Chapter 55: The Girl at the End of Her Rope

Shi Qiongqiong couldn’t bear to let her boyfriend give up on his dream.

She supported Chen Junze’s studies and work with all her might, saving money wherever she could, even going hungry herself to use her living expenses to buy her boyfriend painting supplies.

But Shi Qiongqiong’s own family background was just average.

She was a very sensible girl, rarely asking her family for money, and often worked odd jobs, tutoring, or working at bubble tea shops.

The universities Shi Qiongqiong and Chen Junze attended were not prestigious schools.

Not many parents wanted to hire tutors from their university, and jobs like bubble tea shops didn’t pay much.

The money earned this way was obviously not enough for Chen Junze to spend.

After much hesitation, Shi Qiongqiong gritted her teeth and chose to work at a bar.

She had specifically observed for many days and found that this bar was relatively proper, unlikely to have any messy situations.

She herself was also extremely cautious at work, covering her beautiful face with a mask to reduce her presence as much as possible.

And so, Shi Qiongqiong began her life of working until two or three in the morning every night.

It was very hard and tiring, but the pay was good, and it allowed Chen Junze to use better painting tools.

Shi Qiongqiong, with dark circles under her eyes, carefully planned every penny she earned, spending it all on Chen Junze, leaving almost nothing for herself.

At that time, Shi Qiongqiong was full of sweetness, feeling that this was the mark of her and her boyfriend’s striving together.

She provided financial support, allowing Chen Junze to wholeheartedly devote himself to painting, and the two of them would surely embrace a happy future.

However, Shi Qiongqiong did not anticipate that her wholehearted self-sacrifice for her boyfriend’s dream would be met not with gratitude and appreciation, but with thick, sticky malice.

Chen Junze spent his girlfriend’s money, yet he still found it “dirty.”

In Chen Junze’s view, bars were not “places proper girls should go.”

What proper business could Shi Qiongqiong be doing, spending her nights there?

Especially since the money she gave him each time was too much.

Could an ordinary job earn that much money?

She must be engaging in those shady businesses!

Chen Junze felt his head was green, like a grassland, but he couldn’t bear to give up the money, so he secretly vented his resentment online.

On Weibo, Chen Junze portrayed himself as a devoted man who, even though his “girlfriend went out to sell herself,” still tolerated it and wouldn’t break up because “he loved her too much,” earning a lot of sympathy.

Some girls were even greatly moved by Chen Junze, frankly saying they wanted him to quickly dump his current girlfriend, as they were willing to be Chen Junze’s new girlfriend and would surely cherish him well.

These responses undoubtedly made Chen Junze very pleased.

He became more and more active in sharing things between him and his girlfriend on Weibo, even posting real photos of Shi Qiongqiong online.

Shi Qiongqiong’s appearance was quite outstanding—pure, sweet, like a first love encountered on campus.

Naturally, after Chen Junze posted a photo with Shi Qiongqiong’s clear face online, the spread instantly took off, and more and more people learned that this young girl was “engaged in special occupations at a bar.”

Rumors spread easily, and they spread even faster.

Soon, some people through doxxing dug up Shi Qiongqiong’s personal information and confirmed that she worked at a hotel.

Now, all of Chen Junze’s claims had “ironclad proof.”

The sharp contrast between her beautiful appearance and the rumored occupation, coupled with some coincidental internet traffic, made Shi Qiongqiong suddenly famous.

Countless people learned that she was a hostess, and following that came overwhelming insults and abuse.

Many people stacked rumors on top of rumors.

Within a few days, Shi Qiongqiong became, through word of mouth, a woman who was promiscuous, had HIV, had been a homewrecker for some professor’s marriage—her sins too numerous to record.

And at first, Shi Qiongqiong knew nothing of all this.

She studied diligently, worked hard, toiled day in and day out, and simply did not pay attention to the dirty water being poured on her.

By the time Shi Qiongqiong finally noticed the dirty water, the clothes on her entire body were already polluted.

The rumors spread from the internet to reality.

It was only because her classmates looked at her strangely that Shi Qiongqiong learned what she had been described as online.

Shock, confusion, anger, grievance—Shi Qiongqiong had no idea how anyone could spread such rumors about her.

She wanted to defend herself, to confront, but quickly discovered that no one listened to her voice.

Those people wantonly cursed her online, flooded into all her social media accounts like locusts, attacking her with the filthiest language, and even photoshopped more of her doxxed photos into nudes, spreading them everywhere.

Whenever Shi Qiongqiong opened any internet-connected app, she would either see people scolding her or receive private messages from strangers insulting her.

There were also men who frequently harassed her, sending her explicit photos and asking her to sleep with them.

Within just two days, Shi Qiongqiong was so scared that she didn’t dare go online at all.

But this was not the worst.

The worst was that the reality behind the internet had also become a living hell.

The rumors spread too widely, and many people around knew about it, and many believed it.

The way they looked at Shi Qiongqiong became incredibly strange.

Every gaze was like a bullet shot at Shi Qiongqiong, leaving wounds and bloodstains on her body.

Even worse, Shi Qiongqiong encountered men who specifically came to ask her “how much per time.”

If Shi Qiongqiong hadn’t run fast, she might have been forced.

Shi Qiongqiong was about to go crazy.

She developed severe depression.

Difficulty breathing, insomnia night after night, uncontrollable tears.

The girl who was already haggard and thin from working hard for her boyfriend was tortured until she was nothing but skin and bones, her eye sockets deeply sunken, filled only with boundless despair.

Shi Qiongqiong no longer even had the anger and grievance from the beginning.

All she had was despair and pain.

After this happened, it also had a bad effect on the bar where Shi Qiongqiong worked.

The bar certainly didn’t dare to let Shi Qiongqiong come anymore, quickly firing her and repeatedly declaring that they were a proper entertainment venue and did not engage in illegal transactions.

But the bar’s voice was no louder than Shi Qiongqiong’s.

In such a large-scale online mob, the original facts were the least important.

Finally, the university Shi Qiongqiong attended also received report letters from the netizens, and they expelled this student who had brought serious negative influence to the school.

Looking at the disciplinary notice sent by her advisor, Shi Qiongqiong’s mind went blank.

She didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t know how to stop this absurd disaster.

She didn’t know how to explain to her parents what had actually happened.

Shi Qiongqiong was truly going mad.

Finally, in her cramped little rental room, Shi Qiongqiong used a fruit knife to cut her own pulse, using the most helpless way to block out all the harm those people had brought her.

Everything was silent, no more endless filthy words in her ears.

The point Sang Zhiyi transmigrated into was after all these events had already occurred, just as Shi Qiongqiong had started to cut her wrist.

Sang Zhiyi: “…”

She had estimated that the plot would be quite far along, and she wasn’t wrong.

It had already reached the end of the original owner’s life.

To achieve an A-rank or above final mission rating starting from such a point was truly a stark contrast to the difficulty of the last world—heaven and earth apart.

As expected of the world where she had forcibly increased the mission difficulty.

An ordinary host coming to this world would never have such timing.

Because she had treated it promptly, the wound on Sang Zhiyi’s left wrist was no longer oozing blood.

Looking at the thin red mark left on her wrist, she continued organizing the information about this world in her mind.

Shi Qiongqiong was merely a cannon-fodder supporting female lead in this world.

After her death, many more events occurred.

The boyfriend Shi Qiongqiong had the misfortune to have, Chen Junze, was the male lead of this world.

The original plot development of this world was essentially a male-oriented harem story.

Chen Junze, rising from obscurity, relying on his exceptionally talented painting skills, advanced to become a top-tier painter in the world, winning countless beautiful women.

And Chen Junze’s first girlfriend, Shi Qiongqiong, was merely a tool to provide the male lead with startup capital and traffic.

She contributed all the money she earned to Chen Junze and then died cleanly, leaving no lingering problems.

She also gave Chen Junze considerable attention, initially boosting his reputation in painting, and made him start to be noticed by several wealthy and powerful beautiful women, thus beginning his meteoric rise.

As for what Chen Junze, the culprit, was doing during the period when Shi Qiongqiong was being smeared with rumors, of course, he was righteously cutting ties with Shi Qiongqiong to avoid being implicated himself.

The devoted image he had pretended to have online when spreading rumors was gone in an instant.

Instead, because he promptly distanced himself from Shi Qiongqiong, he received a round of applause.

Later, when mentioning Shi Qiongqiong to others, Chen Junze only needed to silently put on a complex expression to win the shared hatred of his many followers, who wished they could dig Shi Qiongqiong up and condemn her some more to comfort Chen Junze’s heart.

Or he would win the sympathy of many beautiful women, who would become more and more willing to give him things to soothe his wounded soul.

To Chen Junze, Shi Qiongqiong was merely a tiny stain on his glorious life.

“Oh my.”

Sang Zhiyi gently shook her head, the corner of her mouth curling slightly.

“I’ve seen quite a few scumbags, but one this trashy is truly rare.”

It seemed she would need to first look up the criminal laws of this world.

Otherwise, Sang Zhiyi was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from doing something the law wouldn’t allow to Chen Junze.