My Mission Was to Befriend the Protagonist, So Why Is the Crazy Second Female Lead Obsessed with Me? - Chapter 1:

Chapter 1: The Novel World

In a parallel world, Nanyue County.

Damn it…

Being one or two minutes late was enough to lose the entire perfect-attendance bonus, but when it was time to get off work, why the hell didn’t they let people leave on time?

Screw you! What a damn sweatshop!

A little after six in the evening, Xu Ming left the sweatshop in a foul mood and headed home. His luck seemed particularly rotten lately. This month, he had only been two minutes late on a single day, yet that damned supervisor had mercilessly deducted his entire perfect-attendance bonus.

Xu Ming already worked himself to the bone just to make ends meet. The thought of losing that money over two miserable minutes made his frustration burn even hotter, and he cursed the supervisor viciously in his heart.

[Ding! Detected that the Host is about to enter the novel’s plotline. Mission template activated.]

Just as Xu Ming was about to turn into an alley, the sudden voice and floating text startled him so badly that his entire body jolted.

Huh?!

What the…

Holy shit! A system?!

Xu Ming stood frozen for two and a half seconds. The moment his mind caught up with what had happened, his eyes widened in shock.

Seventeen years… A whole seventeen years…

Brother System, do you have any idea how I’ve survived these seventeen years?!

Yes, Xu Ming wasn’t originally from this world. He was a transmigrator.

His situation was somewhat strange. It was a little like transmigrating directly into the womb, yet it also resembled suddenly awakening the memories of a previous life. Ever since he had become old enough to understand the world around him, Xu Ming had clearly sensed that everything here was different from what he remembered.

This seemed to be a parallel world.

The nation he lived in happened to be Great Xia, a nation very similar to his homeland in his previous life. However, there were still plenty of differences between the two worlds.

For example, although the current year was 2020, everything around him somehow gave off the strange impression of being in the early 2000s.

The entire world felt like some bizarre dream. Xu Ming constantly had the feeling that he had seen all of this somewhere before, yet whenever he tried to remember exactly where, nothing came to mind.

[Ding! Preliminary mission issued.]

While Xu Ming was still lost in thought, the system presented him with a mission.

[Preliminary Mission: Help the second female lead before she encounters the protagonist and delay their first interaction.]

[Completion Reward: 100 Points.]

Protagonist…

Second female lead…

Novel plotline…

Huh???

Wait…

As though something had suddenly struck him, Xu Ming stared at the virtual panel with his eyes wide open. The corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably as he exclaimed, “Holy shit! The Prodigal Son Returns?!”

Combining everything the system had just revealed, Xu Ming finally seemed to understand what kind of world he had landed in.

If his guess was correct, he had transmigrated into the world of a novel.

The Prodigal Son Returns was an erotic… no, a female-oriented romance novel!

Set against a rural backdrop, the novel told the story of a female lead from a small county town who fell in love with a protagonist from a major city.

If Xu Ming had transmigrated into the protagonist, he could have accepted that…

But the problem was…

He seemed to have transmigrated into a completely nameless passerby.

He didn’t possess the protagonist’s confidence or carefree spirit. Struggling head-on against the hardships of everyday life was Xu Ming’s normal existence.

Xu Ming narrowed his eyes. However, instead of rushing off to complete the preliminary mission, he immediately focused on something far more practical: the Points mentioned in the reward.

System… what can these Points be used for?

Xu Ming tried calling out to the system with his thoughts.

[Ding! Points can be exchanged for products in the System Shop or converted into the currency of the current world.]

[Conversion Ratio: 1:10.]

Good! Now that’s useful!

Talk about getting a pillow just when you’re feeling sleepy…

There was finally hope for his miserable life!

The system’s explanation instantly made Xu Ming’s eyes light up. He nodded in satisfaction, and a spark of hope returned to his gaze.

System, open the shop for me…

With that silent command, Xu Ming eagerly opened the System Shop.

[Points: 0.]

[Products Available for Exchange This Month.]

[Combat Mastery: 500 Points.]

[Description: When it comes to fighting, you know a thing or two.]

[P.S. Products refresh randomly every month. Available products may include talents, skills, items, and more.]

Xu Ming had imagined that the so-called System Shop would be packed with all kinds of dazzling treasures. Instead, there was only a single product sitting there.

Judging from the description, it seemed the available products only refreshed once every month.

This…

Seriously?

Damn it… There’s only one product?!

Xu Ming cursed inwardly and shook his head in disappointment.

Sigh…

Forget it…

Something was still better than nothing.

At the very least, he could squeeze some money out of the system…

That alone was already much better than working in a sweatshop.

After comforting himself with a bit of Ah Q-style optimism, Xu Ming quickly adjusted his mentality and returned to the mindset of a hardworking wage slave.

He carefully searched through his memories of the original novel, preparing to tackle the preliminary mission.

However, the moment he seriously thought about the opening plot, Xu Ming was startled.

Good grief.

He wouldn’t have realized it if he hadn’t stopped to think, but once he did, everything suddenly became clear.

At the beginning of the novel, Lin An, the second female lead and a student from the same school as Xu Ming, was also working at the sweatshop during the school break.

However, after getting off work, she caught the attention of some local thugs nearby.

As fate would have it, the protagonist happened to be out buying something and stumbled across the scene.

This…

Holy crap!

Looks like I need to hurry…

Otherwise, my money is going to disappear!

Once Xu Ming sorted out the opening events in his mind, he immediately quickened his pace and headed toward the nearest supermarket he remembered.

…

Meanwhile, outside the supermarket, a young man and a young woman were confronting each other.

A spirited young man with dyed blond hair sat arrogantly on a modified electric scooter. Seeing the girl who had just stepped out after buying a bottle of water, he grinned and called out, “Lin An, you just got off work, huh? Come on, get on. I’ll take you somewhere to eat.”

Damn it! Why did I run into this clingy bastard again?!

Lin An cursed inwardly.

No matter how much she despised him, she still forced a faint, polite smile onto her face and said, “Sorry, Student Zhang Long. I need to go home first. My family is still waiting for me.”

Lin An politely declined his invitation. Afterward, she pretended to think seriously for a moment before tactfully adding, “Hmm… maybe next time, Student Zhang Long. If we get the chance, we can hang out another day.”

Zhang Long was Lin An’s middle-school classmate. The two had met during their third year of middle school.

For Zhang Long, it had practically been love at first sight. From the moment he first saw Lin An that year, he had fallen for her.

Over the following two years, the lovestruck teenager had thrown himself completely into pursuing her. Gifts costing hundreds of yuan and bouquets of flowers came one after another, seemingly without end.

However, Lin An’s attitude toward his pursuit had always remained ambiguous. She neither accepted him nor outright rejected him, almost as though she were deliberately keeping him hanging.

One could only say that yesterday’s causes had finally borne today’s consequences.

Her vague and dismissive attitude had finally pushed Zhang Long past his limit.

“Fuck! What the hell do you mean by this, Lin An?!”

After enduring it for two years, Zhang Long finally couldn’t take it anymore. All the resentment he had suppressed for so long erupted at once.

His expression twisted with rage as he gritted his teeth and cursed at her, “It’s been two damn years! I’ve chased you for this long, and you’ve accepted so much stuff from me… Now I’m asking you to spend some time with me, and you won’t even do that?! Who the fuck are you pretending to be so pure for, you bitch?! I wouldn’t have spent this much money even if I’d paid for prostitutes!”

Lin An’s reaction to Zhang Long’s furious outburst was unexpectedly calm. A trace of disdain flickered through her eyes as she looked at him contemptuously and said, “Heh… so you finally admit that you’ve paid for prostitutes?”

Her lips curled into a mocking smile as she continued, “You accuse me of pretending to be pure, but what are you doing here pretending to be some devoted lover? Heh! What a joke!”

With that sarcastic remark, Lin An turned away with the bottle of water in her hand, intending to leave the supermarket.

However, she had barely taken a few steps when Zhang Long suddenly jumped off his electric scooter and seized her wrist.

“Fuck your mother! You think you can just walk away? It’s not going to be that easy!”

Zhang Long’s eyes turned bloodshot as his fury completely overwhelmed him. He snarled, “If you don’t spit out every cent I’ve spent on you before today, I’ll fucking kill you!”

Thud!

The drink bottle crashed onto the ground.

Zhang Long violently seized both of Lin An’s arms and forced her down into a crouching position.

“You… Help… Mm!”

Lin An had barely opened her mouth to scream for help when Zhang Long abruptly clamped his other hand over her mouth.