Scumbag A's Plan to Save the Heroine - Chapter 32

Following the typical password creation pattern, Zhi Qiu tried entering Dimple Sister’s initials combined with her birthdate into the encrypted file’s password field, clutching the camera in her hand.

Password incorrect.

The girl in the wheelchair frowned, looking stumped. Remembering the memory card was full of photos, Zhi Qiu Googled Song Rang’s birthday and entered his name and birth month into the password field.

Password correct.

As expected, to defeat a fangirl, you had to use a fangirl’s logic.

Zhi Qiu found the situation somewhat absurd, even feeling a flicker of pity. But that pity vanished instantly, leaving not a trace. The moment she saw the file’s contents, the last shred of sympathy in her heart transformed into extreme fury.

The first image in the folder was a high-definition photo of the person who had doxxed Ruan Ye, which had gone viral on the Federation’s trending searches. But this was just the tip of the iceberg. Scrolling down, she found a dense collection of photos—fragmented snapshots of Ruan Ye’s daily life over the past month. It was clear this cyberbullying campaign hadn’t been a sudden outburst but a meticulously planned operation.

Feng Moyi’s view was blocked by the towering Shang Wu, leaving her unaware that the encrypted folder on her camera had been opened, exposing her stalking and covert filming.

She was too far from the slender girl in the wheelchair to see clearly, but she thought she glimpsed a faint smile curving the girl’s lips. It seemed…

She was smiling.

Or maybe she wasn’t.

Driven to the brink of fury, Zhi Qiu felt an almost hysterical urge to laugh. Her anger seemed to have taken control of her human disguise. Her grip on the camera tightened, tightened, until she nearly crushed the titanium alloy instrument.

The Truth System, transformed into a wheelchair, sensed the massive surge in its bonded user’s emotions. Finally breaking its silent observation, it couldn’t help but interject, “We need to stay calm! This camera is evidence. If we examine it thoroughly back home, we might find more incriminating material. When we hand them over to the Federation, they’ll get extra years in prison—they’ll spend the rest of their lives behind bars!”

That’s right.

Zhi Qiu took a deep breath, slightly loosening her grip. A corner of the camera showed a faint crack.

To properly punish these cyberbullying fans, she couldn’t rush things. Public opinion currently blindly favored celebrities. If she suddenly reversed the narrative without proper groundwork, the backlash would be severe. The mastermind was right in front of her, but she needed to plan carefully for the long term.

The girl in the wheelchair smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She turned to the tall man standing beside her and commanded, “Shang Wu, escort Miss Feng home.”

Shang Wu was never one for idle chatter, but Zhi Qiu’s decision still made him frown. He glanced at Dimple Sister, who was strutting with arrogance after hearing the order, and then at the disabled Alpha woman.

“Everyone else has gone to the Federation,” he said uneasily. “Shouldn’t we wait a bit longer? If I escort her, then…”

Even as the Zhi Family’s most loyal servant, he knew better than to ignore the Young Miss’s mood. Seeing her forced smile, he couldn’t bring himself to finish his protest. Instead, he changed his tone and replied respectfully, “Yes, Young Miss.”

After Shang Wu left with Feng Moyi, the girl in the wheelchair was left alone in the pitch-black hallway. To others, the silence might have been so profound that one could hear dust settling on the marble floor. But to Zhi Qiu, the surroundings were deafeningly noisy.

“Why did you let her go?!” the System frantically demanded. “I told you not to break the camera, not to let the mastermind off the hook! Capture her and send her to court immediately! What if she escapes? Without a witness, we can’t prove anything!”

The wheelchair spun around on its own and began rolling toward the main gate, as if to chase after the person who had left. Zhi Qiu pressed her hand to her forehead, finally snapping, “How could I possibly let her go? What’s the rush? Can you be quiet for a moment? With you chattering so much, how am I supposed to explain things clearly?”

“Oh… then explain,” the Truth System muttered stubbornly, its voice growing fainter with each word, as if afraid of being overheard.

“What did you say?” Zhi Qiu asked, tapping the wheelchair in confusion.

The girl in the wheelchair had been sitting with her back to the light. As soon as she finished speaking, an oval-shaped shadow suddenly loomed over her. Before she could react, Zhi Qiu instinctively raised her arm to protect her head, bracing herself against a sudden loss of consciousness that would leave her vulnerable.

A newly arrived fan who received the news?

Or someone the bodyguard failed to stop, coming for revenge?

Agonizing pain.

The blow landed directly on the still-healing wound from the key scratch, tearing open the fragile scab and splitting the flesh beneath. The raw, bloody wound made Zhi Qiu groan in pain.

“How could it be you?!” The girl, burdened by a heavy backpack and her long, black hair pinned up for easier movement, dropped the stick and gasped in shock.

Ignoring the reason for the commotion, she rushed to the wheelchair and carefully placed her hand on the uninjured skin beside the split wound.

The icy touch on her arm, the eternally familiar voice, and those hands that felt cool in winter and cool in summer—how could Zhi Qiu not recognize who it was?

With her left hand, which hadn’t taken the impact, she gently flicked the girl’s bun beside the wheelchair. Enduring the searing pain, she forced a teasing tone to prevent the girl from blaming herself. “Still mad?”

Mad?

Mad about what?

This person could still joke even at a time like this. Ruan Ye’s heart, which had been abandoned in a dark corner, was now overflowing with a feeling called heartache.

Fortunately, the apartment had a built-in elevator. Ruan Ye hurriedly pushed the wheelchair toward it.

In her haste, a pair of warm hands covered hers. Ruan Ye’s breath caught in her throat. She wanted to pull away, but when she saw the scar on the girl’s right arm—the wound she had sustained while saving her—she couldn’t bring herself to push her away.

The apartment door swung open to reveal all the windows wide open, creating a cross breeze that relentlessly drove out the faint formaldehyde odor. The compact space, less than sixty square meters, comprised a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom. The interior seemed freshly renovated; the paint on the walls still felt slightly damp to the touch.

The girl with the ponytail knelt on the ground, her expression focused as she applied medicine to the person in the wheelchair, layer upon layer. She was so absorbed in her task that she didn’t even notice her backpack zipper was half-open.

Zhi Qiu held her arm up awkwardly, her expression strained. Every time she glanced down, she caught sight of the girl’s fluttering, raven-black eyelashes, slightly flushed cheeks, and those intensely focused gray eyes.

The person in the wheelchair awkwardly averted her gaze, her body unconsciously shifting toward the girl. To make the movement appear natural, she pretended to be distracted by something on the floor, reaching for the foundation bottle outside her backpack and the lit flashlight.

Zhi Qiu fiddled with the foundation bottle in her left hand, her mind entirely consumed by the person applying the medicine. Her face remained calm and composed, but inwardly she was silently screaming at the System.

“What do I do? I can’t look at her!”

“Can you describe her to me?”

The Truth System: “……”

Didn’t you complain about me being too verbose and annoying?

Of course, it only grumbled inwardly. After all, Zhi Qiu was its lifeline in this world.

The Truth System sighed at its own despised existence, adjusted its perspective, and focused on Ruan Ye, who was applying medicine to her leg while seated in her wheelchair. Just as it was about to search its internal dictionary for suitable adjectives, it suddenly noticed the chocolate bar in the girl’s pocket.

Startled, the Truth System examined it closely, scrutinizing it repeatedly and confirming its suspicions several times. Finally, it stammered, “Zhi Qiu… the plot seems to be… advancing ahead of schedule.”