Chapter 1: Sang Ling and Lin Jinxu

Sang Ling’s head felt like it was about to split open, as if someone had taken a chisel to her skull.

Her forehead was sticky with a fishy reek, thick blood slowly trickling down her cheek.

And someone kept nattering in her ear, making the headache worse.

“Your Excellency? Your Excellency!”

Sang Ling’s eyes snapped open to find herself gripping a pen, a burly, fleshy face magnified right in front of her.

“Your Excellency?” The man wore a black suit, the muscles of his neck thick and corded, every inch the brute enforcer, though his wording was reasonably polite. Seeing that Sang Ling had come back to her senses, he continued:

“Your Excellency, the contract has been printed. You need only sign to confirm the sale of this Omega to us, and your debt to Miss Jiang will be wiped clean.”

Too much information at once. Sang Ling narrowed her eyes instinctively, digesting the key words: Omega, gambling debt.

While thinking, she observed her surroundings out of the corner of her eye.

She was in a shabby, slum-like living room. The low ceiling was filthy and cramped; a dozen or so big men in black suits, dressed as enforcers, stood dispersed throughout the small room, radiating crushing pressure.

She sat on the sofa, the burly man stood before her, a contract lay on the coffee table, and not far away, a woman’s figure was being pinned to the floor by four enforcers, forced face-down against the ground.

What was going on?

The burly man pointed at the woman pinned to the floor, forced into the indignity of pressing her face to the ground, and continued, “This Omega, Lin Jinxu, actually dared to throw a vase at a distinguished Alpha. If you wish to designate a punishment for her, we would be happy to carry it out on your behalf.”

Lin Jinxu? Wasn’t that the villain from the novel she’d just finished reading?

Sang Ling’s eyes widened slightly. It all came flooding back.

She had transmigrated into an interstellar ABO novel, becoming a cannon-fodder trash Alpha also named Sang Ling, and the Omega Lin Jinxu was this book’s final villain, the one destined to destroy the world.

In this interstellar novel, Alphas were noble and rare, with powerful physiques and Mental Power, controlling the military and other armed forces; Betas were the numerous ordinary people, the backbone of the socioeconomic sphere.

Omegas, meanwhile, were lowly for being beautiful yet frail, stripped of human rights by law, reduced to playthings for Alphas and some elite Betas.

In this society, an Omega was a high-priced commodity that could be bought, sold, and violated at will, doomed from birth to a miserable life.

Lin Jinxu, pinned beneath several enforcers, unable to resist, her stunning face covered in blood, was a textbook example.

She had been the spouse of the original host’s Alpha older sister—the original host’s sister-in-law—breathtakingly beautiful and gentle in temperament, a top-grade Omega, an extremely expensive luxury item in this society.

But the original host’s sister had died inexplicably, and Lin Jinxu, like an object, had been inherited by the original host, that good-for-nothing Alpha.

The original host was nineteen this year, a second-year student at the Military Academy, vain and addicted to gambling, drowning in debt. Most critically, she owed money to a powerful, aristocratic Alpha Eldest Miss at the academy—and couldn’t pay it back.

Though the original host, as an Alpha, enjoyed exalted social status, her Mental Power was only C-rank and her family poor. The Jiang Family, by contrast, was an old, established aristocratic clan. Facing a Jiang Family Eldest Miss who was also an Alpha, the original host had no power to resist.

To repay the debt, the scum of an original host had proactively proposed selling her beautiful, precious Omega sister-in-law, Lin Jinxu, to the underground casino run by the Jiang Family—a paradise for Alphas, and a living hell for Omegas.

Once sold there, an Omega would immediately be auctioned. Her first night, her second night, her first “training,” her second “training”—all of it would be auctioned off in installments, letting different customers experience with their own hands what it felt like to break an Omega, snapping every last hope an Omega held, telling her: all Alphas are the same. Don’t dream of anyone coming to save you.

If a customer wanted more, the casino would provide all manner of props and drugs, anything to ensure the customer enjoyed themselves.

And when the Alpha customers tired of playing with an Omega, the casino would send the fully “trained” Omega out front to become an attendant anyone could abuse.

In the original story, Lin Jinxu endured three years in that underground casino. Every bone in her body was broken at some point; she went in and out of the operating room countless times. Only after three years did she seize a chance to escape.

But by then Lin Jinxu was completely darkened, no longer the pitiful creature first sold into the casino. After abandoning her naive pre-sale self, her innate genius-level intellect reclaimed the high ground. She picked back up the biology she had been forced to abandon and took control of several major pharmaceutical companies.

With power in hand, Lin Jinxu’s meticulous, insane plan of revenge reached its climax. She caught everyone connected to the underground casino in one net—employees, owners, customers alike. Countless nobly-born Alphas fell into her hands, begging piteously, fawning like dogs, and were still executed by her with the utmost cruelty.

And the original host, the prime culprit, naturally could not escape either. Lin Jinxu, who by then ruled the entire pharmaceutical industry, insisted on keeping the original host at her side day after day, torturing her with the most brutal methods while using the most precious medicines to keep her alive, letting her die and revive in agony—begging for death and denied it, granted life only to suffer.

At the story’s end, about to be defeated by the male and female leads, Lin Jinxu, dressed in magnificent robes, brought the original host to a laboratory. Smiling, like an iris in full, extravagant bloom, she pressed the button that would destroy the world.

The button fell. The billions of Zerg she had personally cultivated were released, a devouring tide that razed human civilization entire.

And Lin Jinxu, with the original host, lay down on the laboratory’s cold floor, the enormous purple skirt of her gown spreading like funeral flowers, her ears filled with the heart-rending screams of the trash Alpha being devoured alive by the Zerg.

Lin Jinxu calmly closed her eyes and let the Zerg feed on her.

And now, Sang Ling had transmigrated into that villainous, ill-fated cannon-fodder trash A.

Sang Ling, who in her whole life had never once run a red light and whose greatest hobby was helping old ladies cross the street: ……

This world is garbage! How can it be like this!

What is she supposed to do with this?

“Your Excellency?”

Seeing that she still hadn’t put pen to paper, the Beta burly man assumed she was still unsatisfied with the punishment for Lin Jinxu. “Shall I introduce our punishment packages?”

Just now, when the enforcers had moved to seize her, Lin Jinxu—who looked so meek and virtuous on the surface—had struggled fiercely. The original host had tried to help pin her down and instead had her head split open by a vase. That was what had brought Sang Ling’s transmigration.

“Once the Omega is sold to us, she will have nothing more to do with you. But as the offended Alpha, you still retain the right to punish her once.”

The Beta burly man waved a hand, and one of the enforcers pinning Lin Jinxu down forcibly raised her head, pushing aside the blood-soaked hair scattered across her cheeks to reveal the Omega’s true features.

Sang Ling had known from the original story that Lin Jinxu was beautiful, but in that instant, her breath still caught.

Not a single feature of the Omega’s face was less than exquisite, with a faint mixed-blood cast—a beauty with an edge of attack to it, the kind that could make a person forget everything.

Yet though her face was devastatingly gorgeous, she wore no makeup at all, and her expression remained docile, showing no trace of the resistance from moments before. Blood, red to the point of dazzling, had congealed on her jade-white face. The enormous contrast lent Lin Jinxu a fatal allure.

Sang Ling quickly came back to herself and looked into Lin Jinxu’s eyes—only to find the Omega’s eyes black as an abyss. She could read nothing of the other’s emotions.

“An Omega of this grade commands an extremely high price at every auction, far beyond what you could afford. But we do have some smaller measures that won’t affect the auction.”

The Beta burly man was very professional, but every word out of his mouth made Sang Ling’s headache worse, to the point she wanted to call the police immediately.

“If you wish, we have trainers who specialize in the whip. We use specially treated cowhide—inflicting maximum pain while leaving no marks deep enough to show.”

The moment the burly man finished speaking, Sang Ling noticed that Lin Jinxu, who had shown no expression at all, suddenly trembled.

“Water torture is also highly recommended. It leaves virtually no trace, but inflicts ample pain—especially mental. I guarantee she will remember the sensation for the rest of her life.”

Sang Ling noticed Lin Jinxu had closed her eyes. Her face was expressionless, seemingly without ripple, but her lashes trembled faintly, like a butterfly in terror.

Lin Jinxu listened in silence to every word the Beta burly man said, exerting all her strength not to shake harder, but each word dropped her deeper into the abyss, deepening her despair for the future.

“In fact, we would even be willing to let you do it personally—provided you promise not to use tools.”

The Beta burly man asked Sang Ling, “Which option would you like?”

On the edge of despair, Lin Jinxu nearly laughed. Which option? Doesn’t she know her nominal sister-in-law better than anyone? An utterly vile Alpha, addicted to gambling, with a temper as bad as every other Alpha’s. I just smashed her head with a vase; surely she now wishes she could use every method on me, one after another.

So be it, Lin Jinxu thought, giving up on herself. Beaten half to death by Sang Ling, then sold to the underground casino to become a plaything—isn’t that just what an Omega’s life is? Like an object, able only to endure.

She didn’t know that her whole body radiated despair and resignation, like a canary in a gilded cage that had battered itself bloody against the bars and finally, wearily given up, willingly become a plaything—a decadent allure that drew people toward corruption, that made one want to keep tormenting her.

“Please sign. Once you’ve signed, we can proceed with the measures described above.”

“Actually, I would also advise you to bundle that Omega cub in with the sale. The ‘raise-a-cub’ market is quite popular these days.” The Beta burly man said, “That way, not only will you be spared the burden of raising a cub, you’ll receive an extra hundred thousand Star Coins on top of clearing your debt.”

A cub? What cub? Sang Ling wondered, dazed, which made her head hurt even more.

And the Omega, who had been quiet, erupted into violent struggle the instant she heard those words. Miraculously, she broke free of the four enforcers’ restraint and flung herself at Sang Ling’s feet.

“No……” Before she could finish, the quick-reacting enforcers cut her off, forcibly dragging Lin Jinxu away.

She struggled with all her might but was no match for four people. All she could do was stretch out her hand with everything she had and seize the calf of Sang Ling’s trousers.

Sang Ling’s gaze shifted. Today she wore the black trousers that came with the military cadet combat uniform, tucked into black patent-leather military boots, and Lin Jinxu’s pale, thin fingers clutched the fabric as if grasping some priceless treasure.

Lin Jinxu stared fixedly at Sang Ling, her pitch-black eyes thick with emotion that would not dissolve. Her voice was hoarse, but her tone was firm: “Sell me. Don’t sell her.”

Before the pale, wretched woman could say more, she was dragged back by the four enforcers—and this time one of them clapped a hand over her mouth, not letting a single word escape.

Muffled, her long, fluffy curls in disarray, Lin Jinxu kept her eyes fixed on Sang Ling even as she was hauled away.

Sang Ling’s brain turned slowly through the pain. A full half minute passed before she remembered: Little Yao was her niece, Lin Jinxu’s daughter.

More precisely, Little Yao was adopted; some wild child Lin Jinxu had brought back from who knows where, only four years old this year, with no blood relation to Sang Ling whatsoever. In the original host’s eyes, this wasn’t kindness—it was utter stupidity.

Sang Ling slowly turned her gaze toward a certain corner of the room and easily found the little girl huddled there, trembling, tears streaming down her face, yet biting her lip so hard she made no sound.

Looking at the wound and blood on the girl’s lip, Sang Ling felt her headache intensify to something lethal.

This world is trash. Can it just be destroyed already?

Lin Jinxu watched Sang Ling, watched the Alpha’s gaze sweep back and forth over Little Yao, never once refusing the Beta’s proposal—and finally, she despaired completely. Alphas really are utter scum, through and through. They will never see Omegas as human.

She stopped struggling. Bone-deep hatred surfaced in her eyes, and like a venomous snake, like a she-wolf, she fixed her stare on Sang Ling. The intensity of that resentment made Sang Ling’s scalp prickle.

She was certain that if Lin Jinxu could have her way, she would carve Sang Ling up one slice at a time without a moment’s hesitation. That was how much she hated her.

And yet the sheer scale of her pain and despair frightened Sang Ling even more. How could anyone carry so much pain, so heavy, such overwhelming emotion?

“Your Excellency, are you ready?”

The Beta burly man urged Sang Ling again, his gruff tone clearly tinged with impatience.

The young Alpha, her forehead covered in blood, had a handsome, clean-cut face. She sat on the sofa with her back ramrod straight, brow furrowed, a pen held in her slender, well-defined fingers, hovering above the contract.

One signature and every debt would be wiped clean, two Omega burdens discarded, and she could go on to live the carefree life an Alpha was meant to live. For the original host—and for a fresh transmigrator like her—this was a tremendous windfall. Only a fool would refuse.

Just as everyone assumed she would eagerly put pen to paper, the Alpha gently set the pen down on the table.

A clear voice rang out, carrying a faint sigh.

“I’m not signing.”