered bird gently landed on the bed and lay down on her back to rest.
With her round little eyes closed, her whole body looked relaxed and carefree.
Though she was recovering energy with her eyes shut, her conversation with 432 continued.
“You said earlier that in order to stay in this world long-term, I need to manage the heroine’s darkening value. Is that right?”
432 replied with certainty,
“That’s correct. If her darkening value exceeds the limit, the small world you are in will begin to collapse.”
“And next time, we have no idea which book you might be sent into.”
And if that happened, Shen Nian might lose her phoenix powers for good.
She heard the unspoken warning in 432’s voice.
That made her nervous.
No way. She was the last phoenix alive. There was no way she could afford to lose her bloodline.
That settled it. She had to stay in this ABO world.
Just as she was about to express her noble determination, a loud knock on the door startled her.
At the exact moment her eyes locked with Jiang Zhiwan’s, Shen Nian realized something very serious.
This room did not belong to her at all.